Page images
PDF
EPUB

Warnings and]

CHAP. VIII.

me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

16 They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. (G)

CHAP. VIII.

SET the trumpet to thy mouth. He

shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

2. Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.

3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good the enemy shall pursue him. 4 They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

CHAP. VII.

[farther threatenings.

5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

6 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.

11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

EXPOSITION.

(G) Farther complaints, both of wickedness and hypocrisy.-Here God complains that though he had used every means for reforming Israel, they still persisted in their sins, without regarding the consequences. That those of the higher orders, who ought to have checked their crimes, united and delighted in them; and that they all burned with their lusts, as an oven when fully heated, and ready to receive the dough.

Ver. 5. alludes to some recent excesses at a royal feast; and the following verses accuse them with being given up to idleness

and vice, pride and civil contentions, and conspiracies. (See 2 Kings xv. 10, 14, 25.)

Ephraim, in particular, is charged with mixing with idolatrous nations, and serving God by halves only; and with applying for aid to their enemies, instead of God, their Almighty protector. (See 2 Kings xv. 19; and xxvii. 4.) And the chapter concludes with comparing them, on account of their unsteady character, and frequent apostacies, to a deceitful bow," which, being warped and crooked, could never be depended upou for sending its arrows to the object aimed at.

[blocks in formation]

CHAP. VIII. Ver. 1. To thy mouth-Heb. "To the roof of thy mouth." He shall come as an eagle-that is, the Assyrian shall come.

Ver. 4. I knew it not-Boothroyd, "Of whom I approved not."

Ver. 5. Thy calf, O Samaria," &c. - Newcome, Remove far from thee (or cast off) thy calf, O Samaria!"-Ere they attain to innocency -Newc "Will they not endure innocency?"

Ver. 7. It hath no stalk, &c.-Newc. "The stalk hath no bud; it shall not yield flour," &c. So Horsley.

.

Ver. 9. A wild ass alone.-Wild asses generally go in herds, but sometimes one strays from the rest. Pococke.---Ephraim hath hired lovers.-See Ezeki

vi. 33.

Ver. 11. Altars to sin-Boothroyd, "Fer sin;" i.. for idolatry.Unto him for sin-that is, he shall be surfcited with the multitude of foreign altars.

Ver. 13. They sacrifice flesh-Newc. "They sacritice gifts appointed unto me, and eat flesh," i. e. we conceive, they take the prime of all the sacrifices for themselves.

Ver. 14. Buildeth temples--namely, to idols.

[blocks in formation]

13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. (H)

CHAP. IX.

REJOICE not, O Israel, for joy, as other people for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every corn-floor.

2 The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.

3 They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted for their bread for their

CHAP. VIII.

[and misery,

soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.

5 What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?

6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Is rael shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

8 The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame;

EXPOSITION.

(H) Farther threatenings for impiety.This chapter begins with threatening an invasion from the Assyrians, who should pounce on Israel like an eagle; so did Shalmanezer, 2 Kings xvii. 3-6. Aud wherefore this?-For their hypocrisy, iniquity and idolatry; particularly the worshipping the golden calves of Dan and Bethel. The folly and unprofitableness of pursuing evil courses is then set forth in brief, but very emphatic terms. The labour of the wicked is vain, like sowing of the wind; and the fruit of it destructive as the whirlwind; like corn blighted in the bud, their toil produces no increase, or

if it should have a little, their enemies should devour it. Themselves also shall suffer the same fate; and be treated by the

nations (Assyria and Egypt) as the vile !

shreds of a useless broken vessel. Nor have they the plea of ignorance-Gol had written to them the great things of his law, but they counted them strange. All their taste was for foreign gods and foreign altars: they shall go therefore where they shall see no others; and sigh in vain for those of Zion. (See 2 Kings xvi. 10.) The last words predict the burning of Jerusalem, after reproving the house of Judah for their confidence in their Own strength.

NOTES.

CHAP. IX. Ver. 4. The bread of mourners-coarse and scanty; "the bread of affliction." Ps. 1xxx. 5. All food became polluted in the house where death entered. Namb. xix. 14.-The bread for their soul -that is, their meat offering.

Ver. 6. The pleasant places for their silver-Newcome, "(Purchased) with their silver."

Ver. 7. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad:-there being no verb in the original, Newcome and others render this verse, which doubtless refers to the false prophets, in the past tense," Was foolish,

was mad."--The great hatred which they had to the house of God, ver. 8.

