Hosea 11 commentary

HOSEA 11 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
God’s Love for Israel
1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
BAR ES, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him - God loved Israel, as He
Himself formed it, ere it corrupted itself. He loved it for the sake of the fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as he saith, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”
Mal_1:2. Then, when it was weak, helpless, oppressed by the Egyptians, afflicted,
destitute, God loved him, cared for him, delivered him from oppression, and called him
out of Egypt. : “When did He love Israel? When, by His guidance, Israel regained
freedom, his enemies were destroyed, he was fed with “food from heaven,” he heard the
voice of God, and received the law from Him. He was unformed in Egypt; then he was
informed by the rules of the law, so as to be matured there. He was a child in that vast
waste. For he was nourished, not by solid food, but by milk, i. e., by the rudiments of
piety and righteousness, that he might gradually attain the strength of a man. So that
law was a schoolmaster, to retain Israel as a child, by the discipline of a child, until the
time should come when all, who despised not the heavenly gifts, should receive the Spirit
of adoption. The prophet then, in order to show the exceeding guilt of Israel, says,
“When Israel was a child,” (in the wilderness, for then he was born when he bound
himself to conform to the divine law, and was not yet matured) “I loved him,” i. e., I gave
him the law, priesthood, judgments, precepts, instructions; I loaded him with most
ample benefits; I preferred him to all nations, expending on him, as on My chief heritage
and special possession, much watchful care and pains.”
I called My son out of Egypt - As He said to Pharaoh, “Israel is My son, even My
firstborn; let My son go, that he may serve Me” Exo_4:22-23. God chose him out of all
nations, to be His special people. Yet also God chose him, not for himself, but because
He willed that Christ, His only Son, should “after the flesh” be born of him, and for, and
in, the Son, God called His people, “My son.” : “The people of Israel was called a son, as
regards the elect, yet only for the sake of Him, the only begotten Son, begotten, not
adopted, who, “after the flesh,” was to be born of that people, that, through His Passion,
He might bring many sons to glory, disdaining not to have them as brethren and co-
heirs. For, had He not come, who was to come, the Well Beloved Son of God, Israel too
could never, anymore than the other nations, have been called the son of so great a
Father, as the Apostle, himself of that people, saith, “For we were, by nature, children of

wrath, even as others” Eph_2:3.
Since, however, these words relate to literal Israel, the people whom God brought out
by Moses, how were they fulfilled in the infant Jesus, when He was brought back out of
Egypt, as Matthew teaches us, they were?” Mat_2:15.
Because Israel himself was a type of Christ, and for the sake of Him who was to be
born of the seed of Israel, did God call Israel, “My son;” for His sake only did he deliver
him. The two deliverances, of the whole Jewish people, and of Christ the Head, occupied
the same position in God’s dispensations. He rescued Israel, whom He called His son, in
its childish and infantine condition, at the very commencement of its being, as a people.
His true Son by Nature, Christ our Lord, He brought up in His Infancy, when He began
to show forth His mercies to us in Him. Both had, by His appointment, taken refuge in
Egypt; both were, by His miraculous call to Moses in the bush, to Joseph in the dream,
recalled from it. Matthew apparently quotes these words, not to prove anything, but in
order to point out the relation of God’s former dealings with the latter, the beginning
and the close, what relates to the body, and what relates to the Head. He tells us that the
former deliverance had its completion in Christ, that in His deliverance was the full solid
completion of that of Israel; and that then indeed it might, in its completest fullness, be
said, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.”
When Israel was brought out of Egypt, the figure took place; when Christ was called,
the reality was fulfilled. The act itself, on the part of God, was prophetic. When He
delivered Israel, and called him His firstborn, He willed, in the course of time, to bring
up from Egypt His Only-Begotten Son. The words are prophetic, because the event
which they speak of, was prophetic. “They speak of Israel as one collective body, and, as
it were, one person, called by God “My son,” namely, by adoption, still in the years of
innocency, and beloved by God, called of God out of Egypt by Moses, as Jesus, His true
Son, was by the Angel.” The following verses are not prophetic, because in them the
prophet no longer speaks of Israel as one, but as composed of the many sinful
individuals in it. Israel was a prophetic people, in regard to this dispensation of God
toward him; not in regard to his rebellions and sins.
CLARKE, "When Israel was a child - In the infancy of his political existence.
I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt - Where he was greatly oppressed;
and in this I gave the proof of my love. I preserved my people in their affliction there,
and brought them safely out of it.
GILL, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him,.... Or, "for Israel was a child"
(u); a rebellious and disobedient one, therefore his king was cut off in a morning, and he
has been, and will be, without a king many days; yet still "I loved him": or, "though Israel
was a child" (w); a weak, helpless, foolish, and imprudent one, "yet I loved him": or,
"when a child"; in the infancy of his civil and church state, when in Egypt, and in the
wilderness; the Lord loved him, not only as his creature, as he does all the works of his
hands, but with a more special love than he loved others; choosing them to be a special
people above all others; giving them his law, his statutes, and his judgments, his word
and his worship, which he did not give to other nations. So he loves spiritual and
mystical Israel, all the elect of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, when children, as soon as
born, and though born in sin, carnal and corrupt; yea, before they are born, and when
having done neither good nor evil; and so may be expressive both of the earliness and

antiquity of his love to them, and of the freeness of it, without any merits or motives of
theirs;
and called my son out of Egypt, not literal Israel, as before, whom God called his
son, and his firstborn, and demanded his dismission from Pharaoh, and called him, and
brought him out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; and which was a
type of his calling spiritual Israel, his adopted sons, out of worse than Egyptian bondage
and darkness: but his own natural and only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; for
these words are expressly said to be fulfilled in him, Mat_2:15; not by way of allusion; or
by accommodation of phrases; or as the type is fulfilled in the antitype; or as a proverbial
expression, adapted to any deliverance; but literally: the first and only sense of the words
respects Christ, who in his infancy was had to Egypt for shelter from Herod's rage and
fury, and, when he was dead, and those that sought the life of Jesus, he was by an angel
of the Lord, warning Joseph of it, called out of Egypt, and brought into Judea, Mat_2:19;
and this as a proof of the love of God to Israel; which as it was expressed to him in his
infancy, it continued and appeared in various instances, more or less unto the coming of
Christ; who, though obliged for a while to go into Egypt, must not continue there, but
must be called from thence, to be brought up in the land of Judea; to do his miracles,
preach his doctrines, and do good to the bodies and souls of men there, being sent
particularly to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and, above all, in order to work out
the salvation and redemption of his special people among them, and of the whole Israel
of God everywhere else; which is the greatest instance of love to them, and to the world
of the Gentiles, that ever was known, Joh_3:16 1Jo_2:2.
HE RY 1-2, "I. God very gracious to Israel. They were a people for whom he had done
more than for any people under heaven, and to whom he had given more, which they are
here, I will not say upbraided with (for God gives, and upbraids not), but put in mind of,
as an aggravation of their sin and an encouragement to repentance. 1. He had a kindness
for them when they were young (Hos_11:1): When Israel was a child then I loved him;
when they first began to multiply into a nation in Egypt God then set his love upon them,
and chose them because he loved them, because he would love them, Deu_7:7, Deu_7:8.
When they were weak and helpless as children, foolish and froward as children, when
they were outcasts, and children exposed, then God loved them; he pitied them, and
testified his goodwill to them; he bore them as the nurse does the sucking child,
nourished them, and suffered their manners. Note, Those that have grown up, nay, those
that have grown old, ought often to reflect upon the goodness of God to them in their
childhood. 2. He delivered them out of the house of bondage: I called my son out of
Egypt, because a son, because a beloved son. When God demanded Israel's discharge
from Pharaoh he called them his son, his first-born. Note, Those whom God loves he
calls out of the bondage of sin and Satan into the glorious liberty of his children. These
words are said to have been fulfilled in Christ, when, upon the death of Herod, he and
his parents were called out of Egypt (Mat_2:15), so that the words have a double aspect,
speaking historically of the calling of Israel out of Egypt and prophetically of the
bringing of Christ thence; and the former was a type of the latter, and a pledge and
earnest of the many and great favours God had in reserve for that people, especially the
sending of his Son into the world, and the bringing him again into the land of Israel
when they had unkindly driven him out, and he might justly never have returned. The
calling of Christ out of Egypt was a figure of the calling of all that are his, through him,
out of spiritual slavery.

JAMISO , "Hos_11:1-12. God’s former benefits, and Israel’s ingratitude resulting in
punishment, yet Jehovah promises restoration at last.
Hos_11:5 shows this prophecy was uttered after the league made with Egypt (2Ki_
17:4).
Israel ... called my son out of Egypt — Bengel translates, “From the time that he
(Israel) was in Egypt, I called him My son,” which the parallelism proves. So Hos_12:9
and Hos_13:4 use “from ... Egypt,” for “from the time that thou didst sojourn in Egypt.”
Exo_4:22 also shows that Israel was called by God, “My son,” from the time of his
Egyptian sojourn (Isa_43:1). God is always said to have led or brought forth, not to have
“called,” Israel from Egypt. Mat_2:15, therefore, in quoting this prophecy (typically and
primarily referring to Israel, antitypically and fully to Messiah), applies it to Jesus’
sojourn in Egypt, not His return from it. Even from His infancy, partly spent in Egypt,
God called Him His son. God included Messiah, and Israel for Messiah’s sake, in one
common love, and therefore in one common prophecy. Messiah’s people and Himself
are one, as the Head and the body. Isa_49:3 calls Him “Israel.” The same general reason,
danger of extinction, caused the infant Jesus, and Israel in its national infancy (compare
Genesis 42:1-43:34; Gen_45:18; Gen_46:3, Gen_46:4; Eze_16:4-6; Jer_31:20) to
sojourn in Egypt. So He, and His spiritual Israel, are already called “God’s sons” while
yet in the Egypt of the world.
CALVI , "Verse 1
God here expostulates with the people of Israel for their ingratitude. The obligation
of the people was twofold; for God had embraced them from the very first
beginning, and when there was no merit or worthiness in them. What else, indeed,
was the condition of the people when emancipated from their servile works in
Egypt? They doubtless seemed then like a man half-dead or a putrid carcass; for
they had no vigour remaining in them. The Lord then stretched forth his hand to
the people when in so hopeless a state, drew them out, as it were, from the grave,
and restored them from death into life. But the people did not acknowledge this so
wonderful a favour of God, but soon after petulantly turned their back on him.
What baseness was this, and how shameful the wickedness, to make such a return to
the author of their life and salvation? The Prophet therefore enhances the sin and
baseness of the people by this circumstance, that the Lord had loved them even from
childhood; when yet, he says, Israel was a child, I loved him The nativity of the
people was their coming out of Egypt. The Lord had indeed made his covenant with
Abraham four hundred years before; and, as we know, the patriarchs were also
regarded by him as his children: but God wished his Church to be, as it were,
extinguished, when he redeemed it. Hence the Scripture, when it speaks of the
liberation of the people, often refers to that favour of God in the same way as of one
born into the world. It is not therefore without reason that the Prophet here reminds
the people that they had been loved when in childhood. The proof of this love was,
that they had been brought out of Egypt. Love had preceded, as the cause is always
before the effect.
But the Prophet enlarges on the subject: I loved Israel, even while he was yet a
child; I called him out of Egypt; that is, “I not only loved him when a child, but

