Hosea 9
The first nine verses contain a warning against security
arising from temporary
prosperity.
1 “Rejoice not, O
on
which the prophet penned this section was so no idolatrous merrymaking
in
connection with harvest, and not any change of political situation.
The literal rendering of the first clause is, rejoice
not unto exultation,
or
exceedingly, as the same expression is translated in Job 3:22; it
is
thus climactic. The old
versions take el-gil as imperative, and read אַל;
thus μηδὲ εὐφραίνον – maede euphrainon
- equivalent to “nor make merry;”
and the Vulgate has noli exultare; but al is constructed with the
future, not with
the imperative. Again,
some read be instead of ke, and so render,
“among the
peoples,” the
words being addressed, not to
their own land – “for thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God,
thou hast
loved a reward upon
every corn-floor.” According to this, which is the
common rendering. the clause with ki assigns a reason for their foregoing such
joy. But Ewald and others translate
by “that or for that thou hast committed
whoredom,” understanding this clause to express the object of their
joy.
We prefer the former, for their
faithlessness and foul idolatry were
sufficient reasons to prevent
blessings of the harvest were regarded by them as rewards for the
worship
of
their idol-gods, in other words, as gifts from Baalim
and Ashtaroth or
other idols, and thus as ethnan, a
harlot’s hire; not as tokens and pledges
of
the favor of Jehovah. ,
2 “The floor and the
wine-press shall not feed them, and the
new wine shall fail in her.”
Thus Israel was not to enjoy the
blessings of
the
harvest; the corn and oil and new wine, or corn and wine, would not
prove as abundant as they expected or plenty would be succeeded
by
scarcity; or, rather, the people would
be prevented enjoying the abundant
produce of their land in consequence of being carried away
captive to
Assyria, as
seems implied in the following verse. The floor and press —
whether wine-presss, or rather
oil-press, as the mention of new wine
follows — are put for their contents by a common figure of speech.
The
expression, “fail in her,”
is literally, “lie to her.” and has many parallels; as,
“The labor of the olive shall fail [margin, ‘lie’],” or a
farm that belies his hopes.”
*
3 “They shall not dwell in
the Lord’s land; but Ephraim shall
return to
Lord’s land was
symbol of the Shechinah-glory, and
which He gave to
was
frustrated by their sin. The remaining clauses of the verse may be
understood either that
Ephraim would return to
but
to no purpose, — for they would be carried away captive and be compelled
to
eat unclean things in the
of
them would go as exiles into
explanation is much to be preferred; while with regard to
thus understood would re-echo an older prophecy in Deuteronomy 28:68, “The
Lord shall bring
thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake
unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto
your enemies for
bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.” In
would be impossible to conform to the requirements of the Law,
according
to
which the eating of certain animals was prohibited. There is yet
another interpretation, which takes
while
state of hard bondage and sore oppression, such as
in
the days of yore.
4 “They shall not offer
wine offerings to the Lord, neither
shall they be pleasing unto Him: their sacrifices shall be unto
them the
bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted:” - Having
predicted their inability to observe the ritual distinctions between
clean and
unclean, which the Law prescribed, whether from the tyranny of
their
oppressors or from scarcity, or from the absence of sanctification by
the
presentation of the firstfruits, the prophet
proceeds to predict their
cessation altogether. Such is the prophet’s picture of their miserable
position in
out
libations to the Lord when they could; now the time shall come when
they may wish to make such libations, but cannot.” According to the
Massoretic punctuation and the common rendering, which is that of the
Authorized Version, the people themselves are the subject
of the second
verb. They were neither able to offer drink offerings, a part for the whole
of
the meat offerings and unbloody oblations; nor, if
they did, could they
hope for acceptance for them away from the sanctuary and its central altar.
Hitzig supplies niskeyhens,
their drink offerings, from the foregoing
clause, as subject to the verb of the following one, and the verb
is
explained by some in the sense of “mire.” If we neglect the segholta, and make
zibh-chehem the subject, the
meaning is clearer, and the contrast between the
unbloody and bloody offerings more obvious; thus: “They will not
pour out
libations of wine to Jehovah, nor will their sacrifices [equivalent
to ‘bloody
oblations’] please Him,” that is to say, not such as were actually
offered, but
such as they might feel disposed to offer. The same noun may be repeated in
the
next clause; thus, their sacrifices, or rather slaughtered meats, are unto Him
as
bread of mourners, or, what is better, their food (supplied from ke lechem)
shall be unto them like bread of mourners. Mourners’ bread is that eaten
at
a funeral feast, or meal by persons mourning for the dead, and which
was
legally unclean, since a corpse defiled the house in which it was and all
who
entered it for seven days, as we read in Numbers 19:14, “This is
the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that
is in the tent,
shall be unclean seven days.” Of course,
all who partook of
the
food would be polluted; so with that of
unsanctified by the offering of firstfruits -
“for their bread for their soul
shall not come into the house of the Lord.” “Their bread for their soul,”
that is, for appeasing their appetite, whatsoever their soul lusted after,
or
bread for the preservation of their life, would not come into
the house of
the
Lord to be sanctified by representative offerings.
5 “What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the
feast of the Lord?”
On such occasions they would feel the misery of
their position most keenly. Away
in
a far foreign land, without temple and without ritual, they would bewail
the
loss of their annual celebrations, their national festivals and religious
solemnities — those holiday-times of general joy and spiritual
gladness.
The distinction between moed
and chag is variously given. By Grotius and
Rosenmüller moed is referred to one of the three annual
feasts — Passover,
Pentecost, and Tabernacles; and chag to any of the other feasts,
including the
new
moon. Others restrict chag to the Feast of Tabernacles, or harvest
festival,
the
most joyous of them all. Keil makes the words synonymous,
except that in
chag festival joy is made
prominent.
The Solemn Days of Life (v. 5)
“What will ye do in the solemn
day?” “What will ye do in the day of
assembly? — when ye shall be despoiled of everything by the Assyrians;
for
the
Israelites who remained in the land after its subjection to the Assyrians
did
worship the true God, and offer unto Him the sacrifices appointed by
the
Law, though in an imperfect manner; and it was a great mortification to
them to be deprived of their religious festivals in the land of strangers”
(Elzas). The “solemn day”
here evidently refers to one of the great Jewish
feasts, either the Feast of the Passover, the Pentecost, or of
the
Tabernacles; and the literal meaning seems to be — What will you children
of
Abraham do when you are deprived by tyrannic
strangers of the
privilege of attending those solemn assemblies? Though the word
“assembly”
would be a better rendering than “solemn,”
yet inasmuch as
these festive assemblies were very solemn, and the privation of
them of all
things the most solemn, we shall accept the word for purposes of
practical
application. There are SOLEMN DAYS AWAITING ALL OF US
and
the appeal in the text is evermore BEFITTING and
URGENT!
The day comes either by
disease, accident, or infirmities of age, when,
Withdrawn from scenes of
business, pleasure, or profession, we shall be
confined to some lonely room, and languish on the couch of
suffering and
exhaustion. Such a day must come to all, and such a day will be
“SOLEMN” — a day with but little light in the firmament of earthly
life,
a day of darkness, and perhaps of tempests. “What
will ye do in the
solemn day?” What can you do? You will not be
able to extricate yourself
from the sad condition. No man can raise himself out of that physical suffering
and weakness that are destined to come on his frame. WHAT WILL
YOU
DO AS TO BE
SUSTAINED IN SOUL? SKEPTICAL REASONING
be of no service! the
recollections of past life will be of no service!
“What will ye do in that solemn day?”
of the charm of life is in our social loves, the love of
partners, parents,
children, friends. The time must come when RUTHLESS DEATH
will tear them from
the heart. THIS WILL BE A SOLEMN DAY!
