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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Hosea 12 Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/hosea/121.htm" /><link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cardo&subset=greek-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/hosea/12.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/hosea/12-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Cambridge</a> > <a href="../hosea/">Hosea</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../hosea/11.htm" title="Hosea 11">◄</a> Hosea 12 <a href="../hosea/13.htm" title="Hosea 13">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</div><div class="chap">Again poetry is dispelled by prose, and the infidelity of both kingdoms forces itself on the prophet’s mind. Such prose is all the more wearisome to an idealist, because the history of the patriarch Jacob seems to lift up a standard which ought to be dear to his descendants. O that Israel would yet return to his allegiance! Such is the purport of <a href="/hosea/11-12.htm" title="Ephraim compasses me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet rules with God, and is faithful with the saints.">Hosea 11:12</a> to <a href="/hosea/12-6.htm" title="Therefore turn you to your God: keep mercy and judgment and wait on your God continually.">Hosea 12:6</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-1.htm">Hosea 12:1</a></div><div class="verse">Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.</div><span class="bld">1</span>. <span class="ital">wind … the east wind</span>] Note the climax; the parching east wind combines the ideas of destructiveness and emptiness. Comp. <a href="/job/15-2.htm" title="Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?">Job 15:2</a>; <a href="/job/27-21.htm" title="The east wind carries him away, and he departs: and as a storm hurles him out of his place.">Job 27:21</a>, and note on <a href="/hosea/13-15.htm" title="Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.">Hosea 13:15</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">lies and desolation</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">lies and violence.</span> But the Septuagint reads, ‘lies and falsehoods’—more plausibly, as the other combination is unparalleled.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">a covenant with the Assyrians</span>, &c.] Comp. <a href="/hosea/5-13.htm" title="When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.">Hosea 5:13</a>, <a href="/hosea/7-11.htm" title="Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.">Hosea 7:11</a>. Oil was one of the most precious natural products (<a href="/deuteronomy/8-8.htm" title="A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;">Deuteronomy 8:8</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/16-19.htm" title="My meat also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet smell: and thus it was, said the Lord GOD.">Ezekiel 16:19</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/27-17.htm" title="Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your merchants: they traded in your market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.">Ezekiel 27:17</a>), and is mentioned as a present sent to ‘the king’ in <a href="/isaiah/57-9.htm" title="And you went to the king with ointment, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your messengers far off, and did debase yourself even to hell.">Isaiah 57:9</a>. Comp. on <a href="/hosea/7-11.htm" title="Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.">Hosea 7:11</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-2.htm">Hosea 12:2</a></div><div class="verse">The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.</div><span class="bld">2</span>. <span class="ital">Jacob</span>] Here used for the northern kingdom, to prepare the way for the etymological allusion in <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-3.htm" title="He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:">Hosea 12:3</a></span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-3.htm">Hosea 12:3</a></div><div class="verse">He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:</div><span class="bld">3</span>. <span class="ital">He took his brother by the heel</span>] As if Jacob meant, The Supplanter. The same verb is used by Esau in an unfavourable sense in <a href="/genesis/27-36.htm" title="And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me?">Genesis 27:36</a>; but Hosea here evidently means to edify his people by the allusion. Observe that Jacob is described as the head and representative of his family (comparing this with <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-2.htm" title="The LORD has also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.">Hosea 12:2</a></span>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">had power with God</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">contended with God.</span> Again an etymological allusion, ‘Israel’ being explained (rightly or wrongly) as ‘God’s combatant.’ The word used for God is <span class="ital">elôhîm</span>, which is applicable to any divine or superhuman form (comp. <a href="/1_samuel/28-13.htm" title="And the king said to her, Be not afraid: for what saw you? And the woman said to Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.">1 Samuel 28:13</a>). Hence in the next verse we find ‘angel’, or, rendering etymologically, ‘administrator’ (<span class="ital">mal’akh</span>), substituted for it, to prevent misunderstanding. Comp. <a href="/genesis/16-10.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to her, I will multiply your seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.">Genesis 16:10</a>; <a href="/genesis/16-13.htm" title="And she called the name of the LORD that spoke to her, You God see me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that sees me?">Genesis 16:13</a>; <a href="/context/genesis/48-15.htm" title="And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long to this day,...">Genesis 48:15-16</a>; <a href="/exodus/13-21.htm" title="And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:">Exodus 13:21</a>; <a href="/exodus/14-19.htm" title="And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:">Exodus 14:19</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">3–6</span>. Two episodes (for a third, see <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-12.htm" title="And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.">Hosea 12:12</a></span>) in the history of Jacob are applied to the spiritual wants of his descendants. Jacob in the very womb seemed ambitious of the blessing, and when a grown man, he wrestled with the angel for a still higher blessing than before. But, as we are led to interpret the prophet’s thought, the Israelites, instead of justifying their name, and ‘waiting upon their God’, have denied Jehovah, and sought for weak human help.—The parallel passages in Genesis are <a href="/genesis/25-26.htm" title="And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was three score years old when she bore them.">Genesis 25:26</a><span class="ital"> a</span>, <a href="/genesis/32-28.htm" title="And he said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince have you power with God and with men, and have prevailed.">Genesis 32:28</a><span class="ital"> b</span> (both ascribed to ‘the Jehovist’), though we cannot conclude with positive certainty that they were known to Hosea, for in <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-4.htm" title="Yes, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us;">Hosea 12:4</a></span> he introduces a detail not mentioned in Genesis. Hosea <span class="ital">may</span> have drawn from oral tradition.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-4.htm">Hosea 12:4</a></div><div class="verse">Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him <i>in</i> Bethel, and there he spake with us;</div><span class="bld">4</span>. <span class="ital">he had power over</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">he contended with.</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">he wept</span>, &c.] (The subject is Jacob, not the angel.) This feature is not given in Genesis 32; it is however well adapted to the hortatory object of Hosea. The Septuagint has, ‘they wept’, &c.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">he found him in Beth-el</span>] (The subject is Jehovah.) Two visions of Jacob’s are recorded in explanation of the name Bethel (<a href="/context/genesis/28-10.htm" title="And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran....">Genesis 28:10-22</a>; <a href="/context/genesis/35-9.htm" title="And God appeared to Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him....">Genesis 35:9-15</a>). They proceed from different documents, and either of them may have been current in the circle to which Hosea belonged; the latter is of course pure conjecture. The Septuagint strangely has, ‘They found me in the house of On’ (i.e. Aven or Beth-aven instead of Bethel, comp. <a href="/hosea/4-15.htm" title="Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not you to Gilgal, neither go you up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD lives.">Hosea 4:15</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">there he spake with us</span>] i.e. ‘in the loins of Jacob’ (Horsley, &c.); comp. the twofold use of ‘Israel’ in <span class="ital"><a href="/context/hosea/12-12.htm" title="And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep....">Hosea 12:12-13</a></span>. But this spoils the consistency of the historical picture. The Peshito, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and probably the Septuagint (<span class="greekheb">πρὸς αὐτοὺς</span>), read <span class="bld">with him,</span> i.e. with Jacob. (This is better than assimilating the pronoun in the preceding clause, with a few Hebrew MSS.)<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-5.htm">Hosea 12:5</a></div><div class="verse">Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD <i>is</i> his memorial.