mh_parser/vol_split/28 - Hosea/Chapter 12.xml

<div2 id="Hos.xiii" n="xiii" next="Hos.xiv" prev="Hos.xii" progress="78.67%" title="Chapter XII">
<h2 id="Hos.xiii-p0.1">H O S E A.</h2>
<h3 id="Hos.xiii-p0.2">CHAP. XII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Hos.xiii-p1" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.1-Hos.12.2" parsed="|Hos|12|1|12|2" passage="Ho 12:1,2">ver.
1, 2</scripRef>. Particularly the sin of fraud and injustice, which
Ephraim is charged with (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.7" parsed="|Hos|12|7|0|0" passage="Ho 12:7">ver.
7</scripRef>), and justifies himself in, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.8" parsed="|Hos|12|8|0|0" passage="Ho 12:8">ver. 8</scripRef>. And the sin of idolatry (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.11" parsed="|Hos|12|11|0|0" passage="Ho 12:11">ver. 11</scripRef>), by which God is provoked to
contend with them, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.14" parsed="|Hos|12|14|0|0" passage="Ho 12:14">ver. 14</scripRef>.
II. The aggravations of the sins they are charged with, taken from
the honour God put upon their father Jacob (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.3-Hos.12.5" parsed="|Hos|12|3|12|5" passage="Ho 12:3-5">ver. 3-5</scripRef>), the advancement of them into a
people from low and mean beginnings (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.12-Hos.12.13" parsed="|Hos|12|12|12|13" passage="Ho 12:12,13">ver. 12, 13</scripRef>), and the provision he had
made them of helps for their souls by the prophets he sent them,
<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.10" parsed="|Hos|12|10|0|0" passage="Ho 12:10">ver. 10</scripRef>. III. A call to the
unconverted to turn to God, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.6" parsed="|Hos|12|6|0|0" passage="Ho 12:6">ver.
6</scripRef>. IV. An intimation of mercy that God had in store for
them, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.9" parsed="|Hos|12|9|0|0" passage="Ho 12:9">ver. 9</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Hos.xiii-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12" parsed="|Hos|12|0|0|0" passage="Ho 12" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Hos.xiii-p1.12" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.1-Hos.12.6" parsed="|Hos|12|1|12|6" passage="Ho 12:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.xiii-p1.13">
<h4 id="Hos.xiii-p1.14">The Crimes of Israel and Judah;
Expostulations with Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.xiii-p1.15">b. c.</span> 723.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.xiii-p2" shownumber="no">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.
  2 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.xiii-p2.1">Lord</span> hath also a
controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his
ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.   3 He
took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he
had power with God:   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;   5 Even the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.xiii-p2.2">Lord</span> God of hosts; the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.xiii-p2.3">Lord</span> <i>is</i> his memorial.   6 Therefore
turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God
continually.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p3" shownumber="no">In these verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p4" shownumber="no">I. Ephraim is convicted of folly, in
staying himself upon Egypt and Assyria, when he was in straits
(<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.1" parsed="|Hos|12|1|0|0" passage="Ho 12:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.7" parsed="|Hos|8|7|0|0" passage="Ho 8:7"><i>ch.</i> viii. 7</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p5" shownumber="no">II. Judah is contended with too, and Jacob,
which includes both Ephraim and Judah (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.2" parsed="|Hos|12|2|0|0" passage="Ho 12:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p6" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.2" parsed="|Hos|12|2|0|0" passage="Ho 12:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), threatening to punish them; but
<i>how shall I give them up?</i> How shall that dear name be
forgotten?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p7" shownumber="no">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> <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.3" parsed="|Hos|12|3|0|0" passage="Ho 12:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
We have the story <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.26" parsed="|Gen|25|26|0|0" passage="Ge 25:26">Gen. xxv.
26</scripRef>. 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>" <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.6" parsed="|Job|22|6|0|0" passage="Job 22:6">Job xxii. 6</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.10" parsed="|Gen|28|10|0|0" passage="Ge 28:10">Gen. xxviii.
10</scripRef>), and a second time after his return, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.9" parsed="|Gen|35|9|0|0" passage="Ge 35:9">Gen. xxxv. 9</scripRef>, &amp;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. <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.14" parsed="|Gen|28|14|0|0" passage="Ge 28:14">Gen. xxviii.
14</scripRef>, <i>Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth;</i>
and <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.12" parsed="|Gen|35|12|0|0" passage="Ge 35:12">Gen. xxxv. 12</scripRef>, <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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p8" shownumber="no">2. Two inferences are here drawn from these
stories concerning Jacob, for instruction to his seed:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p9" shownumber="no">(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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.5" parsed="|Hos|12|5|0|0" passage="Ho 12:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>)—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>
(<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.1-Gen.32.2" parsed="|Gen|32|1|32|2" passage="Ge 32:1,2">Gen. xxxii. 1, 2</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p10" shownumber="no">(2.) Here is a use of exhortation,
<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.6" parsed="|Hos|12|6|0|0" passage="Ho 12:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. "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>
</div><scripCom id="Hos.xiii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.7-Hos.12.14" parsed="|Hos|12|7|12|14" passage="Ho 12:7-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.xiii-p10.3">
<h4 id="Hos.xiii-p10.4">Reproof for Sin; Judgment Threatened;
Memorials of Divine Mercy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.xiii-p10.5">b. c.</span> 723.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.xiii-p11" shownumber="no">7 <i>He is</i> a merchant, the balances of
deceit <i>are</i> in his hand: he loveth to oppress.   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.   9 And I <i>that am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.xiii-p11.1">Lord</span> thy God from the land of Egypt will yet
make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn
feast.   10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have
multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the
prophets.   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.
  12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel
served for a wife, and for a wife he kept <i>sheep.</i>   13
And by a prophet the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.xiii-p11.2">Lord</span> brought
Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.   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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p12" shownumber="no">Here are intermixed, in these verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p13" shownumber="no">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> (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.6" parsed="|Hos|12|6|0|0" passage="Ho 12:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p14" shownumber="no">1. He is here charged with injustice
against the precepts of the second table, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.7-Hos.12.8" parsed="|Hos|12|7|12|8" passage="Ho 12:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. Here observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p15" shownumber="no">(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 <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.9.7" parsed="|Amos|9|7|0|0" passage="Am 9:7">Amos ix. 7</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.19" parsed="|Deut|33|19|0|0" passage="De 33:19">Deut. xxxiii. 19</scripRef>.
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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p16" shownumber="no">(2.) How he justifies himself in this sin,
<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.8" parsed="|Hos|12|8|0|0" passage="Ho 12:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. 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,
<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.5" parsed="|Prov|23|5|0|0" passage="Pr 23:5">Prov. xxiii. 5</scripRef>.
<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>
<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.9-Jas.1.10" parsed="|Jas|1|9|1|10" passage="Jam 1:9,10">Jam. i. 9, 10</scripRef>.
<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 <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.10 Bible:Prov.1.32" parsed="|Isa|47|10|0|0;|Prov|1|32|0|0" passage="Isa 47:10,Pr 1:32">Isa. xlvii. 10;
Prov. i. 32</scripRef>. [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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p17" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.11" parsed="|Hos|12|11|0|0" passage="Ho 12:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>): <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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.6.8" parsed="|Hos|6|8|0|0" passage="Ho 6:8"><i>ch.</i> vi.
8</scripRef>): <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, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.6" parsed="|Jer|22|6|0|0" passage="Jer 22:6">Jer. xxii.
6</scripRef>), 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> (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.5" parsed="|Hos|9|5|0|0" passage="Ho 9:5"><i>ch.</i> ix. 15</scripRef>), 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,
<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.11" parsed="|Hos|8|11|0|0" passage="Ho 8:11"><i>ch.</i> viii. 11</scripRef>. <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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p18" shownumber="no">II. Here are threatenings of wrath for sin.
Some make that to be so (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.9" parsed="|Hos|12|9|0|0" passage="Ho 12:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>), <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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.14" parsed="|Hos|12|14|0|0" passage="Ho 12:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>), <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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.8" parsed="|Hos|12|8|0|0" passage="Ho 12:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>); 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>
(<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.1.16" parsed="|2Sam|1|16|0|0" passage="2Sa 1:16">2 Sam. i. 16</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p19" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p20" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.5" parsed="|Deut|26|5|0|0" passage="De 26:5">Deut. xxvi. 5</scripRef>),
<i>A Syrian ready to perish was my father.</i> But God here puts
them in mind of it, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.12" parsed="|Hos|12|12|0|0" passage="Ho 12:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>. Let them remember, not only the honours of their
father Jacob, what a <i>mighty prince</i> he was with God,
<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.3" parsed="|Hos|12|3|0|0" passage="Ho 12:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef> (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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p21" shownumber="no">2. That God had rescued them from misery,
had raised them to what they were, not only out of poverty, but out
of slavery (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.13" parsed="|Hos|12|13|0|0" passage="Ho 12:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>),
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> (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.5" parsed="|Deut|33|5|0|0" passage="De 33:5">Deut. xxxiii.
5</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.3.22" parsed="|Acts|3|22|0|0" passage="Ac 3:22">Acts iii. 22</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p22" shownumber="no">3. That God had taken care of their
education as they grew up. This instance of God's goodness we have,
<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.10" parsed="|Hos|12|10|0|0" passage="Ho 12:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. 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
(<scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.11" parsed="|Amos|2|11|0|0" passage="Am 2:11">Amos ii. 11</scripRef>), 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, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.6" parsed="|Num|12|6|0|0" passage="Nu 12:6">Num. xii.
6</scripRef>. (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 class="indent" id="Hos.xiii-p23" shownumber="no">IV. Here are intimations of further mercy,
and this remembered too in the midst of sin and wrath (as some
understand <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.9" parsed="|Hos|12|9|0|0" passage="Ho 12:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>):
"<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, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.40" parsed="|Lev|23|40|0|0" passage="Le 23:40">Lev.
xxiii. 40</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.3.4" parsed="|Ezra|3|4|0|0" passage="Ezr 3:4">Ezra
iii. 4</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Hos.xiii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Zech.14.18-Zech.14.19" parsed="|Zech|14|18|14|19" passage="Zec 14:18,19">Zech. xiv.
18, 19</scripRef>.</p>
</div></div2>