The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 381

in ~omc measure the bad exa.mple of its norLhcrn neighbour, ICng Ahaz he.d given him~Pll up to gross idol11try and iniquity; his reign at Jerusalem was n time of snd moml deterioration and spiritual darkness (2 Kings xvi.). So " the Lord hiid also a con1roversy with Judah" (vcr. 2); for Judah was "unbridled against God, and 11gamst the faithful Holy One" (eh. xi. 12, Keil's translation). "Jacob," i.e. Ephmim, is 11lre11dy ripe for punishment; but Judah has now goll8 so far astray as to roquiro sol<>mn reproof and warning. II. THE TYPICAL JAooB. (Vera. 3-5.) The Jews gloried in being "the children of Israel," and here the prophet shows them how unlike thoy were to their father. Tho national career of Ephraim had been one of constant degeneracy: from the time of Jeroboam," who made Israel to sin," the people had gone from bad to worse with eveM1ccelerating speed. Their ancestor Jacob, on the other hand, had trod the path which is " as the dawning light, th:it sbineth more and more unto the perfect day " (Prov. iv. 18). Born with a ~elfish and unlovely nature, and prone to acts of deceit and meann~s, be became a child of God, and had his heart moulded by Divine grace, until he showed himself not only a really religious man, but a great saint. How different it would have been now with Ephraim had he lived conformably to his claim of being" the seed of Jacob"! The prophet recalls various acts of the Diviae favour to the patriarch. 1. Before his birth. His taking his twin-brother's heel by the hand did not foreshadow merely his future overreaching of Esau; rather it was a prognostic of his precedence over him in the Divine purpose of grace, and of the eagerness with which Jacob would labour to obtain the covenant-blessing. 2. At Peniel. There what at first seemed a man wrestled with him; and perhaps J1Wob mistook him for a robber of the road, until at length the Stranger with a touch dislocated his hip-joint, thus effectually disabling him. Then Jacob perceived that his antagonist was an" Angel "-the Angel of the covenant himself; so he gave up bis useless wrestling, and began to pray. "He wept, and made supplication unto him" (ver. 4); and the Divine blessing, which he could never have obtained by wrestling or supplanting, came to him in answer to his prayer. At Peniel Jacob "was knighted on the field," and. there he received his new and heavenly name. He who from the womb had been known as the supplanter, the wrestler, the tripper-up, now became Israel-" a prince with God" (Gen, xxxji. 24-29). Ever afterwards Jacob's weapons were not carnal. He learned at Peniel to "prevail" by the power of faith and prayer, and of a holy life. 3. At Bethel. Hosea elsewhere calls the Bethel of his time by the contemptuous nickname of Beth- aven (eh. iv. 15; v, 8; L 5); for, alas! "the house of God" had become "the house of vanity "-an abode of naughty idols. At Bethel, where Jehovah "found" Jacob, he himself was lost by Jacob's degeuerate children .. At Bethel, where Jacob saw in vision the stairway reaching to heaven, Satan had established a stairway leadinr; to destruction. But now the prophet recalls the early national associations, so pure and hallowed, which were connected with Bethel. God " found Jacob in Bethel, and there he spake with '1/,S," In revealing himself to Jacob he had in view also Jacob's.pos- terity. The patriarch received a Divine visitation at Bethel upon two occasions. .'fhe first, when on his way to Padan-aram ( Gen. xxviii. 11-22); and the second, twenty- five years afterwards, some time after his return to Canaan. Probably Hosea refers here chiefly to the latter; for then Jacob performed the vow which he had made on occasion of bis first visit, and then God confirmed his new covenant name of Israel, and repeated the promise of his blessing (Gen. xxxv. 9-15). God did all this at Bethel to Jacob and to "us" as" Jehovah, God of hosts" (ver. 5): as" God of hosts," omnipotent in heaven and earth; and as "Jehovah," the unchanging, covenant-keeping God, who desires bis people ever to remember him by this profoundly significant Name (Exod. iii 15). III. How DEGD-'EBATE JACOB MAY BECOME REGENERATE. (Ver. 6,) These words are an urgeut exhortation to Ephraim to return to God, from whom he had "deeply revolLed." 'l'he word "therefore" indicates that the call is grounded upon the repre- sentation just given both of the Divine character and of the Divine goodness to his ancestor Jacob, "Turn thou to thy God." i.e. thy covenant God, who still offers him- self t-O thee, and is still ready to keep his ancient covenant, if thou approach him in pc·nitence and faith. Why should Ephraim go down to destruction when he may have the '' God of hosts" for hii; helper, and when he can pleaii the promiRe of the on, xn. 1-14.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 383