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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Hosea XII].</TITLE>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>H O S E A.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XII.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
In this chapter we have,
I. A high charge drawn up against both Israel and Judah for their sins,
which were the ground of God's controversy with them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
Particularly the sin of fraud and injustice, which Ephraim is charged
with
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:7">ver. 7</A>),
and justifies himself in,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:8">ver. 8</A>.
And the sin of idolatry
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:11">ver. 11</A>),
by which God is provoked to contend with them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:14">ver. 14</A>.
II. The aggravations of the sins they are charged with, taken from the
honour God put upon their father Jacob
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:3-5">ver. 3-5</A>),
the advancement of them into a people from low and mean beginnings
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:12,13">ver. 12, 13</A>),
and the provision he had made them of helps for their souls by the
prophets he sent them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:10">ver. 10</A>.
III. A call to the unconverted to turn to God,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:6">ver. 6</A>.
IV. An intimation of mercy that God had in store for them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:9">ver. 9</A>.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Ho12_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Crimes of Israel and Judah; Expostulations with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 723.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind:
he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a
covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
&nbsp; 2 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish
Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he
recompense him.
&nbsp; 3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his
strength he had power with God:
&nbsp; 4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and
made supplication unto him: he found him <I>in</I> Bethel, and there
he spake with us;
&nbsp; 5 Even the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of hosts; the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> his memorial.
&nbsp; 6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and
wait on thy God continually.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
In these verses,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. Ephraim is convicted of folly, in staying himself upon Egypt and
Assyria, when he was in straits
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
<I>Ephraim feeds on wind,</I> that is, feeds himself with vain hopes of
assistance from man, when he is at variance with God; and, when he
meets with disappointments, he still pursues the same game, and
greedily pants and <I>follows after the east wind,</I> which he cannot
catch holy of, nor, if he could, would it be nourishing, nay, would be
noxious. We say of the <I>wind in the east,</I> It is <I>good neither
for man nor beast.</I> It was said
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+8:7"><I>ch.</I> viii. 7</A>),
He <I>sows the wind;</I> and as he sows so he reaps (He <I>reaps the
whirlwind</I>); and as he reaps so he feeds--He feeds on the wind, the
<I>east wind.</I> Note, Those that make creatures their confidence make
fools of themselves, and take a great deal of pains to put a cheat upon
their own souls and to prepare vexation for themselves: <I>He daily
increaseth lies,</I> that is, multiplies his correspondences and
leagues with his neighbours, which will all prove deceitful to him;
nay, they will prove desolation to him. Those very nations that he
makes his refuge will prove his ruin. Those that stay themselves upon
lies will be still coveting to increase them, that they may build their
hopes firmly upon them; as if many lies twisted together would make one
truth, or many broken reeds and rotten supports one sound one, which is
a great delusion and will prove to them a great desolation; for those
that <I>observe lying vanities</I> the more they increase them the more
disappointments they prepare for themselves and the further they run
from <I>their own mercies.</I> The men of Ephraim did so when they
thought to secure the Assyrians in their interests by a <I>solemn
league,</I> signed, sealed, and sworn to: <I>They make a covenant with
the Assyrians,</I> but they will find there is no hold of them; that
potent prince will be a slave to his word no longer than he pleases.
