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Hosea Chapter
Ten
Hosea 10
Chapter Contents
The idolatry of Israel. (1-8) They are exhorted to
repentance. (9-15)
Commentary on Hosea 10:1-8
A vine is only valuable for its fruit; but Israel now
brought no fruit to perfection. Their hearts were divided. God is the Sovereign
of the heart; he will have all, or none. Were the stream of the heart wholly
after God, it would run strongly, and bear down all before it. Their pretences
to covenant with God were false. Even the proceeding of justice was as
poisonous hemlock. Alas, how empty a vine is the visible church even at this
day! But all earthly prosperity is but a collection of bubbles, soon destroyed like
foam upon the water. Sinners will in vain seek shelter from that Judge, whom
they now despise as a Saviour.
Commentary on Hosea 10:9-15
Because God does not desire the death and ruin of
sinners, therefore in mercy he desires their chastisement. The children of
iniquity still remained in Israel. The enemies would be gathered against them.
It is just with God to make those know what hardships mean, who indulge
themselves in ease and pleasure. Let them cleanse their hearts from all corrupt
affections and lusts, and be a broken and contrite spirit. Let them abound in
works of piety towards God, and of justice and charity towards one another:
herein let them sow to the Spirit. Seeking the Lord is to be every day's work,
but there are special occasions when to seek him. Christ shall come as the Lord
our righteousness, and grant us of it abundantly. If we sow in righteousness,
we shall reap according to mercy; a reward not of debt, but of grace. Even the
gains of sin yield the sinner no satisfaction. As our comforts, so our
confidences in the service of sin will certainly fail us. Come and seek the
Lord, and thy hope in him shall not deceive thee. See what cruel work war
makes. Whatever mischief is done, it is sin that does it. What miseries men's
sins bring on them, even in this world!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Hosea》
Hosea 10
Verse 1
[1] Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto
himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars;
according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
An empty vine — That hath lost its strength to
bring forth fruit.
Unto himself — Whatever fruit was brought forth
by its remaining strength, was not brought forth to God.
His fruit — When the land yielded more
plentiful increase, this plenty was employed on multiplying idols.
The altars — Of his idols.
The goodness — Imagining that the goodness of
their land was a blessing from their idols.
Verse 2
[2] Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty:
he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
Is divided — From God and his worship.
Faulty — As this was their sin, so the effects hereof should
manifestly prove them faulty.
He — God.
Verse 3
[3] For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared
not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?
Say — See and feel.
No king — Either no king at all, or no such king as we expected.
What then — For kings are not able to save
without the God of kings.
Verse 4
[4] They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a
covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
Words — Vain words.
Swearing falsely — By perjury deceiving
those they treated with.
A covenant — With the Assyrian king.
Judgment — Divine vengeance.
As hemlock — A proverbial speech, expressing
the greatness of this evil.
Verse 5
[5] The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the
calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests
thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from
it.
Because of the calves — Because they had
sinned by these calves, therefore did this fear seize them.
The people — They who dwelt at Beth-aven.
That rejoiced on it — These priests
formerly were fed, clothed, and enriched by this idol, this made them right
glad.
The glory thereof — All its credit is
vanished.
Is departed — The Assyrians have either broken
it, or carried it in derision into Assyria.
Verse 6
[6] It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to
king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own
counsel.
It — The golden calf.
Verse 7
[7] As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the
water.
Is cut off — Shortly will be cut off: this
prophecy probably was delivered when Samaria was besieged.
Verse 8
[8] The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall
be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they
shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
The high places — The temples and altars of Baal.
Of Aven — Or Beth-aven.
They shall say — When this shall be brought to
pass, the idolatrous Israelites shall be in such perplexity, that they shall
wish the mountains and hills might fall on them.
Verse 9
[9] O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah:
there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not
overtake them.
They — Probably the six hundred men who fled to the rock
Rimmon.
Overtake them — That fatal battle did not reach
them; but now Israel shall be more severely punished.
Verse 10
[10] It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the
people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their
two furrows.
The people — The Assyrians.
For their two transgressions — Perhaps, their revolt
from David's house, and their idolatry.
Verse 11
[11] And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth
to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make
Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
Taught — Used to, and so skilled in.
Passed over — I laid some lighter yoke upon
her, brought some gentle afflictions upon that people to tame them, but this
hath not prevailed.
Ride — I will ride on Ephraim and tame him.
Shall plow — Judah tho' less sinful hath been
used to harder labour; hath plowed when Ephraim hath reaped.
Break his clods — The same in another proverbial
speech, their work at present is harder, but there is an harvest follows. Tho'
they sow in tears when going to Babylon, they shall reap in joy at their
return.
Verse 12
[12] Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break
up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain
righteousness upon you.
Reap — And ye shall reap in mercy.
Fallow ground — Your hearts are as ground
over-run with weeds, which need to be plowed and broken up, that good seed may
be sowed in them.
And rain — Plentifully pour out the fruits of his goodness and
mercy.
Verse 13
[13] Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye
have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the
multitude of thy mighty men.
Ye have plowed — You, O Israelites.
Ye have reaped — Ye have lived in wickedness, and
propagated it, and ye have met with a recompense worthy of your labour.
Eaten — Fed yourselves with vain hopes.
In thy way — Their way was their idolatry.
Mighty men — The next lie on which they lived
was the wisdom and valour of their great men.
Verse 14
[14] Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all
thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of
battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
As Shalman — Probably Salmaneser.
Beth-arbel — It was a city of Assyria, and
gave name to a country or region in part of Assyria.
Verse 15
[15] So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great
wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
Beth-el — The idolatry committed there.
Do — Procure all this evil against you.
In a morning — Possibly the Assyrians might
assault the city towards morning and master it.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Hosea》
10 Chapter 10
Verses 1-15
Verse 1
Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.
The abuse of worldly prosperity
Our version is faulty here. Elzas renders, “Israel is a luxurious
vine, whose fruit is very abundant.” So our subject is the abuse of prosperity.
Some men are very prosperous. Every branch of their life clusters with fruit.
Sonic nations are very prosperous. When is prosperity abused?
I. When it is used
with an exclusive regard to our own selfish ends. As--
1. For self-indulgence.
2. For self-aggrandisement.
The right which property gives is the right to lay it out for the
benefit of our fellow-men.
II. When it is used
without a supreme regard to the claims of God. Unless we employ our property
according to the directions of the Great Proprietor we abuse the trust. How
does God require us to employ our property?
1. For the amelioration of human woes.
2. For the dispersion of human ignorance.
3. For the elevation of the human soul.
To raise it to the knowledge, the image, the fellowship, and the
enjoyment of God. How are we, as a nation, using our enormous prosperity? (Homilist.)
The figure of the vine
Israel is a luxuriant vine. Not as in the A.V. “an empty vine,”
nor as in the margin A.V. “a vine emptying the fruit which it giveth,” but a
vine which pours itself forth, spreads out its branches. It denotes the outward
prosperity and abundance which they had enjoyed. The vineyard had been planted
with the choicest vine, and diligently cultivated, but it bore wretched fruit,
significant of sins against God. (W. Henry Green, D. D. , LL. D.)
The Church compared to a vine
1. No plant has a more unpromising outside than the vine.
2. The vine is the most fruitful plant that grows out of the earth.
3. No plant requires so great care as the vine.
4. The vine is the most depending plant in the world, unable to
underprop itself, it must have props more than any other plant, and therefore
nature has given it tendrils by which it catches hold of anything near it.
5. If it be not fruitful, it is the most unprofitable thing in the
world.
6. A vine is the most spreading of plants. It spreads larger than
other plants, and fills a great deal of room with its branches.
7. The vine is the softest and most tender of plants, the emblem of
peace. But Israel is an empty, or emptying, vine; he makes himself empty.
Israel as a robbed vine
The prophet means, that Israel was like a vine which is
robbed after the ingathering is come: for the word bekok means properly
to pillage, or to plunder. The prophet compares the gathering of the grapes to
robbing; and this view best suits the place. Israel is like a robbed vine, for
it was stripped of its fruit; and then he adds, “he will make fruit for
himself.” I understand by the words that Israel would lay up fruit for himself
after the robbing, and sacred history confirms this view; for this people, we
know, had been in various ways chastised: so, however, that they gathered new
strength. For the Lord intended only to admonish them gently, that they might
be healed; but nothing was effected by God’s moderation. The case, however, was
so, that Israel produced new fruit, as a vine, after having been robbed one
year, brings forth a new vintage; for one ingathering does not kill the vine.
