| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Hosea Chapter
One
Hosea 1
Chapter Contents
Under a figure
is represented the shameful idolatry of
the ten tribes. (1-7) The calling of the Gentiles
and the uniting Israel and
Judah under the Messiah. (8-11)
Commentary on Hosea 1:1-7
Israel was prosperous
yet then Hosea boldly tells them
of their sins
and foretells their destruction. Men are not to be flattered in
sinful ways because they prosper in the world; nor will it last long if they go
on still in their trespasses. The prophet must show Israel their sin; show it
to be exceedingly hateful. Their idolatry is the sin they are here charged
with. Giving that glory to any creature which is due to God alone
is an injury
and affront to God; such as for a wife to take a stranger
is to her husband.
The Lord
doubtless
had good reasons for giving such a command to the prophet;
it would form an affecting picture of the Lord's unmerited goodness and unwearied
patience
and of the perverseness and ingratitude of Israel. We should be
broken and wearied with half that perverseness from others
with which we try
the patience and grieve the Spirit of our God. Let us also be ready to bear any
cross the Lord appoints. The prophet must show the ruin of the people
in the
names given to his children. He foretells the fall of the royal family in the
name of his first child: call his name Jezreel
which signifies
"dispersion." He foretells God's abandoning the nation in the name of
the second child; Lo-ruhamah
"not beloved
" or "not having
obtained mercy." God showed great mercy
but Israel abused his favours.
Sin turns away the mercy of God
even from Israel
his own professing people.
If pardoning mercy is denied
no other mercy can be expected. Though some
through unbelief
are broken off
yet God will have a church in this world till
the end of time. Our salvation is owing to God's mercy
not to any merit of our
own. That salvation is sure
of which he is the Author; and if he will work
none shall hinder.
Commentary on Hosea 1:8-11
The rejection of Israel for a time
is signified by the
name of another child: call him Lo-ammi
"not my people." The Lord
disowns all relation to them. We love him
because he first loved us; but our
being cast out of covenant
is owing to ourselves and our folly. Mercy is
remembered in the midst of wrath; the rejection
as it shall not be total
so
it shall not be final. The same hand that wounded
is stretched forth to heal.
Very precious promises are here given concerning the Israel of God
and they
may be of use to us now. Some think that these promises will not have
accomplishment in full
till the general conversion of the Jews in the latter
days. Also this promise is applied to the gospel
and the bringing in both the
Jews and Gentiles to it
by St. Paul
Romans 9:25
26
and by St. Peter
1 Peter 2:10. To believe in Christ
is to have
him for our Head
and willingly to commit ourselves to his guidance and
government. And let us pray for the coming of the glorious day
when there
shall be one Lord through all the earth.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Hosea》
Hosea 1
Verse 2
[2] The
beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea
Go
take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath
committed great whoredom
departing from the LORD.
Go take —
This was
probably
done in vision
and was to be told to the people
as other
visions were: it was parabolically proposed to them
and might have been
sufficient to convince the Jews
would they have considered it
as David
considered Nathan's parable.
A wife of whoredoms and children — Receive and maintain the children she had before.
Verse 4
[4] And the LORD said unto him
Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while
and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu
and will cause
to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
The blood —
The slaughters made by Jehu's hand or by his order
in Jezreel.
The house of Jehu —
Which had now possessed the throne
through the reigns of Jehoahaz
Jehoash
and Jeroboam; but the usurper
and his successors adhering to the idolatry of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat
and adding other sins to it
had now provoked God to
declare a sudden extirpation of the family: all this came to pass when Shallum
conspiring against Zechariah
slew him
2 Kings 15:8-10.
The kingdom —
After one and forty years tottering it fell to utter ruin and hath so continued
to this day.
Verse 5
[5] And
it shall come to pass at that day
that I will break the bow of Israel in the
valley of Jezreel.
At that day —
When my vengeance hath overtaken the house of Jehu.
Break —
Weaken and by degrees quite break.
The bow —
All their warlike provision
power and skill.
Jezreel — In
this valley it is probable the bloodiest battles in the civil wars were fought;
the reason whereof might be
because whoever carried the victory in this place
were soon masters of Samaria and Jezreel
and consequently of the kingdom.
Verse 6
[6] And
she conceived again
and bare a daughter. And God said unto him
Call her name
Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will
utterly take them away.
Lo-ruhamah —
Not pitied. Israel's name had been through many ages Ruhamah
that is
pitied.
God had pitied them
and saved them from their enemies. But now Israel should
be no more pitied
God would throw them up to the rage of usurpers
and
conspirators.
Verse 7
[7] But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah
and will save them by the
LORD their God
and will not save them by bow
nor by sword
nor by battle
by
horses
nor by horsemen.
Save them — I
will preserve them
that violence do not swallow them up
nor length of
captivity wear them out; and this preserved remnant shall return and be planted
in their own land
and there kept in safety.
By the Lord —
Particularly in that extraordinary deliverance of Hezekiah and Jerusalem
from
Sennacherib.
Verse 9
[9] Then
said God
Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people
and I will not be
your God.
Loammi —
That is
not my people. Tho' once you were a peculiar people
you are so no
more; you are cast off as you deserved.
I will not be your God — I will be a God to you
no more than to any of the Heathen nations. This
God executed when he gave them up into the hands of Salmaneser
who sent them
where none now can find them.
Verse 10
[10] Yet
the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea
which
cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass
that in the place
where it was said unto them
Ye are not my people
there it shall be said unto
them
Ye are the sons of the living God.
The children of Israel — Not Israel after the flesh
not those very families that are carried
captive.
In the place — In
those places
were a people dwelt who were not his people
there shall be a
people of God.
The living God —
Who is the fountain of life to all his children
and who enables them to offer
living sacrifices to the living God.
Verse 11
[11] Then
shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together
and appoint themselves one head
and they shall come up out of the land: for
great shall be the day of Jezreel.
Then —
This verse has both an historical and a spiritual sense; the one referring to
the return out of Babylon
the other to a more glorious deliverance from a more
miserable captivity.
Judah —
The two tribes
who adhered to the house of David.
Israel —
Some of the ten tribes who were incorporated with the kingdom of Judah
and so
carried captive with them. But this is spiritually to be understood of the
whole Israel of God.
