Hosea 13 commentary

While Ephraim kept up a holy fear of God, and worshipped Him in that fear, so long he was very considerable. When Ephraim forsook God, and followed idolatry, he sunk. Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves, in token of their adoration of them, affection for them, and obedience to them; but the Lord will not give his glory to another, and therefore all that worship images shall be confounded. No solid, lasting comfort, is to be expected any where but in God. God not only took care of the Israelites in the wilderness, he put them in possession of Canaan, a good land; but worldly prosperity, when it feeds men's pride, makes them forgetful of God. Therefore the Lord would meet them in just vengeance, as the most terrible beast that inhabited their forests. Abused goodness calls for greater severity.

Israel had destroyed himself by his rebellion; but he could not save himself, his help was from the Lord only. This may well be applied to the case of spiritual redemption, from that lost state into which all have fallen by wilful sins. God often gives in displeasure what we sinfully desire. It is the happiness of the saints, that, whether God gives or takes away, all is in love. But it is the misery of the wicked, that, whether God gives or takes away, it is all in wrath, nothing is comfortable. Except sinners repent and believe the gospel, anguish will soon come upon them. The prophecy of the ruin of Israel as a nation, also showed there would be a merciful and powerful interposition of God, to save a remnant of them. Yet this was but a shadow of the ransom of the true Israel, by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He will destroy death and the grave. The Lord would not repent of his purpose and promise. Yet, in the mean time, Israel would be desolated for her sins. Without fruitfulness in good works, springing from the Holy Spirit, all other fruitfulness will be found as empty as the uncertain riches of the world. The wrath of God will wither its branches, its sprigs shall be dried up, it shall come to nothing. Woes, more terrible than any from the most cruel warfare, shall fall on those who rebel against God. From such miseries, and from sin, the cause of them, may the Lord deliver us.

Interpreters agree not in their view of this verse. Some say that trembling was excited in Israel when Ephraim, that is, Jeroboam, who was born of that tribe, exhorted the people to worship the calves. By the word רתת, retat, “trembling,” they understand, that the people were so astonished, that they without thought immediately obeyed the will, or rather the humour, of their impious king. And if this sense be approved, the word, trembling, may be in another way explained, even in this, — that the people did not immediately embrace that perverted worship, but dreaded, as is wont to be the case with regard to new things, and which seem to have nothing reasonable in their favour. But these expounders wholly depart, in my judgement, from the intention of the Prophet; for, on the contrary, he sets forth here the twofold state of the kingdom of Israel, that it might hence be manifest that the ten tribes had been through their own fault rejected by the Lord, and had thus fallen from that dignity unto which the Lord had raised them.

He therefore says, When Ephraim spake formerly, his voice dreaded, Horsley appears to have adopted Calvin’s view of this sentence. His version is this, — “When Ephraim spake, there was dread.” and he raised himself in Israel; that is, among the whole race of Abraham. But now he is dead, or is fallen, after he has begun to sin in Baal. Then, in the first sentence, the Prophet records the honours with which God had favoured that tribe. Ephraim, we know, was the younger of the sons of Joseph. Manasseh ought not only to have had the pre-eminence, but also to have reigned alone in that family; for the people were divided into twelve tribes. But God intended to raise up two chiefs in the house of Joseph, and preferred the younger to the first-begotten. Hence Ephraim, who had increased in number and power, and had at length obtained the royal dignity, ought to have acknowledged the singular favour of God. And by way of reproach, the Prophet here says, that all trembled at the single voice of Ephraim; that is, when he became endued with authority, and then, that he was exalted in Israel. He ought to have been deemed of no account, he ought to have been inferior to his brother, who was the first-born, and yet he excelled all the tribes. Since, then, God had conferred so much honour on the tribe of Ephraim, the more grievous was his fault, that he afterwards had fallen away unto idols; yea, that he began his reign with superstition, when God was pleased to choose and anoint Jeroboam king. And surely that he, when raised beyond all hope to the throne by the hand of God, should, instead of testifying his gratitude, immediately corrupt the whole worship of God, this was extremely inconsistent.

But the Prophet says, in the second place, that they died from the time they had thus fallen away from true and lawful worship, in order that they might understand that they received the just reward of their impiety when God’s hand was opposed to them, when they were oppressed by adversity. We now perceive the obvious meaning, of the Prophet to be, that the Israelites formerly flourished, especially the tribe of Ephraim, from whom Jeroboam arose, so that, by their voice alone, they subdued all their neighbours, and that beyond the expectation of men, they suddenly emerged and erected a new kingdom among the children of Abraham.

He afterwards adds, that after they had sinned by Baal, they became dead: for God deprived the tribe of Ephraim of the power with which he had before adorned him, so that they were but little short of being destroyed. For though his kingdom had not wholly fallen, it had yet come to such an extremity that the Prophet might justly say that they, who were so far removed from their former state, were dead. But when he says that they sinned by Baal, he does not mean that this was the beginning of their idolatry; for Jeroboam at first made the calves, and it was his successor who built Baal, and borrowed that superstition, as it is supposed, from the neighbouring Sidonians. But God records here what is more grievous, and less excusable, — that the Israelites polluted themselves with the filth of the Gentiles, so that they differed nothing from the profane and unbelieving, who had no acquaintance with sound doctrine.

We are moreover taught in this place, that when kings are endued with any authority, when they are strong in power, all this comes from God; for unless God strikes terror into men, no one would receive the yoke of another, at least all would desire equality, or one would raise himself above others. It is then certain, that when any one excels among many in power, this is done through the secret purpose of God, who constrains to order the common people, and causes them not to deny obedience to the command of one man. This is what Hosea now teaches, when he upbraids the tribe of Ephraim with respect to this terror; for if Ephraim had been formidable through his own power, there would have been no room for the Prophet’s reproof: but as this was the peculiar gift of God, the Prophet justly says, that the tribe of Ephraim were in great honour until they had fallen into superstition. Let us now proceed —

Hosea 13:2

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.

2. Et nunc addunt ad peccandum (hoc est, pergunt peccare,) et fecerunt sibi conflatile ex argento suo, secundum intelligentiam suam, idola opus artificum omnis (vel, omne:) ipsis ipsi dicunt sacrificantes hominem, vitulos osculentur.

In this verse the Prophet amplifies the wickedness of the people, and says, that they had not only in one day cast aside the pure worship of God, and entangled themselves in superstitions; but that they had been obstinate in their own depravity. They have added, he says, to their sin, and have made a molten thing of their silver When Israel, as we have said, departed from the worship of God, they made calves, and made them under a specious appearance; but when many superstitions were added, one after another, there was, as it were, an accumulation of madness, as if the Israelites designedly wished to subvert the law of God, and to show that they cared nothing for the only true God, by whom they had been redeemed. This is the reason why the Prophet says that they made progress in wickedness, and observed no moderation in sinning, and this is what usually happens, unless God draws men back. As soon as they fall away, they rush headlong into evil; for they take a greater liberty in sinning, after they have turned their back on God.

Hence this reproof of the Prophet ought to be noticed, for he inveighs against the obstinate wickedness of Israel; and says, that they made for themselves of their silver a molten thing As we have seen above, they abused the gifts of God by devoting to superstition what the Lord had destined for their use. The end for which God has bestowed silver, we know, is, that men may carry on commerce with one another, and apply it also to other useful purposes. But when they make to themselves gods of silver, there is an astonishing stupidity in their ingratitude, for they pervert the order of nature, and forget that silver is given for another end, and that is as we have said for their use. The Prophet at the same time intimates, that the Israelites were less excusable, inasmuch as when they were enriched, they became proud of their wealth. Satiety, we know, is the cause of wantonness, as, it will be shortly stated again.

But what the Prophet adds ought to be especially observed, According to their own understanding Here he severely reproves the Israelites, because they had not subordinated all their thoughts to God, but, on the contrary, followed what pleased themselves. It was then according to their own invention The word which the Prophet uses is not unsuitable, though “understanding,” the word which the Prophet adopts, is among the Hebrews taken in a good sense. But what is treated of here is the worship of God, with respect to which all the prudence, all the reason, all the wisdom of men, and, in short, all their senses, ought to be suspended: for if, in this case, they of themselves adopt any thing, be it ever so little, they inevitably vitiate the worship of God. How so? Because obedience, we know, is better than all sacrifices. This then is the rule, as to the right worship of God, — that men must become foolish, that they must not allow themselves to be wise, but that they are only to give ear to God, and to follow what he commands. But when men’s presumption intrudes, so that they devise a new mode of worship, they then depart from the true God, and worship mere idols. The Prophet then by the word, understanding, condemns here whatever pleases the judgement and reason of men; as though he said, “The true rule of religion, as to the worship of God, is, that nothing human is to be mingled, that no one is to bring forward what is his own, or what seems good to himself.” In short, the understanding of men is here opposed to the command of God; as though the Prophet said, “One great difference between the true worship of God and all fictitious and degenerated modes of worship, is obedience to the word of God; if we be wise according to our own judgement, all we do is corrupt.” How so? Because whatever men devise of themselves is a pollution of divine worship. Hence Paul, in Colossians 2, Colossians 2:22,23. — fj. refutes all the fancies of men by this one argument, “They are,” he says, “the traditions of men, though they may have the show of wisdom.”

We now apprehend what the Prophet meant, and why he added the word “understanding;” it was, that the Israelites might learn, that all the worship which was in use among them, was perverted and vicious; for it was not founded on the command of God, but flowed from a different source, even the understanding of men. It then follows, as we have said before, that in religion nothing is to be attempted by us, but we are to follow this one law in worshipping God — simply to obey his word.

He afterwards adds, Idols, the work of artificers altogether The Prophet, in the second place, derides the grossness which had fascinated the minds of the people, as they worshipped in the place of God the works of men. For it is usual with all the Prophets, in order to render the stupidity of men as it were palpable, to show that it is wholly unreasonable to worship idols; for a material cannot with any propriety be worshipped. When there is before us a great mass or a great heap of gold or silver, no one imagines that there is in it any divinity: when one passes through a wood, he transfers not to trees the glory due to God; and the same may be said of stones. But when the hand of the artificer is applied, the plate of gold begins to be a god; so also the trunk of a tree seems to put on the glory of God, when it receives a certain form from the workman; and the same is the case with other things. Now it is extremely absurd to suppose that an artificer, as soon as he has hewn some wood, or as soon as he has melted gold or silver, can make a god, and convey divinity to a dead thing; and yet it is well known that this is thought everywhere to be the case. Superstitious men allege in excuse, that this does not proceed from the hand of the artificer, but that as they wish for some sign of God’s presence, and as they cannot otherwise set forth what God is, God is in that form. But this still remains true, that workmen by their skill make gods of lifeless things, to which no honour can belong. Since it is so, the Prophet now justly says, that what the people of Israel worshipped was the work of artifices; and he said this, that they might know that they became shamefully foolish, when they left the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and prostrated themselves before idols made by hands.

But he adds, that they say to one another while they sacrifice men, Let them kiss the calves ‘Let the sacrificers of men kiss the calves.’ — Horsley. Though this place is in various ways explained, I am yet content with the obvious meaning of the Prophet. He again derides them for exhorting one another to worship the calf: For by kissing he means by a figure a profession of worship or adoration, as it is evident from other parts of Scripture. It is said in 1 Kings, 1 Kings 19:18. — fj. I have preserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent the knee before Baal, nor kissed him. To kiss Baal then was a sign of reverence. And this practice, we see, has been retained by the superstitious, as the case is at this day with the Papists, who observe this special custom of kissing their idols. But what does the Prophet now say? They encourage one another, he says, in the worship of the calves, and in the meantime “they sacrifice men”. The Prophet doubtless condemns here that abominable and savage custom of parents sacrificing their children to Moloch. It was utterly repugnant to the feeling of nature for parents to immolate their own children. For though this was once commanded to Abraham, we yet know that the design was, that God intended by this proof to try the obedience of his servant: but Abraham was not at last suffered to do what he purposed.

They then immolated men. If it was right to sacrifice men, surely such a service ought to have been rendered at least to the only true God. If it was lawful to sacrifice man for the sake of man, it was certainly ridiculous to do so to conciliate the calf; and it was especially strange, when parents hesitated not to appease dead statues by the blood of their children. This absurdity then the Prophet now points out as with the finger, that he might try to make the Israelites ashamed of their base conduct. “See,” he says, “how brutish ye are; for ye immolate to the calves and kiss them, and more still, ye sacrifice men. Is there so much worthiness in the calf, that man, who far excels it, must be killed before it? Is not this wholly inconsistent with every thing like reason?” We now understand what the Prophet meant. They say then one to another, while they immolate men, Let them kiss the calves

But we learn from this and similar places, that we ought to notice those absurdities in which wretched men involve themselves, when they are lost in their own devices, after having left the word of God: for this word is to be to us as a bridle to keep us from going astray with them in their monstrous devices; for when we observe these delirious things which even nature itself abhors, it is evident that God thereby restrains and preserves us as it were by his outstretched hand. With this design the Prophet now shows how stupid the Israelites were, and how prodigious was their frenzy when they kissed the calves with great reverence, and also sacrificed men. So at this day with respect to those under the Papacy, we ought not only to adopt this argument, that they departed from the true God when they sought for themselves new and strange modes of worship, without the warrant of his word, but we ought also to bear in mind that their puerilities are to be ascribed to the same cause. And we see how God has given them up to a reprobate mind, so that they throw aside no kinds of absurdities. And this consideration, as I have said, will serve to awaken those who are as yet healable, when they understand that they have been infatuated; having been in this manner admonished, they may return to the right way. And that we ourselves may give thanks to God, and detest more and more that filth in which we were for a time involved, and remember that there is nothing more to be dreaded than that the Lord should allow us loose reins, the very example of his vengeance as to all idolaters is made known to us; for as soon as they departed from the pure worship of God, they gave themselves up, as we have stated, to the most shameful stupidity. Let us proceed —

Hosea 13:3

3. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

3. Propterea erunt quasi nubes matutina, quasi ros mane exoriens, transiens quasi palea quae ex area projicitur, et quasi fumus e fumario, (Nam ארבה accipitur hoc sensu: significat quidem fenestram, sed est vaporarium camini.)

The Prophet employs here four similitudes to show the condition of Israel. How much soever they flourished for a time, and might be deemed happy, their state would yet be fading and evanescent. They shall be, he says, as the morning cloud: though they be loftily proud, the Lord will yet shake off from them whatever power they may have. Secondly, they shall be as the dew that rises up in the morning — having nothing substantial in them. Thirdly they shall be as the chaff which from the floor is driven by a whirlwind And, lastly they shall be, he says, as the smoke; for as the smoke produces thick darkness, and, after having gone out of the chimney, disperses and disappears, so these proud people, how much soever they may have praised themselves, would not continue in a permanent condition.

We hence conclude, that the Israelites were not so much like the dead, but that yet they had some power remaining in them: for God would have otherwise threatened to no purpose, that they should be made like a cloud, and the dew, and the chaff, and the smoke: but they had been already in a great measure consumed. And God denounces on them here utter destruction, that they might not think that they had already suffered the last punishment, and that they might not suppose that they could gather new strength: for proud men entertain vain confidence, through which they remove to a distance the judgement of God. Lest, then, they should delude themselves with such allurements, the Prophet here declares that their condition would be fading, such as would soon come to ruin. It follows —

Hosea 13:4-5

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 saviour beside me.

4. Et ego Jehova Deus tuus e terra Aegypti, et Deum extra me non cognosces, et Servator nemo praeter me.

5. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

5. Ego cognovi te in leserto, in terra siccitatum (hoc est, in terra arida.)

The Prophet now repeats the sentence which we have noticed in the last chapter for the sake of amplifying the sin of the people. For had they never known sound doctrine, had they never been brought up in the law, there would have been some colour for alleviating their fault; because they might have excused themselves by saying, that as they had never known true religion, they had gone astray according to the common practice of men; but as they had from infancy been taught sound doctrine, as God had brought them up as it were in his own bosom, as they had learned from their first years what it was to worship God purely, when they thus retook themselves to the superstitions of the heathens, what could there be for an excuse for them? We then see the bearing of the complaint, when God says, that he had been the God of Israel from the land of Egypt

I am then, he says, Jehovah your God. By calling himself Jehovah, he glances at all their fictitious gods; as though he said “I am doubtless justly, and in mine own rights your God; for I am of myself — I am the Creator of the world, no one can take away my power: but whence have these their divinity, except from the madness of men?” He says further, I am thy God, O Israel; that is, “I have manifested myself to thee from the land of Egypt, from thy very nativity. When I redeemed thee from Egypt I brought thee out as it were from the womb to the light of life; for Egypt was to thee like the grave. Thou didst then begin to live, and to be some sort of people, when I stretched forth my hand to thee.”

And now also ought to be noticed what I have said before, that the people were redeemed on this condition, that they should devote themselves wholly to God. As we are at this day Christ’s, and no one of us ought to live according to his own will, for Christ died and rose again for this end, that he might be the Lord of the living and of the dead: so also then, the Israelites had been redeemed by God, that they might offer themselves wholly to Him. And since God ruled by this right over the people of Israel, how shameful and inexcusable was their defections when the people wilfully abandoned themselves to the superstitions of the Gentiles?

A God, he says, besides me thou oughtest not to know These words the Prophet had not before used. This sentence, then, is fuller, for it more clearly explains the import of what he had said, that God had purchased Israel for himself by bringing them out of Egypt, and that is, that Israel ought to have been content with this one Redeemer, and not to seek for themselves other gods. A God, then, besides me thou shalt not know. For if this one God was sufficient for redeeming his people, what do the people now mean, when they wander, and seek aid here and there? For they ought to render to God the life received from him, which they now enjoy, and ought to acknowledge to be sufficiently safe under his protection. We now then see why this was added, Thou shalt not know a God besides me

A reason, confirmatory of this, follows: For no one, he says, is a Saviour except me The copulative ו, vau, ought to be regarded here as a causative, For no one, etc., or, Surely no one is a Saviour except me. And this is a remarkable passage; for we learn that the worship of God does not consist in words, but in faith, and hope, and prayer. The Papists of the present day think that they do not profane the worship of God, though they fly to statues, though they pray to dead men, though they look here and there for the accomplishment of their hopes. How so? Because they ever retain the only true God, that is, they do not ascribe the name of God to Christopher or to Antony. The Papists think themselves free from all blame, since God retains his own name. But we see how differently the matter is regarded by the Lord. “I am,” he says, “the only true God.” How is this? “Because I am the only Saviour: feign not to thyself another God, for thou shalt find none that will save thee.” Then God puts an especial value on the honour that is due to him from hope and prayer; that is, when our soul recumbs on him alone, and when we seek and hope for salvation from no other but from him. We see then how useful is the doctrine contained in this passage, in which the Prophet clearly shows, that the Israelites acted absurdly and shamefully when they formed another god for themselves, for no Saviour, except the one true God, can be found.

He afterwards adds Thee I knew in the desert, in the land of droughts God here confirms the truth that the Israelites had acted very absurdly in having turned their minds to other gods, for he himself had known them. The knowledge here mentioned is twofold, that of men, and that of God. God declares that he had a care for the people when they were in the desert; and he designates his paternal solicitude by the term, knowledge: I knew thee; that is, “I then chose thee a people for myself, and familiarly manifested myself to thee, as if thou were a near friend to me. But then it was necessary that I should have been also known by thee.” This is the knowledge of men. Now when men are known by God, why do they not apply all their faculties, so that they may remain fixed on him? For when they divert them to other objects, they extinguish, as much as they can, this benefit of God. So also Paul speaks to the Galatians,

‘After ye have known God, or rather after ye are known by him,’ (Galatians 4:9.)

In the first clause, he shows that they had done very wickedly in retaking themselves to various devices after the light of the gospel had been offered to them: but he increases their sin by the next clause, when he says, ‘Rather after ye are known by him;’ as though he said, “God has anticipated you by his gratuitous goodness. Since, then, God has thus first known you, and first favoured you with his grace, how great and how shameful is now your ingratitude in not seeking to know him in return?” We now then see why the Prophet added that the Israelites had been known by God in the desert, in the land of droughts

And there is an express mention made of the desert: for it was then necessary for the people to be sustained miraculously by the Lord; for except God had rained manna from heaven, and had also given water for drink, the people must have miserably perished. Since, then God had thus supported the people contrary to the usual course of nature, so that without his paternal care there could have been no hope of life, the Prophet now rightly adds, In the desert, in the land of droughts; that is, in that dry solitude, where not a grain of corn grew, so that the people could not live except God had, as it were, with his own hand, given them meat, and put it in their mouth. We now see that the extreme impiety of the people is here manifestly proved; for having been taught in God’s law, and been encouraged by so many benefits, they yet went astray after profane superstitions. And the Prophet, at the same time, adds —

Hosea 13:6

6. According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.

6. Juxta A great number of MSS have ב, beth, instead of כ, caph, before the word, “pastures.” But to connect the first two words in this verse with the last verse, as Bishop Horsley does, is certainly not right; for the two different times here evidently referred to are thereby confounded. Though Calvin in this, as in some other instances, does not settle the grammatical construction, he yet sets forth the real meaning of the passage. God says, that he knew the people of Israel, both in the desert and in “their pastures;” that is, in the fertile land of Canaan; and then he states the effect which their pastures had upon them. What favors the substitution of ב for כ is, that the former is used before “desert,” and “the land of droughts,” in the preceding verse. The verb “to know” is to be understood at the beginning of this verse. The two verses, 5 and 6, may be thus rendered: —

5. I knew thee in the desert, In the land of droughts;

6. In their pastures also when they were filled; They were filled, and raised up was their heart; Hence they forgat me.

The change of persons from “thee” to “them” is common throughout this book. — Ed. pascua sua et satiati sunt, saturati sunt, et elevatum est cor ipsorum; propterea obliti sunt mei.

The Prophet shows here that the people were in every way intractable. He has indeed handled this argument in other places; but the repetition is not superfluous. After he had said that the people were ungrateful in not continuing in the service of their Redeemer, by whom they had been so kindly and bountifully treated in the desert, where they must have perished through famine and want, had not the Lord in an unwonted manner brought them help in their great necessity, he now adds, “The Lord would have also allured you by other means, had you not been of a wholly wild and barbarous disposition: but it is hence manifest, that you are utterly disobedient; for after you have been brought out of the desert, you came to rich pastures.” For the land of Israel is here compared to rich and fertile pastures; as though he said, “God has placed you in an inheritance where you might eat to the full, as when a shepherd leads his sheep to a spot especially fertile.” What did take place? To their pastures they came, and were filled; they were filled, and elevated became their heart, and they forgat me

Since, then, the Israelites had extinguished the memory of their redemption, after the Lord had fed them when hungry in the desert, and since in their fulness they rejected God, and shook off his yoke, and, like ferocious horses, kicked against him, it became evident that their nature was so unnameable, that they could by no means be reduced to obedience or submission. We shall defer the rest till tomorrow.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou dost so kindly call on us daily by thy voice, meekly and calmly to offer ourselves to be ruled by thee, and since thou hast exalted us to a high degree of honour by freeing us from the dread of the devil, and from that tyranny which kept us in miserable fear, and hast also favoured us with the Spirit of adoption and of hope, — O grant, that we, being mindful of these benefits, may ever submit ourselves to thee, and desire only to raise our voice for this end, that the whole world may submit itself to thee, and that those who seem now to rage against thee may at length be brought, as well as we, to render thee obedience, so that thy Son Christ may be the Lord of all, to the end that thou alone mayest be exalted, and that we may be made subject to thee, and be at length raised up above, and become partakers of that glory which has been obtained for us by Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lecture Thirty-fifth

We observed in our yesterday’s lecture, that the Israelites were condemned, because they were, when fed in rich pastures, like mettlesome horses; and this is what commonly happens. And even Moses foretold this in his song,

‘My chosen, having become fat, kicked against me,’ (Deuteronomy 32:15.)

