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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>H O S E A.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter we have,
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I. A high charge drawn up against both Israel and Judah for their sins,
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which were the ground of God's controversy with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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Particularly the sin of fraud and injustice, which Ephraim is charged
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with
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:7">ver. 7</A>),
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and justifies himself in,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:8">ver. 8</A>.
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And the sin of idolatry
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:11">ver. 11</A>),
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by which God is provoked to contend with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:14">ver. 14</A>.
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II. The aggravations of the sins they are charged with, taken from the
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honour God put upon their father Jacob
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:3-5">ver. 3-5</A>),
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the advancement of them into a people from low and mean beginnings
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:12,13">ver. 12, 13</A>),
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and the provision he had made them of helps for their souls by the
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prophets he sent them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:10">ver. 10</A>.
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III. A call to the unconverted to turn to God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:6">ver. 6</A>.
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IV. An intimation of mercy that God had in store for them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:9">ver. 9</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ho12_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Crimes of Israel and Judah; Expostulations with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 723.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind:
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he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a
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covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
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2 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish
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Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he
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recompense him.
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3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his
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strength he had power with God:
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4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and
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made supplication unto him: he found him <I>in</I> Bethel, and there
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he spake with us;
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5 Even the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of hosts; the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> his memorial.
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6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and
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wait on thy God continually.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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In these verses,</P>
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<P>
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I. Ephraim is convicted of folly, in staying himself upon Egypt and
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Assyria, when he was in straits
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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<I>Ephraim feeds on wind,</I> that is, feeds himself with vain hopes of
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assistance from man, when he is at variance with God; and, when he
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meets with disappointments, he still pursues the same game, and
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greedily pants and <I>follows after the east wind,</I> which he cannot
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catch holy of, nor, if he could, would it be nourishing, nay, would be
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noxious. We say of the <I>wind in the east,</I> It is <I>good neither
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for man nor beast.</I> It was said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+8:7"><I>ch.</I> viii. 7</A>),
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He <I>sows the wind;</I> and as he sows so he reaps (He <I>reaps the
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whirlwind</I>); and as he reaps so he feeds--He feeds on the wind, the
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<I>east wind.</I> Note, Those that make creatures their confidence make
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fools of themselves, and take a great deal of pains to put a cheat upon
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their own souls and to prepare vexation for themselves: <I>He daily
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increaseth lies,</I> that is, multiplies his correspondences and
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leagues with his neighbours, which will all prove deceitful to him;
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nay, they will prove desolation to him. Those very nations that he
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makes his refuge will prove his ruin. Those that stay themselves upon
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lies will be still coveting to increase them, that they may build their
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hopes firmly upon them; as if many lies twisted together would make one
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truth, or many broken reeds and rotten supports one sound one, which is
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a great delusion and will prove to them a great desolation; for those
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that <I>observe lying vanities</I> the more they increase them the more
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disappointments they prepare for themselves and the further they run
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from <I>their own mercies.</I> The men of Ephraim did so when they
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thought to secure the Assyrians in their interests by a <I>solemn
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league,</I> signed, sealed, and sworn to: <I>They make a covenant with
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the Assyrians,</I> but they will find there is no hold of them; that
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potent prince will be a slave to his word no longer than he pleases.