One head —
Zerubbabel
who was appointed by Cyrus
yet with full approbation of the
people. And so Christ is appointed by the Father
head of his church
whom
believers heartily accept.
Come up —
Literally out of Babylon
spiritually out of captivity to sin and to Satan.
Great —
Good
joyous and comfortable.
Of Jezreel —
Israel is here called Jezreel
the seed of God. This seed is now sown in the
earth
and buried under the clods; but great shall be its day
when the harvest
comes. Great was the day of the church
when there were daily added to it such
as should be saved.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Hosea》
01 Chapter 1
Verses 1-11
The Word of the Lord that came to Hosea.
The prophet Hosea
I. He was divinely
commissioned. Holy men of old spake not of their own wisdom or of their own
will; they spake the Word of God. In what a contemptuous light their conduct
places those who in the present day quote the sayings of the Fathers
the
Church
or Tradition
or suggest modern innovations
and strange
interpretations. We have the Word of God
and the prompting of the Spirit; and
is not that enough?
II. He had worthy
ancestry. His father’s name would not have been mentioned had it not been to
honour the son. How the father can strengthen and establish the son
or the son
ruin and crush the father!
III. He prophesied
at a critical period.
1. It was a long time. Probably eighty years.
2. It was a changeable time. Various scenes. Different characters of
kings and peoples. He lived in the reigns of one good king and four bad ones.
He saw plenty and famine. He saw one revival and much sin.
3. It was a tentative time. Upon the conduct of the Jews depended
their ultimate existence.
IV. Practical
thoughts.
1. Hosea must have begun his ministry very young.
2. How very little we have of his prophesyings. His chief work was
directly relative to his age. God has preserved what was of permanent interest.
3. How long a man of God may labour
and yet how little good he may
accomplish. He did not prevent the Captivity. We arc not answerable for our
success
but we are for our duty. We are not to relax our efforts because men
am blind or fools. (William Jay.)
The prophet Hosea
I. Who he was. His
name means a saviour
one who brings salvation
and many saving and savoury
truths this prophet brings to us. The Jews say that when a prophet’s father’s
name is given
the father was a prophet as well as the son. “Beeri” means a
well that has springing water in it
freely and clearly running.
II. To where was
the prophet sent? Especially to the Ten Tribes. The Ten Tribes
rending
themselves from the house of David
separated themselves also from the true
worship of God
and horrible wickedness and all manner of abominations grew up
amongst them.
III. What was
Hosea’s errand to them? To convince them of their abominable idolatry
and
those other wickednesses in which they lived
and to denounce severe
threatenings
yea
most fearful destruction. His threatening is more severe
than any given before
Yet he
too
has a message of mercy.
IV. What was his
commission? He had the “Word of Jehovah.” Hosea did not go for the Word of the
Lord
but the Word came to him. The knowledge of a call to a work will help a man
through the difficulties of the work.
V. The time when
Hosea prophesied. About the time that the city of Rome was built. The beginning
of the Olympiads. During the reign of four kings
Uzziah
Jotham
Ahaz
and
Hezekiah. A lengthened prophesying of nearly fourscore years. See what of God’s
mind will spring from this.
1. It pleases God sometimes that some men’s labours shall abide more
full to posterity than others
though the labours of those others are greater
and as excellent as theirs.
2. It appears that Hosea began to prophesy very young.
3. Hosea prophesying thus long it appears he lived to grow old in his
work.
4. By Hosea s continuance m so many kings reigns
it is evident he
must have gone through a variety of conditions. He preserved a constancy of
spirit
however varied might be the difficulties of his work.
5. God may continue a prophet a long time amongst a people
and yet
they may never be converted.
6. It is an honour to the ministers of God
who meet with many
difficulties and discouragements in their
way
yet continue fresh and lively
to the very end.
7. It pleases God many times to let His prophets see the fulfilling
of their threatenings upon the people against whom they have denounced them. (Jeremiah
Burroughs.)
Scripture
kings
and truth
I. The essence of
scripture. What is the essence of the Bible? It is here called “The Word of the
Lord.” Analyse the expression.
1. It is a “Word.” A word fulfils two functions; it is a revelation
and an instrument. The Bible is the manifestation of God
it shows His
intellect and heart
and is His instrument as well; by which He accomplishes
His purpose on the human mind. By it He is said to
enlighten
--quicken
--cleanse
--conquer
etc.
2. It is a Divine Word. “The Word of the Lord.” Words are always
powerful and important according to the nature and character of the speaker.
Because the Lord is all-mighty and holy
His Word is all-powerful and pure.
3. It is a Divine Word concerning men. The prophecy came to Hosea in
relation to Israel. The Bible is a Word to man.
4. It is a Divine Word concerning man coming through men. In the
Bible God speaks to man through man. This gives the charm of an imperishable
humanity to the Bible.
II. The mortality
of kings. Several kings are here mentioned who appeared and passed away during
the ministry of Hosea. Uzziah was the eleventh king of Judah. His example was
holy
and his reign peaceful and prosperous. Ahaz was a son of Jotham: at the
age of twenty he succeeded his royal sire. He gave himself up to idolatry
and
sacrificed even his own children to the gods of the heathen. Hezekiah
the son
and successor of Ahaz
was a man of distinguished virtue and religion
animated
by true piety and patriotism. Jeroboam was the son of Joash
and great grandson
of Jehu
and followed the former Jeroboam
the man who made Israel to sin
and
like him
sank into the lowest idolatry and corruption. Some of these kings had
come and gone during the ministry of Hosea;--kings die
etc.
1. This fact is a blessing. When we think of such kings as those of
which Ahaz and Jeroboam were types
we thank God for death
and rejoice in the
“king of terrors
” who comes to strike the despots down.
2. This fact is a lesson. What does the death of kings teach?
III. The perpetuity
of truth. Although these kings successively appeared and passed away
the
ministry of Hosea kept on.
1. The “Word of the Lord” is adapted to all generations. It is
congruous with all intellects
it chimes in with all hearts
it provides for
the common wants of all.
2. The “Word of the Lord” is necessary for all generations. (Homilist.)
Trouble a teacher
A wonderful book is this prophecy of Hosea (b.c. 800-725). The man
himself at once attracts our sympathy and regard by his personal sufferings.