They thought to secure the Egyptians for their confederates by a rich
present of the commodities of their country, not only to purchase their
favour, but to show that their friendship was worth having: <I>Oil is
carried into Egypt.</I> But the Egyptians, when they had got the bribe,
dropped the cause, and Ephraim was never the better for them. <I>Oleum
perdidit et operam--The oil and the labour are both lost.</I> This was
<I>feeding on wind;</I> this was <I>increasing lies and
desolation.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. Judah is contended with too, and Jacob, which includes both Ephraim
and Judah
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
<I>The Lord has also a controversy with Judah;</I> for though he had a
while ago <I>ruled with God,</I> and been <I>faithful with the
saints,</I> yet now he begins to degenerate. Or though, in keeping
close to the house of David and the house of Aaron, and in them to the
covenants of royalty and priesthood, they were so far <I>in the
right,</I> in the former they <I>ruled with God</I> and in the latter
were <I>faithful to the saints,</I> yet upon other accounts God <I>had
a controversy</I> with them, and would punish them. Note, Men's
being in the right in some things, in the main things, will not exempt
them from correction, and therefore should not exempt them from
reproof, for those things wherein they are in the wrong. There were
those of the seven churches of Asia whom Christ approved and commended,
and yet he adds, <I>Nevertheless I have something against thee.</I> So
here; though the seed of Jacob are a people near to God, yet God will
punish them according to the evil ways they are found in and the evil
doings they are found guilty of; for God sees sin even in his own
people, and will reckon with them for it.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. Both Ephraim and Judah are put in mind of their father Jacob,
whose seed they were and whose name they bore (and it was their
honour), of the extraordinary things which he did and which God did for
him, that they might be the more ashamed of themselves for degenerating
from so illustrious a progenitor and staining the lustre of so great a
name, and yet that they might be engaged and encouraged to return to
God, the God of their father Jacob, in hopes for his sake to find
favour with him. He had called this people Jacob
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
threatening to punish them; but <I>how shall I give them up?</I> How
shall that dear name be forgotten?</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. Three glorious things concerning Jacob the person Jacob the people
are here put in mind of; but by brief hints only, for it is presumed
that they knew the story:--
(1.) His struggling with Esau in the womb: There <I>he took his brother
by the heel,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
We have the story
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+25:26">Gen. xxv. 26</A>.
It was an early act of bravery, and an effort for the best precedency,
a pious ambition for that birthright in the covenant which Esau is
justly branded as profane for despising. But his degenerate seed, by
mingling with the nations, and making leagues with them, profaned that
crown, and laid that honour in the dust, which he so gloriously put in
for. Then it was that the dominion was given to him: <I>The elder shall
serve the younger.</I> Then he was owned of God as his beloved:
<I>Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.</I> But they had by their
sin forfeited both the love of God and dominion over their neighbours.
(2.) His wrestling with the angel. "Remember how your father Jacob had
<I>power with God by his</I> own <I>strength,</I> the strength he had
by the gift of God, who <I>pleaded</I> not <I>against him by his great
power,</I> but <I>put strength into him,</I>"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:6">Job xxii. 6</A>.
The angel he wrestled with is called <I>God,</I> and therefore is
supposed to be the <I>Son of God,</I> the angel of the covenant. "God
was both a combatant with Jacob and an assistant of him, showing, in
the latter respect, greater strength than in the former, fighting as it
were against him with his left hand and for him with his right, and to
that putting greater force." So, Dr. Pocock. The providence of God
fought against him when he met with one danger after another, in his
return homewards; but the grace of God enabled him to go on cheerfully
in his way, and, when his faith acted upon the divine promise that was
for him prevailed above his fears that arose from the divine
providences that wee against him, then <I>by his strength he had power
with God.</I> But it refers especially to his prayer for deliverance
from Esau, and for a blessing: <I>He had power over the angel and
prevailed,</I> for he <I>wept and made supplication.</I> Here was a
mixture of the greatest courage and the greatest tenderness, Jacob
wrestling like a champion and yet weeping like a child. Note, Prayers
and tears are the weapons with which the saints have obtained the most
glorious victories. Thus Jacob commenced <I>Israel--a prince with
God;</I> his posterity was called <I>Israel,</I> but they were unworthy
the name, for they had forfeited and lost their communion with God, and
their interest in him, by revolting from their duty to him.
(3.) His meeting with God at Bethel: God <I>found him</I> in Bethel,
<I>and there he spoke with us.</I> God found him the first time in
Bethel, as he went to Padanaram
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+28:10">Gen. xxviii. 10</A>),
and a second time after his return,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+35:9">Gen. xxxv. 9</A>,
&c. It is probable that this refers to both; for in both God spoke to
Jacob, and renewed the covenant with him, and the prophet might very
well say, <I>There he spoke with us</I> who are the seed of Jacob, for
both times that God spoke with Jacob at Bethel he spoke with him
concerning his seed.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+28:14">Gen. xxviii. 14</A>,
<I>Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth;</I> and
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+35:12">Gen. xxxv. 12</A>,
<I>This land I will give unto thy seed.</I> Thus God then covenanted
with him and his seed after him. Now justly are they upbraided with
this; for in that very place which their father Jacob called
<I>Bethel--the house of God,</I> in remembrance of the communion he
there had with God, did they set up one of the calves, and worship it;
thus they turned that Bethel into a <I>Beth-aven</I>--a <I>house of
iniquity.</I> There God <I>spoke with them</I> exceedingly great and
precious promises, which they had despised and lost the benefit of.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. Two inferences are here drawn from these stories concerning Jacob,
for instruction to his seed:--</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(1.) Here is a use of information. From what passed between God and
Jacob we may learn that <I>Jehovah, the Lord God of hosts,</I> is
<I>the God of Israel;</I> he was the God of Jacob, and this is <I>his
memorial</I> throughout all the generations of the seed of Jacob
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>)--
the more shame for those who forgot the memorial of their church,
deserted the God of their fathers, and exchanged a <I>Lord of hosts</I>
for Baalim. Note, Those only are accounted the people of God that keep
up a memorial of God, such a memorial of him as he himself has
instituted, by which he makes himself known and will have us to
remember him. Here are two memorials of his, by which he is
distinguished from all others, and is to be acknowledged and adored by
us.