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They thought to secure the Egyptians for their confederates by a rich
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present of the commodities of their country, not only to purchase their
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favour, but to show that their friendship was worth having: <I>Oil is
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carried into Egypt.</I> But the Egyptians, when they had got the bribe,
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dropped the cause, and Ephraim was never the better for them. <I>Oleum
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perdidit et operam--The oil and the labour are both lost.</I> This was
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<I>feeding on wind;</I> this was <I>increasing lies and
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desolation.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. Judah is contended with too, and Jacob, which includes both Ephraim
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and Judah
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>The Lord has also a controversy with Judah;</I> for though he had a
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while ago <I>ruled with God,</I> and been <I>faithful with the
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saints,</I> yet now he begins to degenerate. Or though, in keeping
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close to the house of David and the house of Aaron, and in them to the
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covenants of royalty and priesthood, they were so far <I>in the
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right,</I> in the former they <I>ruled with God</I> and in the latter
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were <I>faithful to the saints,</I> yet upon other accounts God <I>had
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a controversy</I> with them, and would punish them. Note, Men's
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being in the right in some things, in the main things, will not exempt
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them from correction, and therefore should not exempt them from
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reproof, for those things wherein they are in the wrong. There were
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those of the seven churches of Asia whom Christ approved and commended,
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and yet he adds, <I>Nevertheless I have something against thee.</I> So
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here; though the seed of Jacob are a people near to God, yet God will
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punish them according to the evil ways they are found in and the evil
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doings they are found guilty of; for God sees sin even in his own
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people, and will reckon with them for it.</P>
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<P>
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III. Both Ephraim and Judah are put in mind of their father Jacob,
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whose seed they were and whose name they bore (and it was their
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honour), of the extraordinary things which he did and which God did for
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him, that they might be the more ashamed of themselves for degenerating
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from so illustrious a progenitor and staining the lustre of so great a
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name, and yet that they might be engaged and encouraged to return to
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God, the God of their father Jacob, in hopes for his sake to find
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favour with him. He had called this people Jacob
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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threatening to punish them; but <I>how shall I give them up?</I> How
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shall that dear name be forgotten?</P>
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<P>
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1. Three glorious things concerning Jacob the person Jacob the people
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are here put in mind of; but by brief hints only, for it is presumed
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that they knew the story:--
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(1.) His struggling with Esau in the womb: There <I>he took his brother
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by the heel,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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We have the story
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+25:26">Gen. xxv. 26</A>.
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It was an early act of bravery, and an effort for the best precedency,
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a pious ambition for that birthright in the covenant which Esau is
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justly branded as profane for despising. But his degenerate seed, by
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mingling with the nations, and making leagues with them, profaned that
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crown, and laid that honour in the dust, which he so gloriously put in
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for. Then it was that the dominion was given to him: <I>The elder shall
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serve the younger.</I> Then he was owned of God as his beloved:
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<I>Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.</I> But they had by their
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sin forfeited both the love of God and dominion over their neighbours.
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(2.) His wrestling with the angel. "Remember how your father Jacob had
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<I>power with God by his</I> own <I>strength,</I> the strength he had
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by the gift of God, who <I>pleaded</I> not <I>against him by his great
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power,</I> but <I>put strength into him,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:6">Job xxii. 6</A>.
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The angel he wrestled with is called <I>God,</I> and therefore is
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supposed to be the <I>Son of God,</I> the angel of the covenant. "God
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was both a combatant with Jacob and an assistant of him, showing, in
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the latter respect, greater strength than in the former, fighting as it
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were against him with his left hand and for him with his right, and to
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that putting greater force." So, Dr. Pocock. The providence of God
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fought against him when he met with one danger after another, in his
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return homewards; but the grace of God enabled him to go on cheerfully
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in his way, and, when his faith acted upon the divine promise that was
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for him prevailed above his fears that arose from the divine
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providences that wee against him, then <I>by his strength he had power
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with God.</I> But it refers especially to his prayer for deliverance
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from Esau, and for a blessing: <I>He had power over the angel and
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prevailed,</I> for he <I>wept and made supplication.</I> Here was a
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mixture of the greatest courage and the greatest tenderness, Jacob
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wrestling like a champion and yet weeping like a child. Note, Prayers
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and tears are the weapons with which the saints have obtained the most
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glorious victories. Thus Jacob commenced <I>Israel--a prince with
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God;</I> his posterity was called <I>Israel,</I> but they were unworthy
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the name, for they had forfeited and lost their communion with God, and
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their interest in him, by revolting from their duty to him.
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(3.) His meeting with God at Bethel: God <I>found him</I> in Bethel,
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<I>and there he spoke with us.</I> God found him the first time in
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Bethel, as he went to Padanaram
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+28:10">Gen. xxviii. 10</A>),
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and a second time after his return,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+35:9">Gen. xxxv. 9</A>,
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&c. It is probable that this refers to both; for in both God spoke to
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Jacob, and renewed the covenant with him, and the prophet might very
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well say, <I>There he spoke with us</I> who are the seed of Jacob, for
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both times that God spoke with Jacob at Bethel he spoke with him
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concerning his seed.