What the Prophet said was now fulfilled; fulness had produced ferocity in the people of Israel. According to their pastures, he says, they were filled; they were satiated, and their heart was elevated Ezekiel declares the same of Sodom; when their stomach was well filled they became proud, (Ezekiel 16:49.) But the Prophet speaks there of their cruelty towards men; for he says, that the Sodomites, while abounding in all blessings, were full of cruelty, so that they contemptuously despised the poor. But the prophet condemns here a worse thing in the people of Israel, for their heart was inflated with pride against God.

And there is, in the last place, a mention made of their forgetfulness of God. It is impossible, when men are blinded by a wilful self-confidence, but that they will cast aside every fear of God and every concern for religion. And this passage teaches us, that we ought to use our abundance temperately and frugally, and that we ought, in the first place, beware lest the bounty of God should introduce a forgetfulness of him. For it is an extreme perversion, that when the more largely God pours his gifts upon us, our hearts should be more narrow, and that his benefits should be like veils to cover our eyes. We ought then to labour, that the benefits of God may, on the contrary, renew the recollection of him in our minds: and then, as I have said, let moderation and frugality be added. Let us now proceed —

Hosea 13:7-8

7. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:

7. Et ero illis tanquam leo, tanquam pardus in via Assur (vel, aspiciam, vel, insidiabor, ut alii vertunt.)

8. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.

8. Occurram illis tanquam ursus orbatus (suis parvulis scilicet;) et disrumpam clausuram cordis eorum; vorabo eos quasi leo; Some render this “the lioness,” but it is more consonant with this passage to render it “lion,” meaning, as its name, לביא, labia, is taken to signify, a cruel old lion. The word in the former verse is שחל, shechel, which means a fierce lion. So that the Lord compares himself to the most devouring and the fiercest species of the lion tribe. The Hebrews have other names for lions, designative of their peculiar nature of their age. כפיר, caphir, is a young lion; אריה, arie, a grown up and a rapacious lion, שחף, shichets, a lion of middle age and fierce; and ליש, lice, an old lion. With respect to the two mentioned here, there is a gradation, according to the sense of the passage. The first, in verse 7, is a lion in middle age, bold and ferocious; but the second, in verse 8, is one still older, but retaining his vigor, and still more ferocious and devouring. — Ed. bestia agri scindet (vel, lacerabit) ipsos.

The Prophet denounces again on the Israelites the vengeance of God; and as they were become torpid through their own flatteries, as we have already often observed, he here describes the terrible judgement of God, that he might strike fear into the obstinate, so that they might at length perceive that they had to do with God, and begin to dread his power. And this, as we have said, was very necessary, when the Prophets intended to awaken hypocrites; for self- confidence so inebriates them, that they hesitate not to despise all the threatenings of God: and this is the reason why he adopts these three similitudes. He first compares God to a lion, then to a leopard, and then to a bear. I will be, he says, like a lion, like a leopard, and then like a bear God, we know, is in his own nature merciful and kind; when he says that he will be like a lion, he puts on as it were another character; but this is done on account of men’s wickedness, as it is said in Psalm 18,

‘With the gentle, thou wilt be gentle; with the perverse, thou wilt be perverse.’

For, though God speaks sharply and severely through his Prophet, he yet expresses what we ought to remember, and that is, that he thus speaks, because we do not allow him to treat us according to his own nature, that is, gently and kindly; and that when he sees us to be obstinate and unnameable, he then contends with us (so to speak) with the like contumacy; not that perversity properly belongs to God, but he borrows this similitude from men, and for this reason, that men may not continue to flatter themselves when he is displeased with them. I shall therefore be like a lion, like a leopard in the way

As to the word Assur, interpreters take it in various ways. Some render it, Assyria, though it is here written with Kamets: but the Hebrews consider it as an appellative, not the name of a place or country. Some again render it thus, “I will look on them,” and derive it from שור, shur, and take אaleph, as designative of the future tense. Others derive it from אשר, asher, and will have it to be in the conjugation Pual: and here they differ again among themselves. Some render it, “I will lay in wait for them:” and others think it to be Shoar, “I will be a layer in wait like a leopard.” But this variety, with regard to the meaning of the passage, is of but little moment; for we see the drift of the Prophet’s object. He intends here to take away from hypocrites their vain confidence, and to terrify them with the apprehension of God’s vengeance which was impending. He therefore says that though God had hitherto spared them, nay, had in a manner kindly cherished them, yet since they continued to provoke his wrath, their condition would soon be very different; for he would come against them like a lion; that is, he would leap on them with the greatest fury; he would also be like a leopard: and a leopard, we know, is a very cruel beast: and, lastly, he compares him to a bereaved she-bear, or, a bereaved bear.

But he afterwards adds, I will rend, or will tear, the inclosure of their heart. They who understand the enclosure of the heart to be their obstinate hardness, seem to refine too much on the words of the Prophet. We know, indeed, that the Prophets sometimes use this mode of speaking; for they call that a hard heart, or a heart covered with fatness, which is not pliant, and does not willingly receive sound doctrine. But the Prophet rather alludes to the savageness of the bear, when he says, I will rend or tear in pieces the membrane of the heart, and will devour you as a lion. For it is the most cruel kind of death, when the lion with his claws and teeth aims at the heart itself and tears the bowels of man. The Prophet therefore intended to set forth this most cruel kind of death. “I will therefore,” he says, “tear asunder the pericardium, or the enclosure of the heart.” I do not at the same time say, that the Prophet does not allude to the hardness of the people, while he retains his own similitude.

And the beast of the field shall rend them He speaks now without a similitude; for God means that all the wild beasts would be his ministers to execute his judgement. “I will then send all the beasts of the field to rend and tear them, so that nothing among them shall remain safe.” We now see the purport of this passage, and to what use it ought to be applied. If we are by nature so slothful, yea, and careless, and when God does not stir us up, we indulge our own delusions, we ought to notice those figurative representations which tend to shake off from us our tardiness and show to us how dreadful the judgement of God is. For the same purpose are those metaphors respecting the eternal fire and the worm that never dies. For Gods seeing the feelings of men to be so torpid has in Scripture applied those things which may correct their sluggishness. Whenever then God puts on a character not his own, let us know that it is through our fault; for we suffer him not to deal with us according to his own nature, inasmuch as we are intractable. Let us go on —

Hosea 13:9-11

9. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

9. Perdidit te Israel; quia in me auxilium tuum. Bishop Horsley’s rendering of this verse which was that of Rivet, is the following — “It is thy destruction, O Israel, that upon me (alone it lies) to help thee.” He adds in a note — “Thy great privilege, to have God alone for thy defense, becomes the occasion of thy destruction. In my wrath I withdrew my special aid; and since forsaken by me, thou hast no other helper, thy ruin must ensue.

In this instance our version, as to the first clause, seems preferable to that offered by Calvin. The verb is not in the third person, but the second. Its final radica; letter is ת, tau, and the same letter is characteristic of the second person, and it is not here doubled; another instance of which we find in Ezekiel 28:17, שהת חכמתך. ‘Thou hast corrupted,’ or ‘destroyed, thy wisdom.’

There is reason to doubt the correctness of our version, as well as that of Calvin, as to the second clause. Literally it is, “Though in me for thy help,” which seems to mean this, “Though it was in my power to help thee.”

But if the first word of the verse be taken as a substantive, as it is by many critics, then the first clause may be considered as having reference to the preceding verses. The meaning then would be, that such would be Israel’s destruction, though at the same time there was for him help in God, if he had sought it: —

Such thy destruction, Israel! Though in me there was help for thee.

Then follows the next verse, — I will be the same: thy king, where is he? etc. For changing אהי into איה, the authority is very small, only one MS., and another doubtful: and there is no need, and indeed the sense is thereby injured. In the Geneva Bible it is rendered, ‘I am.’ The future tense in Hebrew includes often the present as well as what is future. To give it its full meaning, it must be thus rendered, ‘I am and will be,’ that is, thy help; for he had before said, that there had been help for them in him. — Ed.

10 I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?

10 Ero: Rex tuus ubi, ut servet te in cunctis urbibus tuis, et judices tui, de quibus dixisti, Da mihi regem et principes?

11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

11 Dabo tibi (hoc est), Dedi tibi regem in ira mea, et sustuli in furore meo.

In the first place, God upbraids the Israelites for having in their perverseness rejected whatever was offered for their safety: but he proceeds farther and says, that they were past hope, and that there was a hidden cause which prevented God from helping them, and bringing them aid when they laboured under extreme necessity. He has destroyed thee, Israel, he says. Some consider the word, calf, to be understood, “The calf has destroyed thee:” but this is strained. Others think that there is a change of person: and I am inclined to adopt this opinion, as this mode of speaking we know, is very common: Destroyed thee has Israel; thou art the cause of thine own destruction, or, “Israel has destroyed himself.” Though then there is here a verb of the third person, and there is afterwards added an affixed pronoun at the second person, we may yet thus render the passage, “Israel has destroyed himself.” At the same time, when I weigh more fully every particular, this passage, I think, would be better and more fitly explained by being taken indefinitely: “Something has destroyed thee, Israel:” as though he said, “Inquire now who has destroyed thee.” God then does not here name Israel as the author, nor does he point out any as the author of their ruin; but yet he shows that Israel was lost, and that the cause of their destruction was to be sought in some one else, and not in him. This is the meaning. Then it is, Something has destroyed thee, Israel; for in me was thy help God shows and proves that Israel, who had been hitherto preserved, is now destroyed through their own fault; for God had once adopted the people, and for this end, that he might continue to show his favour towards them. If then the wickedness and ingratitude of the people had not hindered, God would have been doubtless always like himself, and his goodness towards that people would have flowed in a continuous and uniform stream.

This is what he means in the second clause, when he says, In me was thine help; by which he seems to say, “How comes it, and what is the reason, that I do not now help thee according to my usual manner? Thou hast indeed found me hitherto to be thy deliverer: though thou hast often struggled with great and grievous dangers, I was yet never wanting to thee; thou hast ever found from me a prompt assistance. How comes it now that I have cast thee away, that thou criest in vain, and that no one brings thee any help? How comes it, that thou art thus forsaken, and receives no relief whatever from my hand, as thou hast been wont to do? And doubtless I should never be wanting to thee, if thou wouldest allow me; but thou closest the door against me, and by thy wickedness spurnest my favour, so that it cannot come to thee. It then follows, that thou art now destroyed through thy own fault: Something then has destroyed thee He speaks here indefinitely; but this suspended way of expression is more emphatical when he shows that Israel was without reason astonished, and had also without reason expostulated with God. “There is then no ground for contending with God, as if he had frustrated thy expectation, and despised thy desires and crying; God indeed is consistent with himself, for he is not changeable;” as though he said, “Their perdition is from another cause, and they ought to know that there is some hindrance, why God should not extend his hand to help them, as he has hitherto usually done.”

We now perceive the mind of the Prophet: he in the first place records what God had been hitherto to the people; and then he takes for granted that he does not change, but that he possesses a uniform and unwearied goodness. But since he had hitherto helped his people, he concludes, that Israel was destroyed through some other cause, inasmuch as God brought him no aid; for unless Israel had intercepted God’s goodness, it would have certainly flowed as usual. It then appears that its course was impeded by the wickedness of the people; for they put as it were an obstacle in its way.

And this passage teaches us, that men in vain clamour against God in their miseries: for he would be always ready to help them, were they not to spurn the favour offered to them. Whenever then God does not help us in our necessity, and suffers us to languish, and as it were to pine away in our afflictions, it is doubtless so, because we are not disposed to receive his favour, but, on the contrary, we obstruct its way; as it is said by Isaiah,

“Shortened is not the Lord’s hand, that it cannot save, nor is my ear heavy, that it does not hear. Your sins, he says, have set up a mound between you and me,” (Isaiah 59:1, 2.)

To the same purpose are the words of the Prophet here when he says, that we ought to inquire what the cause of our destruction is, when the Lord does not immediately deliver us: for as he has once given us a taste of his goodness so he will continue to do the same to the end; for he is not wearied in his kindness, nor can his bounty be exhausted. The fault then belongs to us. We hence see how remarkable is this passage, and what useful instruction it contains.

He afterwards more fully confirms the same by saying, I will be; and then he says, Thy king, where is he? By saying, ‘I will be,’ God retreats what he had before declared, that he would always be the same; for, as James says

‘No overshadowing happens to him,’ (James 1:17.)

Hence ‘I will be;’ that is, “Though the Israelites rail against me, that I do not pursue my usual course of kindness, it is yet most false; for I remain ever the same, and am always ready to show kindness to men; for I do not, as I have elsewhere declared, forsake the works of my hands, (Psalm 138:8.) Seeing then that I thus continue my favour towards men, it must be that the way to my favour is closed up by their wickedness. Let them therefore examine themselves, when they cry and I answer not. When in their evils they in a manner pine away, and find no relief, let them acknowledge it to be their own fault; for I would have made myself the same as ever I have been, and they would have found me a deliverer, had not a change taken place in them.” We now comprehend the meaning of the Prophet in the ninth verse, and as to the expression, אהי, aei, I will be, in the verse which follows.

He then says, Where is thy king? God again reproaches the Israelites for having reposed their confidence in their king and other earthly helps, by which they thought themselves to have been well fortified. Where is thy king? he says. He derides the Israelites; for they saw that their king was now stripped of every power to help, and that all their princes were destitute both of prudence and of all other means. Since then there was no protection from men, the Prophet shows now that Israel had but a vain trust, when they thought themselves safe under the shadow of their king, when they considered themselves secure as long as they were governed by prudent men. All these things, he says, are vain. But we must ever bear in mind what he had said before I will be; for had not this shield been set up, hypocrites would have ever said in return, “Where now is God? What is his purpose? Why does he delay?” Hence God mentioned before that he was ready to help them, but that they by their wickedness had closed up the way.

But he further derides them for having in vain placed their hope and their help in their king and princes. Where is thy king, he says, that he may save thee in all thy cities? It is not without reason that the Prophet mentions cities, because the Israelites despised all threatening, while their cities were on every side unassailable and strong to keep out enemies. Hence when God threatened them by his Prophets, they regarded what was said to them as fables, and thus defended themselves, “How can enemies assail us? Though there were hundred wars nigh at hand, have we not cities which can resist the onsets of enemies? We shall therefore dwell in safety, and enjoy our pleasures, though God should shake heaven and earth.” Since then they were so inebriated with this false confidence, the Prophet now says, “I know that you excel in having great and many cities; but as you deem them as your protection, God will show that this hope is vain and deceptive. Where then is thy king, that he may save thee in thy cities? And though thy king be well furnished with an army and with defences, it will yet avail thee nothing, when God shall once rise up against thee.”

But he subjoins, And thy judges of whom thou hast said, Give me a king and princes? Here the Prophet ascends higher; for he shows that the people of Israel had not only sinned in this respect, that they had placed their hope in their king, and in other helps; but that they had also chosen for themselves a king, whom God had not approved. For David, we know, was anointed for this end, that he might unite together the whole body of the people; and God intended that his Church and chosen people should remain under one head, that they might be safe. It was therefore an impious separations when the ten tribes wished for themselves a new king. How so? Because a defection from the kingdom of David was as it were a denial of God. For if it was said to Samuel,

‘Thee have they not rejected, but me, that I should not reign over them,’ (1 Samuel 8:7,)

it was certainly more fully verified as to David. We now then see what the Prophet meant: after having inveighed against the false confidence of the people for thinking that they were safe through the power of their king, he now adds, “I will advance to another source: for thou didst not then begin to sin, when thou didst transfer the glory of God to the king, but when thou didst wish to have a kingdom of thine own, being not content with that kingdom which he had instituted in the person of David.” The Prophet does now then accuse the people of defection, when a new king, that is, Jeroboam, was elected by them. For though it was done according to the certain purpose of God, as we have elsewhere observed, yet this availed nothing to alleviate the fault of the people; for they, as far as they could, renounced God. As the foot, if cut off from the body, is not only a mutilated and useless member, but immediately putrefies; so also was Israel, being like a half part of a torn and mutilated body; and they must have become putrified, had they not been miraculously preserved. But at the same time God here justly condemns that defection, that Israel, by desiring a new king, had broken asunder the sacred unity of the Church and introduced an impious separation.

These are the princes, of whom thou hast said, Give me a king and princes. I gave to thee in my wrath, and took away in my fury; that is “It was a cursed beginning, and it shall be a cursed end; for the election of Jeroboam was not lawful; but through an impious wilfulness, the people then rebelled against me, when they revolted from the family of David.” Nothing successful could then proceed from so inauspicious a beginning. For it is only then an auspicious token, when we obey God, when his Spirit presides over our counsels, when we ask at his mouth, and when we begin with prayer to him. But when we despise the word of God, and give loose reins to our own humour, and fix on whatever pleases us, it cannot be but that an unhappy and disastrous issue will follow. God therefore says, that he gave them a king in his wrath; as though he said, “Ye think that you have done nobly, when Jeroboam was raised to the throne, that he might become eminent: for the kingdom of Judah was then far inferior to that of Israel, which not only excelled in power, but also in the number of its subjects. Ye think that you were then happy, because Jeroboam ruled over you: but he was given you in the anger and wrath of God,” saith the Prophet. “But God commanded Jeroboam to be anointed.” True, it was so: but this, says God, I did in my wrath; and now I will take away in my fury; that is, “I will deprive you of that kingdom which I see is the cause of your blindness. For if that kingdom remains entire, I shall be nothing, the authority of my word will be of no weight among you. It is then necessary that this kingdom should be wholly subverted; for ye began to be unhappy as soon as ye sought a new king.”

We now understand what the Prophet means. At the same time, we learn from this passage, that God so executes his judgements, that whatever evil there is, it ought to be ascribed to men. For the raising of Jeroboam to the kingdom, we certainly allow to have been rash and unjust; for thereby was violated that celestial decree made known to David,

“My Son art thou, I have this day begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles,’ etc., (Psalm 2:7,8.)

But who appointed Jeroboam to be king? The Lord himself. How could it be, that God raised Jeroboam to the throne, and that he yet by his decree set David, not only over the children of Abraham, but also over the Gentiles, with reference to Christ who was to come? God seems here to be inconsistent with himself. By no means; for when he set David over his chosen people, it was a lawful appointment: but when he raised Jeroboam to the throne, it was a singular judgement; so that in God there is no inconsistency. The people at the same time, who by their suffrages adopted Jeroboam and made him their king, acted impiously and perversely. “Yet God seems to have directed the whole by his providence.” True; for before the people knew any thing of the new king, God had already determined to elect him and resolved also to punish in this way the defection and ingratitude of Solomon. All these things are true, that is, that God by his secret counsel had directed the whole business, and yet that he had no participation in the sin of the people.

Thus let us learn wisely to admire the secret judgements of God, and not imitate those profane cavillers, who make a great noise, because they cannot understand how God thus makes use of wicked men, and how he directs for the best end what is done by men wickedly and foolishly. As they do not perceive this, they conclude that if the Lord governs all things, he must be the author of sin. But the Scripture, as we see, when it speaks of the wrath and fury of God, does at the same time set forth to us his rectitude in all his judgements, and distinguishes between God and men, even as the difference is great; for God does not turn the perverse designs of men to answer their own ends — he is a just judge. And yet his purpose is not always apparent to us: it is, however, our duty reverently and with chastened minds to admire and adore those mysteries which surpass our comprehension. It follows —

Hosea 13:12-13

12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.

12. Obsignatum est peccatum Ephraim (vel, obsignata est iniquitas Ephraim;) reconditum peccatum ejus.

13. The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.

13. Dolores parturientis venient ei; ipse filius insipiens (non sapiens,) quia tempore non staret in ruptura filiorum (ad verbum.)

He says, first, that sealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, and that hidden is his sin; by which words he means, that hypocrites in vain flatter themselves while God suspends his vengeance; for though he may connive for a time, yet he does not sleep; nor ought it to be believed that he is blind, but he seals up the sins of men, and keeps them inclosed until the proper time for revealing them shall come. This is the chief point; but the Prophet has expressed something more. For as Jeremiah says,

‘The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond,’ (Jeremiah 17:1;)

so now also does Hosea say, that the iniquity of Ephraim was sealed up. For writings may perish, when they spread abroad: but what is laid up and put under a seal always remains. What, then, Hosea now means is, that the people flattered themselves in vain, while a truce was granted them; for the Lord kept their sins under his seal; as though he said “God forgets not your iniquity: as he, however, spares you only for a time, it would be far better to suffer immediate punishment, for thus the memory of your sin would pass away; but he now carefully keeps all your iniquities as it were under seal, and your sins are laid up in store.”

We now see that what the Prophet means in this verse is, that the Israelites had made such advances in their sins, that now no pardon or remission could be hoped for. “God then shall never be propitious to you, for your sin is sealed up.” And this sentence applies to all those who disguise themselves before God, when he does not severely treat them, but, on the contrary, kindly sustains and bears with them. Since, then, they thus disappointed his forbearance, it was necessary that this should befall them, that he should seal up their iniquities, and keep inclosed their sins.

He afterwards says, that the sorrows of one in travail would come on this proud and rebellious people. He pursues the same subject, but under another figure; for by the sorrows of one in travail he points out the sudden destruction which befalls careless men. And this mode of speaking is common in Scripture. There will come then the sorrows of one in travail on these men; that is, “As they promise to themselves continual peace, and are now awakened by any threatenings, and as they proudly despise both my hand and my word, a sudden destruction shall crush them.” Thus much as to the beginning of the verse, There shall come on them the sorrows of one in travail

He then adds, He is an unwise son, that is, he is altogether foolish. Here God reprobates the extreme madness of the people of Israel, as though he had said, “If any particle of sound understanding remained in this people, they would at least perceive the judgement which is impending; and there would then be some hope of a remedy: but this people are now wholly infatuated.” And this proves their folly, for they ought not, he says, to stay in the breaking forth of children This clause, however, some interpreters explain thus, “The time will come, they will not stay in the breaking forth of children.” But rather the contrary is meant by the words; for the Prophet means, that when the time of birth came, the people would stop in the breaking forth; which they would not do, were they endued with a right and sound mind.

It must be noticed, that the Prophet alludes to the time of birth; for he had said before, that the sorrows of one in travail would come on the people of Israel; he now declares that these sorrows would be filial. Though a woman be in labour and in great danger in giving birth, she is yet freed in a moment, and as Christ says, joy and gladness arise from that sorrow, (John 16:21.) But the Prophet says that this bringing forth would be very different; for it would be an abortion, and the child would be retained to putrefy in the womb. If a woman in the very birth restrains effort and shrinks in her strength, she destroys the child and herself at the same time; for she cannot bring forth without exertion. Since then the safety of the woman depends on the exertion made, the Prophet now says, that the contrary would be the case with the people of Israel. They are, he says, like a woman in travail; but they are at the same time blinded with folly, for they retain the child in the womb and make no effort: so this parturition must at last be fatal to them. Why? Because they make no effort to bring forth the child.

