Hos 4:12-14 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 12 At their stocks - They consult their wooden gods. And their staff declareth - They use divination by rods; see the note on Ezekiel 21 (note), where this sort of divination (rabdomancy) is explained.

Hosea 4:12-14

Verse 12

At their stocks - They consult their wooden gods.

And their staff declareth - They use divination by rods; see the note on Ezekiel 21 (note), where this sort of divination (rabdomancy) is explained. Verse 13

Under oaks - אלון allon, from אלל alal, he was strong. Hence, the oak, in Latin, is called robur; which word means also, strength, the oak being the strongest of all the trees of the forest.

The shadow thereof is good - Their "daughters committed whoredom, and their spouses committed adultery."

1. Their deities were worshipped by prostitution.

2. They drank much in their idol worship, Hos 4:11, and thus their passions became inflamed.

3. The thick groves were favorable to the whoredoms and adulteries mentioned here. In imitation of these, some nations have their public gardens. Verse 14

I will not punish - Why should you be stricken any more; ye will revolt more and more. When God, in judgment, removes his judgments, the case of that people is desperate. While there is hope, there is correction.

Themselves are separated - There is a reference here to certain debaucheries which should not be described. The state of the people at this time must have been abominable beyond all precedent; animal, sensual, bestial, diabolical: women consecrating themselves to serve their idols by public prostitution; boys dismembered like the Galli or priests of Cybele, men and women acting unnaturally; and all conjoining to act diabolically.