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+28:14">Gen. xxviii. 14</A>,
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<I>Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth;</I> and
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+35:12">Gen. xxxv. 12</A>,
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<I>This land I will give unto thy seed.</I> Thus God then covenanted
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with him and his seed after him. Now justly are they upbraided with
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this; for in that very place which their father Jacob called
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<I>Bethel--the house of God,</I> in remembrance of the communion he
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there had with God, did they set up one of the calves, and worship it;
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thus they turned that Bethel into a <I>Beth-aven</I>--a <I>house of
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iniquity.</I> There God <I>spoke with them</I> exceedingly great and
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precious promises, which they had despised and lost the benefit of.</P>
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<P>
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2. Two inferences are here drawn from these stories concerning Jacob,
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for instruction to his seed:--</P>
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<P>
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(1.) Here is a use of information. From what passed between God and
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Jacob we may learn that <I>Jehovah, the Lord God of hosts,</I> is
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<I>the God of Israel;</I> he was the God of Jacob, and this is <I>his
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memorial</I> throughout all the generations of the seed of Jacob
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>)--
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the more shame for those who forgot the memorial of their church,
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deserted the God of their fathers, and exchanged a <I>Lord of hosts</I>
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for Baalim. Note, Those only are accounted the people of God that keep
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up a memorial of God, such a memorial of him as he himself has
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instituted, by which he makes himself known and will have us to
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remember him. Here are two memorials of his, by which he is
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distinguished from all others, and is to be acknowledged and adored by
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us.
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[1.] The former denotes his <I>existence of himself.</I> He is Jehovah,
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much the same with <I>I AM,</I> the same that <I>was, and is, and is to
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come,</I> infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. Jehovah is <I>his
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memorial,</I> his peculiar name.
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[2.] The latter denotes his dominion over all: He is the <I>God of
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hosts,</I> that has all the hosts of heaven and earth at his beck and
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command, and makes what use he pleases of them. Jacob saw
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<I>Mahanaim</I>--God's <I>two hosts,</I> about the time that he
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<I>wrestled with the angel</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+32:1,2">Gen. xxxii. 1, 2</A>),
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and so learned to call God the <I>God of hosts,</I> and transmitted it
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to us as his memorial. God's names, titles, and attributes, are the
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memorials of him; there is no need for images to be such. And that
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which was a revelation of God to one is his memorial to many, to all
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generations.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) Here is a use of exhortation,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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"Is this so, that Jacob thy father had this communion with the Lord God
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of hosts, and is this still his memorial?" Then,
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[1.] Let those that have gone astray from God be converted to him:
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<I>Therefore turn thou to thy God.</I> He that was the God of Jacob is
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the God of Israel, is <I>thy God;</I> from him thou hast unjustly and
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unkindly revolted; therefore turn thou to him by repentance and faith,
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turn to him as thine, to love him, obey him, and depend upon him.
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[2.] Let those that are converted to him walk with him in all holy
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conversation and godliness: "<I>Keep mercy and judgment,</I> mercy in
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relieving and succouring the poor and distressed, judgment in rendering
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to all their due; be kind to all; do wrong to none. <I>Keep piety and
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judgment</I>" (so it may be read); "live <I>righteously and godly in
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this present world;</I> be devout and be honest. Do not only practise
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these occasionally, but be careful, and constant, and conscientious in
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the practice of them."
