Ver. 13. He made him ride on the high places of the earth— We may observe, that the verbs in this, as well as in the preceding verses, are all in the future. The meaning of the clause,
He will make him ride on the high places of the land, is fully explained by that which follows in apposition with it;
He will give him to eat the increase of the fields:
Thus expressing God's donation to the Israelites of a noble and fertile country, full of lofty and fruitful mountains, and therefore called the high places of the land. There he made them to ride, i.e. to live deliciously. So to ride signifies, Hosea 10:11. I will make Ephraim to ride: Judah shall plough; i.e. the people of Israel shall live in pleasure, when Judah shall live laboriously. He made him to suck honey out of the rock, &c. is a high, poetical expression, for a most rich and abundant country. Virgil's description of the fruitfulness of the earth in the golden age is not unlike this:
Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva, Et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella.
Then clustering grapes on forest thorns shall grow; Swains without culture golden harvests reap, And knotted oaks shall showers of honey weep.