mh_parser/vol_split/28 - Hosea/Chapter 7.xml

<div2 id="Hos.viii" n="viii" next="Hos.ix" prev="Hos.vii" progress="76.72%" title="Chapter VII">
<h2 id="Hos.viii-p0.1">H O S E A.</h2>
<h3 id="Hos.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Hos.viii-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter we have, I. A general charge drawn
up against Israel for those high crimes and misdemeanors by which
they had obstructed the course of God's favours to them, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.1-Hos.7.2" parsed="|Hos|7|1|7|2" passage="Ho 7:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. A particular
accusation, 1. Of the court—the king, princes, and judges,
<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.3-Hos.7.7" parsed="|Hos|7|3|7|7" passage="Ho 7:3-7">ver. 3-7</scripRef>. 2. Of the
country. Ephraim is here charged with conforming to the nations
(<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.8" parsed="|Hos|7|8|0|0" passage="Ho 7:8">ver. 8</scripRef>), senselessness and
stupidity under the judgments of God (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.9-Hos.7.11" parsed="|Hos|7|9|7|11" passage="Ho 7:9-11">ver. 9-11</scripRef>), ingratitude to God for his
mercies (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.13" parsed="|Hos|7|13|0|0" passage="Ho 7:13">ver. 13</scripRef>),
incorrigibleness under his judgments (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.14" parsed="|Hos|7|14|0|0" passage="Ho 7:14">ver. 14</scripRef>), contempt of God (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.15" parsed="|Hos|7|15|0|0" passage="Ho 7:15">ver. 15</scripRef>), and hypocrisy in their pretences to
return to him, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.16" parsed="|Hos|7|16|0|0" passage="Ho 7:16">ver. 16</scripRef>. They
are also threatened with a severe chastisement, which shall humble
them (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.12" parsed="|Hos|7|12|0|0" passage="Ho 7:12">ver. 12</scripRef>), and, if that
prevail not, then with an utter destruction (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.13" parsed="|Hos|7|13|0|0" passage="Ho 7:13">ver. 13</scripRef>), particularly their princes,
<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.16" parsed="|Hos|7|16|0|0" passage="Ho 7:16">ver. 16</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Hos.viii-p1.12" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7" parsed="|Hos|7|0|0|0" passage="Ho 7" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Hos.viii-p1.13" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.1-Hos.7.7" parsed="|Hos|7|1|7|7" passage="Ho 7:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.viii-p1.14">
<h4 id="Hos.viii-p1.15">Charge Drawn up against Israel; The Crimes
of the Princes. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.viii-p1.16">b. c.</span> 750.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.viii-p2" shownumber="no">1 When I would have healed Israel, then the
iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria:
for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, <i>and</i> the
troop of robbers spoileth without.   2 And they consider not
in their hearts <i>that</i> I remember all their wickedness: now
their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.
  3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the
princes with their lies.   4 They <i>are</i> all adulterers,
as an oven heated by the baker, <i>who</i> ceaseth from raising
after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.   5 In
the day of our king the princes have made <i>him</i> sick with
bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.   6
For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie
in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it
burneth as a flaming fire.   7 They are all hot as an oven,
and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen:
<i>there is</i> none among them that calleth unto me.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p3" shownumber="no">Some take away the last words of the
foregoing chapter, and make them the beginning of this: "<i>When I
returned,</i> or <i>would have returned, the captivity of my
people,</i> when I was about to come towards them in ways of mercy,
even <i>when I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of
Ephraim</i> (the country and common people) <i>was discovered, and
the wickedness of Samaria,</i> the court and the chief city." Now,
in these verses, we may observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p4" shownumber="no">I. A general idea given of the present
state of Israel, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.1-Hos.7.2" parsed="|Hos|7|1|7|2" passage="Ho 7:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1,
2</scripRef>. See how the case now stood with them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p5" shownumber="no">1. God graciously designed to do well for
them: <i>I would have healed Israel.</i> Israel were sick and
wounded; their disease was dangerous and malignant, and likely to
be fatal, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.6" parsed="|Isa|1|6|0|0" passage="Isa 1:6">Isa. i. 6</scripRef>. But God
offered to be their physician, to undertake the cure, and there was
balm in Gilead sufficient to recover the health of the daughter of
his people; their case was bad, but it was not desperate, nay, it
was hopeful, when God <i>would have healed Israel.</i> (1.) He
would have reformed them, would have separated between them and
their sins, would have purged out the corruptions that were among
them, by his laws and prophets. (2.) He would have delivered them
out of their troubles, and restored to them their peace and
prosperity. Several healing attempts were made, and their declining
state seemed sometimes to be in a hopeful way of recovery; but
their own folly put them back again. Note, If sinful miserable
souls be not healed and helped, but perish in their sin and misery,
they cannot lay the blame on God, for he both could and <i>would
have healed them;</i> he offered to take the ruin under his hand.