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[3.] Let those that walk with God be encouraged to live a life of
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dependence upon him: "<I>Wait on thy God continually,</I> with a
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believing expectation to receive from him all the succours and supplies
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thou standest in need of." Those that live a life of conformity to God
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may live a life of confidence and comfort in him, if it be not their
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own fault. Let our <I>eyes</I> be <I>ever towards the Lord,</I> and let
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us preserve a holy security and serenity of mind under the protection
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of the divine power and the influence of the divine favour, looking,
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without anxiety, for a dubious event, and by faith keeping our spirits
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sedate and even; this is waiting on God as our God in covenant, and
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this we must do continually.</P>
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<A NAME="Ho12_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ho12_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Reproof for Sin; Judgment Threatened; Memorials of Divine Mercy.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 723.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>7 <I>He is</I> a merchant, the balances of deceit <I>are</I> in his hand:
|
|
he loveth to oppress.
|
|
8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out
|
|
substance: <I>in</I> all my labours they shall find none iniquity in
|
|
me that <I>were</I> sin.
|
|
9 And I <I>that am</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God from the land of Egypt will
|
|
yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the
|
|
solemn feast.
|
|
10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied
|
|
visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
|
|
11 <I>Is there</I> iniquity <I>in</I> Gilead? surely they are vanity:
|
|
they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars <I>are</I> as
|
|
heaps in the furrows of the fields.
|
|
12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served
|
|
for a wife, and for a wife he kept <I>sheep.</I>
|
|
13 And by a prophet the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> brought Israel out of Egypt, and
|
|
by a prophet was he preserved.
|
|
14 Ephraim provoked <I>him</I> to anger most bitterly: therefore
|
|
shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his
|
|
Lord return unto him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here are intermixed, in these verses,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Reproofs for sin. When God is coming forth to contend with a people,
|
|
that he may demonstrate his own righteousness, he will demonstrate
|
|
their unrighteousness. Ephraim was called to turn to his God and
|
|
<I>keep judgment</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>);
|
|
|
|
now, to show that he had need of that call, he is charged with turning
|
|
from his God by idolatry, and breaking the laws of justice and
|
|
judgment.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He is here charged with injustice against the precepts of the second
|
|
table,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) What the sin is wherewith he is charged: <I>He is a merchant.</I>
|
|
The margin reads it as a proper name, <I>He is Canaan,</I> or a
|
|
Canaanite, unworthy to be denominated from Jacob and Israel, and worthy
|
|
to be cast out with a curse from this good land, as the Canaanites
|
|
were. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+9:7">Amos ix. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
But Canaan sometimes signifies <I>a merchant,</I> and therefore is most
|
|
likely to do so here, where Ephraim is charged with deceit in trade.
|
|
Though God had given his people a land flowing with milk and honey, yet
|
|
he did not forbid them to enrich themselves by merchandise, and they
|
|
succeeded the Canaanites in that as well as in their husbandry; they
|
|
sucked <I>the abundance of the seas and the treasures hidden in the
|
|
sand,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+33:19">Deut. xxxiii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
And, if they had been fair merchants, it would have been no reproach at
|
|
all to them, but an honour and a blessing. But he is such a merchant as
|
|
the Canaanites were, who were honest only with good looking to, and, if
|
|
they could, cheated all they dealt with. Ephraim does so; he deceives
|
|
and thereby oppresses. Note, There is oppression by fraud as well as
|
|
oppression by force. It is not only princes, lords, and masters, that
|
|
oppress their subjects, tenants, and servants, but merchants and
|
|
traders are often guilty of oppressing those they deal with, when they
|
|
impose upon their ignorance, or take advantage of their necessity, to
|
|
make hard bargains with them, or are rigorous and severe in exacting
|
|
their debts. Ephraim cheated,
|
|
|
|
[1.] With a great deal of art and cunning: <I>The balances of deceit
|
|
are in his hand.</I> He uses balances, and delivers his goods by weight
|
|
and measure, as if he would be very exact, but they are balances of
|
|
deceit, false weights and false measures, and thus, under colour of
|
|
doing right, he does the greatest wrong. Note, God has his eye upon
|
|
merchants and traders, when they are weighing their goods and paying
|
|
their money, whether they do honestly or deceitfully. He observes what
|
|
balances they have in their hand, and how they hold them; and, though
|
|
those they deal with may not be aware of that sleight of hand with
|
|
which they make them balances of deceit, God sees it, and knows it.