</div><span class="bld">5</span>. <span class="ital">Even the Lord God of hosts</span>, &c.] The Hebrew runs more abruptly, ‘And Jehovah’ &c., i.e. ‘and the name of Him who spoke with Jacob is Jehovah.’ ‘Jehovah’ to the prophets conveys the ideas of almightiness, unchangeableness, and faithfulness (comp. <a href="/isaiah/41-4.htm" title="Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.">Isaiah 41:4</a>; <a href="/malachi/3-6.htm" title="For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.">Malachi 3:6</a>). ‘God of Hosts’ is a title specially characteristic of the regal period; the hosts were (1) the stars, (2) the armies of Israel (see the commentators on <a href="/isaiah/1-24.htm" title="Therefore said the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of my adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies:">Isaiah 1:24</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">his memorial</span>] i.e. his name; comp. <a href="/exodus/3-15.htm" title="And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations.">Exodus 3:15</a> ‘This is my memorial unto all generations.’<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-6.htm">Hosea 12:6</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.</div><span class="bld">6</span>. <span class="ital">Therefore turn thou to thy God</span>] Lit., ‘And thou—return thou <span class="ital">in</span> thy God’; i.e., such being the character of God, who lets Himself be won by wrestling prayer, return thou to thy God, and rest in Him. (For this condensed expression there is no exact parallel.) And how is this ‘return’ or repentance to have its reality proved? By thine observance of the rules of blended justice and kindness towards man and trustfulness towards God (comp. <a href="/micah/6-8.htm" title="He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?">Micah 6:8</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-7.htm">Hosea 12:7</a></div><div class="verse"><i>He is</i> a merchant, the balances of deceit <i>are</i> in his hand: he loveth to oppress.</div><span class="bld">7</span>. <span class="ital">He is a merchant</span>, &c.] Rather, <span class="bld">Canaan! in his hand are deceitful balances; he loveth to extort.</span> The geographical term ‘Canaan’ simply means ‘lowland’, and therefore might be, and was, applied to Phœnicia (<a href="/isaiah/23-11.htm" title="He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD has given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.">Isaiah 23:11</a>) as well as to other lowland parts of Palestine; ‘Canaanite’ too became a synonym for ‘merchant’ (<a href="/job/41-6.htm" title="Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?">Job 41:6</a>; <a href="/proverbs/31-24.htm" title="She makes fine linen, and sells it; and delivers girdles to the merchant.">Proverbs 31:24</a>, comp. <a href="/zephaniah/1-11.htm" title="Howl, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.">Zephaniah 1:11</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/17-4.htm" title="He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants.">Ezekiel 17:4</a>), as ‘Chaldean’ was a synonym for ‘astrologer.’ Hosea uses the word collectively and metaphorically:—his ‘Canaan’ is a degenerate Israel. The sarcasm derives its point from the low repute of the Phœnician merchants for honesty (comp. <span class="ital">Odyss</span>. xiv. 290, 291).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-8.htm">Hosea 12:8</a></div><div class="verse">And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: <i>in</i> all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that <i>were</i> sin.</div><span class="bld">8</span>. <span class="ital">And Ephraim said</span> …] Better, <span class="bld">Ephraim indeed said, Surely I have become rich, I have gotten me wealth: all my profits shall bring me no iniquity that were a sin.</span> Ephraim congratulates himself on his riches, and with callous conscience maintains that they have been won quite honestly; or if he be not absolutely innocent, yet his few trifling lapses will not be reckoned a sin. He reminds us of the mercenary shepherds in <a href="/zechariah/11-5.htm" title="Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.">Zechariah 11:5</a>, who say ‘Blessed be Jehovah that I become rich.’ There is a better connexion however with the next verse if we adopt one or two slight emendations, and render the latter part thus, <span class="bld">(but) all his profits will not suffice for</span> (i.e. <span class="bld">to expiate</span>) <span class="bld">the guilt which he has incurred</span>, i.e. though he gave them all up as ‘a ransom for his soul’ (<a href="/exodus/30-12.htm" title="When you take the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to the LORD, when you number them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them.">Exodus 30:12</a>), the sacrifice would be inadequate. Comp. the Septuagint, <span class="greekheb">πάντες οἱ πόνοι αὐτοῦ οὐχ εὑρεθήσονται αὐτῷ δἰ ἀδικίας ἂς ἥμαρτεν</span>. We thus get rid of the unnatural distinction supposed above between ‘iniquity’ and ‘sin.’<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">8–15</span>. Not Israel, but Canaan should he be called; for his ideal is Canaan’s. The end justifies the means, and his end is—to become rich! But how bitterly will he be disappointed. He must in short begin his history over again, and repeat his wilderness-wanderings. Or to speak more plainly, idolatry must be rooted out. Jehovah must take up the challenge thrown down by Ephraim. Just before the severe final rebuke, Hosea resumes his appeal to the instructive history of Jacob; but <a href="/context/hosea/12-12.htm" title="And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep....">Hosea 12:12-13</a> may be misplaced.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-9.htm">Hosea 12:9</a></div><div class="verse">And I <i>that am</i> the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.</div><span class="bld">9</span>. <span class="ital">And I</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">For I.</span> It is explanatory of the vague hint of an inexorable doom.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">thy God from the land of Egypt</span>] Who is therefore ever ready to help you (<a href="/isaiah/46-3.htm" title="Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:">Isaiah 46:3</a>), but who will also, if necessary, punish you as He did of old (comp. <a href="/context/numbers/14-26.htm" title="And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,...">Numbers 14:26-30</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">will again make thee to dwell in tents.</span> The analogy of a parallel passage (<a href="/hosea/2-14.htm" title="Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.">Hosea 2:14</a>) at once suggests the idea that this prediction is a threat and not (as St Jerome, Kimchi, and Calvin would have it) a promise. Not indeed a threat without a tinge of promise (see on <a href="/hosea/2-14.htm" title="Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.">Hosea 2:14</a>), but the unrelieved worldliness of the speech in <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-9.htm" title="And I that am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt will yet make you to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.">Hosea 12:9</a></span> calls forth a declaration of God’s purpose as uncompromising in its earnestness. ‘Again’ alludes to the journey through the wilderness. On the rendering <span class="ital">yet</span>, see further note in Introduction, part v.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">as in the days of the solemn feast</span>] Better, <span class="bld">of the festal season.</span> The word used is <span class="ital">mô‘çd</span> (lit. appointed time), which is used rather more widely than <span class="ital">khag</span> ‘festival.’ Here however the prophet does mean one of the three ancient festivals, viz. the so-called Feast of Tabernacles (or rather, Booths). This was the most popular of all the feasts (see on <a href="/hosea/9-1.htm" title="Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for you have gone a whoring from your God, you have loved a reward on every corn floor.">Hosea 9:1</a>): it was originally a time of rejoicing for the ‘ingathering’ (whence its name in <a href="/exodus/23-16.htm" title="And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field.">Exodus 23:16</a>) of the latest crops of the year, and the ‘booths’ or ‘tents’ (as they are here, for once, called) were simply designed (as at the analogous festivals of other nations) to promote the enjoyment of the simple-minded rural merrymakers. Another object is indeed ascribed to the festival in the Book of Leviticus, viz. to remind the Israelites of the tent-life of their fathers in the wilderness, but this, as Mr Clark and others have well shown (see <span class="ital">Speaker’s Commentary</span> on <a href="/leviticus/23-43.htm" title="That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.">Leviticus 23:43</a>), can only have been an after-thought, as the nomad Israelites are never said to have dwelt in ‘booths’ or ‘huts’, but always in ‘tents’ (of skin or cloth). Hosea’s reference to the Feast of Booths points a striking contrast. The predominant tone of the Israelites is now one of exuberant joyousness (<a href="/hosea/9-1.htm" title="Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for you have gone a whoring from your God, you have loved a reward on every corn floor.">Hosea 9:1</a>), culminating in the merry, out-of-door life of the local autumn-festivals, but soon they shall dwell in tents again, not for amusement, but by bitter compulsion.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-10.htm">Hosea 12:10</a></div><div class="verse">I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.</div><span class="bld">10</span>. It is not for want of warnings that this calamity comes upon the Israelites. In the most various ways has Jehovah spoken, not <span class="ital">to</span>, but <span class="bld">by the prophets.