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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>H O S E A.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The scope of this chapter seems to be much the same with that of the
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foregoing chapter, and to point at the same events, and the causes of
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them. As there, so here,
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I. God, by the prophet, discovers sin to them, and charges it home upon
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them, the sin of their idolatry, their spiritual whoredom, their
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serving idols and forgetting God and their obligations to him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:1,2,5,8">ver. 1, 2, 5, 8</A>.
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II. He threatens to take away from them that plenty of all good things
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with which they had served their idols, and to abandon them to ruin
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without remedy,
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<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>.
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III. Yet he promises at last to return in ways of mercy to them for his
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own sake
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:14">ver. 14</A>),
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to restore them to their former plenty
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:15">ver. 15</A>),
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to cure them of their inclination to idolatry
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:16,17">ver. 16, 17</A>),
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to renew his covenant with them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:18-20">ver. 18-20</A>),
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and to bless them with all good things,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:21-23">ver. 21-23</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ho2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Sinfulness of Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 764.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters,
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Ruhamah.
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2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she <I>is</I> not my wife,
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neither <I>am</I> I her husband: let her therefore put away her
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whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her
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breasts;
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3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she
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was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry
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land, and slay her with thirst.
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4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they <I>be</I>
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the children of whoredoms.
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5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived
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them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my
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lovers, that give <I>me</I> my bread and my water, my wool and my
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flax, mine oil and my drink.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The first words of this chapter some make the close of the foregoing
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chapter, and add them to the promises which we have here of the great
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things God would do for them. When they shall have appointed Christ
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their head, and centered in him, then let them say to one another, with
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triumph and exultation (<I>let the prophets say it</I> to them, so the
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Chaldee--<I>Comfort you, comfort you, my people,</I> is now their
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commission), "say to them, <I>Ammi,</I> and <I>Ruhamah;</I> call them
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so again, for they shall no longer lie under the reproach and doom of
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<I>Lo-ammi</I> and <I>Lo-ruhamah;</I> they shall now be <I>my
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people</I> again, and shall <I>obtain mercy.</I>" God's spiritual
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Israel, made up of Jews and Gentiles without distinction, shall call
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one another brethren and sisters, shall own one another for the people
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of God and beloved of him, and, for that reason, shall embrace one
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another, and stir up one another both to give thanks for and to walk
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worthy of this <I>common salvation</I> which they partake of. Or
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rather, because the following words seem to have a coherence with
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these, these also are designed for conviction and humiliation. The
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<I>mother</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>)
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seems to be the same with the <I>brethren</I> and <I>sisters</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
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the church of the ten tribes, the body of the people, who were
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brethren, and in a special manner with the heads and leaders, who were
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as the mother by whom the rest were brought up and nursed. But who are
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the children that must <I>plead with their mother</I> thus? Either,
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1. The godly that were among them, that witnessed against the
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iniquities of the times, let them boldly go on to bear their testimony
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against the idolatries and gross corruptions that prevail among them.
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Let those that had not bowed the knee to Baal reason the case with
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those that had, and endeavour to convince them with such arguments as
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are here put into their mouths. Note, Private persons may, and ought in
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their places, to appear and plead against the public profanations of
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God's name and worship. Children may humbly and modestly argue with
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their parents when they do amiss: <I>Plead with your mother, plead,</I>
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as Jonathan with Saul concerning David. Or,
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2. The sufferers among them, that shared in the calamities of the
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times, let them not complain of God, let them not quarrel with him, nor
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lay the blame on him, as if he had dealt hardly with them, and not like
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a tender father. No; let them <I>plead with their mother,</I> and lay
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the fault on her, where it ought to be laid; compare
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:1">Isa. l. 1</A>.
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"<I>For her transgressions is your mother put away;</I> she may thank
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herself, and you may thank her for all your miseries." Let us see now
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how they must plead with her.</P>
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<P>
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I. They must put here in mind of the relation wherein she had stood to
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God, the kindness he had had for her, the many favours he had bestowed
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upon her, and the further favours he had designed her. Let them tell
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their <I>brethren</I> and <I>sisters</I> that they had been <I>Ammi</I>
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and <I>Ruhamah,</I> that they had been God's people and vessels of his
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mercy, and might have been so still if it had not been their own fault,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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Note, Our relation to God and dependence on him are a great aggravation
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of our revolts from him and rebellions against him.</P>
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<P>
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II. They must, in God's name, charge her with the violation of the
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marriage-covenant between her and God. Let them tell her that God does
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not look upon her as his wife, nor upon himself as her husband any
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longer. Tell her
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>)
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that <I>she is not my wife, neither am I her husband,</I> that by her
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spiritual whoredom she has forfeited all the honour and comfort of her
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relation to God, and provoked him to give her a bill of divorce. Note,
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No consideration can be more powerful to awaken us to repentance than
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the provocation we have by sin given to God to disown and cast us off.
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It is time to look about us, and to think what course we must take,
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when God threatens to reject us; for woe unto us if he be not <I>our
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husband.</I> They must charge this home upon her
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>Their mother has played the harlot; their congregation has run a
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whoring after false prophets</I> (so the Chaldee), or, rather, <I>after
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idols,</I> wherein they were encouraged by their false prophets; <I>she
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that conceived them has done shamefully,</I> in making and worshipping
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idols. An idol is called a <I>shame</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9:10"><I>ch.</I> ix. 10</A>)
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and idolatry is a <I>shameful thing.</I> It is not only an affront to
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God, but a reproach to men, to <I>fall down to the stock of a tree,</I>
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as the prophet speaks. Or it denotes that the sinner was shameless,
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impudent in sin, and could not blush;
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+6:15">Jer. vi. 15</A>.
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Or, <I>She has made ashamed,</I> has made all that see her ashamed of
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her; her own children are ashamed of their relation to her.</P>
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<P>
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III. They must upbraid her with her horrid ingratitude to God her
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benefactor, in ascribing to her idols the glory of the gifts he had
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given her, and then giving that for a reason why she paid them the
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homage due to him only,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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In this she <I>did shamefully</I> indeed, that <I>she said, I will go
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after my lovers that give me my bread and my water.</I> Observe here,
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1. Her wicked resolution to persist in idolatry, notwithstanding all
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that God said, both by his prophets and by his providences, to draw her
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from it. <I>She said,</I> Whatever is offered to the contrary, <I>I
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will go after my lovers,</I> or <I>those that cause me to love
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them,</I> whom I cannot but be in love with. The Chaldee understands it
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of the nations whose alliance Israel courted and depended upon, who
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supplied them with what they needed. But it is rather to be understood
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of the idols they worshipped, to justify their love of which they
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called them their lovers. See who do shamefully; those that are wilful
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and resolute in sin, and those that openly profess and own their
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resolution to go on in it. See the folly of idolaters, to call those
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their lovers that had not so much as life; yet let us learn to call our
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God our lover; let us keep up good thoughts of him, and put a high
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value upon our interest in him and in his love.
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2. The gross mistake upon which this resolution was grounded: "I will
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go after my lovers, because they give me my <I>bread and my water,</I>
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which are necessary to sustain the body, <I>my wool and my flax,</I>
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which are necessary to clothe the body, and pleasant things, <I>my
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oil,</I> and <I>my drink,</I> my liquors" (so the word is), "wine and
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strong drink." Note,
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(1.) The things of sense are the best things with carnal hearts, and
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the most powerful attractives, in pursuit of which they care not what
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they follow after. The God of Israel set before them his
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<I>statutes</I> and <I>judgments</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:8">Deut. iv. 8</A>),
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<I>more to be desired than gold, and sweeter than honey</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:10">Ps. cxix. 10</A>),
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promised them his favour, which would <I>put gladness in their hearts
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more than corn, wine, and oil</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+4:7">Ps. iv. 7</A>);
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but they had no relish at all for these things. Whence they thought
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their oil and their drink came, thither they would return their best
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affections. <I>O curvæ in terram animæ et cœlestium
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inanes!</I>--<I>O degenerate minds, bending towards the earth, and
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devoid of every thing heavenly!</I>
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(2.) It is a great abuse and injury to God, in pursuance of the
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pleasures and delights of sense to forsake him, who not only gives us
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better things, but gives us even those things too. The idolaters made
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Ceres the goddess of their corn, Bacchus the god of their wine, &c.,
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and then foolishly fancied they had their corn and wine from these,
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forgetting the Lord their God, who both gave them that good land and
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<I>gave them power to get wealth</I> out of it.
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(3.) Many are hardened in sin by their worldly prosperity. They had an
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abundance of those things when they served their idols, and then
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imagined them to be given them by their idols, which kept them to their
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service; thus they argued
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:17,18">Jer. xliv. 17, 18</A>),
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<I>While we burnt incense to the queen of heaven we had plenty of
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victuals.</I></P>
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<P>
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IV. They must persuade her to repent and reform. God will disown her if
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she persist in her whoredoms; <I>let her therefore put away her
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whoredoms,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Let her be convinced that it is possible for her to reform; the idols,
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dear as they are, may yet be parted with; and it will certainly be well
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with her if she do reform. Note, Our pleading with sinners must be to
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drive them to repentance, not to drive them to despair. Let her <I>put
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away her whoredoms and her adulteries;</I> the doubling of words to the
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same purport, and both plural, denotes the abundance of idolatries they
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were guilty of, all which must be abandoned ere God would be reconciled
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to them. Let her put them <I>out of her sight,</I> as detestable things
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which she cannot endure to look upon; let her say unto them, <I>Get you
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hence,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:22">Isa. xxx. 22</A>.
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Let her put them <I>from her face</I> and from <I>between her
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breasts,</I> that is, let her not do as harlots use to do, that both
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discover their own wicked disposition, and allure others to wickedness,
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by painting their faces, and exposing their naked breasts, and adorning
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them; let her not thus, by annexing all possible gaieties and pleasures
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to the worship of idols, engage herself and allure others to it. Let
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her put away all these. Every sinful course, persisted in, is an
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adulterous departure from God. And here we may see what it is truly to
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repent of it and turn from it.
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1. True penitents will forsake both open sins, will put away not only
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the whoredoms that lie in sight, but those that lie in secret
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<I>between their breasts,</I> the sin that is <I>rolled under the
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tongue as a sweet morsel.</I>
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2. They will both avoid the outward occasions of sin and mortify the
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inward disposition to it. Idolaters walked after their own eyes, which
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<I>went a whoring</I> after their idols
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:9,De+4:19">Ezek. vi. 9, Deut. iv. 19</A>),
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and <I>therefore</I> they must put them away <I>out of their sight,</I>
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lest they should be tempted to worship them. <I>Look not upon the wine
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when it is red.</I> But that is not enough: the axe must be <I>laid to
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the root;</I> the corrupt bent and inclination of the heart must be
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changed, and it must be put away <I>from between the breasts,</I> that
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Christ alone may have the innermost and uppermost place there.
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+1:13">Cant. i. 13</A>.</P>
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<P>
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V. They must show her the utter ruin that will certainly be the fatal
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consequence of her sin if she do not repent and reform
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>Lest I strip her naked.</I> This comes in here not by way of
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sentence passed upon her, but by way of warning given to her, that she
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may prevent it: <I>Let her put away her whoredoms, that I may not strip
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her naked</I> (so it may be read), intimating that God waits to show
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mercy to sinners, if they would but qualify themselves for that mercy.
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It is here threatened that God will deal with her as the just and
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jealous husband at length does with an adulterous wife, that has filled
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his house with a spurious brood, and will not be reclaimed; he turns
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her and her children out of doors and sends them a begging; <I>I will
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not have mercy upon her children</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>);
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the particular persons that share in the calamity of the nation, and
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the rising generation, shall be ruined by it, for they are <I>children
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of whoredoms,</I> and keep up the <I>vain conversation received by
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tradition from their fathers.</I> Now it is here threatened that they
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shall be both stripped and starved. They thought their idols gave them
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<I>their bread and their water, their wool and their flax;</I> but God,
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by taking them away, will let them know that it was he that gave them.
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1. She shall be stripped: <I>Lest I strip her</I> of all her ornaments
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which she is proud of, and with which she courts her lovers, <I>strip
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her</I> and set her <I>as in the day that she was born,</I> send her as
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naked out of the world as she came into it; this death does,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+1:21">Job i. 21</A>.
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<I>I will strip her,</I> and so expose her to cold, and expose her to
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shame; and justly is she exposed to shame that <I>did shamefully,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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The day when God brought them out of Egypt, where they were no better
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than slaves and beggars, was <I>the day in which they were born;</I>
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and God threatens to bring them back to as low and miserable a
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condition as he then found them in. Whatever they had that either
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gained them respect or screened them from contempt, among their
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neighbours, should be taken from them. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:4,39">Ezek. xvi. 4, 39</A>.
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2. She shall be starved, shall be deprived not only of her honours, but
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of her comforts and necessary supports. She shall be famished, shall be
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made <I>as a wilderness</I> and <I>a dry land,</I> and <I>slain with
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thirst.</I> She that boasted so much of her bread and water, her oil
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and her drinks, which her lovers had <I>given her,</I> shall not have
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so much as necessary food. The land shall not afford subsistence for
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the inhabitants, for want of the rain of heaven; or, if it do, it shall
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be taken from them by the enemy, so that the rightful owners shall
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perish for want of it. Some understand it thus: <I>I will make her
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as</I> she was in the <I>wilderness,</I> and set her as she was <I>in
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the desert land,</I> where she was sometimes ready to perish <I>for
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thirst.</I> So it explains the former part of the
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:3">verse</A>:
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I will set her <I>as in the day that she was born;</I> for it was in
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the vast howling wilderness that Israel was first formed into a people.
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They shall be in as deplorable a condition as their fathers were, whose
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carcases fell in the wilderness, and in this respect, worse, that then
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the children were reserved to be heirs of the land of promise, but now
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<I>I will not have mercy upon her children,</I> for <I>their mother has
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played the harlot.</I></P>
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<A NAME="Ho2_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho2_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Threatenings of Judgment.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 764.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and
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make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
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7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not
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overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find
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<I>them:</I> then shall she say, I will go and return to my first
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husband; for then <I>was it</I> better with me than now.
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8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,
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and multiplied her silver and gold, <I>which</I> they prepared for
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Baal.
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9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time
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thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my
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wool and my flax <I>given</I> to cover her nakedness.
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10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her
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lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
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11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days,
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her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
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12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she
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hath said, These <I>are</I> my rewards that my lovers have given me:
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and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall
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eat them.
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13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she
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burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings
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and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me,
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saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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God here goes on to threaten what he would do with this treacherous
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idolatrous people; and he warns that he may not wound, he threatens
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that he may not strike. <I>If he turn not, he will whet his sword</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+7:12">Ps. vii. 12</A>);
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but, if he turn, he will sheathe it. They did not turn, and therefore
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all this came upon them: and its being threatened before shows that it
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was the execution of a divine sentence upon them for their wickedness;
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and it is written for admonition to us.</P>
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<P>
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I. They shall be perplexed and embarrassed in all their counsels, and
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disappointed in all their expectations. This is threatened
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>.
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But to the threatening is annexed a promise that this shall be a means
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to convince them of their folly, and bring them home to their duty; and
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so good shall be brought out of evil, in token of the mercy God has yet
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in reserve for them. And, this being the happy fruit and effect of the
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distress, it is hard to say whether the prediction, or the distress
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itself, should be called a threatening or a promise.</P>
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<P>
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1. God will raise up difficulties and troubles in their way, so that
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their public counsels and affairs shall have no success, nor shall they
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be able to get forward in them: <I>I will hedge up thy way with
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thorns,</I> with such crosses as, like thorns and briers, are the
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product of sin and the curse, and are scratching, and tearing, and
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vexing, and, when the way we are in is hedged up with them, stop our
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progress, and force us to turn back. She said, "<I>I will go after my
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lovers;</I> I will pursue my leagues and alliances with foreign powers,
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and depend upon them." But God says, "She shall be frustrated in these
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projects, and not be able to proceed in them. <I>I will hedge up thy
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way with thorns,</I> and, if that do not serve, <I>I will make a
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wall.</I>" If some smaller difficulties be got over, and prevail not to
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break her measures, God will raise greater, for he will overcome when
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he judges. It shall be such a hedge, and such a wall, that <I>she shall
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not find her paths.</I> The change of the person here, I will hedge up
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<I>thy way,</I> and then, <I>She</I> shall not find <I>it,</I> is usual
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in scripture, especially in an earnest way of speaking. "Sinner, do
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thou take notice, <I>I will hedge up thy way,</I> and all you that are
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bystanders take notice what will be the effect of this, you may observe
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that <I>she</I> cannot find her paths." She shall be as a traveller
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that not only knows not which way to go, of many that are before him,
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but that finds no way at all to go forward. And then <I>she shall
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follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them;</I> she shall
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endeavour to make an interest in the Assyrians and Egyptians, and to
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have them for her protectors, but she shall not gain her point; they
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shall either not come into confederacy with her or not do her any
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service, shall <I>help in vain</I> and be as the <I>staff of a broken
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reed. She shall seek them, but shall not find them,</I> shall seek to
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her idols, but shall not find that satisfaction in them which she
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promised herself; the gods whom she trusted and courted not only can do
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nothing for her, but have nothing to say to her to encourage her. Now,
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(1.) This is such a just judgment as the Sodomites met with, that were
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<I>struck with blindness,</I> and <I>wearied themselves to find the
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door</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+19:11">Gen. xix. 11</A>),
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and the Syrians,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+6:18">2 Kings vi. 18</A>.
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Note, Those that are most resolute in their sinful pursuits are
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commonly most crossed in them. <I>Thorns and snares are in the way of
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the froward</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+22:5">Prov. xxii. 5</A>);
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and thus with them God <I>shows himself froward</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:26">Ps. xviii. 26</A>),
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and <I>walks contrary to those that walk contrary to him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:23,24">Lev. xxvi. 23, 24</A>.
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The lamenting prophet complains, <I>He has enclosed my ways,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:7,9">Lam. iii. 7, 9</A>.
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The way of God and duty is often hedged about with thorns, but we have
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reason to think it is a sinful way that is hedged up with thorns.
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(2.) This is such a kind rebuke, and indeed such a mercy, as Balaam met
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with, when the angel stood in his way, to hinder his going forward to
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<I>curse Israel,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+22:22">Num. xxii. 22</A>.
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Note, Crosses and obstacles in an evil course are great blessings, and
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are so to be accounted. They are God's hedges, to keep us from
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transgressing, to restrain us from wandering out of the green pastures,
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to <I>withdraw man from his purpose</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:17">Job xxxiii. 17</A>),
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to make the way of sin difficult, that we may not go on in it, and to
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keep us from it whether we will or not. We have reason to bless God
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both for restraining grace and for restraining providences.</P>
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<P>
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2. These difficulties that God raises up in their way shall raise up in
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their minds thoughts of turning back: "<I>Then shall she say,</I> Since
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I cannot overtake my lovers, I will even <I>go and return to my first
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husband,</I> that is, will return to God, and humble myself to him, and
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desire him to take me in again; for, when I kept close to him, it was
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every way <I>better with me than now.</I>" Two things are here extorted
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from this degenerate apostate people:--
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(1.) A just acknowledgement of the folly of their apostasy. They are
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now brought to own that it was better with them while they kept close
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to their God than ever it was since they forsook him. Note, Whoever
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have exchanged the service of God for the services of the world and the
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flesh have, sooner or later, been made to own that they <I>changed for
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the worse,</I> and that while they continued in good company, and went
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on in the way of good duties, and made conscience how they spent their
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time and what they said or did, it was better with them; they had more
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true comfort and enjoyment of themselves than ever they had since they
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went astray.
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(2.) A good purpose, to come back again to their duty: <I>I will go,
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and return to my first husband;</I> and she knows so much of his
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goodness and readiness to forgive that she speaks without any doubt of
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his receiving her again into favour and making her condition as good as
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ever. Note, The disappointments we meet with in our pursuits of
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satisfaction in the creature should, if nothing else will do it, drive
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us at length to the Creator, in whom alone it is to be had. When Moab
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is <I>weary of the high place</I> he shall <I>go to the sanctuary,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+16:12">Isa. xvi. 12</A>.
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And when the prodigal son is reduced to husks, short allowance indeed,
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and remembers that <I>in his father's house there is bread enough,</I>
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then he says, <I>I will arise and go to my father's house,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+15:17,18">Luke xv. 17, 18</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. The necessary supports and comforts of life shall be taken from
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them, because they had dishonoured God with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>.
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Their land was plenteous. Now see here,
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1. How graciously their plenty was given to them. God gave them not
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only corn for necessity, but wine for delight, and oil for ornament.
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Nay, he <I>multiplied their silver and gold,</I> wherewith to traffic
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with other nations and bring home their products, and which they might
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hoard up for posterity. <I>Silver and gold</I> will keep longer than
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<I>corn, and wine, and oil.</I> He gave them <I>wool</I> and
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<I>flax</I> too, to <I>cover their nakedness,</I> and to serve for
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ornament enough to them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:10">Ezek. xvi. 10</A>.
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Note, God is a bountiful benefactor even to those who, he foresees,
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will be ungrateful and unthankful to him.</P>
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<P>
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2. How basely their plenty was abused by them.
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(1.) They robbed God of the honour of his gifts: <I>She did not know
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that I gave her corn and wine;</I> she did not remember it. The law and
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the prophets had told them, again and again, that all their comforts
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they received from God's bountiful providence; but they were so often
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told by their false prophets and idolatrous priests that they had their
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corn from such an idol, and their wine from such an idol, &c., that
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|
they had quite forgotten their relation to their great benefactor and
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their obligations to him. She did not consider it; she would not
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acknowledge it. This they were <I>willingly ignorant of,</I> and more
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brutish than the ox, that <I>knows his owner,</I> and the <I>ass, that
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knows his master's crib. She did not know it,</I> for she did not
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return thanks to him for his gifts, nor study what she should render;
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nor did she give him his dues out of them, but acted as if she were
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ignorant who was the donor.
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(2.) They served and honoured his enemies with them: <I>They prepared
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them for Baal;</I> they adorned their images with <I>gold and
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silver</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+10:4">Jer. x. 4</A>),
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and adorned themselves for the worship of their images,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
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See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:17-19">Ezek. xvi. 17-19</A>.
