Hosea 7:9

Strangers have devoured his strength,.... Or his substance, as the Targum; his wealth and riches, fortresses and strong holds: these strangers were either the Syrians, who, in the times of Jehoahaz,

Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.

Strangers; foreigners, whose aid Ephraim sought, as ,20, when Menahem bought the friendship of Pul king of Assyria for one thousand talents of silver, and impoverished the land thereby. Have devoured; eat up, lived upon, as men live on bread they eat. His strength; the riches and goods of the kingdom of Israel; the fruit of the olive and vine; the fruit of the earth, corn; the increase of their flocks and of their herds; the most or best of all eaten up by strangers, either soldiers in garrison among them, or else courted by presents and rich gifts sent to them. Knoweth it not; is not sensible either of the cause why, or the tendency of this hasty consumption of all; still they are secure, and sin as much as ever. Grey hairs are here and there upon him; the manifest symptoms of approaching death, undeniable tokens of old age, and declining strength never recoverable, are upon their kingdom, like grey hairs that are here and there intermixed on the head of a man: what with domestic seditions and foreign invasions, and the fears, cares, and griefs from both, Ephraim is turned grey-headed, his vital vigour and strength decayeth, and this is a forerunner of his death. Yet he knoweth it not; so secure and stupid, that no notice is taken of this, nor any course thought of for preventing the dismal effects of this declining consumptive state; none turn from sin, none seek to God, the only Physician that can heal.

Hosea 7:9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth [it] not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.Ver. 9. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not] Strange stupidity, such as was that of Samson, who had lost his hair, and therewith his strength, and wist not at it. These strangers were the kings of Syria, but especially of Assyria. See 2 Kings 13:7; 2 Kings 14:25-27; 2 Kings 15:19-20; 2 Kings 15:29-30; 2 Kings 17:6. Salmanasar, as a deep gulf, swallowed them up whole. Now that they should not know how these strangers had devoured their strength, that is, their wealth and warlike power, this was very strange. The Chaldee paraphrast helps us to the meaning of it; Non novit formidare a facie mea. He knew it not, that is, he knew not how to fear before me, to tremble at my judgments, and to flee to my mercies; this he knew not, that is, he cared not to do, as the old world "knew not till the flood came," though fairly forewarned, Matthew 24:39, and as the Greeks would not know that the Turks had invaded their empire till they were got into the very bowels of it. So was it with Ephraim. A spirit of pride and of slumber had so surprised and seized him, that he took no knowledge of the enemies and evils that were upon him. Thus the spiritual sleeper stirs not, with Saul, though the waterpot and spear be taken from his bolster. Like the foolish hen, which loseth her chickens one by one by the devouring kite; when one, or two, or three, are snatched away, she still continues to pick up what lies before her. It is our wisest way to observe and improve God’ s dealings with us, to be sensible of his strokes, and to return to him that smote us, and can as soon heal us, if we come to him for cure, Leviticus 26:40. Yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him] Heb. sprinkled, sparci, non spissi. He began but to decline and decay, as a man doth when he grows toward fifty. And as gray hairs come the sooner through cares and grief (histories tell us of a young man, who being for some capital offence condemned to die, grew gray in one night’ s space, and was therefore pitied and spared), and are forerunners and forewarners of death. So the many and grievous miseries inflicted upon this people foreshowed their utter destruction to be even at next door by. And this the rather, because they knew it not (as before), but (as it is said of the Flemings) that the older they grow the foolisher they are, Quo magis senescunt eo magis stultescunt (Erasm. Apoph.). Cleanthes was wont sometimes to chide himself; Ariston wondering thereat, asked him, whom chidest thou?

(9) Have devoured.—The past tense may refer to the invasions of Tiglath-pileser. Both Egypt and Assyria had come to regard Israel as the earthen pipkin between iron pots. These strangers have devoured his strength—i.e., he has less power to resist aggression, less treasure, less land, smaller population. The signs of senility are upon him. “Grey hairs are his passing bell.” He is under sentence of death, and knoweth it not.

Verse 9. Gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.] The kingdom is grown old in iniquity; the time of their captivity is at hand, and they are apprehensive of no danger. They are in the state of a silly old man, who through age and infirmities is become nearly bald, and the few remaining hairs on his head are quite gray. But he does not consider his latter end; is making no provision for that eternity on the brink of which he is constantly standing; does not apply to the sovereign Physician to heal his spiritual diseases; but calls in the doctors to cure him of old age and death! This miserable state and preposterous conduct we witness every day. O how fast does the human being cling to his native earth! Reader, hear the voice of an old man: - O my coevals! remnants of yourselves, Shall our pale withered hands be still stretched out? Trembling at once with eagerness and age; With avarice and ambition grasping-fast Grasping at air! For what hath earth beside? We want but little; nor THAT LITTLE long.

9. Strangers have devoured his strength] By heavy tribute and desolating invasions. The ‘strangers’ would be Hazael and Benhadad (2 Kings 8:12; 2 Kings 10:32-33; 2 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 13:7), Pul (2 Kings 15:19-20), and Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29), though the two last are really the same person, Pul being the private name of a usurper who took the old royal name of Tiglath-Pileser (as proved by Mr Pinches). gray hairs are here and there upon him] Lit., ‘are sprinkled upon him.’ That a state has different stages, analogous to the periods of human life, was a familiar idea; comp. Hosea 11:1; Isaiah 46:4; Psalms 71:18 (where the speaker is probably the personified people, comp. Hosea 7:20 in the Hebrew).

Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not - Like Samson, when, for sensual pleasure, he had betrayed the source of his strength and God had departed from him, lsrael knew not how or

Hosea 7:9 calls attention to the blindness which prevented Israel from recognizing its helpless condition.