V. 1. And the LORD said unto me, Go again, and woo the woman that is adulterous and fornicator, as the LORD hath wooed the children of Israel, and they have turned unto strange gods, and wooed a flagon of wine.
This chapter is explained by the interpreters in various ways, because some understand it of the whole people, as if it were a prophecy of the last times of this people, when the future of Christ was imminent. For although the people had kings and the priesthood at that time, the kings were foreigners, and the priesthood was not legitimate, but was bought by stingy and powerful people, as the histories indicate. But this view is contradicted by the fact that the prophet speaks explicitly only of the children of Israel and the kingdom of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes that had fallen away from the tribe of Judah through rebellion.
Others, like Lyra, think that this chapter contains a prophecy of the time of the New Testament and of the conversion of the Jews to Christ, of which Paul also seems to prophesy Rom. 11, 12.ff. But even these are mistaken, for what he says here about the conversion to the Lord was fulfilled, as we have already indicated several times, when the gospel began to be taught among the Gentiles. We now hold that this is the simple and certain opinion:
As the designation ["children of Israel"] indicates, the prophet is dealing only with the kingdom of Israel in this passage, and promises that, as
Even if they are scattered among the Gentiles because of their sins, it will still happen that they will be loved again by the Lord as if he were a forgiving husband. The godly in the kingdom of Israel had great need of this consolation, even though they were few in number, so that they would not think they had been completely rejected, but would console themselves with the hope of the future Christ and alleviate their temporal misfortune through the expectation of eternal goods.
And it is not inconsistent or unusual for a prophet to repeat here what he said in many words in the previous chapter. For how often does Isaiah foretell the captivity of the kingdom of Judah? How often does he promise salvation from the Assyrians? How often does he preach about the kingdom of Christ? But it is clear that this prophet was sent primarily to the kingdom of Israel. Seeing that it would be scattered among the Gentiles without mercy, he often inculcates this promise of Christ, so that the hearts of the godly would not completely despair, broken by the present calamity.
But we want to compare this sermon with the prophecy of the first chapter, because this will shed more light on this passage. That one, as we have heard, was a prophecy of wrath. For since the Lord wanted to show the people of Israel that he was offended by idolatry and that he could not avoid hating it, he commands the prophet to consider what kind of heart a husband could or would have against his adulterous wife.
1164 L. XXIV, 266-268. interpretation of Hosea (3.), cap. 3, 1. W. VI, I7V8-I7II. 1165
wife and the children born in adultery, indicating that he has such a mind against the ten tribes. And for this cause he gives the children sad names, calling the son a dispersed one, and the daughter he will not have mercy on. This was a prophecy of wrath.
But what is done by the prophet in this chapter is an exceedingly sweet prophecy of grace and mercy. For the prophet is presented with another parable, in which he is not commanded to take a wife, but to love the adulteress. For to take a wife is easy, but to love is very difficult. But the prophet is urged by this simile to believe that the husband's heart is exceedingly gentle and kind, who can forget so great an injustice and accept so shameful an adulteress with love.
Such a heart, says the Lord, I have against the people of Israel, against the shameful adulteress who leaves me, the Lord, and follows other gods. Me, he says, she forsakes, I who offer her all things, even eternal goods. But she follows after those who offer her a cup of wine. Is this not a great ingratitude and a terrible wickedness? But for this reason I will not reject this people, but embrace them with the highest love and unite them to me as if they had never sinned anything.
This is truly a glorious manifestation of mercy, that the Lord testifies that he will not reject such a shameful adulteress, but will accept her anew with love. Is not adultery a cause of hatred and moves the husband to righteous anger? But here hear the prophet, who does not, as before, threaten dispersion among the heathen, does not deny mercy, but promises the highest love. Love, however, does not understand anger in itself, not hatred, not punishment, not pain, not fear, but mercy, grace, benevolence, joy and complete trust.
Therefore, this sermon is full of consolation, which indicates what is proper to the Gospel, and
It is his primary duty, namely that God, as it says in John 3:16, loves the world, that he wants to bestow sins, forgive them, and shower them with benefits of every kind for the sake of Christ.
