1:5 break the bow. The bow was a common euphemism denoting military strength, the principal instrument of warfare in Israel. Fulfillment came in 722 B.C. when Assyria invaded. the Valley of Jezreel. Jezreel, called Esdraelon, extends 10 mi. in breadth from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, near Carmel; it was the great battlefield (see Rev. 16:14–16) adjoining the Valley of Megiddo, which will become an avenue of blessing (cf. v. 11) when Christ returns in triumph.
1:6 Lo-Ruhamah. Lit. “not pitied,” this daughter is named to symbolize God bringing judgment on Israel, no longer extending His favor towards them.
Hos. 1:9
God’s Lovingkindness to Israel
BETROTHAL
HOSEA and GOMER: Hos. 1:2
GOD and ISRAEL: Assumed; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 16:8
ONE FLESH
HOSEA and GOMER: Hos. 1:3
GOD and ISRAEL: Assumed; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:9-14
ADULTERY
HOSEA and GOMER: Hos. 2:2; 3:1
GOD and ISRAEL: Hos. 2:5; 4:12; Jer. 3:6; 5:7; Ezek. 16:15-34
DIVORCE
HOSEA and GOMER: Hos. 3:1
GOD and ISRAEL: Hos. 2:2; Jer. 3:8-10, 20; Ezek. 16:35-59
REMARRIAGE
HOSEA and GOMER: Hos. 3:3-5
GOD and ISRAEL: Hos. 1:10, 11; 2:14-23; 14:4-9; Jer. 3:22-4:2; Ezek. 16:60-63
1:7 I will have mercy on…Judah. God chose to intervene on behalf of Hezekiah when Jerusalem was besieged at the hands of the Assyrians in 701 B.C. (cf. 2 Kin. 19; Is. 37).
1:9 Lo-Ammi. The name means “not My people” and symbolizes God’s rejection of Israel. I will not be your God. Lit. “I will not be ‘I am’ to you.” The phrase gives the breaking of the covenant, a kind of divorce formula, in contrast to the covenant or marriage formula “I am that I am” given in Ex. 3:14.
1:10—2:1 In spite of the waywardness of Israel, God preserved a remnant for Himself from both Israel and Judah. Speaking of millennial blessings, God promised national increase (cf. Is. 54:1), national conversion and reunion (cf. Ezek. 37:15–23), national leadership (3:5), and national restoration (2:23).
1:10 number. A reaffirmation of the Abrahamic Covenant, not to be fulfilled in this generation but in the future (cf. Gen. 22:17). not My people. Quoted by Paul in Rom. 9:26.
1:11 one head. Refers to Messiah (cf. 3:5). day of Jezreel. Here used positively in the sense of divine blessing (cf. 2:22).
Hosea 2
2:2 Bring charges against your mother. Although the language is applicable to Gomer, it depicts a courtroom scene in which the Lord, as the plaintiff, brings charges against the defendant. Individual Israelites, depicted as the children, are commanded to bring charges against their mother, Israel as a nation. The physical immorality of Gomer pictures the spiritual idolatry of Israel.
2:5 I will go. Lit. “Let me go,” it denotes strong desire and bent. Israel attributed her prosperity to the idols of her heathen neighbors, “her lovers” (cf. vv. 7, 10, 12). She would not be deterred from pursuing them.
2:8–13 God withheld rain and productivity to show Israel that the Canaanite god Baal was not the god of rain and fertility.
2:8 prepared for Baal. Baal (the Phoenician sun-god) worship, already present during the time of the judges (cf. Judg. 2:17; 3:3; 8:33), became established in Israel when king Ahab married Jezebel, who attempted to obliterate Israelite worship of the true God (cf. 1 Kin. 19). Offerings to Baal actually came from God’s dowry to Israel (cf. Ezek. 16:10–14).
2:10 I will uncover her lewdness. God pledged to expose Israel’s wickedness. The phrase is linked to being taken forcibly into captivity in Ezek. 16:37–40. her lovers. The idols were personified as if they could see, though they could offer no help.
2:11 feast days. Ever since the Exodus from Egypt, Israel had intermingled the worship of the Lord with the worship of false gods (cf. Amos 5:26; Acts 7:43).
2:13 Me she forgot. Cf. 2 Kin. 17:7–18 for a detailed description of what their abandonment of God involved.
2:14 speak comfort to her. The phrase was used of wooing (Gen. 34:3; Judg. 19:3; Ruth 2:13). God will restore Israel to Himself.
2:15 Valley of Achor. Lit. “Valley of Trouble,” near Jericho where Achan and his family were judged (Josh. 7:24). This reference alerts Israel that her discipline and judgment would not last forever because there is a “door of hope.”
