John Trapp on Hosea 9:16

Verſ. 16. Ephraim is ſmitten,] As a tree that hath received a deadly wound, or that hath the bark pulled off it, ſo that the ſap cannot find the way to the branches: or that is blaſted, as the fig-tree in the Goſpel was by Chriſts curſe; and as a vine ſmitten by great hailſtones, and beaten down to the ground. The Lord ſhall ſmite Iſrael, ſaith another Prophet, as a reed is ſhaken in the water, and he ſhal root up Iſrael, &c. 1 King. 14.15. root and branch in one day.

The root is dried up, they ſhal bear no fruit,] The root of the righteous ſhall not be moved, Prov. 12, 3. The root of the matter is found in me, ſaith Job. Chap. 19.28. the holy ſeed ſhall be the ſubſtance thereof. Eſay. 6.13. as a teyl-tree, and as an oak, whoſe ſubſtance is in them, ib. The Duke of Florence gave for his enſigne a great tree with many ſpreading boughes, one of them being cut off with this poſie, Vno avulſo non deficit alter Aureus. Virg. But it is otherwiſe with the ungodly; as it was with Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 4.14. nay, worſe; for not ſo much as a ſtump of their roots is left in the earth, Verſ. 15. but they are written in the earth, Jer. 17.13. written childleſſe, Jer. 22.30. their root is dried up, the parents ſhall periſh; they ſhall bear no fruit, beget no children, which are the fruit of the womb, Deut. 28.11, 18. Luk. 1.42. Doegs doom ſhall befall them, Pſal. 52.5. God ſhall deſtroy thee for ever; he ſhall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

Yea, though they bring forth,] as Ahab did ſeventy ſonnes, after that God had threatened his utter extirpation, following the work of generation ſo much the rather; ſee the note on verſe 13.

Yet I will ſlay,] for it is God that lets in, and ſets on the enemy; it is he that killeth and maketh alive, 1 Sam. 2.6.

Even the beloved fruit of their womb.] Heb. their deſires, or their deſireable ones,Valete mea deſideria, valete. Cic. ep. fam. l. 14. ep. 2. their deareſt children, called by Tully alſo his deſideria. The Latines ſeem to have their filius a ſon, from [non-Latin text not transcribed] beloved; there is an Ocean of love in a fathers heart:Tres vomicas tria carcinomata. Sueton. though the more he loveth, the leſſe he is loved ſometimes, (as David by Abſalom) and is ſure if he belong to God. to be croſſed in his earthly Idol. Children are certain cares but uncertain comforts: they may prove, as Auguſtus his three children did, whom he called his three ulcers or cankers, &c.