The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 240

an 'ei:bortBtibn t(, Bamltrla, and not only origin of this idolatry-thie god of gold was Sam11ri11, but the entire country, with the out of Israel, it proceeded from them and inho.bito.nte or the capital at its hee.d, to was invented hy their kings. The second oo.st a.side the calf-worship by which they clause shows that it was of human manu- had incurred the wrath or the Almighty. facture; while the natural inference follows Jerome, rea.ding n_!ll (Pual), renders," C,,et \n the .t~ird c!ause to the effect that, having oft' is thy co.If." (3) Some modem scholars its o~grn with man and being made by translate, "Ho hns cnat oft' thy calf," and man, 1t could not be God. Or if the render- refer it to tht:> e11omy, and rather in the ing, "Thy calf disgusts," be adopted the sense of cnrrying oft' the golden image as a 7'i ~ntrorluces the expl~nation of the di;gust spoil; or to Jehovah; thus De Wette has, which that a.bomrnat1on caused. This idol "[Jehova] verwirft dein Calb, Samarien,' was of home manufacture, not importer! which is not in keeping with the fuet per- from abroad, as Baal and Ashtaro~h from son in the next clause. (4) Others take the the Sidonians, Chemosh from the Moa.bites, verb intransitively, and give it the meaning and Molocb from the Ammonites. The of "smelling bodily," "emitting intolerable Israelites themselves and their king Jero- stench," "being loathsome or disgusting;" boam made for the northem kingdom what thus Keil has, "Thy calf disgusts, 0 Sa- had been leamt in Egypt. Thus Israel's maria.'' So Wiinsche : "Anekolt dein Calb." god was a creature of Israel's own devisinr;. Israel loathed or felt disgust at pure worship How stupid and how absurd I Israel's gou and what woe really good; now Jehovah in man-made, how enormous and abominable turn is disgusted with their golden cnlf and the iniquity ! But the calf of Samaria. hateful idolatry. No wonder it is added, shall be broken in pieces. It shall become Mine anger is wazed. . hot (he.s bumt or splinters; the hapaz legomenan •:le' is de- blazed out) against them; ie. not the calf rived from an Arabic root, Bhaba, to cut; and Sa.maria, nor the calves, .but their and thus, as the calf at Sinai was bnmt arnl stupid, sinful worshippers. How long will pulverized, the calf of Samaria shall be it be ere they attain to imlooenoy l Or it broken into splinters and destroyed. The may be translated, How long 1oill it be ere whole verse is well explained by Kimcbi : they • shall be able to end.ure (bear) inno- "Now ye will see if the calf is able to de- cency (guiltlessness)? The verb ,:,, has liver its worshippers; it cannot even deliver itself, for it shall become splinters, as if he frequently to be supplemented by another ea.id that the enemiea shall break it up and verb, as in Ps. .ci 5, ,:i1tt ~,, "A proud carry it away for the worth of the gold, not heart will not t suffer; " so o.lso Isa. i. 13. for any utility that is in it while it is still The speaker h4;1re turns, as it were, from in the form of a calf. ':le' is equivalent to unwilling auditors to others more ready to c•i::,111 (broken pieces, shivers), fragments." lend an ear, and asks, "How long are they (2 1 The Septuaginta.l rendering, ,r,\a.v<Zv, is incapable of purity . of. life instead of the probably due to the reading :J?.iti, Micah ii. abominations of idolo.try? How great the 4, "turning away." madness tha.t, while, I 11llow space and place Ver. 7.-For they have sown the wind, for repentanoe, they are unwilling to retum and they shall reap the whirlwind. The to soundness of mind I" The Authorized harvest corresponds to the seed-time; their Version rendering is supported by Aben foolish and vain idolatries shall have cor- Ezra and Kimchi. The former explains : responding results. This proverbial expres- "It is 1111 if 11 were written double, 'Thee sion imports more than merely la.hour in vain: as thy calf cast ofl'-thee So.maria, as if it it denotes le.hour that has an injurious and has rejected thee, for the city shall be laid destructive result. It has more than a. and its inho.bitants shall go into captivity;'" negative significancy of lost labour ; it and Kimchi says, "ry is transitive, and conveys the idea of positive detriment. Lai the meaning of ' remove,' o.s in Lam. ii. "The prophet," s<Lys Kimcbi, "means to 7. He says, '0 Samaria, thy .calf has re- say that they will weary themselves in vain moved theE1,( that is, on account o( it thou in this service (of idols), just e.s if a. man art .removed oin of thy land." The Inst who sows the wind, in which thero is notuing clause is' e.leo well explain~d by Kimohi, substantial, shall only reap the wind, or though in o. different sense from that given even still less; as if he had said, ' Ye shall above, thus: "I;low long are they unable not obtain the least enjoyment, but only to purify thelijl!elv.ee. from this guilt (i.e. injury."' If, then, the wind denote the vanity idolo.try) 1 '.' and nothingness of human effort, the whirl- Ver. 6.-For from Im1el was it also: the wind is the image of destruction and an- workman made it; therefore it is not God, nihilation, viz. a. storm or hurricane The prophet here vindicates the justness nf remorselessly tea.ring all away with it. Jehovah's complaint and the folly of Isrnel'a Suphah itself intensifies tho notiou i«d 11,led oonduoi. • The fine clause poinu out the ill ruaoh, while the paragogio ;, iutel!.;ifies  THE BOOK OF HOSEA.