The Prophet by these figurative representations no doubt glances at the obstinate hardness of the people; for when they ought to bewail and humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, we know how perversely they hardened themselves against all punishment. Since, then, this people did thus as it were champ the bridle, and at the same time make hard their heart, partly by their fierce temper, partly by stupidity, partly by desperation, it was no wonder that the Prophet said that they were an unwise and insane people, for they stayed at the breaking forth of children; that is they made no effort to obtain the wished-for end to their evils. For when the Lord afflicts us, and we bring forth, this bringing forth is our deliverance. Now, how can there be deliverance except we hate ourselves for our sins, except we raise up our minds to God, and thus open a passage for God’s grace? But when we oppose God pertinaciously through our fierceness and stupidity, it is the same as if one closed up every avenue. We now then see how appropriate is this metaphor used by the Prophet, when he says that the people were mad; for when the time of bringing, forth came, they stayed in the breaking forth; that is, at the opening of the womb, for this is what the Prophet means by the word. Since then they stayed in the very opening, and restrained, as it were, every effort, and ceased from all strivings, they must have perished. We now see what the obstinacy of men produces when they harden themselves, when they thus contracts as it were, within narrow limits their heart and mind and all their faculties. For when a woman who is in travail restrains all efforts, she wilfully seeks death for herself: so they do the same who harden themselves against all punishments, and especially when the time of birth is come; and to this the word, breaking forth, refers: for when the Lord strikes us not only once, but continues to lay on us many stripes, so that we must either repent or perish for ever, it is the ripened time for bringing forth; for God then leads us to an extremity, and nothing remains for us but to humble ourselves under his mighty hand or to perish. The Prophet then calls that condition, the breaking forth, in which obstinate men continue, who will not obey God. It is necessary to join with these verses the two which follow: this I shall do to-morrow.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast given us thy only begotten Son to rule us, and hast by thy good pleasure consecrated him a King over us, that we may be perpetually safe and secure under his hand against all the attempts of the devil and of the whole world, — O grant, that we may suffer ourselves to be ruled by his authority, and so conduct ourselves, that he may ever continue to watch for our safety: and as thou hast committed us to him, that he may be the guardian of our salvation, so also suffer us not either to turn aside or to fall, but preserve us ever in his service, until we be at length gathered into that blessed and everlasting kingdom, which has been procured for us by the blood of thy only Son. Amen.

Lecture Thirty-sixth

Hosea 13:14

14. I will ransom 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.

14. E manu sepulchri redimam eos, a morte redimam (est quidem aliud verbum, sed utrumque significat redimere:) ero perditio tua, “Very many MSS. and some editions read דברך; and דבר in Hebrew is to destroy, to subdue.” — Newcome.

This passage presents an instance of that useless kind of criticism, by which an attempt has been made to introduce a verbal agreement between sentences in the Old Testament and the supposed quotations of them in the New. The apostles had more regard to the meaning than to words.

Horsley has a long note on the two words דבר, predition or destruction, and קטב, excision or extirpation; and he renders the first by “pestilence,” and the second by “burning plague.” That the two words are so used he proves satisfactorily. But when applied to death and the grave, they of course can retain only their reading idea of something destructive, extirpating, and ruinous. Words in all languages have their primary and secondary meanings: and to retain the primary meaning in a translation would often be improper. Calvin has in this instance showed more judgment than the Bishop. mors: ero excisio tua (vel, interitus tuus) sepulchrum (vel, inferne:) consolatio (vel, poenitentia) abscondita est ab oculis meis.

The Prophet, I doubt not, continues here the same subject, namely, that the Israelites could not bear the mercy offered to them by God, though he speaks here more fully. God seems to promise redemption, but he does this conditionally: they are then mistaken, in my judgement, who take these words in the same sense as when God, after having reproved and threatened, mitigates the severity of his instruction, and adds consolation by offering his grace. But the import of this passage is different; for God, as we have already said, does not here simply promise salvation, but shows that he is indeed ready to save, but that the wickedness of the people, as it has been said, was an impediment in the way. Let us, however, more carefully examine the words.

From the hand of the grave, he says. By the hand he doubtless means power: for Jerome does nothing but trifle, when he speaks here of works, and says that the works of the grave are our sins. But this is far away from the mind of the Prophet. It is indeed a metaphor common in Scripture, that the hand is put for power or authority. Then it is, I will redeem them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death; that is, except they resist, I will become willingly their Redeemer. Some have therefore rendered the passage in the subjunctive mood, “From the hand of the grave I would redeem them, from death I would deliver them.” But there is no need to change the tense, though, as I have said, they who do so faithfully set forth the design of the Prophet. But lest any one say that this is too remote from the words, the text of the Prophet may be very well understood, though the future tense be preserved. I will then redeem them, as far as this depends on me; for a condition is to be introduced as though God came forth and declared that he was present to fulfil the office of a Redeemer. What, then, does stand in the way? Even the hardness of the people; for they would have preferred to perish a hundred times rather than to turn to the Lord, as we shall presently see.

He afterwards adds, I will be thy perdition, O death; I will be thy excision, O grave. By these words, the Prophet more distinctly sets forth the power of God, and magnificently extols it, lest men should think that there is no way open to him to save, when no hope according to the judgement of the flesh appears. Hence the Prophet says, “Though men are now dead, there is yet nothing to prevent God to quicken them. How so? For he is the ruin of death, and the excision of the grave;” that is, “Though death should swallow up all men, though the grave should consume them, yet God is superior to both death and the grave, for he can slay death, for he can abolish the grave.” We now perceive the real meaning of the Prophet.

And we may learn from this passage, that when men perish, God still continues like himself, and that neither his power, by which he is mighty to save the world, is extinguished, nor his purpose changed, so as not to be always ready to help; but that the obstinacy of men rejects the grace which has been provided, and which God willingly and bountifully offers. This is one thing. We may secondly learn, that the power of God is not to be measured by our rule: were we lost a hundred times, let God be still regarded as a Saviour. Should then despair at any time so cast us down, that we cannot lay hold on any of God’s promises, let this passage come to our minds, which says, that God is the excision of death, and the destruction of the grave. “But death is nigh to us, what then can we hope for any more?” This is to say, that God is not superior to death: but when death claims so much power over men, how much more power has God over death itself? Let us then feel assured that God is the destruction of death, which means that death can no more destroy; that is, that death is deprived of that power by which men are naturally destroyed; and that though we may lie in the grave, God is yet the excision of the grave itself. This is the application of what is here taught. But some one gives this version, “I will be thy perdition to death,” as if this was addressed to the people: it is an absurd perversion of the whole passage, and deprives us of a most useful doctrine.

But many interpreters, thinking this passage to be quoted by Paul, have explained what is here said of Christ, and have in many respects erred. They have said first, that God promises redemption here without any condition; but we see that the design of the Prophet was far different. They have then assumed, that this is said in the person of Christ, “From the hand of the grave will I redeem them.” They have at the same time thought, with too much refinement, that the grave or hell is put for the torments with which the reprobate are visited, or for the place itself where they are tormented. But the Prophet repeats the same thing in different words, and well known is this character of the Hebrew style. The grave then here differs not from death; though Jerome labours and contends that the grave means what is wholly different from death: but the whole of what he says is frivolous. They have then been deceived as to these words. And then into the words of the Prophet “I will be thy excision, O hell, (or grave,”) they have introduced the word, bait, and have allegorically explained it of Christ, that he was like a hook: for as a worm, when fastened to the hook, and swallowed by a fish, becomes death to it; so also Christ, as they have said, when committed to the sepulchre, became a fatal bait; for as the fish are taken by the hook, so death was taken by the bait of the death of Christ. And these vain subtilties have been received with great applause: hence under the whole Papacy it is received without doubt as a divine truth, that Christ was the bait of death. But yet let any one narrowly examine the words of the Prophet, and he will see that they have ignorantly and shamefully abused the testimony of the Prophet. And we ought especially to take care, that the meaning of Scripture should be preserved true and certain.

But let us see what to answer to that which is said of Paul quoting this passage. The solution is not difficult. The Apostles do not avowedly at all times adduce passages, which in their whole context apply to the subject they handle; but sometimes they allude to a word only, sometimes they apply a passage to a subject in the way of resemblance, and sometimes they bring forward passages as testimonies. When the Apostles use the testimonies of Scripture, then the genuine and real truth must be sought out; but when they glance only at one word, there is no occasion to make any anxious inquiry; and when they quote any passage of Scripture in the way of resemblance, it is a too scrupulous anxiety to seek out how all the parts agree. But it is quite evident that Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, has not quoted the testimony of the Prophet for the purpose of confirming the doctrine of which he speaks. “The Apostle’s triumphant exclamation, ‘O death,’ etc., is an allusion indeed to this text of Hosea, an indirect allusion, but no citation of it.” — Bishop Horsley. What then? As the resurrection of the flesh was a truth very difficult to be believed, nay, wholly contrary to the judgement of nature, Paul says that it is no matter of wonder, inasmuch as Christ will come to raise us. How so? Because it is the peculiar prerogative of God to be the perdition of death and the destruction of the grave; as though he said, “Were men to putrefy a thousand times, God would still retain that power of which he declared when he said, that he would be the ruin of death and the destruction of the grave.” Let us then know, that, though the judgement of nature rejects the truth, yet God is endued with that incomprehensible power by which he can raise us from a state of putrefaction; nay, since he created the world from nothing, he will also raise us up from the grave, for he is the death of death, the grave of the grave, the ruin of ruin, and the destruction of destruction: and the simple object of Paul is, to extol by these striking words that incredible power of God, which is beyond the reach of human understanding.

Now were any one to quote for the same purpose this place from the Psalms, “The Lord’s are the issues of death, (Psalm 68:20,) would it be needful to inquire in what sense David said this or of what time he speaks? By no means; but what is spoken of is the unchangeable prerogative and power of God, of which he can never be deprived, so also in this place we see what he declares by Hosea, and what he would have done, had there not been an obstacle in the ingratitude of the people; for he says I will be thy ruin, O grave; I will be thy death, O death And since God has promised this, let us feel assured that we shall at last find this to be true as to ourselves. We now then perceive how the real meaning of the Prophet agrees with the subject handled by Paul.

It now follows, consolation, or, repentance is hid from my eye; for נחם, nuchem, means both. נחם, nuchem, signifies to repent, and it signifies to receive consolation. If the term, consolation, be approved, the sense will be, “There is no reason for any one to wonder that I speak so sharply, and do nothing but thunder against my people; for consolation has now no place among them; therefore consolation is hid from my eyes.” And this was the case, because the irreclaimable wickedness of the people did not allow God to change his severity into mildness, so as to give any hope of pardon and salvation. In this sense then it is said that consolation was hid from his eyes. But if the word, repentance, be more approved, it will show exactly the same thing, — that it was fully determined to destroy that people. “There is then no reason for you to hope that I can become milder in course of time; for repentance is hid from mine eyes. This shall remain fixed, you shall be reduced to nothing; for ye are past all hope.” We then see that both the words refer to the same thing, that God takes away from this miserable and reprobate people every hope of salvation. Now it follows —

Hosea 13:15

15. Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind 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.

15. Quia ipse inter fratres fructum faciet (vel, augescet; vel, Quanvis ipse inter fratres suos augescat: alii putant אחים positum esse pro אחוים, inter germina: sed nimis coacta est interpretatio. Legamus igitur simpliciter ut verba sonant, Ipse inter fratres augescet;) veniet ventus orientalis, ventus Jehovae a deserto ascendens, et arefaciet venam ejus, et siccabitur fons ejus: ipse diripiet thesaurum omnis vasis desiderabilis.

God again confirms what had been said that Israel in vain trusted in their strength and fortresses and that certain destruction was nigh them on account of their sins which they followed without any limits or restraint. But the Prophet begins with these words, He among brethren will increase He alludes, I doubt not, (as other interpreters have also noticed,) to the blessing of the tribe of Ephraim, which is mentioned in Genesis 48; for we know that though Ephraim was the younger, he was yet placed first by Jacob, so that he was preferred in honour to his brother, who was the firstborn: and further, the prophecy, we know, which Jacob then announced, was really fulfilled; for the tribe of Ephraim excelled, both in number and in other respects, all the rest, except only the tribe of Judah. Ephraim had evidently gained high eminence among the whole people. But when he ought to have ascribed all this to the gratuitous goodness of God, he became inflated with pride. This ingratitude the Prophet now reproves, He, he says, among his brethren will increase: but whence this increase? Whence was this so great a dignity, except that he was preferred to Manasseh, who by right of nature was the first? Now it was not enough for this wretched people to forget so great a favour of God, without at the same time abusing their wealth in fostering pride, and without hardening themselves in contempt of God. For whence came so great an audacity in their rebellion, whence so great stupidity and so great a madness as to despise the judgement of God, except from this — that they had increased among their brethren?

Though, then, he increases among his brethren, yet there shall come an east wind, the wind of Jehovah, which shall dry his spring, and his fountain shall be dried up Here God declares what had been before mentioned, that it was in his power to take away from the people of Israel what he had gratuitously bestowed, as he could dry up the fountains whenever he wished. And he applies a most suitable similitude. As the east wind, he says, dries and burns up, and if it long prevails, the fountains will be dried up; so will I, he says, dry up all the springs of Ephraim. Whether or not he thinks that he possesses more vigour than fountains, which have an exhaustless source, it is certain that fountains dry up whenever it so pleases me. I will then dry up the springs and fountains of Ephraim: though he thinks that he draws from a deep fountain, yet the wind, when it shall rise, will dry up his whole vigour and moisture. We now understand what the Prophet means.

Now as to the words, some render קדים, kodim, improperly, the south wind; for it means the east wind: and then others incorrectly explain the wind of Jehovah, as meaning a strong wind. I indeed allow that what is unusual is often said to be divine; but in this place the Prophet intended to express, that God has winds ever ready, by which he can dry up whatever vigour there may be or seem to be in men. Hence the name of Jehovah is set in opposition to natural causes or means. It shall not then be a fortuitous wind that shall dry up the springs of Ephraim, but one raised up by the counsel and certain purpose of God; as though he said, “This wind will be the scourge of God.”

We are then taught here, that when God for a time blesses us, we must beware lest we abuse his favour and entertain a false confidence, as we see that Ephraim had done: for he flourished among his brethren, and then raised up his head; and thus he obliterated God’s favour through his pride and haughtiness. We ought then, when prosperous, ever to fear, lest something like this should happen to us. The more kindly then God deals with us, the more constantly ought we to be roused up to pray to him, that he may be pleased to carry on his work to the end, lest we slumber in our enjoyments while God is indulgent to us. This, in the first place, we ought to bear in mind. Then we must also notice the warning of the prophet, that God can suddenly, and, as it were, in a moment, upset the prosperity of men, that there is nothing in this world which cannot be immediately changed whenever God withdraws from us his favour. This comparison then ought often to occur to us; when the air is tranquil, when the season is quiet, a wind will in a moment rise up, which will dry the earth, which will also make dry the fountains; and yet the vigour of fountains seems to be perpetual; what then may not happen to us? Cannot the Lord at any moment make us dry, since we have in ourselves no source of strength? He might indeed have said in this place what we find in the 40th chapter of Isaiah Isaiah 40:6-8. — fj. that man is like the flower that soon fadeth; but he intended to express something more profound; for this people, being deeply fixed in their own strength, thought that they were supplied by exhaustless fountains, and that their vigour could not be dried up: hence he says, “Though thou hast fountains and springs, yet God will dry thee up; for he will find a wind that has power, as experience proves, to dry up springs and fountains.”

But it follows, It will rob the treasure of every desirable vessel This may seem to be improperly applied to wind; but yet the meaning of the Prophet is sufficiently clear, even this, that nothing shall remain untouched in the tribe of Ephraim, when the Lord shall raise up his wind. “However hidden,” he seems to say, “your treasures may be, yet this wind shall penetrate into the inmost recesses, so that nothing shall be safe from its violence.” In short, the Prophet means, that the force of God’s vengeance would be so violent, that Ephraim could not be secure in any of his fortresses; for the wind of God would penetrate unto the very inmost springs of the earth. This is the meaning. It follows —

Hosea 13:16

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 ripped up.

16. Desolabitur Samaria, quia exacerbavit Deum suum: in gladio cadent; parvuli eorum allidentur, gravidae eorum scindentur.

This is the conclusion of the discourse: this verse has then been improperly separated from the former chapter The fourteenth chapter begins in the original with this verse; but it has been thought better to retain the division of our own version. ; for the Prophet enters not here on a new subject, but only confirms what he had said of the ultimate destruction of Samaria and of the whole kingdom. Samaria then shall be desolated; as though he said “I have already often denounced on you what you believe not, that destruction is nigh at hand; of this be now persuaded; but if you believe not, God will yet execute what he has determined, and what he now pronounces by my mouth.” At the same time he adds the cause, For they have provoked their God That they might not complain that they were severely dealt with, he says, that they only suffered the punishment which they deserved. He also specifies the kind of destruction that was to be, They shall fall by the sword, their children shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women shall be torn asunder, that the child may be extracted from the womb. In saying that the citizens of Samaria, and the inhabitants of the whole country, shall fall by the sword, he doubtless intimates that God would make use of this kind of punishment by sending for enemies who would consign them to destruction.

We now then see what is included in the words of the Prophet. He first shows that it was all over with Samaria and the whole kingdom of Israel; as God could by no means bring them to repentance, he would now take vengeance on so desperate an obstinacy. He afterwards shows that God would do this justly, because he had been provoked; and, lastly, he shows what kind their punishment would be. That they might not think that the Assyrians would come by chance, the Prophet says that this army, which was to invade and destroy the country of Samaria, would be, as it were, conducted by the hand of God; for though the Assyrians wished to extend their own borders, and were influenced by their own avarice and cupidity, yet God would use them as instruments to execute his own judgement; and that they might know how dreadful the vengeance would be, he relates two kinds of evils, — that their children would be dashed in pieces, and that their women would be rent asunder, and their offspring extracted from their wombs. Even to speak of this is horrible; and it is what never takes place, except when enemies are greatly enraged and extremely provoked. We now then comprehend the meaning of the Prophet.

But if any one objects and says, that infants, and babes as yet concealed in the wombs of their mothers, deserve not such a grievous punishment, as they have not hitherto merited such a thing; it may be answered, that the whole human race are guilty before God, so that infants though not yet come forth to the light, are yet included as being under guilt; so that God cannot be charged with cruelty, though he may use his own right towards them. And further, we hear what he declares in many places, that he will devolve the sins of parents on their children. Since it is so, let us learn to acquiesce in these awful judgements of God, though very repugnant to our feelings; for we know that we must not contend with God, and that it would be extreme presumption to do so; nay, it would be impious audacity. Though then the reason for this punishment may not appear to us, we ought yet reverently to regard this judgement of God. We may moreover thus reason — If infants be not spared, even those as yet hid in the mother’s womb, what will become of adults? what will become of the old, who through their whole life have continued to provoke the vengeance of God? The Lord no doubt intended by these words to terrify those godless despisers of his word, with whom he had to do. “How great a judgement,” he says, “hangs over you, and how tremendous! since your infants shall not be exempted: for I shall involve you in the same judgement, when they shall be dashed against the stones, after having been drawn out of their mothers’ womb. When such a dreadful punishment shall be inflicted on them, what shall be done to you? for the cause of the evil exists in you.” We have now then explained this verse. Then follows an exhortation.

Chapter 14

Hosea 14:1-2

1. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

1. Revertere Israel ad Jehovam Deum tuum; quia orruisti in iniquitate tua.

2. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

2. Tollite vobiscum verba, et convertimini ad Jehovam: et dicite ei, Omnem tolle iniquitatem, et sume (vel, attolle) bonum; et solvemus vitulos labiorum nostrorum.

CHAPTER 13

Ho 13:1-16. Ephraim's Sinful Ingratitude to God, and Its Fatal Consequence; God's Promise at Last.

This chapter and the fourteenth chapter probably belong to the troubled times that followed Pekah's murder by Hoshea (compare Ho 13:11; 2Ki 15:30). The subject is the idolatry of Ephraim, notwithstanding God's past benefits, destined to be his ruin.

1. When Ephraim spake trembling--rather, "When Ephraim (the tribe most powerful among the twelve in Israel's early history) spake (authoritatively) there was trembling"; all reverentially feared him [Jerome], (compare Job 29:8, 9, 21).

offended in Baal--that is, in respect to Baal, by worshipping him (1Ki 16:31), under Ahab; a more heinous offense than even the calves. Therefore it is at this climax of guilt that Ephraim "died." Sin has, in the sight of God, within itself the germ of death, though that death may not visibly take effect till long after. Compare Ro 7:9, "Sin revived, and I died." So Adam in the day of his sin was to die, though the sentence was not visibly executed till long after (Ge 2:17; 5:5). Israel is similarly represented as politically dead in Eze 37:1-28.

2. according to their own understanding--that is, their arbitrary devising. Compare "will-worship," Col 2:23. Men are not to be "wise above that which is written," or to follow their own understanding, but God's command in worship.

kiss the calves--an act of adoration to the golden calves (compare 1Ki 19:18; Job 31:27; Psa 2:12).

3. they shall be as the morning cloud ... dew--(Ho 6:4). As their "goodness" soon vanished like the morning cloud and dew, so they shall perish like them.

the floor--the threshing-floor, generally an open area, on a height, exposed to the winds.

chimney--generally in the East an orifice in the wall, at once admitting the light, and giving egress to the smoke.

4. (Ho 12:9; Is 43:11).

no saviour--temporal as well as spiritual.

besides me--(Is 45:21).

5. I did know thee--did acknowledge thee as Mine, and so took care of thee (Psa 144:3; Am 3:2). As I knew thee as Mine, so thou shouldest know no God but Me (Ho 13:4).

in ... land of ... drought--(De 8:15).

6. Image from cattle, waxing wanton in abundant pasture (compare Ho 2:5, 8; De 32:13-15). In proportion as I fed them to the full, they were so satiated that "their heart was exalted"; a sad contrast to the time when, by God's blessing, Ephraim truly "exalted himself in Israel" (Ho 13:1).

therefore have they forgotten me--the very reason why men should remember God (namely, prosperity, which comes from Him) is the cause often of their forgetting Him. God had warned them of this danger (De 6:11, 12).

7. (Ho 5:14; La 3:10).

leopard--The Hebrew comes from a root meaning "spotted" (compare Jr 13:23). Leopards lurk in thickets and thence spring on their victims.

observe--that is, lie in wait for them. Several manuscripts, the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic read, by a slight change of the Hebrew vowel pointing, "by the way of Assyria," a region abounding in leopards and lions. English Version is better.

8. "Writers on the natures of beasts say that none is more savage than a she bear, when bereaved of her whelps" [Jerome].

caul of ... heart--the membrane enclosing it: the pericardium.

there--"by the way" (Ho 13:7).

