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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Hosea II].</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. II.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The scope of this chapter seems to be much the same with that of the
foregoing chapter, and to point at the same events, and the causes of
them. As there, so here,
I. God, by the prophet, discovers sin to them, and charges it home upon
them, the sin of their idolatry, their spiritual whoredom, their
serving idols and forgetting God and their obligations to him,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:1,2,5,8">ver. 1, 2, 5, 8</A>.
II. He threatens to take away from them that plenty of all good things
with which they had served their idols, and to abandon them to ruin
without remedy,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:3,4,6,7,9-13">ver. 3, 4, 6, 7, 9-13</A>.
III. Yet he promises at last to return in ways of mercy to them for his
own sake
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:14">ver. 14</A>),
to restore them to their former plenty
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:15">ver. 15</A>),
to cure them of their inclination to idolatry
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:16,17">ver. 16, 17</A>),
to renew his covenant with them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:18-20">ver. 18-20</A>),
and to bless them with all good things,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:21-23">ver. 21-23</A>.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Ho2_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Sinfulness of Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 764.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters,
Ruhamah.
&nbsp; 2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she <I>is</I> not my wife,
neither <I>am</I> I her husband: let her therefore put away her
whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her
breasts;
&nbsp; 3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she
was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry
land, and slay her with thirst.
&nbsp; 4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they <I>be</I>
the children of whoredoms.
&nbsp; 5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived
them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my
lovers, that give <I>me</I> my bread and my water, my wool and my
flax, mine oil and my drink.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The first words of this chapter some make the close of the foregoing
chapter, and add them to the promises which we have here of the great
things God would do for them. When they shall have appointed Christ
their head, and centered in him, then let them say to one another, with
triumph and exultation (<I>let the prophets say it</I> to them, so the
Chaldee--<I>Comfort you, comfort you, my people,</I> is now their
commission), "say to them, <I>Ammi,</I> and <I>Ruhamah;</I> call them
so again, for they shall no longer lie under the reproach and doom of
<I>Lo-ammi</I> and <I>Lo-ruhamah;</I> they shall now be <I>my
people</I> again, and shall <I>obtain mercy.</I>" God's spiritual
Israel, made up of Jews and Gentiles without distinction, shall call
one another brethren and sisters, shall own one another for the people
of God and beloved of him, and, for that reason, shall embrace one
another, and stir up one another both to give thanks for and to walk
worthy of this <I>common salvation</I> which they partake of. Or
rather, because the following words seem to have a coherence with
these, these also are designed for conviction and humiliation. The
<I>mother</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>)
seems to be the same with the <I>brethren</I> and <I>sisters</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
the church of the ten tribes, the body of the people, who were
brethren, and in a special manner with the heads and leaders, who were
as the mother by whom the rest were brought up and nursed. But who are
the children that must <I>plead with their mother</I> thus? Either,
1. The godly that were among them, that witnessed against the
iniquities of the times, let them boldly go on to bear their testimony
against the idolatries and gross corruptions that prevail among them.
Let those that had not bowed the knee to Baal reason the case with
those that had, and endeavour to convince them with such arguments as
are here put into their mouths. Note, Private persons may, and ought in
their places, to appear and plead against the public profanations of
God's name and worship. Children may humbly and modestly argue with
their parents when they do amiss: <I>Plead with your mother, plead,</I>
as Jonathan with Saul concerning David. Or,
2. The sufferers among them, that shared in the calamities of the
times, let them not complain of God, let them not quarrel with him, nor
lay the blame on him, as if he had dealt hardly with them, and not like
a tender father. No; let them <I>plead with their mother,</I> and lay
the fault on her, where it ought to be laid; compare
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:1">Isa. l. 1</A>.
"<I>For her transgressions is your mother put away;</I> she may thank
herself, and you may thank her for all your miseries." Let us see now
how they must plead with her.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. They must put here in mind of the relation wherein she had stood to
God, the kindness he had had for her, the many favours he had bestowed
upon her, and the further favours he had designed her. Let them tell
their <I>brethren</I> and <I>sisters</I> that they had been <I>Ammi</I>
and <I>Ruhamah,</I> that they had been God's people and vessels of his
mercy, and might have been so still if it had not been their own fault,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
Note, Our relation to God and dependence on him are a great aggravation
of our revolts from him and rebellions against him.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. They must, in God's name, charge her with the violation of the
marriage-covenant between her and God. Let them tell her that God does
not look upon her as his wife, nor upon himself as her husband any
longer. Tell her
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>)
that <I>she is not my wife, neither am I her husband,</I> that by her
spiritual whoredom she has forfeited all the honour and comfort of her
relation to God, and provoked him to give her a bill of divorce. Note,
No consideration can be more powerful to awaken us to repentance than
the provocation we have by sin given to God to disown and cast us off.
It is time to look about us, and to think what course we must take,
when God threatens to reject us; for woe unto us if he be not <I>our
husband.</I> They must charge this home upon her
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
<I>Their mother has played the harlot; their congregation has run a
whoring after false prophets</I> (so the Chaldee), or, rather, <I>after
idols,</I> wherein they were encouraged by their false prophets; <I>she
that conceived them has done shamefully,</I> in making and worshipping
idols. An idol is called a <I>shame</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9:10"><I>ch.</I> ix. 10</A>)
and idolatry is a <I>shameful thing.</I> It is not only an affront to
God, but a reproach to men, to <I>fall down to the stock of a tree,</I>
as the prophet speaks. Or it denotes that the sinner was shameless,
impudent in sin, and could not blush;
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+6:15">Jer. vi. 15</A>.
Or, <I>She has made ashamed,</I> has made all that see her ashamed of
her; her own children are ashamed of their relation to her.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. They must upbraid her with her horrid ingratitude to God her
benefactor, in ascribing to her idols the glory of the gifts he had
given her, and then giving that for a reason why she paid them the
homage due to him only,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
In this she <I>did shamefully</I> indeed, that <I>she said, I will go
after my lovers that give me my bread and my water.</I> Observe here,
1. Her wicked resolution to persist in idolatry, notwithstanding all
that God said, both by his prophets and by his providences, to draw her
from it. <I>She said,</I> Whatever is offered to the contrary, <I>I
will go after my lovers,</I> or <I>those that cause me to love
them,</I> whom I cannot but be in love with. The Chaldee understands it
of the nations whose alliance Israel courted and depended upon, who
supplied them with what they needed. But it is rather to be understood
of the idols they worshipped, to justify their love of which they
called them their lovers. See who do shamefully; those that are wilful
and resolute in sin, and those that openly profess and own their
resolution to go on in it. See the folly of idolaters, to call those
their lovers that had not so much as life; yet let us learn to call our
God our lover; let us keep up good thoughts of him, and put a high
value upon our interest in him and in his love.
2. The gross mistake upon which this resolution was grounded: "I will
go after my lovers, because they give me my <I>bread and my water,</I>
which are necessary to sustain the body, <I>my wool and my flax,</I>
which are necessary to clothe the body, and pleasant things, <I>my
oil,</I> and <I>my drink,</I> my liquors" (so the word is), "wine and
strong drink." Note,
(1.) The things of sense are the best things with carnal hearts, and
the most powerful attractives, in pursuit of which they care not what
they follow after. The God of Israel set before them his
<I>statutes</I> and <I>judgments</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:8">Deut. iv. 8</A>),
<I>more to be desired than gold, and sweeter than honey</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:10">Ps. cxix. 10</A>),
promised them his favour, which would <I>put gladness in their hearts
more than corn, wine, and oil</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+4:7">Ps. iv. 7</A>);
but they had no relish at all for these things. Whence they thought
their oil and their drink came, thither they would return their best
affections. <I>O curv&aelig; in terram anim&aelig; et c&oelig;lestium
inanes!</I>--<I>O degenerate minds, bending towards the earth, and
devoid of every thing heavenly!</I>
(2.) It is a great abuse and injury to God, in pursuance of the
pleasures and delights of sense to forsake him, who not only gives us
better things, but gives us even those things too. The idolaters made
Ceres the goddess of their corn, Bacchus the god of their wine, &c.,
and then foolishly fancied they had their corn and wine from these,
forgetting the Lord their God, who both gave them that good land and
<I>gave them power to get wealth</I> out of it.
(3.) Many are hardened in sin by their worldly prosperity. They had an
abundance of those things when they served their idols, and then
imagined them to be given them by their idols, which kept them to their
service; thus they argued
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:17,18">Jer. xliv. 17, 18</A>),
<I>While we burnt incense to the queen of heaven we had plenty of
victuals.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. They must persuade her to repent and reform. God will disown her if
she persist in her whoredoms; <I>let her therefore put away her
whoredoms,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
Let her be convinced that it is possible for her to reform; the idols,
dear as they are, may yet be parted with; and it will certainly be well
with her if she do reform. Note, Our pleading with sinners must be to
drive them to repentance, not to drive them to despair. Let her <I>put
away her whoredoms and her adulteries;</I> the doubling of words to the
same purport, and both plural, denotes the abundance of idolatries they
were guilty of, all which must be abandoned ere God would be reconciled
to them. Let her put them <I>out of her sight,</I> as detestable things
which she cannot endure to look upon; let her say unto them, <I>Get you
hence,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:22">Isa. xxx. 22</A>.
Let her put them <I>from her face</I> and from <I>between her
breasts,</I> that is, let her not do as harlots use to do, that both
discover their own wicked disposition, and allure others to wickedness,
by painting their faces, and exposing their naked breasts, and adorning
them; let her not thus, by annexing all possible gaieties and pleasures
to the worship of idols, engage herself and allure others to it. Let
her put away all these. Every sinful course, persisted in, is an
adulterous departure from God. And here we may see what it is truly to
repent of it and turn from it.
1. True penitents will forsake both open sins, will put away not only
the whoredoms that lie in sight, but those that lie in secret
<I>between their breasts,</I> the sin that is <I>rolled under the
tongue as a sweet morsel.</I>
2. They will both avoid the outward occasions of sin and mortify the
inward disposition to it. Idolaters walked after their own eyes, which
<I>went a whoring</I> after their idols
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:9,De+4:19">Ezek. vi. 9, Deut. iv. 19</A>),
and <I>therefore</I> they must put them away <I>out of their sight,</I>
lest they should be tempted to worship them. <I>Look not upon the wine
when it is red.</I> But that is not enough: the axe must be <I>laid to
the root;</I> the corrupt bent and inclination of the heart must be
changed, and it must be put away <I>from between the breasts,</I> that
Christ alone may have the innermost and uppermost place there.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+1:13">Cant. i. 13</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
V. They must show her the utter ruin that will certainly be the fatal
consequence of her sin if she do not repent and reform
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
<I>Lest I strip her naked.</I> This comes in here not by way of
sentence passed upon her, but by way of warning given to her, that she
may prevent it: <I>Let her put away her whoredoms, that I may not strip
her naked</I> (so it may be read), intimating that God waits to show
mercy to sinners, if they would but qualify themselves for that mercy.
It is here threatened that God will deal with her as the just and
jealous husband at length does with an adulterous wife, that has filled
his house with a spurious brood, and will not be reclaimed; he turns
her and her children out of doors and sends them a begging; <I>I will
not have mercy upon her children</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>);
the particular persons that share in the calamity of the nation, and
the rising generation, shall be ruined by it, for they are <I>children
of whoredoms,</I> and keep up the <I>vain conversation received by
tradition from their fathers.</I> Now it is here threatened that they
shall be both stripped and starved. They thought their idols gave them
<I>their bread and their water, their wool and their flax;</I> but God,
by taking them away, will let them know that it was he that gave them.
1. She shall be stripped: <I>Lest I strip her</I> of all her ornaments
which she is proud of, and with which she courts her lovers, <I>strip
her</I> and set her <I>as in the day that she was born,</I> send her as
naked out of the world as she came into it; this death does,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+1:21">Job i. 21</A>.
<I>I will strip her,</I> and so expose her to cold, and expose her to
shame; and justly is she exposed to shame that <I>did shamefully,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
The day when God brought them out of Egypt, where they were no better
than slaves and beggars, was <I>the day in which they were born;</I>
and God threatens to bring them back to as low and miserable a
condition as he then found them in. Whatever they had that either
gained them respect or screened them from contempt, among their
neighbours, should be taken from them. See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:4,39">Ezek. xvi. 4, 39</A>.
2. She shall be starved, shall be deprived not only of her honours, but
of her comforts and necessary supports. She shall be famished, shall be
made <I>as a wilderness</I> and <I>a dry land,</I> and <I>slain with
thirst.</I> She that boasted so much of her bread and water, her oil
and her drinks, which her lovers had <I>given her,</I> shall not have
so much as necessary food. The land shall not afford subsistence for
the inhabitants, for want of the rain of heaven; or, if it do, it shall
be taken from them by the enemy, so that the rightful owners shall
perish for want of it. Some understand it thus: <I>I will make her
as</I> she was in the <I>wilderness,</I> and set her as she was <I>in
the desert land,</I> where she was sometimes ready to perish <I>for
thirst.</I> So it explains the former part of the
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:3">verse</A>:
I will set her <I>as in the day that she was born;</I> for it was in
the vast howling wilderness that Israel was first formed into a people.
They shall be in as deplorable a condition as their fathers were, whose
carcases fell in the wilderness, and in this respect, worse, that then
the children were reserved to be heirs of the land of promise, but now
<I>I will not have mercy upon her children,</I> for <I>their mother has
played the harlot.</I></P>
<A NAME="Ho2_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Ho2_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Threatenings of Judgment.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 764.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and
make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
&nbsp; 7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not
overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find
<I>them:</I> then shall she say, I will go and return to my first
husband; for then <I>was it</I> better with me than now.
&nbsp; 8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,
and multiplied her silver and gold, <I>which</I> they prepared for
Baal.
&nbsp; 9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time
thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my
wool and my flax <I>given</I> to cover her nakedness.
&nbsp; 10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her
lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
&nbsp; 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days,
her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
&nbsp; 12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she
hath said, These <I>are</I> my rewards that my lovers have given me:
and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall
eat them.
