The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 290

womb ehnll perieh at the birth, For the nation has been guilty of both spiritnal an,l literal harlotry; and of euch eins barrenness is the appropriate penalty. 3. Banish- ment. (Vere, 12, 16, 17,) This is the acme of Ephraim's <loom. "Woe also to them when I depart from them I" They are banished': (1) From the/avwr of God: "I will love them no more ; " " '£here I hated them." (2) From the " house" of God i.e. from his family-from the blessings of his covenant. (3) From " the Lord':J la,~d " (ver. 3); for they are to become lost and hopeless "wanderers amon" the nations." 'l'his doom bas been very fully suffered by Israel in the past, and the°nation is lying under it still, The condition of the Jews during the past eighteen centuries has been a striking verification of Ol<l Testament prophecy, as well as a coovincina0 argument for the truth of Christianity. LEBBONB. 1. The attractiveness of early piety, and the advantages which flow from it (ver. 10). 2. The duty of gratitude for being "planted in a pleasant place," temporally and spiritually (ver. 13). 3. The danger of backsliding, which besets e"l'ery Christian, and our need of humility, watchfulness, and prayer (ver. 10). 4. The leavening influence of sin upon the whole heart and life of the sinner (ver. 10). 6. The awfulness of the condition of every God-forsaken soul (vers. 15, 17).-C. J. Ver. 3.-" The Lord's land." Canaan was a land very dear to the Hebrew heart. Few things could cause the children of Israel deeper grief than the prospect of exile and banishment. When absent from their native and sacred soil, their thoughts were with the fair hills and fertile valleys of Palestine, its fenced cities, and above all its metro- polis, the centre of religious worship and sacrifice. Accordingly the heart of Christen- dom has ever regarded "the holy land" as the symbol of spiritual privilege and enjoyment and fellowship. Christians dwell in "the Lord's land." I. IT IS THE LA ND OF PROMISE, as assured to them by a gracious and " covenant- keeping" God, even as Canaan was promised to the descendants of the patriarchs. II. IT IS A LAND OF SPIRITUAL PLENTY, Canaan was represented as a "land flowing with milk a.nd honey," and in this is a figure of the sufficient provision which God has made in the gospel for the spiritual needs of his obedient, loyal people. III. IT IS A LAND OF DIVINE FAVOUR. Palestine was denominated a good land, upon which the eyes of the Lord rested "from the beginning of the year until the end of the year." Upon the citizens of the heavenly Canaan God ever lifts the light of his cotmtenance. IV. IT 1s A LAND OF REST. Even as Israel rested in the promised inheritance after the wanderings of the wilderness, so Christians find that where God dwells, and where he appoints their habitation, there is rest spiritual and eternal.-T. Ver. 5.-" Wliat will ye do 1" The prophet takes such measures as seem likely to be effective, in order to rouse Israel to a sense of the guilt and folly of forsaking Jehovah. He pictures them as exiles in an Eastern land, far from their beloved country, far from the sacred metropolis, and the temple with its priesthood and its sacrifices. He sup- poses the days of holy festivity to have come round, with which the chosen people associated national memories of Divine deliverance, or happy acknowledgments of Divine bounty, On the recurrence of such seasons of holy mirth and obedient observ- ance and welcome fellowship, the captives might well be supposed bitterly to rue their rebellion and apostasy, which had involved them in calamities so dire and privations so <lisastrous, When so situated, Hosea asks them," What will ye do?" It is a q nestion which may well be put to those who are tempted to forsake God and to yiel,l to the seduction_s of the enemy. 'l'he time of trial will come, and then what will ye do? I. WHAT WILL YE DO WHEN EARTHLY PLANS AND PLEASUllli!I FAIL? In the hot pursuit of worldly ends in life, in the absorbing enjoyment of the dtli~hts this world can yield, men forget their Maker and his claims, their Saviour anu his love. But when the time comes-as come it soon may-when favourite projects dissolve as dreams, and when no more pleasure is to be found where it has long been sought and often experienced, what will ye do? II. ,vnAT WILL YE DO WHEN ABANDONED BY EARTHLY FRIENDS? The countenance of companions in health and high spirits is cheering, their hilarity is contagions, their presence is fitted to banish gloomy apprehensions. But such friendships are often super• HOSEA, U  THE BOOK OF HOSEA1 [oil, IX, l~l'i.