HOSEA

Hosea 2

1The people are exhorted to forsake idolatry, which is threatened with severe judgments. 14God allureth them with promises of reconciliation.


1SAY1 ye unto your brethren, 2Ammi; and to your 3sisters, 4Ru-hamah.

1 O ye faithful remnant of Israel, say unto the Jews, and both of you together make it further known to the Gentiles joined together, through one faith, into one body under one Head Jesus Christ. See Isa. 19:23, 24: Rom. 9:25, 26. This verse some do join as the last verse of the previous chapter.

2 That is, O my people. Compare Hosea 1:7, 9; 1 Peter 2:10.

3 The faithful women in Judah and among the heathen.

4 That is, O pitied. Compare Hosea 1:6.

25Plead with your 6mother, plead: for she is not my 7wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her 8whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

5 Or, strive, debate, that is, ye godly prophets and faithful Israelites, who remain yet among the people, admonish seriously and sharply the excessive wickedness of the people, setting before their eyes My fierce wrath and coming judgments.

6 That is, the people of Israel, the commonwealth of the ten tribes, or the synagogue of Israel. Also verse 5; Hosea 4:5. Compare Isa. 50:1, etc.

7 She is not true and faithful to Me; she does not acknowledge Me for her Husband. Therefore will I not own her, unless she repents, as follows; otherwise shall I proceed with her, as in verse 3, etc.

8 That is, all those outward marks and tokens of her whorish and adulterous heart, such as: your painting of the face and the jewels of the breasts, etc. All this signifies the public, shameless and uncontrolled idolatry. Compare Jer. 4:30; Ezek. 16:11, 17, 18; 23:40, etc. Likewise Prov. 7:16.

3Lest I 9strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was 10born, and 11make her as a wilderness, and set her like a 12dry land, and slay her with 13thirst.

9 Or, cause her to be stripped, unclothed, put off, that is, deprive her of all bodily and spiritual ornaments, wherewith I had so gloriously adorned her. See Ezek. 16:10, 11, 12, 13; 23:26.

10 That is, when I first took them to be My people, in the land of Egypt, where they were placed in this grievous bondage; yea, that I make her yet more miserable by My righteous judgments. Compare Ezek. 16:4, etc.; 23:2.

11 Hebr. place her.

12 Hebr. land of barrenness or thirstiness.

13 Compare Isa. 5:13; Amos 8:11, 13.

4And I will not have mercy upon 14her children; for they be the 15children of whoredoms.

14 Of the members of the people of Israel.

15 Unregenerate, unclean, unholy (compare John 8:44), as begotten illegitimate and in an idolatrous wedlock, while the mother has become an adulteress and unfaithful to Me, as follows.

5For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my 16lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my 17drink.

16 Idols, and consequently idolatrous nations, with whom I thrive and prosper. See Deut. 8:12, 14, 19; Jer. 44:17.

17 Hebr. as if they said: drinks, drinkings.

6¶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, 18and make a wall, that she shall not find her 19paths.

18 Hebr. as if they said: wall up walls.

19 That is, I shall so trouble and distress them on all sides, that they shall begin to loath, or be glad to leave their whoring. Compare Job 3:23; 19:8; Lam. 3:7, 9. Likewise Ezek. 16:41; 23:22, 23, 24.

7And she shall 20follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first 21husband; for then was it better with me than now.

20 As attempting to break through against My will.

21 The Lord.

8For she did not 22know that I gave her 23corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they 24prepared for Baal.

22 Or, confess, acknowledge, that is, she will not know nor acknowledge it; it is a willful ignorance; or, she takes it not to heart.

23 All manner of blessings.

24 Or, whereof they have made a Baal. Hebr. done, made, prepared. God wants to say: they had shamefully misused all the good gifts of God unto idolatry. Of Baal see Judges 2 on verse 11, and compare Ezek. 7:20; 16:16,17, 18, 19; Hosea 8:4; 12:2.

9Therefore will I return, and take away 25my corn 26in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will 27recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

25 Compare Ezek. 16:17, 18, 19, with the annotations.

26 When I had promised and used to give it; or, in the time of harvest and vintage when it shall be ripe, and you think to gather the corn and the new wine, etc.

27 That is, to deprive them; as if the Lord would say: It is very ill bestowed on them, they are not worthy of it; therefore I will rescue it out of the hand of such abusers who possess it wrongfully.

10And now will I discover her 28lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shalla deliver her out of mine hand.

28 Or, shamefulness. See Gen. 34 on verse 7; Jer. 13 on verse 22; Ezek. 16 on verses 36, 37.

a Hosea 5:14.

11I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her 29feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

29 Hebr. feast, new moon, sabbath, solemn day, that is, they shall have no outward form anymore of worship (as Hosea 3:4), and consequently no joy nor comfort in the keeping of their feast days.

12And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my 30rewards that my 31lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest,b and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

30 That is, the reward of my idolatry. Compare Hosea 9:1, with the annotation.

31 That is, the idols, Baals, etc.

b Psalm 80:12; Isa. 5:5.

13And I will 32visit upon her the days of Baalim, 33wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her 34earrings and her 35jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.

32 That is, will punish her for her manifold and long continued idolatry.

33 Or, to whom she burnt incense, that is, used to burn incense; or, for having burnt incense to him.

34 Or, frontlets. See Gen. 24 on verse 22. As whores do trim and adorn themselves before the lovers, so did Israel use to do it in her idolatry. Compare verse 2.

