WILB whe.t they both ploughed and eowed; of the mighty ones in whom they had oppression e.t the bond of their enemies was had such confidence; or the plUTal may the harvest or rewe.rd of iniquity which refer to tbe tribes of Ierael, each of which thev reoeed. Their Ilea, lnolucling their was an CJJ, though Keil would confine this idole.try in reference to ~od, disloyalty to meaning to Pent&teuchal 'times. Most o( their king, their false words nnd false works the version■ reed the singular, like our own with ono another, bore fruit, bitter fruit, Authorized Veuion, yet it must still be re- eonr fruit, and they were obliged to eat ferred to the people of Israel. But (2) the that fruit till their teeth were set on edge. preposition is translated" against" by many Thue Kimchi cxploine it: "After tbe modern interpreters, and thus the confused ploughing follows the sowing, and both of noiae of the advance of the enemy ao-ainst thorn 1,re a figurative representation of Israel is denoted. The attack of the in- work, as we hovo e:x:plained it. '.l'he. pro- vaders is directed ago.inst the fortnJJses, or phet eoys, • Ye havo done the oppo~ite of fenced cities, so called from a verb denoting thot which I commo.ndecl you, when I said, "to cut off" (i:i::i), ae if all approach to Sow to yourselves in righteousness.'" The them were cut off, and e.B86ult impossible. harvest is the rewe.rd of the work done: Nevertheless they were to go down, all of the genitive is ~~pressiye of conten~s-~t them, before the enemy-laid waste and in which the frwt coneIBte; the fruit of bee spoiled; while inhuman crnelty would cha- ago.inst God ie the fruit ·which disappoints racterize the conquerors. As an •11 ustration "those who wait for it.· Ki directs attention of or specimen resembling that cruelty, an to the ground of Israel's gradual declension obscure piece of history is quoted. As and final destruction; the two fundamental Sha.Iman spoiled Bedl-e.:rbel in the day of errors, or re.ther evils, the.t led on to Israel's battle : the mother was daahed in pieoes ruin, were apostasy from Jehovah and sinful upon her children. In the great variety of self-confidence. Sunk in idolatry, they no opinion with respect to the event referred longer looked to J ehove.h as the Source of to, and the consequent diversity of exposi- their power and strength; while they pur- tion, we shall not venture to do more than sued their own we.ye, confident of the excel- select that which on the whole, notwith- lence of. their own ea.go.city e.nd foresight. standing a certain chronological difficulty Booe.use thou di~t trust in thy way, in the tho.t lies against it, appea.rs the most pro- multitude of thy migl1,ty men. They had bable. Accordingly, Beth-arbel may have placed their confidence· in the wisdom of been Arbela, mentioned in 1 Mace. ix. 2 their own we.ye-their prudent plans and and more than once by Josephus, in Upper wise counsels ; . in the heroism of their Galilee, in the tribe of Naphtali. between soldiers and the excellence of their pre- Sephoris and 'l'iberie.s, now Irbid; and parations of war. By these means thlly Shalman may be an abbreviation for Shal- fancied themselves independent of the Al- maneser; while the circumstance here men- ,mighty, o.nd sufficiently defended e.gainst tioned may have been an incident of the •their enemies. " Thou hast trusted," says CILillpa.ign of which we read in 2 Kings xvii. Kimchi, in his· exposition, "to thine own 3, 5, " Against him came up Shalmaneser way-which thou goest; o.nd that is the way King of Assyria•: and Hoshee. became his of iniquity and of confidence in evil; and servant. . . . Then the King of Assyria came •in like mcmner thou hast trusted in the up throughout all the lo.nd, and went up to multitude of thy men _of war whioh thou Samaria, and besieged it three years." The hast had among thine own people, or among manifeetntion of the cruelty was when the the Egyptians, from . whom they sought mother, with true motherly affection, bent help, nnd thou:-he.et made flesh thine arm, over her children to defeud them, and she and not trusted in me ; therefore thou ha.et and they perished in a common ruin, or stumbled.'' when the children were do.shed to the ground Ver. 14.-The:refore shall a tumult arise before their .mother's eyes, and she, done to among thy people, and all thy fortresses death, hurled upon tbem. shall be spoiled. Thie was the fruit of Ver. 15.-So shall Bethel do unto you their doings, the result of their sins. The because of your great wiokednesa (margin, tumult of war is already heard, and the the evil of your evil) : in a morning shall work of destruction has begun. The word the King of Is_raal utterly be out 011'. The~ ahaon, tumult, ie from Ml$~, as applied to the comin.,. 0 suffermgs were all traceable to theu loud rushing of waters, then the tumult of sin. Bethel, the principal place of calf- advancing warriors. '£he preposition b, is worship, was the cause of their coming rendered (1) as above by the Authorized Ver- culamities, not the place itself, but the sion, Umbreit, and others : I\Ud, joined with wickedness of which it was the scene. The "peoples" (whioh ie plural), signifies that reol couse was the great o.nd crowning the oonfueed noise of war would be hoard wickedness practiseu there. Bethel, once o.monit their own peo~les, or the multitude the house of God, would in consequence 308 THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [OH, X, 1-16,
hr<'(lIDC' nnnther Beth-e.rbel, the houBe of the king, but merely the representative of the nmbush of God. In the morning, when royl\l office, would be out off-entirely out perhaps R season of prosperity seemed be- off. Thua their main refuge would oome to ,:?"inn ini:: t.o dawn, or at an early date and an ignominious end, bringing !\long with it in R speedy manner, quickly BI! the morning the frustration of all their hopes e.nd the dawn gi w,s plaoo before the rising sun, the oonolusion of their mistaken and miaple.oed king, Hoshea, or perhapa no particular oonfidencea.