The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 303

h(.fol'(' "l"('_joi('('(l." ""hi<'h, thoug-h quit(> JlO~• the stump of Yie • oalf1 n11.mrly, the gold 11ihl<> "n,l n(lt 1m,::T11mtn11.til'llll, ill. however, tlu.,reon, after ita fbrm u broken, they shall nnnt'<'<'l'AArY. Tho Hebfew oommentAtol'I! take &way u a present tn King J 1Lreb.'" The all nndf'r~t.imd t.hewo'l'd in the!lenBPof"joy" sign of the aoousative with ■ufflx 1n\N, which or ".iuhilR(ion;" thus Rubi l!IRyB." Whyia it here stands before o. p&Mive verb, may be t-hnt itF ]X'Ople mourn over. it 11,11d its priests, ta.ken oitber (I) absolutely, "oa to it nlso," "·hn Rh,-RyF rejnioed over it, now mnum <'>vet "it shall be brought;'' or (2) 11,11 an instance of ih! glory tJ1at is gone Rway?" The word &nacoluthon; or (3), according to Gesenius, ... ,. hr,wes-er, is primarily " to twist or whirl the pR.ssivo may be rega.rded as o.n im- one's 11elf," and ie then<'e applied to any personal active, and thus it may take the s-iolent emotion, generally of joy, also ot object of the action iu the I\Ceuaative. The anxiety R.nd fe&r, &e here, so that the simpler word ~hal is from yabhal, primarily used and more corre<'t rendering is, the priegts of ffowing in a strong o.nd violent stream, thereof •haU trl'mble for it, for i~ gwry, be- and so the root of ',i:ao, the ftood ; then it eau~ it is departed from it. '!'.he priests signifies "to go," "to be brought or carried." here mentioned have & peculiar name, The minchah here spoken of cannot well 1.~marim, from lurmar, to be black, from mean tribute, but is mther a gift of homage the black garments in which they minis- io the Assyrian oonqueror, whom the prophet tered. and are thus distingniilhed &8 ministers in vision sees already wasting the land of of a foreign cult; for kohen is the u~ual word lerael and co.rrying away all its treasures for a Hebrew priest. and his robe of office is and precious things. Ephraim shall reoeive said to have been white. The glory of the Iha.me, and Israel shell be uha.m.ed of his calf-god was not the temple treasure at own counsel The feminine form, mi;::i_ Bethel, nor its glory as the state God set up of which J~l, the masculine, by anJogy, there, bnt the honour and the Dhine halo is not in use-is wrongly explo.ined by the v.;th which its worship there W'BS surrounded. Hebrew expositors as ho.ving o. pleouastic Thus Kimchi: " When its glory is departed nun. The construction usually preferred is from it; and this means the honour of its (1) that given above. (2) Others render it, worship. When the calf is broken before •'-Shame shall seize Ephraim;" but this con- their eyes its glory shall depart from it:" structs o. feminine noun with o. masculine The perfects of" mourn" and " departed" are verb, contl'1try to grammar: (8) Hitzig prophetic, denoting the certainty of the translates," He (the Assyrian king) shall take events, though yet future; while galah and aWBy or carry off the shame of Ephraim; that yagilu form the favnurite assonance. But is, the calf-idol.'' ·•He remarks that the con- a question still remains-Why is Samo.ria struct feminine does not al ways in the speech and not Beth-aven said to mourn? To this of North Israel end in n-, and cites several the explanation of Kimchi is a s1Ltisfactory pe.ssages in proof. The counsel of which Israel reply: "The inhabitants of Samaria tremble. would be a.shamed is understood (I) of the And the prophet makes mention of Samaria, consultation held before milking a covenant though there were no calve~ there, beco,nse or tren ty with the King of Assyria.; (2) it it was the metropolis of the k:ing-dom, where is generally and more correctly understood the kings of Israel resided, and it we.s these of J eroboa.m taking counsel with his tribel!- kiug-s who strengthened the people in the men of Ephraim about setting up the ca.lf- worship of the calves. And he says," When idols. Ja.reb·is a proper name, or rather an Bethel is laid waste, and the calves cannot appellation. The King of Assyria., or the ddiver it, the inhabitants of Sa.maria. tremble great king, was looked up to by the smaller for themselves, which place (Sa.!Illlria) the .Asiatic states for protection, end conse- King of Assyria le.id siege to for three )·ears." quently sty led their Jareb, avenger or de- Ver. 6.-It shall be a.I.Bo e&rried unto As- fender, just as rr,I,T1/P, saviolll', was a title llyri& for a present to King 1areb. Here we applied to or assumed by certain kings for l,a.ve an explanation and confirmation of a similllr reason, as Ptolemy Soter and what has just been Ba.i<I in the preceding others. The object of Israel's idolatry is w,roe. The calf, the glorious 1lnd mag- carried otf as a present to propitiate or nificent national god, as Israel· considered appease the wrath of the Assyrian patron it, is brought to Assyria, end there offered and protector-probably Shalma.neser in the Bfi a. present to the Aeeyria.n king. The worn present instance-or taken as o. trophy to qa,r, is emphatic; that is, "it also,"" it11elf grace the triumph of the conqueror. So far al~o," or "it also with men and other spoils" from defending the calf-people, as Israel -the golden idol of Beth-aven. Kimchi's had become, their calf-god could not defend explaua.tion of gam is as follows: " Gam, itself; instead of preserving its worshipper! exttneion or generalization of the term, from depo1ia.tion, it was doomed itself to refers to the glory he had mentioned. He deportation. Ephraim, the premier tribe, says,' Lo, in its place the glory shall depart received shame, and Israel, the remaining from it flB ~oon ns thr-y Eha11 break it. Also, tribes that had followed its lend and adopted clt. x. 1-16.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 803