John Gill Commentary Hosea 10

Israel [is] an empty vine
The people of Israel are often compared to a vine, and such an one from which fruit might be expected, being planted in a good soil, and well taken care of; see (Psalms 80:8) (Isaiah 5:1–3) (Jeremiah 2:21) ; but proved an "empty vine", empty of fruit; not of temporal good things, for a multitude of such fruit it is afterwards said to have; but of spiritual fruit, of the fruit of grace, and of good works, being destitute of the Spirit of God, and his grace; and, having no spiritual moisture, was incapable of bringing forth good fruit:

or, "an emptying vine" ^F15 ; that casts its fruit before it is ripe; these people, what fruit they had, they made an ill use of it; even of their temporal good things; they emptied themselves of their wealth and riches, by sending presents, or paying tribute, to foreign princes for their alliance, friendship, and help; or by consuming it on their idols, and in their idolatrous worship. The Targum renders it,

but then it follows, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself ; all the good works done by them were not to the praise and glory of God, as fruits of righteousness are, which come by Jesus Christ; but were done to be seen of men, and to gain their applause and esteem, and so were for themselves; and all their temporal good things they abounded with were not made use of in the service of God, and for the promoting of his glory, and of true religion among them; but either consumed on their own lusts, or in the service of idols: or, "the fruit is like unto himself" ^F17 ; as was the vine, so was its fruit: the vine was empty, and devoid of goodness, and so the fruit it produced. The Targum is, ``the fruit of their works was the cause of their being carried captive:''

according to the multitude of his fruit he has increased the altars : as the Israelites increased in riches and wealth, their land bringing forth in great abundance, they erected the greater number of altars to their idols, and multiplied their sacrifices to them; this was the ill use they made of what fruit they did produce:

according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images ; of richer metal, and more ornamented, and more of them, according to the plenty of good things, corn, and wine, and oil, their land produced; thus abusing the providential goodness of God to such vile purposes!

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (qqwb Npg) "vitis evacuans", Drusius, Rivetus, Schmidt; so Stockius, p. 149.
• F16: So Calvin.
• F17: (wl hwvy yrp) "fructum aequat sibi", Mercerus; "fracture facit similem sibi", Schmidt.

Their heart is divided
Some say from Hoshea their king, who would have reformed them from their idolatry, and returned them to the true worship of God; but of that there is no proof; better from one another, their affections being alienated from each other, by their discords and animosities, their conspiracies against their kings, and the murders of them, and the civil wars among themselves; they also not being of one mind, but disagreeing in their sentiments about their idols; some being for one, and some for another:

or rather from God himself, from the fear of him, from his worship and service; or from the law, as the Targum; or their hearts were divided between God and their idols, as in Ahab's time between God and Baal; they pretended to worship God when they worshipped the calves, and so shared the service between them; or it may be rendered, "their heart flatters" ^F18 them; as if they had done that which was right and good, and were guilty of no evil, nor would any punishment be inflicted on them:

now shall they be found faulty ^F19 ; be convicted of their sin and folly, and appear guilty; when they shall be punished for their idolatry, and their idols not able to save them, as the destruction of them next mentioned will fully evince: or, "now shall they become desolate" ^F20 their land shall be desolate, and they carried captive:

he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images : that is, the king of Assyria shall do all this, or God by him: or, "behead their altars"; take off the top of them, as the Targum; the horns of them, which might be made of gold, or other ornaments which were of value; and therefore became the plunder of the enemy; and who also would break in pieces their images, for the sake of the metal, gold or silver, of which they were made; as was usually done by conquerors, and to show their entire power over the conquered, that even their gods could not deliver them out of their hands.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (Mbl qlx) "adblanditur cor eorum", Schmidt.
• F19: (wmvay hte) "nunc desolabuntur", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Drusius; so Kimchi and Ben Melech.
• F20: (Prey) "decollabit", Drusius, Piscator, Tarnovius, De Dieu; "decervicabit", Cocceius.

For now they shall say, we have no king This they would say, either when they had one; but by their conduct and behaviour said they had none; because they had no regard to him, no affection for him, and reverence of him; but everyone did what was right in his own eyes: or during the interregnum, between the murder of Pekah, which was in the twentieth year of Jotham, and the settlement of Hoshea, which was in the twelfth of Ahaz; see (2 Kings 15:30) (17:1) ; or when the land of Israel was invaded, and their king was shut up in prison, and Samaria besieged, so that it was as if they had no king; they had none to protect and defend them, to sally out at the head of them against the enemy, and fight their battles for them; or rather when the city was taken, the altars broke down, their images spoiled, and they and their king carried captive.

because we feared not the Lord did not serve and worship him, but idols; and this sin, casting off the fear of the Lord, was the source and cause of all their troubles and sorrows; of the invasion of their land; of the besieging and taking their city, and having no king to rule over them, and protect them.

what then should a king do to us? if they had one, he could be of no service to them; for since they had offended God, the King of kings, and made him their enemy, what could an earthly king, a weak mortal man, do for them, or against him? it was now all over with them, and they could have no expectation of help and deliverance.

