Gann's Commentary on the Bible

For the image of Israel as a vine, cf. Psalms 80:8-16; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:1-8; Ezekiel 17:1-10. This example suits Hosea’s repeated pattern that Israel got off to a good start but then went wrong.

The vine’s fruit increased, and the country improved. However, the more Israel prospered, the more Israel sinned.

the more altars he built … he improved his pillars. It was just as Moses had warned (Deuteronomy 8:11-14). Abundance is risky; God’s people could not handle it (cf. Proverbs 30:7-9).

For the image of Israel as a vine, cf. Psalms 80:8-16; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:1-8; Ezekiel 17:1-10. This example suits Hosea’s repeated pattern that Israel got off to a good start but then went wrong.

The vine’s fruit increased, and the country improved. However, the more Israel prospered, the more Israel sinned.

the more altars he built … he improved his pillars. It was just as Moses had warned (Deuteronomy 8:11-14). Abundance is risky; God’s people could not handle it (cf. Proverbs 30:7-9).

We have no king. The prophet foretells the end of the northern monarchy due to the people’s unfaithfulness.

The people had not been true to their word. They had broken covenants they made with one another. Consequently God’s judgment was as inevitable as weeds growing in the furrows of their fields. His judgment would slay them just as poisonous weeds kill people who eat them. - Constable

The Assyrians would carry the golden calf to their land in honor of their king (cf. 8:10). Israel would then feel great shame because the Israelites had decided to trust in a foreign alliance with the Assyrians for their security (cf. 5:13; 7:8–9, 11; 8:9–10).

Gibeah -- The prophet’s language is correct from his own point of view. True, Israel as a people took summary vengeance on the Benjamites for the outrage of Gibeah. But the seed of wickedness remained, and developed into evil practices worthy only of the Gibeah of old.

The reference is the the gang rape of the Levite’s concubine in Judges 19. This is now the second allusion to that ugly episode (cf. 9:9). Hosea saw the people of his day as still morally men of Gibeah. - James Smith

a trained heifer that loves to thresh grain. -- This was a far easier work than plowing, since cattle were not bound together under a yoke, but tread on the grain singly and were free to eat some of it, as the law required that they be unmuzzled (Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9).

Such an animal was treated with every kindness by its owner. The only task required of her was the pleasant and easy one of walking round and round the threshing floor, a task which carried with it the privilege of eating as much as the animal wished. For a beast this was the ideal job (10:11a). - J.Smith

Break up for yourself fallow ground -- An agricultural metaphor urging the people to prepare themselves to accept God’s message and repent. - FSB

unplowed ground -- Husbandmen in the East are indolent, and sometimes ‘sow among thorns’ (Jeremiah 4:3). The Israelites are warned against committing this fault in their spiritual husbandry. Evil habits must be broken off, and a new character formed, or it will be impossible to sow the seed of righteousness.

A second appeal couched in agricultural metaphor is for Ephraim to “break up your fallow ground,” i.e., unplowed ground. This imperative implies a change in the old ways of this people and the commencement of a new course of life. Before seed can be sowed or harvest reaped, the ground must be prepared. Weeds must be removed. This again is a metaphor for repentance.

The agricultural metaphors are explained in the words “for it is time to seek Yahweh.” This may mean that it is high time to seek the Lord (Keil) or that there is still time to seek him (Brown). In any case, seeking the Lord involves reestablishing a relationship with him. “Till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” In this context “righteousness” means salvation or deliverance.³ Keil, however, understands: God will give the strength to secure righteousness just as he gives rain for the growth of the seed (10:12b).

³ The term “righteousness” means salvation or deliverance in Isa 46:12; 54:17; 32:16; 33:5.

Shalman plundered Beth Arbel. -- Shalman was probably Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria (727–722 b.c.), who played a role in Israel’s demise (cf. 2 Kings 17:3-6). Although the location of Beth Arbel is uncertain, the memory of the heinous crimes committed there were vividly etched into their minds.

in a morning] Rather, in the dawn. -- The meaning is that when the morning-grey appears, the king will be found to be cut off. All has happened as quickly as time seems to have passed when we awake (comp. Psalms 90:6, ‘they become as a sleep’).

There have been several suggestions made on the name Shalman, including either Shalmaneser III, who may have campaigned as far as Israel during his 841 excursion against the Syrian capital of Damascus, or Shalmaneser V, who besieged Samaria in 722. Another possibility is the ancient Moabite king Salmanu, who is listed as one of the petty monarchs paying tribute to the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III in the mid-eighth century. The mention of Moabite raiding parties in Israel in 2 Kings 13:20 may bolster this identification. As for Beth Arbel, the site of this horrendous destruction, it has been identified with Irbid, near the Decapolis city of Pella and just across the Jordan River from Beth Shan.