Hosea 6:4-11 NIV

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

Two things, two evil things, both Judah and Ephraim are here charged with, and justly accused of:? I. That they were not firm to their own convictions, but were unsteady, unstable as water, Hos. 6:4, 5. O Ephraim! what shall I do unto thee? O Judah! what shall I do unto thee? This is a strange expression. Can Infinite Wisdom be at a loss what to do? Can it be nonplussed, or put upon taking new measures? By no means; but God speaks after the manner of men, to show how absurd and unreasonable... read more

John Gill

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

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee ?.... Or, "for thee" F24 לך "in tuum commodum", Schmidt. ? The Lord having observed the effect and consequence of his going and returning to his place, of his leaving his people for a long time under afflictions and in distress; namely, their thorough conversion to him in the latter day, and the blessings attending it; returns to the then present times again, and to the state and condition in which Ephraim and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:5

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth ,.... Sharply reproved them for their sins by the prophets, who were as lapidaries that cut stone, or us hewers of timber that cut off the knotty parts; so these by preaching the terrors of the law, which is a killing letter, and by delivering out the threatenings of the Lord, and denouncing his judgments upon them for their sins, cut them to the heart, and killed them; for their foretelling and... read more

John Gill

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

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice ,.... That is, the one rather than the other, as the next clause explains it. Sacrifices were of early use, even before the law of Moses; they were of divine appointment, and were approved and accepted of by the Lord; they were types of Christ, and led to him, and were continued unto his death; but in comparison of moral duties, which respect love to God, and to our neighbour, the Lord did not will them, desire them, and delight in them; or he had more... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:7

But they, like men, have transgressed the covenant ,.... The false prophets, as Aben Ezra, whom he threatened to cut off and slay, Hosea 6:5 ; or rather Ephraim and Judah, whose goodness was so fickle and unstable; and who, instead of doing acts of mercy, and seeking after the true knowledge of God and his worship, which are preferable to all sacrifices, they transgressed the law of God, which they promised at Mount Sinai to obey; the precepts of the moral law, even of both tables, which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:8

Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity ,.... The chief city in the land of Gilead, which lay beyond Jordan, inhabited by Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh; and so belonged to the ten tribes, whose sins are here particularly observed. It had its name from the country, or the country from that, or both from the mountain of the same name. It is thought to be Ramothgilead, a city of refuge, and put for all the cities of refuge in those parts, which were inhabited by priests... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:9

And as troops of robbers wait for a man ,.... As a gang of highwaymen or footpads lie in wait in a ditch, or under a hedge, or in a cave of a rock or mountain, for a man they know will come by that way, who is full of money, in order to rob him; or, as Saadiah interprets it, as fishermen stand upon the banks of a river, and cast in their hooks to draw out the fish; and to the same purpose is Jarchi's note from R. Meir: so the company of priests murder in the way by consent ; not only... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:10

I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel ,.... Idolatry, the calves set up at Dan and Bethel, which God saw with abhorrence and detestation; or the prophet saw it, and it made his hair stand on end as it were, as the word F7 שערוריה a שער "pilus". signifies, that such wickedness should be committed by a professing people: there is the whoredom of Ephraim ; in the house of Israel is the whoredom of Jeroboam, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, and caused Israel to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:11

Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee ,.... That is, God hath set and appointed a time of wrath and vengeance for thee, which is sometimes signified by a harvest, Revelation 14:15 ; because thou hast been guilty of idolatry also, as well as Ephraim or the ten tribes: or rather it may be rendered, "but, O Judah" F8 גם "sed", V. L. Munster, Grotius. , he, that is, God, hath set an harvest for thee; appointed a time of joy and gladness, as a time of harvest is: when I... read more

Adam Clarke

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

O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? - This is the answer of the Lord to the above pious resolutions; sincere while they lasted, but frequently forgotten, because the people were fickle. Their goodness (for goodness it was while it endured) was like the morning cloud that fadeth away before the rising sun, or like the early dew which is speedily evaporated by heat. Ephraim and Judah had too much goodness in them to admit of their total rejection, and too much evil to admit of their being... read more

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

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

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:5

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

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:8

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:9

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:10

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 6:11

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

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