{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"HOS","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Hosea","commonName":"Hosea","introduction":"THE first of the twelve minor prophets in the order of the canon (called \"minor,\" not as less in point of inspired authority, but simply in point of size). The twelve are first mentioned by Jesus, the son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus 49:10). St. Stephen, in Act 7:42 (in referring to Amo 5:27), quotes them as forming one collective body of writings, \"the book of the prophets.\" So JEROME and MELITO, the first Greek father who has left us a catalogue of these books. The collection of the sacred books is by Jewish tradition attributed to the great synagogue of learned scribes formed by Ezra. Many think Nehemiah completed this collection by adding to the books already in the canon those of his own times. Malachi, the last in the series, probably aided him in determining with infallible authority what books were entitled to be ranked in the inspired canon. The chronological order differs from the canonical. Joel, about 810 B.C.; Jonah, about 810 B.C., or, as others, first, 862 B.C.; Amos, about 790 B.C.; Hosea, about 784 B.C. Hosea, the contemporary of Isaiah, Micah, and Amos, seems to have entered on his prophetical office in the last years of Jeroboam (contemporary in part with Uzziah), and to have ended it in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign, 722 B.C., that is, about sixty years in all, from 784 B.C. to 722 B.C. The prophets, however, were not uninterruptedly engaged in prophesying. Considerable intervals elapsed, though their office as divinely commissioned public teachers was never wholly laid aside. The Book of Hosea which we have constitutes only that portion of his public teachings which the Holy Spirit saw fit to preserve for the benefit of the Church. The cause of his being placed first of the twelve was, probably, the length, the vivid earnestness, and patriotism of his prophecies, as well as their closer resemblance to those of the greater prophets. His style is abrupt, sententious, and unrounded; the connecting particles are few; there are changes of person, and anomalies of gender, number, and construction. His name means Salvation. He was son of Beeri, of the tribe of Issachar, born in Beth-shemesh [JEROME]. His mention, in the inscription, of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, is no proof that he belonged to Judah: for the prophets in Israel regarded its separation from Judah, civil as well as religious, as an apostasy from God, who promised the dominion of the theocracy to the line of David. Hence Elijah in Israel took twelve stones to represent Judah, as well as Israel (Kg1 18:31). Hence Hosea dates from Judah's kings, as well as from Jeroboam of Israel, though he belonged to Israel, with whose sins and fate his book is chiefly occupied. He, however, makes incidental references to Judah. His first prophecy foretells the overthrow of Jehu's house, fulfilled on the death of Jeroboam, Jehu's great-grandson (Kg2 15:12), in Zachariah, Jeroboam's son, the fourth and last from Jehu, conspired against by Shallum. This first prediction was doubtless in Jeroboam's life, as Zachariah, his son, was only suffered to reign six months; thus the inscription is verified that \"the word of the Lord came unto him in the days of Jeroboam\" (Hos 1:1). Again, in Hos 10:14, Shalmaneser's expedition against Israel is alluded to as past, that is, the first inroad against King Hoshea, who began to reign in the twelfth year of Ahaz; so that as Ahaz' whole reign was sixteen years, the prophecy seems to have been given about the beginning of Hezekiah's reign. Thus the inscription is confirmed that the exercise of his prophetical functions was of such a protracted duration.\n\nHosea (Hos 11:1) is quoted in Mat 2:15; also Hos 6:6 in Mat 9:13; Mat 12:7; compare Rom 9:25-26, quoting Hos 1:10; Hos 2:1, Hos 2:23; Co1 15:55, quoting Hos 13:14; Pe1 2:10, quoting Hos 1:9-10; Hos 2:23. Messianic references are not frequent; but the predictions of the future conversion of Israel to the Lord their God, and David their king, and of the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham that his spiritual seed should be as the sand of the sea (Hos 1:10; Hos 3:5), clearly refer to the New Testament dispensation.\n\nThe first and third chapters are in prose, the rest of the book is rhythmical. \n\n\n\nNext: Hosea Chapter 1\n\n","order":28,"numberOfChapters":14,"sha256":"5e42d4aa9dac6f16a101b90c3b192f5999d67bedbf1535a0de2ab14bf9b0b597","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HOS/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HOS","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":14,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HOS/14.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HOS","chapter":14},"totalNumberOfVerses":181},"chapter":{"number":5,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["revolters--apostates. \n\nprofound--deeply rooted [CALVIN] and sunk to the lowest depths, excessive in their idolatry (Hos 9:9; Isa 31:6) [HENDERSON]. From the antithesis (Hos 5:3), \"not hid from me,\" I prefer explaining, profoundly cunning in their idolatry. Jeroboam thought it a profound piece of policy to set up golden calves to represent God in Dan and Beth-el, in order to prevent Israel's heart from turning again to David's line by going up to Jerusalem to worship. So Israel's subsequent idolatry was grounded by their leaders on various pleas of state expediency (compare Isa 29:15). \n\nto . . . slaughter--He does not say \"to sacrifice,\" for their so-called sacrifices were butcheries rather than sacrifices; there was nothing sacred about them, being to idols instead of to the holy God. \n\nthough--MAURER translates, \"and (in spite of their hope of safety through their slaughter of victims to idols) I will be a chastisement to them all.