111 When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son . 2 The more they called them, The more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to idols . 3 Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk , I took them in My arms ; But they did not know that I healed them. 4 I led them with cords of a man , with bonds of love , And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws ; And I bent down and fed them. 5 They will not return to the land of Egypt ; But Assyria -he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me. 6 The sword will whirl against their cities , And will demolish their gate bars And consume them because of their counsels . 7 So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high , None at all exalts Him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hosea 11:1-7
Commentary on Hosea 11:1-7
(Read Hosea 11:1-7)
When Israel were weak and helpless as children, foolish and froward as children, then God loved them; he bore them as the nurse does the sucking child, nourished them, and suffered their manners. All who are grown up, ought often to reflect upon the goodness of God to them in their childhood. He took care of them, took pains with them, not only as a father, or a tutor, but as a mother, or nurse. When they were in the wilderness, God showed them the way in which they should go, and bore them up, taking them by the arms. He taught them the way of his commandments by the ceremonial law given by Moses. He took them by the arms, to guide them, that they might not stray, and to hold them up, that they might not stumble and fall. God's spiritual Israel are all thus supported. It is God's work to draw poor souls to himself; and none can come to him except he draw them. With bands of love; this word signifies stronger cords than the former. He eased them of the burdens they had long groaned under. Israel is very ungrateful to God. God's counsels would have saved them, but their own counsels ruined them. They backslide; there is no hold of them, no stedfastness in them. They backslide from me, from God, the chief good. They are bent to backslide; they are ready to sin; they are forward to close with every temptation. Their hearts are fully set in them to do evil. Those only are truly happy, whom the Lord teaches by his Spirit, upholds by his power, and causes to walk in his ways. By his grace he takes away the love and dominion of sin, and creates a desire for the blessed feast of the gospel, that they may feed thereon, and live for ever.