The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 304

Its evll counsel, ehnred the shame; e.n of breaking off," "barking." Tho wor!l ;-ro,, them together woro thoroughly ~t to shame again, has two principal meC1nin'.(R--OTIA "to becnueo of their mietoken ond w1oked polioy. be likA," the other" to bo silent" (connooted, 'l'ho counsel of J eroboom-for to it; in onr e.ocording to Geeenine, with Cl rlifferont root, opi nlon, is the reforenoe-oppeored an e.ble da'ltlam, dum, like the Engli•h "dumb"); stroke of policy; but this policy, by which or the meanings are tmceo.ble t,, onFJ root, lie hoped to detnch Iernel from Jndah, w~s In the sense or "making flat," " plBne," not only frustra.ted, but proved positively "smooth;" then "silent," mid so "reduced to ruinous, eo fur were the means from effecting silence," "destroyed." tho eml,or the end from justifying the wisdom of the means. Ver. 8.-The high plaoea alto of .&.ven, the Ver. 7.-Ae for B11m11rie., her king Ill out lin of Israel, shall be destroyed. By A vcn off as the foam upon the water (face of the is generally nnderstood Betk-a"en, that is, watera). Instead of the throne of Samari_a Bethel; bnt some take the woru as an being established, or the kingdom consoli• appellative, and thus bamoth-a11en woulu dated by the idolatrous measures which signify the "high plo.ces of iniquity.'' J eroboom had adopted for the purpose, the These unlawful plo.cee of B11Crifice and king himself was cut off o.s foam npon the unholy plo.ces of iniquity o.re fu,ther cha- surface of the waters, or as a chip carried off ro.cterized by the appositional "the sin of by the current, and the kingdo':'1 inglo~ously Isro.el." By constructing and frequenting- ruined. Though the -sense 1s sufficiently such plo.ces Israel had primarily antl plain, the sentence has been vo.riously con- grievously sinned. By so.cri.ficing to ~ntl structed. Thus (1) one of the Hebrew worshipping even ~ehovo.h on these high commentators renders it, "In the city of places instead of m Jerusalem, the ooly Samario. her king ho.a been made like foam legal place for Divine service, under the on the surfo.ce of the water" (b, being under- Lo.w, their national sin in the matter of stood o.nd i101l to.ken in the sense of "being worship began; subsequently,. however, like ''). (2) Rashi, understo.nding the verb things beco.me worse, e.nd these high places to signify being "reduced to silence," ex- became scenes of most o.bomina.ble iuolatries plnin~, "The King of Sn~ri9: is b~ought to nod she.melessly sinful practices. Those silence." (3) The oorrect s1gn1ficat10n of the plo.ces-one and o.11-o.re in the words before verb, however, is "cut off" or" annihilated," ns doomed to destruction. The thom and while the construction mo.y be (a) an asyn- the thistle shall oome up an their altars. deton; thus: "S1unnrio. (and) her king;" The destruction is thus vividly described 11.11 or(b) Samo.rm to.ken llS nominn.tiye nbsolute, total and complete; those bad eminences .:...thus in the Authorized Yersioo, "(As for) were devoted to entire wasteness and tlesoln- So.merio., her king is out off;" or_ (c), sup- tion. "It is a sign of extreme solitude," plying noil to th_e second noun, ~th _Aben says Jerome, "so tho.t no traces e~.en_ of wall Ezra," Samo.ria 1s cut off, her kmg 1s cut or buildinas remo.ineu to be seen; s1m1larly off." Some (d) consider it simpler to trn.nslate Bashi say~," Thorns and .thistles shaJI grow as follows: '' Samaria is cut off; her king is up upon their o.ltars, because the wor- like [literally, •as'] a chip on the surfo~e shippers thereof ho.ve depo.rted and oo ono of the waters." In this wo.y the Massorehu lonaer remains to attend to them;" so punctuation is•neglected. _ _8homron is fe~i- Ki~chi: "On the altars of Israel which they nino, as the names of cities ancl oountr1es. (the enemies) she.II lay waste shall thom,i usually are, and therefore the suffix . to spring up." And they llhall so.r: to the "king" is feminine, wbile the masculine mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall form; i1T;l'.I!, is justified by its position o.t the an us. The sight of such feo.rful ru1?- a1;1d de.solation overwhelms the wretche,l 11;1.L1ab1t- head of· tho sentenoe; for, o.ccording to e.nts of the lo.nd with distresa anil _d1snmy ; Gesenius, the •predicate o.t the beginning in sheer despair and even desperation they of a clause or sentence "often takes its invoko e. sure und 8Ud~e~ denth as much simplest :u.nd reo.diest form, viz. the mas- preferable to their rvum1111ng longer specta- culine singular, even when the subject," not tors of such heo.rt-renJiog scenes. Their yet expressed, but coming after, ".is femi- exclamation appears to be proverbial, and tu nine or plural." 1:p:p is explained either llB hu.ve ho.d its origin in the custum of the ••foam" or" splinter." The latter is, perho.ps, Isro.elites tleein", in seasons of great co.la- preforo.ble, o.s the verbo.l root cognate with mities, to the ~ounlains o.nd c!efts of ~e the Arabio kauapha signifies "to break," rooks to hide themselves; thus 1D Judg. 1v. "break oft~" "crD.Qk;" then "to be o.ugry" (its 2 we reo.d tho.t " beco.use of the Midianites most .co!llmon mee.ning) from the sudden the children of Isro.el me.de them the dens breaking out or breaking loose of passion, which are in the mountains, o.nd caves, o.Illl with which rp.o.y be CQmpo.red the Greek strongholds." The ohject of their exclama- ~-1,-yyu,...,. The word i1E>l:p in Joel i. 7, from tion is to be buried under the hills or moun- the so.me root, is literally e. "breaking or to.ins rather tho.n endure such calamities  THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [oH. X. 1-16.