mh_parser/vol_split/28 - Hosea/Chapter 8.xml

<div2 id="Hos.ix" n="ix" next="Hos.x" prev="Hos.viii" progress="77.15%" title="Chapter VIII">
<h2 id="Hos.ix-p0.1">H O S E A.</h2>
<h3 id="Hos.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Hos.ix-p1" shownumber="no">This chapter, as that before, divides itself into
the sins and punishments of Israel; every verse almost declares
both, and all to bring them to repentance. When they saw the
malignant nature of their sin, in the descriptions of that, they
could not but be convinced now much it was their duty to repent of
what was so bad in itself; and when they saw the mischievous
consequences of their sin, in the predictions of them, they could
not but see how much it was their interest to repent for the
preventing of them. I. The sin of Israel is here set forth, 1. In
many general expressions, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.1 Bible:Hos.8.3 Bible:Hos.8.12 Bible:Hos.8.14" parsed="|Hos|8|1|0|0;|Hos|8|3|0|0;|Hos|8|12|0|0;|Hos|8|14|0|0" passage="Ho 8:1,3,12,14">ver.
1, 3, 12, 14</scripRef>. 2. In many particular instances; setting
up kings without God (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.4" parsed="|Hos|8|4|0|0" passage="Ho 8:4">ver.
4</scripRef>), setting up idols against God (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.4-Hos.8.6" parsed="|Hos|8|4|8|6" passage="Ho 8:4-6">ver. 4-6, 11</scripRef>), and courting alliances with
the neighbouring nations,, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.8-Hos.8.10" parsed="|Hos|8|8|8|10" passage="Ho 8:8-10">ver.
8-10</scripRef>. 3. In this aggravation of it, that they still kept
up a profession of religion and relation to God, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.2 Bible:Hos.8.13 Bible:Hos.8.14" parsed="|Hos|8|2|0|0;|Hos|8|13|0|0;|Hos|8|14|0|0" passage="Ho 8:2,13,14">ver. 2, 13, 14</scripRef>. II. The punishment of
Israel is here set forth as answering to the sin. God would bring
an enemy upon them, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.1 Bible:Hos.8.3" parsed="|Hos|8|1|0|0;|Hos|8|3|0|0" passage="Ho 8:1,3">ver. 1,
3</scripRef>. All their projects should be blasted, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.7" parsed="|Hos|8|7|0|0" passage="Ho 8:7">ver. 7</scripRef>. Their confidence both in their
idols and in their foreign alliances should disappoint them,
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.6 Bible:Hos.8.8 Bible:Hos.8.10" parsed="|Hos|8|6|0|0;|Hos|8|8|0|0;|Hos|8|10|0|0" passage="Ho 8:6,8,10">ver. 6, 8, 10</scripRef>. Their
strength at home should fail them, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.14" parsed="|Hos|8|14|0|0" passage="Ho 8:14">ver.
14</scripRef>. Their sacrifices should have no reckoning made of
them, and their sins should have a reckoning made for them,
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.13" parsed="|Hos|8|13|0|0" passage="Ho 8:13">ver. 13</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Hos.ix-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8" parsed="|Hos|8|0|0|0" passage="Ho 8" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Hos.ix-p1.12" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.1-Hos.8.7" parsed="|Hos|8|1|8|7" passage="Ho 8:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.ix-p1.13">
<h4 id="Hos.ix-p1.14">Sin and Punishment of Israel; Crimes Charged
against Israel; Sottish Idolatry of Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ix-p1.15">b.
c.</span> 745.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.ix-p2" shownumber="no">1 <i>Set</i> the trumpet to thy mouth. <i>He
shall come</i> as an eagle against the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ix-p2.1">Lord</span>, because they have transgressed my
covenant, and trespassed against my law.   2 Israel shall cry
unto me, My God, we know thee.   3 Israel hath cast off <i>the
thing that is</i> good: the enemy shall pursue him.   4 They
have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I
knew <i>it</i> not: of their silver and their gold have they made
them idols, that they may be cut off.   5 Thy calf, O Samaria,
hath cast <i>thee</i> off; mine anger is kindled against them: how
long <i>will it be</i> ere they attain to innocency?   6 For
from Israel <i>was</i> it also: the workman made it; therefore it
<i>is</i> not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in
pieces.   7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap
the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so
be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p3" shownumber="no">The reproofs and threatenings here are
introduced with an order to the prophet to <i>set the trumpet to
his mouth</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.1" parsed="|Hos|8|1|0|0" passage="Ho 8:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>),
thus to call a solemn assembly, that all might take notice of what
he had to deliver and take warning by it. He must sound an alarm,
must, in God's name, proclaim war with this rebellious nation. An
enemy is coming with speed and fury to seize their land, and he
must awaken them to expect it. Thus the prophet must do the part of
a watchman, that was by sound of trumpet to call the besieged to
stand to their arms, when he saw the besiegers making their attack,
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.33.3" parsed="|Ezek|33|3|0|0" passage="Eze 33:3">Ezek. xxxiii. 3</scripRef>. The
prophet must <i>lift up his voice like a trumpet</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.1" parsed="|Isa|58|1|0|0" passage="Isa 58:1">Isa. lviii. 1</scripRef>), and the people must
hearken to the sound of the trumpet, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.17" parsed="|Jer|6|17|0|0" passage="Jer 6:17">Jer. vi. 17</scripRef>. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p4" shownumber="no">I. Here is a general charge drawn up
against them as sinners, as rebels and traitors against their
sovereign Lord. 1. They have <i>transgressed my covenant,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.1" parsed="|Hos|8|1|0|0" passage="Ho 8:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. They have not
only transgressed the command (every sin does that), but they have
<i>transgressed the covenant;</i> they have been guilty of such
sins as break the original contract; they have revolted from their
allegiance, and violated the marriage-covenant by their spiritual
whoredom; they have, in effect, declared that they will be no
longer God's people, nor take him for their God; that is
<i>transgressing the covenant.</i> They have not only done
foolishly, but have dealt deceitfully. 2. They have <i>trespassed
against my law</i> in many particular instances. God's law is the
rule by which we are to walk; and this is the malignity of sin,
that it trespasses upon the bounds set us by that law. 3. They have
<i>cast off the thing that is good.</i> They have <i>put away</i>
and <i>rejected good,</i> that is, God himself; so some understand
it, and very fitly. He is good, and does good, and is our goodness.
<i>There is none good but one, that is God,</i> the fountain of all
good. They have <i>cast him off,</i> as not desiring to have any
thing more to do with him. God was abandoning them to ruin, and
here gives the reason for it. Note, God never casts off any till
they first cast him off. Or, as we read it, They have cast off
<i>the thing that is good;</i> they have cast off the service and
worship of God, which is, in effect, <i>casting God off.</i> They
have cast off that which denominates men good; they have cast off
the fear of God, and the regard of man, and all sense of virtue and
honesty. Observe, <i>They have transgressed my covenant;</i> it has
come to this at last; for <i>they trespassed against my law.</i>
Breaking the command made way for breaking the covenant; and they
did that, for they <i>cast off that which was good;</i> there it
began first. They <i>left off to be wise and to do good,</i> and
then they went all to naught, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.3" parsed="|Ps|36|3|0|0" passage="Ps 36:3">Ps.
xxxvi. 3</scripRef>. See the method of apostasy; men first cast off
that which is good; then those omissions make way for commissions;
and frequent actual transgressions of God's law bring men at length
to an habitual renunciation of his covenant. When men cast off
praying, and hearing, and sabbath-sanctification, and other things
that are good, they are in the high road to a total forsaking of
God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p5" shownumber="no">II. Here are general threatenings of wrath
and ruin for their sin: <i>The enemy shall come as an eagle against
the house of the Lord,</i> and (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.3" parsed="|Hos|8|3|0|0" passage="Ho 8:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) <i>shall pursue him.</i> If by
<i>the house of the Lord</i> we understand the temple at Jerusalem,
by the eagle that comes against it we must suppose to be meant
either Sennacherib, who had taken all the fenced cities of Judah,
laid siege to Jerusalem (and, no doubt, aimed at the house of the
Lord, to lay that waste, as he had done the temples of the gods of
other nations), or Nebuchadnezzar, who burnt the temple and made a
prey of the vessels of the temple. But, if we make it to point at
the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes by the king of
Assyria, we must reckon it is the body of that people which as
Israelites, to whom <i>pertained the adoption, the glory, and the
covenants,</i> is here called the <i>house of the Lord.</i> They
thought their being so would be their protection; but the prophet
is directed to tell them that now they had lost the life and spirit
of their religion, though they still retained the name and form of
it, they were but as a carcase to which the eagles and other birds
of prey should be gathered together. The enemy shall pursue them
<i>as an eagle,</i> so swiftly, so strongly, so furiously. Note,
Those who break their covenant of friendship with God expose
themselves to the enmity of all about them, to whom they make
themselves a cheap and easy prey; and their having been <i>the
house of the Lord,</i> and his living temples, will be no excuse
nor refuge to them. See <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.2" parsed="|Amos|3|2|0|0" passage="Am 3:2">Amos iii.
