are not doing; only wrath is in store for thee, from the God whom thou hast forsaken. But the following clause favours the other interpretation.

thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor] Or, more plainly, "for that thou hast loved a harlot's hire upon all cornfloors." The Hebrew word for "harlot's hire," ethnan (also found in Deut. xxiii. 18; Isai. xxiii. 17, 18; Ezek. xvi. 31, 34, 41), means no doubt the same as the "rewards," ethnah, in ch. ii. 12, "these are my rewards which my lovers have given me:" comp. ib. 5. The meaning is this, "thou takest delight in contemplating upon every floor where thou hast corn to thresh that which thou regardest as hire received for whoredom." Israel "loved," delighted in, this plenty, not merely for its own sake, but also as betokening the kindness to her of her idol-gods. The words "upon all cornfloors" suggest the supposition, that these idolatrous Israelites did something upon each cornfloor shewing their recognition of their idol; but on this particular point, we lack information.

2. The floor, &c.] More exactly, "The floor and the vat shall not feed them; and (or, perhaps, yea) the new wine shall fail her." From addressing Israel, the prophet indignantly speaks of her in the third person, with pathos also repeating the "floor" of v. I. Shall not feed them:" the (supposed) plenty shall either be followed by, or be found to prove, scarcity; comp. ch. ii. 9, 11; Hag. ii. 16; or perhaps (see next verse) their enjoyment of the fruits of their land shall be put an end to by their being led away captive. "Vat:" the word may include the receptacle of expressed oil as well as that of grape-juice (Joel ii. 24),; but used alone it can hardly mean "oil-vat" only. Wine is again referred to, as being so highly prized for its cheering as well as its nourishing qualities. "Fail her," literally, "lie to her," not come as expected: so Isai. lviii. 11; Hab. iii. 17. "Her," exchanged for "them" as ch. iv. 19. Israel has just been spoken of as a harlot.

3. the LORD's land] Canaan was of all countries that which Jehovah claimed as peculiarly His own. Compare Lev. xxv. 23; Matt. v. 35.

but Ephraim shall return to Egypt] At first sight, "Egypt" seems to be mentioned as being, as well as Assyria, the country to which the expatriated Israelites should be removed. In v. 6 we read further, "Memphis shall bury

3 They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4 They shall not offer wine offer

them." So in the prediction of the restoration in ch. xi. 11 we read, "they shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt." But in ch. xi. 5 it is said, "He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king." And in the accounts which we have of the event (which however are very brief and incomplete) there is no specific mention of inhabitants of the Northern kingdom being, by the constraining power of their conquerors, removed to Egypt, but only to places in the Assyrian empire. At the breaking up of the Southern kingdom, many of the Jews went down to Egypt, see e.g. Jer. xli.; and in later ages the number of Hebrews living in Egypt and the countries lying westward is known to have been very large. This may suggest a suspicion that Egypt may have attracted many from among the northern tribes as well. See Introd. p. 402. This however will not serve to explain ch. viii. 13, “They shall return to Egypt," which is more naturally explained mythically: for certainly Egypt was not the principal location of the exiles. It appears quite allowable to put a similar figurative interpretation upon the "Egypt" and "Memphis" of this context, even while we understand "Assyria" literally. Prophecy, is wont to blend fact and figure together in whether in the Old or in the New Testament, such a manner, as to make it impossible for features in the picture are to be taken as real, the reader before the event to determine what before us, while banishment from Canaan is and what as mystical. And thus in the passage threatened to deter Israel from disobedience, the language of the prediction leaves it uncertain land of Israel's captivity, and Hosea's hearers whether Egypt as well as Assyria is to be the might be at a loss to determine the question; but now the fulfilment shews that "Egypt" is referred to mystically. Ancient historical events are often thus employed by the prophets: see e.g. Isai. iv. 5, xi. 15, 16.

eat unclean things in Assyria] This refers, not so much to the compulsory use of certain kinds of food declared by the law to be unclean, as to the fact, that all food which they would partake of in a heathen land would be necessarily unclean; which thought is brought out in the next verse more fully.