Therefore, as the prophets elsewhere portray Christ as a priest who prays and sacrifices for the sins of his people, as they call him a shepherd of the sheep, who wields the staff not to chastise the sheep, but to keep the wolf away and give them quiet pasture, as they call him a teacher who is given a kind tongue to lift up the sorrowful and despondent hearts, as they call him a king who is nevertheless a wronged and a righteous man: so the prophet compares him here to a husband, who, though his adulterous wife has departed from him and followed other wooings, yet forgets this supreme ingratitude and this insult, and again unites himself with her.
What could have been devised that was more lovely? With what other parable could the mercy of God have been praised in the same way? It is exceedingly sweet what Christ Himself says [Luc. 15, 4.] about the lost sheep, but this exquisite description of the guilt shows even more clearly the depths of the divine mercy. With us, who are Gentiles, God did not have this marriage covenant, which He had with the Jews, and yet we too, as an unclean birth, are cleansed and adorned by the Lord.
But this should be put into custom. When the adulteress recognizes her sin, either recalled by misfortune, or from some other cause, she dare not hope for the benevolence of the husband whom, as she sees, she has so grievously offended: so our hearts, beholding her impurity, fear the judgment of God. For it is known that God threatens sinners, and we are rightly frightened by the examples of others. But we should build up our courage and grasp the hope of forgiveness. For how can God hate us for whom He gave His Son? For it is an extremely important saying of Paul Rom. 5, 8:
"Therefore praise God for His love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
And rightly we draw from this benefit as from the source of mercy also other consolations, which Paul remembers in the passage, namely "that we are kept from wrath by God, having been cleansed by the blood of Christ". Therefore, we are to let go of the fear of God's wrath and judgment because of our sins, and believe what the prophet says here, that God is like a husband who, although abandoned and grievously offended by his adulterous wife, is nevertheless moved more by His goodness than by the sin of the adulteress, and lovingly accepts her anew.
The prophet has indeed included exceedingly great things on both sides. For sin could not be portrayed more magnificently than he does here, since he presents the parable of the adulteress who leaves her husband, through whose benevolence she possesses everything she has, and yet follows other lovers for the sake of a cup of wine. But mercy also gloriously extols the same similitude, since it says that the marriage spell is ignited by love for the adulteress. For what follows from love but benevolence of every kind? Therefore, this passage is worthy of careful attention, so that we may both recognize our sins correctly and be comforted by this abundance of mercy.
Therefore, this passage actually belongs to the description of the kingdom of Christ, which is a kingdom of grace and mercy, not a kingdom of wrath and judgment. This teaching is blasphemed by our adversaries, as if this price of grace gave freedom to sin. But think how the heart of the adulteress will stand, whom her husband again receives so graciously, if she only believes in truth that her husband loves her. Will not an exceedingly violent pain arise because of the past and so shameful deed? Will she not then make an effort to do her husband's will, and do and undertake everything in which, as she knows, her husband is pleased, but flee everything?
and shun what she knows upsets his mind?
Therefore, the mercy of God is not praised to the churches so that people may abuse it and continue to sin, but so that they may begin to be all the more eager to continue to do the will of God, which, as they see, they have so shamefully despised until now.
V. 2. 3. And I became one with her for fifteen shekels of silver, and an homer and a half of barley. And I said unto her, Keep thee for a season, and be not a harlot, neither let another come unto thee: for I will keep thee also.
The brevity makes this obscure, but I hope that this view is consistent with the grammar. The prophet has been commanded to love the adulteress, but the beginnings of love are only slight. For he does not apply to her as much as was applied to a maid who had been injured by a bumpy ox, for her master had to be paid thirty silver shekels according to the law [2 Mos. 21, 32.]; here is only half as much. Further, why does he give the barley so meagerly, and not two full homers?
