{"commentary":{"id":"adam-clarke","name":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clarke","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"92e28c9363c876d215e296f2fe04abb3ab7e34a2aacebdf06bd62ae79c6e3dba","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":57,"totalNumberOfChapters":854,"totalNumberOfVerses":13318,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"HOS","commentaryId":"adam-clarke","name":"Hosea","commonName":"Hosea","introduction":"Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Hosea Hosea, the son of Beeri, is the first of the minor prophets. Epiphanius says that he was of the town of Belemoth, in the tribe of Issachar; which is no other, in all probability, than Beelmeon, towards Esdraelon, in this tribe. The rabbins say that Bura was his father, who is mentioned in the Chronicles, and was prince of the tribe of Reuben at the time when Tiglath-pileser carried some of the tribes of Israel into captivity. But if it be so, Hosea must be said to be of the tribe of Reuben; and a native of Beelmeon, beyond Jordan. This prophet lived in the kingdom of Samaria; and his prophecies for the most part have a view to this state, though there are likewise some particular things which concern the kingdom of Judah. We read, in the introduction to his prophecy, that he prophesied under the kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, and under Jeroboam II., king of Israel. If he prophesied in the reign of all these princes, he must have lived a very long time; for there are a hundred and twelve years from the beginning of Uzziah's reign to the end of Hezekiah's reign. Uzziah began to reign A.M. 3194, and Hezekiah's reign ended in 3306. Add, if you please, twenty or five and twenty years, which might be the age of Hosea when he began to prophesy; and this will make one hundred and thirty-two, or one hundred and thirty-seven years. And if we were to take ten years from Uzziah, and as many from Hezekiah, during which Hosea might not have prophesied, there will still remain one hundred and twelve, or one hundred and fifteen years. In the whole collection of Hosea's prophecies, we find nothing which proves that he prophesied so long. And, besides, why should his prophecies be dated in the title by the reigns of the kings of Judah, when he did not live under their dominion? It is therefore very probable that this title is not Hosea's, but some ancient transcriber's; and that the true beginning of this prophet's work is at these words: \"The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea.\" It is our opinion that he began about the end of Jeroboam's reign, who was the second king of Israel of this name. See Calmet. St. Jerome and many others believe Hosea to be the oldest prophet, whose writings are in our possession; and that he was witness to the first captivity of the four tribes carried away by Tiglath-pileser, and the extinction of the kingdom of Samaria by Shalmaneser. St. Jerome will have it that he prophesied even afterwards. The first verses of 1: have a view to the death of Zechariah, king of Israel, and son of Jeroboam II: From the sixth verse of the first chapter to the third chapter, is a prediction of the captivity of Israel: but after he has foretold this captivity, he declares the return and end of it. He inveighs strongly against the disorders which prevailed in the kingdom of the ten tribes. It appears that in his time there were idols; not only at Dan, Beth-el, and Samaria, but likewise at Gilgal, upon Tabor, at Sichem, Beer-sheba, and upon the mountains of Gilead. He speaks of the Israelites as of a people entirely corrupted, and the measure of whose sins was filled up; he foretells that their golden calves should be pulled down, cast upon the ground, and carried into Assyria. He reflects, with the same severity, upon the irregularities which reigned in Judah. He stands up against those who went to worship false gods at Gilgal. He speaks of Sennacherib's invading the territories of Judah. He foretells that the people of Judah should still continue some time in their country after the captivity of the ten tribes; but that after this they themselves should likewise be carried captives beyond the Euphrates, from whence the Lord would bring them back after a certain number of years. The style of Hosea is obscure, and his expressions often dubious and perplexed. The things whereof he speaks contribute farther to his obscurity, by reason of their distance, and our ignorance of the history of those times. In the beginning of Hosea's prophecy, we read that the Lord directed him \"to take unto him a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms;\" that is, to marry a woman who, before her marriages had lived a debauched life, but who, after her marriage, should retire from all bad conversation, and whose children should be legitimate, notwithstanding that, by reason of the blemish which their mother had contracted by her former life, they were called the children of whoredoms. This prostitute woman, and the children who were to be born of her, were a figure and a kind of real prophecy which described the idolatry and infidelity of Samaria and the ten tribes, formerly the Lord's spouse, but who afterwards became idolatrous and corrupt. The children of this faithless woman are children of prostitution, since they imitate the idolatry of their mother. God gives these children the names of Jezreel, God will disperse; Lo-rechamah, or Without mercy; and Lo-ammi, Thou art no longer my people; to show, - 1. That God was going to revenge upon the house of Jehu, king of Israel, the sins which he had committed at Jezreel, when he usurped the kingdom of the ten tribes. 