PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible — Hosea
Gill, John, 1697-1771 · 96,587 words · 161 reading sections
Hosea 1:1
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Hosea 1:1 INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA This book, in the Hebrew Bibles, at least in some copies, is called "Sopher Hosea", the Book of Hoses; and, in the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions, "the Prophecy of Hoses": and, in the Syriac version, "the Prophecy of Hoses the Prophet". I…
1,295 wordsSECTION 2Hosea 1:2
Hosea 1:2 Ver. 2. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea,.... Or "in Hosea" {i}; which was internally revealed to him, and was inspired into him, by the Holy Ghost, who first spoke in him, and then by him; not that Hosea was the first of the prophets to whom the word of the Lord came; for there were Moses, Sam…
868 wordsSECTION 3Hosea 1:3
Hosea 1:3 Ver. 3. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim,.... In the course of prophesying he made mention of this person, who was a notorious common strumpet; and suggested hereby that they were just like her; or these were fictitious names he used to represent their case by Gomer signifies both "consummat…
302 wordsSECTION 4Hosea 1:4
Hosea 1:4 Ver. 4. And the Lord said unto him call his name Jezreel,.... Which some interpret the "seed of God", as Jerom; or "arm of God", as others; and Kimchi applies it to Jeroboam the son of Joash, who was strong, and prospered in his kingdom; but it rather signifies "God will sow", or "scatter" {n}; denoting eith…
564 wordsSECTION 5Hosea 1:5
Hosea 1:5 Ver. 5. And it shall come to pass at that day,.... When the Lord shall take vengeance on the family of Jehu, and deprive them of the kingdom of Israel, and shall punish the idolatrous kings that succeed: that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel; of which valley see Jos 17:16. It is now c…
628 wordsSECTION 6Hosea 1:6
Hosea 1:6 Ver. 6. And she conceived again, and bare a daughter,.... One of the weaker sex; denoting the weaker state of the kingdom of Israel after Jeroboam, as Kimchi thinks; Zachariah his son reigning but six months, and Shallum the son of Jabesh, his successor, reigned but one month, 2Ki 15:8: and God said unto hi…
363 wordsSECTION 7Hosea 1:7
Hosea 1:7 Ver. 7. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah,.... The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which retained the true worship of God among them; see Ho 11:12 and though they often sinned against the Lord, he showed them mercy, and spared them longer than the ten tribes; and though he suffered them to be car…
422 wordsSECTION 8Hosea 1:8
Hosea 1:8 Ver. 8. Now when she had weaned Loruhamah,.... That is, when Gomer had weaned her daughter of this name, Ho 1:6. This some interpret of the people of Israel being deprived of the word and ordinances, compared to milk and breasts, having a famine of them; and so were like children weaned from the milk, and dr…
427 wordsSECTION 9Hosea 1:9
Hosea 1:9 Ver. 9. Then said God, call his name Loammi,.... Which Aben Ezra interprets of the children of the ten tribes horn in captivity, who never returned; but it rather signifies the ten tribes themselves, who were carried captive and had this name given them for the reason following: for ye are not my people; th…
242 wordsSECTION 10Hosea 1:10
Hosea 1:10 Ver. 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered,.... Though called Loammi, and rejected from being the people of God; yet there is a time when their number, according to the promise made to Abraham, shall be as the sand of the sea, and…
599 wordsSECTION 11Hosea 1:11
Hosea 1:11 Ver. 11. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together,.... Not at the return from the Babylonish captivity; for, though some of the ten tribes might be mixed with the Jews when they went into captivity, and came out with them, and others might join them from the various n…
405 wordsSECTION 12Isa 11:13
Isa 11:13 and appoint themselves one head; not Sennacherib, as Aben Ezra, very absurdly; nor Hezekiah, nor Josiah, as others; nor Elijah the prophet, as some in Kimchi; nor Zerubbabel, to which the Targum seems to incline, paraphrasing it, "one head of the house of David;'' but better, as Jarchi, David their King; t…
890 wordsSECTION 13Hosea 2:1
Hosea 2:1 INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 2 This chapter is an explanation of the former, proceeding upon the same argument in more express words. The godly Israelites are here called upon to lay before the body of the people their idolatry, ingratitude, obstinacy, and ignorance of the God of their mercies; and to exhort them …
739 wordsSECTION 14Hosea 2:2
Hosea 2:2 Ver. 2. Plead with your mother, plead,.... The congregation of Israel, as the Targum; the body of the Jewish nation, which, with respect to individuals, was as a mother to her children; see Mt 21:37, that is, lay before her, her sin in rejecting the Messiah, the Head and Husband of his true church and people…
494 wordsSECTION 15Hosea 2:3
Hosea 2:3 Ver. 3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born,.... Alluding to the case of an infant when born, which comes naked into the world; and referring to the state and condition of the Israelites in Egypt, which was the time of their nativity, as a people and church; see Eze 16:4, and …
