mh_parser/vol_split/28 - Hosea/Chapter 9.xml

<div2 id="Hos.x" n="x" next="Hos.xi" prev="Hos.ix" progress="77.55%" title="Chapter IX">
<h2 id="Hos.x-p0.1">H O S E A.</h2>
<h3 id="Hos.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Hos.x-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter, I. God threatens to deprive this
degenerate seed of Israel of all their worldly enjoyments, because
by sin they had forfeited their title to them; so that they should
have no comfort either in receiving them themselves or in offering
them to God, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.1-Hos.9.5" parsed="|Hos|9|1|9|5" passage="Ho 9:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II.
He dooms them to utter ruin, for their own sins and the sins of
their prophets, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.6-Hos.9.8" parsed="|Hos|9|6|9|8" passage="Ho 9:6-8">ver. 6-8</scripRef>.
III. He upbraids them with the wickedness of their fathers before
them, whose steps they trod in, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.9-Hos.9.10" parsed="|Hos|9|9|9|10" passage="Ho 9:9,10">ver.
9, 10</scripRef>. IV. He threatens them with the destruction of
their children and the rooting out of their posterity, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.11-Hos.9.17" parsed="|Hos|9|11|9|17" passage="Ho 9:11-17">ver. 11-17</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Hos.x-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9" parsed="|Hos|9|0|0|0" passage="Ho 9" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Hos.x-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.1-Hos.9.6" parsed="|Hos|9|1|9|6" passage="Ho 9:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.x-p1.7">
<h4 id="Hos.x-p1.8">Threatenings of Judgment. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.x-p1.9">b. c.</span> 740.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.x-p2" shownumber="no">1 Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as
<i>other</i> people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God,
thou hast loved a reward upon every corn-floor.   2 The floor
and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail
in her.   3 They shall not dwell in the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.x-p2.1">Lord</span>'s land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and they shall eat unclean <i>things</i> in Assyria.   4 They
shall not offer wine <i>offerings</i> to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.x-p2.2">Lord</span>, neither shall they be pleasing unto him:
their sacrifices <i>shall be</i> unto them as the bread of
mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread
for their soul shall not come into the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.x-p2.3">Lord</span>.   5 What will ye do in the solemn
day, and in the day of the feast of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.x-p2.4">Lord</span>?   6 For, lo, they are gone because of
destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them:
the pleasant <i>places</i> for their silver, nettles shall possess
them: thorns <i>shall be</i> in their tabernacles.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p3" shownumber="no">Here, I. The people of Israel are charged
with spiritual adultery: <i>O Israel! thou hast gone a whoring from
thy God,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.1" parsed="|Hos|9|1|0|0" passage="Ho 9:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
Their covenant with God was a marriage-covenant, by which they were
joined to him as their God, renouncing all others. But when they
set up idols and worshipped them, when they fled to creatures for
succour and put a confidence in them, they <i>went a whoring from
God</i> as their God, and honoured the pretenders and rivals with
the affection, adoration, and confidence, which were due to God
only. Other people were idolaters, but that sin was not, in them,
going a whoring from God, as it was in Israel that had been married
to him. Note, The sins of those who have made a profession of
religion and relation to God are more provoking to him than the
sins of others. As a proof of their going a whoring from God, it is
charged upon them that <i>they loved a reward upon every
corn-floor.</i> 1. They loved to give rewards to their idols, in
the offerings and first-fruits they presented to them out of every
corn-floor. They took a strange pleasure in serving their idols
with that which they would have grudged to consecrate to God and
employ in his service. Note, It is common for those that are
niggardly in the expenses of their religion to be very prodigal in
spending upon their lusts. Or, 2. They loved to receive rewards
from their idols; and such they reckoned the fruits of the earth to
be: <i>These are my rewards, which my lovers have given me,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.x-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.12" parsed="|Hos|2|12|0|0" passage="Ho 2:12"><i>ch.</i> ii. 12</scripRef>. Note,
Those are directly disposed to spiritual idolatry that love a
reward in the corn-floor better than a reward in the favour of God
and eternal life.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p4" shownumber="no">II. They are forbidden to rejoice as other
people do: "<i>Rejoice not, O Israel! for joy.</i> Do not expect to
rejoice. <i>What peace,</i> what joy, what hast thou to do with
either, while thy whoredoms and witchcrafts are so many?" <scripRef id="Hos.x-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.9.19-2Kgs.9.22" parsed="|2Kgs|9|19|9|22" passage="2Ki 9:19-22">2 Kings ix. 19-22</scripRef>. Be not disposed
to rejoice, for it does not become thee, but rather to <i>be
afflicted, and mourn, and weep,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Jas.4.9" parsed="|Jas|4|9|0|0" passage="Jam 4:9">Jam. iv. 9</scripRef>. Judah, that keeps close to the
true God, nay, and other people that never knew him nor could ever
be charged with revolting from him, may be allowed to rejoice, as
not having so much cause to be ashamed as Israel has, that has gone
