PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea
John James Given [1853-1943] · 418,632 words · 462 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 241
~til I more, so as to denote a storm of greatest begun. Suoh is the o:z:tension of the pun- violence. The double feminine ending is ishment. Now shall they be (rather, are re,!!'.arded by most as strengthening the then beoome) among the <ientilee as a veuol sense in this word ruphath.ah, ;ir;it;i'!'.I, ;,r;i~W., whe…
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idolBLroue alliances. The expreslJion, "going and from mn equivalent to nJr;i~ F:), tn up," 1111 udee to going t~ the interior of the hire or bargain, makes little difference in country, or to the capital of the monarch the general senee of the clause. And they Assyria now owned as sovereign, or to a shall sorrow a lit…
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oi all their tribes to pttt his Name th'llre of the depllrlure from Egypt : pm,epts, nn<l to aC"rcpt the o'lferinge of his peopl0, ratioMl injunctions, left, eo to s:iy, to our they multiplied altan contrar~• to the intclligcn~e, ns the unity of the Deity and express C"nrunrnnd of God ; while those the fnct of his b…
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HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-3.-Ministerial faithfulness. The prophet is represented 119 11 messenger with alarming tidings, or sentinel at his post to give warning of the enemy's approach, or rather as a herald commissioned to declare war. Earthly kings have heralds or special messengers for this purpose, and here the King…
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Vers. 4-8.-The causes of the Divine judgments are more particularly specified. The first sin which brought down the Divine displeasure was their civil apostasy, e.s it has been called, or change of civil government. L NATURE OF THE FIBST SIN BY WRICH !SBA.EL INCURRED DIVINE WRATH. By this we are not to understand. …
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their advantBge at the expense of another, and unjustly robbed 11, man who had never injured them, they were destitute of every excuse. The Lord, however rlid in the me&n time execute by them whe.t he had appointed, e.nd what he had already permitted ~e.te.n to do. He intended tba.t hi_s servant should be plundered; …
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Do the pleasures of sin engross our affections, and are they the idol on which our hear~ dotes? Our idol will cas~ us ~ff. The pleasures of sin are short-lived; they last but for a season, and that seas0!3 lS at most_ and best a s~~rt one ; nor do they satisfy while they last. Is beauty the obJect of our idolatry? '…
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case. No prophetic intimation induced Israel to adopt the calf-idolatry, neither could they find fnult with their neighbours for seducing them into it. It was their own device, nnd had its origin with their king and themselves, How sa.d that Israel should make themselves so vile I-that lsrnel, forgetful of their hig…
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Yers. 9-13.-TM _iustir-e of the judgments threatened with further additions. Their errand to Assyria added to their sin; they sought heathen helpers to uphold them in their apostasy and idolatry, incTeasing their sin. I. 0?-.~ SINFUL ACT IS PROLIFIC OF JiUNY MORE. One sinful course drnws on anot-her, just as one li…
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IV. WnoNo' MEANS OF HELP PROVE RUINOUS. The help which Israel hired amon.'.!; the hea.then, so far from availing the10, put the:n in a worse position than before. 1. God would f~uetrate their purpose, gat~ering their _hired allies against them, or themselves as exiles among aliens and enemies. If "a little" be not refe…
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came by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. We have in our hl\nds, and for daily perusal, the wondrous things of the Law and 'the gracious things of the gospel• the 1wi11 lips of God'sgreat oracle speak to us. '2. Many and great nre the lessons of tli:; ~,·ritte~ \Yord. Many as they are in number, they are …
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera, 1-4.-A trwmpet-bla.~t of judgment. In this passage the announcement of Israel's doom is still more direct than it has hitherto been. Up to this point the 1iroph~t•s mcs~age has been principally one of compl~int, with t~reatening of punish- ment m the future; now, however, he speaks …