</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Visions … similitudes</span>] A prophetic vision is, properly speaking, an intuition of some divinely revealed truth clothed in ‘outward and visible signs’, but the term is also extended (e.g. <a href="/isaiah/1-1.htm" title="The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.">Isaiah 1:1</a>; <a href="/obadiah/1-1.htm" title="The vision of Obadiah. Thus said the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise you, and let us rise up against her in battle.">Obadiah 1:1</a>; <a href="/nahum/1-1.htm" title="The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.">Nahum 1:1</a>) to the entire contents of a prophecy. ‘Similitudes’, i.e. parables whether implicit (as <a href="/hosea/9-10.htm" title="I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves to that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.">Hosea 9:10</a>) or explicit (as <a href="/context/hosea/7-4.htm" title="They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceases from raising after he has kneaded the dough, until it be leavened....">Hosea 7:4-7</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/5-1.htm" title="Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:...">Isaiah 5:1-7</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-11.htm">Hosea 12:11</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Is there</i> iniquity <i>in</i> Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars <i>are</i> as heaps in the furrows of the fields.</div><span class="bld">11</span>. The ruin of two famous centres of idolatry, representing together the entire northern kingdom.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Is there iniquity</span>, &c.] More probably, <span class="bld">If Gilead is (given to) idolatry, mere vanity shall they (the Gileadites) become,</span> i.e. apostacy from Him who is the only source of life leads to sure destruction; ‘they that make the idols become like unto them.’ The town of Gilead has already been singled out for reprobation in <a href="/context/hosea/6-8.htm" title="Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood....">Hosea 6:8-9</a>. For the historical fulfilment of the prophecy, see <a href="/2_kings/15-29.htm" title="In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.">2 Kings 15:29</a>—‘in the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and took … Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria’ (compare Tiglath-Pileser’s own account of his expedition against Philistia in b.c. 734; G. Smith, <span class="ital">Eponym Canon</span>, p. 123, Schrader, <span class="ital">The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament</span>, on <a href="/2_kings/15-29.htm" title="In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.">2 Kings 15:29</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal</span>] Or, as it might well be stated in the margin, ‘in Heap-town’ (see next note). They affront Jehovah by sacrificing at idolatrous shrines, especially at Gilgal (see on <a href="/hosea/4-15.htm" title="Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not you to Gilgal, neither go you up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD lives.">Hosea 4:15</a>). So the Targum. Others, by a slight emendation, ‘they sacrifice to the bullocks in Gilgal’, i.e. to the steer-gods; but there is no parallel for such a use of the word ‘bullocks.’ St Jerome’s ‘bobus immolantes’ is an ungrammatical rendering of our present text (see his note).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">yea, their altars are as heaps</span>, &c.] Rather, <span class="bld">so then their altars shall he as stone-heaps,</span> i.e. like heaps of stones which a careful husbandman has gathered out of his ploughed field (comp. <a href="/micah/1-6.htm" title="Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.">Micah 1:6</a>). The idiom employed (lit., ‘also their altars’ &c.) indicates the correspondence between cause and effect, a sin and its retribution (comp. <a href="/isaiah/66-3.htm" title="He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offers an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.">Isaiah 66:3</a><span class="ital"> b</span>, 4<span class="ital">a</span>); the tense is the prophetic perfect. There is a paronomasia in Gilgal (as if ‘Heap-town’, comp. <a href="/joshua/4-20.htm" title="And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.">Joshua 4:20</a>), and <span class="ital">gallim</span> (‘heaps’); the very name of Gilgal seems to suggest its impending fate. Some think the name ‘Gilead’ is also included in the paronomasia, but in spite of the apparent support of <a href="/context/genesis/31-47.htm" title="And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed....">Genesis 31:47-48</a>, this is not the more natural view of Hosea’s language. At most, there is a play upon the similarity of sound in Gilead and Gilgal; not upon any supposed similarity of meaning.