And there are some special seasons when God manifests his readiness
to heal a distempered church and nation, now and then a hopeful
crisis, which, if carefully watched and improved, might, even when
the case is very bad, turn the scale for life and health.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p6" shownumber="no">2. They stood in their own light and put a
bar in their own door. When God <i>would have healed them,</i> when
they bade fair for reformation and peace, then their
<i>iniquity</i> was <i>discovered</i> and their <i>wickedness,</i>
which stopped that current of God's favours, and undid all again.
(1.) <i>Then,</i> when their case came to be examined and enquired
into, in order to their cure, that wickedness which had been
concealed and palliated was <i>found out;</i> not that it was ever
hid from God, but he speaks after the manner of men; as a surgeon,
when he probes a wound in order to the cure of it and finds that it
touches the vitals and is incurable, goes no further in his
endeavour to cure it, so, when God <i>came down to see</i> the case
of Israel (as the expression is, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.21" parsed="|Gen|18|21|0|0" passage="Ge 18:21">Gen.
xviii. 21</scripRef>), with kind intentions towards them, he found
their wickedness so very flagrant, and them so hardened in it, so
impudent and impenitent, that he could not in honour show them the
favour he designed them. Note, Sinners are not healed because they
would not be healed. Christ <i>would have gathered</i> them, and
they <i>would not.</i> (2.) <i>Then,</i> when some endeavours were
used to reform and reclaim them, that wickedness which had been
restrained and kept under <i>broke out;</i> and from God's steps
towards the healing of them they took occasion to be so much the
more provoking. When endeavours were used to reform them vice grew
more impetuous, more outrageous, and swelled so much the higher, as
a stream when it is damned up. When they began to prosper they grew
more proud, wanton, and secure, and so stopped the progress of
their cure. Note, It is sin that turns away good things from us
when they are coming towards us; and it is the folly and ruin of
multitudes that, when God would do well for them, they do ill for
themselves. And what was it that did them this mischief? In one
word, <i>they commit falsehood;</i> they worship idols (so some),
defraud one another (so others), or, rather, they dissemble with
God in their professions of repentance and regard to him. They say
that they are desirous to be healed by him, and, in order to that,
willing to be ruled by him; but they <i>lie unto him with their
mouth and flatter him with their tongue.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p7" shownumber="no">3. A practical disbelief of God's
omniscience and government was at the bottom of all their
wickedness (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.2" parsed="|Hos|7|2|0|0" passage="Ho 7:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>):
"<i>They consider not in their hearts,</i> they never say it to
their own hearts, never think of this, <i>that I remember all their
wickedness.</i>" As if God could not see it, though he is all eye,
or did not heed it, though his name is Jealous, or had forgotten
it, though he is an eternal mind that can never be unmindful, or
would not reckon for it, though he is the <i>Judge of heaven and
earth.</i> This is the sinner's atheism; as good say that there is
<i>no God</i> as say that he is either ignorant or forgetful, that
there is <i>none that judges in the earth</i> as that he remembers
not the things he is to give judgment upon. It is a high affront
they put upon God; it is a damning cheat they put upon themselves;
they say, <i>The Lord shall not see,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.94.7" parsed="|Ps|94|7|0|0" passage="Ps 94:7">Ps. xciv. 7</scripRef>. They cannot but know that <i>God
remembers all their works;</i> they have been told it many a time;
nay, if you ask them, they cannot but own it, and yet they do not
<i>consider it;</i> they do not think of it when they should, and
with application to themselves and their own works, else they would
not, they durst not, do as they do. But the time will come when
those who thus deceive themselves shall be undeceived: "<i>Now
their own doings have beset them about,</i> that is, they have come
at length to such a pitch of wickedness that their sins appear on
every side of them; all their neighbours see how bad they are, and
can they think that God does not see it?" Or, rather, "The
punishment of their doings besets them about; they are surrounded
and embarrassed with troubles, so that they cannot get out, by
which it appears that the sins they smart for are <i>before my
face,</i> not only that I have seen them, but that I am displeased
