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“Come! Let’s return to the LORD; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
Verse 1. Early, or in haste. All the people will repent. Calmet.
After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.
Verse 2. Cure us. God is always ready to receive penitents. Worthington.
Let’s acknowledge the LORD. Let’s press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, the LORD will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
Verse 3. Third. In a short time the Lord will easily set us free. But the prophet refers more directly to the resurrection of the faithful, and of Christ. Ephesians 2:5 and 1 Corinthians 15:4. Calmet.—Saint Paul mentions the third day according to the Scriptures, which nowhere else so clearly specify it. Worthington. See Saint Jerome S. Cyp. Sanct. 9.—Know. Hitherto we have been reproached with voluntary ignorance in adoring idols. Calmet. 4:6. We will amend.—His, Christ’s.—Rain. It falls only in autumn and in spring. Deuteronomy 11:14. Calmet.
“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.
Verse 4. Mercy. Hebrew chesed, ( Bible.) “piety,” and so forth (Grot.) whence the word Assideans is derived. 1 Maccabees 2:42. The captives flattered themselves, that as soon as they began to entertain sentiments of repentance, God would relieve them. But he answers that their virtue is inconstant, and that they must suffer in proportion to their crimes.
Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.
Verse 5. Mouth. I have ordered my prophets to denounce death unto them, and to treat them roughly, like a piece of marble designed for a statue. Septuagint and so forth “I have slain thy prophets,” and so forth by Elias, Jehu, and so forth The former sense is preferable.—Thy judgments, or condemnation. Calmet.—Hebrew “and thy judgments light shall go forth.” Bible.—Pocock labours hard, but in vain, to explain this; as all the old versions, except the Vulg. have, “my judgments as the light,” and so forth Hebrew letters may probably have been ill joined, (Kennicott) as Meibomius suspects they have been also. Jeremiah 23:33. Here umospoti caur, “my judgments as the light,” and so forth is exchanged for umishpatec or. This would be very easy when words were written undivided, as in ancient MSS. Bible.—“Some transcriber upon hearing umishpatecaor, from the person dictating to him, writ umishpateca or instead of umishpate caor. Kennicott, Diss. 1.
For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Verse 6. Mercy: sincere piety. verse 4.—Sacrifice. They had offered many. Calmet. 5:6. Calmet.—“My victims are the salvation of the faithful, and the conversion of sinners.” Saint Jerome—Knowledge, of a practical nature, which was deficient. Calmet. 4:6 and 6:4. Calmet.
But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me there.
Verse 7. Adam. A compact was made with him, that if he continued faithful or otherwise, his posterity should be born in original justice or sin. Bible.—He transgressed, and was expelled from paradise, as the Jews were from their land. Septuagint “like a man:” like any who had not been so highly favoured with the law, and so forth Calmet.—Adam means “a man,” and sometimes it would be as well rendered in this sense. Bible.
Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood.
Verse 8. Supplanted with blood. That is, undermined and brought to ruin for shedding of blood; and, as it is signified in the following verse, for conspiring with the priests, (of Bethel) like robbers, to murder in the way such as passed out of Sichem to go towards the temple of Jerusalem. Or else supplanted with blood signifies flowing in such a manner with blood, as to suffer none to walk there without embruing the soles of their feet in blood. Challoner.—Thus they would become unclean, and might easily slip. Bible.—Galaad was famous for the treaty between Laban and Jacob; and all such places were chosen for altars in the latter times of the two kingdoms. Maspha or Ramoth were the usual resorts. Theodoret reads, “Galgal.” Calmet. 4:15. Calmet.
As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder on the path toward Shechem, committing shameful crimes.
Verse 9. Robbers. Jephte had infested those parts, and the country was noted for murders; whence more cities of refuge were appointed in it. Judges 11 and Joshua 20:8. The prophet alludes to what had been said to Gad. Genesis 49:19.—Out of, or to Sichem. They were jealous of people going thither, ( Calmet.) wishing to receive their offerings themselves. Bible.
In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.
“Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of my people.
Verse 11. Harvest. This implies punishment or felicity. The turn of Juda shall come, and he shall be chastised; but after the captivity, he shall enjoy plenty. Calmet. 2:15. Isaiah 9:3. Calmet.