The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 426

exe.ltiition. The egoh!tlc principle., however, had more direot manifestaUone, We have in the~e verses- I. GoD KNOWN IN ADVERSITY. "I did know thee In the wilderness In the land of great drought" (ver. 6). 1. God knew Israel,, in the great care he ~xcrcised over the nation,. leading it, providing for ite wants, ~rotecti_ng it, and showing it miinifo\cl tokens of his goodness. 2. Israd knew God. 'I he nat10n was never nearer to ite God th~n durin/1: these years of severe trial and hourly dependence. It believed in him, waited on him, trusted him, and was-6t least latterly-willing to serve him. .Adver- sity had its uses. It did the people good. It made a strong nation of them, fit to conquer and occupy Canaan. II. Gon FORGOTTEN IN PROSPERITY. (Ver. 6.) .As the people grew prosperous, they forgot God. The stages are: 1. Sense of repktion. "'l'hey were filled." Satisfied with the good things of earth, they did not feel the same need of God's blessing. They had not the 11a.me sense of depenrlence. 2. Uplifting of heart. "Their heart wa.s exalted." Prosperity tends in this direction. It un!Hts the heart. It makes tho possessor of wealth proud, self-sufficient, arrogant. 3. Forgetfuvness of God. "There- fore have they forgotten me." This was their base ingratitude. Yet the sin is common. The more we receive from God-so perverse and prone to depart are we- the more ready we are to forget him. We feel as if we were independent. We are full. We reign as kin~ without him. III. THE PENALTY OF SELF-EXALTATION. (Vere. 7, 8.) Pride in the creature is the sin which more than any other provokes God to wrath. The Greeks, with just <liscrimination, viewed the gods as specially wroth with the man who unduly exalted himself. "TSpa never failed to bring down on the unhappy mortal who was guilty of the sin "swift destruction.n God here Ii.kens himself to the wild beasts that tear the flock--so fierce and unsparing is hie anger. He will be "as a ~ion.," •~ a leopard," "a hear bereaved of her whelps." Strange images to apply to him whose name is Love I Bat love, outraged and grieved, is the most vehement and fierce of all passions. God's love, because it is intense and re.al, is not to be trifled with, and, when roused to anger, is terrible to encounter. Better meet wild beasts of the forest than fall int.o the hands of the living God.-J. 0. Vers. 9-14.-God-exaltation. God is exalted, negatively, by the overthrow of whatever is opposed to him-in Israel's case, by the humbling of their pride, the discovery of the vanity of their earthly trusts, and the overthrow of the sinful kingdom; and, positively, by the ultimate triumph of hie purpose of ealvation--6 triumph even over death. L lnAEL THE AUTHOR OP ms OWJI DESTBUOTIOllT. (Ver. 9.) It was a destruction: L For which he only was respomibk. "Destroyed thyself." It was entirely the result of bis own perverse actings. Had he taken God's way, all would have been well with him. But-so the words literally run-he was against God. He chose of his own will the way which God told him was the way of death. The sinner's ruin is entirely his own work. God refuses all responsibility for it. He has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth (Ezek. xviii. 32). 2. Resulting from refusal of Divine help. "Thy help." Thie aggravated the sin. "le there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? whr then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" (Jer. viii. 22). God wished to be Israel's helper, but Israel would not let him. Sinners perish though salvation is within reach. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light," etc. (John iii. 19); "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life: (Jo~n v. 40). 3. Which his self-soU1JM helpers were unab"le to avert. Israel found 1n hie hour of need the vanity of trusting to hie earthly helpers. " Where is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? a.nd the judges, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?" (ver. 10). Baal failed him (eh. viii. 6; x. 6); the Assyrian failed him (eh. v. 13); his kings failed him (eh. x. 3, 15). Thus it was dernor,strated that God is tlie only Helper that there is no Saviour beside him (ver. 4). God in Christ 111 the urily Hope of the sinner. He is an all-sufficient Hope, if the sinner will only be persuaded to apply to him. Instead of this, how maoy " refuges of lies" do meu resort to! OR, XIII, 1-16.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA.