The Lord hath appeared of old unto me... — The Hebrew adverb more commonly refers to distance than to time. From afar the Lord appeared unto me. The thought is that of a deliverer who hears the cry of his people in the distance, and then draws near to help them. Jehovah enthroned in Zion, or in the heaven of heavens, hears the cry of the exiles by the waters of Babylon or Nineveh.
Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. — Some translators render I have preserved (or respited) thee, others I have continued my loving kindness to thee, as in Psalms 36:10; Psalms 109:12; but the LXX., Vulg., and Luther agree with the English Version, and it finds sufficient support in the meaning of the Hebrew verb and in the parallel of Hosea 11:4.