The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 183

Ver. 1.-0n returning to the Lord. The graciousness of God is seen in nothina more conspicuously than in hie willingness to receive those who come to him und~r the influence of sorrow. In all ages he has condescended to use afflictions to bring men and nations to an acknowledgment of their need of him. This was always a feature of his dealings with Israel. The growing tyranny of the taskmasters in Egypt aroused the cry of the Israelites for Divine interposition, without which they never could have become a separated and theocratic nation. In the wilderness, the scarcity of water, the defeat at .Ai, etc., brought those who had forgotten God to a confession of sin. So was it in the subsequent history of that people, who constituted an abiding exemplification of God's method of dealing with other nations. From the lives of individuals also, illustrations of the same principle may be drawn, Hagar found that God was more to her when she and her child were dying in the wilderness than he had ever been in Abraham's tent. Jacob was smitten with sorrow, homesick, fearful, destitute, when he saw the ladder the top of which reached to heaven. In the New Testament we find crowds around the Saviour, and of whom did they consi.~t? Chiefly of those whose sadness made them yearn for him. Blind men groped their way, lepers ventured near, the palsied besought their friends to lay them at his feet, the bereaved sent to tell him of their grief, and the broken-hearted sinner washed his feet with her tears. During his mi:Jistry it was as if our text had sounded over the world, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord : for he bath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." Three considerations should lead to obedience to this exhortation. I. THE WI0KEDNEBS OF SOUL-WANDERING. The exhortation to "return .. implies previous estrangement, 1. To whom w,n-e these words spoke:n., Not to the heatben, but to those who considered themselves the people of God. They knew and could recite the requirements of the Law; they took part in religious observances; they boasted of a pious ancestry. Now, therefore, the words may fairly be applied to those who belong to a Christian nation, who are familiar with Divine truth, but who know that they have not personally returned unto the Lord. 2. How does this wandering reveal itself 1 There is an estrangement from God which is easily recognized. One wanders from holiness into corrupt imaginations, evil associations, gross habits, till all manly virtue or womanly grace is gone, and parents' tears or kindly words avail nothing. .Another wanders from truth and righteousness, turning his back on these, because they seem opposed to present interests, and so he gets entangled in crooked policy and tortuous expedients. .Another wanders from love, till there is discord in the home, suspicion and enmity in the heart. .All would admit that as God is holy and true and loving, those who turn from these virtues show that they are turning from him, and in the woes that follow such sins a voice is heard, saying; "Come, and let us return," etc. 3, Is there no soul-wandering which does not outwardly reveal, itself'' We are more concerned about some who are guilty of sin, but not of crime; who aro irreligious, but not immoral. '!'heir conuition is more perilous, because less likely to cause them alarm; yet what more lamentable in God's sight than a. prayerless, god- less man? Illustrate it by the relation between father and child in a. humnn home. Imagine your son being to you what the godless man is to God. You watched over his· infancy, sacrificed yourself for his comfort, etc. You expect to reap the fruit of all this in his love, to be glad in his success, to live over a.gain in him. But he becomes a man, and has no thought or care for you, Cheerful in the society of others, he never gives his father a. look or a. smile. Is there no wrong in that, even though he may fulfil his duties to his neighbours and his country? But by-and-by he breaks down in his schemes; his brilliant course is run, his friends forsake him; then, poor and broken, he comes back to you, and in your pardon and kindness he feels and knows what you are, and how true all along your love has been. On his past negligence all the worl,l would cry" Shame I" Yet what has he done that the moral, respected, yet godless ruau is not doing every day of his life ? 'l'o such the message is sent, " Come, and let us return unto the Lord." II. THE PunrosF. OF SOUL-CHASTENING. God is spoken of here as the ,vouuJer of 182 THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [en, VI. 1-11.