Hosea 6
The first three verses have, by the division into chapters,
been violently and
improperly torn from the preceding chapter, to which they naturally
belong.
Their connection with the foregoing sentiments is indicated
by the ancient
versions — Chaldee and Septuagint, the
Septuagint, for example, inserting
λέγοντες– legontes - saying - as
if the reading had been לֵאסֹר. This
the prophet encourages them to expect.
their affliction urging them to seek the Lord, and their
encouragement
consisting in the knowledge of His ability and willingness to heal
the
wounds which His own hand had inflicted.
1 “Come and let us return
unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He
will
heal us;” - The presence of the pronoun imparts emphasis to the
statement, so
that it is rather, He it is that hath torn; and the preterite of this verse, compared
with the future in v.14 of the foregoing chapter, implies that the
destruction there
predicted has become an accomplished fact – “He hath smitten, and
He will
bind us up.” The language
is figurative, and borrowed from medical science.
Jehovah, not Jareb
nor any sovereign of
had assured His people
thee” (Exodus
15:26); and again, “I kill, and I
make alive; I wound, and
I heal”
(Deuteronomy 32:39). Aben Ezra, commenting on yachbeshena, alludes
to the ancient mode of surgical practice, probably as
indicated in Isaiah 1:6:
A wound needs to be pressed out and bound up, and
afterwards softened with oil.”
2 “After two days will He
revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and
we shall live in His sight.” The
expression of time here employed denotes a
comparatively short period, and implies that
well as certainly accomplished. Paucity is signified
by the binary number in Old
Testament language, just as we speak of two, or a
couple, in the sense of fewness.
In I Kings 17:12 we find “two” used in this way: “Behold,
I am gathering two
sticks;” so in Isaiah 7:21, “A man
shall nourish a young cow and two sheep;”
in Isaiah 17:6 a small number is spoken of as “two or three;” while a short
period is similarly described in Luke 13:32, “Behold, I cast out devils,
and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I
shall be perfected.”
The important idea of this verse connects itself with the
terms corresponding
to revival,
resurrection, and restoration to
the Divine favor and protection.
The drooping, declining, dying state of
condition would undergo a resurrection process; their disfavor would
give way
to Divine complacency; and all this, though not immediately, yet in
a comparatively
short time. This appears to us the import of the prophecy.
Similar figurative language,
and with like significancy, is employed by Ezekiel (37.) in his vision of the valley
and
the resurrection of its dry bones; as also by Isaiah (26.),
where the same or a
similar thought is presented in briefer, but still more
beautiful, language:
“Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body
shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is
as the dew of
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Isaiah 26:19).
Calvin
understands this verse as containing a source of
consolation to
he says, “the Israelites, through their long obstinacy, had
become nearly
incurable, it was needful to lead them to repentance by
slow punishments. They,
therefore, said, After two days God will revive us;
and thus they confirmed
themselves in the hope of salvation, though it did not
immediately appear;
though they long remained in darkness, and the exile was
long which they
had to endure, they yet did not
cease to hope. ‘Well, let the two days
pass,
and the Lord will revive us.’” To man in sorrow the time
appears long; it is
short in the sight of Him with whom a thousand years are as
one day.
Kimchi’s explanation is also, to a certain extent, satisfactory:
“The prophet
says, ‘our sickness lasts for two days, yet He will heal us
of our sickness,
till on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall
live long before Him,’
as if he said, ‘though our afflictions continue a long
time.’ The two days
are a figure, for ‘in a short time He will bring us His
salvation,’ and ‘on the
third day’ is figurative.” He afterwards refers the “two
days” to the
captivities of His people — that in
third day” denotes the third or present Roman captivity,
“out of which He
will raise us up and we shall live before Him? so that we shall never again
go into captivity, but shall live continually before Him,
while we sin no
more.” Rashi refers the words to the three temples — that of Solomon,
that
of Zerubbabel, and the temple
that is to be built by Messiah. Some of the
Fathers understand the three periods in the history of
humanity — the first,
under Adam, as the time of Law and captivity to sin; the
second, under
Christ, as the time of the gospel and of grace; and the
third, with Christ, as
the time of the general resurrection. Theodoret
and most of the Fathers
understood this verse to refer to the resurrection of
Christ on the third day
after three days’ rest in the grave. Calvin, after giving
what appeared to
him “the simple and genuine sense” of the passage as
applying primarily to
the Jews, as we have already seen, adds, “I do not deny but
that God has
exhibited a remarkable and memorable instance of what is
here said in his
only begotten Son. As
often, then, as delay begets weariness in us, LET
US FLEE TO CHRIST for,
as it has been said, His resurrection is a mirror
of our life; for we see in that how God is wont to deal with His own
people:
the Father did not restore life to Christ as soon as He was taken down
from
the cross; He was deposited in the sepulcher, and He lay there till
the third day.
When God, then, intends that we should languish for a time, let
us know that we
are thus represented in Christ our Head, and hence let us
gather materials
of confidence. We have, then, in
Christ an illustrious proof of this
prophecy.” The
political resurrection of
way of type, the resurrection of Messiah and the general
resurrection of
which HE IS THE
FIRSTFRUITS!
3 “Then shall we know, if
we follow on to know the Lord:” - This
is more accurately rendered by, let us therefore know,
hunt after the
knowledge of Jehovah, the
verbs being both cohortative and no conditional
particle (“if”) in the second clause. The second clause is
a more emphatic
and energetic reaffirmation of the first, urging to active
and zealous effort
and steady perseverance in obtaining the knowledge of God —
a
knowledge theoretic, but especially practical. Aben Ezra understands the
exhortation of intellectual knowledge: “To know Jehovah is
the secret of
all wisdom, and for this alone was man created. But he
cannot know God
till he has learnt many doctrines of wisdom, which are, as
it were, a ladder
in order to mount up to this highest step of knowledge.” Kimchi, on the
other hand, though quoting Aben
Ezra’s comment with approval, inclines
to the practical side of knowledge: “Let us follow on to
know Jehovah,
exercising justice and righteousness ” - His going forth
is prepared as the
morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the
latter and
former rain unto the earth.” Here, again, the translation of the Authorized
Version is susceptible of improvement: His going forth
is fixed as the
morning dawn; and
He shall come to us as the plentiful rain, as the latter
rain which watereth (or, watering) the earth. Here we have two
beautiful
figures — the morning dawn and the fertilizing rain. The going forth of
Jehovah is represented as the sun rising upon the earth,
or rather as the
dawn which heralds the day. The advent of salvation to His people is
identified with, or symbolized by, His appearance. But the
dawn of day only
brings the commencement of salvation; its complement is
found in the
fruits and blessings of salvation. The root of motsav is zatsa,
which is
applied to the sunrise in Genesis 19:23, as also in Psalm
19:5.
