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Hosea Chapter
Nine
Hosea 9
Chapter Contents
The distress to come upon Israel. (1-6) The approach of
the day of trouble. (7-10) Judgments on Israel. (11-17)
Commentary on Hosea 9:1-6
Israel gave rewards to their idols
in the offerings
presented to them. It is common for those who are niggardly in religion
to be
prodigal upon their lusts. Those are reckoned as idolaters
who love a reward
in the corn-floor better than a reward in the favour of God and in eternal
life. They are full of the joy of harvest
and have no disposition to mourn for
sin. When we make the world
and the things of it
our idol and our portion
it
is just with God to show us our folly
and correct us. None may expect to dwell
in the Lord's land
who will not be subject to the Lord's laws
or be
influenced by his love. When we enjoy the means of grace
we ought to consider
what we shall do
if they should be taken from us. While the pleasures of
communion with God are out of the reach of change
the pleasant places
purchased with silver
or in which men deposit silver
are liable to be laid in
ruins. No famine is so dreadful as that of the soul.
Commentary on Hosea 9:7-10
Time had been when the spiritual watchmen of Israel were
with the Lord
but now they were like the snare of a fowler to entangle persons
to their ruin. The people were become as corrupt as those of Gibeah
Judges 19; and their crimes should be visited in like manner.
At first God had found Israel pleasing to Him
as grapes to the traveller in
the wilderness. He saw them with pleasure as the first ripe figs. This shows
the delight God took in them; yet they followed after idolatry.
Commentary on Hosea 9:11-17.
God departs from a people
or from a person
when he
withdraws his goodness and mercy from them; and when the Lord is departed
what
can the creature do? Even though
for the present
good things seem to remain
yet the blessing is gone if God is gone. Even the children should perish with
the parents. The Divine wrath dries up the root
and withers the fruit of all
comforts; and the scattered Jews daily warn us to beware
lest we neglect or
abuse the gospel. Yet every smiting is not a drying up of the root. It may be
that God intends only to smite so that the sap may be turned to the root
that
there may be more of root graces
more humility
patience
faith
and
self-denial. It is very just that God should bring judgments on those who
slight his offered mercy.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Hosea》
Hosea 9
Verse 1
[1] Rejoice not
O Israel
for joy
as other people: for
thou hast gone a whoring from thy God
thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.
As other people — With feastings
triumphs
and
sacrifices of thanksgiving.
A reward — Such as is given by adulterers to lewd women; thou
hast loved to see thy floor full
and hast said thy idols gave thee this
plenty.
Verse 2
[2] The floor and the winepress shall not feed them
and the
new wine shall fail in her.
The floor — The corn which is gathered into
the floor.
The wine-press — The wine that is prest out in it.
Shall not feed — Shall not nourish and strengthen
the idolaters.
Shall fail — Samaria and all Israel expect a
full vintage
but they expect it from their idols
and therefore shall be
disappointed.
Verse 3
[3] They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim
shall return to Egypt
and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
Ephraim — Many of Ephraim shall fly into Egypt.
And they — The residue shall be carried captive into Assyria.
Verse 4
[4] They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD
neither
shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread
of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their
soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.
Wine-offerings — These were appointed to be
offered with the morning and evening sacrifice
the sacrifice representing
Christ
and pardon by him; the wine-offering
the spirit of grace: the
sacrifice repeated
daily continued their peace and pardon. All this shall be
withheld from these captives.
Pleasing — If any should venture to offer.
As the bread of mourners — It shall as much
pollute them and displease God as if one mourning for the dead
and forbidden
to sacrifice
should venture to do it.
Their bread — Their bread which they were bound
to offer with their sacrifices
they will now have no opportunity of bringing
to the Lord's house.
Verse 5
[5] What will ye do in the solemn day
and in the day of the
feast of the LORD?
What will ye do — You will not then be suffered to
observe any of them.
