Hosea 10

7. ( Hosea 10:3 Hosea 10:15 ).
foam--denoting short-lived existence and speedy dissolution. As the foam, though seeming to be eminent raised on the top of the water, yet has no solidity, such is the throne of Samaria. MAURER translates, "a chip" or broken branch that cannot resist the current.

8. Aven--that is, Beth-aven.
the sin--that is, the occasion of sin ( Deuteronomy 9:21 , 1 Kings 12:30 ).
they shall say to . . . mountains, Cover us--So terrible shall be the calamity, that men shall prefer death to life ( Luke 23:30 , Revelation 6:16 , 9:6 ). Those very hills on which were their idolatrous altars (one source of their confidence, as their "king," Hosea 10:7 , was the other), so far from helping them, shall be called on by them to overwhelm them.

10. my desire . . . chastise--expressing God's strong inclination to vindicate His justice against sin, as being the infinitely holy God ( Deuteronomy 28:63 ).
the people--Foreign invaders "shall be gathered against them."
when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows--image from two oxen ploughing together side by side, in two contiguous furrows: so the Israelites shall join themselves, to unite their powers against all dangers, but it will not save them from My destroying them [CALVIN]. Their "two furrows" may refer to their two places of setting up the calves, their ground of confidence, Dan and Beth-el; or, the two divisions of the nation, Israel and Judah, "in their two furrows," that is, in their respective two places of habitation; Hosea 10:11 , which specifies the two, favors this view. HENDERSON prefers the Keri (Hebrew Margin) "for their two iniquities"; and translates, "when they are bound" in captivity. English Version is best, as the image is carried out in Hosea 10:11 ; only it is perhaps better to translate, "the people (the invaders) binding them," that is, making them captives; and so Hosea 10:11 alludes to the yoke being put on the neck of Ephraim and Judah.

11. taught--that is, accustomed.
loveth to tread out . . . corn--a far easier and more self-indulgent work than ploughing. In treading corn, cattle were not bound together under a yoke, but either trod it singly with their feet, or drew a threshing sledge over it ( Isaiah 28:27 Isaiah 28:28 ): they were free to eat some of the corn from time to time, as the law required they should be unmuzzled ( Deuteronomy 25:4 ), so that they grew fat in this work. An image of Israel's freedom, prosperity, and self-indulgence heretofore. But now God will put the Assyrian yoke upon her, instead of freedom, putting her to servile work.
I passed over upon--I put the yoke upon.
make . . . to ride--as in Job 30:22 ; that is, hurry Ephraim away to a distant region [CALVIN]. LYRA translates, "I will make (the Assyrian) to ride upon Ephraim." MAURER, "I will make Ephraim to carry," namely, a charioteer.
his clods--"the clods before him."

12. Continuation of the image in Hosea 10:11 ( Proverbs 11:18 ). Act righteously and ye shall reap the reward; a reward not of debt, but of grace.
in mercy--according to the measure of the divine "mercy," which over and above repays the goodness or "mercy" which we show to our fellow man ( Luke 6:38 ).
break . . . fallow ground--Remove your superstitions and vices, and be renewed.
seek . . . Lord, fill he come--Though not answered immediately, persevere unceasingly "till He come."
rain--send down as a copious shower.
righteousness--the reward of righteousness, that is, salvation, temporal and spiritual ( 1 Samuel 26:23 ; compare Joel 2:23 ).

13. reaped iniquity--that is, the fruit of iniquity; as "righteousness" ( Hosea 10:12 ) is "the fruit of righteousness" ( Job 4:8 , Proverbs 22:8 , Galatians 6:7 Galatians 6:8 ).
lies--false and spurious worship.
trust in thy way--thy perverse way ( Isaiah 57:10 , Jeremiah 2:23 ), thy worship of false gods. This was their internal safeguard, as their external was "the multitude of their mighty men."

14. tumult--a tumultuous war.
among thy people--literally, "peoples": the war shall extend to the whole people of Israel, through all the tribes, and the peoples allied to her.
Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel--that is, Shalmaneser, a compound name, in which the part common to it and the names of three other Assyrian kings, is omitted; Tiglath-pileser, Esar-haddon, Shar-ezer. So Jeconiah is abbreviated to Coniah. Arbel was situated in Naphtali in Galilee, on the border nearest Assyria. Against it Shalmaneser, at his first invasion of Israel ( 2 Kings 17:3 ), vented his chief rage. God threatens Israel's fortresses with the same fate as Arbel suffered "in the day (on the occasion) of the battle" then well-known, though not mentioned elsewhere (compare 2 Kings 18:34 ). This event, close on the reign of Hezekiah, shows the inscription of Hosea ( Hosea 1:1 ) to be correct.

15. So shall Beth-el do unto you--Your idolatrous calf at Beth-el shall be the cause of a like calamity befalling you.
your great wickedness--literally, "the wickedness of your wickedness."
in a morning--speedily as quickly as the dawn is put to flight by the rising sun ( Hosea 6:4 , 13:3 , Psalms 30:5 ).
king--Hoshea.