Hosea 8:2

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Should be rendered, To me they cry, My God, we know Thee, we Israel.

Benson Commentary

Hosea 8:2-4. Israel shall cry unto me — Namely, when calamities come upon them, My God, we know thee — Thou art our God in covenant with us, and we make profession of thy name, and own thee for the only true God: see Matthew 7:21-22. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good — They have not walked agreeably to their profession, but have cast off obedience to my laws. This is a declaration, that all the worship of Israel, or their crying, My God, was vain, since their actions were wicked, or they had cast off what was good. Christ has made a declaration to the same purpose, to warn us of falling into the like error, in the passage above referred to. They have set up kings — Made a defection from the house of David, formed themselves into a distinct kingdom, and chosen what kings and governors they pleased, without ever asking my advice or consent. Not by me — Not by my warrant or order. Shallum, and Menahem, and Pekah, usurped the kingdom by murder and treason, 2 Kings 15:13-14; 2 Kings 15:25, not by any declaration of God’s will, as Jeroboam and Jehu did; nor were any of the kings between Jeroboam and Jehu, nor any after the posterity of Jehu, made by God’s appointment. They have made princes and I knew it not — They have appointed judges, or magistrates, such as I approved not of, and had no hand in raising up to that dignity. Of their silver, &c., they have made themselves idols — They have abused their wealth to idolatry, which will be the occasion of their destruction: see Hosea 2:8.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:1-4 When Israel was hard pressed, they would claim protection from God, but this would be disregarded. What stead will it stand in to say, My God, I know thee, if we cannot say, My God, I love thee, serve thee, and cleave to thee only?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Israel shall cry unto Me, My God, we know Thee - Or, according to the order in the Hebrew, "To Me shall they cry, we know Thee, Israel," i. e., "we, Israel," Thy people, "know Thee." It is the same plea which our Lord says that He shall reject in the Day of Judgment. "Many shall say unto Me, in that Day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name, and in Thy Name cast out devils, and in Thy Name done many wonderful works" Matthew 7:22. In like way, when our Lord came in the flesh, they said of God the Father, He is our God. But our Lord appealed to their own consciences; "It is My Father who honoreth Me, of whom ye say, He is our God, but ye have not known Him" John 8:54. So Isaiah, when speaking of his own times, prophesied of those of our Lord also; "This people draweth nigh unto Me, with their mouth and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me" Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 29:13. "God says, that they shall urge this as a proof, that they know God, and as an argument to move God to have respect unto them, namely, that they are the seed of Jacob, who was called Israel, because he prevailed with God, and they were called by his name." As though they said, "we, Thy Israel, know thee." It was all hypocrisy, the cry of mere fear, not of love; from where God, using their own name of Israel which they had pleaded, answers the plea, declaring what "Israel" had become.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. My God, we know thee—the singular, "My," is used distributively, each one so addressing God. They, in their hour of need, plead their knowledge of God as the covenant-people, while in their acts they acknowledge Him not (compare Mt 7:21, 22; Tit 1:16; also Isa 29:13; Jer 7:4). The Hebrew joins "Israel," not as English Version, with "shall cry," but "We, Israel, know thee"; God denies the claim thus urged on the ground of their descent from Israel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Israel, the ten tribes,

shall cry in deep distress; when the Assyrian rangeth over their country, when Samaria is besieged, they will cry out aloud, but hypocritically; they will roar, but not pray.

My God; then they will look to the ancient alliance and league between their fathers and me.

We know thee, an only Saviour; be ours, for we are thine. Thus in hypocrisy will they carry it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Israel shall cry unto me, my God, we know thee. In their distress they shall cry to the Lord to help them, and have mercy on them, as they used to do when in trouble, Isaiah 26:16; when the eagle is come upon them, and just ready to devour them; when Samaria is besieged with file Assyrian army, their king taken prisoner, and they just ready to fall into the hands of the enemy, then they shall cry to God, though in a hypocritical manner; own him to be the true God, and claim their interest in him, and pretend knowledge of him, and acquaintance with him; though they have not served and worshipped him, but idols, and that for hundreds of years; like others who profess to know God, but in works deny him, Titus 1:16. Israel is the last word in the verse, and occasions different versions: "they shall cry unto me"; these transgressors of the covenant and the law, these hypocrites, shall pray to God in trouble, saying, "my God, we Israel", or Israelites, "know thee"; or, "we know thee who are Israel" (x); and to this sense is the Targum,

"in every time that distress comes upon them, they pray before me, and say, now we know that we have no God besides thee; redeem us, for we are thy people Israel;''

why may they not be rendered thus, "they shall cry unto me; my God, we know thee, Israel" shall say? Castalio renders them to this sense, "my God", say they; but "we know thee, Israel"; we, the three Persons in the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, we know thy hypocrisy and wickedness, that it is only outwardly and hypocritically, and not sincerely, that thou criest unto and callest upon God.

(x) "ad me clamant, Deus mi, novimus te nos Israel", De Dieu; "clamabunt ad me, O Deus meus, nos Israelitae cognoscimus te", Tigurine version, so Tarnovius; "mihi vocant, Deus mi, cognovimus, vel agnoscimus te Israel", vel "nos lsrael, seu Israelitae", Schmidt.

Geneva Study Bible

Israel shall {b} cry unto me, My God, we know thee.

(b) They will cry like hypocrites, but not from the heart, as their deeds declare.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Israel shall cry …] Rather, Unto me they will (then) cry, My God, we—Israel—know thee. When the punishment comes, they will cry aloud to Jehovah, and lay stress upon their belonging to Him. ‘Israel’ is mentioned, as the title of honour (the kunya, comp. the commentators on Isaiah 44:5), given by Jehovah, which was the outward sign of His mystic connexion with His worshippers. The speech of the Israelites is the counterpart of that of Jehovah in Isaiah 43:1, ‘I have called thee by name; thou art mine.’ (The Septuagint and the Peshito, however, omit ‘Israel.’) ‘My God’ seems used distributively, each Israelite professes to feel his individual relation to the national God.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. The more literal as well as more exact rendering is, to me wilt they cry, My God, we know thee, we Israel! Notwithstanding their provocation, their unfaithfulness to the covenant of God, and their disobedience to the Law, they appeal unitedly and severally to God in the day of their distress, and urge two pleas - their knowledge of God, or acknowledgment of him as the true God; and their high position as his people. Thus the Chaldee paraphrase has: "As often as calamity comes upon them they pray and say before me, Now we acknowledge that we have no God beside thee; deliver us, because we are thy people Israel." As to the construction, either "Israel" is in apposition to anachnu, the subject of the verb, or there is a transposition. Thus Rashi: "We must transpose the words, and explain, ' To me, cries Israel, My God, we know thee; '" so also Kimchi and Aben Ezra. The former says, "' Israel ' which comes after, should be before, after לייו, and many inversions of this kind occur in Scripture, as Ezekiel 39:11 and Psalm 141:10." The word "Israel" is omitted by the LXX. and Syriac, and in many manuscripts of Kennicott and De Rossi. Hosea 8:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The prophecy rises with a vigorous swing, as in Hosea 5:8, to the prediction of judgment. Hosea 5:1. "The trumpet to thy mouth! Like an eagle upon the house of Jehovah! Because they transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. Hosea 5:2. To me will they cry: My God, we know Thee, we Israel!" The first sentence of Hosea 5:1 is an exclamation, and therefore has no verb. The summons issues from Jehovah, as the suffixes in the last sentences show, and is addressed to the prophet, who is to blow the trumpet, as the herald of Jehovah, and give the people tidings of the approaching judgment (see at Hosea 5:8). The second sentence gives the alarming message to be delivered: like an eagle comes the foe, or the judgment upon the house of Jehovah. The simile of the eagle, that shoots down upon its prey with the rapidity of lightning, points back to the threat of Moses in Deuteronomy 28:49. The "house of Jehovah" is neither the temple at Jerusalem (Jerome, Theod., Cyr.), the introduction of which here would be at variance with the context; nor the principal temple of Samaria, with the fall of which the whole kingdom would be ruined (Ewald, Sim.), since the temples erected for the calf-worship at Daniel and Bethel are called Bēth bâmōth, not Bēth Yehōvâh; nor even the land of Jehovah, either here or at Hosea 9:15 (Hitzig), for a land is not a house; but Israel was the house of Jehovah, as being a portion of the congregation of the Lord, as in Hosea 9:15; Numbers 12:7; Jeremiah 12:7; Zechariah 9:8; cf. οἶκος Θεοῦ in Hebrews 3:6 and 1 Timothy 3:15. The occasion of the judgment was the transgression of the covenant and law of the Lord, which is more particularly described in 1 Timothy 3:4. In this distress they will call for help to Jehovah: "My God (i.e., each individual will utter this cry), we know Thee?" Israel is in apposition to the subject implied in the verb. They know Jehovah, so far as He has revealed Himself to the whole nation of Israel; and the name Israel is in itself a proof that they belong to the people of God.