Parallel passages are found in Isaiah 58:8, “Then shall thy light break
forth as the
morning (dawn), and thy health shall spring forth speedily;”
and 9:2, “The Lord
shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon
thee.” Further, the word nakon,
meaning “prepared,” “fixed firm,” is
applied to the clear bright light of morning, as in
Proverbs 4:18, “The
path of the just
is as the shining light, that shineth more and more
unto the
perfect (nekon) day.” The plentiful rain is that which
falls after the sowing
of the seed in October (the beginning of the Hebrew year)
and in the
following months; while the malqosh
is the late or spring rain, which,
tailing in March and till the middle of April, precedes and
promotes the
harvest. The Septuagint translates the
and ὄψιμος – opsimos – latter - erroneously,
for zoreh is not a
noun with b, being
understood before “earth;” neither is it
asher; it is the Qal participle in the
sense of” watering.” Geshem is “a
violent or plentiful rain,”
stronger than the usual word for” rain,” matar;
while malqosh
is “the late rain” which ceases a short time before harvest.
The explanation of the “dawn” by
Aben Ezra is erroneous: “The intelligent
man at the beginning knows God —
blessed be He! — by His works, like
the dawn of day in its going
forth; but moment after moment the light
increases, until the full truth
becomes visible.” Kimchi more correctly
explains the figure as follows:
“If we shall do this, viz. follow on to know
the Lord, then He will be to us
as the morning dawn, of which the going
forth is fixed [purposed by God
and certain] as though He said, He will
cause His light and His goodness
to shine over us.” His comment on the
second similitude is equally
appropriate: “He will come to us as the
plentiful rain, as the plentiful
rain which revives the dead plants; so man
sunk in sorrow is like one dead;
but when deliverance comes to him it is
with him as if he revived out of
his dead state.” Thus He shall be to His
people as “morning to the weary
watcher,” and as “plentiful rain to the
parched ground.”
Exhortation and Encouragement to Repentance
(vs. 1-3)
Whether the opening words of this chapter be those which
the penitents address
mutually to each other, or whether they be the exhortation
of the prophet encouraging
the people to return to God, the sentiment they contain is
equally important, and the
duty enjoined is equally imperative.
of the sources indicated this
appeal proceeds, its urgency is unmistakable,
as implied in the cohortative form of the verb “return,” as also in the
hortatory “come” at the commencement.
In God’s dealings with mankind
we find now reproofs for sin and
threatenings of wrath, again invitations to
repentance and promises of
mercy. We are warned to flee from the wrath
to come on the one
hand, and urged
to return unto the Lord on the other.
It is our duty to exhort one
another with earnestness, and even affectionate
importunity, to return to Him
from whom we have wandered, to seek Him
whom we have slighted, and, like
the prodigal in the parable, to arise and
go to our Father with confession
of our many wanderings of heart and life
from the living God. (Luke 15:11-32)
greater power than that of
mightier monarch than Jareb, champion sovereign though he was, was
required to heal the disease and bind up the wounds of
time, or indeed at any time. None but the hand that tore could heal; none
other than He who
smote could bind up. Nay, He wounds in order that He
may heal; He
sends afflictive providences that we may apply to Him for the
restoration of
prosperity; He produces conviction of sin before that, and in
order that He may
impart to us everlasting consolations. His method is to
convince us in
order that He may comfort us, to show us our sin that He
may lead us to
the Savior, to show us our ruin and then apply the remedy.
He shows us our
danger and then urges us to the discharge of our duty; He
shows us our fat,
and how we are to rise again; in short, He urges us to
repentance,
showing us what to do and what to say, and encouraging us
withal by His
readiness to receive penitents.
may for a time overwhelm us,
terrors of conscience alarm us, afflictions of
various kinds crush us to the
earth; there may be fightings without and
fears within (II Corinthians 7:5). In our distressed and downcast state
we
may look upon ourselves, and be
looked upon by others, as dying —
almost dead.
Ř
In this deathlike
condition the sorrows of death may compass us and
the pains of hell get hold
on us, we may find trouble and sorrow; we
may be like those that go
down into the pit. All this may continue for
a time, and the time may
appear long; yet we may not despair nor
despond. Rather let us
imitate the example of the psalmist, who in
his distress called upon
the Lord and cried unto his God. Nor did
he cry in vain. God heard his voice out of his temple, and his
cry came before
him even into his ears (Psalm 18:6).
In like
circumstances of disaster
on another occasion he called upon the
name of the Lord and said, “O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my
soul ”
(Psalm 116:4); and AS USUAL A REPLY
AND
RELIEF CAME! “I was
brought low, and he helped me;”
(Ibid. v.6); “He delivered my soul from death, mine
eyes from
tears, and my
feet from falling” (Ibid. v.8). THUS GOD
DEALS WITH HIS
PEOPLE STILL! - “Weeping may endure
for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Ibid.ch.30:5).
For two days — a relatively
brief period
— the sleep or sorrow of
death may be upon us, but He will then restore us to life, revive and
quicken us; and
on the third day, when we have been thus restored
to animation and
vigor, He will raise us up.
Ř
The words of v. 2 are,
no doubt, applicable to the death and resurrection
of our Lord, and they have been so understood by many
Christians
both in earlier and later times. “The resurrection of Christ,”
says
Pusey, “and our
resurrection in Him and in His resurrection, could not be
more plainly foretold....
It was not the prophet’s object here, nor was it so
direct a comfort to
took a nearer way to their
hearts. He told them, ‘All we who turn to the
Lord, putting our whole
trust in Him, and committing ourselves wholly to
Him, to be healed of our
wounds and to have our griefs bound up, shall
receive life from Him,
shall be raised up by Him.’ They could not
understand then how
He would do this. The ‘after two days’ and ‘on
the third day’ remained a mystery to be explained by the event. But
the promise itself was not
the less distinct, nor the less full of hope, nor
did it less FULFILL ALL CRAVINGS FOR LIFE ETERNAL
because they did not understand — how shall
these things be?”
