Hosea 4:6-7

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 4:6-11

God is here proceeding in his controversy both with the priests and with the people. The people were as those that strove with the priests (Hos. 4:4) when they had priests that did their duty; but the generality of them lived in the neglect of their duty, and here is a word for those priests, and for the people that love to have it so, Jer. 5:31. And it is observable here how the punishment answers to the sin, and how, for the justifying of his own proceedings, God sets the one over-against... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:6

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge ,.... This is not to be understood of those who are the Lord's people by special grace; for they cannot he destroyed, at least with everlasting destruction; God's love to them, his choice of them, covenant with them, the redemption of them by Christ, and the grace of God in them, secure them from such destruction: nor can they perish through want of knowledge; for though they are by nature as ignorant as others, yet it is the determinate will of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 4:7

As they were increased, so they sinned against me ,.... As the children of the priests increased and grew up, they sinned against the Lord, imitating their parents; they were as many sinners as they were persons, not one to be excepted: this expresses their universal depravity and corruption. Some understand it of their increase, as in number, so in riches, wealth, honour, dignity, and authority, and yet they sinned more and more; which shows their ingratitude. So the Targum, "as I have... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:6

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge - They have not the knowledge of God, nor of sacred things, nor of their own interest, nor of the danger to which they are exposed. They walk on blindly, and perish. Because thou hast rejected knowledge - So they might have become wise, had they not rejected the means of improvement. Thou shalt be no priest to me - If this be the true reading, there must be reference to some particular priest, well known, to whom these words are... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:7

Will I change their glory into shame - As the idolaters at Dan and Bethel have changed my glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, ( Romans 1:23 ;), so will I change their glory into shame or ignominy. In the day of my wrath, their calf-gods shall not deliver them. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:6

Verse 6 Here the Prophet distinctly touches on the idleness of the priests, whom the Lord, as it is well known, had set over the people. For though it could not have availed to excuse the people, or to extenuate their fault, that the priests were idle; yet the Prophet justly inveighs against them for not having performed the duty allotted to them by God. But what is said applies not to the priests only; for God, at the same time, indirectly blames the voluntary blindness of the people. For how... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 4:7

Verse 7 Here the Prophet amplifies the wickedness and impiety of the people, by adding this circumstance, that they the more perversely wantoned against God, the more bountiful he was to them, yea, when he poured upon them riches in full exuberance. Such a complaint we have before noticed: but the Prophets, we know, did not speak only once of the same thing; when they saw that they effected nothing, that the contempt of God still prevailed, they found it necessary to repeat often what they had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:6

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Here the verb is plural and its subject singular, because, being collective, it comprehends all the individual members of the nation. The word כדמו is rendered read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:6

Ignorance and destruction. All classes in Israel were guilty of forsaking Jehovah, and all classes were reproached with the same sin. It is usually the case that rebellion against a righteous Lord, and neglect of sincere worship and devotion, are chargeable, if not equally so, upon high and low, learned and ignorant. And when none are free from guilt, none are exempt from condemnation. I. TRUE RELIGION IS BASED UPON KNOWLEDGE . Idolatry and superstition are compatible with... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 4:6

Religious ignorance. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, 1 will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." These words suggest three things in relation to religious ignorance. I. IT IS DESTRUCTIVE . "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Ignorance is not the mother of devotion, it is the mother of destruction. 1. What does it... read more

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