before he was born I began to love him; for the liberation from Egypt was the
nativity, and my love preceded that. It then appears, that the people had been loved
by me, before they came forth to the light; for Egypt was like a grave without any
spark of life; and the condition this miserable people was in was worse than
thousand deaths. Then by calling my people from Egypt, I sufficiently proved that
my love was gratuitous before they were born.” The people were hence less
excusable when they returned such an unworthy recompense to God, since he had
previously bestowed his free favour upon them. We now understand the meaning of
the Prophet.
But here arises a difficult question; for Matthew, accommodates this passage to the
person of Christ. (73) They who have not been well versed in Scripture have
confidently applied to Christ this place; yet the context is opposed to this. Hence it
has happened, that scoffers have attempted to disturb the whole religion of Christ,
as though the Evangelist had misapplied the declaration of the Prophet. They give a
more suitable answer, who say that there is in this case only a comparison: as when
a passage from Jeremiah is quoted in another place, when the cruelty of Herod is
mentioned, who raged against all the infants of his dominion, who were under two
years of age,
‘Rachel, bewailing her children, would not receive consolation, because they were
not,’ (Jeremiah 31:15.)
The Evangelist says that this prophecy was fulfilled, (Matthew 2:18.) But it is
certain that the object of Jeremiah was another; but nothing prevents that
declaration should not be applied to what Matthew relates. So they understand this
place. But I think that Matthew had more deeply considered the purpose of God in
having Christ led into Egypt, and in his return afterwards into Judea. In the first
place, it must be remembered that Christ cannot be separated from his Church, as
the body will be mutilated and imperfect without a head. Whatever then happened
formerly in the Church, ought at length to be fulfilled by the head. This is one thing.
Then also there is no doubt, but that God in his wonderful providence intended that
his Son should come forth from Egypt, that he might be a redeemer to the faithful;
and thus he shows that a true, real, and perfect deliverance was at length effected,
when the promised Redeemer appeared. It was then the full nativity of the Church,
when Christ came forth from Egypt to redeem his Church. So in my view that
comment is too frigid, which embraces the idea, that Matthew made only a
comparison. For it behaves us to consider this, that God, when he formerly
redeemed his people from Egypt, only showed by a certain prelude the redemption
which he deferred till the coming of Christ. Hence, as the body was then brought
forth from Egypt into Judea, so at length the head also came forth from Egypt: and
then God fully showed him to be the true deliverer of his people. This then is the
meaning. Matthew therefore most fitly accommodates this passage to Christ, that
God loved his Son from his first childhood and called him from Egypt. We know at
the same time that Christ is called the Son of God in a respect different from the
people of Israel; for adoption made the children of Abraham the children of God,
but Christ is by nature the only-begotten Son of God. But his own dignity must

remain to the head, that the body may continue in its inferior state. There is then in
this nothing inconsistent. But as to the charge of ingratitude, that so great a favour
of God was not acknowledged, this cannot apply to the person of Christ, as we well
know; nor is it necessary in this respect to refer to him; for we see from other places
that every thing does not apply to Christ, which is said of David, or of the high
priest, or of the posterity of David; though they were types of Christ. But there is
ever a great difference between the reality and its symbols. Let us now proceed —
COFFMA , "Verse 1
This chapter stands sharply detached from the last. The first 7 verses are in the
form of a nostalgic remembrance of God's tender care of Israel, especially in their
being brought up out of Egypt and disciplined in the wilderness, but in Hosea 11:8,
it is clear that Hosea "thinks of the punishment as having fallen."[1]; Hosea 11:8-11
are Messianic and have reference to the times of the kingdom of God in Christ, and
the ingathering of the "true Israel" from all over the world. This prophetic
announcement should have been expected from the inspired designation by the
apostle Matthew of Hosea 11:1 as a prophecy pertaining to Jesus Christ himself.
As Meyers pointed out, "Hosea 11 is very closely related to Hosea 2, and cannot be
understood without constant reference thereto."[2] It will be recalled that our
interpretation of the return of Gomer to Hosea, not as his wife, but as having the
status of a slave, is exactly the thing in view for Israel (all of it) in this chapter.
The highly emotional figure of Hosea 11:8-9, depicting the torturing agony of a
father (God) who cannot bear to give up a dissolute son (Israel) is one of the
highlights of Hosea. There is in it something of the agony that Almighty God
Himself underwent (in a figure) when he gave his only begotten Son for the sins of
the world. However, it is a gross mistake to make this passage teach that, "God
simply doesn't have the heart to destroy us wicked sinners, no matter what we do,
and despite any of his threats of punishment." Ah no, the blow will fall upon
Ephraim; indeed Hosea views it as already accomplished in all of its terrible and
bloody details. The mercy which, even in their destruction, Ephraim was to receive
pertains to two things: (1) the reduction of their penalty from extermination like
that of Sodom and Gomorrah to a fate that would yet leave some of their
descendents alive on the earth to partake of the blessings of the ew Covenant, and
(2) the laying of the full penalty of the sins upon the heart of God Himself, in the
person of his Son, upon the Cross of Calvary. It was there in the event of God's
setting forth his Son to be the propitiation for our sins that God showed himself to
be "just, and the justifier of them that believe in Christ" (Romans 3:25). It is the
unconquerable love of God in Christ Jesus that dramatically comes into focus in this
chapter.
Hosea 11:1
"When Israel was a child then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt."

It is a misuse of this passage to make it the basis of making the call of Israel an event
that took place in Egypt, as Mauchline and others have attempted. The original call
of Israel was delivered not in Egypt, but to Abraham, to whom God promised that,
"In Isaac shall they seed be called." The particular call here, is not the election as
God's chosen people, but their being called up out of slavery in Egypt; and when
Jesus appeared upon earth with the mission to call all mankind out of the wretched
slavery of sin, it was appropriate indeed to associate the antitype (Christ) with the
type (Israel). "The development and guidance of Israel as the people of God all
pointed to Christ."[3] Joseph took Jesus and his mother Mary into Egypt to protect
them from the wrath of Herod, which, of course, necessitated also their "coming up
out of Egypt"; and therefore, Matthew associated the two events thus:
"And he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into
Egypt ... that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord, through the
prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt did I call my son" (Matthew 2:14,15).
A tremendous weight of importance rides upon the necessary identification of the
old Israel as a type of the new, Christ himself also being in reality positively
identified with both, and making the old Israel, therefore, a type of the church.
Harper, as might have been expected, rejected this interpretation of Hosea on the
basis of his prior assumptions, admitting at the same time that this place has been
understood: "As predictive of the Messiah, to interpret Israel as a type of
Christ."[4] This very ancient understanding of the Scriptures should not be
abandoned.
We believe that Butler was correct in seeing here another "coming up out of Egypt"
in the event of the people of God under the ew Covenant "coming up out of the
captivity of heathendom, which Hosea had already typified by the use of the name
Egypt in Hosea 8:13."[5]
COKE, "Verse 1
Hosea 11:1. When Israel was a child, &c.— Israel is my son: I have loved him as a
son, and delivered him from Egypt. "I have regarded him as my child; I have taken
the same care of him as a father does of a son." The prophet seems to allude to the
words of Moses, Exodus 4:22-23. St. Matthew has quoted this passage of Hosea, and
applied it to the return of our Saviour from Egypt. He says, that then these words of
the prophet were fulfilled; I have called my son out of Egypt. The departure of the
Jews from that country was only a figure of that of the Saviour; and the name of the
first-born, which the Scripture on that occasion gives to Israel, was literally and
exactly verified only in the person of Jesus Christ. Eusebius, however, and several
other ancient writers, are of opinion, that St. Matthew did not take this passage
from Hosea, but from the words of Balaam, umbers 24:8. But we shall say more
concerning this matter on Matthew 2:15.
ELLICOTT, "(1) Comp. Hosea 9:10 and Exodus 4:22-23. In this context there
cannot be a prophecy of the Christ, for obstinate conduct and rebellion would thus
be involved in the prediction. It is true that Matthew 2:15 quotes the passage in

illustration of the fact that the true Son of God was also submitted in His youth to
the hard schooling of a cruel exile. The calling out of Egypt of the Messiah gave a
new indication of the cyclical character of Hebrew history. The passage helps us to
understand what is meant by the formula, “that it might be fulfilled,” &c.
SIMEO , "CHRIST CALLED OUT OF EGYPT
Hosea 11:1. When Israel was a child, then I loved him; and called my Son out of
Egypt.
WITHOUT supposing a primary and secondary sense of Scripture, it is impossible
to interpret the prophetic writings, so as to make them accord with the construction
put upon them in the ew Testament. Indeed, on many occasions, we are
necessitated to apply them also in a spiritual or mystical sense, so as to bring out
from them that full instruction which they are intended to convey. ot that we are
at liberty to indulge our own conceits in explaining God’s blessed word, or to put
upon it any sense which a fanciful imagination may suggest; but if we follow the
inspired writers of the ew Testament, we are safe. The passage before us has
doubtless an historical import, in relation to the ten tribes of Israel: nor can we
doubt but that it has a prophetical meaning in reference to our blessed Lord. And I
think the whole analogy of Scripture justifies us in affixing to it also a mystical
meaning, in reference to the Church of God in all ages.
In accordance with this view, let us consider,
I. Its historical import, as relating to the Jewish people—
The prophet is reproving the ten tribes for their ingratitude to God; and in the
words before us he shews them what signal mercies God had vouchsafed to them,
from the earliest period of their existence.
“He had loved Israel when a child”—
[When Israel were yet but few in number, God had loved them; yea, when their
great ancestor was yet in the womb, God had shewn to him his distinguishing grace
and mercy: choosing him, whilst Esau, the elder brother, was rejected [ ote:
Malachi 1:2-3.]. If they looked for the true cause of this, they would find it in God,
and in God alone: who had chosen them of his own sovereign will and pleasure, and
“had loved them purely and solely because he would love them [ ote: Deuteronomy
7:7-8.].” othing could exceed their weakness or unworthiness, at the instant when
God brought them into covenant with himself [ ote: Ezekiel 16:6.]: and therefore
they were bound to bear this in remembrance, and to requite this love with a total
surrender of themselves to God.]
He had brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand—
[God had set them apart as a peculiar people for himself. And, in demanding their

