Hoseachapter 11
12 verses · Hosea · 755 to 715 BC · The Twelve
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.
Introduction
Hosea, The Twelve, Hosea Overview.
After ten chapters of charges, Hosea speaks here in the voice of a father remembering his son's childhood. He wrote for Israelites in the last years before Samaria fell, about 730 to 722 BC, when the threat from Assyria was plain to all. The chapter reaches back to the exodus, the nation's first memory. Its pictures are domestic, a parent at home with a small child and a farmer with his ox. Listen for the questions God asks Himself and the answer He gives. Listen also for the two cities named from the story of Sodom. Matthew reads the opening verse of the chapter at Matthew 2:15.
Context
- Who
- Israelites who had heard nothing but indictment for ten chapters
- What
- God's memory of loving Israel as a young son from the exodus onward, His refusal to destroy him, and the promise to bring the exiles home.
- Where
- Israel's memory of Egypt and the exodus, with Admah and Zeboiim, two of the cities of the plain, named, and the exiles returning from Egypt and Assyria.
- When
- About 730 to 722 BC, in the final years before Samaria's fall; the date is approximate, and the Hebrew Bible counts the last of the chapter's 12 English verses as Hosea 12:1.
- Why
- To show that God's holiness is the reason He will spare Israel after judgment and call His children home.
Historical context
The picture changes from marriage to parenthood, and every detail is domestic. Teaching a toddler to walk by holding his arms, picking him up when he stumbles, bending down to feed him, these were the ordinary acts of a father in an Israelite household, and they are being used of God and the nation coming out of Egypt.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The cords of a man and bands of love play against the harness of an animal. A working ox was led by a rope through the nose and controlled by the yoke on its neck; the yoke could be lifted off the jaws to let it eat. God says he led Israel with human ties, not livestock tack, and eased the yoke so the animal could feed.
Admah and Zeboiim were two of the cities of the plain destroyed alongside Sodom and Gomorrah. Naming the two lesser-known ones rather than the famous pair is deliberate, these are the cities nobody thinks about, and the point is that God cannot bring himself to do to Israel what was done to them.
The lion's roar at the end is a homing signal rather than a threat. In this picture the children come trembling from the west, from Egypt and Assyria, and are settled in their houses, the exiles walking back along the same roads they were marched out on.
Significance
This is the chapter where the argument breaks open. God asks how he can give Israel up, and answers his own question by saying that his heart recoils within him and his compassion grows warm, and then gives the reason: I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For hearers who understood judgment as a machine that ran once it was started, that was the most important sentence in the book. A human judge in that position would have finished it. God says his holiness is precisely why he will not.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts sets part of this chapter in the Sephardi rite alone. It is read as the Sephardi Haftarah of Vayetzei, Hosea 11:7 to 12:12, on the Sabbath of the portion Genesis 28:10 to 32:3. The Ashkenazi rite reads Hosea 12:13 to 14:10 on that Sabbath, which begins in the next chapter. A congregation keeping that cycle hears the reading aloud after the Torah portion of its Sabbath. That table carries nothing for the special Sabbaths or the fast days, so any further public reading of this chapter is left to a source that holds those readings.
The table's own notes say that its verse numbers are the Hebrew ones, which part from an English Bible in several places. A reader counting in an English translation may find the start or the end of this reading a verse away.
The corpus joins the chapter to the weeks of the Torah portions through the works arranged by portion. Under the third verse it carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 5.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries. He is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY, and every quotation of it is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern. His lemmas, which carry the verse in that translation's wording, are never quoted.
Rashi reads the calling of the son out of Egypt as the work of the prophets, done "through My prophets to cleave to My Torah" (Rashi on Hosea 11:1:1). The more the prophets called, the further the people ran, and Rashi names the same turn of speech at Hosea 4:7 and Exodus 1:12 (Rashi on Hosea 11:2:1 and 11:2:2).
The one who taught Ephraim to walk and carried them is Moses: "This is Moses", and Rashi sets beside it the nursing father of Numbers 11:12 (Rashi on Hosea 11:3:2). The cords of a man are "tender cords with which a man draws his son" (Rashi on Hosea 11:4:1). The lifting of the yoke is the work of good farmers who ease the yoke at the plough. "So was I with them in every trouble, to make it lighter for them" (Rashi on Hosea 11:4:2).
