H
O S E A
CHAP. VI.
The
closing words of the foregoing chapter gave us some hopes that God and his
Israel, notwithstanding their sins and his wrath, might yet be happily brought
together again, that they would seek him and he would be found of them; now
this chapter carries that matter further, and some join the beginning of this
chapter with the end of that, "They will seek me early," saying,
"Come and let us return." But God doth again complain of the
wickedness of this people; for, though some did repent and reform, the greater
part continued obstinate. Observe, I. Their resolution to return to God, and
the comforts wherewith they encourage themselves in their return, ver. 1-3.
II. The instability of many of them in their professions and promises of
repentance, and the severe course which God therefore took with them, ver. 4,
5. III. The covenant God made with them, and his expectations from them (ver.
6); their violation of that covenant and frustrating those expectations, ver.
7-11.
|
Penitential
Resolutions; Promises.
|
B.
C. 758.
|
|
|
1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD:
for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us
up. 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will
raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we know,
if we follow on to know the LORD:
his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the
rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
These may be taken either as the words of the prophet to the people, calling
them to repentance, or as the words of the people to one another, exciting and
encouraging one another to seek the Lord, and to humble themselves
before him, in hopes of finding mercy with him. God had said, In their
affliction they will seek me; now the prophet, and the good people his
friends, would strike while the iron was hot, and set in with the convictions
their neighbours seemed to be under. Note, Those who are disposed to turn to
God themselves should do all they can to excite, and engage, and encourage
others to return to him. Observe,
I. What it is they engage to do: "Come, and let us return to the Lord,
v. 1. Let us go no more to the Assyrian, nor send to king Jareb; we
have had enough of that. But let us return to the Lord, return to the
worship of him from our idolatries, and to our hope in him from all our
confidences in the creature." Note, It is the great concern of those who
have revolted from God to return to him. And those who have gone from him by
consent, and in a body, drawing one another to sin, should by consent, and in
a body, return to him, which will be for his glory and their mutual
edification.
II. What inducements and encouragements to do this they fasten upon, to stir
up one another with.
1. The experience they had had of his displeasure: "Let us return to him,
for he has torn, he has smitten. We have been torn, and it was he that
tore us; we have been smitten, and it was he that smote us. Therefore
let us return to him, because it is for our revolts from him that he has torn
and smitten us in anger, and we cannot expect that he should be reconciled to
us till we return to him; and for this end he has afflicted us thus, that we
might be wrought upon to return to him. His hand will be stretched out still
against us if the people turn not to him that smites them," Isa.
ix. 12, 13. Note, The consideration of the judgments of God upon us and our
land, especially when they are tearing judgments, should awaken us to return
to God by repentance, and prayer, and reformation.
2. The expectation they had of his favour: "He that has torn will heal
us, he that has smitten will bind us up," as the skilful
surgeon with a tender hand binds up the broken bone or bleeding wound. Note,
The same providence of God that afflicts his people relieves them, and the
same Spirit of God that convinces the saints comforts them; that which is
first a Spirit of bondage is afterwards a Spirit of adoption.
