The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 204

teache~ ns; the fire by which it is inflamed justified by the cireumetance that the ne.rnea is the fire of sinful passion, and the fuel of fire and of what is connectc,l therewith that feeds the 1iitme ie the murderous ma- are feminine in the Semitic, eo that ,,in ie cl.iiualion on which they are at present so feminine. 2. The word ,,31~, whioh Ewnld intent; the baker ie either the original and others take, properly we think, (1) as contrivers and prompters of their ";cked- participle of Hiph., ie treated (2) by Geee- nese. or th<'ir own w:ickPd spirit, or the evil nius and J\famer as infinitive Q,,1 with min one himself at the head of all. But, though prefixed, which would occasion the awkward there is a temporary suspension, there is no and unusual combination of two infinitives real cessation of their evil purpose; they each prefixed with min in immediate se.i are only biding their time, lying in wait: quence; while (3) Kimchi takes it e.s in-_ the baker sleeps, but it is ouly whilst the finiti ve Hiph, contracted for ,•V.m:i. 3. dough is leavening. Soon as the suitable More import1mt still is the interpretation of time has come, soon as the occasion has tile verse. There is (1) that already given, arrfred, and all circumstances in readiness, and which is in some measure supported by in the moming the haker rouses from his the following rabbinic comments ; "Their nocturnal slumber, stirs up the fire, and sets evil passion," says Rll.Slli, •• which stirs them the oven ablaze. Now that the dough is up, rests from kneading the dough until it ~ufficiently leavened, and the oven tho- is lea vcned, i.e. from the time that any one roughlv heated, the bread is put in-the has thought on evil in his heart how he meditated assassination is accomplished-it shall execute it, he rests and sleeps till the uurneth as a ff,amfr1g fire. This is the second morning, when he shall be able to execut.e and last stage of the proceeding, the last it, as the baker rests from kneading the scene of the last act of the tre.gio drama.. dough uutil it is leavened, when he can ,er. 7.-They are all hot as an oven, and bake it." Similar and yet somewhat peculiar. lmve devoured their judges; all their kings is the concluding portion of Kimchi'~ com·- are fallen. Here we have the application, ment: "As soon as he lays the pieces of and so the explanation of the figurative wood into the oven, in order to heat it, he language of tile preceding verse, wllich, as commands the women to knead, and he we have seen, is the second stage of the ceases to stir them (the women) up until' action. The heat of the oven denotes the the dough is leavened, as he estimates it in intense violence of their passion, as also his heart, and then he rouses them to come tlleir fierce and fiery power of destruction. with the dough to bake it. And this is the Inferior rulers and magistrates fell viciims time when the oven is heated." (2) Th!;i to it ; while regicides in incredible number LXX. takes ,,y as a noun prefixed with were the result of it. Three regicides were tl..te preposition min (a.,rh .,-fis q,Xo,,&s), atid perpetrated in thirteen years ; and fonr in translates the whole as follows : " They a:re lflss thau forty, the victims being Zeche.rie.h, all adulterers, as an oven glowing from Shallum, Peka.hiah, and Peke.Ii. Also flame for bot-baking, from the kneading o~. Nadab, Elah, Zimri, Zibni, and J~horam the dough until it is leavened." The inter- perished by their sncceseors. There lB none pretation (3) ofWiinscbe differs considerably among them tha.t oalleth unto me. A.mid from both the preceding; it is, " They are such horrid scenes of blood and violence, all adulterers, like an oven, burning from a of disorder and anarclly, there was none of baker who rests while ato1'ing from the, them to realize the calamities of the times kneading of the dough tiH its fermenta- or reco=ize the cause. Coneeqnently there tion ·" and he cites in favour of this view; was n; one to discover the remedy, and Abe~ Ezra as follows: "Thie verse· is i0:0 apply to the true e.nd only source of relief. verted, and accordingly the sense is: A~ the oven of a baker burncth from th_e StJPPLEHENTABY NoTES. kneading of the dough till its fermeutatioµ;' so that the baker can scnrcely cease to stir' Ver. 4.-The difficulty of the section in- it up, bnt must stir it up and heat it cluding vers. 4-7 hsa ~.asion~d consider- violently." able difference of e:z:poSltion ; it may not, Ver. 5.-A like diversity of exposition iii therefore, be amiss to supplement the fore- found in connection with ver. 5, nt least its going observations. 1. Aben Ezra accounts first clause. I. 'fhere is (1) the rendering for n,v:i being accented ae milel (1) on th;e already given; but (2) Wiinsche, takiug gronnd that, though a feminine_ formation:, it ,,nn from ~,n, to begin, as is done by the is really masculine (to agree w1tll ,,m),like LXX., Syriac, Chaldee, and Jerome, trans- n'm:I o.nd n',•~, both of which, though femi- lates:" The priucee begin [i.e. open] the day nine in form, a.re notwithstanding of the of our king in the heat of wine." . Conse- :ma.seuline gender. Abarbanel, '!"ho is fol- quently, yom is (a) the object of thia v~rh; lowed Ly Wiineche, (2) takes n:,:J?=• as a par- while, (b) according to t~e usual ~enrJenug, ticiple fominine for n,,p,:. or n"jv,:., which is it is the accublLtive of time, equivalent to OJ-I. VII, 1-16.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 208