The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 231

and partly by appealing to the help of Ei:ypt; and while so doing, they did not observe that they had !alien into the net of destruction by the power of .Assyria. In this net will the Lord entangle them es a punishment. As they go thither God will spread h!s net. over. them like a bird-cat~her, and bring them down to the earth like flying birds; 1.e. brmg them from the open air, that is to say, from freedom-unto the net of captivity or exile." Here the work of retribution is spoken of as the work of the fowler, and it includes two things-----€nt.rapment and abasement. I. E1'"TRAPMENT. The sprea<ling of the net refers to the taking of the birds that lay on the ground. The literal reference here is to 2 Kings xvii. 4. Here the retributive providence of God employed the Assyrians as a net, but so ensnared the Israelites that they could not escape. Eliphaz observed this ensnaring work of Providence: "He taketh the wise in their own crartiness." So did David, who says," He made e. pit and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch ~·bich be made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." .How often in the history of the world is tl,is retributive entrapment witnessed I The cases of Joseph's brethren and the crucifixion of Christ a.re striking examples in sacred history. Popery confined Luther in the Wartburg Castle, but there he translated that Bible which shatteri'd the wh0le system. Anglican bigots confined Bunyan in Bedfor<j. Jail; there he produced a book that bas given him immortal fame. The net that entangled sinners is not manufactured in heaven; it is made on earth, made by them- selves. Righteous Providence al1ows tbem to be so ensnared by it as to render that enthralment painful and lasting. Take care of the net. ,. II. A.BASEME~"T. "I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven." However high up they may tower in their ambitious work, retribution has missiles to bring them down. "Thine eyes are npon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down," There are men on earth who in their worldly prosperity, pride, and ambition soar .like the eagles high up in heaven above all the rest. It is said that an ancient philosopher, when once asked what Jupiter did in the highest heaven, replied, "He pulls down the haughty, and exalts the humble." Hear these words: "The pride of thine heart he.th deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation ilJ high, that saith in bis heart, "\VLo shall bring me to the ground? Though thou exalt. thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." CoNCLUBION. Ponder well thy condition, sinner. Not only is the eye of retributive justice upon thee wherever thou art and whatever thou dost, but i.~ has a.II the machinery for thy ruin. Art thou down grovelling in the earth, working out thy sordid soul? it has nets that will ensnare thee there! Or art thou high up iu .the heavens of worldly prosperity and haughty ambition, proudly exulting in t_hy superiority? it has shots that will rtl&Ch thee and bring thee down to the dUB~. • Thy only safety is the cross.-D. T. Ver. 15.-Divine dispensations abused. "Though I have bound and 'strengthen~ their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me." This text has received different; translations. " And I have instructed them and strengthened their arms, and yet they think evil against me" (Dd1tzsch). "Whether I chastised or strengthened their arms, yet they thought evil against me" (Elzas). I accept the latter translation; then the idea is, that God's treatment of man, whatever its char11,cter, afflictive or otherwise, is abused. Observe- !. THAT Gon's DISPE!sSATIO~S WITH MEN ABE ORABACTERIZED BY VARIETY. "I have bound nn.d strengthened," or, "I have chastised and strengthened." '.!.'he events of human life are of a mixed and conflicting character. There is affliction and health, prosperity ao<l adversity, friendship and bereavement, sorrow a.nd joy, wounding an~ healing. All these conflicting events a.re under the direction of the great Father, whose aim in all is to make his chlldren "meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." All the soil to be fruitful requires the frosts of winter as well as the sunbeams uf spring and summer, man requires trial.Bas well as joys to make his spirit fruitful in good works. As the loving father has the good of his child at heart whether he chasteDs him with a rocl or presses him to his bosom, so bas the Almighty Fath~r in all Lis dis1,ensations with men, whether the painful or the pleasant. "All these thmgs ORI VIL 1-,-18.] THE BOOK OP HOSEA. 231