498 wordsSECTION 16Hosea 2:4
Hosea 2:4 Ver. 4. And I will not have mercy upon her children,.... The posterity of the Jews in succeeding ages, until the time of their conversion comes; they persisting in the sins of their forefathers, filling up the measure of their iniquities; remaining in their obstinate rejection of the Messiah, and in the same…
125 wordsSECTION 17Hosea 2:5
Hosea 2:5 Ver. 5. For their mother hath played the harlot,.... Or committed idolatry; which is the reason why she is to be pleaded with, and why the Lord will not own her as his wife, or be a husband to her; and why she is to be exhorted to put away her whoredoms from her; and was in danger of all the above evils comi…
642 wordsSECTION 18Hosea 2:6
Hosea 2:6 Ver. 6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns,.... As fields and vineyards are fenced with thorn hedges to keep out beasts; or rather as closes and fields are fenced to keep cattle in, from going out and straying elsewhere; which may be expressive of afflictions, aud particularly wars among …
233 wordsSECTION 19Hosea 2:7
Hosea 2:7 Ver. 7. And she shall follow after her lovers,.... Before mentioned; that is, in her affections and desires, with great eagerness and earnestness, as men pursue what they are bent upon; otherwise, being hedged in and walled up, she could not go after them in a proper sense: but she shall not overtake them; …
623 wordsSECTION 20Hosea 2:8
Hosea 2:8 Ver. 8. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,.... This is a reason, not of her resolution to return to her first husband, but to go after lovers, and of her ascribing these things to them, Ho 2:5, and why the Lord would behave towards her as he determined to do, Ho 2:6, this ignorance…
388 wordsSECTION 21Hosea 2:9
Hosea 2:9 Ver. 9. Therefore will I return, and take away,.... Or, "take away again" {k}; an usual Hebraism: my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof; for though these are the gifts of God to men for their use, and to dispose of for the good of others; yet he retains his property in them, and can…
300 wordsSECTION 22Hosea 2:10
Hosea 2:10 Ver. 10. And now will I discover her lewdness in the lovers,.... The people, her lovers, as the Targum; which is by many understood of the Egyptians and Assyrians; but rather means the Romans, whom the Jews courted as their friends: though it seems best to interpret it in a more general way, that the sin an…
177 wordsSECTION 23Hosea 2:11
Hosea 2:11 Ver. 11. I will also cause all her mirth to cease,.... As it must in course, this being her case, as before described, whether considered in individuals, or as a body politic, or in their church state, as follows: her feast days; which the Jews understand of the three feasts of tabernacles, passover, and p…
199 wordsSECTION 24Hosea 2:12
Hosea 2:12 Ver. 12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,.... Which are mentioned for the rest, being the most fruitful and beneficial: this was done when Judea was invaded, overrun and wasted, by the Roman army; and when many were cut down, as Josephus observes, to build forts, and cast up mounts against Je…
267 wordsSECTION 25Hosea 2:13
Hosea 2:13 Ver. 13. And, I will visit upon her the days of Baalim,.... That is, punish them for all the idolatries committed by their forefathers, in the days that the several Baals, as Baalpeor, and Baalberith, and others, were worshipped by them; they their children, though not worshipping these Baalim, yet other lo…
188 wordsSECTION 26Hosea 2:14
Hosea 2:14 Ver. 14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her,.... Since these rough ways will not do, I will take another, a more mild and gentle way; instead of threatening, terrifying, and punishing, I will allure, persuade, and entice, giving loving words and winning language: or "nevertheless", or "notwithstanding" {m…
5,781 wordsSECTION 27Hosea 3:1
Hosea 3:1 INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 3 In this chapter is an order to the prophet to love an adulterous woman beloved of her friend, and by this parable to express the love of God to Israel, and their ingratitude to him, Ho 3:1, the prophet's execution of that order, making a purchase of her, and a covenant with her, whic…
741 wordsSECTION 28Hosea 3:2
Hosea 3:2 Ver. 2. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver,.... Or, "fifteen shekels", which was about one pound seventeen shillings and six pence of our money, reckoning a shekel at two shillings and six pence; though some make it to be but two shillings and four pence; this was but half the price of a serv…
530 wordsSECTION 29Hosea 3:3
Hosea 3:3 Ver. 3. And I said unto her,.... Having bought or hired her; this was the covenant or agreement he made with her, thou shall abide for me many days; dwell alone in some solitary and separate place, and have no conversation with any, especially with men; live like a widow that has lost her husband, and so wa…
200 wordsSECTION 30Hosea 3:4
Hosea 3:4 Ver. 4. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince,.... Without any form of civil government, either regal or without any civil magistrate, either superior or subordinate, of their own; being subject to the kings and princes of other nations, as the ten tribes were …
783 wordsSECTION 31Hosea 3:5