9. thou ... in me--in contrast.

hast destroyed thyself--that is, thy destruction is of thyself (Pr 6:32; 8:36).

in me is thine help--literally, "in thine help" (compare De 33:26). Hadst thou rested thy hope in Me, I would have been always ready at hand for thy help [Grotius].

10. I will be thy king; where--rather, as the Margin and the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, "Where now is thy king?" [Maurer]. English Version is, however, favored both by the Hebrew, by the antithesis between Israel's self-chosen and perishing kings, and God, Israel's abiding King (compare Ho 3:4, 5).

where ... Give me a king--Where now is the king whom ye substituted in My stead? Neither Saul, whom the whole nation begged for, not contented with Me their true king (1Sa 8:5, 7, 19, 20; 10:19), nor Jeroboam, whom subsequently the ten tribes chose instead of the line of David My anointed, can save thee now. They had expected from their kings what is the prerogative of God alone, namely, the power of saving them.

judges--including all civil authorities under the king (compare Am 2:3).

11. I gave ... king in ... anger ... took ... away in ... wrath--true both of Saul (1Sa 15:22, 23; 16:1) and of Jeroboam's line (2Ki 15:30). Pekah was taken away through Hoshea, as he himself took away Pekahiah; and as Hoshea was soon to be taken away by the Assyrian king.

12. bound up ... hid--Treasures, meant to be kept, are bound up and hidden; that is, do not flatter yourselves, because of the delay, that I have forgotten your sin. Nay (Ho 9:9), Ephraim's iniquity is kept as it were safely sealed up, until the due time comes for bringing it forth for punishment (De 32:34; Job 14:17; 21:19; compare Ro 2:5). Opposed to "blotting out the handwriting against" the sinner (Col 2:14).

13. sorrows of a travailing woman--calamities sudden and agonizing (Jr 30:6).

unwise--in not foreseeing the impending judgment, and averting it by penitence (Pr 22:3).

he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children--When Israel might deliver himself from calamity by the pangs of penitence, he brings ruin on himself by so long deferring a new birth unto repentance, like a child whose mother has not strength to bring it forth, and which therefore remains so long in the passage from the womb as to run the risk of death (2Ki 19:3; Is 37:3; 66:9).

14. Applying primarily to God's restoration of Israel from Assyria partially, and, in times yet future, fully from all the lands of their present long-continued dispersion, and political death (compare Ho 6:2; Is 25:8; 26:19; Eze 37:12). God's power and grace are magnified in quickening what to the eye of flesh seems dead and hopeless (Ro 4:17, 19). As Israel's history, past and future, has a representative character in relation to the Church, this verse is expressed in language alluding to Messiah's (who is the ideal Israel) grand victory over the grave and death, the first-fruits of His own resurrection, the full harvest to come at the general resurrection; hence the similarity between this verse and Paul's language as to the latter (1Co 15:55). That similarity becomes more obvious by translating as the Septuagint, from which Paul plainly quotes; and as the same Hebrew word is translated in Ho 13:10, "O death, where are thy plagues (paraphrased by the Septuagint, 'thy victory')? O grave, where is thy destruction (rendered by the Septuagint, 'thy sting')?" The question is that of one triumphing over a foe, once a cruel tyrant, but now robbed of all power to hurt.

repentance shall be hid from mine eyes--that is, I will not change My purpose of fulfilling My promise by delivering Israel, on the condition of their return to Me (compare Ho 14:2-8; Nu 23:19; Ro 11:29).

15. fruitful--referring to the meaning of "Ephraim," from a Hebrew root, "to be fruitful" (Ge 41:52). It was long the most numerous and flourishing of the tribes (Ge 48:19).

wind of the Lord--that is, sent by the Lord (compare Is 40:7), who has His instruments of punishment always ready. The Assyrian, Shalmaneser, &c., is meant (Jr 4:11; 18:17; Eze 19:12).

from the wilderness--that is, the desert part of Syria (1Ki 19:15), the route from Assyria into Israel.

he--the Assyrian invader. Shalmaneser began the siege of Samaria in 723 B.C. Its close was in 721 B.C., the first year of Sargon, who seems to have usurped the throne of Assyria while Shalmaneser was at the siege of Samaria. Hence, while 2Ki 17:6 states, "the king of Assyria took Samaria," 2Ki 18:10 says, "at the end of three years they took it." In Sargon's magnificent palace at Khorsabad, inscriptions mention the number--27,280--of Israelites carried captive from Samaria and other places of Israel by the founder of the palace [G. V. Smith].

16. This verse and Ho 13:15 foretell the calamities about to befall Israel before her restoration (Ho 13:14), owing to her impenitence.

her God--the greatest aggravation of her rebellion, that it was against her God (Ho 13:4).

infants ... dashed in pieces, &c.--(2Ki 8:12; 15:16; Am 1:13).

When Ephraim spake trembling - When he was meek and humble, of a broken heart and contrite spirit.

He exalted himself in Israel - He became great in God's sight; he rose in the Divine esteem in proportion as he sank in his own. But this did not continue.

He offended in Baal - He became an idolater.

He died - The sentence of death from the Divine justice went out against him.

This has been differently understood: "As soon as Ephraim spake (To your tents, O Israel!) There was a trembling or commotion: then the kingdom was exalted in Israel." Thus taken, it refers to the division of the ten tribes from Rehoboam, son of Solomon, 1Kgs 12:16, etc., and the establishment of the kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam in opposition to that of Judah; which breach was never healed.

And now they sin more and more - They increase in every kind of vice, having abandoned the great Inspirer of virtue.

Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves - This was the test. If there be a Jew that pretends to sacrifice, and whose conversion is dubious, let him come openly and kiss the calves. This will show what he is; no real Jew will do this. If he be an idolater, he will not scruple. This was the ancient method of adoration.

1. They kissed the idol.

2. When the statue was too high or too far off, they presented the hand, in token of alliance.

3. They brought that hand respectfully to their mouths, and kissed it.

This was the genuine act of adoration; from ad, to, and os, oris, the mouth. So Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. xxviii., c. 1. Adorando, dexteram ad oscula referimus.

And Apuleius, Asin., lib. iv:

Admoventes oribus suis dexteram, ut ipsam prorsus deam religiosis adorationibus venerabantur.

See Calmet, and see the note on Job 31:17.

Therefore they shall be as the morning Cloud - as the early Dew - as the Chaff - as the Smoke - Four things, most easy to be driven about and dissipated, are employed here to show how they should be scattered among the nations, and dissipated by captivity.

I am the Lord thy God - This was the first discovery I made of myself to you, and the first commandment I gave; and I showed you that besides me there was no Savior. There is a remarkable addition in the Septuagint here: "But I am Jehovah thy God, who stretched out the heavens and created the earth. And I showed them not to thee, that thou shouldest walk after them. And I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt," etc. This might have been once in the Hebrew text.

I did know thee - I approved of thee; I loved thee; and by miraculously providing for thee in that land of drought, I demonstrated my love.

According to their pasture - They had a rich pasture, and were amply supplied with every good. They became exalted in their heart, forgat their God, and became a prey to their enemies. "He that exalteth himself shall be abased."

I will be unto them as a lion - שחל shachal is supposed to mean here the black lion, frequent in Ethiopia.

As a leopard - נמר namar, so termed from its spotted skin, for to be spotted is the signification of the root.

Will I observe them - The leopard, tiger, and panther will hide themselves in thick bushwood, near where they expect any prey to pass; and as soon as it comes near, spring suddenly upon it. To this is the allusion in the text: "By the way will I observe them;" watch for them as the leopard does. They shall be greatly harassed even on their way to Assyria, when going into captivity.

As a bear - bereaved - This is a figure to denote excessive ferocity. See the note on 2Sam 17:8 (note), where a remarkable instance is given.

And will rend the caul of their heart - Every savage beast goes first to the seat of the blood when it has seized its prey; as in this fluid they delight more than in the most delicate parts of the flesh.

There will I devour them like a lion - לביא labi, the old strong lion; drinking the blood, tearing the flesh, and breaking the bones to extract the marrow.

The wild beast shall tear them - Probably this refers to the chakal or jackal, who frequently hunts down the prey, which the lion takes the liberty to devour, while the jackal stands by, and afterwards picks the bones. Hence he has been called the lion's Provider, and the lion's waiting-man.

O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself - These evils come not by my immediate infliction; they are the consequences of thy own crimes. In the above terrifying figures of the ferocious beasts, the prophet only shows what they would meet with from the hand of the Assyrians in the war, the famine, and the captivity; God being represented as doing what he only permits to be done.

But in me is thine help - "Though thou hast destroyed thyself, yet in me alone can thy help be found" - Newcome. And others read, And who will help thee? reading מי mi, who, for בי bi, in me. Though this is countenanced by the Syriac, yet there is no evidence of it in any of the MSS. yet collated, nor do I think it to be the true reading.

Give me a king and princes? - Referring to the time in which they cast off the Divine theocracy and chose Saul in the place of Jehovah.

I gave thee a king in mine anger - Such was Saul; for they highly offended God when they clamoured to have a king like the heathen nations that were around them.

Took him away in my wrath - Permitted him and the Israelites to fall before the Philistines. Others think that Shalmaneser was the king thus given, and Hoshea the king thus taken away.

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up - It is registered in my court of justice; the death warrant is in store, and will be produced in due time. Though there be not at present the judgment inflicted which such glaring transgressions demand, yet it will surely come. Such crimes cannot go unpunished.

The sorrows of a travailing woman - These judgments shall come suddenly and unavoidably.

The place of the breaking forth of children - As there is a critical time in parturition in which the mother in hard labor may by skillful assistants be eased of her burden, which, if neglected, may endanger the life both of parent and child, so there was a time in which Ephraim might have returned to God, but they would not; therefore they are now in danger of being finally destroyed. And, speaking after the manner of men, he must be deemed an unwise son, who if he had power and consideration, would prolong his stay in the porch of life, where he must necessarily be suffocated; so is Ephraim, who, though warned of his danger, having yet power to escape, continued in his sin, and is now come to destruction. I could illustrate the allusion in the text farther, and show the accurate propriety of the original; but the subject forbids it.

I will ransom them from the power of the grave - In their captivity they are represented as dead and buried, which is a similar view to that taken of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity by Ezekiel in his vision of the valley of dry bones. They are now lost as to the purpose for which they were made, for which God had wrought so many miracles for them and for their ancestors; but the gracious purpose of God shall not be utterly defeated. He will bring them out of that grave, and ransom them from that death; for as they have deserved that death and disgraceful burial, they must be redeemed and ransomed from it, or still lie under it. And who can do this but God himself? And he will do it. In the prospect of this the prophet exclaims, in the person of the universal Redeemer, "O death, I will be thy plagues;" I will bring into thy reign the principle of its destruction. The Prince of life shall lie for a time under thy power, that he may destroy that power.

O grave, I will be thy destruction - I will put an end to thy dreary domination by rising from the dead, and bringing life and immortality to life by my Gospel, and by finally raising from the death the whole human race in the day of the general resurrection. שאול sheol, which we translate grave, is the state of the dead. מות maveth, which we translate death, is the principle of corruption that renders the body unfit to be longer the tenement of the soul, and finally decomposes it. Sheol shall be destroyed, for it must deliver up all its dead. Maveth shall be annihilated, for the body shall be raised incorruptible. See the use which the apostle makes of this passage, 1Cor 15:54, 1Cor 15:55; but he does not quote from the Hebrew, nor from any of the ancient versions. He had to apply the subject anew; and the Spirit, which had originally given the words, chose to adapt them to the subject then in hand, which was the resurrection of the dead in the last day. Instead of דבריך debareycha, thy plagues, one of my oldest MSS., ninety-six of Kennicott's and thirty-two of De Rossi's, have דברך debarcha, thy plague, that which shall carry thee off, as the plague does them who are affected by it. To carry off, carry away, is one of the regular meanings of the verb דבר dabar.

Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes - On these points I will not change my purpose; this is the signification of repentance when attributed to God.

Though he be fruitful - יפריא yaphri; a paronomasia on the word אפרים ephrayim, which comes from the same root פרה parah, to be fruitful, to sprout, to bud.

An east wind shall come - As the east wind parches and blasts all vegetation, so shall Shalmaneser blast and destroy the Israelitish state.

Samaria shall become desolate - This was the capital of the Israelitish kingdom. What follows is a simple prophetic declaration of the cruelties which should be exercised upon this hapless people by the Assyrians in the sackage of the city.

Ephraim - The ten tribes, of which Ephraim was the chief. Spake trembling - Humbled himself before God. Exalted himself - The kingdom flourished. When he offended - So soon as they sinned, taking Baal to be their God. He died - They lost their power and glory.

Of them - Of the idols. Let the man - Let all that bring their offerings to these idols, worship and adore, and shew they do so by kissing the calves.

Thou shalt know - I forbad thee to know any other God but me, in gratitude thou shouldest know no other.

I did know - Owned, took care of, guided and supplied.

Their pasture - When they were come into Canaan, and had abundance of all things, they ran into luxury. Was exalted - They grew proud.

Observe them - Watch for them, that I might be sure to take them.

Rent - First kill, then tear in pieces, and pull out the very heart.

Thy king - I would have been thy king to govern and save thee, but thou refusedst me in both: yet I will be thy king to punish thee. Thy judges - Where are they now? And princes - Necessary to assist the king.

A king - Such as Shallum, Menahem, Pekah.

Is bound up - As sins unpardoned; for to loose sins is to forgive, and to bind sins is to charge them upon the sinner, Matt 16:19. Hid - Not from God, but laid up with God against the day of recompense.

The sorrows - The punishment of his sins will overtake him suddenly, with great anguish. An unwise son - A foolish son, who endangers himself and his mother. He should not stay - As a child that sticks in the birth, so is Ephraim, one while will, another while will not return to God; and thus dies under the delay.

Ransom - By power and purchase, by the blood of the lamb of God, and by the power of his Godhead. Them - That repent and believe. From the grave - He conquered the grave, and will at the great day of the resurrection open those prison - doors, and bring us out in glory. From death - From the curse of the first death, and from the second death, which shall have no power over us. Thy plagues - Thus I will destroy death. I will pull down those prison - walls, and bring out all that are confined therein, the bad of whom I will remove into other prisons, the good I will restore to glorious liberty. Repentance shall be hid - I will never, as a man that repenteths, change my word and purpose, saith the Lord. What a glorious promise is this, which is interposed in the midst of all these judgments!

He - Ephraim. His brethren - Either the rest of the tribes, or the nations who by league are become as his brethren. An east - wind - An enemy as pernicious to his estate as the east - wind is to fruits. Of the Lord - A mighty enemy, called here the wind of the Lord, the usual superlative in Hebrew. The wilderness - Which lay south - east from Canaan. The south - east winds in that country were of all, most hot and blasting. He - The Assyrian army. Shall spoil - Shall carry away all desirable vessels and furniture.

WHen Ephraim spake , trembling , he exalted himself in Israel ; but when he offended in Baal , he died .

So soon as, or according as Heb. phrase bears it, and implieth, there was a time when according to the word of Ephraim there was deep impression on the hearers.

Ieroboam son of Nebat an Ephraimite say some, but this is wide of Truth, nor suits the text which refers to their worshipping of Baal, and this came into use in Israel in Ahab's time, 1 Kings 16.31. his wife Iezabel, daughter to Ethbaal King of the Zidonians prevailed with him to take her Country Idol and adde to Ieroboam's Calves. Ephraim here is either the Tribe of Ephraim which was of all the Ten Tribes most powerful, and when angry and discontented made the other tribes afraid; or rather the whole Kingdom of Israel called frequently in Hosea, Ephraim.

When he consulted, commanded, threatned, or sent out his Proclamation, 'tis a speaking like a King, or Kingdoms speaking, which is back'd with power sufficient to act as they speak.

The Tribes, and the neighbouring Kingdoms apprehended danger, were put into a fear of the consequence too, all men felt a commotion within them. Such once was the Authority, Power, and Glory of Ephraim.

Was magnified, advanced, and made glorious, the Kingdom flourish'd in multitudes of People, in abundance of Wealth, in the successes of their counsels, and in their credit abroad. In this flourishing state Ephraim a principal Tribe, and which first set up for the Royal Dignity and carried it had principal share, and is said to exalt him in, or with Israel.

So soon as he sinned.

By taking Baal to be their God, added this Idolatry to their former sins.

Undid himself, lost his Power, Glory and Bravery, as a dead man.

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.

Though they are admonish'd, threatned and in part punish'd. Yet now that Baal is taken in for a God and worshipped.

These were the figures and representation of the Gods they worshipt, and were multiplied as Families, able to go to the cost, did multiply, every one got their Houshold Gods, Heathen like, and most of these puppets were made of Silver. Or the phrase may imply, That at their own charge these people made them Gods; so though 'twas a strait Ash, or wood that would not soon putrifie which was formed into the Idol, yet because bought with their silver it may by a Metonymy be called their silver.

Every one as he fancied, as he thought most comely and proper to represent a Deity, perhaps these Idolaters vied with each other who should have the handsomest god. As Ahaz would vie Altars, and therefore made new ones. Perhaps some of these Idolaters melted down their old less handsom gods to run them into more pleasing Features.

Whatever is of the Image is of the workman, who gave it shape but could not give it breath, still 'tis a lifeless lump or Image.

Either the Kings of Israel, or the Priests of these Idols, or the people.

Of the Idols.

Let every one that sacrificeth, all that bring their offerings to these Idols.

Reverence, Worship or Adore, and shew they do so by kissing the Calves. They'l make them give full worship to their Idols.

They go on to sin, and adde new Idolatries to the old, they increase the number of their sins; in some respect their new sins are greater than those committed formerly but the Prophet here speaks not of greatness of sins, but the number.

Marginal references: Heb. add to sin.; chap. 2.8. and 8.4.; See 1 King. 19.18.

3 Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaffe that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

For these sins in multiply'd Idolatries and trusting to Idols.

Ephraim his King, his Captains, his Fortresses and Aids.

In the day of the Assyrian invasion, suddenly, easily, totally and finally dispersed, expressed here by four similes, every one very apt and [illegible: 1 letter]ull, clear and easie to be understood.

Marginal references: chap. 6.4.; Dan. 2.35.

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 saviour beside me .

Though thou hast so revolted, and chosen other Gods, it is not occasioned by any change in me, I am what I was.

The Lord, the mighty God, the everlasting God, Iehovah.

Thy God who alone brought thee out of Egypt, and who hath maintain'd thy Lot, the Calves and Baal were not known amongst you then. And since, I alone brought thee out of Egypt, and saved thee with wonderful salvations many times since, why doest thou seek Gods thou needest not, Gods that cannot help?

I forbad thee to know any other God but me, in gratitude thou shouldst know no other, if there were any other, in point of Interest thou shouldst have known, i. e. worshipt, trusted, and obey'd none but me. And finally by woful experience thou shalt know that Calves, and Baal are no Gods, they cannot save thee nor themselves, thou shalt know I am God alone who can destroy those who would not obey me.

When thy Idols cannot save thee out of the hands of those I deliver thee up to; then thou shalt see, what now thou wilt nor, that there is no Saviour but me. None who can deliver from all evil, and who can enrich with all blessings, who can pardon sin and [illegible: 1 letter]ave the sinner.

Marginal references: Isa. 43.11. chap. 12.9.; Isa. 45.21.

5 ¶ I did know thee in the wilderness in the land of great drought .

Own'd, took care of, guided and supply'd.

O Israel in thy Fathers.

Through which for forty years together thou wast moving, and foundest nothing for thy sustenance but what my miraculous Goodness and Power gave thee, through those many deserts thou never didst want.

In the parched sands where no refreshing showers, no Rivers or Springs of water to suffice so many Cattle and Men, where thou wentest as 'twere through flames and on sands, scorching as Embers of a fire, a place fit for none but fiery Serpents, or Salamanders (if any such.)

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]; [illegible: 1 paragraph]

6 According to their pasture so were they filled : they were filled and their heart was exalted : therefore have they forgotten me .

When they were come into Canaan, that Land of Springs, Brooks, and Rivers, that land of Wheat, Barly, Vines, Olives, and Figs, as Deut. 8.7.8, 9. when they had abundance of all things for delight, as well as for necessary sustenance, when I had, like a good, careful and wise Shepherd brought them into this rich pasture

they like hungry beasts eat to excess, run into Luxury and Riot; Epicure like, gorged themselves with sweet wines and delicious fare.

Either this is a reduplication of the charge to confirm it, I say, they thus luxuriously lived, or else 'tis elliptical, and to be made out thus, A[illegible: 2 letters] so soon as they were filled; and thus 'twill be parallel to that I[illegible: 1 letter] shurun waxed fat, Deut. 32.13, 14, 15.

Grew proud, entertained high thoughts of their Progenitors worth, their nobleness by descent, their worthiness, and righteousness above other people; thought of God as of man, that he proportion'd his blessings to what excellency was found in those he did good to

So they have forgotten me who found them in slavery, poverty, reproach, and tears in Egypt out of which I saved them, and they have most scandalously made them Gods, worship'd them, and with sacrilegious unthankfulness given the praise of all I did for them to dumb Idols, though I warn'd them of it before-hand, Deut. 6.11, 12. and 8.13, 14.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

7 Therefore I will be unto them as a lion, as a leopard by the way will I observe them.

Since they have so abused my gifts by Luxury, Pride and Atheistical forgetfulness of me, of what I had done for them, what I deserved and expected from them, I will use them as is meet, and take my revenge upon them.

Unthankful, Apostates, Idolaters, sottish Drunkards, Belly-gods, who live to eat and drink, and forget me.

A very fierce, swift, sly, and watchfull Creature, Ier. 5.6. and Hab. 1.8.

Watch for them, that I may be sure to take them.

Vid. cap. 5. ver. 13. let. o. that is, in his fullest strength, of a middle Age, swift in pursuing, and that can continue the chase till he overtake his prey; and which is strong, couragious and proud of his strength and success, that will dreadfully roar over his prey, as if he challenged any one to attempt its rescue.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

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 beast shall tear them .

I know their haunts, their walks, I will not fail to meet them there.

Rob'd of her whelps newly taken away which makes her mad with rage, so great rage is proverbially exprest, Prov. 17.12.

First kill, next tear in pieces, pull out the very heart, it is probable this fierce creature may by instinct hasten to tear up the prey that it may drink the blood before that it run to waste.

Where I find them, and seize them, like the hungry and fearless lion which feasts on his prey where he catcht it, draws it not into his Den, but devoureth it immediately.

An old Lion that hath his great Teeth, his Grinders, and hath still whelps, fierce, Gen. 49.9. and terrible that will either call in his whelps to divide the prey, or drag the prey to his Den for them, and what hope of any thing to be spared, when you fall into such hands.

It is said of the Lion, that he calls by his roaring the wild Beasts together to the prey, when he hath taken it, so you shall be devour'd by the whole Troop of wild Beasts. Or it may be a general threat added to those particular ones before, every wild Beast shall prey upon them. All this God executed on them by the Assyrians who in their fierceness, cruelty, greediness, and courage answered the character here given to them, the particular resemblances I leave to any who may easily suit them.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

9 ¶ O Israel, thou hast destroyed thy self , but in me is thy help .

After these menaces it might seem I had destroyed thee, but thou thy self hast done it by thy sins, it is the rebel that destroys himself though he fall by the Sword of his provoked sovereign; thou art cause and authour of thine own ruine:

Or, for, I was alwayes ready, and able to help thee and would certainly have saved thee but thy sins, thy wickedness carried thee toward other helps which were lie[illegible: 1 letter] and have disappointed thee, and now thou dost perish under thine own choice, whereas hadst thou chosen me I would have helpt and saved thee. Or else thus the whole verse. This hath destroyed thee O Israel, for thou hast rebelled against me, against thy help, and so Sol. Iarchy.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 span].

10 I will be thy king : where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities ? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes ?

I would have been thy King to Govern and save thee but thou refusedst me in both, yet I will be thy King to punish thee, I will not lose my right, and honour by thy rebellious carriages against me, I will be a King and subdue such; or else 'tis a taunting question where is thy King, on whose Counsel, Wisdom, Power, and conduct thou hast relied, let him now save thee if he can, [illegible: 1 letter]o it runs smooth with the next words.

Or who is there, what wise, valiant, and successful Commander in any of thy Cities, that can deliver thee first out of my hand, and next out of the Assyrians hand.

Where are they? Thy Magistrates have sinned with thee, and shall be destroyed with thee, thy Rulers or inferiour Governours.

Whom thou didst importune and solicit, in a manner forcedst to meet, consult and resolve in seditious times who should be King next, when Treasons had taken away him that was.

Some refer this to their first asking a King, but 'tis better referred to the times either after Ieroboam the first. Or, to the times after Ieroboam the second between whose death and Hoshea's time, some say, there was an Interregnum of Twenty or near twenty years, during which a turbulent people as the Israelites were, would be frequent and earnest in all likelihood in moving for a King.

Necessary to assist the King.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 10.3.

11 I gave thee a king in mine anger , and I took him away in my wrath .

Such as Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, &c. but in displeasure against you.

The Hebrew says not what, I think, their Kings mentioned.

God was angry when he gave such Kings to Israel, and he was no better pleased when he took them away; they were punishments when given, and [illegible: 1 letter]twas punishment to Israel when they were taken away. If you read the eleventh verse in the future tense as you may, I will give them a King in my anger, it may refer to Gods giving the King of Assyria the rule over them, making them his vassals, and I will take away, i. e. you, O Israelites! in my wrath, I will destroy some and send others into Captivity, take all away out of your Land, and send you in wrath to the Grave or Captives into Assyria.

Marginal references: Sam. 8.5. & 15.23.[illegible: 1 letter].1.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up : his sin is hid .

In the singular, instead of the plural, all the iniquities and sins.

The Kingdom of the Ten Tribes.

As indictments drawn up and tied together against the day of trial, or as Bills and Bonds tied up that they may be ready against the day of account when all must be paid. Or, as sins unpardoned, for to loose sins is to forgive, and to bind sins is to charge them upon the sinner, Matth. 16.19. O! Ephraim thine unpardoned sins lie in account against thee, thou shalt hear of them and smart for them.

Not from God but laid up with God against the day of recompence, as Iob 21.19. so Rom. 2.5. and Deut. 32.34.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 14.17.

13 The sorrows of a travelling woman shall come upon him , he is an unwise son , for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children .

By this simile well known in Scripture, the Prophet assures Ephraim that the punishment of his sins will overtake him suddenly, with very great anguish and with as great certainty, Micah 5.3.

As suddenly, inevitably, and with as much danger too if he be not the wiser, and return to his God.

i. e. Ephraim.

A very foolish Son, an inconsiderate Child who endangers himself and his mother.

As a Child that sticks in the birth, so Ephraim just at the birth, haesitateth, one while will, another while will not return to God, thus dieth under the delay.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 letter]sa. 13.8. [illegible: 1 word] 30.6.; Heb. a time.

14 I will ransom 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 .

Iehovah or Messiah, the Father promiseth the Messiah.

By power and purchase, by the price of the blood of the Lamb of God, and by the power of his Godhead.

That repent and believe, and wait for Redemption through Christ the Messiah.

He conquered the grave, and rose out of it as our Captain and Head, and he will at the great day of the Resurrection by his Almighty power open those Prison doors, and bring them out in glory, immortality and incorruption, whom he Redeemed by an inestimable and invaluable price.

From the curse of the first death, henceforth they that dye in the Lord shall be blessed, and from the second death which shall have no power over them; I will take away the sting of death which is sin, i. e. in dominion and guilt of it; now Christ redeems from the one by sanctifying Grace, and from the other by justifying Grace.

Thus I will destroy death, and defeat him that had the power of death, it is a Metaphor as the next.

I will recover the prey out of the mouth of the Grave, I'le pull down those prison Walls and bring out all that are confined there, of which the bad I will remove into other kind of Prisons, the good I will restore to glorious liberty. The wicked shall have a worse Prison, the godly shall for ever be freed from prison, and so I will raze this Prison the grave to the very foundation.

This Grace toward the godly toward believers among Israel, and in the Church, through all ages is unchangeable, I will never, as man that repenteth, change my word, and purpose saith the Lord. In either sense they speak the Grace of God toward us, he is ready to pardon and save all that will repent, and he will most certainly and eternally save from death, grave, sin, and Hell, all that do repent and obey the Messiah, an abundant comfort to pious ones who should yet die Captives in Assria, but rise by the power of the Messiah to eternal glory in the day of the general Resurrection.

Some Interpreters render this Text not in the future absolute, but in the subjunctive and conditionally, I would have ransomed, I would have redeemed, &c. if Israel had been wise, so 'twill well cohere with the 13th. and 15th. verses. And if the words be considered as spoken of the whole body of Israel, they will be most intelligible as they include a condition and are subjunctive. But the Apostle doth and most Christian interpreters with the Apostle interpret them as an absolute promise made for the comfort of the pious and elect among these Israelites, and labour not to connect them with the foregoing or following words, but suppose them to be in a Parenthesis between them. And so we take them.

Marginal references: Isa. 25.8.; Heb. the hand.; 1 Cor. 15.[illegible: 1 letter]4, 55.

15 ¶ Though he be fruitful among his brethren , an east-wind 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 .

Ephraim,

At present as a flourishing Tree seems to be fruitful, things in state seem to be well setled; peace at home, under Hoshea; and peace abroad with Assyria and Egypt.

And all his brethren surround him, either the rest of the Tribes, or the nations who by league are become as his brethren.

An Enemy as pernicious to his estate as the east-wind is to fruits, shall certainly come.

A mighty and violent Enemy called here the Wind of the Lord, the usual superlative among the Hebrew.

Which lay South East from Canaan, and so it speaks a more pernicious quality in these Enemies, as the South East Winds in that Countrey were of all most hot and blasting coming over those hot dry sandy Deserts.

Springs of Water which were most needful, and highly valued.

Shall fall and be cut off, dry up that there shall be no waters in them.

The same thing in different words confirming the certainty hereof. This the resemblance of the Assyrian and the mischief he shall do to Israel, he shall lay Ephraim desolate and dry up all his fountains which were the comfort of that Land.

The Assyrian Army, Salmaneser

Shall rob their Treasuries,

And carry away all desireable vessels, and furniture, out of all their Houses and Wardrobes, thus all the glory of Ephraim shall wither whilest 'tis seemingly flourishing and well rooted too.

Marginal references: Ezek. 19.12.; Heb. vessels of desire.

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 .

The chief or Royal City of the Kingdom of Israel.

Besieged, taken, plundered and sackt probably 'twas razed to the foundation by the Assyrians, provoked by the treachery first and by the obstinacy next of Hoshea maintaining the siege against Salmaneser three years, 2 Kings 17.5.

Cast off both his worship and set up Idolatry and also shak't off the yoke of Davids house and set up new Kings, and maintained both long against God.

Be cut off in War by the prevailing arms of the King of Assyria.

A most barbarous piece of cruelty, yet usually practised in those Countries when they were enraged against a people.

Another kind of like or greater inhumanity. Thus Shalman raged against Arbel in the day of Battle, and this confirms what the Prophet saith chap. 10. v. 14. And this was no doubt executed upon Samaria when it was taken, so their Springs, Women and Children which are as fountains were all dry'd up.

The inhabitants of Samaria, and also the subjects of the Kingdom of Israel.

Marginal references: 2 King. 8.12. chap. 10.14. Nah. 3.10.

Hos 13:1-2

Because Israel would not desist from its idolatry, and entirely forgot the goodness of its God, He would destroy its might and glory (Hos 13:1-8). Because it did not acknowledge the Lord as its help, its throne would be annihilated along with its capital; but this judgment would become to all that were penitent a regeneration to newness of life. Hos 13:1. “When Ephraim spake, there was terror; he exalted himself in Israel; then he offended through Baal, and died. Hos 13:2. And now they continue to sin, and make themselves molten images out of their silver, idols according to their understanding: manufacture of artists is it all: they say of them, Sacrificers of men: let them kiss calves.” In order to show how deeply Israel had fallen through its apostasy, the prophet points to the great distinction which the tribe of Ephraim formerly enjoyed among the tribes of Israel. The two clauses of Hos 13:1 cannot be so connected together as that נשׂא should be taken as a continuation of the infinitive דּבּר. The emphatic הוּא is irreconcilable with this. We must rather take רתת (ἁπ. λεγ., in Aramaean = רטט, Jer 49:24, terror, tremor) as the apodosis to kedabbēr 'Ephraim (when Ephraim spake), like שׂאת in Gen 4:7 : “As Ephraim spake there was terror,” i.e., men listened with fear and trembling (cf. Job 29:21). נשׂא is used intransitively, as in Nah 1:5; Psa 89:10. Ephraim, i.e., the tribe of Ephraim, “exalted itself in Israel,” - not “it was distinguished among its brethren” (Hitzig), but “it raised itself to the government.” The prophet has in his mind the attempts made by Ephraim to get the rule among the tribes, which led eventually to the secession of the ten tribes from the royal family of David, and the establishment of the kingdom of Israel by the side of that of Judah. When Ephraim had secured this, the object of its earnest endeavours, it offended through Baal; i.e., not only through the introduction of the worship of Baal in the time of Ahab (1Ki 16:31.), but even through the establishment of the worship of the calves under Jeroboam (1Ki 12:28), through which Jehovah was turned into a Baal. ויּמת, used of the state or kingdom, is equivalent to “was given up to destruction” (cf. Amo 2:2). The dying commenced with the introduction of the unlawful worship (cf. 1Ki 12:30). From this sin Ephraim (the people of the ten tribes) did not desist: they still continue to sin, and make themselves molten images, etc., contrary to the express prohibition in Lev 19:4 (cf. Exo 20:4). These words are not merely to be understood as signifying, that they added other idolatrous images in Gilgal and Beersheba to the golden calves (Amo 8:14); but they also involve their obstinate adherence to the idolatrous worship introduced by Jeroboam (compare 2Ki 17:16). בּתבוּדם from תּבוּנה, with the feminine termination dropped on account of the suffix (according to Ewald, §257, d; although in the note Ewald regards this formation as questionable, and doubts the correctness of the reading): “according to their understanding,” i.e., their proficiency in art.

The meaning of the second hemistich, which is very difficult, depends chiefly upon the view we take of זבחי אדם, viz., whether we render these words “they who sacrifice men,” as the lxx, the fathers, and many of the rabbins and Christian expositors have done; or “the sacrificers of (among) men,” as Kimchi, Bochart, Ewald, and others do, after the analogy of אביוני אדם in Isa 29:19. Apart from this, however, zōbhechē 'âdâm cannot possibly be taken as an independent sentence, such as “they sacrifice men,” or “human sacrificers are they,” unless with the lxx we change the participle זבחי arbitrarily into the perfect זבחוּ. As the words read, they must be connected with what follows or with what precedes. But if we connect them with what follows, we fail to obtain any suitable thought, whether we render it “human sacrificers (those who sacrifice men) kiss calves,” or “the sacrificers among men kiss calves.” The former is open to the objection that human sacrifices were not offered to the calves (i.e., to Jehovah, as worshipped under the symbol of a calf), but only to Moloch, and that the worshippers of Moloch did not kiss calves. The latter, “men who offer sacrifice kiss calves,” might indeed be understood in this sense, that the prophet intended thereby to denounce the great folly, that men should worship animals; but this does not suit the preceding words הם אמרים, and it is impossible to see in what sense they could be employed. There is no other course left, therefore, than to connect Zōbhechē 'âdâm with what precedes, though not in the way proposed by Ewald, viz., “even to these do sacrificers of men say.” This rendering is open to the following objections: (1) that הם after להם would have to be taken as an emphatic repetition of the pronoun, and we cannot find any satisfactory ground for this; and, (2) what is still more important, the fact that 'âmâr would be used absolutely, in the sense of “they speak in prayer,” which, even apart from the “prayer,” cannot be sustained by any other analogous example. These difficulties vanish if we take Zōbhechē 'âdâm as an explanatory apposition to hēm: “of them (the ‛ătsabbı̄m) they say, viz., the sacrificers from among men (i.e., men who sacrifice), Let them worship calves.” By the apposition zōbhechē 'âdâm, and the fact that the object ‛ăgâlı̄m is placed first, so that it stands in immediate contrast to 'âdâm, the absurdity of men kissing calves, i.e., worshipping them with kisses (see at 1Ki 19:18), is painted as it were before the eye.

Hos 13:3

They prepare for themselves swift destruction in consequence. Hos 13:3. “Therefore will they be like the morning cloud, and like the dew that passes early away, as chaff blows away from the threshing-floor, and as smoke out of the window.” Lâkhēn, therefore, viz., because they would not let their irrational idolatry go, they would quickly perish. On the figures of the morning cloud and dew, see at Hos 6:4. The figure of the chaff occurs more frequently (vid., Isa 17:13; Isa 41:15-16; Psa 1:4; Psa 35:5, etc.). יס'ער is used relatively: which is stormed away, i.e., blown away from the threshing-floor by a violent wind. The threshing-floors were situated upon eminences (compare my Bibl. Archäol. ii. p. 114). “Smoke out of the window,” i.e., smoke from the fire under a saucepan in the room, which passed out of the window-lattice, as the houses were without chimneys (see Psa 68:3).

Hos 13:4-5 “And yet I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt hither; and thou knowest no God beside me, and there is no helper beside me. Hos 13:5. I knew thee in the desert, in the land of burning heats.” As in Hos 12:10, a contrast is drawn here again between the idolatry of the people and the uninterrupted self-attestation of Jehovah to the faithless nation. From Egypt hither Israel has known no other God than Jehovah, i.e., has found no other God to be a helper and Saviour. Even in the desert He knew Israel, i.e., adopted it in love. ידע, to know, when applied to God, is an attestation of His love and care (compare Amo 3:2; Isa 58:3, etc.). The ἁπ. λεγ. תּלאוּבת, from לאב, Arab. lâb, med. Vav, to thirst, signifies burning heat, in which men famish with thirst (for the fact, compare Deu 8:15).

Hos 13:6

But prosperity made Israel proud, so that it forgot its God. Hos 13:6. “As they had their pasture, they became full; they became full, and their heart was lifted up: therefore have they forgotten me.” This reproof is taken almost word for word from Deu 8:11. (cf. Deu 31:20; Deu 32:15.). כּמרעיתם, answering to their pasture, i.e., because they had such good pasture in the land given them by the Lord. The very thing of which Moses warned the people in Deu 8:11 has come to pass. Therefore are the threats of the law against the rebellious fulfilled upon them.

Hos 13:7-8 “And I became like a lion to them; as a leopard by the wayside do I lie in wait. Hos 13:8. I fall upon them as a bear robbed of its young, and tear in pieces the enclosure of their heart, and eat them there like a lioness: the beast of the field will tear them in pieces.” The figure of the pasture which made Israel full (Hos 13:6) is founded upon the comparison of Israel to a flock (cf. Hos 4:16). The chastisement of the people is therefore represented as the tearing in pieces and devouring of the fattened flock by wild beasts. God appears as a lion, panther, etc., which fall upon them (cf. Hos 5:14). ואהי does not stand for the future, but is the preterite, giving the consequence of forgetting God. The punishment has already begun, and will still continue; we have therefore from אשׁוּר onwards imperfects or futures. אשׁוּר, from שׁוּר, to look round, hence to lie in wait, as in Jer 5:26. It is not to be changed into 'Asshur, as it is by the lxx and Vulgate. סגור לבּם, the enclosure of their heart, i.e., their breast. Shâm (there) points back to ‛al-derekh (by the way).

Hos 13:9-11

Hos 13:9 commences a new strophe, in which the prophet once more discloses to the people the reason for their corruption (Hos 13:9-13); and after pointing to the saving omnipotence of the Lord (Hos 13:14), holds up before them utter destruction as the just punishment for their guilt (Hos 13:15 and Hos 14:1). Hos 13:9. “O Israel, it hurls thee into destruction, that thou (art) against me, thy help. Hos 13:10. Where is thy king? that he may help thee in all thy cities: and (where) they judges? of whom thou saidst, Give me king and princes! Hos 13:11. I give thee kings in my anger, and take them away in my wrath.” שׁחתך does not combine together the verbs in Hos 13:8, as Hitzig supposes; nor does Hos 13:9 give the reason for what precedes, but shichethkhâ is explained by Hos 13:10, from which we may see that a new train of thought commences with Hos 13:9. Shichēth does not mean to act corruptly here, as in Deu 32:5; Deu 9:12, and Exo 32:7, but to bring into corruption, to ruin, as in Gen 6:17; Gen 9:15; Num 32:15, etc. The sentence כּי בי וגו cannot be explained in any other way than by supplying the pronoun אתּה, as a subject taken from the suffix to שׁחתך (Marck, and nearly all the modern commentators). “This throws thee into distress, that thou hast resisted me, who am thy help.” בעזרך: as in Deu 33:26, except that ב is used in the sense of against, as in Gen 16:12; 2Sa 24:17, etc. This opposition did not take place, however, when all Israel demanded a king of Samuel (1Sa 8:5). For although this desire is represented there (Hos 13:7) as the rejection of Jehovah, Hosea is speaking here simply of the Israel of the ten tribes. The latter rebelled against Jehovah, when they fell away from the house of David, and made Jeroboam their king, and with contempt of Jehovah put their trust in the might of their kings of their own choosing (1Ki 12:16.). But these kings could not afford them any true help. The question, “Where” ('ehı̄ only occurs here and twice in Hos 13:14, for אי or איה, possibly simply from a dialectical variation - vid. Ewald, §104, c - and is strengthened by אפוא, as in Job 17:15), “Where is thy king, that he may help thee?” does not presuppose that Israel had no king at all at that time, and that the kingdom was in a state of anarchy, but simply that it had no king who could save it, when the foe, the Assyrian, attacked it in all its cities. Before shōpheteykhâ (thy judges) we must repeat 'ĕhı̄ (where). The shōphetı̄m, as the use of the word sârı̄m (princes) in its stead in the following clause clearly shows, are not simple judges, but royal counsellors and ministers, who managed the affairs of the kingdom along with the king, and superintended the administration of justice. The saying, “Give me a king and princes,” reminds us very forcibly of the demand of the people in the time of Samuel; but they really refer simply to the desire of the ten tribes for a king of their own, which manifested itself in their dissatisfaction with the rule of the house of David, and their consequent secession, and to their persistence in this secession amidst all the subsequent changes of the government. We cannot therefore take the imperfects אתּן and אקּח in Hos 13:11 as pure preterites, i.e., we cannot understand them as referring simply to the choice of Jeroboam as king, and to his death. The imperfects denote an action that is repeated again and again, for which we should use the present, and refer to all the kings that the kingdom of the ten tribes had received and was receiving still, and to their removal. God in His wrath gives the sinful nation kings and takes them away, in order to punish the nation through its kings. This applies not merely to the kings who followed one another so rapidly through conspiracy and murder, although through these the kingdom was gradually broken up and its dissolution accelerated, but to the rulers of the ten tribes as a whole. God gave the tribes who were discontented with the theocratical government of David and Solomon a king of their own, that He might punish them for their resistance to His government, which came to light in the rebellion against Rehoboam. He suspended the division of the kingdom not only over Solomon, as a punishment for his idolatry, but also over the rebellious ten tribes, who, when they separated themselves from the royal house to which the promise had been given of everlasting duration, were also separated from the divinely appointed worship and altar, and given up into the power of their kings, who hurled one another from the throne; and God took away this government from them to chastise them for their sins, by giving them into the power of the heathen, and by driving them away from His face. It is to this last thought, that what follows is attached. The removal of the king in wrath would occur, because the sin of Ephraim was reserved for punishment.

Hos 13:12-13 “The guilt of Ephraim is bound together: his sin is preserved. Hos 13:13. The pains of a travailing woman come upon him: he is an unwise son; that he does not place himself at the time in the breaking forth of children.” Hos 13:12 is a special application of Deu 32:34 to the ten tribes. Tsârūr, bound up in a bundle, like a thing which you wish to take great care of (compare Job 14:17; 1Sa 25:29). The same thing is applied in tsâphūn, hidden, carefully preserved, so as not to be lost (Job 21:19). “All their sins are preserved for punishment” (Chald.). Therefore will pains overtake Ephraim like a woman in labour. The pains of childbirth are not merely a figurative representation of violent agony, but of the sufferings and calamities connected with the refining judgments of God, by which new life was to be born, and a complete transformation of all things effected (cf. Mic 4:9-10; Isa 13:8; Isa 26:17; Mat 24:8). He cannot be spared these pains, for he is a foolish son (cf. Deu 32:6, Deu 32:28.). But in what respect? This is explained in the words כּי עת וגו, “for at the time,” or as עת cannot stand for לעת, more correctly “when it is time,” he does not place himself in, i.e., does not enter, the opening of the womb. Mishbar bânı̄m is to be explained as in 2Ki 19:3 and Isa 37:3; and עמד, c. ב as in Eze 22:30. If the child does not come to the opening at the right time, the birth is retarded, and the life of both mother and child endangered. The mother and child are one person here. And this explains the transition from the pains of the mother to the behaviour of the child at the time of birth. Ephraim is an unwise son, inasmuch as even under the chastening judgment he still delays his conversion, and will not let himself be new-born, like a child, that at the time of the labour-pains will not enter the opening of the womb and so come to the birth.

