mh_parser/vol_split/28 - Hosea/Chapter 1.xml

<div2 id="Hos.ii" n="ii" next="Hos.iii" prev="Hos.i" progress="74.10%" title="Chapter I">
<h2 id="Hos.ii-p0.1">H O S E A.</h2>
<h3 id="Hos.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Hos.ii-p1" shownumber="no">The mind of God is revealed to this prophet, and
by him to the people, in the first three chapters, by signs and
types, but afterwards only by discourse. In this chapter we have,
I. The general title of the whole book, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.1" parsed="|Hos|1|1|0|0" passage="Ho 1:1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. Some particular instructions which
he was ordered to give to the people of God. 1. He must convince
them of their sin in going a whoring from God, by marrying a wife
of whoredoms, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.2-Hos.1.3" parsed="|Hos|1|2|1|3" passage="Ho 1:2,3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>. 2.
He must foretel the ruin coming upon them for their sin, in the
names of his sons, which signified God's disowning and abandoning
them, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.4-Hos.1.6 Bible:Hos.1.8 Bible:Hos.1.9" parsed="|Hos|1|4|1|6;|Hos|1|8|0|0;|Hos|1|9|0|0" passage="Ho 1:4-6,8,9">ver. 4-6, 8, 9</scripRef>.
3. He must speak comfortable to the kingdom of Judah, which still
retained the pure worship of God, and assure them of the salvation
of the Lord, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.7" parsed="|Hos|1|7|0|0" passage="Ho 1:7">ver. 7</scripRef>. 4. He
must give an intimation of the great mercy God had in store both
for Israel and Judah, in the latter days (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.10 Bible:Hos.1.1" parsed="|Hos|1|10|0|0;|Hos|1|1|0|0" passage="Ho 1:10,1">ver. 10, 11</scripRef>), for in this prophecy many
precious promises of mercy are mixed with the threatenings of
wrath.</p>
<scripCom id="Hos.ii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1" parsed="|Hos|1|0|0|0" passage="Ho 1" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Hos.ii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.1" parsed="|Hos|1|1|0|0" passage="Ho 1:1" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.ii-p1.8">
<h4 id="Hos.ii-p1.9">The Time of Hosea's
Prophecy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 768.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.ii-p2" shownumber="no">1 The word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p2.1">Lord</span> that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in
the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, <i>and</i> Hezekiah, kings of
Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of
Israel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p3" shownumber="no">1. Here is the prophet's name and surname;
which he himself, as other prophets, prefixes to his prophecy, for
the satisfaction of all that he is ready to attest what he writes
to be of God; he sets his hand to it, as that which he will stand
by. His name, <i>Hosea,</i> or <i>Hosea</i> (for it is the very
same with Joshua's original name), signifies a <i>saviour;</i> for
prophets were instruments of salvation to the people of God, so are
faithful ministers; they help to save many a soul from death, by
saving it from sin. his surname was <i>Ben-Beeri,</i> or <i>the son
of Beeri.</i> As with us now, so with them then, some had their
surname from their place, as Micah the Morashite, Nahum the
Elkoshite; others from their parents, as Joel the son of Bethuel,
and here Hosea the son of Beeri. And perhaps they made use of that
distinction when the eminence of their parents was such as would
bring honour upon them; but it is a groundless conceit of the Jews
that where a prophet's father is names he also was a prophet.
<i>Beeri</i> signifies a <i>well,</i> which may put us in mind of
the fountain of life and living waters from which prophets are
drawn and must be continually drawing. 2. Here are his authority
and commission: <i>The word of the Lord came to him. It was to
him;</i> it came with power and efficacy to him; it was revealed to
him as a real thing, and not a fancy or imagination of his own, in
some such way as God then discovered himself to his servants the
prophets. What he said and wrote was by divine inspiration; it was
<i>by the word of the Lord,</i> as St. Paul speaks concerning that
which he had purely by revelation, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.4.15" parsed="|1Thess|4|15|0|0" passage="1Th 4:15">1
Thess. iv. 15</scripRef>. Therefore this book was always received
among the canonical books of the Old Testament, which is confirmed
by what is quoted out of it in the New Testament, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.2.15 Bible:Matt.9.13 Bible:Matt.12.7 Bible:Rom.9.25-Rom.9.26 Bible:1Pet.2.10" parsed="|Matt|2|15|0|0;|Matt|9|13|0|0;|Matt|12|7|0|0;|Rom|9|25|9|26;|1Pet|2|10|0|0" passage="Mt 2:15,9:13,12:7,Ro 9:25,26,1Pe 2:10">Matt. ii. 15; ix.
