Hosea 10:9

Hosea 10:9. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah This is not the first of thy sinning, O Israel, for long ago there was the greatest corruption of manners, and the most flagrant wickedness in Gibeah; and thou hast continued to be wicked ever since that time: see Judges 19:0. Some render the words, Thou hast sinned more than in the days of Gibeah. Thou hast been guilty of more atrocious crimes than that committed in that place. There That is, upon that occasion, namely, the quarrel with the tribe of Benjamin, on account of the outrage of the men of Gibeah. They stood Israel stood there in array, prepared for the attack. This relates to the war which the rest of the Israelites made against the Benjamites, because they would not deliver up the men of Gibeah, who had so shamefully and cruelly abused the Levite’s concubine: see Judges 20:0. The battle in Gibeah, &c., did not overtake them By them here is meant not the children of iniquity, but the Israelites who warred against the Benjamites, because they would not deliver up these sinners; and the sense of the expression, the battle did not overtake them, is, that they were not overcome in this their attempt to inflict a just punishment on the perpetrators of a flagrant iniquity; for, though they were overcome in two battles, yet at last they gained an entire victory, and cut off all the Benjamites but six hundred: see notes on Judges 20:0.