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Vers. 5-14.-Sin its own punisliment. These verses exhibit (1) the root of sin, \"iZ. forgetrulness of God (ver. 14); (2) its folly (ver. 6); (3) its fruitlessness (ver. 7); and (4) the ruin which it entails (vers. 8, 10, 13, 14). But perhaps the most prominent thought in the passage is that of the self-punishing natur…
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Iike the eoli tary " wild ass " of the desert ; and it fell an eaey prey to tbe Assyrian lion. IV. IN THB CONFIDENCE 011' THE PEOPLE IN MATERIAL DEFENCES, (Ver. 14.) Hosea ascribes this particular sin to Judah rather than to farael. The Jews "trusted in their l"cnced cities" (Jer. v. 17). A fortified city is certainly…
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became arrows in his heart, instead of "arrows in his hand." The historian eho'We us the poor king reaping his dismal harvest in the pathetic scene in which ho bewailed the fate of Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 33). IV. VICIOUS MEN. The young man who "wastes his substance with riotous living" has his car('{'r described in…
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:ire (see Pe. xix. 7-11). (3) Great in their ccmprehenswene.,s. Some read the clause thus: "I wrote to him the myriads [or, 'the fulnesses '] or my Law;" the reference being to the almost nWnberless Individual ordinances connected with the Mosaic institu- tions. This thought may well remind us of the inexhaustible s…
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<:xperieooe. Isr&el was an example of this truth. The people had forsaken God hBd t ~r~ed to idols, and were therefore sunk in the licentiousness of pagan wo~ship. '1 be1r only hope of moral restoration and of future blessedness lay in the fulfilment of the promise," Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee." …
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represent Mm by consecrated life. When Moses came from tho presence of God his face shono with heavenly ligM. When the Sanhedrim sa.w the coura.ae a.nd wisdom or Peter and John, they saw that they had been wHh Jesus. So he ~ho is habitually with God will have about him something of heaven's atmosphere ancl of Christ's …
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Ver. 7 (first clause).-" What shall the harvest be,• In Scripture" the wind" ls an em blern of vanity or folly, and "the whirlwind" of sudden a.nd unexpected destruc- tion. Here the latter is declared to be the product of the former. As a· gentle " wind " may be the precursor of the "whirlwind," so the foolish polic…
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11bother examplo. So we.a ThomM Cromwell, of whom Macaulay says "No one ever made a more unscrupulous use of the legislative power for the destmcti~n of his foes • " !Ind it wos by these means he we.II himself destroyed. 3, Oomnnm r,roverbs illustrdt6 the text. "Ashes always fly in the face of him who throws them.' "H…
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Positivl!IIIl leads us we recoil with horror. Our soul is something more than the concatenation of physical causes and effects ; thought is not the mere product of mo,ements in the particles of brain-matter; and love to eaoh other and to God is higher th1m the ganglionic affection with which it may be associated. We…
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find Divine truth in Paul's Epistles; yet it is commended to ua in Paul's human a.rg11- ment. Whether, however, it be in the thunder oflsa.iah or in the tr,imbling of Jeremiah, whether in the logic of Paul or the mysticism of John, we hear throughout all the declara• tion of God, "I have written," etc. "All Scripture i…
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= V. T~ THE BIIITURN PURPOSE OF THIS PROVl8ION 1B .l.'O LEAD TO nEPEl!l'rAN'OE AND TO LORD. Declarations of dl&pleasure aild denunciations of wrath afford no pleiumre to the Divine mind that.,ahthorizes them. God's throat to deRtroy all rivals to his authority 1md supremacy must indGed be lit.etally fulfilled. Bu…
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l,lio syMtems, the societies, the pursuita, which sinner& are ever wont to exalt to the seat of God. IJI. THE INFATUATION OF BINNERB LEADB THEH TO PART WITH EVERYTHING IN ORDER TO ODTAIN NOTHING, Israel spent her treasure, drained her resources; and for what? Only to endure the bitterest humiliation, the most cruel di…