[1.] The former denotes his <I>existence of himself.</I> He is Jehovah,
much the same with <I>I AM,</I> the same that <I>was, and is, and is to
come,</I> infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. Jehovah is <I>his
memorial,</I> his peculiar name.
[2.] The latter denotes his dominion over all: He is the <I>God of
hosts,</I> that has all the hosts of heaven and earth at his beck and
command, and makes what use he pleases of them. Jacob saw
<I>Mahanaim</I>--God's <I>two hosts,</I> about the time that he
<I>wrestled with the angel</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+32:1,2">Gen. xxxii. 1, 2</A>),
and so learned to call God the <I>God of hosts,</I> and transmitted it
to us as his memorial. God's names, titles, and attributes, are the
memorials of him; there is no need for images to be such. And that
which was a revelation of God to one is his memorial to many, to all
generations.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(2.) Here is a use of exhortation,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
"Is this so, that Jacob thy father had this communion with the Lord God
of hosts, and is this still his memorial?" Then,
[1.] Let those that have gone astray from God be converted to him:
<I>Therefore turn thou to thy God.</I> He that was the God of Jacob is
the God of Israel, is <I>thy God;</I> from him thou hast unjustly and
unkindly revolted; therefore turn thou to him by repentance and faith,
turn to him as thine, to love him, obey him, and depend upon him.
[2.] Let those that are converted to him walk with him in all holy
conversation and godliness: "<I>Keep mercy and judgment,</I> mercy in
relieving and succouring the poor and distressed, judgment in rendering
to all their due; be kind to all; do wrong to none. <I>Keep piety and
judgment</I>" (so it may be read); "live <I>righteously and godly in
this present world;</I> be devout and be honest. Do not only practise
these occasionally, but be careful, and constant, and conscientious in
the practice of them."
[3.] Let those that walk with God be encouraged to live a life of
dependence upon him: "<I>Wait on thy God continually,</I> with a
believing expectation to receive from him all the succours and supplies
thou standest in need of." Those that live a life of conformity to God
may live a life of confidence and comfort in him, if it be not their
own fault. Let our <I>eyes</I> be <I>ever towards the Lord,</I> and let
us preserve a holy security and serenity of mind under the protection
of the divine power and the influence of the divine favour, looking,
without anxiety, for a dubious event, and by faith keeping our spirits
sedate and even; this is waiting on God as our God in covenant, and
this we must do continually.</P>
<A NAME="Ho12_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho12_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Reproof for Sin; Judgment Threatened; Memorials of Divine Mercy.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 723.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>7 <I>He is</I> a merchant, the balances of deceit <I>are</I> in his hand:
he loveth to oppress.
&nbsp; 8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out
substance: <I>in</I> all my labours they shall find none iniquity in
me that <I>were</I> sin.
&nbsp; 9 And I <I>that am</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God from the land of Egypt will
yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the
solemn feast.
&nbsp; 10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied
visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
&nbsp; 11 <I>Is there</I> iniquity <I>in</I> Gilead? surely they are vanity:
they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars <I>are</I> as
heaps in the furrows of the fields.
&nbsp; 12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served
for a wife, and for a wife he kept <I>sheep.</I>
&nbsp; 13 And by a prophet the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> brought Israel out of Egypt, and
by a prophet was he preserved.
&nbsp; 14 Ephraim provoked <I>him</I> to anger most bitterly: therefore
shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his
Lord return unto him.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Here are intermixed, in these verses,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. Reproofs for sin. When God is coming forth to contend with a people,
that he may demonstrate his own righteousness, he will demonstrate
their unrighteousness. Ephraim was called to turn to his God and
<I>keep judgment</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>);
now, to show that he had need of that call, he is charged with turning
from his God by idolatry, and breaking the laws of justice and
judgment.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. He is here charged with injustice against the precepts of the second
table,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
Here observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(1.) What the sin is wherewith he is charged: <I>He is a merchant.</I>
The margin reads it as a proper name, <I>He is Canaan,</I> or a
Canaanite, unworthy to be denominated from Jacob and Israel, and worthy
to be cast out with a curse from this good land, as the Canaanites
were. See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+9:7">Amos ix. 7</A>.
But Canaan sometimes signifies <I>a merchant,</I> and therefore is most
likely to do so here, where Ephraim is charged with deceit in trade.
Though God had given his people a land flowing with milk and honey, yet
he did not forbid them to enrich themselves by merchandise, and they
succeeded the Canaanites in that as well as in their husbandry; they
sucked <I>the abundance of the seas and the treasures hidden in the
sand,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+33:19">Deut. xxxiii. 19</A>.
And, if they had been fair merchants, it would have been no reproach at
all to them, but an honour and a blessing. But he is such a merchant as
the Canaanites were, who were honest only with good looking to, and, if
they could, cheated all they dealt with. Ephraim does so; he deceives
and thereby oppresses. Note, There is oppression by fraud as well as
oppression by force. It is not only princes, lords, and masters, that
oppress their subjects, tenants, and servants, but merchants and
traders are often guilty of oppressing those they deal with, when they
impose upon their ignorance, or take advantage of their necessity, to
make hard bargains with them, or are rigorous and severe in exacting
their debts. Ephraim cheated,
[1.] With a great deal of art and cunning: <I>The balances of deceit
are in his hand.</I> He uses balances, and delivers his goods by weight
and measure, as if he would be very exact, but they are balances of
deceit, false weights and false measures, and thus, under colour of
doing right, he does the greatest wrong. Note, God has his eye upon
merchants and traders, when they are weighing their goods and paying
their money, whether they do honestly or deceitfully. He observes what
balances they have in their hand, and how they hold them; and, though
those they deal with may not be aware of that sleight of hand with
which they make them balances of deceit, God sees it, and knows it.
Trades by the wit of man are made <I>mysteries,</I> but it is a pity
that by the sin of man they should ever be made <I>mysteries of
iniquity.</I>
[2.] With a great deal of pleasure and pride: <I>He loves to
oppress.</I> To oppress is bad enough, but to love to do so is much
worse. His conscience does not check and reprove him for it, as it
ought to do; if it did, though he committed the sin, he could not
delight in it; but his corruptions are so strong, and have so triumphed
over his convictions, that he not only loves the gain of oppression,
but he loves to oppress, sins for sinning-sake, and takes a pleasure in
out-witting and over-reaching those that suspect him not.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(2.) How he justifies himself in this sin,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
Wicked men will have something to say for themselves now when they are
told of their faults, some frivolous turn-off or other wherewith to
evade the convictions of the word. Ephraim stands indicted for a common
cheat. Now see what he pleads to the indictment. He does not deny the
charge, nor plead, Not guilty, yet does not make a penitent confession
of it and ask pardon, but insists upon his own justification. Suppose
it were so that he did use balances of deceit, yet,
[1.] He pleads that he had got a good estate. Let the prophet say what
he pleased of his deceit, of the sin of it and the curse of God that
attended it, he could not be convinced there was any harm or danger in
it, for this he was sure of that he had thriven in it: "<I>Yet I have
become rich, I have found me out substance.</I> Whatever you make of
it, I have made a good hand of it." Note, Carnal hearts are often
confirmed in a good opinion of their evil ways by their worldly
prosperity and success in those ways. But it is a great mistake. Every
word in what Ephraim says here proclaims his folly. <I>First,</I> It is
folly to call the riches of this world substance, for they are things
that are not,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+23:5">Prov. xxiii. 5</A>.