2</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p6" shownumber="no">III. Here is the people's hypocritical
claim of relation to God, when they were in trouble and distress
(<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.2" parsed="|Hos|8|2|0|0" passage="Ho 8:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Israel
shall cry unto me;</i> when either they are threatened with these
judgments, and would plead an exemption, or when the judgments are
inflicted on them and they apply to God for relief, <i>pouring out
a prayer when God's chastening is upon them,</i> they will plead
that among them <i>God is known</i> and his <i>name is great</i>
(<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.1" parsed="|Ps|76|1|0|0" passage="Ps 76:1">Ps. lxxvi. 1</scripRef>) and in their
distress will pretend to that knowledge of God's ways which in
their prosperity they <i>desired not,</i> but <i>despised.</i> They
will then cry unto God, will call him their God, and (as impudent
beggars) will tell him they are well acquainted with him, and have
known him long. Note, There are many who in works deny God, and
disown him, yet, to serve a turn, will profess that they <i>know
him,</i> that they know more of him than some of their neighbours
do. But what stead will it stand a man in to be able to say, <i>My
God, I know thee,</i> when he cannot say, "My God, I love thee,"
and "My God, I serve thee, and cleave to thee only?"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p7" shownumber="no">IV. Here is the prophet's expostulation
with them, in God's name (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.5" parsed="|Hos|8|5|0|0" passage="Ho 8:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>): <i>How long will it be ere they attain to
innocency?</i> It is not meant of absolute innocency (that is what
the guilty can never attain to); but how long will it be ere they
repent and reform, ere they become innocent in this matter, and
free from the sin of idolatry? They are wedded to their idols; how
long will it be ere they are weaned from them, ere <i>they are able
to get clear of them?</i> so it might be rendered. This intimates
that custom in sin makes it very difficult for men to part with it.
It is hard to cleanse from that filthiness, either of flesh or
spirit, which has been long wallowed in. But God speaks as if he
thought the time long till sinners cast away their iniquities and
come to live a new life. He complains of their obstinacy; it is
that which keeps his anger against them burning, which would soon
be turned away if they did but <i>attain to innocency</i> from
those sins that kindled it. They in trouble cry, <i>How long</i>
will it be ere God return to us in a way of mercy? but they do not
hear him ask, <i>How long</i> will it be ere they return to God in
a way of duty?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p8" shownumber="no">V. Here are some particular sins which they
are charged with, are convicted of the folly of, and warned of the
fatal consequences of, and for which God's <i>anger is kindled
against them.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p9" shownumber="no">1. In their civil affairs. They set <i>up
kings without God,</i> and in contempt of him, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.4" parsed="|Hos|8|4|0|0" passage="Ho 8:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. So they did when they rejected
Samuel, in whom the Lord was their king, and chose Saul, that they
might be <i>like the nations.</i> So they did when they revolted
from their allegiance to the house of David, and set up Jeroboam,
wherein, though they fulfilled God's secret counsel, yet they aimed
not at his glory, nor consulted his oracle, nor applied to him by
prayer for direction, nor had any regard to his providence, but
were led by their own humour and hurried on by the impetus of their
own passions. So they did now about the time when Hosea prophesied,
when it seems to have grown fashionable to <i>set up kings,</i> and
depose them again, according as the contenders for the crown could
make an interest, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.15.8" parsed="|2Kgs|15|8|0|0" passage="2Ki 15:8">2 Kings xv.
8</scripRef>, &amp;c. Note, We cannot expect comfort and success in
our affairs when we go about them, and go on in them, without
consulting God and acknowledge not him in all our ways: "They
<i>set up kings,</i> and <i>I knew it not,</i> that is, I did not
know it from them, they did not ask <i>counsel at my mouth,</i>
whether they might lawfully do it or whether it would be best for
them to do it, though they had prophets and oracles with whom they
might have advised." They <i>looked not to the Holy One of
Israel,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.31.1" parsed="|Isa|31|1|0|0" passage="Isa 31:1">Isa. xxxi. 1</scripRef>.
Nor did the princes do as Jephthah, who, before he took upon him
the government, <i>uttered all his words before the Lord in
Mizpeh,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.11.11" parsed="|Judg|11|11|0|0" passage="Jdg 11:11">Judg. xi. 11</scripRef>.
Note, Those that are entrusted with public concerns, and
particularly with the election and nomination of magistrates, ought
to take God along with them therein, by desiring his direction and
designing his honour.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p10" shownumber="no">2. In their religious matters they did much
worse; for they <i>set up calves against God,</i> in competition
with him and contradiction to him. "Of <i>their silver and their
gold</i> which God <i>gave them,</i> and <i>multiplied</i> to them,
that they might serve and honour him with them, they have <i>made
them idols.</i>" They called them <i>gods</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.12.28" parsed="|1Kgs|12|28|0|0" passage="1Ki 12:28">1 Kings xii. 28</scripRef>, <i>Behold thy gods, O
Israel!</i>) but God calls them <i>idols;</i> the word signifies
<i>griefs,</i> or <i>troubles,</i> because they are offensive to
God and will be ruining to those that worship them. <i>Their silver
and their gold they have made to them idols;</i> so the words are,
referring primarily to the images of their gods, which they made of
gold and silver, especially the golden calves at Dan and Bethel.