2. That the Lord would treat his idolatrous and sinful people without mercy. 3. That he would reject them, and no more look upon them as his people. Hosea is concise, sententious, and abrupt. It is his manner to omit the connexive and adversative particles; an observation which we should recollect when we observe them occasionally supplied by versions or manuscripts. These are among the causes of that obscurity for which he is remarkable: but the greatest difficulties arise from the corrupt readings which deform the printed text. He chiefly addresses Israel; but introduces frequent mention of Judah. He not only inveighs against the vices of the people, but sharply arraigns the conduct of their kings, princes, and priests. Like many of the Hebrew prophets, he tempers denunciations of God's vengeance against an idolatrous and vicious people, with promises of abundant mercies in store for them; and his transitions from one of these subjects to the other are rapid and unexpected. He abounds with short and lively comparisons; and, like the best Greek and Roman writers, often omits the particle of similitude. These comparisons he sometimes accumulates in the spirit of that poetry which is most admired. See Hos 6:3, Hos 6:4; Hos 9:10; Hos 11:11; Hos 13:3; Hos 14:5-7. He has often a Great Force of Expression. See Hos 1:7; Hos 2:3, Hos 2:18, Hos 2:21, Hos 2:22; Hos 4:2; Hos 6:5; Hos 11:4; Hos 12:1. He is sometimes Highly Animated. See Hos 4:14; Hos 5:8; Hos 8:1; Hos 9:5, Hos 9:14; Hos 13:10, Hos 13:14. Many Beautiful Passages occur in this prophet, as in the Similes throughout; in the Allegories, Hos 2:2, Hos 2:20; Hos 7:11, Hos 7:12, Hos 8:7; Hos 10:11, Hos 10:12, Hos 10:13; Hos 13:15; in the Pathos, Hos 11:3; and Hos 11:8, Hos 11:9; in the Figures, Hos 13:12; Hos 14:2. There are also some parts which are truly Sublime, as Hos 5:14, Hos 5:15; Hos 8:7; Hos 10:8; Hos 13:7, Hos 13:8. I have already, at the beginning of Isaiah, given a table of the chronological succession of all the prophets: that of Archbishop Newcome on the twelve minor prophets I subjoin here, because it contains some differences from the preceding. Order and Time in Which the Twelve Minor Prophets Flourished 1. Jonah Prophesied between 823 b.c. and 783 b.c. in the reign of Jeroboam II., king of Israel. See Kg2 14:25. 2. Amos prophesied from about 823 b.c. to about 785 b.c. in the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in that of Jeroboam II., king of Israel. See Amo 1:1. 3. Hosea flourished from about 809 b.c. to about 698 b.c., in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in that of Jeroboam II., king of Israel. See Hos 1:1. [But see the observations in the preceding page]. 4. Micah flourished between 757 b.c. and 698 b.c., in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. See Mic 1:1. 5. Nahum is supposed to have prophesied between 720 b.c. and 698 b.c., in the reign of Hezekiah. 6. Joel is supposed to have prophesied between 697 b.c. and 660 b.c., in the reign of Manasseh. 7. Zephaniah prophesied between 640 b.c. and 609 b.c., in the reign of Josiah. See Zep 1:1. 8. Habakkuk is thought to have prophesied between 606 b.c. and 598 b.c., in the reign of Jehoiakim. 9. Obadiah prophesied soon after 587 b.c., between the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the destruction of the Edomites by the same prince. 10. Haggai prophesied about 520 b.c. after the return from Babylon. See Hag 1:1. 11. Zechariah prophesied from 520 b.c. to about 518 b.c.; and was contemporary with Haggai. See Zac 1:1. 12. Malachi is generally believed to have prophesied about 436 b.c.","order":28,"numberOfChapters":14,"sha256":"ad6e9db2657bfb265f036f75c9682794db22037a7bd0d26810cdd9e4ce3ec580","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/HOS/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"HOS","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":14,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/HOS/14.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"HOS","chapter":14},"totalNumberOfVerses":151},"chapter":{"number":13,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":1,"content":["When Ephraim spake trembling - When he was meek and humble, of a broken heart and contrite spirit.\nHe exalted himself in Israel - He became great in God's sight; he rose in the Divine esteem in proportion as he sank in his own. But this did not continue.\nHe offended in Baal - He became an idolater.\nHe died - The sentence of death from the Divine justice went out against him.\nThis has been differently understood: \"As soon as Ephraim spake (To your tents, O Israel!) There was a trembling or commotion: then the kingdom was exalted in Israel.\" Thus taken, it refers to the division of the ten tribes from Rehoboam, son of Solomon, Kg1 12:16, etc., and the establishment of the kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam in opposition to that of Judah; which breach was never healed. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["And now they sin more and more - They increase in every kind of vice, having abandoned the great Inspirer of virtue.