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Selected Verse: Hosea 13:2 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ho 13:2 |
Strong Concordance |
And now they sin [02398] more and more [03254], and have made [06213] them molten images [04541] of their silver [03701], and idols [06091] according to their own understanding [08394], all of it the work [04639] of the craftsmen [02796]: they say [0559] of them, Let the men [0120] that sacrifice [02076] kiss [05401] the calves [05695]. |
| |
King James |
And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
according to their own understanding--that is, their arbitrary devising. Compare "will-worship," Col 2:23. Men are not to be "wise above that which is written," or to follow their own understanding, but God's command in worship.
kiss the calves--an act of adoration to the golden calves (compare Kg1 19:18; Job 31:27; Psa 2:12). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And now they sin more and more - Sin draws on sin. This seems to be a third stage in sin. First, under Jeroboam, was the worship of the calves. Then, under Ahab, the worship of Baal. Thirdly, the multiplying of other idols (see Kg2 17:9-10), penetrating and pervading the private life, even of their less wealthy people. The calves were of gold; now they "made them molten images of their silver," perhaps plated with silver. In Egypt, the mother of idolatry, it was common to gild idols, made of wood, stone, and bronze. The idolatry, then, had become more habitual, daily, universal. These idols were made of "their silver;" they themselves had had them "molten" out of it. Avaricious as they were (see the note above Kg2 12:7-8), they lavished "their silver," to make them their gods. "According to their own understanding," they had had them formed. They employed ingenuity and invention to multiply their idols. They despised the wisdom and commands of God who forbad it. The rules for making and coloring the idols were as minute as those, which God gave for His own worship. Idolatry had its own vast system, making the visible world its god and picturing its operations, over against the worship of God its Creator. But it was all, "their own understanding:" The conception of the idol lay in its maker's mind. It was his own creation. He devised, what his idol should represent; how it should represent what his mind imagined; he debated with himself, rejected, chose, changed his choice, modified what he had fixed upon; all "according to his own understanding." Their own understanding devised it; the labor of the craftsmen completed it.
All of it the work of the craftsmen - What man could do for it, he did. But man could not breathe into his idols the breath of life; there was then no spirit, nor life, nor any effluence from any higher nature, nor any deity residing in them. From first to last it was "all" man's "work;" and man's own wisdom was its condemnation. The thing made must be inferior to its maker. made man, inferior to Himself, but lord of the earth, and all things therein; man made his idol of the things of earth, which God gave him. It too then was inferior to "its" maker, man. He then worshiped in it, the conception of his own mind, the work of his own hands.
They say of them - Strictly, Of them, (i. e., of these things, such things, as these,) "they, say, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves." The prophet gives the substance or the words of Jeroboam's edict, when he said, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem, behold thy gods, O Israel." "Whoever would sacrifice, let him do homage to the calves." He would have calf-worship to be the only worship of God. Error, if it is strong enough, ever persecutes the truth, unless it can corrupt it. Idol-worship was striving to extirpate the worship of God, which condemned it. Under Ahab and Jezebel, it seemed to have succeeded. Elijah complains to God in His own immediate presence; "the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life, to take it away Kg1 19:10, Kg1 19:14. Kissing was an act of homage in the East, done upon the hand or the foot, the knees or shoulder. It was a token of divine honor, whether to an idol (Kg1 19:18 and here,) or to God Psa 2:12. It was performed, either by actually kissing the image, or when the object could not be approached, (as the moon) kissing the hand Job 31:26-27, and so sending, as it were, the kiss to it. In the Psalm, it stands as a symbol of worship, to be shown toward "the" Incarnate "Son," when God should make Him "King upon His holy hill of Sion." |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Of them - Of the idols. Let the man - Let all that bring their offerings to these idols, worship and adore, and shew they do so by kissing the calves. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
And now they sin more and more - They increase in every kind of vice, having abandoned the great Inspirer of virtue.
Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves - This was the test. If there be a Jew that pretends to sacrifice, and whose conversion is dubious, let him come openly and kiss the calves. This will show what he is; no real Jew will do this. If he be an idolater, he will not scruple. This was the ancient method of adoration.