Verse 6
[6] For
lo
they are gone because of destruction: Egypt
shall gather them up
Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their
silver
nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.
They are gone — Some are already withdrawn from
the desolation that cometh.
Egypt — In Egypt they hope to be quiet and survive these
desolations
but they shall die in Egypt.
The pleasant places — Their beautiful
houses built for keeping their wealth in.
Nettles — Shall be ruined
and lie in rubbish
'till nettles
grow in them.
Verse 7
[7] The days of visitation are come
the days of recompence
are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool
the spiritual man is
mad
for the multitude of thine iniquity
and the great hatred.
The prophet — The false prophet.
The spiritual man — That pretends to be
full of the spirit of prophecy.
For thine iniquity — God began his
punishments in giving them over to believe their false prophets.
The great hatred — Which God had against
your sins.
Verse 8
[8] The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet
is a snare of a fowler in all his ways
and hatred in the house of his God.
The watchman — The old true prophets indeed were
with God.
My God — The God of Hosea.
The prophet — The false prophets have
as well
as the people
left God.
Is a snare — Their pretended predictions are
but a snare
such as fowlers lay.
And hatred — Such prophets are full of hatred
and malice: yea
they are hatred itself.
Verse 10
[10] I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your
fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to
Baalpeor
and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were
according as they loved.
I found Israel — The Lord speaks of himself in the
person of a traveller
who unexpectedly in the wilderness finds a vine loaded
with grapes; such love did God bear to Israel.
Your fathers — Whom I brought out of Egypt.
As the first-ripe — As the earliest ripe
fruit of the fig-tree
which is most valued and desired.
Separated themselves — Consecrated
themselves to that shameful idol.
Their abominations — Their idols
and way
of worshipping them.
As they loved — As they fancied.
Verse 11
[11] As for Ephraim
their glory shall fly away like a bird
from the birth
and from the womb
and from the conception.
Their glory — Their children or posterity
which was the glory of Israel.
Shall fly — It is proverbial
and speaks a
sudden loss of children.
From the birth — As soon as born.
From the womb — Their mothers shall not bring
their fruit alive into the world.
The conception — Their wives shall not conceive.
Verse 12
[12] Though they bring up their children
yet will I bereave
them
that there shall not be a man left: yea
woe also to them when I depart
from them!
Not a man left — There shall be a total
extirpation of them.
When I depart — To compleat their misery
I will
depart from them. It is sad to lose our children
but sadder to lose our God.
Verse 13
[13] Ephraim
as I saw Tyrus
is planted in a pleasant place:
but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.
To the murderer — He will send them forth in mighty
armies; but it will be sending them out to the slaughter.
Verse 14
[14] Give them
O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a
miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
Give then — It is an abrupt but pathetic
speech of one that shews his trouble for a sinking
undone nation.
A miscarrying womb — It is less misery to
have none
than to have all our children murdered.
Verse 15
[15] All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated
them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house
I
will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.
All their wickedness — The chief or
beginning.
There I hated them — As there they began
to sin so notoriously
there I began to shew that I hated them.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Hosea》
09 Chapter 9
Verses 1-9
Verse 1-2
Rejoice not
O Israel
for Joy
as other people.
Unreliable joy
All are not Israel who are of Israel. The merely nominal Christian
is not to rejoice as the true Christian should.
I. Merely nominal
professors have great cause to mourn. These words suggest a vast number of
Israelites preparing for the songs of those that triumph
the shout of those
that feast. To them the prophet says
“Rejoice not.”
1. The first reason why Israel should not rejoice is that they had
turned aside from the Lord. In leaving the Lord we leave all true happiness
behind.
2. Because they were at ease in Zion.
3. Because they were heaping up to themselves wrath against the day
of wrath.
4. Because they were without hope in the world.
5. Because they were under sentence of condemnation. To every merely
nominal Christian God sends this message
“Rejoice not for joy
as other
people.”
II. God’s people
ought to be a rejoicing people.