This is an acknowledgement of the power of God (he can heal though we be ever
so ill torn), and of his mercy (he will do it); nay, therefore he has
torn that he may heal. Some think this points particularly to the return of
the Jews out of Babylon, when they sought the Lord, and joined themselves to
him, in the prospect of his gracious return to them in a way of mercy. Note,
It will be of great use to us, both for our support under our afflictions and
for our encouragement in our repentance, to keep up good thoughts of God and
of his purposes and designs concerning us. Now this favour of God which they
are here in expectation of is described in several instances:--
(1.) They promise themselves that their deliverance out of their troubles
should be to them as life from the dead (v. 2): "After
two days he will revive us (that is, in a short time, in a day or two), and
the third day, when it is expected that the dead body should putrefy and
corrupt, and be buried out of our sight, then will he raise us up,
and we shall live in his sight, we shall see his face with comfort and
it shall be reviving to us. Though he forsake for a small moment,
he will gather with everlasting kindness." Note, The people
of God may not only be torn and smitten, but left for dead, and may lie so a
great while; but they shall not always lie so, nor shall they long lie so; God
will in a little time revive them; and the assurance given them of this should
engage them to return and adhere to him. But this seems to have a further
reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ; and the time limited is
expressed by two days and the third day, that it may be a type
and figure of Christ's rising the third day, which he is said to do according
to the scriptures, according to this scripture; for all the prophets
testified of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
Let us see and admire the wisdom and goodness of God, in ordering the
prophet's words so that when he foretold the deliverance of the church out of
her troubles he should at the same time point out our salvation by Christ,
which other salvations were both figures and fruits of; and, though they might
not be aware of this mystery in the words, yet now that they are fulfilled in
the letter of them in the resurrection of Christ it is a confirmation to our
faith that this is he that should come, and we are to look for no
other. And it is every way suitable that a prophecy of Christ's rising
should be thus expressed, "He will raise us up, and we
shall live," for Christ rose as the first-fruits, and we revive with him,
we live through him; he rose for our justification, and all believers are said
to be risen with Christ. See Isa. xxvi. 19. And it would serve for a
comfort to the church then, and an assurance that God would raise them out of
their low estate, for in his fulness of time he would raise his Son from the
grave, who would be the life and glory of his people Israel. Note, A regard by
faith to a rising Christ is a great support to a suffering Christian, and
gives abundant encouragement to a repenting returning sinner; for he has said,
Because I live, you shall live also.
(2.) That then they shall improve in the knowledge of God (v. 3): Then
shall we know, if we follow on to know, the Lord. Then, when God returns
in mercy to his people and designs favour for them, he will, as a pledge and
fruit of his favour, give them more of the knowledge of himself; the earth
shall be full of that knowledge, Isa. xi. 9. Knowledge shall be
increased, Dan. xii. 4. All shall know God, Jer. xxxi. 34. We
shall know, we shall follow to know, the Lord, (so the words are); and it
may be taken as the fruit of Christ's resurrection, and the life we live in
God's sight by him, that we shall have not only greater means of knowledge,
but grace to improve in knowledge by those means. Note, When God designs mercy
for a people he gives them a heart to know him, Jer. xxiv. 7. Those
that have risen with Christ have the spirit of wisdom and revelation
given them. And if we understand our living in his sight, as the Chaldee
paraphrast does, of the day of the resurrection of the dead, it fitly follows,
We shall know, we shall follow to know, the Lord; for in that day we
shall see him be perfected, and yet be eternally increasing. Or, taking it as
we read it, If we follow on to know, we have here, [1.] A precious
blessing promised: Then shall we know, shall know the Lord, then
when we return to God; those that come to God shall be brought into an
acquaintance with him. When we are designed to live in his sight, then
he gives us to know him; for this is life eternal to know God, John
xvii. 3. [2.] The way and means of obtaining this blessing. We must follow
on to know him. We must value and esteem the knowledge of God as the best
knowledge, we must cry after it, and dig for it (Prov. ii. 3,
4), must seek and intermeddle with all wisdom (Prov. xviii. 1), and
must proceed in our enquiries after this knowledge and our endeavours to
improve in it. And, if we do the prescribed duty, we have reason to expect the
promised mercy, that we shall know more and more of God, and be at last
perfect in this knowledge.
(3.) That then they shall abound in divine consolations: His going forth is
prepared as the morning, that is, the returns of his favour, which he had
withdrawn from us when he went and returned to his place. His
out-goings again are prepared and secured to us as firmly as the return of the
morning after a dark night, and we expect it, as those do that wait for the
morning after a long night, and are sure that it will come at the time
appointed and will not fail; and the light of his countenance will be both
welcome to us and growing upon us, unto the perfect day, as the light of the
morning is. He shall come to us, and be welcome to us, as the rain,
as the latter and former rain unto the earth, which refreshes it and makes
it fruitful. Now this looks further than their deliverance out of captivity,
and, no doubt, was to have its full accomplishment in Christ, and the grace of
the gospel. The Old-Testament saints followed on to know him, earnestly
looked for redemption in Jerusalem; and at length the out-goings of divine
grace in him, in his going forth to visit this world, were [1.] As the morning
to this earth when it is dark for he went forth as the sun of
righteousness, and in him the day-spring from on high visited us. His
going forth was prepared as the morning, for he came in the fulness of
time; John Baptist was his fore-runner, nay, he was himself the bright and
morning star. [2.] As the rain to this earth when it is dry. He shall
come down as the rain upon the mown grass, Ps. lxxii. 6. In him showers of
blessings descend upon this world, which give seed to the sower and bread
to the eater, Isa. lv. 10. And the favour of God in Christ is what is said
of the king's favour, like the cloud of the latter rain, Prov. xvi. 15.
