The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 385

Nothing less tliian th11.t satisfies the eoul. Idolatry ie but 11, blind 11.ttempt to orcate romc objective personality, nothing less than which men can worship. But whu.t wo want is given to us in Christ, who was "the im&<Ye of the invisible God." Men may h<' satisfied with less than him in their lower life, but when the want of the soul le really pressing, when the hunger of the heart is fairly roused, prayer becomes an a<Yony, in which they can say, "My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God I" 2. "'oon- scwus11ess of spiritual struggle, "Stru)!gle" does not correctly describe all fellowship with God, as we may see from Jacob's own experience. When he first left home he saw the heavenly ladder at Bethel, and had a sweet assurance of God's love and pro- tection ; but now twenty years have elapsed he goes through this scene of darkness and struggle and weeping. This is not what many would have expected. They demand that religious experience should always begin with agony over sin. But it does not. Children may know nothing of the agony of soul, yet they may know the reality of prayer. By the foolish expectations of some Christians, they are tempted to persuade themselves that they have known what they never did know, or else to regard the devotion of their childhood as sentimental and unreal. Why should they not heed the angels of Bethel first, and have the agony of Jabbok twenty years after, as Jacob did? But, sooner or later, most devout men know something of struggle, when the darker problems of life and its more terrible issues face them; yet, although in their later )'ears they have to fight with doubts which did not trouble them once, they have no reason on that account to suspect the reality of their earlier religious life. It was not Bethel's pleasant dream, but Jabbok's dreadful struggle, that transformed Jacob into a prince. 3. Vi,ctory throogh the Divine goodness. Observe the change in the attitude of Jacob. At first the angels "met him" as if coming out of Seir, to remind and rebuke him of sin. He began with strnggle, but ended in supplication. The end of nL wrestling with God is not to conquer him, but to conquer self; e.g. one assailed by intellectual doubts finds rest, not in the solution of the difficulty, but in trust in him whose" greatness is unsearchable;" another troubled by the conviction of sin wins peace by confessing sin, not by disproving the charges of conscience, The consciousness and acknowledgment of weakness is our power, "weeping" is our eloquence; and they who come with the supplication, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me," by their strength have power with God. III. THE ISSUES OF WRESTLING WITH GoD. See what Jacob won. 1. Knowledge of God, He knew him as "the Lord of hosts," with power to rule Esau and others, and as" Jehovah," who would fulfil his covenant promise. He was nearer to God now than ever. Before this he had been at Beth-el, "the house of God ; " but now he was at Peni-el he saw "the/ace of God." 2. Change in character. No longer Jacob (sup- planter), but Israel (prince). Before this he sought Divine ends by human means, but never after. In the presence of things eternal, things temporal faded away ; and in the bght of God's countenance he became sincere and transparent. "Beholding as in a gws the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image," etc. 3. Delight in prayer. When an old man he blessed his sons, having faith to foresee their future, and power in prayer to win their hleesingB. The priesthood of Christians on earth has yet to be realized in the fulness of its power. If only the Church had the spirit of suppli- cation which Jacob had. when he cried, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me," there would come a wave of spiritual influence over the world which would cover t_he bare rocks of scepticism, and sing a prean of victory over the dreary wastes of sin. "'By his strength " may the Church have "power with God "I-A. R. Ver. !.-Feeding on wind. The conduct of Ephraim is in many respects very instructive to all readers of Scripture. There is nothing in that conduct upon which Hosea lays greater stress than the extreme folly, unreasonableness, fatuity of sin. This is a forcible image which the prophet here employs to describe the vanity of a course of life distinguished by forgetfulness of God and rebellion against God, by o. constant~y recurriog though constantly disappointing endeavour to find satisfaction in the pursuits and pleaeures of sin. " Ephraim feedeth on wind, and chaseth the east wind." I. A VA.IN' illD FALBE STANDARD AND Al){, Compare the wind with wholesome food, and yov feel at once the absurdity of regarding the one as though it were equivalent to tLe other. The objects upon which the ungodly and the worldlv set their heart l.l.re a11 Cll, XII, 1-14,] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 387