The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 425

epring ulterior mischief. l9rael reaped from thie seed of 11eU-wi11, sown in the hP.art of the constitution, an unforeseen harvest of evil a.nd woe. 3. A fatal step. One false step ie often decisive of e. whole future. It wa.e Ro with our first parente. Adam's sin determined the spiritual condition of the race. "In Adam a.11 die" (1 Cor. xv. 22). It wae so with this first lalse step in Israel. "When he offended in Ba.a.I he died." He died: (1) Morally. We die morally the moment we determine to take m;r own will rather. than God's as the law of our life. Self-will is the seed-principle of sin. It is a seed of death. (2) As a nation. 'l'ha.t was the step which settled Ephra.im's future. It determined the direction of his a.fter-wa.y. Looking back from the end, it could be seen that this was the time when the fatal course was entered on. Virtually, this step doomed him. As Adam, on the day of bis transgression, became a. dyin~ ma.n, though he did not actually die till long after, so Israel, in this early sin, wrote out their sentence of death as a. rople. II. Sm's PROGRESS. (Ver. 2. Sin, like strife, is in its beginning as the letting in of water. Israel, having admitted into its midst a wrong principle, went on from bad to worse. Idolatry spread in the nation. In the practice of this idolatry the people were: 1. &travag(J/11,t. "They have made them molten images of their silver." 'l'hey lavished their wealth upon their idols. People are generally willing to spend extravagantly upon their vices. 2. Ingenious. "Idols according to their under- standing; all of it the .work of the craftsmen." Not content with the gods of their neighbours, they invented new forms of idolatry for themselves. They were ingenious in forming, adorning, and diversifying their idols. Nothing they could do, however, could make the objects of their ingenuity aught else than idols. "All of it the work of the craftsmen "-this only. .And to this product of their own crafts they bowed themselves down. Men whose hearts are too proud to bow to God are ready to bow down to idols of their own ma.king (Isa. ii. 9),, 3. Intolerant. " They say of them, Let the men that sacrifice lcisa the calves.' The world will brook no refusal to worship at its shrines. E.g. the tyranny of codes of fashion. IIL V ANIBHING PROSPERITY, (Ver. 3.) Four iID.a{?:es are employed to set forth the swiftness, suddenness, and completeness with which Ephraim's once lordly prosperity would vanish. These are (1) the morning cloud; (2) the early dew; (3) the chaff driven by the whirlwind; (4) smoke escaping from a chimney (or window). Some of these things are: 1. Beautiful at first. The cloud hangs gay and gilded in the morning sky, and the dewdrop sparkles with a heavenly beauty as it catches the sun's rays. 2. Unsubstantial. The cloud, though fair, is a mere mass of vapour. The dew but borrows its sparkle from the light. 'l'he chaff is huak without substance. The smoke, rising at first in a solid-looking column, or in thick, heavy folds, is bodiless and without coherence. 3. They rapidly tJanish. .All the four metaphors represent some- thing that "appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (Jas. iv. 14). The cloud is gone while yet, we gaze on it. The dew, drenching grass and flowers a.t dawn, soon dries up with the heat. The wind rapidly bears off the chaff. The smoke scatters, or is dispersed by the breeze, and vanishes. In combination, the figures point to different causes of vanishing. Internal lightness (cha.ff), dis8ipa.tion of parts (vapour, smoke), external absorption (sun and air), strong forces of destruction (whirlwind). The whole show the short-lived nature of the sinner's prosperity. Its beauty is not abiding. It ~ substanceless. It is soon swept away. IV. GoD, NOT BAAL. (Ver. 4.) The end of this judgment was, not utterly to destroy the people, but tc drive them out of false confidences, and lead them to the right knowledge of God. lt would bring them to see: 1. That God had been faithful to them, though not they to him. "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt." 2. That there waa no God but himself. "Thou shalt know no God but me." They worsbippe<! Baal as God, but experience only showed that he was none. 3. That God wiu the only Saviour. " '!'here is no Saviour beside me." Yet he was a Saviour. He had sought to be their Saviour all through. He would save them still, if they would but turn to him.-J. 0. Vera. 5-8.-&lf-ea:altation. As Moses had foretold (Deut. viii. 10-18; x:uii. 15), when Israel became prosperous, he forgot God, and lightly esteemed the rock of hi~ 11alvation. The exaltation of Baal was itself an act of self-will- species of self-  i28 THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [on, XIIL 1-16,