the Third Week of Advent
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Bible Commentaries
Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible Coke's Commentary
Hosea's Marriage; Symbolism of Israel's Unfaithfulness.Chapter 2
Israel's Unfaithfulness and Promise of Restoration.Chapter 3
Hosea's Reconciliation with His Wife; God's Love for Israel.Chapter 4
Accusation Against Israel's Sin and Idolatry.Chapter 5
Judgment on Israel and Judah for Their Sin.Chapter 6
Call to Repentance and Restoration.Chapter 7
Israel's Continued Sin and Divine Judgment.Chapter 8
Idolatry and the Consequences for Israel.Chapter 9
Punishment and Exile; the Loss of Blessings.Chapter 10
The Fall of Israel; Consequences of Wickedness.Chapter 11
God's Love for Israel; Lament Over Rebellion.Chapter 12
Israel's Deceit and the Need for Repentance.Chapter 13
Judgment on Israel's Idolatry and Rebellion.Chapter 14
Call to Repentance and Promise of Restoration.
- Hosea
by Thomas Coke
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HOSEA.
HOSEA entered upon his sacred ministry about eight hundred years before the coming of Christ, above twenty years before the Olympiads, and more than forty years before the foundation of Rome. He is the first who has spoken of the destruction of Samaria; and he saw with his own eyes that melancholy event, which happened seven hundred and twenty years before the coming of the Messiah. Bishop Lowth observes, that Hosea is the most ancient of all the prophets, except perhaps Jonah. His style indicates antiquity; it is nervous, acute, concise, strongly marked with the graces of poetry, and retains the sententious brevity of the more ancient prophets whose writings are handed down to us. Though this doubtless was at first esteemed a peculiar elegance, yet, in the present devastations of the Hebrew language, it is productive of obscurity; and though the general subject of the prophet be plain enough, yet there is scarcely any other prophet so difficult and intricate. There is also another reason why his style may appear to us so involved. He prophesies in the reigns of four kings of Judah; that is to say,—however you calculate,—for a very long space of time. We have but a small volume, containing, as it seems, his principal prophesies; and all these connected together, without any date or argument; insomuch that in the perusal of this prophet we seem sometimes like those who were employed in studying the scattered leaves of the Sybil. See Lowth's 21st Prelection.