At the seventh verse the people waver when the prophets call them, and "it is with difficulty that they return to Me" (Rashi on Hosea 11:7:1). At the ninth God keeps His word of Leviticus 26:44, "Who keeps His favorable word, and I do not retract the good" (Rashi on Hosea 11:9:1 and 11:9:2). The lion's roar of the tenth verse calls the exiles home, "that they leave the exile and follow Him" (Rashi on Hosea 11:10:1).
The corpus carries six further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted at Ibn Ezra on Hosea 11:1:1, 11:2:1, 11:5:1 and 11:11:1. The corpus cites Radak on Hosea 11:1:1 and 11:11:1 the same way.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the first verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 5:1, Aggadat Bereshit 62:4, Bamidbar Rabbah 12:4, Devarim Rabbah 5:7, Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 27:1:1 and Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 30:15:11. It holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 2:8:1 there as well.
On the third verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 5:2, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 5, Eikhah Rabbah 2:2 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 14:17. It holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 5:3, Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 2:1:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 1:31:1 there as well. On the fourth verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 61:3, Bereshit Rabbah 86:1, Bereshit Rabbah 93:5, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 9:20 and Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 9:20. It holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 39:1:3 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 45:7:2 there as well.
On the eighth verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 66:1, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 43:30:1 and Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim of Rabbi Akiba, Aleph Bet of Rabbi Akiba (Version 2) 40. On the ninth verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 5:3, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Taanit 1:11, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Taanit 1:45 and Ein Yaakov, Taanit 1:13. It holds Ein Yaakov, Taanit 1:50 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 4:12 there as well.
On the tenth verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 8:1, Bamidbar Rabbah 13:4, Berakhot 6b:10, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Berakhot 1:24 and Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:35. It holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 16:29:238 there as well. On the eleventh verse it holds Midrash Aggadah, Genesis 14:24:2, Shemot Rabbah 20:6, Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:15:2 and Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:1:2. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Hosea 11:1:1 to 11:10:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Hosea 11:1:1, 11:2:1, 11:5:1 and 11:11:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Hosea 11:1:1 and 11:11:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/hosea/11.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, the Haftarah table and its note on Hebrew verse numbers.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Out of Egypt I called my son and taught him to walk
I called My son: The verse looks back to the exodus: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son". Exodus 4:22 to 23 already names Israel as God's son. Matthew 2:15 quotes the verse of the infant Jesus brought back from Egypt after Herod's death.
Hosea 11:1
"Just as the morning passes, the king of Israel passes away: for Israel is a boy, and I have loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt: they called them: so they went from their presence: they sacrificed to Baalim, and offered sacrifices to idols." LXX: "They have cast off the morning, the king of Israel has been cast off, because Israel is a little one, and I have loved him, and have called his sons out of Egypt.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Hosea 11:1-2patristic
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Hosea 11:1
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him - God loved Israel, as He Himself formed it, ere it corrupted itself. He loved it for the sake of the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as he saith, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” Mal 1:2. Then, when it was weak, helpless, oppressed by the Egyptians, afflicted, destitute, God loved him, cared for him, delivered him from oppression, and called him out of Egypt. : “When did He love Israel?”
Hosea 11:1
“What baseness was this, and how shameful the wickedness, to make such a return to the author of their life and salvation? The Prophet therefore enhances the sin and baseness of the people by this circumstance, that the Lord had loved them even from childhood; when yet, he says, Israel was a child, I loved him The nativity of the people was their coming out of Egypt.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
Hosea 11:1
“Called my son - Adopted him to be my son, and as my son, provided for him, and brought him out of servitude. Out of Egypt - But Israel, the first adopted son was a type of Christ the first-born. And the history of Israel's coming out was a type of Christ's future coming out of Egypt.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Cross references
Hosea 11:1
- Quoted inMatthew 2:15where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
'that it might be fulfilled... Out of Egypt I called my son' (contested: typological/corporate-Israel reading, each view at full strength)
Hosea 11:2-4
They sacrificed to the Baals: The more the LORD called Israel, "the farther they departed from Me", and they turned to the Baals. Verses 3 and 4 turn tender: the LORD taught Ephraim to walk and took them in His arms. He led them "with cords of kindness, with ropes of love".
