The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 154

from them, Rnd we fail to discern God behind the ambitions and the follies of men. Happy is he who, like Hosea, hears God's voice amidst the tumult, bolievcs in a plan underlying confasion, and recognizes a hand which moulds e.nd shapes e.11 events t0 a wise end. He can "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." It is more difficult to see God in passing events than in past history. The mists of antiquity envelop the actom and they beoome less real; whereas in modern events the actors project themselves in all the greatness of their individuality upon our thought, to the exclusion of him who is greater than they. Coming from Chamounix towards Geneva the tourist sees the near hills, but does not catch a glimpse of the snowy peak~ of Mont Bla.nc till he is far away; but in the greater distance the lower hills fade into indistinctness, and the everlasting heaven-lighted mountain once more asserts itself. In the study of these far-off scenes we see something of him who rules over all things, God blessed for ever. " Our lives through various scenes are drawn," etc. Learn from the passage- !. THAT THE SHARING OF SIN INVOLVES MEN IN THE SHARING OF sm's PUNISHMENT, I. The si1t of lsi·ael is mentioned in ver. 11. "He was oppressed because he willingly walked after the commandment." The Hebrew (tsav) signifies a human ordinance as opposed to a Divine law, and refers here to the commandment of Jeroboam which· inculcated calf-worship, on which the kingdom of Israel, established by his revolt, wa.s founded (see 1 Kings xii. 26-33). This idolatry was willingly, wilfully chosen by Ephraim, and it destroyed him. How often the thing chosen by the sinner is the means of his destruction! The Jews cried," We have no king but Cresar," and Cresar destroyed them. A nation chooses prosperity, not righteousness, and the prosperity of fools destroys them. Instances from history. 2. The princes af Judah shared this sin of idolatry. (Ver. 10.) They" were like them that remove the bound." In a literal sense no doubt this was true. Deut. xxvii. 17 was disobeyed. 'l'he infringement of another's rights, whether in business or policy, ever brings a curse. Probably Judah would speculate as to the profit that might be made out of Israel's loss-how its own bounds might be extended when the kingdom of the ten tribes was removed; but the reference in the text is not to that. Hosea alludes to the sin of Judah in breaking down that barrier which idolatry had raised between the two kingdoms, which separated between God's people and Baal's people. The act was fatal. It was like the opening of a dyke, which no longer could keep out the floods around; and the tide of invasion swept over Benjamin and Judah. 'l'he comet and trumpet on the beacon- hill8 of Gibeah and Ramah (ver. 8) proclaimed this woe too late to avert it. "I will pour out my wrath upon them like water." Show how the breaking down of the barriers between the Church and the world, between Christianity and paganism, b,,i;ween the Christian and the godless, in business, society, etc., brings desolation to 11piritual life and to the kingdom of Christ. ll THAT THE WARNING OF GoD IS TO BE BEEN SOMETIMES IN SIGNB OF GRADUAL DECAY. The gradualness of the earlier judgments is pointed out in ver. 12 as distinguished from the overwhelming destruction suggested by ver. 14. 'fhe "moth" and the "rottenness" do their work stealthily and slowly. You take out the cloth laid by : it is consumed. You rest your weight on the furniture : it breaks down with a crash. Perhaps a distinction is suggested here. "The moth" destroys the softer cloth more rapidly than "rottenness" the harder wood. An indication that Judah would be more slowly consumed. The main idea, however, is- that destruction would not come at first suddenly and without warning. This is true of the method of him to whom judgment iii a strange work. Examples : 1. A nation suffers, from its want of integrity, justice, etc., in depressed trade, severance and suspicion between various classes of society, wars costly in treasure and blood. All this comes far short of national destruction; yet each is a call to sobriety, self-rule, integrity, humiliation before God, lest worse things befall it. 2. An invalid finds his health slowly impaired. Weakness gradually increases. Senses become less keen. All such symptoms are reminders that he should be seeking after a forgotten God. 3. There is a con- suming of character which may be illustrated from this verse. A distaste for what is good creeps over the heart; doubts which at first seem trivial bring insecurity to the religious profession; indulged sins honeycomb the spiritual life, etc. As the moth is hi<lden and makes no sound, yet does its fatal work, so may men lose innocency and ott. v. 1-16.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 153