CHAP. VI. | Evhortations to repent and hope in God, 1—3. A lamentation over those who had sinned after conviction, 4. Reproofs of obstinate sinners, and threat-av. 15. xiv, 3. Is. ii. §—5. lv. 7. Jer. ili. 22. lL 4,
5. Lam. iit. 40
41.Zeph.iii— enings against them, 5—11.
3. * gee @
"Ta peat OME, 7 and let us return unto the
1. 39g. e ‘fi. 6. Job v. 18. Lorp: for © he hath torn, and he
xXxiv. 29. Ps. . ; mx. 75 will heal us; he hath smitten, and he Dai. 6. '” Will bind us up. :
and protection. And he knew that, however they had despised him ; in their affliction they would feel their need of him, and seek him without delay or remissness.
(Marg. Ref.)
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. — .
All ranks of men must’ stand before God in judgment; and all ought to yield an obedient ear to his word, and to the warnings of his ministers to ‘* flee from the wrath to “* come:” for as all have sinned, all should repent, and humbly seek his pardoning mercy.—None are exposed to severer punishment, than they, who artfully entice men to sin, and eusnare them in fatal errors: and kings and priests have often been peculiarly guilty of this ‘great transgression.—They, who aposfatize from God and his truth, commonly become the bitterest enemies to such as adhere tohim: they have often employed most profound dissimulation and diabolical malice, to make slaughter of them, as enemies to the church and state; and rebukes and corrections have seldom detérred them from persccuting projects.
The Lord perfectly knows men, and none of their designs or motives are concealed from him; though they deeply disguise them from others, and even from themselves, and cover theiz grossest defilements with specious pretensions.——Our doings must be carefully framed to return to the Lord, if we would beat peace with him: for Ke delighteth not in vain profession, and empty forms or notions; but he requires that our repentance and faith be manifested in our whole temper and conduct.
But they, who know not the Lord, nor “the “< power of his anger,” the value of his favour, and the efficacy of his converting grace; remain under the influence _ of that ‘ spirit which worketh in the children of disobe- ** dience ; and will never frame their doings to return to ‘© God.”’—Pride makes men obstinate in other sins, and rivets the chains which sensual or worldly lusts have forged: for ‘‘ the wicked through the pride of their coun- ** tenance will not seek after God,” or submit to him in sincere repentance ; and therefore, having fallen into, they must perish in, iniquity.
With suclt unhumbled, unbe-lieving, and rebellious hearts, men may go with their flocks and herds, and the most expensive and ostentatious services, to seek the Lord: but they will not find him ; for he withdraws himself from proud Pharisces and hypocrites, to commune with broken-hearted publicans and sinners, — By dealing treacherously with the Lord, men only deceive themselves. —The education of children, as strangers to
-- CHAPTER ‘VI.’
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2 After * two days will he revive us :¢ 2! 1,2 Kings in the third day he will raise us up, and 5,24 %. * we shall live in his sight. 1s. 1 Gor, XV.
3 Then shall * we know, if we followe Gen. svi. ‘6.: ° ° Ps. Ixi. 7. Jobn on to know the.Lonp :' & his going forth xs. 19. "Rem. is prepared as the morning: ard he shalle Hi, go. Ts. iv.
come unto us "as the rain, as the latter *#x 9. Joun
and former rain unto the earth. f Prov. ii. 1—5.
9. Matt. xiii. 11, (2. John vii. 17. viii. 19. 91, 92. Acts xvii. 11, 12. Phil. iil. 1IS—15, ZSam. xxiii. 4.
Ps. xix. 4—10. Prov. iv. 18. Mal. iv. 2. Luke i. 78, 79. @ Pet. i. 19. Rev. xxii. 16. h x. 12. xiv. 5. Job xxix. 23, Ps. Ixv. 9. Ixxii. 6. Is. ve 6, xxxil. 15. xliv. 5. Bz. xxxvi. 26. Joel ii. 23, 24. Mic. v. 7. Zech. x. 1.
—_
God and his truth, exceedingly hastens the doom of guilty
nations: when tokens of approaching ruin appear, ministers ought to give the alarm, before evil overtakes the criminals ;
and when some are cut off, in the day of the Lord’s rebuke, they must warn others to expect the same punishment, unless they repent.
Such things will be ,generally found among the tribes of Israel; and the watchman must give warning, if he mean to deliver his own soul.—When princes break down the fence of the divine law, by their edicts, decisions, or examples, they open the flood-gates of God’s wrath: and when subjects willingly obey ungodly and persecuting statutes, they may expect to be given up to grievous oppressions and exactions; for God will disregard the interest, liberty, and security of those, who disregard his honour and renounce his service.
