The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 396

dictum, l.e. was guilty of, and bore tta rial wae gold: "The ea.Ives," he sayi,," were punishment.'' 'fhls ellplanation of Mll'l ia far- not silvor, bnt he means to say that, of the fetchod ond unnatural. Wo he.ve no h811itB- eilver which they each one gave to procure tion in preferring "lifted up," i.e. his head, gold to make the calves, they made for or eJ1altcd himself, for, though it is naually themselves idols according to tt1eir under• the Hitl,p. that iaemplo;,ed in this sense, ex- stnnding: and these were the calves." The omplca olflll occur in winch Qe.l ia 110 UBP..d, for mom,ner in which they made tlie11C idols was eJ1omplo,Ps. llluix. llland Ni,h. i.5. Kimchi (1) in their U71fkrld'1lnding, tbat i~, in their supplies ro,lw. Wo e.dhorc, therefore, to the underatancling, such as it wae, eo stapidly rendoring e.nd exposition of (:!). But when employed in such senauous work, or their he offended in Baal, he died. 'lbis waa not proficiency in the art <,f graving. Kimchi mcroly tho coif-worship which, for politice.l explaina it somewhat differently: "Tho ex- rcaeo11s, Jeroboam institntccl ancl his suc- planation of c;1::in::i is, ' As if they had care- CCdBOrs rot.uinecl, but tho worship of Baal for fully reflected on the matter wl;at form they which, no doubt, the calf-worship had pre- ahould give it, and then had agreed to mnke pared the woy, e.nd which had been intro- a calf, as they did in the wilderne88.'" The duced. by Ahab at the instigation of his reading of the word '1"1::1 is disputed, but Sidonian queen. And though the people without sufficient ground. No doubt the were partially ond temporarily reformed Septuagint, which is followed by the Chal- through the efforts of Elijah the prophet dee, Arabic, and Jerome, probably read and by the roye.l outhority of Johu, son of n~::iry:;,, rad. m::i, to build, like n·µn, figure, or Nimehi, the evil we.s not eradicati:d, but n~~:;,; for they translate (2) a~dVrl'] to the frequently broke out again. 'fhe exalte.tion li'ltenen or fashion of idols; while some of .Ephraim was not Bo much his distinction manuecripte of Kennicott and De Rossi pre- o.mong his brethren as the governmental sent (3) the reading c~::i:q, acrording to preclominancc e.t which that tribe ever aimed. their wndent.a.nding, their own peculiar no- 'fhat eleve.tion, however, was soon followed tiona or fancy, and not as Moses, who made by religious declension, culminating in the everything after the pattern showed him in idolatry of Ba.al, which soon sealed the doom the mount. The full form would be □nri::in::i of the northern kingdom, thenceforth given up to destruction. The sentence of death but the feminine form is shortened ·bef~r; was pronounced, and the actual dying com· tho soflix, liko ;no for ;in,o (Job xi. 9); menced with the introduction of idolatrous and ;:,m for r-u,m (P~ov. vii 'sY; □,,;: for □n-ir.t worship. Thus, correctly, Kimchi: '' He (Pa. rlu. ulf Some suppose' it fro~· a. lifted up his head in Israel. And after he masculine form, j'::ll:1, of the same meaning. offended in Baal he died, as if he ea.id, he The defect of this ma.n-made god is expressed was beaten before his enemies, as if he werA by its being all of it the work of the crafts- dead, the power of his hancl had departed." men, without any element of sense, spirit, Ver. 2.-And now they ein more and or divinity in it. On which Kimchi has well more (margin, add to ,in), and have made observed: "The whole calf is the work of them molten images of their 1ilver, and idols the hands of the cmft sman ; there is nothing aeoording to their own nndenta.nding, all of spiritual in it; as he ea.ye, 'There is no it the work of the oraft■men. This part of breath at all in the midst of it ' (Hab. ii. the verse declnres their persistent adherence 19)." They say of them, Let the men that to idolatry. The note of time, "and now," uori.floe (mo.r6,jn, the eacrijicer, of men) kiss marks the transition from the past period, the oalvBII. The beot explanation of this diffi- when Bnnl-worsbip had been introduced by cult clause is, in our opinion, (1) that of Keil. Ahab ond subsequently overturned by Jehu, His translation. though slightly different to the prophet's own clny. Not content with from that of the Authorized Version, hn.s the calves of Jeroboam and the wordhip of the same general import; thos: "Of them Baul, they added new superstitions and new (the 'ataabbim, idols) they say, viz. 'the sacri- hideous objects of worship. n;,i;,i;i, a molten ficers Crom among men' equivalent to• the image, like the molten cnlf of Ae.ron, is sin- men who sacrifice,' Let them worship gular, but used collectively, so as to corre- calves. By the apposition zobh'cM 'adam, Hpond with C'i)IJ!, idols, which is plural. nnd the fact that the object 'a..galim is placed The reference here is, (1) not to the ce.lvos first, so that it stands in immediate contrast or to Baal, but to various other idols which to 'a.dam, the absurdity of men kissing calves, they had adopted, as at Gilgal and Beer- i.e. worshipping them with kisses (see at sheba (Amos viii. 14). Or, (2) not contont 1 Kings xL'C. 18), is painted, as it were, with the calves, they introclucod gods of their before the uyes." As parallel to zobh•che own as their penates. Tho ,naterial out of 'adam, comp. e-r,ycme 'adam (lso.. x:tlx. 19). which these molten images woro mnnufnc- Severe.I eminent modrrn commentators girn turod we.a silver. Kimchi, however, gives a the same or a similar explo.nntion, with tho curious c,xplon11tion iu prvof that t.ho innto- exception thnt, instelld of tralll:llating □;;,7, "of 398 THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [oH, xm. 1-18,