Hos 1:9-10, 2:23 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 9. Call his name Lo-ammi ] Lo-ammi , "Not my people;" for which the reason is immediately given: Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.] The word GOD is not added here by any of the ancient versions or MSS.; and yet the construction absolutely requires it, as Houbigant properly observes, who thinks the present reading lo eheyeh lachem , "I will not be to you," a corruption of the word eloheychem , "your God." It is strange that no various reading occurs on this verse in any MS. yet discovered. In two of the oldest of mine there is a blank of half a line left after the last word; and so it is in the Masoretic Bibles, though the sense is not complete; for it is evidently continued in the following verse. Probably God refers to the words, : I am that I am . I am , eheyeh ,- I shall be , hath sent me unto you. I will not be your eheyeh , i.e., I will not be your God.

‏ Hosea 1:9-10

Verse 9. Call his name Lo-ammi] Lo-ammi, "Not my people;" for which the reason is immediately given:

Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.] The word GOD is not added here by any of the ancient versions or MSS.; and yet the construction absolutely requires it, as Houbigant properly observes, who thinks the present reading lo eheyeh lachem, "I will not be to you," a corruption of the word eloheychem, "your God." It is strange that no various reading occurs on this verse in any MS. yet discovered. In two of the oldest of mine there is a blank of half a line left after the last word; and so it is in the Masoretic Bibles, though the sense is not complete; for it is evidently continued in the following verse. Probably God refers to the words, Ex 3:14: I am that I am. I am, eheyeh,-I shall be, hath sent me unto you. I will not be your eheyeh, i.e., I will not be your God.

Verse 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel] God had promised that the children of Israel should be as the sand of the sea. See Ge 32:12; Ro 9:25, 26. And though for their iniquities he had thinned and scattered them, yet the spirit and design of his promise and covenant shall be fulfilled. An Israel there shall be. In the place of the reprobated people, who were now no longer his people, there shall be found an Israel that shall be the children of the living God. See the above scriptures, and 1Pe 2:10. This must mean either the Israelites after their conversion to Christianity, or even the Gentiles themselves converted to God, and now become the true Israel.

‏ Hosea 2:23

Verse 23. I will sow her] Alluding to the import of the name Jezreel, the seed of God. Then shall it appear that God has shown mercy to them that had not obtained mercy. Then the covenant of God will be renewed; for he will call them his people who were not his people; and they shall call Jehovah their God, who before had him not for the object of their worship. It does not appear that these promises have had their fulfilment among the Jews. They must either be understood of the blessings experienced by the Gentiles on their conversion to God by the preaching of the Gospel, or are yet to be fulfilled to the Jews on their embracing the Gospel, and being brought back to their own land.

The sentences in the latter part of this verse are very abrupt, but exceedingly expressive; leaving out those words supplied by the translators, and which unnerve the passage, it stands thus: I will say to NOT MY PEOPLE, THOU MY PEOPLE; and they shall say, MY GOD.