Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 11

Compare Hosea 9:10 and Exodus 4:22-23. In this context, there cannot be a prophecy of the Christ, for obstinate conduct and rebellion would thus be involved in the prediction.

It is true that Matthew 2:15 quotes the passage to illustrate the fact that the true Son of God was also submitted in His youth to the hard schooling of a cruel exile. The calling of the Messiah out of Egypt gave a new indication of the cyclical character of Hebrew history. This passage helps us understand what is meant by the formula, that it might be fulfilled, etc.

As they (i.e., the prophets) called them, so they (Israel) went from them—sought to avoid the voice and presence of the men of God.

Read: Yet it was I who guided Ephraim’s steps, taking him by his arms. There is a beautiful parallel to this in Deuteronomy 32:10-11.

Knew not ...—This obtuseness to the source of all mercies—the refusal to recognise the true origin in Divine revelation of those ideas which, though they bless and beautify life, are not recognised as such revelation, but are treated as “the voice of nature,” or “development of humanity,” or “dictum of human reason”—is one of the commonest and most deadly sins of modern Christendom. The unwillingness to recognise the Divine Hand in “creation,” “literature,” “history” takes the opposed forms of Pantheism and Pyrrhonism. To each of these the prophet’s words apply.

Cords of a man.— In contrast with the cords with which unmanageable beasts are held in check. Israel is led with “bands of love,” not of compulsion. Render the last clause, And gently towards them I gave food to eat, expressing the tenderness, delicacy, and condescension of His personal regard.

It is best, with Ewald, to take the two clauses as interrogative, Shall he not return into the land of Egypt? And shall not the Assyrian, etc.? (See Notes on Hosea 8:13; Hosea 10:3–6. Compare also Hosea 11:11.)

Return— i.e., to God.