Jerome follows the opinion of the Jews, who think that there are secrets in these numbers and refer them to the ancient people, who were redeemed from Egypt and were adorned with the law on the forty-fifth day. Although I do not entirely reject this, it is certain that it is not the real thing. For the simple and right opinion is that the Lord will scatter Israel among the Gentiles, that they will dwell there in poverty and hard living, so that in this way he will force them to renounce idolatry. For the fifteen pieces of silver and the homer and a half of barley are nothing else than the daily bread and the sad exile among the Gentiles.
But he shows the reason why God will do this, and scatter his people among the Gentiles, and suffer them to be kept hard there. Then, he says, you shall keep yourself mine, and not fornicate; you shall not let anyone else join you, that is, for this reason I am handing you over to the Assyrians, so that you may be forced,
to renounce that shameful idolatry which you so stubbornly maintained as long as the kingdom was at rest.
Therefore, this saying serves to instruct us about the punishments which God inflicts on us because of sins, namely, that we should consider that they are not inflicted on us as if God wanted to reject us and corrupt us in our sins, but so that we, compelled by evil, may refrain from sinning and be called to repentance by these harsh means, as Paul says [1 Cor. 11:32], "We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be damned with the world." And Isaiah [Cap. 28, 19.], "The temptation teaches to mark the word."
Therefore, after the people were led away from the kingdom, they were forced to dwell among the Gentiles, and, as stated in the previous chapter [vv. 6, 7], they could not find the way of their prey. Therefore the hard captivity was useful for the flesh to repent. But the Lord gives grace to the repentant, has mercy on them and saves them.
For the children of Israel will remain for a long time without a king, without princes, without sacrifices, without an altar, without an ephod and without a sanctuary.
It is common among the prophets that what they have said under images, they say straight afterwards without image. Therefore, this piece is an interpretation of the previous verse. For the small price of the fifteen pieces of silver and the homer and a half of barley, for which he bought the adulteress, as it were, so that she would not run after other suitors, is nothing other than the sad exile among the Gentiles, by whom the Israelites were harshly held. For they were without king and without princes, that is, they lived under pagan authorities. Then they had no sacrifice, that is, they were not allowed by the Gentiles to use their paternal worship. Therefore, the people of Israel, like an adulteress forsaken by her lovers, dwelt among the Gentiles and no longer whored in their land.
In this way God keeps the idolaters in check, because when everything is well, they do not give way to the teachers of the true religion alone, who teach them the right things.
The example of the Papists teaches us that the Lord will also force them to renounce their idolatry, either by the Turk or by another enemy in his time.
As far as grammar is concerned, the word statuae ["altar"] in Hebrew is XXXXX, from set up. It means not only the pillars that are reminders of events, but also those that are erected for worship, as the passage Deut. 26:1 testifies: "You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor an image," "nor erect for yourselves a pillar, nor set a painting stone in your land to worship before it." It therefore actually refers to the images of the calves in Dan and Bethel and other places that the idolatrous kings had erected.
The Ephod s "Leibrock"] is known from Moses, 2 Mos. 28, 6., because it was a garment of the high priest, connected with a breast shield or in which the XXXX XXXXX ["light and right"] were, things which are unknown to us, but were called so from what came from it (from eventu), because those who asked the Lord in doubtful things by "light and right" received instruction by divine revelation about what the Lord wanted to know. What kind of revelation this was, however, is not known.
XXXX is translated by illumination or light, but XXXX by perfection, no doubt to indicate the certainty of this revelation that had happened in the Ephod.
But, you will say, how is this true of the kingdom of Israel? For the right priesthood and the right services were kept only by the tribe of Judah. Therefore the ephod was never with Israel, but only with the kingdom of Judah. I answer: When the godless king Jeroboam had taken the kingdom by rebellion, he ordered services in the kingdom of Israel that were similar to the services of Judah. Therefore, as history testifies that he erected altars and appointed priests, we cannot doubt that he also adorned his priests after the example of Judah, so that there would not be an unequal service.
made the priesthood of Judah more glorious. Therefore, the prophet remembers the ephod at this point, so that it indicates the idolatry 1) which the Lord wanted to punish by such a hard banishment.
