mercy ? Jehovah's "ttitude ie like that or the t.ender-hMrted monarch who trembles when the death-warrant is placed before him, e.nd hesitates whether he will sign it. But he declares at length that he cannot sacrifioe his brooding yearning love for Ephraim even to the most righteous anger. He is resolved to exercise his mercy; he will display his grace more conspicuously thnn his justioe. In all this, however, the Lord is: 2. Really t1nchange<ible. He is "God, and not man." The e.pparent conflict within his heart is only apparent. All the time that he h&S been threatening vengee.nce, his howels have been melting v.·ith love. He cannot forget that Ephraim is his "son." Yet the Lord's mercy does not blind the eyes of his justice. He says here, in effect, that Ephraim fully deserved the irreparable doom of the Cities of the Plain. And he must inflict judgment upon the present generation of Israelites. But the three years' siege of Samaria, and the long Assyrian captivity, with the total oblivion of the northern kingdom as such, are not "the fierceness of his an!(er." On the other side of these judgments there will be rich mercy for Israel. In the New Testament gospel, in like manner, we "behold the !(OOdness and severity of God." Jehovah ~ays now, more distinctly than ever, "As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11 ). Cal vary shows that God is "just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. iii. 26). II. THE GROUND OF THIS MERCY. (Ver. 9.) It has a twofold basis. 1. The nature of God. Jehovah speaks after the manner of men ; but he is "God, and not man." Vl ere be not God, be would not tolerate the wicked world for a single day. Because be is "God," and "the Holy One," he "in wrath remembers mercy." 'l'be Divine com- passion is self-originated; it wells up out of the infinite fountain of the Divine nature. God bas the heart of a father; but he is without the infirmities of a human parent. His mind is not discomposed by frail human passions; and he never in his thoughts- as finite men do--straitens the abundance of his grace. 2. The Divine covenant with Israel,. "In the midst of thee" (ver. 9). "I will dwell among them" had been Jcho,ab's promise to the Hebrew nation. Of this promised presence there had been many symbols; as, e.g., the burning bush, the tabernacle, Jerusalem, and the temple. ".And what was the purport of the covenant which God made with Israel? Even that God would punish his people; yet so as ever to leave some seed remaining" (Calvin). 1n the New Testament gospel we see God's mercy similarly grounded. Its basis is the Divine nature. That nature is love. "God so loved the world." And its basis is also the Divine covenant; for we live under a new and better dispensation of the covenant of grace (Heb. viii. 6-13). III. ITS FRUIT IN EPmu.m's RESTOllATION. (Vere. 10, 11.) These verses shall be fulfilled in Messianic times. In the last days, the" Lion" of the tribe of Judah" shall roar," earnestly calling the Hebrews to repentance. 1. The restorati()'ll, will consist in hear~emwal. "They shall walk after the Lord," i.e. spiritually. 'l'he time is coming when the house of Israel shall accept of Jesus as the Messiah, and clothe themselves with his righteousness. "The children" of the exiles" shall tremble" with convictions of guilt, with conscious unworthiness, and yet with eagerness to accept the gospel call. They shall return to a relation of intimate friendship and fellowship with God. 2. It wilz' be national and universal. The Jews shall at last return from all the various lands to which they have been banished. The Lord shall "gather together the outcasts of Israel." Students of prophecy, indeed, are not agreed whether there is to be a literal restoration to Palestine; but all expect an iufiuitely more blessed consummation-the admi:;sion of Israel as a people into the kingdom of Christ, as the result of their repent- ance ::.nd faith in him. This oracle applies also to all the spiritual seed of .Abraham. Jew and Gentile, in these gospel times, are adopted into God's household upon precisely the same footin". 0 "The west" (ver. 10) stands mainly for Gentile Europe; "Egypt" represents (ver. 11) the whole continent of Africa beyond itself; and" Assyria" in like manuer the continent of Asia. "'!'hey shall come from the east and from the west,'' etc. (Luke xiii. 29). The doom denounced in Hosea has been inflicted; and in that fact haw, we not a pled~e that the promises which this prophet makes shall also be ful- filled? "Two rabbis approaching Jerusalem saw a fox running upon the hill of Zion; and l{abl,i Joshua wept, but Rabbi Eliezer laughed. 'Wherefore dost thou laugh?' !!aid Le wLo wept. ' Nay, where Core doi;t thou weep?• demanded Eliezer. • I weep,' r~p:i(;u the P.abl,i Joshua,' l.iccau.se I see what b written in the Lamer,taliun~ fulfille<i: on. xr. 1-12.] 'fl-IE BOOK OF HOSEA. 310
o! hecause tl~o rnoirn_tnin_ of Zion, which is rlesolato, the foxes walk upon it.' 'And, t.horeforo, said llnbb1 Ehczer, 'do I laugh; for when I seo with mine own eyes that (io1l Jina fulfilled his threalenings to the very letter, I have thereby a. pledcre that not <>nc of his promises shall foil, for ha is ever more ready to shO\v mercy than j~rlgment.' '' L11~soN ~. 1. In t~o gospel "mercy .~n~ truth,,are met tog~tlter,'.' God "spared not his own Son, 1 that he might not have to give up such as J<.:phra1m. 2. The hindrance to salvation is not in God, but in the sinner's wicked will. "0 Jerusalem, Jeru,ale 111 , how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not!" (Matt. xxiii. 37). 3. lf God deals so tenderly with the sinner, how complete must be the MCUl'ity of the believer I "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be renewed• but my kindness shall nl't depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be 'removed 8aith the Lord that bath mercy on thee" (lea. !iv. 10).-C. J. ' Ver. 12.-(See next cha.pter.)-C. J.