Idolaters spare no cost in worshipping their idols. But they are
very applicable to the spiritual idolatry of the covetous: <i>Their
silver and their gold</i> are the gods they place their happiness
in, set their hearts upon, to which they pay their homage, and in
which they put their confidence. Now, to show them the folly of
their idolatry, he tells them,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p11" shownumber="no">(1.) Whence their gods came. Trace them to
their original, and they will be found the creatures of their own
fancies and the work of their own hands, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.6" parsed="|Hos|8|6|0|0" passage="Ho 8:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. The calf they worshipped is here
called <i>the calf of Samaria,</i> because it is probable that when
Samaria, in Ahab's time, became the metropolis of the kingdom, a
calf was set up there to be near the court, besides those at Dan
and Bethel, or perhaps one of those was removed thither; for those
that are for new gods will still be for newer. Now let them
consider what this god of theirs owed its rise and being to. [1.]
To their own invention and institution: <i>From Israel was it
also,</i> not from the God of Israel (he expressly forbade it), but
from Israel; it was a device of their own (some think), not
borrowed from any of their neighbours, no, not from the Egyptians,
for, though they worshipped Apis in a living cow, they never
worshipped a <i>golden calf;</i> that was from Israel; it was
<i>their own iniquity.</i> Now could that be worthy of their
worship which was a contrivance of their own? It was <i>from
Israel,</i> that is, the gold and silver of which it was made were
collected from the people of Israel by a brief: it was a poor god
that was framed by contribution. [2.] It was owing to the skill and
labour of the craftsman, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.15" parsed="|Deut|27|15|0|0" passage="De 27:15">Deut. xxvii.
15</scripRef>. <i>The workmen made it, therefore it is not God,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.6" parsed="|Hos|8|6|0|0" passage="Ho 8:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. This is a very
cogent conclusive argument, and the inference so very plain that
one would think their own thoughts should have suggested it to
them, so as to make them ashamed of their idolatry. What can be
more absurd than for men to worship that as a god, giving being and
good to them, which they themselves gave being to (both matter and
form), but could not give life to? A made god is no God. This is a
self-evident truth; and yet St. Paul was accused as a criminal for
preaching that <i>those are no gods which are made with hands,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.19.26" parsed="|Acts|19|26|0|0" passage="Ac 19:26">Acts xix. 26</scripRef>. And, here,
this which should have turned them from their idols comes in as a
reason why they were inseparably wedded to them; therefore they
could not attain to innocency because it was <i>from
themselves;</i> they were willing to have gods of their own to do
what they pleased with, that they themselves might do what they
pleased.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p12" shownumber="no">(2.) What their gods would come to. If they
are not gods, they will not last; nay, if they pretend to be gods,
they will be reckoned with: <i>The calf of Samaria shall be broken
to pieces,</i> and those that would not yield to the force of the
former argument shall be convinced by this that it is not God, but
an <i>unprofitable idol,</i> as the Chaldee calls it. It shall be
<i>broken to shivers,</i> like a potter's vessel, though it be a
golden calf. It shall be <i>chips</i> or <i>saw-dust;</i> it shall
be a <i>spider's web;</i> so St. Jerome. It seems to allude to
Moses's grinding to powder the golden calf that was in his time.
This shall be served as that was. Sennacherib boasted what he had
done to <i>Samaria and her idols,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.11" parsed="|Isa|10|11|0|0" passage="Isa 10:11">Isa. x. 11</scripRef>. Note, Deifying any creature
makes way for the destruction of it. If they had made vessels and
ornaments for themselves of their silver and gold, they might have
remained; but, if they make gods of them, they shall be <i>broken
to pieces.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p13" shownumber="no">(3.) What their gods would bring them to.
The breaking of them to pieces would be a disappointment to those
who trusted in them. But that was not all: <i>They have</i> made to
themselves idols, <i>that they may be cut off</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.4" parsed="|Hos|8|4|0|0" passage="Ho 8:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), that their gold and
silver, which they so abused, may be cut off (so some take it),
nay, that they may themselves be cut off from God, from their own
land, from the land of the living. Their idolatry will as certainly
end in their extirpation as if they had purposely designed it. And,
when this proves to be the effect of their sin, what relief will
they have from the gods wherein they trusted? None at all: "<i>Thy
calf, O Samaria! has cast thee off;</i> it cannot give thee any
help in thy distress, and the pleasure thou now takest in it will
vanish, and be no pleasure to thee." Those that were justly sent to
the gods whom they had chosen found them <i>miserable
comforters,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.14" parsed="|Judg|10|14|0|0" passage="Jdg 10:14">Judg. x.