&nbsp; 13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she
burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings
and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me,
saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
God here goes on to threaten what he would do with this treacherous
idolatrous people; and he warns that he may not wound, he threatens
that he may not strike. <I>If he turn not, he will whet his sword</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+7:12">Ps. vii. 12</A>);
but, if he turn, he will sheathe it. They did not turn, and therefore
all this came upon them: and its being threatened before shows that it
was the execution of a divine sentence upon them for their wickedness;
and it is written for admonition to us.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. They shall be perplexed and embarrassed in all their counsels, and
disappointed in all their expectations. This is threatened
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>.
But to the threatening is annexed a promise that this shall be a means
to convince them of their folly, and bring them home to their duty; and
so good shall be brought out of evil, in token of the mercy God has yet
in reserve for them. And, this being the happy fruit and effect of the
distress, it is hard to say whether the prediction, or the distress
itself, should be called a threatening or a promise.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. God will raise up difficulties and troubles in their way, so that
their public counsels and affairs shall have no success, nor shall they
be able to get forward in them: <I>I will hedge up thy way with
thorns,</I> with such crosses as, like thorns and briers, are the
product of sin and the curse, and are scratching, and tearing, and
vexing, and, when the way we are in is hedged up with them, stop our
progress, and force us to turn back. She said, "<I>I will go after my
lovers;</I> I will pursue my leagues and alliances with foreign powers,
and depend upon them." But God says, "She shall be frustrated in these
projects, and not be able to proceed in them. <I>I will hedge up thy
way with thorns,</I> and, if that do not serve, <I>I will make a
wall.</I>" If some smaller difficulties be got over, and prevail not to
break her measures, God will raise greater, for he will overcome when
he judges. It shall be such a hedge, and such a wall, that <I>she shall
not find her paths.</I> The change of the person here, I will hedge up
<I>thy way,</I> and then, <I>She</I> shall not find <I>it,</I> is usual
in scripture, especially in an earnest way of speaking. "Sinner, do
thou take notice, <I>I will hedge up thy way,</I> and all you that are
bystanders take notice what will be the effect of this, you may observe
that <I>she</I> cannot find her paths." She shall be as a traveller
that not only knows not which way to go, of many that are before him,
but that finds no way at all to go forward. And then <I>she shall
follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them;</I> she shall
endeavour to make an interest in the Assyrians and Egyptians, and to
have them for her protectors, but she shall not gain her point; they
shall either not come into confederacy with her or not do her any
service, shall <I>help in vain</I> and be as the <I>staff of a broken
reed. She shall seek them, but shall not find them,</I> shall seek to
her idols, but shall not find that satisfaction in them which she
promised herself; the gods whom she trusted and courted not only can do
nothing for her, but have nothing to say to her to encourage her. Now,
(1.) This is such a just judgment as the Sodomites met with, that were
<I>struck with blindness,</I> and <I>wearied themselves to find the
door</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+19:11">Gen. xix. 11</A>),
and the Syrians,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+6:18">2 Kings vi. 18</A>.
Note, Those that are most resolute in their sinful pursuits are
commonly most crossed in them. <I>Thorns and snares are in the way of
the froward</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+22:5">Prov. xxii. 5</A>);
and thus with them God <I>shows himself froward</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:26">Ps. xviii. 26</A>),
and <I>walks contrary to those that walk contrary to him,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:23,24">Lev. xxvi. 23, 24</A>.
The lamenting prophet complains, <I>He has enclosed my ways,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:7,9">Lam. iii. 7, 9</A>.
The way of God and duty is often hedged about with thorns, but we have
reason to think it is a sinful way that is hedged up with thorns.
(2.) This is such a kind rebuke, and indeed such a mercy, as Balaam met
with, when the angel stood in his way, to hinder his going forward to
<I>curse Israel,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+22:22">Num. xxii. 22</A>.
Note, Crosses and obstacles in an evil course are great blessings, and
are so to be accounted. They are God's hedges, to keep us from
transgressing, to restrain us from wandering out of the green pastures,
to <I>withdraw man from his purpose</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:17">Job xxxiii. 17</A>),
to make the way of sin difficult, that we may not go on in it, and to
keep us from it whether we will or not. We have reason to bless God
both for restraining grace and for restraining providences.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. These difficulties that God raises up in their way shall raise up in
their minds thoughts of turning back: "<I>Then shall she say,</I> Since
I cannot overtake my lovers, I will even <I>go and return to my first
husband,</I> that is, will return to God, and humble myself to him, and
desire him to take me in again; for, when I kept close to him, it was
every way <I>better with me than now.</I>" Two things are here extorted
from this degenerate apostate people:--
(1.) A just acknowledgement of the folly of their apostasy. They are
now brought to own that it was better with them while they kept close
to their God than ever it was since they forsook him. Note, Whoever
have exchanged the service of God for the services of the world and the
flesh have, sooner or later, been made to own that they <I>changed for
the worse,</I> and that while they continued in good company, and went
on in the way of good duties, and made conscience how they spent their
time and what they said or did, it was better with them; they had more
true comfort and enjoyment of themselves than ever they had since they
went astray.
(2.) A good purpose, to come back again to their duty: <I>I will go,
and return to my first husband;</I> and she knows so much of his
goodness and readiness to forgive that she speaks without any doubt of
his receiving her again into favour and making her condition as good as
ever. Note, The disappointments we meet with in our pursuits of
satisfaction in the creature should, if nothing else will do it, drive
us at length to the Creator, in whom alone it is to be had. When Moab
is <I>weary of the high place</I> he shall <I>go to the sanctuary,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+16:12">Isa. xvi. 12</A>.
And when the prodigal son is reduced to husks, short allowance indeed,
and remembers that <I>in his father's house there is bread enough,</I>
then he says, <I>I will arise and go to my father's house,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+15:17,18">Luke xv. 17, 18</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The necessary supports and comforts of life shall be taken from
them, because they had dishonoured God with them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>.
Their land was plenteous. Now see here,
1. How graciously their plenty was given to them. God gave them not
only corn for necessity, but wine for delight, and oil for ornament.
Nay, he <I>multiplied their silver and gold,</I> wherewith to traffic
with other nations and bring home their products, and which they might
hoard up for posterity. <I>Silver and gold</I> will keep longer than
<I>corn, and wine, and oil.</I> He gave them <I>wool</I> and
<I>flax</I> too, to <I>cover their nakedness,</I> and to serve for
ornament enough to them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:10">Ezek. xvi. 10</A>.
Note, God is a bountiful benefactor even to those who, he foresees,
will be ungrateful and unthankful to him.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. How basely their plenty was abused by them.
(1.) They robbed God of the honour of his gifts: <I>She did not know
that I gave her corn and wine;</I> she did not remember it. The law and
the prophets had told them, again and again, that all their comforts
they received from God's bountiful providence; but they were so often
told by their false prophets and idolatrous priests that they had their
corn from such an idol, and their wine from such an idol, &c., that
they had quite forgotten their relation to their great benefactor and
their obligations to him. She did not consider it; she would not
acknowledge it. This they were <I>willingly ignorant of,</I> and more
brutish than the ox, that <I>knows his owner,</I> and the <I>ass, that
knows his master's crib. She did not know it,</I> for she did not
return thanks to him for his gifts, nor study what she should render;
nor did she give him his dues out of them, but acted as if she were
ignorant who was the donor.