Hosea 11:2
“They were fond of idols, and worshipped them: They sacrificed to Baalim, first one Baal and then another, and burnt incense to graven images, though they were called to by the prophets of the Lord again and again not to do this abominable thing which he hated. Idolatry was the sin which from the beginning, and all along, had most easily beset them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 11:2
“As they called them, so they went from them - The prophet changes his tone, no longer speaking of that one first call of God to Israel as a whole, whereby He brought out Israel as one man, His one son; which one call he obeyed. Here he speaks of God’s manifold calls to the people, throughout their whole history, which they as often disobeyed, and not disobeyed only, but went contrariwise. “They called them.” Whether God employed Moses, or the judges, or priests, or kings, or prophets, to call them, it was all one.”
Hosea 11:2
“As they called them--"they," namely, monitors sent by Me. "Called," in Ho 11:1, suggests the idea of the many subsequent calls by the prophets. went from them--turned away in contempt (Jer 2:27).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
taught Ephraim to walk: Barnes reads the Hebrew as the LORD setting Ephraim on his feet and teaching him to walk, as a nurse walks with a child. When Ephraim tired, God took them in his arms. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tie the healing to Exodus 15:26, where the LORD is Israel's healer.
Hosea 11:3
“I taught Ephraim also to go - Literally, “and I set Ephraim on his feet;” i. e., while they were rebelling, I was helping and supporting them, as a nurse doth her child, teaching it to go with little steps, step by step, “accustoming it to go by little and little without weariness;” and not only so, but “taking them by their arms;” or it may be equally translated, “He took them in His arms,” i.”
3 more voices on this verse
Hosea 11:3
"And I, as a foster father to Ephraim, carried them in my arms, and they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with cords of Adam, with the bonds of love. And I will be to them like one who lifts the yoke from their cheeks, and I inclined to him so he could eat." LXX: "And I gathered" ((or "placed")) Ephraim, I took him up on my arm; and they did not know that I healed them in the corruption of humans. I drew them with the cords of my love.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Hosea 11:3-4patristic
Hosea 11:3
“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 fire by night, to which history this seems to refer.”
Hosea 11:3
“Ac 13:18, which probably refers to this passage of Hosea; He took them by the arms, to guide them that they might not stray, and to hold them up that they might not stumble. knew not that I healed them--that is, that My design was to restore them spiritually and temporally (Ex 15:26).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
with cords of kindness: Clarke saw leading strings in the cords, one end held by the child and one by the nurse. Wesley pictured the LORD as a farmer who lifted the yoke from the necks of his oxen and took off the muzzle to feed them. Both pictures are of love.
Hosea 11:4
“And as the lover of humankind I will draw them to believing in cords of love, just as that which is written in the Gospel: "No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me will have drawn him." But they thought that my light yoke was very heavy; and I bent toward them, leaving the kingdom of heaven so that I may eat with them, having assumed the human form. Or rather, I gave them my body as food; I was both food and table companion.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Hosea 3:11patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Hosea 11:4
“Cords of man - With such kindness as best fits and most prevails with a man. I was to them - As a careful husband-man in due season takes the yoke from his labouring oxen, and takes off the muzzle with which they were kept from eating, when at work.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Hosea 11:4
“I drew them with cords of a man - This is a reference to leading strings, one end of which is held by the child, the other by the nurse, by which the little one, feeling some support, and gaining confidence, endeavors to walk.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hosea 11:4
“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 on in the wilderness, till he was brought to Canaan's land, by bestowing kind favours upon them, and by making precious promises to them.”
They refuse to return, so the sword falls on their cities
Hosea 11:5-7
be ruled by Assyria: Verse 5 sets Egypt, the old bondage, beside a new one: "Will they not return to the land of Egypt and be ruled by Assyria"? The sword that will "consume them in their own plans" pictures invasion devouring what their own counsels built.
Hosea 11:5
"It won't return to the land of Egypt, and Assur himself" (The Vulgate adds "is") "its king, because they refused to convert. The sword has begun in its cities, and will consume its chosen ones: it will eat their heads, and my people will hang in my return. But a yoke will be imposed on them together, which will not be removed." LXX: "Ephraim will dwell in Egypt, and Assur himself will be its king: because he did not want to convert.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Hosea 11:5-7patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Hosea 11:5
“He shall not return to Egypt - Some had probably returned already to Egypt; the rest were looking to Egypt for help, and rebelling against the Assyrian, (whose servant their king Hoshea had become), and making alliance with So king of Egypt. The prophet tells them, as a whole, that they shall not return to Egypt to which they looked, but should have the Assyrian for their king, whom they would not. “They refused to return” to God, who lovingly called them; therefore, what they desired, they should not have; and what they feared, that they should have.”
