Hosea 8:3
Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
Israel hath cast off the thing that is good,.... Or "rejected him that is good" {y}; that is, God, as Kimchi observes; for there is none good but him, Matthew 19:17; he is the "summum bonum", "the chiefest good" to men, and is essentially, originally, and infinitely good in himself, and the fountain of all goodness to his creatures; and yet Israel has rejected him with detestation and contempt, as the word {z} signifies, though they pretended to know him, which shows their hypocrisy; and therefore it is no wonder that their prayers were rejected by him: or they rejected the good word of God, the law, or doctrine contained in it, and the good worship, service, and fear of God, and indeed everything that was good, just, and right. Cocceius renders it, "the good One", or he that is God, the good God, "hath cast off Israel". This reading of the words Drusius also mentions, and seems to like best, and as agreeing with what follows; so Rivet; but the position of the words in the Hebrew text, and the accents, do not favour it;
the enemy shall pursue him; who is before compared to an eagle, which flies swiftly, and pursues its prey with eagerness and fierceness: Shalmaneser is meant, who should invade the land, come up to Samaria, besiege and take it; nothing should stop him, nor should Israel escape from him, since they had cast off the Lord, and everything that was good. The Targum is,
"the house of Israel have erred from my worship, for the sake of which I brought good things upon them; henceforward the enemy shall pursue them.''
{y} bwj larvy xnz "deseruit Israel bonum, i. e. Deum", Vatablus, Munster, Tarnovius, Zanchius.
{z} "Abominatus est", Calvin, Zanchius.