This chapter treats of the sins and punishment of Israel for them, as the preceding; it is threatened and proclaimed that an enemy should come swiftly against them, because of their transgression of the covenant and law of God, Hos. 8:1; their hypocrisy is exposed, Hos.

Set the trumpet to thy mouth Or, “the trumpet to the roof of thy mouth” [[18]]; a concise expression denoting haste, and the vehemence of the passions speaking; they are either the words of the Lord to the prophet, as the Targum, “O prophet, cry with thy throat as with a trumpet, saying;” Aben Ezra…

Israel shall cry unto me, my God, we know thee. ] In their distress they shall cry to the Lord to help them, and have mercy on them, as they used to do when in trouble, ; when the eagle is come upon them, and just ready to devour them; when Samaria is besieged with file Assyrian army, their king…

Israel hath cast off the thing that is good Or “rejected him that is good” [[23]]; that is, God, as Kimchi observes; for there is none good but him, ; he is the “summum bonum”, “the chiefest good” to men, and is essentially, originally, and infinitely good in himself, and the fountain of all…

They have set up kings, but not by me Not by his authority, order, and command; not by asking advice of him, or his leave, but of themselves, and of their own, accord: this refers to the case of Jeroboam their first king, after their separation from the house of David, and from the tribes of Judah…

Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off Or, is the cause of thy being cast off by the Lord, and of being cast out of thine own land, and carried captive into another; the past tense is used for the future, as is common in prophetic writings, to denote the certainty of the thing: or “thy calf hath…

For from Israel was it also That is, the calf was from Israel; it was an invention of theirs, as some say; they did not borrow it from their neighbours, as they did other idols, but it was their own contrivance: but this tines not seem to be fact; for the calf, the making of it indeed, was of…

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind, &c.] The sense is, the Israelites took a great deal of pains in the idolatrous worship of the calves, and made a great stir, bustle, and noise in it, like the wind; were very vainglorious and ostentatious, made a great show of religion…

Israel is swallowed up Not only their substance, but their persons also, the whole nation of them, their whole estate, civil and ecclesiastic: it notes the utter destruction of them by the Assyrians, so that nothing of them and theirs remained; just as anyone is swallowed up and devoured by a…

For they are gone up to Assyria Or, “though they should go up to Assyria” [[6]]; to the king of Assyria, to gain his friendship, and enter into alliance with him; as, when Pal king of Assyria came against them, Menahem king of Israel went forth to meet him, and gave him a thousand talents of silver…

Yea, though they have hired among the nations That is, lovers, as before; got into confederacies and alliances with the nations about them, thinking thereby to strengthen their hands, and secure themselves and their kingdom; particular regard may be had to the Egyptians, as distinct from the…

Because Ephraim hath, made many altars to sin Not with an intention to commit sin, but to offer sacrifice for sin, and make atonement for it, as they thought; but these altars being erected for the sake of idols, and sacrifices offered on them to them, they sinned in so doing, and were the cause of…

I have written to him the great things of my law Which was given by Moses to Israel at the appointment of God, in which were many commands, holy, just, and true; a multiplicity of them, as the Targum, relating to the honour of God, and the good of men; many excellent and useful ones of a moral…

They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it Or, “as to the sacrifices mine offerings” or “gifts, they sacrifice flesh, and eat it” [[13]]; these sacrifices, which, according to the law, should given to God when they offered them, they did not give them to him, they took…

For Israel hath forgotten his Maker The Creator and Preserver of everyone of them, and who had raised them up to a state and kingdom, and had made them great and rich, and populous, and bestowed many favours and blessings on them; and yet they forgot him, to give him glory, and to serve and worship…