The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 65

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera, 2-1.--Jehovah's condemnati® of faithless Israel. In eh. i. the prophet has painted a "vigorous fresco" (Ewald) illustrative of his domestic sorrows. Ann , now he presents an explanation of the sad picture in its prophetic meaning. The supremo thought of the Book of Hosea is that of Jehovah's conjugal love for Israel, which she by her unfaithfulness had so foully dishonoured. Here, in eh. ii., accordingly, we have an allegory suggested by the prophet's symbolic marriage with Gomer; which depicts the deep sorrow of Jehovah on account of Isra.el's fall, and his lono--sufferino- tenderness towards her. The first strophe (vers. 2-7) is occupied chiefly ;ith word~ of solemn condemnation. I. THE DxvmE REPROACH. Jehovah charges Israel with: 1. Spiritual adultery. (Vers. 2, 4, 5.) He was himself the rightful Husband of the nation, but she had slighted and rejected his love. With infatuated determination she kept saying," I will go after my lovers." There was the ea.If-worship; and the calves were simply idols (eh. xiii. 2). There was the Baal-worship, with its shameful impurities. There was the infidelity which had shown itself in separation from the dynasty of David. These were spurious, carnal loves; and the people who cherished them were guilty of spiritual harlotry. 2. .Ascribing her material prosperity to her idols. (Ver. 5.) Jeroboam I. had done so : " Behold thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings xii. 28). J eroboa.m II. was still doing so; during these gala-days of his reign Israel trusted in her own might, and boasted of her military glory. The calf-worship meant virtually the deification of nature. The Baal-worship was the idolatry of mere power, apart altogether from righteousness. Among Hosea's fellow- countrymen, as by so many in our own days, the worship of the living God was neglected amidst the deification of the popular will, reverence for physical law, and the idolatry of worldly success. These were the powers-Israel judged in her blinrlness- that made her land prosperous. 3. The guilt of an outrage upon the Divine honour. (Ver. 2.) In degrading herself, Israel had foully dishonoured her rightful Husband. For two centuries now her infidelity had been one long agony to Jehovah's heart. And how often, since the days of Hosea, has God been similarly grieved ! He was so with Judah before her captivity (Jer. iii. 8-11), and with the Jewish Church in the time of our Lord. Of how many Christian communities also has the Lord been constrained to say, "She is not my wife" !-e.g. the Churches at Ephesus and Thyatira (Rev. ii. 4, 20) ; the Church of the dark ages before the Reformation ; every Church that remains in Erastian bondage; every one that is grossly impure in doctrine or com- munion. 11. 'l'HE DrVINE THREATENING. The word" lest" was fitted to remind Israel that, guilty and fallen though she was, it was still possible for her, by timely repentance, to avert the impending judgments. Should she, however, stop her ears to the Lord's reproaches: 1. He will take away her temporal prosperity. (Ver. 3.) At the time of her birth as a n11tion, Israel was in a low coudition indeed. In Egypt she had to struggle for life, like a castaway child. The very continuance of her existence seemed a miracle (Ezek. xvi. 3--6). But Goel now threatens to chastise her for her faithlessness by making her again a castaway. He will strip her of her material resources, bring to the ground her national pride, and cause her to become like a parched and desolate desert. The Almighty will touch with his finger her choicest possessions, and consign to destruction everything which has become tainted with the Ba.al-spirit. 2. He will involve in this distress the individual children of the nation. (Ver. 4.) The ten tribes had been unanimous in their apostasy. Each citizen had brought his own contribution to the universal guilt. There was meantime no godly remnant who could be thought or with comfort as still the Lord's people. So all must suffer in one common punish- ment. And what a dreadful doom to become "Lo-ruhamah "-to be shut out even from the very " mercy " of God! III. THE DIVINE DISOIPLmE. The condemnation is not, after all, with a view to "a bill of divorcement;" rather it is the first step of a course of gracious discipline. The discipline consists of: 1. Restraining words. (Ver. 2.) Jehovah's heart is so full of relenting towards Ephraim that he summons indivi<lual citizens, who may have  f.2 'l'I:lE D00K OF HOSEA. LOH. It. 1-'.l3.