14</scripRef>. If men will not quit the love and service of sin,
yet they shall certainly lose all the delights and profits of it.
If Samaria had continued firm and faithful to the God of Israel, he
would have been a present powerful help to her; but the calf she
preferred before him was a broken reed. The case will be the same
with those that make their silver and their gold their god. It will
<i>cast them off,</i> and not <i>profit them in the day of
wrath,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.7.12" parsed="|Ezek|7|12|0|0" passage="Eze 7:12">Ezek. vii. 12</scripRef>.
Note, Those that suffer themselves to be deceived into any
idolatries will certainly find themselves deceived in them.
Cardinal Wolsey owned that if he had served his God as faithfully
as he had served his prince he would not have <i>cast him off,</i>
as his prince did, in his old age. Their disappointment in their
idols is illustrated (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.7" parsed="|Hos|8|7|0|0" passage="Ho 8:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>) by a similitude which intimates both that and the
destruction which God brought upon them for their idolatry. [1.]
They got no good to themselves by worshipping idols: <i>They have
sown the wind.</i> They have put themselves to a great deal of
trouble and expense to make and worship their idols, have made a
business of it as much as the husbandman does of sowing his corn,
in expectation of reaping some mighty advantage from it, and that
they should be as prosperous and victorious as the neighbouring
nations were, that worshipped idols. But it is all a cheat; it is
like <i>sowing the wind,</i> which can yield no increase; they
<i>labour in vain, labour for the wind,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.16" parsed="|Eccl|5|16|0|0" passage="Ec 5:16">Eccl. v. 16</scripRef>. They take great pains to no
purpose, and <i>weary themselves for very vanity,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.13" parsed="|Hab|2|13|0|0" passage="Hab 2:13">Hab. ii. 13</scripRef>. Those that make an idol
of this world do so; they <i>set their eyes on that which is
not,</i> which, like the wind, makes a great noise, but has nothing
substantial in it. [2.] They brought ruin upon themselves by it:
They shall <i>reap the whirlwind,</i> a <i>great whirlwind</i> (so
the word signifies), which shall hurry them away and dash them to
pieces. They not only have not their false gods for them but they
set the true God against them; their favour will stand them in no
more stead than the wind, but his wrath will do them more mischief
than a whirlwind. As a man sows, so shall he reap. "If it may be
supposed that a man should sow the wind, and cover it with earth,
or keep it there for a while penned up, what could he expect but
that it should be forced by its being shut up, and the accession of
what might increase its strength, to break forth again in greater
quantities with greater violence?" So Dr. Pocock. They promise
themselves plenty, peace, and victory, by worshipping idols, but
their expectations come to nothing. What they sow never comes up;
it has <i>no stalk,</i> no blade, or, if it have, <i>the bud shall
yield no meal;</i> it shall be as the thin ears in Pharaoh's dream,
that were blasted with the <i>east wind,</i> and there was nothing
in them. Or <i>if it yield,</i> if they do prosper for a while in
their idolatrous courses, <i>the strangers shall swallow it up;</i>
it shall be so far from doing them any service that it shall be but
as a bait to invite strangers to invade them, and as a spoil to
enrich those strangers and enable them to do so much the more
mischief. Note, The service of idols is an unprofitable service,
and the works of darkness are unfruitful; nay, in the end they will
be pernicious. <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p13.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.21" parsed="|Rom|6|21|0|0" passage="Ro 6:21">Rom. vi. 21</scripRef>,
<i>The end of those things is death.</i> Those that <i>sow
iniquity</i> reap <i>vanity:</i> nay, those that <i>sow to the
flesh, reap corruption.</i> The hopes of sinners will be cheats,
and their gains will be snares.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Hos.ix-p13.8" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.8-Hos.8.14" parsed="|Hos|8|8|8|14" passage="Ho 8:8-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Hos.ix-p13.9">
<h4 id="Hos.ix-p13.10">The Sins of Israel; The Crimes of the
People. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ix-p13.11">b. c.</span> 745.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Hos.ix-p14" shownumber="no">8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be
among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein <i>is</i> no pleasure.