a whoring from him. Some think that they had at this time
particular occasions for joy, probably upon the account of some
losses recovered, or some advantages gained, or some league made
with a potent ally, for which they had public rejoicings, as other
people used to have upon such occasions; but God sends to them not
to rejoice. Note, Joy is forbidden fruit to wicked people. They
must not rejoice, because they have gone a whoring from their God;
and therefore, 1. Whatever it was that they rejoiced in, it would
be no security nor advantage to them, so long as they were at a
distance from God and at war with him. Note, We are likely to have
small joy of any of our creature-comforts if we make not God our
chief joy. 2. The sense of sin and dread of wrath ought to be a
damp upon their joy and a strong alloy to all their comforts. Note,
Those who by departing from God have made work for repentance have
thereby marred their own mirth, till they return and make their
peace with God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p5" shownumber="no">III. They are threatened with destroying
judgments for their spiritual whoredoms, according to what was said
long before. <scripRef id="Hos.x-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.27" parsed="|Ps|72|27|0|0" passage="Ps 72:27">Ps. lxxii. 27</scripRef>,
<i>Thou hast destroyed all those that go a whoring from thee.</i>
It is here threatened,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p6" shownumber="no">1. That their land shall not yield its
wonted increase. Canaan, that <i>fruitful land,</i> shall be
<i>turned into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell
therein.</i> They <i>love the reward in the corn-floor,</i> and are
so full of the <i>joy of harvest</i> that they have no disposition
at all to mourn for their sins; and therefore God will, for their
effectual humiliation, take away from them, not only their delights
and dainties, but even their necessary food (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.2" parsed="|Hos|9|2|0|0" passage="Ho 9:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>The floor and the wine-press
shall not feed them,</i> much less feast them; they shall either be
blasted by the hand of God or plundered by the hand of man. The
<i>new wine</i> with which they used to make merry shall <i>fail in
her.</i> Note, When we make the world, and the things of it, our
idol and portion, above what they were designed for, it is just
with God to deny us even support and nourishment from them,
according to that which they were designed for, to show us our
folly and correct us for it. Let those miss of their food in the
corn-floor that look for their reward in the corn-floor. We forfeit
the good things of this world if we love them as the best
things.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p7" shownumber="no">2. That their land shall not only cease to
feed them, but cease to lodge them and to be a habitation for them;
it shall <i>spue them out,</i> as it had done the Canaanites before
them (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.3" parsed="|Hos|9|3|0|0" passage="Ho 9:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>They
shall not dwell any longer in the Lord's land.</i> The land of
Canaan was in a peculiar manner <i>the Lord's land, the land of the
Shechinah</i> (so the Chaldee), <i>the land of the Lord of the
world</i> (so the Arabic); he whose all the earth is (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.24.1" parsed="|Ps|24|1|0|0" passage="Ps 24:1">Ps. xxiv. 1</scripRef>) took that for his
demesne. <i>The land is mine,</i> says God, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.23" parsed="|Lev|25|23|0|0" passage="Le 25:23">Lev. xxv. 23</scripRef>. They had used it, or abused it
rather, as if it had been their own, had not paid the rent, nor
done the services, due to God as their landlord, and therefore God
justly <i>enters,</i> and takes possession of it, they having
forfeited their lease. "It is <i>my land</i>" (says God) "and I
will make it appear, for they shall be turned off, as bad tenants,
and be made to know that, though they thought themselves
freeholders, they were but tenants at will." Note, It is for the
honour of God's justice and holiness that those who go a whoring
from God should not be suffered to dwell upon his land; and
therefore, sooner or later, the wicked shall be <i>chased out of
the world.</i> Or it is called the Lord's land because it was the
holy land, <i>Immanuel's land,</i> the land that had peculiar
tokens of God's favour to it, and presence in it, where God was
known and his name was great, where God's prophets and oracles
were; it was a kind of copy of the earthly paradise, and a type of
the heavenly one. It was a great privilege to have a lot in such a
land as this. It was a great sin and folly to rebel against God,
and go a whoring from him, in such a land as this, to <i>deal
unjustly in a land of uprightness,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.10" parsed="|Isa|26|10|0|0" passage="Isa 26:10">Isa. xxvi. 10</scripRef>. And it was a sad and sore
judgment to be driven out from such a land as this; it was like
driving our first parents out of the garden of Eden, and almost
amounted to an exclusion out of the heavenly Canaan. Note, Those
cannot expect to dwell in the Lord's land that will not be subject
to the Lord's laws, nor be influenced by his love. Those have
forfeited the privileges of the church that conform not to the
rules of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p8" shownumber="no">3. That, when they are turned out from the
Lord's land, they shall have no rest nor satisfaction in any other
land. When Cain was <i>driven out from the presence of the Lord</i>
he was <i>a fugitive and a vagabond</i> ever after, and dwelt in
the land of <i>trembling.</i> So Israel here. Some shall <i>return
into Egypt,</i> the old house of bondage; thither they shall flee
from the Assyrian (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.13" parsed="|Hos|8|13|0|0" passage="Ho 8:13"><i>ch.</i> viii.