(2.) They served and honoured his enemies with them: <I>They prepared
them for Baal;</I> they adorned their images with <I>gold and
silver</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+10:4">Jer. x. 4</A>),
and adorned themselves for the worship of their images,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:17-19">Ezek. xvi. 17-19</A>.
<I>Wherewith they made Baal</I> (so the margin reads it), that is, the
image of Baal. Note, It is a very great dishonour to the God of heaven
to make those gifts of his providence the food and fuel of our lusts
which he gave us for our support in his service, and to be oil to the
wheels of our obedience.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. How justly their plenty should be taken from them: "<I>Therefore
will I return;</I> I will alter my dealings with them, will take
another course, <I>and will take away my corn</I> and other good things
that I gave her." I will <I>recover</I> them, a law term, as a man by
due course of law recovers what is unjustly detained from him, or as,
when the tenant has committed waste, the landlord recovers <I>locum
vastatum--dilapidations.</I> Observe, God calls their abundance <I>my
corn</I> and <I>my wine, my wool</I> and <I>my flax.</I> They called it
theirs (<I>my bread</I> and <I>my water,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
but God lets them know that it is not theirs; he only allowed them the
use of it as tenants, entrusted them with the management of it as
stewards, but still reserved the property in himself. "It is <I>my</I>
corn and <I>my</I> wine." God will have us to know, not only that we
have all our creature-comforts and enjoyments from him, but that he has
still an incontestable right and title to them, that they are more his
than ours, and therefore are to be used for him, and accounted for to
him. He will therefore take their plenty away from them, because they
have forfeited it by disowning his right, as a tenant by copy of
court-roll, who holds at the will of his lord, forfeits his estate if
he makes a feoffment of it as though he were a freeholder. He will
<I>recover</I> it, will <I>free</I> or <I>deliver</I> it, that it may
be no longer abused, as the creature is said to be <I>delivered from
the bondage of corruption</I> under which <I>it groans,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:21">Rom. viii. 21</A>.
He will take it away <I>in the time thereof,</I> and <I>in the season
thereof,</I> just when they expected it, and thought that they were
sure of it. It shall suffer shipwreck in the harbour; and <I>the
harvest shall be a heap.</I> He will take it away by unseasonable
weather or by unreasonable men. Note, Those that abuse the mercies God
gives them, to his dishonour, cannot expect to enjoy them long.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. They shall lose <I>all their honour,</I> and be exposed to
contempt
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
"<I>I will discover her lewdness,</I> will bring to light all her
secret wickedness, and make it public, to her shame; I will show by the
punishment of it how heinous, how odious, how offensive it is. The fact
has been denied, but now it shall appear; the fault has been
diminished, but now it shall appear exceedingly sinful. And this <I>in
the sight of her lovers,</I> in the sight of the neighbouring nations,
with whom she courted an alliance, and on whom she had a dependence;
they shall despise her and be ashamed of her because of her weakness,
and poverty, and ill conduct; they shall not think her any longer
worthy of their friendship." See this fulfilled,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:8">Lam. i. 8</A>,
<I>All that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her
nakedness.</I> Or in the sight of <I>the sun and moon,</I> which she
worshipped as <I>her lovers;</I> before them shall <I>her lewdness be
discovered.</I> Compare this with
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:1,2">Jer. vii. 1, 2</A>,
<I>They shall bring out the bones of their kings and princes, and
spread them before the sun and moon, whom they have loved and
served.</I> Note, Sin will have shame; let those expect it that have
done shamefully. What other lot can this impudent adulteress expect but
that of a common harlot, to be carted through the town? And, when God
comes to deal thus with her, <I>none shall deliver her out of his
hands,</I> neither the gods nor the men they confide in. Note, Those
who will not deliver themselves into the hand of God's mercy cannot be
delivered out of the hand of his justice.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. They shall lose all their pleasure, and shall be left melancholy
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
<I>I will cause her mirth to cease.</I> It seems, then, though they had
<I>gone a whoring from their God,</I> yet they could find in their
hearts to <I>rejoice as other people,</I> which is forbidden,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9:1"><I>ch.</I> ix. 1</A>.
Note, Many who lie under guilt and wrath are yet very jocund and merry,
and live jovially; but, whether in their laughter their hearts be sad
or no, it is certain that the <I>end of their mirth</I> will be
<I>heaviness;</I> for God <I>will cause all their mirth to cease.</I>
It is as Mr. Burroughs observes here, <I>Sin and mirth can never hold
long together;</I> but, <I>if men will not take away sin from their
mirth, God will take away mirth from their sin.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. God will take away the occasions of their sacred mirth--<I>their
feast-days, their new moons, their sabbaths, and all their solemn
feasts.</I> These God instituted to be observed in a religious manner,
and they were to be observed with rejoicing; and, it seems, though they
had departed from the pure worship of God, yet they kept up the
observance of these, not at God's temple at Jerusalem, for they had
long since forsaken that, but probably at Dan and Bethel, where the
calves were, or in some other places of meeting that they had. They
observed them, not for the honour of God, nor with any true devotion
towards him, but only because they were times of mirth and feasting,
music and dancing, and meeting of friends, received by tradition from
their fathers. Thus, when they had lost the power of godliness, and
denied that, yet, for the pleasing of a vain and carnal mind, they kept
up the form of it; and by this means their new-moons and their sabbaths
became an iniquity which God <I>could not away with,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:13">Isa. i. 13</A>.
Now observe,
(1.) God calls them their new-moons and their sabbaths, not his (he
disowns them), but theirs.
(2.) He will <I>cause them to cease.</I> Note, When men by their sins
have caused the life and substance of ordinances to cease it is just
with God by his judgments to cause the remaining show and shadow of
them to cease.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. He will take away the supports of their carnal mind. They loved the
new-moons and the sabbaths only for the sake of the good cheer that was
stirring then, not for the sake of any religious exercises then
performed; these they had dropped long ago; and now God will take away
their provisions for these solemnities
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
<I>I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees.</I> Note, If men destroy
God's words and ordinances, by which he should be honoured on their
feast-days, it is just with him to destroy their vines and fig-trees,
with which they regale themselves. While they took the pleasure of
these, they gave their lovers the praise of them: "<I>These are my
rewards which my lovers have given me;</I> I may thank my stars for
these, and my worship of them; I may thank my neighbours for these, and
my alliance with them." And therefore God will destroy them, will
wither them with a blast, or bring in a foreign enemy that shall lay
the country waste, so that their vineyards shall become <I>a
forest;</I> the enclosures shall be thrown down, as is usual in war;
all shall be laid in common, so that the <I>beasts of the field</I>
shall eat their grapes and their figs. Or they shall be so blasted with
the east wind that fruit-trees shall be of no more use than
forest-trees; but, being withered and good for nothing, what fruit
there is shall be left to the <I>beasts of the field.</I> Or it shall
be devoured by their enemies, by men as barbarous as wild beasts. Now,
(1.) This shall be the ruin of their mirth: God will <I>cause all her
mirth to cease.</I> How will he do it? Taking away the new-moons and
the sabbaths will not do it; they can very easily part with them, and
find no loss; but "I will <I>destroy her vines and her fig-trees,</I>
will take away her sensual pleasures, and then she will think herself
undone indeed." Note, The destruction of the vines and the fig-trees
causes all the mirth of a carnal heart to cease; it will say, as Micah,
You have <I>taken away my gods, and what have I more?</I>
(2.) This shall be the punishment of her idolatry
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
"<I>I will visit upon her the days of Baalim;</I> I will reckon with
her for all the worship of all the Baals they have made gods of, from
the days of their fathers unto this day." We read of their worshipping
Baal as long ago as the time of the Judges, and, for aught I know, this
may look as far back as those times, those <I>days of Baalim;</I> for
it is in the second commandment, which forbids idolatry, that God
threatens to <I>visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the
children;</I> and justly is that sin so visited, more than any other,
because it commonly supports itself by prescription and long usage. Now
that the measure of the iniquity of Israel was full all their former
sins came into the account, and shall be <I>required of this
generation.</I> Or the <I>days of Baalim</I> are the solemn festival
days which they kept in honour of their idols. Days of sinful mirth
must be visited in days of mourning. These were the days wherein she
<I>burnt incense</I> to idols, and, to grace the solemnity, <I>decked
herself with her ear-rings and her jewels,</I> that, appearing
honourable, the honour she did to Baal might be thought the greater. Or
she was as a wife that decks herself with the ear-rings and jewels that
her husband gave her, to make herself amiable to her lovers, whom she
follows after, and is ever mindful of. But <I>she forgot me, saith the
Lord.</I> Note, Our treacherous departures from God are owing to our
forgetfulness of him, of his nature and attributes, his relation to us
and our obligations to him. Many who plead that they have weak
memories, and forget the things of God, can remember other things well
enough; nay, it is because they are so mindful of lying vanities that
they are so forgetful of their own mercies.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Promises of Mercy.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 764.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
&nbsp; 15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the
valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as
in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out
of the land of Egypt.
&nbsp; 16 And it shall be at that day, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>that</I> thou
shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
&nbsp; 17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth,
and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
&nbsp; 18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the
beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and <I>with</I> the
creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the
sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie
down safely.
&nbsp; 19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will
betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in
lovingkindness, and in mercies.
&nbsp; 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou
shalt know the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
&nbsp; 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
&nbsp; 22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the
oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
&nbsp; 23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have
mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to
<I>them which were</I> not my people, Thou <I>art</I> my people; and they
shall say, <I>Thou art</I> my God.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The state of Israel ruined by their own sin did not look so black and
dismal in the former part of the chapter, but that the state of Israel,
restrained by the divine grace, looks as bright and pleasant here in
the latter part of the chapter, and the more surprisingly so as the
promises follow thus close upon the threatenings; nay, which is very
strange, they are by a note of connexion joined to, and inferred from,
that declaration of their sinfulness upon which the threatenings of
their ruin are grounded: <I>She went after her lovers, and forgot me,
saith the Lord; therefore I will allure her.</I> Fitly therefore is
that <I>therefore</I> which is the note of connexion immediately
followed with a note of admiration: <I>Behold I will allure her!</I>
When it was said, <I>She forgot me,</I> one would think it should have
followed, "Therefore I will abandon her, I will forget her, I will
never look after her more." No, <I>Therefore I will allure her.</I>
Note, God's thoughts and ways of mercy are infinitely above ours; his
reasons are all fetched from within himself, and not from any thing in
us; nay, his goodness takes occasion from man's badness to appear so
much the more illustrious,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+57:17,18">Isa. lvii. 17, 18</A>.
<I>Therefore,</I> because she will not be restrained by the
denunciations of wrath, God will try whether she will be wrought upon
by the offers of mercy. Some think it may be translated,
<I>Afterwards,</I> or <I>nevertheless,</I> I will allure her. It comes
all to one; the design is plainly to magnify free grace to those on
whom God will have mercy purely for mercy's sake. Now that which is
here promised to Israel is,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. That though now they were disconsolate, and ready to despair, they
should again be revived with comforts and hopes,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>.
This is expressed here with an allusion to God's dealings with that
people when he brought them out of Egypt, through the wilderness to
Canaan, as their forlorn and deplorable condition in their captivity
was compared to their state in <I>Egypt in the day that they were
born,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
They shall be new-formed by such miracles of love and mercy as they
were first-formed by, and such a transport of joy shall they be in as
they were in then. It is hard to say when this had its accomplishment
in the kingdom of the ten tribes; but it principally aims, no doubt, at
the bringing in both of Jews and Gentiles into the church by the gospel
of Christ; and it is applicable, nay, we have reason to think it was
designed that it should be applied, to the conversion of particular
souls to God. Now observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. The gracious methods God will take with them.
(1.) He will <I>bring them into the wilderness,</I> as he did at first
when he brought them out of Egypt, where he instructed them, and took
them into covenant with himself. The land of their captivity shall be
to them now, as that wilderness was then, the <I>furnace of
affliction,</I> in which God will <I>choose them.</I> See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+20:35,36">Ezek. xx. 35, 36</A>,
<I>I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I
plead with you.</I> God had said that he would <I>make them as a
wilderness</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
which was a threatening; now, when it is here made part of a promise
that he would bring them into the wilderness, the meaning may be that
he would by his grace bring their minds to their condition: "They shall
have humble hearts under humbling providences; being poor, they shall
be poor in spirit, shall <I>accept of the punishment of their
iniquity,</I> and then they are prepared to have comfort spoken to
them." When God delivered Israel out of Egypt he led them into the
wilderness, to <I>humble them and prove them, that he might do them
good</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+8:2,3,15,16">Deut. viii. 2, 3, 15, 16</A>),
and so he will do again. Note, Those whom God has mercy in store for he
first <I>brings into a wilderness</I>--into solitude and retirement,
that they may the more freely converse with him out of the noise of
this world,--into distress of mind, through sense of guilt and dread of
wrath, which brings a soul to be quite at a loss in itself and
bewildered, and by those convictions he prepares for consolations,--and
sometimes into outward distress and trouble, thereby to open the ear to
discipline.
(2.) He will then <I>allure them and speak comfortably to them,</I>
will <I>persuade them</I> and <I>speak to their hearts,</I> that is, he
will by his word and Spirit incline their hearts to return to him, and
encourage them to do so. He will allure them with the promises of his
favour, as before he had terrified them with the threatenings of his
wrath, will speak friendly to them, both by his prophets and by his
providences, as before he had spoken roughly,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:1,2">Isa. xl. 1, 2</A>.
