Hosea 12:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

To understand the implications of these events in Gilead more clearly, it is important to recognize that Ful, the Assyrian king, was the first to attack Samaria, claiming the first spoils from the two tribes of Jordan, beginning with Gilead. God's mention of Gilead serves as a poignant reminder; without Gilead's existence to call out Israel's immorality, no one could challenge the falsehoods of the princes in Gilgal. Gilgal was a location where people—both young and old—gathered to engage in idol worship. In the absence of Gilead, who would question the authenticity of the rulers who sacrificed at Gilgal?

The passage draws attention to the high altars erected for idols, visible throughout the fields, emblematic of the pervasive nature of their idolatry. The term 'yolvi' refers not to animals but to earth mounds constructed to direct water pipes to the hills, common among farmers. Furthermore, the leaders who established these altars, whether military generals or even Levite descendants responsible for the law, fell into the same trap, serving the idols alongside others. Thus, the warning in Ezekiel resonates: "For this cause saith the Lord God: Every son of the alien is a son of God. The Lord God: Every son of a foreigner who is uncircumcised in heart, and not circumcised in the flesh, let him not enter into my holy place among all the children of foreigners who are among the house of Israel. But the Levites also, who have rejected me, when Israel went astray... From me in the track of their thoughts: and they shall take away their unrighteousness" (Ezekiel 44:9-10).

Indeed, when observing “θῖνας” in an unkempt field or by the banks of rivers and seas, they can resemble large turtles that rise slightly above the surface.

The text conveys the following message: if Gilead, noted for being a city of idol-makers, tainted with blood (Hos. 6:8), and located across the Jordan where the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of Manasseh resided, is consumed by false gods and corrupted worship, then those who idolize in Galgal, also mentioned by the same prophet when stating that “all their evil is in Galgal” (Hos. 9:15), are not sacrificing bulls to true deities but instead are offering them to idols, repeating the errors found in Samaria. At the time of this prophetic utterance, Gilead belonged to the ten-tribe kingdom, whereas Galgal was under the jurisdiction of the two tribes known as Judah. Thus, both the ten tribes and the two tribes were equally led astray by the deceptions of idolatry, with their altars appearing as mere heaps, whether of stones or sand, abandoned and devoid of worshippers, resembling turtles or mounds.

Given that Gilead symbolizes the act of testifying and Galgal signifies filth, we can assert that the heretics distort the truth, honoring idols instead, and that their offerings amount to nothing more than mounds of stones or turtles. Just as мounds consist of stones and sand, so too do the heretics, through the wisdom of this age and human deceit, create idols. Having done so, they move in a sluggish manner, unable to embrace the breadth of the world. The tortoise, known for its slow pace, burdened by its weight, illustrates the profound transgressions of heretics, who wallow in filth and make offerings to their deceptions, venerating the creations of their own hands, and laboring like oxen for earthly possessions.