for mentioning Jeroboam's name, is seen from the relation of ver. 2 to
ver. 1. The remark there made,--that Hosea received the subsequent
revelation at the very beginning of his prophetic ministry, corresponds
with the mention of Jeroboam's name in ver. 1. But this is not all; nor
can we say that, had it not been for this reason, Hosea would not have
mentioned any king of Israel at all, in order that, from the outset, he
might exhibit [Pg 168] his disposition. There was a considerable
difference between Jeroboam and the subsequent kings. _Cocceius_
remarked very strikingly: "The other kings of Israel are not considered
as kings, but as robbers." Jeroboam possessed a _quasi_ legitimacy. The
house of Jehu, to which he belonged, had opposed the extreme of
religious apostasy. It was, to a certain degree, acknowledged, even by
the prophets. Jeroboam had obtained the throne, not by usurpation, but
by birth. He was the last king by whom the Lord sent deliverance to the
people of the ten tribes; compare 2 Kings xiv. 27: "And the Lord would
not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; and He saved them by
the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash." (2.) The _internal_ reason
adduced by _Maurer_ (S. 294) is equally insignificant. "The _morum
magistri_," he says, "are wont more slightly to reprove, in the case of
strangers, that which they severely condemn in their own people; but
Hosea rebukes with as much severity the inhabitants of Judah, when he
comes to speak of them, as he does the Israelites." But no certain
inferences can be drawn from such commonplaces; for, in this way we
might as reasonably infer, that Isaiah and the writer of the Books of
Kings were natives of the kingdom of the ten tribes, because they
censure the sins of the Israelites as severely as they do those of the
inhabitants of Judah. To this commonplace we might as easily oppose
another equally true, viz., the "_morum magistri_, from a partiality
for their own people, are wont to judge more leniently of their faults
than of those of strangers." Such maxims require to be applied with the
utmost caution, even in the territory to which they belong, because one
consideration may be so easily outweighed by another. Here, however,
its application is altogether out of the question. The prophets, as the
instruments of the Spirit, spoke pure and plain truth without any
regard to persons. Whether Hosea was a native of Judah or of Israel, he
would express himself in t