(13) The tops of the hills were continually chosen for idolatrous temples, i.e., “high places.”Poplar—i.e., the white poplar, not the storax of the LXX., which is a shrub only a few feet high.Elms should be “terebinth tree” (’çlah). read more
(14) Jehovah threatens to visit no punishment on the women for their licentiousness, because they are more sinned against than sinning.Sacrifice with harlots.—Referring to the sensuality of the religious rites, as represented by the women (q’dçshôth) who dedicated themselves to these impurities. read more
Ephraim and His Idols Hosea 4:17 These words are not intended as a threatening of the cessation of the Divine pleadings. There are no people about whom God says that they are so wedded to any sin that it is no use trying to do anything for them. I. Ephraim is the name of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, one of the two into which the nation was divided. It is the people in the other, the neighbouring nation, that are spoken to; and what is meant by the 'letting alone' is plainly enough expressed... read more
I. THE LORD’S QUARREL WITH ISRAELHosea 4:1-19"Hear the word of Jehovah, sons of Israel! Jehovah hath a quarrel with the inhabitants of the land, for there is no truth nor real love nor knowledge of God in the land. Perjury and murder and theft and adultery! They break out, and blood strikes upon blood."That stable and well-furnished life, across which, while it was still noon, Amos hurled his alarms-how quickly it has broken up! If there be still "ease in Zion," there is no more "security in... read more
4. "THE CORRUPTION THAT IS THROUGH LUST"Hosea 9:10-17 CF. Hosea 4:11-14Those who at the present time are enforcing among us the revival of a paganism-without the pagan conscience-and exalting licentiousness to the level of an art, forget how frequently the human race has attempted their experiment, with far more sincerity than they themselves can put into it, and how invariably the result has been recorded by history to be weariness, decay, and death. On this occasion we have the story told to... read more
II. THE MESSAGE OF EXPOSTULATION, JUDGMENT, AND MERCY CHAPTER 4 The Lord’s Controversy with His People 1. The condition of the people (Hosea 4:1-5 ) 2. The loss of their priestly relation (Hosea 4:6-11 ) 3. Israel’s idolatry (Hosea 4:12-19 ) Hosea 4:1-5 . This chapter begins with a terse description of the condition of the professing people of God. First, we have the negative side--no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God. And there was no truth, because they had rejected the Word of the... read more
4:12 My {n} people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the {o} spirit of whoredoms hath caused [them] to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.(n) Thus he speaks by derision in calling them his people, who now because of their sins they were not his people: for they sought help from stocks or wooden images and sticks or idols.(o) They are carried away with madness. read more
4:13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof [is] good: therefore your daughters shall {p} commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.(p) Because they take away God’s honour, and give it to idols: therefore he will give them up to their lusts, so that they will dishonour their own bodies; Romans 1:28 . read more
4:14 I will not {q} punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people [that] doth not understand shall fall.(q) I will not correct your shame to bring you to proper living, but will let you run headlong to your own damnation. read more
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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Hosea 4:12
(12) Their stocks.—Blocks of wood fashioned into idols (Heb., his wood, the collective singular being maintained).Their staff.—Cyril regarded this as referring to divinations by means of rods (ῥαβδομαντεία), which were placed upright, and after the repetition of incantations, allowed to fall, the forecast of the future being interpreted from the manner in which they fell. But perhaps the “staff” may refer, like the “stocks,” to the idol itself. The Canaanite goddess Asherah was worshipped under... read more