13</scripRef>) and they shall lose and ruin themselves where they
thought to hide and help themselves. Others shall be carried
captives to Assyria and there shall be forced to <i>eat unclean
things,</i> either (1.) Such things as were not fit for men to eat,
that which is rotten and putrefied, intimating that they shall be
reduced to the utmost poverty, as the prodigal that would fain have
filled his belly <i>with the husks.</i> Or, (2.) Such things as
were not fit for Jews to eat, being prohibited by their law. It is
probable that while they were in their own land, however
disobedient in other things, they kept up the distinction of meats,
and prided themselves in that; but, since they would not keep the
law of God in other things, they should not be suffered to keep it
in that, and it was a just punishment of their sin in eating things
offered to idols. Note, When at any time we suffer in our food, and
either through want or for our health are forced to eat or drink
that which is unpleasing, we must acknowledge that God is
righteous, because we have sinned about our food, and have indulged
ourselves too much in that which is pleasing.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p9" shownumber="no">4. That in the land of their enemies, to
which they shall be driven, they shall have no opportunity either
of giving honour to God or obtaining favour with God, by offering
any acceptable sacrifice to him; they should not be in a capacity
of keeping up any face or show of religion among them; "and so" (as
Dr. Pocock expresses it) "should be as it were quite cut off from
any expression of relation to him, from all signs of grace, and
means of reconciliation with him, which would be to them a token of
their being rejected of God, estranged from him, and no more owned
by him as his people." (1.) They shall have no sacrifices to offer,
nor any altar to offer them on, nor priests to offer them; they
shall not so much as <i>offer drink-offerings</i> to the Lord, much
less any other sacrifices. (2.) If they should offer them, neither
they nor their sacrifices shall be pleasing to him, for they cannot
have any legal offerings, nor are their hearts humbled. (3.)
Instead of their sacrifices of joy and praise, they shall <i>eat
the bread of mourners;</i> they shall live desolate, and
disconsolate, mourning for the death of their relations and their
own miseries, so that if they had opportunity of sacrificing they
should never be themselves in a frame fit for it; for they were
forbidden to eat of the holy things in <i>their mourning,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.x-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.14" parsed="|Deut|26|14|0|0" passage="De 26:14">Deut. xxvi. 14</scripRef> <i>All that
eat</i> of the bread of mourners <i>are polluted,</i> and
incapacitated to <i>partake of the altar.</i> (4.) Their <i>bread
for their soul,</i> the bread which they must either eat or starve,
the bread which they shall have for the support of their lives,
<i>shall not come into the house of the Lord;</i> they shall have
no house of the Lord to bring it to, or, if they had, it is such as
is not fit to be brought, nor are they rightly disposed to bring
it. (5.) The return of the days of their sacred and solemn feasts
would therefore be very melancholy and uncomfortable to them
(<scripRef id="Hos.x-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.5" parsed="|Hos|9|5|0|0" passage="Ho 9:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>What will
you do in the solemn day,</i> in the sabbath, <i>the solemn day</i>
of every week, in the <i>new moons,</i> the solemn days of every
month, at the return of the times for keeping the passover,
pentecost, and feast of the tabernacles, the solemn days of every
year, the <i>days of the feasts of the Lord?</i> Note, The feasts
of the Lord are solemn days; and, when we are invited to those
feasts, we ought to consider seriously what we shall do. But the
question is here put to those who were to be deprived of the
benefit and comfort of those solemn feasts, "<i>What will you do
then?</i> You will then spend those days in sorrow and lamentation
which, if it had not been your own fault, you might have been
spending in joy and praise. You will then be made to know the worth
of mercies by the want of them and to prize spiritual bread by
being made to feel a famine of it." Note, When we enjoy the means
of grace we ought to consider what we shall do if ever we should
know the want of them, if either they should be taken from us or we
be disabled to attend upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p10" shownumber="no">5. That they should perish in the land of
their dispersion (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.6" parsed="|Hos|9|6|0|0" passage="Ho 9:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>): <i>For, lo, they have gone</i> out of the Lord's
land, where they might have spent both their sabbath days and other
days with comfort, <i>gone because of destruction,</i> gone to
Egypt because of the destruction of their own country by the
Assyrians, flattering themselves with hopes that they shall return
when the storm is over; but those hopes also shall fail them; they
shall find there are <i>graves in Egypt,</i> as their murmuring
ancestors said (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.11" parsed="|Exod|14|11|0|0" passage="Ex 14:11">Exod. xiv.
11</scripRef>), graves for them; for <i>Egypt shall gather them
up,</i> as dead men are gathered up and carried forth to the grave,
and Memphis (one of the chief cities of Egypt) <i>shall bury them.
Gathering</i> and <i>burying</i> are put together, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.2 Bible:Job.27.19" parsed="|Jer|8|2|0|0;|Job|27|19|0|0" passage="Jer 8:2,Job 27:19">Jer. viii. 2; Job xxvii. 19</scripRef>.