Hosea 11:5
“In a figurative sense, "he shall return to Egypt" (Ho 9:3), that is, to Egypt-like bondage; also many Jewish fugitives were literally to return to Egypt, when the Holy Land was to be in Assyrian and Chaldean hands.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
A sword will flash through: Clarke reads the sword as the wars through Israel's cities from Jeroboam II on, when king after king was slain. Matthew Henry reads the last clause as judgment on Israel's own plans. God gave the people up to the plans they made.
Hosea 11:6
“The sword shall abide on his cities - Israel was agitated with external and intestine wars from the time of Jeroboam the Second. Although Zechariah his son reigned twelve years, yet it was in continual troubles; and he was at last slain by the rebel Shallum, who, having reigned one month, was slain by Menahem. Pekahiah succeeded his father Menahem, and reigned two years, and was killed by Pekah, son of Remaliah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
bent on turning from Me: Barnes gives the Hebrew as hung on turning away. A thing hung can swing to and fro while the place it hangs from stays fixed. Israel turned this way and that and stayed bent on turning from God, so the Most High would never exalt the people.
Hosea 11:7
“And My people are bent to backsliding from Me - Literally, “are hung to it!” as we say, “a man’s whole being “hangs” on a thing.” A thing “hung to” or “on” another, sways to and fro within certain limits, but its relation to that on which it is hung, remains immovable. Its power of motion is restrained within those limits. So Israel, so the sinner, however he veer to and fro in the details and circumstances of his sin, is fixed and immovable in his adherence to his sin itself.”
How can I give you up, Ephraim? My heart turns within me
Hosea 11:8-9
How could I give you up: p, O Ephraim?" is the book's emotional summit: the LORD names Admah and Zeboiim, destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 29:23), as Ephraim's due, then recoils. "My heart is turned within Me", and the judgment stops short of annihilation.
Hosea 11:8
“How shall I give thee up - See the notes on Hos 6:4, where we have similar words from similar feeling. Mine heart is turned within me - Justice demands thy punishment; Mercy pleads for thy life. As thou changest, Justice resolves to destroy, or Mercy to save. My heart is oppressed, and I am weary with repenting - with so frequently changing my purpose. All this, though spoken after the manner of men, shows how merciful, compassionate, and loath to punish the God of heaven is.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Hosea 11:8
“Give thee up - To utter destruction. Admah and Zeboim were two of the four cities which were destroyed with fire from heaven. My repentings - Not that God is ever fluctuating or unresolved; but these are expressions after the manner of men, to shew what severity Israel had deserved, and yet how divine grace would be glorified in sparing them.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Hosea 11:8
“So the phrase is used of a new turn given to the feeling (Ps 105:25). repentings--God speaks according to human modes of thought (Nu 23:19). God's seeming change is in accordance with His secret everlasting purpose of love to His people, to magnify His grace after their desperate rebellion.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Hosea 11:8
“His bowels yearned towards them, and his soul was grieved for their sin and misery, Judg. x. Since I spoke against him my bowels are troubled for him. When God was to give up his Son to be a sacrifice for sin, and a Saviour for sinners, he did not say, How shall I give him up?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
I am God and not man—: Barnes hears mercy rejoicing over judgment: God punishes Ephraim and holds back the full fury of his anger. Spurgeon took God and not man as the point where God most exceeds man, in grace and in patience to forgive. The Holy One among them is why the wrath stops.
Hosea 11:9
“I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger - It is the voice of “mercy, rejoicing over judgment.” mercy prevails in God over the rigor of His justice, that though He will not suffer them to go utterly unpunished, yet He will abate of it, and not utterly consume them. I will not return to destroy Ephraim - God saith that He will not, as it were, glean Ephraim, going over it again, as man doth, in order to leave nothing over. As it is in Jeremiah, “They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel, as a vine.”
