The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 365

wnntlor for B mBn to wrestle with rin ringol." self llnrl homehold for seeking God hy n1~ (1) commences B now clnuse; while (2) potting a.way the strange gods that were tho punctuation of it BS B pnrticiplo, n~i, among them, by ceremonial purific,,Liona, Bntl tho connccti_on of it with "provaile<l," and putting on change of garments. Th""• Irnwcs the fullow1ng clriueo ieolnted without seeking with holy purpose llnr! propnr•·rl n11y improvement of tho senso. The render• he~rt, he found the Lord at Bethel, anrl iug ii:t th,i,s lo.ttor caso would be" prevailed eny,yed hecwenly fellowship with him there, wor,pmg, a somewlJBt 11,wkward expression. A hen Ezra favours (2) ma.king Jehovah But (3) there is Bn exposition adopted by not ,Jacob, tiie su~ject; thus:" As he wW: th? !lebrc~ expositors o.nd advocated by r~turning to his father, the e.ugel found H1tz1g, which appears to us to do violence him there; and because the angel appeared to the true signification of the passage. to him twice in Bethel, behold the place is Thus Rashi: "And the Bngcl besought the gate of heaven ; therefore I and Amns him, • Let me now go. The end or the Holy have prophesied about Jeroboam at Bethel and Blessed One is that he may reveal him- which is the place of his lringrlom." Kimchi self to tllee in Bethel, and there shalt thnu app~oves of the exposi?on of the angel find him.'" Similarly Aben Ezra: "He findmg Jnc6b, but mentions a morlification (the angel) almost wept and supplicated of that of Ja.cob finding the angel; thus: him to let him go. And the signification of "The angel found him in Bethel and also !!In 'JI, Gen. xxxii. 26, is: • before the light blessed him there; and the word ,o• equi. strengthened, that Jacob might not be valent to • found him,' is the fntnre i~stead alarmed.'" Also Kimchi: "'l'his is not of the past. But my lord my father, of mentioned in the Thorah; and the expla- blessed memory, explains it according to its nation is as if the angel wept and suppli- literal import, that the angel said to him cated Jacob to let him go, as he said, 'Let (when wrestling with him) that he would roe go, for the day breaketh.'" Such ex- find him in Bethel. The blessed God an- position introduces into the text an in- nounced to him the good tidings that he tolerable anthropopathism. Jerome long would there manifest himself to him and before had given the correct explanation call hie name Israel" The le.et clause of thus : "He wept and asked him, when he this verse states the additional fact that said, • I will not let thee go, unless thou God spoke (1) through the patriarch to his ehalt have blessed me I' For the wrestling posterity. "Let it be observed," says was that which he engaged in with the Le.ckeme.cher, as quoted by Keil, "that God angel, holding him by prayers that he might is said to have talked at Bethel, not with bless him, not by the strength of work. If Jo.cob only, but with all his posterity. That any one weeps o.nd exercises penitence, and is to say, the things which are here said to supplicates the Lord, he shall find him in have been done by Jacob, and to have hap- the grief of his heart, and when he has pened to him, had not regard to himself invoked him, he shall hear him answering.'' only, but to e.11 the race that sprang from Re found him in Bethel, and there he him, and were signs of the guod fortnne apake with us. The prophet here records which they either would or certainly might the result of Jacob's faithful wrestling. enjoy." Though the suffix of ,o• in the There in Bethel, the very plo.ce where Massoretic text is well attested, yet, instead yea.re after idolatry and immorality found 11, of (a) the third person, Ewe.Id reads it (b) home, God had manifested himself to the as the first plural, and consequently so patriarch. The fruit of Jacob'e victory was renders the word that the clause implies, that (1) he found God at Bethel; not that not 11, narrative of the past, bat e. prophecy (~) G~ found him, as some explain it. The of the fntuxtt; thns: (2) "He will find us h1stortcal basis of the prophet's statement at Bethel, and there he will speak with us." is not Gen. xxviii. 11, which nnrra.tes the The Septuagint, again, with other Greek appearance of God to the pa.trio.rob o.s he versions, as olso the Syriac and Arabic, read fled into Mesopotami11,, but Gen. xxxv. 9, iu the last part of the clause ,DJ?, equiva- when the new name of Israel "prince with lent" to him," instead of uo]7, equivalent to God," was con_fi!med to him, a;d the promise •• us," which identifies the p~triarch with his of all the fa.m1hes of the e11,rth being blessed posterity. The translation by which 11, rela- through hie seed renewed. Of the two tive is understood before 'immanu, equiva- visions nt Bethel the second is the one bore lent to "There he spoke to Jacob the referred to, as it comes after that o.t Penuel things that are with us," or" happened us," the scene of the patriarch's wrest!in"' with or " pertained to us," is neither necessary the angel; while the accompanying circwn- nor in o.ccordance with good taste. Kimchi sto.nces keep us to the right understandin"' understands the verb in the present ten,e, of the expression, "He found him i~ that is, God speaks (a) with us-Hosea. and Bethel," which we are considering. Jacob the other prophets, to reprove thu idolatry on that memor11,ble occasion prepared him• ro.mpant in Bethel; (b) rather with the pro- 3Aff 'I'HE BOOK OF HOSEA.. [on. xn. 1-11,