Hosea 3:5 Ver. 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return,.... The ten tribes of Israel, and also the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which are included in the name of Israel, as Aben Ezra interprets it; and these are joined together in parallel places; see Jer 30:3 for though they did not go into captivity to…
1,275 wordsSECTION 32Hosea 4:1
Hosea 4:1 INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 4 This chapter contains a new sermon or prophecy, delivered in proper and express words, without types and figures, as before; in which the people of Israel are summoned to appear at the tribunal of God, to hear the charge brought against them, and the sentence to be pronounced upon th…
750 wordsSECTION 33Hosea 4:2
Hosea 4:2 Ver. 2. By swearing, and lying,.... Which some join together, and make but one sin of it, false swearing, so Jarchi and Kimchi; but that swearing itself signifies, as the Targum interprets it; for it not only takes in all cursing and imprecations, profane oaths, and taking the name of God in vain, and sweari…
441 wordsSECTION 34Hosea 4:3
Hosea 4:3 Ver. 3. Therefore shall the land mourn,.... Because of the calamities on it, the devastations made in it; nothing growing upon it, through a violent drought; or the grass and corn being trodden down, or eaten up, by a foreign army: and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish; that is, every man, an in…
211 wordsSECTION 35Hosea 4:4
Hosea 4:4 Ver. 4. Yet, let no man strive, nor reprove another,.... Or rather, "let no man strive, nor any man reprove us" {q}; and are either the words of the people, forbidding the prophet, or any other man, to contend with them, or reprove them for their sins, though guilty of so many, and their land in so much dang…
341 wordsSECTION 36Hosea 4:5
Hosea 4:5 Ver. 5. Therefore shall thou fall in the day,.... Either, O ye people, everyone of you, being so refractory and incorrigible; or, O thou priest, being as bad as the people; for both, on account of their sins, should fall from their present prosperity and happiness into great evils and calamities; particularl…
365 wordsSECTION 37Hosea 4:6
Hosea 4:6 Ver. 6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,.... This is not to be understood of those who are the Lord's people by special grace; for they cannot he destroyed, at least with everlasting destruction; God's love to them, his choice of them, covenant with them, the redemption of them by Christ, and t…
775 wordsSECTION 38Hosea 4:7
Hosea 4:7 Ver. 7. As they were increased, so they sinned against me,.... As the children of the priests increased and grew up, they sinned against the Lord, imitating their parents; they were as many sinners as they were persons, not one to be excepted: this expresses their universal depravity and corruption. Some und…
161 wordsSECTION 39Hosea 4:8
Hosea 4:8 Ver. 8. They eat up the sin of my people,.... That is, the priests did so, as the Targum, the priests of Jeroboam; they ate up the sacrifices which the people brought for their sins: and their fault was, either that they ate that which belonged to the true priests of the Lord, so Jarchi; or they did that, an…
265 wordsSECTION 40Hosea 4:9
Hosea 4:9 Ver. 9. And there shall be, like people, like priest,.... No difference between them in their festivals, the one being as greedy of committing intemperance and uncleanness as the other, and in their common conversation of life; though the priests ought both to have given good instructions, and to have set go…
226 wordsSECTION 41Hosea 4:10
Hosea 4:10 Ver. 10. For they shall eat, and not have enough,.... Namely, the priests; for of them the words are continued, who ate of the sacrifices of the people, and of feasts made in honour of idols; and yet, either what they ate did not satisfy or nourish them, or else their appetites were still greedy after more …
267 wordsSECTION 42Hosea 4:11
Hosea 4:11 Ver. 11. Whoredom and wine, and new wine, take away the heart. Uncleanness and intemperance besot men, deprive them of reason and judgment, and even of common sense, make them downright fools, and so stupid as to do the following things; or they take away the heart from following the Lord, and taking heed t…
138 wordsSECTION 43Hosea 4:12
Hosea 4:12 Ver. 12. My people ask counsel at their stocks,.... Or "at his wood" {a}, or stick; his wooden image, as the Targum; their wooden gods, their idols made of wood, mere stocks and blocks, without life or sense, and much less reason and understanding, and still less divinity. Reference is here had either to th…
1,013 wordsSECTION 44Hosea 4:13
Hosea 4:13 Ver. 13. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,.... The highest part of them, nearest to the heavens, where they built their altars to idols, and offered sacrifice unto them, as we often read in Scripture they did: and burn incense upon the hills; to their idols, which was one kind of sacrifice put…
834 wordsSECTION 45Hosea 4:14
Hosea 4:14 Ver. 14. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredoms, nor your spouses when they commit adultery,.... Either not punish them at all, so that they shall go on in sin, and to a greater degree, to the disgrace and reproach of their parents and husbands; or not as yet, or not so severely in them…
2,804 wordsSECTION 46Hosea 5:1
