Hosea 4 commentary

HOSEA 4 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
The Charge Against Israel
1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
because the Lord has a charge to bring
against you who live in the land:
“There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land.
BAR ES, "
Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel - The prophet begins here, in a
series of pictures as it were, to exhibit the people of Israel to themselves, that they might
know that God did not do without cause all this which He denounced against them.
Here, at the outset, He summons, the whole people, their prophets and priests, before
the judgment seat of God, where God would condescend, Himself to implead them, and
hear, if they had ought in their defense. The title “children of Israel” is, in itself, an
appeal to their gratitude and their conscience, as the title “Christian” among us is an
appeal to us, by Him whose name we bear. Our Lord says, “If ye were Abraham’s
children, ye would do the work’s of Abraham” Joh_8:39; and Paul, “let every one that
nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity” 2Ti_2:19.
For the Lord hath a controversy - God wills, in all His dealings with us His
creatures, to prove even to our own consciences, the righteousness of His judgments, so
as to leave us without excuse. Now, through His servants, He shows people their
unrighteousness and His justice; hereafter our Lord, the righteous Judge, will show it
through the book of people’s own consciences.
With the inhabitants of the land - God had given the land to the children of
Israel, on account of the wickedness of these whom He drave out before them. He gave it
to them “that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws” (Ps. 105 ult.). He had
promised that His “Eyes should always be upon it from the beginning of the year unto
the end of the year” Deu_11:12. This land, the scene of those former judgments, given to
them on those conditions (see Deu_4:1, Deu_4:40; Deu_6:21-25, etc.), the land which
God had given to them as their God, they had filled with iniquity.
Because there is no truth, nor mercy - “Truth and mercy” are often spoken of, as
to Almighty God. Truth takes in all which is right, and to which God has bound Himself;
mercy, all beyond, which God does out of His boundless love. When God says of Israel,

“there is no truth nor mercy,” He says that there is absolutely none of those two great
qualities, under which He comprises all His own Goodness. “There is no truth,” none
whatever, “no regard for known truth; no conscience, no sincerity, no uprightness; no
truth of words; no truth of promises; no truth in witnessing; no making good in deeds
what they said in words.”
Nor mercy - The word has a wide meaning; it includes all love of one to another, a
love issuing in acts. It includes loving-kindness, piety to parents, natural affection,
forgiveness, tenderness, beneficence, mercy, goodness. The prophet, in declaring the
absence of this grace, declares the absence of all included under it. Whatever could be
comprised under love, whatever feelings are influenced by love, of that there was
nothing.
Nor knowledge of God - The union of right knowledge and wrong practice is
hideous in itself; and it must be especially offensive to Almighty God, that His creatures
should know whom they offend, how they offend Him, and yet, amid and against their
knowledge, choose that which displeases Him. And, on that ground, perhaps, He has so
created us, that when our acts are wrong, our knowledge becomes darkened Rom_1:21.
The “knowledge of God” is not merely to know some things of God, as that He is the
Creator and Preserver of the world and of ourselves. To know things of God is not to
know God Himself. We cannot know God in any respect, unless we are so far made like
unto Him. “Hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He
that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar and the truth is
not in him. Every one that loveth is born of’ God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not,
knoweth not God, for God is love” 1Jo_2:3-4; 1Jo_4:7-8.
Knowledge of God being the gift of the Holy Spirit, he who hath not grace, cannot have
that knowledge. A certain degree of speculative knowledge of God, a bad man may have,
as Balaam had by inspiration, and the Pagan who, “when they knew God, glorified Him
not as God.” But even this knowledge is not retained without love. Those who “held the
truth in unrighteousness” ended (Paul says Rom_1:21, Rom_1:18, Rom_1:28) by
corrupting it. “They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and so God gave them
over to a reprobate,” or undistinguishing mind, that they could not. Certainly, the
speculative and practical knowledge are bound up together, through the oneness of the
relation of the soul to God, whether in its thoughts of Him, or its acts toward Him.
Wrong practice corrupts belief, as misbelief corrupts practice. The prophet then
probably denies that there was any true knowledge of God, of any sort, whether of life or
faith or understanding or love. Ignorance of God, then, is a great evil, a source of all
other evils.
CLARKE, "The Lord hath a controversy - ‫ריב‬ rib, what we should call a lawsuit,
in which God is plaintiff, and the Israelites defendants. It is Jehovah versus Israel and
Judah.
But when has God a controversy with any land? - Answer. When there is no truth, nor
mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. These refer to the minds of the people. But
wherever these righteous principles are wanting, there will soon be a vicious practice;
hence it is added,
GILL, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel,.... The people of the ten

tribes, as distinct from Judah, Hos_4:15, the prophet having finished his parables he
was ordered to take up and deliver, and his explanations of them, and concluded with a
gracious promise of the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, enters upon a new
discourse, which begins with reproof for various sins; since what had been delivered in
parables and types had had no effect upon them, they are called upon to hear what the
Lord would say to them by the prophet, in more clear and express terms; silence is
ordered, and attention required to what follows:
for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land; the land of
Israel; against him they had sinned, before him they stood guilty; he had something, yea,
many things, against them; a charge is brought into open court, the indictment is read,
an answer must be made: God is the antagonist, that moves and brings on the
controversy in a judicial way, and who can answer him for one of a thousand? or stand
before him, or in court with him, when he marks iniquity? the charge is as follows,
because there is no truth; none that do or speak truth; that are true and faithful
men, true to their word, and faithful to their trust; no truth of grace in them, nor truth of
doctrine held and received by them; truth failed from among them, and none were
valiant for it; no truth or civil faith with respect to men, nor any truth of word or worship
with respect to God:
nor mercy: to poor and indigent creatures; no compassion shown them; no offices of
humanity or acts of beneficence exercised towards them; though these are more
desirable by the Lord than, and are preferred by him to, all ceremonial sacrifices, Hos_
6:6, or no piety, religion, godliness, powerful godliness, which has the promise of this
life, and that to come:
nor knowledge of God in the land; in the land of Israel, where God was used to be
known; where he had been worshipped; were his word had been dispensed, and his
prophets had been sent, and his saints that knew him, and his mind and will, formerly
had dwelt; but now a company of atheists, at least that lived as such, and had no true
spiritual saving knowledge of God, and communion with him; they had not true love to
him, nor a godly reverence of him, which this implies; and that was the source of all the
wickedness committed by them, afterwards expressed. The Targum is,
"there are none that do truth, nor dispense mercy, nor walk in the fear of the Lord, in the
land.''
HE RY, "Here is, I. The court set, and both attendance and attention demanded:
“Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for to you is the word of this
conviction sent, whether you will hear or whether you will forbear.” Whom may God
expect to give him a fair hearing, and take from him a fair warning, but the children of
Israel, his own professing people? Yea, they will be ready enough to hear when God
speaks comfortably to them; but are they willing to hear when he has a controversy with
them? Yes, they must hear him when he pleads against them, when he has something to
lay to their charge: The Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, of this
land, of this holy land. Note, Sin is the great mischief-maker; it sows discord between
God and Israel. God sees sin in his own people, and a good action he has against them
for it. Some more particular actions lie against his own people, which do not lie against
other sinners. He has a controversy with them for breaking covenant with him, for
bringing a reproach upon him, and for an ungrateful return to him for his favours. God's

controversy will be pleaded, pleaded by the judgments of his mouth before they are
pleaded by the judgments of his hand, that he may be justified in all he does and may
make it appear that he desires not the death of sinners; and God's pleadings ought to be
attended to, for, sooner or later, they shall have a hearing.
II. The indictment read, by which the whole nation stands charged with crimes of a
heinous nature, by which God is highly provoked. 1. They are charged with national
omissions of the most important duties: There is no truth nor mercy, neither justice nor
charity, these most weighty matters of the law, as our Saviour accounts them (Mat_
23:23), judgment, mercy, and faith. The generality of the people seemed to have no
sense at all of the thing called honesty; they made no conscience of what they said and
did, though ever so contrary to the truth and injurious to their neighbour. Much less had
they any sense of mercy, or any obligation they were under to pity and help the poor.
And it is not strange that there is no truth and mercy when there is no knowledge of God
in the land. What good can be expected where there is no knowledge of God? It was the
privilege of that land that in Israel God was made known, and his name was great,
which was an aggravation of their sin, that they did not know him, Psa_76:1.
JAMISO , "Hos_4:1-19. Henceforth the prophet speaks plainly and without
symbol, in terse, sententious propositions.
In this chapter he reproves the people and priests for their sins in the interregnum
which followed Jeroboam’s death; hence there is no mention of the king or his family;
and in Hos_4:2 bloodshed and other evils usual in a civil war are specified.
Israel — the ten tribes.
controversy — judicial ground of complaint (Isa_1:18; Jer_25:31; Mic_6:2).
no ... knowledge of God — exhibited in practice (Jer_22:16).
ELLICOTT, "Here commences a new part in the collection of Hosea’s prophecies.
The entire chapter is one terrible series of accusations, supporting the severe
character of the imagery already employed. It is difficult to assign it to any
particular period. It may have been composed during the years that immediately
succeeded the reign of Jeroboam II. Ewald divides it into four strophes: Hosea 4:1-
5; Hosea 4:6-10; Hosea 4:11-14; Hosea 4:15-19. The first two expand the former
part of the reproach conveyed in Hosea 4:1-2; Hosea 4:11-14 point to the
licentiousness of Israel; while in Hosea 4:15-19 judgment is pronounced.
Verse 1
(1) Controversy.—A judicial suit, in which Jehovah is plaintiff as well as judge
(Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 41:21). By the “children of Israel” we are to understand the
northern kingdom of the ten tribes, as distinguished from Judah.
Mercy.—Better rendered love. The Hebrew word chésed expresses (1) the love of
God for Israel under covenant relationship; (2) the corresponding quality in man
exhibited to God or towards his fellow-men. (See Hupfeld on Psalms 4:4; and Duhm,
Theologie der Propheten, p. 100.)
CALVI , "Verse 1
This is a new discourse by the Prophet, separate from his former discourses. We

