The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 186

Ver. 3 (last clausc).-Heavenly blessings for weary souls. This clause, read in the light of the context, evidently refers to the outpouring of Divine influence-in other words, to the gift of the Holy Spirit. As the earth waits for the rain, so the Church waits for the :Spirit. 'l'he appropriateness of the figure will be seen in a fair considera- tion of the comiug and the effects of the descending rains. I. CoNSIDER T~K BLESSING IN ~ OOHING. 1. Rain is given in the sovereign bounty of God. Few thmgs are less sub1ec~ to the control of man, who at most can foretell its fall. Human merit, human skill, and human power have nothing to do in ruling it. If God pleased he could, by a comparatively slight change in physical laws, so alter the condition of the world that the clouds would no longer float in the sky, and the verdure no longer beautify the earth. Our home might be transformed into a world like the moon, with its awful crevasses and stupendous mountains ungladdened either by rain or dew. But in the tender mercy of God rain still falls, and under its influence ferns uncurl in the woods, and tbe cups of forgotten flowers run over with blessing. It is God who "so clothes the grass of the field." He only can transform the moral wilderness into a paradise, and he does "give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." 2. Bain falls generously. Suppose you were at '\"ariance with your neighbour, and shut yourself off from him by a loity wall, so that you could not see his garden nor he yours. When a shower fell from heaven it would disregard that distinction, and bless alike the seeds you both had sown; nor would it matter whether his was the splendid park, or only the tiny garden where a few flowers made the soil look beautiful. So generously does the Spirit come down on all assemblies of Christian worshippers; whether they meet in the home or in the church; amidst the uncouth expressions of prayer and song, or the splendours of an ornate ritual. In them all God sees tender flowers of joy and peace whose fragrance is sweet to him, and he comes down on them as the rain. 3. Rain falls seasonably. "As the latter and former rain upon the earth." 1n Palestine, where the steep hillsides were cultivated in terraces, the soil would suffer readily from drought. "The former," or autumn rain, fell in September, blessing the seed-time, and making the earth soft with showers. "The latter rain," falling in March and April, filled out the ears of corn before the harvest. So that to a Jew there was special significance in the promise, "I will cause the rain to come down in his season." If either of the rains were withheld the harvest would fa.ii. The spiritual life of man is ever needing the nourishment of Divine influence. Obrist is "the Author and the Fini;;her" of our faith. He is the Alpha and the Omega of Christian life. The old Christian cannot rest in past experience, nor the working Christian in service; but each rnw,t ever he louking out of and above himself. Nor can we trust to organizations and ritual for revival. It is wise to dig canals, and build tauks, and provide means for directing the rills to the gardens which need them; but of what avail are these, if the rain does not come? We may use our watering-pot during a drought; but how small the patch affected, how poor and unsatisfactory unr work, compared with that day wheu Gud visits the earth and waters it! on. vr. 1-11.] Tlrn BOOK OF HOStA. 185