Hosea 11:9

I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger,.... That is, his wrath and fury to the uttermost; his people are deserving of his wrath as others, being by nature children of wrath as the rest;

I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

Here mercy rejoiceth against judgment, and God declareth his purpose to spare, he promiseth that he will not execute according to utmost severity. This promise he confirmeth by doubling it, though in somewhat different words: I will not do as men, who having beat down au enemy, and wounded him, do return again to see whether he breathe, and to make an end of him; or conquerors, that plunder the conquered city, carry away the wealth of it, and after some time return to burn it; God will not do so. I am God, and not man; his compassions are infinite, his goodness unchangeable; he remembers all his promises to every one, and now seeth who among Israel believe, and hope for his grace and mercy; these he must spare, as he is just Judge of the whole earth, and for their sakes he will spare many others. The Holy One in the midst of thee; a holy God, and in covenant, though not with all, yet with many among you, and those that are in covenant with God are holy ones too: I will not make them as Admah or Zeboim, for the case is different, in the cities of the plain there were no righteous ones, but here are some, though not many: and so Rivet renders the words, there is a holy one in the midst of thee, where the singular is used for plural, as in that passage, there is none righteous. I will not enter into the city; I will not come amongst you, as I came into Sodom, &c. Here is comfort for God’ s remnant.

Hosea 11:9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I [am] God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.Ver. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger] Heb. the heat of it. God’ s heart kindled, and whatsoever might cause repentance came together, and lay glowing, as it were, at his heart; and this cooled and even quenched the heat of his wrath (as the sunbeams when they shine full upon the fire), so that now he resolves not to execute the height of his heat, the extremity of his fury, for then the spirit should fail before him. Ephraim is God’ s dear son, his pleasant child; whom, when he hears bemoaning himself, as Jeremiah 30:18-20, he soon repents him of the evil, and cries, - “ Satis hoc pro crimine magno Paulum supplicii lenem sumpsisse parentem. ” I will not return to destroy Ephraim] I will not undo him twice over, or utterly ruin him; as those that have laid their enemy for dead, return to see whether he be dead outright; or as soldiers that have once pillaged a city return after a while to take all that little that was left before, and to set the rest on fire. God will not deal so hardly with Ephraim, though he might do it. Reprobates indeed shall have an evil, an only evil, Ezekiel 7:5, without mixture of mercy; they must expect one plague upon another, as it fared with Pharaoh, till God had dashed the very breath out of his body. But for his elect people, Hath he smitten them, as he smote those that smote them? No, but in measure, in the branches only; he stayeth his rough wind, &c., Isaiah 27:7-8. And as Croesus’ dumb son burst out into, Kill not King Croesus (’Aνθρωπε, μηκτεινετονχροισον. Herod.), so when enemies are ready to devour the Church, or Satan to swallow God’ s child up in despair, his heart’ s work; he can hold no longer, but cries, Save my child, save my Church. Why should "the spirit fail before me, and the souls which I have made? I have seen his ways and" (though bad enough) "I will heal him, I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners," Isaiah 57:16-18. For I am God, and not man] Yea, such a God as the like is not, for pardoning iniquity, and passing by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, Micah 7:18. It is natural to him, Exodus 34:6; it is usual, Nehemiah 9:17, there he is called a God of pardons, as, Isaiah 55:7, he is said to multiply pardons. He hath commanded men to forgive an offending but repenting brother, seventy times seven times in a day, Matthew 18:22. What then will himself do? For he is God Almighty, and not man.

(9) This sublime passage is remarkable as drawing illustrations from human emotions, and yet repudiating all human weakness. It suggests a hint of Divine mercy in its greatness, and of Divine justice too, which shows how, both being alike infinite, they can adjust themselves beyond the power of human experience and imagination. The Holy One in the midst of thee is such a blending of justice and mercy. I will not enter into the city.—So ancient versions. “Enter”—i.e., as a destroyer. (Comp. Hosea 11:6.) But many commentators interpret the Hebrew b‘îr (“into the city”) to mean in wrath. This is preferable.

Verse 9. I will not execute] Here is the issue of this conflict in the Divine mind. Mercy triumphs over Judgment; Ephraim shall be spared. He is God, and not man. He cannot be affected by human caprices. They are now penitent, and implore mercy; he will not, as man would do, punish them for former offenses, when they have fallen into his hand. The holy place is in Ephraim, and God is in this holy place; and he will not go into the cities, as he did into Sodom and Gomorrah, to destroy them. Judgment is his strange work. How exceedingly affecting are these two verses!

9. I will not return, &c.] The strict rendering of the words is, ‘I will not again destroy Ephraim’; the sense however, is, I will not bring back Ephraim to nothing. He who moulded Ephraim into a nation will not busy himself with it again to its destruction. Comp. the same Hebrew idiom in Hosea 2:9. for I am God, and not man] The perfection of the Divine nature does not, to Hosea, exclude the possession of something analogous to human feelings, but one thing it does forbid us to assume, viz. that an emotion of anger should divert Jehovah from the execution of his eternal purpose. the Holy One in the midst of thee] It is the glory of Israel to have the Holy One specially in her midst. Whatever interferes with His supreme right of property in Israel, He must destroy, but He will not so chastise His chosen people as to extinguish it altogether. All that is left will be holy, as Jehovah is holy—devoted to Jehovah, as Jehovah is devoted to Israel. Of course, though Jehovah’s holiness has a special relation to Israel, this does not exclude a more general relation to the world outside. His manifestation is concentrated, but not confined, within His ‘peculiar people.’ I will not enter into the city] But this is pointless, for why should a visit from Jehovah be deprecated (comp. Exodus 20:24)? Hence many, adopting a different view of one word, render, I will not come in fury. This is, however, not free from objection, and a very slight emendation gives the very appropriate sense, I will not come to exterminate (parallel to ‘to destroy’).

I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger - It is the voice of “mercy, rejoicing over judgment.” mercy prevails in God over the rigor of His justice, that though He will not suffer them to go

5-7. All this loving-kindness Israel met with shameful ingratitude; therefore judgment, in the form of an exile, will surely come (Hosea 8:13; Hosea 9:3).