H
O S E A
CHAP. V.
The
scope of this chapter is the same with that of the foregoing chapter, to
discover the sin both of
Israel
and
Judah, and to denounce the judgments of God against
them. I. They are called to hearken to the charge, ver. 1, 8. II. They are
accused of many sins, which are here aggravated. 1. Persecution, ver. 1, 2. 2.
Spiritual whoredom, ver. 3, 4. 3. Pride, ver. 5. 4. Apostasy from God, ver. 7.
5. The tyranny of the princes, and the tameness of the people in submitting to
it, ver. 10, 11. III. They are threatened with God's displeasure for their
sins; he knows all their wickedness (ver. 3) and makes known his wrath against
them for it, ver. 9. 1. They shall fall in their iniquity, ver. 5. 2. God will
forsake them, ver. 6. 3. Their portions shall be devoured, ver. 7. 4. God will
rebuke them, and pour out his wrath upon them, ver. 9, 10. 5. They shall be
oppressed, ver. 11. 6. God will be as a moth to them in secret judgments (ver.
12) and as a lion in public judgments, ver. 14. IV. They are blamed for the
wrong course they took under their afflictions, ver. 13. V. It is intimated
that they shall at length take a right course, ver. 15. The more generally
these things are expressed of so much the more general use they are for our
learning, and particularly for our admonition.
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Charge
against Israel and Judah; Judgments Threatened.
B. C. 758.
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1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye
house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is
toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon
Tabor. 2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though
I have been a rebuker of them all. 3 I know Ephraim, and
Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and
Israel is defiled. 4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto
their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and
they have not known the LORD.
5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and
Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. 6
They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD;
but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten
strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
Here, I. All orders and degrees of men are cited to appear and answer to such
things as shall be laid to their charge (v. 1): Hear you this, O
priests! whether in holy orders (as those in Judah, and perhaps
many in Israel too, for in the ten tribes there were divers cities of priests
and Levites, who, it is probable, staid in their own lot after the revolt of
the ten tribes and did so much of their office as might be done at a distance
from the temple) or pretending holy orders, as the priests of the
calves, who, some think, are included here. "Hearken, you house of
Israel, the common people, and give ear, O house of the king!"
let them all take notice, for they have all contributed to the national guilt,
and they shall all share in the national judgments. Note, If neither the
sanctity of the priesthood nor the dignity of the royal family will prevail to
keep out sin, it cannot be expected that they should avail to keep out wrath.
If the priests, and the house of the king, though they bear such noble
characters, sin like others, their noble characters will not excuse them, but
they must smart like others. Nor shall it be any plea for the house of
Israel that they were misled by their priests and princes, but they shall
receive their doom with them, and neither their meanness nor their multitude
shall be their exemption.
II. Witness is produced against them, one instead of a thousand; it is God's
omniscience (v. 3): I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from
me. They have not known the Lord (v. 4), but the Lord has
known them, knows their true character however disguised, knows their secret
wickedness however concealed. Note, Men's rejecting the knowledge of God will
not secure them from his knowledge of them; and when he contends with them he
will prove their sins upon them by his own knowledge, so that is will be in
vain to plead Not guilty.
