thout, at the same time, a return to the
visible one--the house of David. What, at some future time, the mass of
the people, when converted, were to do, the converted individual must
do even now. He even now recognised the kings of the tribe of Judah as
truly his sovereigns, although he yielded civil obedience to the rulers
of Israel, until God should again abolish the government which He gave
to the people in wrath, and set [Pg 167] up in opposition to the
government of the house of David in His anger, on account of their
apostasy. From all this, it clearly appears that, in order to account
for the peculiarity of the inscription, we need not have recourse to
the conjecture, that Hosea was a native of Judah. One might, with as
much reason, maintain that all the prophets in the kingdom of Israel,
who rejected the worship of the calves--and hence all the prophets
without exception--were natives of the kingdom of Judah. For the
worship of the calves is quite on a par with the apostasy from the
anointed of God. Hosea mentions, first and completely, the kings of the
legitimate family. He then further adds the name of one of the rulers
of the kingdom of Israel, under whom his ministry began, because it was
of importance to fix precisely the time of its commencement. Uzziah,
the first in the series of the kings of Judah mentioned by him,
survived Jeroboam nearly twenty-six years; compare _Maurer_, l. c. p.
284. Now, had the latter not been mentioned along with him, the thought
might easily have suggested itself, that it was only during the latter
period of Uzziah's reign that the prophet entered upon his office; in
which case all that he said about the overthrow of Jeroboam's family
would have appeared to be a _vaticinium post eventum_, inasmuch as it
took place very soon after Jeroboam's death. The same applies to what
was said by him regarding the total decay of the kingdom which was so
flourishing under Jeroboam; for, from the moment of Jeroboam's death,
it hastened with rapid strides towards its destruction. If, therefore,
it was to be seen that future things lie open before God and His
servants "before they spring forth" (Is. xlii. 9), it was necessary
that the commencement of the prophet's ministry should be the more
accurately determined; and this is effected by the statement, that it
happened within the period of the fourteen years during which Uzziah
and Jeroboam reigned contemporaneously. That this is the main reason