1. Christ’s atonement should make them happy.
2. The Triune God has made with them a covenant
ordered in all
things and sure.
3. The joy of the Lord is their strength.
4. The rest of God shall be theirs.
5. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The Lord reigneth
then your lot
in this world will be controlled by the King of kings. Then your sorrows
disappointments
crosses
losses
and all the events of your life are
controlled by His sceptre. Then the affairs of the home
and the joys and
friendships of life are in the bands of the infinitely wise and good
and you
may well rejoice. (A. Clayton Thiselton.)
The miseries of sin
The doctrine of this chapter relates to a time wherein Israel
flourished much by reason of outward plenty
victories
and confederacies with
their neighbours; and therefore did harden and please themselves in their sins
whatever the prophets said to the contrary. Therefore the whole chapter
contains a large description of the miseries that were to come upon them for
their sins
which may be branched out in four parts.
1. There is a description of the desolation to come upon them
to
silence their presumptuous and carnal joy; wherein he declareth they had no
cause to be insolent
thinking to prosper in sin as other nations
seeing their
sin (idolatry) was more heinous than the sins of other people.
2. This desolation is declared to be near
whereby
the Lord would
discover the folly of their false prophets
and their sin in procuring such at
God’s hands who
whatever they pretended to
were but snares to the people and
causes of God’s anger.
3. They are charged with the sins
of their fathers
whom they
imitated
hereby provoking God to call them to an account
particularly with
ingrate forsaking of God
for which they are threatened that God would cut them
off without hope of prosperity and abandon them
4. Their superstition and idolatry
wherein their princes had chief
hand
is again laid to their charge; for which they are threatened with God’s
anger
and rejection; and exile
and with cutting them off root and branch.
Such despisers of God’s Word should be rejected
and made to wander in exile. (George
Hutcheson.)
Verse 3
They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land.
The Lord’s land
Before
God was to them as a father taking maintenance away from
them
leaving them to suffer want: but here His anger increases
and He puts
them out of His house; as a nation out of His land. God would make them know
that it was His land
that they were but tenants at will
and enjoyed the land
upon conditions of obedience. It is a good meditation for us to dwell upon
that we are God’s stewards; the Lord is the great landlord of all the world.
“The earth is the Lord’s
and the fulness thereof.” The land of Canaan was
“Jehovah’s land” in some special senses.
1. It was a land that God had “espied” as a special place for His
people.
2. It was the land of promise.
3. It was a land given by oath (Genesis 24:7).
4. It was a land which the Lord brought His people into by “a mighty
hand
and with an outstretched arm.”
5. It was a land divided by lot. The possession that any man had was
ordered by God Himself by lot.
6. It was a land wherein God dwelt Himself
a land that God called
His own rest. It was the land wherein were the ordinances and worship of God
and His honour dwelt there
and so it had a peculiar blessing upon it above
every land on the face of the whole earth.
7. It was a land over which God’s eye was in a more special manner.
8. This land was typical of the rest of the Church in heaven. Then it
would be a great judgment of God to drive men out of this land for their sin.
To be cast out of those mercies which God by an extraordinary providence has
brought to us is a sore and grievous evil. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
And they shall eat unclean
things in Assyria.
The sting of Divine judgment
Here we have the degradation of sin. To be ceremonially clean or
pure was the joy and pride of Israel. The Jews would not eat things that were
common or unclean
and by this mark they were distinguished from other people.
Whilst Israel lived even in nominal piety
how superficial soever it might be
God gave him protection against degradation; but when Israel turned away
adulterously from God
and sought satisfaction at forbidden fountains and
altars
then the Lord brought upon Israel the misery of this degradation and
shame. Israel was forced to eat things that were unclean
things that were
killed with the blood in them
things that revolted the sense of the nation
and went dead against all the prejudices of education. Thus a badge was taken
from the shoulder of Israel
a distinction was removed from the chosen people;
they could have borne reproaches on the ground of moral disobedience with
comparative indifference
but to have social boundaries and distinctions broken
down was a judgment which Israel keenly felt. But the Lord will seize the
sinner at some point
for He cannot be baffled in judgment or thwarted in the
application of His righteousness. The Lord’s judgments are ordered according to
our apostasy; God will strike most where we feel most; He will follow our pride
and our vanity
and smite them so as to bring upon them our keenest shame. God
will not content Himself with some general judgment; He will specifically
scrutinise and either reward or punish according to the result of His inquest.