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<I>Wherewith they made Baal</I> (so the margin reads it), that is, the
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image of Baal. Note, It is a very great dishonour to the God of heaven
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to make those gifts of his providence the food and fuel of our lusts
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|
which he gave us for our support in his service, and to be oil to the
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wheels of our obedience.</P>
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<P>
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3. How justly their plenty should be taken from them: "<I>Therefore
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will I return;</I> I will alter my dealings with them, will take
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another course, <I>and will take away my corn</I> and other good things
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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,
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|
when the tenant has committed waste, the landlord recovers <I>locum
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vastatum--dilapidations.</I> Observe, God calls their abundance <I>my
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corn</I> and <I>my wine, my wool</I> and <I>my flax.</I> They called it
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theirs (<I>my bread</I> and <I>my water,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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but God lets them know that it is not theirs; he only allowed them the
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use of it as tenants, entrusted them with the management of it as
|
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stewards, but still reserved the property in himself. "It is <I>my</I>
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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
|
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still an incontestable right and title to them, that they are more his
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|
than ours, and therefore are to be used for him, and accounted for to
|
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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
|
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he makes a feoffment of it as though he were a freeholder. He will
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<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>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:21">Rom. viii. 21</A>.
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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>
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<P>
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III. They shall lose <I>all their honour,</I> and be exposed to
|
|
contempt
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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|
"<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,
|
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|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:8">Lam. i. 8</A>,
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|
<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
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:1,2">Jer. vii. 1, 2</A>,
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|
|
<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>
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|
<P>
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|
IV. They shall lose all their pleasure, and shall be left melancholy
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
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|
<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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho2_23"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<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>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
|
|
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth,
|
|
and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou
|
|
shalt know the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
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;
|
|
22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the
|
|
oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
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when great multitudes both of Jews and Gentiles were, upon their
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believing in Christ, incorporated into a Christian church, then,
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1. God had mercy on those who <I>had not obtained mercy.</I> Those
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found favour with God, and became the children of his love, who had
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been long out of favour and the children of his wrath, and, if infinite
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mercy had not interposed, would have been for ever so. Note, God's
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mercy must not be despaired of any where on this side hell.
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2. He took those into a covenant-relation to himself who had been
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strangers and foreigners. He says to them, "<I>Thou art my people,</I>
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whom I will own and bless, protect and provide for;" and they shall
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say, "<I>Thou art my God,</I> whom I will serve and worship, and to
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whose honour I will be entirely and for ever devoted." Note,
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(1.) The sum total of the happiness of believers is the mutual relation
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that is between them and God, that he is theirs and they are his; this
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is the crown of all the promises.
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(2.) This relation is founded in free grace. We have not chosen him,
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but he has chosen us. He first says, They are my people, and makes them
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willing to be so in the day of his power, and then they avouch him to
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be theirs.
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(3.) As we need desire no more to make us happy than to be the people
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|
of God, so we need desire no more to make us easy and cheerful than to
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have him to assure us that we are so, to say unto us, by his Spirit
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witnessing with ours, <I>Thou art my people.</I>
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(4.) Those that have accepted the Lord for their God must avouch him to
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be so, must go to him in prayer and tell him so, <I>Thou art my
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God,</I> and must be ready to make profession before men.
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(5.) It adds to the comfort of our covenant with God that in it there
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is a communion of saints, who, though they <I>are many,</I> yet here
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|
are one. It is not, I will <I>say to them, You are my people,</I> but,
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<I>Thou</I> art; for he looks upon them as all <I>one in Christ,</I>
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and, as such in him, he speaks to them and covenants with them; and
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they also do not say, Thou art <I>our God,</I> for they look upon
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themselves as one body, and desire with one mind and one mouth to
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|
glorify him, and therefore say, <I>Thou art my God.</I> Or it intimates
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|
that such a covenant as God made of old with his people Israel, in
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|
general, now under the gospel he makes with particular believers, and
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says to <I>each of them,</I> even the meanest, with as much pleasure as
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he did of old to the <I>thousands of Israel, Thou art my people,</I>
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and invites and encourages each of them to say, <I>Thou art my God,</I>
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and to triumph therein, as Moses and all Israel did.
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+15:2">Exod. xv. 2</A>,
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He is <I>my God,</I> and my <I>father's God.</I></P>
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