John Trapp on Hosea 2:8

Verſe 8. For ſhe did not know] i. e. She would not be aknown or affected, of this ſhe was willingly ignorant, as S. Peter hath it, 2 Epiſt. 3. Ʋt liberius peccet libenter ignorat, as Bernard. Her ignorance was not a meer neſcience, or an invincible ignorance, ſuch as ſhe could not help; but it was wilfull, affected, acquired: they not onely deſired not the knowledge of Gods wayes, but haced it, ſpurn'd and ſcorn'd at it,Tu aedepol, ſi ſapis quod ſcis, neſcies. Terent. ſhutting the windows leſt the light ſhould come in: and being blinded by the God of this world, leſt the light of the glorious Goſpel of Chriſt ſhould ſhine unto them, 2 Cor. 4.4. leſt they ſhould ſee and ſay that which Nature and Scripture do both teach them, viz. that all their accommodations and comforts come from me alone. Had this their ignorance been meerly negative, yet had they not been wholly excuſed. The Apoſtle noteth, that our Saviour laid down his precious life even for the not-knowings of the people which were ſuch as they could not help, Heb. 9.7. but there ignorance being affected, [non-Latin text not transcribed] it was an high degree of ingratitude and impudence, and a very great aggravation of their ſin: it made it to be ſin with an accent, wickedneſs with a witneſs. Iſrael was herein worſe then the Ox and the Aſſe (that knowes his owner and his maſters crib, Iſai, 1.3.) they fell below the ſtirrop of reaſon, nay of ſenſe. Hence God ſo ſtomacketh the matter both there and here. Non ſemel hoc peccatum carpit, ſaith Mercer: he cannot ſatisfie himſelf in ſaying how much it troubled him to be thus unkindly, ungratefully, and unreaſonably dealt withall: it runneth in his thoughts, his heart is grieved at it, and he muſt vent himſelf. And when he hath told his grief, and aggravated his wrong, yet he hath not done with it: but is upon it again and again; ſtill convincing, upbraiding; charging Iſrael for their foul and inexcuſable unfaithfulneſs and unthankfulneſs. Eandem ſententiam quia ſancta et neceſſaria eſt, repetit, ſaith Oecolampadius here; he repeates over the ſame he had ſaid before, out of the trouble of his ſpirit: and that they might once lay it to heart and be humbled.

that I gave her corn and wine and oil, &c.] A great deal more then ſhe reckons upon v. 5 and yet payes her rent there to a wrong Landlord too. God is well content that we have the benefit, and comfort of his creatures, ſo he may have the praiſe: this is all the rent he lookes for; and this he indents with us for Pſal. 50.15. the Saints alſo knowing his mind, promiſe it him, and bind themſelves to it as did Jacob, Gen. 28.20, 21. David Pſal. 51.14. For they know that ingratitude forfeits all (as in this text. She would not know, Hieron. in locum. but ile make her know: ut qui ex copia datorem non ſenſerunt, ſentiant ex penuria, for ſhe ſhall faſt another while, and go naked, &c.) like as the Merchants non-payment of cuſtoms, may prove the utter loſſe of all his commodities. Hence their firſt care to ſee God in all, as Moſes often urgeth this people in Deuteronomie to taſt the ſuperabundant ſweetneſs of God in the ſweetneſs of the creatures; to look upon all, as ſwimming towards them in the blood of Chriſt, as being a piece of his purchaſe: and this exceedingly ſweetneth all their comforts. God give thee the dew of heaven ſaith Iſaac to his ſon Jacob Gen. 27.28. Profane Eſau likewiſe, had the like, but not with a God give thee: neither cared he how he had it, ſo he had it any way: but it is otherwiſe with the Saints. See but the difference in theſe two brethren, long after this Gen. 33.9.11. Eſau as a mere naturall man contenting himſelf, (like a bruit beaſt made and taken to be deſtroyed) with a naturall uſe of the creature, cryes out I have enough, my brother: keep that thou haſt to thy ſelf. But mark how Jacob delivers himſelf in another manner. Take I pray thee, my bleſſing that is brought to thee: becauſe God hath dealt graciouſly with me, and becauſe I have enough, See a like difference between the rich fools Habes multa. Thou haſt much goods laid up for many years, Luke 12.19. and Davids doxology, 1 Chron. 