Hosea 12:10
Ver. 10. I have also spoken to the prophets,.... Or, "I will speak" {b}; for this respects not the Lord's speaking by the prophets of the Old Testament who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; though all they said were for the use of, and profitable unto, Christian churches; but his speaking by the apostles, prophets, and teachers, under the Gospel dispensation; by whom the doctrines of grace have been more clearly dispensed, and which are no other than the voice of Christ speaking in them; and which it is both a privilege to hear, and a duty to attend unto; see Eph 4:11;and I have multiplied visions: or, "will multiply visions" {c}; more than under the former dispensation, as was foretold by Joel, Joe 2:28; see Ac 2:16; witness the visions of the Apostles Peter, Paul, John, and others: or this may respect the more clear sight and knowledge of Gospel truths in the times of the Messiah, then under the Mosaic economy; see 2Co 3:13;and used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets: or, "will use similitudes" {d}; for this is to be understood, not of the types and figures used by the Lord under the legal dispensation, to represent spiritual things, as the brasen serpent, passover lamb, manna, and the sacrifices of the law; nor of the similitudes used by the prophet Hosea, taking a wife and children of whoredoms, to set forth the case and condition of Israel, and of the comparisons he makes of God, to a lion, leopard, bear, &c. or by any other of the former prophets; but of parables and similitudes used in Gospel times; not only such as Christ used himself, who seldom spoke without a parable; see Mt 13:11; but which he used by the ministry of his apostles and prophets, and which are to be met with in their discourses and writings; see 1Co 3:6; and especially such seem to be meant that respect the conversion of the Jews, and the glory of the church in the latter day, Ro 11:16.{b} ytrbdw "et loquar", Piscator, Liveleus, Drusius, Cocceius, Schmidt. {c} ytybrh Nwzx "visionem multiplicabo", Vatablus, Liveleus, Drusius, Schmidt. {d} hmda "assimilabo", Montanus, Schmidt; "similitudinibus utar", Castalio, Liveleus. Hosea 12:11Ver. 11. [Is there] iniquity [in] Gilead?.... Idolatry there? strange that there should be, seeing it was a city of the priests; a city of refuge; or there is none there, say the priests, who pretended they did not worship idols, but the true Jehovah in them: or, "is [there] not iniquity", or idolatry, "in Gilead" {e}? verily there is, let them pretend to what they will: or, "is [there only] iniquity in it" {f}? that the men of it should be carried captive, as they were by TiglathPileser, before the rest of the tribes; see 2Ki 15:29; no, there is iniquity and idolatry committed in other places, as well as there, who must expect to share the same fate in time: or, "is Gilead Aven?" {g} that is, Bethaven, the same with Bethel; it is as that, as guilty of idolatry as Bethel, where one of the calves was set up:surely they are vanity: the inhabitants of Gilead, as well as of Bethel, worshipping idols, which are most vain things, vanity itself, and deceive those that serve them, and trust in them:they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal: to idols, as the Targum adds; and so Jarchi and Kimchi; according to Aben Ezra, they sacrificed them to Baal; this shows that Gilead was not the only place for idolatry, which was on the other side Jordan, but Gilgal, which was on this side Jordan, was also polluted with it. The Vulgate Latin version is,"in Gilgal they were sacrificing to bullocks;''to the calves there, the same as were at Dan and Bethel; so, in the Septuagint version of 1Ki 12:29; it was formerly read: and so Cyril {h} quotes it, "[he] (Jeroboam) set the one (calf) in Gilgal, and the other [in] Dan"; hence the fable that Epiphanius {i} makes mention of, that, when Elisha was born, the golden ox or heifer at Gilgal bellowed very loudly, and so loud as to be heard at Jerusalem. The Targum makes mention of an idol temple here; and as it was near to Bethel, as appears from 1Sa 10:3; and from Josephus {k}; and so Jerom says {l}, hard by Bethel; some suspect another Gilgal; hence it might be put for it; however, it was a place of like idolatrous worship; it is mentioned as such along with Bethaven or Bethel, in Ho 4:15; see also Ho 9:15;yea, their altars [are] as heaps in, the furrows of the fields; not only in the city of Gilgal, and in the temple there, as the Targum; but even without the city, in the fields they set up altars, which looked like heaps of stones; or they had a multitude of altars that stood as thick as they. So the Targum,"they have multiplied their altars, like heaps upon the borders of the fields;''and the Jewish commentators in general understand this as expressive of the number of their altars, and of the increase of idolatrous worship; but some interpret it of the destruction of their altars, which should become heaps of stones and rubbish, like such as are in fields. These words respect Ephraim or the ten tribes, in which these places were, whose idolatry is again taken notice of, after gracious promises were made to Judah. Some begin here a new sermon or discourse delivered to Israel.{e} Nwa delg Ma "an [non in] Galaad iniquitas?" Vatablus. {f} "En [in] Gileade [tantum] iniquitas?" Piscator. {g} "Num Gilead Aven?" Schmidt. {h} Apud Reland. Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. l. 3. p. 783. {i} De Vita & Interitu Prophet. c. 6. & Paschal. Chronic. p. 161. apud Reland. ib. {k} Antiqu. l. 6. c. 4. sect. 9. {l} De locis Hebr. fol. 91. M. Hosea 12:12Ver. 12. And Jacob fled into the country of Syria,.... Or, "field of Syria" {m}; the same with Padanaram; for "Padan", in the Arabic language, as Bochart has shown, signifies a field; and "Aram" is Syria, and is the word here used. This is to be understood of Jacob's fleeing thither for fear of his brother Esau, the history of which is had in Ge 28:1; though some interpret this of his fleeing from Laban out of the field of Syria into Gilead, Ge 31:21; and so make it to be introduced as an aggravation of the sin of the inhabitants of Gilead, that that place, which had been a refuge and sanctuary to their ancestor in his distress, should be defiled with idolatry; but the words will not bear such a construction, and the following seem to militate against it:and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept [sheep]; and so the last clause is supplied by the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi: this was after his flight into Syria, and before he fled from Laban, whom he served seven years for Rachel; and then served him by keeping his sheep seven years more for the same: though it may be understood of his two wives, thus; he served seven years for a wife, for Rachel intentionally, but eventually it was for Leah; and then he kept sheep seven years more for his other wife Rachel; the history of this is in Ge 29:1. This is mentioned to show the meanness of Jacob the ancestor of the Israelites, from whom they had their original and name; he was a fugitive in the land of Syria; there he was a Syrian ready to perish, a very poor man, obliged to serve and keep sheep for a wife, having no dowry to give; and this is observed here to bring, down the pride of Israel, who boasted of their descent, which is weak and foolish for any to do; and to show the goodness of God to Jacob, and to them, in raising him and them from so low an estate and condition to such eminency and greatness as they were; and to upbraid their ingratitude to the God of their fathers, and of their mercies, whom they had revolted from, and turned to idols.{m} Mra hdv "agrum Aram", Montanus; "in agrum Syriae", Vatablus, Drusius, Rivet, Schmidt. Hosea 12:13Ver. 13. And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,.... Or, "by the prophet"; the famous and most excellent prophet Moses, who, by way of eminency, is so called; him the Lord sent, and employed, and made use of him as an instrument to bring his people out of their bondage in Egypt; in which he was a type of Christ the great Prophet of the church, raised up like unto him, and the Redeemer of his people from sin, Satan, and the world, law, hell, and death, and all enemies:and by a prophet he was preserved; by the same prophet Moses was Israel preserved at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; where they were kept as a flock of sheep from their powerful enemies, and brought to the borders of Canaan's land. Some understand this last clause of Joshua, by whom the Israelites were safely conducted through Jordan into the land of Canaan, and settled there; and particularly were brought by him to Gilgal, where the covenant of circumcision was renewed, and the first passover in the land kept, but now a place of idolatry, as before mentioned; and which sin was aggravated by this circumstance: but the design of this observation seems to be to put the Israelites in remembrance of their low estate in Egypt, and of the goodness of God to them in delivering them from thence, which they had sadly requited by their degeneracy and apostasy from him; and to him unto them how much they ought to have valued the prophets of the Lord, though they had despised them, since they had received such benefits and blessings by the means of a prophet. Hosea 12:14Ver. 14. Ephraim provoked [him] to anger most bitterly,.... The Vulgate Latin version supplies it, me; that is, God, as Kimchi; or his Lord, as it may be supplied from the last clause of the verse; the sense is the same either way: it was God that Ephraim or the ten tribes provoked to stir up his wrath and vengeance against them; notwithstanding all the favours that they and their ancestors had received from him, they provoked him in a most bitter manner, to bitter anger, vehement wrath and fury: or, "with bitternesses" {n}; with their sins, which are in their own nature bitter, displeasing to God; and in their effects bring bitterness and death on those that commit them; meaning particularly their idolatry, and all belonging to it; their idols, high places, altars, &c. The word here used is rendered "high heaps" {o}, Jer 31:21; and is here by Kimchi interpreted of altars, with which, and their sacrifices on them, they provoked the Lord to anger:therefore shall he leave his blood upon him; the blood of innocent persons, prophets, and other good men shed by him; the sin of it shall be charged upon him, and he shall bear the punishment of it. So the Targum,"the fault of innocent blood which he shed shall return upon him:''or "his own blood shall be poured out upon him" {p}; in just retaliation for the blood of others shed by him, and for all the blood sired by him in idolatrous sacrifices, and other bloody sins; or his own blood being shed by the enemy shall remain upon him unrevenged; God will not punish those that shed it:and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him: that is, as he has reproached the prophets of the Lord for reproving him for his idolatry, and reproached fire Lord himself, by revolting from him, and neglecting his worship, and preferring the worship of idols to him; so, as a just recompence, he shall be delivered up into the hands of the enemy, and become a reproach, a taunt, and a proverb, in all places into which he shall be brought. God is called "his Lord", though he had rebelled against him, and shook off his yoke, and would not obey him; yet, whether he will or not, he is his Lord, and will show himself to be so by his sovereignty and authority over him, and by the judgments exercised on him. Some understand this of the Assyrian king, become his lord, by taking and carrying him captive, the instrument in God's hand of bringing him to reproach; but the former sense seems best.{n} Myrwrmt "amaritudinibus", Pagninus, Vatablus, Piscator, Schmidt. {o} And is so understood by R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 64. 1. {p} vwjy wyle wymdw kai to aima autou epi auton ekcuyhsetai, Sept. so Syr. & Ar. "ideo sanguis ejus super eum diffundetur, [sive] effundetur", Zanchius.
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