Hosea 2

Hosea 2:1-5

The hope of this chapter seems to be much the same with that of the foregoing. At there, so here, 1. God by the prophet discloses and charges for some upon them, particularly their idolatry, and forgetting God, and their obligations to him, ver. 1, 2, 5, 8. 2. He threatens to take away from them that plenty of all good things with which they had found their idols, and to abandon them to ruin without remedy, ver. 3, 4, 6, 7, 9—13. 3. Yet he prevailed at last to return in ways of mercy to them for his own sake, ver. 14. to restore them to their former plenty, ver. 15. to cure them of their inclination to idolatry, ver. 16, 17. to renew his covenant with them, ver. 18—20. and to bless them with all good things, ver. 21—23.

1. CANY ye unto your brethren, Ammi, and to your Siftern, Ruhamah. 2. Plead with your mother, plead: for ‘she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoreasome out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts. 3. Lest I strip her naked, and let her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and let her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. 4. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoreasome. 5. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shannessfully: for the said, ‘I will go after my lovers’ that give me my bread, and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

The first words of this chapter may be either taken in connection with the latter part of the preceding, as speaking comfort to the people of God, those faithful ones, who, having chosen Christ for their head, are restored to God’s favour, acknowledged by him, as Ammi my people, and Ruhamah, having obtained mercy: or they have respect to those Jewish converts, who in the name of the gospel being turned to Christ Jesus, and become the children of God by faith in him, are exhorted to re-bake and expeditate with their mother, the Jewish church, for her rejection of the true Messiah.

1. God threatens utterly to separate himself from her. She is not my wife; hath behaved unworthy of that relation: he hath played the harlot, v. 5, hath broken the marriage-covered, calling off all obedience, and committing spiritual adultery against the Lord. She that occurred them hath been shamefully; serving dumb idols, and going a whoring after flocks and fioners: or, she hath made oftwared; has been a scandal to her husband and her family; and therefore he will no more own her: neither am I her husband, to protect, cherish, or provide for her: he thrusts her out, gives her a divorce, and separates her from all the ho-

now and comfort of the relation in which she stood. Nate, (1.) They who treacherously depart from God, will provoke him to depart from them, and wo unto the soul that is in such a cafe. (2.) Sin is not only the abominable thing God hates, but the shameful thing that will sooner or later cover the sinner with everlasting confusion and contempt.

2. He invites her to repent and return. Though offended, he was not inexorable; Let her therefore put her subordinate out of her fight, and her adulteries from between her breasts: as these were the occasion of the fatal separation between God and them, when the cause was removed, the effect would cease. Nate, (1.) God delighteth not in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should return and live. (2.) They who would truly return to God, must not only put away the grosser acts of sin, but seek to root out of their holiness the love of it, that they may be pure within.

3. The consequences of her impenitence, if perished in, would be fatal. God waits upon sinners long, but if they will not turn, he whets his sword as he here threatens; but if they her naked, and let her as in the day that she was born; affixing to the wretched state of a new-born infant. So destitute and miserable were they when first God took them for his people in Egypt, Exalt. xvi. 4. and to a like state of wretchedness should they be reduced: and make her a wilderness, and let her as a dry land, and she her with thrift; he will bring them into circumstance as a deplorable as their fathers in the wilderness, or utterly destroy and ruin their nation, as the carcasses of those who fell in that barren land. And I will not have mercy in her children, but the curse shall fatally rest upon them, as it does to this day for the rejection of the Messiah, for they are children of suberadents, imitating the ill example of their parents, and therefore sharing their punishment.

4. He upbraids her ingratiende and folly. She played the harlot, committing idolatry, that shameful thing; for she said, I will go after my lovers, her idols, on which she doared, and to whom she scribed all the good things she enjoyed, that gave me my bread, &c. robbing God of the glory of his gifts, and giving this honour unto stocks and stones, or the hosts of heaven, Ter. xlix. 17, 18. Nate, (1.) The folly, as well as baseness of sin, is prodigious. (2.) They who make their belly their God, and the delights of sense their happiness, are in the broad way of vain. (3.) Worldly prosperity and abundance have been the fatal share by which many an immortal soul hath been ruined.

a Joh. ii. 29. a xvi. 2. Loth. iii. 5. q Heb. Will is well. a Jer. ii. 26. a Exalt. xvi. Joh. xxix. a. &c. Heb. New wine. a Or. where will they make Baal. the. xix. 6. Exalt. xxii. 6 Q. O. take away. a Exalt. xxi. 17: & exm. Heb. Folly, as wills: ry. a Vir. 5. a Pl. here. 17, 19. 20. 6. 5.

