Albert Barnes Commentary Hosea 11:4

"I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love; and I was to them as they that lift up the yoke on their jaws; and I laid food before them." — Hosea 11:4 (ASV)

I drew them with the cords of a man - : “Wanton heifers such as Israel was, are drawn with ropes; but although Ephraim struggled against Me, I would not draw him as a beast, but I drew him as a man (not a servant, but a son) with cords of love.” “Love is the magnet of love.” : “The first and chief commandment of the law is not of fear, but of love, because He wills those whom He commands to be sons rather than servants.” : “Our Lord says, ‘No man comes unto Me, except the Father who has sent Me, draw him.’ He did not say, ‘lead him,’ but ‘draw him.’ This violence is done to the heart, not to the body. Why marvel? Believe and you come; love and you are drawn. Do not think it a rough and uneasy violence: it is sweet, alluring; the sweetness draws you.

Is not a hungry sheep drawn, when the grass is shown it? It is not, I suppose, driven on in body, but is bound tight by longing. So you too come to Christ. Do not conceive of long journeys. When you believe, then you come. For to Him who is everywhere, people come by loving, not by traveling.” So the Bride says, “Draw me and I will run after You” (Song of Solomon 1:4). “How sweet,” says Augustine, when converted, “did it at once become to me, to be without the sweetnesses of those toys; and what I feared to be parted from, was now a joy to part with. For You cast them away from me, You true and highest Sweetness. You cast them out, and You Yourself entered in their place, sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood; brighter than all light, but more hidden than all depths; higher than all honor, but not to the high in their own conceits.”

“Christ also ‘drew’ us ‘with the cords of a man,’ when for us He became Man, our flesh, our Brother, so that by teaching, suffering, dying for us, He might in a wondrous way bind and draw us to Himself and to God; that He might redeem the earthly Adam, might transform and make him heavenly;” : “giving us ineffable tokens of His love. For He gives Himself to us for our Food; He gives us sacraments; by Baptism and repentance He conforms us anew to original righteousness. Hence, He says, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men to Me” (John 12:32); and Paul, “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). This most loving drawing our dullness and weakness needs, we who always, without grace, grovel amidst vile and earthly things.”

“All the methods and parts of God’s government are twined together, as so many twisted cords of love from Him, so ordered, that they ought to draw man with all his heart to love Him again.” : “Man, the image of the Mind of God, is impelled to zeal for the service of God, not by fear, but by love. No band is mightier, nor constrains more firmly all the feelings of the mind. For it does not hold the body enchained, while the mind revolts and longs to break away, but it so binds to itself the mind and will, that it should will, long for, encompass nothing else, except how, even amid threats of death, to obey the commands of God. Bands they are, but bands so gentle and so exceedingly sweet, that we must account them perfect freedom and the highest dignity.”

And I was to them as they who take off - (literally, “who lift up”) the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat to them. Thus explained, the words carry on the description of God’s goodness, that He did not allow the yoke of slavery to weigh heavily upon them, as He says, “I am the Lord your God, Which brought you out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen, and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright” (Leviticus 26:13); and God appeals to them, “Wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me” (Micah 6:3).

But the words seem more naturally to mean, “I was to them,” in their sight, I was regarded by them, “as they who lift up the yoke on their jaws,” that is, who raise the yoke (it not being already upon them) to place it “over their jaws.” “For plainly the yoke never rests on the jaws, but only passes over them, either when put on the neck, or taken off.” This, God seemed to them to be doing, always placing some new yoke or constraint upon them. “And I,” God adds, all the while “was placing meat before them;” that is, while God was taking all manner of care of them, and providing for them “all things richly to enjoy,” He was regarded by them as one who, instead of “laying food before them, was lifting the yoke over their jaws.” God did them all good, and they thought it all hardship.