must bear in mind that the Prophets did not literally write what they delivered to
the people, nor did they treat only once of those things which are now extant with
us; but we have in their books collected summaries and heads of those matters
which they were wont to address to the people. Hosea, no doubt, very often
descanted on the exile and the restoration of the people, forasmuch as he dwelt
much on all the things which we have hitherto noticed. Indeed, the slowness and
dullness of the people were such, that the same things were repeated daily. But it
was enough for the Prophets to make and to write down a brief summary of what
they taught in their discourses.
Hosea now relates how vehemently he reproved the people, because every kind of
corruption so commonly prevailed, that there was no sound part in the whole
community. We hence see what the Prophet treats of now; and this ought to be
observed, for hypocrites wish ever to be flattered; and when the mercy of God is
offered to them, they seek to be freed from every fear. It is therefore a bitter thing to
them, when threatening are mingled, when God sharply chides them. “What! we
heard yesterday a discourse on God’s mercy, and now he fulminates against us. He
is then changeable; if he were consistent, would not his manner of teaching be alike
and the same today?” But men must be often awakened, for forgetfulness of God
often creeps over them; they indulge themselves, and nothing is more difficult than
to lead them to God; nay, when they have made some advances, they soon turn aside
to some other course.
We hence see that men cannot be taught, except God reproves their sins by his
word; and then, lest they despond, gives them a hope of mercy; and except he again
returns to reproofs and threatening. This is the mode of address which we find in all
the Prophets.
I now come to the Prophet’s words: Hear, he says, the word of Jehovah, ye children
of Israel, the Lord has a dispute, etc. The Prophet, by saying that the Lord had a
dispute with the inhabitants of the land, intimates that men in vain flatter
themselves, when they have God against them, and that they shall soon find him to
be their Judge, except they in time anticipate his vengeance. But he also reminds the
Israelites that God had a dispute with them, that they might not have to feel the
severity of justice, but reconcile themselves to God, while a seasonable opportunity
was given them. Then the Prophet’s introduction had this object in view — to make
the Israelites to know that God would be adverse to them, except they sought,
without delay, to regain his favor. The Lord then, since he declared that he would
contend with them, shows that he was not willing to do so. for had God determined
to punish the people, what need was there of this warning? Could he not instantly
execute judgment on them? Since, then, the Prophet was sent to the children of
Israel to warn them of a great and fatal danger, God had still a regard for their
safety: and doubtless this warning prevailed with many; for those who were
alarmed by this denunciation humbled themselves before God, and hardened not
themselves in wickedness: and the reprobate, though not amended, were yet
rendered twice less excusable.

The same is the case among us, whenever God threatens us with judgment: they who
are not altogether intractable or unhealable, confess their guilt, and deprecate God’s
wrath; and others, though they harden their hearts in wickedness, cannot yet
quench the power of truth; for the Lord takes from them every pretext for
ignorance, and conscience wounds them more deeply, after they have been thus
warned
We now then understand what the Prophet meant by saying, that God had a dispute
with the inhabitants of the land. But that the Prophet’s intention may be more clear
to us, we must bear in mind, that he and other faithful teachers were wearied with
crying, and that in the meantime no fruit appeared. He saw that his warnings were
heedlessly despised, and that hence his last resort was to summon men to God’s
tribunal. We also are constrained, when we prevail nothing, to follow the same
course: “God will judge you; for no one will bear to be judged by his word:
whatever we announce to you in his name, is counted a matter of sport: he himself
at length will show that he has to do with you.” In a similar strain does Zechariah
speak,
‘They shall look on him whom they have pierced,’
(Zechariah 12:10 :)
and to the same purpose does Isaiah say, that the Spirit of the Lord was made sad.
‘Is it not enough,’ he says, ‘that ye should be vexatious to men, except ye be so also
to my God?’ (Isaiah 7:13.)
The Prophet joined himself with God; for the ungodly king Ahab, by tempting God,
did at the same time trifle with his Prophets.
There is then here an implied contrast between the dispute which God announces
respecting the Israelites, and the daily strifes he had with them by his Prophets. For
this reason also the Lord said,
‘My Spirit shall no more strive with man, for he is flesh,’
(Genesis 6:3.)
God indeed says there, that he had waited in vain for men to return to the right
way; for they were refractory beyond any hope of repentance: he therefore
declared, that he would presently punish them. So also in this place, ‘“The Lord has
a trial at law”; he will now himself plead his own cause: he has hitherto long
exercised his Prophets in contending with you; yea, he has wearied them with much
and continual labour; ye remain ever like yourselves; he will therefore begin now to
plead effectually his own cause with you: he will no more speak to you by the
mouth, but by his power, show himself a judge.’ The Prophet, however, designedly
laid down the word, dispute, that the Israelites might know that God would severely
treat them, not without cause, nor unjustly, as though he said, “God will so punish
you as to show at the same time that he will do so for the best reason: ye elude all

threatenings; ye think that you can make yourselves safe by your shifts: there are no
evasions by which you can possibly hope to attain any thing; for God will at length
uncover all your wickedness.” In short, the Prophet here joins punishment with
God’s justice, or he points out by one word, a real (so to speak) or an effectual
contention, by which the Lord not only reproves men in words, but also visits with
judgment their sins.
It follows, Because there is no truth, no kindness, no knowledge of God. The dispute,
he said, was to be with the inhabitants of the land: by the inhabitants of the land, he
means the whole body of the people; as though he said, “ ot a few men have become
corrupt, but all kinds of wickedness prevail everywhere.” And for the same reason
he adds, that there was no truth”, etc. in the land; as though he said, “They who sin
hide not themselves now in lurking-places; they seek no recesses, like those who are
ashamed; but so much licentiousness is everywhere dominant, that the whole land is
filled with the contempt of God and with crimes.” This was a severe reproof to
proud men. How much the Israelites flattered themselves, we know; it was therefore
necessary for the Prophet to speak thus sharply to a refractory people; for a gentle
and kind warning proves effectual only to the meek and teachable. When the world
grows hardened against God, such a rigorous treatment as the words of the Prophet
disclose must be used. Let those then, to whom is intrusted the charge of teaching,
see that they do not gently warn men, when hardened in their vices; but let them
follow this vehemence of the Prophet.
We said at the beginning, that the Prophet had a good reason for being so warm in
his indignation: he was not at the moment foolishly carried away by the heat of zeal;
but he knew that he had to do with men so perverse, that they could not be handled
in any other way. The Prophet now reproves not only one kind of evil, but brings
together every sort of crimes; as though he said, that the Israelites were in every way
corrupt and perverted. He says first, that there was among them no faithfulness,
and no kindness. He speaks here of their contempt of the second table of the law; for
by this the impiety of men is sooner found out, that is, when an examination is made
of their life: for hypocrites vauntingly profess the name of God, and confidently
(plenis buccis — with full cheeks) arrogate faith to themselves; and then they cover
their vices with the external show of divine worship, and frigid acts of devotion: nay,
the very thing mentioned by Jeremiah is too commonly the case, that
‘the house of God is made a den of thieves,’
(Jeremiah 7:11.)
Hence the Prophets, that they might drag the ungodly to the light, examine their
conduct according to the duties of love: “Ye are right worshipers of God, ye are
most holy; but in the meantime, where is truth, where is mutual faithfulness, where
is kindness? If ye are not men, how can ye be angels? Ye are given to avarice, ye are
perfidious, ye are cruel: what more can be said of you, except that each of you
condemns all the rest before God, and that your life is also condemned by all?’
By saying that truth or faithfulness was extinct, he makes them to be like foxes, who

are ever deceitful: by saying that there was no kindness, he accuses them of cruelty,
as though he said, that they were like lions and wild beasts. But the fountain of all
these vices he points out in the third clause, when he says, that they had no
knowledge of God: and the knowledge of God he takes for the fear of God which
proceeds from the knowledge of him; as though he said, “In a word, men go on as
licentiously, as if they did not think that there is a God in heaven, as if all religion
was effaced from their hearts.” For as long as any knowledge of God remains in us,
it is like a bridle to restrain us: but when men become wanton, and allow themselves
every liberty, it is certain that they have forgotten God, and that there is in them
now no knowledge of God. Hence the complaints in the Psalms,
‘The ungodly have said in their heart, There is no God,’
(Psalms 14:1 :)
‘Impiety speaks in my heart, There is no God.’ Men cannot run headlong into brutal
stupidity, while a spark of the true knowledge of God shines or twinkles in their
minds. We now then perceive the real meaning of the Prophet.
BE SO , "Verse 1
Hosea 4:1. Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel — “The prophet here
begins a third discourse, which is manifestly distinct from the preceding, both as to
matter and manner. He was before predicting what should happen in future times,
by way of prophetic vision; here he reproves those of the present time for such sins
as then reigned among them; such as provoked God to send on them and their
posterity the judgments foretold in the former chapter.” He seems to be addressing
chiefly the Israelites of the ten tribes, though not exclusively, his reproofs and
exhortations being so formed and expressed as to suit the case of the Jews also. For
the Lord hath a controversy, &c. — Hebrew, ‫,ריב‬ a cause, contention, or matter of
debate. The LXX. render the word, κρισις, judgment, or dispute; and so the
Vulgate. The expression is taken from the actions, or pleas, which one man brings
against another, for injuries or damages received: so here God is represented as
entering into judgment, or bringing a plea, or complaint, against the people of the
ten tribes, for their injustice and other sins, as being so many injuries to his honour,
for which he demands satisfaction. The other prophets bring the same charges
against this people, as we find from their writings. Because there is no truth, &c. —
o faithfulness in their minds, words, or works; they cover falsehood with fair
words, till they can conveniently execute their designed frauds. It appears they had
no sense of moral honesty; made no conscience of what they said or did, though
never so contrary to uprightness, and injurious to their neighbours. Much less had
they any sense of mercy, or of the obligation they were under to help the indigent
and necessitous. There was neither compassion nor beneficence among them; they
neither pitied nor relieved any. or knowledge of God in the land — Here we have
the cause of their want of integrity and benevolence: they had not the true and
saving knowledge of God, they were neither acquainted with him, nor with his will,
and their own duty: hence they were destitute of true piety, and therefore also of
true virtue.

