Matthew Henry on Hosea 11:1-7
Here we find,
I. God very gracious to Israel. They were a people for whom he had done more than for any people under heaven, and to whom he had given more, which they are here, I will not say upbraided with (for God gives, and upbraids not), but put in mind of, as an aggravation of their sin and an encouragement to repentance. 1. He had a kindness for them when they were young (Hos 11:1): When Israel was a child then I loved him; when they first began to multiply into a nation in Egypt God then set his love upon them, and chose them because he loved them, because he would love them, Deu 7:7, Deu 7:8. When they were weak and helpless as children, foolish and froward as children, when they wer…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Hosea 11:2
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.
Adam Clarke on Hosea 11:1
When Israel was a child - In the infancy of his political existence.
I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt - Where he was greatly oppressed; and in this I gave the proof of my love. I preserved my people in their affliction there, and brought them safely out of it.
John Gill on Hosea 11:2
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 Hosea 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 Exodus 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…