at them;" for, till God by pardoning our sins has cast them behind
his back, they are still before his face. Note, Sooner or later,
God will convince those who do not now consider it that he
<i>remembers all their works.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p8" shownumber="no">4. God had begun to contend with them by
his judgments, in earnest of what was further coming: <i>The thief
comes in, and the troop of robbers spoils without.</i> Some take
this as an instance of their wickedness, that they robbed and
spoiled one another. <i>Nec hospes ab hospite tutus—The host and
the guest stand in fear of each other.</i> It seems rather to be a
punishment of their sin; they were infested with secret thieves
among themselves, that robbed their houses and shops and picked
their pockets, and <i>troops of robbers,</i> foreign invaders, that
with open violence <i>spoiled abroad;</i> so far was Israel from
being healed that they had fresh wounds given them daily by robbers
and spoilers; and all this the effect of sin, all to punish them
for robbing God, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.42.24 Bible:Mal.3.8 Bible:Mal.3.11" parsed="|Isa|42|24|0|0;|Mal|3|8|0|0;|Mal|3|11|0|0" passage="Isa 42:24,Mal 3:8,11">Isa.
xlii. 24; Mal. iii. 8, 11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p9" shownumber="no">II. A particular account of the sins of the
court, of the king and princes, and those about them, and the
tokens of God's displeasure that they were under for them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p10" shownumber="no">1. Their king and princes were pleased with
the wickedness and profaneness of their subjects, who were
emboldened thereby to be so much them ore wicked (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.3" parsed="|Hos|7|3|0|0" passage="Ho 7:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>They make the king and
princes glad with their wickedness.</i> It pleased them to see the
people conform to their wicked laws and examples, in the worship of
their idols, and other instances of impiety and immorality, and to
hear them flatter and applaud them in their wicked ways. When Herod
saw that his wickedness pleased the people he proceeded further in
it, much more will the people do so when they see that it pleases
the prince, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.12.3" parsed="|Acts|12|3|0|0" passage="Ac 12:3">Acts xii. 3</scripRef>.
Particularly, they made them glad <i>with their lies,</i> with the
lying praises with which they crowned the favourites of the prince
and the lying calumnies and censures with which they blackened
those whom they knew the princes had a dislike to. Those who show
themselves pleased with slanders and ill-natured stories shall
never want those about them who will fill their ears with such
stories. <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.29.12" parsed="|Prov|29|12|0|0" passage="Pr 29:12">Prov. xxix. 12</scripRef>,
<i>If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked,</i> and
will make him glad with their lies.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p11" shownumber="no">2. Drunkenness and revelling abound much at
the court, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.5" parsed="|Hos|7|5|0|0" passage="Ho 7:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. The
<i>day of our king</i> was a merry day with them, either his
birth-day or his inauguration-day, of which it is probable that
they had an anniversary observation, or perhaps it was some holiday
of his appointing, which was therefore called <i>his day;</i> on
that day the princes met to drink the king's health, and got him
among them, to be merry, and <i>made him sick with bottles of
wine.</i> It should seem the king did not ordinarily drink to
excess, but he was not upon a high day brought to it by the
artifices of the princes, tempted by the goodness of the wine, the
gaiety of the company, or the healths they urged; and so little was
he used to it that it <i>made him sick;</i> and it is justly
charged as a crime, as <i>crimen læsæ majestatis—treason,</i> upon
those who thus imposed upon him and <i>made him sick;</i> nor would
it serve for an excuse that it was <i>the day of their king,</i>
but was rather an aggravation of the crime, that, whey they
pretended to do him honour, they dishonoured him to the highest
degree. If it is a great affront and injury to a common person to
make him drunk, and there is a woe to those that do it (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.15" parsed="|Hab|2|15|0|0" passage="Hab 2:15">Hab. ii. 15</scripRef>), much more to a crowned
head; for the greater any man's dignity is the greater disgrace it
is to him to be drunk. <i>It is not for kings, O Lemuel! it is not
for kings, to drink wine,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.4-Prov.31.5" parsed="|Prov|31|4|31|5" passage="Pr 31:4,5">Prov.
