THE PROPHECY OF OSEE
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
My husband... In Hebrew, Ishi. Baali, my lord. The meaning of this verse is: that whereas Ishi and Baali were used indifferently in those days by wives speaking to their husbands; the synagogue, whom God was pleased to consider as his spouse, should call him only Ishi, and abstain from the name of Baali, because of its affinity with the idol Baal.
2:17. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name.
Baalim... It is the plural number of Baal: for there were divers idols of Baal.
2:18. And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure.
2:19. And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations.
I will espouse thee, etc... This relates to the happy espousals of Christ with his church: which shall never be dissolved.
2:20. And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
2:21. And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth.
Hear the heavens, etc... All shall conspire in favour of the church, which in the following verse is called Jezrahel, that is, the seed of God.
2:22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and these shall hear Jezrahel.
2:23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy.
2:24. And I will say to that which is not my people: Thou art my people: and they shall say: Thou art my God.
That which was not my people, etc... This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles.
Osee Chapter 3
The prophet is commanded again to love an adulteress; to signify God's love to the synagogue. The wretched state of the Jews for a long time, till at last they shall be converted.
3:1. And the Lord said to me: Go yet again, and love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress: as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, and they look to strange gods, and love the husks of the grapes.
3:2. And I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a core of barley, and for half a core of barley.
3:3. And I said to her: Thou shalt wait for me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt be no man's, and I also will wait for thee.
3:4. For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod, and without theraphim.
Theraphim... Images or representations.
3:5. And after this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord, their God, and David, their king: and they shall fear the Lord, and his goodness, in the last days.
David their king... That is, Christ, who is of the house of David.
Osee Chapter 4
God's judgment against the sins of Israel: Juda is warned not to follow their example.
4:1. Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land.
4:2. Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood.
4:3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish with the heat of the field, and with the fowls of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together.
4:4. But yet let not any man judge: and let not a man be rebuked: for thy people are as they that contradict the priest.
Let not any man judge, etc... As if he would say: It is in vain to strive with them, or reprove them, they are so obstinate in evil.
4:5. And thou shalt fall today, and the prophet also shall fall with thee: in the night I have made thy mother to be silent.
4:6. My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.
4:7. According to the multitude of them, so have they sinned against me: I will change their glory into shame.
4:8. They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their souls to their iniquity.
4:9. And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices.
4:10. And they shall eat and shall not be filled: they have committed fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord in not observing the law.
4:11. Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness, take away the understanding.
4:12. My people have consulted their stocks, and their staff hath declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them, and they have committed fornication against their God.
4:13. They offered sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burnt incense upon the hills: under the oak, and the poplar, and the turpentine tree, because the shadow thereof was good: therefore shall your daughters commit fornication, and your spouses shall be adulteresses.
4:14. I will not visit upon your daughters, when they shall commit fornication, and upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery: because themselves conversed with harlots, and offered sacrifice with the effeminate, and the people that doth not understand shall be beaten.
4:15. If thou play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Juda offend: and go ye not into Galgal, and come not up into Bethaven, and do not swear: The Lord liveth.