The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 279

estimate religion by the outward advantages which they think to derive from it; or, what is much the same, they profess that religion or attach themselves to that denoml~ nation from which they hope for the greatest gain. 'l'hus Israel attributed to her spiritual. harlotry any temporary prosperity she eujoyed; it was her .idols she thanked for any se,a:,on of plenty that she was favoured with; she loved a reward on every corn-floor. Thus her religion was meroenary, her idolatry shameful, her prosperous slat<' of short continuance, and her joy ill founded as evaneb-cent. , Il. 'l'HE LOSS OF THE MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE NOT UNFREQUENTLY FOLLOWS FROM A COFRSE OF f'm. A career of sin has often reduced a man to a morsel of bread, or left him without bread altogether. When men are bent on the obtainment of worldly blessings, and make them their chief end, they are oft-en denied the blessings which they covet: frequently they are disappointed of them; more frequently are they disap- pointed in them; even when they secure them they fail to find the satisfaction which they seek. " The floor and the wine-press shall not feed them," says the prQphet; "much less feast them," quaintly but truly observes an old commentator, adding,~\ It shall either be blasted by the hand of God or plundered by the hand of man ; the new wiue with which they used to make merry shall fail in her. . . ; We forfeit the good things of the world if we love them as the best things." • • Ill. THE LOSS OF BOUSE A:!ID HOME BAB OFTEN RESULTED FBOM SINll'UL INDULGEN()E! A time of famine necessarily becomes a time of extensive emigration. But, apart froni seasons of scarcity, when men are forced, in ori;J.er to procure· the meaJ:)s of a decent livelihoo<l, to seek a home and a country in some distantJ~d, it is no rare occurrence for men to find themselves expatriated through their own vices. • When they begga'i themselves by vicious indulgence, their last resort is a foreign land.' In. the case of Israel the hardship was peculiarly distressful. The :land of promise, was, in a. special sense, "the Lord's laud;" it was a good landr a gladsome land. How glowing as well as eloquent the eulogy bestowed upon it by the sacred writer when Israel was about·to eDter it! "The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, e. lahd of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat( and barley, and vines, and fig trees, aud pomegranates; a. land of oil olive, and honey ; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and· out;of.Jwhose hills thou mayest dig brass." Besides these blessings of a temporal kind, possessed by that land into which the Lord had led Israel, it was the Lord's land because of_ the spiritual privileges enjoyeq. there. It was distinguished by his special favour and gracious presence;, it was .the. home of Lis priests and prophets; it was the seat of his ~()ly 1orac4't ·11:nd. in all r11spects ,8' deligl.itsome land. But Israel had forfeited the\r, tj.tle to ~t . ;It had beeo,)eas!ld ;«l them by the Lord, but by th_eir idolatries an_d ~any sins t~ey_.. ha4. br_okeri E!V4;!J::]' i;:la~ll in that lease; and now they must tum th.eu back on this l.aJJ.!i: wl;nch the .Iiord ha):\ c;ven them. They had loved idols, ap.d now to the lal).d of idol,s they .must .go! lntQ Londage mE 6-ypt or into captivity ill Assyria they are driven; :the Lord's land "shall not on!y cease to feed them, hut cease to_lodge them, and,to,.be a habitation for them; it shall spue them out, as it bad done the Canaanite~ before _them!' 'fbeir. Pll~fpr~nce of outward ceremonies had not sprung from a principlti .of lov1i to the Divine,!,;,i,w;: now they are no longer in a position, even if, they are ,dispqsed,,to. obey that L!'W, :They had abused the abundance of good thing~ w)lich. Cl-od had given them; 11.ow-for very want they must eat unclean things w. r~ugnant-.to their feelings, as opposed to their ritu.a.L '!'hey had .shown an w;_:_,:.~::rl fundnese fo;r ipols in their own land~ the Lorj).'~ land; 11.ow they must eat the uncleaD things offered. to idols in a., foreign land., , 0-rea, had bee11. their sinfulness, great in degree and similar in kind is thei~ puniehmen.t,, . IV. Loss OF SPIRITUAL PBIVILEGEB 18 A.NOTHEB AND A WORSE CON):lEQUENOE 0~ 'l'llEl.lf sms. One of the greatest privatiollll is the loss of the public ordinanc~11 of religion.. Though the enjoyment of them when posse~sed may be little valued,the wiih!lra.wal of tl.em is severely felt. There is no famine more distressing than that. of hearipg. :Um l\'ord. of the Lord. Unfaithfu.lMiiS w the light men have has often ea.used the.ca.IJille~ stick .to be removed out of its place. So with Israel at the period to w4ich .the prophet rders. They were deprived of libation a.a well as oblation, and of every offe;ring what- ever. Without the material, they were also without th~ means of oliering any ~ptable 1,wJrifice. 1n e. h<:atben land they were necessarily without sanctuary and altar and OH, IX. 1-17.) THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 279