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I. As ENDANGERED, " He shall come as an eagle against the house of tho Lord." How come~ the eagle? Ila,enously, suddenly, and swiftly; it pounces down on it.a rrc~· wit-h the rapidity of lightning, and fastens its talons on its heart.· A conventional Church is in greater danger than any secular community. Why? 1. Its g…
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silver wes not used in the construction of the golden calves, It wae employer! to ~nppor~ the idolo.troae worship. Thus, beco.ase they abandoned the "good thinu," they went wrong in their pol_itics and rel_igion. They m_ade their own kings and th;ir own gods. Whe_n onco men give up ~he right thc:y rush ~nto th_e wrong.…
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"As I live, s&ith the Lord, llill the earth t1hall be filled with rey glory." "In that day a man ehall 0&8t hie idols of silver, and bis idols of gold, which they made each ono f,,r himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats: to ~o into the clefts of tbo rocke aud into the toJ111 of the ragged rocks, for fear …
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.. Ver. 14.-Neither the religion nor security of a nation to bejud7ed by appearances. "For Israel bath forgotten," etc. The "tem pies " referred to here are the idolatrous temples which Israel .bad built after the models of those built by tb~ Syro-pbre:nicians ; and the ".fenced cities" refers to those fortified places…
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will urge any pleas which they think will gain them mercy. They are as anxloll8 now to rnRke themselves out God's friends as formerly they were to have nothin" to do with him. In times of affliction or peril, as well as on the approach of death ;;r judg- rneni, sinners show themselves very willing to call on God. "M…
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s_tnlk," ~to. Tho thought here is that of designs frustrated at every stage. It appears first as if thoro would be no etal~ .. Then such stalk as there is yields_ no fruit. Or if, porchance, thero should be any, 1t 1s devoured by strangers. Thus lile without God proves to be but deceptive show, promise without performa…
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(forcgnrdiug this command, multiplied altars, ·and l!O comtnltrod sin,' 'fhe worship at l0cal 11I tars was at most but tolerated in the days of the judges, of Samuel and the early kings, in consideration of the unsettled state of the nation (1 Kings i\i. 2). It became sin once II house had been built for God's worsh…
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EXPOSITION. OHAPTER IX. Ver. 3.-They 6&11 not dwell in the Lord'a land; but Ephraim shall retnrn to Vere. 1-0 contain e. we.ming age.inst Egypt, and they ahall eat unolean thin"• in security CLrieing from temporary prosperity. A1syria. The Lord's land was C.:a~am~ Ver. 1.-Rejoioe not, 0 Israel, for joy, BI which Je…
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Rhle to offer drink offerings, a part for the destruction : Emt ■ha.11 gather them up, wholr of the meat offe1ings and unbloody ltemphill ■hall bury them. 'fhoir futuro oblations; nor, if they did, could they hope exile was seen in prophotio vision ; nnd in for accept,moo for them 11w1ty from the sanc- consequence a…
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gether, Egypt gnthering them and Memphis The Septuagint has /\"al ,...,,...,0~rre-ra,, C')ni- burying thom; whilo in tho land that gave valent to "And ehall be afflicted " taking- them birth, their once happy homesteads, according to ?erome, yod for 11a11, ;nd daleth riohly decorated and expensively adorned, for resh; …
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e.nd prophecies along with my God; i.e. eome pe.rticula.re, Judg. xi.x. mAy be oon- Ephraim, not SRtisfied with the genuine eulted. The construcl.i.on is pcculiRr. The prophets, had prophets of his own, which two verbs 'lt'•M are co-ordinated opposition- spRke to the people aooording to their wish. ally; "The leadin…
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fruiUeee, rejoicee over them; and 1111 he the very meaning of the no.me-and the mul• rejoices when ho finds a firstrruit in the fig tiplication of their numbers; now that glory tree in ite beginning ; oven so have I found of populousness was to vanish speedily and lerBol in the wildi,rnose, Bnd ferl them and entirely, …
