knowledge. Thie was how they allowed the knowledge of him to be lost (cf. Rom. i. 21, 28). The departure of the heart from God comes first. There ie then the indis- position to hear about him or learn about him. Thus the knowledge of him is Jost. 8uch ignorance ie culpable. 3. The fatal ejfU-ts of this lack of knowledge. (1) The people were destroyed. " My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." They had destroyed themselves. How many are thus destroyed who, had they been rightly tauo-ht in youth, might now have been foremost in God's service! Parente, teacher~, mi~sters, cannot too ~eriously reflect on the measure of their responsibility (cf. Ezek. iii. 17-21; xxxiii.). We must teach men the way of salvation, if we expect them to find it or to walk in it (Acts x. 6, 33; xvi. 17, 31). (2) God rejected those who had rejected him. "I will reject thee, that thou ehalt be no priest to be." Place, office, honour, oppor- tunities of usefulness, will be taken from us if we misuse them (Rev. ii. 5, 16). (3) Tbo children were lost through the unfaithfulness of the parents. "I will forget thy children." II. P.aIEBTB AND PEOPLE ALIKE IN BIN, (Vers. 7, 8.) The sins alluded to are pride and covetousness. 1. Pride was the sin of the people. " As they were increased, so they sinned against me." This is the danger of prosperity. "Jesburun waxed fat, and kicked" (Deut. xx.xii. 15). The heart grows haughty, and rebel~ at the restraints of the Divine Law. Moses foretold the danger, and warned against it (Deut. viii. 10--20). Retribution would correspond in character to the sin. "I will turn their glory into shame." 2. Covetousness wa.s peculiarly the sin of the priests. "They eat up the sin of my people," etc. The reference is to the flesh of the sin offerings, or, more generally, to revenues derived from transgressions (atonement money, etc.). 'l'he priests prosti- tuted their sacred office for gain. They were glad at the iniquity of the people, if it brought them more income (cf. the Romish sale of pardons, etc.). It is shameful, under any circumstances, to seek gain by conniving at sin. III. PRIESTS AND PEOPLE ALIKE IN THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN. (Vera. 9-11.) "Like people, like priest." It is difficult to say which has the greater influence on the other, priest or people. The people are readily corrupted by their leaders. 'l'he leaders, on the other band, are too apt to take their tone from the community. They act and react, and tend to a moral level. Alike in sin, priests and people are made alike in punishment. "I will punish them," etc. The punishment would be: 1. CongruOWJ with the nature of the sin. "They shall eat, and not have enongh," etc. For plenty there would be substituted scarcity ; greed would find its recompense in not having enough to satisfy; the nation that boasted of its increase would be made few in number. This is the general character of God's punishments. 2. In part wrought out by the sins them- selves. Sin strikes round to be its own avenger. Luxury and waste lead to poverty. The greed of the priest overreaches itself, and leads to the altar being deserted, and tht1 office held in contempt (Judg. xvii. 9, 10; 1 Sam. ii. 36). Pampered appetite becomes a tyrant and tormentor. Licentiousness diminishes population. 3. Prepared for by infatuation. "Wboredom and wine and new wine take away the heart." "Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first madden." Infatuation precedes doom.--J. 0.
Vera. 12-14.-Sin'sfatuity. The people had parted with the knowledge of the true God, and bad become possessed of a spirit of whoredoms. See the effects. I. 'l'HEY WENT AFTER SENSELESS FOLLIES. " My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them" (ver. 12). The spirit of sin is a spirit of" error." It robs men of their better judgment. No limit can be put to the wanderings of the mind under its influence. The worship of a "stock" is absurd enough, even when the devotee knows no better. But that Israel, who had "been once enlightened," and had known the true God, should go back to "stocks" and "staffs," was a singular instance of fatuity. ·when the soul has abandoned God, there is no anticipating what crazes it will adopt, what "will-o'-the-wisps" it will follow after (the follies of society, the credulity of scepticism, etc.). II. 'l'HEY FELL VIOTIMS TO SUPERSTITION. "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains," etc. (ver. 13). They attached a superstitious importance to mountains, hills, trees, groves, etc., in connection with their worship. The mountains lifted them nearer to heaven (Numb. u:ii. 41; xxiii. 14, 28); the shade of the trees filled them with awe. True religion delivers from super~tition. Irreligion leaves meu a prey to 134 THE BOOK OF< aosE,A., j [OH. IV. 1-,-19.