HOMILETICS
THE FIRST COMMUNICATIONS.—Hosea 1:1
I. The chosen servant.
1. His human descent. “Son of B.” The Jews say that the prophet whose father is named was the son of a prophet. Nothing recorded of Ber. Hosea dignified and distinguished not by noble birth nor worldly grandeur. Rank and riches are not moral worth. Life outlined by noble deeds; greatness acquired by religious service. Character in its noblest embodiments, exhibits the highest qualities, commands the greatest influence and admiration. Apostles of great thoughts and rulers of the human mind have sprung from no exclusive rank in life, but have been called from schools of the prophets and workshops of the poor.
2. His spiritual training. God spoke in Hosea; gave him knowledge and experience first, then commissioned him to teach others. Personal dedication before public duty; fellowship in private before reward in public. We must speak what we know; be blessed ourselves before we can bless others. This is a law of Christian economy. We can only teach others as we are taught ourselves. Our influence upon others must be measured by the Divine gifts within us. The best proof of Christianity is the energy with which we can Christianize. God bestows blessings not to nurse in our bosoms but to radiate in beneficent influence to others. “I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.”
3. His outward call. Probably when a young man, and hence the length of his ministry. Samuel and Timothy given to God when young. Jeremiah consecrated from the womb. An honour and privilege to serve God in youth. Energy and enthusiasm are necessary as well as talent and experience. “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth.”
II. The Divine message.
1. Its nature. A “word,” the expression of the mind and purpose of God. The power of a word to influence character and change the destinies of life. Words of monarchs have decided the fate of empires. The word of God, judgment or mercy, the message of life or death to a people. “To the one we are the savour of death unto death, and to the other of life unto life.”
2. Its origin. “The word of the Lord.” Not by man nor from man, not self-originated; it was first God’s and then became the prophet’s. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.” Men not left to their own devices and must not declare their own opinions. God finds the message and speaks with Divine certainty and authority. All teaching deserving the name comes to us not as the product of human thought but of the Holy Spirit. “Preach the preaching I bid thee.” The Bible is pre-eminently the prophetic word. “Ye do well that ye take heed to it.”
3. Its medium. Through Hosea. God’s message through men and to men. Man in his moral nature is renewed, elevated, and qualified to teach and bless a fallen people. This displays Divine wisdom and love, creates sympathy for our fellow-creatures, humanizes the Bible, and renders the gospel more charming and attractive.
III. The dark days.
1. Days of prevalent idolatry. “The land hath committed whoredoms.” Idolatry was made the national religion. The worship of Baal was a rival to the worship of God. Calf-worship led to sin, licentiousness and sensuality. The first in rank were first in excess. Sad when men of high position fall into vice! Now, even, men profess to own God, talk of “nature” and “natural laws,” yet forget God, or “change their glory (i.e. their God) into the similitude” of an ox, a man, a hero, or an abstract principle.
2. Days of political anarchy. Kings came to the throne by the murder of their predecessors and were in turn murdered by their successors. Military despotism disturbed the peace, and horrible slaughter stained the people of the land.
3. Days of threatened judgment. Hosea sent to urge to repentance, for captivity was imminent, certain, and irreversible; but God was forsaken, the nation was insensible of its moral and political decay, and judgments lost their terror. In spite of warning after warning the people sought to prop themselves up by alliance with Egypt and Assyria. When a nation is rotten at the core no outward power or splendour can prevent its decay. It carries within it the seeds of death. The sky grew darker and darker; the thunder at last resounded; calamities could not be averted; then judgments fell upon them without mercy in dispersion and destruction.
4. Days of little success. Israel was not converted but taken into captivity, yet Hosea laboured on year after year, through good and evil report (Amos 7:10; Amos 7:12). No abatement of his earnestness and efforts. He was faithful to his trust and to his God. It is often the lot of God’s servants to labour long and see little fruit. Isaiah cried, “I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain.” We must be content to toil on and deliver our message to the greatest sinners in the darkest days, and feel like the prophet named, “surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
In the days of, Hosea 1:1.—Hosea’s ministry.
1. A type of God’s long-suffering and mercy; waiting long, sending prophets, and offering grace to a sinful people, until beyond the reach of mercy.
2. A type of service fixed in time and sphere, in chequered scenes and great discouragements. God gives to every servant his special place and peculiar gifts. In hope and humble confidence he must labour on.
The days of Jeroboam II., days of prosperity and political pre-eminence. He reigned 41 years; recovered lost cities (2 Kings 14:28; Amos 1:3; Amos 1:5); was victorious in war (2 Kings 13:4; 2 Kings 14:26); and enjoyed the teaching of Hosea, Joel (Joel 3:16), Amos (Amos 1:1), and Jonah (2 Kings 14:25). But idolatry was mixed with the worship of Jehovah; drunkenness and oppression prevailed in the country, and the prophets predicted its downfall.
1. Temporal prosperity is no guarantee for public morality. The kingdom, amid splendour and popularity, rotten at the core, decaying in vigour, and under the judgment of God.
2. Temporal prosperity is no security against public calamity. “Temporal prosperity is no proof either of stability or of the favour of God. Where the law of God is observed, there, even amid the pressure of outward calamity, is the assurance of ultimate prosperity. Where God is disobeyed, there is the pledge of coming destruction. The seasons when men feel most secure against future chastisements, are often the preludes of the most signal revolutions” [Pusey].
Kings rise and empires fall, but God’s purpose is the same; carried on through all times and by all agencies. Kings die and are buried in the dust; prophets live in all ages and rewarded in eternity. “Monarchs have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin” [Trapp].
Men pass away—notwithstanding wealth and talent. Nations pass away—notwithstanding political power and military glory. God is eternal and carries on his work.
The perpetuity of truth. Although these kings successively appeared and passed away, the ministry of Hosea kept on.
1. The “Word of the Lord” is adapted to all generations. It is congruous with all intellects, it chimes in with all hearts, it provides for the common wants of all.
2. The “Word of the Lord” is necessary for all generations. All men in all ages and lands want it, it is as indispensable to their happiness as air is to their life. Generations may appear in the distant future, who may not require our forms of government, our social institutions, our artistic devices, our mechanical inventions, and who may despise our literary productions, but no generation will ever appear who will not require the “Word of the Lord” [Homilist].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Our Age and Work, Hosea 1:1. Every great man is the son of his age, but not its pupil [Guesses at Truth]. The dream, the common mistake, of the present day, is the belief that a man cannot be useful and noble without great endowments and a grand sphere. If we had great opportunities, and great duties, we could do something in life, and make a mark after death. The littleness of our trust is often an excuse for its neglect, like the servant with one pound who hid his Lord’s money. But with moderate powers, in a small sphere, we may be faithful to duty, and secure our reward. We must live and act in the present; realize what God has given us to do to-day, and do not look beyond it. “David after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep.”
Mother’s conduct. “I am a missionary in my nursery,” once observed a Christian mother. “Six pair of little eyes are daily watching mamma’s looks, and listening to her words, and I wish my children never to see in me that which they may not imitate.” “The mother lives again,” says Smiles, “in her children. They unconsciously mould themselves after her manner, her speech, her conduct, and her method of life. Her habits become theirs, and her character is visibly repeated in them.”