COFFMA , "Verse 1
This chapter opens the last section of the prophecy in which the same themes recur
again and again. The guilt of the nation is stressed (Hosea 4:1-3), with particular
attention to the guilt of the priests (Hosea 4:4-8), the prophecy of punishment for all
(Hosea 4:9-10), and an elaboration of the immoral practices in their religion (Hosea
4:11-19). The terminology of the chapter, especially in the first three verses, is
technical and legal.
"The source of the forms is legal procedure as practiced in Israel's court, and their
use has the effect of putting the entire nation on trial."[1]
In this accusation and arraignment of Israel, it is God Himself who makes the
charges and pronounces the judgment. The crime of Israel which forms the burden
of God's formal charge against the nation is a specific one: "It is a breach of
contract!"[2] The sacred covenant that God had made with the chosen people had
been wantonly violated and repudiated; and the specifics of it are spelled out by
Hosea's delivery of God's message to the rebellious nation. "One could literally
translate part of Hosea 4:1 as, `The Lord has a lawsuit with the inhabitants of the
land.'"[3] The whole thrust of this chapter and of the whole prophecy of Hosea
presupposes prior relationship between God and Israel; and, without this basic
prior condition assumed by Hosea, his prophecy would have little meaning. As
Harper said:
"A relationship has existed between Yahweh and Israel, the terms of which Israel
has not observed ... There is every reason to suppose that the Decalogue in its
original form was at this time in existence."[4]
Hosea 4:1
"Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy
with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor
knowledge of God in the land."
Hosea moved at once to make clear what had been signified already in his own
tragic marriage, which had been providentially designed to portray that which was
happening upon a far greater scale in the life of the entire nation. The terrible
message had already been spelled out by what had happened in the case of Gomer.
Her infidelity resulted in her leaving her husband; and when she had been reduced
to a state of slavery as a result of her sins, Hosea bought her back, not for the
purpose of remarrying her, but with the purpose of reducing her to the status of a
servant retained without conjugal rights of any kind, and in certain areas required
to do his will without regard to her own inclinations. God inspired Hosea to recount
the sordid details of his marriage as a warning to Israel, and as a symbol of what
would happen to the nation; but in this chapter and to the end of Hosea, God
dropped any further use of allegory and spelled it out dramatically in the plainest
and most literal language possible.
This verse announces a change of status for Israel, once the chosen bride of Yahweh,

but now no longer a bride but an adversary.
"Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants ..." God appears here not as the
beloved husband of the chosen nation but as their opponent.
"Because there is no truth ..." God had not changed, but Israel had changed.
Having once known the true God, they knew him no more, having forsaken him to
worship the old pagan gods of the land of Canaan. Perhaps, "There were some
righteous people left; but they were few, and they hid themselves from the face of
the multitude who were wicked."[5] The "truth" which was missing from Israel was
the knowledge of God and of his revealed will, which is the only dependable,
objective standard of "truth" the world has ever known. Truth, God's truth, is the
only basis of morality, order, and trust that has ever proved effective. Morality
cannot be subjectively determined. Morality cannot be either determined or
perpetuated upon humanistic considerations. Morality can not be predicated upon
merely intellectual and philosophical premises. Either God's truth is received and
honored, or immorality, shame and debauchery are the inevitable alternative. Israel
had chosen that awful alternative; and, as Butler stated it:
"When the divine standard of truth, God's revealed word, is rejected, moral and
political suicide is the result. This is exactly what happened to Israel in Hosea's time,
and to Judah in Jeremiah's time, complete moral and political anarchy. The same
will happen to any nation that rejects God's Word, the Bible!"[6]
"The ultimate cause of the decline and final collapse of every nation or civilization
has been moral and spiritual rather than material."[7] The word here rendered
"truth" is translated as "faithfulness" in some versions; and the term certainly
includes the sense of "truth obeyed"; but "faithfulness" has the weakness of leaving
open the question of "faithfulness to what?" "Truth" is to be preferred here.
" or knowledge of God in the land ..." All of the vain efforts of some expositors to
defend the notion that the true God of Israel was actually being worshipped any
longer in the orthern Kingdom are defeated in this simple statement. The
knowledge of God had disappeared in Israel, despite the fact of some pagan
worshippers using his sacred name alongside that of their pagan idols. Knowing
God in the Biblical sense means an active and obedient knowledge that consciously
conforms to the teaching of God's Word. People who "obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ" are one in every sense with the people "who know not God" (2
Thessalonians 1:7-9).
COKE, "Verse 1
Hosea 4:1. Hear the word of the Lord, &c.— The prophet here begins a third
discourse, according to the rabbies; which is manifestly distinct from the preceding,
both as to the matter and manner. He was before predicting what should happen in
future times, by way of prophetic vision; here he reproves those of the present time
for such sins as then reigned among them; such as provoked God to send on them
and their posterity the judgments foretold in the former chapter. The word
controversy is forensic, and alludes to the actions of suits which one person has

against another for injuries or damages received. So the Almighty is here
represented as entering into judgment with the inhabitants of the ten tribes for their
impieties, as being so many injuries to his honour, for which he demands
satisfaction. The reader will find the same evils objected against this people by other
prophets.
TRAPP, "Verse 1
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a
controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because [there is] no truth, nor mercy,
nor knowledge of God in the land.
Ver. 1. Hear the word of the Lord] This is the beginning of a new sermon, or
judicial act of God against the ten tribes, which are here convented, convinced,
sentenced. It begins with an Oyez, like that of St Paul, Acts 13:16, "Men of Israel,
and ye that fear God" (if any such be in so general a defection), "give audience." Ye
have heard God’s mind before parabolically delivered and in types; now hear it in
plain terms, that you may "see and understand and be converted, and I may heal
you." Hear, and your souls shall live. Hear him that speaketh from heaven, even
that excellent speaker as he is called, Daniel 10:4-9, that arch-prophet, whom ye are
bound to hear, Deuteronomy 18:18, Matthew 17:5, upon pain of death, Hebrews
12:25, the Lord Christ I mean, who speaketh with authority, and is mighty in word
and deed, Acts 10:36. He it was whom Isaiah saw upon his throne, and heard
speaking, John 12:41. And it is a rule in divinity, that where the Old Testament
bringeth in God appearing and speaking to the patriarchs, prophets, and people, it
is to be understood of the Second Person. "Hear, therefore, and give ear; be not
proud: for the Lord hath spoken it," Jeremiah 13:15. "The lion hath roared, who
will not fear?" Amos 3:8. The Lord God hath spoken, who can but hear and fear,
humble and tremble?
Ye children of Israel] But oh, how altogether unlike your father! Even as unlike as
Jehoiakim (that degenerate plant) was to his father, Josiah, that "plant of renown,"
Ezekiel 34:29. His heart melted when he heard the law, 2 Chronicles 34:18-19, but
Jehoiakim cut it with a penknife and cast it into the fire, Jeremiah 36:23. These
were Israel’s children, and named "the house of Jacob," as those in Micah 2:7; but
an empty title yields but an empty comfort at last. Is the spirit of the Lord
straitened? (saith the prophet there;) were these Jacob’s doings? Do not my words
do good to him that walketh uprightly? Were you Israelites indeed, I should not
thus lose my sweet words upon you; but you would incline your ears and come unto
me, Isaiah 55:3, hear as for life itself: especially since I am sent unto you (as once
Ahijah was to Jeroboam’s wife, 1 Kings 14:6) with heavy tidings, with such a
citation or process from heaven as may well be unto you as Samuel’s message was to
Eli, that made both his ears to tingle; or as the handwriting was to Balthasar, that
made his knees knock together.
For the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land] The former title

(children of Israel) was too good for them: they had disgraced their father’s family,
and were therefore (Reuben-like) fallen from their dignity. They shall henceforth be
called the inhabitants of the land, as the wicked are called, Revelation 12:12, in
opposition to "the heavens and those that dwell therein," the burgesses of the new
Jerusalem. Abraham had seed of two sorts, some were as the dust of the earth,
Genesis 13:16, others as the stars of heaven, Genesis 15:5. And all are not Israel that
are of Israel, Romans 9:6. Multi sacerdotes et pauci sacerdotes, saith Chrysostom.
There are many ministers, and yet but few; many in name, but few in deed,
workmen that need not be ashamed; omen inane, crimea immane. It was cold
comfort to Dives in flames, that Abraham called him son; or to Judas, that Christ
called him friend; or to these rebellious Jews, that God sometimes called them his
people, and had rooted out the cursed Canaanites to make room for them, when as
they lived in God’s good land, but not by God’s good laws. For which cause the
Lord hath here a controversy with them, a suit at law; and being himself both
plaintiff and judge, he is sure to cast them; yea, to cast them out of that good land as
evil tenants ( Malae fidei possessores), that should hold no longer: for, Hosea 4:3, he
threateneth to plead against them, non verbis sed verberibus, with pestilence and
with blood, as Ezekiel 38:22, to make them say, as Isaiah 45:9, "Woe to him that
striveth with his Maker," that hath him for his adversary at law; such a one is sure
to be undone unless he agree with him quickly, Matthew 5:25, while he is yet in the
way with him, and before he be brought to the tribunal. "For even our God is a
consuming fire," Hebrews 12:29; his tribunal also is of fire, Ezekiel 1:27, his
pleading with sinners "in flames of fire," 2 Thessalonians 1:7, the trial of men’s
works shall be by fire, 1 Corinthians 3:13, the place of punishment a lake of fire fed
with a river of brimstone, Isaiah 30:33. O pray, therefore, and prevent, that God
enter not into judgment with us: for if so, no man living shall be justified in his
sight. God’s people may have and shall be sure to have the devil an adversary at law
against them, as St Peter’s word, αντιδικος, signifies, 1 Peter 5:8. The accuser of the
brethren he is called, which accuseth them before God day and night, Revelation
12:12. But him they may resist stedfast in the faith, and recover cost and charges of
him, as I may so say; for they have Christ to appear for them in heaven, Hebrews
9:24, as a lawyer for his client, 1 John 2:2, to thwart all the devil’s accusations. The
Spirit also (as a paracletus or advocate) maketh request for them to God in their
hearts, and helpeth them to make apologies for themselves, 2 Corinthians 7:11.
Again, "If a man sin against another, the judge shall judge him," saith old Eli to his
wicked sons; that is, the umpire may come and take up the controversy and put an
end to the quarrel. "But if a man have sinned against the Lord, who shall entreat
for him?" 1 Samuel 2:29. Who dare be his daysman? no mediation of man can make
his peace; no reconciliation can be here hoped for, but by running from God as a
Judge, to God as a Father in Christ. Let men, therefore, be wrought upon by the
reprehensions of God’s faithful ministers, by whom he appealeth and impeacheth
them. If they stand out as the old world did against that preacher of righteousness,
by whom he went and preached to those spirits now in prison (because they would
not take up the matter in time, but futured and fooled away their own salvation), he
will break off his patience, and say, as Genesis 6:3, "My Spirit shall not always
strive with these men, for that they also are flesh," &c., and are therefore the worse,
because they ought to be better ( Ideo deteriores quia meliores esse debebant);