Hos 13:14

But in order to preserve believers from despair, the Lord announces in Hos 13:14 that He will nevertheless redeem His people from the power of death. Hos 13:14. “Out of the hand of hell will I redeem them; from death will I set them free! Where are thy plagues, O death? where thy destruction, O hell! Repentance is hidden from mine eyes.” The fact that this verse contains a promise, and not a threat, would hardly have been overlooked by so many commentators, if they had not been led, out of regard to Hos 13:13, Hos 13:15, to put force upon the words, and either take the first clauses as interrogative, “Should I ... redeem?” (Calvin and others), or as conditional, “I would redeem them,” with “si resipiscerent” (supplied (Kimchi, Sal. b. Mel. Ros., etc.). But apart from the fact that the words supplied are perfectly arbitrary, with nothing at all to indicate them, both of these explanations are precluded by the sentences which follow: for the questions, “Where are thy plagues, O death?” etc., are obviously meant to affirm the conquest or destruction of hell and death. And this argument retains its force even if we take אהי as an optative from היה, without regard to Hos 13:10, since the thought, “I should like to be thy plague, O death,” presupposes that deliverance from the power of death is affirmed in what comes before. But, on account of the style of address, we cannot take אהי even as an interrogative, in the sense of “Should I be,” etc. And what would be the object of this gradation of thought, if the redemption from death were only hypothetical, or were represented as altogether questionable? If we take the words as they stand, therefore, it is evident that they affirm something more than deliverance when life is in danger, or preservation from death. To redeem or ransom from the hand (or power) of hell, i.e., of the under world, the realm of death, is equivalent to depriving hell of its prey, not only by not suffering the living to die, but by bringing back to life those who have fallen victims to hell, i.e., to the region of the dead. The cessation or annihilation of death is expressed still more forcibly in the triumphant words: “Where are thy plagues (pestilences), O death? where thy destruction, O hell?” of which Theodoret has aptly observed, παιανίζειν κατὰ θανάτου κελεύει. דּבריך is an intensive plural of debher, plague, pestilence, and is to be explained in accordance with Psa 91:6, where we also find the synonym קטב in the form קטב, pestilence or destruction. The Apostle Paul has therefore very properly quoted these words in 1Co 15:55, in combination with the declaration in Isa 25:8, “Death is swallowed up in victory,” to confirm the truth, that at the resurrection of the last day, death will be annihilated, and that which is corruptible changed into immortality. We must not restrict the substance of this promise, however, to the ultimate issue of the redemption, in which it will receive its complete fulfilment. The suffixes attached to 'ephdēm and 'eg'âlēm point to Israel of the ten tribes, like the verbal suffixes in Isa 25:8. Consequently the promised redemption from death must stand in intimate connection with the threatened destruction of the kingdom of Israel. Moreover, the idea of the resurrection of the dead was by no means so clearly comprehended in Israel at that time, as that the prophet could point believers to it as a ground of consolation when the kingdom was destroyed. The only meaning that the promise had for the Israelites of the prophet’s day, was that the Lord possessed the power even to redeem from death, and raise Israel from destruction into newness of life; just as Ezekiel (ch. 37) depicts the restoration of Israel as the giving of life to the dry bones that lay scattered about the field. The full and deeper meaning of these words was but gradually unfolded to believers under the Old Testament, and only attained complete and absolute certainty for all believers through the actual resurrection of Christ. But in order to anticipate all doubt as to this exceedingly great promise, the Lord adds, “repentance is hidden from mine eyes,” i.e., my purpose of salvation will be irrevocably accomplished. The ̔απ. λεγ. nōcham does not mean “resentment” (Ewald), but, as a derivative of nicham, simply consolation or repentance. The former, which the Septuagint adopts, does not suit the context, which the latter alone does. The words are to be interpreted in accordance with Psa 89:36 and Psa 110:4, where the oath of God is still further strengthened by the words ולא ינּחם, “and will not repent;” and לא ינחם corresponds to אם אכזּב in Psa 89:36 (Marck and Krabbe, Quaestion. de Hos. vatic. spec. p. 47). Compare 1Sa 15:29 and Num 23:19.

Hos 13:15 “For he will bear fruit among brethren. East wind will come, a wind of Jehovah, rising up from the desert; and his fountain will dry up, and his spring become dried. He plunders the treasuries of all splendid vessels.” The connection between the first clause and the previous verse has been correctly pointed out by Marck. “Hos 13:15,” he says, “adduces a reason to prove that the promised grace of redemption would certainly stand firm.” כּי cannot be either a particle of time or of condition here (when, or if); for neither of them yields a suitable thought, since Ephraim neither was at that time, nor could become, fruit-bearing among brethren. Ewald’s hypothetical view, “Should Ephraim be a fruitful child,” cannot be grammatically sustained, since kı̄ is only used in cases where a circumstance is assumed to be real. For one that is merely supposed to be possible, אם is required, as the interchange of אם and כּי, in Num 5:19-20, for example, clearly shows. The meaning of יפריא is placed beyond all doubt by the evident play upon the name Ephraim; and this also explains the writing with א instead of ה fo d, as well as the idea of the sentence itself: Ephraim will bear fruit among the brethren, i.e., the other tribes, as its name, double-fruitfulness, affirms (see at Gen 41:52). This thought, through which the redemption from death set before Israel is confirmed, is founded not only upon the assumption that the name must become a truth, but chiefly upon the blessing which the patriarch promised to the tribe of Ephraim on the ground of its name, both in Gen 48:4, Gen 48:20, and Gen 49:22. Because Ephraim possessed such a pledge of blessing in its very name, the Lord would not let it be overwhelmed for ever in the tempest that was bursting upon it. The same thing applies to the name Ephraim as to the name Israel, with which it is used as synonymous; and what is true of all the promises of God is true of this announcement also, viz., that they are only fulfilled in the case of those who adhere to the conditions under which they were given. Of Ephraim, those only will bear fruit which abides to everlasting life, who walk as true champions for God in the footsteps of faith and of their forefathers, wrestling for the blessing of the promises. On the other hand, upon the Ephraim that has turned into Canaan (Hos 12:8) an east wind will come, a tempest bursting from the desert (see at Hos 12:2), and that a stormy wind raised by Jehovah, which will dry up his spring, i.e., destroy not only the fruitful land with which God has blessed it (Deu 33:13-16), but all the sources of its power and stability. Like the promise in Hos 13:14, the threatening of the judgment, to which the kingdom of Israel is to succumb, is introduced quite abruptly with the word יבוא. The figurative style of address then passes in the last clause into a literal threat. הוּא, he, the hostile conqueror, sent as a tempestuous wind by the Lord, viz., the Assyrian, will plunder the treasure of all costly vessels, i.e., all the treasures and valuables of the kingdom. On kelı̄ chemdâh compare Nah 2:10 and 2Ch 32:27. We understand by it chiefly the treasures of the capital, to which a serious catastrophe is more especially predicted in the next verse (Hos 14:1), which also belongs to this strophe, on account of its rebellion against God.

Hos 13:16 (Hebrew_Bible_14:1). “Samaria will atone, because it has rebelled against its God: they will fall by the sword; their children will be dashed to pieces, and its women with child ripped up.” אשׁם, to atone, to bear the guilt, i.e., the punishment. It is not equivalent to shâmēm in Eze 6:6, although, as a matter of fact, the expiation consisted in the conquest and devastation of Samaria by Shalmanezer. The subject to yippelū (will fall) is the inhabitants of Samaria. The suffix to הריּותיו (its women, etc.) refers to the nation. The form הריּה is one derived from הרה, for הרה (Ewald, §189, c). The construction with the masculine verb יבקּעוּ, in the place of the feminine, is an anomaly, which may be explained from the fact that feminine formations from the plur. imperf. are generally very rare (see Ewald, §191, b). For the fact itself, compare Hos 10:14; 2Ki 8:12; 2Ki 15:16; Amo 1:13.

Reproofs and Threatenings. (b. c. 722.)

1 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 passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. 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 saviour beside me.

Idolatry was the sin that did most easily beset the Jewish nation till after the captivity; the ten tribes from the first were guilty of it, but especially after the days of Ahab; and this is the sin which, in these verses, they are charged with. Observe,

I. The provision that God made to prevent their falling into idolatry. This we have, v. 4. God did what was fit to be done to keep them close to himself; what could have been done more? 1. He made known himself to them as the Lord their God, and took them to be his people in a peculiar manner. Both by his word and by his works all along from the land of Egypt he declared, I am the Lord thy God; he told them so from heaven at Mount Sinai, that he was the Lord and their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. This he continued both to declare and to prove to them by his prophets and by his providences. 2. He gave them a law forbidding them to worship any other: "Thou shalt know no God but me; not only shalt not own and worship any other, but shalt not acquaint thyself with any other, nor make the rites and usages of the Gentiles familiar to thee." Note, It is a happy ignorance not to know that which we ought not to meddle with. We find those commended who have not known the depths of Satan. 3. He gave them a good reason for it: There is no saviour besides me. Whatever we take for our God we expect to have for our saviour, to make us happy here and hereafter; as, where we have protection, we owe allegiance, so where we have salvation, and hope for it, we owe adoration.

II. The honour that Ephraim had, while he kept himself clear from idolatry (v. 1): While Ephraim spoke trembling, or with trembling (that is, as Dr. Pocock understands it, while he behaved himself towards God as his father Jacob did, with weeping and supplications, and spoke not proudly and insolently against God and his prophets, while he kept up a holy fear of God, and worshipped him in that fear) so long he exalted himself in Israel, that is, he was very considerable among the tribes and made a figure. Jeroboam, who was of that tribe, exalted himself and his family. When he spoke there was trembling, that is, all about him stood in awe of him; so some understand it. Note, Those that humble themselves, especially that humble themselves before God, shall be exalted. When people speak with modesty and jealousy of themselves, with a diffidence of their own judgment and a deference to others, they exalt themselves, they gain a reputation. But as for Ephraim he soon lost himself: When he offended in Baal he died, that is, he lost his reputation, his honour soon dwindled and sunk, and was laid in the dust. Baal is here put for all idolatry; when Ephraim forsook God, and took to worship images, the state received its death's wound and was never good for any thing afterwards. Note, Deserting God is the death of any person or persons.

III. The lamentable growth of idolatry among them (v. 2): Now they sin more and more. When once he began to offend in Baal the ice was broken, and he grew worse and worse, coveted more idols, doted more upon those he had, and grew more ridiculous in the worship of them. Note, The way of idolatry, as of other sins, is down-hill, and men cannot easily stop themselves. It is the sad case of all those who have forsaken God that they sin yet more and more. Let us trace them in their apostasy. 1. They made themselves molten images, proud to have gods that they could cast into what mould they pleased; probably these were the calves in miniature like the silver shrines for Diana; the zealots for the calf-worship carried about with them, it may be, images of the gods they worshipped, made on purpose for themselves. 2. They made them of their silver, and then doubted not of their property in them, when they purchased them with their own money or made them of their own plate melted down for that purpose. See what cost they put themselves to in the service of their idols, which they honoured with the best they had, and therefore made their molten images of silver. 3. They made them according to their own understanding, according to their own fancy. They consulted with themselves what shape they should make their idol in, and made it accordingly, a god according to the best of their judgment. Or according to their own likeness, in the form of a man. And, when they made their idols men like themselves in shape, they made themselves stocks and stones like them in reality; for those that make them are like unto them, and so is every one that trusts in them. 4. It was all the work of the craftsmen. Their images did not pretend, like that of Diana, to have come down from Jupiter (Acts xix. 35); no, perhaps the workmen stamped their names upon them, such an idol was such a man's work. See ch. viii. 6; Isa. xliv. 9, &c. 5. Though they were thus the work of their hands, yet they were the beloved of their souls; for they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. Either the priests called upon the people thus to pay their homage, or the people, who were not allowed to come so near themselves, called upon the men that sacrificed, the priests that attended for them, to kiss the calves in their name and stead, because they could not reach to do it, so very fond were they of paying their utmost respects to such an idol as they were taught to have a veneration for. Though they were calves, yet, if they were gods, the worshippers, by themselves or their proxies, thus made their honours to them. They kissed the calves, in token of the adoration of them, affection for them, and allegiance to them, as theirs. Thus we are directed to kiss the Son, to take him for our Lord and our God.

IV. Threatenings of wrath for their idolatry. The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to another; and therefore all those that worship images shall be confounded, especially if Ephraim do it, Ps. xcvii. 7. Because they are so fond of kissing their calves, therefore God will give them sensible convictions of their folly, v. 3. They promise themselves a great deal of safety and satisfaction in the worship of their idols, and that their prosperity will thereby be established; but God tells them that they shall be disappointed, and driven away in their wickedness. This is illustrated by four similitudes:—They shall be, 1. As the morning cloud, which promises showers of rain to the parched ground. 2. As the early dew, which seems to be an earnest of such showers. But both pass away, and the day proves as dry and hot as ever; so fleet and transitory their profession of piety was (ch. vi. 4), and so had they disappointed God's expectation from them, and therefore it is just that so their prosperity should be, and so their expectations from their idols should be disappointed, and so will all theirs be that make an idol of this world. 3. They are as the chaff, light and worthless; and they shall be driven as the chaff is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, Ps. i. 4; xxv. 5; Job xxi. 18. Nay, 4. They are as the smoke, noisome and offensive (see Isa. lxv. 5), and they shall be driven away as the smoke out of the chimneys, that is soon dissipated and disappears, Ps. lxviii. 2. Note, No solid lasting comfort is to be expected any where but in God.

Ingratitude of Israel. (b. c. 722.)

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 rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.

We may observe here, 1. The plentiful provision God had made for Israel and the seasonable supplies he had blessed them with (v. 5): "I did know thee in the wilderness, took cognizance of thy case and made provision for thee, even in a land of great drought, when thou wast in extreme distress, and when no relief was to be had in an ordinary way." See a description of this wilderness, Deut. viii. 15, Jer. ii. 6, and say, The God that knew them, and owned them, and fed them there, was a friend indeed, for he was a friend at need and an all-sufficient friend, that could victual so vast an army when all ordinary ways of provision were cut off, and where, if miracles had not been their daily bread, they must all have perished. Note, Help at an exigency lays under peculiar obligations and must never be forgotten. 2. Their unworthy ungrateful abuse of God's favour to them. God not only took care of them in the wilderness, but put them in possession of Canaan, a good land, a large and fat pasture. And (v. 6) according to their pasture so were they filled. God gave them both plenty and dainties, and they did not spare it, but, having been long confined to manna, when they came into Canaan they fed themselves to the full. And this was no hopeful presage; it would have looked better, and promised better, if they had been more modest and moderate in the use of their plenty, and had learned to deny themselves; but what was the effect of it? They were filled, and their heart was exalted. Their luxury and sensuality made them proud, insolent, and secure. The best comment upon this is that of Moses, Deut. xxxii. 13-15. But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. When the body was stuffed up with plenty the soul was puffed up with pride. Then they began to think their religion a thing below them, and they could not persuade themselves to stoop to the services of it. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. When they were poor and lame in the wilderness they thought it was necessary for them to keep in with God; but when they were replenished and established in Canaan they began to think they had no further need of him: Their heart was exalted, therefore have they forgotten me. Note, Worldly prosperity, when it feeds men's pride, makes them forgetful of God; for they remember him only when they want him. When Israel was filled, what more could the Almighty do for them? And therefore they said to him, Depart from us, Job xxii. 17. It is sad that those favours which ought to make us mindful of God, and studious what we shall render to him, should make us unmindful of him, and regardless what we do against him. We ought to know that we live upon God when we live upon common providence, though we do not, as Israel in the wilderness, live upon miracles. 3. God's just resentment of their base ingratitude, v. 7, 8. The judgments threatened (v. 3) intimated the departure of all good from them. The threatenings here go further, and intimate the breaking in of all evils upon them; for God, who had so much befriended them, now turns to be their enemy and fights against them, which is expressed here very terribly: I will be unto them as a lion and as a leopard. The lion is strong, and there is no resisting him. The leopard is here taken notice of to be crafty and vigilant: As a leopard by the way will I observe them. As that beast of prey lies in wait by the road-side to catch travellers, and devour them, so will God by his judgments watch over them to do them hurt, as he had watched over them to do them good, Jer. xliv. 27. No opportunity shall be let slip that may accelerate or aggravate their ruin (Jer. v. 6): A leopard shall watch over their cities. A lynx, or spotted beast (and such the leopard is), is noted for quicksightedness above any creature (lynx visu—the eyes of a lynx), and so it intimates that not only the power, but the wisdom of God is engaged against those whom he has a controversy with. Some read it (and the original will bear it), I will be as a leopard in the way of Assyria. The judgments of God shall surprise them just when they are going to the Assyrians to seek for protection and help from them. It is added, I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved, and thereby exasperated and made more cruel (2 Sam. xvii. 8, Prov. xxviii. 15), which intimates how highly God was provoked, and he would make them feel it: He will rend the caul of their heart. The lion is observed to aim at the heart of the beasts he preys upon, and thus will God devour them like a lion. He will send such judgments upon them as shall prey upon their spirits and consume their vitals. Their heart was exalted (v. 6), but God will take an effectual course to bring it down: The wild beast shall tear them; not only God will be as a lion and leopard to them, but the metaphor shall be fulfilled in the letter, for noisome beasts are one of the four sore judgments with which God will destroy a provoking people, Ezek. xiv. 15.

Now all this teaches us, 1. That abused goodness turns into the greater severity. Those who despise God and affront him, when he is to them as a careful tender shepherd, shall find he will be even to his own flock as the beasts of prey are. Those whom God has in vain endured with much long-suffering, and invited with much affection, in them he will show his wrath and make them vessels of it, Rom. ix. 22. Patientia læsa fit furor—Despised patience will turn into fury. 2. That the judgments of God, when they come with commission against impenitent sinners, will be irresistible and very terrible. They will rend the caul of the heart, will fill the soul with confusion, and tear that in pieces; and we are as unable to grapple with them as a lamb is to make his part good against a roaring lion, for who knows the power of God's anger? Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, let us be persuaded to make peace with him; for are we stronger then he?

The Folly of Israel; Promises of Mercy. (b. c. 722.)

9 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 saidst, 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 sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. 14 I will ransom 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 east wind 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 ripped up.

The first of these verses is the summary, or contents, of all the rest (v. 9), where we have, 1. All the blame of Israel's ruin laid upon themselves: O Israel! thy perdition is thence; it is of and from thyself; or, "It has destroyed thee, O Israel! that is, all that sin and folly of thine which thou art before charged with. As thy own wickedness has many a time corrected thee, so that has now at length destroyed thee." Note, Wilful sinners are self-destroyers. Obstinate impenitence is the grossest self-murder. Those that are destroyed of the destroyer have their blood upon their own head; they have destroyed themselves. 2. All the glory of Israel's relief ascribed to God: But in me is thy help. That is, (1.) It might have been: "I would have helped thee and healed thee, but thou wouldst not be healed and helped, but wast resolutely set upon thy own destruction." This will aggravate the condemnation of sinners, not only that they did that which tended to their own ruin, but that they opposed the offers God made them and the methods he took with them to prevent it: I would have gathered them, and they would not. They might have been easily and effectually helped, but they put the help away from them. Nay, (2.) It may be: "Thy case is bad, but it is not desperate. Thou hast destroyed thyself; but come to me, and I will help thee." This is a plank thrown out after shipwreck, and greatly magnifies not only the power of God, that he can help when things are at the worst, can help those that cannot help themselves, but the riches of his grace, that he will help those that have destroyed themselves and therefore might justly be left to perish, that he will help those that have long refused his help. Dr. Pocock gives a different reading and sense of this verse: "O Israel! this has destroyed thee, that in me is thy help. Presuming upon God and his favour has emboldened thee in those wicked ways which have been thy ruin."

Now, in the rest of these verses, we may see,

I. How Israel destroyed themselves. It is said (v. 16), They rebelled against God, revolted from their allegiance to him, entered into a confederacy with his enemies, and took up arms against him; and this was the thing that ruined them, for never any hardened themselves against God and prospered. Note, Those that rebel against their God destroy themselves, for they make him their enemy for whom they are an unequal match.

1. They treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, and so they destroy themselves. They are doing that, every day, which will be remembered against them another day (v. 12): The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, and his sin is hid; God took notice of it, kept it upon record, and will produce it against him and reckon with him for it afterwards. Their former sins contributed to their present destruction; for they were laid up in store with God, Deut. xxxii. 34, 35; Job xiv. 17. It is laid up in safety, and will not be forgotten, nor the evidence against him lost; but it is laid up in secret; it is hid; the sinner himself is not aware of it. It is bound up in God's omniscience, in the sinner's own conscience. Note, The sin of sinners is not forgotten till it is pardoned, but an exact account is kept of it, which will be opened in proper time.

2. They make no haste to repent and help themselves when they are under divine rebukes; they are their own ruin because they will not do what they should do towards their own salvation, v. 13. (1.) They are brought into trouble and distress by sin: The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him. They shall smart for sin, and so be made sensible of it; they shall be thrown into pangs and agonies by it, very sharp and severe, and yet, like the pains of a woman in labour, hopeful and promising, and in order to deliverance; and by these, though God corrects them, yet he designs their good. They are chastened, that they may not be destroyed. But, (2.) They are not by these forwarded as they ought to be towards repentance and reformation, which would cause their sorrows to issue in true joy: He is an unwise son, for he should not stay long, as he does, in the place of the breaking forth of children, but, being brought to the birth, should struggle to get forth, lest he be stifled and still-born at last. Were the child which the mother is in travail of capable of understanding its own case, we should reckon it an unwise child that would choose to stay long in the birth; for the captive exile hasteth to be loosed, lest he die in the pit, Isa. li. 14. Note, Those may justly be reckoned their own destroyers who defer and put off their repentance, by which alone they might help themselves. Those are in danger of miscarrying in conversion who delay it, and will not put forth themselves to speed the work and bring it to an issue.

3. Therefore they are destroyed because they have done that which will be their certain ruin and neglected that which would have been their only relief. Here is a sad description of the desolation they are doomed to, v. 15, 16. It is here taken for granted that Ephraim is fruitful among his children; his name signifies fruitfulness. He is fruitful in respect of the plentiful products of his country and the great numbers of its inhabitants; it was both a rich and a populous tribe, as was foretold concerning it; but sin turns this fruitful tribe into barrenness. Joseph was a fruitful bough, but for sin it was blasted. The instrument is an east wind, representing a foreign enemy that should invade it. It is called the wind of the Lord, not only because it shall be a very great and strong wind, but because it shall be sent by divine direction; it shall come from the Lord, and do whatever he appoints; and see what effect it shall have upon that flourishing tribe, what desolations war shall make. (1.) Was it a rich tribe? The foreign enemy shall make it poor enough. This wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, a freezing blasting wind, and shall dry up the springs and fountains with which this tree is watered, shall exhaust the sources of its wealth. The invader shall waste the country and so impoverish the husbandman, shall intercept trade and commerce and so impoverish the merchant; and let not the great men, whose wealth lies in their rich furniture, think that they shall be exempted from the judgment, for he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. See the folly of those that lay up their treasure on earth, that lay it up in pleasant vessels (vessels of desire, so the word is), on which they set their affections, and in which they place their comfort and satisfaction. This is treasure that may be spoiled and that they may be spoiled of; it is what either moth or rust may corrupt, or what thieves and soldiers may steal and carry away. But wise and happy are those who have laid up their treasures in heaven, and in the pleasant things of that world, which cannot be spoiled, which they cannot be stripped of; ever happy are they, and therefore truly wise. (2.) Was it a populous tribe, and numerous? The enemy shall depopulate it and make its men few: Samaria shall become desolate, without inhabitants. [1.] Those shall be cut off who are the guard and joy of the present generation; the men who bear arms shall bear them to no purpose, for they shall fall by the sword, so that there shall be none to make head against the fury of the conqueror nor to take care of the concerns either of the public or of private families. [2.] Those shall be cut off who are the seed and hope of the next generation, who should rise up in the places of those who fell by the sword; the whole nation must be rooted out, and therefore the infants shall be dashed to pieces, in the most cruel and barbarous manner, and, which is if possible yet more inhuman, the women with child shall be ripped up. Thus shall the glory of Samaria flee away from the birth, and from the womb, ch. ix. 11; x. 14. See instances of this cruelty, 2 Kings viii. 12; xv. 16; Amos i. 13.

II. Let us now see how God was the help of this self-destroying people, how he was their only help (v. 10): I will be thy King, to rule and save thee. Though they had refused to be his subjects and had rebelled against him, yet he would still be their King and would not abandon them. The business and care of a good king is to keep his people, not only from ruined by foreign enemies, but from ruining themselves and one another. Thus will God yet be Israel's King, as he was their King of old. Note, Our case would be sad indeed if God were not better to us than we are to ourselves.

1. God will be their King when they have no other king; he will protect and save them when those are cut off and gone who should have been their protectors and saviours: I will be he (so v. 10 may be read), he that shall help thee. "Where is the king that may save thee in all thy cities, that may go in and out before thee, and fight thy battles, when thy cities are invaded by a foreign power, and suppress the more dangerous quarrels of thy citizens among themselves? Where are thy judges, who by administering public justice should preserve the public peace? For it is righteousness and peace that kiss each other. Where are thy judges that thou hadst such a desire of and such a dependence upon, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? This refers, (1.) To the foolish wicked desire which the whole nation had of a kingly government, being weary of the theocracy, or divine government, which they had been under during the time of the Judges, because it looked too mean for them. They rejected Samuel, and in him the Lord, when they said, Give us a king like the nations, whereas the Lord was their King. (2.) To the desire which the ten tribes had of a kingly government different from that of the house of David, because they thought that was too absolute and bore too hard upon them, and they hoped to better themselves by setting up Jeroboam. Both these are instances, [1.] Of men's improvidence for themselves. When they are uneasy with their present lot they are fond of novelty, and think to better themselves by a change; but they are commonly disappointed, and do not find that advantage in the alteration which they promised themselves. [2.] Of men's impiety towards God, in thinking to refine upon his appointments and amend them. God gave Israel judges and prophets for their guidance; but they were weary of them, and cried, Give us a king and princes. God gave them the house of David, established it by a covenant of royalty; but they were soon weary of that too, and cried, We have no part in David. Those destroy themselves who are not pleased with what God does for them, but think they can do better for themselves. Well, in both these requests, Providence humoured them, gave them Saul first, and afterwards Jeroboam. And what the better were they for them? Saul was given in anger (given in thunder, 1 Sam. xii. 18, 19) and soon after was taken away in wrath, upon Mount Gilboa. The kingly government of the ten tribes was given in anger, not only against Solomon for his defection, but against the ten tribes that desired it, for their discontent and disaffection to the house of David; and God was now about to take that away in wrath by the power of the king of Assyria. And then, where is thy King? He is gone, and thou shalt abide many days without a king, and without a prince (ch. iii. 4), shalt have none to save thee, none to rule thee. Note, First, God often gives in anger what we sinfully and inordinately desire, gives it with a curse, and with it gives us up to our own hearts' lusts. Thus he gave Israel quails. Secondly, What we inordinately desire we are commonly disappointed in, and it cannot save us, as we expected it should. Thirdly, What God gives in anger he takes away in wrath; what he gives because we did not desire it well he takes away because we did not use it well. It is the happiness of the saints that, whether God gives or takes, it is all in love, and furnishes them with matter for praise. To the pure all things are pure. It is the misery of the wicked that, whether God gives or takes, it is all in wrath; to them nothing is pure, nothing is comfortable.

2. God will do that for them which no other king could do if they had one (v. 14): I will ransom them from the power of the grave. Though Israel, according to the flesh, be abandoned to destruction, God has mercy in store for his spiritual Israel, in whom all the promises were to have their accomplishment, and this among the rest, for to them the apostle applies it (1 Cor. xv. 55), and particularly to the blessed resurrection of believers at the great day, yet not excluding their spiritual resurrection from the death of sin to a holy, heavenly, spiritual, and divine life. It is promised, (1.) That the captives shall be delivered, shall be ransomed, from the power of the grave. Their deliverance shall be by ransom; and we know who it was that paid their ransom, and what the ransom was, for it was the Son of man that gave his life a ransom for many, Matt. xx. 28. It is he that thus redeemed them. Those who, upon their repenting and believing, are, for the sake of Christ's righteousness, acquitted from the guilt of sin and saved from death and hell, which are the wages of sin, are those ransomed of the Lord that shall, in the great day, be brought out of the grave in triumph, and it shall be as impossible for the banks of death to hold them as it was to hold their Master. (2.) That the conqueror shall be destroyed: O death! I will be thy plagues. Jesus Christ was the plague and destruction of death and the grave when by death he destroyed him that had the power of death, and when in his own resurrection he triumphed over the grave. But the complete destruction of them will be in the resurrection of believers at the great day, when death shall for ever be swallowed up in victory, and it is the last enemy that shall be destroyed. But the word which we translate I will may as well be rendered Ubi nunc—Where now are thy plagues? And so the apostle took it: 'O death! where is thy plague, or sting, with which thou hast so long pestered the world? O grave! where is thy victory, or thy destruction, wherewith thou has destroyed mankind?" Christ has abolished death, has broken the power of it and altered the property of it, and so enabled us to triumph over it. This promise he has made, and it shall be made good to all that are his; for repentance shall be hidden from his eyes; he will never recall this sentence passed on death and the grave, for he is not a man that he should repent. Thanks be to God therefore who gives us the victory.

CHAP. XIII.

Verſe 1. WHen Ephraim ſpake trembling,] Or, there was trembling, as there is among the beaſts of the field, when the Lion roareth. Ephraim whiles innocent of the great offence, ſpake with authority, and none durſt budge againſt him: for he had great power in his hand. Now, as the Philoſopher told Adrian the Emperour, who challenged him to diſpute; Difficile eſt ei contradicere qui poteſt aqua & igni interdicere: vel adverſus [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 3 letters]ſcribere, qui poteſt proſcribere. It is dangerous medling with the Lions beard. N[illegible: 2 letters]uchadnezzars Majeſty was ſuch, that all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him, Dan. 5.19. whereſoever his commands or armies came, there were very great heart-quakes and concuſſions of ſpirit. Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may ſay unto him, What doſt thou[illegible: 1 letter] Eccleſ. 8.4. Job was no king: and yet whiles hee was Jobab, that is, in a proſperous condition, The young men ſaw him,Gen. 36.34. and hid themſelves: the nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth, Job 29.8, 10 The people feared Joſhuah [illegible: 1 letter] chap. 4.14.) as they feared Moſes, all the dayes of his life: for why? the Lord had magnified him in the ſight of all Iſrael. Naturall conſcience cannot but ſtoop to the image of God in whomſoever. When Ephraim was firſt in the Throne, he became formidable: but when h[illegible: 2 letters]fell openly from God, he grew feeble: firſt he was a terrour, and then a ſcorn.

But when he offended in Baal, he died.] When by Jezabel (who did all under her husband, ſhe was King, and he Queen) Baal-worſhip was brought in, then Ephraim fell from his dignity: then every paltry adverſary trampled upon him, as the Hare will do upon a dead Lion. See how Benhadad inſulted over Ahab, 1 King. 20. Thy ſilver and thy gold is mine, thy wives alſo and thy children, even the goodlieſt are mine. And the king of Iſrael anſwered and ſaid, My Lord, O king, according to thy ſaying, I am thine, and all that I have. Look how the worried Curre falls upon his back, and holds up all four, as craving quarter: ſo did this ſordid Idolater, glad to crouch to his enemy: when God was departed from him; he was even as a dead carcaſſe. Morti vicinus jam magis atque magis. He that departeth from God (who is his life) by an evil heart of unbelief, Heb. 3. ſubiecteth himſelf to all ſorts of deaths, Naturall, Civil, Spirituall, and Eternall.

Verſe 2. And now they ſinne more and more,] Heb. They adde to ſinne: God in his juſt judgement hath given them up unto hardneſſe of minde, and to their hearts luſt: that for all this ſudden change, they repent not, but run more and more into Idolatry. Not content to worſhip Baal, and ſuch Heathen-Deities, They make them molten images of their ſilver,] they laid their monies together, to make the golden-calves, or ſilver-ſhrines, as Acts 19.24. and other idolatrous trinkets: they laviſhed ſilver out of the bag, and were at no ſmall charge. They multiplied their altars, chap. 10. and abuſed Gods gold and ſilver to myſticall adultery, chap. 2. All this they did Now, ſaith the Text: moſt unſeaſonably, and as it were in flat oppoſition to God; after he had ſought to reclaim them both by counſels, and corrections, and had hang'd Ahab and his houſe up in gibbets, as it were, before them, for their admonition. Surely it is a juſt both preſage and deſert of ruine, not to bee warned. See chap. 7.1. with the Note,

And idols according to their own underſtanding,] i. e. according to their own inventions, motu ſuo proprio; forſaking the Rule of the Word, they will needs be ſchollers to their own Rea2on, though they are ſure to have a fool to their Maſter. That's a good ſaying of Solomon, Prov. 3.5. Truſt in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own underſtanding, in matters of Gods worſhip eſpecially: for there Deus damnat quicquid arridet judicio hominum vel rationi, Calv. in loc. that which is highly eſteemed amongſt men, is abomination in the ſight of God, Luke 16.15.

all of it the work of the craftſmen,] And ſhould men worſhip the work of their own hands? what can be imagined more irrationall and ſottiſh? But it is a moſt righteous recompence of their errour. See Eſay 29.13, 14. God doth blinde and blaſt ſuch,Rom. 1.27. cauſing their madneſſe to appear to all, and that they are men compact of meer incongruities, ſolaeciſing in opinion, ſpeeches, actions, all: nothing is more irrationall then irreligion.

they ſay of it, Let the men that ſacrifice kiſſe the calves.] They, that is, the king and his counſellours, or the idolatrous prieſts by their appointment. Theſe were active to invite, and incite men to partake of thoſe idolatrons ſervices. Should we be leſſe diligent in calling upon others to kiſſe the Son, with a kiſſe of love and homage? ſhould we not be as ſerious and ſedulous in building ſtair-caſes for heaven, as the wicked are in digging d[illegible: 3 letters]nts to hell?

kiſſe the calves.] That the cuſtome of kiſſing in divine worſhip was uſed in all Nations, is evident. They kiſſed either the idols mouth, or their own hand (where the idoll ſtood on high, ſo that they could not come at it) in token of homage. See 1 King. 19.8. Job 31.27.Aderare est quaſi applicare manum ad os. So (after the example of Diocleſian) the Pope holds forth his foot to be kiſſed by the greateſt Potentates: whiles he ſitteth as God, in the Temple of God, &c.

Verſe 3. Therefore they ſhall be as the morning cloud,] They ſhall vaniſh and come to nothing: the morning cloud irradiated by the Sun, ſeems very gay at firſt, but is ſoon diſpelled by it, the dew lies very lovely upon the graſſe, and ſeems to impearl it: but is ſoon dried up. See chap. 6.4. The chaff lies hollow and high, but is ſoon diſperſt before a whirl-wind. See Pſal. 35.5. Dan. 2.35. Pſal. 1.5. The ſmoke rowls out of the chimney, as if it were ſome ſolid ſubſtance, and would mu[illegible: 2 letters]e the whole heavens, but is preſently ſcattered; Evaporat & evaneſcit, the higher it aſcendeth, the ſooner it vaniſheth. See here how that is verified chap. 12.10. I have uſed ſimilitudes by the miniſtery of my Prophets, (four in a breath wee have here) and be hereby advertiſed. 1. Of mans weakneſſe. 2. Of Gods power. 3. Of the ſwiftneſſe of Ephraims enſuing miſery. 4. The ſeverity of Gods dea[illegible: 1 letter] ing with Idolaters, he will leave no ſigne nor remaine of them: he will utterly remove them as a man takes away dung, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. till it be gone, 1 King. 14.19. Sic tranſit gloria mundi. Life it ſelf is but a ſhadow, a dream, yea a dream of a ſhadow, Pſal. 144.4. profit, an uncertainty, 1 Tim. 6.17. pleaſure, a ſpirt, honour a blaſt, pomp a phancy, Act. 25.23. the whole world a ſcheme, or notion that hath nothing in it of any firmneſſe, or ſolid conſiſtency. Why then ſhould wicked worldlings brag,1 Cor 7.31. and look ſo big?? Why ſhould the Saints be affected either with it's allurements, or affrightments, and not cry out with that heroicall Luther, Contemptus eſt a me Romanus & favor & furor, I care neither for Romes favour, nor fury; I am neither fond of the one, nor afraid of the other, for all is but fumus aut funus vanity and vexation?

Verſe 4. Yet I am the Lord thy God, &c.] Yet for all the ſorrow: and though, I thus threaten thee: for ſince I ſpake againſt thee, I do earneſtly remember thee ſtill, &c. Jer. 31.20. It is eaſie to obſerve, all along this Chapter, an interchange of menaces and mercies, as in the preceding verſe and this; ſo verſe 8. and 9. verſe 13. and 14. verſe 16. and chap. 14.1. to ſhew how ſoon the Lord repents him of the evil, and how ready to ſhew mercy to the worſt that return. If men could but finde a penitent heart, he would eaſily finde a pitying heart: like as David would have been friends with Abſalom after all the unkindneſſe, would he have been but better at laſt. To reduce Ephraim it was, that this Chapter, like checquer-work, is made up of promiſes and threatnings; that the tartneſſe of the one might make him the better to taſte the ſweetneſſe of the other.

Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt,] See the Note on Chap. 12.9. He was their God before, Gen. 17.7. but then he mainly manifeſted himſelf ſo to be, when he brought them thence with a ſtrong hand, and ſo declared himſelf to be Jehovah, Exod. 6.2. yea I am ready to ſhew thee the like mercy ſtill: for I remember (ſaith he) the kindneſſe of thy youth, the love of thine eſpouſals, when thou wenteſt after me in the wilderneſſe, in a land that was not ſowen, Ier. 2.2.

and thou ſhalt know no God but me,] i. e. Effectually acknowledge, worſhip, ſerve, love, none ſave me, Deut. 13.2. Gal. 4.9. Thou ſhalt experience none other: it is a bleſſed thing to be ignorant of falſe-worſhip; and not to be inſighted into, or verſed in the depths of Satan, Rev. 2.24. Thou ſhalt not enquire how theſe Nations worſhipped their gods, Deut. 12.30. Ahaz got hurt by ſeeing the Altar at Damaſcus: Many that will needs ſee the Popiſh-ſervice, are enſnared thereby.

for there is no Saviour beſide me. [This is a Title that God much glorieth in. See Eſay 60.16. and 63.1. Act. 5.31. and we ſhould go oft to him in this Name, as Ier. 14.8. ſith he is able to ſave them to the utmoſt that come unto him, Heb. 7.25. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. to ſave them perpetually, and perfectly. He is a ſole Saviour, a thorow Saviour, a Saviour in ſolidum: and doth not his work to the halves, as Papiſts make it. How blaſphemous is that direction of theirs to dying men, to ſay, Joyn, Lord, mine obedience with thoſe things which Chriſt ſuffered for me, &c.

Verſe 5. I knew thee in the wilderneſſe, in a place of great drought,] In terra torridiſſima, where I gave thee pluviam eſcatilem & petram aquatilem as Tertullian phraſeth it, where I gave thee bread from heaven, ſet the flint abroach,Tert. de patientiae. Pſal. 78.20, 24 kept thy clothes whole and fit, kept back thine enemies, led thee by a pillar of cloud, ſent thee in fleſh at Even, and bread in the Morning, ſerved thee as never Prince was ſerved in his greateſt pomp. And wilt thou yet kiſſe the calf, qui te nec ſervat, nec ſatiat, ut ego? who neither ſaveth thee, nor ſatisfieth thee, as I have done? not ſuffering thee to lack any thing, Deut. 2.7? but crowning thee with loving kindneſſe, and tender mercies: inſomuch as Moſes ſtands amazed at it, and cries out, Happy art thou O Iſrael! who is like unto thee, O people ſaved of the Lord, &c. Deut. 33.29.

Verſe 6. According to their paſture ſo were they filled:] Saturity bred ſecurity; fulneſſe, forgetfulneſſe. This was a foul fault, and is much complained of, Deut. 32.13, 14, &c. Pſal. 78.10, 11, &c.Acts 14.17. God had brought them out of a place of great drought into large and fat paſtures, a land flowing with milk and honey, where he filled their hearts with food and gladneſſe, where he fed them among the [illegible: 1 letter]i[illegible: 2 letters]ies, daily and daintily. But they, as if God had hired them to be wicked, baſely abuſed his bounty to luxury, and having fulneſſe of bread, and abundance of idleneſſe, grew proud as Sodom, and out of meaſure ſinfull; forgetting God and his will,Ezech. 16.49. themſelves and their duties, and running out into all exceſſe of riot, though they had been fairly warned, and commanded to the contrary, Deut. 8.10, &c. Their heart grew fat as greaſe, and became as a foul ſtomach, which the more you fill it, the more you ſpill it: or like fed horſes, they grew fierce and filthy, Jer. 5.7, 8. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Hippoc. there was no hoe with them. See Ezek. 34 16, 18, 20. Whiles they were in the wilderneſſe God knew them, yea he knew their ſouls in adverſity: They both knew God, and were known of him. But now, God neither knew them ſo much, nor they him: they lived not upon him now, as once in the wilderneſſe;Gal. 3. but being filled, yea filled (you have the word here twice together) to note how they fell upon thoſe allowed delights, and even glutted themſelves, gorg'd themſelves, they flew upon them, as thoſe in Sauls time did upon the ſpoil of the Philiſtines: they fed without fear, as thoſe Pſeudo-Chriſtians in Jude verſ. 12. they gormandized as thoſe fleſh-mongers afore the floud, more like beaſts then men, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. as the Greek word ſignifieth, Luke 17.27. And hereupon their hearts were exalted,] P[illegible: 1 letter]oſperity and plenty will eaſily blow up ſuch a blab as pride, in the beſt hearts, if care be not taken to the contrary, as Agur knew, and therefore prayed, Give me a mediocrity, leſt I be full and deny, and proudly ask, W[illegible: 2 letters] is the Lord? and as Solomon felt, whoſe wealth did him more hurt then his wiſdome did him good, Eccleſ. 2.Prov. 30.9. and as Hezeki[illegible: 1 letter]h experimented to his coſt, Eſay 3[illegible: 1 letter]. [illegible: 1 letter]ndeed of Iehoſaphat it is noted, 2 Chron. 17.3. that he walked in the ſ[illegible: 1 letter]ſt wayes of David his father. (for the truth is, Davids firſt wayes were his beſt wayes: neither was he ever ſo good and tender. as when he was hunted as a Partridge in the mountains) and of Veſpaſian it is ſtoried,Verſpaſianus unus accepto imperio melior factus. that he was made the better man by being made Emperour: but he was a rare bird, and had ſcarce his fellow again. It is the property of proſperity to tumour the heart: and ubi uber, ibi tuber. See Pſal. 73.3, 6. & 1 Tim. 6.17. they eat and are ſwelled as being poyſoned with pride: they are are fatted, but it is for the ſlaughter.

therefore have they forgotten me,] Non tam theoreticè quàm practicè, they remember there is a God, but they honour him not as God: they forget their ingagements to him, and through the pride of their countenance, they ſeek not after him, Pſal. 10.4. they conſider not their diſtance, their dependance, &c. Now of all things God cannot abide to be forgotten, Eſay 1.2, 3. it is a ſin that he can hardly pardon, Ier. 5.7, &c. See the Note on chap. 8.14.

Verſe 7. Therefore will I be unto them as a lion, as a leopard, &c.] Thus ſtill God proceedeth to uſe ſimilitudes by the miniſtery of his Prophets, as he did before verſe 3.Exod. 19.4. Dent. 32.10, 11. Mat. 23.37. He here compareth himſelf (who otherwhere is compared to an Eagle, bearing her young upon her wings; to a Hen hovering over chickens, to a father cheriſhing his children, &c) to a lion, yea to an old lion, which taketh the prey but ſeldom, and therefore is more ravenous of it, when taken; (See chap. 5.14.) to a leopard, or panther, that diligently obſerveth by the way, and lieth in wait for his prey, and uſeth ſubtilty, as not being ſo ſwift of foot: confer Ier. 5.6. To a Bear robbed of her whelps,Plin. lib. 10. cap. 57. Scal. exere. 208. which are very dear to her. To any other cruell creature, verſe 8. as the Tiger that flieth upon the very picture of a man, and teareth it, or if he cannot come at it, teareth himſelf for anger. Neither is it for nothing (ſaith Rivet) that God compareth himſelf here to all theſe together: but to ſhew that there was no hope of eſcape, neither could he that had avoided one danger, be ſafe from another. So dreadfull a thing is it to fall into the puniſhing hands of the living God. Oh conſider this ye that forget God: leaſt he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you.

Verſe 8. I will meet them as a Bear bereaved of her whelps,] Surgit hic oratio. The Bear is more cruell then the Lion: for the Lion is ſaid to ſpare the proſtrate: but the Bear falleth foul upon all, yea upon dead carcaſſes. See Amos 5.9. and confer 2 Sam. 17.8. Prov. 17.12. See alſo what work the two Bears made upon the two and fourty children, 2 King. 2.

and will rent the caul of their heart,] The pericardium, that fat heart of theirs, verſe 6. that hoof upon their hearts which the word could not pierce thorow, that filthy fore-skin that grew to their uncircumciſed hearts.

there will I devour them like a lion,] Once more like a lion, ut immanis Ieo, for the word is not the ſame as before, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. as a lion, that is, in heart, and that loves to ſuck the blood, and the fat that is about the heart. There will I devour them, that is, in their cities, and houſes, where they hold themſelves ſafeſt: as the lions dealt by thoſe mongrell-Colonies that made a mixture of religions, 2 King. 17.25.

the wild beaſt ſhall tear them.] when they but ſtirre any where abroad; ſo that there ſhall be no ſafety, no peace to him that goes out, or to him that commeth in, 2 Chron. 15.5. but —crudelis ubique Luctus, ubique pavor, & plurima mortis imago. Let us therefore have grace, whereby we may ſerve God with reverence and godly fear: for even our God (and not the God of the Jews onely) is a conſuming fire, is a devouring Lion, is a furious Leopard, a raging Bear: yea put all the dreadfulneſſe of all the creatures in the world together,Heb. 12.28, 29 it is all to be found in the wrath of God, even the quinteſſence of all. hence that of the Pſalmiſt, Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, ſo is thy wrath, Pſal. 90.11. as who ſhould ſay, Let a man fear thy diſpleaſure never ſo much, he is ſure to feel thee much more, if once he fall into thy fingers. Now a fearfull man can fancy vaſt and terrible fears, as ramping lions, ravenous leopards, fire, ſword, racks, ſcalding lead, burning pitch, running bell-mettle, all this in extremity, and that to all eternity: and yet all theſe are but as a painted fire, in compariſon of the unconceiveable and unſupportable wrath of God.