6. ¶ Therefore behold, “I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. 7. And she shall follow after her lovers,” but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for “then that it better with the thin now. 8. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, ¶ which they prepared for Baal. 9. Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will I recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. 10. And now “will I discover her lewdness in the fight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. 11. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feaft-days, her new-moons, and her sabbarhs, and all her solemn feafts. 12. And I will destroy her vines, and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, “These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and “I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. 13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burns incense to them, and she decked herself with her ear-rings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forget me, saith the LORD.

7. 6—13. They who go on obstinately in their evil ways, may assuredly expect that vengeance, though slow, will surely overtake them. Thus God threatens the Israelites.

8. He will compass them with troubles, out of which they shall see no way to escape. I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a soul that she shall not find her paths; as when they were besieged, however much they desired it, v. 7. they could neither go to seek help from their allies, nor visit their idols at Dan and Brohel. Or else this implies, that all their endeavours to excite themselves from their troubles would but the more involve and summer them, and their pretended friends prove to them no better than a broken reed. Nate, (1.) They who depart from God, will find the curse pursue them as clofe as their shadow; and the more they persist in these fowards ways, the more misery they shall find in them. (2.) When God arrests the sinner by the afflictions of his providence, it is to convince him of the evil of his pursuits, and to turn him back from ruin.

9. These troubles shall have a blessed effect, oh many of

them at last; then shall they say, when every other hope proves desperate, I will go and return to my first husband, the Lord God of Israel, for they it was better with me than it is done. Nate, (1.) It is well if despair of creature-comforts and confidences drives the sinner to God, and even then he will not call him out. (2.) Whoever hath once tailed the blessedness of God’s service, and hath unfaithfully departed from it, will find by the longest experience, that none of the pleasures of his are to be compared with a sense of God’s love, and the testimony of a good conscience. (3.) Removing barebishes, who do their first works, shall be restored again to their first love.

3. Because they had abused the plenty God had given them, unless they repented thus and returned to him, he threatened them with famine, poverty, and nakedness. More stupid than the ox that knows his owner, they did not acknowledge God the author of the mercies so liberally bestowed on them, but dishonoured him by lawishing their riches on their hard idols, v. 8. Most justly therefore he threatens to resume the gifts they thus abused, and make them know by the miseries he will insists, the wickedness and ingratiende of their conduct. Nate, They who profusely spend their substance in pride, luxury, gaming, and the service of diverse suits and pleasures, are as criminal as if they prepared it for Baal.

[1.] God will take from them their corn and wine, and make them know want and hunger. Their hatreds shall become a heap of chaff, and their vintage disappoint their expectations. And those vines and fig-trees shall be destroyed by their invaders, or by inclement seasons, which they regarded as the gifts of their idols, v. 15. He calls them my corn, my wine, for we are but stewards, the property is still in him; by whatever title we hold our creature-comforts, to him we must be accountable for them. To abuse them is the sure way to provoke God to deprive us of them in time, or worse, to punish us for our unfaithfulness in eternity.

[2.] He will strip them naked to their shame. Now will I discover her lewdness in the fight of her lovers, when scattered among the nations, who shall treat them with insult and contempt, as an infamous strumpet; and now shall deliver her out of my hands; neither the idols, nor the aliens in whom they trusted. Nate, None can save that soul which God determines to destroy.

[3.] God will turn her mirth into mourning. Though they had forsaken the temple at Jerusalem, they will kept up the days of feasting, not in honour of God, but of their calves, and turned these sacred seasons into times of carnal merceness and riot, utterly perverting the holy delign of their inflictions. But now when famine had cut off all their provisions, or their victorious enemies had ravaged their country, and led them captive into a strange land, these solemnities must cease of course, and they be sunk in misery and mourning. Nate, (1.) Holy days and seasons, by unhany men perverted, are often turned into an occasion of more than ordinary drunkenness, lewdness, and riot. (2.) When we abuse God’s inflictions, it is just with him to rob those of the form, who have lost the power of godliness.

