properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Ephraim
אֶפְרַ֖יִם'ef.Ra.yim
H669
Ephrajim · proper noun, a man's name
God
אֱלֹהָ֑י'e.lo.Hai
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
prophet
נָבִ֞יאna.Vi'
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · noun, common masculine singular absolute
snare
פַּ֤חpach
H6341
a (metallic) sheet (as pounded thin) · noun, common masculine singular construct
fowler
יָקוֹשׁ֙ya.ko.Vosh
H3352
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
ways
דְּרָכָ֔יוde.ra.Khav
H1870
a road (as trodden) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hatred
מַשְׂטֵמָ֖הmas.te.Mah
H4895
enmity · noun, common feminine singular absolute
house
בְּבֵ֥יתbe.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱלֹהָֽיו'e.lo.Hav
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Hosea 5:1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have…
Lamentations 4:13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
Ezekiel 3:17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
Ezekiel 33:7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them fr…
John 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my…
Isaiah 62:6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep no…
1 Kings 22:22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he s…
1 Kings 22:28 And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 9:7-10
For their further awakening, it is here threatened,
I. That the destruction spoken of shall come speedily. They shall have no reason to hope for a long reprieve, for the judgment slumbers not; it is at the door (Hos 9:7): The days of visitation have come, and there shall be no more delay; the days of recompence have come, which they have been so often warned to expect; their prophets have told them that destruction would come, and now it has come, and the time of the divine patience has expired. Note, 1. The day of God's judgments is both a day of visitation, in which men's sins are enquired into and brought to light, and a day of recompence, in which men's doom will be passed, and a reward…
The watchman . . . was with my God--The spiritual watchmen, the true prophets, formerly consulted my God (Jer 31:6; Hab 2:1); but their so-called prophet is a snare, entrapping Israel into idolatry.
hatred--rather, "(a cause of) apostasy" (see Hos 9:7) [MAURER].
house of his God--that is, the state of Ephraim, as in Hos 8:1 [MAURER]. Or, "the house of his (false) god," the calves [CALVIN]. Jehovah, "my God," seems contrasted with "his God." CALVIN'S view is therefore preferable.
Adam Clarke on Hosea 9:8
The watchman of Ephraim - The true prophet, was with - faithful to, God.
The prophet - The false prophet is the snare of a fowler; is continually deceiving the people, and leading them into snares, and infusing into their hearts deep hatred against God and his worship.
John Gill on Hosea 9:8
The watchman of Ephraim was with my God,.... Formerly the watchmen of Ephraim, or the prophets of Israel, were with the true God, whom the prophet calls his God; as Elijah and Elisha, who had communion and intimacy with him; had revelations and instructions from him; and were under the direction and inspiration of his Spirit, and prophesied in his name things according to his will, and for the good of his people: or "the watchman of Ephraim should be with my God"; on his side, and promote his worship and service, his honour and interest; and give the people warning from him, having heard the word at his mouth: but now they were not with him, nor for him, nor did as they should: or one that b…
The Church Fathers
"Ephraim is a sentinel with my God," that is, Israel was established by God, he says, so that he might receive the truth and watch over honorable feasts, and that he might be, as is the true prophet, with the help of God, the teacher of the others. But Israel, like a false prophet, has dissuaded others from the truth. The Greek [says], "The sentinel of Ephraim was with God, [yet] the prophet has become a deceptive trap in every path." In fact, the prophet was a sentinel with a god in this manner: each of the gods with a false name had his own false diviner, and those, through their heresies, differed from each other in many ways. Some worshiped Baal, some others Chemosh or Baal-Peor; and there was an idol in each temple, and by each of them an appointed false prophet sat. And finally, the ways of worship and divination differed among them.