Thus also Israel did lay up fruit for himself; that is, after the Lord had
collected there His vintage, He again favoured the people with His blessing,
and, as it were, restored them anew; as vines in the spring throw out their
branches, and then produce fruit. God, in the next clause, complains that Israel,
after having been once gathered, went on in his own wickedness. This is a
useful doctrine. We see how the Lord forbears in inflicting punishments--He
does not execute them with the utmost rigour. But how do they act who are thus
moderately chastised? As soon as they can recruit their spirits they are
carried away by a more head strong inclination, and grow insolent against God.
(John Calvin.)
Israel as a vine
A luxuriant vine; one which poureth out, poureth itself out
into leaves, abundant in switches (as most old versions explain it), luxuriant
in leaves, emptying itself in them, and empty of fruit; like the fig-tree which
our Lord cursed. For the more a fruit tree putteth out its strength in leaves
and branches, the less and worse fruit it beareth. “The juices which it ought
to transmute into wine it disperseth in the ambitious idle shew of leaves and
branches.” The sap in the vine is an emblem of His Holy Spirit, through whom
alone we can bear fruit. “His grace which was in me,” says St. Paul, “was not in
vain.” It is in vain to us, when we waste the stirrings of God’s Spirit in
feelings, aspirations, longings, transports, “which bloom their hour and fade.”
Like the leaves, these feelings aid in maturing fruit; when there are leaves
only, the tree is barren, and “nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.”
“It bringeth forth fruit for itself,” lit. “setteth fruit to, or on, itself.”
Luxuriant in leaves, its fruit becomes worthless, and is from itself to itself.
It is uncultured (for Israel refused culture), pouring itself out, as it
willed, in what it willed. It had a rich shew of leaves, a shew also of fruit,
but not for the Lord of the vineyard, since they came to no size or ripeness.
Yet to the superficial glance, Israel, at this time, was rich, prosperous,
healthy, abundant in all things. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Self-aggrandisement, and its secret
“He bringeth forth fruit unto himself”; and yet, literally, he
brings forth no fruit at all, only long stem and tendril, and leaves
innumerable; his fruit is all foliage. The figure is very Hebraic and grand.
Israel is a vine, and a growing vine, but Israel misses the purpose of the vine
by never growing any wine; growing nothing but weedy leaves, and so
disappointing men when they come to find fruit thereon, and discover none. The
Church is an empty vine. Theology is an empty vine. All religious controversy
that is conducted for its own sake--that is to say, with the single view of
winning a victory in words--is an empty vine,--luxuriant enough, but it is the
luxuriance of ashes. “According to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased
the altars; according to the goodness of his land, they have made goodly
images.” They have gone pari passu with the Almighty--He, the living
Father, doing the good, and they, the rebellious men, doing proportionate evil.
When the harvest has been plentiful, the idolatry has been large, increasing in
urgency and importance; when the vine has brought forth abundantly, another
image has been set up. That is the teaching of the prophet; yea, that is the
impeachment of God. God may be represented as saying, Your wickedness has been
in proportion to My goodness; the more I have given you, the less I have
received from you; the larger the prosperity with which I have crowned you, the
more zealous have you been in your idolatry; the more lovingly I have revealed
Myself to you, the greater your wantonness, selfishness, and rebellion. That is
not only Hebrew, it is English; that is not only ancient history, it is the
tragedy, the blasphemy of to-day. What is the explanation? Where is the point
at which we can stand and say: This is the beginning of the mischief? The
answer is in the second verse, “Their heart is divided.” That has always been
the difficulty of God; He has so seldom been able to get a consenting heart.
God says: These people want to do two irreconcilable things--they want to serve
God and Mammon; they want to courteously recognise the existence of Jehovah,
and then run to kiss the lips of Baal. Their heart does not all go one way;
they cannot wholly throw off the true religion; it has indeed become to them
little better than a superstition, but men do not like to gather up all the
traditions of the past, and cast them in one bundle into the flowing river, in
the hope that it may he carried away and lost for ever. So they come to the
altar sometimes; now and again they look in at the church door; intermittently
they listen to the old Psalm and
the half-remembered hymn; but in the soul of them they are drunk
with idolatry. There are persons very anxious to maintain orthodoxy who are the
most notorious thieves in society; there are those who would subscribe to any
society to defend Sunday, if they might do on Monday just what they liked; they
are zealous about the Sabbath, and especially zealous that other people should
keep it, but on Monday you would never imagine that there was a Sunday. “Their
heart is divided.” (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The self-shoot the wrong one to cultivate
A little while ago an inexperienced hand had trained a rose-tree
over a porch, The leaves of the tree were green, and the growth was strong, but
not a flower was there. “Why is this?” inquired the master of a skilled
gardener. The answer was given by an act, not by words, for, taking out his
pruning knife, the gardener in one moment levelled the rampant growth to the
ground. “What have you done?” cried the master. “Don’t you see, sir,” was the
reply; “your man has been cultivating the wrong shoot!” and, at the same time,
the gardener pointed out the grafted rose, which had barely struggled two
inches above the ground, and which the wild shoot had completely overwhelmed.
In a few months the graft, set free from the encumbering growth of the wrong
shoot, sent out in vigorous life its beautiful branches, and covered the porch
with its luxuriance; and there it lives, a parable of heavenly things. Not all
the cultivation or training in the world could have made that wrong shoot
become a beautiful and flowering tree, neither will the efforts of a whole life
succeed in making our “old man” like Christ, or fruitful towards God. God has
condemned our nature in the Cross of Christ: He has judicially cut it down; and
no fruit fit for God shall grow upon it for ever. The practical word, then, to
those Christians who are seeking to produce out of self-fruit acceptable to God
is, Do not cultivate the wrong shoot. (H. F. Wetherby.)
Sin the product of man’s free will
This is the oldest illustration of cause and effect known to our
race. The Old Testament, with its system of conscience education, is a profound
commentary on the subject, its moral law creating a knowledge of sin, its
sacrificial system deepening the sense of the guilt of sin, and its prophetic
ministry denouncing sin, and bringing the sorrow and suffering following sin
home to the hearts of the kings and the people with unflinching courage and
precision. None the less striking is this truth when read from the pages of
classic heathenism. It is Helen’s crime and that of Paris which brings on
sorrow in the downfall of Troy. AEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are
pagan preachers enunciating the terrible judgments following in the train of
wrong-doing. Dante, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton build their poems and
construct their dramas upon this foundation. Sin is the product of man’s free
will. “Israel bringeth forth fruit unto himself.” In appropriating the gifts of
God to self-gratification the Creator has been ignored. Sin is man’s own
product. It is the child of our own self-will. While it is true that in every human
being there is a persistent tendency to take the wrong direction in moral
development, yet no man is ever otherwise than a wilful sinner. The election by
the individual will to act counter to the requirements of God is the source of
all sin. Again, we see the insidious manner in which sin makes its home in the
human heart. Self-interest is pressed into the service of sin, but sin, once
getting a foothold, transforms a healthy serf-interest into gross selfishness.
Growth and prosperity are turned to sinful uses. In the satiety of
self-indulgence, in the greed of self-aggrandisement, in the divided heart, we
witness the wreck of God’s purposes as they are related to human life. Into
this terrible state of antagonism to the will of God the prophet Hosea declares
Israel has come. When the Almighty created man with free will, He, in a sense,
“set bounds to His own omnipotence.” From that hour man has held in his will
the awful power of resisting God. Sorrow, then, and suffering, are the
inevitable results of persistent wilful sin. The moment sin is committed
judgment begins with the steady developments of growth. But in the distressing
picture of sin and its consequences now before us there is relief afforded.
Sad, indeed, would be the lot of man if he were irrevocably doomed to endure
the conditions of his terrible fortune. There is promised the overthrow of the
dominion of sin by repentance and service in the cause of righteousness. (E.
M. Taylor.)
Verse 2
Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty.
A divided heart
It is one grievous fault with the Church of Christ at the present
day, that it is not merely divided somewhat in its creed, and somewhat also in
the practice of its ordinances, but, alas! it is also somewhat divided in
heart. When our doctrinal divisions grow to so great a head that we cease to
co-operate, when our opinions upon mere ordinances become so acid towards each
other that we can no longer extend the right hand of fellowship to those who
differ from us, then indeed is the Church of God found faulty. Even Beelzebub,
with all his craft, cannot stand when once his hosts are divided. The smallest
church in the world is potent for good when it hath but one heart and one soul;
when pastor, elders, deacons, and members are bound together by a threefold
cord which cannot be broken. Union is strength. By union we live, and by
disunion we expire. Apply the text to our individual condition.
