{"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":9,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["(Hos 2:9, Hos 2:12). \n\nfail--disappoint her expectation.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["return to Egypt--(See on Hos 8:13). As in Hos 11:5 it is said, \"He shall not return into . . . Egypt.\" FAIRBAIRN thinks it is not the exact country that is meant, but the bondage state with which, from past experience, Egypt was identified in their minds. Assyria was to be a second Egypt to them. Deu 28:68, though threatening a return to Egypt, speaks (Deu 28:36) of their being brought to a nation which neither they nor their fathers had known, showing that it is not the literal Egypt, but a second Egypt-like bondage that is threatened. \n\neat unclean things in Assyria--reduced by necessity to eat meats pronounced unclean by the Mosaic law (Eze 4:13). See Kg2 17:6.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["offer wine offerings--literally, \"pour as a libation (Exo 30:9; Lev 23:13). \n\nneither shall they be pleasing unto him--as being offered on a profane soil. \n\nsacrifices . . . as the bread of mourners--which was unclean (Deu 26:14; Jer 16:7; Eze 24:17). \n\ntheir bread for their soul--their offering for the expiation of their soul [CALVIN], (Lev 17:11). Rather, \"their bread for their sustenance ('soul' being often used for the animal life, Gen 14:21, Margin) shall not come into the Lord's house\"; it shall only subserve their own uses, not My worship.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["(Hos 2:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["because of destruction--to escape from the devastation of their country. \n\nEgypt shall gather them up--that is, into its sepulchres (Jer 8:2; Eze 29:5). Instead of returning to Palestine, they should die in Egypt. \n\nMemphis--famed as a necropolis. \n\nthe pleasant places for their silver--that is, their desired treasuries for their money. Or, \"whatever precious thing they have of silver\" [MAURER]. \n\nnettles--the sign of desolation (Isa 34:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["visitation--vengeance: punishment (Isa 10:3). \n\nIsrael shall know it--to her cost experimentally (Isa 9:9). \n\nthe prophet is a fool--The false prophet who foretold prosperity to the nation shall be convicted of folly by the event. \n\nthe spiritual man--the man pretending to inspiration (Lam 2:14; Eze 13:3; Mic 3:11; Zep 3:4). \n\nfor the multitude of thine iniquity, &c.--Connect these words with, \"the days of visitation . . . are come\"; \"the prophet . . . is mad,\" being parenthetical. \n\nthe great hatred--or, \"the great provocation\" [HENDERSON]; or, \"(thy) great apostasy\" [MAURER]. English Version means Israel's \"hatred\" of God's prophets and the law.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["The watchman . . . was with my God--The spiritual watchmen, the true prophets, formerly consulted my God (Jer 31:6; Hab 2:1); but their so-called prophet is a snare, entrapping Israel into idolatry. \n\nhatred--rather, \"(a cause of) apostasy\" (see Hos 9:7) [MAURER]. \n\nhouse of his God--that is, the state of Ephraim, as in Hos 8:1 [MAURER]. Or, \"the house of his (false) god,\" the calves [CALVIN]. Jehovah, \"my God,\" seems contrasted with \"his God.\" CALVIN'S view is therefore preferable.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["as in the days of Gibeah--as in the day of the perpetration of the atrocity of Gibeah, narrated in Jdg 19:16-22, &c.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["As the traveller in a wilderness is delighted at finding grapes to quench his thirst, or the early fig (esteemed a great delicacy in the East, Isa 28:4; Jer 24:2; Mic 7:1); so it was My delight to choose your fathers as My peculiar people in Egypt (Hos 2:15). \n\nat her first time--when the first-fruits of the tree become ripe. \n\nwent to Baal-peor-- (Num 25:3): the Moabite idol, in whose worship young women prostituted themselves; the very sin Israel latterly was guilty of. \n\nseparated themselves--consecrated themselves. \n\nunto that shame--to that shameful or foul idol (Jer 11:13). \n\ntheir abominations were according as they loved--rather, as Vulgate, \"they became abominable like the object of their love\" (Deu 7:26; Psa 115:8). English Version gives good sense, \"their abominable idols they followed after, according as their lusts prompted them\" (Amo 4:5, Margin).