Hosea 10:12.] A call to repentance. Sowing and reaping = moral conduct In] Lit. for right, which must be the fruit. Reap] in the proportion of mercy, not justice; mercy from God and from man; mercy in both this and the world to come. Fallow] Plough virgin soil, cultivate fresh land (Jeremiah 4:3). New soil required, begin anew. Seek] With anxiety and diligence persevere till you find God. Rain] in copious blessings (Psalms 72:6; Isaiah 45:8). Righteousness] which he will teach you, and generate by the Holy Spirit (Psalms 51:12).
Hosea 10:13.] Another reason for reformation. Ploughed] Been at pains to sow wickedness and reaped the fruit of it. Iniquity] itself is the soil which they cultivated, the seed and the fruit; its own natural reward. Lies] A just reward for their idolatry, the fruit was bitter and unprofitable. Thy way] Perverse way (Isaiah 57:10; Jeremiah 2:23); they trusted to Egypt and their calves, not to Jehovah.
HOMILETICS
THE CALL TO REFORMATION OF LIFE.—Hosea 10:12-13
God calls the people to repentance in figurative language. Sowing and reaping denote spiritual and moral conduct, closely related as labour and reward. Israel are to give up their former habits, begin afresh, and enjoy the blessings promised.
I. A present duty. “Sow to yourselves in righteousness.” All life is a moral sowing and reaping. The works of time are the seeds for eternity. But this sowing must be no surface work.
1. Fallow ground must be broken up. “Break up the fallow ground.” Virgin soil must be ploughed, and life must be entirely new. The sinner must forsake old habits and practices, turn up the weeds and roots of evil within, and be renewed in the spirit of his mind. The heart must be cleansed from lusts and corruption. Old things must pass away, and all things become new. The Christian must break up all formality, and cultivate new ground. He must grow in grace and holiness, forget the things behind, and look forward to those before. The Church must stir up decaying piety and dying members; grow in numbers and in beauty, and by prayer and effort become a fruitful field.
2. Proper seed must be sown. (a) Sow in righteousness. Return to the practice of righteousness and obedience to the law, which is the rule of righteousness. Abound in works of piety as the fruit, the proof of your penitence. Sow to the spirit (Galatians 6:7-8), and not to the flesh. (b) Sow with intelligence. Understand the nature of the work you have to do. Grow in personal acquaintance with God and his word. Abound in wisdom and in knowledge. (c) Sow with diligence. Put forth constant and earnest, not mere occasional, effort. We must plough, sow, and continue to labour, to reap the benefit. “In the morning sow thy seed; and in the evening withhold not thine hand” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). The exercise of charity and penitence must be ever active; not fitful impulse, but daily habits; not confined to outward formalities, but thorough inward feeling. If righteousness be our aim, God will make it our portion. He will not reward with ciphers instead of gold, like the world. “The wicked worketh a deceitful work (which disappoints); but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward” (Proverbs 11:18).
3. ‘God must be sought. “Seek the Lord.” Husbandmen depend upon God, who gives seed-time and harvest. He should therefore be sought and served. He alone gives strength to secure righteousness, and creates it within the soul by the Holy Spirit (Psalms 51:12). (a) Seek diligently. Do not leave off, nor desist, but persevere until you find him. (b) Seek earnestly. There are difficulties in the way, reluctance and opposition to overcome. Do not rest satisfied without a personal acquaintance, nor stop short of attaining the object. Though not found immediately, “seek the Lord, till he come.”
II. An urgent reason. “For it is time to seek the Lord.” It is always time to seek the Lord. But the unconverted especially are urged to do so.
1. The Scriptures urge them. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” “Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, to-day, if ye will hear his voice.”
2. Common observation urges them. Much of their time has been spent in sin and wretchedness. Life is uncertain, and opportunities are few. He that loses time loses wealth, life, and all. “I have lost a day,” cried the ancient Emperor. Time lost can never be regained. “Millions of money for an inch of time,” cried Elizabeth, but her days were spent and could not be recalled. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
3. Past experience urges them. “Ye have plowed wickedness,” &c. The past had been spent in labour and intense thirst for happiness, but they had reaped nothing but sorrow and disappointment. (a) Their efforts were fruitless. They ploughed and sowed, and reaped what they sowed. The harvests of their ill-doings were iniquity and the results of iniquity. The sinner gains nothing with all his toil. He spends his money for that which is not bread, and his labour for that which satisfieth not (Isaiah 55:2). “They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same.” (b) Their confidence ensnared them. They trusted in their own devices and in the number of their mighty men; but their valiant men were slain, the kingdom came to nought, and their civil and sacred projects were lying vanities. Men’s carnal confidences draw them into sinful courses; whatever fruit they promise, or whatever present comforts they bring, they will end in bitter experience. They are lies, and will deceive. “Ye have eaten the fruit of lies.”