I. A fearful disease.
“Their heart is divided.”
1. The seat of the disease. It affects a vital part, a part so vital
that it affects the whole man. There is no power, no passion, no motive, no
principle which does not become vitiated when once the heart is diseased.
2. The disease touches this vital part after a most serious fashion.
The heart is cleft in twain. Nothing can go right when that which should be one
organ becomes two; when the one motive power begins to send forth its
life-floods into two diverse channels, and so creates intestine strife and war.
3. It is a division in itself peculiarly loathsome. Men who are
possessed of it do not feel themselves unclean; they will venture into the
church, they will propose to receive her communion, and they will afterwards go
and mingle with the world; and they do not feel that they have become
dishonest. Take the glass and look into that man’s heart, and you will discern
that it is loathsome, because Satan and sin reign there. All the while that he
is living in sin he is pretending that he is a child of God. Stand out in thy
true colours. If thou art a worldling, be a worldling.
4. It is a disease always difficult to cure, because it is chronic.
It is not an acute disease, which brings pain and suffering and sorrow with it.
But it is chronic, it has got into the very nature of the man. What physician
can join together a divided heart?
5. This disease is a very difficult one to deal with, because, it is
a flattering disease. The most cunning of all flatterers is a man’s own heart.
A man’s own heart will flatter him, even about his sins. He is contented and
self-satisfied.
II. The usual
symptoms of the disease.
1. Formality in religious worship. These men have no faith; they have
only a creed. They have no life within, and they supply its place with outward
ceremony. What
wonder, therefore, that we fiercely defend that!
2. Inconsistency. You must not see him always if you would have a
good opinion of him. You must be guarded as to the days on which you call upon
him. You must have a divided heart if you live an inconsistent life.
3. Variableness in object. There are men who run first in one
direction then in another. Their religion is all spasmodic. They are taken with
it as men are taken with the ague. They take up with religion, and then they
lay it down again.
4. Frivolity in religion is often a token of a divided heart. It is
perhaps too common a sin with young persons to treat religion with a light and
frivolous air. There is a seriousness which is well-becoming, especially in youthful
Christians.
III. The sad effects
of a divided heart. When a man’s heart is divided he is at once everything that
is bad.
1. With regard to himself, he is an unhappy man. Men who are neither
this nor that, neither one thing nor another, are always uneasy and miserable.
2. He is useless in the Church. Of what good is such a man to us? We
cannot put him in a pulpit or make him a deacon. We cannot commit to his charge
spiritual matters, because we discern that he is not spiritual himself. We know
that no man who is not united in his heart vitally and entirely to Christ can
ever be of the slightest service to the Church of God.
3. He is dangerous to the world. He is like a leper going abroad in
the midst of healthy people; he spreads the disease. Though outwardly
whitewashed like a sepulchre, he is more dangerous to the world than the most
vicious of men.
4. He is contemptible to everybody. When he is found out nobody
receives him; scarcely will the world own him, and the Church will have nothing
to administer to him but censure.
5. He is reprobate in the sight of God. To the eye of infinite purity
he is one of the most obnoxious and detestable of beings. The holy God both
hates his sin and the lies with which he endeavours to cover it.
IV. The future
punishment of the man whose heart is divided. Unless he is rescued by a great
salvation. Let me describe the terrible condition of the hypocrite when God
shall come to judge the world. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The divided heart
The root of the evil in Israel was, as always, a heart
divided,--that is, between God and Baal,--or, perhaps, “smooth,” that is,
dissimulating and insincere. In reality, Baal alone possesses the heart which
its owner would share between him and Jehovah. “All in all, or not at all” is
the law. Whether Baals or calves were set beside God, He was equally deposed.
Then with a swift turn Hosea proclaims the impending judgment, setting himself
and the people as if down in the future. He hears the first peal of the storm,
and echoes it in that abrupt “now.” The first burst of the judgment scatters
dreams of innocence, and the cowering wretches see their sin by the lurid
light. That discovery awaits every man whose heart has been “divided.” To the
gazers and to himself masks drop, and the true character stands out with
appalling clearness. What will that light show us to be? The ruin of their
projects teaches godless men at last that they have been fools to take their
own way; for all defences, resources, and protectors, chosen in defiance of
God, prove powerless when the strain comes. It is a dismal thing to have
to bear the brunt of chastisement for what we see to have been a blunder as
well as a crime. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Antagonistic principles
Solomon wanted to live a life of self-indulgence while posing as a
servant of God. His offering costly sacrifices, and building a magnificent
temple, and making a beautiful prayer, could not rectify the inconsistency. The
two could not exist together in one person. It was like the ice palace built
for an empress of Russia, which was beautiful as a dream, with elaborate
architecture, and glistening like a jewel in the sun. But it was intensely
cold, and the empress ordered a fire to be built in it. The architect had to
explain to her that the fire would destroy the building. She could not have an
ice palace and warmth at the same time. Neither can any one have a heart of icy
selfishness along with the warmth of God’s love. (Christian Herald.)
A divided heart
You know there is what is called “changeable silk,” which looks
now green and now brown, just as the light chances to strike it. It is neither
brown nor green, as a matter of fact, but a commingling and compromise of the
two: therefore you can get whichever colour you like, according as you present
it to the sun. And I am sorry to say that it is so with a good many Christians.
You can get a worldly shade or a heavenly shade on their piety, just according
to the company they are in. (A. J. Gordon.)
Divided hearts
We are told that some of our scientists have recently been trying
a very doubtful experiment. They take a section of one creature and fasten it
upon another creature of an altogether different type. This is done by a
delicate surgery when the creature is immature, and when it comes to perfection
you have a strange monster. For instance, it is said that they fasten a section
of a spider on the butterfly, and by and by you get an alarming and tragical
organism. You may imagine what becomes of those antagonistic impulses and
instincts. The creature has a feeling for the light and a passion for the
darkness; it has a taste for blood, and loves the scent of roses; is afraid of
itself and worries itself. Now, when you have seen the spider and the butterfly
blended into one organism, you have seen a pale reflection of your own
personality. One part of us sympathises with the low and another part with the
lofty; one part of us looks into the firmament and another part cleaves to the
dust. (W. L. Watkinson.)
A divided heart
In every age and country there are some found with divided hearts
on the subject of religion. Such was Hiram, King of Tyre, who, while he blessed
the Lord that Solomon was king, and gladly traded with him for some of the
materials for building a temple to Jehovah, also contributed one hundred and
twenty talents of gold towards its erection. And yet, in his own country, he
dedicated a golden pillar to Jupiter, built the temples of Hercules and
Astarte, the Ashtaroth of the Zidonians, and enriched the shrines of the god
and goddess with valuable gifts. So Redwald, the King of East Anglia, when
converted to Christianity, is said to have kept two altars, the one to the God
of the Christians, the other to Woden, a Saxon idol, being afraid of the
imaginary god whom he had so long worshipped. So there are some now, who appear
very religious at times, and yet their hearts go after covetousness, and they
are quite at home in the circles of the gay and in the indulgence of sinful
pleasure.
Judgment on the divided heart
1. As the heart is a vital part, which cannot be divided without
death, so men can have no life of God, nor acknowledgment of Him, when they are
not solely and wholly for Him and His way.
2. When men do fall from God’s way, it is just with Him to give them
up to start and multiply divisions without end in their own way.
3. Civil dissensions and commotions are the just fruits of men’s
divisions in the matter of God and His worship. (George Hutcheson.)
Verse 4
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant:
thus Judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of a field.
Social sins and their result
I. Social sins.
1. Vain speech. “They utter empty speeches.” Not only are words of
falsehood, blasphemy, and unchastity sinful, but empty words. How much idle
language is there current in society!
2. False swearing. In judicial courts, in homes, in shops, in fields.
3. Unrighteous treaties. There is no harm in making covenants. Making
a bad covenant is implied. The primal reference is to certain treaties Israel
had formed with foreign nations. Untruthful as well as unrighteous bargains,
are being struck every hour.
II. Results of
social sins. “Judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.”
Out of these social sins certain results appear. How do they come?
1. They come as a growth. Every sin is a seed from which a
pestiferous plant must spring.
2. They come as a poison. Hemlock, or poppy, or darnel; poisonous
productions.