4. All this misery coming upon them, was owing to their idolatry and apathy from God. I will will upon her the days of Baalim; punishing them for their long course of idolatry from the days of the Judges, ever since which they had made success to one deity or another, and decked themselves in their best attire on their holy days, to do honour to these dunghill-gods; and forget me, saith the Lord, which is the origin and aggravation of all their other sins. Nate, Forgetfulness of God is at the bottom of all our sins, and the chief of them.

5. ¶ Therefore behold, “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 15. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and “the valley of Achor for a door of hope, and she shall sing them,” as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 16. And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me ¶ ifth; and shalt call me no more ¶ Baali. 17. For ‘I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. 18. And in that day will I make ‘a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and ‘I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to ’lie down safely. 19. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever, yes, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. 20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and ’thou shalt know the LORD. 21. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, ‘I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, 22. And the earth

earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and the hay shall hear Jezreel. 23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my GOD.

Hosea 2:14-23

The threatology in the foregoing veres were not more tremendous, than the promises in these are reviving. When we might have expected, from the conclusion of the last verb, to have heard the most fearful curses entertained, as the just vengeance of their idolatry and forgetfulness of God, amazing influence! Therefore, says God, will I allow her, as if to magnify the triumphs of his grace: or it intimates his boundless patience, determined to try every method before he abandoned them to ruin. Some render the word, Nowersfield all these provocations shall not stay the current of my mercy. Where he hath abounded, there shall grace much more abound, and appear to be free grace indeed!

1. God will revive and comfort them, v. 14, 15. The allusion is to the bringing them out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into the land flowing with milk and honey, which they entered through the valley of Arbor. And with this mercy will be again visit them; either by his gospel calling many of them into the church of the Redeemer at the first, or finally by recovering them from their present dispersion, and converting them to the faith of Christ in the last day. I will allow her with the kindest words of tender affection, by the great and gracious promises of his word, and the sweetest contrasting influences of his Spirit; and bring her into the wilderness; either separating them from the rest of the world for himself, or by the effective dispositions of his providences humbling their souls, or convincing them of their misery and guilt, in order to lead them more earnestly to seek the riches of his grace; and speak comfortably and her, encouraging the despised hearts of his poor people, burdened with guilt and heavy laden with trouble, and showing them, in Christ Jesus, that peace, pardon, and plentious redemption, which miserable sinners so exceedingly need, and which are to them tidings of great joy: and I will give her waquish from thence; either the abundance of temporal bleedings which they had lost, or rather the graces and confessions of his Spirit, which are more refreshing than wine to the weary; and the sadly of Arbor, where Achan was Stoned, for a dear of hope, this being their first entrance into the promised land, and the pledge of their possessing the rest. Thus, when God converts the souls of his people to himself, the accursed thing sin is put away, a door of hope is opened to them after their darkness and distress, and, in the present grace they receive, they have the pledge of that eternal glory which is prepared for them: and the shall sing there as in the day of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of Egypt, when they beheld the Egyptians dead on the sea-flour; so shall the people of God rejoice in the complete victory of their Redeemer, and triumph in the God of their salvation; happy in the present possession of his love, and the afflicted prospect of eternal bleedings. Note, (1.) Nothing hath so powerful an effect upon the sinners’ conscience as the alluring promises of gospel grace. (2.) A soul brought into the wilderness of conviction is ready to fear that destruction is before him; but the gate of life lies in this valley of the shadow of death.

2. God will cleanse them from all their idols. They shall not only no more worship Baal, but not even take his name in their lips. And it shall be in that day, faith the Lord, when the Jews shall be turned to him, thus shall call me Iba, my husband, by faith embracing the Lord Jesus as the blessed bridegroom of their souls; and shall call me no more Baals, which signifies my husband also, or my Lord; but was a name which had been so much abused in worshipping their idols, that the very mention of it should be abhorred, and the memory of it stamped with oblivion; for I will take away the names of Baalies out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name, idolatry of every kind being utterly abolished; as will be fully accomplished in the latter day, when every idol, papal as will as pagan, shall fall for ever. Note, (1.) The endearing relation God is pleased to assume, as the husband of his people, should engage our warmest affection and most unshaken fidelity. (2.) It is a sure symptom of God’s gracious designs towards the sinners’ soul, when he separates him from his beloved idols and lusts. (3.) When a thing, innocent in itself, is abused to the purposes of superstition and idolatry, it should from thenceforth be avoided.

