CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hosea 1:3. Gom.] The name of a nation (Genesis 10:2-3); symbolically G. = completion; i.e. completely given up to whoredom. Dib.] = daughter of grape-cakes, indicating pleasure and sensuality. “The sweetness of sins is the parent of destruction” [Pusey].
Hosea 1:4. Jez.] = I will sow, scatter or disperse, like a seedsman, which happened by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:5-6). Avenge] Heb. visit. Jehu commanded to destroy the house of Ahab, externally obeyed, and rewarded in measure. He acted not from principle, or as he pretended out of zeal, but to serve his own political ends (2 Kings 9:10; 2 Kings 9:36; 2 Kings 10:16). “And so the blood which was shed according to the righteous judgment of God, became sin to him who shed it, in order to fulfil, not the will of God, but his own” [Pusey]. Jez. symbol of past sins, intermediate punishment and final overthrow.
Hosea 1:5. Bow] Might, military prowess (Genesis 49:24; Jeremiah 49:35).
Hosea 1:6. Daughter] A symbol of a degenerate race, some; of the totality of men and women of the nation, others; seems to intensify Lo-ruh.] = not pitied, lit. I will not add any more to. The original expresses tender yearning towards one (Romans 9:25; 1 Peter 2:10); but God would not continue to show compassion as he had done; Divine mercy exhausted and Israel was left in a defenceless state. I will utterly] Lit. taking away, I will take away everything they have. Marg. another sense, to take away, i.e. to forgive sin.
Hosea 1:7. The Lord their God] More emphatic than “through me” (Genesis 19:24). Judah worshipped God; Israel turned to idols. One a witness for God, the other apostates from God. Judah saved in marked contrast to Israel punished.
Hosea 1:9. Lo-am.] = not my people; the covenant relation dissolved. Son may typify the revival of strength in the reign of Jeroboam II., but prosperity brought no revival of piety. They were not God’s people. Not be your God] Lit. I will not be to you or for you; “for you by providence, to you by love” [Pusey]. Deprivation of all that God can be to them. When God ceases to belong to men, to compassionate them, rejection follows.
HOMILETICS
THE THREE JUDGMENTS.—Hosea 1:3-9
The names of the three children given by God himself were to be significant. The life of the prophet was to be a living sermon before the people. His marriage preached God’s mercy, and his children God’s judgment. If they refused his words, they should see his actions. In the first name we have a warning of terrible judgment, in the second its connection with the Divine nature, in the third the result. Destruction, cessation of mercy, and rejection, would be dreadful to any nation, but to Israel they involved the loss of special privileges and distinctions, their social, political, and theocratical position.
I. The destruction of the Royal Family. “Upon the house of Jehu.” J. anointed at God’s command to execute judgment upon the house of Ahab (2 Kings 9:6-7); was rewarded in measure for his conduct, yet served his own ends, and in executing judgment upon others, brought it upon himself and family. God loves justice, and will punish those who administer it from wrong motives and feelings. Kings and men in authority must not fall short of duty, nor exceed it in any respect. “So awful a thing it is to be the instrument of God in punishing or reproving others if we do not by his grace keep our own hearts and hands pure from sin” [Pusey], that we may be rejected ourselves. The slaughter of the Gibeonites by Saul, the conduct of Amalek towards Israel, seemed to be forgotten, but punishment came at last. Jehu’s house is visited, his progeny extinguished in the fourth generation for his offences. If we judge others we should not do the same things ourselves.
II. The destruction of the Regal Sovereignty. “And will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.” The strength of the kingdom was paralyzed after the destruction of the house of Jehu. Of five kings that followed Zechariah, only one died a natural death, the others were murdered and dethroned. The kingdom was distracted and broken, and in about 50 years completely destroyed by the captivity of the ten tribes. Kingdoms are built up, extended, and established by God; but the immorality of the rulers and the idolatry of the people will sow the seeds of decay and death. When God has numbered their days, no power, no splendour can hold them up. Foreign invasion and civil revolution may overturn. That kingdom is the strongest, the most splendid and secure, which makes God its sovereign. The skill of parliaments, the valour of soldiers, and the power of wealth are no security against the judgment of God. “Put them in fear, O Lord; that the nations may know themselves to be but men.”
