Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Hosea Kapitel 9

Hosea 9:1. Rejoice not, &c.— Rejoice not, O Israel, with joyous expectation, as the nations do [or among the nations]; for, &c. It should seem that this prophesy was delivered at a time when the situation of public affairs was promising; perhaps after some signal success, which had given occasion to public rejoicings. It is as if the prophet had said, "Those national successes, which might be just cause of rejoicing to other people, are none to thee; for thou liest under the heavy sentence of God's wrath, for thy disloyalty to him; and all thy bright prospects will vanish, and terminate in thy destruction. The Gentiles were not guilty in an equal degree with the Israelites; for, although they sinned, it was not against the light of revelation, in contempt of the warnings of inspired prophets, or in breach of any express covenant."

Thou hast loved a reward, &c.— Houbigant renders this, And thou hast sought the rewards of adultery from every corn-floor: that is, "Thou hast received for thy idolatry, those tithes of the corn, which, if thou hadst served Jehovah, were to have been paid for the support of the temple." It is therefore added in the next verse, The floor shall not feed them; as much as to say, "Because thou hast loved and hast claimed to thyself the produce of the corn-floor, therefore I will utterly deprive thee of that produce." Instead of, shall fail in her, Hosea 9:2. Houbigant and others read, shall fail them.

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Hosea 9:3. But Ephraim shall return to Egypt— When Salmaneser made the ten tribes captive, such as were able to escape the conqueror fled into Egypt, having implored the aid of that country against the Assyrians. It appears from the last clause, that the ten tribes, however inclined to idolatry, had before their captivity attended to the laws which prohibited the eating of unclean flesh.

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Hosea 9:4. Neither shall they be pleasing unto him— Houbigant reads, Neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him, which are to them as the bread of iniquity; or, such as is gained by injustice and fraud, whereby the offerer is polluted and not cleansed. Bread for their soul, means "Bread offered for their salvation;" a sufficient proof that these early Jews (for it is to be considered that Hosea was a very ancient prophet) had a speculative belief in the salvation of the soul, and consequently of a future state.

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Hosea 9:5. What will ye do in the solemn day— "When the days of your feast shall come, and you shall find yourselves far from your own country, without temple, without prophets, without priests, without sacrifices, without solemn assemblies;—what will be your sentiments?" Though the Israelites of the ten tribes were schismatics, and did not go up to the temple at Jerusalem, they omitted not to celebrate, in their own manner, the feast of the Lord in their own country; and as these solemnities were always accompanied with festivity and rejoicings, it must have been a great mortification to be no longer able to celebrate them in the land of their captivity. See Calmet, and Houbigant.

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Hosea 9:6. The pleasant places, &c.— The precious things which they had purchased for silver. The words are obscure; but the meaning seems to be, that the Israelites, upon the approach of the enemy, should bury in the earth the more valuable parts of their furniture.