Ver. 8. The watchman of Ephraim-the true prophet, Ezek. iii. 17 The prophet-that is, the false prophet (as in ver. 7) is a snare; a perpetual snare to the people. And hatred ta-New, &c. "Against." The false prophets preferred the idolatrous worship of the high places to the sacred altar at Jerusalem. This was evidently bee captivity. Mr. Townsend places it B. C. 75.

Ver. 9. The days of Gibeah,-See Judges xix. H

[blocks in formation]

and their abominations were according as they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when 1 depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Eph. raim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

14 Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters. 16 Ephraim is smitten, their root

CHAP. IX.

[exhausted vine.

is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.

17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations. (I)

CHAP. X.

TSRAEL is an empty vine, he bring

eth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.

2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.

3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to

EXPOSITION.

(I) Israel's guilty conduct, and the mieries it produced." In this chapter, the aptivity and dispersion of Israel is again hreatened, the prospect of which fills the Prophet with such terror, as to make him vish their women should be barren, rather han bring forth children to slavery or laughter.

"He begins with reproving them for their acrifices and rejoicings on their cornoors, by which they ascribed to idols, as he heathen did, the praise of all their lenty; for which reason, they are threatned with famine, and devoted to exile in land where they should be polluted; and ant the means of worshipping the God of eir fathers, or observing the solemnities f his appointment. Nay more, they shall

fall before the destroyer, (some of them) be buried in Egypt, and leave their own pleasant places desolate. The time, too, is declared to be at hand, according to God's revelation by "the watchman (or true Prophet), whatever might be alleged by false prophets, who pretended to have the Spirit, but who in fact ensnared the souls of others, and like the men of Gibeah, drew deep guilt on themselves. In the succeeding verses, God is introduced declaring his early favour for his people, and the delight he took in their obedience; but now they had so deeply revolted, all their glory will take wing, God will forsake them, and their offspring be devoted to destruction; to destruction twice repeated, to intimate its being both sure and terrible." (Dr. J. Smith.)

Ver. 10. As the first-ripe.-See Jer. xxiv. 2.aal peor.-See Num. xxv. 3, &c.

NOTES.

Ver. 11. From the birth-Boothroyd, "There shall no birth, no pregnancy, no conception;" i. e. ere shall be no increase. To the same effect Newme, Wheeler, &c.

Ver. 12. Though-Boothroyd, &c. "Yea, though." Ver. 13. Ephraim, as I saw (or see) Tyrus.

maria was situated on a high and pleasant hill. 1 Kings xvi. 24.

Ver. 14. A miscarrying womb-Heb. "A womb at casteth the fruit."

Ver. 15. Gilgal-A place infamous for idolatry, d where it is supposed one of "the golden calves"

was some time placed. See chap. iv. 15; also Amos iv. 4; v. 5. Calmet.

Ver. 16. The beloved fruit-their darling offspring. A

CHAP. X. Ver. 1. An empty vine- Marg. vine emptying (or casting) the fruit it giveth.' According to the multitude of his fruit, &c.—that is, as their prosperity increased, so did their idolatry. --Goodly images-Heb. "Statues ;" i. e. idols. Ver. 2. Faulty-that is, "guilty."

Ver. 3. We have no king-this oracle was probably delivered during the nine years anarchy which preceded the reign of king Hoshea (B. C. about 730). --Do to us-rather," for us;" Secker and Horsley.

[blocks in formation]

4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory there of, because it is departed from it.

6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.

8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

9 O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.

10 It is in my desire that I should

CHAP. X.

[and rebellion

chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.

11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.

12 Sow to yourselves in righteous. ness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righte ousness upon you.

13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon children.

[ocr errors]

15 So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: in s morning shall the king of Israel ut terly be cut off. (K)

EXPOSITION.

(K) Israel compared to an exhausted and ruined vine.-In this chapter the subject is pursued allegorically. Israel is compared to a vine which had been flourish. ing and fruitful, but was now weakened and corrupted by prosperity, luxury and idolatry: so that though its branches were

still widely extended, and its leaves lururiant, yet, alas! it cast its fruit, and pro duced no wine to "cheer the heart of God." (Judg. ix. 13.) Their hearts became &vided between the true God and idols, and it was soon apparent from the multitude of their altars, to which they were most inclined. Their idolatry is then enlarged

NOTES-Chap. X. Con.

Ver. 4. Thus judgment—that is, God's punishments of their iniquities spring up rapidly on every side.