\" English Version is good sense: They have deeply revolted, notwithstanding all my prophetical warnings.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Ephraim--the tribe so called, as distinguished from \"Israel\" here, the other nine tribes. It was always foremost of the tribes of the northern kingdom. For four hundred years in early history, it, with Manasseh and Benjamin, its two dependent tribes, held the pre-eminence in the whole nation. Ephraim is here addressed as foremost in idolatry. \n\nI how . . . not hid from me--notwithstanding their supposed profound cunning (Hos 5:2; Rev 2:2, Rev 2:9, Rev 2:13, Rev 2:19). \n\nnow--\"though I have been a rebuker of all them\" (Hos 5:2) who commit such spiritual whoredoms, thou art now continuing in them.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["They--Turning from a direct address to Ephraim, he uses the third person plural to characterize the people in general. The Hebrew is against the Margin, their doings will not suffer them\" the omission of \"them\" in the Hebrew after the verb being unusual. The sense is, they are incurable, for they will not permit (as the Hebrew literally means) their doings to be framed so as to turn unto God. Implying that they resist the Spirit of God, not suffering Him to renew them; and give themselves up to \"the spirit of whoredoms\" (in antithesis to \"the Spirit of God\" implied in \"suffer\" or \"permit\") (Hos 4:12; Isa 63:10; Eze 16:43; Act 7:51).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["the pride of Israel--wherewith they reject the warnings of God's prophets (Hos 5:2), and prefer their idols to God (Hos 7:10; Jer 13:17). \n\ntestify to his face--openly to his face he shall be convicted of the pride which is so palpable in him. Or, \"in his face,\" as in Isa 3:9. \n\nJudah . . . shall fall with them--This prophecy is later than Hos 4:15, when Judah had not gone so far in idolatry; now her imitation of Israel's bad example provokes the threat of her being doomed to share in Israel's punishment.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["with . . . flocks--to propitiate Jehovah (Isa 1:11-15). \n\nseek . . . not find--because it is slavish fear that leads them to seek Him; and because it then shall be too late (Pro 1:28; Joh 7:34).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["treacherously--as to the marriage covenant (Jer 3:20). \n\nstrange children--alluding to \"children of whoredoms\" (Hos 1:2; Hos 2:4). \"Strange\" or foreign implies that their idolatry was imported from abroad [HENDERSON]. Or rather, \"regarded by God as strangers, not His,\" as being reared in idolatry. The case is desperate, when not only the existing, but also the rising, generation is reared in apostasy. \n\na month--a very brief space of time shall elapse, and then punishment shall overtake them (Zac 11:8). The allusion seems to be to money loans, which were by the month, not as with us by the year. You cannot put it off; the time of your destruction is immediately and suddenly coming on you; just as the debtor must meet the creditor's demand at the expiration of the month. The prediction is of the invasion of Tiglath-pileser, who carried away Reuben, Gad, Naphtali, and the half tribe of Manasseh. \n\nportions--that is, possessions. Their resources and garrisons will not avail to save them. HENDERSON explains from Isa 57:6, \"portions\" as their idols; the context favors this, \"the Lord\" the true \"portion of His people\" (Deu 32:9), being in antithesis to \"their portions,\" the idols.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["The arrival of the enemy is announced in the form of an injunction to blow an alarm. \n\ncornet . . . trumpet--The \"cornet\" was made of the curved horn of animals and was used by shepherds. The \"trumpet\" was of brass or silver, straight, and used in wars and on solemn occasions. The Hebrew is hatzotzerah, the sound imitating the trumpet note (Hos 8:1; Num 10:2; Jer 4:5; Joe 2:1). \n\nGibeah . . . Ramah--both in Benjamin (Isa 10:29). \n\nBeth-aven--in Benjamin; not as in Hos 4:15; Beth-el, but a town east of it (Jos 7:2). \"Cry aloud,\" namely, to raise the alarm. \"Benjamin\" is put for the whole southern kingdom of Judah (compare Hos 5:5), being the first part of it which would meet the foe advancing from the north. \"After thee, O Benjamin,\" implies the position of Beth-aven, behind Benjamin, at the borders of Ephraim. When the foe is at Beth-aven, he is at Benjamin's rear, close upon thee, O Benjamin (Jdg 5:14).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["Israel is referred to in Hos 5:9, Judah in Hos 5:10. \n\nthe day of rebuke--the day when I shall chastise him. \n\namong the tribes of Israel have I made known--proving that the scene of Hosea's labor was among the ten tribes. \n\nthat which shall surely be--namely, the coming judgment here foretold. It is no longer a conditional decree, leaving a hope of pardon on repentance; it is absolute, for Ephraim is hopelessly impenitent.