Hosea 11:2

Hos 11:2 [As] they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

Ver. 2. As they called them] i.e. As the prophets and ministers (whose names are here concealed, that the Word only may be glorified, as Act 13:48) called to them, to come out of spiritual Egypt, out of darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among the saints, by faith that is in Christ, Act 26:18.

So they went from them] They went a contrary way, as the child Samuel, when God called him, ran to Eli; or rather as the wilful Jews, when God would have gathered them, as the hen doth her chickens, they would not. When God called his natural Son out of Egypt, he came presently, Heb 10:7 Psa 40:7-8; not so his adopted sons; for they turned upon him the back, and not the face, Jer 2:27, they refused to be reformed, they hated to be healed. See Hos 7:1. {See Trapp on "Hos 7:1"} Nay, to make up the full measure of their sins, and to heighten their contempt,

They sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images] Quasi aegre facturi Deo, as if they would despite God on purpose, and spit in his very face; commit the like villany in his presence, as the Irish rebels lately did, when they bound the husband to the bedpost, while they abused his wife before him. See the notes on Hos 2:1-23, and almost on every chapter where their idolatry is cried out upon, and their extreme ingratitude.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hos_11:2

They sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

Graven images

We read frequently of graven images and of molten images, and the words are become so familiar as names of idolatrous images that, although they axe not well chosen to express the Hebrew names, it seems not advisable to change them for others that might more exactly correspond with the original. The graven imago was not a thing wrought in metal by the tool of the workman we should now call an engraver; nor was the molten image an image made of metals or any ether substance, melted and shaped in a mould. In fact, the graven image and the molten image are the same thing under different names. The images of the ancient idolaters were first cut out of wood by the carpenter, as is very evident from the prophet Isaiah. This figure of wood was overlaid with plates either of gold or silver, or sometimes perhaps of an inferior metal, and in this finished state it was called a graven image (i.e., a carved image)

, in reference to the inner solid figure of wood, and a molten (i.e., an overlaid or covered)

image, in reference to the outer metalline case or cover. Sometimes both epithets are applied to it at once (Nah_1:14; Hab_2:18). The English word molten conveys a notion of melting or fusion. But this is not the case with the Hebrew word for which it is given. The Hebrew signifies to spread, or cover all over, either by pouring forth a substance in fusion, or in spreading a cloth over or before, or by hammering on metalline plates. (Bishop Horsley.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hos 11:2. As they called them, so, &c. — Or, The more they called them, or, they were called, so much the more they went from him; that is, the more earnestly the prophets called upon them to cleave steadfastly to the true God, (see Hos 11:7,) the more they were bent to depart from him to the worship of idols. They sacrificed to Baalim — See note on Hos 2:13. And burned incense to graven images — “We read frequently, in our English Bibles, of graven images, and of molten images. And the words are become so familiar, as names of idolatrous images, that, although they are not well chosen to express the Hebrew names, it seems not advisable to change them for others, that might more exactly correspond with the original. The graven image was not a thing wrought in metal by the tool of the workman we should now call an engraver; nor was the molten image an image made of metal, or any other substance melted, and shaped in a mould. In fact, the graven image and the molten image are the same thing under different names. The images of the ancient idolaters were first cut out of wood by the carpenter, as is very evident from the Prophet Isaiah. The figure of wood was overlaid with plates, either of gold or silver, or sometimes, perhaps, of an inferior metal. And in this finished state it was called a graven image, (that is, a carved image,) in reference to the inner solid figure of wood, and a molten (that is, an overlaid, or covered) image in reference to the outer metalline case, or covering. And sometimes both epithets are applied to it at once:” see Nah 1:14; Hab 2:18, and Bishop Horsley.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11:2 In spite of God’s love, Israel had become a rebellious child, offering sacrifices to . . . Baal. The penalty for a rebellious son was death (Deut 21:18-21).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They rebelled and went a contrary way when the Prophets called them to repentance.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

As they called them--"they," namely, monitors sent by Me. "Called," in Hos 11:1, suggests the idea of the many subsequent calls by the prophets.

went from them--turned away in contempt (Jer 2:27).