therefore they shall fare the worse, because they would be no better. I have hewed
them by my prophets, Hosea 6:5, but can make no good work of them. Like ill
timber, they fall to splinters; and like ill stones, they crumble all to gravel; they are
therefore fitter for the highway and chimney corner then for my building. My Spirit
shall therefore strive no more with these perverse persons, either by preaching,
disputing, convincing, &c., in the mouth of my ministers; or in their own minds and
consciences, by inward checks and motions, which they reject, refusing to be
reformed, hating to be healed. I will take away my Spirit, and silence my prophets
(as he doth Hosea 4:4), and resolve upon their utter ruin; since there is no good to be
done upon them. See Hosea 4:17. {See Trapp on "Hosea 4:17"} Currat ergo
poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia, &c.
Because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land] Lo, here
the charge: and "knowing the judgment of God," you must needs say that "those
that commit such things are worthy of death," Romans 1:32. For "if the word
spoken by angels" (the law given by angels in the hand of Moses a mediator) "were
stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience" (that is, every commission and
omission) "received a just recompense of reward," Hebrews 2:2, how should these
miscreants escape, that had left off to do good? and for evil, they did it with both
hands earnestly; for the second table of the law, it is articled against them (for
matter of omission or defect) that there was "neither truth nor mercy in the land";
and for the first table, that there was no sound "knowledge of God" there; and,
consequently, no care of God, either inward or outward worship: for there can be
neither faith, nor repentance, nor due obedience yielded to an unknown God. A
Samaritan service there may be ("ye worship ye know not what," John 4:22), but
not a rational service, Romans 12:1, such as whereof a man can render a reason.
ow God will not have a blind sacrifice, Malachi 1:8, 1 Chronicles 28:9; it is
worthless that men are virtuous, unless they join to their virtue knowledge, 2 Peter
1:5; nor that they offer sacrifice, if they bring the "sacrifice of fools," Ecclesiastes
5:1. Those must needs be "abominable and disobedient" that are to "every good
work reprobate," injudicious, as the word signifies, Titus 1:11; and what marvel
though men be "alienated from the life of God" (or a godly life), "through the
ignorance that is in them?" Ephesians 4:18. But let us take the words in order.
"There is no truth." Here God declareth against them (as lawyers do against
offenders in court), and not for trifles, but first for want of truth or trustiness in
word and deed; without which human society is but funiculus ex arena, a rope of
sand, or arena sine calce, sand without lime, it cannot hold together. It was an old
complaint of the prophets, that "Truth was fallen in the streets, and faithfulness
failed from among the children of men," Isaiah 59:14, Psalms 12:1. When Varus
was slain Augustus grieved excessively; and that because non esset a quo verum
audiret, he had none about him that would tell him the truth of things, and deal
plainly with him. Multis annis iam transactis, nulla fides est in pactis, &c. Jeremiah
bewails it in his treacherous countrymen, that they "bent their tongues like their
bows for lies; but they were not valiant for the truth on the earth," Jeremiah 9:3;
they were mendaciorum loquaeissimi (as Tertullian phraseth it), loud and lewd
liars, and (as Hegesippus saith of Pilate) they were viri nequam et pravi facientes

mendacium, naughty men, and such as made nothing of a lie. But God’s people are
said to be "children that will not lie," Isaiah 63:8, they are φιλαληθεις, lovers of
truth, which was the title of honour given to Arrian, the Greek historian; whereas of
all other historians Vopiscus testifieth, that there is none qui non aliquid est
mentitus, that taketh not the liberty to lie more or less. And for slipperiness in
contracts and covenants nothing is more common among men; it is counted a
peccadillo. But the God of truth, the faithful and true witness, as Christ is called,
counteth it not so. See Ezekiel 17:15-21, 1 Timothy 4:2, 2 Timothy 3:3. There are
those who take truth here for justice, according to Zechariah 8:16, and so it suits
well with that which followeth.
or mercy] These two are set together, Micah 6:8 (to do justly, and to love mercy),
as the sum of the second table. Mouth mercy there was enough, such as was that in
St James’ days, James 2:15-16. "But there is not any one that taketh Zion by the
hand," Isaiah 51:18, that "draweth out his soul to the hungry, and dealeth his bread
to such," Isaiah 58:7; Isaiah 58:10. Sodom hath fulness of bread, but would part
with none to strengthen the hands of the poor and needy, Ezekiel 16:49. Therefore
she had "judgment without mercy," that had showed no mercy, James 2:13.
Whereas Tyre, when once she left heaping and hoarding, and brought forth her
merchandise for them that dwell before the Lord to "eat sufficiently," and for
"durable clothing," Isaiah 23:18, is renowned and reckoned among those that came
to Christ with their desirable things, as some read that text, Haggai 2:7. Colligent
omnes suos thesauros (so Calvin readeth it), they shall come with strong affections,
with large contributions, as those primitive saints did, Acts 4:34. The same Hebrew
word, chasid, signifieth both saint and merciful; and it comes of chesed, the word
here rendered mercy, or bounty. The tender mercies of the Almighty shed forth
abundantly upon such, leave a compassionate frame upon their hearts, as in the
jailer, Acts 16:33. Their thoughts, steeped in the mercies they have received, are
dyed of the same colour as cloth is in the dye fat, Colossians 3:12. This text, after no
mercy, fitly adds,
or knowledge of God in the land] Heb. "And no knowledge of God": or, "because
there is no knowledge of God in the land." Did men but know God savingly, had
they but tasted and seen how good the Lord is, they would not be so hide bound, and
strait handed to their poor brethren; but "ready to distribute, willing to
communicate," 1 Timothy 6:18. They are the "dark places of the earth" that are
"full of the habitations of cruelty," Psalms 74:20. But in the kingdom of Christ they
"shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," saith the Lord: and why?
"For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the
sea," Isaiah 11:9. St Paul thanks his ignorance for his persecutions and blasphemy,
1 Timothy 1:13, and resolves the sin of those killers of Christ into their "not
knowing of him," 1 Corinthians 2:8. Surely as toads and serpents grow in dark and
dirty cellars, so doth all sin and wickedness in an ignorant and blind soul. Hence, in
this text, after "no knowledge of God in the land," followeth that black bead roll of
abominations in the next verse: "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing,"

&c. As blind alehouses are sinks and sources of all villany, so are blind hearts.
In the land] Though it were a land of light, a very Goshen in comparison to the rest
of the world; though in Judah was God known, and his name great in Israel, Psalms
76:1; men may remain grossly ignorant amidst a multitude of means, and "in a land
of righteousness deal unjustly": and why? they will not behold the majesty of the
Lord, Isaiah 26:10. They will not see. They are "willingly ignorant," saith St Peter:
Ut liberius peccent libenter ignorant, saith Bernard. They "hate the light," saith our
Saviour, John 3:20, 2 Peter 2:1-22; it "is unto them as the shadow of death," saith
Job, Job 24:17. Hence they shut the windows, lest it should shine upon them; or if it
do, they rebel against it, rush against it, as bats do against torches in the night. That
light they have by nature, or otherwise (as a prophet from God), they detain and
imprison in unrighteousness, Romans 1:18. Their knowledge of God, if any, is only
apprehensive, and not affective, cognoscitiva, non vitae directiva, enlightening, not
transforming into the same image, so as to make them children of light: it is notional
knowledge, not experimental and practical. Hence such outrages in their lives, such
errors and enormities:
PETT, "Verse 1
‘Hear the word of YHWH, you children of Israel, for YHWH has a controversy
(legal grounds of dispute) with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth,
nor covenant love, nor knowledge of God in the land.’
Hosea, addressing the ‘children of Israel’ (Israel is to be their mother in Hosea 4:5),
commences the passage by pointing out that he has received ‘the word of YHWH’,
and that it is a word that indicates that YHWH has a charge to lay against all who
live in the land. Israel here indicates the northern kingdom. And the basis of the
charge is rooted in the fact that there is no truth/truthfulness in the land and no
compassion towards the poor and needy (chesed is love in accordance with the
covenant). And underlying this is the lack of the knowledge of God in the land.
Because they do not know God in all that He is, they are without truth and honesty,
and without compassion. For God is the God of truth and compassion.
‘In the land.’ Such was their lack of gratitude and appreciation of what He had
done that they had no knowledge of God in the very land that God had given them
as an inheritance. Thus the land would mourn (Hosea 4:3), and they themselves
would finally be removed from the land because they no longer deserved it.
Verses 1-3
ISRAEL’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH IDOLS A D WITH ASSYRIA IS OW
DEPICTED A D WAR I GS GIVE OF WHAT WILL BE THE
CO SEQUE CE FOR THEM, A D THIS TOGETHER WITH A REMI DER
THAT IF THEY RETUR TO HIM HE CA PROVIDE ALL THAT BAAL
PROVIDES A D MORE (Hosea 4:1 to Hosea 6:3).
Having illustrated Israel’s position in terms of an adulterous and unfaithful wife,
Hosea now charges Israel more directly with their sins, and warns them of what the

