1 God’s judgments against the sins of the people, 6 and of the priests, 12 and against their idolatry. 15 Judah is exhorted to take warning by Israel’s calamity.
Hos 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.
Hear the word. This chapter begins a new division of Hosea’s prophecies. The prophet discontinues his use of figure and symbol, and now employs plain, literal prose.
It seems evident from their contents that the messages of chs. 4–14 came much later than the time of Jeroboam II (see ch. 1:1).
The Lord has a charge. God’s people are called upon to give heed to the charge preferred against them, and to the sentence pronounced. As Heaven’s spokesman Hosea presents the case against Israel, vindicating the divine justice in dealing with her.
The prophet begins by declaring that his people lack the essentials of true religion. Without these essentials, the worship of God is nothing but empty pretence.
Hos 4:2 There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Turning from Israel’s spiritual deficiencies, Hosea now presents her sins of commission, a veritable flood of evils. The absence of truth, mercy, and knowledge (v. 1) produces all these terrible crimes in the land.
Hos 4:3 Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.
The sufferings listed (vs. 3–5) are stated to be a result of the sins of Israel, particularly of those mentioned in v. 12.
Because of his sin man has brought suffering upon the animal world. Compare Rom. 8:19–23.
Hos 4:4 “But let no one bring a charge, let no one accuse another, for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.
Charge. All the people were evil; hence none should reprove others for their wrongdoing. The passage may also mean that so stubbornly set in sin are the offenders that it is useless to reason with them.
Charges against a priest. One of the functions of the priest was to teach the truths of God to the people (Mal. 2:7; see on 2 Chron. 15:3). Those who refuse to obey and reverence the true priests of God deserve Hosea’s severe condemnation (see also Deut. 17:8–13).
Hos 4:5 You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother—
So relentless would be the coming calamities that at no time, day or night, would any escape, whether they be people or priests.
Destroy your mother. That is, the nation of Israel itself (see ch. 2:2–5). The LXX reads, “I have compared thy mother unto night,” conveying the thought that Israel would go into the dark night of sorrow, distress, and the silence of destruction at the time of her captivity.
Hos 4:6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
The particular knowledge that is missing is the knowledge of God, the most essential of all knowledge. Isaiah ascribed the Captivity to such a lack (see on Isa. 5:13). Though God may overlook certain forms of ignorance (see Acts 17:30), He cannot deliberate ignorance of spiritual things (see on Ex. 4:21).
The people would inevitably be “destroyed” because of their lack of the essential knowledge. They might have had the knowledge had they put forth the effort to obtain it. Men are held responsible not only for what they know (John 9:41; 15:22, 24; James 4:17), but also for what they might have known had they put forth the effort to obtain essential knowledge (cf. 2 Peter 3:5).
There are many who fear that a further investigation of truth will reveal that a change in conduct may be required of them, a change that their sin-loving hearts are unwilling to undertake, and so they deliberately desist from further inquiry.
Such willful ignorance God cannot excuse. Rejected knowledge. Literally, “rejected the knowledge.” The priest, or perhaps rather the priestly order, is addressed (see vs. 8, 9).
Reject the priest. This indicates that possibly the principal cause of this ignorance on the part of the people lay at the door of the unfaithful priests, who rejected the knowledge of the true God and His law, which they should have taught the people (see Deut. 33:10; Mal. 2:1–9; see on 2 Chron. 15:3).
The priests whom Jeroboam I appointed when he separated the kingdom of Israel from Judah (see 1 Kings 12:25–33) were not priests of the Lord but priests of the golden calves.
Hos 4:7 The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.
The nation was increased in population and in economic wealth, owing to the prosperity of Jeroboam II’s reign (see on ch. 2:8). However, the primary reference may still be to the priests (see on v. 6), who increased in wealth and power.
Hos 4:8 They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.
This passage probably describes the greedy priests who encouraged sin by urging the people to bring more sacrifices, since they ate the meat of these sacrifices (Lev. 6:26), and no doubt built up a traffic in such meat (see on 1 Sam. 2:12).
The more sins, the more sacrifices, and so the greater profit and pleasure.
Hos 4:9 And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
Like people, like priest. The people and their priests were bound together in sin. The apostate priests engaged in the very iniquities they should have reproved. In turn, the people, taking note of the worldliness and self-indulgence of the priests, hid behind their example. As someone has said, “Neither secular greatness should exempt the laity, nor the dignity of his order, the priest.” Alike will be held responsible before the judgment bar of God. Reward. Literally, “cause to return”; hence, here “repay,” or “recompense.” Doings. The daring, presumptuous actions of Israel against the law and will of God are here implied.
