The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 431

dieeue is in the body, therefore he aeee the n_o.m~Iy, And hil IDlell u Lebanon. Thie word ' bee.I.' But God proceeds to perform s1~1fles the frngranee of this beautiful tree who.t ho ho.s promised; ho dooe not confine of righteousness. The smell of Lebanon is hie goodness to words, he oxhibits it in referred to in Cant. iv. 11, •• And the smell works, BB the following verses show." I will of thy,. garmente. is (ike the smell of Le- be u the dew unto Israel. "The Jussive bo.non. . What with its cedars, o.nd spices, ne~umea difl'~rent_ehadee of meo.ning, varying and fm1t, and flower~, and aromatic shrnbs with the a1tuo.t10n or authority of the e.nd f~ag1"3:nt vines, Lebnnon must perfum~ speaker. , .. Sometimes, from tho circum- the au with the most delightful odoura. stances of the case, the command becomes Thus e.cooptable to God and pleasing to e. permission: Hosea. xiv. 6, 'I will be o.e man shall Israel become. The commen- the clew to Iero.el: let him flourish, l'.1, and ta~rs quote with oommendatiou Rosen- stril,e forth his roots na Lebo.non'" (Driver). muller's explanation of the individao.l In lo.nds where there is little rain, the dew, feat?res _of .this inimi_table picture : '' The falling copiously, fertilizes the eo.rth, re, rootrng md1cates w,bility; the spreading freshes the 1.e.nguicl plants, revives the face of the branches, propagation and the mul- of ne.ture, and me.kes o.11 things grow. Thae ti~ude of inhabitants; the splendour of the the dew becomes the source of fruitfulness, olive, beauty and g1JJry, and that constant So God, by hie Spirit's gro.ce, is the Source and _Iaeti~,g; the ~ra~ance, hi/,arity and of Iero.el'e spiritual fruitfulness. He shall loveliness. The BIIDile changes into the grow (mo.rgin, bloaaom) as the lily. This metaphor; Israel, from being likened to e. compo.rison suggests many qualities, any tree, becomes the tree. They the.t dwell one of which mo.y characterize, or all of un~er his shadow llhall retarn ; they lhall which may combine in, the spiritual growth revive e.e the oorn, and grow (margin thus pictured. There is the purity of the bloBBom) as the vine: the scent (rather: lily, the beauty of the lily, the fecundity of renown) thereof Ehall be as the wine of the lily, the perfnme of the lily, the rapidity Lebanon. T~ere. is some difficulty and of its growth, the stately slightness of its consequent diversity of rendering and ex- stem. We may combine the rapidity of its planation in connection with this verse. If growth; its fecundity, with rego.rd to which the tree be Israel in its collective or national Pliny informs us tho.t a single root produces capacity, the dwellers under its shadow nre fifty bulbs; its beauty, to which our Lord the members ~f t~e nation, separately and refers in contrast with the glory of Solomon. severally, flounshrng antler the widespreo.d But its root is weak, e.nd he, on that account branches of this umbrageous tree. The pe~haps, ~ubjoins : And cast forth (margin, '!"ord yashubhu is explained: (1) (a) return, strike) his roots e.s Lebanon. Whether it i.e. betake themselves to his shadow which mean that the roots are as the trees of Le- is incongruous, for how could they be said bo.non or the mountain of Lebanon itself, to return to their owu shadow or dwell the thought expressed by this comparison is securely under it? (b) return to their native stability. " As the trees of Lebanon," says land, so the Chaldee,-this is somewhat Jerome, " which strike their roots as far better; (c) return to the worship of Jehovah down in to the depths as they lift their said of !ere.elites who had abandoned it' heads up into the air, so that they can be not properly of Gentiles turning to that she.ken by no storm, but by their stable worship; (d) Roeenmiiller, comparing Jodg. me.ssiveness me.into.in their position." His xv. 19 e.nd 1 Sam. xxx. 12, explains it in branches shall spread; margin, go ; rather, the sense of coming to themselves, reviving. go on. Thie fee.ture in the representation (2) Keil constructs yashubhu, adverbially by denotes enlargement or ezpansfon. The a oommou idiom with y•chayyu, and (a) tender bmnches (suckers) spreading out in translates "she.II give life to come e,crain," all directions very e.ptly set forth the mul- thut is," Those who sit beneath the ~bade tiplication of Iero.el or their growth and of_ Isro.e(, the tree that is bursting into leaf, increase numerically. But branches stra"• will revive corn, cause 1t to return to life or gling, crooked, and ill-shaped would rath~r produce it for nourishment, satiety, ~n,l be e. blemish than a. beauty. It is, therefore, strengthening." Similarly the Vulgate "sus- e.dded : His beauty shall be as r.he olive tree. tain life by corn." This, however,' must The olive hll,8 been called the crown of appear tame after the splendid promises that went before. (b) Vivify; i.8. produce the fruit trees of PaleHtine, but besides, ils seed like corn, and rejoice in a numerous fruitage so plentiful e.nd useful, the splen- offspring ae from a seed of com many dour of its green, e.nd the enduring fresh- proceed: according to this, "seed" CP:,J)must ness of its folie.ge, make it e. vivid picture of the.t beauty of holiness or spiritual gnices be supplied, e.nd caph of comparison. The which it is here employed to represent. added clause agrees with this, for the There is still cm additional element of flourishing of the vine 11lso symbolizes pro- interest pertammg to this goodly tree, lific persoQs (comp. Pe. c:uviii. 3). l!'urtb~r, HOB~;A, 2 I"  434: THE BOOK OF HOSEA, LoH, uv. 1-0.