1 A reproof of manifold sins. 11 God's wrath against the people for their hypocrisy.

WHEN I Would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the 'wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers "spoileth without.

2 And they 'consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.

3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

4 They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth 'from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

5 In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.

6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

7 They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen there is none among them that calleth

9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth

not.

10 And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

11 Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

12 When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.

10

13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

14 And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

16 They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the "rage of their tongue this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

3 Heb. say not to. 7 Or, applied. 11 Or, chastened.

5 Or, from waking. 10 Heb. spoil.

Verse 5. The day of our king.'-The Hebrew writers understand that this was either the anniversary of the king's birth or accession. It was no doubt some public

feast-day or other, signalized, at the palace, by intemperate drinking, and when the king, being intoxicated, 'stretched forth his hand with scorners;' an expression which usually

Western Asia and Egypt, to support bakers by trade. They are found usually in the markets, as represented in the cut, where the master has his cakes arranged for sale, while the baking is going on behind. The oven is rather large, and is half occupied by the combustible materials which afford the required heat. The cakes are small, and are baked in less than five minutes. The other cut exhibits a different process, which is chiefly employed by pastry cooks, in their more delicate bakings, and which, as may be seen, is little other than a convenient adaptation of a principle of the iron plate or pan. The pan is here placed over a furnace, and the composition, in the form of a thin paste, being spread upon it, is speedily baked, when it is handed over to the woman who cuts it up into convenient portions. The preparation is, in the present instance, a sort of spiced bread, in a large but very thin cake. The thin bread, similar to this, but unspiced, which we have formerly described as very commonly used in the East, is prepared in much the same manner by professed bakers in towns; but in places where there is no baker, or where, from choice or necessity, families bake

CHAPTER VIII.

1, 12 Destruction is threatened for their impiety, 5 and idolatry.

He shall

SET the trumpet to 'thy mouth. come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

2 Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.

3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.

4 They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

6 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. 7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no 'stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

1 Heb. the roof of thy mouth.

their bread at home, the more simple processes above mentioned are exclusively employed. These two are properly bakers' ovens, and as such, are the more appropriate as illustrations of the present text; but it remains difficult to say which of the different 'ovens' and processes of baking the prophet had more particularly in his view.

11. Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart.'— There is much force and beauty in this comparison of Ephraim to a silly dove without heart'-or rather, without understanding-which, when pursued by a bird of prey, trusts to the rapidity of its flight; that is, relies upon its own powers for the means of escape, instead of at once throwing itself into the nearest recess, where the interference of man, or the narrowness of the place, might render it secure from further molestation. Israel, instead of taking shelter under the wing of the Almighty, who is a God near at hand, and not afar off, rested his hope of defence upon the celerity of his negotiations-stretching his wing towards Assyria or Egypt, but in the length of the flight is overtaken, secured, and dies in the cruel talons of his unrelenting pursuer.

8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall 'sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.

11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Verse 8. A vessel wherein is no pleasure.'-A similar expression occurs in Jer. xlviii. 38, with an addition, as to its being broken; which suggests that the vessel was of earthenware from which the allusion is taken. To understand the use of an earthen vessel, as a figure of insignificance and worthlessness, it should be stated that the earthenware vessels in common use in the East, for various purposes, are so exceedingly cheap that they form the least valuable possession which any one can have. The common sorts, moreover, are not well or strongly com616

pacted, and are so constantly breaking that they are decidedly perishable articles, and a source of constant, though small, expense. This may be shewn by the single fact that the present writer, having occasion during summer, as is customary, to keep for his single use a waterjug and cup-both of earthenware, for the sake of keeping the water cool-found it necessary to purchase several at once, from his experience that probably not less than a dozen would be broken in the course of the season, though they were by no means subject to rough treatment.

CHAPTER IX.

The distress and captivity of Israel for their sins and idolatry.

REJOICE not, O Israel, for joy, as other people for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a 'reward upon every cornfloor.

2 The floor and the "winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. 3 They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.

