The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 142

V<'rse i• giv,:-n by Kimohi ae follows: "When e.id. With the profltlel!8neee e.e well 88 the Ephraim and Judah BRW the.t the enemies sinfulness of such attempts thoy aro here were C'onatantly invading and plundering sharply rebuked. Thus Oe.lvin: "Here God them, they seek help from the King or As- declares that whatever the Isrnelites might ayriR; hut turn not back to me, nor seek seek would bo in ve.in. • Ye think,' he sl\ys, ]1Plp from me, but from flesh and blood, 'the.t you c!\n escape my hand by these which. howC'vPr, cannot help them when it remPdies; but your folly will at length betro.y is not my pkaeure." (1) Some, AS the Jewish itself, for he will avfti! you nothing; that is, interprPtC'rs. refer the first clause as 11. matter King Jarcb will not henl you.'" of course to F.phraim, but the second to Vere. 14, 15.-These verses assign a reason ,Judah; thus, Jerome in like manner under- for the powerlessness even of the mighty ~tands Ephraim'e visit of that to Pul, re- Assyrian monarch to help; e.nd that reason C'ordPd in 2 Kings xv., and the message of is the Divine interposition. The irresistible Judah to Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings xvi.); Jehovah himself (the addition of the pro- but an interval of thirty yea.re la.y between noun intensifies, yet more its repetition) the two events thus describede.s synchronous. now interferes for the destruction of the Rashi explains the former clause of Hoshea's 11.postate e.nd rebellious people. l'or I am visit to lShe.lme.neser the King or Assyria., unto Ephraim BI a lion, and BI a young lion e.nd the second of Ahe.z's to Tigla.th-pileser; to the house of J'udah. As we a.re taught in Kimchi, e.gain, refers the formn to Meno.hem these words, J ehovah's mode of procedure Yisiting Pul. e.nd the second of Ahaz to is now changed. Before it had been slow Tiglath-pileser r<'omp. 2 Chron. xx:vili. 21), and silent, though sure destruction, as But (2) Ephraim is the subject in both signified by the moth and woodworm; but clauses, S0 that there is no need of a sup- now it will be public e.nd p!ttent to the eyes posed reference to Jude.h in the second. of all, as well as decisive and powerful, as Calvin correctly restricts them both to intimated by the comparison of e. lion and Ephraim, and accounts for the restriction e.s young lion. Nor is the.t a.11: lion-like, he follows : " Why, then, does he no.me only will rend before removing the prey-a tea.r- Ephraim O EYen because the beginning of ing in pieces and then a carrying a.way. this evil commenced in the kingdom of This well-known habit of the lion finds its Iero.el; for thev were the first who went to counterpe.rt in the subsequent facts of the King of Asaur, that they might, by hie Hebrew history. The northern kingdom help, resist their neig-I,boure, the Syrians; we.a first rent or broken up by Sho.lmaneser; the Jews afterwards followed their example. subsequently the population were carried Since, then, the Iara.elites afforded a. prece- e.we.y into ca.ptivity; in like ma.oner the dent to the ,Jews to send for aids of this kind, sonthem kingdom suffered at the bands of the prophet ex:pressly confines his discourse Nebuchadnezzar. I will go and return to to them." He admits, however, that the my place. The figurative comparison with accusation had respect to both in common ; a lion is continued in the first clause of ver. or Ephraim ma.y have applied on behalf of 15 also. The lion tears his victim e.nd ,Judah a.e well a.a for herself. There is much ca.rries it awa.y, then he retires into his cave diversity of opinion with regard to the word ()r den; so Jehovah, after bringing ca.lamity ·• Jareb." Some ta.ke it(l) for a. properna.me, upon Isro.el, withdraws from the scene either of an Assyrian king or of some pleoo and retires to his own pla.ce in heaven, or city in the country of Assyria, a.s the though the heaven of heavens cannot con- LXX., Aben Ezra., and Kimchi; but the tain him. There, in tha.t unapproachable absence of the e.rticle is opposed to this, ether, he is ina.ccessible to and beyond the neither is Jer. xu:vii. I, "and Zechariah reach of the guilty nation that knew not reigned 8.B king" (royyimloeh mekch), e. nor valued the former times of merciful proper pare.lie!. Otherd (2) more correctly visitation. One remedy,~ and only one, is exple.in a.e e. que.lifying epithet to "king," left, and tl,at is found in penitence and that is, "'pleader," "striver," or '' warrior," prayer. Once they find out their guiltiness in other words, a warlike or champion king, and humble themselves in repentance, they like the epithet of tTUYT1/p among the Greeks. may hopefully seek his fa.ce and favour. The indefiniteness in this ca.ee gives the idee. Turning away from human help, and sup- of majesty or might, a.e in Arabic; thus, "a plicating the gracious help of the Divine charu pion king, and such a king I" Yet could presence, they a.re encouraged by the pro- he not (,yet shall he Mt be able t-0) heal you spect of relief and revival; while the mea.ns (plural, e.nd ilO Ephraim and Judah), nor to that end are, no doubt, painful, yet profit- cnre yon of your wound. Whatever the able. In the school of affliction they lea.mt diiitress wa.e, whether arising from hostile penitence e.nd were brought to their knees invasion or dome:stic troubles, those degene- in prayer. rate kings ha.d recourse to foreignen for OH, V, 1-16,] THE BOOK OF HOSEA.