consequences will be if they do not repent and turn back to YHWH. These words
were probably mainly spoken during the earlier phases of his ministry in the times
of Jeroboam II and Menahem.
Verses 1-5
YHWH’s Indictment Of Israel And Warning Of The Consequences (Hosea 4:1-5).
YHWH now charges ‘the people (children) of Israel’ with being bereft of all truth
and compassion because of their lack of the knowledge of YHWH. In consequence
they are breaching all the commandments, and engaging in widespread bloodshed,
and the final result is that the whole land is suffering through severe drought. But
they are in no position to lay charges against YHWH with respect to this, for they
are disqualified as being like ‘strivers with the priests’, that is, as being like
anarchists, those who reject and despise the verdicts of their own supreme court. In
other words they are lawless. That is why they and the prophets to whom they listen
will stumble by day and night, and Israel itself (their mother) will be destroyed.
For ‘hear the word of YHWH’ (Hosea 4:1) compare ‘hear this, O you priests, and
listen you house of Israel, and give ear O house of the king --’ (Hosea 5:1). This
would seem to confirm that chapter 4 is a separate oracle by itself.
Analysis of Hosea 4:1-5.
a Hear the word of YHWH, you children of Israel, for YHWH has a controversy
with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor covenant love, nor
knowledge of God in the land (Hosea 4:1).
b There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and
committing adultery (Hosea 4:2 a).
c They break out, and blood touches blood (Hosea 4:2 b).
b Therefore will the land mourn, and every one who dwells in it will languish, with
the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, yes, the fishes of the sea also will
be taken away (Hosea 4:3).
a Yet let no man strive, nor let any man reprove, for your people are as those who
strive with the priest. And you will stumble in the day, and the prophet also will
stumble with you in the night, and I will destroy your mother (Hosea 4:4-5).
ote that in ‘a’ YHWH has a controversy with His people, and the land has no
truth, goodness or knowledge of God, and in the parallel the people are not to strive
with YHWH and they and the prophets stumble whether it be light or dark. In ‘b’
the land is full of breaches of the covenant, and in the parallel the consequence is
that the land and all that is in it mourns and languishes. Centrally in ‘c’ bloodshed
is widespread.
K&D, "Introduction
II. The Ungodliness of Israel. Its Punishment, and Final Deliverance - Hosea 4-14
The spiritual adultery of Israel, with its consequences, which the prophet has
exposed in the first part, and chiefly in a symbolical mode, is more elaborately

detailed here, not only with regard to its true nature, viz., the religious apostasy and
moral depravity which prevailed throughout the ten tribes, but also in its inevitable
consequences, viz., the destruction of the kingdom and rejection of the people; and
this is done with a repeated side-glance at Judah. To this there is appended a solemn
appeal to return to the Lord, and a promise that the Lord will have compassion
upon the penitent, and renew His covenant of grace with them.
The Depravity of Israel, and Its Exposure to Punishment - Hosea 4-6:3
The first section, in which the prophet demonstrates the necessity for judgment, by
exposing the sins and follies of Israel, is divided into two parts by the similar
openings, “Hear the word of the Lord” in Hosea 4:1, and “Hear ye this” in Hosea
5:1. The distinction between the two halves is, that in ch. 4 the reproof of their sins
passes from Israel as a whole, to the sins of the priests in particular; whilst in Hosea
5:1-15 it passes from the ruin of the priesthood to the depravity of the whole nation,
and announces the judgment of devastation upon Ephraim, and then closes in Hosea
6:1-3 with a command to return to the Lord. The contents of the two chapters,
however, are so arranged, that it is difficult to divide them into strophes.
The Sins of Israel and the Visitation of God - Hosea 4
Verse 1
Hosea 4:1-5 form the first strophe, and contain, so to speak, the theme and the sum
and substance of the whole of the following threatening of punishment and
judgment. Hosea 4:1. “Hear the word of Jehovah, ye sons of Israel! for Jehovah has
a controversy with the inhabitants of the land; for there is no truth, and no love, and
no knowledge of God in the land.” Israel of the ten tribes is here addressed, as
Hosea 4:15 clearly shows. The Lord has a controversy with it, has to accuse and
judge it (cf. Micah 6:2), because truth, love, and the knowledge of God have
vanished from the land. ('Emeth) and chesed are frequently associated, not merely
as divine attributes, but also as human virtues. They are used here in the latter
sense, as in Proverbs 3:3. “There is no ('ĕmeth), i.e., no truthfulness, either in speech
or action, no one trusting another any more” (cf. Jeremiah 9:3-4). (Chesed) is not
human love generally, but love to inferiors, and to those who need help or
compassionate love. Truth and love are mutually conditions, the one of the other.
“Truth cannot be sustained without mercy; and mercy without truth makes men
negligent; so that the one ought to be mingled with the other” (Jerome). They both
have their roots in the knowledge of God, of which they are the fruit (Jeremiah
22:16; Isaiah 11:9); for the knowledge of God is not merely “an acquaintance with
His nature and will” (Hitzig), but knowledge of the love, faithfulness, and
compassion of God, resting upon the experience of the heart. Such knowledge not
only produces fear of God, but also love and truthfulness towards brethren (cf.
Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:12.). Where this is wanting, injustice gains the upper
hand.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "I. THE LORD’S QUARREL WITH
ISRAEL

Hosea 4:1-19
"Hear the word of Jehovah, sons of Israel! Jehovah hath a quarrel with the
inhabitants of the land, for there is no truth nor real love nor knowledge of God in
the land. Perjury and murder and theft and adultery! They break out, and blood
strikes upon blood."
That stable and well-furnished life, across which, while it was still noon, Amos
hurled his alarms-how quickly it has broken up! If there be still "ease in Zion,"
there is no more "security in Samaria." [Amos 6:1] The great Jeroboam is dead, and
society, which in the East depends so much on the individual, is loose and falling to
pieces. The sins which are exposed by Amos were those that lurked beneath a still
strong government, but Hosea adds outbreaks which set all order at defiance. Later
we shall find him describing housebreaking, highway robbery, and assassination.
"Therefore doth the land wither, and every one of her denizens languisheth, even to
the beast of the field and the fowl of the heaven; yea, even the fish of the sea are
swept up" in the universal sickness of man and nature: for Hosea feels, like Amos,
the liability of nature to the curse upon sin.
Yet the guilt is not that of the whole people, but of their religious guides. "Let none
find fault and none upbraid, for My people are but as their priestlings. O Priest,
thou hast stumbled today: and stumble tonight shall the prophet with thee." One
order of the nation’s ministers goes staggering after the other!"‘ And I will destroy
thy Mother," presumably the nation herself. "Perished are My people for lack of
knowledge." But how? By the sin of their teachers. "Because thou," O Priest, "hast
rejected knowledge, I reject thee from being priest to Me; and as thou hast forgotten
the Torah of thy God, I forget thy children- I on My side. As many as they be, so
many have sinned against Me." Every jack-priest of them is culpable. "They have
turned their glory into shame. They feed on the sin of My people, and to the guilt of
these lift up their appetite!" The more the people sin, the more merrily thrive the
priests by fines and sin-offerings. They live upon the vice of the day, and have a
vested interest in its crimes. English Langland said the same thing of the friars of his
time. The contention is obvious. The priests have given themselves wholly to the
ritual; they have forgotten that their office is an intellectual and moral one. We shall
return to this when treating of Hosea’s doctrine of knowledge and its
responsibilities. Priesthood, let us only remember, priesthood is an intellectual trust.
"Thus it comes to be-like people like priest: "they also have fallen under the ritual,
doing from lust what the priests do from greed. "But I will visit upon them their
ways, and their deeds will I requite to them. For they" (those) "shall eat and not be
satisfied," (these) "shall play the harlot and have no increase, because they have left
off heeding Jehovah." This absorption in ritual at the expense of the moral and
intellectual elements of religion has insensibly led them over into idolatry, with all
its unchaste and drunken services. "Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the
brains!" The result is seen in the stupidity with which they consult their stocks for
guidance. "My people! of its bit of wood it asketh counsel, and its staff telleth to it"

the oracle! "For a spirit of harlotry hath led them astray, and they have played the
harlot from their God. Upon the headlands of the hills they sacrifice, and on the
heights offer incense, under oak or poplar or terebinth, for the shade of them is
pleasant." On "headlands," not summits, for here no trees grow; and the altar was
generally built under a tree and near water on some promontory, from which the
flight of birds or of clouds might be watched. "Wherefore"-because of this your
frequenting of the heathen shrines-"your daughters play the harlot and your
daughters-in-law commit adultery. I will not come with punishment upon your
daughters because they play the harlot, nor upon your daughters-in-law because
they commit adultery." Why? For "they themselves," the fathers of Israel-or does
he still mean the priests?-"go aside with the harlots and sacrifice with the common
women of the shrines! "It is vain for the men of a nation to practice impurity and
fancy that nevertheless they can keep their womankind chaste. "So the stupid
people fall to ruin!"
("Though thou play the harlot, Israel, let not Judah bring guilt on herself. And
come not to Gilgal, and go not up to Beth-Aven, and take not your oath at the Well-
of-the-Oath, BeerSheba, "By the life of Jehovah!" This obvious parenthesis may be
either by Hosea or a later writer; the latter is more probable.")
"Yea, like a wild heifer Israel has gone wild. How now can Jehovah feed them like a
lamb in a broad meadow?" To treat this clause interrogatively is the only way to get
sense out of it. "Wedded to idols is Ephraim: leave him alone." The participle means
"mated" or "leagued." The corresponding noun is used of a wife as the "mate" of
her husband [Malachi 2:4] and of an idolater as the "mate" of his idols. [Isaiah
44:11] The expression is doubly appropriate here, since Hosea used marriage as the
figure of the relation of a deity to his worshippers. "Leave him alone"-he must go
from bad to worse. "Their drunkenness over, they take to harlotry: her rulers have
fallen in love with shame," or "they love shame more than their pride." But in spite
of all their servile worship the Assyrian tempest shall sweep them away in its trail.
"A wind hath wrapt them up in her skirts; and they shall be put to shame by their
sacrifices."
This brings the passage to such a climax as Amos loved to crown his periods. And
the opening of the next chapter offers a new exordium.
ISBET, "A TERRIBLE I DICTME T
‘The Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.’
Hosea 4:1
I. Abandoning the parabolic style, the prophet now turns to very straight and
incisive dealing with the sins of Israel.—This chapter contains a terrible indictment
against the chosen people. There was no truth, mercy, nor knowledge of God among
them; swearing, breaking faith, theft, murder, and adultery were rife on every side,
so that the very land groaned and travailed in pain. othing could avert the
judgment of God that must follow on such crimes.
The priests were chiefly guilty, and it is against them that the Divine judgments