III. Very bad things are laid to their charge. 1. They had been very ingenious
and very industrious to draw people either into sin or into trouble: You have
been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor (v. 1), that
is, such snares and nets as the huntsmen used to lay upon those mountains in
pursuit of their game. When the worship of the calves was set up in Israel the
patrons of that idolatry, and sticklers for it, contrived by all possible arts
and wiles to draw men into it and reconcile those to it that at first had a
dread of it. Note, Those that allure and entice men to sin, however they may
pretend friendship and good-will, are to be looked upon as snares and nets
to them, and their hands as bands, Eccl. vii. 26. But to those whom
they could not seduce into sin they were as a net and a snare to bring them
into trouble. Some think it was their practice to set spies in the road, and
particularly upon the mountains of Mizpah and Tabor, at the times of the
solemn feasts at Jerusalem, to watch if any of their people who were piously
affected went thither, and to inform against them, that they might be
prosecuted for it, thus doing the devil's work, who disquiets those whom he
cannot debauch. 2. They had been both very crafty and very cruel in carrying
on their designs (v. 2): The revolters are profound to make
slaughter. Note, Those who have themselves apostatized from the truths of
God are often the most subtle and barbarous persecutors of those who still
adhere to them. Nothing will serve them but to make slaughter (it is
the blood of the saints that they thirst after): and with the serpent's sting
they have his head; they are profound to do it. O the depth of the
depths of Satan, of the wickedness of his agents, of those that have deeply
revolted! Isa. xxxi. 6. Now that which aggravated this was the many
reproofs and warnings that had been given them: Though I have been a
rebuker of them all. The prophet had been so, a reprover by office. He had
many a time told them of the evil of their ways and doings, had dealt plainly with
them all, and had not spared either the priests or the house of the king.
God himself had been a rebuker of them all by their own consciences and
by his providences. Note, Sins against reproof are doubly sinful, Prov. xxix.
1. 3. They had committed whoredom, had defiled their own bodies with
fleshly lusts, had defiled their own souls with the worship of idols, v.
3. This God was a witness to, though secretly committed and artfully
palliated. Nay, the piercing eye of God saw the spirit of whoredom that
was in the midst of them, their secret inclination and disposition to
those sins, the love they had to their sins, and the dominion their sins had
over them, how much they were under the power of a spirit of whoredom,
that root of bitterness which bore all this gall and wormwood, that
corrupt and poisoned fountain. 4. They had no disposition at all to come into
acquaintance and communion with God. The spirit of whoredoms, having caused
them to err from him, keeps them wandering endlessly, v. 4. (1.)
They have not known the Lord, nor desire to know him, but have rather
declined, nay dreaded, the knowledge of him, for that would disturb them in
their sinful ways. (2.) Therefore they will not frame their doings to turn
to their God, by which it appeared that they did not know him aright. This
intimates their obstinate persistence in their apostasy from God; they would
not turn to God, though he was their God, theirs in covenant, by
whose name they had been called, and whom they were bound to serve.
They would not return to the worship of him, from which they had turned aside.
Nay, they would not frame their doings to turn to God. They would not consider
their ways, nor dispose themselves into a serious temper, nor apply their
minds to think of those things that would bring them to God. It is true we
cannot by our own power, without the special grace of God, turn to him; but we
may by the due improvement of our faculties, and the common aids of his
Spirit, frame our doings to turn to him. Those that will not do this,
that prepare not their hearts to seek the Lord (2 Chron. xii. 14), owe
it to themselves that they are not turned; they die because they will die; and
to those that will do this further grace shall not be wanting. (5.) They were
guilty of notorious arrogancy, and insolence in sin (v. 5): The
pride of Israel doth testify to his face, doth witness against him that he
is a rebel to God and his government. The spirit of whoredoms which was
in the midst of them showed itself in the gaiety and gaudiness of their
worship, as a harlot is known by her attire, Prov. vii. 10. The wantonness of
her dress testifies to her face that she is not a modest woman. Or their pride
in confronting the prophets God sent them and the message they brought (Jer.
xliii. 2), or a haughty scornful conduct towards their brethren and those that
were under them, witnessed against them that they were not God's people
and justified God in all the humbling judgments he brought upon them. His
pride testifies in his face; so some read it, agreeing with Isa. iii.
9, The show of their countenance doth witness against them. They have
that proud look which the Lord hates. (6.) They departed from
God to idols, and bred up their children in idolatry (v. 7): They
have dealt treacherously against the Lord, as a wife, who, in contempt of
the marriage covenant, forsakes her husband, and lives in adultery with
another. Thus those who are guilty of spiritual idolatry, whose god is their
money, whose god is their belly, deal treacherously against the Lord;
they violate their engagements to him and frustrate his expectations from
them. Note, Wilful sinners are treacherous dealers. They have begotten
strange children, that is, their children which they have begotten are
estranged from God, and trained up in a false way of worship; they are a
spurious brood, as children of fornication (John viii. 41), whom God
will disown. Note, Those deal treacherously with God indeed who not only turn
from following him themselves but train up their children in wicked ways.
IV. Very sad things are made to be their doom. In general (v. 1),
"Judgment is towards you. God is coming forth to contend with you,
and to testify his displeasure against you for your sins." It is time to
hearken when judgment is towards us. In particular,
1. They shall fall in their iniquity. This follows upon their pride
testifying to their face (v. 5) Therefore shall Israel and
Ephraim fall in their iniquity. Note, Pride will have a fall; it is the
certain presage and forerunner of it. Those that exalt themselves shall be
abased. The face in which pride testifies shall be filled with confusion. They
shall not only fall, but fall in their iniquity, the saddest fall of any.
Their pride kept them from repenting of their iniquity, and therefore they
shall fall in it. Note, Those that are not humbled for their sins are likely
to perish for ever in their sins. It is added, Judah also shall fall with
them in her iniquity. As the ten tribes were carried captive into Assyria,
for their idolatry, so the two tribes, in process of time, were carried into
Babylon for following their bad example; but the former fell and were utterly
cast down, the latter fell and were raised up again. Judah had the temple and
priesthood, and yet these shall not secure them, but, if they sin with Israel
and Ephraim, with them they shall fall.
2. They shall fall short of God's favour when they profess to seek it (v.
6): They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord,
but in vain; they shall not find him. This seems to be spoken
principally of Judah, when they fell into their iniquity, and when they fell
in their iniquity. (1.) When they fell into their iniquity they sought the
Lord; but they did not seek him only, and therefore he was not found
of them. When they worshipped strange gods, yet they kept up the show and
shadow of the worship of the true God; they went as usual, at the solemn
feasts, with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord; but their hearts
were not upright with him, because they were not entire for him,
and therefore he would not accept them; for then only shall we find him
when we seek him with our whole heart, not divided between God and
Baal, Ezek. xiv. 3. (2.) When they fell in their iniquity, or found themselves
falling by it, they sought the Lord; but they did not seek him early,
and therefore he will not be found of them. They shall see ruin coming upon
them, and shall then, in their distress, flee to God, and think to make him
their friend with burnt-offerings and sacrifices; but it will be too late then
to turn away his wrath when the decree has gone forth. Even Josiah's
reformation did not prevail to turn away the wrath of God, 2 Kings
xxiii. 25, 26. Those that go with their flocks and their herds only to
seek the Lord, and not with their hearts and souls, cannot expect to find him,
for his favour is not to be purchased with thousands of rams. Nor shall
those speed who do not seek the Lord while he may be found, for there
is a time when he will not be found. They shall not find him, for he has
withdrawn himself; he will not be enquired of by them, but will turn a deaf
ear to their sacrifices. See how much it is our concern to seek God early, now
while the accepted time is, and the day of salvation.
3. They and their portions shall all be swallowed up. They have dealt
treacherously against the Lord, and have thought to strengthen themselves
in it by their alliances with strange children; but now shall a month
devour them with their portions, that is, their estates and inheritances,
all those things which they have taken, and taken up with, as their portion;
or by their portions is meant their idols, whom they chose for their
portion instead of God. Note, Those that make an idol of the world, by taking
it for their portion, will themselves perish with it. A month shall devour
them, or eat them up--a certain time prefixed, and a short time. When God's
judgments begin with them they shall soon make an end; one month will do their
business. How much may a body be weakened by one month's sickness, or a
kingdom wasted by one month's war! Three shepherds (says God) I cut
off in one month, Zech. xi. 8. Note, The judgments of God sometimes make
quick work with a sinful people. A month devours more, and more portions, than
many years can repair.