3. They come in abundance. Very prolific is sin. See its plants
growing in the ridges and furrows of life; in sick chambers, hospitals,
workhouses, in prisons, in battlefields. (Homilist.)
Sin disturbing human relations
The sin of Israel is now contemplated in its effects on human relations.
Before, it was regarded in relation to God. But men who are wrong with Him
cannot be right with one another. Morality is rooted in religion, and, if we
lie to God, we shall not be true to our brother. Hence, passing over all other
sins for the present, Hosea fixes upon one, the prevalence of which strikes at
the very foundation of society. What can be done with a community in which
lying has become a national characteristic, and that even in formal agreements?
Honeycombed with falsehood, it is only fit for burning. Sin is bound by an iron
link to penalty. “Therefore,” says Hosea, God’s judgment springs up, like a
bitter plant (the precise name of which is unknown) in the furrows, where the
farmer did not know that its seeds lay. They little dreamed what they were
sowing when they scattered abroad their lives, but this is the fruit of that.
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”; and whatever other crop we
may hope to gather from our sins, we shall gather that bitter one, which we did
not expect. The inevitable connection of sin and judgment, the bitterness of
its results, the unexpectedness of them, are all here, and to be laid to heart
by us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Sin the cause of sorrow
There is a connection between sin and sorrow, between wickedness
and calamity, between moral transgression and physical, social, political
disaster. We may define sin negatively is impiety, iniquity, unspirituality;
but Hosea speaks of it as a positive aggressive force, inflicting injury on the
heart of the individual transgressor, and infecting also the external condition
of the people. In emphasising the influence of sin on external conditions, the
prophet teaches a profound truth, but not the whole truth. Jesus teaches that
sin works disaster, even when the external condition is prosperous, and all
that appears is respectable. Moral transgression is always followed by moral
punishment. The connection between moral transgression and physical disaster is
not constant and necessary. The prophet begins with a reference to Israel’s
condition as blessed by God. “Israel is a luxuriant vine.” But he is found
guilty. Here is the prophet’s charge against Israel on account of their sin.
1. It perverts prosperity. Prosperity itself is not sinful. It is far
from the thought of the Hebrew prophet that misery is the normal condition of
the servant of Jehovah. But sin perverts prosperity. It allows the material to
eclipse the spiritual. It fails to use prosperity for the noblest ends. It
fails to take account of the latent force of prosperity; it does not appreciate
its value. Prosperity is to be valued as a condition of life, as a means of
ministering to life more abundant.
2. It destroys religion, and takes away its inspiration. Sin does not
at once do away with religion. It would fashion religion to its liking; but in
this transformation the essence of religion evaporates. So it was at least in
Israel. In perfunctory religion there is nothing to take hold of and mould the
man.
3. It invalidates government. The deepest conditions of national
prosperity are not of man’s creation, not determined by human legislatures. The
political intercourse of men is conditioned on eternal principles of right, and
nations as well as men must act in truth.
4. It emasculates society. It is a pitiable picture which Amos and
Hosea paint of society in Samaria. Appetite reigns, drunkenness abounds,
licentiousness and cruelty follow in their train. The very indulgence which sin
practises defeats its own object. The fibre of the muscle is relaxed, the
vigour of the mind is gone, patience, courage, hope have fled with faith, and
the people lie supine, weak, inert. The prophet has disclosed the disastrous
consequences of sin, but his purpose is to establish righteousness. God’s aim
is not to curse, but to bless. But alas! the prophet, like all spiritual
teachers, speaks to heavy ears. The people have but little leisure for
righteousness. They would none of Hosea’s counsel, they despised all his
reproof. (T. D. Anderson.)
Verse 5-6
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of
Beth-aven.
These verses dilate, with keen irony, on the fate of the first
half of Israel’s sin, the calf. It was thought a god, but its worshippers would
be in a fright for it. “Calves,” says Hosea, though there was but one at
Bethel; and he uses the feminine, as some think, depreciatingly. “Beth-aven,”
or the “house of vanity,” he says, instead of “Beth-ei,” the “house of God.” A
fine god whose worshippers had to be alarmed for its safety! “Its
people,”--what a contrast to the name they might have borne, “My people!” God
disowns them, and says, “They belong to it, not to Me.” The idolatrous priests
of the calf worship will tremble when that image, which had been shamefully
their “glory,” is carried off to Assyria and given as a present to “King
Jareb,”--a name for the King of Assyria meaning the fighting or quarrelsome
king. The captivity of the god is the shame of the worshippers. To be “ashamed
of their own counsel” is the certain fate of all who depart from God; for,
sooner or later, experience will demonstrate to the blindest that their refuges
of lies can neither save themselves nor those who trust in them. But shame is
one thing and repentance another; and many a man will say, “I have been a great
fool, and my clever policy has all crumbled to pieces,” who will only therefore
change his idols, and not return to God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The degrading influence of false worship
Doctrine--
I. Idolatry is
matter of ignominy to any place or interest that owns it; for it turns Beth-el
into Beth-aven.
2. It proves the vanity of idols that their worshippers cannot trust
in them, but must be solicitous and anxious about them in straits; for so were
they about the calves of Beth-aven. This solicitude differs far from the fear
of God’s people about His worship and ordinances in times of danger, which does
not flow from their diffidence in God, but from the sense of their guilt.
3. Anything that men place their confidence in beside God will prove
matter of fear and terror. For so did the calves prove to Samaria in the time
of their siege.
4. Albeit corrupt worship and religion may seem strange at first to
them who have been bred up in the truth, yet in process of time, and being
attended with success, it may take with them who are not well rooted.
5. Such as are eminently employed in and great gainers by corrupt
worship have a sad day abiding them, therefore it is added in special that
mourning is abiding the priests.
6. The glory of idolatry and of a false religion (being but borrowed,
and having nothing to commend it but novelty and success) will at last vanish
and depart. God will bring about this by judgments, when no other means will
effectuate it. “The glory thereof is departed from it.” This will be the lot of
all false ways; whereas truth, however men loathe it for awhile, will still at
last be found to be lovely, and to have a native unstained beauty. (George
Hutcheson.)
Verse 8
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be
destroyed.
Redeeming qualities gone
Beth-el means the “house of God,” and by iniquity, manifold and
black, Beth-el was turned into Beth-aven, which means the “house of vanity.”
This is an instance of deterioration, and more than mere deterioration; it is
an instance of transformation from good to bad, from the heights of heaven to
the depths of the world of fire. Such miracles can be accomplished in the
individual character, and such miracles have been found possible in
ecclesiastical relationship. But the case is worse. We now read of “the high
places also of Aven”; the “Beth” is left out: once it was Beth-aven, the house
of vanity; now nothing is left but the vanity itself. That is the process of
unchecked, untaught, unsanctified nature. We say of a man, he has still one or
two redeeming qualities; but the time comes when every redeeming feature is
lost. Then men say of the abandoned one, Aven, vanity, all vanity and vexation
of spirit. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Degeneration
When men degenerate from the pure teaching of God, they in vain
cover their profanations with empty names. God loudly proclaims respecting
Beth-el that it is Beth-aven, and the reason is well known; it is because
Jeroboam erected temples and appointed new sacrifices without God’s command.
The Lord approves of nothing but what He Himself commands. Hence the high
places of Aven shall perish. (John Calvin.)
Verses 9-11
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah.
Sin and punishment
“The days of Gibeah” recall the hideous story of lust and crime,
which was the low-water mark of the lawless days of old. That crime had been
avenged by merciless war. But its taint had lived on, and the Israel of Hosea’s
day “stood,” obstinately persistent, just where the Benjamites had been then,
and set themselves in dogged resistance, “as these had done,” that the battle
against the children of unrighteousness might not touch them. Stiff-necked
setting one’s self against God’s merciful fighting of evil lasts for a little
while, but verse 10 tells how soon and easily it is annihilated. God’s “desire”
brushes away all defences, and the obstinate sinners are like children, who are
whipped when their father wills, struggle how they may. The instruments of
chastisement are foreign
armies, and the chastisement itself is described with a striking figure as
“binding them to their two transgressions”; that is, the double sin which is
the keynote of the chapter. Punishment is yoking men to their sins, and making
them drag the burden like bullocks in harness. What sort of load are we getting
together for ourselves? When we have to drag the consequences of our doings
behind us, how shall we feel? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
It is in My desire that I
should chastise them.