3. God will be their protection from every foe, whether the savages of the forest, or the more dangerous savages, wicked men, or sends of darkness. The hearts of the earth, as bound by a covenant, shall no more hurt nor destroy God’s redeemed people; and all their brutal persecutors, with the old lion their rules, shall be for ever disabled from hurting them. Then were shall cease in all the earth, and, quiet from fear of evil, they shall lie down safely, under the guardian care of their almighty Lord and Saviour. Note, (1.) When God is our friend, who can harm us? (2.) Whether we lie down on beds of sleep, or

in the dust of death; other forms we may quietly repel to them, and be assured that under his wings we must be seen.

4. God will cause him them into a covenant of marriage, notwithstanding their former divorce. I will betrain him unto me for ever; which may refer to the Jews in particular, who at last shall be brought again into the visible church of the redeemed; or may be applied to every particular believer, whether Jew or Gentile, who have not chosen Christ, but he hath chosen them, and by his grace engages them to chuse him as their Lord and husband, and to observe to him in love and satisfaction. And this endeared relation shall subsist for ever, the gifts and calling of God being without repentance; they cannot be call away, because he cannot change. But I will betrain the unto me in righteousness, dealing with them in the most afflicted sincerity, or inheriting them with the spoiled riches of righteousness, which he their Redeemer hath wronged out for them as their wedding-garment, arranged in which they are all fair in his eyes; and in judgment, in such a way as is most perfectly consistent with his justice, though they are in themselves polluted, and deserve his wrath instead of his love; and in loving-kindness, in those his warmest regard; and in mercies, believing on them every blessing a sinful soul can need; and this purely leading not from any merit in them but from his undelivered favour; and in faithfulness, engaging to fulfil every promise of the covenant to them; and not only love to his part of the conquest, but keeping them also faithful to theirs; and thus shall know the Lord, his excellence and glory, such a knowledge as shall satisfactorily engage their love and duty to him, and secure to them, as the consequence, eternal life. Blessed and happy is the soul that is in such a case!

5. God will enrich them with the blessings of the bofset and the store; or perhaps the better spiritual blessings of grace are represented by the corn and wine. They had before, v. 12, been threatened with the destruction of their worldly comforts; but now, being restored to God’s favour, they shall regret the creature good they had forfeited; and this is represented by a beautiful figure, wherein the prayers of the whole creation, which groans under the curbs of sin, are represented as ascending into the ears of the Lord of Sabaith. I will hear the heavens, or answer their cry, defining permission to drop down the door, without which they are as trials over the sinners’ head; and the heavens shall hear the earth, gulping for want of men; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the water, and the oil, withering for drought; and they shall hear Jesus, furnishing an abundant supply for the famished people. And thus doth the do we not heavenly influences descend on the thrifty soul, and under the dispensation of the word and ordinances of Christ hath quickening, comforting, and strengthening grace is dispensed, that God’s chosen grow up, and bring forth the abundant fruits of righteousness and true holiness.

6. God will greatly increase the number of his Israel. I will sow her unto me in the earth; either the dispersed Israelites, that had been scattered in all lands, and in their days of captivity seemed buried as feed beneath the clads of the valley, but shall at last spring up more numerous than ever; or, by the preaching of the word of gospel grace, that divine feed should be sown, from whence a glorious turmoil should be gathered of Israelites indeed, of true believers, the feed of God, as the word Israel signifies.

7. God will reverse the sentence pronounced upon them, and change their ominous names. They shall no more be called Lammis and La-rahamah; for I will have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy, both Jews and Gentiles, to whom the apostle expressly applies this promise, Rom. 14. 2; and I will say to them which were not my people, the Gentiles before the gospel came unto them, and the Jews who for a while are cut off from their relation to God till the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, Thou art my people, restored and recovered, through Jesus Christ, to his love and protection; and they shall say, Thou art my God, enabled by faith to embrace the promises, and to approve their fidelity to him. Note, (1.) The salvation of the sinner is an act of God’s infinite mercy. (2.) None are so bad as to be beyond the reach of this mercy which on this side eternity, and therefore never to be detained of. (3.) The greatest of all mercies is to have God for our own God; every possible blessing is comprehended in that relation. (4.) They who can truly claim a covenant-relation to God will own, at least for themselves, that they owe it to the election of grace; for we had never chosen him, if he had not first chosen us.