The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 332

mooern interpreters, (I) taking c~) &11 the of Divine graoe, 10 long extended to that fln,1 pen,on future e.poo .. Hiph., from Ml!ll, sin-laden people, had at length expired: and trauslR te, "And I Nlll.Cbro. them food to eRt," thRt on account of their stubborn and un- nRrnely. the me.nne. in the wildern011e. This gmterul rebellion agaluat Jehovah they would !'('quire Cl~), whi~h some substitute for woulcl be forced to go into exile and beoome the preS<'nt reading. (2) Ewald, Keil, nnd subject to the monl\rch of Assyria. (1) They othen; IRke ~Nase.n adverb in thes<>nse of" gra- had been thrcntened with a return to Egypt duRlly," "gently," translRting, "And gently and its boudRge in eh. viii. 13, "They shall towards him did I give him food,"or" Igcnllv return to Egypt; " and oh. ix. 9, •• Ephraim fed him." Some, again, BB Kimohi, 1e.ke s~all return to Egypt; " yet now God, (a) ':,•:::1tt as a noun, after the form of .,, D1N ; without any change of purpose, ohanges his and othe!'ll (b) take it to be an anomalous mode of procedure, not allowing them to return to Egypt, but dooming them to a form for ;,,:JN~, the first person future Hiph., wors_e bonde.ge _under the Assyrians. (2) like -r:iitt for -r:i_11~ (J1>r. xlvi. 8). (3) In Havmg been tributary to Assyria from the this dause also the Septuagint, probe.bly time of ?tlenahem, they had revolted and reading as follows: iS ',~m 1•7!! c~_\, trans- applied to Egypt for help; now, however, lates, 'E,,.,{3;,,.ioroµa, Tpos a.vTov "6uvf,rroµa., no help would be permitted to come from cii,.,-~~- "I will he.ve respec-t to him; I will Egypt nor even, an opportunity of e.pplying pre-rail with him." Continuing the seHre.l for it allowed. ~he power of Assyria would clauses of this verse, we n:ay express the b~ paramount; instead, therefore, of native meaning of the whole as follows: "Cords of kmgs and Egyptie.n cmxilie.ries, Israel would a man" denote huma.ne metllods which have to submit to that iron yoke. However Jehovah employed in dealing with and desirous_ of returning to Egypt, they would drawing his people-not such cords BS oxen haye neither the power nor the privilege of or other animals are drawn by; while domg so. And this poor privilege of a •· be.nds of love " is a kindred expression, choice of masters they were refused as a just explaining and emphasizing the former, and retribution, because they had not repented signifying such leading-strings as those of their sin anrl returned to God. Various witll which a parent lovingly guides his methods have been resorted to to harmonize child. The means employed by God for the ~he 11pparent contra.dictio~ alluded to, the.t help, encolll"llgewent, and support of his IS, between the affirmative and negative people were kind as th€y were bountiful. statements about Israel's retum into Egypt. His benevolent and beneficent modes of (1) Dathe, Eichhorn, and De Wette agree procedure nre further exhibited by another with the L~X. ~n r~ading i? instead of NS, figure of like origin ; for just as a consider- and conneotmg it with the preceding verse· ate and compassioIIJl.te man, a hnmane hus- but the other versions, as well as the manu: bandman, gives respite and relief to the scripts, support the received text. (2) Jerome oxen at work by loosening the yoke and and Roaenmiiller explain it of tbe people's lifting it up off the neck upon the cheeks; desire to oonclnde au alliance with Egypt in and thlll3 affords not only temporary rest order to throw off the yoke of Assyria, being and ease, but also allows an oooasioIIJl.l frustrated by the superior power of the mouthful or more of food, or even abundant latter; thus the sense is· the.t they shall provender, to the animal which toils in the not return any more to Egypt, as they had yoke while ploughing or at other work; so lately done by their ambassadors, to seek Jehovah extended to Israel, notwithstanding help from that land or its people. Then their frequent acts of unfaithfulness, his he assigns the reason why they would not sparing mercy and tender compasaions, sup- again i;end ambassadors to Egypt for the plying them in abundant measure with all purpose indicated, because the Assyrian that they needed for the sustenance and alone would be their king. The objection even comforts of life. Thus their sin in to this is that lo yaBhubu must refer to the turning aside to other gods, which were no whole people rather than to their ambassador gods, in q ueat of larger benefits and more going to and fro between the countries. liberal support and 11ucconr, was all the more (3) Ewald, Maurer, and others cut the knot inexcusable. by ta.king lo interrogatively, a.s if it were The next three verses (5-7) describe the halo, and thus equivalent to an affirmative, i.e. " Shall they not return to Egypt l\nd 11evere chastisement Israel incurred by in- the Assyrian be their king?" The expected gratitudo for, and contempt of, the Divine answer would be in the affirmative. Neither love. grammar nor context sanctions this interro- Ver. 5.-:e:e shall not return into the land gative sense. (4) According lo Hitzig, Keil, of Egypt, but the Auyrian sb&ll be his king·, Simson, and others, we are to understand becallSe they refuaed to return. These words Egypt in the previous places, viz. eh. viii. round like an announ(l(:ment that the season 13 and eh. ix. 81 as typical of the land of  THE BOuK OF HOSEA,