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Clarke's Bible Commentary - Hosea 2:2
Verse 2. Plead with your mother] People of Judah, aceuse your mother, (Jerusalem,) who has abandoned my worship, and is become idolatrous, convince her of her folly and wickedness, and let her return to him from whom she has so deeply revolted.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. Plead with your mother, plead , etc.] The congregation of Israel, as the Targum; the body of the Jewish nation, which, with respect to individuals, was as a mother to her children; (see Matthew 21:37), that is, lay before her, her sin in rejecting the Messiah, the Head and Husband of his true church and people; endeavour to convince her of it; reprove her for it; expostulate with her about it; argue the case with her, and show her the danger of persisting in such an evil, as the apostles did, ( Acts 2:23,36 3:14 7:52 13:27,40) for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband ; for though there had been such a relation between them, yet it was now dissolved; she had broken the marriage covenant and contract, and God had given her a bill of divorce, ( Jeremiah 31:32 Isaiah 1:1) or, however, as she behaved not as a wife towards him, showing love and affection, honour and reverence, and performing duty, and yielding obedience; so he would not carry it as a husband towards her, nourishing and cherishing her, providing for her, and protecting and defending her; but leave her to shift for herself, and to the insults and abuses of others; having been guilty of idolatry, which is spiritual adultery, as the Israelites before the captivity were; and as the Jews in Christ’s time were guilty of rejecting the word of God, and preferring their own traditions to it: hence it follows, let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight , or “from her face” f28 , and her adulteries from between her breasts ; alluding to the custom of harlots, who used to paint their faces, and to allure with their looks, words, and actions, and to make bare their breasts, or adorn them, or carry in them what were enticing and alluring. These adulteries and whoredoms, which are the same thing, may signify the many idolatries of the people of Israel before their captivity, and which were the cause of it; or the sins of the Jews before their dispersion; or their evil works, as the Targum, by which they departed from God and the true Messiah, and went a whoring after other lovers: thus they rejected, transgressed, and made of none effect the commandments of God by their traditions; paid tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, and neglected the weighty matters of the law; sought not the honour of God, but that which comes from men; and therefore confessed not the true Messiah, though under convictions of him, and went about to establish their own righteousness, and submitted not to his; these were the idols of their hearts, and the whoredoms and adulteries the Jewish converts, that truly believed in Christ, are ordered to exhort them to put away. The Septuagint and Arabic versions are, “I will take away her whoredoms etc.”, Ver. 3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born , etc.] Alluding to the case of an infant when born, which comes naked into the world; and referring to the state and condition of the Israelites in Egypt, which was the time of their nativity, as a people and church; (see Ezekiel 16:4), and when they were in a state of servitude and bondage, and had no wealth and substance, and without possessions and lands, and had no country of their own to inhabit; and signifying that this should be their case again, if they persisted in their idolatry, impenitence, and unbelief; as has been the case of the ten tribes upon their captivity, when they were stripped of all their wealth and riches, carried away out of their own land, and scattered among the nations, and have never returned since; and as was the case of the Jews in their last destruction, for the rejection of Christ, they were stripped of their civil and religious privileges, of their temporal and spiritual mercies as a nation and church; what they feared is come upon them, that the Romans would come and take away their place and nation, ( John 11:48) and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land ; having some respect to her former condition in the wilderness, where they had no food nor drink but what they had from God, as Abarbinel thinks; or else to the destruction and consumption of them in the wilderness, their carcasses falling there, who sinned against the Lord, as the Targum and Jarchi; and denoting the utter destruction of their commonwealth and church, when their land was laid waste, their city destroyed, their house and temple left desolate and burnt, and they deprived of all the necessaries of life, which was their case at their last destruction by the Romans; and to this day they are as they are described, ( Hosea 3:4): and slay her with thirst ; after their vainly expected Messiah, which has brought them to desperation; or with a thirst, not for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord, ( Amos 8:11), the Gospel, and the ordinances of it, being taken away from them, and the clouds ordered to drop down no rain upon them; that is, the ministers of the word not to preach the Gospel to them; and so are left destitute of the means of grace, and of spiritual life, and of escaping eternal death, ( Matthew 21:43 Isaiah 5:6). The Targum of the whole is, “lest I remove my Shechinah from her, and take away her glory, and set her forsaken, as in the days of old, before she came to my worship; and my fury shall remain upon her, as it remained upon the people of that generation that transgressed my law in the wilderness; and I will set the land desolate, and kill her with thirst.”
