of the heroes, the strength of the army, etc. "Heroes and horsemen"
are, however, specially mentioned, because in ancient times the main
strength of the armies lay in these. Even Mahommed thought himself
entitled to hold up a victory which he had obtained without cavalry--by
infantry alone--as a miracle wrought immediately by God; comp. _Abulf.
vit. Moh._ pp. 72, 91.

Ver. 8. "_And she weaned Lo-Ruhamah, and conceived, and bare a son._"

Ver. 9. "_And He said, Call his name, Lo-Ammi_ (_i.e._, not [Pg 215] my
people); _for you are not My people, and I, not will I be yours._"

As the prophet everywhere else adheres closely to his subject-matter,
as, indeed, he allows the figure to recede behind the subject of his
discourse, but never the opposite, we cannot well imagine that the
weaning is mentioned merely for the purpose of making the description
more graphic. Calvin says, "I do not doubt that the prophet intends
here to commend the Lord's long-continued mercy and forbearance towards
that people." The unfaithfulness of the wife, and the forbearance of
the prophet, do indeed continue for years. But it is better to suppose
that the mention of the weaning is intended to separate the territory
of Lo-Ruhamah from the following birth, and to call forth the idea
that, now, there may follow one of better import.--The literal
translation of the close of the verse is, "And I will not be to
you"--equivalent to, "I will not any longer belong to you." We cannot
assume, as _Manger_ does, that [Hebrew: lalhiM] has been here left out,
nor, as others do, that it must be supplied. Since it is God who
speaks, "to you," or "yours," is sufficiently definite. Similar is
Ezek. xvi. 8: "And I entered into a covenant with thee, and thou
becamest Mine," [Hebrew: vthii li]; Ps. cxviii. 6: "The Lord is mine,
[Hebrew: ihvh li], I will not fear." The explanation given by some, "I
shall not be among you," is too limited. It is the highest happiness to
possess God Himself, with all His gifts and blessings, and the greatest
misery to lose Him. The fulfilment of this threatening is reported in 2
Kings xvii. 18: "And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed
them out of His sight; and there was none left but the tribe of Judah
alone;" comp. also Is. vii.

The first three verses of the following chapter ought to have been
connected with the first chapter; for they contain the announcement of
salvation which is necessary to complete the first pro