49 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Hosea 11 This chapter gives an account of the free and ancient love of God to Israel, and of the benefits and blessings of goodness he bestowed upon them; and of their ingratitude in not owning them, nor hearkening to his prophets, but sacrificing and burning incense to idols, Hosea 11:1; wherefore they are threatened with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him,.... Or, "for Israel [was] a child" (u); a rebellious and disobedient one, therefore his king was cut off in a morning, and he has been, and will be, without a king many days; yet still "I loved him": or, "though Israel [was] a child" (w); a weak, helpless, foolish, and imprudent one, "yet I loved him":...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have, I. The great goodness of God towards his people Israel, and the great things he had done for them, ver. 1, 3, 4. II. Their ungrateful conduct towards him, notwithstanding his favours towards them, ver. 2-4, 7, 12. III. Threatenings of wrath against them for their ingratitude and treachery, ver. 5, 6. IV. Mercy remembered...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. God’s love was very early love. He began with the nation of Israel when it was a mere handful of men in Egypt. There he multiplied them; and, in due time, he called them out from among the heathen. God’s love to some of us manifested itself at a very early period of our...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. God remembers what he did for us when we were young; and sin against him is much aggravated by his long kindness to us. He brings this up against his rebellious people, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him.” Some of you may remember your childhood with deep regret —...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
When Israel was a child, When the nation was yet young, and had scarcely started on its march among the peoples of the earth: “When Israel was a child,” — Hos_11:1. Then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. God’s love does not depend upon the standard of our spiritual attainments. While we are yet children in grace, the Father’s love is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[As] they called them, so they went from them,.... That is, the prophets of the Lord, the true prophets, called Israel to the worship and service of God; but they turned a deaf ear to them, and their backs upon them; and the more they called to them, the further they went from them, and from the way of their duty; see Hosea 11:7. So the Targum, "I...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. The nation of Israel did not fulfill the promise of its youth; it was not faithful to God. The people heard from the lips of Moses the command “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:” yet they turned aside continually to the idols...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. These people only had to be called away, and away they went. There are some of that sort. You have only to beckon them anywhere. Like a dog that is whistled to, they will follow anybody’s call. They leave God for anything, for nothing....
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
As they called them, so they went from them; Such was the perversity of this child-nation, whom nevertheless God loved that though galled by Jehovah, he went away, and refused to obey the divine call. The Israelites in Egypt “hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage;” and, even after their great deliverance, they were...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And burned incense to graven images. I taught Ephraim also to go, — This child-nation was taught by God how to walk; —
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I taught Ephraim also to go,.... All the tribes of Israel and Ephraim, or the ten tribes with the rest; these the Lord instructed in the way of his commandments, and taught them to walk therein; he his angel before them, to conduct them through the wilderness; yea, he himself went before them in the pillar of cloud by day, and in the pillar of...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I taught Ephraim also to go, — Just as nurses teach children to walk: “I taught Ephraim also to go,” — Hos_11:3. Taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. God has done great things for many of us who, possibly, have never noticed his hand at work on our behalf. Lives which were in great peril have been saved, yet the...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. God describes himself as acting like a nurse that holds a child up by its arms and teaches it its first steps. Yet they did not know what God was doing for them. God has done great things for many of us, and perhaps we have never recognized his command....
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Taking them by their arms; As nurses hold up their little children when for the first time they try to stand or toddle along. Hos_11:3. But they knew not that I healed them. This was a singular thing, and it shows the great blindness of man, that he does not know his own Physician. It was so with Israel: “They knew not that I healed them.” Surely,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love,.... As Ephraim is compared to a heifer in the preceding chapter, here he is said to be drawn; but not with such cords and bands as cattle are, but with such as men are; in a rational and gentle way, in a kind, loving, tender, humane, friendly, and fatherly way and manner; so the Lord drew Israel...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. As men do with the bullocks that have been ploughing, lifting the yoke from them, and giving them rest and food before they have to begin ploughing again. So did God to Israel, and so has he done to us. He...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. As the good husbandman, when the oxen come to the end of the field, takes off the yoke and puts on the noseband, so has God often done with us in the day of our trouble. He has unyoked us, and he has...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. As men do to their cattle when they have been ploughing, and they come to the end of the day’s work, then the bit is removed, or the yoke is lifted off the shoulder, and fit fodder is provided for the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He shall not return into the land of Egypt,.... Ephraim or Israel, the ten tribes: and the Septuagint and Arabic versions express them by name, though they give a wrong sense of the words, rendering them, "and Ephraim dwelt in Egypt"; he did so indeed with the other tribes formerly; but here it is said he shall not go thither again to be a captive...