There is no teacher of Divine truth to be compared for one moment for
excellence so deep and great as trouble. Hosea had an infinite sorrow at home;
therefore he was so great and tender a teacher of Divine truth. He read
everything through his tears; hence the enlargement
the colour
the variety
the striking beauty of his visions. When the sorrow is home grief it assumes a
tenderer quality. Hosea had children
but they had evil names; their very names
were millstones round the prophet’s neck. If one of them had a name
historically and ideally beautiful
it was to be used for the expression of
judgment and vengeance. As for the others
one represented the vanished mercy
of God
and the other represented the alienation of the people from God
and
the alienation of God from the people. Only sorrow should read some parts of the
Bible
because only sorrow could have written them. You cannot properly sing a
man’s music until you know the man himself. Hosea will have a tone of his own;
he will talk like nobody else; he will be an eccentric
peculiar individual; he
will begin when he pleases
and he will take a circuit marked out for him by an
invisible guide; but now and again he will come down to the road we travel
and
will present us with flowers and fruits
and will say little sweet sentences to
us that shall be as angels
covered with light
and tremulous with music. The
sorrow of Hosea was symbolic. All sorrow is meant to be symbolic. Whoso has
sorrow is meant to be a teacher. You have no right to the exclusive use of your
own sorrow. Sorrow should only be silent for a time; by and by it should find
all its words
refine
enlarge
and dignify them
and pass them on as messages
bright as Gospels.
But for his own sorrow
he never could have understood God’s grief. Again and
again God asks us to look at Him through ourselves. Happy they who come up out
of household trouble
public disappointment
and social criticism
and loss and
desolation
to pray larger prayers
and offer to those who are outside a larger
hospitality of love and rest. If sorrow makes us narrower in thought and purpose
then sorrow has failed to convey God’s meaning to the soul. (Joseph Parker
D. D.)
The beginning Of the Wold of the Lord by Hosea.
The prophet Hosea
The prophet Hosea is the only individual character that stands out
amidst the darkness of this period--the Jeremiah
as he may be called
of
Israel. His life had extended over nearly the whole of the last century of the
northern kingdom. In early youth
whilst the great Jeroboam was still on the
throne
he had been called to the prophetic office. In his own personal history
he shared in the misery brought on his country by the profligacy of the age. In
early youth he had been united in marriage with a woman who had fallen into the
vices which surrounded her. He had loved her with a tender love; she had borne
to him two sons and a daughter; she had then deserted him
wandered from her
home
fallen again into wild licentiousness
and been carried off as a slave.
From this wretched state
with all the tenderness of his nature
he bought her
and gave her one more chance of recovery
by living with him
though apart. No
one who has observed the manner in which individual experience often colours
the general religious doctrine of a gifted teacher can be surprised at the
close con nection that exists between the life of Hosea and the mission to
which he was called. In his own grief for his own great calamity--the greatest
that can befall a tender
human soul--he was taught to feel for the Divine grief over the lost
opportunities of the nation once so full of hope. (Dean Stanley.)
Go
take unto thee
a wife of whoredoms.
God’s strange command to Hosea
Holy Scripture relates that all this was done
and tells us the
birth and names of the children
as real history. As such
then
we must
receive it. We must not imagine things to be unworthy of God
because they do
not commend themselves to us. God does not dispense with the moral law
because
the moral law has its source in the mind of God Himself. To dispense with it
would be to contradict Himself. But God
who is the absolute Lord of all things
which He made
may
at His sovereign will
dispose of the lives or things which
He created. Thus
as Sovereign Judge
He commanded the lives of the Canaanites
to be taken away by Israel
as
in His ordinary providence
He has ordained
that the magistrate should not bear the sword in vain
but has made him His
“minister
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” So
again
He
whose are all things
willed to repay to the Israelites their hard and unjust
servitude
by commanding them to “spoil the Egyptians.” He who created
marriage
commanded to Hosea whom he should marry. The prophet was not defiled
by taking as his lawful wife
at God’s bidding
one defiled
however hard a
thing this was. “He who remains good
is not defiled by coming in contact with
one evil; but the evil
following his example
is turned into good.” But
through his simple obedience
he foreshadowed Him
God the Word
who was culled
the “friend of publicans and sinners”; who warned the Pharisees
that “the
publicans and harlots should enter into the kingdom of God before them”; and
who now vouchsafes to espouse
dwell in
and unite Himself with
and so to hallow
our sinful souls. The acts which God enjoined to the prophets
and which to us
seem strange
must have had an impressiveness to the people
in proportion to
their strangeness. The life of the prophet became a sermon to the people. Sight
impresses more than words. (E. B. Pusey
D. D.)
Scripture picture--teaching
in modern times picture-teaching is almost confined to work among
children
because education and culture have made adults capable of
apprehending plain statements
and even elaborate arguments. In
child-conditions of nations child methods of instruction were wisely employed.
And it is well for preachers to bear in mind that a large proportion of those
whom they address are as incapable of following argument as children
and
therefore need the pictorial
dramatic
and illustrative methods of
instruction. It is even more to the point to observe that the dramatic acting
out of representative and suggestive scenes
has always been
and still is
one
of the most effective methods of moral instruction. What we have in Hosea
whether what is stated concerning him be regarded as history or vision
is a
dramatising of the history of the nation of the Ten Tribes in its relation to
God figured as its husband. The facts of individual experience are these. Hosea
takes as wife a woman who had gone astray. All his love and care fail to
recover her and settle her in her home-life. Presently the old wilfulness
revives
and she breaks away from home
to live again a life of sinful
indulgence
and come under burdens of pain and slavery. Spite of it all
Hosea
is willing
if she will give up her sins
to receive her back
and give her the
old place in home and love. The individual represents the national. The Ten
Tribes wilfully broke away under Jeroboam I. determined to live an independent
life of self-willedness
which always means a life of sin. God graciously took
this nation as His
and strove with tending
patience
gentleness
and love to
win it as His own. But it was in vain. The nation again and again broke away
from God
dishonoured Him
and at last in its seemingly outward prosperity
under Jeroboam II.
broke away entirely from Him. Nevertheless
patient mercy
still pleads. Only now there is the intimation that it is the nation s last
chance. Hosea
then
in his ways with his wife is to represent God’s ways with
the nation. In telling how he thought and felt
and what he did
and was
willing to do
Hosea revealed to the people the thought and hope and anxiety of
God concerning them.
I. In taking the
kingdom of Israel as His
God did not take a chaste nation. Under Jeroboam I.
the nation broke away from its home
and duty
and right relations. It was a
soiled
wilful nation. Nevertheless
and as such God took it for His own.
II. While calling
it his own
God did everything that love and care could do to win the nation
wholly for Himself and righteousness. Pathetic is the tender love of Hosea
as
representing the patience
gentleness
and love of God.
III. The old
wilfulness will not be subdued
and at last it broke out again
leading to
worse sins than at first. Compare the moral and social life of Israel under
Jeroboam I. and Jeroboam II.
IV. Divine
severities must attend on Divine love when moral conditions become so utterly
hopeless. And yet how evident it becomes
that judgment is God’s strange work
and mercy His delight! (J. Burroughs.)
Mysterious commands--
In the Memorial Hall at Harvard University there is a
wonderful array of beautiful sentences frescoed on the walls in various
colours
but they are all in Latin. And it is said that some of the workmen did
not know the meaning of the sentences they painted
but could only put the
letters and the colours on the walls as they were told
without understanding
the wondrous meaning wrapped up in them. So we are often writing our lives in
an unknown tongue; we can only do as we are bidden. (Christian Age.)
Call his name Jezreel.
Judgment on the house of Ahab
Jezreel means
the child of guilt; therefore not Israel
but
Jezreel (or more exactly
Izreel). The name is referred to for its historical
associations. It points both backwards and forwards--backward to the massacre
of Ahab’s family by Jehu (2 Kings 9:10)
and forward to the
punishment for that wild and cruel act. Hosea (in whom natural peculiarities
have been purified and not extinguished by the spirit of prophecy) regards the
conduct of Jehu in a different light from the writer of 2 Kings 10:30. The latter praises
Jehu for having “done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in My
mind”; he speaks on the assumption that Jehu had the interests of Jehovah’s
worship at heart
and that he destroyed the house of Ahab as the only effectual
means of advancing them. The former blames Jehu apparently on the high moral
ground that Jehovah desires mercy (love) and not sacrifice (Hosea 6:6). He speaks as the Israelites
of his time doubtless felt. They no more recognised Jehu as a champion of
Jehovah than did the priests of Baal whom he basely entrapped. But Hosea
doubtless felt in addition that the idolatry to which the house of Jehu was
addicted rendered a permanent religious reform hopeless. Image-worship could
not be suppressed by such half-hearted worshippers of Jehovah
and hence
Jehovah’s moral government of His people must have made it certain to Hosea
that even on this ground alone the dynasty of Jehu could not escape an
overthrow. (T. K. Cheyne
D. D.)
And I will avenge the
blood of Jezreel--
God as the family God
or Avenger
We have no such associations with the word “avenge” as were
familiar to ancient Eastern people
and are familiar in tribal life to-day. In
the East the avenger is the vindicator of a family wrong by securing the
adequate punishment of the wrong-doer. In a rude state of society
the nearest
relative of a person slain was conceived as under obligation to put the slayer
to death. He had to be the “avenger of blood.” Dr. S. Cox tells us that the
main functions of the Goel were three
or rather that there were three tragic
contingencies in which the legal redeemer and avenger was bound to interpose.
1. If any Hebrew had fallen into such penury as that he was compelled
to part with his ancestral estate
the Goel was bound to purchase it
and
after certain conditions had been observed
to restore it to his impoverished
kinsman.
2. If any Hebrew had been taken captive
or had sold himself for a
slave
the Goel was bound to pay the price of his redemption
to unloose and
set him free.
3. If any Hebrew had suffered grievous wrong
or had been slain
the
Goel was bound to exact compensation for the wrong
or to avenge his murder. In
the case introduced by the text
we are to understand that the slaughter of the
house of Ahab had not yet been avenged
though three generations had passed.
There seemed to be no one left of the house of Ahab to do the duty of the
avenger. So God took it directly upon Himself. “I will avenge the blood of
Jezreel.” This must be regarded as a striking instance of representing God as
feeling
and then doing
as a man would feel and do under such circumstances.
The case occasions difficulty to us
because no private and personal
avengements of wrongs done are now permitted. All wrongs are judicially
treated. But in revealing Himself and His will
God must always speak in the
range of knowledge
sentiment
and association of those whom He addresses
or
He could not be understood by them. To those who knew about avengers He could
present Himself as the great Avenger. And if there are bad sides to the
avenger’s work
we must not fail to see that there are also good sides
add
that we may take the good sides to represent God. The idea that can be
helpfully worked out for a modem congregation is
that God never neglects
wrongs that are done to His people. He may seem to delay
He may even wait for
generations; but His injured people are always vindicated at last. The
wrong-doer may seem to escape punishment
he never really does. He may seem to
prosper
but there is surely a worm whose work is spoiling his prosperity. The
Lord is the Avenger of all His injured ones; and the woes that eventually come
upon all wrong-doers vindicate His people and vindicate Him. God’s avenging is
always only a part of His redeeming. (Robert Tuck
B. A.)
The blood of Jezreel
The name signifies the “scattered of the Lord.” Five reasons why
the son of Hosea was to be called by this name.
1. That hereby God might show that He intended to avenge that blood
which was shed in Jezreel.
2. To show that Israel had lost the honour of His name
and was no
more Israel
but Jezreel. (Israel is one that prevails by the “strength of the
Lord.” Jezreel is one that is “scattered by the Lord.”)
3. To show the way that God intended to bring judgment upon these ten
tribes.
4. To note that the Lord would scatter them in that very place
wherein they most gloried. (Jerome says the Israelite army was defeated in the
valley of Jezreel before Samaria was taken.)
5. The Lord would hereby show that He would turn these conceits and
apprehensions that they might have of themselves quite the contrary way.
I. What is this
“blood of Jezreel” that God will avenge? (2 Kings 9:10-11). It was the blood
of the house of Ahab.
II. Why will God
“avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu”? Because--
1. Jehu looked to his own ends
rather than to God.