29.13.16. O Lord our God, all this ſtore cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. And to the ſame purpoſe ſpeaks Eliezer, Gen. 24.35. The Lord hath given my maſter, flocks, herds, ſilver, gold, &c. and Job, chap. 1.21. The neglect of this obſerving of God and aſcribing all to him is the ſource of much ſin in the world, and the mother of much miſchief. Jer. 2.5. God chargeth his people that they were gone far from him and had made his heritage an abomination verſ. 7. and why? but becauſe they did not ſay, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the Land of Egypt, &c. verſ. 6. Were men but ſenſible of what God doth for them every day and hour, they could not in equity and common ingenuity ſerve him as they do; He preſerveth, and provideth for us all: layes us down and takes us up, gives us all things richly to enjoy, commanding the beſt of his creatures to cater for us, Hoſ. 2.21. and to bring us in the beſt of the beſt for our ſubſiſtence, Pſal. 8. Every good gift temporall, and perfect giving ſpirituall and eternall cometh from the Father of lights, as naturally and as conſtantly as light doth from the Sun, or water from the Seal.Jam. 1.17. Let us therefore imitate thoſe Lights of heaven and rivers of the earth, do all the good we can with thoſe good things God hath given us, corn, wine, ſilver, gold, &c. and then reflect back toward, and return all the glory and praiſe unto the Sun of our righteouſneſs, and Sea of our ſalvation. The beams of the Moon and Stars return as far back to glorifie the face of the Sun, which gave them their beauty, as they can poſſibly. Let us (ſemblably) ever ſend back to Gods own glorious ſelf, the honour of all his gifts, by a fruitfull improvement of them, and freſh ſongs of praiſe. Let the ſtreams of Gods daily bounty lead us (as the water-courſe doth, either upward to the ſpring, or downward to the main Ocean) to the ſource and Fountain whence they flow. Let the returns we make, be from God, of God, to God; from him, as the Efficient, of him as the Material, and to him as the finall cauſe: David joyneth theſe three together, Pſal. 86.4, 5. And Paul Rom. 11. ult. In fine, let us labour to be like the full ears of corn that hang down the head toward the earth, their originall. Or if any be ſo graciouſly exalted, ſo freely favoured above his fellowes, that his ſtalk is ſo ſtiffe that it beareth him up above the reſt of his ridge, let him look up to heaven; not in thoughts of pride, but humble vowes of thankfulneſs. Be not as horſe and mule that drink of the brook, but never think of the ſpring: or as ſwine, that haunch up the maſt but never look up to the tree: or as the barren earth, that ſwallowes the ſeed, but returnes nothing to the ſower, &c.

which they have prepared for Baal] Or, wherewith they have made Baal laviſhing gold out of the bag, and weighing ſilver in the ballance, they hired a gold ſmith and he made it a God: they fall down, yea they worſhip. Eſay 46 6. This Baal was a ſpecial Idol of the Zidonians: but firſt of the Chaldees, who called him Bel; the Carginians Bal, whence thoſe compoſitions Hannibal, Haſdrubal; as amongſt the Babylonians Belteſhazzar Mehetabel, &c. Varro (though a Heathen) inveighes much againſt idols and images: and ſaith,Errorem auxerunt, metum dempſerunt. that they that firſt brought them increaſed errour, and took away fear. Plutarch ſaith, it is ſacriledge to worſhip by images, &c. It is thought, they came firſt from Babylon. For Ninus having made an image of his father Belus (this Baal in the text) all that came to ſee it, were pardoned for all their offences: whence, in time, that image came to be wo[illegible: 1 letter]ſhipp[illegible: 1 letter]d. A great promoter of this kind of Idolatry in Iſrael was Ahab, in favour of his wife Jezebel, and to ingratiate with her kindred, 1 King. 16.31. and this was the ruine of his houſe. This Baal was by the Zidonians called Jupiter Thalaſſius, or their ſea-Jupiter, and is thought to be their chief God. They had their Dij minorum gentium petty gods (called in ſcripture the hoſt of