3 more voices on this verse
Hosea 11:9
“Return - Conquerors that plunder the conquered city, carry away the wealth of it, and after some time return to burn it; Not man - Therefore my compassions fail not. The holy One - A holy God, and in covenant, though not with all, yet with many among you.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Hosea 11:9
“THE Lord, speaking of Himself as, "God, and not man," mentions as the special point in which He is above and beyond man, that He has greater Grace, greater long-suffering, and greater willingness to forgive—"I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man." In a thousand respects, God is greater than man!”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2447: “"God, and Not Man"—What Does It Mean?” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Hosea 11:9
“One would think this were a reason why he should reject such a provoking people. God knows how to spare and pardon poor sinners, not only without any reproach to his holiness, but very much to the honour of it, as he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and therein declares his righteousness, now Christ has purchased the pardon and he has promised it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Hosea 11:10-12
He will roar like a lion: The lion's roar that announces judgment at Amos 1:2 and 3:8 here calls the children home: "They will come trembling like birds from Egypt". The chapter closes with Ephraim's lies and Israel's deceit set against Judah, who "still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One."
Hosea 11:10
“They shall walk after the Lord - They shall discern the operations of his providence, when, He shall roar like a lion - When he shall utter his majestic voice, Cyrus shall make his decree. The people shall tremble - be in a state of commotion; every one hurrying to avail himself of the opportunity to return to his own land.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 11:10
“The word of the Lord (so says the Chaldee) shall be as a lion that roars. Christ is called the lion of the tribe of Judah, and his gospel, in the beginning of it, was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. When Christ cried with a loud voice it was as when a lion roared, Rev. x.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
like doves from the land: Wesley pictured Israel coming home trembling, some from Egypt where they had fled, others like doves from Assyria. Wesley called the promise of homes seasonable and comfortable. Matthew Henry read Egypt and Assyria as one people in Christ, after Isaiah 19.
Hosea 11:11
“They shall tremble - At their return into their own land, some shall hasten, yet with solicitude, out of Egypt, whither they fled for shelter; others like doves shall hasten out of Assyria, but with fear and trembling. I will place them - A seasonable and comfortable promise.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Hosea 11:11
“Wherever those are that belong to the election of grace--east, west, north, or south--they shall hear the joyful sound, and be wrought upon by it; those of Egypt and Assyria shall come together; those that lay most remote from each other shall meet in Christ, and be incorporated in the church. Of the uniting of Egypt and Assyria, it was prophesied, Isa. xix.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Judah still walks with God: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the verse praises Judah while 12:2 charges Judah, and Maurer read it as a censure: Judah wanders with God. Clarke heard in it the name Israel, which faithful Judah held while Ephraim and Israel lost it. Clarke also moves the verse to chapter 12.
Hosea 11:12
"Ephraim surrounded me with his falsehood, and the house of Israel and Judah with his deceitfulness. But now God has perceived them, and they will be called people of God's sanctuary." The Hebrews tell a story of this kind: In the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, when on one side there was a mountain, on the other the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army surrounded them, and the trapped people were held, the other tribes despairing of salvation and either wishing to return to Egypt or wanting to fight, only Judah faithfully entered the sea.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Hosea 11:12patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Hosea 11:12
“Ephraim compasseth me about with lies - I think this verse does not well unite with the above; it belongs to another subject, and should begin the following chapter, as in the Hebrew. Judah yet ruleth with God - There is an allusion here to Gen 32:24, where Jacob having “wrestled with the Angel,” had his name changed to Israel, one that rules with God. That glory the Israelites had lost by their idolatry; but Judah still retained the true worship, and alone deserved the name of Israel.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hosea 11:12
“With lies - Play the hypocrite with me still. Yet ruleth - While idolaters are slaves to the devil, the true worshippers of God, like princes, rule with God. Faithful - Retains purity, at least truth of worship, and comparatively is faithful.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Hosea 11:12
“But as this verse praises Judah, whereas Ho 12:2 censures him, it must belong rather to the eleventh chapter and a new prophecy begins at the twelfth chapter. To avoid this, MAURER translates this verse as a censure, "Judah wanders with God," that is, though having the true God, he wanders after false gods. ruleth with God--to serve God is to reign.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Keep studying
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
John Gill, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2447: “"God, and Not Man"—What Does It Mean?” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.