The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 189

like flashing jewels over things unsightly a.nd base, a.s well a.a tipping each blade of grass and filling the cups of tho flowers. But when the sun has risen the dew is gone, and soon th? herbage is parched. How fitting are these illustrations of tears, feelings, resolves, which cause hope to the onlooker, though they leave the life unchanged! In the irreligious home, amid the evil companionship, under the influence of the sceptical writer, through the business of life, etc., these, like the morning cloud and early dew, pass away. 3. The peril of such transient goodness may be shown by: (1) Its gradual and unnoticed departure. It is difficult to fix the moment when the dew disappeared, and equally hard to judge of the time when religious impressions really fade. Probably Judas had no expectation of earning the execration of men and the curse of God. His heart must often have been touched by the words and love of Christ, yet, resisting these, at last he imbrued his hands in the Saviour's blood. (2) The woefulness of having such feeling gone/or ever. No road is worse than that which has been often thawed and often frozen; no curse worse than to have conscience seared, and capacity for feeling gone. Still to the undecided does our merciful Father say, " 0 Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? "-A. R. Ver. 1.-The Divine Healer. In this book of prophecy we find, side by side, the sternest reproaches and denunciations of the idolatrous and apostate, and the most tender and gracious assurances of compassion for the penitent. I. CHASTISEMENT HAS BEEN INFLICTED FOB SIN. The language used is very vigorous, almost rough. God is represented as having torn his people as a lion tears his prey, as having smitten his people as a master smites his slave. At the same time there is no resistance, no resentment; but submission and an implicit acknowledgment of the justice of the infliction. II. TEE AFFLICTED BESOLVE TO BEEK THE D:rvn."E FAVOUR. 1. There is a mutual admonition : " Come." What is not easy to do alone, men will sometimes do with the countenance of their fellows. 2. The act is one appropriate in itself. If it is wrong to turn away from the Lord, it is right to return unto him-t.o seek him while he may be found. 3. To return to God evinces the ~inner's faith; it proves that the admoni- tions ha.ve not been received in vain, but are bringing forth their fruit. III. THE PENITENTS CHERISH EXPECTATIONS OF DIVINE FAVOUR. "He will heal;" "He will bind us up." 1. 'Q:iis God alone can do; the wounds which he has inflicted no.ne but he can cure. 2. This God is willing to do. His chastisement is not wanton; it a.ffords him no pleasUie; the end of it is answered when the chastised are brought in lowly penitence to supplicate a restora.tion of favour, a renewal of blessing.-T. Ver. 2.-Spiritual revival. The bold and daring figure of this passage is suited to the circumstances which call forth the excla,mation and the assurance of repenting Israel, as it is in harmony with the vigorous style of the prophet. I. SPIRITUAL INSENSIBILITY AND APOSTASY ARE Sl'IRITUAL DEATH. There is a moral death, and it is into this that ungodly individuals and nations plunge, as into a black sea of unfathomable depth. It is trifling with sinners to tell them that they are not quite all that they might be. The Hebrew prophets spoke plainly and faithfully, and addressed them as " the dead." II. FROM 'l'HIB DEATH THE LoRD OF LIFE ALO?."E CAN QUICKEN AND DELIVER. The prophet does not profess to raise the dead, nor does he send them to any human helper or physician. He alone, who first breathed the breath of life into the soul, can rekindle the expiring flame. By his death and resurrection the Divine Saviour interposed upon the behalf of a dead humanity. In him was life; and he himself has foretold that all who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and come forth, i.e. to a new, a spiritual, an eternal life. Ill. 'l'HIB WORK OF QUICKENING SHALL NOT ONLY BE OOMJIIENCED j IT SHALL BE PER- FECTED. Revival shall be followed by raising up, and that by life unto God. Christ Qame that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. In his miracles of raising the dead, we notice the successive stages by which the reality of the work was evidenced. And corresponding with these stages are the advances in spiritual vitality and all its proofs and signs made by those i.o. whom there dwells that Spirit who is•• the Lord and Giver of life."  THE BOOK OF BOSEA. [on. vl. 1-11.