xxxi. 4, 5</scripRef>. See what a prejudice the sin of drunkenness
is to a man, to a king. (1.) In his health; it <i>made him
sick.</i> It is a force upon nature; and strange it is by what
charms men, otherwise rational enough, can be drawn to that which
besides the offence it gives to God, and the damage it does to
their spiritual and eternal welfare, is a present disorder and
distemper to their own bodies. (2.) In his honour; for, when he was
thus intoxicated, he <i>stretched out his hand with scorners;</i>
then he that was entrusted with the government of a kingdom lost
the government of himself, and so far forgot, [1.] The dignity of a
king that he made himself familiar with players and buffoons, and
those whose company was a scandal. [2.] The duty of a king that he
joined in confederacy with atheists, and the profane scoffers at
religion, whom he ought to have silenced and put to shame; he
<i>sat in the seat of the scornful,</i> of those that had arrived
at the highest pitch of impiety; he struck in with them, said as
they said, did as they did, and exerted his power, and <i>stretched
forth the hand</i> of his government, in concurrence with them.
Goodness and good men are often made <i>the song of the
drunkards</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.12 Bible:Ps.35.16" parsed="|Ps|69|12|0|0;|Ps|35|16|0|0" passage="Ps 69:12,Ps 35:16">Ps. lxix. 12;
xxxv. 16</scripRef>); but <i>woe unto thee, O land!</i> when <i>thy
king is such a child</i> as to <i>stretch forth his hand</i> with
those that make them so, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.10.16" parsed="|Eccl|10|16|0|0" passage="Ec 10:16">Eccl. x.
16</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p12" shownumber="no">3. Adultery and uncleanness prevailed much
among the courtiers. This is spoken of <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.4 Bible:Hos.7.6 Bible:Hos.7.7" parsed="|Hos|7|4|0|0;|Hos|7|6|0|0;|Hos|7|7|0|0" passage="Ho 7:4,6,7"><i>v.</i> 4, 6, 7</scripRef>, and the charge of
drunkenness comes in in the midst of this article; for wine is oil
to the fire of lust, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.33" parsed="|Prov|23|33|0|0" passage="Pr 23:33">Prov. xxiii.
33</scripRef>. Those that are inflamed with fleshly lusts, that are
<i>adulterers</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.4" parsed="|Hos|7|4|0|0" passage="Ho 7:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>), are here again and again compared to an oven heated
by the baker (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.4" parsed="|Hos|7|4|0|0" passage="Ho 7:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
<i>They have made ready their heart like an oven</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.6" parsed="|Hos|7|6|0|0" passage="Ho 7:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>); <i>they are all hot as an
oven,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.7" parsed="|Hos|7|7|0|0" passage="Ho 7:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. 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,
<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.27" parsed="|Rom|1|27|0|0" passage="Ro 1:27">Rom. i. 27</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.15" parsed="|Job|24|15|0|0" passage="Job 24:15">Job xxiv. 15</scripRef>. <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 (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.9" parsed="|Ps|21|9|0|0" passage="Ps 21:9">Ps. xxi.
