Hosea 13

Hosea 13:1-3

The sin which above all others filled up the measure of Israel’s crimes was their idolatry, and this is here especially reproved.

1. It had been the name of their prosperity, and the cause of all their miseries. When Ephraim spoke trembling, with deep veneration towards the Divine Majesty, and with blat that before him, he exalted himself in Israel, grew dislinguish and great among the others; or when he spoke there were trembling, all bated him with respect and honour; but when he offended in Baal, he died, they went apace to ruin, and at last perished as a nation for their idolatry. Note, At Godliness is the honour and fidelity

lity John Christ 241. Or there was trembling. 2 Thes. 22. § 1 Heb. Add to 20. ¶ Chap. 4. 2. vii. 4. § Or the forefathers of men. 1 Kbs. xiv. 12. Chap. vii. 4. ¶ Chap. vii. Benedictus

City of a nation, so is in the shame, and, sooner or later, will be the ruin of any people.

2. They had multiplied their abominations. And now they for more and more; having once offended in Baal, they grew worse and worse; and have made them mourn images of their flyers, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen, miserable gods! which Sliver could make, and craftsmen deft. They say of them, Let the men that sacrifice by the calves, in token of religious adoration, when they brought their offerings; or, as some read the words, Let their fair sacrifice a man by the calves, as if they offered human sacrifice to these based idols.

3. God’s wrath is denounced upon them for their idolatries. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, that vanishes before the sun; and as the early draw that paffeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the wiserhood out of the poor, light, worthless, and weak; and as the facade out of the chimney, that is feathered as it rife. So easily, speedily, and universally, would their ruin come upon them by the army of the Afghians.

4. Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me: for there is no favour beche me. 5. ¶ I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. 6. ¶ According to their pasture, so were they filled: they were filled, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me. 7. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard by the way will I observe them. 8. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rent the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beasts shall tear them.

Hosea 13:4-8

We may observe here,

1. The obligations God had laid upon them. Yet, notwithstanding their provocations, I am the Lord their God from the land of Egypt; from the day he took them from thence he declared his regard to them, and to this day was ready to own the relation on their penitent return to him. And thou shalt know no God but me: they ought to have known no other, and would find by experience none but he able to save them; for there is no favour beche me: on whatever else they placed their confidence, they would be assuredly disappointed. I did know that in the wilderness, when reduced to the greatest distress, in the land of great drought, where every necessary of life was wanting; yet he liberally provided for them, brought water from the rock, rained manna from heaven, and fed them by daily miracles.

2. Their ingratitude to God for these Mercise. According to their pasture, so were they filled: they intend in luxury when he brought them into Canaan: they were filled with the plenty there provided for them, and their heart was exalted; their sensuality made them proud and secure: therefore have they forgotten me. Now, Worldly prosperity is very apt to seduce the heart from God; and such is our villain, that the mercise which should excite our love, and quicken our thankfulness, too often make us forget the giver in the gist, and abide in pride and luxury the blessings he bestows.

3. The wrath denounced against them for their safestness. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion, &c. He all these beasts of prey the Lord designs to these the severity of his vengeance, and the terrible ravages which shall be made amongst them: with the lion’s strength, the lynx or leopard’s eye, and the fury of a bear bereaved of her whelps, shall the Afghians, the beasts be freed among them, mark them out for the daughter, redn on them, unable to resist, and tear them in pieces without remorse or pity. So fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, if his wrath be kindled, yea but a little. Sinner, how can thine heart endure when God shall thus deal with thee?

4. ¶ O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help. 10. ¶ I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidest, Give me a king and princes? 11. ¶ I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. 12. ¶ The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up: his sin is hid. 13. ¶ The fortress of a travailing woman shall come upon him, he is an unwise son, for he should not they long in the place of the breaking forth of children. 14. ¶ I will transform them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction; ¶ repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. 15. ¶ Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an eath-wned shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up, he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. 16. ¶ Samaria shall become desolate, for she hath rebelled against her God:

they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ript up.

Hosea 13:7-14

the head, forfeits did he begin to struggle for the birthright, which they had bowed down their necks to idols, and subjected themselves to the heathen; and by his strength he had power with God, not he had power over the angel, and perverted, when he wrestled with him in the way, Gen. xxxii. 24. the son of God in human form coming to prove his faith and confidence, and throughout him for the conflict: he must and made supplication unto him, and thus perverted; these being the most potent arms we can use to obtain every blessing from the Angel of the covenant, whose eternal power and Godhead have appear, being the object of the pretence’s adoration and prayers. His fathoms feed him upon the struggle, and, having revolted from God’s worship, had forfeited all interest in him, and communion with him; as all must do who live a prayerless life. He found him at Babel, both before and after this, Gen. xxxii. 10. xxxv. 9. and there renewed the covenant with him, and in him with his authority, there he spoke with us: but they had apotherted, and turned the head, the body of God, into Bethesda, the body of inquiry, and therefore had justly forfeited the perverted mercies. And this person, with whom Jacob wrestled, and who spoke to him, was the true Jehovah, from the Lord God of Seft, the Lord Jehovah is his memorial, his name, expeffive of his self-existence, eternity, and immutability, who should be right to worshipped, aided, and served by all, and by them especially to whom he had appeared so gracious. Their neglect of him therefore and disobedience were the more criminal.

