Oseas 8:9

Filipino Cebuano Bible

9 Kay sila nanungas sa Asiria, maingon sa ihalas nga asno nga nagainusara sa iyang kaugalingon: ang Ephraim nagasuhol ug mga hinigugma.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they: Hosea 5:13, Hosea 7:11, 2 Kings 15:19, Ezekiel 23:5-9

a wild: Job 39:5-8, Jeremiah 2:24

hath: Hosea 2:5-7, Hosea 2:10, Hosea 12:1, Isaiah 30:6, Ezekiel 16:33, Ezekiel 16:34

lovers: Heb. loves

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 18:11 - the king Job 24:5 - wild asses Hosea 14:3 - Asshur

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For they are gone up to Assyria,.... Or, "though they should go up to Assyria" g; to the king of Assyria, to gain his friendship, and enter into alliance with him; as, when Pal king of Assyria came against them, Menahem king of Israel went forth to meet him, and gave him a thousand talents of silver to be his confederate, and strengthen his kingdom, 2 Kings 15:19; yet this hindered not but that Israel was at length swallowed up by that people, and scattered by them among the nations; for this is not to be understood of their going captive into the land of Assyria, as the Targum interprets it:

a wild ass alone by himself; which may be applied either to the king of Assyria, and be considered as a description of him, to whom Israel went for help and friendship; who, though he took their present, and made them fair promises, yet was perfidious, unsociable, and inhuman, studied only his own advantage, and not their good: or to the Israelites that went to him, who were as sottish and stupid as the ass, and as headstrong and unruly as that, and, like it, lustful, and impetuous in their lusts; running to and fro for the satisfying of them, and taking no advice, nor suffering themselves to be controlled, and, being alone, became an easy prey to the Assyrian lion: or yet they should be as "a wild ass alone by itself" h; notwithstanding all the methods they took to obtain the friendship and alliance of the king of Assyria, yet they should be carried captive by him, and dwell in the captivity like a wild ass in the wilderness; and so it is to be understood here, agreeably to Job 24:5; otherwise, as Bochart i has proved from various writers, these creatures go in flocks:

Ephraim hath hired lovers; by giving presents to the kings of Assyria and Egypt, to be their allies and confederates, patrons and defenders,

2 Kings 15:19; who are represented as their gallants, with whom Ephraim or the ten tribes committed adultery, departing from God their Husband, and liege Lord and King, and from his true worship; see

Ezekiel 16:26. R. Elias Levita k observes, that some interpret the words, "Ephraim made a covenant with lovers".

g כי המה עלו "quamvis, etiamsi ascenderint"; so Schmidt observes it may be rendered, though he chooses to render it by "quando", "when they should go up", &c. h פרא בודד לו "erunt onager, qui solitarius sibi est", Schmidt. i Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 16. col. 870. k Tishbi, p. 267.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For they are gone up to Assyria - The ground of this their captivity is that wherein they placed their hope of safety. They shall be presently swallowed up; “for” they went to Asshur. The holy land being then honored by the spectral presence of God, all nations are said to “go up” to it. Now, since Israel forgetting God, their strength and their glory, went to the Assyrian for help, he is said to “go up” there, where he went as a suppliant.

A wild donkey alone by himself - As “the ox” which “knoweth its owner, and the donkey its Master’s crib,” represents each believer, of Jew or Gentile; Israel, who would not know Him, is called the “wild ass.” The “pere,” or “wild ass” of the East , is “heady, unruly, undisciplinable” , “obstinate, running with swiftness far outstripping the swiftest horse” , whither his lust, hunger, thirst, draw him without rule or direction, hardly to be turned aside from his intended course.” Although often found in bands, one often breaks away by himself, exposing itself for a prey to lions, from where it is said, “the wild donkey is the lion’s prey in the wilderness” (Ecclus. 13:19). Wild as the Arab was, a “wild ass’ colt by himself” , is to him a proverb for one , “singular, obstinate, pertinacious in his purpose.” Such is man by nature Job 11:12; such, it was foretold to Abraham, Ishmael would be Genesis 16:12; such Israel again became; “stuborn, heady, selfwilled, refusing to be ruled by God’s law and His counsel, in which he might find safety, and, of his own mind, running to the Assyrian,” there to perish.

Ephraim hath hired lovers or loves - The plural, in itself, shows that they were sinful loves, since God had said, “a man shall cleave unto his wife and they twain shall be one flesh.” These sinful “loves” or “lovers” she was not tempted by, but she herself invited them (see Ezekiel 16:33-34). It is a special and unwonted sin, when woman, forsaking the modesty which God gives her as a defense, becomes the temptress. “Like such a bad woman, luring others to love her, they, forsaking God, to whom, as by covenant of marriage, they ought to have cleaved, and on Him alone to have depended, sought to make friends of the Assyrian, to help them in their rebellions against Him, and so put themselves to that charge (as sinners usually do) in the service of sin, which in God’s service they need not to have been at.”

And yet that which God pictures under colors so offensive, what was it in human eyes? The “hire” was presents of gold to powerful nations, whose aid, humanly speaking, Israel needed. But wherever it abandoned its trust in God, it adopted their idols. “Whoever has recourse to human means, without consulting God, or consulting whether He will, or will not bless them, is guilty of unfaithfulness which often leads to many others. He becomes accustomed to the tone of mind of those whose protection he seeks, comes insensibly to approve even their errors, loses purity of heart and conscience, sacrifices his light and talents to the service of the powers, under whose shadow he wishes to live under repose.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hosea 8:9. They are gone up to Assyria — For succour.

A wild ass alone by himself — Like that animal, jealous of its liberty, and suffering no rival. If we may credit Pliny and others, one male wild ass will keep a whole flock of females to himself, suffer no other to approach them, and even bite off the genitals of the colts, lest in process of time they should become his rivals. "Mares singuli faeminarum gregibus imperitant; timent libidinis aemulos, et ideo gravidas custodiunt, morsuque natos mares castrant." - Hist. Nat., lib. viii., c. 30. The Israelites, with all this selfishness and love of liberty, took no step that did not necessarily lead to their thraldom and destruction.

Ephraim hath hired lovers. — Hath subsidized the neighbouring heathen states.