(Joseph Parker
D. D.)
Verse 5
What will ye do in the solemn day
and in the day of the feast of
the Lord?
Feasting after unaccepted sacrifice
Calvin thinks the allusion is to the time of exile
when the
people would be deprived of all their sacrifices. But the better point is that
the sacrifices of Ephraim being
1. unauthorised
and
2. unaccompanied with righteousness
could not be accepted;
consequently they could have no joy in their lesser or greater
festal times
because all the joy of such times depended on their
reconciliation and acceptance with God. What joy can there be in any of the joy
times of life when we boar in our hearts the sad conviction of our wilful and
persistent estrangement from God? And men do carry that secret conviction even
when
to their fellows
they seem to be bold and self-satisfied. There is no
sunshine on human life when God’s smile is hidden. Illustrate from the anxiety
of Job concerning his children. They were feasting
but he did not feel sure
that it was feasting after sacrifice
enjoying themselves with the smile of
God’s favour resting on them. So he offered sacrifices to ensure the acceptance
which they had missed. In the ordinary ritual of the Jews a feast followed
sacrifice
as in the case of Samuel. This was the case with simple sacrifice
and with the special sacrifices of solemn days. No joy could be in the feast if
the sacrifice had failed to gain acceptance. It is the supreme rule for all the
joy times of human life. They never can be to us what they ought to be
unless
we enter on them with the full sense of acceptance with God. It must
always
be
“sacrifice before feast.” (Robert Tuck
B. A.)
The solemn days of life
The day here referred to is one of the great Jewish feasts
either
Passover
Pentecost
or Tabernacles. What will you children of Abraham do when
you are deprived of the privilege of attending these solemn assemblies? There
are solemn days awaiting all of us--
I. The day of
personal affliction.
II. The day of
social bereavement.
III. The day of
death. This awaits every man. What will ye do in this day
when heart and flesh
shall fail?
IV. The day of
judgment. (Homilist.)
Verse 7
The days of visitation are come
the days of recompence are come.
Days of recompence
The passionate anguish that breathes in these words gives its
colour to the whole book of Hosea’s prophecies. His language
and the movements
of his thoughts
are far removed from the simplicity and self-control which
characterise the prophecy of Amos. Indignation and sorrow
tenderness and
severity
faith in the sovereignty of Jehovah’s love and a despairing sense of
Israel’s infidelity
are woven together in a sequence which has no logical
plan
but is determined by the battle and alternate victory of contending
emotions; and the swift transitions
the fragmentary
unbalanced utterance
the
half-developed allusions
that make his prophecy so difficult to the
commentator
express the agony of this inward conflict. Hosea
above all other
prophets
is a man of deep affections
of a gentle
poetic nature. His heart is
too true and tender to snap the bonds of kindred and country
or mingle aught
of personal bitterness with the severity of Jehovah’s words. Alone in the midst
of a nation that knows not Jehovah
without disciple or friend
without the
solace of domestic affection--for even his home was full of shame and
sorrow--he yet clings to Israel with inextinguishable love. The doom which he
proclaims against his people is the doom of all that is dearest to him on
earth; his heart is ready to break with sorrow
his very reason totters under
the awful vision of judgment
his whole prophecy is a long cry of anguish
as
again and again he renews his appeal to the heedless nation that is running
headlong to destruction. But it is all in vain. The weary years roll out
the
signs of Israel’s dissolution thicken
and still his words find no audience.