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Threatenings
of Judgment.
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B.
C. 758.
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8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the
trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin.
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel
have I made known that which shall surely be. 10 The princes of
Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out
my wrath upon them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed and
broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.
12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house
of Judah as rottenness. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and
Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to
king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the
house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and
none shall rescue him. 15 I will go and return to my
place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their
affliction they will seek me early.
Here is, I. A loud alarm sounded, giving notice of judgments coming (v.
8): Blow you the cornet in Gibeah and in Ramah, two cities near
together in the confines of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, Gibeah a
frontier-town of the kingdom of Judah, Ramah of Israel; so that the warning is
hereby sent into both kingdoms. "Cry aloud at Beth-aven, or
Bethel, which place seems to be already seized upon by the enemy, and
therefore the trumpet is not sounded there, but you hear the outcries of those
that shout for mastery, mixed with theirs that are overcome." Let them cry
aloud, "After thee, O Benjamin! comes the enemy. The tribe of Ephraim
is already vanquished, and the enemy will be upon thy back, O Benjamin! in a
little time; thy turn comes next. The cup of trembling shall go round."
The prophet had described God's controversy with them as a trial at law (ch.
iv. 1); here he describes it as a trial by battle; and here also when he
judges he will overcome. Let all therefore prepare to meet their God. He
had before spoken of the judgments as certain; here he speaks of them as near;
and, when they are apprehended as just at the door, they are very startling
and awakening. The blowing of this cornet is explained, v. 9. Among
the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be, that
which is true or certain, so the word is. Note, The destruction
of impenitent sinners is a thing which shall surely be; it is not mere talk,
to frighten them, but it is an irrevocable sentence. And it is a mercy to us
that it is made known to us, that we have timely warning given us of
it, that we may flee from the wrath to come. It is the privilege of the
tribes of Israel that, as they are told their duty, so they are told their
danger, by the oracles of God committed to them.
II. The ground of God's controversy with them. 1. He has a quarrel with the
princes of Judah, because they were daring leaders in sin, v. 10.
They are like those that remove the bound, or the ancient land-marks.
God has given them his law, to be a fence about his own property; but they
have sacrilegiously broken through it, and set it aside; they have encroached
even upon God's rights, have trampled upon the distinctions between good and
evil, and the most sacred obligations of reason and equity, thinking, because
they were princes, that they might do any thing, Quicquid libet,
licet--Their will was a law. Or it may be understood of their invading the
liberty and property of the subject for the advancing of the prerogative,
which was like removing the ancient land-marks. Some have observed that the
princes of Judah were more absolute, and assumed a more arbitrary power, than
the princes of Israel did; now, for this, God has a controversy with them: I
will pour out my wrath upon them like water, in great abundance, like the
waters of the flood, which were poured upon the giants of the old
world, for the violence which the earth was filled with through them, Gen.
vi. 13. Note, There are bounds which even princes themselves must not
remove, bounds both of religion and justice, which they are limited by, and,
if they break through them, they must know that there is a God above them that
will call them to account for it. 2. He has a quarrel with the people of
Ephraim, because they were sneaking followers in sin (v. 11): He
willingly walked after the commandment, that is, the commandment of
Jeroboam and the succeeding kings of Israel, who obliged all their subjects by
a law to worship the calves at Dan and Bethel, and never to go up to Jerusalem
to worship. This was the commandment; it was the law of the land, and
backed with reasons of state; and the people not only walked after it in a
blind implicit obedience to authority, but they willingly walked after it,
from a secret antipathy they had to the worship of idols. Note, An easy
compliance with the commandments of men that thwart the commandments of God
ripens a people for ruin as much as any thing. And the punishment of the
sequacious disobedience (if I may so call it) answers to the sin; for it is
for this that Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, has all his
civil rights and liberties broken in upon and trodden down; and, (1.) It is
just with God that it should be so, that those who betray God's property
should lose their own, that those who subject their consciences to an
infallible judge, and an arbitrary power, should have enough of both. (2.)