1. They kissed the idol.
2. When the statue was too high or too far off, they presented the hand, in token of alliance.
3. They brought that hand respectfully to their mouths, and kissed it.
This was the genuine act of adoration; from ad, to, and os, oris, the mouth. So Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. xxviii., c. 1. Adorando, dexteram ad oscula referimus.
And Apuleius, Asin., lib. iv:
Admoventes oribus suis dexteram, ut ipsam prorsus deam religiosis adorationibus venerabantur.
See Calmet, and see the note on Job 31:17. |
12 Kiss [05401] the Son [01248], lest he be angry [0599], and ye perish [06] from the way [01870], when his wrath [0639] is kindled [01197] but a little [04592]. Blessed [0835] are all they that put their trust [02620] in him.
27 And my heart [03820] hath been secretly [05643] enticed [06601], or my mouth [06310] hath kissed [05401] my hand [03027]:
18 Yet I have left [07604] me seven [07651] thousand [0505] in Israel [03478], all the knees [01290] which have not bowed [03766] unto Baal [01168], and every mouth [06310] which hath not kissed [05401] him.
23 Which things [3748] have [2192] indeed [3303] a shew [2076] [3056] of wisdom [4678] in [1722] will worship [1479], and [2532] humility [5012], and [2532] neglecting [857] of the body [4983]; not [3756] in [1722] any [5100] honour [5092] to [4314] the satisfying [4140] of the flesh [4561].
26 If I beheld [07200] the sun [0216] when it shined [01984], or the moon [03394] walking [01980] in brightness [03368];
27 And my heart [03820] hath been secretly [05643] enticed [06601], or my mouth [06310] hath kissed [05401] my hand [03027]:
12 Kiss [05401] the Son [01248], lest he be angry [0599], and ye perish [06] from the way [01870], when his wrath [0639] is kindled [01197] but a little [04592]. Blessed [0835] are all they that put their trust [02620] in him.
18 Yet I have left [07604] me seven [07651] thousand [0505] in Israel [03478], all the knees [01290] which have not bowed [03766] unto Baal [01168], and every mouth [06310] which hath not kissed [05401] him.
14 And he said [0559], I have been very [07065] jealous [07065] for the LORD [03068] God [0430] of hosts [06635]: because the children [01121] of Israel [03478] have forsaken [05800] thy covenant [01285], thrown down [02040] thine altars [04196], and slain [02026] thy prophets [05030] with the sword [02719]; and I, even I only, am left [03498]; and they seek [01245] my life [05315], to take it away [03947].
10 And he said [0559], I have been very [07065] jealous [07065] for the LORD [03068] God [0430] of hosts [06635]: for the children [01121] of Israel [03478] have forsaken [05800] thy covenant [01285], thrown down [02040] thine altars [04196], and slain [02026] thy prophets [05030] with the sword [02719]; and I, even I only, am left [03498]; and they seek [01245] my life [05315], to take it away [03947].
7 Then king [04428] Jehoash [03060] called [07121] for Jehoiada [03077] the priest [03548], and the other priests [03548], and said [0559] unto them, Why repair [02388] ye not the breaches [0919] of the house [01004]? now therefore receive [03947] no more money [03701] of your acquaintance [04378], but deliver [05414] it for the breaches [0919] of the house [01004].
8 And the priests [03548] consented [0225] to receive [03947] no [01115] more money [03701] of the people [05971], neither [01115] to repair [02388] the breaches [0919] of the house [01004].
9 And the children [01121] of Israel [03478] did secretly [02644] those things [01697] that were not right against the LORD [03068] their God [0430], and they built [01129] them high places [01116] in all their cities [05892], from the tower [04026] of the watchmen [05341] to the fenced [04013] city [05892].
10 And they set them up [05324] images [04676] and groves [0842] in every high [01364] hill [01389], and under every green [07488] tree [06086]:
17 Or have eaten [0398] my morsel [06595] myself alone, and the fatherless [03490] hath not eaten [0398] thereof;