_Ver~. ~-5.-Spiritual adu.ltei·y. The individuals of the nation arc exhorted to plead w1Lh their mother Israel, that she may turn from her adulterous courses and so avert the doom which is otherwise certain to overtake her. Consider- ' I. IBRAEL's BHAMRLE8S PROFLIGACY. (Vers. 2, 5.) The sin charged acrainst Ierael is th~t or adult;ery, in her relati~ns with Jehovah. Owing t.o the peculiarity of the~e relat10ns, the sm was of a specially aggravatetl kind. I. The people had withdrawn from Jehovah that undiYided allegiance which, as the one living and true God0 he '.1eman_ded of them. 2. They had set _up idol images (the calves), and h11d changed God m their thoughts to a mere nature-deity, like the heathen Ba.ale. 3. '!'hey had gone afte~ the_ heathen Baals as well. I1;1 form, th~ worship of Jehovah was kept up; in reality, idolatry had the sole domm10n. This was their adultery. It was public and unblushing. Even in the eyes of the heathen, Israel was guilty of great wanton- ness, for the heathen were not wont thus lightly to change their gods (Jer. ii. 11). The crime for which Israel is indicted. however, is not peculiar to that nation. In a deeper regard. it is the fundamental sin of the race. The soul made by God for him- self has left him, and gone after other lovers. It has turned to the creature. It lusts for illicit 5:1tisf3:ctio!15, Ite _dispositions are "evil a1;1d e._dulterous" (Matt. xii. 39). Espec1a.lly 1s this sin committed by those who, entermg mto a new covenant with God by grace, afterwards go back to the world. II. HER CERTAIN Pm."ISHMENT. (Vers. 3, 4.) Israel's adnltery dissolved de facto the marriage relation between the nation and Jehova.h. Ver. 2 is the Divine deed of separation. Separation is followed by punishment. Under the Law, adultery was punished by death. This doom also, as respects corporate existence, was about to overtake Israel. But the figure in the text alludes rather to the withdrawal of God's good gifts-the gifts best.owed on Israel in her relation of spouse-with its result in the reduction of the nation to a condition of utter wretchedness and want. The "slaying with thirst" (ver. 3) is not absolute, since recovery is predicted (ver. 7), but denotes a state of extreme anguish, in which multitudes would actually perish (Deut. xx:viii. 33, 34, 48, 65---68). There is here : 1. .A 1·eminder of the source oj natural blessings. God could take away, because it was he who at first gave, It was he who gave Israel all she had. Hence the destitution to which the withdrawal of his gifts reduced her. "If God withdraws his gifts, the consequences are infinitely awful, because, altogether nnlike the natural husband, he has everything in his posses- sion; if he does not give anything to drink, he then slays by thirst" ( Hengstenberg). 2. .A correspondence between sin and punishment. What Israel possessed, she received in virtue ol the marriage covenant. At first she had nothing. God had given her all. Answerably to this, she is punished by being reduced to her original destitute con- dition. Marriage unfaithfulness leads to the withdrawal c,f the marriage gifts. "The eternal and universal truth which, in the verse before us, is expressed with a special reference to Israel, is, that all the gifts of God are bestowed on individuals as well as upon whole nations, only in order to lead them t.o the communion of l~e with him, or because this communion already exists. If we fail to see that the gifts of God have tbis object, if they be not received and enjoyed as the gifts of God. if the spiritual marriaue be refused, or if, having been already entered into, it be broken, sooner or later the gifts will be withdra~" (Heng_stenberg~. 3. .A pictu!e of t~e state of the soul from which God has withdrawn himselj. Ihe outward 1s the image of the inward. The soul which has forsaken God-which God has forsaken-is solitary and desolate, burnt with hunger, parched with intolerable thirst, a desert. God's design in withdrawing the outward gifts is that the soul may be led to feel the deeper misery and disgrace within. 111. THE oNE WAY oF ESCAPE, (Ver. 2.) Repentance-turning from the evil cour11e11. God is un ~·illing to proceed to extremities, tho1;1gh, if the s!n be pers!s~d in, he ~n~st. Ht: gives here a final warning, a last opportumty. There 1s thus~ h~1t t.o the D1vrne forbearance. '!'he last appeal will come some day. Often, by the time 1t comes, we are so sunk in sin as to be past attending to it. While, however, mercy lasts, the most abandoned may retnrn. Cll, II, 1-23,) 'l'HE BOOK OF HOSEA. 81
IY: Tm: DU~Y o~ THE _INDIVIDU_AL. "Plead with. your mother, plead " (ver. 2). Ind1v1due.ls a.re implicated m the gmlt of the commumty. They have a. stake in the genera.I well-being (ver. 4). 'l'hey have, accordingly, e. responsibility in connection with ne.tional backslidings. It is their duty (1) to separate themselves from the prevailina wickedness; (2) to testify against it; (3) to uae every means to try to bring abou1 repentance and reformation.-J. 0.