13; xii. 7; Rom. ix. 25, 26; 1 Pet. ii. 10</scripRef>. For the word
of the Lord endures for ever. 3. Here is a particular account of
the times in which he prophesied—<i>in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the
son of Joash, king of Israel.</i> We have only this general date of
his prophecy; and not the date of any particular part of it, as,
before, in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and, afterwards,
in Haggai and Zechariah. Here is only one king of Israel named,
though there were many more within this time, because, having
mentioned the kings of Judah, there was no necessity of naming the
other; and, they being all wicked, he took no pleasure in naming
them, nor would do them the honour. Now by this account here given
of the several reigns in which Hosea prophesied (and it should seem
the word of the Lord still came to him, more or less, at times,
throughout all these reigns) it appears, (1.) That he prophesied a
long time, that he began when he was very young, which gave him the
advantage of strength and sprightliness, and that he continued at
his work till he was very old, which gave him the advantage of
experience and authority. It was a great honour to him to be thus
long employed in such good work, and a great mercy to the people to
have a minister so long among them that so well knew their state,
and naturally cared for it, one they had been long used to and who
therefore was the more likely to be useful to them. And yet, for
aught that appears, he did but little good among them; the longer
they enjoyed him the less they regarded him; they despised his
youth first, and afterwards his age. (2.) That he passed through a
variety of conditions. Some of these kings were very good, and, it
is likely, countenanced and encouraged him; others were very bad,
who (we may suppose) frowned upon him and discouraged him; and yet
he was still the same. God's ministers must expect to pass through
<i>honour and dishonour, evil report and good report,</i> and must
resolve in both to hold fast their integrity and keep close to
their work. (3.) That he began to prophesy at a time when the
judgments of God were abroad, when God was himself contending in a
more immediate way with that sinful people, who <i>fell into the
hands of the Lord,</i> before they were turned over <i>into the
hands of man;</i> for in the days of Uzziah, and of Jeroboam his
contemporary, the dreadful earthquake was, mentioned <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.14.5 Bible:Amos.1.1" parsed="|Zech|14|5|0|0;|Amos|1|1|0|0" passage="Zec 14:5,Am 1:1">Zech. xiv. 5 and Amos i. 1</scripRef>.
And then was the plague of locusts, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Joel.1.2-Joel.1.4 Bible:Amos.7.1 Bible:Hos.4.3" parsed="|Joel|1|2|1|4;|Amos|7|1|0|0;|Hos|4|3|0|0" passage="Joe 1:2-4,Am 7:1,Ho 4:3">Joel i. 2-4; Amos vii. 1; Hos. iv.
3</scripRef>. The rod of God is sent to enforce the word and the
word of God is sent to explain the rod, yet neither prevails till
God by his Spirit opens the ear to instruction and discipline. (4.)
That he began to prophesy in Israel at a time when their kingdom
was in a flourishing prosperous condition, for so it was in the
reign of Jeroboam the second, as we find <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.14.25" parsed="|2Kgs|14|25|0|0" passage="2Ki 14:25">2 Kings xiv. 25</scripRef>, <i>He restored the coast of
Israel,</i> and God <i>saved them by his hand;</i> yet then Hosea
boldly tells them of their sins and foretels their destruction. Men
are not to be flattered in their sinful ways because they prosper
in the world, but even then must be faithfully reproved, and
plainly told that their prosperity will not be their security, nor
will it last long if they <i>go on still in their
trespasses.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Hos.ii-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.2-Hos.1.7" parsed="|Hos|1|2|1|7" passage="Ho 1:2-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.ii-p3.7">
<h4 id="Hos.ii-p3.8">The Prophet's Marriage; Threatenings against
Israel; Intimation of Mercy to Judah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p3.9">b.
c.</span> 768.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.ii-p4" shownumber="no">2 The beginning of the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p4.1">Lord</span> by Hosea. And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p4.2">Lord</span> said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of
whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed
great whoredom, <i>departing</i> from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p4.3">Lord</span>.   3 So he went and took Gomer the
daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.   4
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p4.4">Lord</span> said unto him, Call his
name Jezreel; for yet a little <i>while,</i> and I will avenge the
blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease
the kingdom of the house of Israel.   5 And it shall come to
pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley
of Jezreel.   6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter.
And <i>God</i> said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will
no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly
take them away.   7 But I will have mercy upon the house of
Judah, and will save them by the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p4.5">Lord</span> their God, and will not save them by bow,
nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p5" shownumber="no">These words, <i>The beginning of the word
of the Lord by Hosea,</i> may refer either, 1. To that glorious set
of prophets which was raised up about this time. About this time
there lived and prophesied Joel, Amos, Micah, Jonah, Obadiah, and
Isaiah; but Hosea was the first of them that foretold the
destruction of Israel; the <i>beginning of this word of the Lord
was by him.</i> We read in the history of this Jeroboam here named
(<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.14.27" parsed="|2Kgs|14|27|0|0" passage="2Ki 14:27">2 Kings xiv. 27</scripRef>) that
<i>the Lord</i> had <i>not</i> yet <i>said</i> he would <i>blot out
the name of Israel,</i> but soon after he said he would, and Hosea
was the man that began to say it, which made it so much the harder
task to him, to be the first that should carry an unpleasing
message and some time before any were raised up to second him. Or,
rather, 2. To Hosea's own prophecies. This was the first message
God sent him upon to this people, to tell them that they were <i>an
evil and an adulterous generation.</i> He might have desired to be
excused from dealing so roughly with them till he had gained
authority and reputation, and some interest in their affections.