What a dark day with the soul is that
when we return from the grave
where we have left for ever some dear object of the heart, and
when we
enter the home where the loved one was the center and charm of
the
circle! Truly, a sunless, saddening day is this. And yet such a day must
come to all. “What
will ye do in this solemn
day?” What will you do
for consolation? What word of comfort has science to offer?
(Good luck
with secular grievance counselors – CY – 2012) – WHAT HAS THE
WORLD TO PRESENT? What will you
do?
“What man is he that liveth and shall not see death?” “There is no man that
hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath
he power in
the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; NEITHER
SHALL WICKEDNESS
DELIVER THOSE THAT ARE GIVEN
TO IT” (Ecclesiastes 8:8).What a “solemn day” is this! All earthly
connections dissolving, the world receding, eternity parting its awful
folds.
What will ye do in this day, WHEN HEART AND FLESH SHALL
FAIL? WHAT WILL
SUSTAIN YOUR SPIRIT THEN? Will you
count your wealth? Will you gather about your dying bed your
worldly
companions? Will you seek to bury the remembrance of your past life?
Something must be
done — this you
will feel; BUT WHAT?
before the judgment-seat of Christ.” What a day will that be! A “great
and notable” day. “Howl ye, for the
day of the Lord is at hand.” What will ye
do? Will ye call “to the
mountains and rocks to fall on you, and hide
you from the eyes of
him that sitteth on the throne, and from the
wrath of the
Lamb”? (Revelation
6:12-17) TO WHAT AVAIL?
How does one react to JESUS CHRIST, THE
SON OF GOD,
when He says, “I KNOW YOU NOT!”
DEPART FROM ME, YE
CURSED, INTO
EVERLASTING FIRE, PREPARED FOR
THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS?????? (I recommend
How to Be Saved - # 5 – this web site – CY – 2012)
“‘Tis not the
Stoic’s lessons, got by rote,
The pomp
of words and pedant dissertations,
That
can sustain thee in that hour of terror:
Books
have taught cowards to talk nobly of it,
But
when the trial comes they stand aghast.
Hast thou
considered what may happen after it?
How thy account may stand, and what the answer?”
(Nicholas Rowe.)
Thank God, the Christian who has been
washed in the Blood of the Lamb
can say:
“I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor
principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
6 “For, lo, they are gone
because of destruction:
gather them up,
in
prophetic vision; and in consequence and because of its certainty he
speaks of it as having already taken place. The destruction is
the desolation
and
wasting of their native land, because of which, or away from which and
leaving it behind, they are gone. The land of their banishment was
the land
of
their bondage. There, far from the
land of their birth, they were doomed
to die and to be gathered together for a common burial.
ancient capital of
the
extensive burial-grounds, while amid those ruins is the village of
Mitrahenni.
Kimchi identifies Moph with
Noph - “the pleasant places for
their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in
their
tabernacles.” The literal rendering of the first clause is, their
cherished
delight of silver. By this
some understand silver idols; others, valuables in
silver; the Jewish commentators, the houses of the precious
treasures of their
silver — so Rashi; “Their precious
buildings where their silver treasures
were” — so Kimchi; Jerome understands their
mansions and all the ornaments
of
their mansions purchased by silver; Keil also has,
“houses ornamented and
filled with the precious metals.” This explanation is pretty
generally accepted,
and
appears to us to deserve the preference. Their former homes, so
pleasant and so richly decorated, were so utterly desolate and
deserted that
thorns and thistles overspread them. But the sentence is
differently translated
and
explained by Rosenmüller and some others; thus: “Moph (
bury them out of desire for their silver.” This violent divulsion
destroys the
parallelism of the second hemistich, besides ignoring the athnach. The Septuagint
again puzzled by the word machmad,
mistook it for a proper name:
“Therefore, behold, they go forth from the trouble of
Egypt, and Memphis
shall receive them, and Machmas (Μάχμας -
Machmas) shall
bury them.”
Thus we have a thrilling picture
of distress. First comes the destruction of their
native city; having looked their last look on the ruins where once stood their
home,
they have set forth — a miserable band of pilgrims — to the land of the
stranger, and that stranger their conqueror and oppressor; they have
reached the
place
of exile, there to find, not a home, BUT A GRAVE and not a single grave
for
each, according to the Jews’ mode of sepulture to the present day, but a
common place of burial into which they are huddled together,
them and
once happy homesteads, richly decorated and expensively
adorned, are left
utterly desolate — A HERITAGE FOR THORNS AND THISTLES.
Sin is the Cause of Sorrow and the Source of
Sadness (vs. 1-6)
The merrymaking of wicked people is often both hollow and
heartless; it is
always without true ground or real cause; while the laughter of
fools is like
the
crackling of thorns under a pot. The people
of Israel were jubilant at
the time referred to. The
reason of their jubilation does not distinctly
appear. It may have arisen from some losses having been
retrieved, or
some advantages gained, or some successes achieved, or some useful
alliances secured, or the ordinary joy of harvest. Whatever it was, there
was no good cause for it nor continuance of it. “Joy
is forbidden fruit to
wicked people.” Among
the losses which sin entails are, as
we learn from
the
verses before us, the following:
Ø
Religion makes
men joyful as well as cheerful. “Rejoice in the
Lord always,” is the
exhortation of an apostle, and an exhortation
which he repeats
(Philippians 4:4). The joy of the Lord is our
strength (Nehemiah
8:10). How different with the wicked!
They deprive themselves of
all real joy. They may be outwardly
prosperous and rejoice in that prosperity; but the wrath of God
abideth on
them, and a worm is at the root of their joy.
Ø
The professing people
of God sometimes envy the seeming
prosperity of the wicked (Psalm73:3, 17-20) ; seeing the outward
success of sinners, they are tempted to imitate their works and
ways.
They forget that in doing
so their sin is more heinous than that of
other people; it is aggravated by their engagement to be the
Lord’s,
by the vows of God which are upon them, and by the various
means and motives which they enjoy for pursuing the right course.
Their sin is thus greater
than that of other people; they are therefore
forbidden to rejoice with the ordinary joy of other people. It. was
thus with
relation, they went a-whoring from their God, and committed
spiritual adultery by following idols.
Ø
Some men make a
profession of religion for sake of worldly gain;
they calculate the benefits, pecuniary, professional,
political, or
social, which they expect from religion; they estimate religion by
the outward advantages which they think to derive from it; or,
what is much the same, they profess that religion or attach
themselves to that denomination from which they hope for the
greatest gain. Thus Israel attributed to her spiritual harlotry
any temporary prosperity she enjoyed; it was her idols she
thanked
for any season of plenty that she was favored with; she loved
a
reward on every corn-floor. Thus her religion
was mercenary, her
idolatry shameful, her prosperous state of short continuance, and
her joy ill founded as evanescent.
INFREQUENTLY FOLLOWS FROM A COURSE OF SIN.
A CAREER
OF SIN has often reduced a man to a morsel of bread, or
left him without bread altogether. When men are
bent on the obtainment
of worldly blessings, and make them their chief end, they
are often denied
the blessings which they covet: frequently they are
disappointed of them;
more frequently are they disappointed in them; even when they
secure
them they fail to find the satisfaction which they seek. “The floor and the
wine-press shall not feed them” (v.2), says the
prophet; “much less feast
them,” quaintly but truly observes an old commentator, adding, “It shall
either be blasted by the hand of God or plundered by the hand of man;
the new wine with which they used to make merry shall fail in her. We
forfeit the good things of the world if we love them as the best things.”
FROM SINFUL INDULGENCE. A time of famine necessarily becomes
a time of extensive emigration. But, apart from seasons of
scarcity, when
men are forced, in order to procure the means of a decent
livelihood, to
seek a home and a country in some distant land, it is no rare
occurrence for
men to find themselves expatriated through their own vices. When they
beggar themselves by vicious indulgence, their last resort is a
foreign land.