  9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by
himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.   10 Yea, though they have
hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall
sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.   11
Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto
him to sin.   12 I have written to him the great things of my
law, <i>but</i> they were counted as a strange thing.   13
They sacrifice flesh <i>for</i> the sacrifices of mine offerings,
and eat <i>it; but</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Hos.ix-p14.1">Lord</span>
accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit
their sins: they shall return to Egypt.   14 For Israel hath
forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath
multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities,
and it shall devour the palaces thereof.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p15" shownumber="no">It was the honour and happiness of Israel
that they had but one God to trust to and he all-sufficient in
every strait, and but one God to serve, and he well worthy of all
their devotions. But it was their sin, and folly, and shame, that
they knew not when they were well off, that they forsook their own
mercies for lying vanities; for,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p16" shownumber="no">I. They multiplied their alliances
(<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.9" parsed="|Hos|8|9|0|0" passage="Ho 8:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>They have
hired lovers,</i> or (as the margin reads it) <i>they have hired
loves.</i> They were at great expense to purchase the friendship of
the nations about them, that otherwise had no value nor affection
at all for them, nor cared for having any thing to do with them but
only upon the Shechemites' principles—<i>Shall not their cattle
and their substance be ours?</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.23" parsed="|Gen|34|23|0|0" passage="Ge 34:23">Gen.
xxxiv. 23</scripRef>. Had Israel maintained the honour of their
peculiarity, the surrounding nations would have continued to admire
them <i>as a wise and understanding people;</i> but, when they
profaned their own crown, their neighbours despised them, and they
had no interest in them further than they paid dearly for it. But
those surely have behaved ill among their neighbours who have no
loves, no lovers, but what they hire. See here, 1. The contempt
that Israel lay under among the nations (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.8" parsed="|Hos|8|8|0|0" passage="Ho 8:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Israel is swallowed up,</i>
devoured by strangers, their land eaten up (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.7" parsed="|Hos|8|7|0|0" passage="Ho 8:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), and themselves too, and, being
impoverished, they have quite lost their credit and reputation,
like a merchant that has become a bankrupt, so that they are
<i>among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure,</i> a
vessel of <i>dishonour</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.20" parsed="|2Tim|2|20|0|0" passage="2Ti 2:20">2 Tim. ii.
20</scripRef>), a <i>despised broken vessel,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.28" parsed="|Jer|22|28|0|0" passage="Jer 22:28">Jer. xxii. 28</scripRef>. None of their neighbours have
any value for them, nor care to have any thing to do with them.
Note, Those that have professed religion, if they degenerate and
grow profane, are of all men the most contemptible. <i>If the salt
have lost its savour,</i> it is fit for nothing but to be
<i>trodden under foot of men.</i> Or it denotes their dispersion
and captivity <i>among the Gentiles;</i> they shall be among them
poor and prisoners; and who has pleasure in such? 2. The court that
Israel made to the nations notwithstanding (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.7" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.9" parsed="|Hos|8|9|0|0" passage="Ho 8:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): They have <i>gone to Assyria,</i>
to engage the king of Assyria to help them; and herein they are as
a <i>wild ass alone by himself,</i> foolish, headstrong, and
unruly; they will have their way, and nothing shall <i>hold them
in,</i> no, not the bridle of God's laws, nothing shall <i>turn
them back,</i> no, not the sword of God's wrath. They take a course
by themselves, and the effect will be that, like a <i>wild ass by
himself,</i> they will be the easier and surer prey to the lion.
See <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.11.12 Bible:Jer.2.24" parsed="|Job|11|12|0|0;|Jer|2|24|0|0" passage="Job 11:12,Jer 2:24">Job xi. 12; Jer. ii.
24</scripRef>. Note, Man is in nothing more like the wild ass's
colt than in seeking for that succour and that satisfaction in the
creature which are to be had in God only. 3. The crosses that they
were likely to meet with in their alliances with the neighbouring
nations (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.9" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.10" parsed="|Hos|8|10|0|0" passage="Ho 8:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>):
<i>Though they have hired among the nations,</i> and hoped thereby
to prevent their own ruin, yet <i>now will I gather them,</i> as
<i>the sheaves in the floor</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.10" osisRef="Bible:Mic.4.12" parsed="|Mic|4|12|0|0" passage="Mic 4:12">Mic.
iv. 12</scripRef>); so that what they provided for their own safety
shall but make them the easier prey to their enemies. Note, There
is no fence against the judgments of God, when they come with
commission; nay, that which men hire for their own preservation
often contributes to their own destruction. See <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.7.20" parsed="|Isa|7|20|0|0" passage="Isa 7:20">Isa. vii. 20</scripRef>. The king of Assyria, whose
friendship they courted, called himself a <i>king of princes,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.12" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.8" parsed="|Isa|10|8|0|0" passage="Isa 10:8">Isa. x. 8</scripRef>. <i>Are not my
princes altogether kings?</i> He laid <i>burdens</i> upon Israel,
levied taxes upon them, <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.13" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.15.19-2Kgs.15.20" parsed="|2Kgs|15|19|15|20" passage="2Ki 15:19,20">2 Kings
xv. 19, 20</scripRef>. And for these <i>they shall sorrow a
little;</i> this shall be but a little burden to them in comparison
of what they may further expect; or they will be but little
sensible of this grievance, will not lay it to heart, and therefore
may expect heavier judgments. <i>They have begun to be
diminished</i> (so some read it), <i>by the burden of the king of
princes;</i> but this is only the <i>beginning of sorrows</i>
(<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.14" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.8" parsed="|Matt|24|8|0|0" passage="Mt 24:8">Matt. xxiv. 8</scripRef>), <i>the
beginning of revenges,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p16.15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.42" parsed="|Deut|32|42|0|0" passage="De 32:42">Deut.