Baalim--images of Baal, set up in various places.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Prophet now repeats the ingratitude of the people in neglecting to keep in mind their redemption. The word, “called,” is here to be taken in a different sense. For God effectually called, as they say, the people, or his Son, from Egypt: he has again called by the outward voice or teaching through his Prophets. Hence, when he said before that he called his Son from Egypt, it ought to be understood, as they say, of actual liberation: but now when he says, They have called them, it is to be understood of teaching. The name of the Prophets is not expressed; but that they are intended is plain. And the Prophet seems designedly to have said in an indefinite manner, that the people had been called, that the indignity might appear more evident, as they had been called so often and by so many, and yet had refused. Hence they have called them When he thus speaks, he is not to be understood as referring to one or two men, or to a few, but as including a great number of men, doing this everywhere. Even thus now have they called them; that is, this people have been called, not once or twice, but constantly; and God has not only sent one messenger or preacher to call them, but there have been many Prophets, one after the other, often thus employed, and yet without any benefit. We now perceive what the Prophet meant.

They have called them, he says, so they went away from their presence The particle so, כן, can, is introduced here to enliven the description; for the Prophet points out, as by the fingers how wickedly they conspired to execute their own counsels, as if they wished purposely to show in an open manner their contempt. So they went away; when the Prophets called them to one course, they proceeded in an opposite one. We then see, that to point out thus their conduct was not superfluous, when he says, that they in this manner went away: and then he says, from their face Here he shows that the people sought hiding-places and shunned the light. We may indeed conclude from these words, that so great was the perverseness of the people, that they not only wished to be alienated from God, but also that they would have nothing to do with the Prophets. It is indeed a proof of extreme wickedness, when instruction itself is a weariness, and ministers cannot be endured; and no doubt the Prophet meant to set forth this sin of the people.

He afterwards says, that they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images In the former clause, he shows the contumacy of the Israelites, that they deigned not to give ear to God’s servants. He now adds, that they made incense to graven images, and also offered worship to their idols. By Baalim, as it has been already stated, the Prophet means the inferior gods. For no such stupidity prevailed among the people as not to think that there is some chief deity; nay, even profane Gentiles confessed that there is some supreme God. But they called their advocates (patronos) Baalim, as we see to be the case at this day under the Papacy, this same office is transferred to the dead; they are to procure for men the favour of God. The Papists then have no grounds for seeking an evasion by words; for the very same superstition prevails at this time among them, as prevailed formerly among Gentiles and the people of Israel. Here the Prophet enhances the wickedness of the people; for they not only contemptuously neglected every instruction in religion, but also openly perverted the whole worship of God, and abandoned themselves to all abominations, so as to burn incense to their own idols. Let us go on —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(2) As they (i.e., the prophets) called them, so they (Israel) went from them.—Sought to avoid the voice and presence of the men of God.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. As they called them, &c.] Or, The more they called them, &c. (comp. Hos_4:7). Since Israel disobeyed the first call by Moses, prophets were sent to repeat the call, but their preaching only seemed to increase Israel’s obstinacy (comp. Isa_6:9-10; Jer_7:25-26). What, then, was the good of prophecy? It kept up a church within the nation, and it developed ideas which bore fruit in due time.

unto Baalim, &c.] Rather, to the Baalim (see on Hos_2:13) … to the graven images.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As they called them, so they went from them,.... That is, the prophets of the Lord, the true prophets, called Israel to the worship and service of God; but they turned a deaf ear to them, and their backs upon them; and the more they called to them, the further they went from them, and from the way of their duty; see Hos 11:7. So the Targum,

"I sent the prophets to teach them, but they wandered from them;''

