Hosea 11:1-11

The Ingratitude of Israel

Jehovah had been like a tender father and a kind master to Israel from the first, yet had they ever rejected Him and turned to idols. He cannot bear the thought of punishing them, but punish them He must. Yet punishment will be tempered with mercy, and lead at last to repentance and deliverance. The tenderness of the whole passage and the changing phases of feeling are very characteristic.

1. The allusion, of course, is to the deliverance out of the bondage of Egypt, a proof of God’s fatherly love to Israel. St. Matthew refers the last clause to the recall of the Infant Jesus from Egypt: see on Matthew 2:15.

2. As them] An interesting example of the terse style of Hosea. It is God who calls, but He calls by the instrumentality of others, Moses and the prophets. The call is the call out of bondage to the service of God.

3. I] RV ’Yet I.’ Jehovah is here compared to a father teaching his child to walk, and carrying it when tired.

Taking.. arms] RM ’He took them,’ etc. The prophet sometimes speaks as the mouthpiece of God in the first person; less frequently he speaks of God in the third.

4. Cords.. man] not with cords used in drawing a beast which is being broken in, but something more gentle, the kindly discipline needful for winning a man’s allegiance. And I was.. unto them] In the evening, when work is over, the kind master takes off the yoke, gently passing it over the animal’s face, and then gives it food.

5. Kindness has failed to lead them to repentance; therefore they must be purified by punishment. Not to Egypt, however, shall they go, but the Assyrians shall conquer and carry them away. Not.. into.. Egypt] In Hosea 8:13; Hosea 9:6 the prophet spoke of Egypt as a possible place of captivity; but now, at this later date, it was evident that Assyria was to be the instrument of God’s vengeance 6. The mention of apostasy produces a severer tone of threatening. Abide on] RV ’fall upon.’ His branches] RV ’his bars,’ i.e. his defences, meaning either his strong cities or his nobles, on whom he depended for safety. But their evil counsellors (if we take it in the latter sense) would prove their ruin.

7. Though.. him] Though they formally called on God, they do not really exalt Him in their hearts.

8. Hosea’s feeling again turns to tenderness. How can the loving Father bear to chastise His people as they deserve! Admah.. Zeboim] with reference to the destruction of the cities of the plain: cp. Deuteronomy 29:23. My repentings] RV ’my compassions.’

9. Jehovah’s feelings grow stronger still. He will not punish His people.

I am God] therefore more long-suffering and less vindictive than man: cp. Psalms 130:4 and Collect, ’Who declarest Thy almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity.’ Enter into the city] RM ’come in wrath.’

10. Hosea is confident that the people will make themselves deserving of Jehovah’s love and follow Him. Roar.. lion] In Amos 3:8 the same figure is used of God’s threatening through the prophet. Here it is used of His calling for His people out of captivity, the point of comparison being the earnest longing on God’s part, reverential awe on man’s. Shall tremble] RV ’shall come trembling.’ West] i.e. Egypt, as distinctly stated in the next v.

11. They.. Egypt] Taken literally, it is in contradiction to Hosea 11:5 taken together, they may be paraphrased thus: They shall not go into Egypt; and even should they go, thence will I bring them—a form of thought similar to that in Hosea 9:11-12, etc. Dove] The timidity of the dove is what is probably thought of. For another use of the simile see Hosea 7:11.