Hosea 10:9-11 O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood… "The days of Gibeah" recall the hideous story of lust and crime, which was the low-water mark of the lawless days of old. That crime had been avenged by merciless war. But its taint had lived on, and the Israel of Hosea's day "stood," obstinately persistent, just where the Benjamites had been then, and set themselves in dogged resistance, "as these had done," that the battle against the children of unrighteousness might not touch them. Stiff-necked setting one's self against God's merciful fighting of evil lasts for a little while, but verse 10 tells how soon and easily it is annihilated. God's "desire" brushes away all defences, and the obstinate sinners are like children, who are whipped when their father wills, struggle how they may. The instruments of chastisement are foreign armies, and the chastisement itself is described with a striking figure as "binding them to their two transgressions"; that is, the double sin which is the keynote of the chapter. Punishment is yoking men to their sins, and making them drag the burden like bullocks in harness. What sort of load are we getting together for ourselves? When we have to drag the consequences of our doings behind us, how shall we feel? (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. |
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