The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 150

Asht.aroth (1 Kings ,r.vi. 30-33). Menahem was such, for his reign was steeped in cruelty, IUH~ he laid his help upon King Pul of Assyria rather than upon the God of Israel _(2 Kings xv, 19). Even the princes_ of Juclah were becoming suoh; they wero r<>monng the landmarks between the worship of Jehovah and idolatry (ver. 10). Our rnlers in like manner entrap the British nation into sin, when they promote immoral legislation upon pleas of expediency or state policy (e.g. the attempted state regulation of nee in the army, and t.he patronage of the opinm trade between India. o.nd China). 8. The e11tire Hebrew nation. The people of both kingdoms foolishly fell into the snareR nnd nets which were spread for them. They were full of "pride" (var. 5) and vain confidence. They despised prophetic instruction, and became contumacious and refractory in their sin. IV. THE HEREDITY OF SIN. Had Israel continued faithful to the national covenant with Jehovah, he would have begotten children to God, instead of "strange children" (ver. 7), who did not belong to the home, and did not spring from ihe marriage union. But a godless nation is composed of godless parents, who bring up godless children, Infants who have done no evil yet inherit evil, aud may bring with them into life terrific predispositions towards it. The iniquity of the fathers is visited upon the children. It is comforting, however, to remember that good traits descend by inheri- tance as well as bad ones. God's way of regenerating the world is to maintain his Church in it, and to cultivate thereby the heredity ot holiness. There is a sense in which grace does run in the blood (Exod. xx. 6 ; P~. cxii. 2; 2 Tim. i. 5), The children of Christian parents are not "children of wrath'' (1 Cor. vii. 14; Acts xvi. 31). ,. THE PID..SHMENT OF SIN. Ephra.im's "whoredom" was detected (ver. 8). It lay exposed every moment to the eye of God. He penetrated all the fair excuses which the people ma.de to themselves for it. "The pride of Israel doth testify to his face" (ver. 5), i.e. he shall be openly convicted of it, and condemned for it. The punishment is to be; 1. Immediate. (Ver. 7.) "A month shall devour them," Destruction shall overtake them as swiftly, ~o to speak, as the moon shall wane. Already the sword of vengeance is hanging over their heads by a single hair. 2. Sudden. (Ver. 8.) The invasion of the Assyrian power as the rod of the Divine anger is announced with an injunction to sound horn and trumpet. For the prophet already sees the drawn sword of Jehovah in the conqueror's ha11d. 8. Certain. (Ver. 9.) The punishment" shall surely be." God is as true to his threatenings as to his promises. 4. Terrible. "Israel and Ephraim shall fall (ver. 5). "A month shall devour them'' (ver. 7). "Ephraim shall he desolate" (ver. 9). "I will pour out my wrath upon them like water" (ver. 10), The whole ua.tion became wasted with misery, and was plunged headlong into destruction. The story of the d<..-cline and fall of the Hebrew monarchies illustrates very vividly the doom of sin. VL How THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN llliY BE AVERTED. Even this dark passage is not altogether without some hopeful suggestion. 1. A false expedient. (Ver. 6.) The festivals and worship of the Mosaic Law were still observed at the idol-shrines of Bethel and Dan. So Ephraim, when his doom began to overtake him, endeavoured to pacify the Divine anger by bringing costly sacrifices of flocks and herds. But, although the people sought the Lord thus, they did" not find him ; " for they ea.me in a spirit of slavish fear, and did not bring the sacrifice of a contrite heart and an obedient will. 2. The right way. (Ver. 4.) God is waiting to be gracious; but he requires of sinners a. willingness to "frame their doings t-0 tum unto their God." We must gladly allow the Holy Spirit to re<renerate and purify our souls. The only use of the external sacrifices of the Law was to typify the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Sacrifice for sin; and to symbolize the u living sacrifices" which men offer to God when they yield themselves wholly t.o his &ervice.-C. J. Ver. IO.-Landmark-removers. The Jews were not a mercantile nor a manufactur- ing people, but a nation of agriculturists. Each citizen had his own piece of ground allotted to him as the family inheritance; and great pa.ins were to.ken that his descendants should be secured in it for ever. A man might pledge his portion until the year of jubilee, but it was not lawful absolutely to sell it (Numb. nxvi. 7). Hence the sacredness of landmarks, as a means of preserving accurately the boundaries of faruily possessiollll, One of the curses spoken from Ebal was directed against the Jnlltl  THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 149