The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 401

ment of sin, wh11tevor intcrvRI me.y h11ve from the mother to the child; such abrupt elapsed. 'l'he day of reckoning would oer- and sudden tranaitiona are not infrequent in taiuly come. for the Bin of Ephr11im WIU! Scripture, especially in the Pauline Epistles 11c•ither forp,tten nor blotted out. As a (comp. e.g. 2 Cor. iii. 18-16). 'l'ho dl\Dger miser pnt.e hie money in II b11g and seals it is represented as extreme, l!.B mo.y be inforred to prevent it being lost, so the Almighty from the similar expression, "'l'ho children ha.d. RB it were, hoMded Ephraim's sin, are come to the birth, and there is no putting it in a bRg Rnd tying it. A p11rallel strength to bring forth." A periloue period expression occurs in Job xiv. 17, "My trans- in Isro.el's history is indicated, and to gression is sealed np in a ha~. and thou escape the danger he must make no tarry- ~ewcst up mine iniquity." UsnRlly when ing, but advance at once into the new li°fe men put money into II bag, purse, or of faith and repentance. Kimchi has the treasure-house, they connt it; so the sins of following comment : " Becauee he ho.s com- Ephraim were reckoned, lRid up in the pared his pains to the pains of a woman in treasurv of wrath, till the a.mount should be travail, he says, • The children are not wise,' full and the day of reckoning arrive. The as if he sa,id, • The coming generations, who sinner himself is represented e.s treasuring have seen their fathers in afBictiun because up unto himself wrath against the day of of their iniquities, a.re not wise, and do not wrath. Aben Ezra only remarks on the consider that distress has overtaken their place where it is treasured: "It is bound up fathers becall6e of their iniquity; and tum in my heart; I shell not forget it as they not from the evil deeds of their fo.there, but have torgotten me, as is written a.hove" have done wickedness like them.' " He (ver. 6, " They h11ve forgotten me"). adds : "There are children lively by ne.ture Ver. 13.-The sorrows of e. travailing in their coming forth out of the womb ; so woma.n she.ll oome upon him. The threatened also would these, if they were wise, not stay punishment that is to overtake them is com- e. single hour in distress, but immediately pared to the throes of a parturient woman, on returning to the Lord be delivered out of on account of their severity, as l Thess. v. 3. their distress.'' The LXX. omit the ne- Their sinfulness, which stands in the way of gative and render •o by I, crvvTp<.Bff:." Thie their success, shall be succeeded by severe wise son of thine [employed ironically] shall sufferings and many sorrows. But eventu- not stand [or, •endure'] in the deetruQtion of ally these worldly sorrows shall, under Divine his chlldren or people.'' grace, issue in tbe godly sorro'\\""B of repent- Ver. 14.-I will r&n11om them from the liUCt • then, and not till then, shall a new power of the grave ; I will redeem them and liappier period of existence be uehered from death. God here promises them in. The sorrow of trave.il shall give place deliverance from utter ruin; the grave shall to the joy of birth Delay of confession and be thus deprived of his victim, and the repentanoe defers that joy, prolongs the victim rescued out of the tyre.nt grasp of sufferings, and puts the life of both parent death. niD is to redeem by payment of and child in peril, so fe.r as their personality a price; ·~Nl by right of kinship; while iE identical. Re is an UILwise 10n ; for he should not stay long ill the place of the break- ',;11~, the under world, is derived (I) by so~e ing forth of children. Here the UIL wisdom from ',11e,, to ask or demand, and is favoure!I, of Ismel ia e.coonnted for : it is folly, sheer by such statements as the following: folly that postpones repentance, and delays " There are three things that a.re never efforts e.nd aspiratioWI after new spiritual satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is life. The literal rendering of the last cla.uee enough : the grave," and so on ; " Who en- is· (1) For it u time, he shmJ,ld Mt f,arry at largeth his desire as hell, and is as death, t}i,e pi.Me of the breaking forth of children; and cannot be satisfied.'' Others (2) derive or r..ther, (2) When it u ti'TM, he does Mt it from ',11e-, equivalent to ',lie, (by a softening place, himJJelf e.t (literally, stand) or come of the ayin into aleph), to be hollow; but forward to t/i,e opening of t/i,e womb; e.nd this signification of the word is not satis- some tra.nslate n),' (3)" at the time," but that factorily established. A third (3) derivation would rather req~ire n1b; it might, indeed, is ',11,, to hang down loose or slack, then to l,e duration of time, and Aben Ezra •so be deep, or low, and so the noun comes to •tnders it : " Therefore at the time he will signify sinking, depth, abyss. 0. Doath, I ,,at stand in the breaking forth of children." will be thy plagues; 0 Grave, I will be thy Aleo Wtin.che: "He is an unwise son, for destruction. Th us 'Dtt is (a) incorrectly at the time he stands not in the breaking taken by some for the first person future of forth of children." It might be expreeBCd, n•n; it is (b) more properly to.ken in the as in the Authorized Version, with & slight sense of "where," e.e in ver. 10 of the modification ; thus: For otherwi,,e Ji,e would present chapter. "'l'Ti'? is plural, referred by not stand long tinuJ in the place of the breaking forth of children. The fiirire is now shifted some to i:n, hence a,K71f;, LXX.; it is, how- OH, XIII, 1-16.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA.