The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 340

p117,7,Jing queetione which follow. Four questions are followod by four 1mswere. (1) "How iaha.11 I give thee up, Ephraim?" to which tho an,wer is, 11 N.:lnc hc:irt is turne<l within me." (2) "How she.II I <l<>livcr thee, Israel?" to which the r!'plv ie, "My repentin~ are kindled toii;ct.her." (3) "How shall I make thc-e as Admnh ?"" to which the rrs1, n~e is, "I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger." ( 4) " How !lhal\ I Frt t.hee as Zeboim?" to which the rejoinder is, 11 I will not return to destroy Ephraim." V. Tm;; PURPOSE DENOUNCED. He will not execute the fierceness of hie wra.th nor return to destroy Ephraim, nor enter into the city. Hero we note a romnrkable co~trnst in God's dealings with us. He compares himself to a man in the exercise of mercy. It is <l.iffermt in regard to the execution of his wrath; then ho is God and not man. In expressing his mrrcy he speaks after the manner of men ; in the yearnincrs of his bowels in t.he extent of his mercifulness, he expresses himself as man, though ~ore, infinitely more, than man. But when he speaks of wrath, he assures us he is God o.nd not man, A man of wa_r may, with the soldiers under him, come upon e. town or city, capture it, and. plunder 1t; months or years elapse, and he returns to the same place acrain lays i;iege to it, and sacks it, leaving it in a much worse state than at first. But "'God will not so return to destroy. Ee is God, not man. Free from nll the weakness of human passion, from all vindictiveness of feeling, from all fickleness of purpose, from all the littlenesses of the human spirit, he does not revoke his purposes nor recall his promises of mercy, neither does he retain his anger for ever, nor renew the outpouring of the vials of his wrath. 2. He is, besides, the Holy One: even in his vindicatory justice he is holy; no unholy element of any kind mingles with his wrath. Holiness is at once an attribute of his nature and a characteristic of all his administrations. Oh, to be holy as God is holy, pure a.s Christ is pure, perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect! His presence is with his people, according to his promise, " I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shn.11 be my people;" nay, more, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them." 4. When, in the close of ver. 9, God says, "I will not enter into the city," it is "to be taken in reference to the manner of God's proceedings in the destruction of Sodom; after he had done conferring with Abraham, he entered into the city, and destroyed it by fire and brimstone. God many times stands at the gates of a city, ready to enter in and destroy it, but humiliation in prayer and reformation keep him out. . . . Oh! let not our sins cause a merciful God to go out,.and a provoked God to enter in." VJ. THE PREDICTION UTTERED. 1. The walking after the Lord here predicted is to fullow the Lord whitbersoever he leadeth. The Saviour is given for a Leader to his people ; he is represented as the Captain of salvation, and just as a good soldier follows liis superior officer at the head of the storming party or in the perilous breach, in the onward march and in the unwelcome but necessary retreat; so the Christian soldier, love.I to his Lord, follows him fully, faithfully, fearlessly, through evil report as well as good report, closely, carefully, and constantly. 11 These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." The path may appear perilous, the way may be difficult; we may have to turn our backs on our dearest delights, on our sweetest com1orts; we may be ignorant of the immediate goal to which the Lord leads us, or the use he intends to make of us, or what he me.ans to do with us; yet none of these things shall deter us. If we only make sure that the Lord is leadin~ us, we run no risk in following him ; and though he lead us by a way that we know not, we are sure it is tiic right way, the sale way, and in every respect the best way in the end. 'l'he opposite course is that pursued by those who walk, not after the Lord, but after the iusts of their own hearts, or their own inclinations, or their own inventions, or their own counsels, or the example of wicked men. 2. 'l'he prediction includes a hasty return in obedience to the Divine summons. God's calling people to return to him is not inaptly compared to the roaring of a lion. By juclgments on the adversary, or by a solemn awe on the spirits of his people, or by terrible things in righteousness, God summons men to submission and obedience. 3. When God speaks the word fo whatever way, his children hurry home out of many lands frou1 the far West, the distant Eut, and the remote South. Thus it is in seasons of revival, thus it shall be more literally in the millennial period, and in the time of the restitution of ~II ilunge W11ea the Spirit, shall be poured O\lt from on high in Pentecostl\l power and Jn Olt. XI, 1--12.) 'rllE BOOK OF HOSEA.