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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. VII.</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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In this chapter we have,
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I. A general charge drawn up against Israel for those high crimes and
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misdemeanors by which they had obstructed the course of God's favours
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to them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. A particular accusation,
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1. Of the court--the king, princes, and judges,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:3-7">ver. 3-7</A>.
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2. Of the country. Ephraim is here charged with conforming to the
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nations
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:8">ver. 8</A>),
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senselessness and stupidity under the judgments of God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:9-11">ver. 9-11</A>),
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ingratitude to God for his mercies
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:13">ver. 13</A>),
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incorrigibleness under his judgments
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:14">ver. 14</A>),
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contempt of God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:15">ver. 15</A>),
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and hypocrisy in their pretences to return to him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:16">ver. 16</A>.
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They are also threatened with a severe chastisement, which shall humble
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them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:12">ver. 12</A>),
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and, if that prevail not, then with an utter destruction
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:13">ver. 13</A>),
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particularly their princes,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:16">ver. 16</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ho7_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho7_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho7_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho7_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho7_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho7_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho7_7"> </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>Charge Drawn up against Israel; The Crimes of the Princes.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 750.</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 When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim
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was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit
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falsehood; and the thief cometh in, <I>and</I> the troop of robbers
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spoileth without.
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2 And they consider not in their hearts <I>that</I> I remember all
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their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about;
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they are before my face.
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3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the
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princes with their lies.
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4 They <I>are</I> all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker,
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<I>who</I> ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until
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it be leavened.
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5 In the day of our king the princes have made <I>him</I> sick with
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bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
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6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles
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they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the
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morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
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7 They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges;
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all their kings are fallen: <I>there is</I> none among them that
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calleth unto me.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Some take away the last words of the foregoing chapter, and make them
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the beginning of this: "<I>When I returned,</I> or <I>would have
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returned, the captivity of my people,</I> when I was about to come
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towards them in ways of mercy, even <I>when I would have healed Israel,
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then the iniquity of Ephraim</I> (the country and common people) <I>was
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discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria,</I> the court and the chief
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city." Now, in these verses, we may observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. A general idea given of the present state of Israel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>.
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See how the case now stood with them.</P>
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<P>
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1. God graciously designed to do well for them: <I>I would have healed
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Israel.</I> Israel were sick and wounded; their disease was dangerous
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and malignant, and likely to be fatal,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:6">Isa. i. 6</A>.
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But God offered to be their physician, to undertake the cure, and there
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was balm in Gilead sufficient to recover the health of the daughter of
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his people; their case was bad, but it was not desperate, nay, it was
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hopeful, when God <I>would have healed Israel.</I>
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(1.) He would have reformed them, would have separated between them and
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their sins, would have purged out the corruptions that were among them,
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by his laws and prophets.
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(2.) He would have delivered them out of their troubles, and restored
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to them their peace and prosperity. Several healing attempts were
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made, and their declining state seemed sometimes to be in a hopeful way
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of recovery; but their own folly put them back again. Note, If sinful
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miserable souls be not healed and helped, but perish in their sin and
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misery, they cannot lay the blame on God, for he both could and
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<I>would have healed them;</I> he offered to take the ruin under his
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hand. And there are some special seasons when God manifests his
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readiness to heal a distempered church and nation, now and then a
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hopeful crisis, which, if carefully watched and improved, might, even
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when the case is very bad, turn the scale for life and health.</P>
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<P>
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2. They stood in their own light and put a bar in their own door. When
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God <I>would have healed them,</I> when they bade fair for reformation
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and peace, then their <I>iniquity</I> was <I>discovered</I> and their
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<I>wickedness,</I> which stopped that current of God's favours, and
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undid all again.
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(1.) <I>Then,</I> when their case came to be examined and enquired
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into, in order to their cure, that wickedness which had been concealed
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and palliated was <I>found out;</I> not that it was ever hid from God,
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but he speaks after the manner of men; as a surgeon, when he probes a
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wound in order to the cure of it and finds that it touches the vitals
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and is incurable, goes no further in his endeavour to cure it, so, when
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God <I>came down to see</I> the case of Israel (as the expression is,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+18:21">Gen. xviii. 21</A>),
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with kind intentions towards them, he found their wickedness so very
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flagrant, and them so hardened in it, so impudent and impenitent, that
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he could not in honour show them the favour he designed them. Note,
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Sinners are not healed because they would not be healed. Christ
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<I>would have gathered</I> them, and they <I>would not.</I>
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(2.) <I>Then,</I> when some endeavours were used to reform and reclaim
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them, that wickedness which had been restrained and kept under <I>broke
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out;</I> and from God's steps towards the healing of them they took
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occasion to be so much the more provoking. When endeavours were used to
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reform them vice grew more impetuous, more outrageous, and swelled so
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much the higher, as a stream when it is damned up. When they began to
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prosper they grew more proud, wanton, and secure, and so stopped the
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progress of their cure. Note, It is sin that turns away good things
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from us when they are coming towards us; and it is the folly and ruin
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of multitudes that, when God would do well for them, they do ill for
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themselves. And what was it that did them this mischief? In one word,
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<I>they commit falsehood;</I> they worship idols (so some), defraud one
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another (so others), or, rather, they dissemble with God in their
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professions of repentance and regard to him. They say that they are
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desirous to be healed by him, and, in order to that, willing to be
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ruled by him; but they <I>lie unto him with their mouth and flatter him
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with their tongue.</I></P>
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<P>
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3. A practical disbelief of God's omniscience and government was at the
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bottom of all their wickedness
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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"<I>They consider not in their hearts,</I> they never say it to their
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own hearts, never think of this, <I>that I remember all their
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wickedness.</I>" As if God could not see it, though he is all eye, or
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did not heed it, though his name is Jealous, or had forgotten it,
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though he is an eternal mind that can never be unmindful, or would not
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reckon for it, though he is the <I>Judge of heaven and earth.</I> This
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is the sinner's atheism; as good say that there is <I>no God</I> as say
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that he is either ignorant or forgetful, that there is <I>none that
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judges in the earth</I> as that he remembers not the things he is to
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give judgment upon. It is a high affront they put upon God; it is a
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damning cheat they put upon themselves; they say, <I>The Lord shall not
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see,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+94:7">Ps. xciv. 7</A>.
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They cannot but know that <I>God remembers all their works;</I> they
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have been told it many a time; nay, if you ask them, they cannot but
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own it, and yet they do not <I>consider it;</I> they do not think of it
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when they should, and with application to themselves and their own
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works, else they would not, they durst not, do as they do. But the time
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will come when those who thus deceive themselves shall be undeceived:
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"<I>Now their own doings have beset them about,</I> that is, they have
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come at length to such a pitch of wickedness that their sins appear on
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every side of them; all their neighbours see how bad they are, and can
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they think that God does not see it?" Or, rather, "The punishment of
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their doings besets them about; they are surrounded and embarrassed
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with troubles, so that they cannot get out, by which it appears that
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the sins they smart for are <I>before my face,</I> not only that I have
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seen them, but that I am displeased at them;" for, till God by
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pardoning our sins has cast them behind his back, they are still before
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his face. Note, Sooner or later, God will convince those who do not now
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consider it that he <I>remembers all their works.</I></P>
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<P>
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4. God had begun to contend with them by his judgments, in earnest of
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what was further coming: <I>The thief comes in, and the troop of
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robbers spoils without.</I> Some take this as an instance of their
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wickedness, that they robbed and spoiled one another. <I>Nec hospes ab
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hospite tutus--The host and the guest stand in fear of each other.</I>
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It seems rather to be a punishment of their sin; they were infested
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with secret thieves among themselves, that robbed their houses and
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shops and picked their pockets, and <I>troops of robbers,</I> foreign
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invaders, that with open violence <I>spoiled abroad;</I> so far was
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Israel from being healed that they had fresh wounds given them daily by
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robbers and spoilers; and all this the effect of sin, all to punish
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them for robbing God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+42:24,Mal+3:8,11">Isa. xlii. 24; Mal. iii. 8, 11</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. A particular account of the sins of the court, of the king and
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princes, and those about them, and the tokens of God's displeasure that
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they were under for them.</P>
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<P>
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1. Their king and princes were pleased with the wickedness and
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profaneness of their subjects, who were emboldened thereby to be so
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much them ore wicked
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>They make the king and princes glad with their wickedness.</I> It
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pleased them to see the people conform to their wicked laws and
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examples, in the worship of their idols, and other instances of impiety
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and immorality, and to hear them flatter and applaud them in their
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wicked ways. When Herod saw that his wickedness pleased the people he
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proceeded further in it, much more will the people do so when they see
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that it pleases the prince,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+12:3">Acts xii. 3</A>.
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Particularly, they made them glad <I>with their lies,</I> with the
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lying praises with which they crowned the favourites of the prince and
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the lying calumnies and censures with which they blackened those whom
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they knew the princes had a dislike to. Those who show themselves
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pleased with slanders and ill-natured stories shall never want those
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about them who will fill their ears with such stories.
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+29:12">Prov. xxix. 12</A>,
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<I>If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked,</I> and
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will make him glad with their lies.</P>
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<P>
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2. Drunkenness and revelling abound much at the court,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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The <I>day of our king</I> was a merry day with them, either his
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birth-day or his inauguration-day, of which it is probable that they
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had an anniversary observation, or perhaps it was some holiday of his
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appointing, which was therefore called <I>his day;</I> on that day the
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princes met to drink the king's health, and got him among them, to be
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merry, and <I>made him sick with bottles of wine.</I> It should seem
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the king did not ordinarily drink to excess, but he was not upon a high
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day brought to it by the artifices of the princes, tempted by the
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goodness of the wine, the gaiety of the company, or the healths they
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urged; and so little was he used to it that it <I>made him sick;</I>
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and it is justly charged as a crime, as <I>crimen læsæ
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majestatis--treason,</I> upon those who thus imposed upon him and
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<I>made him sick;</I> nor would it serve for an excuse that it was
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<I>the day of their king,</I> but was rather an aggravation of the
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crime, that, whey they pretended to do him honour, they dishonoured him
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to the highest degree. If it is a great affront and injury to a common
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person to make him drunk, and there is a woe to those that do it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:15">Hab. ii. 15</A>),
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much more to a crowned head; for the greater any man's dignity is the
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greater disgrace it is to him to be drunk. <I>It is not for kings, O
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Lemuel! it is not for kings, to drink wine,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+31:4,5">Prov. xxxi. 4, 5</A>.
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See what a prejudice the sin of drunkenness is to a man, to a king.
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(1.) In his health; it <I>made him sick.</I> It is a force upon nature;
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and strange it is by what charms men, otherwise rational enough, can be
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drawn to that which besides the offence it gives to God, and the damage
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it does to their spiritual and eternal welfare, is a present disorder
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and distemper to their own bodies.
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(2.) In his honour; for, when he was thus intoxicated, he <I>stretched
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out his hand with scorners;</I> then he that was entrusted with the
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government of a kingdom lost the government of himself, and so far
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forgot,
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[1.] The dignity of a king that he made himself familiar with players
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and buffoons, and those whose company was a scandal.
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[2.] The duty of a king that he joined in confederacy with atheists,
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and the profane scoffers at religion, whom he ought to have silenced
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and put to shame; he <I>sat in the seat of the scornful,</I> of those
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that had arrived at the highest pitch of impiety; he struck in with
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them, said as they said, did as they did, and exerted his power, and
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<I>stretched forth the hand</I> of his government, in concurrence with
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them. Goodness and good men are often made <I>the song of the
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drunkards</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+69:12,Ps+35:16">Ps. lxix. 12; xxxv. 16</A>);
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but <I>woe unto thee, O land!</I> when <I>thy king is such a child</I>
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as to <I>stretch forth his hand</I> with those that make them so,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+10:16">Eccl. x. 16</A>.</P>
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<P>
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3. Adultery and uncleanness prevailed much among the courtiers. This is
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spoken of
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:4,6,7"><I>v.</I> 4, 6, 7</A>,
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and the charge of drunkenness comes in in the midst of this article;
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for wine is oil to the fire of lust,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+23:33">Prov. xxiii. 33</A>.
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Those that are inflamed with fleshly lusts, that are <I>adulterers</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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are here again and again compared to an oven heated by the baker
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They have made ready their heart like an oven</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>they are all hot as an oven,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) An unclean heart is like an oven heated; and the unclean lusts and
|
|
affections of it are as the fuel that makes it hot. It is an inward
|
|
fire, it keeps the heat within itself; so adulterers and fornicators
|
|
secretly <I>burn in lust,</I> as the expression is,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:27">Rom. i. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
The heat of the oven is an intense heat, especially as it is here
|
|
described; he that heats it <I>stirs up</I> the fire, and <I>ceases not
|
|
from raising</I> it up, till the bread is ready to be put in, being
|
|
<I>kneaded</I> and <I>leavened,</I> all which only signifies that they
|
|
are like an oven when it is at the hottest; nay, when it is <I>too hot
|
|
for the baker</I> (so the learned Dr. Pocock), when it is <I>hotter
|
|
than he would have it,</I> so that the raiser up of the fire ceases as
|
|
long as while the dough that is kneaded is in the fermenting, that the
|
|
heat may abate a little. Thus fiery hot are the lusts of an unclean
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The unclean wait for an opportunity to compass their wicked
|
|
desires; having made ready their heart like an oven, they lie in wait
|
|
to catch their prey. <I>The eye of the adulterer waits for the
|
|
twilight,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+24:15">Job xxiv. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Their baker sleeps all the night, but in the morning it burns as a
|
|
flaming fire.</I> As the baker, having kindled a fire in his oven and
|
|
laid sufficient fuel to it, goes to bed, and sleeps all night, and in
|
|
the morning finds his oven well heated, and ready for his purpose, so
|
|
these wicked people, when they have laid some wicked plot, and formed a
|
|
design for the gratifying of some covetous, ambitious, revengeful, or
|
|
unclean lusts, have their hearts so fully set in them to do evil that,
|
|
though they may stifle them for a while, yet the fire of corrupt
|
|
affections is still glowing within, and, as soon as ever there is an
|
|
opportunity for it, their purposes which they have compassed and
|
|
imagined break out into overt acts, as a fire flames out when it has
|
|
vent given it. Thus <I>they are all hot as an oven.</I> Note, Lust in
|
|
the heart is like fire in an oven, puts it into a heat; but the day is
|
|
coming when those who thus make themselves like a fiery oven with their
|
|
own vile affections, if that fire be not extinguished by divine grace,
|
|
shall be made as a fiery oven by divine wrath
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:9">Ps. xxi. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
when <I>the day comes</I> that shall <I>burn as an oven,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+4:1">Mal. iv. 1</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. They resist the proper methods of reformation and redress: <I>They
|
|
have devoured their judges,</I> those few good judges that were among
|
|
them, that would have put out these fires with which they were heated;
|
|
they fell foul upon them, and would not suffer them to do justice, but
|
|
were ready to stone them, and perhaps did so; or, as some think, they
|
|
provoked God to deprive them of the blessing of magistracy and to leave
|
|
all in confusion: <I>All their kings</I> have <I>fallen</I> one after
|
|
another, and their families with them, which could not but put the
|
|
kingdom into confusion, crumble it into contending parties, and
|
|
occasion a great deal of bloodshed. There are heart-burnings among
|
|
them; they are <I>hot as an oven</I> with rage and malice at one
|
|
another, and this occasions the <I>devouring of their judges,</I> the
|
|
<I>falling</I> of their <I>kings. For the transgressions of a land many
|
|
are the princes thereof,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+28:2">Prov. xxviii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
But in the midst of all this trouble and disorder <I>there is none
|
|
among them that calls unto God,</I> that sees his hand stretched out
|
|
against them in these judgments, and deprecates the strokes of it,
|
|
none, or next to none, that stir up themselves to take hold on God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:7">Isa. lxiv. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Those are not only heated with sin, but hardened in sin, that
|
|
continue to live without prayer even when they are in trouble and
|
|
distress.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_8"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ho7_16"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Crimes of the People; Infatuation of Ephraim; Ephraim's Obstinate Rebellion; Ephraim's Hypocrisy.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 750.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>8 Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a
|
|
cake not turned.
|
|
9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth <I>it</I>
|
|
not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth
|
|
not.
|
|
10 And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do
|
|
not return to the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> their God, nor seek him for all this.
|
|
11 Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call
|
|
to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
|
|
12 When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will
|
|
bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them,
|
|
as their congregation hath heard.
|
|
13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto
|
|
them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have
|
|
redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
|
|
14 And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they
|
|
howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and
|
|
wine, <I>and</I> they rebel against me.
|
|
15 Though I have bound <I>and</I> strengthened their arms, yet do
|
|
they imagine mischief against me.
|
|
16 They return, <I>but</I> not to the most High: they are like a
|
|
deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage
|
|
of their tongue: this <I>shall be</I> their derision in the land of
|
|
Egypt.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Having seen how vicious and corrupt the court was, we now come to
|
|
enquire how it is with the country, and we find that to be no better;
|
|
and no marvel if the distemper that has so seized the head affect the
|
|
whole body, so that there is <I>no soundness</I> in it; the <I>iniquity
|
|
of Ephraim is discovered,</I> as well as <I>the sin of Samaria,</I> of
|
|
the people as well as the princes, of which here are divers
|
|
instances.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. They were not peculiar and entire for God, as they should have been,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
1. They did not distinguish themselves from the heathen, as God had
|
|
distinguished them: <I>Ephraim, he has mingled himself among the
|
|
people,</I> has associated with them, and conformed himself to them,
|
|
and has in a manner confounded himself with them and lost his character
|
|
among them. God had said, <I>The people shall dwell alone;</I> but they
|
|
<I>mingled themselves with the heathen and learned their works,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:35">Ps. xvi. 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
They went up and down among the heathen, to beg help of one of them
|
|
against another (so some); whereas, if they had kept close to God, they
|
|
would not have needed the help of any of them.
|
|
|
|
2. They were not entirely devoted to God: <I>Ephraim is a cake not
|
|
turned,</I> and so is burnt on one side and dough on the other side,
|
|
but good for nothing on either side. As in Ahab's time, so now, they
|
|
<I>halted between God and Baal;</I> sometimes they seemed zealous for
|
|
God, but at other times as hot for Baal. Note, It is sad to think how
|
|
many, who, after a sort, profess religion, are made up of contraries
|
|
and inconsistencies, <I>as a cake not turned,</I> a constant
|
|
self-contradiction, and always in one extreme or the other.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. They were strangely insensible of the judgments of God, which they
|
|
were under, and which threatened their ruin,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The condition they were in. God was not to them, in his judgments,
|
|
as <I>a moth</I> and as <I>rottenness;</I> they were silently and
|
|
slowly drawing towards the ruin of their state partly by the
|
|
encroachments of foreigners upon them: <I>Strangers have devoured his
|
|
strength,</I> and eaten him up; they have wasted his wealth and
|
|
treasure, lessened his numbers, and consumed the fruits of the earth.
|
|
Some devoured them by open wars (as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+13:7">2 Kings xiii. 7</A>,
|
|
|
|
when the king of Syria made them <I>like the dust by threshing</I>),
|
|
others by pretending treaties of peace and amity, in which they
|
|
extorted abundance of wealth from them, and made them pay dearly for
|
|
that which did them no good, but which afterwards they paid more dearly
|
|
for, as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+16:9">2 Kings xvi. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
This Ephraim got by mingling with the heathen, and suffering them to
|
|
mingle with him; they devoured that which he rested upon and supported
|
|
himself with. Note, Those that make not God their strength
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+52:7">Ps. lii. 7</A>)
|
|
|
|
make that their strength which will soon be devoured by strangers. They
|
|
were thus reduced partly by their own mal-administrations among
|
|
themselves: <I>Yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him</I> (are
|
|
<I>sprinkled</I> upon him, so the word is), that is, the sad symptoms
|
|
of a decaying declining state, which is <I>waxing old</I> and <I>ready
|
|
to vanish away,</I> and the effects of trouble and vexation. <I>Cura
|
|
facit canos--Care turns gray.</I> The <I>almond-tree</I> does not as
|
|
yet <I>flourish,</I> but it begins to turn colour, which speaks aloud
|
|
to him that the <I>evil days</I> are coming, and the <I>years of which
|
|
he shall say, I have no pleasure in them,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+12:1,5">Eccl. xii. 1, 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. Their regardlessness of these warnings: <I>He knows it not;</I> he
|
|
is not aware of the hand of God gone out against him; it is lifted up,
|
|
but he <I>will not see,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+26:11">Isa. xxvi. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
He does not know how near his ruin is, and takes no care to prevent it.
|
|
Note, Stupidity under less judgments is a presage of greater
|
|
coming.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. They went on frowardly in their wicked ways, and were not
|
|
reclaimed by the rebukes they were under
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The pride of Israel</I> still <I>testifies to his face,</I> as it
|
|
had done before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+5:5"><I>ch.</I> v. 5</A>);
|
|
|
|
under humbling providences their hearts were still unhumbled, their
|
|
lusts unmortified; and it is <I>through the pride of their
|
|
countenance</I> that they <I>will not seek after God</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+10:4">Ps. x. 4</A>);
|
|
|
|
they <I>do not return to the Lord their God</I> by repentance and
|
|
reformation, <I>nor do they seek him</I> by faith and prayer <I>for all
|
|
this;</I> though they suffer for going astray from him, though it can
|
|
never be well with them till they come back to him, and though they
|
|
have in vain sought to others for relief, yet they think not of
|
|
applying to God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. They were infatuated in their counsels, and took very wrong methods
|
|
when they were in distress
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart.</I> To be harmless as a
|
|
dove, without gall, and not to hurt or injure others, is commendable;
|
|
but to be sottish as a dove, without heart, that knows not how to
|
|
defend herself and provide for her own safety, is a shame.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The silliness of this dove is,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That she laments not the loss of her young that are taken from
|
|
her, but will make her nest again in the same place; so they have their
|
|
people carried away by the enemy, and are not affected with it, but
|
|
continue their dealings with those that deal barbarously with them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That she is easily enticed by the bait into the net, and has <I>no
|
|
heart,</I> no understanding, to discern her danger, as many other fowls
|
|
do,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+1:17">Prov. i. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
She <I>hastes to the snare, and knows not that it is for her life</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+7:23">Prov. vii. 23</A>);
|
|
|
|
so they were drawn into leagues with neighbouring nations that were
|
|
their ruin.
|
|
|
|
(3.) That, when she is frightened, she has not courage to stay in the
|
|
dove-house, where she is safe, and under the careful protection of her
|
|
owner, but flutters and hovers, seeking shelter first in one place,
|
|
then in another, and thereby exposes herself so much the more; so this
|
|
people, when they were in distress, sought not to God, did not fly
|
|
<I>like the doves to their windows</I> where they might have been
|
|
secured from all the birds of prey that struck at them, but threw
|
|
themselves out of God's protection, and then <I>called to Egypt</I> to
|
|
help them, and went in all haste <I>to Assyria,</I> to seek for that
|
|
aid in vain which they might, by repentance and prayer, have found
|
|
nearer home, in their God. Note, It is a silly senseless thing for
|
|
those who have a God in heaven to trust to creatures for the refuge and
|
|
relief which are to be had in him only; and those that do so are a
|
|
<I>people of no understanding,</I> they are <I>without heart.</I>
|
|
Now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. See what becomes of this <I>silly dove</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>When they shall go</I> to Egypt and Assyria, <I>I will spread my net
|
|
upon them.</I> Note, Those that will not abide by the mercy of God must
|
|
expect to be pursued by the justice of God. Here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) They are ensnared: "<I>I will spread my net upon them,</I> bring
|
|
them into straits, that they may see their folly and think of
|
|
returning." Note, It is common for those that go away from God to find
|
|
snares where they expected shelters.
|
|
|
|
(2.) They are humbled; they soar upward, proud of their foreign
|
|
alliances and confiding in them; but <I>I will bring them down,</I> let
|
|
them fly ever so high, <I>as the fowls of heaven,</I> that are shot
|
|
flying. Note, God can and will <I>bring those down</I> that <I>exalt
|
|
themselves as the eagle,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ob+1:3,4">Obad. 3, 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
(3.) They are made to smart for their folly: <I>I will chastise
|
|
them.</I> Note, The disappointments we meet with in the creature, when
|
|
we put a confidence in it, are a necessary chastisement, or discipline,
|
|
that we may learn to be wiser another time.
|
|
|
|
(4.) In all this the scripture is fulfilled. It is <I>as their
|
|
congregation has heard;</I> they have been many a time told by the word
|
|
of God, read, and preached, and sung, in their religious assemblies,
|
|
that "<I>vain is the help of man,</I> that <I>in the son of man there
|
|
is no help;</I> they have heard both from the law and from the prophets
|
|
what judgments God would bring upon them for their wickedness; and
|
|
<I>as they have heard</I> now <I>they shall see,</I> they shall feel."
|
|
Note, It concerns us to take notice of the word of God which we hear
|
|
from time to time <I>in the congregation,</I> and to be governed by it,
|
|
for we must shortly be judged by it; and it will justify God in the
|
|
condemnation of sinners, and aggravate it to them, that they have had
|
|
plain public warning given them of it; it is what their congregation
|
|
has heard many a time, but they would not take warning. "<I>Son,
|
|
remember</I> thou wast told what would come of it; and now thou seest
|
|
they were not vain words." See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+1:6">Zech. i. 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. They revolted from God and rebelled against him, notwithstanding the
|
|
various methods he took to retain them in their allegiance,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:13-15"><I>v.</I> 13-15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. How kindly and tenderly God had dealt with them, as a gracious
|
|
sovereign towards a people dear unto him, and whose prosperity he had
|
|
much at heart. He had <I>redeemed them</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
brought them, at first, out of the land of Egypt, and, since, delivered
|
|
them out of many a distress. He had <I>bound and strengthened their
|
|
arms,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
When their power was weakened, like an arm broken or out of joint, God
|
|
set it again, and bound it, as a surgeon does a broken bone, to make it
|
|
knit. God had given Israel victories over the Syrians
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+13:16,17">2 Kings xiii. 16, 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
had <I>restored their coast</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+14:25,26">2 Kings xiv. 25, 26</A>),
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had <I>girded them with strength for battle.</I> "Though <I>I have
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chastened</I> them" (so the margin reads it), "sometimes corrected them
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for their faults and thereby taught them, at other times
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<I>strengthened their arms</I> and relieved them, though I have used
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both fair means and foul to work upon them, it was all to no purpose;
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they were mercy-proof and judgment-proof."</P>
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<P>
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2. How impudent their conduct had been towards him notwithstanding,
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which is described here for the conviction and humiliation of all those
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who have gone on in any way of wickedness, that they may see how
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exceedingly sinful their sin is, how heinous, how the God of heaven
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|
interprets it, how he resents it.
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(1.) He had courted them to him, and taken them into covenant with
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himself; but <I>they fled from him,</I> as if he had been their
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dangerous enemy who had always approved himself their faithful friend.
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They wandered from him, as the silly dove from her nest, for those who
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|
forsake God will find no rest nor settlement in the creature, but
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|
wander endlessly. They fled from God when they forsook the worship of
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|
him, and ran away from his service, and withdrew themselves from their
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|
allegiance to him.
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(2.) He had given them his laws, which were all holy, just, and good,
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|
by which he designed to keep them in the right way; but they
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<I>transgressed against him;</I> they sinned with a high hand and a
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|
stiff neck, wilfully and presumptuously (so the words signifies); they
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|
broke through the fence of the divine law, and therein thwarted the
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design of the divine love.
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(3.) He had made known his truths to them, and given them all possible
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|
proofs of the sincerity of his good-will to them; and yet they <I>spoke
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lies against him.</I> They set up false gods in competition with him;
|
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they denied his providence and power; thus they <I>belied the Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:12">Jer. v. 12</A>.
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They rejected his messages sent them by his prophets, and said that
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they should have peace, though they went on in sin, directly against
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what he said. In their hypocritical professions of religion, shows of
|
|
devotion, and promises of amendment, they lied to the Lord, which he
|
|
took as lying against him.
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(4.) He was their rightful Lord and King, and had always ruled in Jacob
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with equity, and for the public good; and yet they <I>rebelled against
|
|
him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
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They not only went off from him, but took up arms against him, would
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have deposed him if they could and set up another.
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(5.) He designed well for them, but they <I>imagined mischief against
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|
him,</I>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
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Sin is a mischievous thin; it is mischief against God, for it is
|
|
treason against his crown and dignity; not that the sinners can do any
|
|
thing to hurt their Creator (as one of the ancients observes on these
|
|
words), but <I>what they can they do;</I> and it is so much the worse
|
|
when it is not done by surprise, or through inadvertency, but
|
|
designedly and with contrivance. The Jews have a saying, which Dr.
|
|
Pocock quotes here, <I>The thoughts of transgression are worse than the
|
|
transgression.</I> The designing of mischief is doing it, in God's
|
|
account. <I>Compassing and imagining</I> the death of the king is
|
|
treason by our law. Those that imagine an evil thing, though it prove a
|
|
vain thing
|
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:1">Ps. ii. 1</A>),
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will be reckoned with for the imagination.</P>
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|
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<P>
|
|
|
|
3. How they shall be punished for this
|
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Woe unto them! for they have fled from me.</I> Note, Those who flee
|
|
from God have woes sent after them, and are, without doubt, in a woeful
|
|
case. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against them; the word
|
|
of God says, <I>Woe to them!</I> And observe what follows immediately,
|
|
<I>Destruction unto them!</I> Note, The woes of God's word have real
|
|
effects; destruction makes them good. The judgments of his hand shall
|
|
verify the judgments of his mouth. Those whom he curses, and
|
|
pronounces woeful, they are cursed, they are woeful indeed.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. Their shows of devotion and reformation were but shows, and in them
|
|
they did but mock God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They pretended devotion, but it was not sincere,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
When the hand of God had gone forth against them they made some sort of
|
|
application to him. <I>When he slew them, then they sought him. Lord,
|
|
in trouble have they visited thee.</I> But it was all in hypocrisy.
|
|
|
|
(1.) When they were under personal troubles, and called upon God in
|
|
secret, they were not sincere in that: <I>They have not cried unto me
|
|
with their heart, when they howled upon their beds.</I> When they were
|
|
<I>chastened with pain upon their beds,</I> and the <I>multitude of
|
|
their bones with strong pains,</I> perhaps ill of the wounds they
|
|
received in war, they cried, and groaned, and complained in the forms
|
|
of devotion, and, it may be, they used many good words, proper enough
|
|
for the circumstances they were in; they cried, <I>God help us,</I>
|
|
and, <I>Lord, look upon us.</I> But they did not <I>cry with their
|
|
heart,</I> and therefore God reckons it as no crying to him. Moses is
|
|
said to <I>cry unto God</I> when he spoke not a word, only his heart
|
|
prayed with faith and fervency,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+14:15">Exod. xiv. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
These made a great noise, and said a great deal, and yet did not <I>cry
|
|
to God,</I> because their hearts were not <I>right with him,</I> not
|
|
subjected to his will, devoted to his honour, nor employed in his
|
|
service. To pray is to <I>lift up the soul</I> to God, this is the
|
|
essence of prayer. If this be not done, <I>words,</I> though ever so
|
|
well chosen, <I>are but wind;</I> but, if it be, it is an acceptable
|
|
prayer, though the <I>groanings cannot be uttered.</I> Note, Those do
|
|
not pray to God at all that do not pray <I>in the spirit.</I> Nay, God
|
|
is so far from approving their prayer and accepting it that he calls it
|
|
<I>howling.</I> Some think it intimates the <I>noisiness</I> of their
|
|
prayers (they cried to God as they used to cry to Baal, when they
|
|
thought he must be awakened), or the brutish violent passions which
|
|
they vented in their prayers; they snarled at the stone, and howled
|
|
under the whip, but regarded not the hand. Or it denotes that their
|
|
hypocritical prayers were so far from being pleasing to God that they
|
|
were offensive to him; he <I>was angry at their prayers.</I> The
|
|
<I>songs of the temple shall be howlings,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:3">Amos viii. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
God will be so far from pitying them that he will justly <I>laugh at
|
|
their calamity,</I> who have so often laughed at his authority.
|
|
|
|
(2.) When they were under public troubles, and met together to implore
|
|
God's favour, in that also they were hypocritical; they <I>assembled
|
|
themselves,</I> for fashion-sake, because it was usual to <I>call a
|
|
solemn assembly</I> in times of general mourning,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+2:1">Zeph. ii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
But it was only to pray <I>for corn and wine</I> that they came
|
|
together, which were the things they wanted, and feared being deprived
|
|
of by the want of rain, the judgment they now laboured under. They did
|
|
not pray for the favour or grace of God, that God would give them
|
|
repentance, pardon their sins, and turn away his wrath, but only that
|
|
he would not take away from them <I>their corn and wine.</I> Note,
|
|
Carnal hearts, in their prayers to God, covet temporal mercies only,
|
|
and dread and deprecate no other but temporal judgments, for they have
|
|
no sense of any other.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They pretended reformation, but neither was that sincere,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The sin of Israel: <I>They return,</I> that is, they make as if
|
|
they would return; they pretend to repent and amend their doings, but
|
|
they make nothing of it; they do not come home to God nor return to
|
|
their allegiance, whereas God says
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+4:1">Jer. iv. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>If thou wilt return, O Israel! return to me;</I> do not only <I>turn
|
|
towards me,</I> but <I>return to me.</I> This dissimulation of theirs
|
|
makes them like a <I>deceitful bow,</I> which looks as if it were fit
|
|
for business, and is bent and drawn accordingly, but, when strength
|
|
comes to be laid to it, either the bow or the string breaks, and the
|
|
arrow, instead of flying to the mark, drops at the archer's foot. Such
|
|
were their essays towards repentance and reformation.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The sin of the princes of Israel. That which is charged upon them
|
|
is <I>the rage of their tongue,</I> quarrelling with God and his
|
|
providence and with all about them when they are crossed. Princes think
|
|
they may say what they will, and that it is their prerogative to huff
|
|
and bluster, to curse and rail, and to call names at their pleasure,
|
|
but let them know there is a God above them that will call them to an
|
|
account for the <I>rage of their tongues</I> and make <I>their own
|
|
tongues to fall upon them.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) The punishment of Israel and their princes for their sin. As for
|
|
the princes, they shall <I>fall by the sword</I> either of their
|
|
enemies or of their own people, some by one and some by the other; and
|
|
<I>this shall be their derision,</I> this is that for which they shall
|
|
be derided <I>in the land of Egypt,</I> when they flee to the Egyptians
|
|
for succour,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their sin and punishment shall make them a laughing-stock to all about
|
|
them. Note, Those that are treacherous and deceitful in their dealings
|
|
with God, and passionate and outrageous in their conduct towards men,
|
|
will justly be made a derision to their neighbours, for they make
|
|
themselves ridiculous.</P>
|
|
|
|
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