The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 168

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER VL " A ma~ ~hall nouri.~h a young oow nnd two sheep; m Isa. xvu. 6 n small number is Yer:e, _1:--3.-;--Thcse three verses have, by spoken of as "two or three;" while a short the d1ns1on rnto chapters, been violently period is similarly described in Luke xiii. and improperly tom from the preceding 32, " Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures chapter, to which they naturally belong. to-day a.ad to-morrow, and the third day I ·Their connection with the foregoing senti- shall be perfected." The important idea of ments is indicated by the ancient versions this ver!!C connects itself with the terms --Cho.ldee and Septne.gint, the LXX., for ex- corresponding to revival, resurrection and ample, insertmg /1.ryoVTH, o.s if the reading r~stora.tion to the Di vine favour and p;otec- -had been -,bi,:~, This (1) represents the tion. The drooping, declining, dying state .Israelites exhorting one another in that good of Israel would be revived ; their deathlike time which the prophet enoourages them to condition would undergo a resurrection pro- expect. But (2) it may be regarded as the ce~s_; their disfavour would give way to prophet's own exhortation to the exiles; D1v~ne eo~pla.cency ! and all this, though -their affliction urging them to 11eek the Lord, D:ot unmed~a.tely, yet ma comparatively short and their encoure.gement consisting in the time. This appears to us the import of the knowledge of his o.bility and willingness to prophecy. Similar figurative language, and heal the wounds which his own hand he.d with like signi.ficancy,is employed by Ezekiel inflicted. (xxxvii.) in his vision of the valley and the Ver. 1.-Re hath torn, and he will heal resurrection of its dry bones; as also by us. The presence of the pronoun imparts Isaiah (xxvi.), where the same or a. similar ,emphasis to the statement, so that it is thought is presented in briefer, but still rather, he it is that hath torn.; and the prete- more beautiful, language: "Thy dead men rite of this verse, compared with the future shall live, together with my dead body shall in ver. 14 of the foregoing chapter, implies they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell tho.t the destruction there predicted has in the dnst: for thy dew is as the dew of become an accomplished fa.et. He ha.th herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." mnitten, and he will bind us up. The Calvin understands this verse ae containing language is figurative, and borrowed from a. source of consolation to ~srael. " When," medico.I science. Jehovah, not Ja.reb nor he says, •• the Israelites, through their long any sovereign of Assyria, is the physician. obstinacy, had become nearly incurable, it Long before he had assured his people Israel was needful to lead them to repentance by of this, saying, "I o.m the Lord the.t healeth slow punishments. They, therefore, said, thee " (Exod. xv. 26); and a.go.in. "I kill, .After two days God will revive us; and thus ; and I make alive; I wound, and I hee.l" they confirmed themselves in the hope of , (Deut. xxxii 39). Aben Ezra, commenting salvation, though it did not immediately on yachbeahena, alludes to the ancient mode appear; though they long remained in dark- . of surgical practice, probably as indicated ness, and the exile wae long which they had in Isa. i. 6 : " A wound needs to be pressed to endure, they yet did not cease to hope. -out a.nu bound up, and afterwards softened • Well, let the two days pass, and the Lord with oil.'' will revive us.'" To man in sorrow the time Ver. 2.-Aftertwo days will he revive us: appears long: it is short in the sight of him in the third day he will raise us up, and we with whom a thousand years are as one day. shell live in his Bight. The expression of Kimchi's explanation is also, to 11. certain time here employed denotes a comparatively extent, satisfactory: "The prophet says, • If short period, and implies that Israel' a revival our sickness lasts for two days, yet he will would be speedily as well as certainly ac- heal us of our sickness, till on the third day complished. Paucity is signified by the he will raise us up, and we shall live long biD&.ry number in Old Testament language, before him,' as if he ea.id, • though our afflic- just as we speak of two, or 11. couple, in the tions continue a long time.' The two days l!6llse of fewness. In 1 Kings xvii 12 we are a figure, for • in e. short time he will find "two" nsed in this way : "Behold, I bring UB his salvation,' and • on the third ,am gathering two sticks;" so in Isa. vii. 21, day' is figurative.'' He afterwards refers the OR. VI. 1-11.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA.