Hosea 5:4 They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of prostitutions is in the middle of them… Dr. Pusey says, "The rendering of the margin, although less agreeable to the Hebrew, gives a striking sense, 'Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God' Not so much that their habits of sin had got an absolute mastery over them, so as to render repentance impossible, but rather that it was impossible that they should turn inwardly, while they did not turn outwardly. Their evil doings, so long as they persevered in doing them, took away all heart, whereby to turn to God with a solid conversion." . Sin begets sin, and the longer men indulge in it the weaker they become in good desire and earnest resolution. But the Hebrew gives another idea. "They," the people in general, Ephraim is no longer addressed personally, "will not frame," lit., will not give (LXX οὐκ ἔδωκαν; Vulg., Non dabunt cogitationes suas). Their will is concerned, the seat and centre of their life is wrong, and so long as that is alienated from God (Ephesians 4:18), they do not, they cannot frame their doings. They have created and cherished a mighty impulse within them which drives them on, like the devils drove the swine into the deep. This implies resistance to God and His Spirit (Acts 7:51). (J. Wolfendale.) Parallel Verses KJV: They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. |
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