Hosea 4:4

Notwithstanding the outburst of the divine judgments, the people prove themselves to be incorrigible in their sins. Hos 4:4. "Only let no man reason, and let no man punish; yet thy people are like priest-strivers." אך is to be explained from the tacit antithesis, that with much depravity there would be much to punish; but this would be useless. The first clause contains a desperatae nequitiae argumentum. The notion that the second 'ı̄sh is to be taken as an object, is decidedly to be rejected, since it cannot be defended either from the expression אישׁ בּאישׁ in Isa 3:5, or by referring to Amo 2:15, and does not yield any meaning at all in harmony with the second half of the verse. For there is no need to prove that it does not mean, "Every one who has a priest blames the priest instead of himself when any misfortune happens to him," as Hitzig supposes, since עם signifies the nation, and not an individual. ועמּך is attached adversatively, giving the reason for the previous thought in the sense of "since thy people," or simply "thy people are surely like those who dispute with the priest." The unusual expression, priest-disputers, equivalent to quarrellers with the priest, an analogous expression to boundary-movers in Hos 5:10, may be explained, as Luther, and Grotius, and others suppose, from the law laid down in Deu 17:12-13, according to which every law-suit was to be ultimately decided by the priest and judge as the supreme tribunal, and in which, whoever presumes to resist the verdict of this tribunal, is threatened with the punishment of death. The meaning is, that the nation resembled those who are described in the law as rebels against the priest (Hengstenberg, Dissertations on Pentateuch, vol. 1. p. 112, translation). The suffix "thy nation" does not refer to th…

Prophets were sent to be reprovers, to tell people of their faults, and to warn them of the judgments of God, to which by sin they exposed themselves; so the prophet is employed in this and the following chapters. He is here, as counsel for the King of kings, opening an indictment against the people of Israel, and labouring to convince them of sin, and of their misery and danger because of sin, that he might prevail with them to repent and reform. I. He shows them what were the grounds of God's controversy with them, a general prevalency of vice and profaneness (Hos 4:1, Hos 4:2), ignorance and forgetfulness of God (Hos 4:6, Hos 4:7), the worldly-mindedness of the priests (Hos 4:8), drunkenness and uncleanness (Hos 4:11), using divination and witchcraft (Hos 4:12), offering sacrifice in the high places (Hos 4:13), whoredoms (Hos 4:14, Hos 4:18), and bribery among magistrates (Hos 4:18). II. He shows them what would be the consequences of God's controversy. God would punish them for these things (Hos 4:9). The whole land should be laid waste (Hos 4:3), all sorts of people cut off (Hos 4:5), their honour lost (Hos 4:7), their creature-comforts unsatisfying (Hos 4:10), and themselves made ashamed (Hos 4:19). And, which is several times mentioned here as the sorest judgment of all, they should be let alone in their sins (Hos 4:17), they shall not reprove one another (Hos 4:4), God will not punish them (Hos 4:14), nay, he will let them prosper (Hos 4:16). III. He gives warning to Judah not to tread in the steps of Israel, because they saw their steps went down to hell (Hos 4:15).

4:4-5 When we are accused of a crime, our human inclination is to blame someone else, but God makes it clear that the blame for Israel’s apostasy lay with her religious leaders, priests, and false prophets. • God’s judgment on the priests and prophets was that they would stumble and fall (the same word in Hebrew), both professionally and personally.