<I>By the hand of my servants the prophets I will speak comfort to her
heart;</I> so the Chaldee. This refers to the gospel of Christ, and the
offers of divine grace in the gospel, by which we are allured to
forsake our sins and to turn to God, and which speaks to the heart of a
convinced sinner that which is every way suited to his case, speaks
abundant consolation to those that sorrow for sin and lament after the
Lord. And when by the Spirit it is indeed spoken to the heart
effectually, and so as to reach the conscience (which it is God's
prerogative to do), O what a blessed change is wrought by it! Note, The
best way of reducing wandering souls to God is by fair means. By the
promise of rest in Christ we are invited to take his yoke upon us; and
the work of conversion may be forwarded by comforts as well as by
convictions.
(3.) <I>He will give her her vineyards thence.</I> From that time and
from that place where he has afflicted her, and brought her to see her
folly and to humble herself, thenceforward he will <I>do her good;</I>
not only speak comfortably to her, but do well for her, and undo what
he had done against her. He had <I>destroyed her vines</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
but now he will give her whole <I>vineyards,</I> as if for every vine
destroyed she should have a vineyard restored, and so be repaid with
interest; she shall not only have corn for necessity, but vineyards for
delight. These denote the privileges and comforts of the gospel, which
are prepared for those that <I>come up out of the wilderness leaning
upon</I> Christ as <I>their beloved,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+8:5">Cant. viii. 5</A>.
Note, God has vineyards of consolation ready to bestow on those who
repent and return to him; and he can give vineyards <I>out of a
wilderness,</I> which are of all others the most welcome, as rest to
the weary.
(4.) He will give her <I>the valley of Achor for a door of hope. The
valley of Achor</I> was that in which Achan was stoned; it signifies
<I>the valley of trouble,</I> because he troubled Israel, and there God
troubled him. This was the beginning of the wars of Canaan; and their
putting away the accursed thing in that place gave them ground to hope
that God would continue his presence with them and complete their
victories. So when God returns to his people in mercy, and they to him
in duty, it will be to them as happy an omen as any thing. If they put
away the accursed thing from among them, if by mortifying sin they
stone the Achan that has troubled their camp, their subduing that enemy
within themselves is an earnest to them of victory over all the kings
of Canaan. Or, if the allusion be to the name, it intimates that
trouble for sin, if it be sincere, opens a door of hope; for that sin
which truly troubles us shall not ruin us. The valley of Achor was a
very fruitful pleasant valley, some think the same with the valley of
Engedi, famous for vineyards,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+1:14">Cant. i. 14</A>.
This God gave to Israel as a pattern and pledge of the whole land of
Canaan; so "God will by his gospel give to all believers such gifts,
graces, and comforts in this life, as shall be a taste of those more
perfect good things of the kingdom of heaven, and shall give them as
assured hope of a full possession of them in due time." So the learned
Dr. Pocock expounds it; and, to the same purport, this whole
context.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. The great rejoicing with which they shall receive God's gracious
returns towards them: <I>She shall sing there as in the days of her
youth.</I> This plainly refers to that triumphant and prophetic song
which Moses and the children of Israel sang at the <I>Red Sea,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+15:1">Exod. xv. 1</A>.
When they are delivered out of captivity they shall repeat that song,
and to them it shall be a new song, because sung upon a new occasion,
not inferior to the former. God had said
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>)
that he would <I>cause all her mirth to cease,</I> but now he would
cause it to revive: She shall sing <I>as in the day that she came out
of Egypt.</I> Note, When God repeats former mercies we must repeat
former praises; we find the song of Moses sung in the New Testament,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+15:3">Rev. xv. 3</A>.
This promise of Israel's singing has its accomplishment in the gospel
of Christ, which furnishes us with abundant matter for joy and praise,
and wherever it is received in its power enlarges the heart in joy and
praise; and this is that land flowing with milk and honey which <I>the
valley of Achor</I> opens <I>a door of hope to.</I> We <I>rejoice in
tribulation.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. That, though they had been much addicted to the worship of Baal,
they should now be perfectly weaned from it, should relinquish and
abandon all appearances of idolatry and approaches towards it, and
cleave to God only, and worship him as he appoints,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
Note, The surest pledge and token of God's favour to any people is his
effectual parting between them and their beloved sins. The worship of
Baal was the sin that did most easily beset the people of Israel; it
was their own iniquity, the sin that had dominion over them; but now
that idolatry shall be quite abolished, and there shall not be the
least remains of it among them.
1. The idols of Baal shall not be mentioned, not any of the Baals that
<I>in the days of Baalim</I> had made so great a noise with, <I>O Baal!
hear us; O Baal! hear us.</I> The very <I>names of Baalim</I> shall be
<I>taken out of their mouths;</I> they shall be so disused that they
shall be quite forgotten, as if their names had never been known in
Israel; they shall be so detested that people will not bear to mention
them themselves, nor to hear others mention them, so that posterity
shall scarcely know that ever there were such things. They shall be so
ashamed of their former love to Baal that they shall do all they can to
blot out the remembrance of it. They shall tie themselves up to the
strictest literal meaning of that law against idolatry
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+23:13">Exod. xxiii. 13</A>),
<I>Make no mention of the names of other gods, neither let it be heard
out of thy mouth,</I> as David,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:4">Ps. xvi. 4</A>.
Thus the apostle expresses the abhorrence we ought to have of all
fleshly lusts: <I>Let them not be once named among you,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+5:3">Eph. v. 3</A>.
But how can such a change of the Ethiopian's skin be wrought? It is
answered, The power of God can do it, and will. <I>I will take away
the names of Baalim;</I> as
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+13:2">Zech. xiii. 2</A>,
<I>I will cut off the names of the idols.</I> Note, God's grace in the
heart will change the language by making that iniquity to be loathed
which was beloved.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+3:9">Zeph. iii. 9</A>,
<I>I will turn to the people a pure language.</I> One of the rabbin
says, This promise relates to the Gentiles, by the gospel of Christ,
from the idolatries which they had been wedded to,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Th+1:9">1 Thess. i. 9</A>.