"Ephraim the spy with my God: the prophet is a snare of ruin" "above all his ways: insanity in the house of his God, deeply they have sinned: as in the days of Gabaa, their iniquities will be remembered, and their sins will be visited." LXX: "Ephraim the spy with God the prophet: a twisted snare over all his ways, insanity" "they have fabricated in the house of God: they have been corrupted according to the days of the hill: " "their iniquities will be remembered, and they will be avenged for their sins." Therefore, God gave the leaders to rebuke the delinquent people and to guide them back to the right path: hence, he speaks to Ezekiel: "I have made you a spy for the house of Israel" (Ezek. V, 17). Therefore Jeroboam was given as a spy among people, and as a prophet with my God, that is, with God who speaks these things by Hosea. But he is called the trap, according to that which is written above: "You have become a spectacle of snare, and a net spread out over Tabor, and you have turned victims into the abyss", and even now the people of Israel are referred to as the trap, because all fall into its snare, especially since he has put insanity in the house of God, or schemed it, that is, he made a golden calf in "Bethel", for this is interpreted as the house of God: and he has also deeply sinned in wickedness, and so he is submerged in the abyss of impiety, so that he surpasses the sin that was once committed in Gibeah, when they killed the wife of the Levite returning from Bethlehem in an illicit way (Judges 19). We can accept the days of Gibeah and that time, when for God they chose for themselves a king from the city of Gibeah, that is, Saul. And now they are said to have sinned much more, by choosing Jeroboam and worshipping idols, than at that time when they chose Saul: for here schism even was coupled with idolatry: but there the worship of God remained in the people. Therefore their injustices, which now by patience are considered forgotten, will be remembered, and their sins and the wounds that have been festering for a long time will be visited. Scrutinizing the ancient histories, I am unable to find that the Church was split, and that the people seduced the house of the Lord, except for those who were the priests appointed by God and the prophets, that is, the watchers. Therefore, these people are turned into a twisted snare, placing scandal in…
Dictionary and topics
Fowler — The arts of, referred to Ps. 91:3; 124:7; Prov. 6:5; Jer. 5:26; Hos. 9:8; Ezek. 17:20; Eccl. 9:12. Birds of all kinds abound in Palestine, and the capture of these for the table and for other uses…
Church · HOUSE OF GOD — HOUSE OF GOD
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).
Hosea 9:8
8. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. [54]
8. Speculator Ephraim cum Deo meo, Propheta laqueus aucupis super omnes vias ejus, odium (hoc est, res execrabilis: est idem nomen quo usus est in proximo versu: res igitur execrabilis) in domo Dei sui.
Interpreters obscure this verse by their various opinions. Almost all suppose a verb to be understood that Ephraim "had set" a watchman. But I see no need to make any change in the words of the Prophet: I therefore take them simply as they are. Now some think that there is here a comparison between the old Prophets who had not turned aside f…
"The days of visitation are come, the days of retribution are come; Israel will learn: a fool the prophet, a madman the man of spirit, for the greatness of thy guilt, and the great enmity. Hos 9:8. A spy is Ephraim with my God: the prophet a snare of the bird-catcher in all his ways, enmity in the house of his God. Hos 9:9. They have acted most corruptly, as in the days of Gibeah: He remembers their iniquity, visits their sins." The perfects in Hos 9:7 are prophetic. The time of visitation and retribution is approaching. Then will Israel learn that its prophets, who only predicted prosperity and good (Eze 13:10), were infatuated fools. אויל וגו introduces, without kı̄, what Israel will exper…
The watchman stood guard on the wall of the city to warn of any threat (e.g., 1 Sam 14:16). In the same way, a prophet was God’s watchman, stationed to warn Israel of her sin and of the judgment that sin would inevitably bring (see Jer 6:17; Ezek 3:17). Despite his service to the people, all the prophet received was hostility.
Rashi on Hosea 9:8
Ephraim is a prophet with my God They set up for themselves their prophets, who attract them toward their idolatry.
[for the] prophet [they lay] a fowler’s snare on all his ways And for the true prophet they conceal snares to trap them.
[causing] hatred in the house of his God In the Temple they assassinated Zechariah (II Chron. 24:21), and they sought to assassinate Jeremiah, according to the matter that is stated: (Jer. 26: 11) “This man is liable to death etc.”