Ř
The sequel of revival
and resurrection is life in God’s sight, or, “before
His face,” according to the literal rendering. The face of man is the
index of the mind and
heart; of the operations and various workings of
the former, and of the
feelings and emotions of the latter. We turn away
the face in sorrow or in
mirth; we look the object of our love or
satisfaction full in the
face. God had withdrawn Himself and turned
away His face until they
acknowledged their offence and sought His face.
But life is not only
restored; it is life in God’s sight, that is, before His
face. This is real life
— life in God’s favor, with the light of His
countenance lifted up upon us; with His eye on us to guide and to
direct
us as well as to guard and protect us. (“in thy presence is
fullness of
joy; at thy right
hand there are pleasures for evermore.” -
Psalm
16:11; “in His favor is life.” - Ibid. ch.
30:5). We live in His sight
when, whatever we do, we do it as unto the Lord (I Corinthians 10:31).
Every duty is
discharged as in His immediate presence and under
His All-seeing
Eye. Our thoughts, our purposes, our
plans, our
feelings, the inmost actings of our
spirit, are all ordered with the
abiding impression that they are in God’s sight, open and naked
before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13)
the great end of man’s being?
What is the thing that chiefly concerns him?
To such questions various answers
will be returned according to the tastes,
or habits, or capacity of the
individual. Some will answer and say that life
itself, its preservation and
well-being, is the great concern of man; or that
health — health of mind with
health of body, a sound mind in a sound body
— is chiefly to be attended to.
Others, again, will reply that the
advancement of one’s family or
the increase of one’s fortune is the main
thing to be sought and attained.
Whatever truth may be in any of these, it is
not the right answer. There is something higher and holier, nobler and
better, than any
of the things specified. THE GLORY OF THE
CREATOR and the
good of the creature must be placed above
everything else. But TO GLORIFY THE CREATOR, and thereby
and therewith to
attain to the good of the creature, WE MUST
KNOW GOD!
Ř
Wherein does the
knowledge of God consist? What do we mean
by the knowledge of God? It
is to know God as He has made Himself
known, in the two great
volumes which He has spread out before us.
The one is the volume of
His wor, (Psalm 19:1-6), open to the eyes of
all men; but that volume
only takes us a short way; we get the
knowledge of His Godhead, or existence as God,
and of His
power; we learn
that there is AN ETERNAL POWER THAT
CALLED CREATED THINGS
INTO BEING and that
that
Power is neither blind physical force nor the
pantheistic spirit
of the universe,
but A DIVINE PERSON; for” the invisible
things of Him since the creation are clearly
seen, being
understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal
power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans
1:20). The other volume is HIS
WORD (Psalm 19:7-11) in which
He has fully
revealed HIS WILL! From this volume we know His
various attributes and
infinite perfections — His holiness in hating sin,
His justice in punishing
it, His wisdom in devising the plan of salvation
(from eternity – Revelation
13:8), His love in sending His Son to
work it out, His mercy in shedding down His
Spirit to apply it.
But, over and above all
this, the knowledge of God must be personal,
experimental, and
practical. We need to know
GOD THROUGH JESUS
CHRIST, HIS SON AND OUR LORD;
we need to know
by happy experience His love to our souls; we
need to know the
duty which we are bound to render to Him in
gratitude for
His amazing loving-kindness, and in love to Him
who first loved us.
Ř
How is this
knowledge attained? There must be diligent, prayerful
study of the Divine Word under the teaching of the Divine Spirit.
The physician never dreams
of gaining a knowledge of his profession,
and of qualifying himself
for the performance of its responsible duties,
without years of
preparatory study in order to grasp its principles and
master its details; nor can
he afford to abandon that study even after
he has entered on the
practice of his professional labors — earnest
thought and unwearying diligence are still required. (It is for
this purpose that this web site exists! Dear Reader:
Does
this
mean that your doctor cares more for your body than you care
for your soul? – CY
– 2012) - The
merchant who would succeed
in business must devote
much attention to the principles of commerce
and the various departments of trade; days of toil and nights of
close
application to business are indispensable. (Dear Reader: Does this
mean that as a businessman,
you seek to know your business inside
and out, while neglecting study for your
spiritual needs? – CY –
2012) The agriculturist, if he would attain to eminence or even
respectability in his calling,
cannot expect to do so without suitable
training and diligent
attention in order to acquaint himself with the proper
methods of tillage. (I
remember my Dad, an aspiring dairy farmer,
going to agricultural
classes on a G.I. bill after World War II, to learn
as much as he could so as
to increase his chances of being successful!
I am thankful that among my
many memories of him, this fact, that
he nightly studied his
Bible. Dear
Farmer Friend: Does this mean
that your agricultural pursuits trump
your soul’s needs? – CY –
2012) Shall men willingly devote their noblest
energies and
highest powers and best days to
the occupations of time, and yet
afford only some brief intervals
of leisure, or some spare hours, and
very slight
attention to attain the knowledge of that God who
is above them, and to prepare for that
eternity that is before
them? (I highly recommend The Preciousness of Time by Jonathan
Edwards - # 7 – this web site – CY – 2012)
Ř
By what means do we
gain increase of this knowledge? What
promotes our growth at once
in grace and the knowledge of God?
The answer is before us. We are to follow on, hunt after, strive
zealously to
know the Lord. There must be continued
diligence,
constant perseverance; there must be devout and daily reading of
God’s Word — some time every day less or more should be given to
the study of Holy Scripture
(I put on the home page of this web site
the following: - CY – 2012)
-
“Someone has said that there are four things necessary in
studying the
Bible: Admit,
Submit, Commit, and Transmit. First,
admit its truth;
Second, submit to its teachings; third, commit it to
memory; and
Fourth, transmit it!
If the Christian life is a good thing for you, pass
It on to someone else.
You know it is always regarded a great event
in the family when a child can feed itself. It is propped up at the table,
and at first, perhaps, it uses the spoon upside down, but
by and by it
uses it all right and mother, or sister, claps her hands
and says “Just
see, baby’s feeding himself.” Well, what we need as Christians is
to be able to feed ourselves. (Dwight Moody)
there must be fervent prayer for the teaching
of the Holy Spirit:
for “the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit
of God; they are
foolishness unto him, because they are spiritually
discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14).