III. The destruction of Military Prowess. “I will break the bow of Israel.” The bow was the special pride of Jehu (2 Kings 9:24); the military strength upon which Israel relied, and for which it was famous (Jeremiah 49:35).
1. This strength shall be broken. When God blows with the blast of his anger, individual health, family prosperity, and national glory fade like a flower. The strength of body, the vigour of mind, and the power of numbers are weak before him. God can humble the pride of men and nations, and take from them whatever they make their strength and defence.
2. This strength shall be irreparably broken. All power and projects defeated. When God breaks none can piece; when man pieces God can break. “The shield, the sword, and the battle,” weapons offensive and defensive, God can dash in pieces. In the spiritual conflicts of this and every age, no weapon formed against his people and his purpose shall prosper.
IV. The destruction of National Prestige. “In the valley of Jezreel.” This valley was the very centre and security of the kingdom, their Marathon and their Waterloo. It was the scene of their exploits and skill; the place of Ahab’s wickedness and Jehu’s zeal. Here God had executed judgments against the enemies, and delivered his people from danger. In this very spot in which the nation’s history was localized the nation’s glory should fade away, and the nation’s guilt be punished. Places of carnal security often exposed to shame and destruction. “Thus it is ever; when retribution comes it seems to despise the very things in which its victim gloried. A noble lineage, great wealth, patrimonial possessions, elevated positions, brilliant genius, and distinguished abilities; these are the modern Jezreels of sinners. In these they boast. But what are these? God, when he comes to judgment, will strike them in those very places, he will break their bow in the valley of Jezreel” [The Homilist].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Jehu’s conduct.
1. Service insincere. God’s will done half way, not fully. He killed the priests, but clave to the calves.
2. Service from wrong motives. He acted not, as he pretended, out of zeal for God, but served his own political ends, and did God’s will from selfish and base motives.
3. Service divested of real virtue. It had no principle in it, and of was no true worth in the sight of God. His piety gave way to policy, and policy stained his piety. “By the ends, and not by the works done, are virtues distinguished from vices. Two things make a good Christian, and declare him so—good actions and good aims. And although a good aim doth not make a bad action good (as in Uzziah), yet a bad aim makes a good action bad, as here in Jehu” [Trapp].
4. Service involving his house and kingdom in ruin. “The massacre therefore,” says Calvin, “was a crime so far as Jehu was concerned, but with God it was a righteous vengeance.” Even if he did not make God’s command a mere pretext, yet his conduct was an act of blood-guiltiness which called for vengeance upon posterity. Things done by God’s desire or command may become crimes in the performer, if he acts from evil and selfish designs, and not from love to God. Religion must never be a cloak for the lusts of an evil and ambitious heart. Retribution will swiftly follow. “Be sure your sins will find you out.”
Jehu’s character. J was one of those quick, ambitious men, whom God raises up to change the fate of empires and execute judgment upon the earth. His zeal was great so long as it squared with his own interests, but cooled wonderfully when directed against them. He was not a great or good man, but an agent for the accomplishment of great purposes. In his sudden elevation to the throne; in the ruthlessness with which he carried out his purposes; in the union of profound dissimulation with fanatic zeal, he is not without his likeness in modern times.
Jehu’s punishment. “I will visit,” &c.,
1. God’s government. God supreme, exalted above the heavens, and ruleth over the kings and nations of the earth.
2. God’s purpose. “I will visit.” This purpose not capricious and arbitrary; in harmony with fixed principles, and regards moral conduct and desert.
3. God’s providence. “I will visit.” The providence fulfils the purpose of God in the events of history and by the agencies of men.
(1.) It is active. “I will visit.” “My Father worketh.” “All things work together.”
(2.) It is just as well as benevolent.
4. God’s power. “I will avenge.” God omnipotent can easily destroy or punish. God’s providence and presence are sensibly felt among men. Hence the ruin of the wicked certain, irresistible, terrible, and complete.
The destruction of the kingdom.
1. God is the Creator and Destroyer of nations. Men build often upon weak foundations, with unsuitable materials, and for base designs. “Except the Lord build,” &c.,
2. When God determines to destroy nations no power can avail against him. “I will break the bow.” No bow can abide in strength without him. Seeming prosperity or outward grandeur of no account with him.
3. The destruction of nations is not always by outward force. God has many ways, and can work without means. Loss in battle, invaded borders, and mercantile panics may be recovered. But vital corruption and decay of religion reach the very heart of a nation. Nothing can preserve a people wholly given to whoredom and idolatry.
4. Destruction of national exigence. “If all the historians who recorded the ultimate extinction of nations were inspired of God to give the true reasons of their fall, we should often meet this testimony: “Perished of national pride, producing contempt of God and of fundamental morality!” [Cowles].
Yet a little while. Space for repentance in human life and national affliction. Men perish not without warning. Judgment lingers long, but falls heavily at last. God’s measurement of time disregarded and sinned away can never be given again. “I gave her space to repent of her fornication.”
HOMILETICS
JUDGMENT AND MERCY.—Hosea 1:6-7
The second judgment, the punishment foretold in the name of the daughter, is greater than that of the first. God would scatter, now Israel will be unpitied. By reference to the opposite lot of Judah, all false hope in God’s mercy is taken away. Those who forsake God, forsake their own mercy, and may reckon upon nothing but judgment.
I. Judgment without Mercy. Israel owed its preservation and prosperity amid anarchy and prevailing idolatry entirely to God’s mercy. God long-suffering, but sinners may exhaust his patience.
1. Mercy may be withheld from men. When former mercies are received with ingratitude, or abused, God will add no more (Psalms 59:5). Goodness and mercy should lead to repentance, but if despised, men will treasure up wrath for themselves against the day of wrath (Romans 2:4-5). Day by day, hour by hour, individuals may be heaping up this awful treasure. The cup may soon be filled, God’s forbearance withheld, and judgment without mercy.
2. Mercy withheld from men will lead to utter ruin. “I will utterly take them away.” The ten tribes never returned (except very few) from captivity. Judgment fell upon the Churches in Asia Minor, and now they are warnings to others. The long-suffering of God waited in vain in the days of Noah; the flood came and destroyed an ungodly world. Because sentence is not suddenly executed, men plunge into deep sin, ripen themselves for greater judgment, which comes in ten-fold vengeance and utterly takes them away.
3. Mercy withheld from us and given to others is a sad ingredient in the cup of sorrow. This life is often embittered by opposite lots. The sobriety of one condemns the drunkenness of another. The spendthrift sees in the happiness and prosperity of his neighbour what he might have been himself. There is a necessary and natural connection between conduct and reward here. So in the future; condition will result from character; the fruit will grow from the tree. “Say to the righteous, it shall be well with him. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him” (Isaiah 3:10-11). One thing is set against another to teach men righteousness.
II. Mercy in the midst of Judgment. “I will have mercy upon the house of Judah.” Mercy was wonderfully shown to Judah in her danger from Assyrians, in deliverance from Babylon, in her beaten and plundered condition at the present by. Israel (2 Kings 14:12). This a type of God’s dealings now. None deserve mercy, all are alike guilty.
1. Mercy Divine in its source. Israel had no mercy upon Judah; men have no mercy upon one another, but God shows mercy. “I will have mercy.”
2. Mercy sovereign in its objects. Upon Judah, not Israel. God has mercy upon whom he will have mercy (Romans 9:15). Often sinners beyond all others, liars, thieves, and drunkards are chosen. Paul, Bunyan, and Newton become patterns of mercy unto others. In this there is no unrighteousness in God, nor injury to man.
3. Mercy without human merit. Man clings to means, and wants to be saved by works. Not by works of the law, lest man should boast, but entirely of grace, through faith. Human efforts, instrumentalities of men, the power of intellect, and the energy of will avail nothing. Not by bow nor by sword, not by horses and chariots, on which nations rely in battle. God needs no creature helps; exalted in power, he will magnify his grace. It is salvation complete, without sorrow, humiliation, and bloodshed. “By the Lord their God,” whom they worshipped when Israel committed whoredom.
This passage leads us to contemplate God’s mercy. Mercy is a modification of goodness. God is good to all, but is only merciful to the suffering sinner. Mercy not only implies suffering, but suffering arising from sin. If suffering were a necessity springing out of the constitution of things, its removal or mitigation would be an act of justice rather than mercy. Earth is a sphere where God shows his mercy, for here is suffering springing from sin. Here we have—
I. Mercy withheld from some. “For I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel,” &c. When mercy has been abused the time comes when it is withheld, and the subjects are left abandoned of God. When mercy is withheld from nations they perish, from churches they decay, from families they sink to corruption, from individuals they are lost. “My spirit shall not always strive with men.”
II. Mercy bestowed upon others. “I will have mercy upon the house of Judah.” This mercy was signally shown to Judah, when in one night one hundred and eighty-five thousand warriors were slain. Looking at the words in their spiritual application they suggest two remarks in relation to man’s deliverance. First, It is of mercy. The deliverance of man from the guilt, the power, and consequence of sin, is entirely of God’s mercy, free, sovereign, boundless mercy. Secondly, Man’s deliverance is: By moral means. “Will not save them by bow,” &c. No material force can deliver the soul from its spiritual difficulties and perils. Moral means alone can effect the object. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.” Conclusion: Use mercy rightly while you have it. Its grand design is to produce reformation of character, and meetness for the high service and lofty fellowship with the great God, here and yonder, now and for ever [The Homilist].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hosea 1:7. Mercy upon the house of Judah. When Divine justice is glorified in some, yet there are others in whom free grace is glorified. And though some through unbelief are broken off, yet God will have a Church in this world till the end of time. It aggravates the rejection of Israel that God will have mercy on Judah, and not on them, and magnifies God’s mercy to Judah, that though they also have done wickedly, yet God did not reject them as he rejected Israel [Matt. Henry].
The Lord their God. The antithesis is not merely to the false gods of the heathen, but to the conduct of Israel who cast off Jehovah. Hence God withheld mercy from Israel, but gave it to Judah, who owned him as theirs, and whom they outwardly worshipped in pursuance of the covenant with them. Notice the benefits of national worship. Even outward forms of worship and Sabbath observance remind us of the reality, tend to ameliorate the prejudices and intone the spirit of society. Men are in danger of sinking into animal life by the pressure of labour and materialism. Neglect of national worship would break down moral barriers, and flood the land with amusements and wickedness. The human race feel the necessity of a purer and better life. Hence whatever interferes with Sabbath observances, whatever hinders the worship of God and the moral culture of men, should be avoided. Without national worship—
1. Many would observe no worship at all.
2. Men would have no opportunities for moral and religious instruction at all.
3. Generous feelings would not be cherished, the mutual equality of men in the sight of God would be forgotten, the highest ranks would not be inspired with humility and condescension, nor the lowest with feelings of gratitude and love.
4. The people would have no regard for God; eventually cast off all fear and restraint; and judgment without mercy would strip us of our national prestige and position. When utterly taken away no bow could defend us, and no battle save us.
HOMILETICS
A CAST OFF PEOPLE.—Hosea 1:8-9
The third judgment is the most severe of all. Lo-ammi, not my people. God ceases to compassionate the rebellious tribes, the state of rejection ensues, and they are no longer “my people,” Jehovah will not belong to them. “I will not be your God.” Notice the gradual steps to this result.
1. Fellowship with God is interrupted. God was the God of Israel, but they did not own him as such—did not worship him, but committed whoredom. The service of Jehovah was irksome. Idolatry weaned their hearts from him, and they neglected religious privileges and despised religious teaching. Neglect of public worship and private devotion, contempt for the ordinances of the gospel, any wilful interruptions of communion with God, are signs of declension and steps to utter abandonment of God.
II. The Covenant relation is dissolved. Israel would not have God, and God would have nothing to do with them; would not be to them what he had been, and what they vainly expected he would be. They deprived themselves of his love and mercy, of his providence and protection. Many despise God and contemn his laws. They despise the authority of the Father, the death of the Son, and the influence of the Spirit. They disregard every office they sustain, and dishonour every relation they bear to us. They break from their allegiance, and live alienated from God by wicked works. They are “without God in the world.” To be without food and shelter is sad enough; to be without friends and supporters is sadder still; but to be without God, the sublimest being, the greatest good, is the real and awful condition of those whom God disowns.