<I>Secondly,</I> It is folly to think that we have them of ourselves,
to say (as some read it), <I>I have made myself rich;</I> what
<I>substance</I> I have is owing purely to my ingenuity and
industry--<I>I have found it; my might and the power of my hand have
gotten me this wealth. Thirdly,</I> It is folly to think that what we
have is for ourselves. <I>I have found me out substance,</I> as if we
had it for our own proper use and behoof, whereas we hold it in trust,
only as stewards. <I>Fourthly,</I> It is folly to think that riches are
things to be gloried in, and to say with exultation, <I>I have become
rich.</I> Riches are not the honours of the soul, are not peculiar to
the best men, nor sure to us; and therefore <I>let not the rich man
glory in his riches,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:9,10">Jam. i. 9, 10</A>.
<I>Fifthly,</I> It is folly to think that growing rich in a sinful way
makes us innocent, or will make us safe, or may make us easy, in that
way; for the prosperity of fools deceives and destroys them. See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+47:10,Pr+1:32">Isa. xlvii. 10; Prov. i. 32</A>.
[2.] He pleads that he had kept a good reputation. It is common for
sinners, when they are justly reproved by their ministers, to appeal to
their neighbours, and because they know no ill of them, or will say
none, or think well of what the prophets charge them with as bad, fly
in the face of their reprovers: <I>In all my labours</I> (says Ephraim)
<I>they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin.</I> Note, Carnal
hearts are apt to build a good opinion of themselves upon the fair
character they have among their neighbours. Ephraim was very secure;
for, <I>First,</I> All his neighbours knew him to be diligent in his
business; they had an eye upon <I>all his labours,</I> and commended
him for them. <I>Men will praise thee when thou doest well for thyself.
Secondly,</I> None of them knew him to be deceitful in his business. He
acted with so much policy that nobody could say to the contrary but
that he acted with integrity. For either,
1. He concealed the fraud, so that none discovered it: "Whatever
iniquity there is, <I>they shall find</I> none;" as if no iniquity were
displeasing to God, and damning to the soul, but that which is open and
scandalous before men. What will it avail us that men shall find no
iniquity in us, when God finds a great deal, and will bring every
secret work, even secret frauds, into judgment? Or,
2. He excused the fraud, so that none condemned it: "<I>They shall find
no iniquity in me that were sin,</I> nothing very bad, nothing but what
is very excusable, only some venial sins, sins not worth speaking of,"
which they think God will make nothing of because they do not. It is a
fashionable iniquity; it is customary; it is what every body does; it
is pleasant; it is gainful; and this, they think, is no iniquity that
is sin; nobody will think the worse of them for it. But God sees not as
man sees; he judges not as man judges.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. He is here charged with idolatry, against the precepts of the first
table, with that iniquity which is in a special manner vanity, the
making and worshipping of images, which are vanities
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
<I>Surely they are vanity;</I> they do not profit, but deceive. Now the
prophet mentions two places notorious for idolatry:--
(1.) Gilead on the other side Jordan, which had been branded for it
before
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+6:8"><I>ch.</I> vi. 8</A>):
<I>Is there iniquity in Gilead?</I> It is a thing to be wondered at; it
is a thing to be sadly lamented. What! iniquity in Gilead? idolatry
there? Gilead was a fruitful pleasant country (pleasant to a proverb,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+22:6">Jer. xxii. 6</A>),
and does it so ill requite the Lord? It was a frontier-country, and lay
much exposed to the insults of enemies, and therefore stood in special
need of the divine protection; what! and yet by iniquity throw itself
out of that protection? <I>Is there iniquity in Gilead?</I> Yea,
(2.) And in Gilgal too; there they <I>sacrifice bullocks</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9"5"><I>ch.</I> ix. 15</A>),
and there <I>their altars</I> which they have set up, either to strange
gods in opposition to his own appointed altar, are as thick <I>as
heaps</I> of manure <I>in the furrows of the field</I> that is to be
sown,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+8:11"><I>ch.</I> viii. 11</A>.
<I>Is there iniquity in Gilead</I> only? so some. Is it only in those
remote parts of the nation that people are so superstitious, where they
border upon other nations? No; they are as bad at Gilgal. In Gilead God
protected Jacob their father (of whom he had been speaking) from the
rage of Laban; and will you there commit iniquity?</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. Here are threatenings of wrath for sin. Some make that to be so
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
<I>I will make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the
appointed time,</I> that is, I will bring thee into such a condition as
the Israelites were in when they dwelt in tents and wandered for forty
years; that was the <I>time appointed</I> in <I>the wilderness.</I>
Ephraim forgot that God brought him out of Egypt and brought him up to
be what he was, and was proud of his wealth, and took sinful courses to
increase it; and therefore God threatens to bring him to a
tabernacle-state again, to a poor, mean, desolate, unsettled condition.
Note, It is just with God, when men have by their sins turned their
tents into houses, by his judgments to turn their houses into tents
again. However, that is certainly a threatening
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
<I>Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly.</I> See how men are
deceived in their opinion of themselves, and how they will one day be
undeceived. Ephraim thought that there was no iniquity in him that
deserved to be called sin
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
but God told him that there was that in him which was sin, and would be
found so if he did not repent and reform; for,
1. It was extremely offensive to his God: <I>Ephraim provoked him to
anger most bitterly</I> with his iniquities, which were so distasteful
to God, and to him too would be <I>bitterness in the latter end.</I> He
was so wilful in sinning against his knowledge and convictions that any
one might see, and say, that he designed no other than to provoke God
in the highest degree.
2. It would certainly be destructive to himself; that cannot be
otherwise which provokes God against him, and kindles the fire of his
wrath. Therefore,
(1.) He shall take away his forfeited life: <I>He shall leave his blood
upon him,</I> that is, he shall not hold him guiltless, but bring upon
him that death which is the wages of sin. <I>His blood shall be upon
his own head</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+1:16">2 Sam. i. 16</A>),
for his own iniquity has testified against him and he alone shall bear
it. Note, When sinners perish their blood is left upon them.
(2.) He shall take away his forfeited honour: <I>His reproach shall his
Lord return upon him.</I> God is <I>his Lord;</I> he had by idolatry
and other sins reproached the Lord, and done dishonour to him, and to
his name and family, and had given occasion to others to reproach him;
and now God will return the reproach upon him, according to the word he
has spoken, that <I>those who despise him shall be lightly
esteemed.</I> Note, Shameful sins shall have shameful punishments. If
Ephraim put contempt on his God, he shall be so reduced that all his
neighbours shall look with contempt upon him.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. Here are memorials of former mercy, which come in to convict them
of base ingratitude in revolting from God. Let them blush to
remember,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. That God had raised them from meanness. When Ephraim had become
rich, and was proud of that, he forgot that which God (that he might
not forget it) obliged them every year to acknowledge
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+26:5">Deut. xxvi. 5</A>),
<I>A Syrian ready to perish was my father.</I> But God here puts them
in mind of it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
Let them remember, not only the honours of their father Jacob, what a
<I>mighty prince</I> he was with God,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>
(an honour which they had no share in while they were in rebellion
against God), but what a poor servant he was to Laban, which was
sufficient to mortify those that were puffed up with the estates they
had raised. <I>Jacob fled into Syria</I> from a malicious brother, and
there served a covetous uncle <I>for a wife,</I> and <I>for a wife he
kept sheep,</I> because he had not estate to endow a wife with. Jacob
was poor, and low, and a fugitive; therefore his posterity ought not to
be proud. He was a plain man, dwelling in tents, and keeping sheep;
therefore <I>balances of deceit</I> ill became them. He <I>served for a
wife</I> that was not a Canaanitess, as Esau's wives were; therefore it
was a shame for them to degenerate into Canaanites, and mingle with the
nations. God wonderfully preserved him in his flight and preserved him
in his service, so that he multiplied exceedingly, and from that
<I>root</I> in a dry ground sprang an illustrious nation, that bore his
name, which magnifies the goodness of God both to him and them and
leaves them under the stain of base ingratitude to that God who was
their founder and benefactor.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. That God had rescued them from misery, had raised them to what they
were, not only out of poverty, but out of slavery
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
which laid them under much stronger obligations to serve him and under
a yet deeper guilt in serving other gods.
(1.) God <I>brought Israel out of Egypt</I> on purpose that they might
serve him, and by redeeming them out of bondage acquired a special
title to them and to their service.
(2.) He preserved them, as sheep are kept by the shepherd's care. He
preserved them from Pharaoh's rage at the sea, even at the Red Sea,
protected them from all the perils of the wilderness, and provided for
them.
