their advantBge at the expense of another, and unjustly robbed 11, man who had never injured them, they were destitute of every excuse. The Lord, however rlid in the me&n time execute by them whe.t he had appointed, e.nd what he had already permitted ~e.te.n to do. He intended tba.t hi_s servant should be plundered; anrl s.,tan, wb,, rnfluenced the rob~ers, could not h1ms_elf move e. finger ex_cept by the permission ,,f God-ne.y, except 1t was commanded him. At the same time, the Lord had nothin ~ in common or in connection with the wicked, because his purpose was far apart fro,n their depraved lust. So also it must be said of what is said here by the prophet." III. 'l'HE BEOOND CAUSE OF DIVINE JUDGMP:NT. The second sin and ea.use ot' jud"- ment was their religious apostasy in the worship of the ea.Ives. 1. The first sin, a.s :., often happens, led to the second. The idolatry of the ea.Ives was intended by J erohoan, to help and uphold his usurped sovereignty, Not only had the national religicn falien into decay, but it had degenerated into superstitious will-worship. Xext to the sub- version of the Davidic kingdom ea.me the perversion of the legitimate priesthood. 2. The sin of their apostasy was a.ggra.vBted by their abuse of the wealth which God had given them. All they had they owed to God, and were in duty bound to employ it for his honour; instead of doing so, they dishonoured him by making idols of their silver and gold. Men are sometimes found to be more lavish of their gold and silver in support ot· a false religion than in maintaining the pure worship of the true God. Israel roigh t pretend that their ea.Ives of gold were only representations of Jehovah; but Jehovah refuses to be so represented, forbidding men to make any graven image of metal, or stone, or wood, standing out prominently and in high relief, or any likeness of anything on a. flat surface a.s a. picture, for the purpose of doing it homage by worsl,ip or serving it by sacrifice. If, then, men neglect the Di vine prohibitions or precepts, they must reroem ber that God will not be mocked by their professions or pretences, but will estimate them by their practice in the light of his Law. 3. Israel was destrnying himself by this sinful idolatry. "That he may be cut off;" such is the literal sense, as th11ugh it meant the whole nation a.s one man-one and all. Such was the tendency of their conduct, though it was not their intention ; such was the inevitable end of their course, though they were not aware of it. " So a man chooses destruction or hell, if be chooses those things which, a.cconling to God's known Law and Word, end in it. Man bides from his own eyes the distant future, and fixes them on the nearer objects which he has a.t heart.'' Some take the clause to mean that the gold and silver so sadly misused and sinfully perverted would be cut off; it appears rather to refer to the persons who were the possessors thereof; in any case their money would perish, either passing out of their possession or along with the possessors. IV. 'l'HEIR am AND CONSEQUENT SUFFERING ARE INSISTED ON. The striking ampli- fication of the same subject seems designed to impress on the people's mind that they themselves, and no other, had wrought their ruin, and that they need not try to transfer the fault to others, or charge God foolishly. Nor is it necessary to suppose that a. calf had been set up nt Samaria., or that one of those 11,t Dan and Bethel had been removed thither. Sama1ia was the metropolis of the northern kingdom, and as such took a leading part in the ea.If-worship and contributed largely aud liberally to its support. Of the different renderings of the first clause of ver. 5, all tending pretty much in the same direction, we me.y safely adhere to that of the Authorized Version as affording a good sense. Israel, we read in ver. 3, "had cast off" God and goodness; now the ea.it which they had set up as their god had cast them off, left them in the lurch, or ea.used their removal to another and a foreign land; thus their sin nnd its punishment are linked together by the same word, "cast off" (ru,). The thing is represented in the past because sure of accomplishment; they ha.cl renounced God, and now the thing which they suhstituted for God had abandoned them. 1. So sh,Lil it ever be; whatever object men make an idol of, and set it up in their heart instead of God, giving it that place in their aflections which belonas to God alone, will one de.y assuredly cast tllem off, desert them in their sorest need, e.nd leave tht'm in distress. Is wealth our idol? Do we make gold our god, and fine gold our confidence? That calf of gold will cast us off; fur riches make themselves wings and fly a.way, as has been the sorrowful experience of thousands. Is fame the god we follow? Is popular applausll the idol we worship'! Are worldly grei\tness and its accowpanyin"' alory the idols, the objects, of our idolatry, and dear to us as the calves at Dan and Bethel were to Israel? 'l'uis ea.If of vaiu-glory 246 'l'RE BOOK OF HOSEA, [ou. vm. 1-:-11•,
will surely cA.Bt us off; for fame is a bubble that bursts before it goes far along the stream of time; popularity is often false, always fickle as the breeze. The words of Wolsey prove with wondrous power how the ce.lf of wor1dly glory casts off its worshippers. "Farewell, e. long farewell, to e.11 my grootness I This is the state of me.n : To-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him: The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; And,-when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening,-nips his root, And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, Like litt.!e wanton boys the.t swim on bladdera, This many summers in a see. of glory: But far beyond my depth: my hi~h-blown pride At length broke under me; and now hu left me, Weary, e.nd old with service, to the mercy Of e. rude stream, the.t must for ever hide me. Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye 1•