Vers. 4-6.-Evanishin_q _qoodness. So froward, heedless, fickle, and incorrigible had Erhrnim proYed, that God did not know what more he could do with him. 'l.'he same was true of Judah. 'l'he tender mode of speech, "0 Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? 0 Judah, what shall I do unto thee?" shows how loth God is to pass from mercy to judgment. His heart yearns for the conversion of the objects of his solicitude. I. PIETY 'VALUELESS, IF EVAnsCENT. (Ver. 4.) Ephraim and Judah had fits of piety -of goodness; but they did not last. They are compared here to the "mornin"' cloud "-the rnpour which the heat of the sun sucks up as the day advances;. and to th~ "early dew," tbick and fresh at dawn, but soon carried off by evaporation. Such an instance of momentary goodness we have in Ephraim in the reign of Pekab, when, rebuked by Oded the prophet, "certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim" com- pelled the return of the captives from Judah (2 Chron. xxviii.12, 13); and there would probably be instances of the same kind under the preacbing of Hosea himself. Note: I The defect cif this kind of piety. It lacked root. It had no depth of earth. It promised. well, but brous:ht forth no practical fruit of righteonsness. 'l.'he nature was superficially moved, but there was neither genuine conviction of sin nor true turning of the heart to God. 2. The =ifestation of this <kfed. The impressions did not endure. They hardly "dured" even "for a while," but as soon as "the sun" was "risen with a burn- ing heat" (Jas. L 2), they "were scorched" and "withered away" (Matt. xiii. 6). 'l.'he test of real piety is its enduringness. No piety is worth having which will not endure the beat of the daytime-the. test applied to it by the everyday work, trials, engross- ments, and temptations of life. Yet many have known no other piety than that which consists in paEsing convictions, in weak desires, in good resolutions that come to nothing, in -vague and easily frustrated efforts after amendment. II. JUDGME~"T INEVITABLE, IF REPEKTANCE IS NOT SINCERE. (Ver. 5.) "Therefore," God says; that is, (1) because of the failure of milder measures to bring Ephraim to repentance; (2) because of this evanishing goodness, which showed the necessity for somethincr that would reach the depths of the nature : (3) because of the sin that waited ro';, punishment, and now must be punished, seeing th~t the people so utterly refused to tum from it;-"thereFore" he is compelled by bis prophets to denounce jud=ents aeamst them. The words of the prophets are said to do that which the Jud:;'.ments 0 themselves will accomplish-" hew," "slay ''-to indicate the certainty of tbe result. 'l.'he thing is as good as done when God says it. Certaiuty of fulfilment is a characteristic of God's Word. His judgments would be" as the light that goeth forth," i.e.: 1. Majestic. 2. Obeying a law (sunrise). 3. Sudden: the lightning (Matt. xxiv. 27). 4. Revealing: God's judgments reveal the sin against which they are directed (eh. vii. 1). Ii the reading in the .Authorized Version, "thy judgments,''. be retain_ed, it is still God's judgments that are referred to. They belonged to Ephraim as falling upon him. lll. SACRIFICE USELESS, IF WITilOUT LOVE. (Ver. 6.) "Mercy," or love to man, is the obverse of" knowledge of God," and the proof o_f its exis_te_nce. The Law is summed up in love. It is love God look6 for as the reality of rehg10n. 1. Love to man· shows itself in kind de,eds. 1t is not a thing_ of " w?rd " or of " to_ngue,'.' b~t of " de~d ''. and of" truth" (1 John iii. 18). It proves its reaht.y by the acts m which 1t embodies itself (1 John iii. 17). This love is the substance of pie~y. ~t i~ th_e_ true ritual. ",:ure and undefiled reli,,.ion before God and the Father 1s this, 'Io VISlt the fatherlesti, etc. (Jas. i. 27). It is°this class of deeds Christ looks to (Matt. x. 42; xxv. 81:i, 36). No one ever laid such great stress on kind deeds, or so entirely em boclied the law of love lil his own life as Christ did. 2. The absence of love shows itself in wicked deeds-in injustice, robbery, violence, et.c. These are the crimes here charged against Ephraim OIi. VII. 1-16.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 199
(vers, 8-10), 3, Without love no outward serviu is of runy use, No sacrifices, alme- giving, prayers, new moons, or fasts (Isa. i. 13-15; lviii. 3-8; Matt. ix. 13). In vnin do we keep sabbaths, practise austerities, uphold orthodoxy, wait on reli"ious ordinances, and engage in outward works of piety, if this, the one thing needf;l is wanting (1 Cor. xiii.).-J. O, '
Vars. 7-ll.-77ie brolcen covenant. Israel had broken covenant with God. In the rupture of this bond was ruptured also the bond which bound society together. Fearful WJCkedness was the result. I. THE BOND BROKEN WITH Gon. (Ver. 7.) 1. 77ie primal sin. "They, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant." Our first parents werll placed under arrangements involving in them the essentials of a covenant. Through l:Jr ach of this covenant came 0