o exceedingly short as regards the
history of the last times of the kingdom of Israel. Sacred
historiography has no interest in the details of this process of decay,
which began with the death of Jeroboam,--which also is represented by
Amos as if it were the day of Israel's death (Amos vii. 11: "Jeroboam
shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be led away captive out of
their own land"), although bare existence is still, for some time,
spared. By the rejection of this interregnum, Hosea's ministry would be
shortened by twelve years; but this gain--if such it be--can be
purchased only at the expense of a most improbable extension of the
duration of Jeroboam's reign. _Simson_, S. 201, has defended the
interregnum.

THE SECTION CHAP. I.-III.

The question which here above all engages our attention, and requires
to be answered, is this: Whether that which is reported in these
chapters did, or did not, actually and outwardly take place. The
history of the inquiries connected with this question is found most
fully in _Marckius's_ "_Diatribe de uxore fornicationum_," Leyden,
1696, reprinted in the Commentary on the Minor Prophets by the same
author. The various views may be divided into three classes.

1. It is maintained by very many interpreters, that all the events here
narrated took place actually and outwardly. This opinion was advanced
with the greatest confidence by _Theodoret_, _Cyril_ of Alexandria, and
_Augustine_ from among the Fathers of the Church; by most interpreters
belonging to the Lutheran and Reformed Churches (_e.g. Manger_); most
recently, by _Stuck_, _Hofmann_ (_Weissag u. Erf._ S. 206), and, to a
certain extent, by _Ewald_ also, who supposes "a free representation of
an event actually experienced by the prophet."

2. Others consider it as a parabolical representation. Thus does
Calvin, who expressly opposes the supposition not only of an external,
but also of an internal event. He explains it thus: "When the prophet
began to teach, he commenced thus: The Lord has placed me here as on a
stage, that I might tell you, I have taken a wife," etc. Entirely
similar was the opinion of the Chaldee Paraphrast, by whom the words,
"Go," etc., are thus paraphrased: "Go and prophesy against the
inhabitants of the adulterous city." Of a like purport is the view
held, from among recent interpreters, by _Rosenmueller_, _Hitzig_ ("that
which the prophet describes as actual, is only a ficti