Hosea 4

Hosea 4:1-19 . HENCEFORTH THE PROPHET SPEAKS PLAINLY AND WITHOUT SYMBOL, IN TERSE, SENTENTIOUS PROPOSITIONS.

In this chapter he reproves the people and priests for their sins in the interregnum which followed Jeroboam's death; hence there is no mention of the king or his family; and in Hosea 4:2 bloodshed and other evils usual in a civil war are specified.

1. Israel--the ten tribes.
controversy--judicial ground of complaint ( Isaiah 1:18 , Jeremiah 25:31 , Micah 6:2 ).
no . . . knowledge of God--exhibited in practice ( Jeremiah 22:16 ).

2. they break out--bursting through every restraint.
blood toucheth blood--literally, "bloods." One act of bloodshed follows another without any interval between (see 2 Kings 15:8-16 2 Kings 15:25 , Micah 7:2 ).

3. land . . . languish--( Isaiah 19:8 , 24:4 , Joel 1:10 Joel 1:12 ).
sea--including all bodies of water, as pools and even rivers in the East, is threatened.

4. let no man . . . reprove--Great as is the sin of Israel, it is hopeless to reprove them; for their presumptuous guilt is as great as that of one who refuses to obey the priest when giving judgment in the name of Jehovah, and who therefore is to be put to death ( Deuteronomy 17:12 ). They rush on to their own destruction as wilfully as such a one.
thy people--the ten tribes of Israel; distinct from Judah ( Hosea 4:1 ).

5. fall in the day--in broad daylight, a time when an attack
in . . . night--No time, night or day, shall be free from the slaughter of individuals of the people, as well as of the false prophets.
thy mother--the Israelitish state, of which the citizens are the children ( Hosea 2:2 ).

6. lack of knowledge--"of God" ( Hosea 4:1 ), that is, lack of piety. Their ignorance was wilful, as the epithet, "My people," implies; they ought to have known, having the opportunity, as the people of God.
thou--O priest, so-called. Not regularly constituted, but still bearing the name, while confounding the worship of Jehovah and of the calves in Beth-el ( 1 Kings 12:29 1 Kings 12:31 ).
I will . . . forget thy children--Not only those who then were alive should be deprived of the priesthood, but their children who, in the ordinary course would have succeeded them, should be set aside.

7. As they were increased--in numbers and power. Compare Hosea 4:6 , "thy children," to which their "increase" in numbers refers.
so they sinned--(Compare Hosea 10:1 and Hosea 13:6 ).
will I change their glory into shame--that is, I will strip them of all they now glory in (their numbers and power), and give them shame instead. A just retribution: as they changed their glory into shame, by idolatry ( Psalms 106:20 , Jeremiah 2:11 , Romans 1:23 , Philippians 3:19 ).

8. eat . . . sin of my people--that is, the sin offerings ( Leviticus 6:26 , 10:17 ). The priests greedily devoured them.
set their heart on their iniquity--literally "lift up the animal soul to lust after," or strongly desire. Compare Deuteronomy 24:15 , Margin; Psalms 24:4 , Jeremiah 22:27 . The priests set their own< /I> hearts on the iniquity of the people, instead of trying to suppress it. For the more the people sinned, the more sacrificial victims in atonement for sin the priests gained.