Vers. 9, 10.-Reje-ction and restoration. Paradox is often the highest truth, Con- sistency is the idol of the logician. A.nd not only is the course of the wise and good man now and again at variance with itself; God's ways sometimes appear to us as returning upon tllemselves. Yet there is a moral unity and order observab!e, .eyen when the "dealings" of the Divine King with his subjects seem inexplicabl~ an~. at first sight irreconcilable. , L THE UTTER REJECTION OF IBBAEL FORETOLD. Stronger language of repudiation could not be used than that which is used here. Israel is completely disowned. "Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God." The adulterous spouse is divorced, cast out and forgotten. The idolatrous nation is joined unto idols, and the aggrieved Husband of the adulteress pronounces the sentence," Let her alone." In all this we discern the degradation into which sin plunges. the ungodly. And we discern, too, the righteous rule of the Lord of all, who will not treat evil as good, and who will viudi- cate his Law. IL THE GLORIOUS RESTORATION AND l'BOSPEBITY OF ISRAEL ASSURED, Jn startling contrast to the denunciation of ver. 9, is the gracious and generous promise of ver. 10. 1. Increase and prosperity are denoted by the common- expressiou, •• as the sand of the 1-en." 2. Favour is expressed in the assurance that those who had been disowned as 1 i .c s,:;.bjects of God ~hall yet be regarded as his sous, 'l'hij very spot that had echoed CfJt, I, 1-11.] THE ROOK OF HOSEA. 31
with the thunder of wrath should resound with the language of fatherly complacency and affection, III. THE REOONOILIATION BETWEEN THE TWO DECLARATIOlilB. In several plac€R in this prophecy similar paradox is met with ; there is a strange and sudden reverHal of tone and language. 1. The change is not in the principles of God's government, but in tho condition and character of God's subjects. Repentance and renewal are undoubtedly presumed. 2. The two sides of religion are thus harmonized. The law threatens, the gospel promises; but both alike tend to the moral good of men and to the glory of God. ::1. '!'he reconciliation is supremely effected in the gospel of Jesus Christ; by him came grace and truth, and he made peace.-T. Ver. 10.-" Sons of the living Go,Z." It is both singular and instructive to observe that this expression, which is one of the richest and sweetest in revelation, is found in closest connection with language of severity, rebuke, and threatening. The contrast enhances the preciousness of the doctrine. Children of wrath become members of the Divine family, rejoice in a Father's love, and inherit a Father's home. !. THE LIGHT IIERE CAST UPON THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF THE SUPREME. Jt is a gospel needed by our age as much as by any that has ever existed-the tidings that the living God is the Father of the sons of men. l. He is the livin_g God; neither an abstraction nor a law, nor a Being uninterested in his works or indiffer<!nt to the fate of his spiritual creation. 2. He is the Father; which is something more, for it denotes his personal regard, his affectionate disposition, his benignant and bountiful care. To take any lower view than this of the Divine Being is to go back from the enlightened teaching of revelation to the effete and degraded paganism of the past. II. THE LIGHT HERE OAST UPON THE CALLING AND DESTINY OF MAIi'. 1. Here is witness to our spiritual nature. This language could not be applied to the irrational and ,unmoral brutes. Only man, among the inhabitants of earth, is capaLle of the dignity and blessedness involved in Divine sonship. 2. Here is witness to the trans- fonning power cif religion. The context shows that sinners have forfeited all claim to a hallowed relationship such as is here described, with its privileges and immunities. 'l'he grace of God, especially as revealed in the gospel of Christ, secures adoption. Christians are "children of God by faith in Christ Jesus;" they have "received the Spirit of adoption." 3. Here is witness to the duties of the new and spiritual life. What dignity clothes the sons of the living God ! What relationships, what prospect3, what services, are theirs! Surely it is obvious that those so honoured are summoned, and are bound, to cherish filial sentiments, to render filial obedience, to offer filial devotion. A holy Father looks for holy sons.-T. Ver. 11.-0~ body and one Head. This prediction may be regarded as having been literally fulfilled, ·when, after the Captivity, all distinctions among the Hebrew people came to an end. :rt may be regarded as still waiting for fulfilment in the restoration of Israel to the Holy Land. But it seems more just and more profitable to tum atten- tion to the moral lesson of this text, and to come under the influence of this inspiring representation of spiritual felicity. Elements in true well-being are here strikingly combined. I. UNITY. Judah and Israel were often at enmity, and always envious and dis- cordant ; their reconciliation was represented as a marvellous work, attesting Di vino power and grace. The work of Christ was one of reconciliation; he harmonized Jews and Gentiles, "making of twain one new man." And the ultimate realization of his pur- poses of mercy shall be attained when there shall be "one flock and one Shepherd." II. SUIIJEOTION TO ONE HEAD. From the day when Rehoboam and Jeroboam became kings of the two sections respectively into which the Hebrew people divided themselves, onwards for many generations that peoplo was a disunited and discordant people. In Christ Jesus a disunion, a discordance, far more widespread and far-reaching, was abolished. He is the one Head, in subjection to whom the several and separate members realize their true and proper unity. History shows us the vanity of merely human principles and powers of unity. But thero are signs that a Diviae headship is destined hy the supreme Rulor to be the means of reconciling those who are severed, .1nd of l'l'Cserving the unity of thoso who are ,l, 0ne, 82 THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [olI, I, 1-11,
III. A SPIBITUAL EXODUS LEADmG TO ONE Bl'IBITUAL HOME, The chronicles oflsra.el revealed t.he fact that it was the Exodus which made the nation. When bronght out from Ei;:ypt, Israel felt the pulses of national life. A symbol this of the effects of a ~pirit.trnl deliverance; a promise this of a spiritual and eternal rest, 'l'he Church is led forth by her Saviour, by him is guided through the wilderness, and by him will ho i;ntbered into the unity of the heavenly Canaan.-T.