No; he must <i>begin with this,</i> that they might know what to
expect from a prophet of the Lord. Nay, he must not only preach
this to them, but he must write it, and publish it, and leave it
upon record as a witness against them. Now here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p6" shownumber="no">I. The prophet must, as it were in a
looking-glass, show them <i>their sin,</i> and show it to be
exceedingly sinful, exceedingly hateful. The prophet is ordered to
<i>take unto him a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.2" parsed="|Hos|1|2|0|0" passage="Ho 1:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. And he did so,
<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.3" parsed="|Hos|1|3|0|0" passage="Ho 1:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He married a
woman of ill fame, <i>Gomer the daughter of Diblaim,</i> not one
that had been married and had committed adultery, for then she must
have been put to death, but one that had lived scandalously in the
single state. To marry such a one was not <i>malum in se—evil in
itself,</i> but only <i>malum per accidens—incidentally an
evil,</i> not prudent, decent, or expedient, and therefore
forbidden to the priests, and which, if it were really done, would
be an affliction to the prophet (it is threatened as a curse on
Amaziah that his wife should be a harlot, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.17" parsed="|Amos|7|17|0|0" passage="Am 7:17">Amos vii. 17</scripRef>), but not a sin when God
commanded it for a holy end; nay, if commanded, it was his duty,
and he must trust God with his reputation. But most commentators
think that it was done <i>in vision,</i> or that it is no more than
a parable; and that was a way of teaching commonly used among the
ancients, particularly prophets; what they meant of others they
<i>transferred to themselves in a figure,</i> as St. Paul speaks,
<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.4.6" parsed="|1Cor|4|6|0|0" passage="1Co 4:6">1 Cor. iv. 6</scripRef>. He must take
<i>a wife of whoredoms,</i> and have such children by her as every
one would suspect, though born in wedlock, to be <i>children of
whoredoms,</i> begotten in adultery, because it is too common for
those who have lived lewdly in the single state to live no better
in the married state. "Now" (saith God) "Hosea, this people is to
me such a dishonour, and such a grief and vexation, as a <i>wife of
whoredoms</i> and <i>children of whoredoms</i> would be to thee.
<i>For the land has committed great whoredoms.</i>" In all
instances of wickedness they had departed from the Lord; but their
idolatry especially is the whoredom they are here charged with.
Giving that glory to any creature which is due to God alone is such
an injury and affront to God as for a wife to embrace the bosom of
a stranger is to her husband. It is especially so in those that
have made a profession of religion, and have been taken into
covenant with God; it is breaking the marriage-bond; it is a
heinous odious sin, and, as much as any thing, besots the mind and
takes away the heart. <i>Idolatry</i> is <i>great whoredom,</i>
worse than any other; it is departing from <i>the Lord,</i> to whom
we lie under greater obligations than any wife does or can do to
her husband. <i>The land has committed whoredom;</i> it is not here
and there a particular person that is guilty of idolatry, but the
whole land is polluted with it; the sin has become national, the
disease epidemical. What an odious thing would it be for the
prophet, a <i>holy man,</i> to have a whorish wife, and children
whorish like her! What an exercise would it be of his patience,
and, if she persisted in it, what could be expected but that he
should give her a bill of divorce! And is it not then much more
offensive to the <i>holy God</i> to have such a people as this to
be called by his name and have a place in his house? How great is
his patience with them! And how justly may he cast them off! It was
as if he should have married Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, who
probably was at that time a noted harlot. The land of Israel was
like Gomer the daughter of Diblaim. <i>Gomer</i> signifies
<i>corruption; Diblaim</i> signifies <i>two cakes,</i> or <i>lumps
of figs;</i> this denotes that Israel was near to ruin, and that
their luxury and sensuality were the cause of it. They were as the
<i>evil figs</i> that could not be eaten, they were so evil. It
intimates sin to be the daughter of plenty and destruction the
daughter of the abuse of plenty. Some give this sense of the
command here given to the prophet: "Go, take thee a wife of
<i>whoredoms,</i> for, if thou shouldst go to seek for an honest
modest woman, thou wouldst not find any such, for the whole land,
and all the people of it, are given to whoredom, the usual
concomitant of idolatry."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p7" shownumber="no">II. The prophet must, as it were through a
perspective glass, show them their ruin; and this he does in the
names given to the children born of this adulteress; for as
<i>lust,</i> when it has <i>conceived, brings forth sin,</i> so
<i>sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p8" shownumber="no">1. He foretels the fall of the royal family
in the name he is appointed to give to his first child, which was a
son: <i>Call his name Jezreel,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.4" parsed="|Hos|1|4|0|0" passage="Ho 1:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. We find that the prophet Isaiah
gave prophetical names to his children (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.7.3 Bible:Isa.8.3" parsed="|Isa|7|3|0|0;|Isa|8|3|0|0" passage="Isa 7:3,8:3">Isa. vii. 3; viii. 3</scripRef>), so this prophet
here. Jezreel signifies <i>the seed of God</i> (so they should have
been); but it signifies also the <i>scattered of God;</i> they
shall be as sheep on the mountains that have no shepherds. <i>Call
them not Israel,</i> which signifies <i>dominion,</i> they have
lost all the honour of that name; but call them Jezreel, which
signifies <i>dispersion,</i> for those that have departed from the
Lord will wander endlessly. Hitherto they have been scattered as
seek; let them now be scattered as chaff. Jezreel was the name of
one of the royal seats of the kings of Israel; it was a beautiful
city, seated in a pleasant valley, and it is with allusion to that
city that this child is called <i>Jezreel,</i> for <i>yet a little
while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of
Jehu,</i> from whom the present king, Jeroboam, was lineally
descended. The house of Jehu smarted for the sins of Jehu, for God
often lays up men's iniquity for their children and visits it upon
them. It is <i>the kingdom of the house of Israel,</i> which may be
meant either of the present royal family, that of Jehu, which God
did quickly <i>cause to cease</i> (for the son of this Jeroboam,
Zechariah, reigned but <i>six months,</i> and he was the last of
Jehu's race), or of the whole kingdom in general, which continued
corrupt and wicked, and which was <i>made to cease</i> in the reign
of Hoshea, about seventy years after; and with God that is but a
<i>little while.</i> Note, Note, Neither the pomp of kings nor the
power of kingdoms can secure them from God's destroying judgments,
if they continue to rebel against him. (2.) What is the ground of
this controversy: <i>I will revenge the blood of Jezreel upon the
house of Jehu,</i> the blood which Jehu shed at Jezreel, when by
commission from God and in obedience to his command, he utterly
destroyed the house of Ahab, and all that were in alliance with it,
with all the worshippers of Baal. God approved of what he did
(<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.10.30" parsed="|2Kgs|10|30|0|0" passage="2Ki 10:30">2 Kings x. 30</scripRef>): <i>Thou
has done well in executing that which is right in my eyes;</i> and
yet here God will avenge that <i>blood upon the house of Jehu,</i>
when the time has expired during which it was promised that his
family should reign, even to the fourth generation. But how comes
the same action to be both rewarded and punished? Very justly; the
matter of it was good; it was the execution of a righteous sentence
passed upon the house of Ahab, and, as such, it was rewarded; but
Jehu did it not in a right manner; he aimed at his own advancement,
not at the glory of God, and mingled his own resentments with the
execution of God's justice. He did it with a malice against the
sinners, but not with any antipathy to the sin; for he kept up the
worship of the golden calves, and <i>took no heed to walk in the
law of God,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.10.31" parsed="|2Kgs|10|31|0|0" passage="2Ki 10:31">2 Kings x.
