The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 61

to despnir, be deals with them in mercy. 1. " This 'therefore' has a strange and wonderful 'wherefore' if we dwell on what precedes: 'She went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will allure her ; ' there needs, indeed, a 'behold' to be put to this 'therefore.' ... 'rhe right knowledge of the fulness and riches of the grace of the covenant will help us out of this difficulty, and tell us how these two, the greatness of man's sin and the riches of God's grace, may have a connection one with another, and that by an illative 'therefore.'" 2. The allurements of God are (1) those manifeAtations which he makes of himself to his people, when he displays to them the beauty of his holiness, the goodness of his grace, the greatness of his mercy, and the glory of his power. Again, (2) he allures men when he draws them away from the specious blandishments and subtle snares of sin and Satan, the world, and the flesh. He counteracts the enticements of things temporal, and turns the affections to things spiritual and eternal. From earthly gain he allures them to godliness, which, with contentment, is great gain ; from the pleasures of the world he allures them to delight themselves in God and in the things of God; from all sinful pursuits and from all unworthy ambitions he allures ns to seek our satisfaction in himself, and to set our affections on things above, where Jesus sits at God's right hand. 3. He speaks comfortably to his people, literally, to their heart. Man can only speak to the ear, God speaks to the heart; yet God's words in man's mouth are brought home by the Holy Spirit to the affections, and so to the comfort of man's heart. 4. Whether, then, the wilderness state be one of afflictive dispensations or of merciful deliverances, the power of Divine attraction is experienced and Divine consolations are enjoyed. (1) Days of even painfully afflictive dispensations are often days of spiritual consolations ; whereas in days of outward prosperity there are many obstructions barring the way to man's heart and preventing the entrance of heavenly comfort. (2) Again, what comfort we derive from the record of God's merciful manifestations to bis people in the past! "We may read the stories of God's wonderful power displayed in delivering his people out of their straits in the wilderness, and make them our own; and plead with God that he would show forth that old, that ancient power and wisdom and goodness of his, as he did unto his people formerly." Hence the prophet prays and teaches us to pray," Awake, awake, put on strength, 0 arm of the Lord, awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old." 1. RELIEF IS THE FIRST MANIFESTATION OF THIS MERCJi". That relief is described in terms calculated to remind them of God's gracious dealings with their forefathers, and to recall his merciful deliverance of them out of Egypt. 1. Several incidents connected with their redemptioo out of the land of bondage are laid hold of by the prophet and impressed into his prediction, which is thus rendered beautifully vivid and picturesque, of future deliverance. Among these incide!lts, which give such a life-like colouring to the prophecy, are God's persuasion of Israel through his servants, Moses and Aaron; their exit from Egypt, and entrance into the wilderness on the way to Canaan; his cordial and comforting dealings with them iu the wilderness, when be gave them that fiery, yet just and good and holy Law, instructed them in the ways and means whereby they might worship him acceptably, and took them into covenant with himself. 2. 'l'he Prophet Isaiah speaks of the wilderness becoming a fruitful field, and again of the wilderness and solitary place being gladdened, and of the desert rejoicing and blos- soming as the rose, Whether, then, the wilderness itself shall bloom with vineyards for Israel, or whether, on emerging from the wilderness, they were to be put in possession of vineyards in the promised land, the promised blessing of restoration remains the same; while the responsive song of praise and thanksgiving, such as Moses and the men or Israel sang for the glorious triumph at the Red Sea, and in which Miriam and the women of Israel responded, shall be repeated on the occasion of Israel's rehabilitation in their former inheritance. 3. A remembrancer of a practical kind is interjected, if we are to understand Achor rather appellatively than locally. '!'hat remembrancerof Achan's sin, and Israel'~ suffering in consequence, teaches the lesson sometimes difficult to realize, that the bitterest sorrow becomes the source of sweetest comfort to penitent souls. God subjects his people to humbling providences in order to make them contrite; he awakcus within them painful convictions, to prepare them for heavenly consolations; he tries the1u by distressing circumstances, but it is by way of wholesome discipline; by all ,heir wanderings in the wilderne'8 he hurublns and pruves them in order  'l'HE BOOK OF HOSEA.