In the case of Israel the hardship
was peculiarly distressful. The land of
promise was, in a special sense, “the Lord’s land;” it was
a good land, a
gladsome land. How glowing as well as eloquent the eulogy bestowed
upon it by the sacred writer when
thy God bringeth thee into a good
land, a land of brooks of water, of
fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of
wheat,
and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land
of oil olive,
and honey; a Land wherein thou shalt
eat bread without scarceness, thou
shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and
out of whose
hills thou mayest dig brass” (Deuteronomy 8:9).
Besides these blessings of
a temporal kind,possessed by that
land into which the Lord had led
it was the Lord’s land because of the spiritual privileges
enjoyed there. It
was distinguished by HIS
SPECIAL FAVOR AND PRESENCE, it was
the home of His priests and prophets; it was the seat of His
holy oracle, and
in all respects a delightsome land (Malachi 3:12). But Israel
had forfeited
their title to it. It had been leased to them by the Lord, but
by their idolatries
and many sins they had broken every clause in that lease; and
now they must
turn their back on this land which the Lord had given them. They had loved
idols, and NOW TO THE
bondage in
“shall
not only cease to feed them, but cease to lodge them, and to be a
habitation for them; it shall spew them out, as it had done the
Canaanites
before them.” Their performance of outward ceremonies had not
sprung
from a principle of love to the Divine Law; now they are no
longer in a
position, even if they are disposed, to obey that Law. They had
abused the
abundance of good things which God had given them; now for very want
they must eat unclean things as repugnant to their feelings as
opposed to
their ritual. They had shown an infatuated fondness for idols in
their own
land, the Lord’s land; now they must eat the unclean things
offered to idols
in a foreign land. Great had been their sinfulness, great in
degree and similar
in kind is their
punishment.
CONSEQUENCE OF THEIR SINS. One of the greatest privations is the
loss of the public ordinances of religion. Though the enjoyment
of them
when possessed may be little valued, the
withdrawal of them is severely
felt. There is no famine more distressing than that of hearing the
Word of
the Lord. (“Behold
the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a
famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, BUT
OF HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD” - Amos 8:11).
Unfaithfulness to the light men have
has often caused the
candlestick to be removed out of its place. So with Israel at the
period to
which the prophet refers. They were deprived of libation as well
as
oblation, and of every offering whatever. Without the material,
they were
also without the means of offering any acceptable sacrifice. In
a heathen
land they were necessarily without sanctuary and altar and
priest. How sad
their condition! And sadder still when they felt it to be the legitimate
consequence of their sin, NATIONAL, SOCIAL and INDIVIDUAL!
OF THEIR LOSS OF RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES. The solemn day,
or day of the
feast of the Lord, as often as it came round, was a high day
as well as a holy
day; a day of joy and gladness, of thanksgiving and praise.
Besides the weekly sabbath solemnity and the monthly
solemnity of the
new moons, there were the three great annual festivals of the
Passover,
Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Of the benefit and blessing of these
solemnities, with all their instruction, edification, comfort, and
encouragement, they are now deprived. No wonder the prophet asks in a
tone of pity, not unmingled with pathos, “What will ye do then?” To this
inquiry a practical commentator makes the following not inappropriate
reply: “You will then
spend those days in sorrow and lamentation, which,
if it had not been your fault, you might have
been spending in JOY and
PRAISE! You
will then be made to know the worth of mercies by the
want of them, and to prize spiritual bread by being made to feel a famine
of it.” To this he adds the pithy remark, “When we enjoy the means of
grace, we ought to consider what we shall do if ever we should know the
want of them; if either they should be taken from us, or we disabled to
attend upon them.”
SAD SUMMARY OF THE EVIL EFFECTS OF SIN. Never was there a
darker outlook, never was there a gloomier prospect! What havoc
sin
works! What distress it occasions! In a single verse are crowded
together:
Ø
the destruction of
their country by one heathen power, that of Assyria;
Ø
their dispersion in
the country of another, namely, Egypt;
Ø
their death in that
foreign land,
Ø
their deprivation of
decent sepulture (burial;
Ø
the desolation of the
dwellings they had left behind — a desolation
so great that nettles had sprung up in their treasuries and
thorns in
their tabernacles; nor was respite, or relief, or restoration to
be
expected.
They had deluded themselves with
false hopes and had resorted to
carnal
devices, distrustful of God, as men often do, and with like result. Instead
of returning to that God against whom they had rebelled, and
who might
have opened to them a door of hope, they departed more and more
from
Him, placing their dependence on
the sinful, unavailing shifts of their own
devising.
The next three verses describe the season and source of
punishment.
7 “The days of visitation
are come, the days of recompense are come;” -
Commentators have appropriately compared the Vergilian “Venit summa
dies, et irreluctabile tempus,” equivalent to “THE FINAL DAY AND
INEVITABLE HOUR IS COME.”
“Israel
shall know it: the prophet is
a fool, the spiritual man is mad,” - Here the prophet and
the man of the
spirit (margin) are the false prophets which pretended to
inspiration, and
flattered the people with false hopes and vain promises of
safety and prosperity;
and thus helped to
confirm them in their sinful courses. The object of
knowledge, though not introduced by ki,
is the folly of such false prophets,
and
the madness of such pretenders to prophetic inspiration. That ish
ruach may be used of a
false prophet as well as of a true one is proved
from ish holekh
ruach, a man walking in the spirit, applied by
Micah 2:11
to
one of these pretenders: “If a man walking
in the spirit and
falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of
strong
drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.” Israel is doomed to
know by
bitter experience the folly and madness of those prophets who
deceived and duped the people by lies soon detected, and their own
folly
and madness
in giving ear to the delusive prospects they held forth. (For
lawyers, college professors, psuedo-philosophes,
spin-doctors, politicians,
and
the general populace who love to have it so! – see Jeremiah 5:31 – CY
– 2012)
This explanation agrees with Kimchi’s
comment: “Then shall they
confess, and say to the prophets of lies, who had led them astray,
and had
said to them, Peace (in time of greatest peril) — then shall they say unto
them, A fool the prophet, a madman the man of spirit.” The predicate
precedes the subject for emphasis, and the article prefixed to the
subject
exhausts the class of those false prophets.
Aben Ezra, Ewald, and many others
understand the prophet and
spiritual man to mean true prophets, which the people called fools
and
madmen, and treated is such, contemning and persecuting them. Thus
Aben Ezra: “The days of recompense are come to you from God,
who will
recompense you who said to the prophet of God, He is a fool, and to
the
man
in whom the spirit of God was, He is mad.” The word meshuggah
is
properly the participle Paul used as a substantive, and kindred in
meaning
μάντις – mantis - of the Greek,
from μαίνομαι –
mainomai – maniac –
to be frenzied. Compare
Ezekiel 13:10 and Jeremiah 28:15; and II Kings 9:11.
The Septuagint has καὶ κακωθήσεται – kai kakothaesetai - equivalent to
“And shall be
afflicted,” taking, according to Jerome, yod
for vav, and daleth
for
resh; while
Jerome himself translates scitote, as if
reading W[d] – “for
the
multitude of thine iniquity, and the great
hatred.” The source of all was
SIN. The visitation threatened, which was
retributive — a recompense —
was
for the greatness of their iniquity. The last clause is thus dependent on
and
closely connected with the first, עַל ruling
the construction first as a
preposition, then as a conjunction: “And because the enmity is great.”
Ewald says, “If the first member states a reason (e.g. by using
the
preposition עַל,
on account of, because of, and the following infinitive),
the
meaning requires that, whenever a finite verb follows, the conjunction
‘because’ shall be employed in
forming the continuation.” The hatred was
that
of
messengers; though others understand
it of the hatred of God against
transgressors who had provoked His just indignation. The exposition
in
red immediately above suits the context, and is supported by the
following verse.
