THE PROPHECY OF OSEE
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Galgal and Bethaven... Places where idols were worshipped. Bethel, which signifies the house of God, is called by the prophet, Bethaven, that is, the house of vanity, from Jeroboam's golden calf that was worshipped there.
4:16. For Israel hath gone astray like a wanton heifer now will the Lord feed them, as a lamb in a spacious place.
4:17. Ephraim is a partaker with idols, let him alone.
4:18. Their banquet is separated, they have gone astray by fornication: they that should have protected them have loved to bring shame upon them.
4:19. The wind hath bound them up in its wings, and they shall be confounded because of their sacrifices.
Osee Chapter 5
God's threats against the priests, the people, and princes of Israel, for their idolatry.
5:1. Hear ye this, O priests, and hearken, O ye house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king: for there is a judgment against you, because you have been a snare to them whom you should have watched over and a net spread upon Thabor.
O priests... What is said of priests in this prophecy is chiefly understood of the priests of the kingdom of Israel; who were not true priests of the race of Aaron; but served the calves at Bethel and Dan.
5:2. And you have turned aside victims into the depth and I am the teacher of them all.
5:3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me for now Ephraim hath committed fornication, Israel is defiled.
5:4. They will not set their thoughts to return to their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.
5:5. And the pride of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel, and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Juda also shall fall with them.
5:6. With their flocks and with their herds, they shall go to seek the Lord, and shall not find him: he is withdrawn from them.
5:7. They have transgressed against the Lord: for they have begotten children that are strangers: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
Children that are strangers... That is, aliens from God: and therefore they are threatened with speedy destruction.
5:8. Blow ye the cornet in Gabaa, the trumpet in Rama: howl ye in Bethaven, behind thy back, O Benjamin.
5:9. Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel I have shewn that which shall surely be.
5:10. The princes of Juda are become as they that take up the bound: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
As they that take up the bound... That is, they that remove the boundary, encroaching on the property of their neighbors: figuratively: going beyond the boundary of the laws of God.
5:11. Ephraim is under oppression, and broken in judgment: because he began to go after filthiness.
5:12. And I will be like a moth to Ephraim: and like rottenness to the house of Juda.
5:13. And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda his band: and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from you.
5:14. For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's whelp to the house of Juda: I, I will catch, and go: I will take away, and there is none that can rescue.
5:15. I will go and return to my place: until you are consumed, and seek my face.
Osee Chapter 6
Affliction shall be a means to bring many to Christ, a complaint of the untowardness of the Jews. God loves mercy more than sacrifice.
6:1. In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us return to the Lord.
6:2. For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he will cure us.
6:3. He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth.
6:4. What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away in the morning.
6:5. For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the light.
6:6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts.
6:7. But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant, there have they dealt treacherously against me.
6:8. Galaad is a city of workers of idols, supplanted with blood.
Supplanted with blood... that is, undermined and brought to ruin, for shedding of blood: and, as it is signified in the following verse, for conspiring with the priests (of Bethel) like robbers, to murder in the way such as passed out of Sichem to go towards the temple of Jerusalem. Or else ...supplanted with blood... signifies flowing in such manner with blood, as to suffer none to walk there without imbruing the soles of their feet in blood.
6:9. And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the priests who murder in the way those that pass out of Sichem: for they have wrought wickedness.
6:10. I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the fornications of Ephraim there: Israel is defiled.
6:11. And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring back the captivity of my people.
Osee Chapter 7