Note, Those that think presumptuously to flee from the judgments of
God are likely enough to meet their death where they hoped to save
their lives.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p11" shownumber="no">6. That their land, which they left behind
and to which they hoped to return, should become a desolation: As
for <i>their tabernacles,</i> where they formerly dwelt and where
they kept their stores, <i>the pleasant places for their
silver,</i> they shall be demolished and laid in ruins, to such a
degree that they shall be overgrown with <i>nettles;</i> so that if
they should survive the trouble, and return to their own land
again, they would find it neither fruitful nor habitable; it would
afford them neither food nor lodging. Note, Those that make their
money their god reckon the <i>places of their silver</i> their
<i>pleasant places,</i> as those that make the Lord their God
reckon his tabernacles amiable and his ordinances their pleasant
things, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.11" parsed="|Isa|64|11|0|0" passage="Isa 64:11">Isa. lxiv. 11</scripRef>.
But, while the pleasures of communion with God are out of the reach
of chance and change, the <i>pleasant places of men's silver,</i>
which were purchased with silver, or in which they deposited their
silver, or which were beautified and adorned with silver, are
liable to be laid in ruins, in nettles, and therewith all the
pleasure men took in them.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Hos.x-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.7-Hos.9.10" parsed="|Hos|9|7|9|10" passage="Ho 9:7-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.x-p11.3">
<h4 id="Hos.x-p11.4">Threatenings of Judgment. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.x-p11.5">b. c.</span> 740.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.x-p12" shownumber="no">7 The days of visitation are come, the days of
recompence are come; Israel shall know <i>it:</i> the prophet
<i>is</i> a fool, the spiritual man <i>is</i> mad, for the
multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.   8 The
watchman of Ephraim <i>was</i> with my God: <i>but</i> the prophet
<i>is</i> a snare of a fowler in all his ways, <i>and</i> hatred in
the house of his God.   9 They have deeply corrupted
<i>themselves,</i> as in the days of Gibeah: <i>therefore</i> he
will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.   10 I
found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as
the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time: <i>but</i> they
went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto <i>that</i> shame;
and <i>their</i> abominations were according as they loved.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p13" shownumber="no">For their further awakening, it is here
threatened,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p14" shownumber="no">I. That the destruction spoken of shall
come speedily. They shall have no reason to hope for a long
reprieve, for the judgment slumbers not; it is at the door
(<scripRef id="Hos.x-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.7" parsed="|Hos|9|7|0|0" passage="Ho 9:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>The days of
visitation have come,</i> and there shall be no more delay; <i>the
days of recompence have come,</i> which they have been so often
warned to expect; their prophets have told them that destruction
<i>would come,</i> and now <i>it has come,</i> and the time of the
divine patience has expired. Note, 1. The day of God's judgments is
both a <i>day of visitation,</i> in which men's sins are enquired
into and brought to light, and a <i>day of recompence,</i> in which
men's doom will be passed, and a reward given to every man
according to his work; the strict visitation is in order to a just
retribution. 2. This day of visitation and recompence is hastening
on apace. It is sure; it is near; as if it had already come.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p15" shownumber="no">II. That hereby they shall be made ashamed
of their sentiments concerning their prophets. When the day of
visitation comes <i>Israel shall know it,</i> shall be made to know
that by sad experience which they would not know by instruction.
<i>Israel shall know</i> then what an <i>evil and bitter thing
it</i> is to <i>depart from God,</i> and what a <i>fearful
thing</i> it is to <i>fall into his hands. When thy hand is lifted
up they will not see, but they shall see.</i> Israel shall know the
difference between true prophets and false. 1. They shall know then
that the pretenders to prophecy, who flattered them in their sins,
and rocked them asleep in their security, and told them that they
should have peace though they went on, however they pretended to be
<i>spiritual men</i> (as Ahab's prophets did, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.22.24" parsed="|1Kgs|22|24|0|0" passage="1Ki 22:24">1 Kings xxii. 24</scripRef>) were <i>fools</i> and
<i>madmen,</i> and not true prophets; they deceived themselves and
those to whom they prophesied. But why would God suffer his people
Israel to be imposed upon by those false prophets? He answers,
"<i>It is for the multitude of thy iniquity</i> which, in contempt
of the divine law, thou hast persisted in, <i>and, for the great
hatred of</i> the true prophets, that reproved thee, in God's name,
for it." Note, Because men receive not the love of the truth, but
conceive a hatred of it, and by the multitude of their iniquities
bid defiance to it, therefore God shall <i>send them strong
delusions, to believe a lie,</i> so strong that they shall not be
undeceived till the day of visitation and recompence comes, which
will convince them of the folly and madness of those that seduced
them and of their own folly and madness in suffering themselves to
be seduced by them. 2. They shall know then whether the <i>true
prophets,</i> that were really <i>spiritual men,</i> guided by the
Spirit of God, were such as they called and counted them, <i>fools
and madmen;</i> and they shall be convinced that they were so far
from being so that they were the wise men of their times, and God's
faithful ambassadors to them. When Israel saw that none of Samuel's
words <i>fell to the ground</i> they knew he was <i>established to
be a prophet</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.20" parsed="|1Sam|3|20|0|0" passage="1Sa 3:20">1 Sam. iii.
20</scripRef>); and so here, when God fulfils the word of his
messengers, by bringing the days of recompence they foretold, then
those that despised and ridiculed them, and thought Bedlam the
fittest place for them, will be ashamed of <i>the multitude of
their iniquities</i> of that kind, and of <i>their great
hatred,</i> for which God brings upon them this swift destruction.
Mocking the messengers of the Lord was the sin they were punished
for, and so made ashamed of.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p16" shownumber="no">III. That hereby the wickedness of the
false prophets themselves shall be manifested to their shame
(<scripRef id="Hos.x-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.8" parsed="|Hos|9|8|0|0" passage="Ho 9:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>The
watchman of Ephraim was with my God;</i> he had been formerly. They
had a set of worthy good ministers, that kept close to God and
maintained communion with him; but now they have a race of corrupt,
malignant, persecuting prophets, that are the ring-leaders of all
mischief." Or, "The <i>watchman of Ephraim</i> now pretends to have
been <i>with my God,</i> and prefaces his lies with, <i>Thus saith
the Lord;</i> but he is <i>a snare of a fowler in all his ways,</i>
and is cunning to draw the simple into sin and the upright into
trouble; and he is so full of hatred and enmity to goodness and
good men that he has become <i>hatred</i> itself <i>in the house of
his God,</i> or <i>against the house of his God.</i>" Note, Wicked
prophets are the worst of men; their sins against God are most
heinous, and their plots against religion most dangerous. They may
boast that they are <i>watchmen, speculators,</i> and, as far as
speculation goes, they may be right, and <i>with my God,</i> may
have their heads full of good notions; but look into their lives,
and they are the <i>snare of a fowler in all their ways,</i>
catching for themselves and making a prey of others; look into
<i>their hearts,</i> and they are <i>hatred in the house of my
God,</i> very malicious and spiteful against good ministers and
good people. Woe unto thee, O land! unto thee, O church! that hast
such watchmen, such prophets, that are seers, but not doers!
<i>Corruptio optimi est pessima—The best things, when corrupted,
become the worst.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p17" shownumber="no">IV. That God will now reckon with them for
the sins of their fathers, which they have trod in the steps of,
<scripRef id="Hos.x-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.9-Hos.9.10" parsed="|Hos|9|9|9|10" passage="Ho 9:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. 1. They
were as bad as their fathers: <i>They have deeply corrupted
themselves;</i> they are rooted and riveted in sin; they are far
gone in the <i>depths of Satan</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.31.6" parsed="|Isa|31|6|0|0" passage="Isa 31:6">Isa. xxxi. 6</scripRef>), so that it is next to
impossible that they should be recovered; the stain of their
corruption is deep, not to be got out; it is as scarlet and
crimson, or as the spots of the leopard: and it is their own fault;
they have <i>corrupted themselves,</i> have polluted and hardened
their own hearts, as <i>in the days of Gibeah,</i> when the
Levite's concubine was abused to death by the men of Gibeah and the
whole tribe of Benjamin patronised the villany; that was a time of
deep corruption indeed, and such were the present days. Lewdness
and wickedness were as impudent and daring now as in the days of
Gibeah; and therefore what can be expected but such a vengeance as
was then taken on Gibeah? Every tribe is now as bad as the tribe of
Benjamin then was, and therefore may expect to be brought as low as
that tribe then was. 2. They shall therefore be reckoned with for
their fathers' sins: <i>He will remember their iniquity and visit
their sins,</i> the iniquity they have by kind and by entail, the
sin that runs in the blood; the <i>sin of the father</i> shall now
be <i>visited upon the children.</i> Hence God takes occasion to
upbraid them with the degeneracy and apostasy of their ancestors,
their perfidiousness and base ingratitude, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.10" parsed="|Hos|9|10|0|0" passage="Ho 9:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Here observe, (1.) The great
honour God put upon Israel when he first formed them into a people:
<i>I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness.</i> He took as
much delight and pleasure in them as a poor traveller would do if
he found grapes in a wilderness, where he most needed them and
least expected them. Or when they were <i>in the wilderness</i> he
<i>found them as grapes,</i> not precious in themselves, but
precious to him, and pleasant as the first-ripe grapes to the lord
of the vineyard. They were <i>precious in his sight, and
honourable</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.4" parsed="|Isa|43|4|0|0" passage="Isa 43:4">Isa. xliii.
4</scripRef>); he planted them a <i>choice vine,</i> a <i>right
seed</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.21" parsed="|Jer|2|21|0|0" passage="Jer 2:21">Jer. ii. 21</scripRef>), and
found them no better than he himself made them, good grapes at
first. <i>I saw them</i> with pleasure, <i>as the first-ripe in the
fig-tree at the first time.</i> Good people are compared to the
<i>good things that are first ripe,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.2" parsed="|Jer|24|2|0|0" passage="Jer 24:2">Jer. xxiv. 2</scripRef>. One then is worth more than
many afterwards. This intimates the delight God took in them and in
doing them good, not for their sakes, but because he loved their
fathers. He preserved them carefully, as a man does the first and
choicest fruits of his vineyard. Now when he put all this honour
upon them, and they stood so fair for preferment, one would think
they should have maintained their excellency; but, (2.) See the
great disgrace they put upon themselves. God set them apart for
himself as a peculiar people, but they went to Baal-peor, joined
with the Moabites in sacrificing to that dirty dunghill deity
(<scripRef id="Hos.x-p17.7" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.2-Num.25.3" parsed="|Num|25|2|25|3" passage="Nu 25:2,3">Num. xxv. 2, 3</scripRef>), and they
<i>separated themselves unto that shame,</i> that shameful idol, so
Baal-peor was in a particular manner, if (as should seem) the
<i>whoredom</i> which the people <i>committed with the daughters of
Moab</i> was a part of the service done to Baal-peor. Note,
Whatever those separate themselves to that forsake God it will
certainly be a shame to them, first or last. <i>Their
abominations</i> are here said to be <i>as they loved;</i> their
practices which were an abomination to God were as the best-beloved
of their souls. Or when they had once forsaken God they multiplied
<i>their abominations,</i> their idols and abominable idolatries,
at their pleasure. This was the way of their fathers; God had done
well for them, but they had acted ungratefully towards him, and in
the same manner had the present generation <i>deeply corrupted
themselves.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Hos.x-p17.8" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.11-Hos.9.17" parsed="|Hos|9|11|9|17" passage="Ho 9:11-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.x-p17.9">
<h4 id="Hos.x-p17.10">Threatenings of Judgment. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.x-p17.11">b. c.</span> 740.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.x-p18" shownumber="no">11 <i>As for</i> Ephraim, their glory shall fly
away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the
conception.   12 Though they bring up their children, yet will
I bereave them, <i>that there shall</i> not <i>be</i> a man
<i>left:</i> yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!  
13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, <i>is</i> planted in a pleasant place:
but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.  
14 Give them, <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.x-p18.1">O Lord</span>: what wilt thou
give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.   15 All
their wickedness <i>is</i> in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for
the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house,
I will love them no more: all their princes <i>are</i> revolters.
  16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall
bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay
<i>even</i> the beloved <i>fruit</i> of their womb.   17 My
God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and
they shall be wanderers among the nations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p19" shownumber="no">In the foregoing verses we saw the sin of
Israel derived from their fathers; here we see the punishment of
Israel derived to their children; for, as death entered by sin at
first, so it is still entailed with it. We may observe, in these
verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p20" shownumber="no">I. The sin of Ephraim. Some expressions are
here which describe that. 1. <i>They did not hearken to God</i>
(<scripRef id="Hos.x-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.17" parsed="|Hos|9|17|0|0" passage="Ho 9:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>); they did not
give attention to the voice either of his word or of his rod; they
did not believe what he said, nor would they be ruled by him. He
told them their duty, their interest, their danger, but they
regarded him not; all he said to them by his words and by his
prophets was to them as a tale that is told; and then no wonder
that we hear, 2. Of the <i>wickedness of their doings</i>
(<scripRef id="Hos.x-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.15" parsed="|Hos|9|15|0|0" passage="Ho 9:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), the
downright malice that was in their sins; they were not infirmities,
but daring presumptions. How can those but do wickedly who will not
hearken to the word of God, that would teach and persuade them to
do well? And no wonder that there were wicked doings among them
when, 3. Their worship was corrupt (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.15" parsed="|Hos|9|15|0|0" passage="Ho 9:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>All their wickedness is in
Gilgal,</i> which was a place infamous for idolatry, as appears,
<scripRef id="Hos.x-p20.4" passage="Ho 4:15,12:11,Am 4:4,5:5"><i>ch.</i> iv. 15;
xii. 11; Amos iv. 4; v. 5</scripRef>. It is probable that the
idolaters chose that place for their head-quarters because it had
been famous in other ages for solemn transactions between God and
Israel, as <scripRef id="Hos.x-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Josh.5.2 Bible:Josh.5.10 Bible:1Sam.10.8 Bible:1Sam.11.15" parsed="|Josh|5|2|0|0;|Josh|5|10|0|0;|1Sam|10|8|0|0;|1Sam|11|15|0|0" passage="Jos 5:2,10,1Sa 10:8,11:15">Josh. v.
2, 10; 1 Sam. x. 8; xi. 15</scripRef>. There, where the source of
idolatry was, whence it spread through the kingdom, there it might
be said that <i>all their wickedness</i> was, for all other
wickedness owed its origin to that. Corruptions in worship make way
for corruptions in morals. The <i>mother of harlots</i> is the
<i>mother of</i> all other <i>abominations,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p20.6" osisRef="Bible:Rev.17.5" parsed="|Rev|17|5|0|0" passage="Re 17:5">Rev. xvii. 5</scripRef>. The learned Grotius conjectures
that there is a mystical sense here. Golgotha in Syriac is the same
with Gilgal in Hebrew, and therefore he thinks this may have
reference to the putting of Christ to death at Golgotha, which was
the greatest sin of the Jewish nation, and of which it might truly
be said, <i>All their wickedness</i> was summed up in that. And no
wonder that the people did wickedly, both in worship and
conversation, when 4. <i>All their princes were revolters;</i> the
whole succession of the kings of the ten tribes did evil in the
sight of the Lord, or all the set of judges and magistrates at this
time were wicked; they turned aside to sinful ways and persisted in
those ways.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p21" shownumber="no">II. The displeasure of God against Ephraim
for sin. This is variously expressed here, to show what a
provocation sin is to the pure eyes of his glory, and how odious it
makes the sinner to him. 1. He <i>departs from them,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.12" parsed="|Hos|9|12|0|0" passage="Ho 9:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. When they revolt from
him, and withdraw from their allegiance to him, how can they expect
but that he should depart from them and withdraw both his
protection and his bounty? And well may his threatening be enforced
as it is, and made terrible: <i>Woe also unto them when I depart
from them!</i> Note, Those are in a woeful condition indeed whom
God has forsaken. Our weal or woe depends upon the gracious
presence of God with us; and, if he goes, all weal goes with him
and all woes come upon us. <i>God has forsaken him; persecute and
take him.</i> Saul knew this when he laid such an emphasis upon
this part of his complaint, <i>The Philistines make war against me,
and God has departed from me.</i> Nay, he does not only depart from
them, but, 2. He hates them. <i>In Gilgal,</i> where <i>all their
wickedness is, there I hated them.</i> There, where the
abominations of sin are committed, there God abominates the
sinners. In Gilgal he had bestowed many tokens of his favour upon
their ancestors, but now that is the place where he hates them for
their base ingratitude. Nay, he not only hates them, but, 3. He
<i>will love them no more,</i> will never take them into his favour
again; the breach between God and Israel is wide as the sea, which
cannot be healed. This agrees with what he had said, (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.6-Hos.1.7" parsed="|Hos|1|6|1|7" passage="Ho 1:6,7"><i>ch.</i> i. 6, 7</scripRef>), <i>I will no
more have mercy upon the house of Israel,</i> the ten tribes. 4. He
will discard them, and have no more to do with them: <i>For the
wickedness of their doings, I will drive them out of my house.</i>
He will no longer own them as his, or as belonging to his family in
the world; he will turn them out of doors as unfaithful tenants
that pay him no rent, as unprofitable servants that do him neither
credit nor work. Note, Those that profane God's house can expect no
other than to be expelled his house, and no longer suffered to be
either lodgers in it or retainers to it. Nay, he will not only
drive them out of his house, but, 5. He will drive them far enough
(<scripRef id="Hos.x-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.17" parsed="|Hos|9|17|0|0" passage="Ho 9:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): <i>My God
will cast them away,</i> not only out of his house, but out of his
sight; he will quite abandon and reject them; they shall be
<i>cast-aways.</i> God said that he would <i>drive them out of his
house,</i> and here the prophet seconds it, as one that knew his
Master's mind very well: <i>My God will cast them away.</i> See
with what comfort and pleasure he calls God his God. Note, When
others disown God, and are disowned by him, it is a very great
satisfaction to good people that they can call God their God, can
cheerfully own him and see themselves owned by him—all revolters,
all ruined, yet God is <i>my God.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p22" shownumber="no">III. The fruit of this displeasure, in the
cutting off and abandoning of their posterity, which is the
judgment here threatened again and again. Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p23" shownumber="no">1. How numerous Ephraim seemed likely to
be. The name <i>Ephraim</i> is derived from <i>fruitfulness,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.x-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.51" parsed="|Gen|41|51|0|0" passage="Ge 41:51">Gen. xli. 51</scripRef>. Joseph is a
<i>fruitful bough,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.22" parsed="|Gen|49|22|0|0" passage="Ge 49:22">Gen. xlix.
22</scripRef>. And Moses's blessing foretold the <i>ten thousands
of Ephraim,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.17" parsed="|Deut|33|17|0|0" passage="De 33:17">Deut. xxxiii.
17</scripRef>. This was his glory, <scripRef id="Hos.x-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.11" parsed="|Hos|9|11|0|0" passage="Ho 9:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. For this he seemed designed by
him that appoints the bounds of men's habitation; for <i>Ephraim,
as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place,</i> to encourage
his increase, which one may expect as from a tree planted by the
river's side. Ephraim is as strong and rich as ever Tyre was, and
as proud and secure. The Chaldee paraphrase gives this sense of it,
<i>The congregation of Israel, while they observed the law, was
like to Tyrus in prosperity and security.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p24" shownumber="no">2. How few Ephraim should be (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.11" parsed="|Hos|9|11|0|0" passage="Ho 9:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>Their glory shall
fly away like a bird;</i> their children shall be taken away and
the hopes of their families cut off. All their glory shall fly
<i>as an eagle towards heaven,</i> swiftly and irrecoverably. Note,
Worldly glory is glory that will <i>fly away;</i> but those that
have their God their glory have in him an unfading everlasting
glory. Ephraim has been as a fruitful tree. But now <i>Ephraim is
smitten,</i> is blasted; <i>their root is dried up; they shall bear
no fruit,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.16" parsed="|Hos|9|16|0|0" passage="Ho 9:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>.