III. Utter rejection results. “Not my people.” Forget God, and you will depart from him. Cast off God, and he will forsake you for ever (2 Chronicles 15:2). When God deserts in providence, and withholds his grace in Christ, men are doomed to be cut off from hope here, and eternal life hereafter. “I will not be your God,” describe their dreadful condition;
1. Disowned,
2. Disinherited, and
3. Cursed.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Not be your God.
1. In the exigencies of life; to supply your need.
2. In the providences of life; to guide your steps.
3. In the end of life; at the solemn hour of death. Continuance in sin after once smiting will bring greater judgment upon nations, churches, and individuals. No limits must be set to God’s mercy, yet it often happens when God contends with nations that they prove so obstinate in sin, so incessant in departing from God, that nothing but rejection ends it for a time. “The same is seen in individuals. God often first chastens them lightly, then more heavily, and brings them down in their iniquities; but if they still harden themselves, he withdraws both his chastisements and his grace, so that the sinner even prospers in this world, but, remaining finally impenitent, is cast off for ever” [Pusey].
The Three Judgments.
1. Three warnings to the impenitent.
2. Three opportunities of repentance.
3. Three degrees of chastisement—or, The Judgments of God.
1. Gradual in their manifestation.
2. Intenser in their degree.
3. Corrective in their design.
4. Suspended in their operations.
5. Certain in their event.
6. Destructive in their consequence.
A cast-off people.
1. Not a privileged people, do not belong to “the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise.”
2. Not a pitied people, destitute of mercy and grace to help, exposed to wrath, and in danger of perishing.
3. Not a people at all, lacking everything which makes a people, spiritually dead. God’s people the only real people, the only persons worthy to be called a people.
Hosea 1:4-10 may be taken as A graphic picture of family life.
1. The mother’s life a life of apostasy from God.
2. The father’s life a life of service for God.
3. The children’s lives lives of judgments from God. What a difference in the moral character, spiritual condition, and future destiny in the same family.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Retribution, Hosea 1:4-5. That God is revealed in nature as a God of retribution, the writings of the heathen abundantly show. The attribute of retributive justice they made a separate deity, whose conclusions and awards would be full and perfect only in the future world. They gathered this, first, from the admonitions of conscience within them; second, from those judgments of God, from time to time falling upon mortals, so extreme and awful, that even the most darkened minds were compelled to interpret them as God’s testimony, both of his wrath against sin, and his determination to punish it. But by far the most remarkable of these judgments are related in the Scriptures; and the sacred writer adds to the enumeration of them, that they happened as examples, and are to be regarded as proving this great truth, that God is reserving the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished. God’s judgments awaken men’s conscience and set it powerfully at work. They reveal a God who can and will punish sin [Cheever].
Judgment and Mercy, Hosea 1:6-9. The changes of providence are not the tricks of fortune. Empires rise and fall at God’s bidding. A dungeon here, and there a throne, his will assigns. Assyria yields to Babylon, and Babylon to the Medes. Kings are but puppets in his hand; they serve his purpose when they rise and when they fall. A certain author [Timbs] has issued a work called “Historic Ninepins,” a fit name of scorn for all the great ones of the earth. God only is: all power belongs to him; all else is shadow, coming and going, unsubstantial, misty, dream-like [Spurgeon].
Here he exalts neglected worms
To sceptres and a crown;
Anon the following page he turns
And treads the monarch down.
Mercy. In the reign of the first Napoleon, there was an insurrection at Paris. One of the ring-leaders was brought before the Emperor; and as this was his second offence against the government, he was sentenced to be transported. The day after the trial, it was told Napoleon that the child of the convicted man was waiting to see him. “Bring her in,” said Napoleon; and a tearful, trembling little girl, on being led in, cast herself at his feet and implored him to have mercy on her father. “My child,” said the emperor, touched by her distress, “this is the second time your father has been guilty of treason; I cannot save him.” “Oh, sir!” said the kneeling child, “it is not justice we want, but mercy and pardon.” Napoleon, much moved, raised the girl to her feet, and said, “For your sake I will release your father.” We deserve judgment, but our great want from the Lord our God is mercy. “I will have mercy” [American Paper].
Free as the sun that shineth, and gilds the mountain’s brow, and makes glad the valleys, without fee or reward, so free is the mercy of God to every needy sinner. Free as the air which belts the earth, and penetrates the peasant’s cottage, as well as the royal palace, without purchase or premium, so free is the mercy of God in Christ. It tarrieth not for thee; it cometh to thee as thou art. It waylayeth thee in love: it meeteth thee in tenderness [Spurgeon].
Forsaken, Hosea 1:8-9. To be forsaken of God implies utter loneliness, utter helplessness, utter friendlessness, utter hopelessness, and unutterable agony [Spurgeon].