Ver. 5. The calves- Newcome, &c. "Calf," on the authority of the ancient versions; possibly the form was duplex, but the following sentence confirms the versions.- -Mourn over it (or him).-For Beth-aven, formerly Beth-el," the house of God," chap. xii. 4, was now Beth-aven," the house of sin,' because of its idolatries.- The priests-Heb. "Chemarim, the sacrificers." So Newcome, &c.

[ocr errors]

Ver. 6. King Jareb.-See Note on chap. v. 13. Ver. 7. Upon the water - Heb. "Face of the water." Newcome explains this, "Many kings of Samaria have rapidly passed away by assassination, and Hoshea shall soon be cut off by the king of Assyria."

Ver. 8. Aven -the same as Beth-aven, ver. 5. Ver. 9. From-Newc. “ More than." In the. days of Gibeah -See chap. ix. 9. Newcome, “Did not the war overtake them in Gibeah ?"

Ver. 10. That I should-Horsley, " And I will." When they shall bind, &c. Margin, Whee ! shall bind them (or chastise them) for their tw iniquities;" i. e. "the calves in Dan and Bethe." Newcome.

Ver. 11. Loveth to tread out the corn-" Because they were unmuzzled." Deut. xxv. 4. Secker. --/ passed over her fair neck-Newcome, Boothroyd, $t. supply the word " yoke ;""I passed the yoke over." &c.--I will make Ephraim to ride. Might we not, without violence, read, "I will ride (or cause to be ridden) Ephraim"? The place is very dicat but the sense appears to us to be, that ali should be subjected to severe labour, like cattle brought under the yoke: some should be used for riding (for horned cattle are rode in the East), and others for plowing, Ver. 14. As Shalman-that is, Shalmanezer. Ser 2 Kings xviii. 33, &c.

Ver. 15. So shall Bethel do, &c.—that is, as the idolatry of other nations brought on them destruction, so shall the idolatry of Bethel be your r

Israel's ingratitude]

W

CHAP. XI.

CHAP. XI.

HEN Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.

4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.

5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to re

turn.

6 And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called

[and disobedience.

them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee and I will not enter into the city.

10 They shall walk after the Lord: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

11 They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.

12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. (L)

EXPOSITION.

on, and its fatal consequences declared in very feeling terms. God is now introduced complaining of their extreme guilt, and threatening them with captivity in terms that bear a manifest allusion to their favourite idolatry, the worshipping of the golden calf, or heifer. Upon which the Prophet, in a beautiful allegory, suggested by the preceding metaphors, exhorts them to repentance, and warns them of the dreadful consequences of persevering in their past course.

CHAP. XI.

(L) God's tenderness to Israel, notwithstanding their ingratitude.—“ This chapter gives a very pathetic representation of God's tender and affectionate regard for Israel, by metaphors chiefly borrowed from the conduct of mothers towards their tender offspring. From this, occasion is taken to reflect on their ungrateful returns to the Divine goodness, and to threaten them with deserved punishment. But suddenly and unexpectedly the pros

NOTES.

CHAP. XI. Ver. 1. And called my son out of Egypt.-These words certainly refer, in the first instance, to Is ael, but admit of an easy accommodation to Christ himself, Matt. ii, 15.

Ver. 2. As they called, &c. - The LXX and other versions read, "When I called, then they departed from me:" and this, as it gives a good sense, is adopted by Newcome, Boothroyd, and others. Perhaps the true sense is, the more they were called to, the further they went astray. Compare ch. xiii, 2.

Ver. 4. That take off (or lift up) the yoke (that is) upon their jaws.-"It is very probable that these words refer to the custom of (occasionally) raising the yoke forward, to cool the neck of the labouring beast." See Lowth in Isa. i. 3.

Ver. 5. He shall not reture, &c.-Dr. Forsayeth, "Shall he not return?" In other parts of this book, returning to Egypt is threatened as a punishment. See chap. vii. 16; viii. 13; ix. 3, 6, &c.—Because they refused to return-namely, to the Lord. Ver.6. The sword shali abide Horsley, "Shall

weary itself in his cities, and consume his diviners, and devour, because," &c.

Ver.7. Though they cuiled – i. e. "Though they (i.e. Israel) were called to return to the Most High, none of them would unite to exalt (him); or, as Bp. Horsley, "All of one mind, they would not be exalted."

Ver. 9. I will not enter into the city-Bp. Lowth, "Though I inhabit not thy cities." Lect. xix.

Ver. 10. He shall roar.-The style is here very abrupt; Newcome supplies, " (When) he shail roar, then shall their sons hasten (not tremble) from the

west."'

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »