Hosea 2:8

8. For Hebrew, “and.”

She The use of the Hebrew pronoun before the verb places special emphasis upon the same: “she, though my wife and enjoying countless blessings.”

Did not know To know is often used in the sense of acknowledge; it may be so here; in life and worship they failed to acknowledge; but the prophet may think of the absence of intellectual apprehension that Jehovah was the source of all blessing.

Corn (or grain), … [“new”] wine,… oil The chief products of Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 11:14; see on Joel 1:10).

Silver and gold, which they prepared [“used”] for Baal The possession of silver and gold imported from afar was, in a sense, also due to the divine favor (compare Isaiah 2:7); the Israelites, failing to recognize the true source, used them that the relative clause belongs to both nouns seems evident for Baal: that is, in his honor; either they made more beautiful and splendid his worship or, as the margin R.V. reads, “they made the silver and gold into the Baal,” that is, images of Baal. In view of Hosea 8:4, the latter may be preferable (Isaiah 44:17). Several commentators reject the relative clause entirely because (1) the plural they used is peculiar. Who is the subject? Throughout this section Israel is referred to as she; (2) the singular Baal. Hosea seems to condemn throughout the worship of the Canaanitish Baalim (Hosea 2:5) and not that of the one Baal, the god of Tyre; (3) the emphasis is on the giving by Jehovah, not on the use of the blessings for any specific purpose. Marti would go further and omit also “gold,” because of the peculiar order of the words in Hebrew, where silver and gold are not connected. Objection (3) is of no weight. The other peculiarities cannot be overlooked, though opinions may differ as to whether they are sufficiently serious to warrant the rejection of the words.

Hosea 2:9 ff., parallel with 6, 7, announce the judgment.

Therefore will I return, and take away Equivalent to take away again; R.V., “take back.”

Corn… wine… wool… flax See Hosea 2:5; Hosea 2:8. In Hosea 2:5 Israel had called these things my bread, etc. Here Jehovah suggests that in reality they are his.

Time… season thereof That is, at harvest time, when under ordinary conditions men may safely expect them.

Given to cover [“which should have covered”] her nakedness A reminder that without God’s mercy, in her natural condition, “Israel was utterly helpless and destitute.”