There is a natural tendency in the thing itself towards it. Those that willingly
walk after the commandment, even when it walks contrary to the command of
God, will find the commandment an encroaching thing, and that the more power
is given it the more it will claim. Note, Nothing gives greater advantage to a
mastiff-like tyranny, that is fierce and furious, than a spaniel-like
submission, that is fawning and flattering. Thus is Ephraim oppressed and
broken in judgment, that is, he is wronged under a face and colour of
right. Note, It is a sad and sore judgment upon any people to be oppressed
under pretence of having justice done them. This explains the threatening v.
9, Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke. Note, Daring sinners
must expect that a day of rebuke will come, and such a day of rebuke as will
make them desolate, will deprive them of the comfort of all they have and all
they hope for.
III. The different methods that God would take both with Judah and Ephraim,
sometimes one method and sometimes the other, and sometimes both together, or
rather by which, first the one and then the other, he would advance towards
their complete ruin.
1. He would begin with less judgments, which should sometimes work silently
and insensibly (v. 12): I will be (that is, my providences shall
be) unto Ephraim as a moth; nay (as it might better be supplied), they are
unto Ephraim as a moth, for it is such a sickness as Ephraim now
sees, v. 13. Note, The judgments of God are sometimes to a sinful
people as a moth, and as rottenness, or as a worm. The
former signifies the little animals that breed in clothes, the latter those
that breed in wood; as these consume the clothes and the wood, so shall the
judgments of God consume them. (1.) Silently, so as not to make any noise in
the world, nay, so as they themselves shall not be sensible of it; they shall
think themselves safe and thriving, but, when they come to look more narrowly
into their state, shall find themselves wasting and decaying. (2.) Slowly, and
with long delays and intervals, that he may give them space to repent.
Many a nation, as well as many a person, in the prime of its time, dies of a
consumption. (3.) Gradually. God comes upon sinners with less judgments, so to
prevent greater, if they will be wise and take warning; he comes upon them
step by step, to show he is not willing that they should perish. (4.) The moth
breeds in the clothes, and the worm or rottenness in the wood; thus sinners
are consumed by a fire of their own kindling.
2. When it appeared that those had not done their work he would come upon them
with greater (v. 14): I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and to the
house of Judah as a young lion, though Judah is himself, in Jacob's
blessing, a lion's whelp. Lest any should think his power weakened,
because he was said to be as a moth to them, he says that he will now
be as a lion to them, not only to frighten them with his roaring, but
to pull them to pieces. Note, If less judgments prevail not to do their work,
it may be expected that God will send greater. Christ is sometimes a
lion of the tribe of Judah, here he is a lion against that tribe. See what God
will do to a people that are secure in sin: Even I will tear. He seems
to glory in it, as his prerogative, to be able to destroy, as the alone
lawgiver, Jam. iv. 12. "I, even I, will take the work into my
own hands; I say it that will do it." There is a more
immediate work of God in some judgments than in others. I will tear, and go
away. He will go away, (1.) As not fearing them; he will go away in state,
and with a majestic face, as the lion from his prey. (2.) As not helping them.
If God tear by afflicting providences, and yet by his graces and comforts
stays with us, it is well enough; but our condition is sad indeed if he tear
and go away, if, when he deprives us of our creature comforts, he does
himself depart from us. When he goes away he will take away all that is
valuable and dear, for, when God goes, all good goes along with him. He will
take away, and none shall rescue him, as the prey cannot be rescued
from the lion, Mic. v. 8. Note, None can be delivered out of the hands of
God's justice but those that are delivered into the hands of his grace. It is
in vain for a man to strive with his Maker.