|
|
Trades by the wit of man are made <I>mysteries,</I> but it is a pity
|
|
that by the sin of man they should ever be made <I>mysteries of
|
|
iniquity.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] With a great deal of pleasure and pride: <I>He loves to
|
|
oppress.</I> To oppress is bad enough, but to love to do so is much
|
|
worse. His conscience does not check and reprove him for it, as it
|
|
ought to do; if it did, though he committed the sin, he could not
|
|
delight in it; but his corruptions are so strong, and have so triumphed
|
|
over his convictions, that he not only loves the gain of oppression,
|
|
but he loves to oppress, sins for sinning-sake, and takes a pleasure in
|
|
out-witting and over-reaching those that suspect him not.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) How he justifies himself in this sin,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Wicked men will have something to say for themselves now when they are
|
|
told of their faults, some frivolous turn-off or other wherewith to
|
|
evade the convictions of the word. Ephraim stands indicted for a common
|
|
cheat. Now see what he pleads to the indictment. He does not deny the
|
|
charge, nor plead, Not guilty, yet does not make a penitent confession
|
|
of it and ask pardon, but insists upon his own justification. Suppose
|
|
it were so that he did use balances of deceit, yet,
|
|
|
|
[1.] He pleads that he had got a good estate. Let the prophet say what
|
|
he pleased of his deceit, of the sin of it and the curse of God that
|
|
attended it, he could not be convinced there was any harm or danger in
|
|
it, for this he was sure of that he had thriven in it: "<I>Yet I have
|
|
become rich, I have found me out substance.</I> Whatever you make of
|
|
it, I have made a good hand of it." Note, Carnal hearts are often
|
|
confirmed in a good opinion of their evil ways by their worldly
|
|
prosperity and success in those ways. But it is a great mistake. Every
|
|
word in what Ephraim says here proclaims his folly. <I>First,</I> It is
|
|
folly to call the riches of this world substance, for they are things
|
|
that are not,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+23:5">Prov. xxiii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> It is folly to think that we have them of ourselves,
|
|
to say (as some read it), <I>I have made myself rich;</I> what
|
|
<I>substance</I> I have is owing purely to my ingenuity and
|
|
industry--<I>I have found it; my might and the power of my hand have
|
|
gotten me this wealth. Thirdly,</I> It is folly to think that what we
|
|
have is for ourselves. <I>I have found me out substance,</I> as if we
|
|
had it for our own proper use and behoof, whereas we hold it in trust,
|
|
only as stewards. <I>Fourthly,</I> It is folly to think that riches are
|
|
things to be gloried in, and to say with exultation, <I>I have become
|
|
rich.</I> Riches are not the honours of the soul, are not peculiar to
|
|
the best men, nor sure to us; and therefore <I>let not the rich man
|
|
glory in his riches,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:9,10">Jam. i. 9, 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Fifthly,</I> It is folly to think that growing rich in a sinful way
|
|
makes us innocent, or will make us safe, or may make us easy, in that
|
|
way; for the prosperity of fools deceives and destroys them. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+47:10,Pr+1:32">Isa. xlvii. 10; Prov. i. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He pleads that he had kept a good reputation. It is common for
|
|
sinners, when they are justly reproved by their ministers, to appeal to
|
|
their neighbours, and because they know no ill of them, or will say
|
|
none, or think well of what the prophets charge them with as bad, fly
|
|
in the face of their reprovers: <I>In all my labours</I> (says Ephraim)
|
|
<I>they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin.</I> Note, Carnal
|
|
hearts are apt to build a good opinion of themselves upon the fair
|
|
character they have among their neighbours. Ephraim was very secure;
|
|
for, <I>First,</I> All his neighbours knew him to be diligent in his
|
|
business; they had an eye upon <I>all his labours,</I> and commended
|
|
him for them. <I>Men will praise thee when thou doest well for thyself.