(3.) He did this <I>by a prophet,</I> Moses, who, though he is called
<I>king in Jeshurun</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+33:5">Deut. xxxiii. 5</A>),
yet did what he did for Israel <I>as a prophet,</I> by direction from
God and by the power of his word. The ensign of his authority was not a
royal sceptre, but the <I>rod of God;</I> with that he summoned both
Egypt's plagues and Israel's blessings. Moses, as a prophet, was a type
of Christ
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+3:22">Acts iii. 22</A>),
and it is by Christ as a prophet that we are brought out of the Egypt
of sin and Satan by the power of his truth. Now this shows how very
unworthy and ungrateful this people were,
[1.] In rejecting their God, who had brought them out of Egypt, which,
in the preface to the commandments, is particularly mentioned as a
reason for the first, why they should have no other gods before him.
[2.] In despising and persecuting his prophets, whom they should have
loved and valued, and have studied to answer God's end in sending them,
for the sake of that prophet by whom God had brought them out of Egypt
and preserved them in the wilderness. Note, The benefit we have had by
the word of God greatly aggravates our sin and folly if we put any
slight upon the word of God.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. That God had taken care of their education as they grew up. This
instance of God's goodness we have,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
As by a prophet he delivered them, so <I>by prophets</I> he still
continued to speak to them. Man, who is formed out of the earth, is fed
out of the earth; so that nation, that was formed by prophecy, by
prophecy was fed and taught; <I>beginning at Moses,</I> and so going on
<I>to all the prophets</I> through the several ages of that church, we
find that divine revelation was all along their tuition.
(1.) They had prophets raised up among themselves
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:11">Amos ii. 11</A>),
a succession of them, were scarcely ever without a Spirit of prophecy
among them more or less, from Moses to Malachi.
(2.) These prophets were <I>seers;</I> they had <I>visions,</I> and
<I>dreams,</I> in which God discovered his mind to them immediately,
with a full assurance that it was his mind,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+12:6">Num. xii. 6</A>.
(3.) These visions were multiplied; God spoke not only <I>once, yea,
twice,</I> but many a time; if one vision was not regarded, he sent
another. The prophets had variety of visions, and frequent repetitions
of the same.
(4.) God <I>spoke</I> to them <I>by the prophets.</I> What the prophets
<I>received from the Lord</I> they plainly and faithfully delivered to
them. The people at Mount Sinai begged that God would speak to them by
men like themselves, and he did so.
(5.) In speaking to them by the prophets he <I>used similitudes,</I> to
make the messages he sent by them intelligible, more affecting, and
more likely to be remembered. The visions they saw were often
similitudes, and their discourses were embellished with very apt
comparisons. And, as God by his prophets, so by his Son, he <I>used
similitudes,</I> for <I>he opened his mouth in parables.</I> Note, God
keeps an account, whether we do or no, of the sermons we hear; and
those that have long enjoyed the means of grace in purity, plenty, and
power, that have been frequently, faithfully, and familiarly, told the
mind of God, will have a great deal to answer for another day if they
persist in a course of iniquity.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. Here are intimations of further mercy, and this remembered too in
the midst of sin and wrath (as some understand
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
"<I>I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt,</I> who then and
there took thee to be my people, and have approved myself thy God ever
since, in a constant series of merciful providences, have yet a
kindness for thee, bad as thou art; and I will <I>make thee to dwell in
tabernacles,</I> not as in the wilderness, but <I>as in the days of the
solemn feast,</I>" the feast of tabernacles, which was celebrated with
great joy,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+23:40">Lev. xxiii. 40</A>.
1. They shall be made to see, by the grace of God, that though they are
rich, and have found out substance, yet they are but in a
tabernacle-state, and have in their worldly wealth <I>no continuing
city.</I>
2. They shall yet have cause to rejoice in God, and have opportunity to
do it in public ordinances. The feast of tabernacles was the first
solemn feast the Jews kept after their return out of Babylon,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+3:4">Ezra iii. 4</A>.
3. This, as other promises, was to have its full accomplishment in the
grace of the gospel, which provides tabernacles for believers in their
way to heaven, and furnishes them with matter of joy, holy joy, joy in
God, such as was in the feast of tabernacles,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+14:18,19">Zech. xiv. 18, 19</A>.</P>
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