His more ordinary judgments insensibly waste men’s prosperity and comfort: but when, under rebukes, they trust to an arm of flesh, and have recourse to sinful expedients; they will not only find that they cannot bring cure or deliverance, but that God will visit them with more terrible displays of his indignation. Yet he will return to his place, his mercy-seat, and wait there to be gracious to all, who acknowledge their offences and seek his face.
Many indeed, who despise him in their prosperity, appear to seek him under their afflictions: but he knows how to distinguish the upright from the hypocrite; and they, who are first led by severe tribulations, to seek him earnestly, diligently, and sincerely, will find him a present Help and an effectual Refuge ; as with him is mercy and plenteous redemption, for. all those who call upon him in truth. ©
NOTES, CHAP. VI. V. 1—3. The prophet took occasion, . from the intimation of mercy at the close of the former chapter, to exhort the people, without delay to come together, and with one accord to return to the worship of the Lord. As this referred to the events predicted in the former chapter ; that is, to the desolations that were coming on the people,,by the Assyrians and Chaldeans; the exhortation may be considered as the language of the penitents to each other, and to their neighbours, calling on them to unite in humiliation, repentance, and works meet for repentance. They considered their miseries as the cffect of God’s righteous indignation. He had torn and smitten them, and their enemies were his instruments s and from his mercy, truth, and power alone, they hoped for deliverance; he alone could, and they trusted he would, heal thetr distempers and bind up their wounds. Instead -
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i xi. 8. Is. v. 3,4. Jer. iii. 19. Vv. J. 9. 23. ix. 7.
A ¥& O Ephraim, ‘ what shall Ido unto Late xi. 7-9. Chee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee?
k Juig. 8 .* for your * goodness is ' as a morning- Ps. Ixxvili. 34—
Jer.
5 Therefore ™ have I hewed them by the prophets; "I ‘have slain them by , Rindnes.” the ~words of my mouth: Tf and thy
miSam. xiii. 18. xv. 2>, 23. 1 Kings xiv. 6—12. xvii. 1. xviii. 17, 18. XX. 42. xxi. 2024, xxii. 8. 2 Kings i. 16. 2 Chr. xxi, 12—17. Is. Iviii. 2. Jer. i. 10. 18. v. ld. xiii. 19, 14. Bx. ii. 9, 10. xin. 3. Acts sti. SI1—44. n 1 Kin § xix. 17. Is. xi. 4. Jer. xxiii. 299. Heh. iv.
12. Rev. i. 16. li. 16. xix. 15. 21. Vili. 25. Job xxxiv. 10, 11. Ps. xxxvil. 6. Zeph. ili. 5. Kom, ii. 5.
Matt. xiii. Qt. * Or, mercy, or,
therefore, of fleeing from him as an enemy, they encouraged each other to apply to him as their Physician.
For some time they would have to wait for his interposition ; the nation of Israel was as it were dead, but after fwo days, that is, on the third day, the Lord would revive them ; and they would live in his sight, as his people, upon their return from the Babylonish captivity, after the appointed time of its continuance.—The language is generally supposed to be prophetick of the resurrection of Christ on the third day, with whom, as her Surety, the whole church virtually arose from the dead, to live unto God: with him the hopes of all believers revived; his power, as risen, quickens their souls when dead in sin; and his resurrection was the earnest of the resurrection of their bodies unto everlasting life.
In the persevering’exercise of faith and by waiting on the Lord, in every.means of becoming acquainted with him and his perfections, truth, and will, they would obtain an experimental knowledge of his mercy and faithfulness, and a comforting knowledge of their own pardon and acceptance.—For ‘* his going forth was pre- ‘* pared as the morning :”’ the time that intervened between the promise of a Saviour to fallen man, unto his coming, and exaltation atthe right hand of the Father, resembled that which intervenes between the dawning of the day, and the meridian brightness of the sun; and he would as surely-come and effect the redemption of his church, as sun-rising follows the dawn.—His coming likewise to save and comfort every, penitent, is gradual and certain, from the first sense of guilt, to the completion of his salvation in heavenly felicity. (.Vofe, Prov. iv. 18, 19.) In neither sense, doth his going foith resemble a meteor, or the evening-sun; but the increasing brightness of the morning from the first dawn, which can scarcely be discerned, or distinguished from other appearances, to the noon-day brightness.
The Lord would also descend upon the souls of those who wdited on' him, as the former and latter rain upon the earth; purifying, softening, fructifying, and refreshing them, by the influences of his Holy Spirit. : :
V. 4, 5- Neither Evhraim nor Judah would thus wait for and on the Lord; and he spake as one that was at a loss what to do with them. He was not willing wholly to giye them up; yet he did not deem it honourable to save them from ruin, in their present state of mind, and all means used to reform them had proved ineffectual. Whilst they were smarting under the rod or filled with terror; or when their reforming kings were exerting their pious endeavours, or the prophets were Jabouring among thein ; they seemed favourably disposed to repent and return to the Lord: but this their goodness, (unlike the morning-light,
HOSEA.
87. evi. 12, 15. cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. |
t Or, that thy juignents might be as, &c. Gen. -
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judgments are as the light ¢hat goeth°)%: 3: %
forth. ae fe ainig, fell 6 For ° I desired mercy, .and not sacri- yes. Des. Ir. fice; P and the knowledge of God more 4: tic. vi 6—
than burnt-offerings. a 7 But they, + like men -9 have trans-_ xvi. pe gressed the covenant: there have * they, 4%, ius.: Gen. fi.6 1. dealt treacherously against me. . ie q Vili. 1. @ Kings xvii. 15. xviii. 19. Is. xxiv, 5. Jer. xxi. $8. By. xvi. 59—61. xx. $7. Hebd. Vili, 9. rv. 7. Is. xxiv. 16. xviii. 8. Jer. iii. 7-1). 20. Ve 21. IX. -
or the stated rajn,) vanished like the empty morning-cloud and the early dew, and produced no abiding effect on their conduct: and when the causes of these transient impressions ceased, they relapsed into idolatry and: iniquity, and were as vile asever. In the night of adversity, they seemed religious ; but the rising sun of returning prosperity -dispersed all these promising appearances. Therefore it was, thatthe Lord sent them such awful messages by the prophets, as were suited either to bew them into shape, or to hew them in pieces ; nay, ‘* he slew them by the words of his ‘¢ mouth,” which were like pronouncing the sentence of death on a criminal, and giving orders for his execution ; and the judyments, that were denounced against them, were gradually and certainly approaching, as the light from the dawning of the day ; instead of that favour which was arising upon true penitents: nay, the justice of God’ would be
clear as the morning-light.
V. 6. All the appointed sacrifices were typical of Christ’s atonement, external signs of the offerer’s faith and repentance, acts of worship towards God, and means of grace to believers. But the people deemed them the sud. stantial part of religion; presented them in unbelief, pride, and impenitence ; and thought to compensate by them for their entire neglect of justice, mercy, and piety, and for all their scandalous crimes : and when they. omitted these institutions, they thought the Lord’s controversy with them was chiefly on that account.
He therefore informed them, that he ‘* desired mercy and not sacrifice,” or, rather than sacrifice; and the knowledge of him, which produced holy fear, dependence, submission, obedience, and love, more than burnt-offerings; because they were of superior excellency'and immutable obligation.
He was displeased with them for their injustice, oppression ‘of the paor, idolatry, and impiety : and no number of sacrifices could avail them, whilst they continued in sin.—This no way interferes with the great doctrine, of the sacrifice of Christ being the sole Ineritorious cause of a sinner’s pardon and acceptance with God; or, with that of faith alone interesting us in this atonement; or with the necessity of our attendance on instituted ordinances.
But it exposes the folly of such, as trust in external observances of any kind, to compensate for their want of love to God and man: it shews, that nothing can profit us, which does not spring from repentance and faith, and is not attended with a sober, righteous, and godly life: and that externals may safely be omitted or postponed, when the exercise of mercy and kindness to our brethren requires it. (Marg. Ref.) .
V. 7. (Marg.) ‘ They have transgressed the covenant, ‘ which I solemnly contracted with them; just as Adam ‘ did in Paradise.” (Lowth.)—The Israelites had alse
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B.C.775. ‘,, 8 *Gilead is a city of them that work ni. iniquity, and * is polluted with blood.” Q And ‘as troops of robbers wait fora
a hs ‘man, “ so the company of priests murder x. 2,9. lix.%3-in the way tT by consent; for they com-
Is. lux. 6, 7 Jer . + ai.'tg. Mic. vit mit + lewdness.
" 35, 16. Acts xiii. '9—15, xxv, 3. t vil. i. Ezra vili. $1. Job i. 1517. xii. 6. xxiv, @—17. Proy. i. }1—19. uv. 1,9. Jer. xi. 9, EZ xxii. 27. Mic. iii. 911. Zeph. iii. 4, 4. Mark xiv. 1. Luke xxii. 26. John xi. 47—53. Acts iv. 24-28, ¢ Heb. with one shoulder, or, to Shechem. \ Kings xii. 25. t Or, enormity,
renounced JEHOVAH for base idols, as a wife treachcrously forsakes her husband for strangers.
V. 8, 9. Ramoth-gilcad, beyond Jordan, was one of the cities of refuge, and allotted to the priests; but it was totally given up to wickedness and polluted with murder. (Marg. Ref.) The company of priests also, that dwelt there, was a mere banditti; consenting together in robbery, murder, and-every enormity ; standing by each other in doing, and vindicating, their evil deeds. (Marg.)— * The Hebrew word Aven, translated iniquity, frequently ‘ signifies zdolatry; and the blood, which Gilead is said to have been polluted with, may mean the blood of their children which they sacrificed to Moloch.
Dr. Wells interprets it, of those Gileadites who assisted Pckah in the murder of Pekahiah. (2 Kings xv. 25.) The Phrase translated here, ‘* polluted. with blood,’”’ ¢ literally signifies with bloody footsteps, being taken from such, as are found with their shoes stained with the blood they have shed.’ (1 Kings ii. 5.) (Lowth.)—The word rendered ‘* by consent,” seems to mean towards Shechem. The priests besct the road to Shechem, as robbers and murderers.
V. 10. Anhorrible thing. Such an apostacy from € God, as cannot be mentioned without horror.’ (Low/#h.) —The idolatry begun by Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, had opened, the way for all the subsequent _abominations, by which the kingdom of Israel was polluted. ‘* He made Israel to sin.”
‘V. 11. The seeds of idolatry, from Israel, had been sown plenteously in Judah; and thus 4e, (that is, Israel, or Ephraim,) had prepared a harvest for Judah also, The nation was become ripe for divine judgments, which would be inflicted by the Assyrians and Chaldeans; until the time when God would ‘‘ turn away the captivity of his people.”’ (Ps xiv. 7. lili, 6. cxxvi. 1.) © When I would have “. turned away the captivity of my people ;” ‘ When ‘ I would, upon their repentance, have averted my judg- ‘ments, which will end in their captivity.’ (Lowsth.)— *<* Among those who lead away the captivity of my «* people.”’ (Bp. Newcombe.) This translation requires only a trivial change of the pointing.
a A KR RRR AAR
PRACTICAY, OBSERVATIONS. ee In all our troubles we should place our whole confidence in the Lord’s mercy ; and should take warning and encou-yagement to return to him, and exhort others to do the same. He afflicts us in providence, that we may look to him to restore our prosperity: he convinces and humbles our hearts by his Holy Spirit, and ofteri fills the conscience with remorse and dismay, in ofder to prepare us for the
healing balm of his salvation, and the consolations which |
CHAPTER VI. ) 10 I have *seen an horrible thing *2%'s,!%J%-
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in ‘the house of Israel: Y there is they 3. ois — . ° e e 8. t. 3,
whoredom of Ephraim, Isracl is de- 4~Vkings xi filed. 2 Kings xvii.7— : 93. Jer. iil. 6—
11 Also, O Judah, 2 he hath set an | Me Bz, xa 8 harvest for thee, ? when I returned the Jr. li. 33. Joe!
ig , Hii, 18, Mic. iv. captivity of my people. . 12, Rev. xiv. 15 a Job xiii. 10. Ps. cxxvi. t. 4. Zeph. il. 70
he bestows on the contrite believer. -No affliction or
temptation therefore, no guilt or power of sin, no wounded spirit or terrified conscience, should induce us to despair of help and comfort from God. He may suffer us for a time to be seized on with ‘‘ the sorrows of death, or the *¢ pains of hell,” and to be ‘* like those that go down into ‘© the pit:” but as he raised the Redeemer from the grave ;
so will he revive the hearts and hopes of all who trust in-him, and cause them at length to walk before him, and rejoice in his manifested presence and love. Let us then begin and ‘* follow on to know the Lorn ;” that we may experience the freeness and efficacy of his grace, the faithfulness of his promises, and the felicity of his people.
The feeblest glimpse of hope in his word, which dawns upon the humble sin-distressed soul, is a sure earnest of increasing light and comfort, till ‘* the Sun of righteous- ‘* ness shall arise upon him with healing in his beams ;” and till he shall arrive in his presence above, and possess the fulness of knowledge, purity, love, and joy for evermore.—TIncreasing light and hope shall be afforded to the waiting soul, with showers of purifying, fertilizing, and comforting grace; and he, who sent the former, will send the /a/fer rain also, and perfect the good work that he hath begun.— But we have not the same reason to depend on our own resolutions, convictions, or hopeful beginnings, as we have totrust in the truth and mercy of our God; alas! these are as mutable, as the others are unchangeable, Under the rod of affliction, under terrors of conscience, or under the awakening word of some Boanerges, many seem
deeply impressed and well disposed to religion: but when
the restraint, the scourge, the terror. is removed, their transient goodness vanishes like an: empty cloud, or is exhaled by temptation as the dew by the burning sun; and we mourn our disappointed expectations respectin
them. What shall be done with such persons? For ¢ 3 ** any man draw back, the Lord will have no pleasure in *¢ him.” Or what shall he do to us, who are prone to a similar, if not an equal, inconstancy?
May he put his fear into cur hearts, and sect up his: kingdom wishin us, and never, never more, leave us to ourselves, or suffer us to be overcome by temptation!—Obstinate transgressors must not expect soothing messages from a holy God; he will ** hew them by the words of his prophets:” and if this do not prcvail-to bring them down to the dust of self. abasement, ‘he will slay them by the words of his “* mouth ;” and, hy executing his threatened vengeance on them, convirtce them of the truth of his holy word.—All oblations and external services are mere pride and hypocrisy, whilst justice, mercy, truth, and picty are nege lected: and that confidence, even in the sacrifice of Christ, is mere presumption, which encourages any one to continue in sin. a men hal the truce knowledge ‘of God, they
1:
1, 32. I Jobn iv. 5.
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a Jer. Ji. 9. Matt.
a _ CHAP. VIL. xxii, 37. Luke e ‘ p rill s«. xix. 42. FTeaoy charges, of atrocious crimes, vii, oxi 1 = against the kings, nobles, and people of Israel, 1—10; and awful denunciations of the wrath of God against
6.
Cc viii. 5.x. 5. Bz., xvi. 46. “ 5]. xxiii. 4. Am. viii. 14.
* Heb. evils.
d xi. 1g. xii. 1. 7. Is, lix. 1215, Jer. ix. 2—6, Mic. vii. $—7.
2. 16. Is. xxvill, them, 11—16.
1—3, Mic. vi.’ 1 HEN #I would have healed Israel, then © the iniquity of Ephraim was eseonvis. discovered, © and the * wickedness of eh. strippeth. : e: f Deut. xxii. 29. Samaria: for .4 they commit falsehood ;
3. a xi-and the thief cometh in, and © the troo oe Bente Of robbers +t spoileth without.
xe warn, 2% And ‘they ? consider not in their
23. t cor, iv. hearts that &I remember all their wicked-
Ps. ix. 16. Prov : ° wan 3 They * make the king glad with ‘i Jey XXXIV
17. xxxii. 19. A They 'are all adulterers, ™ as an
Vili. 7. Luke xii-b. R e e 1 es e i;
3. ness: now “ their own doings have beset
Db Num. xxzii. 93. i
Job xx. 129. them about; they ' are before my face.
Vv. 2. Jer. ii,
19. iv. 18. Ps ° d , d h e e e | Ob xxxive 21, their wicke ness, and their princes with
Vv. Qh. Jer. xvi. their lies.
Heb. iv, 13.
Ve Ji. 1 Kings
Xxit, 6. 13. Jer. v. $1. xXxvili. m4. xxxvii. 19. AM. Vil. 1O—18. Mic. vi. 16. vii. 3. Rom.
1 See on iv. 2 i2. Jer. vy. 7, 8 ix. @. Jam. iv. 4. ma Seé on 6, 7.
could not be sodeluded; and if they were partakers of true faith, they could not but hate sin, and uprightly fear, love, obey, and serve the Lord. But under every dispensation men prove themselves the children of Adam, by breaking the law, and abusing the mercy and goodness of God: the
_ most favoured places become most notorious for sin; the most sacred offices are often filled by the vilest of men; no
tongue can express what horrible defilements God sees continually, even in his visible church. But whilst multitudes are ripening for destruction, a time is coming, when he will return the captivity of his people, and fill the earth with his glory: and then Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel] shall abound in songs of grateful praise.
NOTES.