Verſe 9. O Iſrael thou haſt deſtroyed thy ſelf,] Heb. He, or, It hath marred thee, O Iſrael: that is, either thy ſin of ſelf-exaltation, and forgetfulneſſe of me, as verſe 6. Or ty King, in whom thou truſtedſt, as verſe 10. Or thy Calf, whom thou worſhippedſt, hath been the cauſe of thy confuſion. Or thy fained comforts,Conſolatie fictlitia. as Aben-Ezra will have it; thy ſoothing up thy ſelf in ſinfull practiſes. Or, One [illegible: 1 letter]ath deſtroyd thee: Or, Somewhat hath undone thee, but not without thee. Whatever it is that hath done it, it is not I, what hard thoughts ſoever thou mayeſt have of me, becauſe I appear thus dreadfull to thee, as in the former verſe. Fury is not in me, but thou mayeſt thank thy ſelf, and fault thy ſinne as the mother of thy miſery, as the cauſe of thy calamity; thou haſt deſtroyed thy ſelf, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Hom. Odyſſ. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and thine own heart may ſay to thee, as the heart of Apollodorus ſeemed in a dream, to ſay to him, when he was tortured by the Scythians; It is I that have drawn thee to all this. It is the obſervation of a great Politian; England is a mighty Animal, which can never die except it kill it ſelf. Anſwerable whereunto was the ſpeech of the Lord Rich, to the Juſtices in the reigne of Edward 6. Never forraigne power could yet hurt, or in any part prevail in this Realm, but by diſobedience, and miſorder among our ſelves: that is the way wherewith God will plague us,Intereſt of Princes. p. 55. if he minde to puniſh us, &c. We uſe to ſay, No man is hurt but by himſelf: Ye have not injured me at all, ſaith S. Paul to the Galathians: you cannot do it, unleſſe I will.Act & Mon. fol. 1186. Gal. 4.12. The devil can do nothing at us, if we give not way to him. And though there were no devil, yet our corrupt Nature would act Satans part againſt it ſelf; it would have a ſupply of wickedneſſe (as a ſerpent hath of poyſon) from it ſelf; it hath a ſpring of its own to feed it. Nemo igitur ſibi palpet de ſuo: quiſque ſibi Satan eſt, ſaith an Ancient. And it was no ill wiſh of him, that begged of God,Domine, libera me a malo homine, meipſo[illegible: 1 letter] [non-Latin text not transcribed]. to deliver him from that naughty man, Himſelf: for he knew, that as in that firſt Chaos, Gen. 1.2. were the ſeeds of all creatures: ſo in mans heart, of all ſinnes, and miſeries that follow thereupon. God made man upright: but they have ſought out many inventions, Eccleſ. 7.29. many ſhifts and ſharking tricks. Sinne and ſhifting came into the world together, Gen. 3.12. The woman whom thou gaveſt me, &c. God muſt bear the blame of Adams ſin: ſo muſt his Decree of Reprobation, ſtill be alledged as the cauſe of mans perdition. But this covering is too ſhort: for no man is deſtroyed becauſe he is reprobated, but becauſe he is a ſinner: neither are any damned becauſe they cannot do better, but becauſe they will do no better. If there were no will, there would be no hell: and this indeed will be the very hell of hell,Ceſſet voluntas propria, & non erit infernus. that they have been ſelf-deſtroyers. The worme of conſcience (ſay Divines) that never-dying worme, is nothing elſe but a continuall remorſe, and furious reflection of the ſoul upon it's own willfull folly, and now wofull miſery.

but in me is thy help.] Heb. In me, in thy help, that is, (ſaith Druſius) I am in thy help, and thy help is in me: whatſoever help thou haſt, I am in it. We can eaſily undo our ſelves; as a childe can eaſily break a glaſſe, that all the men in the countrey cannot piece up again. But God both can and will help his, though never ſo ſhattered: and repair that image of his, loſt in Adam, that One that deſtroyed Iſrael. Lord, ſaith Auguſtine, Ego admiſi unde tu damnare potes me: ſed tu non amiſiſti unde ſalvare potes me: that is, I have done enough to undo my ſelf for ever, but with thee there is enough for my ſafety here, and ſalvation hereafter. God as he both can and will help his, that cry, Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man: ſo he will then chiefely do it, when they ſeem to themſelves and others,Pſal. 60.11. to be in an undone condition. Thou haſt deſtroyed thy ſelf, in me is thy help: His holy hand is reſerved for a dead lift.

Verſe 10. I will be thy king,] Thine eternall king, ſo Pagnine. As I have been thy Prophet, verſe 4.5. ſo I will be thy king; I will alſo be thy Prieſt, and thy Redeemer, verſe 14, that ſo thou mayeſt hear my voice, ſubmit to my ſcepter, and apply my death for thy deliverance from deaths dominion. Or, I will be thy king, and not be born down by thy boyſterouſneſſe, who calleſt for another king, and repineſt againſt my righteous regiment. Thou wouldſt caſt off mine authority, but I will maintain it. The Lord is king, be the people never ſo unquiet, Pſal. 99.1. he will raigne over rebels in ſpite of their hearts: and thoſe that will not be his ſubjects, his willing people, ſhall be his ſlaves, his footſtool. The Geneva Bible reads it thus,Pſal. 110.1, 3. I am: Where is the King that ſhould help thee in all thy cities? R. Aben-Ezra, Calvin, Oecolampadius, and others go the ſame way: onely they render it, Ero, I will be one and the ſame (according to that name of mine, I am that I am, Exod. 3.14. and before Abraham was, I am, Ioh. 8.58.) though you be off and on with me, though you change often, yet I am Jehovah, I change not. I will be: What will he be? The ſame that I ſaid, I would be, thy Saviour, thine Helper: Or, I will be a ſtander-by, to ſee what will become of thee, and how thy king (in whom thou truſteſt) will help thee: this laſt is R. Solomon Jarchi's interpretation. Pareus will have it run thus, I will be, what? a lion, a leopard, a bear, &c. and nothing ſhall alter my reſolution.

Where is any other that may ſave thee in all thy cities?] Thou ſayeſt (but they are but vain words) I have counſell, and ſtrength for warre; I have a King, and Princes, and ſtrong cities. But alaſſe, where are they? Let them encreaſe their Army, and come forth as he once ſaid, Judg. 9.29. Ʋbi eſt Rex tuus? ubinam? nunc ſervit te, &c. Where is the king? where is he? let him now ſave thee in all thy cities, ſo Polanus rendreth it. Can they ſave thee, who cannot ſave themſelves? It is a Sarcaſticall conceſſion. See the like Deut. 32.37, 38. Judg. 10.4. Am. 4.4. And obſerve that Gods to deride and inſult over men in their carnall confidence; and his people are licenced to do ſo too, ſo it be out of pure zeal, Pſal. 52.6, 7. and not out of private revenge.

and thy judges,] Or chief Officers, Princes, that are neceſſary to a King, and are called his Comites, couſins, and counſellours.

whereof thou ſaidſt,] and waſt ſet upon it: thou wouldſt needs have them, contra gentes, as they ſay, and hadſt ſoon enough of them. Strong affections bring ſtrong afflictions.

Give me a king and princes.] It was partly their ambition, and partly diſcontent with the preſent government (as the preſent is alwayes grievous) that prompted them to this requeſt; [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Thucyd. and they had it, but for a miſchief. It is not alwayes in mercy that prayers are anſwered: for Deus ſaepe dat iratus, quod negat propitius, God oft throwes that to his enemies, when they are over-importunate, which he denies to his friends, in great mercy to their ſouls. They do beſt, that acknowledging him the onely wiſe God, pray, Not our, but thy will be done, &c.

Verſe 11. I gave thee a king in mine anger,] As once before he gave them Quails to choak them. A king, that is, all thoſe kings they had ſince they fell off from the houſe of David. Theſe were Gods gifts, but giftleſſe-gifts, which hee caſt upon them in his anger, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. for a puniſhment both of the ſinnes of Davids ho uſe, and likewiſe of the peoples rebellion. It was ab irato potius quam ab exorato Deo. Take him, (ſaith He, ſith you will needs have him) with all that ſhall follow after. The hypocrite ſhall raigne, that the people may enſnared, Job 34.30. Set thou a wicked man over him, (ſaith the Pſalmiſt) and let Satan ſtand at his right hand, Pſal. 109.6. See Dan. 8.23 Saul was an hypocrite, Jeroboam a wicked man, ſo were all his ſucceſſours in that Throne. Levit. 26.17. it is written as an heavy curſe of God; If you ſtill treſpaſſe againſt me, I will ſet Princes over you that ſhall hate you, miſchievous, odious princes: odious to God, malignant to the people.

and took him away in my wrath.] Heb. In mine immoderate wrath, that paſſed the bounds. This is ſpoken of God after the manner of men; for he cannot exceed or over-do: fury is not in him, Eſay 27.4. but here he threateneth to take away king and kingdome together: as he did Hoſea, by the Aſſyrian that carried them all captive. Obſerve here, that better a bad Magiſtrate then none, for this latter is the fruit of Gods utter indignation. Thoſe Anabaptiſts that from this Text inferred, that no Chriſtian can with a good conſcience take upon him kingly dignity, ſhould have obſerved, that as an evil king is reckoned as a plague to a people, ſo a good king is to be held a ſpeciall bleſſing to them.

Verſe 12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up,] ſc. in a bundle, or fardle, or fagot, as the French hath it. And like as all fardles are opened on a Fair-day, ſo ſhall Ephraims iniquities be brought to light, and puniſhed at the laſt day: As the houſholder bindeth up the tares in bundles at harveſt and burneth them: ſo ſhall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man ſhall ſend forth his Angels, and they ſhall gather out of his kingdom all ſcandals, and them which do iniquity: and ſhall caſt them into a furnace of fire, &c. Matth. 13.30, 41, 42. As the Clark of Aſſizes bindes up the inditements of malefactours in bundles, or ſeals them up in a bag for more ſurety: and at the Aſſizes, brings his bag, takes them out, and reads them: ſo will it be at that laſt and great day. My tranſgreſſion is ſealed up in a bag, ſaith Iob: and thou ſoweſt up mine iniquity, viz. as the writings, or informations of a proceſſe, which is ready to be ſentenced. See Deut. 32.34. Ier. 17.1. Hoſ. 9.9. Sinners ſhall one day know, that Gods for bearance is no quittance;Job 14.[illegible: 1 letter] that however he is ſilent for a ſeaſon, and thereupon they are apt fondly to conceit him to be ſuch another as themſelves, yet He will confute them, and ſet their ſins in order before their eyes, Pſal. 50.21. Their actions are already in print in heaven: and God will one day read them aloud in the ears of all the world. And then though their ſinne be hid for preſent, all ſhall out to their utter ſhame and everlaſting contempt, Dan. 12.2. that laſt light of the day of wrath ſhall reveal all, Rom. 2.5. puniſh all, Hoſ. 9.9. Whatever God hath threatned, ſhall then be inflicted: whatever arrowes are in the bow-ſtring, ſhall then flee, and hit, and ſtick deep. And the longer the Lord is in drawing, the heavier they will light: Morae diſpendium foenoris duplo penſabitur, the longer He forbeareth, the heavier He puniſheth: So that there ſhall be no cauſe, why ſinners ſhould ſay, Where is the God of judgement? Mal. 2.17. See the Note. God will enquire after their iniquity, and ſearch after their ſin, Iob 10.6.

Verſe 13. The ſorrows of a travailing woman ſhall come upon him,] This Common-wealth was before compared to a mother, chap. 1. & 3. And as a woman that hath conceived, is not for a while diſcerned to be with child, till ſhe biggen, and burniſh, and grow near her time: ſo is it with ſinners: ſee it elegantly ſet forth by S. Iames, chap. 1.14, 15. The ſorrows of a travailing woman are known to be unexpected, exquiſite, and inevitable: ſo ſhall Gods judgements be upon the workers of iniquity, ſuch as they ſhall never be able to avert, to avoid, or to abide. This is ſet forth by an apt ſimilitude, ordinary in holy Scripture, Mic. 4.9, 10. Pſal. 48.7. Ier. 49.29. and 50.43, &c. And whereas ſome might ſay, A travailing woman is ſoon delivered; her pain is ſharp, but ſhort: ſhe hath hope, not onely of an end but of a birth; the joy whereof maketh her remember her anguiſh no more, Ioh. 16.21. The Prophet replieth, that it is otherwiſe with Ephraim.

he is an unwiſe ſonne,] that will be the death both of his mother and of himſelf. He hath no liſt to help himſelf, and to get free of the ſtraights and petils of the birth, by paſſing thorow the narrow womb of Repentance, and being born anew, God ſtands over him, ſtretching out his hands all the day long, to do a midwives office, to take him out of the womb, as Pſal. 22.9. to cut his navell, and waſh off his blood, to ſalt him, and ſwaddle him, as Ezek. 16.4. but he hath no minde to come out of the filth of his ſins, or to be waſhed from his wickedneſſe. Rather then be regenerated (without which there is no heaven to be had, Ioh. 3.5. or freedom from deadly dangers upon earth) he will venture to ſtay a while at leaſt (as the Text here hath it) in the mouth of the matrix.] though it coſt him a choaking. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Such Ephraims we have not a few, that proceed no further then to conviction; debarring themſelves of the benefit of a thorow converſion. Theſe go as far as Kadeſh-barnea, they are nigh to Gods kingdom, they are almoſt perſwaded to be true Chriſtians, they are come as far as the place of the breaking forth of children, but there they ſtick and are ſtifled: they are never brought forth from darkneſſe to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remiſſion of ſinnes, and inheritance among the ſaints and ſonnes of God, Acts 26.18. Oh make much of the leaſt beginnings of grace (ſaith a Reverend man) even thoſe called repreſſing: ſince they prepare the heart for converſion. There is a faith in the true convert, of no better perfection then that in the Temporary, though he ſtay not there, as the other (being an unwiſe ſot) doth &c. And although we bring forth good things (ſaith Another) as Sarah's dead womb brought forth a child; it was not a child of natures, but of the meer promiſe, yet it cannot be denied, that a naturall man (though he be Theologically dead, yet he) is Ethically alive, being to be wrought upon by arguments; and that grace doth for the moſt part prepare naturals before it bring in ſupernaturals: and if we hide our talent, we are not allowed to expect the ſpirit of Regeneration; As if we die in the wilderneſſe of preparatory antecedaneous works, we never get to Canaan.

Verſe 14. I will ranſom them from the power of the grave, &c.] Some read it thus,Calvin. Tigurin. Iſid. Clar. Danaeus. Druſius. I would have ranſomed them, &c. I would have redeemed them, &c. had they been wiſe, or oughts, (as we ſay) had not their incurable hardneſſe and obſtinacy hindered; had they put forth into my hands, as unto a midwife, &c. But (alas) it is no ſuch matter: therefore that that will die, let it die.

repentance ſhall be hid from mine eyes.] I am unchangeably reſolved to ruine them: Or, repentance ſhould have been hid from mine eyes, my goodneſſe toward them ſhould never have altered, &c. But let us rather look upon the words as a moſt ſweet and comfortable promiſe of a mighty redemption, and glorious reſurrection to the Remnant, according to the election of grace, whom God would not have to want comfort, I will ranſom them. Here therefore he telleth his Heirs of the promiſes, that he will bring them back out of captivity wherein they [illegible: 1 letter]ay for dead, as it were: and that this their deliverance ſhould be an evident argument and ſure pledge of their reſurrection to life eternall. To which purpoſe the Apoſtle doth aptly and properly alledge it, 1 Cor. 15. and thereupon rings in Deaths ears (out of this Text, and Eſay 25.8.) the ſhrilleſt, and ſharpeſt Note, the boldeſt and braveſt challenge, that ever was heard from the mouth of a mortall; Death, where is thy ſting? Hell where's thy victory, &c? Oh thanks be to God, who hath given us victory through our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, and thereby hath made us more then conquerours, that is, Triumphers, 2 Cor. 2.14. But to return to the Text. Be it, ſaith the Prophet, that the Common-wealth of Iſrael, both mother and child muſt periſh for want of wiſdom, as was threatned in the foregoing verſe: yet let not the penitent among them deſpair: for I the Lord Chriſt, will ranſom them, by laying down a valuable price (ſo the word ſignifieth) from the power,]Ephdem. Heb. hand: of the grave, or of hell, that though hell had laid hands on them, yea cloſed her mouth upon them, as once the Whale had upon Jonas, yet I would open the doors of that Leviathan, and fetch them thence with a ſtrong hand.

I will redeem them from death,] by becoming their near kinſman according to the fleſh, whereby I ſhall have the next right of redemption. But how ſhall all this be done? After a wonderfull manner.

O death I will be thy plagues,] Not one, but many plagues, even ſo many, as ſhall certainly do thee to death. The Vulgar rendreth it, Ero mors tua, O mors, morſus tuus, O inferne. The Apoſtle for plagues hath ſting: for the plague hath a deadly ſting, and ſo hath ſinne much more; the guilt thereof is by Solomon ſaid to bite like a ſerpent, and ſting like a cockatrice, Prov. 23.32. Now Chriſt by dying put ſinne to death, Rom. 1.25. Epheſ. 1.7. Heb. 2.14. We read of a certain Cappadocean, Sphinx. Phil. pag. 750. whom when a Viper had bitten, and ſuckt his blood, the Viper her ſelf died, by the venemous blood that ſhe had ſuckt. But Chriſt (being life eſſential) prevailed over death: and ſwallowed it up in victory, as Moſes his ſerpent ſwallowed up the ſorcerers ſerpents, or as Fire ſwalloweth up the fuell that is caſt upon it: yea by death, he deſtroyed him that had the power of death, the devil; whoſe practiſe it was to kill men with death, Rev. 2.23. this is the ſecond death.

O grave (or, O hell) I will be thy deſtruction,] thy deadly ſtinging diſeaſe, joyned with the peſtilence, Pſal. 91.6. Death to a beleever is neither totall, nor perpetuall, Rom. 8.10, 11. Chriſt hath made it to him, of a curſe a bleſſing, of an enemy a friend, of a puniſhment an emolument, of the gate of hell the portall of heaven, a poſtern to let out temporall, but a ſtreet-door to let in eternall life. And to aſſure all this; Repentance ſhall be hid from mine eyes,] i. e. there ſhall be no ſuch thing as repentance in me, for all things that are at all are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do, Heb. 4.13. The meaning is, I will never change my minde for this matter, my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.Pſal. 89.34. Confer Pſal. 110.4. Rom. 11.29. Some render it (but not ſo well) Conſolation is hid from mine eyes, and ſo make them to be the words of the Church, q. d. I ſee not this promiſe with mine eyes, but I receive it, and accept of it by my faith.

Verſe 15. Though he be fruitfull among his brethren,] In alluſion to his name Ephraim, which ſignifieth fruitfull and flouriſhing, Gen. 41.52. Confer Gen. 48.16, 19, 20, &c. & 49.22. See the like alluſions, Am. 5.5. Mic. 1.10.

An Eaſt-winde ſhall come,] which is violent and hurtfull to the fruits of the earth.

the winde of the Lord,] a mighty ſtrong winde: meaning that moſt mercileſſe and impetuous enemy the Aſſyrian, ſent by the Lord to avenge the quarrell of his Covenant.

ſhall come up from the wilderneſſe,] where the winds blow moſt fiercely, becauſe they meet with no reſiſtance.

and his ſpring ſhall become dry, &c. This is a deſcription of extreme deſolation, and it is explained and amplified in the next words.

he ſhall ſpoil the treaſure of all pleaſant veſſels.] He, that is, the Aſſyrian, not Chriſt (as Hierom, Mercer, and Ribera will have it) who ſhall take away from Death and Hell all matter of glorying. Not the fire of the laſt day, as Lyra. No, nor Ephraim, as Pareus, and Tarnouius carry it: as if it were a promiſe of their conqueſt in Chriſt over all their enemies, corporall, and ſpirituall, dividing the ſpoil of the converted Gentiles, who ſhall come in to them with all their deſireable things, as ſome read that Text, Hag. 2.7. Confer Am. 9.11, 12. Obad. 18. Zech. 14.14, 16, 20, 21. That this whole verſe containeth a promiſe of Ephraim's reduction to the Church of God, I could eaſily yeeld; reading it eſpecially, as many good Interpreters do. For he ſhall fructifie among his brethren, after that an Eaſt-wind coming, a wind of Jehovah coming up from the deſert, his ſpring ſhall become dry, and his fountain ſhall dry up: the ſame ſhall ſpoil the treaſure of all pleaſant veſſels. This is a ſimilitude (ſay they) from a piece of ground all dried up and parched, that nothing is able to grow: notably expreſſing the miſerable and diſtreſſed eſtate of this people; that as an eaſterly wind, and a tempeſtuous ſtorm, hath dried them quite, and ſpoiled all their delightfull treaſures, made them the vileſt, and moſt contemptible of the earth. (Marcellinus tells of an Emperour,Am. Marcel. lib. 2. that meeting with ſome of this Nation, and annoyed with the ſight and ſtench of them, cryed out, ô Marcommani, ô Quadi, ô Sarmatae, &c. O Marcoman's, Quades, and Sarmatians, I have found at length a more loathſome and ſordid people then you.) All which notwithſtanding, Ephraim ſhall flouriſh again, and hold up their head among their brethren, ſc. by the merit and ſpirit of Him who ranſometh them from the power of the grave, from the dint of death. This ſence of the words, is confirmed by that which followes in the next Chapter verſ. 5, 6, 7.

Verſe 16. Samaria ſhall become deſolate,] Here many begin the fourteenth Chapter, but not ſo well: for this verſe evidently cohereth with the former, and ſheweth that Ephraim ſhall not onely be plundered,rea peragetur. but butchered by the Aſſyrian by their own default. Samaria ſhall become deſolate, or be found guilty (as the Chaldee hath it, and the words may bear.) How can ſhe be otherwiſe, when as ſhe hath rebelled againſt her God,] ſhe hath imbittered him, or bitterly provoked him to wrath, (as chap. 12.15. See the Note there) who therefore ſent in the Aſſyrian to deſolate her: that bitter and haſty Nation to march thorow the breadth of the land, to poſſeſſe the dwelling places that were not theirs.Hab. 1.6. This was a bitter affliction, but behold a worſe:

they ſhall fall by the ſword,] they ſhall loſe not their land onely, and the treaſures of all their pleaſant veſſels, as verſe 15. but their deareſt lives, which to ſave a man will gladly part with all that he hath, Job 2.4. or ſubmit to any ſervile employment, as the Gibeonites in Ioſhuah's dayes did; who were willing to take hard on as ſlaves and underlings, rather then to be cut off with the reſt of the Canaanites.

their infants ſhall be daſhed in pieces,] Sept. [non-Latin text not transcribed], their ſucklings, that are ordinarily ſpared for their innocencie, ignoſcency, &c. See chap. 10.14. with the Note: and conſider that infants are not ſo innocent (though they have yet done neither good nor evil) but that God may juſtly inflict upon them all torments here, and tortures in hell, for the guilt of originall ſinne that cleaveth to their natures. Howbeit this excuſeth not the barbarous cruelty of his executioners, who ſhall be ſurely and ſuitably puniſhed, Pſal. 137.8.

and their women with childe ſhall be ript up.] Of this kinde of ſavage inhumanity, ſee Am. 1.13. 2 King. 8.11. & 15.16. where you ſhall finde that the tyrant Menahem ript the infants of Tiphſah out of their mothers bellies, becauſe their fathers opened not the gates unto him. The like cruelty was exerciſed in the Sicilian Veſpers, and Pariſian Maſſacre, by thoſe Romiſh Edomites: maugre whoſe malice Ephraim is yet fruitfull, the Church flouriſheth.

Sanguine fundata eſt Eccleſia, ſanguine creſcit.