And he also connects with the ephod the XXXXX, of which the Scripture indicates in several places that they were idolatrous images. For this is what Moses calls the idols of Laban, which Rachel had secretly stolen from her father, Gen. 31, 34. And when David was sought by the messengers of Saul, Michal put Theraphim in his place in the bed [1 Sam. 19, 13.]. And Ezek. 21, 21. the king of Babylon is accused of having asked for counsel. Therefore the Jews everywhere interpret it as idolatrous images, which the pagans used for divination.
V. 5. After this the children of Israel will turn and seek the Lord their God and their king David, and will honor the Lord and His grace in the last days.
Here begins the sweet sermon that the Lord will accept the adulteress with right and conjugal love, and will not reject her because of her adultery, but will trust with her in righteousness and judgment, in grace and mercy. For the people of Israel remained scattered among the Gentiles until the gospel was spread among them by the apostles; only then did they begin to be converted and to seek the Lord their God, and David their king. Truly, a glorious sermon, if it is interpreted correctly! For indeed it proves what the Lord says elsewhere [Ezek. 18:23]: "I have no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live."
But what does "convert" mean? Nothing else but obeying the gospel, which punishes the world because of sin, because of righteousness and because of judgment. Furthermore, if sin is taken only as an offense committed against the law, even reason can judge and understand it. But the Gospel shows that the whole nature of man is corrupted by sin, and as a poison through all
1) Erlanger: ostknäit instead of: ostsnüat.
parts of the body. This knowledge depresses the heart and deprives it of security, and awakens the right fear of the wrath and judgment of God. And these fears would kill man if the gospel did not connect this doctrine of sin with the other doctrine of righteousness and judgment.
It does not attribute righteousness to our works, since we are evil by nature, but to the works of Christ, and commands that we firmly believe that they belong to us and have been accomplished for us. Through this faith, hearts are established and begin to love God, and learn to 2) rely on His mercy. Therefore, judgment follows that they do not fear the threats of the devil, for they know that he is judged, and do not follow him as a tyrant, but resist him through the Holy Spirit, and overcome his attempts through faith.
This, therefore, is the right conversion, that one believes the gospel, which punishes sin and teaches righteousness and judgment. This conversion is followed by seeking the Lord, that is, basing themselves on the Word, keeping the right services, fleeing idolatry, practicing faith and invocation in perils, provoking others to worship by freely confessing the Word, and in all things looking to the will of God, putting away the vexations of the world and the flesh. For all this the word "seek" comprehends in itself, for it denotes the ardent desire for true religion and for obedience to God, which is connected with the supreme disregard for the world and this miserable life that we lead here.
But here notice carefully the words. He says, "They will seek the LORD their GOD and David their king." What new thing comes up here? For the word "seek" in this passage actually denotes inward worship, as the 69th Psalm, v. 7, testifies: "Let not them that wait for thee, O LORD God of hosts, be ashamed in me. Let not them that wait for thee, O LORD of hosts, be ashamed of me.
2) Jenaer: Zisount; Wittenberger and Erlanger: 61seant.
seek God Israel. No one will take offense at the fact that these services are rendered to God, since the prophet uses the right name of God, Jehovah.
But here the Jews may answer why the worship that is attached to God is also attached to King David? Shall we worship more than one god? Or will God give His glory to another? For not only does he say that they will seek God, but he promises that it will happen that they will also seek their king David. Therefore, this is a clear testimony that King David is to be sought with the same desire and eagerness with which the true God is sought.
But if this is considered inconsistent and ungodly (for God is one God), the Jews will be forced by necessity to declare that God, Jehovah, and this King David are one and the same God, since they are to be worshipped with the same service. But here they may answer, who is that King David? For it is not the son of Jesse, who, when Jeroboam reigned in Israel, died about two hundred years ago. And he [the prophet] promises that this David will be sought after after the kingdom of Israel has lived in captivity for a long time. To this the Jews may answer, for the saying of the prophet must not be perverted.
