Ishodad of Merv

In his own words on Hosea

• Hosea 4:19

  The words "I will not visit your daughters when they prostitute themselves," that is, when a woman is accused of being adulterous and there is no witness, "she will make," Scripture says, "her offering of barley flour and will not pour any oil or incense." And since she is in her sorrow, the appearance of her offering will be equally sad. "And the priest," Scripture says, "will take some water from a vase of clay, and will throw some dust of the soil into the water, and will place the woman before the Lord and will make her swear." If she is innocent, she will remain unscathed and will still be fertile and will conceive; otherwise she will be torn. But in the meantime God threatens, "I will ravage Jerusalem, and there will be no one of your establishments which you cared for," and so on, because everything in the temple will be bound and delivered. "A nation that does not understand has kissed the woman of whoredom," that is, these people, who are blind and do not realize who God is, who lives and abides among them, prefer to worship idols rather than God. They foolishly kiss the calves and give themselves over to the prostitution with demons.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA

• Hosea 9:8

  "Ephraim is a sentinel with my God," that is, Israel was established by God, he says, so that he might receive the truth and watch over honorable feasts, and that he might be, as is the true prophet, with the help of God, the teacher of the others. But Israel, like a false prophet, has dissuaded others from the truth. The Greek [says], "The sentinel of Ephraim was with God, [yet] the prophet has become a deceptive trap in every path." In fact, the prophet was a sentinel with a god in this manner: each of the gods with a false name had his own false diviner, and those, through their heresies, differed from each other in many ways. Some worshiped Baal, some others Chemosh or Baal-Peor; and there was an idol in each temple, and by each of them an appointed false prophet sat. And finally, the ways of worship and divination differed among them.

  COMMENTARY ON HOSEA