Hosea 4:15

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 4:12-19

In these verses we have, as before, I. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, for which God had a controversy with them, and they are, 1. Spiritual whoredom, or idolatry. They have in them a spirit of whoredoms, a strong inclination to that sin; the bent and bias of their hearts are that way; it is their own iniquity; they are carried out towards it with an unaccountable violence, and this causes them to err. Note, The errors and mistakes of the judgment are commonly owing to the corrupt... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:15

Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend ,.... That is, though the Israelites, the people of the ten tribes, committed adultery, both corporeal and spiritual, in their idolatrous worship, as before observed, to which they had been used ever since the times of Jeroboam the first, and were hardened therein, and from which there were little hopes of reforming them; yet let not the men of Judah be guilty of the same crimes, who have as yet retained the pure worship of God... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:15

Let not Judah offend - Israel was totally dissolute; Judah was not so. Here she is exhorted to maintain her integrity. If the former will go to what was once Beth-el, the house of God, now Beth-aven, the house of iniquity, because Jeroboam has set up his calves there, let not Judah imitate them. Gilgal was the place where the covenant of circumcision was renewed when the people passed over Jordan; but was rendered infamous by the worship of idols, after Jeroboam had set up his idolatry. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:15

Verse 15 The Prophet here complains that Judah also was infected with superstitions, though the Lord had hitherto wonderfully kept them from pollutions of this kind. He compares Israel with Judah, as though he said, “It is no wonder that Israel plays the wanton; they had for a long time shaken off the yoke; their defection is well known: but it is not to be endured, that Judah also should begin to fall away into the same abominations.” We now then perceive the object of the comparison. From the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:15

And come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-avert, nor swear, The Lord liveth. From a solemn warning in general terms, he proceeds to a specific prohibition. The prohibition forbids pilgrimages to places of idol-worship, such as Gilgal and Bethaven; it also forbids a profession of Jehovah-worship to be made by persons inclined to idolatrous practices. Gilgal, now the village of Jiljilia , which had been a school of the prophets in the days of Elijah and Elisha, had, as we may... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:15

Offending. 1. We offend when we frequent places notorious for wickedness. This was the character of Gilgal and Bethel. 2. We offend when we lend countenance to impieties practiced in the name of religion. One of Jeroboam's calves was at Bethel. Its presence changed Beth-el, the "house of God," into "Beth-aven," "house of vanity." 3. We offend when we are partners to any profanation of the Name of God. "Nor swear, The Lord liveth." An oath is so solemn a thing that it ought not to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:15-17

In this section the prophet, as if despairing of any improvement or amendment on the part of Israel, still resolutely bent on spiritual whoredom, addresses an earnest warning to Judah. From proximity to those idolatries and debaucheries so prevalent in this northern kingdom, and from the corruption at least of the court in the southern kingdom during the reigns of Joram, Ahaziah, and Ahaz, Judah was in danger; and hence the prophet turned aside, with words of earnest warning, to the sister... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:15-19

A passing word of warning is addressed to Judah. The prophet pauses in his dark catalogue of Israel's sins and sorrows, and, turning aside, speaks a word of warning to Judah, that the people of the southern kingdom might be deterred from the crimes and awed by the calamities of their northern neighbors. In the large heart and catholic spirit of the prophet both Judahite and Israelite found a place; he had a message from God for both. I. PLACES PERILOUS TO PIETY SHOULD BE ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:15-19

Ephraim and Judah. In this passage, as in Hosea 1:7 , the kingdom of Judah is presented in contrast with that of Israel. Here, for the first time in Hosea, we meet with the name "Ephraim." As the United Kingdom over which Queen Victoria reigns is often called simply "England," so the kingdom of the tea tribes sometimes receives the name of" Ephraim," that tribe being the most powerful of the ten, and having within its bounds the seat of government. I. EPHRAIM 'S SIN . It consisted... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:15-19

Warning to Judah. Judah had not yet sunk so low as Israel. She was, however, far from guiltless. Her princes were like them that remove the bound ( Hosea 5:10 ). She is included with Israel in the threatenings that follow ( Hosea 5:5 , Hosea 5:10 , Hosea 5:14 ; Hosea 6:4 , Hosea 6:11 ). "The people did yet corruptly," is the testimony of the history ( 2 Chronicles 27:2 ). Still her case was not so hopeless but that judgment might be averted by timely repentance. There was still... read more

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