The grace of God in Christ is both the latter and the former rain, for
by it the good work of our fruit-bearing is both begun and carried on.
|
Promises
and Expostulations; The Crimes of the People.
B. C. 758.
|
|
|
|
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O
Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning
cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. 5 Therefore have I
hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth:
and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than
burnt offerings. 7 But they like men have transgressed the
covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 8 Gilead
is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with
blood. 9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the
company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit
lewdness. 10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11
Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity
of my people.
Two things, two evil things, both Judah and Ephraim are here charged with, and
justly accused of:--
I. That they were not firm to their own convictions, but were unsteady, unstable
as water, v. 4, 5. O Ephraim! what shall I do unto thee? O
Judah! what shall I do unto thee? This is a strange expression. Can
Infinite Wisdom be at a loss what to do? Can it be nonplussed, or put upon
taking new measures? By no means; but God speaks after the manner of men, to
show how absurd and unreasonable they were, and how just his proceedings
against them were. Let them not complain of him as harsh and severe in tearing
them, and smiting them, as he has done; for what else should he do? What other
course could he take with them? God had tried various methods with them (What
could have been done more to his vineyard than he had done? Isa. v. 4),
and very loth he was to let things go to extremity; he reasons with himself
(as ch. xi. 9), How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? God would
have done them good, but they were not qualified for it: "What shall I
do unto thee? What else can I do but cast thee off, when I cannot in
honour save thee?" Note, God never destroys sinners till he sees there is
no other way with them. See here, 1. What their conduct was towards God: Their
goodness, or kindness, was as the morning cloud. Some
understand it of their kindness to themselves and their own souls, in their
repentance; it is indeed mercy to ourselves to repent of our sins, but they
soon retracted that kindness to themselves, undid it again, and wronged their
own souls as much as ever. But it is rather to be taken for their piety and
religion; what good appeared in them sometimes, it soon vanished and
disappeared again, as the morning cloud and the early dew. Such was the
goodness of Israel in Jehu's time, and of Judah in Hezekiah's and Josiah's
time; it was soon gone. In time of drought the morning-cloud promises
rain, and the early dew is some present refreshment to the earth; but
the cloud is dispersed (and hypocrites are compared to clouds without
water, Jude 12) and the dew does not soak into the ground, but is drawn
back again into the air, and the earth is parched still. What shall he do with
them? Shall he accept their goodness? No, for it passes away; and factum
non dicitur quod non perseverat--that which does not continue can scarcely be
said to be done. Note, That goodness will never be either pleasing to God
or profitable to ourselves which is as the morning cloud and the early dew.
When men promise fair and do not perform, when they begin well in religion and
do not hold on, when they leave their first love and their first works, or,
though they do not quite cast off religion, are yet unsteady, uneven, and
inconstant in it, then is their goodness as the morning cloud and the early
dew. 2. What course God had taken with them (v. 5): "Therefore,
because they were so rough and ill-shapen, I have hewn them by the
prophets, as timber or stone is hewn for use; I have slain them by the
words of my mouth." What the prophets did was done by the word of God
in their mouths, which never returned void. By it they thought themselves
slain, were ready to say that the prophets killed them, or cut them to the
heart when they dealt faithfully with them. (1.) The prophets hewed them by
convictions of sin, endeavouring to cut off their transgressions from them.
They were uneven in religion (v. 4), therefore God hewed them. The
hearts of sinners are not only as stone, but as rough stone, which requires a
great deal of pains to bring it into shape, or as knotty timber, that is not
squared without a great deal of difficulty; ministers' work is to hew them,
and God by the minister hews them, for with the froward will he show
himself froward. And there are those whom ministers must rebuke sharply;
every word should cut, and though the chips fly in the face of the workman,
though the reproved fly in the face of the reprover and reckon him an enemy
because he tells the truth, yet he goes on with his work. (2.) They slew them
by the denunciations of wrath, foretelling that they should be slain, as
Ezekiel is said to destroy the city when he prophesied of the destruction of
it, Ezek. xliii. 3. And God accomplished that which was foretold: "I
have slain them by my judgments, according to the words of my mouth."
Note, The word of God will be the death either of the sin or of the sinner, a
savour either of life unto life or of death unto death. Some read it, "I
have hewn the prophets, and slain them by the words of my mouth, that is,
I have employed them in laborious service for the people's good, which has
wasted their strength; they have spent themselves, and hews away all their
spirits, in their work, and in hazardous service, which has cost many of them
their lives." Note, Ministers are the tools which God makes use of in
working upon people; and, though with many they labour in vain, yet God will
reckon for the wearing out of his tools. (3.) God was hereby justified in the
severest proceedings against them afterwards. His prophets had taken a great
deal of pains with them, had admonished them of their sin and warned them of
their danger, but the means used had not the desired effect; some good
impressions perhaps were made for the present, but they wore off, and passed
away as the morning cloud, and now they cannot charge God with severity if he
bring upon them the miseries threatened. The prophet turns to him and
acknowledges, Thy judgments are as the light that goes forth, evidently
just and righteous. Note, Though sinners be not reclaimed by the pains that
ministers take with them, yet thereby God will be justified when he speaks
and clear when he judges. See Matt. xi. 17-19.
II. That they were not faithful to God's covenant with them, v. 6, 7.
Here observe,
1. What the covenant was that God made with them, and upon what terms they
should obtain his favour and be accepted of him (v. 6): I desired
mercy and not sacrifice (that is, rather than sacrifice), and insisted
upon the knowledge of God more than upon burnt-offerings. Mercy
here is the same word which in v. 4 is rendered goodness--chesed--piety,
sanctity; it is put for all practical religion; it is the same with charity
in the New Testament, the reigning love of God and our neighbour, and this
accompanied with and flowing from the knowledge of God, as he has
revealed himself in his word, a firm belief that he is, and is the rewarder
of those that diligently seek him, a good affection to divine things
guided by a good judgment, which cannot but produce a very good conversation;
this is that which God by his covenant requires, and not sacrifice and
offering. This is fully explained, Jer. vii. 22, 23. I spoke not to
your fathers concerning burnt-offerings (that was the smallest of the
matters I spoke to them of, and on which the least stress was laid), but this
I said, Obey my voice, Mic. vi. 6-8. To love God and our neighbour is better
than all burnt offering and sacrifice, Mark xii. 33; Ps. li. 16, 17. Not
but that sacrifice and offering were required, and to be paid, and had their
use, and, when they were accompanied with mercy and the knowledge of God, were
acceptable to him, but, without them, God regarded them not, he despised them,
Isa. i. 10, 11. Perhaps this is mentioned here to show a difference between
the God whom they deserted and the gods whom they went over to. The true God
aimed at nothing but that they should be good men, and live good lives for
their own good, and the ceremony of honouring him with sacrifices was one of
the smallest matters of his law; whereas the false gods required that only;
let their priests and altars be regaled with sacrifices and offerings, and the
people might live as they listed. What fools were those then that left a God
who aimed at giving his worshippers a new nature, for gods who aimed at
nothing but making themselves a new name! It is mentioned likewise to show
that God's controversy with them was not for the omission of sacrifices (I
will not reprove thee for them, Ps. l. 8), but because there was no justice,
nor mercy, nor knowledge of God, among them (ch. iv. 1), and
to teach us all that the power of godliness is the main thing God looks
at and requires, and without it the form of godliness is of no avail.
Serious piety in the heart and life is the one thing needful, and,
separate from that, the performances of devotion, though ever so plausible,
ever so costly, are of no account. Our Saviour quotes this to show that moral
duties are to be preferred before rituals whenever they come in competition,
and to justify himself in eating with publicans and sinners, because it
was in mercy to the souls of men, and in healing on the sabbath day, because
it was in mercy to the bodies of men, to which the ceremony of singularity in
eating and the sabbath-rest must give way, Matt. ix. 13; xii. 7.
2. How little they had regarded this covenant, though it was so well ordered
in all things, though they, and not God, would be the gainers by it. See here
what came of it.
(1.) In general, they broke with God, and proved unfaithful; there were good
things committed to them to keep, the jewels of mercy and piety, and the
knowledge of God, in the cabinet of sacrifice and burnt-offering, but they
betrayed their trust, kept the cabinet, but pawned the jewels for the
gratification of a base lust, and this is that for which God has justly a
quarrel with them (v. 7): They, like men, have transgressed the
covenant, that covenant which God made with them; they have broken the
conditions of it, and so forfeited the benefit of it. By casting off mercy and
the knowledge of God, and other instances of disobedience, [1.] They had
contracted the guilt of perjury and covenant-breaking; they were like men that
transgress a covenant by which they had solemnly bound themselves, which is a
thing that all the world cries out shame on; men that have done so deserve not
again to be valued, or trusted, or dealt with. "There, in that
thing, they have dealt treacherously against me; they have been
perfidious, base, and false children, in whom is no faith, though I depended
upon their being children that would not lie." [2.] In this they
had but acted like themselves, like men, who are generally false and
fickle, and in whose nature (their corrupt nature) it is to deal
treacherously; all men are liars, and they are like the rest of that
degenerate race, all gone aside, Ps. xiv. 2, 3. They have transgressed
the covenant like men (like the Gentiles that transgressed the
covenant of nature), like mean men (the word here used is sometimes put
for men of low degree); they have dealt deceitfully, like base men that
have no sense of honour. [3.] Herein they trod in the steps of our first
parents: They, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant (so it might
very well be read); as he transgressed the covenant of innocency, so they
transgressed the covenant of grace, so treacherously, so foolishly; there
in paradise he violated his engagements to God, and there in Canaan, another
paradise, they violated their engagements. And by their treacherous dealing
they, like Adam, have ruined themselves and theirs. Note, Sin is so much the
worse the more there is in it of the similitude of Adam's transgression,
Rom. v. 14. [4.] Low thoughts of God and of his authority and favour were at
the bottom of all this; for so some read it: They have transgressed the
covenant, as of a man, as if it had been but the covenant of a man, that
stood upon even ground with them, as if the commands of the covenant were but
like those of a man like themselves, and the kindness conveyed by it no more
valuable than that of a man. There is something sacred and binding in a
man's covenant (as the apostle shows, Gal. iii. 15), but much more in the
covenant of God, which yet they made small account of; and there in
that covenant they dealt treacherously, promised fair, but performed
nothing. Dealing treacherously with God is here called dealing treacherously
against him, for it is both an affront and an opposition. Deserters are
traitors, and will be so treated; the revolting heart is a rebellious heart.
(2.) Some particular instances of their treachery are here given: There
they dealt treacherously, that is, in the places hereafter named [1.] Look
on the other side Jordan, to the country which lay most exposed to the insults
of the neighbouring nations, and where therefore the people were concerned to
keep themselves under the divine protection, and yet there you will find the
most daring provocations of the divine Majesty, v. 8. Gilead, which lay
in the lot of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, was a city of the workers
of iniquity. Wickedness was the trade that was driven there; the country
was called Gilead, but it was all called a city, because they
were all as it were incorporated in one society of rebels against God. Or (as
most think) Ramoth Gilead is the city here meant, one of the three cities of
refuge on the other side Jordan, and a Levites' city; the inhabitants of it,
though of the sacred tribe, were workers of iniquity, contrived it, and
practised it. Note, It is bad indeed when a Levites' city is a city of
those that work iniquity, when those that are to preach good doctrine live
bad lives. Particularly it is polluted with blood, as if that were a
sin which the wicked Levites were in a special manner guilty of. In popish
countries the clergy are observed to be the most bloody persecutors. Or, as it
was a city of refuge, by abusing the power it had to judge of murders
it became polluted with blood. They would, for a bribe, protect those
that were guilty of wilful murder, whom they ought to have put to death, and
would deliver those to the avenger of blood who were guilty but of
chance-medley, if they were poor and had nothing to give them; and both these
ways they were polluted with blood. Note, Blood defiles the land where
it is shed, and where no inquisition is made or no vengeance taken for it. See
how the best institutions, that are ever so well designed to keep the balance
even between justice and mercy, are capable of being abused and perverted to
the manifest prejudice and violation of both. [2.] Look among those whose
business it was to minister in holy things, and they were as bad as the worst
and as vile as the vilest (v. 9): The company of priests are so,
not here and there one that is the scandal of his order, but the whole order
and body of them, the priests go all one way by consent, with one
shoulder (as the word is), one and all; and they make one another worse,
more daring, and fierce, and impudent, in sin, more crafty and more cruel. A company
of priests will say and do that in conspiracy which none of them would
dare to say or do singly. The companies of priests were as troops of
robbers, as banditti, or gangs of highwaymen, that cut men's
throats to get their money. First, They were cruel and blood-thirsty.
They murder those that they have a pique against, or that stand in
their way; nothing less will satisfy them. Secondly, They were cunning.
They laid wait for men, that they might have a fair opportunity to
compass their mischievous malicious designs; thus the company of priests laid
wait for Christ to take him, saying, Not on the feast-day. Thirdly,
They were concurring as one man: They murder in the way; in the
highway, where travellers should be safe, there they murder by consent,
aiding and abetting one another in it. See how unanimous wicked people are in
doing mischief; and should not good people be so then in doing good? They
murder in the way to Shechem (so the margin reads it, as a proper name)
such as were going to Jerusalem (for that way Shechem lay) to worship. Or in
the way to Shechem (some think) means in the same manner that their father
Levi, with Simeon his brother, murdered the Shechemites (Gen. xxxiv.), by
fraud and deceit; and some understand it of their destroying the souls of men
by drawing them to sin. Fourthly, They did it with contrivance: They
commit lewdness; the word signifies such wickedness as is committed with
deliberation, and of malice prepense, as we say. The more there is of device
and design in sin the worse it is. [3.] Look into the body of the people, take
a view of the whole house of Israel, and they are all alike (v. 10): I
have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel, and, though it be ever
so artfully managed, God discovers it, and will discover it to them; and who
can deny that which God himself says that he has seen? There is the
whoredom of Ephraim, both corporal and spiritual whoredom; there it is too
plain to be denied. Note, The sin of sinners, especially sinners of the house
of Israel, has enough in it to make them tremble, for it is a horrible thing,
it is amazing, and it is threatening, enough to make them blush, for Israel is
thereby defiled and rendered odious in the sight of God. [4.] Look into Judah,
and you find them sharing with Israel (v. 11): Also, O Judah! he has
set a harvest for thee; thou must be reckoned with as well as Ephraim;
thou art ripe for destruction too, and the time, even the set time, of thy
destruction is hastening on, when thou that hast ploughed iniquity, and
sown wickedness, shalt reap the same. The general judgment is
compared to a harvest (Matt. xiii. 39), so are particular judgments,
Joel iii. 13; Rev. xiv. 15. I have appointed a time to call thee to account,
even when I returned the captivity of my people, that is, when those
captives of Judah which were taken by the men of Israel were restored, in
obedience to the command of God sent them by Oded the prophet, 2 Chron. xxviii.
8-15. When God spared them that time he set them a harvest, that is, he
designed to reckon with them another time for all together. Note,
Preservations from present judgments, if a good use be not made of them, are
but reservations for greater judgments.
Contents
|
Next
Section