\nLet the men that sacrifice kiss the calves - This was the test. If there be a Jew that pretends to sacrifice, and whose conversion is dubious, let him come openly and kiss the calves. This will show what he is; no real Jew will do this. If he be an idolater, he will not scruple. This was the ancient method of adoration.\n1. They kissed the idol.\n2. When the statue was too high or too far off, they presented the hand, in token of alliance.\n3. They brought that hand respectfully to their mouths, and kissed it.\nThis was the genuine act of adoration; from ad, to, and os, oris, the mouth. So Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. xxviii., c. 1. Adorando, dexteram ad oscula referimus.\nAnd Apuleius, Asin., lib. iv:\nAdmoventes oribus suis dexteram, ut ipsam prorsus deam religiosis adorationibus venerabantur.\nSee Calmet, and see the note on Job 31:17. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Therefore they shall be as the morning Cloud - as the early Dew - as the Chaff - as the Smoke - Four things, most easy to be driven about and dissipated, are employed here to show how they should be scattered among the nations, and dissipated by captivity. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["I am the Lord thy God - This was the first discovery I made of myself to you, and the first commandment I gave; and I showed you that besides me there was no Savior. There is a remarkable addition in the Septuagint here: \"But I am Jehovah thy God, who stretched out the heavens and created the earth. And I showed them not to thee, that thou shouldest walk after them. And I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,\" etc. This might have been once in the Hebrew text. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["I did know thee - I approved of thee; I loved thee; and by miraculously providing for thee in that land of drought, I demonstrated my love. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["According to their pasture - They had a rich pasture, and were amply supplied with every good. They became exalted in their heart, forgat their God, and became a prey to their enemies. \"He that exalteth himself shall be abased.\" \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["I will be unto them as a lion - שחל shachal is supposed to mean here the black lion, frequent in Ethiopia.\nAs a leopard - נמר namar, so termed from its spotted skin, for to be spotted is the signification of the root.\nWill I observe them - The leopard, tiger, and panther will hide themselves in thick bushwood, near where they expect any prey to pass; and as soon as it comes near, spring suddenly upon it. To this is the allusion in the text: \"By the way will I observe them;\" watch for them as the leopard does. They shall be greatly harassed even on their way to Assyria, when going into captivity. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["As a bear - bereaved - This is a figure to denote excessive ferocity. See the note on Sa2 17:8 (note), where a remarkable instance is given.\nAnd will rend the caul of their heart - Every savage beast goes first to the seat of the blood when it has seized its prey; as in this fluid they delight more than in the most delicate parts of the flesh.\nThere will I devour them like a lion - לביא labi, the old strong lion; drinking the blood, tearing the flesh, and breaking the bones to extract the marrow.\nThe wild beast shall tear them - Probably this refers to the chakal or jackal, who frequently hunts down the prey, which the lion takes the liberty to devour, while the jackal stands by, and afterwards picks the bones. Hence he has been called the lion's Provider, and the lion's waiting-man. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself - These evils come not by my immediate infliction; they are the consequences of thy own crimes. In the above terrifying figures of the ferocious beasts, the prophet only shows what they would meet with from the hand of the Assyrians in the war, the famine, and the captivity; God being represented as doing what he only permits to be done.\nBut in me is thine help - \"Though thou hast destroyed thyself, yet in me alone can thy help be found\" - Newcome. And others read, And who will help thee? reading מי mi, who, for בי bi, in me. Though this is countenanced by the Syriac, yet there is no evidence of it in any of the MSS. yet collated, nor do I think it to be the true reading. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Give me a king and princes? - Referring to the time in which they cast off the Divine theocracy and chose Saul in the place of Jehovah. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["I gave thee a king in mine anger - Such was Saul; for they highly offended God when they clamoured to have a king like the heathen nations that were around them.\nTook him away in my wrath - Permitted him and the Israelites to fall before the Philistines. Others think that Shalmaneser was the king thus given, and Hoshea the king thus taken away. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up - It is registered in my court of justice; the death warrant is in store, and will be produced in due time. Though there be not at present the judgment inflicted which such glaring transgressions demand, yet it will surely come. Such crimes cannot go unpunished. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["The sorrows of a travailing woman - These judgments shall come suddenly and unavoidably.