2:16 My Husband…My Master. The former (lit. “my ishi”) denotes affection and intimacy, while the latter (lit. “my baali”) speaks of rulership.
2:17 In v. 13, Israel forgot her true God; God said she would forget her false gods. What the outward conformity to the Mosaic Covenant could not do, God does through a new, regenerated heart in the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31–34; Zech. 13:1, 2).
2:18 a covenant. This depicts a millennial scene (cf. Is. 2:4; 11:6–9; Mic. 4:3) when God’s people become subject to God and creation becomes subject to them.
2:19, 20 I will betroth you. Repeated 3 times, the term emphasizes the intensity of God’s restoring love for the nation. In that day, Israel will no longer be thought of as a prostitute. Israel brings nothing to the marriage; God makes all the promises and provides all the dowry. These verses are recited by every orthodox Jew as he places the phylacteries on his hand and forehead (cf. Deut. 11:18). The regeneration/conversion of the nation is much like that of an individual (cf. 2 Cor. 5:16–19).
2:22, 23 A reversal of circumstances (cf. 1:4, 6, 9).
2:22 Jezreel. As in 1:11, used here in the positive sense of scattering seed to sow it.
2:23 Quoted by Paul in Rom. 9:25.
Hosea 3
3:1 Go again, love. Having been previously separated, Hosea was commanded to pursue his estranged wife Gomer (cf. Introduction: Interpretive Challenges), thereby illustrating God’s unquenchable love for faithless Israel. raisin cakes. Eaten as a part of special occasions (cf. 2 Sam. 6:19), they may have been used in idolatrous ceremonies, possibly as an aphrodisiac (cf. Song 2:5).
3:2 bought her. Probably from a slave auction, Hosea purchased Gomer for 15 shekels of silver and 1½ homers of barley. Together, the total may have equaled 30 pieces of silver, the price paid for a common slave (cf. Ex. 21:32). Barley was the offering of one accused of adultery (Num. 5:15).
3:3–5 Gomer would not be allowed conjugal relations for “many days,” with any man, including Hosea. As a further element of the picture of God’s dealings with His covenant people during the present age, Israel would exist without her existing political and religious (both true and false) relations until Messiah returns at the Second Advent to set up His millennial reign (cf. Ezek. 40–48; Zech. 12–14).
3:4 without ephod or teraphim. Idolatrous items of priestly clothing and objects of worship.
3:5 David. Cf. 1:11. This must refer to Messiah during the Millennium, as “in the latter days” specifies (cf. Is. 55:3, 4; Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:23, 24; 37:24, 25). The Jews did not seek after Christ at His first advent. This reference has the Davidic Covenant as its background (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12–17; Pss. 39; 132).
Hosea 4
4:1 the LORD brings a charge. Turning from the analogy of his own marriage, the prophet made the judicial charge in God’s indictment against Israel.
4:2 Note the many infractions of the Ten Commandments (cf. Ex. 20:3–17).
4:3 Sin plays havoc with lower creation and nature (cf. Joel 1:17–20; Rom. 8:19–22).
4:4 let no man contend. Rationalizing and denying their wrongs, the people protested their innocence, like those who would not humbly accept the decision of the priests (cf. Deut 17:8–13).
4:5 your mother. The Israelite nation of which the people are the children (cf. 2:2).
4:6 reject you from being priest for Me. Having rejected the Lord’s instruction, Israel could no longer serve as His priest to the nations (cf. Ex. 19:6; James 3:1).
4:7–10 Their position of power and glory, abused in succeeding generations by the eating of the sin offerings, would be turned to shame. Being no different than the p
eople, the priests, who should have been faithful, would share their punishment (cf. Is. 24:1–3).
4:11 Here is a moral truth applicable to all people and times. Verses 12, 13 are illustrations of the enslavement in Israel.
4:12 spirit of harlotry. A prevailing mindset and inclination to worldly spiritual immorality, i.e., idolatry (cf. 5:4).
4:13 Bereft of righteous teaching and understanding, they sacrificed to idols. Hilltops and groves of trees were favorite places for idolatrous worship (cf. Deut. 12:2; Jer. 2:20; Ezek. 6:13), including religious prostitution.
4:14 Although all who sin will be judged, God forbade punishing the adulteresses alone and leaving the men who patronized them to go free. The heaviest punishment would not be on the women who sin, but the fathers and husbands who set such a bad example by their engagement with prostitutes. do not understand. Cf. 4:6.
