The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 68

Vers. 14-20.-Israel's restoration. The word" therefore," with which this sbrophe opens, illustrates the blessed truth that God's thoughts are not our thouO'hts. 'fhe conclusion here is not what the premises would have led us to expect. This "there-· fore" i8 of Divine grace, not of hard cold intellect. Although Israel has foully dis- honoured her henvenly Husband, and must be severely chastised, he will not give her a" bill of divorcement" to put her away. Rather, her miseries shall attract his mercies. Jeho..-ah's love uses even her shameful unfaithfulness as an argument for the bestowal of his own matchless grace. These verses describe the future restoration, both or the litC"ral and the spiritual Israel; nnd they are also a parable illustrative of God's thoughts and ways towards every returning prodigal. I. THE METHODS OF ISRAEL'S RESTORATION. (Ver. 14.) We need not stay to speak of its Author, even although the first "I" (ver.14) is emphatic. Only Jehovah himself has heart and power equal to this task. Only he who makes the summer of the year can produce that spiritual summer which is here described with such tender pathos. His methods are twofold. 1. Tlie outward discipline of the wilderness. After Israel shall have endured the punishments denounced upon her, her national life is to begin anew. The generation that had come out of Egypt with Moses had needed the pro- tracted discipline of the Arabian desert before God could" give them their vineyards;" and so would it be again. The nation must be taken apart, and be for a time alone with God. Similarly, the Lord removes the individual soul whom he designs to bless, into the wilderness of temporal loss, or sickness, or sorrow. When the aged Christian reviews his spiritual experience, he generally finds that the most marked spots in it have been connected with his times of sorrow. 2. The inward 1·ealization of the constancy and tenderness of the Divine love. The discipline must be spiritual also. Outward providences alone will not restore Israel. Neither will the truth of God presented only to her mind. In the wilderness the Divine Spirit must "spealc to her heart." His purpose in carrying the nation into exile is that he may" allure" her, i.e. decoy her with tender words, persuade her by the persistent manifestation of his love. He will stoop to court her. He will outbid the Baals. His inextinguishable love will woo and win her soul. So, oftentimes, God "speaks to the heart'' of the prodigal When be sits by the swine-troughs, in the time of the mighty famine. He "speaks to his heart," to soften it, comfort it, cleanse it, claim it, fill it. He has his ways of holy enticement for" alluring" sinners to receive and return his love. II. T.-,.. DLESSEDBESULTS oF THE RESTORATION. (Vers. 15-20.) These are described with e._c1,1isite beauty. The Divine promise is that in "the wilderness" Israel's national life shall begin afresh. God's nuptial covenant with her shall be renewed. She shall be enfeoffed again in the land of Canaan, the possession of which she had forfeited. 'l'he Lord "will give her her vineyards from thence." And the results shall he glorious. 1. .Fresh hope. (Ver. 15.) '!'he valley of Achor (i.e. troubli was the door by which Israel had at first entered into possess1on--ortllenighlands of~a.Jestine. I It bad been the scene of a dreadful tragedy (Josh. vii.): the defeat before Ai, and Achan's sacrilege, conviction, and doom. But so soon as Israel purged herself of "the accursed thing," the valley of Achor had become to her "a door of hope." Now, however, she CH. 11, 1-23,] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 65