The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 331

them by his Law throughout their entire Just e.s one lesds n. boy that he me.y occnstom history. Hoehl rematks that "they knew himself to go little by little without trouble, it verr. well, but ,liesembled [liteully, so I led them from station to statirm, when • trod 1t dO\vn with the heel,' equivalent I brrmght them out of Egypt; I led them to •despised'] and acted e.s if they did grRdue.lly without overexertion the clonri not know." The word •n~nn is properly going before them by day, and the pillar of to.ken both by Kimchi ond GeAeniue (I) for fire by night." •r:~i,n; the former says; "The ta'D stands Ver. 4.-I drew them with oords of e. man, in place of he: this is the opinion of the with banda of love. This verse contains a grammorione ; " the latter regards it as a forth er representation of J ehovah's fatherly solitFLry example of 'l'iphel; others again guidance of Israel. The cords of a man are consider it a corrupt reading instead of the such as parents use in leading weak or young ordino.ry form of Hipb. (2) Some take it children. Banda of lotie qualify more closely for a noun, e.e J. Kimchi, who says it is "a the preceding expression, "cnrds of a man," noun after the form of •n,11~n, and although and are the opposite of those which. men the word is Milel (while in •ni11~n it is employ in taming or breaking wild and Milra), yet it is the same form;" thus the unmanageable animals. The explanation translation is, "As for me, my guide.nee was of Bashi is similar: "I have always led to Ephraim ; " so Jerome, " I he.ve been as if a them with tender cords such as those with nurse to Ephraim ; " likewise also Cyril. The which a man leads his child, as if he said former explanation is simpler and also other- with loving guidance." Aben Ezra and wise preferable. (3) The Septuagint has the Kimchi, in their explanations, carry out incorrect rendering <Tvvnr&BuTci," I bound the more folly the se.me idea. The former says, feet of Ephraim," which Jerome explains, "I " The bands of love are not like the banda bound the feet of Ephraim the.t they might which e.re fastened on the neck of a plough- not fly further from me," though hie own ing heifer;" the latter, "Because he com- rendering is that given above. The word • pared Ephraim to a heifer, and people lead cnp has also occasioned some difficulty and a heifer with cords, he says, 'I have led consequent diveraity of explanation. (I) Israel by tbe cords of a man, and not the Some explain it to be an infinitive construct cords of o. heifer which one drags along equivalent to the Le.tin gerund in-do, as else- with resistance, but as a man draws his where. Thus in the Authorized Version it fellow-man without compelling him to go is " taking them by their e.rms;" but the with resistance : even so I have led them common form of the infioiti ve of this verb is after a gentle method; ' and therefore he •ni:ip ; besides, the suffixes c: e.nd i•: are con. afterward calls them (cords of a man) bands tradictory. (2) Olsbausen and Ewald ree.d of love." The LXX., taking ':>::i.n from ',:m c~RI$ in the first person, the received text in the sense of" injnre," "destr~y;,, have th~ having, according to the latter, maintained mistaken rendering ,v B,ci,p8opa. aJ18pC:m.,v ... its place only through ,•nv,,,; but this is l~fr«vci ci,lTolis, "When men were destroyed I conjectuml and wants manuscript authority. drew them." The other Greek versions have (3) Still worse is Abarbanel's interpretation, the correct rendering. And I was ta them who understands the subject of the verb as they that take off the yoke. The word FLnd the suffix of the noun as referring to herim does not mean "to lift up on " and so Ephraim; thus: "He (Ephraim) took them "inlpose a yoke," as some think, nor "to (i.e, the idols) on his arms." (4) The correct take away the yoke," but "to lift it up." explanation, e.s we think, is that of Kimchi The figure iB that of a. humane and com- passionate husbandman raising upwards or and Gesenius, who take the verb for tl';P.? by pushing backwards the yoke over the cheeks e. not unusual aphieris of the lamed: '' He or dewlaps of the ox, that it may not press took them in his e.rms,'' tlrn transition from too heavily upon him or hinder him while the first to the third person being justified eating. The reference is, according to Kim- by the pictorially descriptive style of the cbi, to ' taking the yoke off the neck, and pas~age. The followiug comment of Kiwchi lettiug it bang on the jaw, that it may not is w01·t.hy of attention : "The prophet only pull but rest from labour one or more hour~ mentions Ephraim (instead of all Israel), of tile day." The fact thus figurati\'ely because it was be that made the calves. expressed is, not the deliverance from the Ho s11vs, 'And bow does Ephraim reward me bondage of Egypt, but the loving-kindness for tliis that I bestowed on them so many of Jehovah io lighteniug the fultilment of benP-fits, arnl accustomed them to go on their the Law to Israel. (2) The LXX.. omit feet, and did not burtbon them with my the word Sy, yoke, ancl strangely translates corum11ndments and my service? ' And be- the cl11use, " I will bo to them as a man cause he he.s compared Ephraim to a boy, smitiug (nnother) on the cheeks." And I he uses the word, 'I le,! tbom by strings.' la.id meat unto them. The older and many  THR HOOK OF HOSEA,