2. The very word Baal shall be laid aside, even in its innocent
signification. God says, <I>Thou shalt call me Ishi, and call me no
more Baali;</I> both signify <I>my husband,</I> and both had been made
use of concerning God.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:5">Isa. liv. 5</A>,
<I>Thy Maker is thy husband,</I> thy <I>Baal</I> (so the word is), thy
owner, patron, and protector. It is probable that many good people had,
accordingly, made use of the word <I>Baali</I> in worshipping the God
of Israel; when their wicked neighbours bowed the knee to Baal they
gloried in this, that God was their Baal. "But," says God, "you shall
call me so no more, because I will have the very names of Baalim taken
away." Note, That which is very innocent in itself should, when it has
been abused to idolatry, be abolished, and the very use of it taken
away, that nothing may be done to keep idols in remembrance, much less
to keep them in reputation. When calling God <I>Ishi</I> will do as
well, and signify as much, as <I>Baali,</I> let that word be chosen
rather, lest, by calling him Baali, others should be put in mind of
their <I>quondam</I> Baals. Some think that there is another reason
intimated why God would be called <I>Ishi</I> and not <I>Baali;</I>
they both signify <I>my husband,</I> but <I>Ishi</I> is a compellation
of love, and sweetness, and familiarity, <I>Baali</I> of reverence and
subjection. Ishi is <I>vir meus--my man;</I> Baali is <I>dominus
meus--my lord.</I> In gospel-times God has so revealed himself to us as
to encourage us to come boldly to the throne of his grace, and to use a
holy humble freedom there; we ought to call God our Master, for so he
is, but we are more taught to call him our Father. <I>Ishi</I> is <I>a
man the Lord</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:1">Gen. iv. 1</A>),
and intimates that in gospel-times the church's husband shall be <I>the
man Christ Jesus,</I> made like unto his brethren, and therefore they
shall call him <I>Ishi,</I> not <I>Baali.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. That though they had been in continual troubles, as if the whole
creation had been at war with them, now they shall enjoy perfect peace
and tranquillity, as if they were in a league of friendship with the
whole creation
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
<I>In that day,</I> when they have forsaken their idols, and put
themselves under the divine protection, <I>I will make a covenant for
them.</I>
1. They shall be protected from evil; nothing shall hurt them, nor do
them any mischief. <I>Tranquillus Deus tranquillat amnia--When God is
at peace with us he makes every creature to be so too.</I> The inferior
creatures shall do them no harm, as they had done when the <I>beasts of
the field</I> ate up their vineyards
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>)
and when <I>noisome beasts</I> were one of God's <I>sore judgments,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:15">Ezek. xiv. 15</A>.
The <I>fowl</I> and the <I>creeping things</I> are taken into this
covenant; for they also, when God makes use of them as the instruments
of his justice, may be come very hurtful, but they shall be no more so;
nay, by virtue of this covenant, they shall be made serviceable to them
and brought into their interests. Note, God has the command of the
inferior creatures, and brings them into what covenant he pleases; he
can make <I>the beasts of the field</I> to <I>honour</I> him (so he has
promised,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+43:20">Isa. xliii. 20</A>)
and to contribute to his people's comfort. And, if the inferior
creatures are thus laid under an engagement to serve us, it is our part
of the covenant not to abuse them, but to serve God with them. Some
think that this had its accomplishment in the miraculous power Christ
gave his disciples to <I>take up serpents,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+16:17,18">Mark xvi. 17, 18</A>.
It agrees with the promises made particularly to Israel, in their
return out of captivity
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+34:25">Ezek. xxxiv. 25</A>,
<I>I will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land</I>), and the
more general ones to all the saints.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:22,23">Job v. 22, 23</A>,
<I>The beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee;</I> and
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+91:13">Ps. xci. 13</A>,
<I>Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder.</I> But this is not
all; men are more in danger from one another than from the brute beast,
and therefore it is further promised that God will <I>make wars to
cease,</I> will disarm the enemy: <I>I will break the bow, and sword,
and battle.</I> He can do it when he pleases
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+44:9">Ps. xliv. 9</A>),
and will do it for those whose <I>ways please him,</I> for he <I>makes
even their enemies to be at peace with them,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+16:7">Prov. xvi. 7</A>.
This agrees with the promise that in gospel-times <I>swords shall be
beaten into plough-shares,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:4">Isa. ii. 4</A>.
2. They shall be quiet from the fear of evil. God will not only keep
them safe, but <I>make them to lie down safely,</I> as those that know
themselves to be under the protection of Heaven, and therefore are not
afraid of the powers of hell.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. That, though God had given them a bill of divorce for their
whoredoms, yet, upon their repentance, he would again take them into
covenant with himself, into a marriage-covenant,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>.
God's making a covenant for them with the inferior creatures was a
great favour; but it was nothing to this, that he took them into
covenant with himself and engaged himself to do them good.
Observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. The nature of this covenant; it is a <I>marriage-covenant,</I>
founded in choice and love, and founding the nearest relation: <I>I
will betroth thee unto me;</I> and again, and a third time, <I>I will
betroth thee.</I> Note, All that are sincerely devoted to God are
betrothed to him; God gives them the most sacred and inviolable
security imaginable that he will love them, protect them, and provide
for them, that he will do the part of a husband to them, and that he
will incline their hearts to join themselves to him and will graciously
accept of them in so doing. Believing souls are espoused to Christ,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+11:2">2 Cor. xi. 2</A>.
The gospel-church is <I>the bride, the Lamb's wife;</I> and they would
never come into that relation to him if he did not by the power of his
grace betroth them to himself. The separation begins on our side; we
alienate ourselves from God. The coalition begins on his side; he
betroths us to himself.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. The duration of this covenant: "<I>I will betroth thee for ever.</I>
The covenant itself shall be inviolable; God will not break it on his
part, and you shall not on yours; and the blessings of it shall be
everlasting." One of the Jewish rabbin says, This is a promise that
<I>she shall attain to the life of the world to come, which is absolute
eternity or perpetuity.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. The manner in which this covenant shall be made.
(1.) In <I>righteousness and judgment,</I> that is, God will deal
sincerely and uprightly in covenant with them; they have broken
covenant, and God is righteous. "But," says God, "I will renew the
covenant <I>in righteousness.</I>" The matter shall be so ordered that
God may receive even these backsliding children into his family again,
without any reflection upon his justice, nay, his justice being
satisfied by the Mediator of this covenant very much to the honour of
it. But what reason can there be why God should take a people into
covenant with him that had so often dealt treacherously? Will it not
reflect upon his wisdom? "No," says God; "I will do it <I>in
judgment,</I> not rashly, but upon due consideration; let me alone to
give a reason for it and to justify my own conduct."
(2.) <I>In lovingkindness and in mercies.</I> God will deal tenderly
and graciously in covenanting with them; and will be not only as good
as his word, but better; and, as he will be just in keeping covenant
with them, so he will be merciful in keeping them in the covenant. They
are subject to many infirmities, and, if he be extreme to mark what
they do amiss, they will soon lose the benefit of the covenant. He
therefore promises that it shall be a covenant of grace, made in a
compassionate consideration of their infirmities, so that every
transgression in the covenant shall not throw them out of covenant; he
will <I>gather with everlasting lovingkindness.</I>
(3.) <I>In faithfulness.</I> Every article of the covenant shall be
punctually performed. <I>Faithful is he that has called them, who also
will do it;</I> he cannot <I>deny himself.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
4. The means by which they shall be kept tight and faithful to the
covenant on their part: <I>Thou shalt know the Lord.</I> This is not
only a promise that God will reveal himself to them more fully and
clearly than ever, but that he will give them <I>a heart to know
him;</I> they shall know more of him, and shall know him in another
manner than ever yet. The ground of their apostasy was their not
knowing God to be their benefactor
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
therefore, to prevent the like, they shall all be <I>taught of God</I>
to know him. Note, God keeps up his interest in men's souls by giving
them a good understanding and a right knowledge of things,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+8:11">Heb. viii. 11</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
V. That, though the heavens had been to them as brass, and the earth as
iron, now the heavens shall yield their dews, and by that means the
earth its fruits,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>.