2. Because he did his work but by halves.
3. Because be proved Ahab’s successor in his idolatry.
A man may do that which God commands
and yet not really obey God.
And God knows how to make use of men’s parts and abilities
and yet to punish
them for their wickedness notwithstanding.
III. Why is it
called “the house of Jehu”? The house of Jehu is his posterity
or family
who
were to succeed. The posterity of the ungodly shall suffer for their father’s
sin. Only the second commandment threatens the sin of the fathers upon the
children.
IV. What is this
“little while” God speaks of? It was a long time--three generations--before God
came upon the house of Jehu
still He saith
yet but a little while
or
I will
stay but a little longer
ere I avenge the blood of Jezreel.
1. God sometimes comes upon sinners for their sins. It is likely that
these sins of Jehu were forgotten
‘yet God comes now at last to avenge the
sins of Jehu upon his house. Youthful sins may prove to be the terror of age.
2. A long time after the flourishing of a nation God may reckon with
it in ways of judgment.
3. Seventy-six years are but a little while in God’s account.
4. The apprehension of a judgment just at hand is that which will
stir the heart and work upon it most.
5. God suffers some sinners to continue long
others He cuts off
speedily. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Scattered by God
1. Whatever present fruits men may seem to reap by sin
yet at last
being continued in
it will ripen to a height
and fit for strokes.
2. Notwithstanding that sinners in the Church do conceit of their
privileges
God will plague them
and make their judgment conspicuous.
3. Men may not only be doing what God in His providence will permit
to succeed
but even that which is in itself just
and yet be guilty before
God
and justly punished for it
when either they do not the Lord’s work
sincerely
but for their own base ends and interests
or when they do it not
thoroughly
but only in so far as may serve their own turn. (George
Hutcheson.)
I will break the bow.
A nation’s humiliation through its army
This verse was intentionally added; for the Israelites were so
inflated with their present good fortune
that they laughed at the judgment
denounced. They indeed knew that they were well furnished with arms
men
and
money; they thought themselves in every way unassailable. Hence the prophet declares
that all this could not prevent God from punishing them. “Ye are
” he says
“inflated with pride; ye set up your valour against God
thinking yourselves
strong in arms and power; and because ye are military men
ye think that God
can do nothing
and yet your bows cannot restrain His hand from destroying
you.” When He says
“I will break the bow
” He mentions a part for the whole;
for under one sort He comprehends every kind of arms. As to what the prophet
had in view
we see that his only object was to break down their false
confidence; for the Israelites thought that they should not be exposed to the
destruction which Hosea had “predicted; for they were dazzled by their own
power
and thought themselves beyond the reach of any danger
while they were
so well fortified on every side. Hence the prophet says that all their
fortresses would be nothing against God; for in that day
when the ripe time
for vengeance shall come
the Lord will break all their bows
He will tear in
pieces all their arms
and reduce to nothing their power. We are here warned
ever to take heed
lest anything should lead us to a torpid state when God
threatens us. Though we may have strength
though fortune (so to speak) may
smile on us
though
in a word
the whole world should combine to secure our
safety
yet there is no reason why we should felicitate ourselves
when God
declares Himself opposed to and angry with us. Why so? Because
as He can
preserve us when unarmed whenever He pleases
so He can spoil us of all our
arms
and reduce our power to nothing. Let this verse then come to our minds
whenever God terrifies us by His threatenings; and what it teaches us is
that
He can take away all the defences in which we vainly trust. (John Calvin.)
Jehu’s bow
(2 Kings 9:24):--Observe--
1. In those things wherein wicked men have been most successful
God
will curse them and let out His wrath upon them.
2. Carnal hearts trust much in their warlike weapons.
3. Fortified cities cannot help when God comes out against a people.
4. Even in the place in which a kingdom most glories
and seems to
trust most in
God many times comes
and breaks the kingdom in that very place.
(Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Retribution
The word Jezreel means God’s seed
or sowing. Jezreel was the
plain between Tabor and Carmel
called by the Greeks
Esdraelon. The royal city
was in it. Here the Eternal threatens to break the bow of Israel in the valley
of Jezreel.
I. God’s
retribution takes away the power of its victim. The bow of Israel is to be
broken. The language means the utter destruction of all their military power.
When justice comes to deal out suffering to the sinner
it strips him entirely
of his power. Thus he is left to the mercies of his enemies. What are the great
enemies of the soul? Carnality
prejudice
selfishness
corrupt impulses and
habits
II. God’s
retribution despises the prestige of its victim. The bow is to be broken in the
valley of Jezreel
which had been the scene of Israel’s grandest military
exploits. It was to Israel what Marathon was to Greece
and Waterloo to
England. In this very scene the punishment should come. The place of their
glory should be the place of their ruin and shame. Thus it is ever.
III. God’s retribution
defies the opposition of its victims. Jezreel was well fortified. Retribution
will strike the sinner in his strongest place. Notwithstanding Jezreel
the
kingdom of Israel was broken. Conclusion. Retribution must always follow sin.
It may move slowly and silently
but its pace is steady
resolute
and
increasing. Swifter and swifter it moves towards the victim. “ Be sure your sins will find you
out.” (Homilist.)
I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel.
Mercy put in the background
There is a time when God will not have mercy upon a kingdom
or
upon a particular people. There is a time for the decree to come forth against
a kingdom; a time when
though Noah
Job
and Daniel should stand before Him
yet He will not be entreated; though they cry
cry early
cry aloud
cry with
tears
cry with fasting
yet God will not be entreated. God’s mercy is
precious
and He will not let it run out to waste; He will not be prodigal of
it; a time wherein God will say
Now I have done
I have done with this people
mercy has had her turn. Men best know what the worth of mercy is
when mercy is
taken away from them. Well
saith God
you shall have no more; you have taken no
notice that it was My mercy that helped you before
but when My mercy is gone
then you will know it; but then I win not add more. God usually takes not away
His mercy fully from a people
or from a soul
until after much mercy has been
received and abused. It is just with God
when mercy is abused
that we should
never know further what mercy meant. Mercy as it is a precious thing
so it is
a tender thing
and a dangerous thing to abuse. There is nothing that more
quickly works the ruin of a people
or of a soul
than abused mercy. (Jeremiah
Burroughs.)
