586
HOSEA
HOUSE
war in vain against this Rider and His horsemen (19'^), wiio are, in the phrase of a later time, Knights of the Holy Ghost.
James Strahan. HOSEA (Qcrji^). — This prophet's gracious words in 2-^, containing a Divine promise that faithless Israel will be restored to God's favour and be for ever His faithful people, receive in St. Paul's revolutionary exegesis (Ro 9-^*-) a new application to the Gentiles, who had not, till the Christian era, been the people or the beloved of God, but who at length become the objects of His love and are called the sons of the living God. Before the coming of the Messiah there was probably no more Christ-like teacher tlian the prophet of Mount Ephraim, who provided our Lord with His favourite quotation, 'I will have mercy [ = hesed, love] and not sacrifice ' ; and it is evident that his prevision of a new covenant, linking Divine and human love in everlasting bonds, was scarcely less precious to the Apostle of the Gentiles than to the Saviour of the world. James Strahan.
HOSPITALITY {(piXo^evla, lit. ' love of strangers '). — Hospitality, by which is meant the reception and entertainment of travellers, is and always has been regarded as one of the chief virtues in the East ; it is therefore not surprising to find com- paratively frequent references to the duty of its strict observance throughout the pages of the NT (Lk V*«; Ro 12'3. 20^ 1 xi 32 5i», Tit l^, He I32, 1 F 4«, SJn^"'-). The customs of hospitality were clearly recognized as binding in the time of Christ (Lk 1**^-), and hospitality was regarded as the proof of right- eousness, and the natural test of a man's character in the final judgment (Mt 25^^). The conditions of the time made hospitality practically a necessity for travellers, while it was vital to the very ex- istence of the early Christian Church. The ordin- ary ties of friendship as well as kinship had in many cases been severed, and Christians regarded themselves and were regarded by the outside world as aliens, bound together as the members of one family. The coherence of that family required that, whenever a Christian migrated from one place to another, he should be received as a welcome guest by the Christians residing there (cf, Sanday- Headlam, Roman^ [ICC, 1902], 363) and, indeed, Avithout such hospitality missionary work would have been out of the question (cf. Ac 10" 21'", Ro 16^^). We accordingly find it commended and enjoined as a duty incumbent on the various Chris- tian communities in the letters of the apostles, as well as in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers {e.g. Clement*). Thus St. Paul, in writing to the Romans, urges them to ' communicate to the neces- sities of the saints,' and to be ' given to hospitality.' The duty of entertaining the ordinary wayfarer was not indeed ignored. Thus in He 13^ the faithful are enjoined not to forget ' to show love unto strangers ; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares,' while later on, the heathen writer Luciant ridicules the liberality shown by Christians towards strangers. Discrimination must, however, be exercised, and no hospitality is to be accorded to those who come as the heralds of another gospel — ' receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed : for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds ' (2 Jnio'-).
But the Christian, though under an obligation to strangers in genera), was obviously under a greater obligation to his fellow-Ciiristian. The distinction between these two obligations is recog- nized in 1 Ti 5'", where the writer, in his enumera- tion of the various virtues whicii qualify women to be ' enrolled ' as widows, says, ' if she hath used * ad Cor. i. 17. t de Morte Pereyrini, § 16.
hospitality to strangers, if she hath washed the saints' feet,' i.e. accorded especial hospitality to Christians as opposed to strangers. The washing of a guest's feet by his host was a mark of honour to the guest and of deep humility on the part of the host (cf. 1 S 25"*') ; hence the significance of our Lord's rebuke to Simon the Pharisee (Lk 7'"), and of His own action at the Last Supper ( Jn 13^**). Again, kissing was and is another act of courtesy usually accorded to strangers of distinction, but significantly denied to our Lord by His Pharisaical host (Lk 7^^). In Palestine to-day the natives may be seen kissing the mouth, the beard, and even the clothes of their honoured guests (cf. Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible, i. 143). They refuse all remuneration for their services, but, after three days, the host may ask his guest whether he in- tends to prolong his stay, and, if so, the host may provide him with work. For three days the hospi- tality accorded is regarded strictly as a right to which the guest is absolutely entitled, and the guest can, of course, on the expiration of three days, take up his abode in another tent in the same place, and thus renew his right. During his so- journ, the person of the guest is inviolable, and this is the case even if he be the sworn enemy of the man of whose hospitality he is partaking. The Oriental view of the binding nature of this virtue is well expressed in the two local proverbs — ' every stranger is an invited guest,' and * the guest while in the house is its lord.'