Hosea 9:3

They shall not dwell in the Lord's land,.... The land of Israel, or Canaan; which, though all the earth is the Lord's, was peculiarly his; which he had chosen for himself, and for this people; where

They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt - (note, Hosea 8:13).

They, who worship idols, and give my glory to them, depending on them, and ascribing to them what I alone give them, shall not dwell in the Lord’ s land; though they have been in possession many years, and though now they seem out of fear of losing it, being great at home and in peace with neighbours abroad, yet in midst of this prosperity and security, let them note it, they shall not much longer dwell in the Lord’ s land, which God gave them according to promise, with express condition that they should obey him and fear him, and him only, ,3, and with express menace of exile and ruin if they forgot God, ,20. This land, which is the Lord’ s propriety, and theirs only on condition, and this condition broken, shall be their possession no longer. Ephraim shall return to Egypt; many of Ephraim, for it is not meant of all or the most part; but of the more timorous, wary, and who consult their safety beforehand, many shall flee into Egypt, and shift out of the enemies’ reach. So again . They shall eat unclean things in Assyria; the residue who flee not into Egypt shall be carried captives, and in Assyria be forced to eat forbidden meats, called here unclean, such as polluted the eater.

Hosea 9:3 They shall not dwell in the LORD’ S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean [things] in Assyria. Ver. 3. They shall not dwell in the Lord’ s land] Because they would not live by the Lord’ s laws, they shall therefore be turned out of his house (so this land was called, Hosea 9:8) as rebellious children, that are a disturbance and a disgrace to their father’ s family; they shall hold no longer as tenants of him, the chief landlord, because so backward to send a lamb (as rent or a homage penny) to the ruler of the land, Isaiah 16:1; they were tenants at will, and held upon condition of obedience, Leviticus 18:28, it was divided among them by lot; Joshua divided it among them, and left none to himself. The people gave him a portion, and he was content with it; though it were but a mean one in the barren mountains, as Jerome noteth. He had the promise that God would never leave him nor forsake him; and he well knew that if he trusted in the Lord, and did good, he should "dwell in the land and be verily fed," Psalms 37:3. He and Caleb were of another spirit, and fulfilled after God; therefore they only of all that generation entered the promised land, the Lord’ s land; which because Moses might not do, it was a great grief to him. These idolaters here are threatened to be cashiered and cast out of this good land, and to have their pleasant land laid desolate, to be spewed out, as the Canaanites had been before them, Leviticus 18:28, and so consequently to be deprived of God’ s favour, help, and protection; and altogether disprivileged, yea, disinherited. This was a heavy judgment to them, and must be a warning to us, that yet live in the bosom of the Church, and under the joyful sound; that we forfeit not our present enjoyments, that we sin not away our precious privileges, as the seven Churches and others have done. Alterius perditio tua sit cautio. We stand upon our good behaviour, as they did; see Deuteronomy 30:19-20. But Ephraim shall return to Egypt] Which they ought to have been sensible of as a punishment long since threatened, Deuteronomy 28:68, though now, of their own accord, they returned to it, for fear of the Assyrian (whom by their false dealing they had justly incensed), yet that should not shelter them, but God’ s hand would find them out, and fetch them thence into captivity. Often they had been warned not to go down to Egypt for help; and they must needs be hard bestead that fled thither. True it is, that the Egyptians are renowned in histories for a thankful people (Diod. Sic. l. 2), and the Israelites are charged not to abhor an Egyptian, because they were once strangers in his land, and had tasted of his courtesies, Deuteronomy 23:7.

(3, 4) Canaan, the land of Jehovah, is holy, Assyria unholy (Amos 7:17), where there was no temple or sacred ordinances. Since meat was not a divinely sanctioned food, except in connection with a Jehovah festival, it became in the land of exile unclean. This became true in the eyes of Hosea of all eating. “In the family every feast was a Eucharistic sacrifice” (W. R. Smith, Old Testament in the Jewish Church, pp. 235 and 237). (Comp. Ezekiel 4:13.)

Verse 3. But Ephraim shall return to Egypt] See on Hosea 8:13.

3. in the Lord’s land] ‘For I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel’, Numbers 35:34. The expression originated in the popular belief that as, for example, Chemosh was the God of the Amorites, so Jehovah was the God of the Israelites (Judges 11:24), a belief which could lead even Jonah to imagine that he could ‘flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah’ (Jonah 1:3). shall return to Egypt, &c.] A repetition of the threat so well calculated to deter the Israelites from disobedience (see on Hosea 8:13). shall eat unclean things in Assyria] Comp. Ezekiel 4:13, ‘Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread defiled among the nations whither I will drive them.’ The prospect held out is not that the captive Israelites would be reduced to the necessity of eating prohibited food, but that, since all heathen lands were ‘unclean’ (Amos 7:17), all the products of the soil would also be unclean. The ‘uncleanness’ in both cases was caused by the absence of sanctuaries dedicated to Jehovah. See the foll. notes.

They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land. The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof - Yet He had chosen the land of Canaan, there to place His people; there, above others, to work His miracles;