\nThe place of the breaking forth of children - As there is a critical time in parturition in which the mother in hard labor may by skillful assistants be eased of her burden, which, if neglected, may endanger the life both of parent and child, so there was a time in which Ephraim might have returned to God, but they would not; therefore they are now in danger of being finally destroyed. And, speaking after the manner of men, he must be deemed an unwise son, who if he had power and consideration, would prolong his stay in the porch of life, where he must necessarily be suffocated; so is Ephraim, who, though warned of his danger, having yet power to escape, continued in his sin, and is now come to destruction. I could illustrate the allusion in the text farther, and show the accurate propriety of the original; but the subject forbids it. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["I will ransom them from the power of the grave - In their captivity they are represented as dead and buried, which is a similar view to that taken of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity by Ezekiel in his vision of the valley of dry bones. They are now lost as to the purpose for which they were made, for which God had wrought so many miracles for them and for their ancestors; but the gracious purpose of God shall not be utterly defeated. He will bring them out of that grave, and ransom them from that death; for as they have deserved that death and disgraceful burial, they must be redeemed and ransomed from it, or still lie under it. And who can do this but God himself? And he will do it. In the prospect of this the prophet exclaims, in the person of the universal Redeemer, \"O death, I will be thy plagues;\" I will bring into thy reign the principle of its destruction. The Prince of life shall lie for a time under thy power, that he may destroy that power.\nO grave, I will be thy destruction - I will put an end to thy dreary domination by rising from the dead, and bringing life and immortality to life by my Gospel, and by finally raising from the death the whole human race in the day of the general resurrection.\nשאול sheol, which we translate grave, is the state of the dead. מות maveth, which we translate death, is the principle of corruption that renders the body unfit to be longer the tenement of the soul, and finally decomposes it. Sheol shall be destroyed, for it must deliver up all its dead. Maveth shall be annihilated, for the body shall be raised incorruptible. See the use which the apostle makes of this passage, Co1 15:54, Co1 15:55; but he does not quote from the Hebrew, nor from any of the ancient versions. He had to apply the subject anew; and the Spirit, which had originally given the words, chose to adapt them to the subject then in hand, which was the resurrection of the dead in the last day. Instead of דבריך debareycha, thy plagues, one of my oldest MSS., ninety-six of Kennicott's and thirty-two of De Rossi's, have דברך debarcha, thy plague, that which shall carry thee off, as the plague does them who are affected by it. To carry off, carry away, is one of the regular meanings of the verb דבר dabar.\nRepentance shall be hid from mine eyes - On these points I will not change my purpose; this is the signification of repentance when attributed to God. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["Though he be fruitful - יפריא yaphri; a paronomasia on the word אפרים ephrayim, which comes from the same root פרה parah, to be fruitful, to sprout, to bud.\nAn east wind shall come - As the east wind parches and blasts all vegetation, so shall Shalmaneser blast and destroy the Israelitish state. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["Samaria shall become desolate - This was the capital of the Israelitish kingdom. What follows is a simple prophetic declaration of the cruelties which should be exercised upon this hapless people by the Assyrians in the sackage of the city.\n\n"]}],"introduction":"Thus chapter begins with observing that the fear of God leads to prosperity, but sin to ruin; a truth most visibly exemplified in the sin and punishment of Ephraim, Hos 13:1-3. As an aggravation of their guilt, God reminds them of his former favors, Hos 13:4, Hos 13:5; which they had shamefully abused, Hos 13:6; and which now expose them to dreadful punishments, Hos 13:7, Hos 13:8. He, however, tempers these awful threatenings with gracious promises; and, on their repentance, engages to save them, when no other could protect them, Hos 13:9-11. But, alas! instead of repenting, Ephraim is filling up the measure of his iniquity, Hos 13:12, Hos 13:13. Notwithstanding this, God promises to put forth has almighty power in behalf of his people, and, as it were, raise them from the dead, Hos 13:14; although, in the meantime, they must be visited with great national calamities, compared first to the noxious and parching east wind, Hos 13:15, and described immediately after in the plainest terms, Hos 13:16. \n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/HOS/13.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"HOS","chapter":13},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/HOS/14.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"HOS","chapter":14},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/HOS/12.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"HOS","chapter":12},"numberOfVerses":16}