God’s mercy
Mercy is a modification of goodness. God is good to all
but is only merciful to the suffering sinner. Mercy not only implies suffering
but suffering arising from sin.
I. Mercy withheld
from some. Burroughs says
There are three estates of the people
signified by
the three children of Hosea: first
their scattered estate
and that was
signified by Jezreel
the first son. Their low and weak condition
signified by
the daughter. Their being rejected and carried away
signified by the third
child. God now threatened to withhold mercy from Israel
and we know that when
He did so the consequence was national ruin. “My Spirit shall not always strive
with men.”
II. Mercy bestowed
upon others. “I will have mercy upon the house of Judah.” This mercy was
signally shown to Judah. When the Assyrian armies had destroyed Samaria
and
carried the Ten Tribes away into captivity
they proceeded to besiege
Jerusalem; but God had mercy on the house of Judah
and saved them; they were
saved by the Lord their God immediately
and not by sword or “bow.” When the
Ten Tribes were contained in captivity
and their land was possessed by others
they being utterly taken away
god had mercy on the house of Judah and saved them
and after seventy years brought them back
not by might or power
but by the
Spirit of the Lord of hosts. And truly most signal was the mercy shown to
Judah
when in one night one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian
warriors were slain. Looking at the words in their spiritual application they
suggest two remarks in relation to man’s deliverance.
1. It is of mercy. “I will have mercy upon the house of Judah
and
will save them by the Lord their God.” The deliverance of man from the guilt
the power and consequence of sin is entirely of God’s mercy
free
sovereign
boundless mercy. It is suggested that man’s deliverance is--
2. By moral means. Will not save them by bow
nor by sword
nor by
battle
by horses
nor by horsemen.” No material force can deliver the soul
from its spiritual difficulties and perils. “Not by might
nor by power
but by
My Spirit
saith
the Lord.” Conclusion.. Use mercy rightly while you have it.
Its grand design is to produce reformation of character and meetness for the
high service and lofty fellowship with the great God
here and yonder
now and
for ever. (Homilist.)
The sin against love
Men say they cannot believe in hell
because they cannot conceive
how God may sentence men to misery for the breaking of laws they were born
without power to keep. And one would agree with the inference if God had done
any such thing. But for them which are under the law and the sentence of death
Christ died once; for all
that He might redeem them. Yet this does not make a
hell less believable. When we see how almighty was that love of God in Christ
Jesus
lifting our whole race and sending them forward with a freedom and a
power of growth nothing else in history has won for them; when we prove again
how weak it is
so that it is possible for millions of characters that have
felt it to refuse its eternal influence for the sake of some base and transient
passion; nay
when I myself know this power and this weakness of
Christ’s love
so that one day being loyal I am raised beyond the reach of fear
and of doubt
beyond the desire of sin and the habit of evil
and the next day
finds me capable of putting it aside in preference for some slight enjoyment or
ambition--then I know the peril and the terror of this love
that it may be to
a man either heaven or hell. Believe then in hell
because you believe in the
love of God--not in a hell to which God condemns men of His will and pleasure
but a hell into which men cast themselves from the very face of His love in
Jesus Christ. (Geo. Adam Smith
D. D.)
The time of mercy ended
The Macedonian king
Alexander the Great
observed a very Singular
custom in his method of carrying on war. Whenever he encamped before a
fortified city
and laid siege to it
he caused to be set up a great lantern
which was kept lighted by day and night. This was a signal to the besieged
and
what it meant was that as long as the lamp burned they had time to save
themselves by surrender
but that when once the light should be extinguished
the city and all that were in it would be irrevocably given over to
destruction. And the conqueror kept his word with terrible consistency. Now it
is the good pleasure of our God to have compassion and to show mercy. But a
city or a people can arrive at such a pitch of moral corruption that the moral
order of the world can only be saved by its destruction. (Otto Funcke.)
But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah
and will save them
by the Lord their God
and I will not save them by bow
nor by sword
nor by
battle
by horses
nor by horsemen.
The vanity of the positive philosophy
The first three chapters are symbolic
and directed chiefly
against the Ten Tribes
whom Hosea addresses as Israel and Ephraim. Hosea
condemned their departure from the Almighty
as being a sort of spiritual
adultery. One sign was an undue reliance upon material and temporal helps in
times of emergency. Against this characteristic of a corrupt religion
and a
declining national life
the text is directed.
I. All human and
material succours are alone and by them selves inadequate. In their better days
the people of Israel reposed all their confidence in Jehovah. Now they had
lapsed into idolatry. Their spiritual vision had by degrees narrowed itself
down to merely material views of things. They lost spiritual insight
and saw
only the seen. They trusted in their military strength
and in political
alliance with the great powers. From the human stand point this conduct was not
unreasonable. In our own age this error prevails. It is reserved to our time to
systematise these views into a philosophy
which
calling itself positive
excludes from its domain the least element of the super natural. It is found
that there is a constancy in the operations of nature. Law has been discovered
where it was thought that there was but fortuity. So we are bidden to turn to
science
where once we turned to God. Instead of praying
we are to study
and
to adjust ourselves to ever-operating laws. If we would remain prosperous as a
nation
say the positivists
we must have recourse to material helps
practise
political economy
reform our social administration
and push to their farthest
limits the practical application of scientific principles. But all this trust
to science and scientific helps against the evils and emergencies of human
life
is miserably and woefully mistaken. There is no incompatibility between
true science and true religion. But a mere trust in means
or secondary causes
is vain and presumptuous. The shrewdest anticipations of man are constantly
disappointed. Material succours--those helps which arise out of an observation
classification
and adaptation of secondary causes merely
are by themselves
utterly unworthy.
II. Help from God
is alone sufficient. God is the disposer of all events. At any moment this
Supreme Power may
by a
volition of His creative will
disappoint the cleverest calculation of the
cleverest sociologist. God deigns to employ human and material agencies in the
execution of His purposes; but because He works in a regular and orderly
manner
we are not to think only of the mere means and instruments
and forget
that Divine omnipresent agency
without which the mere instrumentality would be
as the body without life
or as the machine without motive-power. It is then
God
and God
alone
who is worthy of trust. The means are with us
the issues are with the
Lord. God can work with means
and He can also work without them. Man may
calculate and scheme for results
but in vain
except as God may succeed his
efforts. If we would make the best of both worlds
we must most distinctly
remember that our only reliable help is to be found in the Lord
and in Him
alone.