Divine chastisement
This is a graphic expression; the whole meaning of it does not appear
in the English tongue. God does not willingly afflict the children of men: it
is not the delight of Almightiness to crush. It is the vanity of considerable
strength to tyrannise, but in proportion as strength becomes complete it
pities, it spares the helpless, for it knows that by one uplifting of its arm
and the down-bringing of the same it could crush every opponent. Imperfect
strength is a despot; Almightiness is mercy. But now there is a stirring of the
Divine emotions. God says, It will be better for these people to be afflicted;
they have left themselves nothing now but depletion, and they must be brought
to the very point of extermination . . . The Lord is very pitiful and kind, and
His eyes are full of tears, and judgment is His strange work: but there have
been times in the history of providence which could only be consistently and
rationally construed by granting that even the Divine Father must be stirred to
the desire to chastise and humble wicked men. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Verse 11
Render thus,--Ephraim indeed is a heifer, broken in and loving to
thresh, and I have spared the beauty of her neck; but now will I make Ephraim
to draw.
Changes for Ephraim
Israel’s punishment is enhanced by contrast with her former
prosperity, which, as a mark of the Divine goodness, is compared to the
consideration with which a young heifer is treated by its master. The work of
treading out the corn was pleasant and easy; the heifer could eat freely as it
walked without a muzzle round and round the threshing-floor. But this heifer,
that is Israel, has abused the kindness of its Lord, and henceforth shall be
put to the heavy labour of the field--a figure for the depressing conditions of
life under a foreign master. The rendering “spared” (lit. passed by) is
justified by Micah 7:18; Proverbs 19:2; it adds a beautiful
distinctness to the figure, for the heavy yokes used in the East not only gall
the necks of the animals, but often produce deep wounds. The meaning is that
Jehovah has hitherto pre served His people from the yoke of captivity. (T.
K. Cheyne, D. D.)
Ephraim’s two yokes
Albeit Ephraim bred themselves delicately, and could not endure
trouble, or God’s yoke, yet God would put a yoke upon them, and to endure
bondage and captivity. The yoke of treading out the corn, which was easy work,
is contrasted with the hard yoke of the plough and the harrow. Whence learn--
1. It is a fault incident to our nature to be much addicted to our
own ease, and that which brings present content and comfort, and to abhor any
lot or way of God’s service which proves contrary to that.
2. It is a great snare to men, making them to dote on an easy way,
when they have been accustomed in God’s providence to such a lot, and, by
taking too well with it, become effeminate: for “Ephraim is taught, and loveth
to tread out the corn,” that is, hath been tenderly dealt with, and hath
accustomed his own heart to that way.
3. God hath an indignation at such as are too delicate, and take too
well with ease, and is provoked to put them to trouble. For “I passed over upon
her fair neck,” that is, I brought her under the yoke, who kept herself so
dainty: as if a man put a yoke upon the fat and sound neck of an undaunted
heifer.
4. Let wicked men tamper as they will, yet they will not get trouble
always shifted, but God will bring captivity and bondage, or other trouble upon
them. Ephraim shall be tossed into captivity, as a man makes his horse carry
him in far journeys.
5. The Lord’s sentence is universal against all secure and delicate
sinners, that He will send toil and trouble upon them, be they less or more
corrupt. Therefore doth Judah, though more pure in many things than Israel,
come in in the sentence, “Judah shall plough,” which is a hard labour.
6. The hard lots of sinners may yet, through God’s blessing, prove
useful and profitable to them, however they may be ill-satisfied with them. (George
Hutcheson.)
Verse 12
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your
fallow ground.
Spiritual husbandry
There is not a more melancholy delusion than this, that in
religious life the grand object may be secured without the use of the appointed
means--that men may possess Christian privileges and realise Christian rewards,
independently of those holy and strenuous endeavours so plainly required by our
Divine Lord. In spiritual things there cannot be a cancelling of the rule which
obtains in temporal things. The most unfading of crowns cannot be worn where
there has been no running in the race. The most splendid of victories cannot be
achieved where there has been no entrance into the battle. The most peaceful of
havens cannot be reached where there has been no contending with the winds and the
waves. The most glorious of harvests cannot be gathered in where there has been
no labouring in the field.
I. “Break up your
fallow ground.” The image here presented may apply variously. It may be applied
to our country; to the circle of our own families; to the state of our own
heart. The words may apply to the sincere believers amongst us. For we are
found barren of many attainable graces and perfections, We may always find some
fallow ground that needs breaking up.
II. Sow your seed.
1. The character of the work. There will be a righteous and constant
rule of the law of Christ. We must respect it alone. The motive must be
righteous. Whatever be the rule, if the motive be unholy, the act will be
unholy.
2. The exclusiveness of the work. “To yourselves.” The application is
individual and personal. Others cannot do it for us, nor we for others. In the
singleness of his own responsible existence every man must stand before God.
III. Reap in mercy.
The course of our spiritual husbandry bears an analogy with the natural. There
is first the breaking up of the fallow ground, then the sowing of the seed, and
then the reaping of the full corn in the ear: and as the strength is derived
from God in the former two cases, the blessing in the third comes directly from
Him as the Lord of the harvest. (T. J. Judkin, M. A.)
Spiritual husbandry
The Church is God’s husbandry. We are called upon--
I. To break up our
fallow ground. The heart of man is represented--
1. As ground. Therefore expected to produce fruit that will benefit
its owner.
2. As fallow ground. It is destitute of the fruit that it might
produce. It is not only useless to its owner, it is prejudicial to neighbouring
land that has good seed sown in it, in preventing the plants of righteousness
from growing to perfection.
3. As our fallow ground. Because we all have ground committed to our
cultivating care. And if it be not fallow now, there was a time when the term
might have been applied to it with correctness and propriety.
Breaking up our fallow ground implies a work--
1. Of labour; for which the Master of the land imparts strength.
2. Of sacrifice; for which the Proprietor communicates fortitude.
3. Of constancy and perseverance; for which the Lord of the soil
supplies patience.
4. Of renovation; for which the Owner of the ground affords means.
The soil in its present state is unfit to produce any useful plants; but when
the weeds which now grow therein are destroyed, the ground shall be renewed,
that it may bring forth the fruits of piety.
II. Sow to
yourselves in righteousness. We have here a representation of right principles,
under the figure of seed; the propriety of which may be discerned, if we
notice--
1. Right principles are not indigenous to the human heart. They must
be sown there.
2. The value of right principles.
3. The care and attention they demand. How great is the solicitude of
the husbandman in reference to his seed.
4. The vegetative power and productive quality. Right conduct is the
offspring of these principles. “Sow to yourselves” means--
III. Reap in mercy.
If we plough and sow as directed, the result shall surely be a harvest of
mercy. We shall reap--
1. In pardoning mercy, that cancels our sins.
2. In restraining mercy, that prevents us from running into error.
3. In preserving mercy, that preserves the faithful.
4. In rewarding mercy. The mercy of God is, like Himself, infinite.
The time of reward is represented as harvest, because--
1. The time of ploughing and sowing is for ever over.
2. Because at that period all the produce of the soil will be
presented to the Lord of the harvest.
3. Because reaping time is a season of joy and festivity. Eternity
shall declare the advantages of sowing in righteousness. Observe--
Sowing and reaping
See what the Word of God teaches with reference to the necessity
of a life of righteousness on our part, and as to the grounds on which a reward
will be given to the righteous hereafter. The illustration here chosen from the
works of nature is common to many other parts of Scripture. And the resemblance
is so obvious between the progress of a seed from its first being committed to
the soil, till the final harvest, with that of the gradual development of the
principle of good in the soul of man, that I need not dwell upon it
particularly. We are told to “sow in righteousness”; and what this injunction
involves we may gather from a consideration of the state of those persons to
whom it was originally addressed. There was required of apostate Israel, a
thorough, unshrinking reformation, an unqualified turning from sin to God. And
nothing short of this is required of us. Few of us have not continued, for a
longer or a shorter space, in deliberate and wilful transgression: all have to
bewail an interminable catalogue of negligences and ignorances: and all have
the evidence within themselves of an inherited nature so corrupt, that from the
sole of the foot unto the head there is no soundness in it. This fallow ground
must be broken up. Our hearts must be brought into a state of religious
cultivation. Vicious inclinations, sensual appetites, inordinate affections must
be rooted up. The soil must beploughed;--that which lay below must be brought
up to the surface and exposed to the light of day. Self-knowledge and
self-discipline must do their work, and the whole field be made fit for the
reception and growth of the seed of righteousness. If we do, the text leads us
to hope that we shall reap in mercy; that is, we shall receive from the
merciful hand of God our Father an abundant reward of unfading happiness and
glory, eternal in the heavens.