liberation from Pharaoh, he honoured them with the name of “his son, his first-born
[ ote: Exodus 4:22-23.].” And vain was Pharaoh’s opposition to his will. By ten
successive plagues, God subdued that proud monarch; and on the very day that had
been foretold four hundred and thirty years before, brought them forth with a
mighty hand and a stretched-out arm: not so much as one was left behind: and this
has been referred to, by all the inspired writers, as the most wonderful display of
power and grace that ever was vouchsafed to any creatures since the foundation of
the world.]
But let us view,
II. Its prophetical import, as relating to our blessed Lord—
It had been ordained of God, that every possible evidence should concur to establish
beyond a doubt the Messiahship of Jesus—
[ othing could be conceived more unlikely than that Jesus the Messiah should be
brought forth out of Egypt. He was to be born at Bethlehem [ ote: Matthew 2:5-6.],
and to be educated at azareth [ ote: Matthew 2:22-23.]. How, then, should it be
possible for him to be brought out of Egypt? Behold, the rage and envy of Herod
shall stimulate him to seek his utter destruction; and to secure it, by the destruction
of all the infants from two years old and under, in all the vicinity of the place where
Jesus was born. But, to defeat this murderous plot, an angel shall instruct Joseph to
take the infant and its mother by night into Egypt; and there shall they be preserved
in safety, till Herod himself is dead: and thus, without any design on the part of
man, yea, through the murderous rage alone of this jealous prince, is the prophecy
fulfilled; and the most convincing evidence is given, that Jesus is the Messiah, the
Saviour of the world.
In this view, as confirming the faith of all Believers to the very end of the world, is
this prophecy pre-eminently important; since it was beyond the power of man ever
to imagine such an incident; and since it took place only through the cruelty of him
who sought to destroy Christ as soon as he was come into the world.]
Let us further consider,
III. Its mystical import, as applicable to the Israel of God in all ages—
It is well known that the whole deliverance of Israel from Egypt was a type of the
deliverance of God’s Israel from sin and Satan, death and hell. Taking, then, the
passage in that view, we see in it,
1. The sovereignty of his grace—
[There is not a child of God, at whatever period he was converted to the faith of
Christ, but was loved of God before the foundation of the world. Of every one of
them it may be said, “God hath loved us with an everlasting love, therefore with

loving-kindness hath he drawn us [ ote: Jeremiah 31:3.]” To this all the Scriptures
bear witness [ ote: Ephesians 1:4-5. 2 Timothy 1:9.] — — — And therefore, if we
be God’s children, we must bear in mind to whose sovereign grace alone we owe it:
“We have not chosen him; but he has chosen us [ ote: John 15:16.].”]
2. The work which he has ordained to accomplish in all his people—
[Every one of them does he bring out of Egypt. However long we may have been in
bondage there, he looses our bonds, and “brings us into the glorious liberty of his
children.” See what he did for his people of old, and then you will see what he will
do for us: did he cause them to go from their bondage, and to commit themselves
altogether to the guidance and protection of their God? That is what he will do for
us: neither sin nor Satan shall detain us any longer under their dominion: but we
shall devote ourselves altogether to the Lord, to be to him a holy and a peculiar
people — — —]
3. The efficacy of his grace in their behalf—
[ ot one was left behind: “not one feeble person was found,” at that juncture,
amidst all the tribes of Israel. And shall there be one amongst all his people, whom
he has redeemed, unable to withstand his spiritual enemies? o, not one: “It is not
the will of our Father that one of his little ones should perish.” There may be a
diversity in the mode of their preservation, as at the shipwreck of St. Paul: but not
one shall be lost; nor shall a hair fall from the head of any one amongst them [ ote:
Acts 27:34; Acts 27:44.].]
Address—
1. Have any of you been called to God as from early childhood?
[O, “bless God for this unspeakable gift.” How much have you avoided, which might
have ensnared and destroyed your souls! Verily, to be called to the knowledge of the
truth in early life, is a far richer blessing than to have been called to the possession
of crowns and kingdoms.]
2. Are any of you brought into a state of deep affliction?
[This is no proof that God does not “love you,” or deal with you as “his children.”
Israel of old were scarcely escaped from Egypt, before they were menaced with
destruction at the Red Sea. And our blessed Lord was scarcely born into the world,
before it was necessary that he should be carried to Egypt, to avoid the sword of the
destroyer. Indeed, you will find that God in general calls his people to trials. “John
the Baptist must be in the deserts, till the time of his shewing unto Israel [ ote:
Luke 1:80.]:” our blessed Lord must be “forty days tempted of the devil in the
wilderness,” before he shall enter on the office to which he had been baptized [ ote:
Matthew 4:1. Mark 1:9-13.]: St. Paul shall be three days and three nights without
sight; and even then shall go into Arabia before he enters fully on his apostolic office

[ ote: Acts 9:9 and Galatians 1:17.]. Thus does God generally cause his people’s
faith to be tried [ ote: Hebrews 12:8.]; and “allures them into the wilderness, before
he speaks comfortably to them [ ote: Hosea 2:14-15.].” if, then, your faith be tried,
know that it is needful for your best interests [ ote: 1 Peter 1:6-7.], and that it is by
your tribulations that he will further in you the work of “patience and experience
and hope [ ote: Romans 5:3-5.].”]
3. Are there amongst you those who have never yet come out of Egypt?
[Be sure, that if you fancy yourselves children of God, whilst yet you have no desire
to relinquish this vain world, you do but deceive your own souls. Your “faith,” if it
be genuine, “will overcome the world [ ote: 1 John 5:4.];” and “the cross of
Christ,” if ever its saving power be felt, will cause you “to be crucified to the world,
and the world to be as a crucified object unto you [ ote: Galatians 6:14.].” They
who are the Lord’s people indeed, “are not of the world, even as he was not of the
world [ ote: John 17:14; John 17:16.].” I call you, therefore, to shew “whose you
are, and whom you serve:” as for “serving God and Mammon too, it is impossible
[ ote: Matthew 6:24.];” and to attempt it, is an act of treason against God [ ote:
James 4:4. the Greek.]. Come out, then, from Egypt and its pollutions, as God has
commanded you: and then “he will be a Father unto you; and ye shall be his sons
and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty [ ote: 2 Corinthians 6:17-18.].”]
TRAPP, "Verse 1
Hosea 11:1 When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of
Egypt.
Ver. 1. When Israel was a child, then I loved him] On, because Israel was a child I
loved him. Young things are lovely; young children especially, for their innocence
and ignoscence. Some sense it thus, Israel was a child, and had nothing of worth or
lovely in him; yet I loved him freely, Deuteronomy 7:7, Hosea 10:9, called him out of
Egypt, out of the iron furnace, led him through the deep, as a horse in the
wilderness, Isaiah 63:13, possessed him of the promised land. Out of which though I
shall shortly cast him for his ingratitudes, yet there is hope of his restoration, by the
Messiah my Son, whom when I have called out of Egypt, he shall gather together
again the dispersed of Israel, and bring life and immortality to light by the gospel.
The foundation of which restoration he here maketh to be his own free grace. He
hath holpen his servant (or his child, του παιδας, Luke 1:53) Israel, in remembrance
of his mercy. "God so loved the world, that be gave his only begotten Son," &c.,
John 3:16. Here then beginneth our prophet’s first evangelical sermon, as Tarnovius
observeth, who also readeth the text thus: Albeit Israel was a child, such a forlorn
outcast child, as is described Ezekiel 17:1-24, Ezekiel 23:1-49, yet I loved him, and
adopted him for my son; not for any defect on my part (for I had an only begotten
Son, in whom I am well pleased), or for any desert on his part, for I found him in his
blood, in his blood, in his blood, when I cast my skirt of love over him, and said unto
him, Live, Ezekiel 16:6. Yea, and for his salvation’s sake, I have called, that is, I
have decreed to call, out of Egypt (whither he fled from Herod, and where he abode
two or three years at least) my child Jesus, whose office it is to "save his people from

their sins," Matthew 1:21. And although I might justly have deprived them of such
a Saviour for ever, because when he came to his own, his own received him not (yea,
rejected him to whom their own signs given to Herod did so aptly and evidently
agree), yet out of Eygpt, to show the constancy of my love to Israel, have I called (by
mine angel, as Jacob by a messenger called his wives to him into the field, Genesis
31:4) my Son Christ, Matthew 2:23, who is God’s Son, first, by eternal generation,
Proverbs 8:22-23; secondly, by personal union, Psalms 2:7. And thus God called out
of Egypt, first Israel his people, and then Christ, the head of his people; in whom at
length this prophecy was fulfilled.
PETT, "Verse 1
‘When Israel was a child, then I loved him,
And called my son out of Egypt.’
With these beautiful words God describes His relationship with His chosen people
as one of sovereign love. Out of His love for them He had called Israel as His son out
of Egypt where they were in slavery. Compare Exodus 4:22-23 where He described
Israel as ‘His firstborn’ and demanded that they be freed on that basis, and
Deuteronomy 14:1, where He declares them to be His children. His redemption of
Israel from bondage in Egypt (Exodus 20:2) is being portrayed as the act of a loving
Father delivering by the payment of a ransom His child who had been enslaved. He
had paid a ransom in order that Israel might be set free.
And we do well to note at this stage who ‘Israel’ were. They were not all direct
descendants of Abraham. They included descendants of Abraham’s 318 fighting
men and their families (Genesis 14:14), and a ‘mixed multitude’ of peoples from
many nations who, having taken part in the Exodus (Exodus 12:38), were received
into the covenant at Sinai, and were circumcised at Gilgal (Joshua 5:2-9). They also
included any who had later chosen to throw in their lot with Israel and enter by
circumcision into the covenant (Exodus 12:48). Thus they were already a
multinational people. For ‘Israel’ was never made up simply of people descended
from Abraham himself (that was a legal fiction). They rather saw themselves as
adopted by Him, on the basis that ‘those who are of faith, those are the children of
Abraham’ (Galatians 3:7). But all of them were loved equally by God and were seen
as His children, having been accepted into the covenant as ‘Israel’.
Verses 1-12
YHWH Describes How He Had Called His Son (Israel) Out Of Egypt And Watched
Over Him As A Faithful Father, Training Him In The Right Way, Only For His
Son’s Heart To Remain In Egypt So That He Would Inevitably Return There
Again. evertheless God Promises That He Will ot Give Them Up, And That One
Day He Will Call Them Out Of Egypt Again And He Will Cause Them To Dwell
With Him (Hosea 11:1-12).
In this tender passage YHWH describes how He ‘called His son (Israel) out of
Egypt’ (compare Exodus 4:22-23; Deuteronomy 14:1). And how, in spite of the fact
that He had led them, and watched over them and fed them (both in the wilderness
and then in Canaan), they had spurned His love and turned to the Baalim and to

graven images (both in the wilderness (Exodus 32) and now in Canaan), because
their hearts were still ‘in Egypt’. And the consequence is to be that they will ‘return
to Egypt’ (i.e. by being exiled among foreign nations or refugees in Egypt) because
they have refused to turn to Him. evertheless He is determined not to finally give
them up, and promises that although they at present only seek Him in a formal way,
without there being any real heart in it, He will in His sovereignty one day bring
them again out of their Egypt and ‘cause them to dwell in their houses’. It was in
order to demonstrate that this promise was about to be fulfilled that Jesus (as the
Supreme Representation of Israel) went as a young child into Egypt, and then
returned to Palestine (Canaan) at the call of God, symbolising that the promised
return of Israel to God through Him was about to happen, something which
Matthew especially brings out by citing this passage (Matthew 2:15).
In spite of Ephraim’s failure Judah is at this stage seen as the exception because
they still ‘ruled with God’ (had a Davidic king) and were ‘faithful with the Holy
One’ (continued the observance of the covenant in accordance with the Law). This
might suggest that these words were written in the days of Hezekiah when this was
again true.
It should be noted that whilst the alterations in method of address (changing from
third person to first person and back again, and from singular to plural and back
again) may be a little confusing to us they were not confusing to Hosea’s listeners. In
such niceties Hebrew grammar was not as precise as we are.
Analysis of Hosea 11:1-12.
a When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt (Hosea
11:1).
b The more they (the prophets) called them, the more they went from them, they
sacrificed to the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images (Hosea 11:2).
c Yet I taught Ephraim to walk, I took them on my arms, but they knew not that I
healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was to them
as those who lift up the yoke on their jaws, and I laid food before them (Hosea 11:3-
4).
d Will they not return into the land of Egypt, and Assyria be their king, because
they refused to return to Me? And the sword will fall on their cities, and will
consume their bars, and devour, because of their own counsels (Hosea 11:5-6).
e And my people are bent on backsliding from me, though they call them to (Me) on
high, none at all will exalt (Me)’ (Hosea 11:7).
f How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I cast you off, Israel? How shall I
make you as Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboiim? My heart is turned within
me, My compassions are kindled together (Hosea 11:8)
e I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy
Ephraim, for I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of you, and I will
not come in wrath (Hosea 11:9).
d They will walk after YHWH, Who will roar like a lion, for He will roar, and the
children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling as a bird out

of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria (Hosea 11:10-11 a).
c And I will make them to dwell in their houses, says YHWH (Hosea 11:11 b).
b Ephraim compasses me about with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit
(Hosea 11:12 a).
a But Judah yet rules with God, and is faithful with the Holy One (Hosea 11:12 b).
ote that in ‘a’ Israel’s relationship with God was good, and they were blessed by
God and in the parallel Judah’s relationship with God is good. In ‘b’ Israel had
turned to the Baalim and to graven images, and in the parallel they compassed God
with falsehood and deceit. In ‘c’ God watched over His people as though they were
His household, and in the parallel He will make them to dwell in (His) houses. In ‘d’
they will return to Egypt and Assyria, and in the parallel they will return from
Egypt and Assyria. In ‘e’ Israel call to God on high, but do not exalt Him, and in the
parallel God is exalted as the Holy One among them. Central in ‘f’ is the heart cry
of God for His people in His compassion for them.
K&D 1-2, "The prophet goes back a third time (cf. Hos_10:1; Hos_9:10) to the early
times of Israel, and shows how the people had repaid the Lord, for all the proofs of His
love, with nothing but ingratitude and unfaithfulness; so that it would have merited
utter destruction from off the earth, if God should not restrain His wrath for the sake of
His unchangeable faithfulness, in order that, after severely chastening, He might gather
together once more those that were rescued from among the heathen. Hos_11:1. “When
Israel was young, then I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. Hos_11:2. Men
called to them; so they went away from their countenance: they offer sacrifice to the
Baals, and burn incense to the idols.” Hos_11:1 rests upon Exo_4:22-23, where the Lord
directs Moses to say to Pharaoh, “Israel is my first-born son; let my son go, that he may
serve me.” Israel was the son of Jehovah, by virtue of its election to be Jehovah's
peculiar people (see at Exo_4:22). In this election lay the ground for the love which God
showed to Israel, by bringing it out of Egypt, to give it the land of Canaan, promised to
the fathers for its inheritance. The adoption of Israel as the son of Jehovah, which began
with its deliverance out of the bondage of Egypt, and was completed in the conclusion of
the covenant at Sinai, forms the first stage in the carrying out of the divine work of
salvation, which was completed in the incarnation of the Son of God for the redemption
of mankind from death and ruin. The development and guidance of Israel as the people
of God all pointed to Christ; not, however, in any such sense as that the nation of Israel
was to bring forth the son of God from within itself, but in this sense, that the relation
which the Lord of heaven and earth established and sustained with that nation, was a
preparation for the union of God with humanity, and paved the way for the incarnation
of His Son, by the fact that Israel was trained to be a vessel of divine grace. All essential
factors in the history of Israel point to this as their end, and thereby become types and
material prophecies of the life of Him in whom the reconciliation of man to God was to
be realized, and the union of God with the human race to be developed into a personal
unity. It is in this sense that the second half of our verse is quoted in Mat_2:15 as a
prophecy of Christ, not because the words of the prophet refer directly and immediately
to Christ, but because the sojourn in Egypt, and return out of that land, had the same
significance in relation to the development of the life of Jesus Christ, as it had to the
nation of Israel. Just as Israel grew into a nation in Egypt, where it was out of the reach
of Canaanitish ways, so was the child Jesus hidden in Egypt from the hostility of Herod.
But Hos_11:2 is attached thus as an antithesis: this love of its God was repaid by Israel
with base apostasy. ‫אוּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ָ‫,ק‬ they, viz., the prophets (cf. Hos_11:7; 2Ki_17:13; Jer_7:25;

Jer_25:4; Zec_1:4), called to them, called the Israelites to the Lord and to obedience to
Him; but they (the Israelites) went away from their countenance, would not hearken to
the prophets, or come to the Lord (Jer_2:31). The thought is strengthened by ‫ן‬ ֵⅴ, with the
‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ ַⅴ of the protasis omitted (Ewald, §360, a): as the prophets called, so the Israelites
drew back from them, and served idols. ‫ים‬ ִ‫ל‬ ָ‫ע‬ ְ as in Hos_2:15, and ‫ים‬ ִ‫ל‬ ִ‫ס‬ ְ as in 2Ki_17:41
and Deu_7:5, Deu_7:25 (see at Exo_20:4).
BI, "When Israel was a child.
The national unit
The meaning is not, necessarily, when Israel was an infant, a child in mere years, but
when Israel was a child in spirit, docile, simple of mind, sincere of purpose, true in
worship. When Israel lifted his eyes heavenward, and sought for Me, then I stooped over
him as a man might stoop over his child to lift him into his arms, and press him closely
to his heart. There is a unit of the individual; let us take care lest we rest there, and so
miss the ever-enlarging revelation of the Divine purpose in human history. There is not
only a unit of the individual, there is a unit of the nation. Israel is here spoken of as if he
were one man, a little child; though a million strong in population, yet there was in the
million a unit. This is one aspect of Divine providence. We must not regard nations as if
they ceased to have status and responsibility, name and destiny before God. A nation is
one, a world is one, the universe is one. What does God know of our little divisions and
distributions into pluralities and relationships? The nation may have a character. The
Church is one, and has a reputation and influence. So we come upon the Divine handling
of great occasions. The Lord is not fretted by details. All the details of His providence
come out of and return to one great principle of redeeming Fatherhood. The locks are
innumerable; the key is one, and it is in the Father’s hand. Let Him hold it. (Joseph
Parker, D. D.)
God’s love to us the pattern of our love to others
The leading topic of this chapter appears to be the calling of the people of Israel out of
the prison-house of Egypt. It gives a gracious account of our heavenly Father’s love, and
a fearful picture of man’s ingratitude. Under figures and emblems there is a lively
representation of God’s dealings with His redeemed ones—with the Israel that now is,
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The call of Israel from Egypt, as typical of Christ
and of His people, is our subject. It is typical of us, as we are called from sin to the
holiness of the heavenly Canaan.
I. God’s love to Christ, as a child, manifested to us by His calling Him from egypt. In the
fulness of time the beloved of the Father became flesh, and dwelt among us. But no
sooner did He appear than His life was threatened. The child was borne for safety into
Egypt. In due time Christ was called out of Egypt, brought again to the Holy Land, there
to exercise His ministry and perform the will of God.
II. God’s love to us, whilst we were yet at a distance from Him. We who are redeemed
are loved with the self-same love with which God loved His only begotten Son.
II. The effect which the possession of this love will naturally produce in our hearts. It
will produce love to others. What should be the effect of God’s love in our minds? A
disinterested love to our fellow-creatures. Thus shall we have a scriptural evidence that

we are of the spiritual Israel, whom God hath loved and called out of Egypt. (G. C.
Tomlinson.)
A typical portrait of a people
I. A highly favoured people.
1. God loved them.
2. God emancipated them.
3. God educated them.
4. God healed them.
5. God guided them.
6. God relieved them.
7. God fed them.
II. A signally ungrateful people.
1. They disobeyed, God’s teaching.
2. They gave themselves to idolatry.
3. They ignored God s kindness.
4. They persistently backslided.
III. A righteously punished people. The judgment would be—
1. Extensive; and
2. It should continue; and
3. It should be destructive.
Is not this history of this people typical? Do not they represent especi ally the peoples of
modern Christendom, highly favoured of God, signally ungrateful to God, and exposed
to punishment from God? (Homilist.)
Backsliding
1. This is the great sin of the visible Church, to which she hath a strong inclination
naturally, even in her best frame.
2. Men’s hanging sometimes in suspense, and having some inclinations to return,
will neither double out their point against the power of corruption within them, nor
will it extenuate their backsliding.
3. The great backsliding of God’s people is their backsliding from God and
communion with Him; which draweth on all other apostasies and defections.
4. It is of the Lord’s great mercy that He ceaseth not to follow backsliders with
messages from His Word. (George Hutcheson.)

A fivefold view of God’s love
1. It is adopting love. God loved Israel in Egypt, Israel in captivity, Israel among the
brick-kilns, and called him “His son.” It is by no merit or righteousness of our own
that we are made sons of God. We become children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
God’s love is adopting love. God delights in adopting children, and giving them the
spirit of adoption, and taking them to the home of the ransomed family.
2. It is a tender love. The Lord describes the manner of a mother teaching her babe
to walk. “I taught Ephraim to go.” The Omnipotent became as a nurse to Israel.
When difficulties arose He bore him in His arms as a man doth bear his little child.
And the heavenly Father is ever the same.
3. His inviting love. “Called My son out of Egypt.” We know how cruel Pharaoh was,
and how hard were his taskmasters. But there was One who loved them, who said, “I
have heard their cry, and have come down to help them.” His fiery cloudy pillar was
the symbol of his inviting love.
4. It is weeping love. God mourns over their iniquities. God’s love as weeping love
was displayed by “The Man of Sorrows,” whose grief was for the hardness of men’s
hearts, and whose hot tears over Jerusalem were because she knew not the things
which belonged to her peace.
5. His incarnate love. “The cords of a man.” Incarnate love is the magnet by which
souls are drawn to God. “The Word was made flesh” begins the story of redemption.
Christ became man, to stand in man’s place and deal with God in man’s behalf, and
to be able to enter into our feelings and fears as a merciful and compassionate High
Priest. (A. Clayton Thiselton.)
Mingled severity and mercy
The scope of this chapter is to clear God from severity, and to upbraid Israel for
ungrateful and stubborn carriage, against mercies and means, and yet to promise mercy
to the remnant, to His elect ones. At the close of the preceding chapter there were
dreadful threatenings against Israel, that the mothers should be dashed in pieces upon
their children, and the king utterly cut off. But does not this argue God to be a God of
rigid severity? Where is the mercy, goodness, and clemency of God towards His people?
God says, “For all this I am a God of mercy and goodness, for I have manifested
abundance of mercy already, and am ready still to manifest more; but you have been a
stubborn and a stout-hearted people against Me.” From this general scope observe—
1. God stands much upon the clearing of Himself to be a God of love and mercy.
Whatsoever becomes of the wicked, yet God will make it clear before all the world
that He is a God of much mercy. God takes it very ill that we should have any hard
thoughts of Him; let us not be ready to entertain such thoughts of God, as if He were
a hard master. “When Israel was a child.” That is, at his first beginning to be a
people, in his young time, My heart was towards him. When he knew little of Me.
When he could do little for Me. When there was much vanity and folly in him, as
there are generally in children. When he was helpless and succourless, and knew not
how to provide for himself. The love of God to Israel is expressed in these three
particulars.
(1) God “entered into a covenant” with him.

(2) “Thou becamest Mine,” that is, I had separated thee for Myself, and took thee
for a peculiar one to Me, and intended special mercy and goodness to thee.
(3) I confirmed all this by an oath, “I sware unto thee.” Observe—
2. It is the privilege of the Church and of the saints to be beloved of God. God loves
His people; this is their privilege, He loves them with a special love.
3. It is a great aggravation to sin, to sin against love.
4. It is very useful to call to mind God’s old love.
5. All God’s old mercies remain engagements to duty and aggravations to sin.
6. Let not our hearts sink in despairing thoughts, though we see that we are able to
do but little for God, and though we are unworthy of His love.
7. God’s love begins betimes to His people; let not His people’s love be deferred too
long. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
God’s love for the Church
1. God’s love to the Church is her first and great privilege, which prevents her in her
lowest condition, when she is unworthy and base. When Israel was a child, witless
and worthless, then I loved him. And this is the fountain of all God’s bounty to him.
2. The Lord will make His love to His people conspicuous in their preservation in a
low condition, and under much trouble, when He seeth it not fit to deliver them from
it.
3. The Lord also will magnify His deliverance from trouble and bondage, not only
spiritual, but outward also, in so far as is for their good.
3. As the Lord doth ofttimes manifest His love, and put special honour on His
people, by putting them to sufferings and trouble, so He will specially make His
delivering of them proclaim His love and estimation of them, and His peculiar
interest in them. (George Hutcheson.)
And called My son out of Egypt.
“And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My first-
born; and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me.” On these words Hosea’s
reference rests. The people of Israel are to God as a son to a father; even as a first-born
son. That is why He has come down to deliver them. We speak of the “purposes” of God,
as though God had formed some complex schemes at an early period in the world’s
history, and now He must work these schemes out. But the God of the Bible is no
scheme-maker. He is a Father—we are His sons. It is Israel’s cry that has brought
Jehovah down to deliver them. He is the Father of the fatherless. He hears the cry of the
afflicted. But though God is moved by love, He does all things in order. He pities His
people before their cry has ascended to Him; but He waits for that cry before He comes
down to deliver them. For He will not deliver the unwilling or the proud. So He waits.
And He came to the right person. He will do His work by means of a man, and He knows
the man to do it. Moses brought Israel out of Egypt. Jehovah, that is the name of Israel’s
Father and Deliverer. “I am that I am” is practically the translation of Jehovah. It is a

somewhat cold name to us, because we know the tenderer name of Father. Hosea’s
reference looks forward as well as backward; it looks before and after. Hosea saw that his
words had a fuller meaning than could be filled by the people of Israel. He saw that they
carried a promise which had not been performed even in his day. Like Abraham, he saw
Christ’s day afar off, and was glad. (James Hastings, M. A.)
The flight into Egypt
How can Matthew speak of these words as a prophecy, and of the sojourn of the Divine
babe in Egypt as a fulfilment of their prophecy? It has been said that Matthew uses
Hosea’s words, so to speak, rhetorically or classically, declaring that the story of the
infant Jesus in Egypt was a fine instance of Hosea’s saying. Or it may be answered that
the literal Israel was the type of the spiritual Israel. At all events, the Divine Man was
Himself the true, ideal Israel, and as such Jehovah did call Him when a child out of
Egypt. Once more, it may be answered, in a more general way, that the present is ever
the fruit of the past and the seed of the future. Events are born of events, as successive
parts of plants are born of preceding parts; the parts are different, but they are radically
only repetitions of the original seed. History repeats itself. The historic is ever the
prophetic. Particularly is it true in a case of special Divine election, like that of the
Jewish nation, that history will be prophecy. The fulfilments of the prophetic Scriptures,
like waves of the sea, are ever-multiplying and enlarging concentric circles. And Jesus
Christ is evermore the final and crowning fulfilment. The Divine Man is the universal
pleroma—alike the radiant point and the circumference of all things. As God called out
of Egypt His son, so out of Egypt does He call His Church. It was literally true of some of
the most eminent of the fathers,—Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, Cyprian. It is
spiritually true of all God’s people. (G. D. Boardman.)
2 But the more they were called,
the more they went away from me.[a]
They sacrificed to the Baals
and they burned incense to images.
BAR ES, "As they called them, so they went from them - The prophet
changes his tone, no longer speaking of that one first call of God to Israel as a whole,

whereby He brought out Israel as one man, His one son; which one call he obeyed. Here
he speaks of God’s manifold calls to the people, throughout their whole history, which
they as often disobeyed, and not disobeyed only, but went contrariwise. “They called
them.” Whether God employed Moses, or the judges, or priests, or kings, or prophets, to
call them, it was all one. Whenever or by whomsoever they were called, they turned away
in the opposite direction, to serve their idols. They proportioned and fitted, as it were,
their disobedience to God’s long-suffering. : “Then chiefly they threw off obedience,
despised their admonitions, and worked themselves up the more franticly to a zeal for
the sin which they had begun.” “They,” God’s messengers, “called; so,” in like manner,
“they went away from them. They sacrificed unto Baalim,” i. e., their many Baals, in
which they cherished idolatry, cruelty, and fleshly sin. : So “when Christ came and called
them manifoldly, as in the great day of the feast, “If any man thirst, let him come unto
Me and drink,” the more diligently He called them, the more diligently they went away
from Him, and returned to their idols, to the love and possession of riches and houses
and pleasures, for whose sake they despised the truth.”
GILL, "As they called them, so they went from them,.... That is, the prophets of
the Lord, the true prophets, called Israel to the worship and service of God; but they
turned a deaf ear to them, and their backs upon them; and the more they called to them,
the further they went from them, and from the way of their duty; see Hos_11:7. So the
Targum,
"I sent the prophets to teach them, but they wandered from them;''
Moses and Aaron were sent unto them, and called them out of Egypt, but they hearkened
not unto them; see Exo_6:9; in later times the prophets were sent unto them, to exhort
them to their duty, and to reclaim them from their evil ways, but they despised and
refused to attend to their advice and instructions; and this was continued to the times of
Israel, or the ten tribes, departing from the house of David, and setting up idolatrous
worship; and during their revolt and apostasy: but all in vain. So after Christ was called
out of Egypt, he and his apostles, and John the Baptist before them, called them to
hearken to him, but they turned away from them. Aben Ezra interprets it of the false
prophets, who called them to idolatry, and they went after them. Schmidt understands it
of the Israelites calling one another to it, and going after it, for their own sakes, and
because it pleased them, and was agreeable to them;
they sacrificed to Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images: they joined
themselves to Baalpeor, and worshipped the golden calf, fashioned with a graving tool,
in the wilderness; they sacrificed to Baalim, one or another of them, in the times of the
judges, and of Ahab, and committed idolatry with other graven images, of which burning
incense is a part. And the Jews in Christ's time, instead of hearkening to him and his
apostles, followed the traditions of the elders, and the dictates of the Scribes and
Pharisees, who were their Baals, their lords and masters and they sought for life and
righteousness by their own works, which was sacrificing to their net, and burning
incense to their drag; all this was great ingratitude. Next follows a narrative of other
benefits done to this people.
JAMISO , "As they called them — “they,” namely, monitors sent by Me. “Called,”
in Hos_11:1, suggests the idea of the many subsequent calls by the prophets.

went from them — turned away in contempt (Jer_2:27).
Baalim — images of Baal, set up in various places.
BI, "They sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Graven images
We read frequently of graven images and of molten images, and the words are become so
familiar as names of idolatrous images that, although they axe not well chosen to express
the Hebrew names, it seems not advisable to change them for others that might more
exactly correspond with the original. The graven imago was not a thing wrought in metal
by the tool of the workman we should now call an engraver; nor was the molten image an
image made of metals or any ether substance, melted and shaped in a mould. In fact, the
graven image and the molten image are the same thing under different names. The
images of the ancient idolaters were first cut out of wood by the carpenter, as is very
evident from the prophet Isaiah. This figure of wood was overlaid with plates either of
gold or silver, or sometimes perhaps of an inferior metal, and in this finished state it was
called a graven image (i.e., a carved image)
, in reference to the inner solid figure of wood, and a molten (i.e., an overlaid or covered)
image, in reference to the outer metalline case or cover. Sometimes both epithets are
applied to it at once (Nah_1:14; Hab_2:18). The English word molten conveys a notion
of melting or fusion. But this is not the case with the Hebrew word for which it is given.
The Hebrew signifies to spread, or cover all over, either by pouring forth a substance in
fusion, or in spreading a cloth over or before, or by hammering on metalline plates.
(Bishop Horsley.)
CALVI , "Verse 2
The Prophet now repeats the ingratitude of the people in neglecting to keep in mind
their redemption. The word, “called,” is here to be taken in a different sense. For
God effectually called, as they say, the people, or his Son, from Egypt: he has again
called by the outward voice or teaching through his Prophets. Hence, when he said
before that he called his Son from Egypt, it ought to be understood, as they say, of
actual liberation: but now when he says, They have called them, it is to be
understood of teaching. The name of the Prophets is not expressed; but that they are
intended is plain. And the Prophet seems designedly to have said in an indefinite
manner, that the people had been called, that the indignity might appear more
evident, as they had been called so often and by so many, and yet had refused.
Hence they have called them When he thus speaks, he is not to be understood as
referring to one or two men, or to a few, but as including a great number of men,
doing this everywhere. Even thus now have they called them; that is, this people
have been called, not once or twice, but constantly; and God has not only sent one
messenger or preacher to call them, but there have been many Prophets, one after
the other, often thus employed, and yet without any benefit. We now perceive what
the Prophet meant.
They have called them, he says, so they went away from their presence (74) The
particle so, ‫,כן‬ can, is introduced here to enliven the description; for the Prophet

points out, as by the fingers how wickedly they conspired to execute their own
counsels, as if they wished purposely to show in an open manner their contempt. So
they went away; when the Prophets called them to one course, they proceeded in an
opposite one. We then see, that to point out thus their conduct was not superfluous,
when he says, that they in this manner went away: and then he says, from their face
Here he shows that the people sought hiding-places and shunned the light. We may
indeed conclude from these words, that so great was the perverseness of the people,
that they not only wished to be alienated from God, but also that they would have
nothing to do with the Prophets. It is indeed a proof of extreme wickedness, when
instruction itself is a weariness, and ministers cannot be endured; and no doubt the
Prophet meant to set forth this sin of the people.
He afterwards says, that they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to graven
images In the former clause, he shows the contumacy of the Israelites, that they
deigned not to give ear to God’s servants. He now adds, that they made incense to
graven images, and also offered worship to their idols. By Baalim, as it has been
already stated, the Prophet means the inferior gods. For no such stupidity prevailed
among the people as not to think that there is some chief deity; nay, even profane
Gentiles confessed that there is some supreme God. But they called their advocates
(patronos ) Baalim, as we see to be the case at this day under the Papacy, this same
office is transferred to the dead; they are to procure for men the favour of God. The
Papists then have no grounds for seeking an evasion by words; for the very same
superstition prevails at this time among them, as prevailed formerly among Gentiles
and the people of Israel. Here the Prophet enhances the wickedness of the people;
for they not only contemptuously neglected every instruction in religion, but also
openly perverted the whole worship of God, and abandoned themselves to all
abominations, so as to burn incense to their own idols. Let us go on —
COFFMA , "Verse 2
"The more the prophets called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed
unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
A glance at the various translations of this portion of Hosea reveals a wide conflict
with quite a number of contradictory renditions. This is due to the fact that many
present-day scholars spend a great deal of their time emending (correcting!) the
text, an exercise which is precipitated by a number of uncertainties encountered in
this text which is now about 2,700 years of age! We are sure that the meaning is
clear enough in the broad outlines of it as rendered in the version before us. Quite a
few of the emendations are slanted in the direction of establishing some theory or
interpretation.
This verse is a thumb-nail history of God's dealings with Israel throughout their
existence and the totally rebellious response he received from the people.
COKE, "Verse 2
Hosea 11:2. As they called them— As I called them, so they went from me.
Houbigant.

Graven images— We read frequently, in our English bibles, of graven images, and
of molten images: and the words are become so familiar, as names of idolatrous
images, that although they are not well chosen to express the Hebrew names, it
seems not advisable to change them for others which might more exactly correspond
with the original.
The graven image was not a thing wrought in metal by the tool of the workman
whom we should now call an engraver; nor was the molten image an image made of
metal, or any other substance melted, and shaped in a mould. In fact, the graven
image and the molten image are the same thing, under different names. The images
of the ancient idolaters were first cut out of wood, by the carpenter, as is very
evident from the prophet Isaiah. This figure of wood was overlaid with plates either
of gold or silver, or, sometimes perhaps, of an inferior metal. And in this finished
state it was called a graven image (that is to say, a carved image), in reference to the
inner solid figure of wood, and a molten (that is to say, an overlaid, or covered)
image, in reference to the outer metalline case or covering. And sometimes both
epithets are applied to it at once. I will cut off the graven and molten image; ahum
1:14. Again, What profiteth the graven and molten image? Habakkuk 2:18. The
English word molten conveys a notion of melting, or fusion. But this is not the case
with the Hebrew word ‫פסל‬ pesel, for which it is given. The Hebrew word signifies
generally to overspread, or cover all over, in whatever manner, according to the
different subject, the overspreading or covering be effected; whether by pouring
forth a substance in fusion, or by spreading a cloth over or before, or by hammering
on metalline plates. It is on account of this metalline case, that we find a founder
employed to make a graven image, Judges 17:3 and that we read in Isaiah of a
workman that melteth a graven image; Isaiah 40:19.: and in another place we find
the question, who hath molten a graven image? Isaiah 44:10. In these two passages
the words should be overlayeth, and overlaid.
TRAPP, "Verse 2
Hosea 11:2 [As] they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto
Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Ver. 2. As they called them] i.e. As the prophets and ministers (whose names are
here concealed, that the Word only may be glorified, as Acts 13:48) called to them,
to come out of spiritual Egypt, out of darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
to God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among the
saints, by faith that is in Christ, Acts 26:18.
So they went from them] They went a contrary way, as the child Samuel, when God
called him, ran to Eli; or rather as the wilful Jews, when God would have gathered
them, as the hen doth her chickens, they would not. When God called his natural
Son out of Egypt, he came presently, Hebrews 10:7, Psalms 40:7-8; not so his
adopted sons; for they turned upon him the back, and not the face, Jeremiah 2:27,
they refused to be reformed, they hated to be healed. See Hosea 7:1. {See Trapp on

"Hosea 7:1"} ay, to make up the full measure of their sins, and to heighten their
contempt,
They sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images] Quasi aegre
facturi Deo, as if they would despite God on purpose, and spit in his very face;
commit the like villany in his presence, as the Irish rebels lately did, when they
bound the husband to the bedpost, while they abused his wife before him. See the
notes on Hosea 2:1-23, and almost on every chapter where their idolatry is cried out
upon, and their extreme ingratitude.
PETT, "Verse 2
‘The more they called them,
The more they went from them,
They sacrificed to the Baalim,
And burned incense to graven images.’
But it is made clear that Israel in fact never came out of Egypt in their hearts, for
the more that ‘they’ (the prophets) called them the more they deserted what they
had been taught, and sacrificed to Baalim and graven images. It was made clear by
this that idolatry and the ways of thinking of Egypt still possessed their hearts. In
their hearts they had never left Egypt. ‘Burned incense to graven images.’ As well as
the offering of sacrifices, the burning of incense in their many sanctuaries was a
regular feature of Egyptian/Canaanite worship, and some of these incense altars
have been discovered in what was Canaan.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
it was I who healed them.
BAR ES, "I taught Ephraim also to go - Literally, “and I set Ephraim on his

feet;” i. e., while they were rebelling, I was helping and supporting them, as a nurse doth
her child, teaching it to go with little steps, step by step, “accustoming it to go by little
and little without weariness;” and not only so, but “taking them by their arms;” or it may
be equally translated, “He took them in His arms,” i. e., God not only gently “taught”
them “to walk,” but when they were wearied, “He took them up in His arms,” as a nurse
doth a child when tired with its little attempts to walk. Such was the love and tender care
of God, guiding and upholding Israel in His ways which He taught him, guarding him
from weariness, or, if wearied, taking him in the arms of His mercy and refreshing him.
So Moses says, “In the wilderness thou hast seen, how that the Lord thy God bare thee,
as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place”
Deu_1:31; and he expostulates with God, “Have I conceived all this people? have I
begotten them, that Thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing
father beareth his sucking child, unto the land which Thou swarest unto their father’s?”
Num_11:12. : “Briefly yet magnificently doth this place hint at the wondrous patience of
God, whereof Paul too speaks, “for forty years suffered He their manner’s in the
wilderness” Act_13:18.
For as a nursing father beareth patiently with a child, who hath not yet come to years
of discretion, and, although at times he be moved to strike it in return, yet mostly he
sootheth its childish follies with blandishments, and, ungrateful though it be, carries it
in his arms, so the Lord God, whose are these words, patiently bore with the unformed
people, ignorant of the spiritual mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and although He
killed the bodies of many of them in the wilderness yet the rest He soothed with many
and great miracles, “leading them about, and instructing them, (as Moses says) keeping
them as the apple of His eye” Deu_32:10.
But they knew not that I healed them - They laid it not to heart, and therefore
what they knew with their understanding was worse than ignorance. : “I who was a
Father, became a nurse, and Myself carried My little one in My arms, that he should not
be hurt in the wilderness, or scared by heat or darkness. By day I was a cloud; by night, a
column of fire, that I might by My light illumine, and heal those whom I had protected.
And when they had sinned and had made the calf, I gave them place for repentance, and
they knew not that I healed them, so as, for forty years, to close the wound of idolatry,
restore them to their former health.”
: “The Son of God carried us in His arms to the Father, when He went forth carrying
His Cross, and on the wood of the Cross stretched out His arms for our redemption.
Those too doth Christ carry daily in His arms, whom He continually entreateth,
comforteth, preserveth, so gently, that with much alacrity and without any grievous
hindrance they perform every work of God, and with heart enlarged run, rather than
walk, the way of God’s commandments. Yet do these need great caution, that they be
clothed with great circumspection and humility, and despise not others. Else Christ
would say of them, “They knew not that I healed them.”
CLARKE, "I taught Ephraim also to go - An allusion to a mother or nurse teaching
a child to walk, directing it how to lift and lay its feet, and supporting it in the meantime
by the arms, that it may use its feet with the greater ease. This is a passage truly pathetic.
GILL, "I taught Ephraim also to go,.... All the tribes of Israel and Ephraim, or the
ten tribes with the rest; these the Lord instructed in the way of his commandments, and

