Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions, Vol. 1

by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

Ver. 11. "Therefore I return, and take My corn in its time, and My must in its season, and take away My wool and My flax to cover her nakedness."

לכן stands here with great emphasis. It points to the eternal law of God's government of the world, according to which He is sanctified upon them, in whom He has not been sanctified; and this so much the more, the closer was His relation to them, and the greater were His gifts. From him who is not thereby moved, they will be taken away; and nothing but his natural poverty and nakedness is left to him who was formerly so richly endowed. And well is it with him if they be taken from him at a time when he is able still to recognise the giver in Him who taketh away, and may yet deeply repent of his unthankfulness, and return to Him, as is said of Israel in iii. 5. If such be done, it is seen that the ungrateful one has not yet become an object of divine justice alone, but that divine mercy is still in store for him. The longer God allows His gifts to remain with the ungrateful, the darker are their prospects for the future. That which He gave in mercy, He, in such a case, allows to remain only in anger. The words אשוב ולקחתי are commonly explained by expositors, "I shall take again," inasmuch as two verbs are frequently found together which, in their connection, are independent of each other—the one indicating only an accessory idea of the action. But this mode of expression occurs in general far more rarely than is commonly assumed; and here the explanation, "I will return and take," is to be preferred without any hesitation. Scripture says, that God appears even when He manifests Himself only in the effects of His omnipotence, justice, and love,—a mode of expression which is explained by that large measure of faith which perceives, behind the visible effect, the invisible Author of it; compare, e.g., Gen. xviii. 10, where the Lord says to Abraham, that He would return to him at the same period in the following year; whereas He did not return in a visible form, as then, but only in the fulfilment of His promise. Thus God had formerly appeared to Israel as the Giver; and now that they did not acknowledge Him as such. He returns as the God that takes away. "She did not know that I gave, therefore I shall return and take." That the words were to be thus understood, the prophet, as it appears, intended to indicate by the change of the tenses. It is quite natural that a verb, used as an adverb, should be as closely as possible connected with that verb which conveys the principal idea; and it would scarcely be possible to find a single instance—at all events there are not many instances—where, in such a case, a difference of the tense takes place. Altogether analogous is Jer. xii. 15: "And it shall come to pass after I have destroyed them, אשוב ורחמתים, I will return and have compassion on them;" where the sense would be very much weakened if we were to translate, "I shall again have compassion." There appears to be the same design in the change of the tenses in iii. 5 also. What is there said of Israel forms a remarkable parallel to what is here said of God. God had formerly come, giving—Israel, taking; God now returns, taking—Israel giving,—a relation which opens up an insight into the whole economy of the sufferings.—"My corn," etc., forms a contrast to ver. 7, where Israel had spoken of all these things as theirs. Whatever God gives, always remains His own, because He gives only as a loan, and on certain conditions. If any one should consider himself as the absolute master of it, He makes him feel his error by taking it away.—"In its time" and "in its season" are added, because it was then, ordinarily, that God had appeared as giving, and because then they therefore confidently expected His gifts. But now He appears at once as taking, because they were already so sure of the expected gifts that they held them, as it were, already in their hands; just as if, at Christmas—which corresponds to the harvest, the ordinary season of God's granting gifts—parents should withdraw from their children the accustomed presents, and put a rod in their place. It is better thus to understand the expression, "in its time, etc.," than to follow Jerome, who remarks, that "it is a severe punishment, if at the time of harvest the hoped-for fruits are taken away, and wrested from our hands;" for if, even at the time of the harvest, there be a want of all things, how will it be during the remaining time of the year.—The words, "to cover, etc.," are very concise, but without any grammatical ellipsis, instead of, "which hitherto served to cover her nakedness." As to the sense, the LXX. are correct in translating, τοῦ μὴ καλύπτειν τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην αὐτῆς. For that which had hitherto been, is mentioned by the prophet only for the purpose of drawing attention to what in future will not be.—It is the Lord who must cover the nakedness; and this leads us back to the natural poverty of man, who has not, in the whole world, a single patch or shred—not even so much as to cover his shame, which is here specially to be understood by nakedness. The same thought which is so well calculated to humble pride—what have we that we have not received, and that the Giver might not at any moment take back?—occurs also in Ezek. xvi. 8: "I spread out My wings over thee, and covered thy nakedness."

Ver. 12. "And now I will uncover her shame before the eyes of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of My hands."

The ἅπαξ λεγόμενον נבלות is best explained by "decay," "corpus multa stupra passum." Being a femin. of a Segholate-form, its signification can be derived only from the Kal; but נבל always signifies "to be faded, weak, feeble;" in Piel it means, "to make weak," "to declare as weak," "to disgrace," "to despise." As the signification of Kal does not imply the Idea of ignominy, we cannot explain the noun, as several interpreters do, by "turpitudo, ignominia." The ἀκαθαρσία of the LXX. is probably a free translation of the word according to our view.—לעיני is constantly used for "coram, inspectante aliquo," properly, "belonging to the eyes of some one," and cannot therefore be explained here by "to the eyes," as if she were uncovered to, or for, the lovers alone; these, on the contrary, are mentioned only as fellow-witnesses. But in what respect do they come into consideration here? Several interpreters are of opinion that their powerlessness, and the folly of trusting in them, are intended to be here pointed out. Thus Calvin says: "The prophet alludes to the impudent women who are wont, even by terror, to prevent their husbands from using their rights. He says, therefore, this shall not prevent me from chastising thee as thou deservest." Thus also Stuck, who subjoins to the phrase "her lovers:" "who, if they had the strength, might be a help to her." But it is altogether erroneous thus to understand the verse. The words, "Before the eyes of the lovers," rather mean, that the Lord would make her an object of disgust and horror even to those who formerly sought after her. The idea is this: Whosoever forsakes God on account of the world, shall, by God, be put to shame, even in the eyes of the world itself, and all the more, the more nearly he formerly stood to Him. This idea is here expressed in a manner suited to the figurative representation which pervades the whole section. Jerome says: "All this is brought forward under the figure of the adulterous woman, who, after she has been taken in the very act, is exposed and disgraced before the eyes of all." The uncovering, as guilt, is followed by the uncovering, as punishment; and every one (and her lovers first) turns away with horror from the disgusting spectacle. They now at once see her who, hitherto, had made a show with the apparel and goods of her lawful husband, in her true shape as a withered monster. That this explanation is alone the correct one, appears from the parallel passages: compare, e.g., Nah. iii. 5: "Behold, I come upon thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and make the heathen to see thy nakedness, and kingdoms thy shame. And it cometh to pass, all that see thee shall flee from thee:" Lam. i. 8: "Jerusalem hath committed sin, therefore she has become a reproach; all that honoured her, despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she sigheth and turneth away;" Jer. xiii. 26: "And I also (as thou hast formerly uncovered) uncover thy skirts over thy face, and thy shame shall be seen;" Ezek. xvi. 37, 41; Is. xlvii. 3.—But now, it might seem that, according to this explanation, not the idols, but only the nations serving them, can be understood by the lovers. But this is only in appearance. In order to make the scene more lively, the prophet ascribes to the אלילים, to them who are nothing, life and feeling. If they had these, they would act just as it is here described, and as their worshippers really acted afterwards.—The second member of the verse, "And none shall deliver," etc., is in so far parallel to the first, as both describe the dreadfulness of the divine judgment. Parallel is v. 14: "For I will be as one who roars to Ephraim, and as a lion to the house of Judah: I will tear and go away, I will take away, and there is no deliverer."

Ver. 13. "And I make to cease all her mirth, her feast, and her new-moon, and her sabbath, and all her festival time."

The feasts served a double purpose. They were days of sacred dedication, and days of joy; compare Num. x. 10. Israel had violated them in the former character—just as at present the sacred days have, throughout the greater part of Christendom, the name only by way of catachresis—and, as a merited punishment, they were taken away by God in the latter character. They had deprived the festival days of their sacredness; by God, they are deprived of their joy fulness. The prophet, in order to intimate that he announces the cessation of the festival days as days of gladness, premises "all her mirth," to which all that follows stands in the relation of species to genus. משוש does not here denote "joyful time:" it might, indeed, according to its formation, have this signification: but it is never found with it. It here means "joy" itself. (Compare the parallel passages, Jer. vii. 34; Lam. i. 4: "The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the feasts;" Amos viii. 10: "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation;" Lam. v. 15; Is. xxiv. 8, 11.) The three following nouns were very correctly distinguished by Jerome. חג, "feast," is the designation of the three annual principal festivals. In addition to these, there was in every month the feast of the new-moon; and in every week, the Sabbath. This connection is a standing one, which, even in the New Testament (compare Col. ii. 16), still reverts. The words, "all her festival time," comprehend the single species in the designation of the genus. That מועד properly signifies "appointed time," then, more specially, "festival time," "feast," appears from Lev. xxiii. 4: "These are the מועדי of the Lord, the sacred assemblies which you shall call במועדם, in their appointed time." That the feasts are not a single species co-ordinate with the new-moons and Sabbaths, but the genus, appears from the fact that in Lev. xxiii. the Sabbath opens the series of the מועדים. In a wider sense, the new-moons also belonged to the מועדים, although they are not enumerated among them in Lev. xxiii. on account of their subordinate character. In Num. x. 10, Is. i. 14, Ezra iii. 5, the new-moons are mentioned along with the מועדים only as the species by the side of the genus. But we are at liberty to think only of the feasts appointed by God; for, otherwise, there would be no room for the application of the lex talionis:—God takes from the Israelites only what they had taken from Him. The days of the Baalim are afterwards specially mentioned in ver. 15. The days of God are taken from them; for the days of the Baalim they are punished. This much, however, appears from the passage before us—and it is placed beyond any doubt by several other passages in Hosea as well as in Amos—that, outwardly, the worship, as regulated by the prescriptions of the Pentateuch, had all along continued. (For the arguments in proof of this assertion, the author's Dissertations on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch, vol. i., are to be compared.)

Ver. 14. "And I make desolate her vine and fig-tree, whereof she said, They are the wages of whoredom to me, that my lovers have given me; and I make them a forest, and the beasts of the field eat them."

