Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 6:7

"But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me." — Hosea 6:7 (ASV)

EXCURSUS B (Hosea 6:7).

Buhl, in Zeitschrift für Kirchliche Wissenschaft, Part 5, 1881, throws some light on the enigmatic phrase ke Adam, by pointing out that Adam is employed in many places to express all the other races of mankind as opposed to Israel. Thus, he translates Jeremiah 32:20, You who did perform wonders in Israel, as well as in Adam. Similarly, concerning Isaiah 43:4, Delitzsch remarks that those who do not belong to the chosen people are called Adam, because they are regarded as nothing but descendants of Adam.

In this passage, the emphatic position of the Hebrew pronoun hemmah lends significance to the contrasted term Adam. The meaning, therefore, is—the Israelites, who should be a chosen race, now belong, through their violation of the covenant, to the heathen: they have become, in fact, Lo’Ammi .

The word “there” in the last clause may refer to some local sanctuary, notorious for idolatrous corruption. This is confirmed by the mention of localities in the next verse. We prefer, however, to understand it (with the Targum of Jonathan) as referring to the Holy Land.

Critics differ greatly on the interpretation of this verse. The marginal rendering supplies the strongest meaning. God made a covenant with Adam, and promised him the blessings of Paradise on condition of obedience. He broke the condition, transgressed the covenant, and was driven from his Divine home. So Israel had violated all the terms on which the good land of conditional promise had been bestowed. For the other references to Adam in the Old Testament see Psalms 82:7; Job 31:33. (See Excursus.)