9</scripRef>), when <i>the day comes</i> that shall <i>burn as an
oven,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p12.10" osisRef="Bible:Mal.4.1" parsed="|Mal|4|1|0|0" passage="Mal 4:1">Mal. iv. 1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p13" shownumber="no">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> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.2" parsed="|Prov|28|2|0|0" passage="Pr 28:2">Prov. xxviii. 2</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.7" parsed="|Isa|64|7|0|0" passage="Isa 64:7">Isa. lxiv. 7</scripRef>. 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>
</div><scripCom id="Hos.viii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.8-Hos.7.16" parsed="|Hos|7|8|7|16" passage="Ho 7:8-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.viii-p13.4">
<h4 id="Hos.viii-p13.5">The Crimes of the People; Infatuation of
Ephraim; Ephraim's Obstinate Rebellion; Ephraim's
Hypocrisy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.viii-p13.6">b.
c.</span> 750.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.viii-p14" shownumber="no">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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.viii-p14.1">Lord</span> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p15" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p16" shownumber="no">I. They were not peculiar and entire for
God, as they should have been, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.8" parsed="|Hos|7|8|0|0" passage="Ho 7:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.16.35" parsed="|Ps|16|35|0|0" passage="Ps 16:35">Ps. xvi. 35</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p17" shownumber="no">II. They were strangely insensible of the
judgments of God, which they were under, and which threatened their
ruin, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.9" parsed="|Hos|7|9|0|0" passage="Ho 7:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. 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 <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.13.7" parsed="|2Kgs|13|7|0|0" passage="2Ki 13:7">2 Kings xiii. 7</scripRef>, 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 <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.16.9" parsed="|2Kgs|16|9|0|0" passage="2Ki 16:9">2 Kings xvi. 9</scripRef>.
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 (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.52.7" parsed="|Ps|52|7|0|0" passage="Ps 52:7">Ps. lii. 7</scripRef>) 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> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.1 Bible:Eccl.12.5" parsed="|Eccl|12|1|0|0;|Eccl|12|5|0|0" passage="Ec 12:1,5">Eccl. xii. 1,
5</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.11" parsed="|Isa|26|11|0|0" passage="Isa 26:11">Isa. xxvi. 11</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p18" shownumber="no">III. They went on frowardly in their wicked
ways, and were not reclaimed by the rebukes they were under
(<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.10" parsed="|Hos|7|10|0|0" passage="Ho 7:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>The pride
of Israel</i> still <i>testifies to his face,</i> as it had done
before (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.5.5" parsed="|Hos|5|5|0|0" passage="Ho 5:5"><i>ch.</i> v. 5</scripRef>);
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> (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.4" parsed="|Ps|10|4|0|0" passage="Ps 10:4">Ps. x. 4</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p19" shownumber="no">IV. They were infatuated in their counsels,
and took very wrong methods when they were in distress (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.11-Hos.7.12" parsed="|Hos|7|11|7|12" passage="Ho 7:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>): <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 class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p20" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.17" parsed="|Prov|1|17|0|0" passage="Pr 1:17">Prov. i. 17</scripRef>.
She <i>hastes to the snare, and knows not that it is for her
life</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.23" parsed="|Prov|7|23|0|0" passage="Pr 7:23">Prov. vii. 23</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p21" shownumber="no">2. See what becomes of this <i>silly
dove</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.12" parsed="|Hos|7|12|0|0" passage="Ho 7:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>):
<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> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Obad.1.3-Obad.1.4" parsed="|Obad|1|3|1|4" passage="Ob 1:3,4">Obad. 3, 4</scripRef>. (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 <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.1.6" parsed="|Zech|1|6|0|0" passage="Zec 1:6">Zech. i.