1. We have no grounds on which to expect a harvest of mercy without a
previous sowing time of righteousness. Without a holy life here, no man need
expect or hope for a happy life hereafter.
2. The reward of our service is not to be looked for as of right, but
as the gift of the free grace and mercy of God. Granting our seed-time of
righteousness ever so perfect or so plenteous, how is God the better for it,
that He should be constrained to pay us wages for it? Here then is the sum of
the whole matter. We shall not be saved for our works, but we shall never be
saved without them. Knowing this, let us pray and labour and strive that no day
may pass over our heads without our having made some progress in the work of
sowing unto righteousness. (F. E. Paget, M. A.)
Sowing righteousness
..
Let them “sow to themselves in righteousness”; let them return to
the practice of good works, according to the rule of God, which is the rule of
righteousness; let them abound in works of piety towards God, and in justice
and charity towards one another. Every action is seed sown. Let them sow what
they should sow, do what they should do, and they themselves shall have the
benefit of it. (Matthew Henry.)
What repentance of national sins doth God require, as ever we
expect national mercies
The prophet joineth counsel with threatenings. Amendment is that
he calleth them to as a means to save them. By this text God proclaims, not
only to particular persons, but to nations, how desirable it is to Him to
execute His goodness; and His extreme backwardness to avenge Himself on the
most provoking kingdoms, unless they add impenitency under solemn warnings unto
their rebellion.
I. The words
contain some of the essentials of repentance, and suppose the rest.
1. He that will repent must deal with his indisposed heart. “Break up
the fallow ground.”
2. When the heart is thus prepared, we must proceed to proper acts of
reformation. “Sow to yourselves in (or to) righteousness.” Let the rule of
righteousness be observed in your hearts and ways.
3. You must also “seek the Lord.” Follow after Him: persist in your
seeking.
II. This repentance
is urged from a variety of arguments. Principally from this, that national
mercies would certainly follow national repentance. What repentance of national
sins doth God require?
1. Resolve the case in general. Repentance ordinarily affords ground
of our expectation of national mercies, notwithstanding national sins. But when
this repentance is not in a nation, we cannot ordinarily expect national
mercies. These things are supposed in the case as stated. What are national
sins? Such gross sins as render a nation guilty, and expose it to national
judgments, and forfeit national mercies. These sins are gross in their nature.
Not sins of infirmity, or sins which ordinary care, labour, and watchfulness
could not prevent. They are such as idolatry, perjury, breaking of covenant,
blood, uncleanness, apostasy, oppression, profaneness. These sins must be
national. And sins become national by all, or the generality of a people, being
personally transgressors, as to those crimes; or when the governors,
representatives, and influencing persons are transgressors; or by the
generality of a nation making itself a partaker of other men’s sins, though it
do not actually commit them. These sins are such as expose to judgments and
forfeit national mercies. More refined sins may expose one nation to judgments
which may not expose another land. This depends on the variety of advantages
some people are under above others. The provoking sins of one and the same nation
may be made up by various kinds of offences, according to the different
condition of offenders. The sins of magistrates are of one kind, and the sins
of subjects another, according to their different talents and station. Usually
the sins of a nation do not bring judgments or forfeit mercies by the simple
commission of them, but as attended with some additional aggravations A land
rarely is destroyed, unless sins are committed after warnings. Security and
impenitence is added to rebellion before God proceeds against a people. What
then are national mercies in the ease before us? Such blessings as truly and
considerably affect the good of a community. They must be blessings in their
nature, and national in their extent. These mercies regard our souls, or our
bodies, or both. The pardon of past sins, and help against the like offences;
the presence of God as effective of spiritual and temporal good; Gospel
ordinances; love and peace among Churches; freedom from persecution and
malignity; a godly magistracy; peace in our borders; justice in our courts;
learning in the schools, etc. etc.
III. The case stated
and distinguished from what seems like it. The question connects our repentance
and warrantable expectations. The scope of it is,--what is the lowest sort or
degree of repentance for national sins which is requisite to warrant, and
ordinarily direct, our expectations of national mercies?
IV. The
difficulties of the case.
1. Other nations are not under such express rules with respect to
God’s outward dealings as the Jewish nation was. There have been always great
displays of sovereignty in God’s dispensation of judgments and mercy toward
nations. There are prophetic periods wherein national mercies shall not be
obstructed by impenitence but repentance shall follow them. The desolation of a
land is sometimes absolutely determined. God sometimes moderateth and refrains
His judgments from other considerations besides repentance. It is not very
easy, at all times, to judge of national judgments.
V. The case
resolved. The rule by which we must determine this is hinted in the case
itself, under those words, “What repentance doth God require?” Some expression
of the Divine will must guide us; we must not judge by second causes, or by
vain fancy, as we are apt to do.
1. A repentance short of that which is enjoined in order to eternal
salvation will suffice to warrant our expectations of national mercies. Eternal
issues are not determined by the same rules as temporal blessings. Uuregenerate
persons may repent, so as to divert present judgments, and secure mercies. This
is evident in Ahab and Nineveh.
2. The repentance which yields us ground to expect national mercies,
must be for national sins. It includes clear convictions of the guilt and
offences of a nation. Shame, fear, and deep humblings of soul under the sense
of the wrath of God, as provoked by our sins. Such a compliance with God’s
warnings and rebukes, as to put men on seeking God’s favour, and resolving to
forsake the national pollutions. And there must be reformation. In proving the
decision of the case, the described repentance doth ordinarily afford a people
national mercies, notwithstanding national sins. And where this repentance
obtains not, a people cannot justly expect national mercies. When a people is given
up to impenitency, and God withholds a blessing from the methods that tend to
their repentance, there is just cause to fear that judgments are determined
against that land. Impenitence is not only a moral obstacle to good, but it is
also a natural obstacle. The iniquity of a nation is even materially its ruin.
(Daniel Williams, D. D.)
The fallow ground
Very often the prophet had to reprove and call the people
to repent. Hosea is doing this in the passage before us.
I. The particular
sort of characters here indicated. They are figuratively indicated by the term,
“fallow ground,” or land lying fallow, producing nothing. The figure must not
be taken quite literally, because there are some points in which it will not
apply. The point in the figure is this. There is a human heart, producing
nothing; there is a man, whose character has no religious fruitfulness, no
religious excellence in relation to God. It is not verdant soil. It is not like
the soil of the primitive forest, which never has produced any thing, for it
has had its crops. That is the character here represented,--a nation, a Church,
or an individual, that was fruitful, that was religious, but it has been
neglected, and it is now lying barren, fallow, producing nothing. But the farm
land is left fallow intentionally, and for a good purpose. In the fallow ground
which is a man, and not a farm, there, is not one thing done with thought,
delibera tion, purpose, or plan. Man’s heart is left fallow by temptation,
negligence, ignorance, sin, backsliding, and instead of being the better for
it, its condition is an injury
and a curse.
II. THE
EXHORTATION. “It is time to seek the Lord.” The Hebrews ought never to have
needed a time for seeking the Lord. Heathen might feel after God, but Hebrews
knew Him. The Hebrew child had to seek God for himself, but that is quite a
different thing. Though, therefore, this exhortation ought not to have been
needed, by the mercy of God it is given. It may be enforced in the sense in
which the apostle uses an expression of the same sort, “It is high time to
awake out of sleep.” It may be used in the sense of a time being propitious. An
accepted time. Observe what man is told to do. Four things are figuratively
expressed in the text.
1. Repentance.
2. Reformation.
3. Prayer.
4. Perseverance.
III. The result.
“Till God rain down righteousness upon you.” God rains down, not righteousness
absolutely, but that which will produce it.
IV. The whole is in
mercy. “Reap in mercy.” (T. Binney.)
What sowing involves
If we “sow for righteousness,” that is, if our efforts are
directed to embodying it in our lives, “we shall reap according to mercy.” That
is true universally, whether it is taken to mean God’s mercy to us, or ours to
others. The aim after righteousness ever secures the Divine favour, and usually
ensures the measure which we mete being measured to us again. But sowing is not
all; thorns must be grubbed up. We must not only turn over a new leaf, but tear
out the old one. The old man must be slain if the new man is to live. The call
to amend finds its warrant in the assurance that there is still time to seek
the Lord, and that for all His threatenings, He is ready to rain blessings upon
the seekers. The unwearying patience of God, the possibility of the worst
sinner’s repentance, the conditional nature of the threatenings, the yet deeper
thought that righteousness must come from above, are all condensed in this
brief Gospel before the Gospel. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Divine voice to a worthless people
Sowing and
reaping are figures here used to denote the spiritual and moral conduct of this
people. All human life consists of sowing and reaping. Every intelligent act
embodies a moral principle, contains a seed that must germinate and grow.