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["remove the bound-- (Deu 19:14; Deu 27:17; Job 24:2; Pro 22:28; Pro 23:10). Proverbial for the rash setting aside of the ancestral laws by which men are kept to their duty. Ahaz and his courtiers (\"the princes of Judah\"), setting aside the ancient ordinances of God, removed the borders of the bases and the layer and the sea and introduced an idolatrous altar from Damascus (Kg2 16:10-18); also he burnt his children in the valley of Hinnom, after the abominations of the heathen (Ch2 28:3).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["broken in judgment--namely, the \"judgment\" of God on him (Hos 5:1). \n\nwalked after the commandment--Jeroboam's, to worship the calves (Kg2 10:28-33). Compare Mic 6:16, \"the statutes of Omri,\" namely, idolatrous statutes. We ought to obey God rather than men (Act 5:29). JEROME reads \"filthiness.\" The Septuagint gives the sense, not the literal translation: \"after vanities.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["as a moth--consuming a garment (Job 13:28; Psa 39:11; Isa 50:9). \n\nJudah . . . rottenness--Ephraim, or the ten tribes, are as a garment eaten by the moth; Judah as the body itself consumed by rottenness (Pro 12:4). Perhaps alluding to the superiority of the latter in having the house of David, and the temple, the religious center of the nation [GROTIUS]. As in Hos 5:13-14, the violence of the calamity is prefigured by the \"wound\" which \"a lion\" inflicts, so here its long protracted duration, and the certainty and completeness of the destruction from small unforeseen beginnings, by the images of a slowly but surely consuming moth and rottenness.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["wound--literally, \"bandage\"; hence a bandaged wound (Isa 1:6; Jer 30:12). \"Saw,\" that is, felt its weakened state politically, and the dangers that threatened it. It aggravates their perversity, that, though aware of their unsound and calamitous state, they did not inquire into the cause or seek a right remedy. \n\nwent . . . to the Assyrian--First, Menahem (Kg2 15:19) applied to Pul; again, Hoshea to Shalmaneser (Kg2 17:3). \n\nsent to King Jareb--Understand Judah as the nominative to \"sent.\" Thus, as \"Ephraim saw his sickness\" (the first clause) answers in the parallelism to \"Ephraim went to the Assyrian\" (the third clause), so \"Judah saw his wound\" (the second clause) answers to (Judah) \"sent to King Jareb\" (the fourth clause). Jareb ought rather to be translated, \"their defender,\" literally, \"avenger\" [JEROME]. The Assyrian \"king,\" ever ready, for his own aggrandizement, to mix himself up with the affairs of neighboring states, professed to undertake Israel's and Judah's cause; in Jdg 6:32, Jerub, in Jerub-baal is so used, namely, \"plead one's cause.\" Judah, under Ahaz, applied to Tiglath-pileser for aid against Syria and Israel (Kg2 16:7-8; Ch2 28:16-21); the Assyrian \"distressed him, but strengthened him not,\" fulfiling the prophecy here, \"he could not heal your, nor cure you of your wound.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["lion--The black lion and the young lion are emblems of strength and ferocity (Psa 91:13). \n\nI, even I--emphatic; when I, even I, the irresistible God, tear in pieces (Psa 50:22), no Assyrian power can rescue. \n\ngo away--as a lion stalks leisurely back with his prey to his lair.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["return to my place--that is, withdraw My favor. \n\ntill they acknowledge their offence--The Hebrew is, \"till they suffer the penalty of their guilt.\" Probably \"accepting the punishment of their guilt\" (compare Zac 11:5) is included in the idea, as English Version translates. Compare Lev 26:40-41; Jer 29:12-13; Eze 6:9; Eze 20:43; Eze 36:31. \n\nseek my face--that is, seek My favor (Pro 29:26, Margin). \n\nin . . . affliction . . . seek me early--that is, diligently; rising up before dawn to seek Me (Psa 119:147; compare Psa 78:34).\n\n\n\n\nNext: Hosea Chapter 6\n\n"]}],"introduction":"GOD'S JUDGMENTS ON THE PRIESTS, PEOPLE, AND PRINCES OF ISRAEL FOR THEIR SINS. (Hos 5:1-5)\n\nJudah, too, being guilty shall be punished; nor shall Assyria, whose aid they both sought, save them; judgments shall at last lead them to repentance.\n\nthe king--probably Pekah; the contemporary of Ahaz, king of Judah, under whom idolatry was first carried so far in Judah as to call for the judgment of the joint Syrian and Israelite invasion, as also that of Assyria. \n\njudgment is towards you--that is, threatens you from God. \n\nye have been a snare on Mizpah . . . net . . . upon Tabor--As hunters spread their net and snares on the hills, Mizpah and Tabor, so ye have snared the people into idolatry and made them your prey by injustice. As Mizpah and Tabor mean a \"watch tower,\" and a \"lofty place,\" a fit scene for hunters, playing on the words, the prophet implies, in the lofty place in which I have set you, whereas ye ought to have been the watchers of the people, guarding them from evil, ye have been as hunters entrapping them into it [JEROME]. These two places are specified, Mizpah in the east and Tabor in the west, to include the high places throughout the whole kingdom, in which Israel's rulers set up idolatrous altars.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HOS/5.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HOS","chapter":5},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HOS/6.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HOS","chapter":6},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HOS/4.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HOS","chapter":4},"numberOfVerses":14}