|
|
Secondly,</I> None of them knew him to be deceitful in his business. He
|
|
acted with so much policy that nobody could say to the contrary but
|
|
that he acted with integrity. For either,
|
|
|
|
1. He concealed the fraud, so that none discovered it: "Whatever
|
|
iniquity there is, <I>they shall find</I> none;" as if no iniquity were
|
|
displeasing to God, and damning to the soul, but that which is open and
|
|
scandalous before men. What will it avail us that men shall find no
|
|
iniquity in us, when God finds a great deal, and will bring every
|
|
secret work, even secret frauds, into judgment? Or,
|
|
|
|
2. He excused the fraud, so that none condemned it: "<I>They shall find
|
|
no iniquity in me that were sin,</I> nothing very bad, nothing but what
|
|
is very excusable, only some venial sins, sins not worth speaking of,"
|
|
which they think God will make nothing of because they do not. It is a
|
|
fashionable iniquity; it is customary; it is what every body does; it
|
|
is pleasant; it is gainful; and this, they think, is no iniquity that
|
|
is sin; nobody will think the worse of them for it. But God sees not as
|
|
man sees; he judges not as man judges.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He is here charged with idolatry, against the precepts of the first
|
|
table, with that iniquity which is in a special manner vanity, the
|
|
making and worshipping of images, which are vanities
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Surely they are vanity;</I> they do not profit, but deceive. Now the
|
|
prophet mentions two places notorious for idolatry:--
|
|
|
|
(1.) Gilead on the other side Jordan, which had been branded for it
|
|
before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+6:8"><I>ch.</I> vi. 8</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Is there iniquity in Gilead?</I> It is a thing to be wondered at; it
|
|
is a thing to be sadly lamented. What! iniquity in Gilead? idolatry
|
|
there? Gilead was a fruitful pleasant country (pleasant to a proverb,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+22:6">Jer. xxii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
and does it so ill requite the Lord? It was a frontier-country, and lay
|
|
much exposed to the insults of enemies, and therefore stood in special
|
|
need of the divine protection; what! and yet by iniquity throw itself
|
|
out of that protection? <I>Is there iniquity in Gilead?</I> Yea,
|
|
|
|
(2.) And in Gilgal too; there they <I>sacrifice bullocks</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9"5"><I>ch.</I> ix. 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
and there <I>their altars</I> which they have set up, either to strange
|
|
gods in opposition to his own appointed altar, are as thick <I>as
|
|
heaps</I> of manure <I>in the furrows of the field</I> that is to be
|
|
sown,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+8:11"><I>ch.</I> viii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Is there iniquity in Gilead</I> only? so some. Is it only in those
|
|
remote parts of the nation that people are so superstitious, where they
|
|
border upon other nations? No; they are as bad at Gilgal. In Gilead God
|
|
protected Jacob their father (of whom he had been speaking) from the
|
|
rage of Laban; and will you there commit iniquity?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Here are threatenings of wrath for sin. Some make that to be so
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>I will make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the
|
|
appointed time,</I> that is, I will bring thee into such a condition as
|
|
the Israelites were in when they dwelt in tents and wandered for forty
|
|
years; that was the <I>time appointed</I> in <I>the wilderness.</I>
|
|
Ephraim forgot that God brought him out of Egypt and brought him up to
|
|
be what he was, and was proud of his wealth, and took sinful courses to
|
|
increase it; and therefore God threatens to bring him to a
|
|
tabernacle-state again, to a poor, mean, desolate, unsettled condition.
|
|
Note, It is just with God, when men have by their sins turned their
|
|
tents into houses, by his judgments to turn their houses into tents
|
|
again. However, that is certainly a threatening
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly.</I> See how men are
|
|
deceived in their opinion of themselves, and how they will one day be
|
|
undeceived. Ephraim thought that there was no iniquity in him that
|
|
deserved to be called sin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
but God told him that there was that in him which was sin, and would be
|
|
found so if he did not repent and reform; for,
|
|
|
|
1. It was extremely offensive to his God: <I>Ephraim provoked him to
|
|
anger most bitterly</I> with his iniquities, which were so distasteful
|
|
to God, and to him too would be <I>bitterness in the latter end.</I> He
|
|
was so wilful in sinning against his knowledge and convictions that any
|
|
one might see, and say, that he designed no other than to provoke God
|
|
in the highest degree.
|
|
|
|
2. It would certainly be destructive to himself; that cannot be
|
|
otherwise which provokes God against him, and kindles the fire of his
|
|
wrath. Therefore,
|
|
|
|
(1.) He shall take away his forfeited life: <I>He shall leave his blood
|
|
upon him,</I> that is, he shall not hold him guiltless, but bring upon
|
|
him that death which is the wages of sin. <I>His blood shall be upon
|
|
his own head</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+1:16">2 Sam. i. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
for his own iniquity has testified against him and he alone shall bear
|
|
it. Note, When sinners perish their blood is left upon them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He shall take away his forfeited honour: <I>His reproach shall his
|
|
Lord return upon him.</I> God is <I>his Lord;</I> he had by idolatry
|
|
and other sins reproached the Lord, and done dishonour to him, and to
|
|
his name and family, and had given occasion to others to reproach him;
|
|
and now God will return the reproach upon him, according to the word he
|
|
has spoken, that <I>those who despise him shall be lightly
|
|
esteemed.</I> Note, Shameful sins shall have shameful punishments. If
|
|
Ephraim put contempt on his God, he shall be so reduced that all his
|
|
neighbours shall look with contempt upon him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Here are memorials of former mercy, which come in to convict them
|
|
of base ingratitude in revolting from God. Let them blush to
|
|
remember,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. That God had raised them from meanness. When Ephraim had become
|
|
rich, and was proud of that, he forgot that which God (that he might
|
|
not forget it) obliged them every year to acknowledge
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+26:5">Deut. xxvi. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>A Syrian ready to perish was my father.</I> But God here puts them
|
|
in mind of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let them remember, not only the honours of their father Jacob, what a
|
|
<I>mighty prince</I> he was with God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>
|
|
|
|
(an honour which they had no share in while they were in rebellion
|
|
against God), but what a poor servant he was to Laban, which was
|
|
sufficient to mortify those that were puffed up with the estates they
|
|
had raised. <I>Jacob fled into Syria</I> from a malicious brother, and
|
|
there served a covetous uncle <I>for a wife,</I> and <I>for a wife he
|
|
kept sheep,</I> because he had not estate to endow a wife with. Jacob
|
|
was poor, and low, and a fugitive; therefore his posterity ought not to
|
|
be proud. He was a plain man, dwelling in tents, and keeping sheep;
|
|
therefore <I>balances of deceit</I> ill became them. He <I>served for a
|
|
wife</I> that was not a Canaanitess, as Esau's wives were; therefore it
|
|
was a shame for them to degenerate into Canaanites, and mingle with the
|
|
nations. God wonderfully preserved him in his flight and preserved him
|
|
in his service, so that he multiplied exceedingly, and from that
|
|
<I>root</I> in a dry ground sprang an illustrious nation, that bore his
|
|
name, which magnifies the goodness of God both to him and them and
|
|
leaves them under the stain of base ingratitude to that God who was
|
|
their founder and benefactor.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. That God had rescued them from misery, had raised them to what they
|
|
were, not only out of poverty, but out of slavery
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
which laid them under much stronger obligations to serve him and under
|
|
a yet deeper guilt in serving other gods.
|
|
|
|
(1.) God <I>brought Israel out of Egypt</I> on purpose that they might
|
|
serve him, and by redeeming them out of bondage acquired a special
|
|
title to them and to their service.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He preserved them, as sheep are kept by the shepherd's care. He
|
|
preserved them from Pharaoh's rage at the sea, even at the Red Sea,
|
|
protected them from all the perils of the wilderness, and provided for
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
(3.) He did this <I>by a prophet,</I> Moses, who, though he is called
|
|
<I>king in Jeshurun</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+33:5">Deut. xxxiii. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
yet did what he did for Israel <I>as a prophet,</I> by direction from
|
|
God and by the power of his word. The ensign of his authority was not a
|
|
royal sceptre, but the <I>rod of God;</I> with that he summoned both
|
|
Egypt's plagues and Israel's blessings. Moses, as a prophet, was a type
|
|
of Christ
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+3:22">Acts iii. 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
and it is by Christ as a prophet that we are brought out of the Egypt
|
|
of sin and Satan by the power of his truth. Now this shows how very
|
|
unworthy and ungrateful this people were,
|
|
|
|
[1.] In rejecting their God, who had brought them out of Egypt, which,
|
|
in the preface to the commandments, is particularly mentioned as a
|
|
reason for the first, why they should have no other gods before him.