I. A wretched
moral state. “Fallow ground,” uncultivated earth. A state of--
1. Unloveliness. It is either an expanse of grey earth, or of weeds,
thistles, and thorns.
2. Unfruitfulness. Unless the soil is cultivated there is no fruit,
and the land is worthless.
3. Wastefulness. “On fallow ground the rain, dew, and sunshine fall,
but all in vain. How much Divine grace is wasted on unregenerate men: sermons,
books, Bibles, providences, means of grace, all wasted.
II. An urgent moral
duty.
1. Moral ploughing. Think on two things. What God has been to us.
What we have been to Him.
2. Moral sowing.
3. Moral reaping.
III. A solemn moral
suggestion.
1. No time to lose.
2. Much has been lost.
3. It is only now the work can be effectively done.
IV. A glorious
moral prospect. “He will rain righteousness,” or “teach you righteousness.”
Pursue this work of moral agriculture properly, and God Himself will come and
teach you righteousness. (Homilist.)
The fallow ground state
The characters represented by the term, “fallow ground,” are to be
found in every town and in every congregation.
I. Who are the
characters indicated? Those whose affections, habits, and thoughts were once
bearing a rich harvest for God, but in whom this is all changed, and the heart
is become barren. But not the backslider only; the description applies to all
who are careless or hardened in their sins; all whose characters have no
religious fruitfulness.
II. How may we
break up the fallow ground? We must first satisfy ourselves that the ground is
fallow; and in doing this prayerful meditation will greatly assist us. We may
also have the guidance and assistance of the Holy Spirit.
III. Why we should
break up the fallow ground? The constraining motive is this, “it is time to
seek the Lord.” Time because you have already spent too much of your short life
in the service of sin and Satan. Because you will never have a more suitable
season than the present. You have sought to persuade yourself that, by and by,
you would be more at leisure for seeking the Lord. You must not think a time of
affliction will prove a more suitable time. The more happy we are, in the
fulness of our strength, before the eye is dim, and before the intellect begins
to fail--that is the time to think deeply upon the claims of God. (R. K.
Bailie, M. A.)
The reward of well-doing
How shall we attain eternal life? The text declares that obedience
shall not fail of its reward. And that the reward is of grace, and not of debt.
We should understand that there is a vast difference between reward and merit.
Merit is the right to receive a reward. Reward is a free testimony of approval.
The text animates every one of us with the hope of reward; it abases each one
of us by a denial of merit.
I. If we sow, we
shall reap. A man might as reasonably expect a crop in the autumn, though he
had wasted the season of seed-time, as suppose that a life of indolence and
sensuality would lead him to Paradise.
II. Consider the
caution, “reap in mercy.” The caution is against admitting any notion of merit.
They claim most who have no ground of claim at all. If the notion of merit
would be impiety in an angel, what must it be in man? And men have to regard
not only the power of God, but also His holiness, which can carry no terror to
sinless spirits. You shall reap “according to mercy.” Be assured, then, that you
cannot sow too freely for that harvest. (M. Biggs, M. A.)
Sowing and reaping
Activity is not only a sign of life, it is a necessary condition
of its continuance. The illustrations of this common law of life are as
abundant as life itself. That which is true of trees, of muscle, and of brain
is equally true of spiritual powers. For them no condition is a surer augury of
death than unuse. As a Divine call to religious activity, Hosea’s words contain
some points of perpetual importance. The call is--
1. Distinctly personal. “Sow for yourselves.” Whether a man will or
not, he is constantly a sower of seed. The bad man, the defective Christian,
the dilatory, the prayerless, are all sowers. This Divine call does not deal so
much with unconscious influences, as with purposed and determined work.
2. The call is specific and definite. You are not to sow anything
that may come first to hand. You are to sow the right word, the right spirit,
the right action. Every seed we scatter with our hands deliberately, every seed
that is unconsciously permitted to wing its way from our whole demeanour, is to
bear within it the germ of the true life.
3. The call is opportune. It is always timely to be doing good. There
are, however, certain seasons when religious activity is the present duty.
4. The call is urgent. All the verbs axe in one mood; and this is not
the conditional or subjunctive, but the imperative. God never gives men any
call without making it possible for them to obey it.
Our encouragement, to obedience is found in the--
1. Answer of a good conscience.
2. In certain success.
3. In full proofs of Divine mercy.
4. The success will be far spreading. The Christian worker is blessed
in his deed. And--
5. The success will be abundant.
Let the labour for God tax our utmost ability, our patience, our
faith; still, be it ours to work on, confident of the result. The blessing is
certain to come, even for ourselves, certain to have proofs of mercy in it,
certain to reach further than we anticipated, certain also to be plenteous. Enlarge
your faith, therefore, in the power and blessing of God. Your work of faith and
labour of love shall not be forgotten; but shall be copiously and even
abundantly blessed. (J. Jackson Goadby.)
True seeking
The prophet, bids them “seek diligently” (so the Hebrew) and
perseveringly, “not leaving off or desisting,” if they should not at once find,
but continuing the search, quite up to the time when they should find.
His words imply the need of perseverance and patience, which should stop short
of nothing but God’s own time for finding. The prophet, as is the way of the
prophets, goes on to Christ, who was ever in the prophets’ hearts and hopes.
The words could only be understood improperly of God the Father. God does not
come, for He is everywhere. He ever was among His people, nor did He will to be
among them otherwise than heretofore. No coming of God, as God, was looked for
to teach righteousness. But the coming of Christ, the partiarchs and holy men
all along desired to see. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Spiritual husbandry
God has been pleased to give us instruction not only by His Word,
but also by His works. Nature echoes Scripture to our sins, and if we would
permit it, to our hearts. The ground we till is under the curse of God for
man’s sin; that its natural produce is only thistles, weeds, brambles. You have
seen a piece of ground that has been left waste and uncultivated, and how it
has become full of weeds, and rank with poisonous herbs, and infested with
noisome creatures. Just such a place is man’s heart. You have but to look at
what man becomes when left to himself, without knowledge, without instruction,
without the restraining and renewing grace of God, and you cannot doubt but
that the inclination of his heart is not to good, that its imaginations are
only evil continually. And out of that heart comes all manner of wickedness
that is practised amongst mankind. Suppose any one of you had a garden overrun
with weeds, how would he set about getting rid of them, so as to do it
effectually? Would he take a scythe and cut off the tops, or a spade and dig
them all up by the root? So if we were to tell men that they must put away this
or that particular sin, we would do no more towards making them really holy,
than a man would do towards clearing his garden if he should only break off the
heads of the weeds growing in it. For both would be leaving the roots alive.
Some may doubt whether their hearts are so bad as they have been represented to
be. Then hear the Word of God (Jeremiah 17:9, etc.). The words of the
text Bid us break up the fallow ground of our hearts, that it may be prepared
to receive the good seed of eternal life.
I. The thing to be
done. The plough breaking up the soil, the harrow tearing to pieces the hard
and cumbering clods, are a sign of what must be done in our own hearts. The
foul, unprofitable soil of the carnal and natural heart must be broken up from
the bottom. It will not do just to disturb the surface. Have you ever even
suspected that your heart wants cleansing? Is not the deadly root of sin
shooting up there in a thousand shapes? Is there not unbelief, like the
poisonous nightshade? Is there not pride, as a towering plant that brooks none
to overlook it? Does not selfishness twine its roots and strike them deep, ay,
down to the very ground of the heart? Is there no foul and rotten heap of
unclean desires? Are not the cares and pleasures of this world like thorns and
briars within you, choking up the thought and the love of better things? But
how can your hearts be broken up? Not of yourselves. It is the Spirit of God
carrying home the word which, like a two-edged sword, pierceth even to the
dividing asunder of the bones and marrow,--it is He alone that can break up the
hard and stony soil of the sinner’s heart. It is a joy to the angels to see the
fallow ground of the sinner’s heart broken up with godly sorrow, humbled into
repentance before God. When the ploughshare of conviction has gone deep, when
the heart is no longer hardened, the seed of everlasting life will have a
chance of springing up. But it is the Spirit alone who can renew us unto
repentance and holiness.”