Matthew Henry Commentary
The idolatry of the people. (Hos. 2:1-5) God's judgments against them (Hos. 2:6-13) His promises of reconciliation. (Hos. 2:14-23) Hos. 2:1-5 This chapter continues the figurative address to Israel, in reference to Hosea's wife and children. Let us own and love a brethren, all whom the Lord seems to put among his children, an encourage them in that they have received mercy. But every Christian by his example and conduct, must protest against evil and abuses, eve among those to whom he belongs and owes respect. Impenitent sinner will soon be stripped of the advantages they misuse, and which the consume upon their lusts.
Hos. 2:6-13 God threatens what he would do with this treacherous idolatrous people. They did not turn, therefore all this came upo them; and it is written for admonition to us. If lesser difficulties be got over, God will raise greater. The most resolute in sinful pursuits are commonly most crossed in them. The way of God and duty is ofte hedged about with thorns, but we have reason to think it is a sinfu way that is hedged up with thorns. Crosses and obstacles in an evi course are great blessings, and are to be so accounted; they are God' hedges, to keep us from transgressing, to make the way of sin difficult, and to keep us from it. We have reason to bless God for restraining grace, and for restraining providences; and even for sor pain, sickness, or calamity, if it keeps us from sin. The disappointments we meet with in seeking for satisfaction from the creature, should, if nothing else will do it, drive us to the Creator When men forget, or consider not that their comforts come from God, he will often in mercy take them away, to bring them to think upon their folly and danger. Sin and mirth can never hold long together; but in men will not take away sin from their mirth, God will take away mirt from their sin. And if men destroy God's word and ordinances, it is just with him to destroy their vines and fig-trees. This shall be the ruin of their mirth. Taking away the solemn seasons and the sabbath will not do it, they will readily part with them, and think it no loss but He will take away their sensual pleasures. Days of sinful mirt must be visited with days of mourning.
Hos. 2:14-23 After these judgments the Lord would deal with Israel mor gently. By the promise of rest in Christ we are invited to take his yoke upon us; and the work of conversion may be forwarded by comfort as well as by convictions. But usually the Lord drives us to despair of earthly joy, and help from ourselves, that, being shut from every othe door, we may knock at Mercy's gate. From that time Israel would be mor truly attached to the Lord; no longer calling him Baali, or "My lor and master," alluding to authority, rather than love, but Ishi, a address of affection. This may foretell the restoration from the Babylonish captivity; and also be applied to the conversion of the Jew to Christ, in the days of the apostles, and the future genera conversion of that nation; and believers are enabled to expec infinitely more tenderness and kindness from their holy God, than beloved wife can expect from the kindest husband. When the people wer weaned from idols, and loved the Lord, no creature should do them an harm. This may be understood of the blessings and privileges of the spiritual Israel, of every true believer, and their partaking of Christ's righteousness; also, of the conversion of the Jews to Christ Here is an argument for us to walk so that God may not be dishonoure by us: Thou art my people. If a man's family walk disorderly, it is dishonour to the master. If God call us children, we may say, Thou ar our God. Unbelieving soul, lay aside discouraging thoughts; do not thu answer God's loving-kindness. Doth God say, Thou art my people? Say Lord, thou art our God __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
äãåäé-éðá åöá÷ðå
åãçé ìàøùé-éðáå
ãçà ùàø íäì åîùå
éë õøàä -ïî åìòå
.ìàòøæé íåé ìåãâ
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