John Trapp on Hosea 4:16

Verſe 16. [non-Latin text not transcribed] For Iſrael ſlideth back, as a back-ſliding heifer,] Juvenca petulca, as an unruly heifer, which both kicketh againſt the milk-pail, and wriggleth againſt the yoke. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. As a mad Cow, ſo the Septuagint. Mr. Dearing told Queen Elizabeth in a Sermon, that whereas once ſhe wrot in Woodſtock windowes, Tanquam ovis, as a ſheep to the ſlaughter. Now ſhe was tanquam indomita juvenca, as an untamed heifer: and might well fear leſt God would feed her as a lamb in a large place as here, and feed her with his rod, as Mich. 7.14. The Chaldee rendreth, ſicut bos qui ſaginatur & recalcitrat, as an Ox that waxeth fat and kicketh. But the Hebrew word is feminine: and in all creatures, the female is obſerved to be more headlong and headſtrong.

Scilicet ante omnes furor eſt inſignis equarum.

Heifers alſo are more wilde, wanton, and untractable:Virg. Georg. 3. noting the children of diſobedience, thoſe refractary rebels: that, as falſe jades will not ſtand and pull, (as countrey-men call it) ſet their ſhoulders to the yoke, and their ſides to the work, but give in and kick againſt the prick.

Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.] i. e. He will keep them ſhort, as an heifer kept in a ſheep-paſture, where there is nothing for her to bite on, it is ſo bare. A lamb can live where an heifer cannot: a lamb can pick up the graſſe of the wilderneſſe, and pick a living out of it. God threatneth theſe heifers, they ſhall have henceforth ſhort commons. Thus Gualther carries it. Mercer will have it thus: I will feed them as a lamb, i. e. daintily and plentifully, that being the ſooner fatted, they may be fitted for the ſhambles. Other thus, and I think better, he ſhall feed them, that is, puniſh them, (as Mich. 5.4, 6. & 7.14) as a lamb, one ſingle ſuccourleſſe lamb, that goes bleating up and down in the wide waſt wilderneſſe, having none to tend it, or take care of it: it ſhall be all alone in a large place. How much better and ſafer were it to be in Gods fold: where (though pinde, or pent up in a narrower room, yet) Gods lambs are ſure to be fed daily and daintily. Whereas thoſe that affect freedom from Gods ſervice, and hold themſelves at beſt caſe when they have elbow-room enough to ſatisfie their luſts without reſtraint or controul, they ſhall be fed with Gos rod, Mich. 7. yea they ſhall finde that he hath two rods. beauty and bonds, Zech. 11.7 the latter for thoſe that ſlight the former. Or if he feed them as a lamb in a large place, alone, and at random, they will quickly become a prey to the Wolf, and ſoon have enough of that wilde liberty that they ſo much affected.