Have we already acquired some
knowledge of God, not
merely out of the volume of creation, or by the
light of our own intellect,
or from the teachings of others, but from this
Word of God,
which is BRIMFUL OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF
GOD and do we know God to be
a just God and yet a Savior —
OUR GOD AND
SAVIOUR THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR
LORD? Then
we must beware of becoming cold, or languid,
or lifeless. We must avoid
everything and anything that would turn us
aside, or tempt us to prefer our secular business to salvation, or to
set THE TRIFLES OF TIME IN THE PLACE OF REALITIES
OF ETERNITY! But should coldness creep over us, or should a
spirit
of slumber overtake us as
the virgins in the parable (Matthew 15:1-13),
or should our little
progress in the Divine life and Divine things
discourage us, let us repair at once to the mercy-seat for Divine
help and grace; and the Spirit of truth will guide us into ALL
TRUTH! (John 16:13). Let us ever bear in mind that we
must
persevere to the end in
order to be saved, that we must be faithful unto
death if we would obtain
the crown of life, and that if, after having put
our hand to the plough, we
turn back, the Lord will have no
pleasure in us. (Matthew
24:13; Revelation 2:10; Luke 9:62).
Follow on, then, as the
runner in the race to win the prize,
as the warrior in the
conflict to gain the victory, as the mariner steers
his homeward-veering bark
to reach his native shore.
IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. The promised blessing is here
presented under two beautiful
figures — the returning light of morning,
and the
refreshing rain.
Ř
There is freshness in the
morning air, there is beauty in the morning
light, there is loveliness
in natural scenery when the light of morning
shines on it. One of the
oldest Greek poets often speaks of morning,
and usually with some
epithet of praise or admiration, such as “saffron-
robed Aurora,” or “Aurora,
daughter of the dawn.” “The morning.”
We associate morning with
the idea of refreshment and relief. If you
have been laid on a bed of
sickness, or tossing on a bed of pain, or
watching by the bedside of
one dear to you as your own life, how
welcome is the light of
morning! After tossings to and fro till the
dawning of the day, the
morning brings some measure of relief or
relaxation. Many a one in
the circumstances supposed
is crying out, “Would God it were
morning!” or sighing out,
“Oh for the light of
morning, to shorten the weariness of the night,
or bring some
alleviation!” There, again, is the mariner
toiling
through the dreary hours of a stormy winter night,
while neither
moon nor stars appear; how
he wishes and
longs for the light of
morning! Or a traveler has
been overtaken by the darkness of
the night, and has lost his
way in some pathless wilderness, or
among the glades of a
mountain forest; how he waits and watches
for the first gleam of
morning light to extricate him from his perplexity
and peril! In all these cases the morning is looked
forward to for
relief; nor is it ever
looked for in vain, for morning is sure to come.
(“It is of the
Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,
because His compassions
fail not, They are new every
morning: great is thy faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23).
It may seem slow in coming,
and long before it comes; or the
weary watcher may be many a
time on the point of giving up in
despair. But the return of morning,
after a night however long, or
dark, or painful, or
perilous, is certain to take place; its return is
prepared; it is a fixed
ordinance of nature. (“While
the earth
remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat,
and summer and
winter, and day and night shall not
cease.” (Genesis 8:22) So, to every persevering seeker after the
knowledge of God, the Lord’s going forth is fixed and cannot fail;
it is sure as the morning sunrise. To every afflicted,
anguished spirit,
to every weary waiting soul, the morning dawn shall come
surely
as the day succeeds the night and the light alternates with
darkness,
for God has
established this order of things. The
Dayspring
from on high (Luke 1:78), with the light of saving knowledge
and
spiritual healthfulness, shall visit all who patiently wait and
perseveringly pursue the knowledge of God. There is a joyousness
of spirit, a buoyancy of
feeling, peculiar to the morning, and not
experienced to the same extent, or perhaps at all, during the
remainder of the day. Delightful as is the figure, the fact
represented
by it is even more so. What joyfulness comes with morning to
the
bewildered wayfarer, or tempest-tossed sailor, or sorely afflicted
sufferer! Then hope rakes the place of despair, and joy succeeds
to sorrow. To the soul that waits upon the Lord, His coming
is as
sure as the return of the morning light; and brings with it
peace and
joy in believing, favor and forgiveness. To him who has waited
long, and watched with patience till hope deferred had begun to
make the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12), the Lord’s going forth is
certain as the morning dawn; and simultaneously therewith the
light
of His countenance is lifted on the soul, and cheerfulness is
imparted
to the spirit. It is a blessed assurance that NONE EVER WAITED
ON THE LORD IN
VAIN, no one ever trusted Him and was
disappointed. Wait, then, for His going forth. It may tarry, but
wait for it; for at last it will come and will not tarry
(Habakkuk 2:3);
for the time is fixed, and the Sun of righteousness shall
arise on every
patient soul with healing under his wings (Malachi 4:2). Fortified by
this assurance, the psalmist says, in language we would do well
to
adopt and act on, “I wait for the
Lord, my soul doth wait, and
in His Word do I hope. My soul waiteth
for the Lord more
than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they
that watch for the morning.” (Psalm 130:6)
Ř
That the Authorized
Version is inaccurate, is obvious from its making
the latter rain precede the former. The reverse is the natural
order and
the order here observed, geshem
standing for the one or rather for
“plentiful
rain” in general, malqosh for the other
or “latter rain,” and
roreh
not a noun at all. This beautiful figure
is specially suitable to the
Orient, and finds its most
striking application in Eastern lands; it is
also more or less appropriate in all lands. Not only so, it
forms a
fitting counterpart to the figure which precedes, and with which
it is
so intimately connected — the one exhibiting the fact, the other the
fruit, of salvation; the one the beginning of salvation, the other its
benefits; the one its commencement, the other its
consummation.
In the
seed-time, when the seed has been sown in the furrows, comes the
early rain to make the seed germinate and the tender blade
spring up; but there is also the latter rain in the weeks
preceding
harvest, to fill the ear and mature the growing grain. (This was
God’s design and was on time, like clockwork, until the wickedness of
the land stopped up the heavens – Deuteronomy 28:12, 23-24 – CY –
2012). With a rich Eastern soil below and a warm Eastern sun above,
the beneficial effects of the former and latter rain are obvious. In
connection with the combined action of sun and soil and shower, there
are first the blade, then the ear, and eventually the
ripe corn in the ear
(although
we know not how – see Mark 4:27-28 - CY – 2012).