xxxii. 42</scripRef>. Note, God often comes gradually with his
judgments upon a provoking people, that he may show how slow he is
to wrath, and may awaken them to repentance; but those that are
made to <i>sorrow a little,</i> if they are not thereby brought to
sorrow after a godly sort, will, another day, be made to sorrow a
great deal, to sorrow everlastingly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p17" shownumber="no">II. They multiplied their altars and
temples. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p18" shownumber="no">1. How they denied <i>the power of
godliness,</i> and wholly cast that off (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.12" parsed="|Hos|8|12|0|0" passage="Ho 8:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>I have written to him the
great things of my law;</i> this intimates the privilege they
enjoyed, as having God's statutes and judgments made known to them,
and being entrusted with the lively oracles. Note, (1.) The things
of God's law are <i>magnalia Dei—the great things of God.</i> They
are things that proclaim the greatness of the Law-maker, and things
of great use and great importance to us; they are our life, and our
eternal welfare depends upon our observance of them and obedience
to them; they will make us great if we make a right use of them;
and they are things which God will magnify and make honourable.
(2.) It is a great privilege to have the things of God's law
written; thus they are reduced to a greater certainty, spread the
further, and last the longer, with much less danger of being
embezzled and corrupted than if they were transmitted by word of
mouth only. (3.) The things of God's law are of his own writing;
for Moses and the prophets were his amanuenses, and holy men wrote
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (4.) It is the advantage of
those that are members of the visible church that these great
things are written <i>to them,</i> are intended for their
direction, and so they must receive them; what things were written
in former ages <i>were written for our learning,</i> and are
profitable for us. And, if those were happy who had the <i>great
things of God's law</i> written to them, how much happier are we
who have the gospel written to us! But see how this privilege was
slighted; these great things of the law were <i>counted as a
strange thing,</i> as unintelligible and unreasonable (which might
<i>therefore</i> be slighted, because not to be fathomed, not to be
accounted for), or as foreign, and things of no concernment to
them, things that they had nothing to do with nor were to be
governed by; they used those things as strangers, which they were
shy of, and knew not how to bid welcome. <i>We desire not the
knowledge of thy ways.</i> Note, [1.] God having written to us the
great things of his law, we ought to make them familiar to us, as
our nearest relations (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.3-Prov.7.4" parsed="|Prov|7|3|7|4" passage="Pr 7:3,4">Prov. vii. 3,
4</scripRef>); for <i>therefore</i> we have them written, that they
may <i>talk with us,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.22" parsed="|Prov|6|22|0|0" passage="Pr 6:22">Prov. vi.
22</scripRef>. [2.] We make nothing of the things of God's law if
we make strange of them, as if they did not affect us and therefore
we need not be affected with them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p19" shownumber="no">2. How they kept up the form of godliness
notwithstanding, and to what little purpose they did so.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p20" shownumber="no">(1.) They multiplied their altars
(<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.11" parsed="|Hos|8|11|0|0" passage="Ho 8:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>Ephraim
made many altars to sin.</i> God appointed that there should be but
one altar for sacrifice (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.3 Bible:Deut.12.5" parsed="|Deut|12|3|0|0;|Deut|12|5|0|0" passage="De 12:3,5">Deut. xii.
3, 5</scripRef>); but the ten tribes, having forsaken that, would
still be thought very devout, and zealous for the honour of God,
and, as if they would make amends for the affront they put on God's
altar, they made <i>many altars,</i> dedicated to the God of
Israel, whom hereby they intended, or at least pretended, to give
glory to; but that would not justify their violation of God's
express command, nor would the example of the patriarchs, who
before the law of Moses had many altars. No, they <i>made many
altars to sin</i> (that is, they did that which turned into sin to
them), and therefore these <i>altars shall be unto</i> them <i>to
sin,</i> that is, God will charge it upon them as a heinous sin,
and put that upon the score of their crimes which they designed to
be for the expiation of their crimes. Or they shall be to them an
occasion of further sin. Their multiplying of altars dedicated to
the God of Israel would introduce altars dedicated to other gods.