would be specially directed (Hosea 4:6, etc.). How terrible it is when those who
should be the leaders in righteousness, both by word and deed, pervert the people!
Dante places false priests in the nethermost circle of the lake of fire. And let it
always be remembered that one of Satan’s most subtle temptations is the suggestion
that we must be right, because all men think so, and that we have dealt with our
own sins because we are so strict in reproving them.
II. What a picture of our own heart is given in these verses!—We are reminded of
Bunyan’s words in Grace Abounding. He says: ‘My original and inward pollution
was my plague and my affliction. It was always putting itself forth within me, and I
had the guilt of it to amazement, by reason of which I was more loathsome in my
own eyes than a toad, and I thought I was in God’s eyes also. Sin and corruption
would bubble up out of my heart as naturally as water bubbles up out of a fountain.
I thought now that every one had a better heart than I had. I could have changed
heart with anybody; and thought none but the devil himself could equalise me for
inward wickedness and pollution of mind.’
Illustration
‘It is not so great an offence for men to sin as for them not to be willing to suffer the
reproval of sin. For when they live in such a way as that their hearts have a horror
of the cure of their malady, punishment can no longer delay. This sin is the most
common of our time. Just look at Christian churches, and you will see everywhere
that the teachers are hated for rebuking sin so freely. But this only excites God’s
wrath more fiercely against us. For not man but God rebukes and challenges the
sinner.’
PULPIT, "
A new and distinct division of the book commences with this fourth chapter and
continues till the close. What had previously been presented in figure and symbol is
now plainly and literally stated. The children of Israel are summoned in the first
verse of this chapter to hear the charge preferred against them and the sentence
pronounced. Having convened, as it were, a public assembly and cited the persons
concerned, the prophet proceeds to show cause why they are bound to give an
attentive hearing. In God's controversy with the people of the land the prophet acts
as his ambassador, accusing the people of great and grievous sins, and vindicating
the justice of God's judgments in their punishment. The ki with which the last
clause of the verse commences may be either causal or recitative, and may thus
specify either the ground or subject of controversy. It is commonly understood here
in the former sense. Israel is charged with want of truth, mercy, and the knowledge
of God. Kimchi comments on this controversy as follows: "With the inhabitants of
the land of Israel I have a controversy, for I gave them the land on the condition
that they should exercise righteousness and judgment, and on this condition I
pledged myself to them that my eyes would be upon them from the beginning of the
year to the end of the year. But since they practice the opposite—cursing, lying,
etc.—I also will act with them in a way contrary to what I assured them, and will
hide my face from them." He adds, "There were some righteous among them, but

they were few, and they hid themselves from the face of the multitude who were
wicked." Truth and mercy are at once Divine attributes and human virtues; it is in
the latter sense, of course, that they are here employed. Truth includes works as well
as words, doing as well as saying; it implies uprightness in speech and behavior—
thorough integrity of character and conduct, Mercy goes beyond and supplements
this. We sometimes say of such a one that he is an honest but a hard man. Mercy
combined with truth, on the contrary, makes a man kind as well as honest,
benevolent as well as upright. In a somewhat similar sense the apostle conjoins
goodness and righteousness when he says, "Scarcely for a righteous man will one
die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die." The knowledge
of God is the real root of these two virtues of truth and mercy. If we know God as he
is in himself and as he stands in his relations to us, we shall conform our conduct to
his character and our actions to his will. If we know God to be a God of truth, who
delighteth in truth in the inward parts, we shall cultivate truth in our hearts,
express it with our lips, and practice it in our lives. If we know God as a God of
mercy, who has shown such boundless mercy to us in pardoning our multiplied and
aggravated offences, we shall imitate that mercy in our relations to our fellow-man;
nor shall we enact the part of the merciless man in the parable, who owed his lord
ten thousand talents, and who, having nothing to pay, was freely forgiven the debt;
but finding his fellow-servant, who owed him only an hundred pence, laid hands on
him and took him by the throat, saying, "Pay me that thou owest," and, deaf to that
fellow-servant's supplications, east him into prison till he should pay the debt. The
intimate connection of the knowledge of God with the virtues in question is
confirmed by the Prophet Jeremiah, "Did not thy father eat and drink, and do
judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? he judged the cause of the
poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me, saith the
Lord?"
K&D, "Hos_4:1-5 form the first strophe, and contain, so to speak, the theme and the
sum and substance of the whole of the following threatening of punishment and
judgment. Hos_4:1. “Hear the word of Jehovah, ye sons of Israel! for Jehovah has a
controversy with the inhabitants of the land; for there is no truth, and no love, and no
knowledge of God in the land.” Israel of the ten tribes is here addressed, as Hos_4:15
clearly shows. The Lord has a controversy with it, has to accuse and judge it (cf. Mic_
6:2), because truth, love, and the knowledge of God have vanished from the land. 'Emeth
and chesed are frequently associated, not merely as divine attributes, but also as human
virtues. They are used here in the latter sense, as in Pro_3:3. “There is no 'ĕmeth, i.e., no
truthfulness, either in speech or action, no one trusting another any more” (cf. Jer_9:3-
4). Chesed is not human love generally, but love to inferiors, and to those who need help
or compassionate love. Truth and love are mutually conditions, the one of the other.
“Truth cannot be sustained without mercy; and mercy without truth makes men
negligent; so that the one ought to be mingled with the other” (Jerome). They both have
their roots in the knowledge of God, of which they are the fruit (Jer_22:16; Isa_11:9); for
the knowledge of God is not merely “an acquaintance with His nature and will” (Hitzig),
but knowledge of the love, faithfulness, and compassion of God, resting upon the
experience of the heart. Such knowledge not only produces fear of God, but also love and
truthfulness towards brethren (cf. Eph_4:32; Col_3:12.). Where this is wanting,

injustice gains the upper hand.
BI, "Hear the Word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy
with the inhabitants of the land.
A corrupt people and an expostulating God
In the previous chapters the prophet’s language had been highly and somewhat
perplexingly symbolical. In this chapter he begins to speak more plainly and in
sententious utterances.
I. A corrupt people. The depravity of Israel is represented—
1. Negatively. “There is no truth,” etc. These are the great fontal virtues in the
universe; and where they are not, there is a moral abjectness of the most terrible
description. A people without reality, their very life a lie. No acts of beneficence
performed, and the very spirit of kindliness extinct. The greatest, the holiest Being in
the universe utterly ignored.
2. Positively. The absence of these great virtues gives rise to tremendous crimes.
(1) Profanity. Reverence is gone.
(2) Falsehood.
(3) Killing.
(4) Dishonesty.
(5) Incontinence.
(6) Murder.
II. An expostulating God. “The Lord hath controversy.” Of all controversies this is the
most awful.
1. It is a just controversy. Has not the great Ruler of the universe a right to contend
against such evils?
2. It is a continuous controversy.
3. It is an unequal controversy. What are all human intellects to His? Sparks to the
sun. The sinner has no argument to put before Him. He cannot deny his sins. He
cannot plead accidents. He cannot plead compulsion. He cannot plead some merit as
a set-off, for he has none. This controversy is still going on. It is held in the court of
conscience, and you must know of its existence and character. (Homilist.)
Jehovah’s controversy with Israel
In this chapter Israel is cited to appear at God’s tribunal. There the Lord makes the
following accusations—
1. Gross violation of both Tables of the Law, both by omission and by commission.
God threatens, because of this, to send extreme desolation.
2. Desperate incorrigibleness. He threatens to destroy such, and the false prophets,
and the body of the people and Church.
3. God accuseth the priests in Israel, that, through their fault, the people were kept

in ignorance. He threatens to cast them and their posterity off. He further accuses
the priests of ingratitude towards Elm, for which He threatens to turn their glory
into ignominy. And tie even accuses them of sensuality and covetousness, rendering
them unfaithful to their calling.
4. He accuses the whole people of gross idolatry, and threatens not to restrain their
sin by corrections.
5. He accuses them of the idolatry of the calves, from which He dissuades Judah, as
being an evidence of Israel’s wantonness, and the cause of their ensuing exile.
6. He accuses Ephraim, the kingly tribe, of their incorrigibleness in idolatry, their
intemperance, filthiness, and corruption of justice through covetousness. For this He
threatens sudden and violent destruction and captivity, where they should be
ashamed of their corrupt worship. (George Hutcheson.)
The Divine suit with Israel
I. The suit commenced.
1. The knowledge that any truth is the Word of the Lord is a special means to prepare
the heart to receive it with reverence and all due respect, even though it be hard and
grievous to flesh and blood.
2. The nearness of a people to God does not exempt them from God’s contending
with them for sin.
3. The nearer the relationship the more grievous the controversy.
II. The pleading of God. A suit first is entered against a man; when the court day comes,
there is calling for a declaration.
1. God contends not with a people without a cause.
2. God contends not against a people for little things. These are not little things “No
truth, no mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.”
3. It is in vain for any man to talk of his religion, if he make no conscience of the
second table as well as the first.
III. Judgment pronounced (Hos_4:3, etc.). “Therefore shall the land mourn.”
1. All the glory and pomp of the men of the world is but as a flower.
2. Times of affliction take down the jollity and bravery of men’s spirits, and make
them fade, wither, and pine away.
3. The good or evil of the creature depends on man.
4. God, when in a way of wrath, can cause His wrath to reach to those things that
seem to be most remote.
5. No creature can help man in the time of God’s wrath, for every creature suffers as
well as man.
IV. Exhortation to Judah to beware that she come not into the same condition (Hos_
4:15). The prophet Hosea was sent especially to Israel, to the Ten Tribes, but here we see
he turns his speech to Judah.