The Sin of Despising God’s Prophets (v. 7)
Every preacher of righteousness has to endure now and again
the misunderstanding
or
the misrepresentation of some of those whom he addresses in the Name of the
Lord. It is not
to be desired that all men should speak well of him. The servant is
not above his Master (John 13:16) and no calumny was too base, no blasphemy
too
enormous, for the enemies of Jesus to
assail Him with. (Matthew 10:24-25)
SLIGHT AND WITH CONTEMPT FROM MEN.
Ø
The charges brought: “The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is
mad.”
Hosea and other prophets,
from Noah down to the last of the order, had to
contend with such foolish and wicked calumnies. As a shield for their own
folly, sinners profess to find folly in those who rebuke them.
Ø
The motives which
prompt to such charges. Sometimes it is done by the
mistake of the unspiritual, who, to their shame, know no better,
because of
their insensibility to Divine realities, because of the low level upon
which
they live. Sometimes
by the malice and calumnious willfulness of
opponents of truth and goodness, who hate nothing so much as to be
rebuked for their evil deeds.
(Notice the reaction of Cain towards his
brother Abel – I John 4:12 – CY – 2012)
Ø
The conduct which
calls forth such charges. Usually the real ground of
hostility to prophets and to faithful preachers has been the
interference
which has aimed rebukes at prevalent sins. Thus the real fools and
madmen are not the ministers of
God’s word, BUT THOSE
WHO DESPISE IT AND
BLASPHEME.
BE VINDICATED BY GOD.
Whilst
unbelieving and impenitent
sinners (fools) make a mock at sin (Proverbs 14:9), and
jeer at those who
condemn sin, GOD THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE, observes the treatment
with
which His servants meet.
Ø
God approves and advances
His faithful messengers, None can serve
Him faithfully and be
neglected or passed over. The good and faithful
servant, who has been deemed a madman by those themselves
infatuated and
mentally intoxicated with sin, shall
be commended
and exalted in due time.
Ø
God will Himself punish the mockers in the days of visitation and.
recompense. “He, that being often reproved hardeneth
his neck,
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Proverbs
29:1)
8 “The watchman of Ephraim
was with my God:” - This rendering
is
manifestly inaccurate, as the first noun is in the absolute, not in
the construct
state; the right rendering, therefore, is either, “A watchman is Ephraim with my
God;” or,
“The watchman, O Ephraim, is with my
God.” If we adopt
Aben Ezra’s explanation of the prophet and spiritual man as true prophets whom
the
people jeeringly and scornfully called fools, fanatics, and madmen, the
meaning
of this clause of the next verse presents
little difficulty. The prophet
makes common cause with these divided prophets: his God was their God, and,
however men treated
them, they
were under Divine protection. The
sense of the
im, with, in this case is
well given by Pusey as follows: “The true
prophet was at
all times with God. He was with God, as holden by God, watching or looking
out and on into the future by the help of God. He was with God, as walking with
God
in a constant sense of His presence, and in continual communion with Him.
He was with God, as associated by God with himself in
teaching, warning,
correcting,
exhorting His people, as the apostle
says, We then are workers
together with Him (II
Corinthians 6:1). In the next clause
the false prophet is
described by way of contrast as a snare. The word צופֶה is properly
a participle,
and
Ephraim is thus exhibited by the prophet as on the outlook, not for counsel and
help beside or apart from God, as Gesenius
understands it; but as on the outlook
for
revelations and prophecies along with my God; i.e. Ephraim,
not satisfied with
the genuine prophets, had prophets of his own,
which spake to the people
according to their wish (Like Ahab had his Zedekiah – I Kings 22:11-28 – CY –
2012). This exposition is in the main supported by Rashi
and Kimchi: the former
says, “They appoint for
themselves prophets of their own;” and Kimchi more
fully
thus, “Ephraim has
appointed for himself a watchman (or
seer) at the side of his
God; and he is
the false prophet who speaks his prophecy in the name of
his
God.” - “but the prophet is a snare
of a fowler in (over) all his ways,
and hatred in the house of his God.” We may
understand the prophet of this
clause as the false prophet
who is like the snare of a bird-catcher over all the
people’s path, to entangle, entrap, and draw them into destruction
He is, moreover, inspired with hostility — a man of
rancorous spirit
against God and His true prophets. “This prophet of lies,” says Aben Ezra,
“is a snare of the bird-catcher.”
Similarly Kimchi says in his exposition,
“This prophet is for Ephraim on all his ways as the snare
of the bird-catcher
that catcheth the fowls; so they catch Ephraim in
the words of their
prophets.” Some
understand “prophet” in the middle clause of the verse as the
true prophet, and the snare as the hostility and traps which
the people prepared
for
the messengers of God; so Rashi: “For the true
prophets they lay snares
to
catch them.” According to this exposition we must render, “As for the
prophet, the snare of the bird-catcher is over all his ways. In the last
clause,
“house of his God,” may
mean the temple of the true God, or the idol-temple;
thus Aben Ezra: “Enmity is in the house of his
god;” while Kimchi thinks either
sense admissible: “We may understand ביה אי
of the house of the calves, which
were his god, and the false prophet acted there as prophet, and caused
enmity
between himself and God; or we may explain it of the house of the
true God,
that is, the house of the sanctuary.” Thus the hostility may refer to the
prophet
himself, of which he is the subject or the object according to Kimchi just cited,
or
the detestable idol-worship, or perhaps the Divine displeasure against the
false
prophet and the people led astray by him.
9 “They have deeply
corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah:” - The
historical event here alluded to was the abominable and
infamous treatment of
the
Levite’s concubine by the men of Gibeah. This
was the foulest blot on Israel’s
history during all the rule of the judges. For the
loathsome particulars, Judges 19
may
be consulted. The construction is peculiar. The two verbs yv yh are
coordinated appositionally; “The leading verb, which in meaning is the
leading one, is subordinated more palpably by being placed
alongside of the
preceding verb without a joining and” (Ewald).
The former verb is often
constructed with an infinitive, and sometimes with a noun. Some trace
the
reference, as already stated, to the
enormity of the men of Gibeah in
relation to the Levite’s concubine; others to the election of Saul,
who was
of
Gibeah, to be king. Rashi
mentions both: “Some say it was Gibeah of
Benjamin in the matter of the concubine; but others say it was Gibeah of
Saul, when they demanded for themselves a king and rebelled
against the
words of the prophet” (I Samuel 9 and 10) - “therefore He will remember
their iniquity, He will visit their sins.” The sin of Gibeah was fearfully
avenged; its punishment resulted in almost the total
extinction of a tribe in
that of Benjamin. And as
gives them to understand first implicitly that like punishment
would
overtake them, then he explicitly denounces visitation for their
iniquity and
retribution for their sin. The clause thus closes, as it commenced,
with THE
SAD NOTE OF COMING CALAMITY!
No Joy nor
Peace, to the Sinner (vs. 7-9)
However far men put away from them the evil day, they
can neither STAVE
IT OFF nor DELAY ITS COMING!
SINNERS. In the
previous verse the prophetic past is used, to intimate
that, though the event predicted had not yet taken place, yet
was it as sure
of accomplishment as if it had already occurred. Here the
words “are
come” are repeated to
apprise sinners of its certainty; thus we read in the
same tense, and with like repetition, “
21:9; Revelation 14:8). So also in Ezekiel 7:6, “An end is come, the end is
come… behold, it is come;” while in the verse preceding, and in the one
succeeding, the same expression is repeated to impress men with the fact
of the threatened judgments being both sure and near, and thus prevent
self-deception. (II Peter 3:10
assures us that “THE DAY OF THE
LORD WILL COME!” CY – 2012)
Ø
They are days of Divine visitation. Men’s sins shall be searched
out and brought to light; they shall be scrutinized by the
omniscient
and heart-searching God.