4:15 Gilgal. Between Jordan and Jericho in the area of Samaria, this was once a holy place to God (Josh. 5:10–15; 1 Sam. 10:8; 15:21), afterwards desecrated by idol worship (cf. 9:15; 12:11; Amos 4:4; 5:5). Beth Aven. Judah was to stay away from Israel’s centers of false worship, including Beth Aven (“house of wickedness/deceit”). This was a deliberate substitution for the name Bethel (“house of God”), once sacred to God (Gen. 28:17, 19), but made by Jeroboam a place to worship calves (cf.1 Kin. 12:28–33; 13:1; Jer. 48:13; Amos 3:14; 7:13).
4:16 Because Israel was like a stubborn calf, God no longer attempted to corral her, abandoning her as a lamb in a vast wilderness.
4:17 Ephraim…Let him alone. As the largest and most influential of the northern 10 tribes, Ephraim’s name was often used as representative of the northern nation. This was an expression of God’s wrath of abandonment. When sinners reject Him and are bent on fulfilling their wicked purposes, God removes restraining grace and turns them over to the results of their own perverse choices. This kind of wrath is that in Rom. 1:18–32 (cf. Judg. 10:13; 2 Chr. 15:2; 24:20; Ps. 81:11, 12).
Hosea 5
5:1 Hosea addressed the priests, the people, and the royal family; the 3 imperatives demand attention. The religious and civil leaders had entrapped the people (cf. 6:9; 7:7). Mizpah…Tabor. Mizpah of Gilead, lying E of the Jordan (Judg. 10:17; 11:29), and Tabor, SW of the Sea of Galilee, were likely places for false worship.
5:5 pride of Israel testifies to his face. Israel’s pride in idolatry provided self-incrimination (cf. 7:10).
5:6, 7 Her religious sacrifices and monthly festivals no longer brought divine favor, only judgment. God “has withdrawn Himself from them.” See note on 4:17.
5:8 The enemy was already upon them and thus her watchmen were to sound the alarm (cf. Num. 10:9). Gibeah…Ramah. Located on Judah’s northern border with Israel. Beth Aven. (Bethel) situated in southern Israel (cf. 4:15). All three were strategic defense cities. Benjamin. Used to refer to the whole southern kingdom.
5:10 remove a landmark. Boundaries, marked by stones, could be easily moved at night. Moving them was tantamount to stealing land from a neighbor (cf. Deut. 19:14; 27:17; Prov. 22:28; 23:10). Worse, Israel’s leaders were moving spiritual lines established by God (cf. v. 11).
5:12 moth…rottenness. God will be destructive to Israel.
5:13 King Jareb. “Jareb” means “warrior” and refers to the king of Assyria, to whom Israel (cf. 2 Kin. 15:19, 20) and later Judah (cf. 2 Kin. 16:5–9) turned for help.
5:14, 15 Foreign assistance would be of no value, since the Lord was orchestrating punishment at the hands of the Assyrians. He would remove Himself “till they acknowledge their offense” and “seek My face” (cf. 3:5).
Hosea 6
6:1–3 Coming with the beginning of Christ’s millennial reign (cf. Zech. 12:10—13:1; Is. 43:1–6), Hosea records Israel’s future words of repentance (cf. 5:15).
6:2 After two days…On the third day. Not a reference to the resurrection of Christ (illness, not death, is in the context), but to the quickness of healing and restoration (cf. the quickness with which the dry bones of Ezek. 37 respond). Numbers are used similarly elsewhere (e.g., Job 5:19; Prov. 6:16; 30:15, 18; Amos 1:3).
6:4–7 Because Israel’s commitment to the Lord was fleeting and superficial, He had to send prophets with stern words (vv. 4, 5), calling for a covenantal loyalty befitting a marriage relationship (v. 6). But they violated the marriage vows (v. 7).
6:6 I desire mercy…not sacrifice. Cf. Matt. 9:13; 12:7.
6:7 men…covenant. A reference to the Mosaic Covenant (cf. 8:1; Ex. 19:5, 6).
6:11 Lest Judah feel smug at her neighbor’s demise, the prophet reminds them that they have a day of reckoning awaiting them (cf. Jer. 51:13; Joel 2:1–3).
Hosea 7
7:1 Samaria. As the capital, Samaria represents the northern kingdom.
7:4–7 The civil leaders’ evil lust burned so passionately all night, that the prophet repeatedly described it like a consuming oven (cf. vv. 4, 6, 7), so hot that the baker could forego stirring the fire during the entire night and still have adequate heat for baking the next morning.
7:7 All their kings have fallen. Four of Israel’s final 6 kings were murdered by usurpers.