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["their glory shall fly away--fit retribution to those who \"separated themselves unto that shame\" (Hos 9:10). Children were accounted the glory of parents; sterility, a reproach. \"Ephraim\" means \"fruitfulness\" (Gen 41:52); this its name shall cease to be its characteristic. \n\nfrom the birth . . . womb . . . conception--Ephraim's children shall perish in a threefold gradation; (1) From the time of birth. (2) From the time of pregnancy. (3) From the time of their first conception.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Even though they should rear their children, yet will I bereave them (the Ephraimites) of them (Job 27:14). \n\nwoe . . . to them when I depart--Yet the ungodly in their madness desire God to depart from them (Job 21:14; Job 22:17; Mat 8:34). At last they know to their cost how awful it is when God has departed (Deu 31:17; Sa1 28:15-16; compare Hos 9:11; Sa1 4:21).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus . . . in a pleasant place--that is, in looking towards Tyrus (on whose borders Ephraim lay) I saw Ephraim beautiful in situation like her (Eze. 26:1-28:26). \n\nis planted--as a fruitful tree; image suggested by the meaning of \"Ephraim\" (Hos 9:11). \n\nbring forth his children to the murderer-- (Hos 9:16; Hos 13:16). With all his fruitfulness, his children shall only be brought up to be slain.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["what wilt thou give?--As if overwhelmed by feeling, he deliberates with God what is most desirable. \n\ngive . . . a miscarrying womb--Of two evils he chooses the least. So great will be the calamity, that barrenness will be a blessing, though usually counted a great misfortune (Job 3:3; Jer 20:14; Luk 23:29).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["All their wickedness--that is, their chief guilt. \n\nGilgal--(see on Hos 4:15). This was the scene of their first contumacy in rejecting God and choosing a king (Sa1 11:14-15; compare Sa1 8:7), and of their subsequent idolatry. \n\nthere I hated them--not with the human passion, but holy hatred of their sin, which required punishment to be inflicted on themselves (compare Mal 1:3). \n\nout of mine house--as in Hos 8:1 : out of the land holy unto ME. Or, as \"love\" is mentioned immediately after, the reference may be to the Hebrew mode of divorce, the husband (God) putting the wife (Israel) out of the house. \n\nprinces . . . revolters--\"Sarim . . . Sorerim\" (Hebrew), a play on similar sounds.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["The figures \"root,\" \"fruit,\" are suggested by the word \"Ephraim,\" that is, fruitful (see on Hos 9:11-12). \"Smitten,\" namely, with a blight (Psa 102:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["My God--\"My,\" in contrast to \"them,\" that is, the people, whose God Jehovah no longer is. Also Hosea appeals to God as supporting his authority against the whole people. \n\nwanderers among . . . nations-- (Kg2 15:29; Ch1 5:26).\n\n\n\n\nNext: Hosea Chapter 10\n\n"]}],"introduction":"WARNING AGAINST ISRAEL'S JOY AT PARTIAL RELIEF FROM THEIR TROUBLES: THEIR CROPS SHALL FAIL, AND THE PEOPLE LEAVE THE LORD'S LAND FOR EGYPT AND ASSYRIA, WHERE THEY CANNOT, IF SO INCLINED, SERVE GOD ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT RITUAL: FOLLY OF THEIR FALSE PROPHETS. (Hos. 9:1-17)\n\nRejoice not . . . for joy--literally, \"to exultation.\" Thy exultation at the league with Pul, by which peace seems secured, is out of place: since thy idolatry will bring ruin on thee. \n\nas other people--the Assyrians for instance, who, unlike thee, are in the height of prosperity. \n\nloved a reward upon every corn floor--Thou hast desired, in reward for thy homage to idols, abundance of corn on every threshing-floor (Hos 2:12).\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HOS/9.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HOS","chapter":9},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HOS/10.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HOS","chapter":10},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/HOS/8.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"HOS","chapter":8},"numberOfVerses":16}