Ø
They are days of recompense, when not only shall an exact
account be taken, but a just recompense of reward dealt out to each
according as his work shall be. The
recompense shall correspond to
the visitation; the stricter the former, the juster
and more exact the
latter.
Ø
They are days near
at hand, so near as well as certain
that THEY
SPOKEN OF AS ALREADY COME!
prophet here mentioned is
Ø
the false prophet, he
deluded the people with false hopes, and God
gave the people over to strong delusion that they might believe a
lie
(II Thessalonians
2:7-12) (I believe with all my hear that
this is
what has happened [God giving us up] and what is happening [the
believing of lies] in the
prophets being THE STRANGLEHOLD
THE SECULAR
MEDIA ATTEMPTS
TO PROPRAGATE TODAY – CY – 2012)
They awake not out of their
day-dreeam UNTIL
ROUSED BY THE
VISITATION AND RECOMPENSE of the
ALMIGHTY GOD!
God, by afflictive
dispensations, has to stir men up when milder
means have failed.
Ø
But the prophet
mentioned may be a true prophet, and it may only be
in the estimation of the people that he is fool and madman. In
this
case, those that thus
treated him with contempt and ridicule shall be
awakened by THE VISITATIONS OF THE ALMIGHTY to a
sense of their sin and shame.
Ø
Then shall they know, as
stated in the first clause, not only the
NEARNESS and
CERTAINTY of the DIVINE VISITATION
and
RECOMPENSE, but shall also know that a prophet had
been among them, that he had discernment of the times, and
had faithfully conveyed to them the message of God.
Ø
They shall know too, to
their cost and by bitter experience, many
things about God, about His ambassadors, and about their own
heartless misconduct. They shall know, says an old divine,
these things:
o
What a great God
they had to deal with,
o
How vile a thing sin
is.
o
The vanity of
all their shiftings.
o
The dreadfulness
of Divine wrath.
o
The faithfulness
of God’s prophets.
o
The wisdom of
those who dared not do as they did.
o
The folly and vanity
of all the false prophets that did before
seduce them.”
OF THEIR SINS. Faults
in their life, as is not unusual with wicked men,
bred errors in the brain. Their iniquity had been great and aggravated, and,
in addition to their multiplied iniquity, they were just
objects of hatred and
subjects of the same — at once “hateful and hating.” Besides their
vile
heart and wicked life, they
hated God, His
ambassadors, His ways, and.
all godliness. Could
they fail to be children of wrath while their carnal mind
was thus enmity to God? (Romans 8:7) - It was reasonable that
God should
abandon such persons to prophets of lies, to deceive and undo
their souls; or,
on the other hand, it was in keeping with the malignity of
their hearts and the
malice of their nature to calumniate the prophets of the Lord and
vilify
them as fools and madmen (How could the critics of Noah
building the ark,
be any more sarcastic, sporting, or critical of him and his
God, than those
of the nightly major news networks, cable channels or talk
shows are today
of God and fundamental Christianity? – CY – 2012); while the
fact of
accounting them so, aggravated their sins, hastened the fast-coming
visitation,
and intensified the recompense of reward. (Dear Reader, today we need
the mindset of Moses: “By
faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three
months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper
child; and they
were not afraid of the king’s
commandment. By faith Moses, when he
was come to years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season; Esteeming the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt: FOR HE HAD
RESPECT UNTO THE
RECOMPENSE OF THE REWARD.”
Hebrews 11:23-25 – CY – 2012)
10 “I found Israel like
grapes in the wilderness; I saw your
fathers as the first-ripe in the fig tree at her first time:” Grapes and first
figs are among the choicest and most refreshing fruits; but to find such
delicious fruits in a dry, barren wilderness is specially grateful
and
delightful. There are three possible constructions of bammidhbor:
According to the first, which, on the whole, seems
preferable, the meaning
is,
“I found
God’s good will towards and delight in
exhausted traveler in a wilderness are a real boon, refreshing and
strengthening him for continuing his journey and reaching his
destination.
Rashi gives the sense clearly and concisely thus: “As grapes
which are
precious and delicious in a desert, even so have I loved
in
his exposition, refers to Deuteronomy 32:10, “He found him in a
desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him
about, he
instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye;” and then adds, “As
grapes in a wilderness
where no one dwells; every one that finds them
rejoices in them, and so
in the first-ripe figs.” The comment of Kimchi is
fuller and more satisfactory: “As
a man, when he finds grapes in the
wilderness which is dry and
fruitless, rejoices over them; and as he rejoices
when he finds a
first-fruit in the fig tree in its beginning; even so have I
found
lacked nothing, equally
as if they had been in an inhabited land; but they
have not recognized my
goodness.” As the fig harvest is rather
late in
and
are regarded as a delicacy. The comparison then is, according to Rashi,
with the “early fig on the fig tree, which is ripe; like the fig on the fig
tree
in
its beginning, i.e. in the beginning of the ripening of the
figs;” then he
subjoins, “Even so did your
fathers appear in my eyes, that I loved them.”
- “but they went to Baal-peor,
and separated themselves unto that
shame;” -
fell away
from Him, forgot His benefits, and turned aside to the abominable
idols of the
surrounding Gentiles. As Aben Ezra somewhat pathetically
expresses it, “Yet my joy was only small and of short duration, for
they did
homage to Baal-peor, and separated
themselves from me.” Long, therefore,
before the sin of Gibeah they
transgressed in Baal-poor; in the early period
of
their history they apostatized and proved unfaithful to Jehovah (Numbers
25).
To this hideous god, corresponding to Priapus
of the Greeks, the maidens
of
overheard a person on a sitcom say “this is the outfit in which I plan to lose
my virginity” AND IT WASN’T A
BRIDAL GOWN –
Now I would like to
ask what possible contribution could a statement
or show like this, contribute to
the “general welfare of the people of the
behavior is very similar to what we are learning,
brought the house down in
the days of Hosea – CY – 2012)
The Israelites were designed to be Nazarites,
that is, separated to Jehovah and
consecrated to His service, but they separated themselves unto that
shame, either
the
idol or his worship -“and their abominations
were according as they loved.”
If men are slaves to appetite, they make a god of their
belly; if to lust, Baal-peor
is
their god; and men become like what they worship, and abominable as the idols
they serve, as the psalmist says, “They
that make them are like unto them; so is
every one that trusteth in them” (Psalm 115:8). They
“became abominations like
their lover” (ohabh, paramour;
namely, Baal-peor), that is, as abominable and
loathsome in the sight of God as the idols which they adulterously
worshipped.
Having referred to the most flagrant instances of
Gibeah in the time of the judges, Baal-peor
at a still earlier period even in the days
of
Moses, and having merely indicated the parallel between their present sin and
previous enormities, in the
last four verses, the prophet proceeds to denounce the
punishments deserved and ready
to descend upon them.
11 “As for Ephraim,
their glory shall fly away like a bird, from
the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.” The
greatest
glory, perhaps, of Ephraim was their fruitfulness — “double
fruitfulness”
being the very meaning of the name and the multiplication of
their
numbers; now that glory of their numbers was to vanish speedily
and
entirely, like birds winging their way swiftly and out of sight.
After the
figure comes the fact, and it is expressed in anti-climactic form
— no
childbearing, no pregnancy, no conception. The course of barrenness
takes the
place of the blessing of fruitfulness.
God’s Goodness Met with Ingratitude by a
Sinful People (vs. 10-11)
Instead of repenting of their sins, they persevered in
their rebellion against
God. As if God overlooked or connived at their enormities, they added
their deep corruption in the matter of Gibeah,
in the days of the judges, to
the
iniquity of Baal-peor at a still earlier period;
while the sins of Gibeah
and
Baal-peor were equaled
by those of the prophet’s own day.
sainted sires had been the favorites of Heaven; the fathers and
founders
of their race had sought God’s “face and favor free;” and,
walking in His
ways, enjoyed His benediction.
