Chapter Ten

1–5. Condemnation of Israel and pronouncement of impending punishment.

Hosea 10:1. Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit; the more his fruit increased, the more he multiplied his altars; as his land prospered, he beautified his pillars. The prophet wants to say that the more Israel received mercies from God, the more it forgot God and became attached to idols. Instead of the words of the Russian text “they beautify the pillars” (mazzeboth) in the Slavonic “they build shrines,” Hebrew mazzeboh means statue, and in this place probably means a statue of Baal.

Hosea 10:2. Their heart is divided; now they shall bear their guilt; He will break down their altars, He will destroy their pillars. “Their heart is divided”—that is, divided between God and Baal, has become false. The LXX read chalak (libbam) in the plural; from this comes the Slavonic: “they have divided their hearts.”

Hosea 10:3. For now they say: “We have no king, for we do not fear the Lord; and a king—what could he do for us? Usually commentators refer the prophet’s speech in verse 3 to the future. Struck by calamities, the Israelites will say: “We have no king,” who would help us; if we did not fear the Lord, what can a king do for us? At the same time, many interpreters (Schegg, Knabenbauer, Scholz) understand the king about which the prophet speaks as the golden calf or idols. According to Hoonacker’s explanation, the prophet speaks of the present (“but now”); the words “we have no king” are the words of the people, and what follows is the prophet’s answer. The prophet’s thought is: They say, “We have no king.” But, the prophet replies, if we do not fear the Lord, what can a king do? The words “we have no king” are either an expression of regret (we have no king, and hence our disasters) or an objection to the prophet’s predictions (surely we have a king who would defend us?).

Hosea 10:4. They speak empty words, swearing falsely when making covenants; therefore judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. The prophet addresses the political life of the country and enumerates a series of Israel’s crimes. “They speak empty words” (instead of debru the LXX read the participle form dober, hence the word: “speaking”)—that is, only words, empty talk. “Swear falsely”—instead of aloth, to swear, the LXX read irwth “pretense,” “excuse,” treating this as a supplement to the preceding dober; from this comes the Slavonic: “false excuses.” “Make covenants” (in Slavonic, “he covenants a covenant”): the prophet means covenants with foreigners—with Egyptians and Assyrians. “Therefore judgment will spring up as poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field” (in Slavonic, “like grass (αγρωστις) on abandoned land”). The speech is of punishment (judgment) of Israel. The prophet compares the coming of God’s judgment in severity of punishment with the abundance of poisonous weeds (rosch, bitter poisonous herb) appearing in the furrows of the field.

Hosea 10:5. The inhabitants of Samaria shall tremble for the calf of Beth-aven; for his people shall mourn for it, and his priests shall wail over it, because its glory has departed from it. In the days of calamity the calf of Beth-Aven (Bethel) not only will fail to help the people, but will itself become a subject of concern and lamentation. “For the calf,” in the Hebrew egeloth, for the heifers—feminine plural used to express an indefinite, abstract concept, for the service of the calf. “Will cry out for its glory (kebodo), because it will depart from it”: Hebrew kebod (glory), some commentators (Hitzig, Hoonacker) not without reason understand as referring to the treasures of the Bethel sanctuary, given to the enemy. The Greek and Slavonic text of verse 5 has a series of deviations from the Hebrew: Hebrew gur, meaning (with a preposition) to fear, be afraid, the LXX translated παροικήσουσι, Slavonic “will inhabit,” kemarajy, “its priests,” the LXX read kemararu, “as they angered”; from this comes the Slavonic: “and just as they angered it, they will rejoice in its glory.”

Hosea 10:6. The calf itself shall be carried to Assyria as a gift to the great king; Ephraim shall be shamed, and Israel shall be ashamed because of his counsel. The degradation of the people will be expressed particularly in the fact that the very calf, to which they bowed down, will be carried away as a gift to Assyria. To the king of Jareb (or Jerim) is an indefinite name, a king as defender. The prophet is doubtless speaking of the Assyrian king, but which specific historical fact he means is difficult to say. The reading of the Slavonic text “having bound it,” δήσαντες, has no correspondence in the Hebrew. It is supposed that the Hebrew ashshur (“to Assyria”) the LXX read twice and the first, deriving from asar (asur), they translated with the word δησαντες.

Hosea 10:7. The king of Samaria shall perish like a splinter on the face of the water. “The king of Samaria will be cut off”—the prophet is not speaking of the golden calf (Scholz, Knabenbauer), but of the king, of royal power, foretelling the impending destruction of it. The Slavonic “was cast off” (instead of “will be cut off”) arose because the LXX read nidmeh (from damah—to destroy) as jarmeh (from ramah, to throw, overthrow). “Like a chip on the surface of the water”; the exact meaning of Hebrew kezeph is unknown; some ancient translators (Aquila, blessed Jerome) translated it as foam (αφρός, spuma), while others (LXX, Theodotion, Peshitta) translated it as stalk, brush, straw (φρύγανον); from this comes the Slavonic “like brush.”

Hosea 10:8. And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; thorns and thistles shall grow up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall upon us. “The high places of Aven,” Slavonic “Shrines of that thing,”—high places (shrine and altar) not of Bethel.

