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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 2:1-5

The first words of this chapter some make the close of the foregoing chapter, and add them to the promises which we have here of the great things God would do for them. When they shall have appointed Christ their head, and centered in him, then let them say to one another, with triumph and exultation (let the prophets say it to them, so the Chaldee?Comfort you, comfort you, my people, is now their commission), ?say to them, Ammi, and Ruhamah; call them so again, for they shall no longer lie... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 2:2

Plead with your mother, plead ,.... The congregation of Israel, as the Targum; the body of the Jewish nation, which, with respect to individuals, was as a mother to her children; see Matthew 21:37 , that is, lay before her, her sin in rejecting the Messiah, the Head and Husband of his true church and people; endeavour to convince her of it; reprove her for it; expostulate with her about it; argue the case with her, and show her the danger of persisting in such an evil, as the apostles did,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 2:3

Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born ,.... Alluding to the case of an infant when born, which comes naked into the world; and referring to the state and condition of the Israelites in Egypt, which was the time of their nativity, as a people and church; see Ezekiel 16:4 , and when they were in a state of servitude and bondage, and had no wealth and substance, and without possessions and lands, and had no country of their own to inhabit; and signifying that... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 2:2

Plead with your mother - People of Judah, accuse your mother, (Jerusalem), who has abandoned my worship, and is become idolatrous, convince her of her folly and wickedness, and let her return to him from whom she has so deeply revolted. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 2:3

Lest I strip her naked - Lest I expose her to infamy, want, and punishment. The punishment of an adulteress among the ancient Germans was this: "They shaved off her hair, stripped her naked in the presence of her relatives, and in this state drove her from the house of her husband." See on Isaiah 3:17 ; (note); and see also Ezekiel 16:39 ; Ezekiel 23:26 . However reproachful this might be to such delinquents, it had no tendency to promote their moral reformation. And set her like a... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 2:2

Verse 2 The Prophet seems in this verse to contradict himself; for he promised reconciliation, and now he speaks of a new repudiation. These things do not seem to agree well together that God should embrace, or be willing to embrace, again in his love those whom he had before rejected, — and that he should at the same time send a bill of divorce, and renounce the bond of marriage. But if we weigh the design of the Prophet, we shall see that the passage is very consistent, and that there is in... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 2:3

Verse 3 Though the Prophet in this verse severely threatens the Israelites, yet it appears from a full view of the whole passage, that he mitigates the sentence we have explained: for by declaring what sort of vengeance was suspended over them, except they timely repented, he shows that there was some hope of pardon remaining, which, as we shall see, he expresses afterwards more clearly. He now begins by saying, Lest I strip her naked, and set her as on the day of her nativity This alone would... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 2:2

EXPOSITION Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not thy wife, neither am I her husband. In this second chapter the same cycle of events recurs as in the first, with this difference, that what is expressed by symbol in the one is simply narrated in the other. The cycle is the common one of sin: its usual consequences of suffering and sorrow; then succor and sympathy in case of repentance. The persons addressed in the verse before us are those individuals in Israel who had still... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 2:2-5

The prophet exhibits the gross sin of idolatry. The prophet in this section exposes the shame as well as sin of idolatry. It is a mistaken notion to suppose, with some, that the tribe of Judah is here urged to plead with the tribes of Israel; for Israel cannot, with any propriety of speech or figure, be spoken of as the mother in this case, however possibly they may be addressed as brethren and sisters. The Church or nation is the mother, and the individual members, as nursed and brought up... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hosea 2:2-5

Spiritual adultery. The individuals of the nation are exhorted to plead with their mother Israel, that she may turn from her adulterous courses, and so avert the doom which is otherwise certain to overtake her . Consider— I. ISRAEL 'S SHAMELESS PROFLIGACY . ( Hosea 2:2 , Hosea 2:5 ) The sin charged against Israel is that of adultery, in her relations with Jehovah. Owing to the peculiarity of these relations, the sin was of a specially aggravated kind. 1. The people had... read more

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