31</scripRef>. And therefore when the measure of the iniquity of
his house was full, and God came to reckon with them, the first
article in the account is (and, being first, it is put for all the
rest) for the blood of the house of Ahab, here called the <i>blood
of Jezreel.</i> Thus when the house of Baasha was rooted out it was
because he did <i>like the house of Jeroboam, and because he killed
him,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.16.7" parsed="|1Kgs|16|7|0|0" passage="1Ki 16:7">1 Kings xvi. 7</scripRef>.
Note, Those that are entrusted with the administration of justice
are concerned to see to it that they do it from a right principle
and with a right intention, and that they do not themselves live in
those sins which they punish in others, lest even their just
executions should be reckoned for, another day, as little less than
murders. (3.) How far the controversy shall proceed; it shall be
not a correction, but a destruction. Some make those words, <i>I
will visit, or appoint, the blood of Jezreel upon the house of
Jehu,</i> to signify, not as we read it the revenging of that
bloodshed, but the repeating of that bloodshed: "I will punish the
house of Jehu, as I punished the house of Ahab, because Jehu did
not take warning by the punishment of his predecessors, but trod in
the steps of their idolatry. And after the house of Jehu is
destroyed <i>I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of
Israel;</i> I will begin to bring it down, though now it flourish."
After the death of Zechariah, the last of the house of Jehu, the
kingdom of the ten tribes went to decay, and dwindled sensibly.
And, in order to the ruin of it, it is threatened (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.5" parsed="|Hos|1|5|0|0" passage="Ho 1:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), <i>I will break the bow
of Israel in the valley of Jezreel;</i> the <i>strength of the
warriors of Israel,</i> so the Chaldee. God will disable them
either to defend themselves or to resist their enemies. And the
<i>bow abiding in strength,</i> and being <i>renewed in the
hand,</i> intimates a growing power, so the <i>breaking of the
bow</i> intimates a sinking ruined power. The bow shall be broken
<i>in the valley of Jezreel,</i> where, probably, the armoury was;
or, it may be, in that valley some battle was fought, wherein the
kingdom of Israel was very much weakened. Note, There is no fence
against God's controversy; when he comes forth against a people
their strong bows are soon broken and their strong-holds broken
down. In the valley of Jezreel they shed that blood which the
righteous God would in that very place avenge upon them; as some
notorious malefactors are hanged in chains just where the villainy
they suffer for was perpetrated, that the punishment may answer the
sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p9" shownumber="no">2. He foretels God's abandoning the whole
nation in the name he gives to the second child. This was a
daughter, as the former was a son, to intimate that both sons and
daughters had corrupted their way. Some make to signify that Israel
grew effeminate, and was thereby enfeebled and made weak. Call the
name of this daughter <i>Lo-ruhamah—not beloved</i> (so it is
translated <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.25" parsed="|Rom|9|25|0|0" passage="Ro 9:25">Rom. ix. 25</scripRef>), or
<i>not having obtained mercy,</i> so it is translated <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.10" parsed="|1Pet|2|10|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:10">1 Pet. ii. 10</scripRef>. It comes all to one.
This reads the doom of the <i>house of Israel: I will no more have
mercy</i> upon them. It intimates that God had shown them great
mercy, but they had abused his favours, and forfeited them, and now
he would show them favour no more. Note, Those that forsake their
own mercies for lying vanities have reason to expect that their own
mercies should forsake them, and that they should be left to their
<i>lying vanities,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.2.8" parsed="|Jonah|2|8|0|0" passage="Jon 2:8">Jonah ii.
8</scripRef>. Sin turns away the mercy of God even from <i>the
house of Israel,</i> his own professing people, whose case is sad
indeed when God says that he will no more have mercy upon them. And
then it follows, <i>I will utterly take them away,</i> will utterly
<i>remove them</i> (so some), will utterly <i>pluck them up,</i> so
others. Note, When the streams of mercy are stopped we can expect
no other than that the vials of wrath should be opened. Those whom
God will no more have mercy upon shall be utterly taken away, as
dross and dung. The word for <i>taking away</i> sometimes signifies
to <i>forgive</i> sin; and some take it in that sense here: <i>I
will no more have mercy upon them, though in pardoning I have
pardoned them</i> heretofore. Though God has borne long, he will
not bear always, with a people that hate to be reformed. Or, <i>I
will no more have mercy upon them, that I should in any wise pardon
them,</i> or (as our margin reads it) <i>that I should altogether
pardon them.</i> If pardoning mercy is denied, no other mercy can
be expected, for that opens the door to all the rest. Some make
this to speak comfort: <i>I will no more have mercy upon them till
in pardoning I shall pardon them,</i> that is, till the Redeemer
comes to Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The Chaldee
reads it, <i>But, if they repent, in pardoning I will pardon
them.</i> Even the greatest sinners, if in time they bethink
themselves and return, will find that <i>there is forgiveness with
God.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p10" shownumber="no">III. He must show them what mercy God had
in store for the house of Judah, at the same time that he was thus
contending with the house of Israel (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.7" parsed="|Hos|1|7|0|0" passage="Ho 1:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>But I will have mercy upon the
house of Judah.</i> Note, Though some are justly cast off for their
disobedience, yet God will always secure to himself a remnant that
shall be the vessels and monuments of mercy. When divine justice is
glorified in some, yet there are others in whom free grace is
glorified. And, though some through unbelief are broken off, yet
God will have a church in this world till the end of time. It
aggravates the rejection of Israel that God will have mercy on
Judah, and not on them, and magnifies God's mercy to Judah that,
though they also have done wickedly, yet God did not reject them,
as he rejected Israel: <i>I will have mercy upon them and will save
them.</i> Note, Our salvation is owing purely to God's mercy, and
not to any merit of our own. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p11" shownumber="no">1. This, without doubt, refers to the
temporal salvations which God wrought for Judah in a distinguishing
way, the favours shown to them and not to Israel. When the Assyrian
armies had destroyed Samaria, and carried the ten tribes away into
captivity, they proceeded to besiege Jerusalem; but God had mercy
on the house of Judah, and saved them by the vast slaughter which
an angel made, in one night, in the camp of the Assyrians; then
they were <i>saved by the Lord their God</i> immediately, and not
by sword or bow. When the ten tribes were continued in their
captivity, and their land was possessed by others, they being
<i>utterly taken away,</i> God <i>had mercy on the house of
Judah</i> and <i>saved them,</i> and, after seventy years, brought
them back, <i>not by might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord
of hosts,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.6" parsed="|Zech|4|6|0|0" passage="Zec 4:6">Zech. iv. 6</scripRef>.
<i>I will save them by the Lord their God,</i> that is, by myself.
God will be exalted <i>in his own strength,</i> will take the work
into his own hands. That salvation is sure which he undertakes to
be the author of; for, if he will work, none shall hinder. And that
salvation is most acceptable which he does <i>by himself. So the
Lord alone did lead him.</i> The less there is of man in any
salvation, and the more of God, the brighter it shines and the
sweeter it tastes. I will save them <i>in the word of the Lord</i>
(so the Chaldee), for the sake of Christ, the eternal word, and by
his power. <i>I will save them not by bow nor by sword,</i> that
is, (1.) They shall be saved when they are reduced to so low an ebb
that they have neither bow nor sword to defend themselves with,
<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.8 Bible:1Sam.13.22" parsed="|Judg|5|8|0|0;|1Sam|13|22|0|0" passage="Jdg 5:8,1Sa 13:22">Judg. v. 8; 1 Sam. xiii.
22</scripRef>. (2.) They shall be saved by the Lord when they are
brought off from trusting to their own strength and their weapons
of war, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.6" parsed="|Ps|44|6|0|0" passage="Ps 44:6">Ps. xliv. 6</scripRef>. (3.)
They shall be saved easily, without the trouble of sword and bow,
<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.7" parsed="|Hos|1|7|0|0" passage="Ho 1:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.9.5" parsed="|Isa|9|5|0|0" passage="Isa 9:5">Isa. ix. 5</scripRef>, <i>I will save them by the
Lord their God.</i> In the calling him <i>their God,</i> he
upbraids the ten tribes who had <i>cast him off</i> from being
<i>theirs,</i> for which reason he had <i>cast them off,</i> and
intimates what was the true reason why he had mercy, distinguishing
mercy, for the house of Judah, and saved them: it was in pursuance
of his covenant with them as the Lord their God, and in recompence
for their faithful adherence to him and to his word and worship.
But,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p12" shownumber="no">2. This may refer also to the salvation of
Judah from idolatry, which qualified and prepared them for their
other salvations. And this is indeed a salvation <i>by the Lord
their God;</i> it is wrought only by the power of his grace, and
can never be wrought by <i>sword or bow.</i> Just at the time that
the kingdom of Israel was <i>utterly taken away,</i> under Hoshea,
the kingdom of Judah was gloriously reformed, under Hezekiah, and
was therefore preserved; and in Babylon God saved them from their
idolatry first, and then from their captivity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p13" shownumber="no">3. Some make this promise to look forward
to the great salvation which, in the fulness of time, was to be
wrought out <i>by the Lord our God,</i> Jesus Christ, who came into
the world to <i>save his people from their sins.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Hos.ii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.8-Hos.1.11" parsed="|Hos|1|8|1|11" passage="Ho 1:8-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.ii-p13.2">
<h4 id="Hos.ii-p13.3">Temporary Rejection of Israel; Promises of
Mercy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ii-p13.4">b. c.</span> 768.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.ii-p14" shownumber="no">8 Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she
conceived, and bare a son.   9 Then said <i>God,</i> Call his
name Lo-ammi: for ye <i>are</i> not my people, and I will not be
your <i>God.</i>   10 Yet the number of the children of Israel
shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor
numbered; and it shall come to pass, <i>that</i> in the place where
it was said unto them, Ye <i>are</i> not my people, <i>there</i> it
shall be said unto them, <i>Ye are</i> the sons of the living God.
  11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of
Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and
they shall come up out of the land: for great <i>shall be</i> the
day of Jezreel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p15" shownumber="no">We have here a prediction,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p16" shownumber="no">I. Of the rejection of Israel for a time,
which is signified by the name of another child that Hosea had by
his adulterous spouse, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.8-Hos.1.9" parsed="|Hos|1|8|1|9" passage="Ho 1:8,9"><i>v.</i> 8,
9</scripRef>. And still we must observe that those children whose
names carried these direful omens in them to Israel were all
<i>children of whoredoms</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.2" parsed="|Hos|1|2|0|0" passage="Ho 1:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>), all born of the harlot that Hosea married, to
intimate that the ruin of Israel was the natural product of the sin
of Israel. If they had not first revolted from God, they would
never have been rejected by him; God never leaves any till they
first leave him. Here is, 1. The birth of this child: <i>When she
had weaned</i> her daughter, <i>she conceived and bore a son.</i>
Notice is taken of the delay of the birth of this child, which was
to carry in its name a certain presage of their utter rejection, to
intimate God's patience with them, and his unwillingness to proceed
to extremity. Some think that her bearing another son signifies
that people's persisting in their wickedness; lust still
<i>conceived</i> and <i>brought forth sin.</i> They <i>added to do
evil</i> (so the Chaldee paraphrase expounds it); they were old in
adulteries, and obstinate. 2. The name given him: <i>Call him
Lo-ammi—Not my people.</i> When they were told that God would
<i>no more have mercy on them</i> they regarded it not, but buoyed
up themselves with this conceit, that they were God's people, whom
he could not but have mercy on. And therefore he plucks that staff
from under them, and disowns all relation to them: <i>You are not
my people, and I will not be your God.</i> "<i>I will not be
yours</i> (so the word it); I will be in no relation to you, will
have nothing to do with you; I will not be <i>your King, your</i>
Father, <i>your</i> patron and protector." We supply it very well
with that which includes all, "<i>I will not be your God; I will
not be to you</i> what I have been, nor what you vainly expect I
should be, nor what I would have been if you had kept close to me."
Observe, "<i>You are not my people;</i> you do not act as becomes
my people; you are not observant of me and obedient to me, as my
people should be; you are not my people, but the people of this and
the other dunghill-deity; and therefore I will not own you for my
people, will not protect you, will not put in any claim to you, not
demand you, not deliver you out of the hands of those that have
seized you; let them take you; you are none of mine. You will not
have me to be your God, but pay your homage to the pretenders, and
therefore <i>I will not be your God;</i> you shall have no interest
in me, shall expect no benefit from me." Note, Our being taken into
covenant with God is owing purely to him and to his grace, for then
it begins on his side: <i>I will be to them a God,</i> and then
they shall be <i>to me a people; we love him because he first loved
us.</i> But our being cast out of covenant is owing purely to
ourselves and our own folly. The breach is on man's side: <i>You
are not my people,</i> and therefore <i>I will not be your God;</i>
if God <i>hate any,</i> it is because they <i>first hated him.</i>
This was fulfilled in Israel when they were <i>utterly taken
away</i> into the <i>land of Assyria,</i> and their place knew them
no more. They were no longer <i>God's people,</i> for they lost the
knowledge and worship of him; no prophets were sent to them, no
promises made to them, as were to the two tribes in their
captivity; nay, they were no longer <i>a people,</i> but, for aught
that appears, were mingled with the nations into which they were
carried, and lost among them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p17" shownumber="no">II. Of the reduction and restoration of
Israel in the fulness of time. Here, as before, mercy is remembered
in the midst of wrath; the rejection, as it shall not be total, so
it shall not be final (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.10-Hos.1.11" parsed="|Hos|1|10|1|11" passage="Ho 1:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10,
11</scripRef>): <i>Yet the number of the children of Israel shall
be as the sand of the sea.</i> See how the same hand that wounded
is stretched forth to heal, and how tenderly he that has <i>torn
binds up;</i> though God <i>cause grief</i> by his threatenings,
yet <i>he will have compassion,</i> and will gather with
everlasting kindness. They are very precious promises which are
here made concerning the Israel of God, and which may be of use to
us now.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p18" shownumber="no">1. Some think that these promises had their
accomplishment in the return of the Jews out of their captivity in
Babylon, when many of the ten tribes joined themselves to Judah,
and took the benefit of the liberty which Cyrus proclaimed, came up
in great numbers out of the several countries into which they were
dispersed, to their own land, appointed Zerubbabel their head, and
coalesced into one people, whereas before they had been two
distinct nations. And in their own land, where God had by his
prophets disowned and rejected them as none of his, he would by his
prophets own them and appear for them as his children; and from all
parts of the country they should come up to the temple to worship.
And we have reason to think that, though this promise has a further
reference, yet it was graciously intended and piously used for the
support and comfort of the captives in Babylon, as giving them a
general assurance of mercy which God had in store for them and
their land; their nation could not be destroyed so long as this
blessing was in it, was in reserve for it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p19" shownumber="no">2. Some think that these promises will not
have their accomplishment, at least not in full, till the general
conversion of the Jews in the latter days, which is expected yet to
come, when the vast incredible numbers of Jews, that are now
dispersed as the sand of the sea, shall be brought to embrace the
faith of Christ and be incorporated in the gospel-church. Then, and
not till then, God will own them as his people, his children, even
there where they had lain under the dismal tokens of their
rejection. The Jewish doctors look upon this promise as not having
had its accomplishment yet. But,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p20" shownumber="no">3. It is certain that this promise had its
accomplishment in the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, by the
preaching of the gospel, and the bringing in both of Jews and
Gentiles to it, for to this these words are applied by St. Paul
(<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.25-Rom.9.26" parsed="|Rom|9|25|9|26" passage="Ro 9:25,26">Rom. ix. 25, 26</scripRef>), and by
St. Peter when he writes to the Jews of the dispersion, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.10" parsed="|1Pet|2|10|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:10">1 Pet. ii. 10</scripRef>. Israel here is the
gospel-church, the spiritual Israel (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.16" parsed="|Gal|6|16|0|0" passage="Ga 6:16">Gal. vi. 16</scripRef>), all believers who follow the
steps, and inherit the blessing of faithful Abraham, who is the
father of all that believe, whether Jews or Gentiles, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.11-Rom.4.12" parsed="|Rom|4|11|4|12" passage="Ro 4:11,12">Rom. iv. 11, 12</scripRef>. Now let us see
what is promised concerning this Israel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p21" shownumber="no">(1.) That it shall greatly multiply, and
the numbers of it be increased; it shall be <i>as the sand of the
sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered.</i> Though Israel
according to the flesh be diminished and made few, the spiritual
Israel shall be numerous, shall be innumerable. In the vast
multitudes that by the preaching of the gospel have been brought to
Christ, both in the first ages of Christianity and ever since, this
promise is fulfilled, thousands out of every tribe in Israel, and
out of other nations, <i>a multitude which no man can number,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.4 Bible:Rev.7.9 Bible:Gal.4.27" parsed="|Rev|7|4|0|0;|Rev|7|9|0|0;|Gal|4|27|0|0" passage="Re 7:4,9,Ga 4:27">Rev. vii. 4, 9; Gal. iv.
27</scripRef>. In this the promise made to Abraham, when God called
him Abraham the <i>high father of a multitude,</i> had its full
accomplishment (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.5" parsed="|Gen|17|5|0|0" passage="Ge 17:5">Gen. xvii.
5</scripRef>), and that <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.17" parsed="|Gen|22|17|0|0" passage="Ge 22:17">Gen. xxii.
17</scripRef>. Some observe that they are here compared to the
<i>sand of the sea,</i> not only for their numbers, but as the sand
of the sea serves for a boundary to the waters, that they shall not
overflow the earth, so the Israelites indeed are a wall of defence
to the places where they live, to keep off judgments. God can do
nothing against Sodom while Lot is there.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p22" shownumber="no">(2.) That God will renew his covenant with
the gospel-Israel, and will incorporate it a church to himself, by
as full and ample a charter as that whereby the Old-Testament
church was incorporated; nay, and its privileges shall be much
greater: "<i>In the place where it was said unto them, You are not
my people,</i> there shall you be again admitted into covenant, and
owned as my people." The <i>abandoned Gentiles</i> in their
respective places, and the <i>rejected Jews</i> in theirs, shall be
favoured and blessed. There, where the fathers were cast off for
their unbelief, the children, upon their believing, shall be taken
in. This is a blessed resurrection, the making of those the people
of God that were <i>not a people.</i> Nay, but the privilege is
enlarged; now it is not only, <i>You are my people,</i> as
formerly, but <i>You are the sons of the living God,</i> whether by
birth you were Jews or Gentiles. Israel under the law was <i>God's
son, his first-born,</i> but then they were as children <i>under
age;</i> now, under the gospel, they have grown up both to greater
understanding and greater liberty, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.1-Gal.4.2" parsed="|Gal|4|1|4|2" passage="Ga 4:1,2">Gal. iv. 1, 2</scripRef>. Note, [1.] It is the
unspeakable privilege of all believers that they have the living
God for their Father, the ever-living God, and may look upon
themselves as his children by grace and adoption. [2.] The sonship
of believers shall be owned and acknowledged; it shall be <i>said
to them,</i> for their comfort and satisfaction, nay, and it shall
be said for their honour in the hearing of the world, <i>You are
the sons of the living God.</i> Let not the saints disquiet
themselves; let not others despise them; for, sooner or later,
there shall be a manifestation of the children of God, and all the
world shall be made to know their excellency and the value God has
for them. [3.] It will add much to their comfort, very much to
their honour, when they are dignified with the tokens of God's
favour in that very place where they had long lain under the tokens
of his displeasure. This speaks comfort to the believing Gentiles,
that they need not go up to Jerusalem, to be received and owned as
God's children; no, they may stay where they are, and <i>in that
place,</i> though it be in the remotest corner of the earth, <i>in
that place</i> where they were at a distance, where it was said to
them, "<i>You are not God's people,</i>" but are separated from
them (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.3 Bible:Isa.56.6" parsed="|Isa|56|3|0|0;|Isa|56|6|0|0" passage="Isa 56:3,6">Isa. lvi. 3, 6</scripRef>),
even there, without leaving their country and kindred, they may by
faith receive the <i>Spirit of adoption,</i> witnessing with their
spirits that "<i>they are the children of God.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p23" shownumber="no">(3.) That those who had been at variance
should be happily brought together (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.11" parsed="|Hos|1|11|0|0" passage="Ho 1:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>Then shall the children of
Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together.</i> This
uniting of Judah and Israel, those two kingdoms that were now so
much at variance, biting and devouring one another, is mentioned
only as a specimen, or one instance, of the happy effect of the
setting up of Christ's kingdom in the world, the bringing of those
that had been at the greatest enmity one against another to a good
understanding one of another and a good affection one to another.