Note, It is a great sin to corrupt the worship of God, and it will
be charged as sin upon those that do it, how plausible soever their
pretensions may be. And the way of this, as other sins, is
down-hill; those that once deviate from the fixed rule of God's
commands will wander endlessly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p21" shownumber="no">(2.) They multiplied their sacrifices,
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.13" parsed="|Hos|8|13|0|0" passage="Ho 8:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Their altars
were smoking altars: They <i>sacrificed flesh for the sacrifices of
God's offerings,</i> and they celebrated their feasts upon their
sacrifices; they were at a great expense upon their devotions, and
(as those commonly are who set up their own inventions in the room
of divine institutions) were very zealous in their way; as if they
hoped by their impositions on themselves to atone for the contempt
of the great atonement, and by their observing a ceremonial law of
their own to excuse themselves from the obligation of all God's
moral precepts. But how did they speed? [1.] God makes no reckoning
of their services: <i>The Lord accepts them not.</i> How should he,
when they did not offer their sacrifice upon that altar which alone
<i>sanctified the gift,</i> and when they only sacrificed flesh,
but not the spiritual sacrifice of a penitent believing heart?
Note, Those services only are acceptable to God which are performed
according to the rule of his word, and <i>through Jesus Christ,</i>
<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:5">1 Pet. ii. 5</scripRef>. [2.] He takes
that occasion to reckon with them for their sins; now will he,
instead of pardoning their iniquity and blotting out their sins, as
they expected, <i>remember their iniquity</i> and <i>visit their
sins.</i> Such an <i>abomination to the Lord</i> are the
<i>sacrifices of the wicked</i> that they provoke him to call them
to an account for all their other abominations. When they think by
their sacrifices to bribe the Judge of heaven and earth into a
connivance at their wickedness he will resent that as the highest
affront they can put upon him, and it shall be the measure-filling
sin. Note, A petition for leave to sin amounts to an imprecation of
the curse for sin, and so it shall be answered, <i>according to the
multitude of the idols.</i> "I will punish their sins, <i>for they
shall return to Egypt;</i>" they shall be carried captive into
Assyria, which shall be to them a house of bondage, as Egypt was to
their fathers. Or it refers to <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.68" parsed="|Deut|28|68|0|0" passage="De 28:68">Deut.
xxviii. 68</scripRef>, where returning to Egypt is made to close
and complete the miseries of that sinful nation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Hos.ix-p22" shownumber="no">(3.) They multiplied their temples, and
these also in honour of the true God, as they pretended, but really
in contempt of the choice he had made of Jerusalem to <i>put his
name there. Israel has forgotten his Maker,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.14" parsed="|Hos|8|14|0|0" passage="Ho 8:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. They pretended to know him, and
yet forgot him, for they <i>liked not to retain God in their
knowledge,</i> when the remembrance of him would give check to
their lusts. It was an aggravation of their sin in forgetting God
that he was <i>their Maker</i> (<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.15 Bible:Deut.32.18 Bible:Job.35.10" parsed="|Deut|32|15|0|0;|Deut|32|18|0|0;|Job|35|10|0|0" passage="De 32:15,18,Job 35:10">Deut. xxxii. 15, 18; Job xxxv.
10</scripRef>), as nothing obliges us more to remember him than
that he is <i>our Creator,</i> <scripRef id="Hos.ix-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.1" parsed="|Eccl|12|1|0|0" passage="Ec 12:1">Eccl.
xii. 1</scripRef>. "He has <i>forgotten his Maker, and builds
temples;</i> he seems by the temples he builds to me mindful of his
Maker, and to be desirous still to keep him in mind, and yet really
he has forgotten him, because he has cast off the fear of him."
Some by temples here understand <i>palaces,</i> for so the word
sometimes signifies. "<i>He has forgotten his Maker,</i> and yet is
so secure and haughty that he sets his judgments at defiance, as
Nebuchadnezzar did when he said, <i>Is not this great Babylon that
I have built?</i>" Judah is likewise charged with <i>multiplying
fenced cities,</i> and trusting in them for safety, when the
judgments of God were abroad. To fortify their cities in subjection
and subordination to God was well enough; but to fortify them in
opposition to God, and without any regard to him or his providence
(<scripRef id="Hos.ix-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.22.11" parsed="|Isa|22|11|0|0" passage="Isa 22:11">Isa. xxii. 11</scripRef>), shows
their hearts to be desperately <i>hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin.</i> But <i>none ever hardened his heart
against God and prospered,</i> nor shall they. <i>God will send a
fire upon his cities,</i> upon the cities both of Judah and Israel,
not only the head-cities of Jerusalem and Samaria, but all the
other cities of those two kingdoms, and it shall devour not only
the cottages, but <i>the palaces thereof;</i> though ever so
strong, the fire shall master them; though ever so stately and
sumptuous, the fire shall not spare them. This was fulfilled when
all the cities of Israel were laid in ashes by the king of Assyria,
and all the cities of Judah by the king of Babylon. The fires they
both kindled were of his sending; and when he judges he will
overcome.</p>
</div></div2>