Hosea 9:2

2. Faithlessness to Jehovah will be punished by a withdrawal of the divine gifts (Hosea 2:9).

Wine press The Hebrew word denotes not the press in which the grapes are pressed out, but the receptacle into which flows the juice after the grapes are crushed (see on Joel 2:24). Threshing floor where the grain is stored as well as threshed out and winepress stand for grain and wine.

New wine See on Hosea 4:11.

Feed them LXX., with a change of one consonant, “know them.”

Fail in her Better R.V., “fail her,” that is, Israel. The change to a feminine pronoun would have to be explained by the representation of Israel as a harlot (Hosea 4:19). It should be noted, however, that all the versions read the plural, as in the first clause. Changes from the second person (Hosea 9:1) to the third person (Hosea 9:2) are not uncommon in prophetic discourse. For the thought compare Amos 5:11; Isaiah 5:10.

The manner in which Jehovah will execute the judgment is indicated in Hosea 9:3. Israel is to be removed from the land.

Egypt See on Hosea 8:13. The other power upon which Israel relies for help, Assyria (Hosea 7:11; Hosea 8:9), will also be a means of Israel’s destruction.

Jehovah’s land The land in which Israel now dwells. So long as primitive religious conceptions prevailed in Israel Palestine was thought to be the land of Jehovah in much the same sense in which Moab was the land of Chemosh or Ammon the land of Milcom (Judges 11:23-24). Outside of Israel Jehovah was powerful only as he went to the assistance of his people Israel against another people and its deity. Even to David exile from the land meant inability to worship Jehovah (1 Samuel 26:19; compare Jonah 1:3). The eighth century prophets had a broader conception of Jehovah; he controlled other nations as well as Israel (Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:3; Amos 9:7), though they never ceased to believe that Jehovah had a peculiar interest in the Hebrews. Nevertheless, in several places passages are found which imply that the common people continued to cling to the narrower view. Thus may be explained the latter part of this verse.

Unclean things [“food”] Not food which was per se ceremonially unclean, but food which was unclean because the land in which it was eaten was unclean (Amos 7:17; Ezekiel 4:13); and the land was unclean because Jehovah could not properly be worshiped there (compare 2 Kings 5:17).

To a people so scrupulous about the fulfillment of the ceremonial requirements one of the greatest calamities of life in exile would be the inability to continue properly the external forms of worship. This calamity the prophet brings before them in vivid colors in Hosea 9:4. Whether the prophet himself shared the common notion, or whether he simply used these expressions because they would present the climax of calamity to the minds of those whom he was anxious to influence, is not made clear; that Hosea conceived of the sway of Jehovah as extending over nations outside of Israel cannot be doubted. Offer [“pour out”] wine offerings to Jehovah Drink offerings will cease (see on Joel 1:9).

Neither shall they (the wine offerings) be pleasing unto him Margin of R.V., which connects the words differently, reproduces more accurately the Hebrew, “neither shall their sacrifices be pleasing unto him.” This presupposes the bringing of sacrifice, only it will not be acceptable to Jehovah. But the first as well as the last clause of the verse states that certain offerings shall be discontinued. The same is implied in the whole verse; Hosea 3:4, also teaches that sacrifice is to be entirely discontinued in exile. To remove this apparent contradiction scholars generally accept the emendation first suggested by Kuenen, and read, with a change of one single consonant, “neither shall they prepare for him their sacrifices.”

Their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners That is, unclean. The bread of mourning is the bread eaten during the seven days of mourning (Deuteronomy 26:14) and at funeral meals. Everyone coming near a dead person is unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:14), and everything such an unclean person touches, even his food, becomes unclean (Numbers 19:22); anyone eating this unclean food shares the uncleanness.

Their bread for their soul The last word means also appetite, so R.V., “shall be for their appetite”; sometimes it is even used in the place of the pronoun “for themselves.” Whichever rendering is adopted, the thought remains the same. Part of the bread (or food) was presented to Jehovah in the form of first fruits, offerings, or tithes, and thus it assisted in securing the divine favor; a part was used to satisfy the hunger of the owner. In the exile there will be no sanctuary, and offerings cannot be brought; the food cannot be used to secure or maintain the divine favor; it serves only to satisfy physical hunger.

House of Jehovah Any sanctuary consecrated to Jehovah.