Hosea
11
vs. 1-4
- Jehovah enumerates the benefits conferred
on
from the
time of their departure out of
enumeration runs the history of
v. 1 - “my son” - This sonship was solemnly
ratified by the giving of the Law
at Sinai; and the condition
clearly stated that, in the event of their
preserving the knowledge of God, fulfilling His
Law, and doing His
will, they would at all times enjoy Divine protection, defense,
and
blessing,
while from generation to generation they were addressed by
that
honorable title.
The Lord promised “Know
therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the
FAITHFUL GOD,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love
Him and keep His
commandments to a THOUSAND GENERATIONS” –
(Deuteronomy 7:9) (I wonder if you or I come from a line that
fears the Lord
the Lord that goes back a thousand
generations? Will you or I be the one
who breaks that connection? CY – 2009)
(Contrast
by
religious leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and
how
VEHEMENT THE CRITICISM FROM THE SECULAR
MEDIA -
THE PROPONENTS OF SUCH DEPARTURE FROM
GOD –
CY
– 2009)
The words of this
verse are applied by St. Matthew to the sojourn of Jesus in
second part typically
to the history of Messiah’s childhood, in whom that of
vs. 2 – “As
they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto
Baalim, and burned incense to graven images” - Adverting to His own
call mentioned in the first verse, God here refers to the many subsequent
calls which He addressed to them through His servants the
prophets and
other messengers. Instead of appreciating the invitations and admonitions of
the
prophets of God, they showed their utter
insensibility and thanklessness,
turning away from them in contempt and scorn. Nay, the more the messengers
of God called them, the more they turned a deaf ear to those who were their
truest friends and best advisers until “there was no remedy”(II Chronicles
36:14-16). Pursuing their idolatrous practices, they sacrificed to Baal,
and burned
incense to their images of wood, stone or precious metal?
Compare Isaiah 5:1-7 and Jeremiah 2:1-13
v.
3 – “I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by
their alms; but
they knew not that I healed them” - This picture of God’s guiding and
guarding care of Ephraim is very touching and tender. It is that
of an
affectionate parent or tender nurse teaching a child to walk by
leading-strings;
taking it up in the arms when stumbling or making a false step;
and
in case it fell curing the wound. Thus, nurse-like, God taught Ephraim,
His
wayward perverse child, to use his feet (so the original word
imports), all
the while lending considerate help and seasonable aid. He
took them by the
hand to guide them, that they might not stray; He took them
in His arms to
hold them up, that they might not stumble and to help them
over any
obstacle that might lie in the way; and when, left to themselves
during a
short season, and in order to test their strength, they did
stumble and fall,
He healed their hurt. And yet they did not apprehend nor
appreciate God’s
gracious design and dealings with them in thus guiding and
guarding them,
and in healing their diseases both temporal and spiritual. There is, perhaps,
an
allusion to Exodus 15:26, “I will
put none of these diseases upon
thee which I have
brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that
healeth thee.”
This promise, it will be remembered, was vouchsafed
immediately after the bitter waters of Marah
had been sweetened by the
tree which, according to Divine direction, had been cast therein. Thus
Kimchi: “And they have not acknowledged that I healed them
of every
sickness and every
affliction, as he said, ‘I will put none of these diseases
upon thee.’” The reference is rather
to all those evidences of His love which
God manifested to them during their forty years’ wandering
in the
wilderness; or perhaps to His guidance of them by His Law throughout
their entire history. Rashi remarks
that “they
knew it very well, but
dissembled [literally,
‘trod it down with the heel,’ equivalent to
‘despised’]
and acted as they did not know”
v.
4 – “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of
love” - This
verse contains a further representation of Jehovah’s fatherly
guidance of
young children. Bands of love qualify
more closely the preceding
expression, “cords of a man,” and are the opposite of those which men
employ in taming or breaking wild and unmanageable animals.
“And I was to them as they that take off the yoke. The word herim does
not mean “to lift up on” and so “impose a yoke,” as some think, nor “to take
away the yoke,” but “to lift it up.” The figure is that of a
humane and
compassionate husbandman raising
upwards or pushing backwards the yoke
over the cheeks or dewlaps of the ox, that it may not
press too heavily upon
him or hinder him while eating.
By loosening the yoke and lifting it up off
the neck upon the cheeks affords not only temporary rest and ease, but
also
allows an occasional mouthful or more of food, or even abundant
provender,
to
the animal which toils in the yoke while plowing or at other work; so Jehovah
extended to
sparing mercy and tender compassions, supplying them in abundant measure
with all that they
needed for the sustenance and even comforts of life. Thus
their sin in turning aside to other gods, which were no gods, in quest of larger
benefits and more
liberal support and succor, was all the more inexcusable.
vs. 5-7 - Describe the severe chastisement
and
contempt of, the Divine love.
v. 5 – “He shall not return into the
shall be his king, because they refused to
return” - These words sound
like an announcement that the season of Divine grace, so long
extended to
that sin-laden people, had at length expired; and that on
account of their
stubborn and ungrateful rebellion against Jehovah they would be
forced,
to go into exile and become subject to the monarch of
and worse lot
awaited them because of their impenitence and refusal
to return to
Jehovah!
v. 6 – “And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume
his branches, and devour them”
“because of their own counsels” - The cause of all their calamitous invasions,
which city gates barred and bolted could not shut out, was
their evil counsels in
departing from the Lord, as Kimchi
correctly explains: “All this comes upon them
in
consequence of their evil counsel, because they
have forsaken my service to
serve other gods.”
v. 7 - “And my people are bent to backsliding from me” - This first
clause of the verse is very expressive, every word almost having an
emphasis of its own. With all their sinfulness and
shortcomings,
still the people of God — my people; they were guilty of the sin of
backsliding, and of backsliding from God, the best of benefactors and their
chief good. Nor was it occasionally and after long intervals of time
that
they backslided; it was their habit, their tendency.
Corruption was so deeply seated in
to the voice of the prophets urging them upwards – “none at all would exalt
Him”
vs. 8-9 - How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee,
how shall I
make thee as Admah? how
shall I set thee as Zeboim?
mine heart
is turned within me, my repentings are kindled
together.
I will not execute the fierceness of
mine anger, I will not return to
destroy
Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the
midst of
thee: and I will not enter into the city.
(Adman and
Zeboim were cities of the plain in the
with
Deuteronomy 29:23)
These
verses pave the way for transition to promise. Although
the
Israelites on account of such conduct had merited
complete annihilation,
yet Jehovah, for His love and
mercy’s sake, substitutes grace for justice,
and will not destroy them from off the face of the earth.
“Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings
are kindled together” –
Though
expresses strong reluctance to deliver them over into the hands and
power of
their enemies, or to give them up to destruction. His heart
revolted at the thought,
and turned aside from the fierceness of His anger, though so fully
deserved, into
the direction of mercy; a new turn was given to His feelings in the
direction of compassion.
“I will not
execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy
Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in
the midst of thee
and I will not enter
into the city”
A reason is here
assigned for the exercise of the Divine commiseration just
expressed; this reason is God’s covenant of everlasting love. He is God, and
must be measured by
a Divine standard — not man, implacable and
revengeful; though His
people’s provocation had been grievous, God was in
the midst of them
as their God, long-suffering and steadfast to His covenant
of love and
purposes of mercy. He would not enter into
the city as an enemy,
and for the purpose
of utter destruction, as He had entered into the
cities of
the plain for their
entire and final ruin;
v. 10 – “He shall roar like a lion” - Calling his people to return, the Lord roars
as a lion, to denote at once the loudness of the call, and the awful majesty of
the Lord when thus calling His people to return. The roaring of the lion may
signify His terrible
judgments on
home from the lands of their dispersion. (the latter days) - The result would be
a speedy return of His children from the lands of the West — the countries round or
beyond the Mediterranean (
v. 11 – “They shall tremble as a bird out of
LORD.” - The trembling here is eager haste, or precipitate agitation, in
which they would hurry home, and that from west and east and south —
from west as we infer
from v. 10, from Assyria in the east and
the south. They would thus hurry as a bird home to its nest in the greenwood;
as a dove
no longer a silly dove, (ch. 7:11) but flying home to its window.
v. 12 – “Ephraim compasseth
me about with lies, and
the house of
the saints” - The first clause sets forth the faithlessness and insincerity of
belongs to the present chapter. But others understand the last clause
differently, and deny the contrast, viz. “
and towards the All-Holy One, who is faithful.”
Strange, passing strange, it is that men thus impose on themselves, or
attempt to deceive God! “They did flatter him with their mouth,” says the
psalmist, “and they lied unto him with their tongues.” (Psalm
78:36) And
if this is the conduct men venture on in relation to God, how much more
likely
they are to compass their fellow-men with lies, or overreach
them by deceit! If
they carry their deceit into the sacred exercises of religion
and the solemn
services of the sanctuary, how much more may we expect to find
fraudulent transactions and deceitful dealings in their intercourse
with
fellow-men!
ADDITIONAL
NOTES
v. 4 - GOD’S LOVE IS RESTORATIVE. In spite of all God’s love and
care, we run into the way of danger through our own frowardness or folly.
We stumble and fall, getting many a sore bruise and severe knock. Yet God
in His love restores us; He heals us. As the child, when hurt, runs to the
parent for sympathy — to the mother to kiss the wound and make it well; so,
when unhappily we have strayed from the way, and got bruised and hurt
and painfully wounded through our own willfulness, we are encouraged to
return to God, and He will heal us.
v. 12 - It
redounded to the honor of
they persevered in the way of truth, and maintained the true
worship of
Jehovah. It is
recorded to the credit of those Sardians who remained
faithful in a corrupt place and a degenerate age, “Thou hast a few names
even in
with me in white:
for they are worthy.” – Revelation 3:4
When
we serve God we reign with him. It is righteousness
that exalts a
nation (Proverbs 14:34) and elevates an individual. To serve God is our
highest glory, and to enjoy Him our greatest happiness. To serve
God is
the most honorable service; hence our blessed Lord has made
us kings as
well as priests unto God. (Revelation 1:6) Luther, commenting on this
verse, speaks of certain errorists
“not venturing to embrace the true doctrine
for fear
their rule should be lost. So is it with many people; they are afraid
of
the loss of their rule if they should entertain the true ways of God’s worship;
they
think that the true ways of God’s worship cannot consist with their rule
and
power, and therefore they had rather
retain them and let the true
worship of God go.”
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