John Trapp on Hosea 8:1

CHAP. VIII.

Verſ. 1. SEt the trumpet to thy mouth,] Heb. The trumpet to thy palate. A haſty expreſſion, an abrupt and imperfect ſpeech, common with ſuch as are moved with paſſions, of anger, grief or fear, as Chap. 5.8. after thee O Benjamin. God, though not ſubject to ſuch perturbations, Iam. 1.17. yet here and elſewhere utters himſelf in this ſort; to ſet forth the nearneſſe of the peoples danger by the enemies approach: and the neceſſity of their return to him by true repentance, for the diverſion of his diſpleaſure. Break off thy ſinnes by righteouſneſſe, ſaith the Prophet to Nebuchadnezzar; be abrupt in the work, cut the cartropes of vamty, if it may be a lengthning of thy tranquillity, Dan. 4.27. Take the bark from the tree, and the ſap can never find the way to the boughes: get ſin remitted, and puniſhment ſhall be removed. In this ſermon of the Prophet (which is much ſharper then the former, and may ſeem to be one of the laſt, becauſe God is ſo abſolute in threatning, as if he meant to be reſolute in puniſhing) there is (as one ſaith) peccatorum & poenarum [non-Latin text not transcribed] an heaping together of ſins and puniſhments of many ſorts: and the prophet is commanded to give ſuddain warning of the enemy at hand, which is elegantly ſet forth by a military hypotypoſis or lively repreſentation; as if it were now a doing. The trumpet to thy mouth, that is, ſet up thy note, and proclaim with a loud and clear voyce, as Eſay. 58.1. crie in the throat (ſo the Chaldee hath it here) ſpare not, that none may ſay he was not warned: lift up thy voyce like a trumpet, that all may hear and fear, Am. 3.6. as people uſe to do when an ala m is ſounded, or the bels are rung backward. See chap. 5.8. There they had been before alarmed, here reminded in brief: for the prophet is as it were, monoſyllabus, as one in haſte; he uttereth amputatas ſententias & verba ante expectatum cadentia, as Seneca ſomewhere hath it, broken ſentences, conciſe, but pithy periods.

he ſhall come as an Egle againſt the houſe of the Lord,] He, that is, the Aſſyrian; not Nebuchadnezzar, though the like is ſaid of him, Ezech. 17.3.7. Much leſſe the Romans (as Lyra interpreteth this text of the laſt deſtruction of Jeruſalem, becauſe the Eagle was their Enſign) but Pul, Tiglath-Pileſer, and Salmanaſer, who came againſt the ten Tribes as an Eagle, to waſte, ſpoil, and carry captive ſpeedily,2 King. 15.19. & 29. & 17.3. &c. & 18.19. Lam. 4.19. Plin. lib. 10.3. impetuouſly, irreſiſtibly: as Ierem. 4.19. The Eagle is the ſtrongeſt and ſwifteſt of birds, and feareth no obſtacle, either from other fowl, or winde, or thunderbolt, as Plinie affirmeth. Nebuchadnezzar is not onely compared to an Eagle (as before is noted) but to a Lion with Eagles-wings, Dan. 7.4. that is, with invincible armies, that march with incredible ſwiftneſſe. And all this was long ſince forethreatned, Deut. 28.49. The Lord ſhall bring a Nation againſt thee from farre, from the end of the earth, as ſwift as the Eagle flieth: to which Text the Prophet here ſeemeth to allude; as indeed all the Prophets do but comment upon Moſes, and draw out that Arras, which was folded together by him before.

againſt the houſe of the Lord,] that is, the houſe of Iſrael, called Gods houſe, Numb. 12.7. Heb. 3.5. and Gods land, Hoſ. 9.3.15. and their Common-wealth is by Ioſephus called a Theocratic. And although they were now become Apoſtates, yet they gloried no leſſe then before, to be of the ſtock of Abraham, and of the family of faith: like as the Turks call themſelves at this day, Muſulmans, that is, the true and right beleevers; eſpecially after they are circumciſed, which is not done till they be paſt ten yeers of age; following the example of Iſmael, Grand Signior Serag. p. 191. whom they imitate, and honour as their Progenitour: alledging that Abraham loved him, and not Iſaac, and that it was Iſmael whom Abraham would have ſacrificed.

becauſe they have tranſgreſſed my Covenant, and treſpaſſed] Sin is the mother of miſery: and the great Makebate betwixt God and his creature. It moves him when we ask bread and fiſh to feed us (as verſe 2.) to anſwer us with a ſtone to bruiſe us, or a ſerpent to bite us. The ſin of this people was the more hainous, becauſe they were covenanters, and confederate with God. It was his covenant that was in their fleſh, Gen. 17.13. and he had betrothed them to himſelf, and betruſted them with his Oracles. but they like men, tranſgreſſed the covenant, and dealt treacherouſly againſt him, Chap. 6.7. (See the Note there.) they performed not the ſtipulation of a good conſcience toward God. 1 Pet. 3.21.

they treſpaſſed againſt his law.] As if it had not been holy, and juſt, and good, Rom. 7. precious, perfect, and profitable; grounded upon ſo much good reaſon, that if God had not commanded it, yet it had been beſt for us to have practiſed it, Eſay 48.17. I am the Lord that teacheth thee to profit, &c O that thou hadſt hearkened to my commandements! &c. q. d. It is for thy profit and not for mine own, that I have given thee a law to live by. But they have treſpaſſed, or praevaricated: and this, out of pride and malice, as the word ſignifieth; and as before he had oft convinced them of many particulars, and more will do: therefore are they juſtly puniſhed.