Thus in spiritual
husbandry, the seed of Divine and saving knowledge
has been no sooner cast into the furrows than the rain-shower
of
Divine grace waters it, so
that it germinates and grows - blade and ear
and ripened grain as in the natural world; nor are showers of grace
withheld before and up till the reaping-time, so that even in old
age there is abundant fruitfulness. “They shall still bring forth fruit
in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing [margin, ‘green’]”
(Psalm 92:14); and when the
time of
the end comes and the harvest
day arrives, they resemble a shock of corn in its season (Job
5:21); rich
with golden grain, ripe and ready to be gathered
into the heavenly garner. Thus shall it fare with the soul that
follows
on to know and love the Lord (v.3). Sure as the dawn brings
on the
day; sure as the sun goeth forth out
of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a
strong man to run his race (Psalm 19:5); sure as the alternation
of day
and night; sure as the succession of the seasons; sure as the
rain comes
down from heaven, and returns not thither again till it has
moistened
and fructified the earth (Isaiah 55:10); — God shall bless
that
soul with light and life and love. (What more could one
want? The
greatest things I have ever experienced are LIGHT, LIFE AND
LOVE – all come
from God - CY
– 2012). Therefore
let us know,
let us follow on to know the Lord; for “it is
good that a man
quietly wait and
patiently wait for the salvation of God.”
(Lamentations 3:26)
Although
we in this age do not live in the last days of
of this mutual appeal is for us. We
need to stir up our own hearts to exercise the
grace of repentance, and to pursue the study of saving knowledge. Some of us
perhaps have gone astray into very miry paths, and have been sorely chastised for our
sin. Oh
for grace to respond to this twofold appeal, that we may
know the Lord
our Savior as the bright Morning and the genial Rain, and that we may
“LIVE IN HIS
SIGHT!”
4
“O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O
Thee? For your
goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it
goeth away.” A new section here commences. God, having tried
various expedients and many ways to restore
those methods unavailing; and now he asks what further
means of
reclamation He can resort to; what further punishment He is
to inflict. Thus
in Isaiah 1:5, “Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will
revolt more
and more!” or what
additional privileges can be vouchsafed? Thus in
Isaiah 5:4, “What could have
been done more to my vineyard, than I
have not done in it?” The reason is then assigned for such questioning; it
was the brief duration of
which floats across a summer’s sky and which the sun soon
scatters for
ever, or which promises a refreshing shower, but which is
exhaled by the
sun’s heat; it was transient as the dew which lies in
pearly drops of beauty
upon the grass, but which the foot of the passing traveler
brushes away in a
moment. The prophet had, in the opening verses, referred to
real
repentance; but now, turning to
by way of contrast, showing them that it was neither of the
consistency
nor permanent character required. Proofs of their
deficiency lay on the
pages of their national history. Hezekiah had done “that which was right in
the sight of the
Lord” (II Kings 18:3); but his son and successor, Manasseh,
“wrought much
wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to
anger” (Ibid. ch.
21:6). Josiah,
again, was eminent for piety, so that “like
unto
him was there no
king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his
heart,
and with all his soul, and with all his might” (Ibid. ch. 23:25); but his
successors degenerated, for it is added, “neither after him arose there any like
him.” The connection and meaning are well given by Kimchi: “How shall I heal
you, and how shall I bind you up, as your repentance is by no
means perfect? For
if the kings of
they soon turned to do evil, like Jehu. And likewise the
kings of
the days of Josiah did that which was right in the eyes of
the Lord, turned
again to do evil in the days of his son and son’s son.”
Thus he reproves
them for the superficial and fleeting character of their goodness. The
participles mashkim and
holek are either coordinated asyndetously, thus:
“coming in the morning, going away;” or the latter is
subordinated to the
former: “in the morning passing away.” Kimchi takes the former word as a
noun after the form of makbir,
equivalent to “abundance” (Job
36:31);
the right rendering is, “as the dew early going away.” A
somewhat different
rendering is proposed by Wunsche,
viz. “Your goodness goeth away like a
morning cloud, and like the dew in the morning;” “goodness”
being the
subject, “goeth away” the predicate,
“like morning cloud and dew” nearer
definitions.
In vs. 5-6, the consequence of
Because of the fluctuating and formal nature of their
religiousness, God cut
them down (instead of rearing them up) through His prophets
by fierce
enunciations, and slew them (instead of reviving them) by
the Divine word.
The judgment of Jehovah went forth as the lightning-flash,
or was as clear and
conspicuous for justice as the light of day. Neither could
outward services
expiate their sins, when the proper feelings and meet
fruits were absent.
5 “Therefore I have hewed them by
the prophets; I have slain them
by the words of my mouth:” - The
language is figurative — the
first clause seems borrowed from hewing hard wood and
shaping it so as to
assume the required form; so God
dealt with
shape MORALLY
SYMETRICAL and make them correspond to the
character of a holy people. The slaying is metaphorical,
and consisted in the
denunciation of death and destruction to the impenitent; in
this way He
killed, but did not make alive. A different rendering of
the clause is given
by the Septuagint and also by Aben
Ezra; the former has, “Therefore have I
mown down your
prophets; I have slain them with the word of my mouth;”
the latter has, “The sense is that he slew some of the
prophets who misled
the people so that they did not turn (repent).” But be does
not imply His
hewing in among the prophets; it is instrumental - “and
thy judgments are
as the light that goeth forth.” The judgments here spoken of are the
Divine judgments denounced against, or inflicted on, the
people. Another
reading has the pronominal suffix of the first person: “My
judgment goeth
forth as the light;” to which the Septuagint corresponds: κρίμα μου –
krima mou - equivalent to “my
judgment.”
Vs. 4-5 remind us that God’s
compassions fail not, but that persistent
sinfulness
on man’s part will shut him out from the enjoyment of
THE DIVINE MERCY!
6 “For I desired mercy
(or, mercy I delight in), and
not sacrifice; and
the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” The former is
the
right state of the life, the latter the correct condition
of the heart; the
former manifests itself in practice, the latter embraces
the proper feelings
and affections; the former is seen in works of charity
and benevolence, the
latter consists in right motives and the right relation
of the soul to God.
The Hebrew form of speech here used denotes inferior
importance, not the
negation of importance. A similar sentiment occurs in I
Samuel 15:22,
“Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in
obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, and
to hearken than the fat of rams.” Parallel statements are found in Isaiah
1:11-17; Psalm 40:7-9 and 50:8; also in Micah 6:8. Our Lord
cites the first clause
of v.6 twice — once against Pharisaic ceremonialism
(Matthew 9:13), and again
against rigorous sabbatarianism
(Ibid. ch.12:7); while there is an allusion to it in
Mark 12:33, where love to God and to one’s neighbor is
declared to be better,
or “more than,
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Sacrifices in themselves,
and when offered at the proper time and place, and as the
expressions of
penitent hearts and pure hands, were acceptable, and could
not be
otherwise, for God Himself had appointed them. But soulless sacrifices
offered by men steeped in sin were an abomination to the
Lord; it was of
such He said, “I cannot away
with” them. It is to such that the
prophet
refers here, as is plain from the following verse.
7 “But they like men (margin, like Adam) have transgressed the
covenant:
there have they dealt treacherously against me.” This
verse is variously
rendered.
they are in no way superior) have
transgressed the covenant.
rendering the word אדם
is otiose, or adds nothing, nor is indeed
required.
supported by the Vulgate, Cyril,
Luther, Rosenmüller, and Wunsche,
is
decidedly preferable, and yields
a suitable sense. God in His great goodness
had planted Adam in
prohibited his eating of the
tree of knowledge, and thereby transgressed the
covenant of his God. Loss of fellowship with God and expulsion from
Adam, had been settled by God in
ungrateful for God’s great
bounty and gracious gift, they broke the
covenant of their God, the
condition of which, as in the case of the Adamic
covenant, was obedience. Thus
the comparison projects the shadow of a
coming event when
word “there” to be accounted for. It cannot well be rendered “therein,”
nor
taken as a particle of time
equivalent to “the,” with Cyril and others. It is
local, and points to the place where their breach of covenant and
faithlessness had
occurred. Yet this local sense is not
necessarily so
limited as to be referred, with
some, to
and idolatry. “There, to
Gilgal, or Mizpah, or
hallowed by His mercies and they
had defiled. It was every high hill, each
idol-chapel, each field-altar,
which they had multiplied to their idols. To the
sinners of
defiled by their
sin.” The word thus acquires a very
suggestive significance,
reminding Israel of God’s
goodness on the one hand, and of their own
sinfulness and ingratitude on
the other.
In the next two verses the prophet adduces proof of that
faithlessness with which
he had just charged
8 “
The latter clause is more literally rendered, foot-printed
or foot-tracked from blood.
Two things require consideration here — the place
and its pollution.
sometimes a mountain range, and sometimes the mountainous
region east
of the
and
Galilee to the north end of the
twenty in breadth. The part of
Jabbok is now called Jebel Ajlun;
while the section south of the Jabbok
forms the
the name of Perea, or beyond
territory belonging to
the name of a city, though some take it to mean the whole
The men of
wild mountaineers; and yet they are represented as still
worse in this
Scripture. They are not only barbarous and wicked, but
murderous and
infamous for homicidal atrocities. As evidence in some sort
of the justness
of this dark picture, the murder of Pekahiah
by Pekah with “fifty
men of
the Gileadites.” as
recorded in II Kings 15:25, may be specified. The
word עְקַוּבָּה
is taken:
thus Rashi
explains it: “
and Kimchi
likewise has, “
murder men.”
of any one, hold, tread in the
footsteps, follow, .go after; which is the right
meaning, viz. “tracked,” as given above. We retain the
Authorized Version
of the first clause of v. 9,
slightly modified, viz.
9 “As troops of robbers wait for a man, so is the company of
priests; murder
in the way by consent:” - חַכֵּי equivalent to חַכֵּה, wait, being an anomalous form of
the infinitive Piel for חַכּוה; thus Kimchi says, “The yod stands in the place
of he, and the form is the infinitive.” Both Aben Ezra and Kimchi translate
the first
clause as above; the former beg, “The sense is, As robber-troops
wait for a
man who is to pass
along the way, that they may plunder him, so is (or so
does) the company of the priests;” the latter explains, “As troops of
robbers wait for a man passing along the way to plunder
him, so is the
company of priests, he means to say, as the priests of the high
places who
combine to plunder those who pass along the way. There is
another translation,
which, connecting ish taken
collectively with gedhudhim, and making
it the
subjective genitive of the infinitive כ, is,“Like the lurking of the men of the
gang, s is the
company of the priests.”
This first clause is quite misread and not rendered by the
Septuagint: Καὶ
ἡ ἰσχύς
σου ἀνδρὸς πειρατοῦ
ἔκρυψαν ἱερεῖς ὁδόν
– kai hae ischus sou
peiratou ekrupsan heireis
hodon - as gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man,
so the company of
priests….in the way - “And thy
strength is that of a
robber: the priests have hid the way.” כְּחַכֵּי they
read כְּחַך,
and for חבד
they read חבו or חבאו. In the second clause we prefer decidedly
the
translation which is intimated in the margin of the Authorized Version;
thus: Along the way they murder even go Shechem.
The word derekh is an
adverbial accusative of place; and Sichem,
the present
on
city of refuge; it thus lay on the west as Gilead on the
east of
both cities, thus perhaps nearly parallel in place on
opposite sides of the
river, were equal in
crime and infamy. The prophet does not
tell us who the
wayfarers were, or whither they were bound; he only
intimates that they
fell victims to certain miscreant priests located in these
quarters. As this
city lay on the main route from the north to
annual feasts passed along this way. The priests of the calf-worship, being
in general persons taken from the dregs of the people, waylaid those
pilgrims, whether for plunder, or through hostility to the
purer worship still
maintained in the holy city, or from sheer cruelty.
Or it is even possible that the wayfarers referred to may
have been persons
going from
journey they were set upon and robbed, or, in the event of
resistance, they
were murdered – “for they commit lewdness.” Rather, yea, they have
committed enormity.
The zimmah, or infamy, here mentioned
is referred
thus Kimchi
explains it of “evil and abominable work of every kind.”
He further remarks: “The prophet
says, Not this alone have they done;
but all their works are zimmah. And perhaps zimmah
may be explained
of thought, as if he said, As
they have thought in their heart so they have
acted.”
On this verse generally it may be briefly remarked:
·
that “by consent” of the Authorized Version
would require dja
to be
joined with “shoulder;”
·
the connection of the
first and second clauses in the Authorized
Version is much the same with
that of Ewald: “And
as troops lie in wait
The company of
priests murder along the way to Sichem.”
·
His explanation is that
the priests murdered those that fled by the way
before they reached the refuge,
perhaps at the command of some leading
persons ill disposed towards
them.
The Lord had just comforted the truly godly portion of the
people; He now
turns aside and expostulates with the ungodly. Judah as well as
Ephraim —
the
two tribes and the ten — fell far short, unspeakably short, of the
picture of penitence, with the annexed promises, which God had just placed
before them. Their state had become so desperate that destruction
had
become their desert, not because of His severity, but their own
sin,
themselves being judges.
·
THE COMPLAINT OF THEIR INCONSTANCY.
Ř
God here speaks as if
all remedies had proved futile, and as if He were
at a loss to know how to deal towards them or what to do with
them.
Various means had been
tried, diverse methods resorted to: He had sent
them precious promises of mercy and alarming threatenings of wrath;
means and expedients had been exhausted; but they had gone from
bad to
worse. And now, as though resourceless,
the Almighty puts the question
as if to their own conscience, “O
Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?
O
Ř
Or perhaps we may
rather understand such questions as a lamentation
over their case, so deplorable had it become. Thus our Lord wept
over
(Luke 19:41-44). Nor was it a few tears He dropped (Ἐδάκρυσεν –-
Edakrusen - wept; cried ), as at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35);
His eyes brimmed over
with tears (–ἔκλαυσεν - eklausen – lamented; wept
[aloud]) ,
while His lips uttered the touchingly pathetic words, “If thou
hadst
known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.” (Luke
19:42)
Ř
The picture of their
inconstancy is sadly appropriate. The morning cloud
is an attractive object as it floats sublimely overhead on a
summer’s
morning; but it is as evanescent as conspicuous, suddenly fading
away
into the “azure deep of air.” Still more
lovely is the dew which lies
copiously on the herbage in the early morning, glistening on every
blade
of grass and flower petal, and beautifying with its pearly drops
the lawns
and pasture grounds.
Soon, however, the footstep of man or beast
brushes it aside, and it disappears; or it is exhaled, and
vanishes by the
heat of the advancing day. Thus
it was with the goodness of the
Hebrew people,
both north and south, at the time referred to.
Several cases of
reformation had taken place in
had occurred, as in the days of Hezekiah, and subsequently in
the time
of Josiah; and even in
zeal of Jehu; but these were to a large extent transient and temporary.
So, too, it often happens
in times of awakening, sorrow for sin may
becloud the brow of the penitent and tears of contrition bedew his eyes;
but ere long the excitement dies away, and that sorrow and those tears
have passed away, and all serious impressions and gracious influences
have vanished with them.
·
CONSEQUENCES OF THE INCONSTANCY COMPLAINED OF.
These consequences are
enumerated with some detail in vs. 5-7, though
the fifth verse is differently understood by some, as though
it contained
two different kinds of messages sent by God to
coming wrath to arouse and awaken them, thus hewing them by the
prophets and slaying them by the words of His mouth; and messages
of
mercy, bright as the light and beautiful as the sunbeams, to
encourage
them, thus causing His judgments to go forth as the light. But
this latter
sense does not suit the context.
Ř
First of the
consequences is denunciation of wrath, when God
denounced their destruction with severity by His messengers the
prophets, and the words of His mouth which constituted the
message which they delivered; while the justice of the judgments
thus visited on them was positively demonstrated and plainly
proved, so that it was seen to be and must have appeared even
to the guilty sufferers clear as the light.
Ř
The second consequence
is degeneracy in
religion. It had
degenerated into mere formalism. In
place of mercy came
sacrifices, and for the knowledge of God burnt offerings
were substituted.
Outward observances took the place of
inward devotion.
Instead of piety towards God and charity
to man, a tedious round of services was performed.
Ritualism
was substituted
for religion; ceremonialism for clean hands and
a pure heart. Obedience
to the commandments of God, whether
prescriptive or prohibitory, was neglected;
morality was dissociated
from religion; mere rites supplanted moral or religious
duties.
Ř
But a third
consequence was declension of spiritual life in general;
this was additional evidence of the religious degeneracy just
referred to.
Covenant-breaking and
treacherous dealing are specified. Like the most
reckless of men, they were truce-breakers (this is one of the signs
of
the Second Coming of Jesus – II Timothy 3:3 – CY – 2012),
bound by
no compact, and regardless of the truth of promises. Besides
being
thus practically dishonest, they were altogether unreliable and
faithless.
Their sin in this respect,
though declared to be against God, involved
a fortiori similar
conduct in relation to their fellow-men.
·
CONFIRMATIONS OF
as instances, and their inhabitants singled out as specimens
of the
wickedness of the times —
and a Levitical city, the sin of its
inhabitants was something shocking.
When men, who by profession should
be an example and pattern to others,
descend to practices directly opposed to that profession, and
degrade
themselves by criminal actions of the worst and basest kind, religion is evil
spoken of, a stumbling-block is cast in the way of the weak, the
Master
Himself is stabbed in the house of His professed friends. The
people of this
highly favored place had set themselves to work iniquity, and
that of no
ordinary kind; the blood of murdered innocence clave to their
hands.
Shechem was even worse in this respect. In this other city of
refuge the
privilege of asylum was profaned. Either guilty persons were admitted and
protected for a bribe, when
they should have been delivered up to death;
or, in addition to thus screening the guilty, those
who had committed
homicide unwittingly, but who were too poor to offer bribes, were
ruthlessly given up to the blood-avenger; or, worst of all and
vilest of all,
the priests who had got
settled in the place formed themselves into robber
gangs or common banditti to rob, and in case of resistance
murder, the
travelers who were so luckless as to journey that way, or from a
bloodthirsty spirit of revenge they waylaid and assassinated the
objects of
their displeasure. In one way or other blood was defiling the
land and
crying to Heaven for vengeance. Long
before a bloody deed had been done
in this very place, when Simeon and Levi in cruel wrathfulness
put the
defenseless Shechemites to the sword; history
in a still worse form now
repeated itself. (Genesis 34)
·
COMMUNITY IN CRIME.
