The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 370

higher dAgme of Divine revel"tion, &ll!O the the 1enae would be repoated in dlft'erent er,n•P• of tho receiver are awl\ke and active, w,.,rds. Or ite 1en ■e 1hall ho In connootlon while in the dream they R.N! inopcmtive and with Gilgf\l. And although ,:akeph i ■ on p!U!Rh-e. Of the eimilihuk, l\gl\in, we have the word w,, all the IM!Olln!B of the inter• (•xnmpl<'e in IF111.iab'1 parable of " vincyl\rd prctor~ do not follow after tho accents of the \ Isa. v.), nnd in Ezekiel'• similitude of a points.'' Similarly Ruhl: "If disnRtcr o.nd wretched infant, t.o repreacnt the na.tnral oppression como upon them (the Gileadites) ~tate of Jer1188.lem. Aben Ezra remark.I, thoy have caused it t,-, thomeelves, for ocr- " 1 hr"·e e,,ta.blisl ,cd cm hie-ma and compnri- tainly they are worlhle1snou, and sacrillco MJJ> 1h1<t ye might undcr,tancl me;•• and bulloeka to idols in Gilgal The verb 1•~ is K imchi, "I have given omblr.mR n.nd a prophelio perfect implying the certo.inty pan,ble• by mCAne of the prr,phots, ae 188.iah of tho predirtion, o.e though already an IMI~·•• • l\1y well-beloved bath a vincy9:r~;' accomplished fo.ct.'' Tho exposition of Aben ancl Ewkic,1, 'Thv birth and thy nativity Ezra. favonre (B) ; thus: '' If the Gilea.ditea, i• of the land of Cana.an.' And the cxplo.· before I aent prophets to them, were worth- nation of -r:: is that by their hand he eends l088?1en, nrely they ha.ve become vemity, them cmhleme and similitndet! ae (Lev. x. that i1, ln1tea.d of being morally batter, they 11) 'which the Lord bath spt,kcn unto have become woree.'' To this exposition we them by the band of Mnsee.'" 'l'hu1 God, find a pa.rallel in Jer. ii. 5, "They have RP R,.,AAnmiiller obscrvea, " left no mean1 of walked after vanity, a.nd are become vain." adm,.,niehing them untried." They ncrifice bnlloolu iD. Gilgal D.,)r{ for Yer 11.-1.s there iniquity in Gilead 1 D.,il!f like Cl'nin from nin, The inhabitants IUl'ely they an, ftuity. In reference to h,'J"lthetical11, Driver rcJD11.?ks, "With an or Gll_ga.1 OD th~ west were no better than ,;,.perfer.t in pmto.sis. The apodoaiii may then the Gileaditcs on the east of Jorda.I): the licfJin (a) hath 11a'l/ con. and the perfect; (1,) whole kingdom, in fact, was overrun with with the infinitive (without 1'a1'); (c) with idnlatry. The sin of the people of G_i]g~l perfect alone (e:i;pressing the certainty did not ooneist in the animals offered, lint m and suddennCBS with which the result im- the unla.wfulness of the place of sacrifice. mcd iately accomplishes the oocurrcnce of The punishment of both Gilgal and Gilead the promise. HOB. xii. 12 (w, in o.podosis, is denounced in the following pa.rt of the • of thc certain fnture ')." The first part of veree. Yea, their altars are a.a heaps in the this clanse has been va.rionsly rendered. furrows of the field&. Gilead signified" heap Some takt OK (a) affirmatively, in the sense of witnesses," and Gilgal "heaping heap." 0 The la.tter we.s mentioned in eh. iv. 15 and of ceria,inlg, 0M1JH"edly; othtre transla~ it iL 15 a.a a. notable centre of idol-worship (I,) interrogatively, as in. the Authorized (" all their wickedness is in Gilgal "), and re'- Version. thongh even thua 1t would be more tained e.s we learn from the present pe.ssa.ge, o.ccuratcly rendered: Is Guead i7!iquit11, its notoriety for nnlawfnl sacrifices, sacri- Puscv following the common vera10n, ex- tlcee cust.omli.rily and continually off'ered plains' it as follows: "The proph~t aiiks (viz. iterative sen10 of Piel): the former the qnestion in ord°! to answer ~t more wae signalized in eh·. vi. 8 as " a. city of th!'1D- 7,crcmptorily. He ra.lBC8 the doubt in order that work iniquity," and " polluted with to crnsh it the moreimpreYively. 'le there blood." The altars in both places a.re to be iniquity in Gilead?' Alu I there _wae no- tnrned into stone-heaps: this is expressed thing else. Surely Chey are mmty; . o~: by e. play on words eo frequent in Hebrew; strictly, the,g hau become merel11 m~. at Gilead a.a well as Gilge.1 they aro to The"' does not appE:B,r, however, nffifiient become gaUim, or hoops of stones, such as reason for departing from the ~rdinory hnsbandmen gather oil' ploughed land and meaning of the word, (c) namely, if thD8, leave in uaeloes heaps for the greater conve- Jj Gilead i,, iniquit11 (wortlili.HsneBh), B1Uelu tJ,,,y /.a1Je Lecvme 1Janity. 'l'he clau~ thWI nience of removal. c~,:;i (related to tell, rn,dered may denote one of two thmgs- a. bill, that which is thrown up) is_e. fu:row either-{a) moral worthleB!lness . followed as formed by casting up or teo.n~g 11_,t.o. 1,v phvsical nothingncse, that 18, moral The ruinous heaps of the altars 1mph~, decay followed by physical:in sncccedlld not nnly their deslruetion, but the deeolot10n l,y Hufforing; or I IJ) progress m. ~oral cor- of the eonntry. The a.Ito.re would become ruption. 'l'o the former expoB1t1on corre- dilapidated heaps, and tbo country depopu- ~ponds the comment of Kimchi, 81 follows : lated. The Hebrew inlerpretere, howe_ver, "• If Giltlad began to work vanit,: (no- connect with the heap-like e.ltars the idea. thingnesr.),' for they began to do ww~- of number and conapieuouenees ; th_is they '"'1111 fil"llt, and they have been first ca_rrwl make prominent as inrlim1ting _the gro~d intc, captivity. ,.,, 711 can connect 1taclf iclf/latry of the people, Thus Ra.shi ; "Tbmr with whe.t precedes, so that ite n:iea.ning is altar~ are oumerou, ns hea.pa in tho fu1T1JWI of the field. ,i, •n Is the f1nrow about Cil1,11d which he has mentioned. and (lff, XII, 1-11.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA.