John Trapp on Hosea 4:6

Verſe 6. My people are deſtroyed for lack of knowledge] my people (ther's the wonder of it) of whom it was wont to be ſaid by the heathen, ſurely this great nation is a wiſe and underſtanding people: and well it might: for what nation ever had God ſo nigh unto them &c. and ſtatutes and judgments ſo righteous &c. Deut. 4.6.7.8. what nation ever had Prophets, and Prieſts as they had, to teach Jacob his ſtatutes and Iſrael his law Deut. 33.10. all meanes of knowledg they had that might be; ſo that God might ſay to them as once Abijam did to Jeroboam and all Iſrael,2 Chron. 13.5. Hab. 2.14. Ought you not to have known this? ſhould ye not all know the Lord from the leaſt to the greateſt? ſhould not your land be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the ſea? Doth not wisdome cry in your ſtreets? and knowledge (in the abundance of meanes) bow down to you as trees do that are laden with fruit, ſo that a child may gather them? How is it then that you (my people) are yet ſo hard and blockiſh, as rude and ignorant of me and my will, of your ſelves and your duties, as the blinde Ethnickes? For ſome of you have not the knowledg of God: I ſpeak this to your ſhame. Yea who is blind but my ſervant: or deaf as my meſſenger that I ſent? who is blinde as he that is perfect, and blinde as the Lords ſervant? Eſay 42.19. I ſpeak it with grief and ſtomack, and therefore I ſo oft ſpeak it. Surely to whomſoever much is given, much is required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more, Luke 12.48.2 Cor. 6.1. It is a grievous thing to receive the grace of God in vain: and when for the time men might have been Teachers, to have need to be taught the very firſt principles of the Oracles of God.Heb. 5. For if God will pour out his wrath upon the heathen that know him not, Ier. 10.25.Acts 14. who yet were left in the dark to grope after him, as they could: And if the poor Philoſophers (who had but the ruſh-candle of Natures dim light to work by) were yet delivered up to a reprobate ſenſe, becauſe they glorified God no better, Rom. 1. Oh the bloody wails that he will make upon the backs of his non-proficients, ſots and dullards in his ſchool! Ingentia beneficia flagitia ſupplicia.

Are deſtroyed,] Or, ſilenced, as Matth. 22.12. The Chaldee rendreth it obbrutuerunt, they are beſotted, and ſo fitted for deſtruction: for Deus quem deſtruit dementat. Ignorance is the mother not of devotion, (as Papiſts ſay) but of deſtruction: and ignorant perſons ſhall be ſilent in darkneſſe, as holy Hanna hath it: they ſhall lie down in ſorrow, as the Prophet Eſay: And although they alwayes wander and erre in heart, as not knowing Gods wayes, Pſal. 95.10.11. yet they cannot go ſo far wide, as to miſſe of hell; where they are ſure to ſuffer both pain of loſſe, and pain of ſenſe: for they ſhall be puniſhed with everlaſting deſtruction, in a flame of fire (there's pain of ſenſe) from the preſence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (there's pain of loſſe) 2 Theſſ. 2.8, 9. Lo here the portion of all ignorant perſons: and withall take notice of an uſuall and equall proceeding of Gods impartiall juſtice in puniſhing ſuch. He delights to puniſh ſin in kind, to pay wicked perſons in their own coyn, to overſhoot them in their own bowe, to anſwer them in their own language, as he once did thoſe bold Babel-builders, Gen. 11. Go to, ſay they: Go to, ſaith He: Let us build up to heaven, ſay they: Lets go down, and ſee that building, ſaith He: Let us make us a name, ſay they: Let us confound their language, that they may not ſo much as know their own names, ſaith He: Leſt we be ſcattered, ſay they: Let us ſcatter them abroad the world, ſaith He. Thus God worded it with them, and confuted their folly from point to point. And the like he will do with ignorant people at that great day. Depart from us, ſay they now to God, Iob 21.14. Depart from me ye curſed, will He then ſay to them. We deſire not the knowledge of thy wayes, ſay they, ibid. therefore I have ſworn in my wrath, that you ſhall never enter into my reſt, ſaith He. Ye have loved darkneſſe better then light, ye ſhall therefore have your belly-full of it in the bottom of hell: God loves to retaliate, as we may ſee here, and go no further: Becauſe thou haſt rejected knowledge, I will alſo reject thee: ſeeing thou haſt forgot the Law of thy God, I will alſo (to cry quittance with thee) forget thy children. Thus by giving ignorant perſons their own, he will ſo ſilence them, and even button up their mouthes, that they ſhall ſtand ſpeechleſſe; as being ſelf-condemned.

For lack of knowledge,] Propter non ſcientiam, for meer neſcience, for ſuch an ignorance as is privative onely, and of pure negation, which doth ſomewhat excuſe a tanto, though not à toto: as in that ſervant that knew not his maſters will, yet did commit things worthy of ſtripes, and had a few, Luke 12.48. But Iſraels ignorance was more then all this, and a great deal worſe. For did not Iſrael know? Rom. 10.19. and have they not heard? yes verily: (verſe 18.) No people under heaven like them for that, Pſal. 147.19. But they rejected knowledge, and affected ignorance: they hated the light, and loved darkneſſe better. This was the condemnation, the miſchief of it, ſaith our Saviour; [non-Latin text not transcribed]. who (beſides this wilfull ignorance, that mother of miſchief, and main ſupport of Satans kingdome) laid down his life for the neſciencies, the not-knowings of his people, Heb. 9.7. and prayed for his perſecutors at his death, Father forgive them, they know not what they do.

Becauſe thou haſt rejected knowledge,] And that out of an utter hatred of it, (as the Greek word made of the Hebrew ſignifieth) out of deep diſdain, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. as of a thing below thee, and vile in thine eyes, not worthy of thy pains, or purſuit. Wiſdome is the principall thing, (ſaith Solomon, and he meaneth that wiſdom that hath the fear of God for its foundation) therefore get wiſdom. It is here called hadagnath, Prov. 4.5. that knowledge, by an excellency, and with an accent, in oppoſition to that ſcience, falſely ſo called, 1 Tim. 6.20. that knowledge that puffeth up, 1 Cor. 8.2. as it did Ioſeph Scaliger, (that gulf of learning) for whom it had been happy, that he had been ignorant but of this one thing, that he knew ſo much. It is the acknowledging of the truth which is after godlineſſe (as the Apoſtle deſcribeth it, Tit. 1.1.) that perfects the beſt part of a man, that confirmeth, ſetleth, guideth, diſcerneth, differenceth him from others, who are no better then bruits (though wiſe in their own generation, as are the Fox, Serpent, &c.) and maketh his face to ſhine, Eccleſ. 8.1. as St. Stevens did, who was taught of God, and mighty in the Scriptures. This holy knowledge was highly prized by Agur, Prov. 30.2. but ſlighted by thoſe two ſlubbering Prieſts the ſons of Eli, ſonnes of Belial, they knew not the Lord, 1 Sam. 2.12. they knew him apprehenſively, but not affectively: they profeſſed that they knew God, but in their works they denied him, being abominable, and diſobedient, and to every good work reprobate, Tit. 1.16. He that ſaith, I know him, (ſaith S. John, 1 Epiſt. 2.4.) and keepeth not his Commandements, is a lyar, and the truth is not in him. Many of theſe Jeroboams Prieſts were ignorant Aſſes; like that Biſhop of Dunkelden in Scotland, who boaſted, yea thanked God, that he never knew what the old and new Teſtament was; and that he would care to know nothing but his Portuiſe, Act. and Mon. fol. 1153. and his Pontifical: Or that Idol-Paſtour in Germany, who being asked by the Viſitours, whether he taught his people the Decalogue? anſwered, that hee had not the Book ſo called.Joh. Manl. loc. com. Others of them, that knew more of Gods minde, yet neither cared to practiſe it, nor to teach tranſgreſſours, Gods wayes, that ſinners might be converted unto him. Pſal. 51.13.

I will alſo reject thee,] And that with a witneſſe; with an unwonted and extraordinary rejection, as the Hebrew word, Vecimaſeka, (not found elſewhere in the ſame forme) ſeemeth to import: God will kick ſuch Ignoramuſſes out of the Prieſthood,Tremel. in locum. caſt them out of the hearts of his people, throw them to the dunghill, as unſavoury ſalt; yea ſo reject them, as never to be received again, Ezek. 44.13. God will ſhake them out from his houſe, and from his labour, Neh. 5.13. (as the Tirſhata did thoſe Apoſtate Prieſts, Ezra 2.63.) and lay them by, as broken veſſels, of which there is no further uſe: taking from them even that [illegible: 1 letter]hich they ſeemed to have, Luke 8.18. and blaſting their gifts. See Zech. 11. ult. with the Note.

Seeing thou haſt forgotten the Law of thy God,] i. e. All that holy learning, which thou, being a Prieſt, oughteſt to have and to hold in firme and freſh remembrance, for the good of the poor people, which, by thy default, is cut off for lack of knowledge, even the knowledge of ſalvation by the remiſſion of their ſins, which thou ſhouldeſt have given them, Luke 1.77. not by infuſion, but by inſtruction, which is the Prieſts proper office. But thou (alas) haſt forgotten that little of my Law, that thou once hadſt attained unto; and art grown as very a dolt and [illegible: 1 letter]otard, as Theodorus Gaza (once a great ſcholler, but) in his dotage ſo ignorant, that he knew not his letters, he could not read. Nay thou art not onely a ſilly Aſſe, but a ſlowbelly: all thy care is for fat ſacrifices and benefices, thy wits are in thy belly, and thy guts in thy brain: hence thy forgetfulneſſe of my Law, and of my peoples welfare. The Arabick Tranſlation hath it thus, Inaſmuch as thou haſt loved this, and the conſolation, therefore I will reject and forget the[illegible: 1 letter], &c. Demas forſook Paul, and embraced this preſent world; yea he became afterwards a Prieſt in an Idol Temple at Theſſalonica, as Dorotheus teſtifieth. The Vulgar Latin Tranſlation rendreth this Text in the Feminine gender, quia obli[illegible: 1 letter]a eſt againſt all Grammar and good reaſon: for the Lord here, ſpeaketh to the Prieſt, and chiefly to the chief Prieſt, qui certè foemina non erat, ſaith Polanus, who ſure was no woman: Unleſſe the old interpreter, (like another Balaams-aſſe) would have this to have been ſpoken againſt the Sea of Rome, wherein Pope Joan ſometime ſate, Anno Dom. 854. Sure it is, that the Arch-prieſts of Rome are ſo delighted in the feminine gender, that they had rather attribute the breaking of the ſerpents head to a woman, the Virgin Mary, then to the Man Chriſt Ieſus: for in their laſt Edition of the Latine Bible, they print, Gen. 3.15. Ipſa conteret tibi caput, She ſhall bruiſe thine head, &c. Thus Polanus.

I alſo will forget thy children,] Thy ſpiritual children, ſay ſome, even that whole people who ſaluted their Prieſts (as the Papiſts do their Padres) by the name of Father and obſerved their inſtitutes. But they do better that underſtand the text of their naturall children, whom God here threateneth to forget, that is, to put them by the Prieſts office, as he threatned Eli. 1 Sam. 2.30. and thruſt out Abiathar 1 King. 2.27. four-ſcore years after. It is a dreadfull thing to be forgotten of God. We take it ill to be forgotten of a friend and to be as a dead man out of mind, Pſal. 31.12. O take heed that God forget not us and our children: that he caſt not off the care and keeping of us. He is ſo liberall a Lord and doth ſo little forget our labour of love and patience of hope as that he provideth for the poſterity of his people, Pſal. 69.36. The ſeed alſo of the ſervants ſhall inherit it: and they that love his Name ſhall dwell therein. Who then would not [illegible: 1 letter]hire himſelf to ſuch a maſter: who would not remember Gods Law and teach it others, if but for his poor childrens ſake who elſe will rue for it?