Hos 4:10 “They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not flourish, because they have deserted the LORD to give themselves
he reference here is probably to religious prostitution connected with fertility cults, around which much of ancient Canaanite worship centered. Despite the worship of the goddess of fertility, the population would not increase, for the blessing of Heaven had been removed from Israel.
Hos 4:11 “Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart.
These vices are pertinently put together to show their force in depriving man of his true and proper affections, his reason, and his understanding (see on Gen. 9:21).
Enslave the heart. The “heart” is used here to represent the mind, the understanding, the affections. As a man thinks “in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). If a person’s mind, understanding, and affections are scarred and corrupted by lustful excesses, he sacrifices his possibilities for service for God (see Prov. 4:23).
One of the lamentable accompaniments of Israel’s worship of strange gods was the indulgence in the licentious rites and the debasing moral conduct that accompanied idol worship.
Hos 4:12 My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.
A wife was spoken of as being under her husband; that is, under his authority (see on Num. 5:19). This relationship ceased when she gave herself to another, as was true of Israel when she withdrew from the Lord and joined herself to her idols.
Hos 4:13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
Here we have a further enlargement about idolatry, particularly as it was seen in public life. The heathen commonly selected the mountains and hills as their places of worship because of the elevation of these heights (see on Eze. 6:13).
Shade. The green trees mentioned afforded a welcome shade from the intense heat of the Eastern sun and provided some secrecy for the practice of licentious rites. In such places sacrificial victims were slain and incense burned as an honor to the gods (see on Jer. 7:31).
Daughters-in-law. The evil example of the parents influenced the children to go in the same direction, and with the same results (Lam. 5:7; see on Hosea 2:4).
Hos 4:14 “I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes— a people without understanding will come to ruin!
These “daughters” and “spouses” were less guilty than the lascivious, filthy fathers and husbands who had led them astray.
Shrine prostitutes. These were women who devoted themselves to licentiousness in the service of the gods. Since ancient times such persons have related to idolatrous worship in many heathen lands (see on Deut. 23:17
Hos 4:15 “Though you, Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty. “Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
Hosea, as if despairing of any change in Israel’s ungodly attitude, appeals warningly to the southern kingdom of Judah (vs. 15–17). Israel was so close to Judah geographically, and some of Judah’s later kings were so influenced by idolatry, that there was grave danger that the south would follow the north in apostasy.
Here we have a specific charge forbidding pilgrimages to idol-worship centres, such as Gilgal and Beth-aven.
Hos 4:16 The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the LORD pasture them like lambs in a meadow?
The people of the northern kingdom were determined to have their own way and so were like an unmanageable heifer that resists being trained and cannot be used to Plow.
Pasture them like lambs.
Some have suggested that this means God will deservedly and justly leave Israel to itself, as a lamb is left in a field to roam at will without provision and without protection. Instead of the controls and yoke (see on Matt. 11:29, 30) of God’s commandments, she would have the license of a desert, where there would be no protecting hedges. Others have suggested that this clause should be considered a question rather than a statement; thus, it would read, “Will the Lord now feed them as a lamb in a large place?”
Hos 4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!
Ephraim was the principal tribe of the northern kingdom, and the name was frequently applied to the entire kingdom (see on Jer. 7:15)
Similarly the name Judah was applied to the southern kingdom. Let him alone. Iniquitous folly welded Ephraim to idolatry, and so left him to an inescapable fate. The ten tribes had gone so far in idolatry that to them was made no promise of complete restoration (see PK 298).
4Evidently only a few scattered members of the ten tribes in exile later joined Judah to return to Palestine after the Captivity. God does not coerce the will. He pleads with men to accept the way of life (Eze. 33:11) but leaves it with them as to “whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear” (Eze. 2:5).
Those who persistently refuse to accept the offers of mercy are left to reap the fruits of their own choosing (Gen. 6:3; Ps. 81:10–16; Prov. 1:25–33; Rev. 22:11).
Hos 4:18 Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their prostitution; their rulers dearly love shameful ways.
Hos 4:19 A whirlwind will sweep them away, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.
918. Her rulers. Literally, “her shields,” meaning the princes as the protectors of the nation (see on Ps. 47:9).
Whirlwind. Perhaps a figure referring to the storm of divine judgment which will be loosed on Ephraim, sweeping him into captivity.
This figure is in striking contrast to that of the “eagles’ wings” that bore the Hebrews out of Egypt toward the Promised Land (Ex. 19:4; Deut. 32:9–12). With patience and long-suffering God bears with sinners, calling them to repentance. Even the predicted captivity of the ten tribes came in gradual stages (see on Hosea 7:9).