II. A reason why it
must be done. A stirring motive is given us all in breaking up our fallow ground.
“It is time to seek the Lord.” The farmer who should stand idling with folded
arms when he ought to be sowing, and should let the seed-time slip away, could
expect in harvest only weeds and thistles. Leave not, then, to the evening the
proper work of the day. Opportunities lost cannot be recalled.
III. The blessing
promised. We shall not seek in vain. He will “come and rain” righteousness
“upon us.” The Lord will “satiate” the weary soul, and replenish every
sorrowful soul. Upon them that seek Him will the Lord rain righteousness, even all the
sanctifying graces of His Holy Spirit. Then wait upon the Lord in prayer, wait
upon Him till He come, and pour out of His Spirit upon you. (E. Blencowe, M.
A.)
The proportion of mercy
Rather “Sow righteousness in the proportion of mercy.” As God has
been merciful to you, so be ye righteous to Him: keep pace for pace with the
Divine mercy; be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect; be ye holy as
your Father in heaven is holy. This is the ideal; God would have human
righteousness in proportion to Divine mercy. The standard is not arbitrary; it
is gracious and tender and condescending, but who can attain unto it? It is not
in man that liveth to keep pace with God. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
It is time to seek the Lord.--
Seeking and seekers
I. Whom are we to
seek? “The Lord.” Our Creator, Father, Redeemer, Lord, Judge.
II. How are we to
seek Him?
1. Earnestly. “Agonise to enter in.”
2. Humbly, in view of our helplessness and sin; hence penitently.
3. Prayerfully.
4. Obediently. Israel had become profane, idolatrous covenant
breakers.
III. Why are we to
seek him?
1. For God’s sake.
2. For our neighbour’s sake.
3. For our own sake.
IV. When are we to
seek him? Now--
1. The Scriptures often urge haste.
2. Delay itself is sin.
3. The great good derived from such a course.
4. The way to the throne is open.
5. The time is short. (W. Veenschoten.)
The duty of seeking God
I. The duty
enjoined. We should seek the Lord--
1. In the performance of His will.
2. In a dependence on His mercy.
3. In a due preparation of heart to receive His blessings.
II. The arguments
by which it is enforced.
1. The urgency of the duty.
2. The certainty of success in it. (T. Hannam.)
Seeking the Lord an immediate duty
I. Whom are we to
seek? “The Lord.” This implies--
1. That man is removed from God by sin.
2. That man may get near to God by seeking.
3. That it is his duty to do so.
II. How are we to
seek the Lord?
1. By repentance.
2. By faith.
III. When are we to
seek the Lord? “Now.”
1. To some of you these words contain a reproof.
2. For many of you these words contain a warning.
Seeking the Lard an immediate duty
I. The being
whose favour men are to seek. “The Lord”; this is expressive of His greatness
and power as the Proprietor of all things. “He is Lord over all.” “The earth is
the Lord’s,” etc. Think of His relation to us.
Creator--Preserver--Benefactor--the God of grace. Think how able and willing He
is to promote our happiness.
II. The nature of
seeking the Lord. It implies--
1. A knowledge of His character and a conviction of the importance
and advantages of having Him for our portion.
2. A conviction that sin has deprived us of Him as our portion. “Your
iniquities,” etc. “All we like sheep,” etc.
3. A knowledge of the way in which God may be sought. Through the
Sacrifice of His Son, the Mediator, the Surety, mercy, pardon, and acceptance
may be obtained.
4. Heartfelt repentance. Contrition; godly sorrow; confession of evil
to God; cessation from sin, as an evidence of regeneration commencing. “Let the
wicked,” etc.
5. Faith in Christ. “Repent and believe the Gospel.” “Believe in,”
etc. What is faith? It is the reliance of the sick and diseased one upon the
skill and healing power of the Great Physician; it is the reliance of the
debtor, of the prisoner, captive, etc. etc., upon Christ, whose work on the
Cross is adapted to meet all those exigencies of the sinner.
6. With diligence and perseverance. “With the heart man believeth,”
etc. “Ye shall find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart”; “Cry
out for the living God.”
III. The advantages
of seeking the Lord.
1. We avoid infinite evil; as the result of transgression. “The wages
of sin is death.”
2. We become possessed of infinite good. The benefit of all His
attributes--of all His providence--of all the riches of His grace--of all the
glories of HIS heaven--of His eternity.
3. We become auxiliaries to Christ in the glorious work of
salvation--extending the boundaries of the mediatorial kingdom. This honour
have all the saints!
4. By seeking the Lord, and finding Him, we do that which thousands
in a dying hour, and at the judgment day, will regret that they have not done.
“The harvest is past,” etc.
5. Those who seek the Lord now will never lose Him in eternity.
IV. The immediate
attention which this duty demands.
1. It is time, according to the statements of Scripture. “To-day,”
etc. “Behold now,” etc. “Seek ye the Lord while,” etc.
2. It is time, on account of the great evil already perpetrated. “One
sinner destroyeth much good.”
3. The great good to be realised proves that it is time to seek the
Lord. When the miser, the ambitious, etc., perceive an opportunity of gaining
gold, honour, etc., how do they rush forward to seize the coveted good!
4. The frailty of human existence declares it is time.
5. It is time, because the facilities in seeking the Lord will
gradually lessen. (Helps for the Pulpit.)
Verses 13-15
Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity.
Diligence in serving sin
Whereas the Lord had, by His prophets, frequently inculcated that
exhortation, to taker pains on their own hearts, to bring forth the fruits of
piety and righteousness; they, on the contrary, took pains enough in serving
sin, wherein they wanted not fruit, though it should disappoint their
expectation. This challenge is farther amplified and enlarged by showing what
was the fountain and spring of all this wickedness; to wit, their carnal
confidence in the sinful ways and courses they followed, both in matters of
state and religion, and their confidence in their many valiant men.
1. Many are so perverse, as they are not only content to live in sin,
neglecting their duty, but they will be at pains to promote sin, and will
trouble themselves to undo themselves.
2. Sin is a very fertile weed among the children of men; such as are
bent on it will soon get their hearts’ desire of it, and God will give up such
as are diligent that way, to a height of impiety, as a plague upon them. “Ye
have reaped iniquity.” By this we are not to understand God’s causing them to
reap the fruit of sin in judgments, but that their labours in sin came to a
ripe harvest of grown-up iniquity.
3. Whatever fruit sin seem to promise to its followers, or whatever
present comforts or success men seem to have by it, yet it will prove but vain,
and disappoint them.
4. Men’s carnal confidences are great snares to draw them upon sinful
courses, and are promising fruits which will disappoint them.
5. There is no confidence that more easily ensnares men, and will
disappoint them sooner, than their own witty projects and devices in matters
civil and sacred, without respecting the law of God; and their seeming to have
power enough to manage and uphold them in these contrived ways. For such is
their snare here, which will surely disappoint them. (George Hutcheson.)
Sow a habit, reap a character
Professor William Jones, of Harvard, in his text-book on
psychology, says: “Could the young but realise how soon they will become mere
bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the
plastic state. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its scar. The
drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson’s play, excuses himself for every fresh
dereliction by saying, ‘I won’t count this time’ Well, he may not count it, and
a kind heaven may not count it, but it is being counted none the less. Down
among the nerve-cells and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering and
storing it up, to be used against him when the next temptation comes. Nothing
we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. Of course, this has
its good side as well as its bad one. As we become permanent drunkards by so
many separate drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and authorities and
experts in the practical and scientific, spheres by so many separate acts and
hours of work.”
Because thou didst trust
in thy way.
Trust in our own things
Israel, the ten tribes, had two great confidences. “Thou didst
trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.”
I. In their way.
That is, in the way of religion that they had chosen for themselves, and which
was distinct from the way of Judah, from the true worship of God. They were
confident that they were right, and would not hear anything to the contrary.
That which is a man’s own way he is very ready to trust in, and to esteem
highly. None are more ready to charge others with pride than the proud; and
none are more ready to charge others with adhering to their own way than those
who most stick to their own conceit.
II. In their mighty
men. “They had an army to back them, to fight for them, and to maintain that
way of theirs. When the outward strength of a kingdom goes along with a way of
religion, men think it must needs be right, and that all its opponents are but
weak men. Great armies are the confidence of careless hearts. Those that trust
to any way of their own have need of creature strengths to uphold them. (Jeremiah
Burroughs.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》