Ø
God’s pleasure in the
piety of His people is truly astonishing,
though that piety is entirely traceable to His own gracious
dealings with them. When a weary wanderer in a wilderness
comes upon grapes rich and ripe, or figs the first and finest of
the season, how he is refreshed by fruits so rare and
luscious!
Such is the strong and
suggestive figure by which God expresses
His delight in His servants
of old; nor does He take less delight
in them in the present than in the ancient days. Men like Abraham
the faithful, or Isaac the meditative, or Jacob the
prayerful, or
Joseph the pure, or Moses
the meek, ENJOY THE SUNSHINE
OF GOD’S FAVOR
STILL!
Ø
Where much is
given much is required (Luke
12:48). If God thus
delights in His people, surely His people should delight in God.
If God views with such complacency the fruit of His own
Spirit’s
operations in the hearts of His people, and the
effects of His own
grace seen reflected in their lives, surely it is our
bounden duty
as well as high privilege to reciprocate in some measure THE
DIVINE GOODNESS, delighting in the
Divine ordinances,
living in the Divine service, and promoting the Divine glory.
Ø
God is particularly
delighted with the first-fruits,
and not only
so, but with FIRST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS! Here is special
encouragement to the young to devote themselves early to God,
and early to delight themselves in Him. (“Remember now
thy Creator in the days of thy youth…..” -
Ecclesiastes 12:1;
“My son, give me thine heart” – (Proverbs
232:26). They are
invited to give their young hearts to God when the dew of their
youth is heavy upon them — when their perception is keen, their
conscience tender, their affections warm, and their memory
retentive (Something that I can appreciate at 69 years of age –
CY – 2012)
desert land, and as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first
time; but the
degenerate descendants of such
godly ancestry had become like fruit bitter
and sour. They resembled fruitless fig trees, or the wild vine with
its small
harsh berries; and that, notwithstanding all Jehovah’s care and
culture
Isaiah 5:1-5), they had long
ceased to walk in the ways or follow the steps
of their godly forefathers. The holiness of those
forefathers, refreshing as
grapes of best quality and figs of the first growth to the heart
of God, was
no longer to be found; their
fruit was sour, their ways corrupt.
The God
of their fathers had ceased to be their God. “Oh! it is a comfortable thing,”
says an old divine, “when a child is able to say, as Exodus
15:2, ‘My God,’
and “My father’s
God.” “God
was my father’s God, and delighted in my
father; and, BLESSED BE HIS NAME, HE
IS MY GOD, and I hope
He has some delight in me.” (God has been faithful to you and me since
Adam. If just one of our ancestors had not made it,
you
or I WOULD
NOT EXIST! Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that God “sings” over or about
you and me! As critical as I am of tattoos, because God has told us to
put no marks on our bodies (Leviticus 19:28), is not it wonderful that
God has engraved us on His hand for remembrance!!!! – Isaiah 49:16;
see Song of Solomon 8:6 - CY – 2012)
adds emphasis) went to Baal-peor.
Ø
Here they are either
contrasted with their godly forefathers, or
the contrast is rather between God’s care and goodness on the
one hand, and their
ingratitude and baseness on the other.
The
complaint of God resembles that of a fond and indulgent husband
who has lavished his love on a worthless wife, and who, to his
unspeakable mortification, discovers that he has been cherishing
an adulteress. Instead of reciprocating his affection, she
plays the
wanton; instead of a suitable return for his many acts of
kindness,
tenderness, and care, she dishonors him by turning aside
to some base adulterer. So with Israel when they turned from
the
living God to dumb idols; so with any people who, instead of
setting their affections on God, transfer them to any earthly,
sensual, or sinful object.
Ø
We see in the conduct
of Israel a notable example of the perverted
use of THE DIVINE
MERCIES! God had segregated
Israel from
the nations around them, and separated them to himself to be a
peculiar people. The Nazarite who by his vow was separated and
specially consecrated to Jehovah, was symbolical of the whole
nation in its separation and consecration to God. But,
regardless
of God’s mercy and reckless of their own privileges, they
separated themselves to the service of a shameful idol. When
they went to Baal-peor, whether the
idol itself or rather the place
of the idol (the same as Beth-peor),
they engaged with full
consecration, rather desecration, of all their powers in the
infamous worship of Baal, here called Bosheth,
their shame.
Ø
Their abominations
were according as they loved (v.10);
that is:
o
they became as
abominable as that which they loved; or
o their abominable idols were multiplied according to their
heart’s desire; or
o
their abominations were according as they loved. They were
guided in the choice of them, not, of course, by the Word
of God nor by the Law of God, but by their own inclination.
In matters connected with
religion and religious worship men
should beware of being influenced by their personal likings, or
private inclinations, or aesthetic tastes, but MAKE SURE OF
A WARRANT FROM
THE WORD OF GOD! Another evil
is to be avoided in this matter, that of allowing our judgment
to
be overmastered by our affections, and thus of being unduly
influenced in our religious views by those whom we love, whether
husband, or wife, or kindred, or friends, or family. If the other
sense be preferred, according to which people become as
abominable as the objects which they love, it is an illustration of
the well-known principle that men come to resemble those whom
they love. (Even those who make idols are not exempt: “they
that make them are like unto them: so is every one that
trusteth in
them.” - Psalm 135:18 – CY – 2012) A child imitates
and so gets assimilated to the parent whom he loves; looking
up to and admiring that parent, he comes in time to
resemble him
in habits of thought and modes of acting.
Ø
Here, in passing, we
observe one of the many references and
allusions of the prophet to the earlier books of Scripture. Through
the evil counsel of Balaam a stumbling-block was placed in the
way of the people of
and so to idolatry by the daughters of
consequence of their sin in the matter of Baal-peor,
so
many thousands perished in the plague. (Numbers 25)
elements — prosperity, pomp, and power, but most especially their
population and numerous progeny as contributing to that population.
In
this particularly did Ephraim glory; but the day of their
glory comes to a
SPEEDY and DISASTROUS END!
Ø
The departure of their
glory is compared to the flight of a bird, and thus
that departure is represented as sudden, like the flight of
a bird when it
is startled from its nest in the greenwood, or when some one
throws
open the door of the cage in the dwelling where it has been
imprisoned;
as swift, like the flight of the eagle toward heaven; as irretrievable,
like
the bird of powerful pinion, which distances pursuit and
escapes beyond
the possibility of being ever caught or found again.
Ø
Disaster awaits them at every stage — conception, gestation,
and parturition. The curse of God pursues them from first
to last,
hindering the conception, or causing abortion, or preventing
the birth.
“Let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man
glory
in
his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth
glory
in this, that he under-standeth and knoweth me, that I AM THE LORD,
which
exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth:
for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
What reason we have to bless God for his preserving care! He preserved us
in the
very conception, preserved us in our mother’s womb, and then in the
birth; and then in the cradle, in our childhood, in our youth,
in our middle age,
and in our old age; FOR WE LIE
AT HIS MERCY AT EACH POINT OF
OUR LIFETIME!
“Thy
providence my life sustained,
And all my wants redressed,
When
in the silent womb I lay,
And hung upon the
breast.”
12 “Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave
them, that there
shall not be a man
left.:” - Even if their sons should grow up to manhood and attain
maturity, yet they would be cut off by the sword and swept away by death, so that
their progeny would perish. This accords
with the threatened punishment of
unfaithfulness recorded in Deuteronomy 32:25, “The
sword without, and terror
within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the
suckling also with
the
man of grey hairs.” The negative sense
of min, equivalent to “so that not,”
is
common before verbs, also before nouns the min being put
for the fuller
מֵהְיות – “yea,
woe also to them when I depart from them!” This accounts
for
the coming calamity; it is THE DEPARTURE
OF JEHOVAH FROM
The meaning is a little different: “when I look away from
them.” Rashi
mentions the fact that this word belongs to those words written
with sin
but
read with samech. His comment on the verse is
correct: “For what
benefit have they when they bring up their children? Because, if
they do
bring them up, then I bereave them so that they do not become
men;”
similarly Kimchi: “If there be some among
them who escape these mishaps
and
reach the birth, and they (the parents) bring them up yet shall they die
in
youth, and never reach the season when they shall be called men.”