1. Ministers should especially look to those whom they are bound unto by office, but
yet so as to labour to benefit others when occasion offers.
2. When we see our labour lost on those we most desire to benefit, we should try
what we can do with others. There were many arguments why Judah should not do
as Israel did.
V. Execution, God in his wrath giving up Ephraim to himself (verse 17).
1. Ephraim engaging himself in false worship is now so inwrapped in that sin and
guilt that he cannot tell how to extricate himself.
2. The Lord has given him up to his idols.
(1) It is a heavy judgment upon a people when the saints withdraw from them.
(2) The Lord here virtually says to Hosea, “You can do no good to them, it is in
vain for you to meddle with Ephraim.” God has a time to give men over to
themselves, to say that His Spirit shall no longer strive with them. It is the most
woeful judgment of God upon any people, or person, when He saith in His wrath,
“Let him alone.” It is a testimony of very great disregard in God for His creatures.
Those thus let alone are going apace to misery. God intends by this to make way
for some fearful wrath that is to come upon them. It is a dreadful sign of
reprobation. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
The Lord’s controversy
The court is set, and both attendance and attention are demanded. Whom may God
expect to give Him a fair hearing, and take from Him a fair warning, but the children of
Israel, His own professing people? Sin is the great mischief-maker; it sows discord
between God and Israel. God sees sin in His own people, and a good action He has
against them for it. He has a controversy with them for breaking covenant with Him, for
bringing a reproach upon Him, and for an ungrateful return to Him for His favours.
God’s controversies will be pleaded, pleaded by the judgments of His mouth before they
are pleaded by the judgments of His hand, that He may be justified in all He does, and
may make it appear that He desires not the death of sinners; and God’s pleadings ought
to be attended to, for, sooner or later, they shall have a hearing. (Matthew Henry.)
There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
Things that go with the knowledge of God
Truth and mercy are often spoken of as to Almighty God. Truth takes in all which is
right, and to which God has bound Himself; mercy all beyond which God does out of His
boundless love. When God says of Israel there is no truth nor mercy, He says that there
is absolutely none of those two great qualities under which He comprises all His own
goodness. “There is no truth,” none whatever, “no regard for known truth; no
conscience, no sincerity, no uprightness; no truth of words; no truth of promises; no
truth in witnessing; no making good in deeds what they said in words.” “Nor mercy.”
This word has a wide meaning; it includes all love to one another, a love issuing in acts.
It includes lovingkindness, piety to parents, natural affection, forgiveness, tenderness,
beneficence, mercy, goodness. The prophet, in declaring the absence of this grace,
declares the absence of all included under it. Whatever could be comprised under love,

whatever feelings are influenced by love, of that there was nothing. “Nor knowledge of
God.” The union of right knowledge and wrong practice is hideous in itself; and it must
be especially offensive to Almighty God that His creatures should know whom they
offend, how they offend Him, and yet, amid and against their knowledge, choose that
which displeases Him. And on that ground, perhaps, He has so created us, that when our
acts are wrong, our knowledge becomes darkened. The knowledge of God is not merely
to know some things of God, as that He is the Creator and Preserver of the world and of
ourselves. To know things of God is not to know God Himself. We cannot know God in
any respect unless we are so far made like unto Him. Knowledge of God being tim gift of
the Holy Ghost, he who hath not grace, cannot have that knowledge. A certain degree of
speculative knowledge of God a bad man may have. But even this knowledge is not
retained without love. Those who “held the truth in unrighteousness” ended (St. Paul
says) by corrupting it. Certainly, the speculative and practical, knowledge are bound up
together through the oneness of the relation of the soul to God, whether in its thoughts
of Him, or its acts towards Him. Wrong practice corrupts belief, as misbelief corrupts
practice. The prophet then probably denies that there was any true knowledge of God, of
any sort, whether of life or faith, or understanding or love. Ignorance of God, then, is a
great evil, a source of all other sins. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
A national duty
No one can fail to acknowledge in this terrible picture a representation of every people
which habitually breaks the laws of God; and who, having set themselves free from the
restraints of religion, or, through ignorance, being unconscious of their obligation, are
delivered up to the working of their own heart’s lusts, and to follow their own
imaginations. This consummation of depravity is even found in the chosen people of
God. There was no truth where the great Source of all truth had announced the laws of
moral perfection: there was no mercy where the prodigies of Divine compassion had
been manifested from one generation to another: there was no knowledge of God where
alone God could be known, and in the only place in which the principles of His
government, and the attributes of His person, had been revealed to man. What rendered
the case of Israel desperate, and remedy impossible, was this, that those who had been
set apart as the depositaries of Divine knowledge, and who, by their life and doctrine,
had been intended by the Almighty to act constantly, as a conservative power, against
the corruptions of the mass, had yielded themselves to the popular torrent, and turned
rank and station, the dignity of a holy vocation, and the talents of knowledge and
intellect to the promotion of those vices which God had given them a solemn
commission to withstand. They were weary of resisting the tendencies of the age and the
godless spirit which found too complete an echo in their own hearts. So the princes and
priests of Israel deserted their post, sealed up the records of God’s Word, and by ceasing
to inculcate the awful sanctions of His law, and concealing from the people those oracles
in which alone knowledge and wisdom are to be found, filled up to the brim the measure
of their iniquity. That measure was filled up because they who had knowledge and had
the guardianship of God’s heritage had turned traitors and withheld the Bread of Life
from the famishing people. To whatever privileges a people may have been elected, no
outward marks of distinction, apart from a corresponding holiness, will avail in the sight
of Him who is no respecter of persons, and who trieth the very reins and hearts. The
history of Israel is nothing but the annals of those judgments with which tie has visited
their abuse of mercies, and their never-ending neglect or perversion of that most awful
of all deposits, spiritual knowledge. If men in all times have been made accountable to

God for the fate of their fellowcreatures, and most assuredly they have, it behoves us to
look well to our own case, and beware how we involve ourselves in the participation of
such guilt. Let us not deceive ourselves by supposing that the sins and the sanctions, the
moral actions and the moral dealings of the eider covenant are inapplicable to ourselves.
Considerable differences there may be, but they are all against us, and an increase of our
responsibility. It is known to few of us how vast are the masses of ignorance and vice
which undermine the surface of this favoured land. (J. Garbett.)
2 There is only cursing,[a] lying and murder,
stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
BAR ES, "By swearing, and lying ... - Literally, “swearing or cursing” , “and
lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery!” The words in Hebrew are
nouns of action. The Hebrew form is very vivid and solemn. It is far more forcible than if
he had said, “They swear, lie, kill, and steal.” It expresses that these sins were continual,
that nothing else (so to speak) was going on; that it was all one scene of such sins, one
course of them, and of nothing besides; as we say more familiarly, “It was all, swearing,
lying, killing, stealing, committing adultery.” It is as if the prophet, seeing with a sight
above nature, a vision from God, saw, as in a picture, what was going on, all around,
within and without, and summed up in this brief picture, all which he saw. This it was
and nothing but this, which met his eyes, wherever he looked, whatever he heard,
“swearing, lying, killing, stealing, committing adultery.” The prophet had before said,
that the ten tribes were utterly lacking in all truth, all love, all knowledge of God. But
where there are none of these, “there,” in all activity, will be the contrary vices. When the
land or the soul is empty of the good, it will be full of the evil. “They break out,” i. e.,
burst through all bounds, set to restrain them, as a river bursts its banks and
overspreads all things or sweeps all before it. “And blood toucheth blood,” literally,
“bloods touch bloods” . The blood was poured so continuously and in such torrents, that
it flowed on, until stream met stream and formed one wide inundation of blood.
CLARKE, "By swearing, and lying - Where there is no truth there will be lies and
perjury; for false swearing is brought in to confirm lying statements. And when there is
no mercy, killing, slaying, and murders, will be frequent. And where there is no

knowledge of God, no conviction of his omnipresence and omniscience, private offenses,
such as stealing, adulteries, etc., will prevail. These, sooner or later, break out, become a
flood, and carry all before them. Private stealing will assume the form of a public
robbery, and adulteries become fashionable, especially among the higher orders; and
suits of crim. con. render them more public, scandalous, and corrupting. By the
examination of witnesses, and reading of infamous letters in a court of justice, people are
taught the wiles and stratagems to be used to accomplish these ends, and prevent
detection; and also how to avoid those circumstances which have led to the detection of
others. Every report of such matters is an experimental lecture on successful
debauchery.
Blood toucheth blood - Murders are not only frequent, but assassinations are
mutual. Men go out to kill each other; as in our duels, the frenzy of cowards; and as there
is no law regarded, and no justice in the land, the nearest akin slays the murderer. Even
in our land, where duels are so frequent, if a man kill his antagonist, it is murder; and so
generally brought in by an honest coroner and his jury. It is then brought into court; but
who is hanged for it? The very murder is considered as an affair of honor, though it
began in a dispute about a prostitute; and it is directed to be brought in manslaughter;
and the murderer is slightly fined for having hurried his neighbor, perhaps once his
friend, into the eternal world, with all his imperfections on his head! No wonder that a
land mourns where these prevail; and that God should have a controversy with it. Such
crimes as these are sufficient to bring God’s curse upon any land. And how does God
show his displeasure? See the following verse.
GILL, "By swearing, and lying,.... Which some join together, and make but one sin
of it, false swearing, so Jarchi and Kimchi; but that swearing itself signifies, as the
Targum interprets it; for it not only takes in all cursing and imprecations, profane oaths,
and taking the name of God in vain, and swearing by the creatures, but may chiefly
design perjury; which, though one kind of "lying", may be distinguished from it here; the
latter intending "lying" in common, which the devil is the father of, mankind are incident
unto, and which is abominable to God, whether in civil or in religious things: "and
killing, and stealing and committing adultery"; murders, thefts, and adulteries, were very
common with them; sins against the sixth, eighth, and seventh commandments:
they break out; through all the restraints of the laws of God and man, like an unruly
horse that breaks his bridle and runs away; or like wild beasts, that break down the
fences and enclosures about them, and break out, and get away; or like a torrent of
water, that breaks down its dams and banks, and overflows the meadows and plains;
such a flood and deluge of sin abounded in the nation. Some render it, "they thieve" (o);
or act the part of thieves and robbers: and the Targum,
"they beget sons of their neighbours' wives;''
and so Abarbinel interprets it of breaking through the hedge of another man's wife; but
these sins are observed before:
and blood toucheth blood; which some understand of sins in general, so called,
because filthy and abominable; and of the addition and multiplication of them, there
being as it were heaps of them, or rather a chain of them linked together. So the Targum,
"and they add sins to sins.''