This was literally fulfilled when the Galileans, who inhabited that
part of the country which belonged to the ten tribes, and probably
for the most part descended from them, so heartily joined with
those that were probably called <i>Jews</i> (that were of Judea) in
following Christ and embracing his gospel; and his first disciples
were partly Jews and partly Galileans. The first that were blessed
with the light of the gospel were of the <i>land of Zebulun and
Naphtali</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.15" parsed="|Matt|4|15|0|0" passage="Mt 4:15">Matt. iv. 15</scripRef>);
and, though there was no good-will at all between the Jews and the
Galileans, yet, upon their believing in Christ, they were happily
consolidated, and there were no remains of the former disaffection
they had to one another; nay, when the Samaritans believed, though
between them and the Jews there was a much greater enmity, yet in
Christ there was a perfect unanimity, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.8.14" parsed="|Acts|8|14|0|0" passage="Ac 8:14">Acts viii. 14</scripRef>. Thus Judah and Israel were
<i>gathered together;</i> yet this was but a type of the much more
celebrated coalition between Jews and Gentiles, when, by the death
of Christ, the partition-wall of the ceremonial law was taken down.
See <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.14-Eph.2.16" parsed="|Eph|2|14|2|16" passage="Eph 2:14-16">Eph. ii. 14-16</scripRef>.
Christ died, to <i>gather together in one all the children of God
that were scattered abroad,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:John.11.51 Bible:Eph.1.10" parsed="|John|11|51|0|0;|Eph|1|10|0|0" passage="Joh 11:51,Eph 1:10">John xi. 51; Eph. i. 10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p24" shownumber="no">(4.) That Jesus Christ should be the centre
of unity to all God's spiritual Israel. They shall all agree to
<i>appoint to themselves one head,</i> which can be no other than
he whom God has appointed, even Christ. Note, Jesus Christ is the
head of the church, the one only head of it, not only a head of
government, as of the body politic, but a head of vital influence,
as of the natural body. To believe in Christ is to appoint him to
ourselves for our head, that is, to consent to God's appointment,
and willingly commit ourselves to his guidance and government; and
this in concurrence and communion with all good Christians that
make him their head; so that, though they are many, yet in him they
are one, and so become one with each other. <i>Qui conveniunt in
aliquo tertio inter se conveniunt—Those who agree with a third
agree with each other.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p25" shownumber="no">(5.) That, having appointed Christ for
their head, <i>they shall come up out of the land;</i> they shall
come, some of all sorts, from all parts, to join themselves to the
church, as, under the Jewish economy, they came up from all corners
of the land of Israel to Jerusalem, to worship (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.122.4" parsed="|Ps|122|4|0|0" passage="Ps 122:4">Ps. cxxii. 4</scripRef>), <i>Thither the tribes go
up,</i> to which there is a plain allusion in that prophecy of the
accession of the Gentiles to the church (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.2.3" parsed="|Isa|2|3|0|0" passage="Isa 2:3">Isa. ii. 3</scripRef>), <i>Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord.</i> It denotes not a local remove (for they
are said to be in the same place, <scripRef id="Hos.ii-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.10" parsed="|Hos|1|10|0|0" passage="Ho 1:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), but a change of their mind, a
spiritual ascent to Christ. They shall <i>come up from the
earth</i> (so it may be read); for those who have given up
themselves to Christ as their head take their affections off from
<i>this earth,</i> and the things of it, to set them upon <i>things
above</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.1-Col.3.2" parsed="|Col|3|1|3|2" passage="Col 3:1,2">Col. iii. 1,
2</scripRef>); for they are not of the world (<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:John.15.19" parsed="|John|15|19|0|0" passage="Joh 15:19">John xv. 19</scripRef>), but have their conversation in
heaven. They shall <i>come up out of the land,</i> though it be the
land of their nativity; they shall, in affection, come out from it,
that they may <i>follow the Lamb withersoever he goes.</i> Thus the
learned Dr. Pocock takes it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ii-p26" shownumber="no">(6.) That, when all this comes to pass,
<i>great shall be the day of Jezreel.</i> Though <i>great</i> is
<i>the day of Jezreel's</i> affliction (so some understand it), yet
<i>great shall be the day</i> of Jezreel's glory. This shall be
Israel's day; the day shall be <i>their own,</i> after their
enemies have long had their day. Israel is here called
<i>Jezreel,</i> the <i>seed of God,</i> the <i>holy seed</i>
(<scripRef id="Hos.ii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.13" parsed="|Isa|6|13|0|0" passage="Isa 6:13">Isa. vi. 13</scripRef>), the
<i>substance</i> of the land. This seed is now sown in the earth,
and buried under the clods; but great shall be its day when the
harvest comes. Great was the church's day when there were <i>added
to it daily such as should be saved;</i> then did the Almighty
<i>do great things</i> for it.</p>
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