:

5 What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?

5

6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them thorns shall be in their tabernacles.

7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the 'spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

8 The watchman of Ephraim was with my God but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his

God.

:

1 Jer. 44. 17. 2 Or, in, &c. 3 Or, wine-fat. 6 Heb. the desire. 7 Heb. man of the spirit. 11 Heb. that casteth the fruit.

9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of 'Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their

sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

10

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

14 Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a "miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

12

15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more all their princes are revolters.

16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.

17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

cording to the goodness of his land they have made goodly 'images.

2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall 'break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.

king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?

4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and 'the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.

6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to 'king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.

8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

10 It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, 'when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.

1

11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.

12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; "break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled "Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.

13,

15 So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

8 Isa. 2. 19. Luke 23. 30. Revel. 6. 16, and 9. 6. 10 Heb. the beauty of her neck. 13 Heb. the evil of your evil.

Verse 6. King Jareb.'-This occurs also in ch. v. 13. Interpreters are much divided about it in both cases, as our translators indicate by putting king Jareb,' in the text, and giving the alternatives, king of Jareb,' and 'the king that should plead,' in the margin. This suggests that the subject is involved in the greatest possible uncertainty. Taking it as a proper name, we do not know whether it is the king's own name, or that of the country, or of a chief city in the country, which he governed: and if it be not a proper name, we are ignorant whether it is to be taken as a characterizing epithet applied to the king, or as a title of honour and distinction. Understood as the former, the derivation of the word from 31 involves the notions of contending, pleading with or for, and avenging; and hence such translations as the king who takes up quarrels' (Horsley); the king who should plead or contend,' and the avenging king' (Houbigant). But, again, instead of coming from 17 it may be from the Syriac root jirib, signifying to be great,' or, 'magnificent' which would produce the great,' or 'mighty king;' and as this is just such a title as Oriental monarchs were accustomed to assume, this alternative seems as probable as any. We know that the great king' was the style by which the king of Persia was usually distinguished. It is commonly understood, as the result of all the alternatives suggested, that the king of Assyria is intended; and the prophecy is usually explained by a reference to 2 Kings xvii. 3. Many think that this clause applies to the conduct of Judah; and that either the name has been dropped, or that Judah must be understood as included in the nominative Ephraim:' under this view, the clause would be explained by a reference to 2 Kings xvi. 18. Horsley, for one, is of this opinion; and Pocock seems to incline to it.

The text describes the golden calf at Bethel, as carried

away and presented to the king of Assyria. It is hardly to be supposed that the Israelites themselves sent it to him as a present, but rather that it was among the spoil which the Assyrian army should make and convey to their own country; according to the custom of the Orientals, as also of the Romans, to carry away the gods of conquered!

nations.

11. Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.' -This and other passages of Scripture having reference to the plough, will be best understood by the following particulars concerning that important instrument of agriculture. Our earliest information on the subject must be derived from the ancient Egyptians, who, in the grottoes of Eleithuias, have left most interesting and graphic delineations of their principal agricultural operations; and the applicability of this information to the purposes of Scriptural illustration is shewn by the fact that not only are the processes of the Egyptians alluded to in Scripture, and that the Israelites pursued agriculture in that country, but that the Egyptians were doubtless not behind any of their neighbours in agricultural arts, that their processes sufficiently illustrate the Scriptural intimations, and that most of the usages exhibited are such as maintain their ground in the country at the present day. In describing these remarkable representations we derive much assistance from the memoir by M. Costaz on the Grottes d'Elethyia, in the great work on Egypt, vi. 97, sq.

Men could not long have turned their attention to agriculture before they discovered the use, and indeed necessity, of turning and breaking the soil for the reception and nutriment of the seed committed to it. This was first done by the hoe, the form of which, and the manner in which it was wrought, is shewn in the annexed engraving (1), which exhibits men in pairs, having in their hands hoes, with which they work the ground. The hoe is composed of two unequal pieces, joined at the extremi