taught them to walk therein; he his angel before them, to conduct them through the
wilderness; yea, he himself went before them in the pillar of cloud by day, and in the
pillar of fire by night, to which history this seems to refer. So the Targum,
"I, by an angel sent by me, led Israel in the right way.''
The allusion seems to be to a mother or nurse accommodating herself to her child,
beginning to go; she stoops down, sets it on its feet, and one foot before another, forms
its steps, teaches it how to go, and walks its pace with it. And in like manner the Lord
deals with his spiritual Israel, his regenerated ones, who become like little children, and
are used as such; as in regeneration they are quickened, and have some degree of
spiritual strength given them, they are taught to go; they are taught what a Saviour
Christ is, and their need of him; they are instructed to go to him by faith for everything
they want, and to walk by faith on him, as they have received him; and having heard and
learned of the Father, they go to Christ, Joh_6:45; and are taught also to go to the
throne of grace for all supplies of grace; and to the house of God, to attend the word and
ordinances, for the benefit of their souls; and to walk in the ways of the Lord, for his
glory, and their good;
taking them by their arms; or "on his own arms" (x); bearing and carrying them in
his arms, as a father his son; see Deu_1:31 Num_11:12; so the Lord deals with his
spiritual Israel, either holding them by their arms while walking, as nurses their
children, to help and ease them in walking, and that they may not stumble and fall; so
the Lord holds up the goings of his people in his ways, that their footsteps slip not, and
upholds them with the right hand of his righteousness: or taking them up in his own
arms when weary, he carries them in his bosom; or, when they are failing or fallen, lays
hold on them, and takes them up again; and so they are not utterly cast down, whether
the fall is into sin, or into some calamity and affliction; when he puts underneath his
everlasting arms, and bears them and keeps them from sinking, as well as from a final
and total falling away. Abarbinel, and others after him, interpret this of Ephraim taking
up and carrying in his arms Baalim, the graven images and golden calves; which is
mentioned as an instance of ingratitude; but very wrongly;
but they knew not that I healed them; of the diseases of Egypt, or preserved them
from them: this includes the whole of their salvation and deliverance from Egypt, and all
the benefits and favours accompanying it, which they imputed to their idols, and not to
the Lord; see Exo_15:26. "Healing", in a spiritual sense, generally signifies the
forgiveness of sin, which the Lord's people may have, and not know it; and, through
want of better light and knowledge, may also ascribe it to their repentance, humiliation,
and tears, when it is alone owing to the grace of God, and blood of Christ.
HE RY 3-5, " He gave them a good education, took care of them, took pains with
them, not only as a father or tutor, but, such is the condescension of divine grace, as a
mother or nurse (Hos_11:3): I taught Ephraim also to go, as a child in leading-strings is
taught. When they were in the wilderness God led them by the pillar of cloud and fire,
showed them the way in which they should go, and bore them up, taking them by the
arms. He taught them to go in the way of his commandments, by the institutions of the
ceremonial law, which were as tutors and governors to that people under age. He took
them by the arms, to guide them, that they might not stray, and to hold them up, that
they might not stumble and fall. God's spiritual Israel are thus supported. Thou has
holden me by my right hand, Psa_73:23. 4. When any thing was amiss with them, or

they were ever so little out of order, he was their physician: “I healed them; I not only
took a tender care of them (a friend may do that), but wrought an effectual cure: it is a
God only that can do that. I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exo_15:26), that redresseth
all thy grievances.” 5. He brought them into his service by mild and gentle methods
(Hos_11:4): I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. Note, It is God's work
to draw poor souls to himself; and none can come to him except he draw them, Joh_
6:44. He draws, (1.) With the cords of a man, with such cords as men draw with that
have a principle of humanity, or such cords as men are drawn with; he dealt with them
as men, in an equitable rational way, in an easy gentle way, with the cords of Adam. He
dealt with them as with Adam in innocency, bringing them at once into a paradise, and
into covenant with himself. (2.) With bands of love, or cartropes of love. This word
signifies stronger cords than the former. He did not drive them by force into his service,
whether they would or no, nor rule them with rigour, nor detain them by violence, but
his attractives were all loving and endearing, all sweet and gentle, that he might
overcome them with kindness. Moses, whom he made their guide, was the meekest man
in the world. Kindnesses among men we commonly call obligations, or bonds, bonds of
love. Thus God draws with the savour of his good ointments (Son_1:4), draws with
lovingkindness, Jer_31:3. Thus God deals with us, and we must deal in like manner with
those that are under our instruction and government, deal rationally and mildly with
them. 6. He eased them of the burdens they had been long groaning under: I was to
them as those that take off the yoke on their jaws, alluding to the care of the good
husbandman, who is merciful to his beast, and will not tire him with hard and constant
labour. Probably, in those times, the yoke on the neck of the oxen was fastened with
some bridle, or headstall, over the jaws, which muzzled the mouth of the ox. Israel in
Egypt were thus restrained from the enjoyments of their comforts and constrained to
hard labour; but God eased them, removed their shoulder from the burden, Psa_81:6.
Note, Liberty is a great mercy, especially out of bondage. 7. He supplied them with food
convenient. In Egypt they fared hard, but, when God brought them out, he laid meat
unto them, as the husbandman, when he has unyoked his cattle, fodders them. God
rained manna about their camp, bread from heaven, angels' food; other creatures seek
their meat, but God laid meat to his own people, as we do to our children, was himself
their caterer and carver, anticipated them with the blessings of goodness
JAMISO , "taught ... to go — literally, “to use his feet.” Compare a similar image,
Deu_1:31; Deu_8:2, Deu_8:5, Deu_8:15; Deu_32:10, Deu_32:11; Neh_9:21; Isa_63:9;
Amo_2:10. God bore them as a parent does an infant, unable to supply itself, so that it
has no anxiety about food, raiment, and its going forth. Act_13:18, which probably refers
to this passage of Hosea; He took them by the arms, to guide them that they might not
stray, and to hold them up that they might not stumble.
knew not that I healed them — that is, that My design was to restore them
spiritually and temporally (Exo_15:26).
CALVI , "Verse 3
Here again God amplifies the sin of the people, by saying, that by no kindness, even
for a long time, could they be allured, or turned, or reformed, or reduced to a sound
mind. It was surely enough that the people of Israeli who had been brought by the
hand of God from the grave to the light of life, should have repudiated every
instruction; it was a great and an atrocious sin; but now God goes on farther, and

says, that he had not ceased to show his love to them, and yet had attained nothing
by his perseverance; for the wickedness and depravity of the people were incurable.
Hence he says, I have led Ephraim on foot (76) Some are of opinion that it is a noun,
from ‫,רגל‬ regel, foot, and it seems the most suitable. For otherwise there will be a
change of a letter, which grammarians do not allow in the beginning of a word; for
‫,ת‬ tau, in this case would be put instead of ‫,ה‬ he; and put so as if it was of frequent
occurrence in Hebrew; but no such instance can be adduced. So they who are skilful
in the language think that for this reason it is a noun, and with them I agree. They,
however, who regard it as a verb, give this view, — “I have led him on foot, ‫,תרגלתי‬
teregelti; that is, as a child who cannot yet walk with a firm foot, is by degrees
accustomed to do so, and the nurse, or the father, or the mother, who lead him, have
a regard for his infancy; so also have I led Israel, as much as his feet could bear. But
the other version is less obscure, and that is, My walking on foot was for him; that
is, I humbled myself as mothers are wont to do; and hence he says, that he had
carried the people on his shoulders; and we shall presently see the same comparison
used. And Moses says in Deuteronomy, (77) that the people had been carried on
God’s wings, or that God had expanded his wings like the eagle who flies over her
young ones. With regard to the matter itself the meaning of the Prophet is not
obscure; for he means, that this people had been treated by God in a paternal and
indulgent manner; and also, that the perseverance of the Lord in continuing to
bestow his blessings on them had been without any fruit.
He afterwards adds, To carry on his arms Some render the expression, ‫,קחם‬ kochem,
“He carried them,” as if the verb were in the past tense; and they consider the word,
Moses, to be understood. But it is God who speaks here. Some think it to be an
infinitive — “To carry,” as when one carries another on his shoulders; and this
seems to be the most suitable exposition. There is in the sense no ambiguity; for the
design of the Prophet is what I have already stated, which is to show that this people
were most wicked in not obeying God, since they had been so kindly treated by Him.
For what could they have expected more than what God had done for them? As he
also says by Isaiah, (78) ‘What, my vine, ought I to have done more than what I have
done?’ So also in this place, My walking has been on foot with Ephraim; and for
this end, to carry them, as when one carries another in his arms. ‘They yet,’ he says,
‘did not know that I healed them;’ that is, “ either the beginning of my goodness,
nor its continued exercise, avails anything with them. When I brought them forth
from Egypt, I restored the dead to life; this kindness has been blotted out. Again, in
the desert I testified, in various ways, that I was their best and most indulgent
Father: I have in this instance also lost all my labour.” How so? “Because my favour
has been in no way acknowledged by this perverse and foolish people.” We now
then see what the Prophet meant: and he continues the same subject in the next
verse.
ELLICOTT, "Verse 3
(3) Read, Yet it was I who guided Ephraim’s steps, taking him by his arms. There is
a beautiful parallel to this in Deuteronomy 32:10-11.
Knew not . . .—This obtuseness to the source of all mercies—the refusal to recognise