4. Under the prescriptions of the Mosaic law, the food of Israel was ceremonially sanctified, by the daily morning and evening sacrifices and the weekly and monthly sacrifices, and by the meat and drink offerings

ings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted for their bread for their

which always accompanied those sacrifices. When this hallowing of food was made impossible by the people being in a foreign land, both would their food be felt by Israelites to be "unclean," "uncircumcised" (comp. Lev. xix. 23), and in actual fact viewed in the light of the Mosaic law it was so. We must remember that the Israelite mind, trained as it had been through many ages to ceremonial feelings of this kind, would retain them tenaciously and with keen sensibility, even though destitute of those properly religious sentiments which were originally designed to accompany and to modify them. All this is strikingly set forth in this verse.

They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD] Or rather, "They shall not pour out wine unto Jehovah,” i. e. as a drink-offering. The point however is, not so much that they should not at that time offer drink-offerings, though that is expressed, as that their use of wine in general should lack the sanctification given to it by their applying a measure of it to this sacred purpose.

neither shall they be pleasing unto him] viz. in the use which they customarily make of their wine. This suppletion seems at first sight a little forced; yet if we follow the Masoretic interpunction of the sentence, no easier way of explaining the words presents itself, while the presumption that the proposed qualification of his words was in the prophet's intention is greatly favoured by the tenor of the words which follow respecting their slaughtered meats, which state that these would in like manner be polluting (i.e. would put those who partook of them out of the pale of Divine complacency), because of their not being brought to the house of Jehovah, Many critics however, including Ewald, Mendelssohn, and Wünsche, with the Vatican LXX. (not the Alexandrian), Targum, and the Syriac and Arabic Versions, remove the stop which is before "their sacrifices to after it; so that we get, "neither shall their sacrifices (slaughtered meats) be pleasing unto him." This change gives a plainer meaning to this second clause; but besides violating the Jewish tradition, it mars somewhat the concinnity of the whole verse, and is open to objection as being the easier construction, provided the Masoretic reading at all admits of a suitable explanation. "Pleasing," lit. "sweet," as in Ps. civ. 34; Jer. vi. 20; Mal. iii. 4 ("pleasant," A. V.). It is implied that when food has been consecrated by suitable acts of devotion, the participation of it by His

soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.

5 What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?

servants is pleasing to the Lord; as a loving Father, or as a kind Host, He delights in seeing His provisions enjoyed.

their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted] Rather, "as for their slaughtered meats, they shall be unto them as the bread of mourners, whereof all those who eat defile themselves." The "thereof," being in the Hebrew singular, recites the word "bread" rather than the "meats." The noun zebach, commonly meaning "sacrifice," is derived from a verb which primarily means kill, as in Deut. xii. 15; 1 S. xxviii, 24, and retains its primary sense of "slaughtering" in Isai. xxxiv. 6 ("sacrifice," A.V.), and of "slaughtered animals" or "meats" in Gen. xxxi. 54 (see A. V. margin); Prov. xvii. 1. And this appears to be its meaning here; for in the time referred to there would be, and indeed could be, no "sacrifices" properly so called (ch. iii. 4). "The bread of mourners," or "of sorrows," means funeral meats (Deut. xxvi. 14), which could not be brought to the sanctuary. The meaning is, that their meat should affect them in the same way as a funeral feast would do, which was polluting in the highest degree; as indeed everything was that was in any way connected with a corpse. See Lev. xxi. I, II; Num. xix. 11-16; Hag. ii. 13.

for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD] Rather, "their bread shall be for their hunger; it shall not come into the house of the Lord." "Bread," i.e. food; see Lev. xxi. 6 and note. "For their hunger," lit. "for their soul (nephesh)," the craving of their appetite (cp. “whatsoever thy soul lusteth after," Deut. xii. 15). Or it may be "for the life of their body;" see Gen. i. 20; or, again, "for their own selves." "It shall not come into the house of the Lord," viz. by representative offerings. Here is another recognition of the worship of Jehovah offered in the Northern kingdom; for plainly the prophet is contrasting the future state of the Ten Tribes when in captivity with their present state in their own land. Compare also in this view the next verse.

5. What will ye do] "What will ye do" to solace yourselves "in the day of festival?" to wit, when ye can no longer celebrate those seasons with their proper rites? For the cessation of these festival celebrations, dear to them both as religious and national observances and as seasons of holiday-making, in the time of exile, cf. ch. ii. 11; Lam. i. 4, ii, 6.

6. they are gone because of destruction] "from the devastation." The prophet, Or, seeing, as it were, the captives just after they have left their desolated homes, announces the fate that further awaits them.

Egypt shall gather them up] in sepulture; comp. Jer. viii. 2; Ezek. xxix. 5.

Memphis] Hebr. Moph. It is mentioned here as being the metropolis of Lower Egypt. Its ruins, close to Cairo, are remarkable for the large extent of its burying grounds. Not only shall these exiles have no hope of returning, but they shall also have that grave “in a polluted land," which their high-caste sensibili

ties would shrink from with loathing. Comp. Jer. xlii. 16; Amos vii. 17.

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the pleasant places for their silver] Or, their costly possessions of delight; lit. (probably) "their cherished delight of silver," "cherished delight" being put for the object delighted in. The same Hebrew word is used similarly in Ezek. xxiv. 16, "desire of thine eyes;" Isai. Ixiv. 11, pleasant things," lit. "our cherished delights; " 1 K. xx. 6, "whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes," lit. "every cherished delight of thine eyes; " and so elsewhere. Here, the context has determined most modern critics with Jerome to understand the words as meaning the pleasant homes on whose decoration the Israelites had lavished their silver.

The singular noun "cherished delight" is recited in the pronoun "them" after "possess," as being a collective noun.

_possess] More exactly, inherit. "Nettles," qimōsh, identical no doubt with the qimmōsh in Isai. xxxiv. 13.

7. This and the two following verses form one paragraph: "the visitation for...iniquity" of this verse reappearing in v. 9, "he will remember their iniquity and visit their sins," while again v. 7 is linked to v. 8 by the repetition of the word "hatred," the Hebrew noun for which occurs nowhere else in the Bible. The general purport of the whole is to express the deep resentment which the inspired prophet felt at the scorn and malignity

with which God's messengers were received by the people, and his satisfaction at the vindication which their mission would receive, when the Divine judgments which they had denounced should come to pass. The whole verse admits of the following as its most plausible rendering: "The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are phet is a fool, the man of wind, or, of come: (Israel shall know, who say, The prospirit, is mad;) for the greatness of thine We must supply before "the prophet" either iniquity, and because the rancour is great." "who say," as Ps. ii. 3; Isai. Iviii. 3; Mic. ii. II, &c.; or else, with the same general sense, "whether it be so that." The reproach of being "a fool" and "mad," "enthusiastic," "fanatical," is just the reproach which would be likely to be made, and was made, against a true prophet; cp. 2 K. ix. 11; Jer. xxix. 26. spirit," as used by these maligners, probably The appellation, 66 man of wind" or "of meant that the inspiration which the prophet of God laid claim to, was false and "wind" So Aben (ch. iv. 19 note). Cp. Mic. ii. 11. Ezra, Kimchi, and "Saadia" understand the phrase. If the word ruăch is used in its higher sense of Divine inspiration, then "man of the

The

spirit" stands parallel with "prophet," as assigning to the man of whom the people said that he was mad, his real character. "For the phrase is not found elsewhere. greatness of thine iniquity, and because the rancour is great." The people, with indignant abruptness again addressed, are to know that God's wrath was about to fall on them for their malignant rejection of His prophets. The construction of the sentence in the Hebrew, necessitating the suppletion of "because" in the last clause, is the same as is found in Jer. xxx. 14; Ezek. xxxvi. 18. "Rancour;" the Hebrew noun so rendered, found only here and in v. 8, comes from a verb which occurs in Gen. xxvii. 41, xlix. 23, "hated."

8. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God] Or rather, "The watchman, O Ephraim, is with my God; even the prophet, on all whose ways there is the fowler's snare,

even

rancour in the house of his God." The "watchman" is the true prophet set by God on the watch-tower to give warning, Jer. vi, 17; Ezek. iii, 17, xxxiii. 7; Hab. ii. 1,

"With my God," in the home of His protection, comp. I S. ii, 21, "before the Lord," literally "with the Lord," Ps. lxxiii. 23. "My God;" Hosea indignantly identifies himself with the cause of these persecuted prophets. "In the house of his God;" i.e. the house of Israel which was the family of God. See Note below.

9. corrupted themselves] Cp. Exod. xxxii, 7; Isai. i. 4; Ps. xiv. 1.

as in the days of Gibeah] Gibeah's sin, with its consequences in the almost total extermination of the tribe of Benjamin, stands forth as the most conspicuous enormity in the history of the Judges.

he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins] Thus we are brought back to the announcement which begins the paragraph in verse 7. In declaring that Israel has paralleled Gibeah's sin, the prophet had by implication alluded also to the fearful retribution which Gibeah's crime drew after it; here he denounces it against Israel in express terms.

10. like grapes in the wilderness] i.e. As grapes would be delicious to one who found

them in the waste wilderness, so did Israel seem sweet to Me when I first took him for My own. The words "in the wilderness " are added to heighten the value of the discovery, standing parallel to the words "at her first time" in the next clause.

as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time] i.e. As one rejoices to glimpse (comp. Isai. xxviii. 4) the first ripe fruit in a fig-tree, so your fathers seemed pleasant unto Me when I first beheld them. The early fruit of the fig-tree, gathered in June, is repeatedly referred to as especially precious; cp. Isai. xxviii. 4 and note. Both "I found," and "I saw," are suggested by the figure, rather than by the object to which it is compared. This complacency of Jehovah in Israel is not to be ascribed to any excellence which He saw in them, as Moses in Deuteronomy repeatedly told them, but solely to "the good pleasure of His grace; " Israel's responsive loyalty (see Ezek. xvi. 8) was itself only a weak reflection of His

love to them.

but they went to Baal-peor] they for their part; in contrast with Jehovah's affectionate love towards them. Gibeah's sin, just before quoted, which was the greatest enormity recorded in the history of the Judges, suggests to the prophet's mind,

thrown back upon Israel's ancient history in search of parallels to Ephraim's present wickedness, the idolatry at Baal-peor; for this again stood out in the history of Moses and Joshua as the only instance during that period, in which the people openly appeared as leaving Jehovah to worship another God. Accordingly Baal-peor had stamped itself indelibly in the national remembrance as a most flagrant instance of national transgression. See Deut. iv. 3; Josh. xxii. 17; Ps. cvi. 28-31. This verse with the last is an incidental indication that the old histories in

Hosea's hands were the same as we now read.

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Baal-peor' "is ordinarily the name of the idol (Num. xxv. 3, 5; Deut. iv. 3; Ps. cvi. 28); but the Hebrew construction indicates that it is here the name of a place. It is no doubt identical with "Beth-peor" (Deut. xxxiv. 6), being named after its idol.

separated themselves unto that shame] Or, separated (i.e. consecrated) themselves unto Shame "Shame," Bosheth, an appellation of the idol expressing loathing (like "abomination" in the next clause, "vanity," and similar words), is frequently substituted for "Baal." Thus "Jerubbaal" (Judg. vi. 32) is "Jerubbesheth" (2 S. xi. 21); "Eshbaal" (1 Chro. viii. 33) is "Ishbosheth" (2 S. ii. 8, 10); "Meribbaal" (1 Chro. viii. 34) is "Mephibosheth" (2 S. iv. 4). Some find in the particular Hebrew word here used for "consecrated," an allusion to the name of

shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

rather, like birds; for the Hebrew noun, though singular, is commonly a noun of multitude. Like a flock of birds, which, having pitched for a short space, then simultaneously take wing and are gone. "Their glory," as is indicated by the words which follow, is their great populousness; the great promise and pride of Israel in general, but most especially of "Ephraim," whose very name means "double-fruitfulness" (Gen. xli. 52, xlviii. 19, xlix. 25; Deut. xxxiii. 17). Comp. the threatening of Deut. xxviii, 62.