If the root be dried, the branch must wither of course.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p25" shownumber="no">(1.) God's threatening this judgment of the
destroying of their children. [1.] They shall perish of themselves
by the immediate hand of God (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.11" parsed="|Hos|9|11|0|0" passage="Ho 9:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>): They shall <i>fly away from the birth, and from the
womb, and from the conception.</i> Some of their children shall die
as soon as they are born; the cradle shall be presently turned into
a coffin. Others of them shall be <i>still-born,</i> or the womb
shall be their grave, and their death there their mothers' death
too. Of others their mothers shall miscarry almost as soon as they
have conceived, and they shall be as untimely fruit. See how easily
God can, and how justly we are sure he might, root out the whole
race of mankind, that degenerate, guilty, obnoxious race, and blot
out the name of it from under heaven; it is but doing as he does by
Ephraim here, writing them all childless, making all their glory to
<i>fly away from the birth, the womb, and the conception,</i>
drying up their root, that they bear no fruit, and their business
is done in a few years. [2.] They shall perish by the hand of their
enemies; they shall die violent deaths (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.12" parsed="|Hos|9|12|0|0" passage="Ho 9:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): "<i>Though they bring up their
children</i> to some maturity, though they escape the diseases and
deaths which the infant age is liable to, and are thought to be
reared past danger, <i>yet will I bereave them</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.12" parsed="|Hos|9|12|0|0" passage="Ho 9:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), by one judgment or
other, so that <i>there shall not be a man left</i> to build up
their families and bear up their name." Again (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.13" parsed="|Hos|9|13|0|0" passage="Ho 9:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), <i>Ephraim shall bring forth
his children to the murderer.</i> The mothers shall travail with
pain to bear their children, and a great deal of care, and pains,
and cost shall be bestowed upon the nursing of them, and when a
cruel enemy comes and puts all to the word, young and old, without
mercy, then they seem but as lambs that were all this while fed for
the slaughter. Note, It is a great alloy to the comfort parents
have in their children that they know not what they have brought
them forth and brought them up for, perhaps <i>for the
murderer,</i> or, which is worse, to be themselves the plagues of
their generation. It is threatened again (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.16" parsed="|Hos|9|16|0|0" passage="Ho 9:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), <i>Though they bring forth, yet
will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb,</i> those
children that they are most fond of. Note, The parents' love is no
security to the children's lives; nay, sometimes death is
commissioned to take the darlings of the family and leave the
burdens of it. When sentence was passed upon Israel in the
wilderness, that they should all perish there, this mercy was mixed
with the wrath, that their children should nevertheless enter into
that rest which they through unbelief could not enter into. But
this is a total and final rejection; even their children shall be
cut off, and the land shall escheat to the crown, <i>ob defectum
sanguinis—shall be lost for want of heirs.</i> The
Chaldee-paraphrase, and many of the rabbin, by the <i>murderers</i>
to whom the children were brought forth, understand those that
sacrificed their children to Moloch, a sin which was its own
punishment, which showed the parents void of bowels and justly left
them void of blessings. [3.] Those few that escape and remain shall
be dispersed (<scripRef id="Hos.x-p25.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.17" parsed="|Hos|9|17|0|0" passage="Ho 9:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>):
They shall be <i>wanderers among the nations;</i> so the remains of
the Jews are at this day, and there is no place in the world where
they are a distinct nation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.x-p26" shownumber="no">(2.) The prophet's prayer relating to it
(<scripRef id="Hos.x-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.14" parsed="|Hos|9|14|0|0" passage="Ho 9:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>Give
them, O Lord! what wilt thou give?</i> What shall I ask for a
people thus doomed to destruction? It is this; since the decree has
gone forth, that they must either die from the womb or be brought
forth for the murderer, of the two let them rather <i>die from the
womb.</i> Rather let them have no children than have them to be
made miserable; for the same reason, when a total ruin was coming
on the Jewish nation, Christ said, <i>Blessed is the womb that
never bore and the paps that never gave suck,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.x-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.23.29" parsed="|Luke|23|29|0|0" passage="Lu 23:29">Luke xxiii. 29</scripRef>. "Give therefore <i>a
miscarrying womb and dry breasts;</i> for it is better to fall into
the hands of the Lord, whose mercies are great, than into the hands
of man." Note, Those that are childless may with this reconcile
themselves to the will of God herein, that the time may come when,
if they were not so, they would wish they had been so.</p>
</div></div2>