the true origin in Divine revelation of those ideas which, though they bless and
beautify life, are not recognised as such revelation, but are treated as “the voice of
nature,” or “development of humanity,” or “dictum of human reason “—is one of
the commonest and most deadly sins of modern Christendom. The unwillingness to
recognise the Divine Hand in “creation,” “literature,” “history” takes the opposed
forms of Pantheism and Pyrrhonism. To each of these the prophet’s words apply.
TRAPP, "Verse 3
Hosea 11:3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew
not that I healed them.
Ver. 3. I taught Ephraim also to go] A child he was, Hosea 11:1, and like a child I
dealt with him, teaching him how to set his feet, pedare, to foot it, as nurses do their
little ones: he keepeth the feet of his saints, 1 Samuel 2:9; he guideth their feet in the
way of peace, Luke 1:79. See for this, Deuteronomy 1:31; Deuteronomy 32:11,
umbers 11:12. So great is the goodness of God to his people, that he dealeth with
us as with his little children, nos sublevando, submonendo, docendo, ducendo,
regendo, tegendo, convocando, condonando, portando, confortando, &c., we are
supported, admonished, taught, lead, guided, protected, assembled, forgiven,
carried, comforted, saith a learned interpreter truly, and trimly (Tarnovius). He
speaketh unto us as unto children, Hebrews 12:5 paterne diligit, amice dirigit, he
loveth us as a father, he directs us as a friend, guiding us with his eye, leading us in
his hand, setting us between his knees, as some interpret that text, Deuteronomy
33:3, setting us upon his knees, as a father doth his darling, and rejoicing over us
with joy, yea, joying over us with singing, Zephaniah 3:17. His affections are more
than fatherly; and his expressions are according. "We are like infants" (saith Mr
Baine), "newly born in a manner. They are kept by the loving parents from fire and
water; they are fed, laid to sleep, made ready, and unready, and shifted in their
scapes, but they know not who doth all this for them. So doth our heavenly Father
by us in Christ." But (he knows) little understanding have we of him. After this, he
teacheth us to go,
taking us by the arms.] to help our feeble knees. And taking us up in his own arms,
when we come to a foul or rough place, helping us over the quagmires of crosses,
and the difficulties of duties. And whereas we fall seven times a day, and in many
things fail all; he taketh us up after that we have caught a knock, and cherisheth us
in his bosom, &c. Montanus and Junius carry the sense another way, as if the words
were not a description of God’s love to the people, but of their unthankfulness to
God; rendering the words thus: When, as I inform Ephraim, he taketh them in his
arms, that is, he setteth up idols, and after the manner of impudent and shameless
strumpets, he taketh the puppets in his arms, and embraceth them before my face.
But I like the former sense better.
But they knew not that I healed them] ot only held them, that they might not fall,
but healed them when they had fallen. Daring they would be sometimes to stand

upon their own legs, to prevail by their own strength, 1 Samuel 2:9, to say with her
in the poet, Consilii satis est in me mihi, &c. (Arachno apud Ovid. Metam.). I am
wise enough, and able enough to go on, as if they were petty gods within themselves,
and had no need of nor dependance upon me. Hence they hurt themselves, but I
healed them. I forgave all their iniquities, I healed all their diseases, Psalms 103:3,
their bruises and putrefying sores, that else had not been closed, bound up, nor
mollified with ointment, Isaiah 1:6. God left not his people in their low estate, as
some physicians do their patients; but provided a sovereign salve, a horn of
salvation, such as would cure any disease or maim, (a) even the sin against the Holy
Ghost too, but that it is the nature of it to rage and rave both against the physic and
the physician. Christ is both the one and the other; as being made unto us of God,
wisdom righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30. Quod
sanitas in corpore, id sanctitas in corde. He is Jehovah that healeth for he is Jehovah
that sanctifieth. This Ephraim knew not, that is, out of pride and stoutness they
acknowledged it not, but sacrificed to their own nets, wits, endeavours, &c. Of all
things God can least endure to be neglected or to have the glory of his benefits
transferred upon others, {see Hosea 2:8, with the note} When men shall either say,
in the language of Ashdod, It is a chance, or else, I have made myself thus and thus
happy, 1 Samuel 6:9 this, though the saints should at any time do yet God will
pardon their frowardness, and say as Isaiah 57:17-18, I have seen his ways, his
waywardness, and will heal him nevertheless and restore comforts to him.
PETT, "Verse 3
‘Yet I taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them on my arms,
But they knew not that I healed them.’
Yet in a touching picture God describes how He had ‘taught Ephraim (Israel) to
walk’ (through the covenant) and how He had upheld them in His arms
(Deuteronomy 33:27), or alternatively had grasped them by the arms. But the sad
fact was that they had been unresponsive to His guidance, not recognising the care
that He took over their wellbeing. They ‘knew not that He healed them’ includes not
only the thought that He looked after them when they were sick, but also that He
continually watched out for their welfare. He had done for them all that was
necessary.
K&D 3-4, "Nevertheless the Lord continued to show love to them. Hos_11:3, Hos_
11:4. “And I, I have taught Ephraim to walk: He took them in His arms, and they did
not know that I healed them. I drew them with bands of a man, with cords of love, and
became to them like a lifter up of the yoke upon their jaws, and gently towards him did
I give (him) food.” ‫י‬ ִ ְ‫ל‬ַ ְ‫ר‬ ִ , a hiphil, formed after the Aramaean fashion (cf. Ges. §55, 5),
by hardening the ‫ה‬ into ‫,ת‬ and construed with ‫,ל‬ as the hiphil frequently is (e.g., Hos_
10:1; Amo_8:9), a denom. of ‫ל‬ֶ‫ג‬ ֶ‫,ר‬ to teach to walk, to guide in leading-strings, like a child
that is being trained to walk. It is a figurative representation of paternal care foz a child's
prosperity. ‫ם‬ ָ‫ח‬ ָ‫,ק‬ per aphaeresin, for ‫ם‬ ָ‫ח‬ ָ‫ק‬ ְ‫,ל‬ like ‫ח‬ ָ‫ק‬ for ‫ח‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ‫ל‬ in Eze_17:5. The sudden change
from the first person to the third seems very strange to our ears; but it is not uncommon
in Hebrew, and is to be accounted for here from the fact, that the prophet could very

easily pass from speaking in the name of God to speaking of God Himself. ‫ח‬ ָ‫ק‬ cannot be
either an infinitive or a participle, on account of the following word ‫יו‬ ָ‫ּת‬‫ע‬‫ּו‬‫ר‬ְ‫,ז‬ his arms. The
two clauses refer chiefly to the care and help afforded by the Lord to His people in the
Arabian desert; and the prophet had Deu_1:31 floating before his mind: “in the
wilderness the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son.” The last clause also
refers to this, ‫ים‬ ִ‫את‬ ָ‫פ‬ ְ‫ר‬ pointing back to Exo_15:26, where the Lord showed Himself as the
physician of Israel, by making the bitter water at Marah drinkable, and at the same time
as their helper out of every trouble. In Hos_11:4, again, there is a still further reference
to the manifestation of the love of God to Israel on the journey through the wilderness.
‫ם‬ ָ‫ד‬ፎ ‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫ב‬ ַ‫,ח‬ cords with which men are led, more especially children that are weak upon
their feet, in contrast with ropes, with which men control wild, unmanageable beasts
(Psa_32:9), are a figurative representation of the paternal, human guidance of Israel, as
explained in the next figure, “cords of love.” This figure leads on to the kindred figure of
the yoke laid upon beasts, to harness them for work. As merciful masters lift up the yoke
upon the cheeks of their oxen, i.e., push it so far back that the animals can eat their food
in comfort, so has the Lord made the yoke of the law, which has been laid upon His
people, both soft and light. As ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫ּל‬‫ע‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֵ‫ה‬ does not mean to take the yoke away from (‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ֵ‫)מ‬
the cheeks, but to lift it above the cheeks, i.e., to make it easier, by pushing it back, we
cannot refer the words to the liberation of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, but can only
think of what the Lord did, to make it easy for the people to observe the commandments
imposed upon them, when they were received into His covenant (Exo_24:3, Exo_24:7),
including not only the many manifestations of mercy which might and ought to have
allured them to reciprocate His love, and yield a willing obedience to His
commandments, but also the means of grace provided in their worship, partly in the
institution of sacrifice, by which a way of approach was opened to divine grace to obtain
forgiveness of sin, and partly in the institution of feasts, at which they could rejoice in
the gracious gifts of their God. ‫ט‬ፍְ‫ו‬ is not the first pers. imperf. hiphil of ‫נטה‬ (“I inclined
myself to him;” Symm., Syr., and others), in which case we should expect ‫ט‬ፍָ‫,ו‬ but an
adverb, softly, comfortably; and ‫יו‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫א‬ belongs to it, after the analogy of 2Sa_18:5. ‫יל‬ ִ‫ּוכ‬‫א‬ is
an anomalous formation for ‫יל‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֲ‫א‬ፍ, like ‫יד‬ ִ‫ּוב‬‫א‬ for ‫יד‬ ִ‫ב‬ ֲ‫א‬ፍ in Jer_46:8 (cf. Ewald, §192, d;
Ges. §68, 2, Anm. 1). Jerome has given the meaning quite correctly: “and I gave them
manna for food in the desert, which they enjoyed.”
BI, "I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms.
Taken by the arm
When God redeems and shelters His people by the blood of the Paschal Lamb,—i.e., of
Christ our Passover sacrificed for us—and gives them His law, telling them to serve Him,
He does not leave them to their own strength, but gives them power to do what He bids
them: He teaches them how to go, taking them, as a nurse would, by the arms. Our
obedience is not the cause which procures or awakens God’s love to us, but His love is
the cause that procures and awakens our obedience. The text tells us what God is doing
for the true disciples of Jesus, and how God undertakes to teach them how to go.
“Taking them by the arms.” As a nurse teaches a helpless child to walk, He invites us to
rely upon His strength and watchful care. He knows our weakness. The thought may be
illustrated by Deu_32:11. In this life we cannot go without the support of Christ; but

Hosea 11 commentary

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Hosea 11 commentary