IV. The different effects of those different methods. 1. When God contended
with them by less judgments they neglected him, and sought to creatures for
relief, but sought in vain, v. 13. When God was to them as a moth,
and as rottenness, they perceived their sickness and their
wound; after a while they found themselves going down the hill, and that
they were behind--hand in their affairs, their estate was sensibly decaying,
and then they sent to the Assyrian, to come in to their assistance,
made their court to king Jareb, which some think, was one of the names of Pul,
or Tiglathpileser, kings of Assyria, to whom both Israel and Judah applied for
relief in their distress, hoping by an alliance with them to repair and
re-establish their declining interests. Note, Carnal hearts, in time of
trouble, see their sickness and see their wound, but do not see the sin that
is the cause of it, nor will be brought to acknowledge that, no, nor to
acknowledge the hand of God, his mighty hand, much less his righteous
hand, in their trouble; and therefore, instead of going the next way to the
Creator, who could relieve them, they take a great deal of pains to go about
to creatures, who can do them no service. Those who repent not that they have
offended God by their sins are loth to be beholden to him in their
afflictions, but would rather seek relief any where than with him. And what is
the consequence? Yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
Note, Those who neglect God, and seek to creatures for help, will certainly be
disappointed; those who depend upon them for support will find them, not foundations,
but broken reeds; those who depend upon them for supply will find them,
not fountains, but broken cisterns; those who depend upon them
for comfort and a cure will find them miserable comforters, and physicians
of no value. The kings of Assyria, whom Judah and Israel sought unto, distressed
them and helped them not, 2 Chron. xxviii. 16, 28. Some make king Jareb
to signify the great, potent, or magnificent king, for they
built much upon his power; others the king that will plead, or should
plead, for they built much upon his wisdom and eloquence, and in his
interesting himself in their affairs. They had sent him a present (ch.
x. 6), a good fee, and, having so retained him of counsel for them, they
doubted not of his fidelity to them; but he deceived them, as an arm of flesh
does those that trust in it, Jer. xvii. 5, 6. 2. When, to convince them of
their folly, God brought greater judgments upon them, then they would at
length be forced to apply to him, v. 15. When he has torn as a lion,
(1.) He will leave them: I will go and return to my place, to heaven,
or to the mercy-seat, the throne of grace, which is his glory. When God
punishes sinners he comes out of his place (Isa. xxvi. 21); but, when
he designs them favour, he returns to his place, where he waits to
be gracious, upon their submission. Or he will return to his place
when he has corrected them, as not regarding them, hiding his face from them,
and not taking notice of their troubles or prayers; and this for their further
humiliation, till they are qualified in some measure for the returns of his
favour. (2.) He will at length work upon them, and bring them home to himself,
by their afflictions, which is the thing he waits for; and then he will no
longer withdraw from them. Two things are here mentioned as instances of their
return:-- [1.] Their penitent confession of sin: Till they acknowledge
their offence; marg. Till they be guilty, that is, till they be
sensible of their guilt, and be brought to own it, and humble themselves
before God for it. Note, When men begin to complain more of their sins than of
their afflictions then there begins to be some hope of them; and this is that
which God requires of us, when we are under his correcting hand, that we own
ourselves in a fault and justly corrected. [2.] Their humble petition for the
favour of God: Till they seek my face, which, it may be expected, they
will do when they are brought to the last extremity, and they have tried other
helpers in vain. In their affliction they will seek me early, that is,
diligently and earnestly, and with great importunity; and if they seek him
thus, and be sincere in it, though it might be called seeking him late,
because it was long ere they were brought to it, yet it is not too late, nay,
he is pleased to call it seeking him early, so willing is he to make the best
of true penitents in their return to him. Note, When we are under the
convictions of sin, and the corrections of the rod, our business is to seek
God's face; we must desire the knowledge of him, and an acquaintance with him,
that he may manifest himself to us, and for us, in token of his being at peace
with us. And it may reasonably be expected that affliction will bring those to
God that had long gone astray from him, and kept at a distance. Therefore
God for a time turns away from us, that he may turn us to himself, and then
return to us. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray.
Contents
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