God having betrothed the gospel-church and in it all believers to
himself, how shall he not with himself and with his Son freely <I>give
them all things,</I> all things pertaining both to life and godliness,
all things they need or can desire? <I>All is theirs,</I> for they are
<I>Christ's,</I> betrothed to him; and with the righteousness of the
kingdom of God, which they <I>seek first,</I> all <I>other things</I>
shall be <I>added unto them.</I> And yet this promise of <I>corn and
wine</I> is to be taken also in a spiritual sense (so the learned Dr.
Pocock thinks): it is an effusion of those blessings and graces which
relate to the soul that is here promised under the metaphor of temporal
blessings, the dew of heaven, as well as the fatness of the earth, and
that put first, as in the blessing of Jacob,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+27:28">Gen. xxvii. 28</A>.
God had threatened
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>)
that he would <I>take away the corn and the wine;</I> but now he
promises to restore them, and that in the common course and order of
nature. While they lay under the judgment of famine they called to the
earth for <I>corn and wine</I> for the support of themselves and their
families. Very gladly would the earth have supplied them, but she
cannot give unless she receive, cannot produce <I>corn and wine</I>
unless she be <I>enriched with the river of God</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+65:9">Ps. lxv. 9</A>);
and therefore she calls to the heavens for rain, the former and latter
rain in their season, grapes for it, and by her melancholy aspect when
rain is denied pleads for it. "But," say the heavens, "we have no rain
to give unless he who has the key of the clouds unlock them, and open
these bottles; so that, <I>if the Lord do not help you,</I> we cannot."
But, when God takes them into covenant with himself, then the wheel of
nature shall be set a-going again in favour of them, and the streams of
mercy shall flow in the usual channel: Then <I>I will hear, saith the
Lord; I will receive your prayers</I> (so the Chaldee interprets the
first <I>hearing</I>); God will graciously take notice of their
addresses to him. And then <I>I will hear the heavens;</I> I will
<I>answer</I> them (so it may be read); and then they shall <I>hear and
answer the earth,</I> and pour down seasonable rain upon it; and then
the <I>earth</I> shall <I>hear the corn and vines,</I> and supply them
with moisture, and <I>they shall hear Jezreel,</I> and be nourishment
and refreshment for those that inhabit Jezreel. See here the coherence
of second causes with one another, as links in a chain, and the
necessary dependence they all have upon God, the first Cause. Note, We
must expect all our comforts from God in the usual method and by the
appointed means; and, when we are at any time disappointed in them, we
must look up to God, <I>above the hills and the mountains,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+121:1,2">Ps. cxxi. 1, 2</A>.
See how ready the creatures are to serve the people of God, how
desirous of the honour: the corn cries to the earth, the earth to the
heavens, the heavens to God, and all that they may supply them. And see
how ready God is to give relief: <I>I will hear,</I> saith the Lord,
<I>yea, I will hear.</I> And, if God will hear the cry of the heavens
for his people, much more will he hear the intercession of his Son for
them, who is made <I>higher than the heavens.</I> See what a peculiar
delight those that are in covenant with God may take in their
creature-comforts, as seeing them all come to them from the hand of
God; they can trace up all the streams to the fountain, and taste
covenant-love in common mercies, which makes them doubly sweet.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VI. That whereas they were now dispersed, not only, as Simeon and Levi,
divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel, but divided and scattered all
the world over, God will turn this curse, as he did that, into a
blessing: "I will not only water the earth for her, but will <I>sow her
unto me in the earth;</I> her dispersion shall be not like that of the
chaff in the floor, which <I>the wind drives away,</I> but like that of
the seed in the field, in order to its greater increase; wherever they
are scattered they shall <I>take root downward and bear fruit upward.
The good seed are the children of the kingdom. I will sow her unto
me.</I>" This alludes to the name of Jezreel, which signifies <I>sown
of God,</I> or <I>for God;</I> as she was scattered of him (which is
one signification of the words) so she shall be sown of him; and to
what he sows he will give the increase. When in all parts of the world
Christianity got footing, and every where there were professors of it,
then this promise was fulfilled, <I>I will sow her unto me in the
earth.</I> Note, The greatest blessing of this earth is that God has a
church in it, and from that arises all the tribute of glory which he
has out of it; it is what he has sown to himself, and what he will
therefore secure to himself.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VII. That, whereas they had been <I>Lo-ammi--not a people,</I> and
<I>Lo-ruhamah--not finding mercy</I> with God, now they shall be
restored to his favour and taken again into covenant with him
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
They <I>had not obtained mercy,</I> but seemed to be abandoned; they
were <I>not my people,</I> not distinguished, not dealt with, as my
people, but left to lie in common with the nations. This was the case
with the rejected Jews; and the same, or more deplorable, was that of
the Gentile world (to whom the apostle applies this,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+9:24,25">Rom. ix. 24, 25</A>),
that had <I>no hope,</I> and was <I>without God in the world;</I> but
when great multitudes both of Jews and Gentiles were, upon their
believing in Christ, incorporated into a Christian church, then,
1. God had mercy on those who <I>had not obtained mercy.</I> Those
found favour with God, and became the children of his love, who had
been long out of favour and the children of his wrath, and, if infinite
mercy had not interposed, would have been for ever so. Note, God's
mercy must not be despaired of any where on this side hell.
2. He took those into a covenant-relation to himself who had been
strangers and foreigners. He says to them, "<I>Thou art my people,</I>
whom I will own and bless, protect and provide for;" and they shall
say, "<I>Thou art my God,</I> whom I will serve and worship, and to
whose honour I will be entirely and for ever devoted." Note,
(1.) The sum total of the happiness of believers is the mutual relation
that is between them and God, that he is theirs and they are his; this
is the crown of all the promises.
(2.) This relation is founded in free grace. We have not chosen him,
but he has chosen us. He first says, They are my people, and makes them
willing to be so in the day of his power, and then they avouch him to
be theirs.
(3.) As we need desire no more to make us happy than to be the people
of God, so we need desire no more to make us easy and cheerful than to
have him to assure us that we are so, to say unto us, by his Spirit
witnessing with ours, <I>Thou art my people.</I>
(4.) Those that have accepted the Lord for their God must avouch him to
be so, must go to him in prayer and tell him so, <I>Thou art my
God,</I> and must be ready to make profession before men.
(5.) It adds to the comfort of our covenant with God that in it there
is a communion of saints, who, though they <I>are many,</I> yet here
are one. It is not, I will <I>say to them, You are my people,</I> but,
<I>Thou</I> art; for he looks upon them as all <I>one in Christ,</I>
and, as such in him, he speaks to them and covenants with them; and
they also do not say, Thou art <I>our God,</I> for they look upon
themselves as one body, and desire with one mind and one mouth to
glorify him, and therefore say, <I>Thou art my God.</I> Or it intimates
that such a covenant as God made of old with his people Israel, in
general, now under the gospel he makes with particular believers, and
says to <I>each of them,</I> even the meanest, with as much pleasure as
he did of old to the <I>thousands of Israel, Thou art my people,</I>
and invites and encourages each of them to say, <I>Thou art my God,</I>
and to triumph therein, as Moses and all Israel did.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+15:2">Exod. xv. 2</A>,
He is <I>my God,</I> and my <I>father's God.</I></P>
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