Comments on Hosea 11 This chapter contains a lot of obscure and difficult Hebrew. The JPS translation on this chapter is considerably clearer than the KJV. It also offers a number of emendations which will be obvious when compared to the KJV. Which is better? Hard to say when the Hebrew is as obscure as it is. 1 I fell in love with Israel When he was still a child; And I have called [him] My son Ever since Egypt. 2 Thus were they called, But they went their own way; They sacrifice to Baalim And offer to carved images. 3 I have pampered Ephraim, Taking them in My arms; But they have ignored My healing care. 4 I drew them with human ties, With cords of love; But I seemed to them as one Who imposed a yoke on their jaws, Though I was offering them food. 5 No! They return to the land of Egypt, And Assyria is their king. Because they refuse to repent, 6 A sword shall descend upon their towns And consume their limbs And devour [them] because of their designs. 7 For My people persists In its defection from Me; When it is summoned upward, It does not rise at all. 8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah, Render you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart, All My tenderness is stirred. 9 I will not act on My wrath, Will not turn to destroy Ephraim. For I am God, not man, The Holy One in your midst: I will not come in fury. 10 The Lord will roar like a lion, And they shall march behind Him; When He roars, His children shall come Fluttering out of the west. 11 They shall flutter from Egypt like sparrows, From the land of Assyria like doves; And I will settle them in their homes - declares the Lord v1-7 The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt personally, and has treated him like a son ever since (v. 1). Despite this, Israel strayed from the Lord and worshiped idols instead (v. 2). The Lord has lovingly carried Israel in His arms, but they have ignored Him and his care for them (v. 3). The Lord tried to draw them to Himself tenderly, but they saw it as being bound down and tied up even though the whole time He was blessing them (v. 4). Instead of relying on the Lord they have sought after Assyria and Egypt for political, economic, and military alliances (v. 5). As a result they will be cursed by the covenant and be turned over to the ravages of war (v. 6). They continue to defy Him despite His efforts to encourage them to repent, when the Lord summons them to rise up towards Him, they do not respond at all (v. 7). Note the incredible pathos of the text, the Lord is lamenting terribly over the rebellion of Israel, and He is not happy at all about the punishment to fall upon them. He wants to treat Israel as a son, instead Israel has spurned Him and He is terribly upset about it. v1 Note Israel is being characterized as a son instead of a wife as previously in ch. 1-3. This is to rhetorically connect the reference to the Exodus with the statement in Exod. 4:22-23. v8-9 The Lord is lamenting the decision to utterly annihilate Israel. He reflects upon it and relents. Rather than annihilating Israel, as was Admah and Zeboiim (cf. Deut. 29:23), He has a change of heart (v. 8). The Lord chooses not to act on His wrath as a mortal would. When He goes among them, He will not go in destructive fury (v. 9). Obviously, the Lord has decided to leave a righteous remnant among Israel per the Abrahamic Covenant, as referenced in 1:10. v10-11 This strophe builds on the subject of v. 8-9. There the Lord determines to leave a righteous remnant from Israel. When He roars like lion, to make Himself known, His righteous remnant will gather to Him (v. 10). They will gather to Him from all of the countries they had formerly resorted to (v. 11, cp. v. 5). v12 is better taken with ch. 12. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.