rn. IsRAE1.'s REQUITAL OF THIB LOVE, (Vera, 2, 3.) Israel had made God a ehl\meful return for all his goodnees to them. They : 1. Ref,ued obedience, "As they [the prophet~] called them, so they went from them." '!'hey flatly turned thoir bnck on ,luty. They weut further in sin the more they were warned. 2. Disliono11red God in the very a.rtidc of his Godhead. "They sacrificed to Daalim, and burned incense to graven imnges," thus breaking the first and second commandments. 3. Renounced God 06 a Healer. "They knew not that I healed them" (cf, eh. v. 13).-J. O. Yers. 5-7.-Fatal cour84'8. So the wise man teaches, "There ie e. way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. xvi. 26). We have here- I. lsRAEL's BANE. 'l'hey insisted on thinking their own way better than God's. 'J'his is brought out in the different expressions: "They refused to return" (ver. 5); "flt•cause of their own counsels" (ver. 6); "My people are lbent on backsli<ling from me" (ver, 7); "None at all would exalt him" (or exalt themselves, raise themselves 111 to God). They were in error, but they would not be persuaded of it. 'l'hey were J1ugging a delusion, but they clung to it as wisdom. They thought their own way right, and the way which the prophets pointed out to them silly, stupid, contemptible. 'J'J,is is the folly of the sinner. He sets himself up as wiser than God. He snaps his fingers at those who call him to the Most High (ver. 7). The folly of his way might srem self-evident, but, 11nwamfri by the lessons of the past, he sounds its praises a~ if reason and experience were entirely on his side. lI ISRAEL'S PliKISJmENT. 'l'he roads of sin, unhappily, lead to destruction, whether those who walk in them are pcI'6uaded of the fact or not. So Israel found it. '!'heir own c0unsels, which they preferred to God's, cost them : 1. Relegation to bondage. (Ver. 5.) 'J'he freedom God ha.d bestowed upon them (ver. 1) he would again deprive them of. 'l'beir destination, however, would not be the literal Egypt, but Assyria.. The principles of God's moral administration abide, but they seldom embody themselves in precisely tht same outward forms. 2. A whirling sword. (Ver. 6.) The sword would whirl and devour till it had dev:i.stated the whole kingdom. A type of the more terrible wrath that will consume the sinner.-J. 0.
Vere. ~11.-.lJivine ,-elentinga. God's wrath, had it burned age.inst Ephraim according to his deserts, would have utterly consumed him. It would have made him like Admah and Zeboim, cities of the plain, "which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and iu his wrath" (Deut. xxiL 23). But Divine compassion sets limits to Divine wrath God would punish, but, in remembrance of the covenant made with the fathers, would _yet spare a part, and in the end would recover and restore. For "city" (ver. 9), read "heat (of \\"rath)." I. Co.MPASSIONATE, YET PUNISHING. (Ver. 8.) 1. Goa'swrathis limited by his com- pa,88W'11,, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel?" In the threatenings, God speaks as if J,e would destroy Israel altogether. He states what their sins deserve, and what, having regard to his wrath only, he would be bound tc inflict. Their sins kindled an indignation which, had it burned unchecked, would I.ave consumed them from the face of the earth. He now shows how compassion works tc limit this Gud, having set his love on Ephraim, cannot give him up. Wrath is not tl,e only principle in the Divine breast, and wrath having uttered itself in threatenings, pity is cailed forth by the thought of the woe with which the threatenings are charged. So God says, "Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled" (cf. Ps. lviii. :'l8, 39). Were it not for God's compassions, sinners would not be so long borne with, nor would their punishments so often stop short of destruction (Lam. iii. 22). 2. Go,J'H co;itpassiun doe, not alter the determination to punish. Though God's repenting& were k:uded, this did not meau. that Ephraim was to escape the pnnishn1ent of his sins, Right n,ust be maintained. If God-the "Holy One "-is not sanctified in men, ho mw;t Le i;anctified upon them. God declares only that be will turn from the "fierce- nes," uf bis auger-that he will not utterly destroy Israel (ver. 9). The sinner, there- fore, need not build lwpei; ou. tbe Divine mercy, a~ though he could ein and yet eve.de i,er,ahy. His sins may even reach a point at which mercy can do no wore for him. JI. P.!!:Pt:NTING, Yt:'l' I.14111.UTABLE. God's repenting, arll kindled, yet the guarantee OJI, XII, 1-14,J THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 361