The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 46

11~ enr-rin~ or noee-ringt1, and other waye of cannot with any propriety be said of a plaoe, derkinc: h<'rself, IM! by pa.inting, the expres- whether desert or otherwise. No doubt the sion may imply lMcivious looks and wanton _wildernOSI! ml\y sto.nd for tboso dwelling iu expl'88l!ions ol' countenance; while the men- it. We prefer, therefore, the allornO:tive tion of brce.ets may indicate the ma.ling of rendering, "make her as in a wilderness, them bnre for the purpose of meretricious a.nd set her a.s in a dry land." Ra.shi aptly blandishments, or as indfrating the place of explains the throat to mean, "Lest I pro- OJC a.dalterer (comp. Ezek. xxiii. 3 and nnuncci against them such n sentence os ot Cant. i. 13). The Jewish commentators old in this desert (Numb. xiv. 85), • In this adopt the latter 11ense. Aben Ezra comments wilderness they shall be consumed, nncl on the gramme.tit-al form of the words there they shall die.' " There is, moreover, naunchn and ,u,aphupheha (the former by a natural connection of ideas between a duplication of the ~econd radical, and the wilderness, a dry land, and thirst. The latter by that of the third) e.s intensive; nation's birth, represeuted by or compared to while Roshi and liimchi refer to the their sojourn in Egypt, naturally Huggests pressure of the breasts. But others under- the idea. of their wa.nderiug in the wilder- 6ta.nd them figuratively, the oountena.uce ness after their exodus from that countr:y; a indicating boldness, and the breasts shame- wilderness, again, suggests what is a.n ·ordi- lessness. Th us Horace speaks of the nary feature of such a clistifot, namely, a brilliant beauty (ni:ror) a.nd coquettishness ~ land ; while a region thus without water (protervilas) of Glyeera. is suggestive as well as p'rovoca.tive of thirst. Ver. 3.-Lest I 1trip her naked, and set The former exple.ua.tion, however, is given her a.a in the day that ahe W&8 born. Th() -by Kimehi: " I will make thee like the Lord, by his servant the prophet, enforces the wilderness which is open to every one, a.nd preceding ei.hortation by a stem denuncia- in which, moreover, one finds no means of tion, and the threat of further severities subsistence, nor anything that ma.n needa; so unless averted by repentance ; e.s an in- I'll withdraw my goodness from them, and they jured husband withdraws from II faithless shall be surrendered a.a a.,1>rey to every one." wife all the gifts and presents he ha.d ma.de Ver. 4.-And I will not have meroy upon for her adornment, leaving her poor and her children ; for they be the ohildren of bare. Kot only the remove.I cif her garments whoredoms. The connection of this verse by way of degradation and disgrace, but is carried on from the preceding, viz. and ei.posure in that position to insult and lest I will not have mercy upon her chil.dren. ignominy would ensue. In other words, the An exceedingly apt illustration of this nation is threatened with deprivation of verse is gi rnn by Jerome. It is to this e.11 the blessings previously lavished upon effect: When the children of Israel were them-property, prosperity, population, a.nd brought out of Egypt, the pa.rents perished privileges; while dishonour of the deepest in the wilderness; but the children of those dye would aggravate the misery. The da.y who had thus perished, and whose carcases of the nation's birth denotes the weakness ha.d thus fallen in the wilderness, were and wretchedness of their infant state. To spR.Ted and permitted to enter the land of this corresponded their servile, suffering promise. Now, however, the case is different, condition during their bondage and oppres- and the punishment aggravated. The adul- sion in Egypt. Re.sl,i thus explains it; terous pa.rent perishes, a.nd the children of Kimchi says, " The figure of birth is the that pa.rent perish also. Further, the reason time they a.re slaves in Egypt;" so also is assigned in the concluding clause. The Theodoret,-the latter calls the da.y of her children proved themselves no better than birth the sojourn in Egypt. The Prophet the mother that bore them ; they were the Ezekiel (xvi. 4) expands the idea., occaeion- worthless progeny of a worthless parent. e.lly employing, as Rosenmiiller remarks, Ver. 5.-l!'or their mother bath played the the very worda. of Hosea. And make her u harlot : she that 0011.oeived them he.th done & wildemess, and Bet her like a dry land, and shamefully : for 1he said, I will go after my 11.e.y her with thirst. This part of the verse lovers, '£he charge of idolatry under the is smceptiLle of two explanations. The figure of harlotry, spiritual harlotry, is faithless feu,ale, under which character the reiterated. "Mother' is repeated in and 1.Jorthern kingdom is personIBed, may be empha~ized by the pare.lie! words, " sho that C(Jmpared io e. wilderness, that is, according conceived thom." Asomewhotsimilar form to Cyril, fruitless, parched, and productive of ex press ion is that in Ps. 1viii. 3, " 'l'ho only of thorns, thirsty e.ud waterless. This wicked a.re estranged from the womb : they comparison of a woman to a desert is want- ~o astray as soon as they be born, speaking ing in suitability, and seems in some degree lies." 'l'o bosh, to be ashamed, belong tho awkward in itself, beside being out of har- Hiphil forms, lwbhish and hobhish (the !utter mony with the closiug clause; for to "slay formed from zal1hish), properly "to put to wiili tuirbt," however applicable w a persou, shmne," but also " tu pre.cUse Bhome or <lo CIT, 11, 1--23,] 'l'HE BOOK OF HOSEA. 43