Hosea 7:5

A like diversity of exposition is found in connection with Hosea 7:5 , at least it, first clause.

1. There is

(a) the object of this verb; while,

(b) according to the usual rendering, it is the accusative of time, equivalent to ביוֹם ; others again

(c) take the word as a nominative absolute, or translate the clause as an independent one; thus Simson: "It is the day of our king."

2. Again, חֲמַח st. construct of חֵמָה , from the root חמם or יחם , (for the construct state is used, not only for the genitive-relation, but also before prepositions, the relative pronoun, relative clauses, even ray copulative, etc), is

3. לֵץ is a scoffer and worse than כְסִיל , a fool, or פְחִי , a simpleton; the last acts through inexperience, the second from unwisdom, the first, though possessing in some measure both wisdom and experience, acts in disregard of both. The meaning is given by Kimchi in the following comment: "The sense of חי מי is that the one came with his bottle full of wine, and the other with his bottle; and they made the king sick;" and to this there is an exact parallel in Habakkuk 2:15 , "Woe unto him that giveth his neigh-hour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also." In the second clause the expression, "drawing out the hand," is borrowed from drunken carousals, in which the hand is stretched out in asking, receiving, and handing the goblets; or, more simply, according to Pussy, who says, "Men in drink reach out their hands to any whom they meet, in token of their sottish would be friendliness."