|
|
|
|
[2.] In despising and persecuting his prophets, whom they should have
|
|
loved and valued, and have studied to answer God's end in sending them,
|
|
for the sake of that prophet by whom God had brought them out of Egypt
|
|
and preserved them in the wilderness. Note, The benefit we have had by
|
|
the word of God greatly aggravates our sin and folly if we put any
|
|
slight upon the word of God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. That God had taken care of their education as they grew up. This
|
|
instance of God's goodness we have,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
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As by a prophet he delivered them, so <I>by prophets</I> he still
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continued to speak to them. Man, who is formed out of the earth, is fed
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out of the earth; so that nation, that was formed by prophecy, by
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prophecy was fed and taught; <I>beginning at Moses,</I> and so going on
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<I>to all the prophets</I> through the several ages of that church, we
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find that divine revelation was all along their tuition.
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(1.) They had prophets raised up among themselves
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+2:11">Amos ii. 11</A>),
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a succession of them, were scarcely ever without a Spirit of prophecy
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among them more or less, from Moses to Malachi.
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(2.) These prophets were <I>seers;</I> they had <I>visions,</I> and
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<I>dreams,</I> in which God discovered his mind to them immediately,
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with a full assurance that it was his mind,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+12:6">Num. xii. 6</A>.
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(3.) These visions were multiplied; God spoke not only <I>once, yea,
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twice,</I> but many a time; if one vision was not regarded, he sent
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another. The prophets had variety of visions, and frequent repetitions
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of the same.
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(4.) God <I>spoke</I> to them <I>by the prophets.</I> What the prophets
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<I>received from the Lord</I> they plainly and faithfully delivered to
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them. The people at Mount Sinai begged that God would speak to them by
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men like themselves, and he did so.
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(5.) In speaking to them by the prophets he <I>used similitudes,</I> to
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make the messages he sent by them intelligible, more affecting, and
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more likely to be remembered. The visions they saw were often
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similitudes, and their discourses were embellished with very apt
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comparisons. And, as God by his prophets, so by his Son, he <I>used
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similitudes,</I> for <I>he opened his mouth in parables.</I> Note, God
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keeps an account, whether we do or no, of the sermons we hear; and
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those that have long enjoyed the means of grace in purity, plenty, and
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power, that have been frequently, faithfully, and familiarly, told the
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mind of God, will have a great deal to answer for another day if they
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persist in a course of iniquity.</P>
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<P>
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IV. Here are intimations of further mercy, and this remembered too in
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the midst of sin and wrath (as some understand
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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"<I>I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt,</I> who then and
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there took thee to be my people, and have approved myself thy God ever
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since, in a constant series of merciful providences, have yet a
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kindness for thee, bad as thou art; and I will <I>make thee to dwell in
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tabernacles,</I> not as in the wilderness, but <I>as in the days of the
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solemn feast,</I>" the feast of tabernacles, which was celebrated with
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great joy,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+23:40">Lev. xxiii. 40</A>.
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1. They shall be made to see, by the grace of God, that though they are
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rich, and have found out substance, yet they are but in a
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tabernacle-state, and have in their worldly wealth <I>no continuing
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|
city.</I>
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2. They shall yet have cause to rejoice in God, and have opportunity to
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do it in public ordinances. The feast of tabernacles was the first
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solemn feast the Jews kept after their return out of Babylon,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+3:4">Ezra iii. 4</A>.
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3. This, as other promises, was to have its full accomplishment in the
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grace of the gospel, which provides tabernacles for believers in their
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way to heaven, and furnishes them with matter of joy, holy joy, joy in
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God, such as was in the feast of tabernacles,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+14:18,19">Zech. xiv. 18, 19</A>.</P>
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