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-12.htm">Hosea 12:12</a></div><div class="verse">And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept <i>sheep</i>.</div><span class="bld">12</span>. <span class="ital">fled into the country of Syria</span>] Comp. <a href="/genesis/27-43.htm" title="Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, flee you to Laban my brother to Haran;">Genesis 27:43</a>; <a href="/genesis/28-2.htm" title="Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take you a wife from there of the daughers of Laban your mother's brother.">Genesis 28:2</a>. Hosea’s phrase, <span class="bld">the field of Aram,</span> is the exact equivalent of ‘Padan-Aram’ (rather Paddan-Aram) in the latter passage; the Assyrian <span class="ital">padânu</span> has for one of its meanings ‘field’ (also ‘park’).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">served for a wife</span>, &c.] Comp. <a href="/context/genesis/29-18.htm" title="And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter....">Genesis 29:18-20</a>; <a href="/genesis/30-31.htm" title="And he said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said, You shall not give me any thing: if you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flock.">Genesis 30:31</a>; <a href="/context/genesis/31-38.htm" title="This twenty years have I been with you; your ewes and your she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of your flock have I not eaten....">Genesis 31:38-41</a>. The last passage gives a vivid idea of the hardships summed up in the simple phrase ‘he kept (sheep).’<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">12, 13</span>. As Ewald remarks, ‘this is probably the oldest instance of a spiritualizing of the ancient history, though the way to it had been long prepared by the conception, so familiar to Hosea himself (chaps, 1–3), of the community of Israel as Jehovah’s bride.’ The verses however come in very abruptly, and are really, as Rashi long ago observed, a continuation of the didactic survey of the life of Jacob interrupted at <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-6.htm" title="Therefore turn you to your God: keep mercy and judgment and wait on your God continually.">Hosea 12:6</a></span> (comp. on <a href="/hosea/12-14.htm" title="Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood on him, and his reproach shall his LORD return to him.">Hosea 12:14</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-13.htm">Hosea 12:13</a></div><div class="verse">And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.</div><span class="bld">13</span>. <span class="ital">by a prophet</span>] i.e. Moses (comp. <a href="/deuteronomy/34-10.htm" title="And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like to Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,">Deuteronomy 34:10</a>). Hosea contrasts the helplessness and the hardships of Jacob-Israel with the wonderful deliverance and preservation of his descendants. Comp. <a href="/isaiah/51-2.htm" title="Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.">Isaiah 51:2</a>, ‘I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.’ Note the double use of the term Israel in <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-12.htm" title="And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.">Hosea 12:12</a></span> and <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-13.htm" title="And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.">Hosea 12:13</a></span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hosea/12-14.htm">Hosea 12:14</a></div><div class="verse">Ephraim provoked <i>him</i> to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.</div><span class="bld">14</span>. This verse would be less abrupt if it immediately followed <span class="ital"><a href="/hosea/12-11.htm" title="Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yes, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.">Hosea 12:11</a></span>, of which it might be taken to furnish a fuller justification.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">provoked</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">hath provoked.</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">therefore shall he leave his blood</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">and his bloodshed will he cast;</span> i.e. Jehovah will bring sudden retribution upon him for his bloodguiltiness (comp. <a href="/hosea/1-4.htm" title="And the LORD said to him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.">Hosea 1:4</a>, <a href="/hosea/4-2.htm" title="By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood.">Hosea 4:2</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">his reproach</span>] i.e., the insult to Jehovah in Israel’s idolatry (comp. <a href="/isaiah/65-7.htm" title="Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, said the LORD, which have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.">Isaiah 65:7</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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