6</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p22" shownumber="no">V. They revolted from God and rebelled
against him, notwithstanding the various methods he took to retain
them in their allegiance, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.13-Hos.7.15" parsed="|Hos|7|13|7|15" passage="Ho 7:13-15"><i>v.</i>
13-15</scripRef>. Here observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p23" shownumber="no">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> (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.13" parsed="|Hos|7|13|0|0" passage="Ho 7:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>),
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> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.15" parsed="|Hos|7|15|0|0" passage="Ho 7:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.13.16-2Kgs.13.17" parsed="|2Kgs|13|16|13|17" passage="2Ki 13:16,17">2 Kings xiii. 16,
17</scripRef>), had <i>restored their coast</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.14.25-2Kgs.14.26" parsed="|2Kgs|14|25|14|26" passage="2Ki 14:25,26">2 Kings xiv. 25, 26</scripRef>), had <i>girded them
with strength for battle.</i> "Though <i>I have chastened</i> them"
(so the margin reads it), "sometimes corrected them for their
faults and thereby taught them, at other times <i>strengthened
their arms</i> and relieved them, though I have used both fair
means and foul to work upon them, it was all to no purpose; they
were mercy-proof and judgment-proof."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p24" shownumber="no">2. How impudent their conduct had been
towards him notwithstanding, which is described here for the
conviction and humiliation of all those who have gone on in any way
of wickedness, that they may see how exceedingly sinful their sin
is, how heinous, how the God of heaven interprets it, how he
resents it. (1.) He had courted them to him, and taken them into
covenant with himself; but <i>they fled from him,</i> as if he had
been their dangerous enemy who had always approved himself their
faithful friend. They wandered from him, as the silly dove from her
nest, for those who forsake God will find no rest nor settlement in
the creature, but wander endlessly. They fled from God when they
forsook the worship of him, and ran away from his service, and
withdrew themselves from their allegiance to him. (2.) He had given
them his laws, which were all holy, just, and good, by which he
designed to keep them in the right way; but they <i>transgressed
against him;</i> they sinned with a high hand and a stiff neck,
wilfully and presumptuously (so the words signifies); they broke
through the fence of the divine law, and therein thwarted the
design of the divine love. (3.) He had made known his truths to
them, and given them all possible proofs of the sincerity of his
good-will to them; and yet they <i>spoke lies against him.</i> They
set up false gods in competition with him; they denied his
providence and power; thus they <i>belied the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.12" parsed="|Jer|5|12|0|0" passage="Jer 5:12">Jer. v. 12</scripRef>. They rejected his
messages sent them by his prophets, and said that they should have
peace, though they went on in sin, directly against 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. (4.) He was their rightful Lord and King, and
had always ruled in Jacob with equity, and for the public good; and
yet they <i>rebelled against him,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.14" parsed="|Hos|7|14|0|0" passage="Ho 7:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. They not only went off from him,
but took up arms against him, would have deposed him if they could
and set up another. (5.) He designed well for them, but they
<i>imagined mischief against him,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.15" parsed="|Hos|7|15|0|0" passage="Ho 7:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Sin is a mischievous thing; 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 (<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.1" parsed="|Ps|2|1|0|0" passage="Ps 2:1">Ps. ii.
1</scripRef>), will be reckoned with for the imagination.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p25" shownumber="no">3. How they shall be punished for this
(<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.13" parsed="|Hos|7|13|0|0" passage="Ho 7:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <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 class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p26" shownumber="no">VI. Their shows of devotion and reformation
were but shows, and in them they did but mock God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p27" shownumber="no">1. They pretended devotion, but it was not
sincere, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.14" parsed="|Hos|7|14|0|0" passage="Ho 7:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.15" parsed="|Exod|14|15|0|0" passage="Ex 14:15">Exod. xiv. 15</scripRef>. 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>
<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.3" parsed="|Amos|8|3|0|0" passage="Am 8:3">Amos viii. 3</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p27.4" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.2.1" parsed="|Zeph|2|1|0|0" passage="Zep 2:1">Zeph. ii. 1</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Hos.viii-p28" shownumber="no">2. They pretended reformation, but neither
was that sincere, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.16" parsed="|Hos|7|16|0|0" passage="Ho 7:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>. 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
(<scripRef id="Hos.viii-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.4.1" parsed="|Jer|4|1|0|0" passage="Jer 4:1">Jer. iv. 1</scripRef>), <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, <scripRef id="Hos.viii-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.11" parsed="|Hos|7|11|0|0" passage="Ho 7:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. 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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