Hosea

Hosea 1

Chapter I · Vol. III, pp. 1408–1409

1 Hosea, to show God's judgment for spiritual whoredom, taketh Gomer, 4 and hath by her Jezreel, 6 Lo-ruhamah, 8 and Lo-ammi. 10 The restoration of Judah and Israel under one head.

Margin referencesNotes ↓

Vol. III, p. 1408

1 The word of the LORD that ^acame unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, ^bin the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.¹

A.M. cir. 3219. B.C. cir. 785.

a 2 Pe.1.21. 2 Co.4.4, 7; 5.20.

b 2 Ki.14.23-25; 15.1,2,32,33; 16.1,2; 18.1-11.

1 Jeroboam king of Israel was contemporary with Uzziah king of Judah, and is here mentioned because the prophecy was chiefly directed to his subjects.—C.

2 The^c beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take^d unto thee a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms: for the land ^ehath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

c Mar.1.1.

d ch.3.1, with Is.20.3,4. Je.xiii.xix. Eze.iv.v.xii.; 24.15-25.

e De.31.16. Je.3.1-4. Eze.xvi.xxiii. 1 Ki.12.28. 2 Ch.33.9. Ps.73.27.

3 So he went and took ²Gomer,³ the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

2 i.e. perfection, Eze.16.14; or consumption, ch.2.8,9,12. Some think all this was merely transacted in a vision, as Eze.viii; but if she were of an unblemished character before marriage, and afterwards played the harlot, all might really happen without any dishonour to Hosea.

3 Gomer, consuming; Diblaim, things of the hapless condition of Israel, consumed and withered as barren branches, Jn.15.6.—C.

4 And the LORD said unto him, Call his name ⁴Jezreel;⁵ for yet a little while, and I will avenge⁶ the ^gblood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and ^hwill cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

A.M. cir. 3219. B.C. cir. 785.

4 The seed or scattering of God.

5 Jezreel, 'God will disperse,' or as seed sown by the way-side is scattered and lost.—C.

6 Heb. visit.

g 2 Ki.9.24; 10.7,8,11,17.

h 2 Ki.15.10-12,29; 17.6.

5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that ⁱI will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

i Je.49.35. 2 Ki.15.29; 17.4. Jos.17.16; 19.18. Ju.6.33.

6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah:⁷ for I will no more ⁸have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will ^jutterly take them away.⁹

7 That is, Not having obtained mercy, Is.27.11.

8 Heb. not add any more to have.

j 2 Ki.15.29; 17.6,23. ch.9.15-17.

9 Or, that I should altogether pardon them.

7 But ^kI will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them ^lby the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

k 2 Ki.xviii.xix. Is.xxxvi.xxxvii.

l Is.7.14; 9.4-7; 10.27. Zec.4.6; 9.10. Je.23.6. Ps.33.16; 44.3,6.

8 Now when she had weaned ¹Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.

1 Lo-ruhamah—not having obtained mercy. The character of an individual unbelieving and impenitent.—C.

**JENIN BY EARLY MORNING LIGHT, WHERE THE BOW OF ISRAEL WAS TO BE BROKEN. [Hosea, i: 5.]** "And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." The city of Jenin lies on the frontier of Samaria, at the southern edge of the plain of Jezreel. This is supposed to be the ancient En-gannin which was a Levitical city of Issachar, referred to in Joshua xix: 21, and xxi: 29. Here was the borderland between the provinces of Galilee and Samaria in the time of Christ. It is a beautiful situation, well watered, and its name signifies "a fountain of gardens." The springs rise in the hills behind the garden, and the water is conducted by an aqueduct to a reservoir in the center of the town, said to have been built in the first half of the present century. This place is the seat of Kaima Kam, a governor appointed by the Sultan at Constantinople to rule over it.

Vol. III, p. 1409

9 Then said God, Call his name ²Lo-ammi:³ for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

A.M. cir. 3219. B.C. cir. 785.

2 That is, Not my people, 2 Ki.17.6-18. ch.3.4, with Ex.19.5,6. Eze.11.20; 14.11.

3 Lo-ammi:—not my people. The character of a nation who had merged private conscience in the prevalence of general corruption.—C.

10 Yetⁿ the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered: ^oand it shall come to pass, that in the⁴ place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

n Ro.9.25,26. 1 Pe.2.9,10. Mat.8.11. Is.43.6; 49.12-23; 60.4,22. Eze.37.2-10. Je.31.8. Zec.10.8,9; 2.4,11. Ge.22.17; 32.12.

o Ro.9.25,26; 11.15,25,26. ch.2.23; 6.1,2. Ga.4.4-6. Jn.1.12. 1 Jn.3.1,2. 2 Co.6.17,18. 1 Pe.2.9,10.

4 Or, instead of that.

11 Then^p shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: ^qfor great shall be the day of Jezreel.⁵

p Is.11.12,13. Ro.11.25,26. Je.3.18; 23.3-8; 30.3; 31.1-20; 50.4,5,19. Eze.11.15-20; 34.13; 16.53-63; 20.33,44; 34.23-31; xxxvi.xxxvii. Mi.2.13. ch.3.5.

q Ps.110.3. Is.60.22; 11.12; 53.10-12. Ps.22.27-30.

5 Jezreel (see ver. 4) signifies the 'dispersion of the seed of God' in the act of judgment; here it still possesses the same meaning, but in the act of being gathered again in mercy into one heap (Ps. 147.2), under Christ their 'one head' and sole Lord of the harvest.—C.

Notes

Ver. 4. In executing God's judgments on the family of Ahab, 2 Ki. 9. 10, Jehu only aimed at gratifying his own ambition and cruelty; and therefore his conduct is justly punished, as murder, upon his own family, and the throne of Israel taken from them.

Ver. 2. The 'whoredom' here described consisted in the people of Israel having 'departed from the LORD,' and gone after the idolatry of the nations. This command, when interpreted by the second chapter—which evidently describes the kingdom of Israel under the emblem of a faithless but reclaimed, reformed, and penitent wife—will clearly appear to be itself, not an actual command for God's prophet to marry an adulteress, but an emblem of what grace and mercy must do in bringing back faithless rebels to the covenant and kingdom of God. C.

Ver. 5. Break the bow. Nations, like an elastic bow, often make sudden and wonderful recoveries after defeats apparently ruinous: but as the 'broken bow' recovers no more, so Israel now falls, never again to rise till the judgment is completed. C.

Reflections.—God can easily preserve his ministers in the very worst of times, and make them steadily to serve him either in honour or dishonour. And it becomes them to use very diversified methods in order to convince hardened sinners, and warn them to flee from the wrath which is to come. God will reward men according to their deeds when his work with them is finished. And there is no warding off the strokes of his judgment. They who depart from him weaken and bring certain ruin on themselves. If God's mercy be once taken from men, they are irrecoverably miserable. And they who in works deny God may expect to be disowned by him at last. But our salvation is solely owing to his loving grace. And if we cleave to God in a day of defection, he will save us in a day of trouble. Thrice happy are they who, adopted into his family, have Jesus for their spiritual head, and go up from this world to their heavenly rest. Happy are the apostolic and coming periods, and especially that of the last judgment, in which multitudes of Jews and Gentiles shall follow after him as the head of his redeemed church.