1Slovo Pánovo, ktoré prehovoril k Ozeášovi, synovi Bériho, v dňoch júdskych kráľov Oziáša, Joatama, Achaza a Ezechiáša a v dňoch izraelského kráľa Jeroboama, syna Joasovho. 2Začiatok Pánovej reči k Ozeášovi. Pán riekol Ozeášovi: „Vezmi si smilnú ženu a deti zo smilstva, lebo smilstvom sa odvracia krajina od Pána.“ 3Išiel teda a vzal si Gomeru, dcéru Debelaima. Ona počala a porodila mu syna. 4Vtedy mu Pán hovoril: „Daj mu meno Jezrael, lebo ešte chvíľočku a strescem krvnú vinu Jezraela na Jehuovom dome a zruším kráľovstvo domu Izraela. 5V ten deň dolámem kušu Izraela v jezraelskom údolí.“ 6I počala znovu a porodila dcéru. Vtedy mu riekol: „Daj jej meno Neomilostená, lebo už viac neomilostím dom Izraela, žeby som im celkom odpustil. 7Dom Júdov však omilostím a zachránim ich ako Pán, ich Boh, ale nezachránim ich kušou, mečom, zbrojou vojenskou, ani koňmi, ani jazdcami.“ 8I oddojčila Neomilostenú; potom počala a porodila syna. 9Vtedy hovoril: „Daj mu meno Nie môj ľud, lebo vy nie ste môj ľud a ja nebudem váš.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 INSCRIPTION. (
Oz 1:1-
Oz 1:11)
Spiritual whoredom of Israel set forth by symbolical acts; Gomer taken to wife at God's command: Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi, the children. Yet a promise of Judah and Israel's restoration.
The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea--See Introduction.
Jeroboam--the second; who died in the fifteenth year of Uzziah's forty-one years' reign. From his time forth all Israel's kings worshipped false gods: Zachariah (
2Kr 15:9), Menahem (
2Kr 15:18), Pekahiah (
2Kr 15:24), Pekah (
2Kr 15:28), Hoshea (
2Kr 17:2). As Israel was most flourishing externally under Jeroboam II, who recovered the possessions seized on by Syria, Hosea's prophecy of its downfall at that time was the more striking as it could not have been foreseen by mere human sagacity. Jonah the prophet had promised success to Jeroboam II from God, not for the king's merit, but from God's mercy to Israel; so the coast of Israel was restored by Jeroboam II from the entering of Hamath to the sea of the plain (
2Kr 14:23-27).
2 beginning--not of the prophet's predictions generally, but of those spoken by Hosea.
take . . . wife of whoredoms--not externally acted, but internally and in vision, as a pictorial illustration of Israel's unfaithfulness [HENGSTENBERG]. Compare
Ez 16:8,
Ez 16:15, &c. Besides the loathsomeness of such a marriage, if an external act, it would require years for the birth of three children, which would weaken the symbol (compare
Ez 4:4). HENDERSON objects that there is no hint of the transaction being fictitious: Gomer fell into lewdness after her union with Hosea, not before; for thus only she was a fit symbol of Israel, who lapsed into spiritual whoredom after the marriage contract with God on Sinai, and made even before at the call of the patriarchs of Israel. Gomer is called "a wife of whoredoms," anticipatively.
children of whoredoms--The kingdom collectively is viewed as a mother; the individual subjects of it are spoken of as her children. "Take" being applied to both implies that they refer to the same thing viewed under different aspects. The "children" were not the prophet's own, but born of adultery, and presented to him as his [KITTO, Biblical Cyclopćdia]. Rather, "children of whoredoms" means that the children, like their mother, fell into spiritual fornication. Compare "bare him a son" (see
Oz 2:4-
Oz 2:5). Being children of a spiritual whore, they naturally fell into her whorish ways.
3 Gomer . . . daughter of Diblaim--symbolical names; literally, "completion, daughter of grape cakes"; the dual expressing the double layers in which these dainties were baked. So, one completely given up to sensuality. MAURER explains "Gomer" as literally, "a burning coal." Compare
Př 6:27,
Př 6:29, as to an adulteress;
Jb 31:9,
Jb 31:12.
4 Jezreel--that is, "God will scatter" (compare
Za 10:9). It was the royal city of Ahab and his successors, in the tribe of Issachar. Here Jehu exercised his greatest cruelties (
2Kr 9:16,
2Kr 9:25,
2Kr 9:33;
2Kr 10:11,
2Kr 10:14,
2Kr 10:17). There is in the name an allusion to "Israel" by a play of letters and sounds.