The vine and fig-tree, as the two noblest productions of Palestine—Ispahan, in the "Excerpta ex vita Saladini," p. 10, calls them "ambos Francorum oculos"—are here also connected with each other, as is commonly done in threatenings and promises, as the representatives of the rich gifts of God, wherewith He has blessed this country.—אשר is often placed before an entire sentence, to mark it out as being relative in general. It is the looser, instead of the closer connection, = "of which."—אתנה "wages of prostitution," instead of which, in ix. 1 and other passages, the form אתנן occurs, requires a renewed investigation. It is commonly derived from תנה, to which the signification "largiter donavit, dona distribuit," is ascribed. But opposed to this, there is the fact that the root תנה is, neither in Hebrew, nor in any of the dialects, found with this signification. It has in Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac, the signification "to laud," "to praise," "to recount." But besides this תנה, there occurs another תנה, not with the general signification "to give," but in the special one, "to give a reward of whoredom;" in which signification it cannot be a primitive word, but derived from נתן אתנה = אתנה, in the passage under consideration, and in Ezek. xvi. 34. The supposition of a primitive verb תנה, with the signification "to give," is also opposed by the circumstance that the noun which is said to be derived from it never occurs with the general signification "gift," but always with the special one, "reward of prostitution." אתנה is rather derived from the first pers. Fut. Kal of the verb נתן, a "I will-give-thee," similar to our "forget-me-not." The whore asks, in Gen. xxxviii. 16, מה־תתן לי ("what wilt thou give me?"), and the whoremonger answers, אתן־לך ("I will give thee"), ver. 18. From this there originated, in the language of the brothel, a base word for such base traffic. The sacred writers are not ashamed or afraid to use it. They speak, throughout, of common things in a common manner; for the vulgar word is the most suitable for the vulgar thing. The morality of a people, or of an age, may be measured by their speaking of vulgar things in a vulgar manner, or the reverse. Wherever, in the language, the "fille de joie" or "Freudenmädchen" has taken the place of the "whore," a similar change will, in reality, have taken place. Whatsoever the people of Israel imagined that they received from their idols, they certainly will not have designated as a "reward of prostitution," but as a "reward of true love." But the prophet at once destroys all their pleasant imaginings by putting into their mouths the corresponding expression,—an expression which must certainly have sounded very rudely and vulgarly in their tender ears; for the tongue and the ear become more tender, in the same degree in which the heart becomes more vulgar. She who imagined herself so tender and affectionate sees herself at once addressed as a common prostitute. The sweet proofs of the heartfelt mutual love which her "lovers" gave her are called "wages of whoredom." This is indeed a good corrective for our language, for our whole view of things, for our own hearts, which are so easily befooled. All love of the world, all striving after its favour, every surrender to the spirit of the age, is whoredom. A reward of whoredom, which must not be brought into the temple of the Lord (for it is an abomination unto the Lord thy God, Deut. xxiii. 19), is everything which it offers and gives us in return. Like a reward of whoredom, it will melt away; "of wages of whoredom she has collected, and to wages of whoredom it shall return."—This derivation from the Future has a great many analogies in its favour; among others, the whole class of nouns with ת prefixed, in which it is quite evident (although this has been so often overlooked) that they have arisen from the Fut. If the ת in these forms originated from the Hiphil, how could it be explained that they are more frequently connected with Kal? Even the very common occurrence of the formation from the Future in the case of proper names, induces us to expect, a priori, that it will be more frequent in appellative names than is commonly supposed. The occurrence of the phrase נתן אתנה, in the passages quoted, is also in favour of this derivation. By it, the interchange of the two forms אתנה and אתנן is easily accounted for. In the latter of these forms, the Nun which prevails in נתן, but which had been dropped at the beginning, again reappears. A variation in the form is, moreover, quite natural in a word which originated from common life, which is entirely destitute of accurate analogies, and is therefore, as it were, without a model; for the other nouns of this class are formed from the 3d pers. of the Fut.—As regards, now, the substance:—Egotism, and selfishness arising out of it, are the ground of all desire for the love of that which is not God, especially in the case of those who have already known the true God; for where this is not the case, there may be, even in idolatry, a better element, which seeks for a false gratification only because it does not know the true one. From this, however, it appears, that the idolatry of the Israelites (and this is only a species of the idolatry of all those who have had opportunity to know the true God, and of whom it is true that "the last is worse than the first") was much lower than that of the Gentiles, whose poets and philosophers, in part, zealously opposed the dispositions which are here expressed; compare the passages in Manger. Egotism is here, as it always is, folly; for it trusts in him who himself possesses only borrowed and stolen goods, which the lawful owner may, at every moment, take away from him. And in order that such folly may appear as such, and very glaringly too. He appears here indeed, and takes what He had in reality given out of His mercy, but what, according to their imagination, they had received from the idols as a reward.—The suffix in שמתים refers to the vine and fig-tree. The gardens of vines and fig-trees carefully tended, hedged and enclosed round about, are to be deprived of hedges, enclosures, and culture (καθυλομανεῖ γὰρ μὴ κλαδευομένη ἡ ἄμπελος, Clem. Alex. Paed. i. 1, p. 115 Sylb.), to be changed into a forest, and given over to the ravages of wild beasts; for the words "and eat them" are by no means to be referred

to the fruits only. The same image of an entirely devastated country is found in Is. vii. 23 ff.; Mic. iii. 12.

Ver. 15. "And I visit upon her the days of the Baalim, to whom she burnt incense, and put on her ring and her ornament, and went after her lovers, and forgat Me, saith the Lord."