Like a silly dove fluttering in the toils
Ephraim turns now to Assyria
now to
Egypt
“but they return not to Jehovah their God
and seek not Him for all
this.” Still the prophet stands alone in his recognition of the true cause of
the multiplied distresses of his nation
and still it is his task to preach
repentance to deaf ears
to declare a judgment in which only himself believes.
(W. Robertson Smith
LL. D.)
The prophet is a fool
and
the spiritual man is mad.
Charge against religious ministers
What the prophet means is this. When the predicted retribution had
come
Israel would learn that the prosperity which some of the prophets had
predicted (Ezekiel 13:10) proved them infatuated
fools. This charge against religious ministers is--sometimes too true.
1. There are men of weak minds; utterly incapable of taking a
harmonious view of truth
or even forming a clear and complete conception of
any great principle.
2. There are men of irrational theologies. They propound theological
dogmas which are utterly incongruous with human reason
and therefore
un-Biblical and un-Divine.
3. There are men of silly rituals.
II. Often a
scoffing calumny. The ideal preacher is the wisest and most philosophical man
of his age.
1. He aims at the highest end.
2. He works in the right direction.
3. He employs the best means. The best is not legislation
art
poetry
rhetoric
but love. This is the Cross
the power of God unto salvation.
(Homilist.)
Spiritual madness
Literally
the man of the lying spirit
the man who: was
determined to deceive the nations: that prophet is declared to be a fool
and
that spiritual man is mad. In other scriptures another spiritual man is also
said to be mad. Christ was so charged. Paul was declared to be mad
The
apostles had to vindicate themselves against daily charges of insanity. Why so?
Simply because they were spiritual men. There is a madness without which there
is no greatness. Talent is never mad
genius is seldom sane; respectability is
always decorous
enthusiasm sometimes makes a new map of the world every day
lining it and pencilling it according to an eccentricity not to be brought
within rules and mechanical proprieties. Enthusiasm is another name for the
kind of madness which is described in the Scriptures. It is not the professing
Christian who is mad. He may be too sagacious; he may be too shrewd; he may be
but a calculator. Men of mechanical piety never helped the cause of the Son of God. We should
have more progress if we had more madness; we should make a great impression if
we had more enthusiasm. The spiritual man is necessarily mad in the estimation
of the worldly man. The spiritual man is mad
because he says that mind is
greater than what we know by the name of matter. The religious or spiritual man
is mad because he trusts to a spirit. The spiritual man sees the invisible
and
is not to be laughed out of his spiritual ecstasy. (Joseph Parker
D. D.)
A converted woman accounted as mad
Rev. John Robertson says: “During the revivals of 1859
a woman
living in an Aberdeenshire village with her mother and sister was converted
and was full of enthusiasm. She went from door to door pleading with the people
to let the Lord
Jesus into their hearts. The mother and sister had a consultation together
and
they came to the sad conclusion that Mary was mad. The village doctor
and with
him the doctor of a neighbouring village
was called in. They consulted
and
they came to the same conclusion
and thereupon signed the schedule for her
admission to a lunatic asylum
simply because she besought one and all of those
whom she loved to come to Jesus. On the night preceding the day upon which she
was to be sent to the asylum the sister and the mother had strange thoughts
and when they met in the morning the mother said to her daughter
“Do you know
I have just been wondering all night whether it is Mary that is mad
or we.”
“Well
do you know
mother
” replied the daughter
“I have just been wondering
the same thing.” They thought deeply
and searched their hearts
until they
came to the conclusion that it was not Mary
but they themselves who were mad.
Brownley North says that he took tea with the whole family
and with the relations on both
sides of the house
about twenty-three in all
who
through Mary’s pleading
had been led to Christ.”
Verse 9
As in the days of Gibeah.
The lessons of an old story
( 19:20.):--
1. When men to whom we seek for protection deal falsely with us
their wickedness is great in the eyes of God.
2. We may meet with worse usage from those who profess religion than
from those who profess it not.
