John Trapp on Hosea 6:9

Verſe 9. And as troops of robbers wait for a man,] This verſe hath much of the former in it, ſaith an Interpreter. The ſum of it is, ſaith Wigandus, to ſhew, that all the forementioned wickedneſſes were committed, inſtinctu doctorum, by the inſtinct of their Prieſts, who were now turned Tories or Moſſe-troopers. Hierome asked his Jew-doctour the meaning of this text, and received this anſwer: that at the time of the Paſſeover and the Pentecoſt, the people uſed to come to Jeruſalem; and as they were going in their journey, theſe Prieſts would ſtand in the way and ſlay them. Others think, that theſe corrupt prieſts took into their city of refuge divers thieves and murtherers; who not having whereupon otherwiſe to ſubſiſt, turned hiwaymen, (as they call them) and returning again into the city, divided the ſpoyle with the Prieſts, who had their ſhare: and are therefore called companions of robbers, and are ſaid to murder in the way by conſent, or with one ſhoulder, or as Simeon and Levi did at Shechem q. d. Sichemicc craſtily and cruelly (for ſo many wayes theſe words are rendred) & all this they did of malice forethought,Ex deſtinatae malitia & inito conſilio. of prepenſed miſchief, called here committing leudneſſe. Even as they thought in their hearts, ſo they acted, ſaith King David. They executed the counſel of the wicked, ſaith the Chaldee Paraphraſt.Non tam ovum ovo ſimile. Faciunt quicquid cognitant. They machinated miſchief, and then practiſed what they had plotted with a deliberate will, and as it were with an high hand. Look now upon the Popiſh Monkes, ſaith Tarnonius, and compare them with theſe Prieſts whom Hoſea reproveth. And Luther ſaith, that they had a proverb in Germany, that there was nothing ſo bad, which the Monkes could think of, but they would dare to do it.

Non audet Stygius Pluto tentare quod audet Effrenis Monachus,—