treatment at the hands of enemies (eh. ix. 10-x. 15). He returns to the contrast between God's dealings and the people's ingratita.de, which merited the severest punishment; but even here God's love and pity protest age.inst hie justice : " How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? how shall I deliver thee, Israel ? My heart is turned within me, my compaseione are kindled together." They must indeed pay the penalty of their sin, bnt, when they have profited by this stern lesson, in dne time they shall be for- given and restored (eh. xi. 1-11). And once more Hosea rebukes the degenerate nation, and sadly shows how it is ripe for judgment. He sets before them the example of their father Jacob, and laments that they have fallen away from his obedience and piety into Canaanitish ways which shall bring destruction upon them (eh. xi.12-xii.). Their obstinate persistence in idolatry, notwithstanding the forbearance and goodness of God toward them, will prove their min. But there is hope of salvation (eh. xiii.). Only let Israel return unto the Lord with humility and entire faith, con- fessing her guilt and casting away her trust in false gods, and God will receive her and bless her largely. "Who is wise," concludes the prophet, " and he shall understand these things ? prudent, and he shall know them ? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but transgressors shall fall therein" (eh. xiv. 9). To the question-Does the book contain prophecies of the Messiah? we must return a qualified answer. Hosea seems barely to mention Messiah him- self, but he has many allusions to the Messianic epoch, both in its h=an and its Divine idea. 'l'he restoration of Israel is conceived as a, return to the promised land after due chastisement and probation, and a return to God's favour under a second David (eh. iii. 5). This restoration is pre- sented under various figures. It is the remarriage of an adulterous wife after a course of severe discipline; it is Israel's resurrection from the dead after she has been fast bound in the chains of judicial death ; it is a banished son's recall from weary exile. And this restoration is accompanied with blessings material and spiritual, peace and fertility in the land, an out- pouring of God's· Spirit upon the people. The writers of the New Testament regarded. Hosea's prophecy as containing much that was distinctly Messi- anic. Our blessed Lord himself twice cites eh. vi. 6 ; "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice," as containing the true genius of his religion (see Matt. ix. 13; xii. 7). The terrors of the last day are expressed in Hosea.'s language: " They shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us" (see Luke xxiii. 30; Rev. vi. 16). Looking on Israel as a type of Christ, St. Matthew quotes Hosea's saying, "I called my son out of Egypt" ( eh. xi. 1), and applies it to the Incarnation, the flight into Egypt, and the return to the Holy Land (Matt. ii. 15). For a proof of the calling of the Gentiles in gospel days, St. Paul (Rom. ix. 25, etc.) refers to eh. i. 10 ; ii. 23. When St. Paul speaks of Christ " rising again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. xv. 4), some think that he is alluding to Hosea'e prophecy (eh. vi. 2), "After two days will he tj INTRODUCTtoN TO
revive us: in the third day he will raise us np, and Wi 1hall live in hia fright." § II. AUTHOR .AND DATE. The .genuineness of the prophecies of Hosea has never been widely called in queRtion, nor haB the book that bea:rs his na.me been S'nccessfully distributed among sever111l e.utbors differing in cha.ractet, cultn.r-e, a.nd date--& division of labour which has played e. great part in tbe .critioism. of other. prophets. All we J-.71ow about Hosea. is supplied by hu:Qself, and the information is of the scantiest Illl.ture. His name, written in the Se.ptua.gint 'Ocn,r, and in the La.tin Vulgate Ose.e, signifies "help,"" deliverance," or,.if taken as Jerome views it, as an abstract for concret.e, «helper," "saviour." It occurs twice elsewhere-first as borne by Joshua, in Numb. xiii. 8, 16 (9, 17, Hebrew), and secondly as the llame of th.e last ki.ng of Israel (2 Kings xv. 30, etc.), e.nd is e. shortened form of t.b.e word "Jelwshea," which ,would mee.n, "the Lord is my help." St. .Jerome says that in some m11,nuscripts, both Greek e.nd Le.tin, he found the name written ".Ause," which, he e.dds, is unintelligible. Bnt this variation may be explained by. the As11y:ria:n monnments, in which the name asS'O.mes the form of "Ausi.". , Jlosea was:the son of Beeri, whom the Jews e1TOneo11Sly identified with. Beere.h, prince 0£ the Retibenites, who was eu-ried into captivity by Tiglath-Pileser (1. .Chron. v. 6), and whom they supposed to be a prophet,, beca.use,they-,held the opinion that when .a prophet's father is: mentionacl ·by.• name, tb.El, 'l!j,tter himself btilongs to the prophetical cla.ss. Pseu.do-Epiphaniu:s .(' Pe Vit. Proph.,' xi.) and Pseudo-Dorothens (' De Vit. Proph.,' i,) e.ssign him :to the tribe of Issa.char, e.nd &Bsert that he was born at a place named. ;Belemoth, which Jerome ea.Us Bethsem.es (Beth-shemeah), within the territories of that tribe, now identified with the ruined :sit,e,,Ai1' esh, 8.hemsiyeh, in the Jordan valley ('Twenty-One Yeats' Work in the Holy Land,' p. i2s). There :u; no reason to doubt that he beloqged tQ the 11,orthern k:iingdom, and exercised his office there. Topogr,a,phica.J a.IJ.d.. other allusion1;1 ,make this clear. Thns he says, "Ye have been a. snar.e on Mizpah, and·e. pet.spread abroad npon Tabor" (eh. v. 1); Samaria is continually ,mentioned; the writer is familiar with Gilead (eh. vi. 8), Gilgal (eh. xii.11);/Leha,itoll (eh. xiv. 5-7), and Beth-el, which he names Beth-aven: (eh. iv. 15), '. He ce.UB the kingdom of Israel simply'' the land" (eh. i. 2), and .the King of Israel "our king'' (eh. vii 5). He ahows an intimate acqnsintane.e with the history a.nd circumstances of Israel. His whole oracle is directed towards Ephraim ; and J n.dah is named only in passing .and incidentally. That the kings of Judah are mentioned in the heading (eh. i. 1) is probably owing, as Keil says, to the inward relation which Hosea. aBsnmed ·towards, that kingdom in common with all true prophets.. Seeing there. the only legiti- mate representlstive of the theocracy, iwhile recognizing the civil authority of other rulers, he fius the da,t.e of his prophecy primarily by the era of the kings of the people of God. THE ROOK OF HOSEA. vii