The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 287

land" is only for the Lord's peo:(lle: for such alone the Lord Jesus prepnree a pla9e in the heavenly Canaan (veni. 1-9).-C. J. , .• 1 Vers. 'i, 8.-The ti-ve and the false praphct. Accept"ing the .Authorized \rersion hore as substantially correct, we interpret these verses as referring to both clnsscs, Ver. 7 makes mention, in a parenthesis, of the false prophet, 'l'he first clause of ver. 8 refers to t-be true prophet ; and the remainder of the verse contrasts the character of tho false propbet with his. The theme thus suggested is an instructive and profitnble one. ]. THE TRUE AND THE FALSE l'ROPRET ARE OFTEN OONTEllll'OBABl.BB. One of S,1tan's farnnrite methods for the support of his kingdom seems in all ages to have been to caricature the works of the Almighty, and to induce men to accept the counterfeit and reject the real. Whenever, accordingly, the Lord raised up a true prophet, Satnn at the same time sent forth fals~ '.eropbets. Thus Moses, at the beginning of his ce.reer, had to contend with" the mag1c1a.ns of Egypt;~ and, towards the close of it, against the influence of Balaam, who, although constrained to utter true predictions, was all the while the Anti-Moses. In like manner, Elijah confronted at Carmel four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal ; and Micaiah at Samaria other four hundred (1 Kings xxii. 6-28). Elisha also lived contemporaneously with false prophots (2 Kings iii. 11-13 ; x. 19). Hosea, as he himself testifies both here and elsewhere {eh. iv, 5), was impeded and thwarted in his life-work by many impostors. And at last, when God incai:nated himself in Jesus Christ as the supreme Prophet of the Church,' the devil took care to send into the world "false Christa and false prophets." .After nearly nineteen centuries of the gospel, Moha.mmeda.nism yet lives as the religion_ of "the false prophet," and in our day there are still pretenders to the dignity of" the Mahdi," or Moslem Messiah. In "the last time" there have already been "many antichrists; '' and, before the Christian 4ispensation o'f uuth shall close, the Antichrist par excellence must yet be revcaleq {l John iL 18). . lL THE woBK OF THE TB.~ PROPHET. (Ver. 8.) It is that _of a spitjtual -11 wii,tch- rnan," stationed on the watch-tower of. faith and prayer. He stands there, concen- trating his gaze upon the unseen, that he may obtain Divine revelations of mercy or judgment, a.nd report such to the people (Ezek. iii. 17; xxxiii. 7; Bab. ii. 1). God sent many such watchmen-µ> the chosen nation. He sent some even to the ten tribes-, the two writing prophets Hosea and .A.mos; such great prophets of acti~n, as ~lijah ai;i~ Elish.'\; besides also Ahijah, Micaiah, Jonah, .etc. 'fhese "watchmen o(.Ephraim' were " with God," in the sense of being: 1. Sent by God. His Spirit called them tq their office, put his words into their mouth, and even caused thein somet~mes to feel a.11 if their own consciousness were absorbed into that of God. l:1, Helped by qoa... H~ in.fused into their hearts the courage and sf:r1mgth which they nee~ed h?_ldl.Y to ,speak his Word to a "gainsaying people," who .bated them· for their fa1thtulnese. ~. Jlesponswle to God. For the .prophets wot~ld have to give account to him of t~e :na.n1;1er, in which they had announced the revelations vouchsafed to them for the nations gmd- ance. Moses bad been " with God," for " the. Lord knew him face to facQ," ,(Deut~ xxxiv. 10). Elijah had been "with God," for be spo~e.of him as J~hovii,b, ••before whom I stand" (1 Kings xvii. 1). Elisha was called "a holy man of God" (2 King;s iv. 9). Hosea's name means salvat«!n; and the name.reflected t~e _substan_ce of lu~ ultimate messaue, that of the redeem.mg love of Jehovah. And Bllilllarly still, under the gospel di~nsation, the minister of Jesus Christ is to stand among me1;1 a~ ~ witness for "the things which are not seen,n a watchman whose eye searches the 1nv1S1ble, _a:nd who points with bis finger t.owards eternity and God. Every preacher sho~ld ,delr!er his message as David Hume, the infidel, remarked that John Brown of Haddmgton did: "That old man preaches as if Christ were at his elbow." ,, . . III. THE CHAIIACTEB OF THE FALSE PBOPHl/:T,, The northern ,kingdom abounded m such persons in the time of Hosea. They professed to ,be P,ropheta, i.e. for-speak~rs; but they did not really speak for God. They called themllelvee "spiritual men "-me0; of the spirit; but the spirit which possessed them wa, an evil _a.nd a lying_ 11pirit. Their pretended prophecies were soothing and flattering, all the while that tli.e. land reeked with idolatry and unmentionable vices. The fa~e prophets "prophesiA4 .out of their own hearts," and" saw nothing" of the vision of the Lord {Ezek. xiii. 2, 3). 11 t the very hour when the sword was about to come upon the lnud, and the throne OH, IX, 1-17,) 'l'HE BOOK OF HOSEA. 287