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briefly notioed. (1) The LXX., reading ·m:\ the Hebrews omit atid. Driver (' Hobrew o-;•;:i, reudel'('d, "Ephra.im, even as I ee.w, Tenses,' p. 300) says of this uso.go of the ~.;;e her children for 11. prey (£ld17fpav)." (2) so-called "poriphro.stio future,'' "Here the Ewald, conjecturing :i:i,:i:, renders, "Ephr11.…
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BinBi, woe kept; there the twelve memorial paternal relationship no longer. The princes stones ho.d been eet up; there the Oaptain ofisraelhad become rebellious ondstubborn; of the host of the Lord had appeared to by an impressive Hebrew paronomasia, their Joshua, reaeeuring him of Divine protection; 1arim, rulers, had…
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estimate religion by the outward advantages which they think to derive from it; or, what is much the same, they profess that religion or attach themselves to that denoml~ nation from which they hope for the greatest gain. 'l'hus Israel attributed to her spiritual. harlotry any temporary prosperity she eujoyed; it wa…
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priest. How snd their condition I and sadder still when they felt it to be the legitimate consequence of their sin, national, social, and lndividnall V. Loss 01/' REl,IGIOUB SOLEMNITIES IB AN AOOBAVATIOJ.11' 01!' THEIR LOBB OJ' BELIOIOUB ORDINANCES, 'l'he solemn day, or day of the feast of the Lord, as often as it cam…
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Vers. 10, lL-God's good,i,ess met with ingratitude by a sinful people. Instead of repenting of their sins, they persevered. in their rebellion against God. .As if God overlooked or connived. at their enormities, they added their deep corruption in the matter of Gibeah, in the days of the judges, to the iniquity of B…
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their fruit we.s sour, their ways corrupt, The God of their fathers bad ceaRed to be their God. "Oh I it is a comfortable thing," says an old divine, "when a child is able to say, as Exod. xv. 2, 'My God,' and 'My father's God.' God was my father's God and delighted in my father; and, blessed be his Name, be is my G…
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certainly m&ke themselves wings; they fly away as an eacr\e toward heaven." 2. The prosperity of the wicked lasts not long. Ephraim, compi~hendinit the ten tribes, hBd enjoyed great prosperity, and hRd smpassed Judah in numbers. 'l'hia was p[lrticuln.rly the CRSe in the reign of Jeroboam II., to which this Scripture m…
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contlhtHtnce,· !laying, "Leave ne Mt," e.ttd: avoid whatever would force ot ba~ten his jcpMturo I But how may we be sure that he bas not alrcruly forsaken us? The nnswer may be l'enr11ed frdm tho W'ords of the psii,lmlst: "I will keep· thy statntes: rJh, forsake mo not utterly." Ae long ag we aro reec;lved to keep his …
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hea!t,h, or_ wealth, or influence, or opportunities of doing or getting good, we must all one day g1'"c an exact account. V. ComUIPTION OOMPLETED. A tree may lose it.a lee.ves, but a following spring will restore them; it may lose some of its branches in the proceea of pruning, but this will not prevent it growing ag…
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warning, How sntl the.t the chosen ne.tion should look upon her harvests as the gift of heathen gods-e.s Baal's reward for her devoted service of him I Not only so but Israel's wickednces was gree.t all round. The people heartily hated both the L~rd and hie servants the true prophets. The whole country was now as noto…
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land" is only for the Lord's peo:(lle: for such alone the Lord Jesus prepnree a pla9e in the heavenly Canaan (veni. 1-9).-C. J. , .• 1 Vers. 'i, 8.-The ti-ve and the false praphct. Accept"ing the .Authorized \rersion hore as substantially correct, we interpret these verses as referring to both clnsscs, Ver. 7 make…
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w!IS tottering to its foll, they derided the earnest warnings or the true prophets, and hoodwinked the people into the persuasion that all would yet be well. Thus the false prophet, so far from being in any good sense a "watchman," was to the people "a snnre of e. fowler in ~II their ways;" ~nd, _with many a specious a…
