The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 213

the sad effects tlJereof shall entangle them as in a net. They Ahl!.11 see their sins in the pnnishmcnts they bring 1tpon them; they shall feel them in the sorrows and sufferings that nttend them; nm! they shall recognize that God had them before his face all the time, having knowledge of them when committed, taking notice of their demerit, and rl'memhot·ing them for the exercise of his retributive justice. Even met1's secret sins God sets in the light (literally "luminary,'' maor) of his countenance; the fire-flashincr eye of the Omniscient penetrates the deep recesses of the human heart, and brings forth its secret workings into the sight of the sun and the broad light of day. V. OBSEQUIOUSNESS TO RULERS IN THEIK SINFUL COMMA!\'DB OR COURSES IB EXTREMELY PEi\N101ous. It may please ungodly sovereigns or civil rulers to find sn bjects so pliable as at once to fall in with their wicked works and ways; or to be flattered by them; or to hear the upright who oppose their vileness slandered; or to listen to the lies by which the unscrupulous seek to ingratiate themselves; but such parnlering must prove piliful and profitless work for both the persons who indulge in it and the princes who encourage it. The former have often realized, though not perhaps to the ea.me extent, the bitter experience of the great cardinal when he said- "Oh, how wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours I There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to, That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, More pangs and fears than ware or women have: And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never to hope again .... Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies." There is an alternative interpretation of ver. 3 which presents the other side, and another aspect of the case, nnmely, when deceitful men wickedly and mendaciously impose on the 'credulity of princes by false professions of friendship at the very time they are plotting their downfall and planning their destruction. The ordinary accepta- tion, however, suits the sense of the passage very well. When people are so wicked as to conform to the idolatrous worship prescribed by godless rulers, or to imitate their impious and immoral practices, or to applaud their worthless favourites, or to calumniate those known to be obnoxious to them, those rulers are more than gratified and glad- dened by such lying and baseness, they are encouraged and stimulated in their wrong- doing, while a terrible responsibility rests upon the head of both. Thus Herod, after harassing the Chutch and. slaying· James the brother of John, "because he saw it pleased the Jews, proceeded further to take Peter." People, again, when they see that their acts of wickedness please their. rulers, or their accounts thereof amuse them, are emboldened to proceed yet further. Thus sovereigns and subjects encouraging each other in sin ultimately work each other's destruction.. There is probably a. reference to the people's facile complaisance with the idolatry of the calves legalized by Jeroboam, or of Baal by Ahab-a conscienceless acquiescence which in the end was fraught with the most baneful results to princes and people. VI. 'l'HJI:: COURSE OF SIN IS A DOWNWARD SLOPE. After reprehending the profligate pleas11re which both princes and people took in sin, the prophet reproves the servile submission of the latter to idolatry, and the debaucheries ot the former. The adultery which he proceeds to stigmatize may be understoOll literally as well as spiritually, the former being so frequent an accompaniment of the latter. In this oasa the heart is aptly compared to an oven, its lusts the fire with which it is heated; while Satan sup- plies by his temptations the fuel to the fire, and at the same time puts the leaven in the dough. Whether the baker, after kindlino- the fire, ceases from stirring it ,till morn- ing, by which time the dough is leavened and ready for the oven, which he then raises to a greater heat; ,or whether he rests comparatively wbile still stoking during the interval that elapses from, kneading the douo-h till it is leavenerl and ready for use; in either case ic there is a respite, not from the fire lust abatin"' or the fuel of temptation ceasing, but from want of opportunity or courage or ability. Soon, however, as the occasiou :presents .itself. or opportunity ia afforded, or meawi ot gratification are available; or hope of  212 THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [OIL m. 1-16.