The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 64

•No ~trife sh&ll rage, nor hostile feuds Disturb these peaceful years; To ploughshares men shall beat their 1worda, To pruning-hooks their spoors. • No longer hosts, eneount'ring host&, Shall crowds of slain deplore : They hang the trumpet in the hall, And study war no more." V. RENEWAL OF THE MARRIAGE co~"'I'RACT OR COVENANT. If we take this Old Testament picture and put it in a New Testament frame, or if we take this Old Testa- ment flower and trnn~plant it to the New Testament parterre, we shall realize the words of the apostle to the Ephesians, when he says, "Christ also loved the Church and ga"l'e himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he mi&ht present it~ himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrmkle, or any such thmg; but that 1t should be holy and without blemish. . . . This is a great mystery : but I speak concerning Christ and the Church." 1. The betrothal is in righteousness, in truthful sincerity, without the suspicion of dis- simulation on the one side or the shadow of hypocrisy on the other; in judo-ment, with due deliberation, not rashly, not unadvisedly, not through some sudd;n or fitful impulse ; in lo"l'ing-kindness, in outward acts of kindness and innumerable love-tokens• in mercies, in bowels of mercy ; this is the source whence all those countless acts of kindness proceed, the fountain from which such abundant streams of love flow forth; in faithfulness, in stability on the part of God, "with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," and steadfastness on the part of the saint. These are the precious stones in the wedding-ring which the bride, the Lamb's wife, receives-right- eousness and judgment, loving-kindness and mercies, faithfulness-and thus the guarantee of a union that is to last for ever. VI. RETIV AL OF PROSPERITY. In this part of the picture-and a beautiful picture is here presented to us-we see a specimen of the manifold wisdom of God, and of the many links in the chain of his providence. The boldness of the figure, and the beauty of the personification exhibiting the chain of second causes, and their connection with the great First Cause of all, have been much admired. When the people of God stand in need of, and prayerfully seek, outward comforts, "immediately the corn and the wine and the oil, as if they heard their complaints, shall say, 0 Lord, we would help Jezreel, and satisfy these thy servants. The corn sball cry to the earth, 0 earth, let me come into thy bowels; I will rot there that so I may bring forth fruit for this people. The vines and the olives shall desire the earth to receive them, to impart juice and nour- ishment to them, that they may refresh these reconciled ones of God. 'l.'he earth shall say, Oh that I may receive the corn aud wine and oil that I may be fruitful in my kine.! but, ye heavens, I can do nothing except I have your influences, and the warm beams of the sun to make me fructify; come, therefore, and assist me, that I may bear fruit for JezreeL And the heavens shall cry, Lord, we would fain help the earth, that the earth may help the corn and wine and oil, that they may supply Jezreel; but we can do nothing without thy hand; therefore hear us and suffer us to rain upon the earth, that it may become fruitful." Thus the creatures plead with each other for the saints of God; God hears the heavens, and the heavens the earth, and the earth the corn and wine ancl oil, and the com and wine and oil supply abundance to the 1,cople of God. 1. If the creatures cry to one another for help to the people of God, :shall we turn a deaf ear to the appeals of God's aftlicted people when they cry for help tu us? Or shall we refuse to hearken to the call of God when he summons us to help forward his cause and extend his kingdom? 2. If God bears his creatures when they cry to him for our support, what encouragement we have to believe that he will hear his own Son, when, as Advocate and Intercessor, he pleads on our behalf and in the pres~nce of God for us I CII, JI, 1-23,] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. r,t