7:8, 9 At Israel’s invitation, foreign nations made debilitating inroads into her national and religious life. This intrusion was making her like “a cake unturned,” burned on one side and raw on the other. Payment for this foreign assistance was “devouring her strength” (v. 9) and making her old and feeble without noticing it.
7:11, 12 Like a dove, reputed to lack good sense (cf. Matt. 10:16), so Israel had sought assistance from Egypt and Assyria, rather than from the Lord, who would ultimately trap her (cf. 8:9, 10).
7:13 redeemed them. From Egypt and their other enemies.
7:14 wailed upon their beds…assemble together. The former phrase may speak of appeals to pagan fertility gods upon beds of sacred prostitution, while the latter, if the marginal reading is correct, harkens to Elijah’s encounter with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel (cf. 1 Kin. 18:28).
Hosea 8
8:1 like an eagle. Lit. a “vulture,” Assyria was ready to descend quickly upon Israel to devour her (cf. Deut. 28:49). transgressed My covenant. See note on 6:7.
8:2 we know You! Israel’s syncretistic worship wherein she practiced idolatry while crying out to God.
8:5 Your calf is rejected. Calf worship was the national religion of the northern kingdom (cf. 1 Kin. 12:25–33; Ex. 32).
8:7 sow the wind…whirlwind. This indicates the escalating uselessness of all their false religion.
8:9 they have gone up to Assyria. As the context notes, this is not a reference to the captivity, but to the alliance she made with Assyria. “Like a wild donkey,” Israel has stubbornly pursued foreign assistance rather than depending on the Lord.
8:12 Israel has been duly warned; she is without excuse (cf. 6:7; 8:1).
8:13 shall return to Egypt. Recalling the place of Israel’s former bondage, Hosea reminds them that Assyria will be their future “Egypt” (cf. 9:3; 11:5; Deut. 28:68). A few Judean refugees actually did go to Egypt (cf. 2 Kin. 25:26). Isaiah used “Sodom” in a similar representative fashion (Is. 1:9, 10).
8:14 Judah…fortified cities. Though less idolatrous than Israel, Judah showed lack of trust in God by trusting more in fortifications. Instead of drawing near to God, Judah multiplied human defenses (cf. Is. 22:8; Jer. 5:17).
Hosea 9
9:1–17 Hosea enumerates the features of the Lord’s banishment to Assyria: loss of joy (vv. 1, 2); exile (vv. 3–6); loss of spiritual discernment (vv. 7–9); declining birth rate (vv. 10–16); and abandonment by God (v. 17).
9:1, 2 threshing floor…winepress. These were the very places where sacred prostitution took place in an attempt to cause Baal to bring prosperity.
9:3 the LORD’s land. Cf. Lev. 25:23. Egypt. See note on 8:13 (cf. 11:5).
9:4 bread of mourners…defiled. Food eaten on the occasion of mourning was considered unclean, defiling anyone eating it (cf. Deut. 26:12–15).
9
:6 Memphis. An ancient capital of Egypt known for its tombs and pyramids.
9:7, 8 The prophets were God’s inspired messengers and watchmen (cf. Ezek. 3:17; 33:1–7), yet Israel considered them fools and madmen.
9:9 Gibeah. Cf. 10:9. Israel’s sin is likened to the gross evil of the men of Gibeah, a reference to their heinous rape of the concubine (Judg. 19:22–25), an infamous and unforgettable crime (cf. Judg. 19:30).
9:10 grapes in the wilderness. A rare and refreshing find (cf. Deut. 32:10). Baal Peor. Prior to entering the Promised Land, Israel fell into worship of Baal at Baal Peor (Num. 25:3–18).
9:11–14 Reminiscent of the imprecatory psalms, Hosea prayed that God’s blessing would be withdrawn, in the figure of withholding children, the ultimate earthly blessing.
9:15 Gilgal. As a center of idol worship (cf. 4:15), the place was representative of Israel’s spiritual adultery; therefore He had rejected them from intimate fellowship.
9:17 wanderers. God promised global dispersion for disobedience (cf. Lev. 26:33; Deut. 28:64, 65).
Hosea 10
10:1 Agricultural prosperity had resulted in spiritual corruption (cf. Ezek. 16:10–19).
10:3, 4 The last 5 kings of Israel were usurpers. Impotent and unworthy of respect, they were incapable of enforcing the laws of the land.
10:5 the calf of Beth Aven. See notes on 4:15; 8:5.
10:8 Cover us…Fall on us. The captivity would be so severe that the people would pray for the mountains and hills to fall on them, similar to the last days (cf. Luke 23:30; Rev. 6:16).
10:10 two transgressions. Israel would receive a double portion of judgment for her multiplied iniquity (cf. Is. 40:2; Jer. 16:18).
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 416