The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 275

e.nd prophecies along with my God; i.e. eome pe.rticula.re, Judg. xi.x. mAy be oon- Ephraim, not SRtisfied with the genuine eulted. The construcl.i.on is pcculiRr. The prophets, had prophets of his own, which two verbs 'lt'•M are co-ordinated opposition- spRke to the people aooording to their wish. ally; "The leading verb, which in moaning This exposition is in the main supported is the leading one, is subordinntcd moro by Rashi nnd Kimohi: the former B&ys, palpab~y by boing_ plaoed alo_n~side of the " They appoint for t.hemsekes prophets of precedm.g verb without a Joming and'' their own ; " and Ki.mchi more fully thwi, (Ewald). The former verb is ofton con- "Ephr11im he.s appointed for himself a structed wiili an infinitive, and sometimes we.tchman (or seer) at the side of his God; with a noun. Some trace the reference, as and he is the false proph<>t who speaks his already stated, (I) to the enormity of the propheey in the name of his God." (But) men of Gibeah in relation to the Levite's the prophet is a BDB.n! of a fowler in (over) concubine ; otherd to the eleotion of Saul, e.ll his ways, and hatred in the hoUBe of bis who was of Gibeah, to be king. Raehi God. Whether we adopt (1) or (2) as th~ mentions both: " Some say it WBB Gibeah of e:i;:planation of the first clause, we may un- Benjamin in the matter oft he concubine; but derst.-ind the prophet of this clause as (l) others say it was Gibeah of Saul, when they the Jobe prophet who-by way of contrast demanded for themselves a king and re- if we accept (l), or by way of continuation belled against the words of the prophet." if we prefer (2)-is like the snare of a Therefore he will remember their iniquity, bird-catch<>r over all the people's path, to en- he will visit their sins. The sin of Gibeah tangle, entrap, and draw them into destruc- was fearfully avenged; its punishment re- tion. (a) He is, moreover, inspired with sulted in almost the total extinction of a hostility- man of rancorous spirit against tribe in Israel-that of Denjamin. And as God and his true prophets. "This prophet Israel had paralleled that of the men of of lies," says Aben Ezra," is a snare of the Gibeah, he gives them to understand first bird-catcher." Similarly Ki.mchi says in implicitly that like punishment would over- his e:i;:position, "This prophet is for Ephraim take them, then he explicitly denounces on e.ll his ways as the snare of the bird- visitation for their iniquity and retribution catcher tJ,at cat.cheth the fowls; so they for their sin. The clause thus closes, as it catch Ephraim in the words of their pro- commenced, with the sad note of ooming phen.." (2) Some nnderst.a.nd "prophet" in calamity. the middle cls.use of the verse as the true Ver. 10.-I found Israel like grapes in the prophet, and the snare as the hostility and wilderness; I saw your fathers as the :first. traps which the people prepared for the ripe in the fig tree e.t her first time. Grapes messengers of God ; so Ra.shi : " For the e.nd first figs are among the choicest e.nd true prophet.II they lay snares to catch most refreshing fruits; but to find such de- them." According to this exposition we licious fruits in a dry, barren wildemeBB is must render, " As for the prophet, the snare specially grateful and delightful. There are of the bird-c!l.tcher is orer e.11 his ways." three possible constructions of bammidhbor: (b) In the last clause, " house of his God," (1) with "found," (2) with" grapes," and (3) may mean the temple of the troe God, or the with both. According to the first, which, on idol-temple ; thus Aben Ezra : " Enmity ia the whole, seems preferable, the meaning is, in the house of his god ; " while Kimchi " I fonnd Israel of old as a man finds grapes thinks either sense admissible: " We may in a desert;" and the sense is God's good understand 'It r.:J of the house of the calves, will towards and delight in Israel. Grapes which were his god, and the false prophet found by a weary, exhausted traveller in 11, acted there ss prophet, and caused enmity wilderness are a. real boon, refreshing and between himself and God ; or we may strengthening him for continuing his jour- explain it of the house of the trne God, ney and reaching his destination. Rashi that is, the hoose of tLe sanctuary." Thns gives the sense clearly and concisely thus: the hostility may refer to the prophet him- "As gra.pes which are precious and delicious self, of which he is the sui,ject as (a), or in a desert, even so have I loved Israel." ilie obje'.lt according to Kimchi just cited, Aben Ezra, in his exposition, refers to Deut. or the detests.ble idol-worship, or perhaps x.u:ii. 10, "He found him in a desert land, the Diviue displee.sure against the false and in the waste howling wilderness; he prophet 1md the people led a.stray by him. led him about, he instructed him, he kept Thby have deeply corrupted themselves, BI him as the apple of his eyo; " and then in the d&ys of Gibea.h. The historical event adds," As grapes in a wilderness where no here alluded to wu the abominable and one dwells; every one that finds them re- infe.moUB treatment of the Levite's con- joices in them, and so in the first-ripe figs." cubine by the men of Gibee.h. Thie was The comment of Kimchi is fuller and more the foulest blot on Israel's history during satisfactory: "As a man, when he finds till the rule of the j '1dges. For the loath- grapes in the wilderness which is dry and m1. IX. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 275