SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:1
¶ Estando yo curando a Israel, se descubrió la iniquidad de Efraín, y las maldades de Samaria; porque obraron engaño; y viene el ladrón, y el salteador despoja de fuera.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Hosea 7:1
Verse 1. When I would have healed Israel] As soon as one wound was healed, another was discovered. Scarcely was one sin blotted out till another was committed. The thief cometh in] Their own princes spoil them.
The troop of robbers spoileth without.] The Assyrians, under different leaders, waste and plunder the country.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. When I would have healed Israel , etc.] Or rather, “when I healed Israel” f129 ; for this is not to be understood of a velleity, wish, or desire of healing and saving them, as Jarchi; nor of a bare attempt to do it by the admonitions of the prophets, and by corrections in Providence; but of actual healing them; and by which is meant, not healing them in a spiritual and religious sense, as in ( Hosea 6:1); but in a political sense, of the restoring of their civil state to a more flourishing condition; which was done in the times of Jeroboam the son of Joash, as Kimchi rightly observes; who restored the coast of Israel, from the entering of Hamath, unto the sea of the plain, ( 2 Kings 14:25,26); then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria ; some refer this to the times of Jeroboam the first, and that the sense is, that the Lord having cured Israel of the idolatry introduced by Solomon, quickly a new scene of idolatry broke out in Ephraim, or the ten tribes, of which Samaria was the metropolis; for Jeroboam soon set up the calves at Daniel and Bethel to be worshipped; but it does not appear that Israel was corrupted with the idolatry of Solomon, and needed a cure then; nor was Samaria built in Jeroboam’s time: others apply it to the times of Jehu, who, though he slew the worshippers of Baal, and broke his images, and destroyed him out of Israel, yet retained the worship of the calves at Daniel and Bethel, ( 2 Kings 10:25-30); so, though they were healed of one sort of idolatry, another prevailed. It is right, in both these senses, that the iniquity of Ephraim, and wickedness or wickednesses of Samaria, are taken for the idolatrous worship of the golden calves; but then it respects the times of Jeroboam the second, the son of Joash, in whose days Israel was prosperous; and yet these superstitious and idolatrous practices of worship were flagrant and notorious, were countenanced by the king and his courtiers that dwelt at Samaria, as is clear from ( Amos 7:10-13); which was an instance of great ingratitude to the Lord; for they commit falsehood ; among themselves, lying to one another, and deceiving each other; or to God, deal falsely with him, are guilty of false worship, worshipping idols, which are vanities and lies: and the thief cometh in, [and] the troop of robbers spoileth without ; which may be interpreted either of their sins, their sins in general, both private and public; and their sins of theft and robbery in particular; both such as were committed in houses by the thief privately entering there, and by a gang of robbers in the streets, or on the highway: so the Targum, “in the night they thieve in houses, and in the day they rob on the plain,” or fields: or else of punishment for their sins; and then the words may be rendered f130 , “therefore the thief entereth in, and the troop” or “army spreads without”; this thief was Shallum, who came in to kill and to steal; he slew Zachariah the son of Jeroboam, after he had reigned six months, and usurped the kingdom, and so put an end to the family of Jehu, according as the Lord had threatened, ( 2 Kings 8:12); the troop or army is the Assyrian army under Pul, who came against Menahem, king of Israel, of whom he exacted a tribute, and departed, ( 2 Kings 15:19,20); so Cocceius.
Matthew Henry Commentary
An exhortation to repentance. (Hos. 6:1-3) Israel's instability an breach of the covenant. (Hos. 6:4-11)
Hos. 6:1-3 Those who have gone from God by consent, and in a body drawing one another to sin, should, by consent and in a body, return to him, which will be for his glory, and their good. It will be of grea use for support under afflictions, and to encourage our repentance, to keep up good thoughts of God, and of his purposes and design concerning us. Deliverance out of trouble should be to them as lif from the dead. God will revive them: the assurance of this shoul engage them to return to him. But this seems to have a furthe reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let us admire the wisdo and goodness of God, that when the prophet foretold the deliverance of the church out of her troubles, he should point out our salvation by Christ; and now these words are fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ, it confirms our faith, that this is He that should come and we are to look for no other. Here is a precious blessing promised; this is life eternal, to know God. The returns of the favour of God are secure to us as firmly as the return of the morning after a dark night. He shall come to us as the latter and former rain unto the earth, whic refreshes it, and makes it fruitful. The grace of God in Christ is bot the latter and the former rain; and by it the good work of ou fruit-bearing is begun and carried on. And as the Redeemer was raise from the grave, so will He revive the hearts and hopes of all tha trust in him. The feeblest glimpse of hope in his word, is a sure earnest of increasing light and comfort, which shall be attended with purifying, comforting grace that makes fruitful.
Hos. 6:4-11 Sometimes Israel and Judah seemed disposed to repent unde their sufferings, but their goodness vanished like the empty mornin cloud, and the early dew, and they were as vile as ever. Therefore the Lord sent awful messages by the prophets. The word of God will be the death either of the sin or of the sinner. God desired mercy rather tha sacrifice, and that knowledge of him which produces holy fear and love This exposes the folly of those who trust in outward observances, to make up for their want of love to God and man. As Adam broke the covenant of God in paradise, so Israel had broken his nationa covenant, notwithstanding all the favours they received. Judah also wa ripe for Divine judgments. May the Lord put his fear into our hearts and set up his kingdom within us, and never leave us to ourselves, no suffer us to be overcome by temptation __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
כרפאי 7495 לישׂראל 3478 ונגלה 1540 עון 5771 אפרים 669 ורעות 7451 שׁמרון 8111 כי 3588 פעלו 6466 שׁקר 8267 וגנב 1590 יבוא 935 פשׁט 6584 גדוד 1416 בחוץ׃ 2351