4. They are exhorted yet to return to God. Therefore turn their to thy God, to this glorious Jehovah, from whom they had to greatly departed; and, whenever they did so, they would prove his covenant mercies still sure to them, and he will own his relation to them as their God. Keep mercy and judgment, the two grand pillars of vital Godliness, comprehending every act of kindness to men’s bodies or souls, and that integrity and uprightness which in every word and deed should be observed; and wait on thy God continually, in every appointed means of grace, for those suppacts of his Spirit which shone can enable us for the exercise of charity and justice to men, and that unreferved obedience and resignation we owe to his blessed Self.

5. ¶ He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth in oppress. 8. And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: § is all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me, that were fin. 9. And I, that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast. 10. ¶ I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied vishops, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. 11. ¶ Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are vanity, they sacrifice bullocks? in Gilgel, yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. 12. And I Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and I had served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. 13. And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. 14. Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly; therefore shall he leave his blood upon him; and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.

In these words there is a change of person from Judah to Ephraim.

1. Ephraim is charged with deceit in trade. He is a merchant, or a humanist, more like such a one than a defendant from Israel; the balances of deceit are in his hand, impeding by false weights and measures on those with whom he dealt: he loveth to myself, takes delight in such wickedness, and places himself with the thought of his own ingenuity. Note, Fraudulent tradesmen are the vices of robbers.

2. Ephraim vindicates himself from the accusation. Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance; as if his success (anchored the means by which he acquired his riches) and that his prosperity, notwithstanding the warnings of the prophets, secured his impunity. In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me, that were fin, none such as deserved that name, so fair and upright they pretended their dealings had been, and that, if their trade was submitted to severed scrutiny, it would stand the test, which to their own labour, not God’s blessing, they impunity after their gain. Note, (1.) A casual heart regards his riches as his most substantial good. (2.) Many pride themselves on their fair character among men, who in the day of God will be found very difficult, from what they appear. (3.) Self-deceivers will not call their iniquity sin: it is the way of trade; every body does so; one could not live without it: these are plausible excuses; but God is not mocked. All unrighteousness is fin, and the wages of it death eternal.

3. Idolatry is charged upon them. Is there iniquity in Gilead? In that pleasant land, in a city of priests, a city of refuge too! Surely they are vanity; the inhabitants, like the other Israelites, are devoted to idolatry, they sacrifice bullocks to Gilgel, to their idols, yet their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field, so

thick they stood; or, as some supposes, so should they be beaten in pieces, and become a heap of rubbish.

4. Notwithstanding their provocations God gives some intimations of mercy in store for them. And I, that are the Lord thy God, still owning the relation, from the land of Egypt, from that time having taken them for his people, will yet make that to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast; which might refer to their return from Babylon, or rather respects the times of the gospel, when the converted Jews should repose in Christ Jesus, and have a place in his church: perhaps it may also look forward to their expelled day of grace. I have also spoken to the prophets in time past, or I will speak, sending forth pastors and teachers to preach his gospel; and I have multiplied, or will multiply, vishops; I have done so, and will again under the gospel dispensation; and I have aided, or will aid, similitudes, as was the case in the Jewish church, where the whole service was figurative, and was especially fulfilled in the parables which Christ so frequently delivered. Now, The Lord hath used every gracious method to communicate to us the messages of his grace. It, after all, we continue with all the greatness, sin heath at our door.

5. What God had done for these forefathers was a strong proof of his kindness to them, and served to shew their ingratitude. And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, to Laban; and Israel served for a wife seven years; and, being then deceived by Laban, who gave him Leah instead of Rachel, on receiving her also the following work, for a wife he kept sheep, lovers were more; which is influenced both as a proof of the manners of their original, for a Syrian made to perish was their father, and as a mark of God’s favour to them, in raising them from so low a beginning to be a mighty nation; and reflected highly on their ingratitude. And by a prophet God brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved, by Moses, who was the figure of Christ, the great Redeemer and Savior, the Deliverer of his people from the bondage of sin, Satan, death, and hell. Now God having so wonderfully dealt with them, and saved them from their enemies, they were bound by every lot of love and duty to serve him; but they made the basist returns when they rebelled against him, and rejected his prophets, to one of whom they had such unspokable obligations. Note, All God’s goodness to the sinner will be remembered at the talk, to convince him of his ingratitude and leave him without excuse.

6. They having made the most false returns to God for his kindness, he is justly provoked to punish them severely. Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly by his sins, and especially idolatry: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him; either the innocent blood shed by him shall be required of him, or his own blood shall be poured upon him, shed by the sword of vengeance for all his crying sins; and his reproach shall the Lord return upon him; the reproaches cast upon God by his idolatry, and on the prophets who testified against it, shall return into his own bosom, when he shall be a poor, wretched, despicable captive in a strange land. Note, The sinner shall surely bear the shame of his iniquities, either in time covered with penitent confusion, or in eternity with everlasting contempt.

