The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 166

Yers. 8-12.-Ephraim and Judah. The judgment is represent.c!d in these verses as 11lready fallen. Shrill cornet and trumpet blasts announce the presence of the invaders. They fill the land, They are at the borders of Judah. They :nennce Benjamin. I. IN THE GRAOP OF THE DESTROYER. (Vers. 8, 9.) 1. Ephraim's destruction came ttJ•on him suddenl.v. It was on him before he was aware. Ere almost ho could realize the fact, the land was in possession of invaders. It is thus that God's judgments commonly overtake transgressors. ,vhile they are saying to themselves "Pence snd ~ai'ety," "sudden destruction cometh upon them" (1 'l'hess. v. 3). 'l'hey mocked o.t the warning and professed to disbelieve it. Now, to their amazement, they find God's word come true. They are caught in the wave of judgment. "The sorrows of death compass them, the pains of hell get hold upon them." It was so at the Flood (Matt. xx!:· 38, 39); at Sodom (Luke xvii. 28, 29); at the destruction of Jerusalem (Luke xv11. 30, 31); and shall be so at the Lord's second advent (Matt. x.xiv. 48-51). 2. When Ephraim's hour ca'TM he was powerless to save himself. He might blow his trumpets; he might raise cries of frantic distress; he might warn Benjamin; but he could not deliver his own soul So, in the day of judgment, the haughtiest of those who now exalt themselves against God will find themselves to be impotent. They will find their foe to be one against whom there is no contending. They may cry for mercy; may shout to the mountains and rocks to fall on them (Rev. vi. 16); may plead, like Dives, for their,'" :!ive brethren" (Luke xvii. 27, 28); but they will know that for themselves there is no hope in resistance. 3. Ephraim's desolation would b, comp'lete. "Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke," etc. (1) The judgment would fall in successive strokes. The land was frequently overrun by the Assyrians, prior to the final overthrow. There is an evolution in God's judgments. They run on till they are fulfilled. "That which shall surely be." (2) It would be entire. The land would be reduced to utter desolation. (3) It would be lasting-" great plagues, and of long continua.nee" (Dent. xxviiL 59). So the last clause may be rendered, "I have declared what is lasting." IL THE DANGER TO JUDAH. (Vers. 8, 10.) 1. The ruin of one sinner is a warning to others. Judah was partaker in Israel's sins. 'fhe destruction of Ephraim was there- fore of very special significance to the sister state. It portended judgment to it e.lso. When the northern kingdom was in the hands of the foe, the cry might well be raised, "After thee, 0 Benjamin." (1) The sinner overtaken by judgment gives warning. He is now conscious, if he was not previously, that " it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. L 31). Transgressors have often died warning those related to them against drinking, sabbath-breaking, bad company, e.nd whatever else brought them to their shameful end. (2) Conscience gives warning. When judgment is seen descending on another, conscience is quick to interpret the meaning for one's self. " After thee, 0 Benjamin." 2. The ruin of one sinner foretells J°udgment on others. It not merely warns of it; it predicts it. It says, " Except yo repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke xiii. 3). Judah's punishment was as certain as Epbraim's. (1) Judah's sins called for pUDishment. "The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound." They changed God's commandments. They refused to be bound by the Law God had given them. 'l'hey altered the limits of conduct to suit themselves. They called that good which God called evil. They were thus like boundary-removers. All sin is a boundary-removing. It is the refusal to abide within prescribed limits. It is" transgression," a stepping across. It is "lawlessness" (1 John iii. 4). (2) God had threatened Judah with punishment. That threatening he now ratifies and repeats. Ephraim's overthrow was a pledge of its fulfilment. "I will pour out my wrath upon them like water." The judgment predicted is not of so fatal a kind as that on Ephraim, but it would be still very terrible. It is well to remember that there is wrath in God; that it is roused against sin; and that, in its effects, when poured forth, it is dreadful and overwhelming. Here it is figured as a flood which carries all before it. III. MoRAL CAUSATION. (Vere. 11, 12.) The moral state of Ephraim and Judah, an6. the judgments which overtook them, stand in the relation of ce.use and effect. There is nothing arbitrary in the Divine government. God but gives to the sinner what his own doings have earned (eh. iv. 9). 1. Judah's sin and Ephraim's sin were practically the aame Bin. (1) J udah'11 princes removed the bound; but this also waij the sin of Ephraim. What we.s the in~titution of the calves but a removing of bounds OJI. V. 1-15,) THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 165