Hosea 10:9. You have sinned more than in the days of Gibeah, O Israel; there they stood firm; shall not war overtake them in Gibeah against the sons of iniquity? “More than in the days of Gibeah,” Hebrew mimej haggrvah should be translated—“from the days of Gibeah.” The LXX took the name haggjvah in verse 9 as a common noun, hill, from this comes the Slavonic: “from whence the hill” and further “on the hill war.” The prophet either wants to say that Israel has been sinning since the time when the terrible crime described in the book of Judges (Judg 20-21) was committed in Gibeah, or, as some interpreters think (Nowack, Wellhausen), the prophet has in mind the fact of Saul’s election in Gibeah and the establishment of royal power, in whose bearers the prophet sees the authors of Israel’s sins. “There they stood,” an unclear expression, which is understood in the sense that in a sin similar to that of Gibeah, Israel has persisted until now. “The war in Gibeon against the sons of iniquity did not overtake them.” Commentators turn the prophet’s speech into a question and establish such a connection of the stated words with the preceding ones; the Israelites persist in sin as the inhabitants of Gibeah did; will not a similar fate, a similar punishment, overtake them as once overtook the inhabitants of Gibeah? (Brodovich). According to Nowack’s view, the prophet’s thought is that because of Israel’s sins the enemies will conquer its entire kingdom—even Gibeah, lying on the southernmost border of the kingdom, will be overtaken by war.

Hosea 10:10. I will discipline them according to My desire, and peoples shall be gathered against them when I bind them for their double transgression. “When I desire I will discipline them”; that is, Jehovah will punish Israel in full accordance with justice, commensurate with his guilt. The very punishment will consist in this: that nations (the Assyrians) will be gathered against the Israelites. The cause of punishment is Israel’s double transgression, that is, Israel’s turning away from Jehovah and falling away from the house of David. In the Slavonic text, verse 10 begins with the words “came to punish.” The word “came” corresponds to ήλοε in some manuscripts, probably arising from an erroneous interpretation of Hebrew beavvathi (“when I desire”).

Hosea 10:11. Ephraim was a trained heifer, accustomed to the threshing floor; and I myself have placed a yoke on her tender neck; I will harness Ephraim, Judah shall plow, Jacob shall break up the ground. “Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh.” Threshing in the East was done by driving yoked animals over spread sheaves so that they beat out the grain with their hooves; or by special threshers, which they pulled. At the same time, according to Moses’ commandment (Deut 25:4), a muzzle was not put on the animals so that they could eat the grain they were threshing. Because of this, threshing for an ox was easy work, profitable, and as if a favorite activity. The image of a heifer accustomed to threshing in relation to Israel means that he has become accustomed to enjoying the benefits sent by Jehovah, and therefore “has grown fat, has fattened, has become sleek” (Deut 32:15; Hos 13:6) and has forgotten his God. As punishment for this, Israel and Judah will have to perform hard labor. —Instead of the reading in the Russian text “trained to thresh” in the Slavonic: “which loves to dispute.” The LXX instead of ladusch (to thresh), apparently read ladun (from dun, to judge, dispute). Instead of the Russian text reading “Judah will plow” the LXX took ghl. jacharo ch (from charach) in an inappropriate sense—to be dumb, be silent, and jeschadede (to break ground) they punctuated as jeschadede (from schadad—to overcome by force, overpower).

Hosea 10:12. Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap according to mercy; break up your untilled ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and rains righteousness upon you. The prophet calls for conversion from sinful life. “Reap mercy”—from Hebrew: reap mercy. “Break up your fallow ground”—a figurative expression having the sense: abandon sinful life, prepare the soil for new life. —In the Slavonic, instead of the words “reap mercy” (lephi chesed), they read—“gather the fruit of life,” Greek εις καρπον ζωής (the LXX apparently read liphl-chajjim). Instead of the words “will rain righteousness upon you” in the Slavonic: “until there comes to you grain of righteousness.”

Hosea 10:13. You have plowed iniquity and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of deception, because you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your warriors. Instead of the words “you have plowed wickedness”; in the Slavonic: “why did you keep silent about iniquity” ινατί παρεσιωπήσατε ασεβειαν: the verb charaschtem (plowed) the LXX, as also in verse 11, took in the sense “to be silent” and ινατί (why) was taken, probably, from the end of verse 12, where instead of la chem (for you) the LXX read lamah (why).

Hosea 10:14. And a tumult shall arise among your people, and all your strongholds shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle; the mother was dashed to pieces with her children. In foretelling the destruction of the strongholds of Israel the prophet uses a comparison: “as Shalman destroyed Beth-Arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed to pieces with her children.” Shalman is doubtless an abbreviated name (cf. 1 Chr 4:29, where eltholad (Josh 15:30) stands in the form tholad; and Hos 10:8, where the name beithaven appears in the form aven) for Shalmaneser. Under this Shalmaneser is meant one of the Assyrian kings (Shalmaneser III, 783–773; Shalmaneser IV, 727–722) or Shalmaneser, king of Moab, mentioned in the solemn inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727). “Beth-Arbel”—a city in Galilee, between Sepphoris and Tiberias, corresponding to the present Ibrid. Apart from Hos 10:14, no information about the time and circumstances of this city’s destruction has been preserved. The words “the mother was dashed to pieces with her children” represent, apparently, a proverb by which the highest degree of cruelty was designated (cf. Gen 32:12). The entire utterance of the prophet is intended to point to the extreme severity of the defeat that awaits the Israelite people. —In the Slavonic text, instead of the words “as Shalman destroyed Beth-Arbel” it reads “just as the prince Shalman from the house of Jeroboam perished.” The LXX apparently, instead of Keschod (destroyed) read Kesar (as a prince), then took the Hebrew beit in a common sense as house, and referred the entire comparison to the fact of the slaying of the Midianite king Salman by Gideon (Judg 7:21). Gideon bore the name Jerubbaal (Judg 6:32), and from this came the reading “from the house of Jeroboam.” (Alexander and Sinai manuscripts read Ἱεροβααλ).

Hosea 10:15. Thus shall Bethel do to you because of your great wickedness. Instead of the words “thus Bethel will do to you” (beith-el) in the Slavonic “thus I will do to you, house of Israel.” The LXX translated the Hebrew beith-el freely as οίκος τσΰ ᾿Ισραήλ.