Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Hosea 4:11 - 4:19

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Hosea 4:11 - 4:19


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The Second Part of the Accusation

v. 11. Whoredom,
the general immorality just referred to, and wine and new wine, drunken debauchery in every form, as practiced in those days in connection with the Syrian idol-worship, take away the heart, the understanding, making men perverse and stupid in every respect.

v. 12. My people ask counsel at their stocks,
from their wooden idols, and their staff declareth unto them, the reference being to the practice of setting up two rods, with proper incantations, the oracle depending upon the direction in which the rods fell; for the spirit of whoredoms, which has made them so stupid, hath caused them to err, to become addicted to such foolishness as they would despise under normal conditions of mind, and they have gone a-whoring from under their God, their idolatry causing them to forsake the subjection which was their natural relation to the true God.

v. 13. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,
after the manner which they had taken over from the heathen Canaanites, and burn incense upon the hills, in a form of worship which should have been reserved for the true God alone, under oaks and poplars and elms, or terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good, green and pleasant, a fact which made this nature worship appeal to them; therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses, young brides, or daughters-in-law, shall commit adultery, for such lewdness was connected with the cult of the gods of nature, with the worship of Baal and Astarte.

v. 14. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery,
as just set forth; for themselves, the fathers and husbands, are separated with whores, going aside to be alone with them in their lewd practices, and they sacrifice with harlots, with the temple-girls, who freely sold themselves to the worshipers; therefore the people, that doth not understand, being dense with impudence and shamelessness, shall fall, being destroyed as a consequence of such conditions. The Lord therefore adds a warning lest Judah join Israel in this idolatry and shameless conduct.

v. 15. Though thou, Israel, play the harlot,
in such blasphemous adultery and idolatry, yet let not Judah offend, for the members of this nation were still trying to maintain the Lord's worship; and come not ye unto Gilgal, a place southwest of Shiloh, neither go ye up to Bethaven, or Bethel, on the southern boundary of Israel, the shrines at these two places being devoted to idol-worship, nor swear, The Lord liveth, for an oath by the life of Jehovah in idolatrous service was a further insult to His majesty.

v. 16. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer,
stubborn and unbroken; now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place, by removing them to a distant and large country, where they would be far removed from those with whom they associated in their idolatry.

v. 17. Ephraim,
the northern kingdom, is joined to idols, so linked with idolatrous worship as to make it impossible for them to leave it alone at this time; let him alone, for it would be useless to try to take him from his idolatry; he is utterly stubborn.

v. 18. Their drink is sour,
or, "they are abandoned to their carousing"; they have committed whoredom continually, in an excess of lewdness; her rulers with shame do love, Give ye, literally, "loving have loved their shields' shame," that is, the rulers of the nation, by loving sin, loved also shame, the result of their transgression; in other words, the whole nation, from the highest to the lowest, was corrupt.

v. 19. The wind hath bound her up in her wings,
or, "the tempest seizes them with its wings,". and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices, for their trust in their idolatrous sacrifices would prove to be a vain hope. Thus the hopes of unbelievers and idolaters will ever be found to be vain and foolish, for there is no salvation outside of the deliverance announced by the one true God.