heaven, the queen of heaven, and a little further in this chapter Baalim) the Greeks called them [non-Latin text not transcribed]: which ſaith Plato, are certain middle-powers or meſſengers betwixt God and man, to carry up prayers, and bring down bleſſings, &c. Quam autem haec damonum theologia conveniat cum ſanctorum et Angelorum cultu apud pſeudochriſtianos, res ipſa loquitur, Mede in Apoc. pag. 115. ſaith learned Maſter Mede. How this doctrine of devils or heathen-deities agreeth with Saintworſhip,Melch. Ad. de Germ. Theol. pag. 815. and Angel-worſhip among he Papiſts, is eaſie to be diſcerned. A great ſtumbling it is to both Jewes and Turkes, who know it to be contrary to the firſt commandment: and image-worſhip, to the ſecond. Whence the Turkes will not endure any images,Lib. 4. no not upon their coynes. And Paulus Jovius tells us, when Sultan Solyman had taken Buda in Hungary, he would not enter into the chief Temple of that city, to give praiſe to Almighty God for the victory, till all the images were firſt down, and thruſt out of the place. We read alſo of a certain Turkiſh Embaſſadour, who being demanded why the Turkes did not turn Chriſtians? he anſwered, becauſe the Chriſtian Religion is againſt ſenſe and reaſon: for they worſhip thoſe things that are of leſſe power then themſelves, and the works of their own hands: as theſe in the text, that made them Baal, yea (as if God had hired them to be wicked) they made it of the very gold and ſilver which he had given them, though for a better purpoſe. And this was horrible wickedneſs, hatefull ingratitude. This was to ſue God with his own mony, to fight againſt him with his own weapons, as David did againſt Goliath, as Jehu did againſt Jehoram, and as Benhadad did againſt Ahab with that life that he had lately given him.Z[illegible: 1 letter]naras in Annal. I read of a monſter, who that very night that his Prince pardoned and preferred him, ſlew him, and raigned in his ſtead. This was Michael Balbus, and he is and ſhall be infamous for it to all poſterity. Ingratitude is a monſter in nature. Lycurgus made no law againſt it, quod prodigioſa res eſſet beneſicium non rependere. To render good for evil is Divine: good for good is humane: evil for evil is brutiſh: but evil for good is deviliſh. And yet alaſ[illegible: 1 letter]e how ordinary an evil is this amongſt us, to abuſe, to Gods great diſhonour, our health, wealth, wit, proſperity, plenty, peace, friends, means, day, night, corn, wine, ſilver, gold, all comforts and creatures, our times, our talents, yea the holy Scriptures, the Goſpel of grace, and our golden opportunities, the offers of mercy, and motions of the ſpirit, turning our backs upon thoſe bleſſed and bleeding embracements, and purſuing our luſts (thoſe idols of our hearts) thoſe Baals, that is,Deut. 32.5. Lords and husbands that have us at their beck, and check? But is this faire dealing? Do we thus requite the Lord, fooliſh and unwiſe as we are? Holy Ezra, thinks there is ſo much unthankfulneſſe and dis-ingenuity in ſuch an entertainment of mercy, that heaven and earth would be aſhamed of it, Ezra. 9.13. Should we do ſo? ſaith He, oh God forbid us any ſuch wickedneſſe. Others render it, which they have ſacrificed, or dedicated to Baal, for Idolaters ſpare for no coſt, Dum Deum alienum dotant, as ſome render that text Pſal. 16.4. whiles they give their goods not to the Saints (as David) that are on the earth, but to another God. They laviſh gold out of the bag: as we read of a certain King of this land, who laid out as much as the whole crown revenues came to in a yeare, upon one coſtly crucifix: and of another, that left by will a very great ſum of mony for the tranſporting of his heart, to be buried in the holy land, as they called it. How profuſe papiſts are in decking their mawmets and monuments of idolatry, is better known then that it needeth here to be ſpoken of Their Lady of Loretto, that Queen of heaven, as they call her ſtilo veteri, hath her Churches ſo ſtuffed with vowed preſents and memories,Sands his Relat. as they are faine to hang their Cloiſters and Churchyards with them.