3. God may regard those as unholy and unclean who make a fair show of
religion.
4. For men to stand up impudently and boldly in the defence of
wickedness committed is abomin able in the eyes of God.
5. To join with others in defence of evil is worse than to stand out
ourselves in evil.
6. Those who defend evil may for awhile prosper
but they must at
last perish. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Corrupting forms of wickedness
From the sad and dreadful story of Gibeah learn--
1. Contempt of true prophets
and delighting in deceivers and their
delusions
will draw men upon abominable wickedness.
2. As men once giving way to gross sins will soon involve themselves
so that they cannot recover themselves
so it is a dreadful condition to be
entangled in sin without hope of recovery
and for men to be active in
hardening themselves.
3. As there is no wicked course or measure of sin
wherein men have
fallen
but the Church
departing from God
may fall upon it again
so the sins
of progenitors will be put upon the account of the present generation who
imitate them
and this will draw to a great account. (George Hutcheson.)
Verse 10
They went to Baal-peer
and separated themselves unto that shame.
Sin and separation
The shame here alluded to was idolatry.
I. All sin is
shame.
1. It is shame in its commission. People seldom do iniquity in the
full blaze of day. They would rather not be seen in its commission. It is
shameful to be a sinner; to possess reason and to play the part of an idiot; to
have liberty and to act the part of a slave; to be admitted to the arms of a benefactor
and then to stab him in return.
2. It is a shame in its consequence. It produces shame. “Thou shalt
be confounded
” says God
“because of your shame.” “The wicked shall rise to
shame and everlasting contempt.”
II. Sin is
separation. Before a man can join the army of sin he must leave the service of
God. Hence he separates himself. From what?
1. From the love
protection
guidance
and companionship of his God.
What blessings to turn his back upon!
2. From the principles of truth
righteousness
and grace. He becomes
another character. All that can exalt him is left behind.
3. From the prospect of future bliss. (Homilist.)
Verse 10
They went to Baal-peer
and separated themselves unto that shame.
Sin and separation
The shame here alluded to
was idolatry.
I. All sin is
shame.
1. It is shame in its commission. People seldom do iniquity in the
full blaze of day. They would rather not be seen in its commission. It is
shameful to be a sinner; to possess reason and to play the part of an idiot; to
have liberty and to act the part of a slave; to be admitted to the arms of a benefactor
and then to stab him in return.
2. It is a shame in its consequence. It produces shame. “Thou shalt
be confounded
” says God
“because of your shame.” “The wicked shall rise to
shame and everlasting contempt.”
II. Sin is
separation. Before a man can join the army of sin he must leave the service of
God. Hence he separates himself. From what?
1. From the love
protection
guidance
and companionship of his God.
What blessings to turn his back upon!
2. From the principles of truth
righteousness
and grace. He becomes
another character. All that can exalt him is left behind.
3. From the prospect of future bliss. (Homilist.)
Verse 15
All their wickedness is in
Gilgal: for there I hated them.
Punishment proportional to
privilege
Translated into
modern life
the prophet’s plea would read thus. “All their wickedness is in
the house of God; all their wickedness is after coming from the table of the
Lord
or after receiving some faithful letter
or after their own painful
convictions and sorrowful confession
or after their repeated resolutions and
vows. This helps us to realise how a Jew would feel who heard the prophet make
this reproach.
1. At Gilgal the covenant of circumcision was renewed for the second
time since they came out of Egypt. What circumcision was to the Jew
religious
instruction is to us: circumcision was God’s seal to the Jews that He would
cleanse them from taint of Egyptian idolatry.
2. At Gilgal they celebrated the passover for the first time after
they came out of Egypt. The Lord’s supper is our passover.
3. It was at Gilgal that God Himself appeared in a most remarkable
manner to assure the people of Israel that He would be their deliverer. The
captains of the Lord’s host came. Observe Joshua’s momentary surprise
courage
reverence.