The proverbial expression of” “Like
priest,
like people,” was fully
verified in the case before us. When priests
perpetrated such atrocities, what could be expected from the
populace?
When religious teachers
distinguished themselves as ringleaders in
wickedness, what could be hoped for among the less privileged of the
population? There was, in fact, a
community in crime. In the house of
wickedness so horrible as to make one shudder or the hair stand on
end.
However men might attempt
concealment, God’s eye detected and
discovered their horrid iniquity, while His justice denounced vengeance
against it. Ephraim is again foremost and first in the present iniquity, as
previously in the idolatrous calf-worship and original revolt. Their
whoredom, whether literal or figurative, exercised a contaminating effect
on the rest of the ten tribes. How baneful the effects of evil influence!
How great the responsibility
connected with the exercise of influence!
Judah also, from whom better was to be
expected, with the ancient sanctuary
among them and a purer ritual, had been seduced to sin; the
example and
influence of their brethren in the north had, no doubt, helped their
depravation, evil communications corrupting good manners. Be this as
it
may, they had sown the
wind and must in consequence reap the
whirlwind (ch.8:7). As they had sown and what they had sown, they
must by-and-by reap (Galatians 6:7-8). The general judgment is likened
to harvest (Matthew 13:38-42); so also are special judgments.
The
Judahites who had been made captives by
through the interposition of the prophet Oded
(II Chronicles 28:8-15).
God had spared them then, but
set them a harvest at another time; as it
has been remarked, “Preservations from present judgments, if a
good
use be not made of them, are but reservations for greater
judgments.”
10 “I have seen an horrible thing in the house of
of
·
the ten tribes of the
northern kingdom,
·
according to some; it
seems more correct to understand it of the whole nation,
including both the northern
and southern kingdoms, in which case the remainder
of the verse relates to the
northern kingdom of the ten tribes, and the succeeding
verse to the southern
kingdom of the two tribes. Further,
with the parallel Ephraim, as Keil thinks; the latter is the
principal tribe which
led the way in
sort of crime and abomination;
while the “whoredom,” literal or spiritual, is
specified as an example thereof.
(For the explanation of “there,” see
on v. 7.)
11 “Also, O
of shath is the
indeterminate third person, like the French on, and our
“they” or “one.” The
third person singular masculine, the third person
plural, the second person singular masculine, and the
passive voice are all
used in this way. So here it is: “One hath appointed (set) a harvest for
thee,” or “a harvest is
appointed for thee.” The harvest is either
recompense or retribution, and thus it is either good or
evil, for as a man
sows he reaps. The context shows that the reaping here is punishment.
SIN produced A HARVEST
OF SUFFERING AND SORROW! –
“when I returned (better,
return, or, restore) the captivity of my people.”
The restoration here mentioned is thought
captivity, and that
figuratively, that is to say, the restoration of His people’s
well-being. The shebhuth is the misery of the Hebrew people;
the shubh
shebhuth, recovery and
restoration of them to their true destiny, But this
necessitates a previous
purification by punishment: with this
AS WELL AS
God said, “Let not
escape Divine
judgment more than
When
then come also.” The “turning of captivity” is a formula
denoting the
restoration of the lost fortune
or well-being of a people or person; thus
Job 42:10, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job.”
The Broken Covenant (vs. 7-11)
also THE BOND
WHICH BOUND SOCIETY TOGETHER! Fearful
wickedness was the result.
Ř
The primal sin. “They, like Adam,
have transgressed the covenant.”
Our first parents were
placed under arrangements involving in them the
essentials of a covenant. Through breach of this covenant came “death
into our world, and ALL OUR WOE!”
Ř
Covenant of Law, yet it had
mercy in the heart of it. It required
obedience, but it embraced provision for the removal of guilt. It
asked from
conveyed to them the highest privileges, and conferred on them
the greatest blessings. Yet they shamefully broke it. They trampled
their compact underfoot. They traversed in every direction the
Law
which God had given them.
Ř
Our own sin. God has a covenant made with us in the very
Constitution
of our nature. There is that within us
which binds us to
God and
to the practice of goodness. We find
ourselves within the
bond of this covenant.
Its obligations be upon us. Yet we have
broken it. We have gone astray. Sin is the breach of this
covenant. In committing sin,
we know that we:
o
violate the law,
o
are guilty of
unfaithfulness to God, and
o
are doing violence to our own nature.
·
THE BOND BROKEN WITH MAN. (vs. 8-9.) The result of breach
of covenant with God is seen in the open throwing off of all
regard from
ordinary moral obligations. The principle of love being dethroned —
and
love soon dies out in the soul that has cast out love to God — self-will,
egoism, greed, evil principles of
various kinds, usurp its place, and
rule the conduct. These verses,
accordingly, hold up A PICTURE OF
LAWLESSNESS AND
DISORDER. (More
and more these are
characteristic of society in
the coming of Christ – Matthew 24:12 – CY – 2012) Violence filled the
cities; the very priests took part in highway robberies and murders. Society
without God is like an arch from which the keystone is removed.
IT FALLS IN
RUINS! It is like a system
of planets without
a central sun —
unable to maintain its independence. It becomes a SCENE OF
CONFUSION, A
CHAOS!
KNOWN GOD.
(v.10.) This was the aggravation of
had known God, yet were now in this deplorable and desperate
condition.
Their knowledge of God made
their sin “an horrible thing” — “an
abomination.” Specially hateful to God were the impurities of
their
worship. He would punish them with special severity on account of
their
special relation to Him (Amos 3:2). Judgment
shall begin at the house
of God (I Peter
4:17). “For if after they have escaped
the pollutions
of the world through the knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, they are again entangled therein,
and overcome, the latter
end is worse with them than the
beginning. For it had been better
for them not to have known the way
of righteousness, than, after
they have known it, to turn from the
holy commandment delivered
unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true
proverb, The dog is
turned to his own vomit again; and the sow
that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (II Peter 2:20o-22).
about to fall — having, however, for their object, not
but her salvation; the turning of her captivity —
she would not escape. God
had set a harvest for her also. What applies
to one sinner applies to another!
Terms
for Thought
Godly Repentance Saving Knowledge
The Promised
Dayspring God’s Grief over Passing
Goodness
Mercy Better than Sacrifice Divine
Institutions Corrupted
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