They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant, &c.] Those are other crimes they were guilty of, for which the wrath of God could not be awarded from them by a king, if they had one, or by any other. They had used vain and idle words in their common talk and conversation; and lying and deceitful ones to one another in trade and commerce, in contracts and promises; and so had deceived and overreached one another: they had belched out many "oaths of vanity"^F21: or vain oaths and curses; their mouths had been full of cursing and bitterness; and they made covenants with God, and their king, and with other kings and princes, and with one another, and had not kept them; and now for these things God had a controversy with them:

thus judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field; either the judgment of God, his wrath and vengeance for the above sins, rose up and spread itself in all their cities, towns, and villages; or rather the judgment and justice they pretended to execute, instead of being what it should have been, useful and beneficial to the people, like a wholesome herb, sprung up like hemlock, bitter and poisonous, and spread itself in all parts of the kingdom. Injustice is meant; see (Amos 6:12) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: (awv twla) "execrationes vanitatis", Schmidt.

The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of
Bethaven
Or, "the cow calves" ^F23 , as in the original; so called by way of derision, and to denote theirweakness and inability to help their worshippers; and so Bethel, where one of these calves was, is here, aselsewhere, called Bethaven; that is, the house of iniquity, or of an idol, by way of contempt; and may takein Dan also, where was the other calf, since both are mentioned; unless the plural is put for the singular:

now the land of Israel being invaded by the enemy, the inhabitants of Samaria, which was the metropolis ofthe nation, the king, nobles, and common people that dwelt there, and were worshippers of the calves, were inpain lest they should be taken by the enemy; or because they were, these places falling into his hands beforeSamaria was besieged, or at least taken; and these calves being broken to pieces, which they had worshipped,and put their trust in, they were afraid the ruin of themselves and children would be next, and was not veryfar off:

for the people thereof shall mourn over it ;
either the people of Samaria, the same with the inhabitants of it; or rather the people of Bethaven, wherethe idol was; but now was broke to pieces, or carried away; though it is generally interpreted of the peopleof the calf, the worshippers of it, who would mourn over it, or for the loss of it, being taken away fromthem, and disposed of as in (Hosea 10:6) .

The Jews have a tradition, that, in the twentieth year of Pekah king of Israel,Tiglathpileser king of Assyria came and took away the golden calf in Dan; and, in the twelfth year ofAhaz, another king of Assyria (Shalmaneser) came and took away the golden calf at Bethel:

and the priests thereof [that] rejoiced on it ;
the Chemarims, as in (Zephaniah 1:4) ; or "black" ^F25 ones, because of their meagre andsordid countenances, or black clothing: the same word the Jews use for Popish monks: here it designsthe priests of Bethaven, or the calf, who before this time rejoiced on account of it, because of thesacrifices and presents of the people to it, and the good living they got in the service of it; but nowwould mourn, as well as the people, and more, because of being deprived of their livelihood.

Some read the words without the supplement "that, the priests thereof rejoiced on it"; which some interpretaccording to a tradition of the Jews mentioned by Jerom, though by no other, as I can find; that thepriests stole away the golden calves, and put brasen and glided ones in the place of them; so that whenthey were carried away the people mourned, taking them to be the true golden calves; but the priestsmade themselves merry with their subtle device, and rejoiced that their fraud was not detected;

but rather the word here used, as Pocock and others have observed, is of that kind which has contrarysenses, and signifies both to mourn and to rejoice; and here to mourn, as perhaps also in (Job 3:22)(Psalms 2:11) ; and so Ben Melech observes, that there are some of their interpreters who understandit here in the sense of mourning:

for the glory of it, because it is departed from it ;
either because of the glory of the calf, which was gone from it, the veneration it was had in, theworship which was given to it, and the gems and ornaments that were about it; or rather the glory ofBethaven, and also of Samaria, and indeed of all Israel, which was carried captive from them; that is,the calf, which was their god, in which they gloried, and put their trust and confidence in.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: (twlgel) "vaccas, V. L. "ad. vitulas",Pagninus, Montanus; "propter vitulas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ob vitulas, Cocceius.
• F25: (wyrmk) "atrati ejus", Junius & Tremellius,Piscator.