C H A P. XIII.

1. The people of Israel are reproved and threatened for their idolatry, ver. 1—4. 2. They are reproved and threatened for their commonness, pride, and mercy, and other abuses of their wealth and prosperity, ver. 1—8. 3. The vain that is coming upon them, for those and their other sins, is foretold as very terrible, ver. 12, 13, 15, 16. 4. They that yet retain a respect for their God are encouraged to hope that he will yet appear for their relief, though their kings and princes, and all their other suppers, fall them, ver. 9, 10, 11, 14. Note, For better is it to bear the rubule of the nose, and repent of it, then eternally to perish under it.

2. WHEN Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. 2. And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let § the men that sacrifice, kiss the calves. 3. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that paffeth away, as the chief that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

Hosea 13:9-16

The prophet pathetically laments the miseries of his people; O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself: their sins were the cause of all the threatened judgments, and they had only themselves to blame for their sufferings. And this is most applicable to every fallen creature, who by his sins hath made guilty provoked God’s wrath and indignation against him, and must perish eternally if sovereign grace do not interpose. But in me is thy help: desperate as their side appeared, God was still able and willing to save them when they truly turned to him. The most guilty need not defiant of wisdom, nor the most misjeab of deliverance, since God hath laid help on one mighty to save. Though in and of ourselves not a ray of hope appears, nor the least ability remains of working out our own situation, they who look to him shall bear his atoning blood speak peace to their confidences, and find his almighty grace effectual to subdue the power of their corruptions.

1. The first they which led to their destruction was calling off the divine government and asking a king. And where is thy king now, that he may save thee in all thy cities? Unable to protect them, he is a captive himself: So foolish as well as sinful an exchange had they made, when God had said, I will be thy king, whom they rejected. And where are thy angry, if whom time fendit, Give me a king and princes? They are now no longer able to support the sinking state. I gave them a king in mine anger; for God sometimes is pleaded to gratify the desires of the wicked, and make the thing they ask their heaviest curie and plague; and I had him away in my wrath, either shall, or, as the words may be rendered, I will take him away, that is Hofnea, the last king of Israel, with whom the whole nation was destroyed, or carried into captivity. Thus God in wrath takes away what he gave in anger, and leaves us to mourn in bitterness our perversion and folly.

2. Their other sins were many, and ready to be produced against them. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hid. The sinner himself is little agneared of the black catalogues of sins ready to be produced against him; but they are all upon record, treasured up against the day of wrath. The favour of a travailing woman shall come upon him, distress and anguish the most agonizing and painful. He is an unwise son, that will neither learn of God’s word nor be taught by his judgments; for he should not they long in the place of the breaking forth of children. He considers not how to excite himself from his troubles, or by repentance to prevent them, struggling no more than a still-born child. Or the words may be rendered, for he will not they time for the breaking forth of children: they would not wait for the Messiah, who should bring many sons unto glory; but turned from him to serve idols: and thus were cut off in their sins, because they rebelled against their God, v. 16.

3. Their judgment is threatened. Though he be fruitful among his brethren, as the name Ephraim signifies, increased in numbers, and abounding in wealth and honour, an eath-wned shall come, the army of the Afghians marching rapidly and incredibly, the wind of the Lord, as being sent and commissioned by him, shall come up from the wilderness, but and searching, as it sometimes blew in the sandy deserts; and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up, their country laid utterly desolate, and he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant places; the Christian monarch shall seize all their richest and most valuable possessions: Samaria shall become desolate, her pasture laid in the sash, her houses without inhabitants; for she hath rebelled against her God, by her idolatries and other sins. They shall fall by the sword of the enemy, their children shall be dashed to piety, and their women with child shall be ripped up: such inhuman massacre should the Afghian commit, in revenge of their perfidy, and the long siege they sustained. With horror, whilst we read, let it be remembered, such is man: and nothing but the restraints of grace prevent the world from being an Accidance, a field of blood.

4. One gracious promise serves to brighten up this dark scene. Though they had rejected God’s government and worship, yet still says he, I will be their king, to refuse and save them from the hand of their enemies: I will transform them from the power of the grave; not merely from their state of captivity, in which they seemed as buried, but their promises look forward to the great salvation of Jesus, who gave his life a ransom for many; I will redeem them from death, raising their souls from the death of sin to a life of righteousness, in virtue of the price he hath paid for his people, and at the last day coming to bring their bodies forth from their graves, fashioned like to his glorious body: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction. Death is already a vanquished foe, through the resurrection of Jesus, and shortly it will be entirely swallowed up in victory, when in very being shall be destroyed, and the grave no more devour, because there shall be no more death. Well may the Apostle triumph in the prosperity, and every faithful God vault in this glorious hope! Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes: the decree is gone forth, the promise is unchanging, the victory is sure: for with God there is no variableness or shadow of turning. Therefore we may confidently trust, and not be afraid.

CHAP.