35 Or, necklace, ornaments, precious neck chains, etc. See Prov. 25:12; Cant. 7:1.

1436Therefore, behold, I will 37allure her, and 38bring her into the wilderness, and speak 39comfortably unto her.

36 Lest she would utterly perish and be lost forever, which would happen if I did not prevent her with My mercy, humbling her first with vexations, and afterward, by the preaching of the Holy Gospel, raising her up again, and powerfully instructing and comforting her by My Holy Spirit. Compare Jer. 16:14; Micah 2:12, 13, etc.

37 Or, persuade. This has regard to the acceptable preaching of the Gospel, and the persuading of the elect to repentance and faith. See of the Hebrew word Judges 14 on verse 15; Jer. 20 on verse 7, and compare Mat. 3:3, 5, 6, 11, etc.; 11:28. Likewise Isa. 50:4, etc.

38 The sense appears to be: I will first punish her, and afterwards, etc. Wherefore some translate the text thus: when I shall have made her walk in the wilderness; as God also in former times first led them into the wilderness, and afterwards into the promised land.

39 That is, friendly, kindly. See Gen. 34 on verse 3.

1540And I will give her her vineyards from 41thence, and the valley of 42Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

40 These are the spiritual promises of the covenant of grace, grounded upon the only Redeemer, Mediator and Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom of mere grace we have peace with God through faith, a quiet conscience, a sure refuge, a saving protection, abundance of all spiritual gifts, with an abiding comfort, and, summarily, the assured grace of this life and the eternal glory of what is to come. This is the substance of the following verses of this chapter, set forth under the temporal promises, according to the style of the Old Testament, appertaining to the universal church of Jews and Gentiles. Compare Isa. 65:9; Hosea 12:10.

41 From the wilderness, when they passed it through, that is, when their former afflictions shall be ended; as at the time when, having gone through the wilderness, they first came before the mouth of Canaan, etc.

42 See of this valley Joshua 7:24, 26. It was situated in front in the land of promise by the city of Jericho, and also a door of hope or expectation, that God, having brought His people thus far by Joshua, would go on to accomplish His promises and bring them to the full possession of Canaan; likewise the faithful, in this valley of misery and tribulation, through the grace of Christ, have a beginning of everlasting life and a door of hope, yea a living hope of the complete possession of everlasting glory. See Heb. 6:18, 19, 20, etc. and compare Isa. 65:10.

16And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more 43Baali.

43 Willing to pretend to honor God still through Baal. Compare Exod. 3:2, 4, 5; Judges 2 on verse 11. The word baal indeed signifies lord and master, but as they were wont to give that appellation to the idols after the manner of the heathen, therefore God abhors that title.

17For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and 44they shall no more be remembered by their name.

44 The Baals; that is, My church shall be cleansed from all pollution of idolatry and superstition.

18And in that day will I make a covenant 45for them with the beastsc of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the 46battle out of the earth, and will make them to 47lie down safely.

45 That is, for their best.

c Job 5:23; Isa. 11:6; Ezek. 14:21; 34:25.

46 That is, arms, instruments of war and hostility. Compare Isa. 11:9; Micah 5:10, etc.

47 That is, to sleep. See Psalm 3 on verse 5.

19And I will 48betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in 49righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

48 Compare Eph. 5:25, etc., where the apostle shows forth the mystery of this spiritual marriage, so often recorded in the Holy Scripture; and see moreover The Song of Solomon.

49 Or, with, through, that is, righteousness and mercy shall kindly meet and kiss each other in this work of grace. Let the attentive reader compare these words with Psalm 85:9, 10, 11, 12, 13; Isa. 1:27; 45:8, 23, 24, 25; Jer. 23:6; 33:14, 15, 16; Rom. 3:22, 23, 24, 25, 26, etc.

20I will even 50betroth thee unto me in 51faithfulness: andd thou shalt know the LORD.

50 Observe that this gracious promise is repeated three times in the 19th and 20th verse, for our comfort and assurance.

51 Or, faith.

d Jer. 31:33, 34.

21And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will 52hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

52 Figurative expressions, by which God makes it known, that all creatures must serve His church for her salvation, when He is reconciled and at peace with her. Compare Rom. 8:20, 21, 22, 28.

22And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear 53Jezreel.

53 That is, God’s people, thus called, not only for having lived at that place and suffered there (as Hosea 1:5), but especially in regard of this name Jezreel, that is, the sown or seed of God, to which the next verse alludes; that is. God’s church, especially that of the New Testament. See Rom. 9:24, 25, etc.

23And I will 54sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon 55her that had not obtained mercy; and I wille say to them which were 56not my people, 57Thou art my people; and 58they shall say, 59Thou art my God.

54 See Psalm 22 on verse 30, etc.; Jer. 31:27; Mat. 13:3; 1 Peter 1:23.

55 Hebr. Lo-Ruchamah, as Hosea 1:6. Other, not pitied.

e Hosea 1:10; Rom. 9:26; 1 Peter 2:10.

56 Hebr. Lo-Ammi, as Hosea 1:9. Other, not my people.

57 Hebr. ammi atta, that is, thou art My people.

58 Namely, the people.

59 Or, O, my God. Compare Zech. 13:9.