The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 271

(forcgnrdiug this command, multiplied altars, ·and l!O comtnltrod sin,' 'fhe worship at l0cal 11I tars was at most but tolerated in the days of the judges, of Samuel and the early kings, in consideration of the unsettled state of the nation (1 Kings i\i. 2). It became sin once II house had been built for God's worship. Had it been necessary, after the di,ision of the nation, to appoint a district centre for Israel, Goo. would have directed the people in the choice of one. They, however, neither desired nor sought for guidance, but organized their worship in their own way, blending with it idolBtrous rites, and, beside Jehovah's altars, reared altars to idols (oh. x. 1). 'l'hey,,thus sinned both in the number of their altars and in the use they put them to. Accordin"Jy' God declares that these very altars, the things whereby they profeS]led to worship him' would be imputed to them for sin. We are taught: 1. That God claims to regulat~ his own worsi.Jip. 2. That wanton departures from the rule he has given is imputed as transgression. 3. That will-worship is not acceptable to God (Col. it 23)., 4, :'l'hat we cannot condone for disobedience in the matter of worship by either the numbel",Ol' magnificence of our services. • '. . • II. Tim LA'\\' BEQOME SIN. (Ver. 12.) God had given Israel a La.w, tbe myriad pr~epts of w,hich wonla'b'a'Ve guided them aright in every situation of life; but· this Law Is.had "counted ns a. strange thing." The Law, which was "holy, and just ar..d good," became sin to the people through their neglect of it. Consider: 1. Th; dignity of the Law. It is God's Law t'my La.w"); one, yet many. Single in its prin- ciple-" 'l'hou sbalt love the Lord thy God," etc. (cf. Deut. vi. 6)-yet manifold in its applications; branching out into an infinite multiplicity. of precepts, and extending to every detail of life. 2. The accessibility of the Law, God had,,to secure its being kept 1:: remembrance, put it in written form. The turn· sometime~ 'given to these words, •• I would have written to him," etc., is meaningless· in the oonnectiorl. • The prophet is dealing with what Ephraim bas done, not with what he might have done under certam .conceivable circumstances in which he WBIJ never placed. The pass/1/ge 'fs. a testimony to the existence of a. written Law. We should remember-our own .pJ{vileg~ll in the possession of a written revelation. 3. The neglect of the -Law.·. Ephraim per- mitted this Law, great, wonderful, and holy as it was, fitted to instruct and guide him 11c the way of life, to be as "a strange thing" unto him. He forbore to study it. He neglected to JJractise it. The very La.w thus redounded to his condemnation. How many act in a. similar way with the Bible! • They- possess it, but: ltaive it unopened, unstudied. The unread Book becomes sin to them. It :will rise'.,against them in the judgment. . . • .' • llI. SACRIFICES BECOME 11IN. (Ver. 13.) As seen before, sacrifices will. not be accepted by God as a substitute for obedience (eh. vi. 6; 1 Sam. xv. 22). Without the right spirit in the offerer, they become as mere" flesh," in which:God takes nopleasute. '!'he sacred thiag becomes a thing common. Insooad of atoning for-iniquity, the -sacri- fices became themselves iniquity. They were imputed for sin. • Neither the number uor ma,,,auitude of them could avert the wrath that was decreed. " They shall tt:twtn to Egypt," i.e. tc a new Egypt, to Assyria. . I .t, ~ IV. 'l'EHPLEB BECOME BIN. (Ver. 14.) As sacrifices cannot be ta.ken iostead: of obl'cience, so temples cannot be accepted as a substitute for godliness. Israel·" buift temples," but had "forgotten bis Maker." The very temples thus became as,siro. T-he builJ'ng o! temples and the lavishing pf outward a.dornmeat upon them often,proceeds 1 be more rapidly that God himself has been forgotten. Worship becomes'extehlslism. The outward is made the most of, as if to condone for the want of the inward, It is not, however, outward temples that God primarily desires, but the temples of 'humble and contrite spirits (Isa. lvii 15). The former without-the latter are-s_in.. ' V. FENCED crTIEB BEOOHE B'lli, (Ver. 14.) It is added that Judah ,bad multiplied fenced cities. As sacrifices were substituted for obedience, and temples were substituted for godlineb-s, so fenced cities got to be put ·instead of God himself, • The sirday· in lvoking away from the pledged Divine help to mere earthly; defences/ , 'l'hose who do this are left at last to vrove the worthlessn!lSS of their defences. . God would sei;id a fire upon the cities, and it would devour the pal4ces. Human strength ill·no pr()f'.eotio11 in tLe absence of God's help; it i,s equally powerless to •ptoteot &!!;&inst God'• judgments.-J. 0. • • 011. IX. 1-17.j THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 271