from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception] Or rather, that there shall be no birth, nor being with child, nor conception, lit. "from bearing, and from womb, and from conception." The Hebrew preposition "from" frequently has this meaning: thus Micah iii. 6, "that ye shall not have a vision," "that ye shall not divine;" lit. "from a vision," "from divining;" Isai. xxiii. 1, "so that there is no house, no entering in," lit. "from house, from entering in."

12. Though] Rather, For though; arguing from the greater to the less.

bereave them] Or, perhaps, "destroy them," i.e. the adult children, as the verb is used in Deut. xxxii. 25, to which passage possibly the prophet alludes.

that there shall not be a man left] Rather, "that mankind shall not be;" there shall be no population left. Lit. "from man," as in V. II. The word "man," in the Hebrew adam, is a collective rather than an individual term; so that the rendering in the A. V. is too strong.

yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! Or, possibly, "when I look away from them." This terrible threat, or rather, perhaps, prediction, of extermination, addressed to the Ten Tribes in general, but applying most especially to Ephraim, the most populous of them all, serves to explain the fact, that there are so few traces left in the world of their continued existence.

13. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, &c.] Or rather, “Like as I have chosen [Heb. looked out] Ephraim to be as Tyre, planted in a sure resting-place, so also is Ephraim appointed to bring out his children to the slayer." The "like as" contrasts two opposed extremes of VOL. VI.

thought, as in Isai, lii. 14. The Hebrew verb "see" is used for "look out," "provide," "elect" (Keil), as in Gen. xxii. 8, xli. 33; Deut. xxxiii. 21; 1 S. xvi. 1, 17; and perhaps Deut. xii. 13. As Jehovah had heretofore with distinguishing love chosen Ephraim to dwell secure and impregnable, so now He would in especial wrath give him up to extermination. Tyre is cited, not for its beauty, as in the A. V., but for its security as a well-nigh impregnable fortress, "strong in the sea (Ezek. xvi. 17); a reference fully justified by its subsequent history: for Shalmaneser besieged it for five years without, so far as appears, taking it; Nebuchadnezzar succeeded only after a siege of thirteen years (see note on Ezek. xxix. 18); while finally its capture taxed even the resources and military skill of Alexander seven months. Ephraim's central “restingplace" was Samaria, their "crown of pride" (Isai. xxviii. 1); and Samaria before the time of Hosea had defied two several beleaguerments of the Syrians (1 K. xx. 1; 2 K. vi. 24), as afterwards by Shalmaneser it was only reduced after a siege of three years (2 K. xvii. 5). "Planted" denotes settledness, fixedness of position, as in Ps. xcii. 13, and always, as Dr Pusey observes, implies a choice of situation. The above is offered as a probable interpretation of a passage of confessedly great difficulty. See Note below.

14. what wilt thou give?] Rather, “what shalt thou give?" The prophet begins his sentence indignantly, as if about to imprecate relenting, he pauses, to ask as it were his own the extremest judgments; but then, suddenly sire. His heart, alike pitying the nation, and heart, what he can make up his mind to deyet abhorring their wickedness, can frame itself only to this request, alike awful and merciful: that a people so depraved may utterly die off by having no offspring. This interesting self-interlocution, a cropping out such as must have often raged in a prophet's of Hosea's own subjectivity, marks a conflict, own mind, between his zeal for God and his sympathy with men. But it does not stay the torrent of Jehovah's own denunciations, which sweeps along with the like terrible utterances as before. The combination of "give them," "give them," and "the wickedness of their doings" (v. 15), looks almost like a

GG

II.