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Hosea 9:7. The prophet is a fool, &c.— Stupid is the prophet, &c.; that is to say, the false prophets, who foretel nothing but peace, shall be convinced of their folly and madness, when they see the events happen contrary to what they had foretold. See Calmet and Lowth. The title of prophet seems to have been given to all of the prophetical order; that is, to all who had been educated in the schools of the prophets; because these were usually the persons to whom the gift of prophesy was imparted, though it was by no means given to all, or even to the greater part of them. Some, perhaps, among them pretended to it, who had never received it at all; and others, to whom it was in some degree given; temporized in the use of it, by profane accommodations to the humour of the people, the religious opinions, or the political measures of the court. Of the latter in particular we have a remarkable instance in those prophets of Israel, who encouraged Ahab to the expedition against the Syrian, for the recovery of Ramoth Gilead, which proved so fatal to himself. That the gross imposture of pretences to the spirit of prophesy by persons that had it not at all, was actually practised, seems to be implied in Mic 2:11 and Jeremiah 23:31-32. That those, who had the extraordinary gift, pretended, upon some occasions, to visions which they had never seen, and to commands which they had never received, is certain, from the very memorable history of the imposition practised by the old prophet, who dwelt in Beth-el at the time of the schism of the ten tribes, upon the man of God of Judah, who had prophesied against Jeroboam's altar, 1 Kings 13:0. The old prophet, whatever his crime might be in this deceit, and it certainly was great, appears to have been in his general character a true servant of God. But the more frequent crime was certainly that of temporizing, in the manner of delivering messages of warning, which had been really received. The persons guilty of this conduct were deeply implicated in the guilt of the nation, and were promoters of the idolatry to which the kings and the people were so much addicted; and they are reproved and threatened in every page of the prophetical writings. These are the persons, who, in this text of Hosea, under the title of prophets, are taxed with stupidity and madness. The communication of the gift of prophesy, to persons so false to the duties of their office, seems somewhat analogous to the communication of the miraculous gifts, in the primitive church, to many who made, if not a wicked, certainly an improper and injudicious use of them. And analogous to the threatened punishment of false teachers, in the latter ages of Christianity, was the punishment of these prevaricating prophets. "God sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lie." See 2 Thessalonians 2:11. "If the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet; and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel." Ezekiel 14:9. How it was, that God deceived the prophet, is an awful question, to be cautiously touched. It is evident, from the text of Ezekiel, that the prophet himself was highly criminal in the deception which he suffered. It may be, that, for his unworthiness, the spirit of wisdom and understanding was withheld from him, which might have enabled him to discern the true meaning of the allegorical visions presented to his imagination. Or it may be, that, for the guilt of the nation, the prophetic spirit was imparted to those, who wilfully misinterpreted their visions. Thus the vision was true, and the whole falsity was in the error, or the dishonesty, of the prophet. It cannot be conceived, that falsified scenes of futurity could be obtruded by the Holy Spirit on the prophet's mind. I would observe, that in the case of Ahab, the lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets was not a spirit that lied to them, but a spirit that incited them in effect to lie to the king.

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Hosea 9:8. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God— It should be, is with his God. The watchman is here evidently a title, by which some faithful prophet is distinguished from the temporizers and seducers. But who in particular is this watchman, thus honourably distinguished, and how is he "with his God?" I think the allusion is to Elijah and his miraculous translation. "Elijah, that faithful watchman, that resolute opposer of idolatry in the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, is now with his God, receiving the reward of his fidelity, in the enjoyment of the beatific vision: but the prevaricating prophets, who now are, are the victims of judicial delusion." The next verse alludes to the history of the young Levite, Judges 19:0.

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Hosea 9:10. I found Israel, &c.— "After I had miraculously redeemed Israel out of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness, their obedience was as grateful to me as early grapes, or the first ripe figs to a thirsty traveller." See Micah 7:1.Isaiah 28:4; Isaiah 28:4. Houbigant renders the last clause of this verse, Which when they loved they became abominable: others read, They went to Baal-peor, and consecrated or devoted themselves unto that shame; and abominations became as their love.

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Hosea 9:13. Ephraim, &c.— Some render these words, Ephraim was as if I should look upon Tyre, planted in a fair place: but, &c. Houbigant reads, That Ephraim, which, when I looked upon him, was as a rock planted in a pleasant place, shall bring forth, &c.

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Hosea 9:14. Give them a miscarrying womb— As a punishment for having inhumanly exposed their infants to death, by sacrificing them to their false gods; or, for having exposed them to the cruelty of the Assyrians, who destroyed them in war. The present passage is strikingly emphatical. But it is to be considered rather as a prediction of what was to happen as a punishment of their crimes, than as an imprecation.

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Hosea 9:15. Gilgal; for there I hated them— For there they became hateful to me, for their flagitious practices;—I will drive them, &c. That is, "I will no longer consider them as my family, my children, and servants." See chap. Hosea 8:1. The first great offence of the Israelites, after their entrance into the holy land, was committed when they were encamped in Gilgal; namely, the sacrilegious peculation of Achan. There, says God, of old was my quarrel with them; and to this, I think, these words allude. Gilgal was the place where the armies of Israel, upon their entering Canaan, first encamped; where Joshua set up the twelve stones, taken by God's command out of the midst of Jordan, in memorial of the miraculous passage through the river. There the first passover was kept, and the fruits of the promised land first enjoyed. There the captain of the host of Jehovah appeared to Joshua. There the rite of circumcision, which had been omitted during the forty years of the wandering of the people in the wilderness, was renewed. And in the days of the prophet Samuel, Gilgal appears to have been an approved place of worship and burnt-offering. But in later times it appears from Hosea and his cotemporary Amos, that it became a place of great resort for idolatrous purposes. And these are the wickednesses in Gilgal, of which the prophet here speaks. See Bishop Horsley.

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