Moses and Aaron were sent unto them, and called them out of Egypt, but they hearkened not unto them; see Exo 6:9; in later times the prophets were sent unto them, to exhort them to their duty, and to reclaim them from their evil ways, but they despised and refused to attend to their advice and instructions; and this was continued to the times of Israel, or the ten tribes, departing from the house of David, and setting up idolatrous worship; and during their revolt and apostasy: but all in vain. So after Christ was called out of Egypt, he and his apostles, and John the Baptist before them, called them to hearken to him, but they turned away from them. Aben Ezra interprets it of the false prophets, who called them to idolatry, and they went after them. Schmidt understands it of the Israelites calling one another to it, and going after it, for their own sakes, and because it pleased them, and was agreeable to them;

they sacrificed to Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images: they joined themselves to Baalpeor, and worshipped the golden calf, fashioned with a graving tool, in the wilderness; they sacrificed to Baalim, one or another of them, in the times of the judges, and of Ahab, and committed idolatry with other graven images, of which burning incense is a part. And the Jews in Christ's time, instead of hearkening to him and his apostles, followed the traditions of the elders, and the dictates of the Scribes and Pharisees, who were their Baals, their lords and masters and they sought for life and righteousness by their own works, which was sacrificing to their net, and burning incense to their drag; all this was great ingratitude. Next follows a narrative of other benefits done to this people.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As they called them, so they went from them - The prophet changes his tone, no longer speaking of that one first call of God to Israel as a whole, whereby He brought out Israel as one man, His one son; which one call he obeyed. Here he speaks of God’s manifold calls to the people, throughout their whole history, which they as often disobeyed, and not disobeyed only, but went contrariwise. “They called them.” Whether God employed Moses, or the judges, or priests, or kings, or prophets, to call them, it was all one. Whenever or by whomsoever they were called, they turned away in the opposite direction, to serve their idols. They proportioned and fitted, as it were, their disobedience to God’s long-suffering. : “Then chiefly they threw off obedience, despised their admonitions, and worked themselves up the more franticly to a zeal for the sin which they had begun.” “They,” God’s messengers, “called; so,” in like manner, “they went away from them. They sacrificed unto Baalim,” i. e., their many Baals, in which they cherished idolatry, cruelty, and fleshly sin. : So “when Christ came and called them manifoldly, as in the great day of the feast, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink,” the more diligently He called them, the more diligently they went away from Him, and returned to their idols, to the love and possession of riches and houses and pleasures, for whose sake they despised the truth.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They called: viz., Moses and Aaron called: but they went away after other gods, and would not hear. (Challoner) --- Septuagint, "As I called them back, or (repeatedly; Greek: metekalesa. Grabe has, "he called;" meaning any of God’s ministers) so they rushed away from my presence." (Haydock) --- This sense appears preferable to the Hebrew. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As they; Moses and Aaron, and other prophets, and holy, zealous judges and priests, as Samuel, &c.

Called; advised, persuaded, entreated, and urged by exhortations.

Them; the whole house of Israel, and among these the ten tribes, or Ephraim.

So they Israelites, called and entreated, especially they of that age when the division was made, and ever since.

Went from; frowardly and most disingenuously apostatized more and more, as the prophet, Isa 1:5. Horrible ingratitude so to requite God!

From them; from the prophets’ counsel and commands, delivered as they came from God.

They sacrificed unto Baalim; in the desert they began this apostacy, joined themselves to Baal-peor, Num 25:3, and worshipped the calf, Exo 32:4-6, and held on with obstinacy in it.

Graven images; images of their gods, before which they performed another part of religious worship, burning incense before them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Jehovah’s love was met with bitter ingratitude.

As they called — R.V., “The more the prophets called.” The prophets is not in the Hebrew, but the Revisers were correct in supplying it as the subject (compare Hos_11:7). Jehovah did not cease calling when the efforts of Moses proved a partial failure; he raised up prophets (Amo_2:11-12), but the more earnestly these labored the more stubborn the resistance of the people (compare Isa_6:9-10; Jer_7:25-26). Notwithstanding the people’s obstinacy, the activity of the prophets was not a failure; it resulted in the preservation of a remnant out of which might grow a new nation of God.

Much did the prophets expect of this remnant, and much did it accomplish, though not all that the prophets expected. Nevertheless it prepared the way for him who alone was able to finish the work. A very slight change in the text, supported in part by LXX. and Peshitto, would give, “The more I called them, the more they went from me.”

Baalim — See on Hos_2:5.

Burned incense — See on Hos_2:13.