Hosea 5:1 INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 5 The design of this chapter is to expose the sins of Israel and of Judah, and to declare the judgment of God upon them for them. Men of all ranks in Israel are summoned to attend to the charge brought against then, and the sentence on them, Ho 5:1. The charge exhibited is, that they w…
990 wordsSECTION 47Hosea 5:2
Hosea 5:2 Ver. 2. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter,.... The revolters are the king, priests, and people, who had revolted from the true worship and ways of God unto idolatry. These formed deep laid schemes, and took crafty methods, like hawkers; who lay themselves flat upon the ground to manage their s…
242 wordsSECTION 48Hosea 5:3
Hosea 5:3 Ver. 3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me,.... Though they may cover their designs from men, and seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and make plausible pretences for what they do, and put on an appearance of religion; yet God, who knows all men, and their hearts, cannot be deceived; he…
258 wordsSECTION 49Hosea 5:4
Hosea 5:4 Ver. 4. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God,.... Either their evil doings; they will not leave, as the Targum and Jarchi {g}; their evil ways and worship, their adultery and idolatry; which was necessary to repentance and true conversion to God, whom they yet professed to be their God, th…
308 wordsSECTION 50Hosea 5:5
Hosea 5:5 Ver. 5. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face,.... Or, "does" or "shall answer to his face" {h}; contradicts him, convicts him, and fills him with shame; the pride of his heart, and of his countenance, and which appears in all his actions, and which is open and manifest to all, shall stare him in …
392 wordsSECTION 51Hosea 5:6
Hosea 5:6 Ver. 6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord,.... Not only the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, to whom Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and Abarbinel, restrain the words; but the ten tribes of Israel also, who, when in distress, and seeing ruin coming upon them, should seek the Lord; see…
279 wordsSECTION 52Hosea 5:7
Hosea 5:7 Ver. 7. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord,.... Which was the reason of his departure from them; as a woman deals treacherously with her husband when she is unfaithful to him, and commits adultery; so Israel and Judah dealt treacherously with the Lord, who stood in the relation of a husband to th…
389 wordsSECTION 53Hosea 5:8
Hosea 5:8 Ver. 8. Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, [and] the trumpet in Ramah,.... As an alarm of war, to give notice that the enemy is at hand, just ready to invade the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and bring destruction upon them; according to the Targum, the words are directed to the prophets, "O ye prophets, lift up…
478 wordsSECTION 54Hosea 5:9
Hosea 5:9 Ver. 9. Ephraim shall he desolate in the day of rebuke,.... The country of the ten tribes shall be laid desolate, the inhabitants of them destroyed either by the sword, or famine, or pestilence, and the rest carried captive, as they were by Shalmaneser; and this was the day of the Lord's rebuke and chastisem…
228 wordsSECTION 55Hosea 5:10
Hosea 5:10 Ver. 10. The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound,.... Or landmark, which to do was contrary to the law, De 19:14; and has always been reckoned a heinous sin among all nations, and is only done by such who have no regard to right and wrong, and by them secretly; and such were the kings, pri…
315 wordsSECTION 56Hosea 5:11
Hosea 5:11 Ver. 11. Ephraim [is] oppressed, [and] broken in judgment,.... Here the prophet again returns to the ten tribes, who were oppressed and broken, either by their own judgments, as the Targum; by the tyranny of their kings, and the injustice of their judges, who looked only for the mammon of unrighteousness; o…
163 wordsSECTION 57Hosea 5:12
Hosea 5:12 Ver. 12. Therefore [will] I [be] unto Ephraim as a moth,.... Which eats garments, penetrates into them, feeds on them privately, secretly, without any noise, and gradually and slowly consumes them; but at last utterly, that they are of no use and profit: this may signify the various things which befell the …
155 wordsSECTION 58Hosea 5:13
Hosea 5:13 Ver. 13. When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw] his wound,.... That their civil state were in a sickly condition, very languid, weak, feeble, and tottering, just upon the brink of ruin; see Isa 1:6; then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb; that is, the ten tribes, or the king of t…
722 wordsSECTION 59Hosea 5:14
Hosea 5:14 Ver. 14. For I [will be] unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah,.... Being provoked by their above conduct and behaviour in seeking to others, and not to him, for help, he threatens to punish them in a more public and severe manner; not be to them only as a moth and rottenness, bu…
335 wordsSECTION 60Hosea 5:15
Hosea 5:15 Ver. 15. I will go [and] return to my place,.... Leave the countries of Israel and of Judah, where he had used to grant his gracious and spiritual presence unto his people, and watched over them, and cared for them, and bestowed many favours on them, and go up to heaven, the place of his more glorious prese…
269 wordsSource & rights
Public domain; John Gill (1697–1771). Source item is marked Public Domain on Internet Archive.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.