Others interpret it of impure mixtures, of incestuous lusts, or marriages contrary to the
ties of blood, and laws of consanguinity, Lev_18:6, or rather it is to be understood of the
great effusion of blood, and frequency of murders; so that there was scarce any interval
between them, but a continued series of them. Some think respect is had to the frequent
slaughter of their kings; Zachariah the son of Jeroboam was slain by Shallum, when he
had reigned but six months; and Shallum was slain by Menahem when he had reigned
but one month; and this Menahem was a murderer of many, smote many places, and
ripped up the women with child; Pekahiah his son was killed by Pekah the son of
Remaliah, and he again by Hoshea, 2Ki_15:8.
HE RY, " 2. Hence follows national commissions of the most enormous sins against
both the first and second table, for they had no regard at all to either. Swearing, and
lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, against the third, ninth, sixth,
eighth, and seventh commandments, were to be found in all corners of the land, and
among all orders and degrees of men among them, Hos_4:2. The corruption was
universal; what good people there were among them were either lost or hid, or they hid
themselves. By these they break out, that is, they transgress all bounds of reason and
conscience, and the divine law; they have exceeded (Job_36:9); they have been
overmuch wicked (Ecc_7:17); they suffer their corruptions to break out; they themselves
break over, and break through, all that stands in their way and would stop them in their
sinful career, as water overflows the banks. Note, Sin is a violent thing and its power
exorbitant; when men's hearts are fully set in them to do evil (Ecc_8:11) what will be
restrained from them? Gen_11:6. When they break out thus blood touches blood, that is,
abundance of murders are committed in all parts of the country, and, as it were, in a
constant series and succession. Caedes aliae aliis sunt contiguae - Murders touch
murders; a stream of blood runs down among them, even royal blood. It was about this
time that there was so much blood shed in grasping at the crown; Shallum slew
Zechariah, and Menahem slew Shallum, Pekah slew Pekahiah, and Hoshea slew Pekah;
and the like bloody work, it is likely, there was among other contenders, so that the land
was polluted with blood (Psa_106:38); it was filled with blood from one end to the
other, 2Ki_21:16.
JAMISO , "they break out — bursting through every restraint.
blood toucheth blood — literally, “bloods.” One act of bloodshed follows another
without any interval between (see 2Ki_15:8-16, 2Ki_15:25; Mic_7:2).
CALVI , "Verse 2
But after having said that they were full of perfidiousness and cruelty, he adds, By
cursing, and lying, and killing, etc. , ‫,אלה‬ ale, means to swear: some explain it in this
place as signifying to forswear; and others read the two together, ‫וכחש‬ ‫,אלה‬ ale
ucachesh, to swear and lie, that is to deceive by swearing. But as ‫אלה‬ “alah” means
often to curse, the Prophet here, I doubt not, condemns the practice of cursing,
which was become frequent and common among the people.
But he enumerates particulars in order more effectually to check the fierceness of
the people; for the wicked, we know, do not easily bend their neck: they first
murmur, then they clamour against wholesome instruction, and at last they rage

with open fury, and break out into violence, when they cannot otherwise stop the
progress of sound doctrine. How ever this may be, we see that they are not easily led
to own their sins. This is the reason why the Prophet shows here, by stating
particulars, in how many ways they provoked God’s wrath: ‘Lo,’ he says ‘cursings,
lyings, murder, thefts, adulteries, abound among you.’ And the Prophet seems here
to allude to the precepts of the law; as though he said, “If any one compares your
life with the law of God, he will find that you avowedly and designedly lead such a
life, as proves that you fight against God, that you violate every part of his law.”
But it must be here observed, that he speaks not of such thieves or murderers as are
led in our day to the gallows, or are otherwise punished. On the contrary, he calls
them thieves and murderers and adulterers, who were in high esteem, and eminent
in honor and wealth, and who, in short, were alone illustrious among the people of
Israel: such did the Prophet brand with these disgraceful names, calling them
murderers and thieves. So also does Isaiah speak of them, ‘Thy princes are robbers
and companions of thieves,’ (Isaiah 1:23.) And we already reminded you, that the
Prophet addresses not his discourses to few men, but to the whole people; for all,
from the least to the greatest, had fallen away.
He afterwards says, They have broken out. The expression no doubt is to be taken
metaphorically, as though he said, “There are now no bonds, no barriers.” For the
people so raged against God, that no modesty, no shame on account of the law, no
religion, no fear, prevailed among them, or checked their intractable spirit. Hence
they broke out. By the word, breaking out, the Prophet sets forth the furious
wantonness seen in the reprobate; when freed from the fear of God, they abandon
themselves to what is sinful, without any moderation, without any restraint.
And to the same purpose he subjoins, Bloods are contiguous to bloods. By bloods he
means all the worst crimes: and he says that bloods were close to bloods, because
they joined crimes together, and as Isaiah says, that iniquity was as it were a train;
so our Prophet says here, that such was the common liberty they took to sin, that
wherever he turned his eyes, he could see no part free from wickedness. Then bloods
are contiguous to bloods, that is, everywhere is seen the horrible spectacle of crimes.
This is the meaning. It now follows —
BE SO , "Verse 2
Hosea 4:2. By swearing — False swearing seems to be here chiefly intended, which is
here, as it is also elsewhere, joined with lying and stealing; because, in the Jewish
courts of justice, men that were suspected of theft were obliged to purge themselves
by an oath; and they often ventured to forswear themselves, rather than discover
the truth. The Hebrew word, ‫,אלה‬ here used, is rendered αρα by the LXX., that is,
execration, imprecation, or cursing, as Bishop Horsley renders it. Profane swearing,
however, or taking the name of God in vain, is doubtless included. The next word,
‫,כחשׁ‬ rendered lying, means falsehood in general: and especially, as some think, the
denying of deposites which had been left in their hands, and which, when the
owners came to claim them, they absolutely denied having received. And killing,

committing murders, either privately or with open violence. They break out —
Hebrew, ‫,פרצו‬ they burst out, or overflow, a metaphor taken from rivers breaking
their banks, and bearing down every obstacle by the impetuosity of their waters.
The meaning is, There is an inundation of all manner of wickedness, and all law and
equity is broken through and violated. And blood toucheth blood — One murder
follows upon another, and many are committed in all parts of the country, and as it
were, in a constant series and succession. This was probably spoken with an especial
reference to the murder of their kings by those who aspired to succeed them; as
Zechariah by Shallum, Shallum by Menahem, Pekah by Pekahiah and Hoshea. In
such civil broils a great many of their friends and dependants are commonly slain
with the kings themselves.
COFFMA , "Verse 2
"There is naught but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and
committing adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood."
The fact that the Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and inth commandments of the
Decalogue are here indicated by the fact of Israel's violation of them removes all
doubt of the Decalogue's prior existence as an essential element in the covenant of
God with Israel. Without that element of covenant-breaking in Israel's conduct,
God could not have had a "lawsuit" with them. We are amazed at the timid
recognition of this truth which rather cautiously states that this verse "seems to give
some support"[8] to the view that the Decalogue was prior to this prophecy! Indeed,
.indeed, two plus two might possibly equal four! As W.R. Harper more adequately
stated the obvious fact, "There is every reason to believe that the Decalogne in its
original form was at this time in existence."[9]
"Swearing and breaking faith ..." Such conduct violated the Third commandment
with its prohibition against taking the name of God in vain, and also the inth with
its prohibition against false witness.
"Killing ... stealing ... committing adultery ..." Commandments Six, Seven, and
Eight were broken in these actions; and, in fact, the utter repudiation of the whole
Law of God was evident in the rampant immorality, violence, and deceit which
characterized the conduct of Israel in the days of Hosea.
"Blood toucheth blood ..." This is evidently some kind of idiomatic expression
referring to massive and continual violence. The ew English Bible translates this
phrase, "nothing but one deed of blood after another."
TRAPP, "Verse 2
Hosea 4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing
adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
Ver. 2. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing] Heb. to swear, and lie, and
kill, and steal, and commit adultery. To do all this is held, licitum et solenne, lawful,
or at least pardonable. It is grown to a common practice; and custom of sinning

hath taken away sense of sin.
By swearing] Heb. by cursing, or swearing with an execration and cursing, which
was commonly added to an oath, to confirm it the more, Deuteronomy 29:12;
Deuteronomy 29:21, ehemiah 10:29. And, indeed, in every lawful oath God is
called to witness, to bless us if we swear right, and to curse ns if otherwise. Such an
oath is a special part of God’s worship, and is oft put for the whole, as here false and
frivolous oaths are put for the violation of the whole first table, and set in opposition
to the knowledge of God in the land; like as lying is opposed to truth, and killing,
stealing, whoring, to mercy or kindness. Before, God had complained of their
defects, or omissions; here, of their commissions and flagitious practices. Swearers
(but especially false swearers) are traitors to the state, as appeareth here and
Jeremiah 23:10; they bring a curse, nay, a large roll of curses (ten yards long, and
five yards broad, Zechariah 5:2), upon their hearts, and shall one day howl in hell.
The same word that is here rendered swearing signifieth also to howl or lament, Joel
1:8. Go to now, therefore, ye swearers, weep and howl for your miseries that shall
come upon you, James 5:1; James 5:12. Weep here, where there be wiping
handkerchiefs in the hand of Christ: better do so, than yell with devils who have
borrowed your mouths, to utter horrid blasphemies. Swearing is "of the devil,"
saith our Saviour, Matthew 5:37, and it brings men to the devil, saith St James,
James 5:12. They object that they swear nothing but the truth. But that is not
always so. Swearing and lying are here set together, as seldom sundered. The
marvel, if he that sweareth commonly do not forswear frequently; for he sweareth
away all his faith and truth. But, say they swear truth, yet that excuseth not. Truth
is but one circumstance of an oath, Jeremiah 4:2. Men, as they must swear in truth,
so in righteousness (not rashly, furiously), and in judgment, not in jest. Swear not in
jest, lest ye go to hell in earnest. It is the property and duty of a godly man to fear an
oath, Ecclesiastes 9:2, and not to forbear it only. As on the other side, no surer sign
of a profane person than common and customary swearing. It were well if such were
served as Louis IX of France served a citizen of Paris; he seared his lips for
swearing with a hot iron. And when some said it was too cruel an act, I would to
God, said he, that with searing my own lips with a hot iron I could banish out of the
realm all abuse of oaths. Those that plead they have gotten a custom to swear, and
therefore they must be borne with, shall have the like answer from God that the
thief had from the judge. He desired the judge to spare him, for stealing had been
his custom from his youth, and now he could not leave it. The judge replied, it was
also his custom to give judgment against such malefactors; and therefore he must be
condemned.
And lying] Fitly linked with swearing. Some gravel or mud ever passeth away with
much water; so do some lies with much swearing. How oft do men forget their oaths,
and swear again that they have not sworn at all! Should men’s excrements come
from them as oft, and they not feel it, they would be full sorry, and ashamed thereof.
ow swearing and lying defile men much worse than any jakes can do, Mark 7:22,
and render them odious to God and good men. Lying is a blushful evil; therefore

Hosea 4 commentary

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Hosea 4 commentary