Graven images — See on Mic_5:13. Hos_11:1-2 aptly describe the religious history from the Exodus to the days of Hosea; on the one hand, the intense love and care of Jehovah, on the other, the persistent rebellion of the people.

Hos_11:3 presents the tender care of Jehovah under the figure of a parent’s gentle dealings with his child. I — Emphatic in Hebrew; in contrast to the Baalim.

Ephraim — The northern kingdom.

Taught… to go — Directed their footsteps in a providential way, kept them from falling and, when they did fall, helped them to rise again. Taking them by their arms —Literally (though the Hebrew form is peculiar), he took them upon his arms. R.V., following most ancient versions, “I took them on my arms.” A climax to the preceding. I lovingly taught the young child to walk, and when he grew weary I lovingly took him upon my arms and carried him (Isa_63:9; Deu_1:31).

They knew not — See on Hos_2:8.

That I healed them — A common figure in Hosea (Hos_5:13; Hos_6:1; Hos_7:1; compare Exo_15:26). To get the full meaning it is necessary to supply the thought, “When in their attempt to walk they fell and hurt themselves.”

Hos_11:4 contains a new figure of the fatherly care of Jehovah. “Israel is no longer the wanton young cattle of the previous chapter (Hos_10:11), which needs the yoke firmly fastened on the neck but a team of toiling oxen mounting some steep road.” Jehovah acted not the part of a cruel driver, but in a humane manner assisted the animal to accomplish its task.

Drew — Not drove; he lent a helping hand to the weary beast.

Cords of a man — Such as are adapted to a human being; these are bands (cords) of love — Used in a spirit of love. Through love he sought to control and guide.

Take off [“lift up”] the yoke on their jaws — While he gladly assisted the animal, he did not — and could not — take the whole task upon himself. The yoke remained upon the animal, but he placed it so it would not press too heavily upon the neck and jaws (cheeks) and make them sore. The manner of easing the yoke to which the prophet refers is not quite clear, since we do not know sufficiently the form of the ancient yoke.

I laid meat unto them [“food before them”] — Literally, and gently I laid food before them, or, better still, And I bent toward him and gave him food. The task done, plenty of food was given to the animal. Thus in an indulgent and compassionate manner Jehovah supplied the needs of his people.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

(1) Adverting to his own call mentioned in the first verse, God here refers to the many subsequent calls which he addressed to them through his servants the prophets and other messengers.

(2) The subject of the verb is erroneously understood by some, as, for example, Aben Ezra and Eichhorn, to be the idols, or their false priests or prophets; while

(3) Jerome is also mistaken in referring the words to the time of Israel"s rebelling when Moses and Aaron wished to lead them out of Egypt. The correct reference is that first stated, and the sense is that, instead of appreciating the invitations and monitions of the prophets of God, they showed their utter insensibility and thanklessness, turning away from them in contempt and scorn. Nay, the more the messengers of God called them, the more they turned a deaf ear to those who were their truest friends and best advisers. Pursuing their idolatrous practices, they sacrificed to Baal, that is to say, the various representations of that idol, and burned incense to their images, whether of wood or stone or precious metal. Thus Kimchi correctly comments as follows: "The prophets which I sent to them called to them morning and evening to turn to Jehovah, so (much the more) did they go away from them, not hearkening to their words nor desisting from their evil works." The word ke, even so, denoting the measure or relation, corresponds to r to be supplied in the first clause. The imperfects imply continuance of action or a general truth.

(4) The Septuagint rendering, followed by the Syriac, is ek proswpou mou autoi , "from my presence: they;" as if they had read on ynpmi instead of the present text.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They - Moses and Aaron, and other prophets. Called - Persuaded, intreated, and urged by exhortations, the whole house of Israel. From them - From the prophets counsel and commands. Baalim - In the desert they began this apostacy, and held on with obstinacy in it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The more they called to them, the more they went away from them As much as the prophets call to teach them the good way, so did they turn their backs to run away from them.

and they would slaughter sacrifices to the baalim. It is customary for Scripture to speak in this manner. Comp. (above 4:7) “The more they have increased, the more they have sinned against Me”; (Ex. 1:12) “And the more they afflicted them, the more they increased.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.