the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
divided
חָלַ֥קcha.Lak
H2505
to be smooth (figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
faulty
יֶאְשָׁ֑מוּye'.Sha.mu
H816
to be guilty · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
down
יַעֲרֹ֣ףya.'a.Rof
H6202
to break the neck · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
altars
מִזְבְּחוֹתָ֔םmiz.be.cho.Tam
H4196
an altar · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
spoil
יְשֹׁדֵ֖דye.sho.Ded
H7703
properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
images
מַצֵּבוֹתָֽםma.tze.vo.Tam
H4676
something stationed · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then foll…
Micah 5:13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine ha…
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the…
Zephaniah 1:5 And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the othe…
James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Revelation 3:15-16 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
1 Samuel 5:4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the he…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 10:1-8
Observe, I. What the sins are which are here laid to Israel's charge, the national sins which bring down national judgment. The prophet deals plainly with them; for what good would it do them to be flattered?
1. They were not fruitful in the fruits of righteousness to the glory of God. Here all their other wickedness began (Hos 10:1): Israel is an empty vine. The church of God is fitly compared to a vine, weak, and of an unpromising outside, yet spreading and fruitful; believers are branches of that vine, and partake of its root and fatness. But this was the character of Israel, they were as an empty vine, a vine that had no sap or virtue in it, and therefore none of those good fruits produc…
heart . . . divided-- (Kg1 18:21; Mat 6:24; Jam 4:8).
now--that is soon.
he--Jehovah.
break down--"cut off," namely the heads of the victims. Those altars, which were the scene of cutting off the victims' heads, shall be themselves cut off.
Adam Clarke on Hosea 10:2
Their heart is divided - They wish to serve God and Mammon, Jehovah and Baal: but this is impossible. Now God will do in judgment what they should have done in contrition, "break down their altars, and spoil their images."
John Gill on Hosea 10:2
Their heart is divided,.... Some say from Hoshea their king, who would have reformed them from their idolatry, and returned them to the true worship of God; but of that there is no proof; better from one another, their affections being alienated from each other, by their discords and animosities, their conspiracies against their kings, and the murders of them, and the civil wars among themselves; they also not being of one mind, but disagreeing in their sentiments about their idols; some being for one, and some for another: or rather from God himself, from the fear of him, from his worship and service; or from the law, as the Targum; or their hearts were divided between God and their idols,…
Their heart is divided; now they shall perish: he shall break down their idols, he shall lay waste their altars." LXX: "They have divided their hearts: now shall they perish: he shall break down their altars, he shall distress their statues." The Hebrews hand down a similar story, confirming their suspicion with the authority of Scripture: captivity did not come until both kings and peoples alike adored golden calves and were united in impiety. The last king of the ten tribes was Hoshea, about whom it is written (4 Kings 17) that indeed he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him, in whose ninth year Salmanazar, king of the Assyrians, captured the people of Israel, and led them into the Assyrians, and made them dwell near the river Gozan in the cities of the Medes. Therefore, it is asked why they were not captured under the worst kings, but under him who had begun to turn in some way to better things? To which they add these things: at first the people excused themselves, saying, "We obey the commands of the kings, nor can we resist their tyranny; we worship calves which we are compelled to adore." But in the days of Hosea the same king commanded that the calves should not be worshiped with such zeal, but that whoever wished should go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifice there to God; to this, they say, the people objected. And this is what he says now: "their heart is divided," that is, the heart of the king and the people, and with no excuse remaining, now they will perish and be delivered to eternal captivity; for as soon as the people dissented from the king, destruction came. And what follows: "He himself will break their images," speaks about God: "And he shall destroy their altars," not because God himself did this with his own hand, but because his will was fulfilled through his enemies. The hearts of heretics are divided among themselves and they resist each other's opinions, which they do not deny, while they feel different. Hence they will be dispersed, and the Lord will break or dig out their images, or altars, which they invented in their own hearts, and will destroy the titles by which each is called by their own names, and they called their names over their lands, so they may not be said to belong to Christ's Church, but to those of this or that.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Harrow — (Heb. harits), a tribulum or sharp threshing sledge; a frame armed on the under side with rollers or sharp spikes (2 Sam. 12:31; 1 Chr. 20:3). Heb. verb sadad, to harrow a field, break its clods (Job…
Heart, Character Of The Unrenewed · Divided — Divided
Indecision · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Lukewarmness · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Unfaithfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Hosea 10:2
Hosea 10:2
2. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
2. Divisum est (vel, se divisit) cor eorum: nunc convicti erunt (alii, peribunt; nam 'sm utrunque significat; refertur tam ad culpam quam ad poenam: sed mihi probatur eorum sententia qui vertunt, Nunc convicti erunt, hoc est, Nunc erunt scelerati; quemadmodum etiam simile examplum jam vidimus capite 5, nisi fallor: Nunc ergo convicti erunt:) ipse evertet altaria eorum, destruet statuas ipsorum.
He says first that their heart was divided, that is, from God; for this, we know, is principally required, that people should faithfully cleave to their God. "And now…
Although Israel was God’s luxuriant, fruitful vine (see Isa 5:1-7; Jer 2:21; Ezek 17:6), she falsely attributed her prosperity to the Canaanite fertility gods, rather than to the Lord, and she spent the riches God had given her to enhance her worship of idols. • sacred pillars: Stone pillars could be acceptable memorials (Gen 35:20; Josh 24:26-27), but God prohibited the Israelites from using them in worship as the Canaanites did (Exod 23:24; Deut 16:22).
Rashi on Hosea 10:2
Their heart has parted from Me.
now they shall be desolate. That is the thing that shall demolish (וְעָרְפוּ) thier altars, i.e., it will destroy them. This is an expression similar to (Deut. 21:4) “and they shall dehead (יַעֲרֹף)”; (Ex. 13:13) “and you shall behead it (וְעֲרַפְתּוֹ).” He will break their neck. Another explanation according to Midrash Aggadah: Peace is great, for, even if Israel worships idols, but there is peace among them, Satan does not bring charges against them, as it is said: (above 4:17) “Ephraim is joined: although he worships idols, let him alone.” Strife, however, is hated, as it is said: “Their heart has parted; now they will be guilty.” Satan can open his mouth…
