meanwhile bet~. Up to the time to which eh. iv. refers, Jndah was comparatively uncorrupted. There had always been a difference morally and spiritually between Eph!'Rim and :Tudah: The southern kingdom possessed Jerusll!cm, and the temple, and the Aaromcal pr1eetbood, and the royal dynasty of David. Many of its monarchs bad been godly men, who "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord." And God's restraining grace towards Judah had been so great, that if he had any saints ju1t now in the world, these were in Judah. But : 2. Judah was in d,anger of contamination. The people of Judah were near neighbours to the ten thousands of Ephraim. They were brethren-two segments of the same nationality. 'l'hey possessed the same great historv and inherited the same traditions. Israel, moreover, was the larger state, and the mor; prosperous. Jehovah, therefore_, in his anxiety about Judah, warns him to keep away from such polluting places as G1lgal and Bethel (ver. 16). The Divine counsel to him is, "Let Ephraim alone;" i.e. have no intercourse with him, lest he pollute thee. Stand off from him, for" evil communications corrupt good manners." No effort on your part will avail to cure him of bis idolatry; and perchance you may yourself become a partaker of it. 3. The effect of this admonition. Judah did remember it for a time; at least, a great theocratic revival and religious reformation took plar.e during the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah. Afterwards, however, a deep spiritual decline set in; and Judah, too, fell into the fatal grasp of Babylon only three or four generations after the fall of Ephraim. LESSONS. 1. We must refuse to partake of other men's sins, if we would not share their punishment. One cannot touch pitch without being defiled. 2. We must beware of the "large place" outside of the Lord's fold. The broad way leadeth to destruction. Men of firm Christian principle are sometimes called "narrow; n but we must dare to be as narrow as the straight line of God's righteousness, and at no time depart from the leading of the good Shepherd. 3. We must cherish shame now for our own spiritnal idolatries, and break with every idol, however dear, if we would have confidence before Christ at bis comillg.-C. J.
Ver. 17.-Insensi"bility the result of impenitence. The people of Israel are here designated by the name " Ephraim." This tribe rapidly rose to influence beneath the shadow of Joshua's greatness. Under that hero, one of its greatest sons, Ephraim was located in the most fertile part of Palestine, and being less exposed than other tribes to external attack, grew in numbers and affluence. When another Ephraimite, Jeroboam, led the revolt against the house of David, and became the first king of Israel, this tribe, already strong, stood foremost, and its name became henceforth a synonym for Israel In this chapter Hosea exhibits the sins of the people in a series of graphic pictures. He tacitly asks whether they had anything to urge in stay of judgment. He would prove to their own consciences the righteousness of the Divine decision, so that they would be left without excuse. There ever comes from the throne of God, as once there came from Mount Sinai~ a voice which appeals to human conscience to confirm the Divine sentence: "Let all the people say, Amen I" Our text exhibits a nation abandoned by God-to whom all expostulation had proved useless. It suggests a moral condition similar to the physical condition of some patient on whom the surgeon has operated again and again ; who has often pleaded to be left alone, and from whom at last, with heavy heart, the skiHul kindly friend turns away, saying, "It is best that he should be left alone now, for his disease is fatal." That Divine abandonment is possible may be shown from Jer. vi. 30, compared with Matt. v. 13, At times God seems to reply to man's wish by an echo (compare Job x.xi. 14 with Matt. xxv. 41). The solemnity of the fact that insensibility follows impenitence. L THE WICKEDNESS OF IDOLATRY, "Joined to idols" implies vital association with them. Ephraim would not part with idols, and could not be parted from them without death. Thre.e foNTUJ of idolatry prevailed. Each appealed to a distinct section of the people, and all alike drew their hearts from God. 'l'he calves introduced by Jeroboam from Egypt were deification of "nature," and became at Gil gal and Bethel centres for political and national gatherings. Baal, tbe sun-god, was a deification of " power," and was worshipped in mountains and high places. ~shtaroth, the Aste.rte of the Greeks, the Venus of the Romans, was worshipped in the groves, umler the shadow of which hideously licentious rites completed the degradation of the people, Each had dH, IV, 1-19,] TBE BOOK OF BOSEA. l2l