5 bow--the prowess (
Jr 49:35; compare
Gn 49:24).
valley of Jezreel--afterwards called Esdraelon, extending ten miles in breadth, and in length from Jordan to the Mediterranean near Mount Carmel, the great battlefield of Palestine (
Sd 6:33;
1S 29:1).
6 Lo-ruhamah--that is, "not an object of mercy or gracious favor."
take . . . away--Israel, as a kingdom, was never restored from Assyria, as Judah was from Babylon after seventy years. MAURER translates according to the primary meaning, "No more will I have mercy on the house of Israel, so as to pardon them."
7 Judah is only incidentally mentioned to form a contrast to Israel.
by the Lord their God--more emphatic than "by Myself"; by that Jehovah (Me) whom they worship as their God, whereas ye despise Him.
not . . . by bow--on which ye Israelites rely (
Oz 1:5, "the bow of Israel"); Jeroboam II was famous as a warrior (
2Kr 14:25). Yet it was not by their warlike power Jehovah would save Judah (
1S 17:47;
Ž 20:7). The deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib (
2Kr 19:35), and the restoration from Babylon, are herein predicted.
8 weaned--said to complete the symbolical picture, not having any special signification as to Israel [HENDERSON]. Israel was bereft of all the privileges which were as needful to them as milk is to infants (compare
Ž 131:2;
1P 2:2) [VATABLUS]. Israel was not suddenly, but gradually cast off; God bore with them with long-suffering, until they were incurable [CALVIN]. But as it is not God, but Gomer who weans Lo-ruhamah, the weaning may imply the lust of Gomer, who was hardly weaned when she is again pregnant [MANGER].
9 Lo-Ammi--once "My people," but henceforth not so (
Ez 16:8). The intervals between the marriage and the successive births of the three children, imply that three successive generations are intended. Jezreel, the first child, represents the dynasty of Jeroboam I and his successors, ending with Jehu's shedding the blood of Jeroboam's line in Jezreel; it was there that Jezebel was slain, in vengeance for Naboth's blood shed in the same Jezreel (
1Kr 16:1;
2Kr 9:21,
2Kr 9:30). The scenes of Jezreel were to be enacted over again on Jehu's degenerate race. At Jezreel Assyria routed Israel [JEROME]. The child's name associates past sins, intermediate punishments, and final overthrow. Lo-ruhamah ("not pitied"), the second child, is a daughter, representing the effeminate period which followed the overthrow of the first dynasty, when Israel was at once abject and impious. Lo-Ammi ("not my people"), the third child, a son, represents the vigorous dynasty (
2Kr 14:25) of Jeroboam II; but, as prosperity did not bring with it revived piety, they were still not God's people.
10 Literally fulfilled in part at the return from Babylon, in which many Israelites joined with Judah. Spiritually, the believing seed of Jacob or Israel, Gentiles as well as Jews, numerous "as the sand" (
Gn 32:12); the Gentiles, once not God's people, becoming His "sons" (
J 1:12;
Ř 9:25-
Ř 9:26;
1P 2:10;
1J 3:1). To be fulfilled in its literal fulness hereafter in Israel's restoration (
Ř 11:26).
the living God--opposed to their dead idols.
11 Judah . . . Israel . . . together-- (
Iz 11:12-
Iz 11:13;
Jr 3:18;
Ez 34:23;
Ez 37:16-
Ez 37:24).
one head--Zerubbabel typically; Christ antitypically, under whom alone Israel and Judah are joined, the "Head" of the Church (
Ef 1:22;
Ef 5:23), and of the hereafter united kingdom of Judah and Israel (
Jr 34:5-
Jr 34:6;
Ez 34:23). Though "appointed" by the Father (
Ž 2:6), Christ is in another sense "appointed" as their Head by His people, when they accept and embrace Him as such.
out of the land--of the Gentiles among whom they sojourn.
the day of Jezreel--"The day of one" is the time of God's special visitation of him, either in wrath or in mercy. Here "Jezreel" is in a different sense from that in
Oz 1:4, "God will sow," not "God will scatter"; they shall be the seed of God, planted by God again in their own land (
Jr 24:6;
Jr 31:28;
Jr 32:41;
Am 9:15).