But for us who confess that Christ is true God, the answer is easy. Although he differs from the Father in that he is born of the Father, there is no difference between him and the Father as far as divinity is concerned. For God the Father has not been able to beget anything from His eternal nature that is not eternal, as the epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 1, 3] calls Christ the image of the Father's being and the splendor of His glory for this reason. And Christ says to Philip John 14:9, 10: "Philip, he who sees me sees the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?"
But the prophet calls him by the new name "David" to indicate that the eternal Son of God was to be born into this world from the tribe of David.
and that he might inculcate in the people the promises that had been made to David concerning the eternal kingdom of the Messiah, just as the angel remembers this promise, Luc. 1, 32.f.: "God the Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will be king over the house of Jacob forever."
Therefore, the purpose of this saying is, first, to teach us about the person of the Messiah or Christ, that he should be born of the seed of David according to the flesh, so that we do not doubt that he is a true man, David according to the flesh, and yet, as Micah says, his origin was from the beginning and from eternity, that is, that he is God by nature, born of God from eternity, equal with the Father in glory. If you do not bring this knowledge to Christ, you will never be able to enjoy his victory, by which he overcame sin, death and the devil. For in order to overcome these enemies of ours, divine power was necessary, which is why Paul says in his letter to the Romans [Cap. 1, 4] that Christ was powerfully proved to be a Son of God through the Holy Spirit, since he rose from the dead.
Secondly, this also serves to teach us about the right worship of God. For just as without Christ no one knows God, so also without Christ no one can worship God. When you hear a Turk or a Jew, you hear the name of God, who created heaven and earth; they call upon him, they praise him, they confess that they honor him. But they are shameful and wicked idolaters, for they seek GOD, but the King David they do not seek. But God wants to be sought, as the prophet testifies here, so that you seek King David at the same time, that is, that you seek and worship God in Christ, as Christ says, Matth. 11, 27: "No one knows the Son, except the Father, and no one knows the Father, except the Son, and to whom the Son wills to reveal it." What can be said more clearly? Without Christ, God is not, God is not to be sought without Christ, cannot be found nor worshipped.
1) Erlanger: invenire instead of: inveniri.
Therefore, this is an extremely important saying of the prophet, who in the service of God connects God, Jehovah, and Christ in such a way that when we call upon God, we call upon Him through Christ, that when we hope for the mercy of God, we should hope that God will be merciful to us through Christ, just as the New Testament everywhere holds Christ up as the one mediator through whom we have access to God.
That he adds: "And will honor the Lord and his grace in the last time", that actually belongs to the worship of God. But here the prophet uses the word XXX, which can have two meanings (medium est 68t), and is sometimes taken in an evil, sometimes in a good sense. For when Moses threatens the transgressors of the law, Deut. 28, 66, he says it will happen that they will fear night and day. On the other hand, when he says of Jacob in Genesis 31:54 that he swore by the fear of his father Isaac, it is clear that he is talking about God and a blessed fear. And experience shows that a thief does not fear the executioner with the same fear 1) as children fear a kind father. But because the prophet expressly says: They will be afraid of his mercy, - who does not see that this fear is rather a reverence, and a
1) Erlanger: timers instead of: timsri.
zealous endeavor that such a gracious God not be offended?
Therefore, the correct opinion is that nothing else will be preached in the New Testament through the gospel than the immeasurable grace of God shown through Christ, the Son of God, and that the rest of Israel, who are then scattered among the Gentiles, will seize it with admiration.
But how does this sermon and this service rhyme with the teaching of Pabst, who transfers the office of mediator from Christ to the saints, and preaches not the grace of God, but a harsh and sharp judgment? Then he urges that men, by their conduct and works, should pacify the heart of God, which is so hard and unforgiving. These punishments have rightly followed our ingratitude, since we have not respected the so glorious sermons of the prophets and have admired the dreams of men.
. Therefore, this chapter provides a special consolation and teaches us not only about Christ, the true God, but also about His kingdom, that it is a kingdom in which hearts are not frightened, as by the law, but are established through trust in the grace that is presented to us in Christ, through whom God also wants to forgive sinners and receive them into grace and make them blessed.