Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 7
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Hosea 7
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Hosea 7
"When I would heal Israel, then is the iniquity of Ephraim uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief entereth in, and the troop of robbers ravageth without." — Hosea 7:1 (ASV)
The verse may be rendered: When I heal Israel (referring to a cessation in the attacks of the menacing foe, or to such a thrill of finer feeling as that which is recorded in 2 Chronicles 28:8–15), then is revealed the iniquity of Ephraim and the wickedness of Samaria, that they commit falsehood. Samaria here sustains the same relation to Israel that Jerusalem does to Judah, and it is the very source of the corruption of the whole country.
"And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now have their own doings beset them about; they are before my face." — Hosea 7:2 (ASV)
Have beset them about.— The wicked deeds of the nation crowded around them as witnesses to reveal their treason against Jehovah.
"They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies." — Hosea 7:3 (ASV)
Glad.— The evil awakens no alarm, but rather sympathy and gladness, in the hearts of their kings and rulers, who are ready to follow suit in all deeds of violence.
"They are all adulterers; they are as an oven heated by the baker; he ceaseth to stir [the fire], from the kneading of the dough, until it be leavened." — Hosea 7:4 (ASV)
Render, ceases heating from the kneading of the dough until its leavening. The baker is unremitting in his exertions to keep up the heat of the oven, the smoldering fire being fed on camel’s dung and the like fuel, except when he is obliged to occupy himself with preparing the dough for baking—an apt image of the incessant burning rage of lust and violence.
"On the day of our king the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers." — Hosea 7:5 (ASV)
Following the hint of the Septuagint and other versions, whose rendering is based on a slightly different punctuation of the Hebrew, we prefer to translate: the day of our king the princes have begun with the glowing (or fever) of wine — that is, the carousal of the princely retinue in celebration of the sovereign’s coronation day (or birthday) commences at an early hour, significant of monstrous excess. (Compare to Acts 2:15.)
There is bitterness in the use of the pronoun “our” before “king.” Otherwise, we must render: have made themselves ill with the fever of wine (the Authorized Version is inaccurate here).
The last clause is obscure; it probably means, “he (that is, our king) has made common cause with scorners” and is a boon companion of the dissolute and depraved. (Compare to Exodus 23:1.)
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