The misreading of בְּשָׂרִי instead of בְּשׂוּרִי
by the Septuagint led to the
strange misrendering, “Wherefore also
there is a woe to them (though) my
flesh is of them (διότι καὶ οὐαὶ
αὐτοῖς ἐστι σάρξ
μον ἐξ
αὐτῶν –
- dioti kai ouai autois esti
sarx auton) of which Cyril connects the first
member with the preceding words, and, detaching the remainder,
interpreted,
“Let my flesh be far for exemption from the punishment
threatened.”
13 “Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is
planted in a pleasant place: but
Ephraim
shall bring forth his children to the murderer.” The first member of this verse
has
called forth great diversity of translation and interpretation. It were
tedious,
and
not conducive to the right understanding of the verse, to enumerate the
various expositions given of it.
A very few of the most important may be briefly
noticed:
gave her children for a prey (εἰς θήραν –
thaeran)”
to the form, a planting in a meadow.” Rejecting
both these, we come
in a beautiful meadow;” De Wette’s
is,” Ephraim, when (or if) I look as far
as
selected it for a
sons to the murderer.”
All these renderings are faulty in one respect or
other; some of them miss the sense altogether, and others of
them obscure it.
Hebrew, and most suitable to the
context, is that of Wunshe, but with a
modification that of a secure dwelling-place instead of meadow: “Ephraim,
as I look towards
and Ephraim must lead out its sons to the murderer.” The
meaning,
then, is that Ephraim is a lovely land in whatever direction
one looks
towards it, like the famous
as well as pleasant; or rather, strong in its natural
fortifications, like the
famous capital of
HUNG OVER IT! — it
would become waste and emptied of its male
population, Ephraim being obliged to send forth the bravest of her
sons
to repel the hostile invader, and to perish in the tumult of
the battle. By
combining a part of Rashi’s exposition
with part of Kimchi’s, we reach
the correct sense. Rashi has,
“Ephraim as I look towards
in its prosperity is crowned above all cities, so I look upon
Ephraim
planted on a meadow;” so far the explanation is correct, not so
what
follow: “And Ephraim — how does he reward me? He is busied in bringing
forth his sons to the
murderer in order to sacrifice them to idols;” in
place of this latter part we substitute the following of Kimchi: “The enemies
shall come upon them, and they shall march out from their cities
to meet them
in battle, and the enemies shall slay them.” The infinitive
with le, ayxiwhl],
implies the necessity imposed on Ephraim to do so. Ephraim is to
lead out,
or must lead out, his sons to the murderer.
‘And Ephraim is for bringing
forth his sons to the
slayer;’ or, as this is the entire scope and object in
regard to which Ephraim is here considered — is to or
must bring forth.”
14 “Give them, O Lord: what writ
thou give? give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.” The prophet seems at a loss to know what he
should ask for his
countrymen. Though it was not total excision, but rather diminution
of
numbers, that was threatened in accordance with the statement, “If thou
wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law... ye shall be
left few in
number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for
multitude” (Deuteronomy
28:62); yet
at every stage their offspring was to be cut off, or, if spared to arrive at
manhood, it was only to fall by the hand of the murderer. No
wonder, then, the
prophet is perplexed in regard to the petition that would be most
expedient for
them. He hardly knew what was best to ask on their behalf.
preferable to bringing up children to be slain with the sword or
trained in idolatry; hence he prayed for what he
regarded as the less
calamity — “a miscarrying
womb and dry breasts.”
indignation at their sin. Justly indignant at the heinousness of their
iniquity,
he is about to appeal to Heaven for vengeance on the
transgressors, but in
pity for the erring people he checks the half-uttered
imprecation, or softens
it into the milder request for their extinction by childlessness.
After the interruption by the excited question of the
prophet in v.14, the terrible storm
of
denunciation sweeps on to the end of the chapter.
15 “All their
wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them:” -
or,
there I conceived hatred against them, the verb being used in an
inchoative sense. Gilgal had been the scene of many mercies:
after its omission dining the sojourn in the wilderness, was
renewed;
(Joshua 5:1-9)
was kept; (Ibid. v.10)
him of Divine protection;
(Ibid. ch.5:10-15)
yet that very place — a place of such blessing and solemn
covenanting-
had become the scene of idolatry
and iniquity. The wickedness of
been concentrated there as in a focus:
(I Samuel 8-11)
own erring fancy, and their mode of religious worship had been
corrupted.
Thus Gilgal had become the center
of all their sin; but the scene of mercy became the
source of wrath, for there God’s
fatherly love was turned by
into hatred. - “for the wickedness of their
doings I will drive them out of my
house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.” They
were
driven out like Hagar out of the house of the patriarch, that Ishmael might not inherit
with Isaac; like an unfaithful wife divorced and driven out of the house of the husband
whom she has dishonored; or like an undutiful and disobedient son whom
his father
has disinherited. Further, God disowns the rebellious son, and
acknowledges
the
paternal relationship no longer. The princes of
rebellions and stubborn: by an impressive Hebrew paronomasia, their
sarim,
rulers, had become sorerim,
revolters.
16 “Ephraim is smitten,
their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit:”
-
Ephraim is a pleasant plant, but a worm has smitten
the root and it has withered;
Ephraim is a goodly tree, but the lightning of heaven has
scorched and dried it up;
there may be leafage for a time, but no fruitage ever – “yea,
though they bring forth,
yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.” The
desires — margin, dear
delights, or, darlings — perish, and so the figure is now
dropped, and the
fact is seen in all its severe and stern reality, while the dread
denunciation
of
vs. 11- 12 is repeated and emphasized.
17 “My God will cast
them away, because they did not hearken unto Him;
and they shall be wanderers among the nations.” The
prophet submits his will
to
the Divine will, and acquiesces in the disposals of His providence, and
in his own
proper person predicts
dark picture by stating the cause of their rejection. He specifies at the
same
time the character of rejection, namely, dispersion among the
nations, like
driven from their nest, for so the term term nodedim denotes
The
Wicked Shall Not Go Unpunished (vs. 12-17)
If the wicked escape one calamity, they are sure to be overtaken and overwhelmed
by another.
Ø
BEREAVEMENT, and that of
a most painful nature. To be childless
altogether, or to lose children in infancy, is sorrowful enough; but
to be
bereft of children when they have grown up to manhood or
womanhood
is an unspeakably greater sorrow. After labor, and trouble,
and care,
and thought have been expended in their upbringing; after all
difficulties
have been surmounted; and when sons have become like plants grown
up in their youth, and daughters like corner-stones polished
after the
similitude of a palace (Psalm 144:12); when the conduct of both is
characterized by dutifulness, love, and obedience; and when parents
naturally expect much help and comfort from them, and have their
affections twined round them — at such a time, to be deprived of
them either by a sudden stroke, or by slow disease, is a
condition
more than ordinarily sorrowful. It is
only the grace of God in
large measure that can sustain and support parents so
afflicted;
while the exercise of grace on their part has no doubt
compensatory
blessings. The bereavement of
man left. If left, they might be left without the intellect of
a man, or the
physical strength of a man; they might be imbeciles or invalids,
and
thus in a worse condition than if not left at all.