III. In all cases it
is our duty to trust only in God. Hero we see the practical bearing of the
truth enforced by the prophecy. The lesson of the text is
that we are not to
trust to any use of means for the result or results which we may desire.
Secondary causes are only efficient as they are so made by the informing agency
of God. (D. Clark
M. A.)
Saved by Jehovah
Salvation is here set in opposition to the destruction which the
prophet mentioned in the last verse. But Hosea shows that salvation depends not
in the least either on arms
or on any of the intervenients
as they say
of
this world; but has its foundation only on God’s favour. The connection ought
to be carefully noticed. Where the Lord’s favour is
there is life. Hence the
prophet here connects salvation with God’s gratuitous favour
for we cannot
continue safe
but as long as God is propitious to us. But he says
“By Jehovah
their God.” An antithesis is to be understood here between the false gods and
Jehovah
who was the God of the house of Judah. It is the same as though the
prophet said
“Ye indeed profess the name of God
but ye worship the devil and
not God; for ye have nothing to do with Jehovah
with the God who is the
Creator and Maker of heaven and earth; for He dwells in His own temple; He
pledged His faith to David
when He commanded him to build a temple for Him on
Mount Zion; He dwells there between the cherubim
but the true God has become
exiled from you
Israelites.” (John Calvin.)
God the Deliverer
England has often shown her Christian character in acknowledging
the hand of God. After the glorious deliverance from her enemies
by the
destruction of the Spanish Armada
Queen Elizabeth ordered a medal to be
struck
having on it
Afflavit Deus
et dissipantur--“God blew on them
and they were scattered.”
Lo-ammi: ye are not My people
and I will not be your God.
Lo-ammi: the type of the third child
The last period of their sins’ ripening for God’s judgments
is
represented under the type of the third child
called Lo-ammi
or not My
people; pointing to the time of their utter captivity by Shalmaneser
whereby
God made void the relation betwixt Him and that people
scattering them among
the nations
and making them cease from being His Church and people. Whence learn--
1. Such is the long-suffering patience of God
especially toward the
visible Church
that He is not only slow to anger
and to manifest the same by
judgments; but even when He hath begun to strike
He yet waits patiently
to
see what use they will make of present judgments
to prevent future and sadder
strokes; and in particular it is very long ere the Lord come to unchurch a
people that have been in covenant with Him.
2. However the Lord’s long-suffering patience be great and admirable
yet it will not always last towards a sinful people
especially after He hath
begun to plead with them
but will at last come to a sad period.
3. Howbeit no limits ought to be set to the freedom and efficacy of
the grace of God
who can and doth sanctify afflictions unto the Church
and
make them a means to turn her
and cause her to cleave faster to Him: yet it doth ofttimes
also prove too true
that when the Lord begins to contend with her
she proves
so obstinate in sin
and so incorrigible and incessant in defection
that
nothing ends it but her utter rejection
at least for a time.
4. The capstone of all judgment upon a people is their unchurching
and the cutting off the relations between God and them.
5. Whenever the Lord gives up with a people as to being their God
He
will make it appear that the breach began on their side
and that they first
voluntarily rejected Him
and chose that state and condition sinfully
to
which
and the effects thereof
He gives them up judicially. (George
Hutcheson.)
Lo-ammi
“Ye are not My people.” This is the final disowning of them. They
had been before called Jezreelites
and then by the name of the daughter God
testified that He was alienated from them; bat now the third name is still more
grievous
“Ye are not My people
” for God here abolishes
in a manner
the
covenant He made with the holy fathers
so that the people would cease to have
any preeminence over the other nations. The Israelites were reduced to a
condition in which they differed nothing from the profane Gentiles: and thus
God wholly disinherited them. Let us hence learn
that those awfully mistake
who are blind to their own vices
because God spares and indulges them. There
is no reason for hypocrites
to felicitate themselves in prosperity; they ought
on the contrary
to have
regard to God’s judgment. But though these
as we see to be the case
heedlessly despise God
yet this passage reminds us carefully to beware lest we
abuse the present favours of God. (John Calvin.)
There it shall be said unto them
Ye are the sons of the living
God.
A promise of mercy
I. A promise of
mercy to israel.
1. The Lord in judgment remembers mercy. When God threatens most
dreadfully
yet He promises most graciously.
2. It is usual when we are in prosperity to forget all threatenings
and when we are in adversity to forget all promises.
3. God in the midst of His auger
knows those that trust in Him.
4. Not only when God threatens judgments
but when judgments are
actually upon us
let us sanctify God’s name in looking up to the promises.
II. To whom did
this promise refer? It was not a promise to any that then lived
it was to be
fulfilled in future ages; yet it is introduced by the prophet as a comfort to
the people of God then living. Gracious hearts are comforted with the promises
of God made to the Church
though not to be fulfilled in their days.
III. What was this
promise? That Israel-should be a multitude. The Lord remembers His promises
though made a long time since
so long ago as the time of Abraham. Observe--
1. There is nothing lost in being willing
as Abraham was
to lose
for God.
2. When we are willing to lose for God
then is the time when God
will renew and confirm His covenant with us. Note--
The destiny of the race
We shall take Israel for mankind
and use the text to illustrate
the destiny of the race.
I. The race is
destined to an indefinite increase in the number of good men. “The number of
the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea
which cannot be
numbered or measured.” The good
the spiritual Israel
have been comparatively
few in all ages
though perhaps there is a larger number now than in any
preceding period. But the time will come when they shall be innumerable. What
mean such passages as these? “He shall have dominion item sea to sea
from the
rivers to the end of the earth.” Again
“All kings shall fall down before Him.”
Again
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His
Christ.” Numerous as the sand on the sea shore! A Jewish Rabbi regards the good
as the sand
not only in relation to number
but for usefulness. As the sand
keeps the sea from breaking in and drowning the world
so the saints keep the
world from being drowned by the waves of eternal retribution. This is true.
Were it not for the good the world would not stand long. But it is to represent
number not protection
that the figure is employed. Do you say that to all
appearances such an increase is impossible? When God promised to Abraham that
his seed should be as the stars of heaven and the sand upon the shore
what
could seem more improbable than the fulfilment? Do not judge from appearances.
Trust God’s Word; it will come to pass. There is a glorious future for the
world.
II. The race is
destined to a transcendent privilege. “And it shall come to pass
that in the
place where it was said unto them
Ye are not My people
there shall it be said
unto them
Ye are the sons of the living God.”
1. They are destined to a general conversion to God. From not being
His people they are to become His people. The places of the earth now populated
with the enemies of God will one day be crowded with His friends.
2. They are destined to a general adoption into the family of God.
“Ye are the sons of the living God.” They shall be endowed and animated with
the true Spirit
the spirit of reverence and adoring love. “The living God.”
The world has abounded with dead gods; there is but one “living” God.
III. The race is
destined to a common leadership.
1. This leadership shall unite the most hostile. “Then shall the
children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together.” Great and
long enduring was the hostility existing between these people. The time will
come when all antipathies existing amongst peoples shall be destroyed. “Ephraim
shall not envy Judah: they shall be of one heart and one mind.”
2. This leadership shall be by common appointment. They shall
“appoint themselves one head.” Their leader will not be forced upon them
contrary to their consent
nor will He force Himself. Who is the leader?
Christ. He is the Leader of the people. He is the Commander-in-Chief
the
Captain of our salvation. All shall unite in Him.
3. This leadership will be glorious. As Moses led the Jews out of the
wilderness
as Cyrus delivered them from Babylon
Christ will lead them out of
Egyptian darkness and Babylonian corruption. (Homilist.)
Sons of the living God
It was the special sin of Israel
the source of all his other
sins
that he had left the living God
to serve idols. In the times of the
Gospel
not only should he own God as his God
but he should have the greatest
of all gifts
that the living God
the Fountain of all life
of the life of
nature
of grace
of glory
should be his Father
should communicate to him
that life
which He has and is. For He who is Life
imparts life. God doth not
only pour into the souls of His elect
grace and faith
hope and love
or all
the manifold gifts of His Spirit
but He
the living God
maketh them to be His
living sons
by His Spirit dwelling in them
by whom He adopteth them as His
sons
through whom He giveth them grace. For by His Spirit He adopteth them as
sons God not only accounteth us
but maketh us His sons. He maketh us sons
not
outwardly
but inwardly; not by inward grace alone
but by His Spirit. God is
our Father
not by nature
but by grace. He giveth us of His substance
of His
nature
although not by nature; not united with us (as it is personally
with His Son)
but dwelling in us
and making us partakers of the Divine
nature. Sons of the living God must be living by Him and to Him
by His life
yea
through Himself living in them. (E. B. Pusey
D. D.)
Old Testament prediction
“Fossil sunlight
” is what Herschel named anthracite coal. The
vast stores of sunlight poured out upon the globe during the old geological
ages were consolidated and packed away in the bowels of the earth because this
busy twentieth century
with its myriads of railways and ocean steamers and
manufactories
would need it. And have you thought how large a proportion of
the Old Testament is prediction? And is it
therefore
of no use to the
practical working Church of to-day? Nay. This vast profusion of prophetic light
falling upon the minds of Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah and David
and the
minor prophets
and treasured up in their inspired pages
may soon be needed.
And they who are delving in these mines of eschatology
instead of being
engaged in an aimless and profitless toil
may be providing the Church with the
needed warmth for that predicted time when “ iniquity shall abound
and the
love of many wax cold.” (A. J. Gordon
D. D.)
Great shall be the day of Jezreel.
The day of Jezreel
Jezreel signifies “the arm of the Lord.” And it intimates that
when He arises to bless the world
the spiritual seed of Messiah shall be
numberless. The text may be taken as descriptive of the future triumphs of the
Gospel.
I. The day of
Jezreel shall be great in the multitudes of converts to the faith of Christ.
Hitherto the flock of real believers has been a little flock. The “whole world
lieth in wickedness.” May we not affirm that one-half Of the inhabitants of any
city
town
or village possess not the semblance of religion? But painful as the
contemplation of this picture is
our eyes look forward to happier days. There
are seeds of a glorious harvest springing up.
II. Great in the
unanimity of its subjects. The two houses were long divided; but under
Zerubbabel they were to return from Babylon
and together rebuild the temple at
Jerusalem. Under the mediatorial dominion of Christ
there shall be one fold
one shepherd. Jews and Gentiles shall be united in crowning the Saviour Lord of
all. The fair form of Christianity shall be clouded by no stormy
contentions--disfigured by no angry disputes--defiled by no human
inventions--dishonoured by no unscriptural elements. We may not assume that any
one particular form of Divine service will become the only mode of public
worship. All will worship in spirit and in truth.
III. Great in the
holiness of its friends. There is a threefold departure from the world. The
first is by death. This we may call involuntary. The second is by superstition.
This we may call voluntary. It is “will-worship.” The third is the one which
grace effects. It is a commendable renunciation of the world. To live in it
while we forsake its spirit.
IV. Great in the
glory of its triumphs.
1. In the victories it shall achieve. All false religion shall
perish. Idolatry shall be destroyed.
2. Great in the zeal of its subjects. It will no longer be a day of
small things. All shall be ready with their offerings
and none shall appear
before the Lord empty.
3. The day of Jezreel shall be great for the consummation of the work
and glory of the Redeemer. He then will “see of the travail of His soul
and be
satisfied.” (Anon.)
Mercy in view of the day of Jezreel
Because there will be such a dreadful day of Jezreel
therefore God will make it up by this restitution. Or it may be
albeit there
hath been such a great day of Jezreel
yet this mercy shall also come to pass.
It teaches--
1. In a time of love
the Lord can and will turn His people’s hardest
lots into mercies.
2. Days of the Lord’s manifesting mercy towards His people are great
days
and worth the marking
as affording mercies above any mercies besides.
3. As all the times wherein God is kind to His people are remarkable
times
so in particular
a time of love after sad calamities
His bringing
forth the fruits of their afflictions
and of His love after a long
interruption
will make a refreshful time. (George Hutcheson.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》