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Oril'nt11l husbandman does his vines 1md fig trees. At Monnt Sinai Jchovnh mnde 11 gracious covenant with Israel, set up hie tabernacle with " view to dwell nmong the people, and arranged the tribes in order as his sacramental hoRt. When they struck their tents at Sinai, and journeyed towards Para.n (Numb. x. 11, 12…
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womb ehnll perieh at the birth, For the nation has been guilty of both spiritnal an,l literal harlotry; and of euch eins barrenness is the appropriate penalty. 3. Banish- ment. (Vere, 12, 16, 17,) This is the acme of Ephraim's <loom. "Woe also to them when I depart from them I" They are banished': (1) From the/avwr of…
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ficial; times ofRdvrr&ity put them to R test too l!evere. Tll'olll! 1'ho are willing to )JllrtaktJ of hospit!\li Ly anrl to. heighten conviviality A'te seldom the ftiendtl "born foradverlllty; • they oft.en v!\ni~h when sympathy is most needed, when eolitude le most dreaded, Ill. \\.HAT W1LL 't1!: DO WHEN RELIGIOUS O…
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I. BY WHOM APPOINTED. The watchman is placed at hie post by authority. "I have set thee a wntchm1m," is the ut,teranC'e of the Lord himself. The minister of Uhrist prefaces hie connsels 11ind mdmonitions, as did the olden prophets theirs with the assertion "Thus snith the Lord." ' II. OVER WHOM STATIONED. The Hebrew p…
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he restored to tbe land of promise; it is the belief of all that the ingathoring of the ,Te,vs into the Christian fold shall one day be brought about, and that their union with Gentiles, in subjection tc the one Divine Lord and Saviour, shall be as "lifo from tho dead."-T. Ver. 6.-The Boi-emn d.ays of life. .. What wi…
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"'Tie not the Stoio's lessone, got by rote, The pomp of worde and pedant dissertatione, That oan sustain thee in that hour of terror : Books have taught cowards to talk nobly of it, But when the trial oomes they stand aghast. Hast thou considered what may happen 11.fter it? How thy aocount may 1tand, and what the…
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LOVJ!. Wbat love? Human, angelic? No; too weak, Dlvlne love. Divine love not merely in nature, nor in propositions, but in example, the example of God himself. This is moral omnipotence, this is the Cl'Oal, this is the power of God unto snlvntlon. Let no m11,n say that the ideR.l minister ia a. fool; the man who 8t1…
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resumed hie gift; The sinner, who dependfi on Goo for "life, and breath, and all things," would fnin'keep the gifts, while declining &ll recognition of the Giver. This God rofusos to permit. The day is.coming when he will strip the sinner of all he has, 'l'he Lord has given, 11nd the Lord will take away. 3. Egypt-bond…
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Vers. 9, 10.-Gibeah and BaaJ,..peor. From this point the mind of the prophet reverts largely to the past. He sees mirrored in it both God's love and the people's sins. Allusion is made here to God's early love for Israel, and to the sins of Gibeah and Baal-µeor. I. THE F.VIL OF SIN IS SEEN BY COMPABIBON WITH FORMER BI…
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the making of the golden calf, and, again, the 11hameful apostasy of Baal-peor, Ho inexouee.bly wicked. To see sin in its full enormity we must count up the mercies of God e.ge.inHt which we are offending-must reflect, above e.11, on God's love to us as displayed in Christ. lll. 'l'HE PRJNCIPLE OF' CONTJNUITY IN BIN. …
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EXPOSIT!ON. profit;" Aben Ezl'B, "to 'beo.r" or "malie CHAPTER X. eq\11\l;" and Kimchl.infonns us thdt theoluor The concluding thought of the last chapter interpretors understood in the sense of is the commencing one of tl1is; while the "lying," aa if ~,ir, the whole pbmw tne!inlng, "the fruit will lie to him," IJI…
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approaches this aonee. Taking ;m,• in the equivalent to nichl,oq in the Niphal, and sense of "to eqnu.l," he sa.ya, "Tho feoundity interprets; " From t'he fee.r of God and of tho grapes equalled the feonudity of the &orn his Law their heart ie divided," i.e. branohea : but they who had previously rape.rated: eimile.…
1,001 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.