Ø
But a still worse
woe impends, namely, that of DIVINE
DESERTION! This is God’s withdrawal from a people or
a person. When He
thus withdraws, He withdraws His goodness
and mercy, common graces, gifts, and comforts. When
this
withdrawal takes place we are utterly helpless; as the king of
not help thee, whence shall I help thee?” (II Kings 6:27) - or as
the apparition of Samuel to Saul, “Wherefore then dost thou ask
of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee and is become
thine enemy?” (I Samuel 28:16) -
We may pass through fiery trials,
or be plunged in the deep waters of affliction; but if we
enjoy the
DIVINE PRESENCE we need not be afraid. As long as the
Lord of hosts is with us, and the God of Jacob
is our Refuge,
we need not fear the raging of the great sea-billows, or the
upheaval
of the mountains, or even the shock of the earthquake (See
Habakkuk
3:17-19). THE SOREST OF ALL TROUBLES IS TO BE
FORSAKEN BY
GOD! Oh, how sad the lot
of a man who, forsaken
by God, is left in the power of his enemies! “I am sore distressed,”
said the unhappy monarch (Saul); “for the
Philistines make war
against me, and God
is departed from me AND ANSWERETH
ME NO MORE.” (I Samuel 28:15)
prosperity, in position, in population, and in military prowess; and
yet God
was preparing to take His departure from them.
Ø
His presence
maintains health, strength, and various other comforts;
or if, in His wise providence, He sees fit to withdraw any of
these, He
sanctifies that withdrawal. But when God Himself withdraws, then His
mercies prepare for flight too; NOR IS ANY MERCY LEFT
BEHIND! Not only
so; even when men are at the height of prosperity,
as they think, God may be on the point of departing from
them, as from
comparison of
the prophet to that period.
Ø
How we should prize
God’s presence and pray for its continuance,
saying, “LEAVE US NOT” and avoid whatever would force or
hasten his departure! But HOW
MAY WE BE SURE THAT HE
HAS NOT ALREADY
LEFT US? (This is the question that
The answer may be learned from the words of
the psalmist: “I will
keep thy statutes:
oh, forsake me not utterly” (Psalm
119:8).
As long as we are resolved
to keep His
statutes, we may have little
fellowship with, but cannot be forsaken by, God.
How dreadful THE
DOOM OF THOSE from
WHOM GOD
HAS ACTUALLY
ALREADY DEPARTED! It is like the
withdrawal of the sun from the firmament. (I regret to use
Elton John as an example
but it will me much worse than his
powerful song “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” – I
just played it on You Tube while finishing this paragaraph - CY –
2012) “Take a delightful
summer’s day, and how beautiful it is!
Now compare that with a
winter’s dark, dismal night. What makes
the difference between these two? The presence of the sun in
the
one, and its absence from the other. This is but the presence
or the
departing of only one of God’s creatures. Oh,
if that makes
such a difference in the world, WHAT MUST THE PRESENCE
OR
DEPARTING OF THE
INFINITE GOD BE? In the case
of Ephraim, their
children are brought forth to the murderers — not
only murdered, but that
murder perpetrated before the eyes of their
parents. This seems the severest
stroke of all. Even a heathen poet
has most pathetically portrayed the
extreme sadness of this condition
in the death of Polites, a son of Priam, who addresses his murderer
Pyrrhus in the well-known
words: “May the gods, if there be any
kind power in heaven
to watch such deeds, yield you your due
reward, who have
defiled the father’s eyes by the sight
of his son’s murder.”
people, but seems straitened in his petitions, or rather he is at
a loss to
know what was most expedient for them and conducive to the
Divine
glory. He does not pray for
peace, nor for deliverance, nor for prosperity.
He dared not
venture. He knew too well the sins of
his countrymen, THEIR
ABUSE OF DIVINE MERCIES, their contempt of warning, their hardness
of heart, their seared conscience, and their gross misuse of
all means
used for their recovery. No wonder he pauses and hesitates. He cannot
pray for a numerous progeny to be vouchsafed to his
people, or for
children at all. Better they should never come into the world at all than
to be made the prey
of the spoiler; better not to be born than to become
victims of the murderer; better perish before birth or from the
birth than
live a life of sin and misery, and die a death of violence
and hopelessness!
At length, in view of the
sinfulness of the people, the misery of times not
far distant, and the fast-approaching calamities, he prays either
that
children might not be born at all, or that they might not be
sustained so as
long to survive their birth.
(Ponder Jesus’ prophetic words concerning
those living at the fall of
were ringleaders in it.
Ø
The place of
their chief and greatest crimes was Gilgal. What a
Contrast! The place that
testified to God’s greatest mercies
also witnessed
o
In Gilgal the memorial stones were set up after the
passage of the
o
in Gilgal the first Passover was celebrated after the
Exodus;
o
in Gilgal the rite of circumcision was renewed and the
reproach of
o
in Gilgal
(see comments on v. 15 above for scripture references).
Yet all their
wickedness, THEIR
CHIEF WICKEDNESS WAS
WROUGHT THERE!
o
There they threw off the
government of God by judges, and
would have Saul to be their king;
o
there, in their
superstition, they worshipped God instead of at
The more God signalizes a
person or place by His mercies, the more
severe His judgments on the wickedness of such. Every time God’s
eye rested on Gilgal, a feeling of hatred
was roused against the
works and workers of iniquity there.
Ø
The punishment of
their wickedness was expulsion. “Some sins,” as has
been said, “provoke God to anger, and some to grief, but some
to hatred.”
‘There I hated them.’ It
is dreadful when our sins provoke hatred. This is
the great difference between the sins of the saints and
others. The sins of
the saints may anger God, may grieve God, but the sins of
others provoke
God to
hatred.” That hatred manifests itself in THEIR EXPULSION.
They are driven out of God’s house, and so
nationally unchurched —
as a disobedient and
unruly child is driven out of his father’s
house, or as a rebellious and unruly servant is turned out of
the
house of his master;
while son and servant receive no more tokens
of favor or good will.
Ø
Their princes,
one and all, set the bad example of rebellion and revolt.
As “like
priest, like people” (ch. 4:9), so like
prince, like people.
Persons in high places have
it in their power to do much good or work
much evil by their influence and example; for such they are
responsible,
and shall one day be called to account. Of every talent given
us, whether
health, or wealth, or influence, or opportunities of doing or
getting good,
we must all one day give an exact account. (II Corinthians 5:10)
following spring will restore them; it may lose some of its branches
in the
process of pruning, but this will not prevent it growing again.
Yea, “there
is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout
again, and that
the tender branch
thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax
old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet
through
the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a
plant”
(Job 14:7-9). So long as the root retains life,
there is hope of the tree; but
once the root is dried up and dead, ruin is inevitable. Thus Ephraim was
smitten; thus many are smitten in just judgment from the Almighty. When
the root is thus dried up, there can be no hope of fruit.
If men will bear fruit
to the world, or sin, or self, and not unto God, it is only just they should
be left fruitless. If men will not bring up their children for God, training them
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), is it strange they
should be left childless?
which
and now they are cast away. They rejected the Son; for He came
to His own
realms, and His subjects received Him not; now they are outcast
(John 1:11).
Note the cause: “Because they did not hearken unto him” (v.17). This
was regarded by Luther as a notable statement, and worthy to
be written on
all our walls. How often we find men hearkening to the counsels of the
wicked, or to the suggestions of worldly policy, or to the
temptations
of the evil one, or to their own lusts and passions, BUT NOT TO GOD!
Let men beware of refusing to give audience to God. Let them beware of
acting as if they did not hear
with the ear, nor understand with the heart.
Every Jew one meets is a warning of the
danger of not hearkening to God.
While every Jew is a living monument
to the truth of Scripture, he is at the
same time a proof of the calamity incurred by not hearkening to
God.
It is here predicted that they should be
wanderers among the nations. The
fulfillment of the prediction may be expressed in the sadly truthful words of
the Hebrew melody —
“Tribes
of the wandering foot and weary breast,
How
shall ye flee away and be at rest!
The
wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind their country;
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