The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 437

In them, e.nd, like the morning dewdrops, they deck and Ol'l:lament the wide fielcl. or lrnme.nity; thus: "'rhy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the W'omb of the morning: thou ha.at the dew of thy youth." In like me.nner the Prophet Micah, speaking of the eonversion of the Jews and of the benefit which they shall in the.t day confer npon the rest of the world, and of their blessin" to the peoples among whom they have been long scattered, says, "The remnant of Is;ael lihe.11 be in the midst of many people e.s e. dew from the Lord." So also Isaiah in a beautiful and highly poetic passage in which he refers to the resurrection of the'ciead says, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs ..: Here God, speaking of himself, says, "I will be as the dew unto Israel." III. PROPERTIES OF THE DEW AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF TIDB PROlllISE. The first and perhaps most obvious property of the dew is its refreshin~ quality. 1. This refreshing property is experienced most in the summer months, and especially during a season of drought, like that with which the land of Israel was visited, when, for three years and a half, there was neither rain nor dew, At such a time the ground is dry and parched. vegetation languishes; gardens and meadows and corn-lands are scorched; fields of grain, blades of grass, and leaves of trees wit:her; fruits and flowers droop. The showers of the sky have been withheld; rain-clouds, it may be, have gathered and darkened and promised much; but they have ·passed over without the long-hoped-for and much- required rain. Oh, how refreshing at such ,a juncture is the dew when it comes down copiously on the bosom of the thirsty earth I There it lies like a shower of gems upon the ground, shimmering in the morning sunrise;_ it covers the surface with pearly beauty. " As Mom, her rosy steps in th' Eastern clime Advancing, eowe the earth with Orient pearl," But those dewdrops are as refreshing as they are beautiful : they water to some extent the :fields; they invigorate the languishing herbs; they refresh every green thing; they revive the plants and shrubs, the grasses, herbs, and flowers, and lift up their ·aroop111g head.ii; they gladden all nature. The transition from the soil to the soul is easy and Iiot unnatural. What the dew is to the soil, grace is to the soul. In the natural world, where all erewhile was parched and scorched. dry and hard, waste and withered, consequently bleak and bare and barren, abundant dews, largely supplying in Eastern lands the place of rain, descend; soon new life springs up and revives the half-withered plants and exhausted herbage, new loveliness appears in the leaves of trees and flower-petals. Just so when the grace of God is vouchsafed to the soul, and when the Spirit _of God communicates it in rich abundance, new life is imparted to the soul, new en~rgies are awakened, new spiritual vigour manifests itself, and new holy sympathies are developed. Sometimes, too, after the first bestowal of grace and _impartation of life, believers may droop and their graces languish; the winds of the wilderne_ss may blow upon us, the drought of the desert may scorch or wither us ; in other_ words, the world, with its trials and temptations, Satan and his snares, sin and its entkements, the flesh and its lusts, all tend to dry up the spiritual affections of the soul, exhaust its energies, and check the heavenly flow of its feelings. Again a fresh communication of the dew of Divine grace is granted, and spiritual greenness springs up afresh and spreads throughout the soul, a renewal of spiritual life ensues, so that we live no longer to self and sin, but to him who died for us; no longer to the world, but are crucified to it; no longer to the flesh to serve it in the lusts thereof. 2. Dew has a fertilizing and fructifying property. Hence the dew is indispensable to germination and growth, Without it the husbandman would labour in vain and spend his strength for nought. He might industriously break up the fallow ground and carefully scatter the seed but without the moisture of rain or dew the seed sown would neither bud nor gro\;; so in spiritual husbandry, men may pl_ough and sow, but without the dew of Divine gmce there will be no increase. How different when the dew of God's grace is abundantly bestowed I Then hard hearts are softened, stubborn wills renewed, invi- 'Y tations of the gospel accepted, the warning~ of the Divine ord touch the conscience, its instructions impress the heart, e.wakenmgs take place m Churches, revivals occur thrdughout the land. Nay, m_oro! t~e ~1;3kest _means becom~ ~ff~ctu~l, the simplest instrumentalities powerful; while in md1vidual life the weak Canstlan 1s strengthened, the weary is refreshed, the fainting revived, the unlovely spiritually beautified, and the  H-0 THE BOOK OF HOSEA. [OH, XIV, 1.-9.