Notice the communication.
1. Beginning life in humble circumstances may be a Gilgal to us.
2. So may a season of affliction be. Or
3. The loss of a dear friend. But the wickedness of Gilgal may be
taken away. (W. G. Barrett.)
Verse 17
My God will cast them away . . . and they shall be wanderers among
the nations.
Divine severities for a nation
1. It is a judgment to have an unsettled spirit. A spirit wandering
up and down
unable to settle to
anything
sometimes in this place
sometimes in that
sometimes
in this way
and sometimes in another
this is a judgment of God. The wandering
of men’s appetites and desires works them a great deal of vexation.
2. Those who are cast away out of God’s house can have no rest; they
go about like the unclean spirit
seeking rest
but can find none. The Church
of God and His ordinances are God’s rest. But you will say. May not men be
wanderers; that is
may they not be cast out of their habitations and
countries
and wander up and down
and yet not be cast off from God? There is
no evil in wandering if we carry a good conscience with us. But there it is
“They shall be wanderers among the nations.” It was a great judgment of God for
Israel to be scattered among the nations
for they were a people that were
separated from the nations
and not to be reckoned among the nations; they were
God’s “peculiar treasure.” This curse is upon the Jews to this very day
--how
are they wanderers among the nations! (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Wanderers among the
nations.
The lost ten tribes
The words of the prophet imply an abiding condition. He does not say
“They shall wander
” but “They shall be wanderers.” Such was to be their lot;
such has been their lot ever since; and such was not the ordinary lot of those
large populations whom Eastern conquerors transported from their own land. The
transported population had a settled abode allotted to it
whether in the
capital or the provinces. Sometimes new cities or villages were built for the
settlers. Israel at first was so located. Perhaps on account of the frequent
rebellions of their kings the ten tribes were placed amid a wild
warlike
population
“in the cities of the Medes.” When the interior of Asia was less
known
people thought that they were still to be found there. The Jews fabled
that the ten tribes lay behind some mighty and fabulous river
Sambatyon
or
were fenced in by mountains. Christians thought that they might be found in
some yet unexplored part of Asia. Undeceived as to this
they still asked
whether the Afghans or Yezides
or the natives of North America were the ten
tribes
or whether they were the Nestorians of Kurdistan. So natural did it
seem that they
like other nations so transported
should remain as a body near
or at the places where they had been located by their conquerors. The prophet
says otherwise. He says
their abiding condition shall be
“they shall be
wanderers among the nations”; wanderers among them
but no part of them. Before
the final dispersion of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem “the Jewish
race
” Josephus says
“was in great numbers throughout the whole world
interspersed with the nations.” Those assembled at the Day of Pentecost had
come from all parts of Asia Minor
but also from Parthia
Media
Persia
Mesopotamia
Arabia
Egypt
maritime Lybia
Crete
and Italy. Wherever the
apostles went in Asia or Greece they found Jews
in numbers sufficient to raise
persecution against them. The Jews
scoffing
asked whether our Lord would go
to the dispersion among the Greeks. The Jews of Egypt were probably the
descendants of those who went thither after the murder Of Gedaliah. The Jews of
the North
as well as those of China
India
Russia
were probably descendants
of the ten tribes. From one end of Asia to the other
and onward through the
Crimea
Greece
and Italy
the Jews
by their presence
bare witness to the
fulfilment of the prophecy. Not like the wandering Indian tribe
who spread
over Europe
living apart in their native wildness
but
settled among the
inhabitants of each city
they were still distinct
although with no polity of
their own
a distinct
settled
yet foreign and subordinate race. “Still
remains unreversed this irrevocable sentence as to the temporal state and face
of an earthly kingdom
that they remain still ‘wanderers
’ or dispersed among
other nations
and have never been restored
nor are in any likelihood of ever
being restored to their own land
so as to call it their own. If ever any of
them hath returned thither
it hath been but as strangers.” (E. B. Pusey
D.
D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》