III. A blessed result. “Till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”
1. If they seek the Lord he will be found. Those who humbly and earnestly seek God shall not seek in vain. He will “come” to them, annihilating the distance, hastening the meeting, and removing every impediment. “Seek, and ye shall find.”
2. If they sow in righteous works they shall “reap in mercy.” Be merciful to men, and they will be merciful to you. Abound in acts of love and piety towards God, and he will return good measure, pressed down and running over. As children of misery, we all need mercy. If we give it, we shall get it both from God and man. Mercy is its own reward. The merciful shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7).
3. If they turn from sin, Divine blessings shall be given in rich abundance. “And rain righteousness upon you.” God will work righteousness within us, help us to lead a righteous and holy life, and be faithful in keeping his righteous promise. Blessings, like showers, shall be given, rich in abundance, and refreshing in their consequence. God will come in Christ as the Lord our righteousness, and grant us abundant mercy. “I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessings” (Ezekiel 34:26).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Moral husbandry.
1. Ploughing in penitence or “iniquity.”
2. Sowing “in righteousness” or sin.
3. Reaping “in mercy” or wickedness.
The activity of the wicked. They plough, sow, and harrow mischief to themselves and others. If they would work as hard for heaven as they do for hell they could not lightly miss it.
Seeking the Lord an immediate duty. I. Whom we are to seek. The Lord. This implies—
1. That man is removed from God by sin.
2. That man may get near to God by seeking.
3. That it is his duty to do so. II. How we are to seek the Lord.
1. By repentance.
(1) The heart broken for sin.
(2) The heart broken from sin. Genuine repentance accompanied by reformation of life (Luke 19:8).
2. By faith.
(1) In God (Hebrews 11:6).
(2) In Christ (Acts 20:21). III. When we are to seek the Lord. Now! “It is time.”
1. To some of you these words contain a reproof.
2. For many of you these words contain a warning.
(1) You will never have a better time. Facilities for seeking the Lord decrease with delay.
(2) You may not have another opportunity. Many have waited for the “convenient season,” and been visited with “sudden destruction.”
(3) To all these words contain a welcome. “It is time,” i.e. not too late. You may have long put off, yet just in time—it may be only just [The Study].
The fruit of lies. Sin a lie in its promises, appearance, and results. It looks fair, excites desire, but is rotten, deadly poison within. It lies,
(1) as a fact, and
(2) as a doctrine. “Ye shall not surely die.” “Ye shall be as God,” said the “father of lies” at first. Men have eaten the fruit of lies ever since, which has “brought death and all our woe into the world.”
1. Israel’s history the fruit of lies. They believed not God, rejected good and tasted bitter evil.
2. The world’s history the fruit of lies. The race has eaten the results of sin and deception.
3. The sinner’s history the fruit of lies. What is pleasure, gaiety, and the world but lies? Men are daily fed by lies. “Every sin is a lie,” says Augustine. Its fruit will neither profit nor satisfy. It is not only empty but mischievous (Isaiah 44:20; Isaiah 59:4-5).
Rain righteousness. The liberality of Divine gifts. Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, lit. a rain of liberalities (Psalms 68:9). Goodness free and full provided for his people.
1. God the source until “he come.”
2. Blessings plenteous “rain.”
3. The Church revived. Or, I. God’s mercy compared to a shower.
1. Direct from above, not through human mediums.
2. Given in freeness.
3. No substitute for it. II. This mercy is promised
(1) To those who repent and return to him.
(2) To those who pray and long for it. III. This shower of mercy is wanted now, to convert the sinner and confirm the Church. Seek it in time and we shall not fail.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 10
Hosea 10:12-13. Time. A dying nobleman in a letter to a profligate companion confessed, “I never awaked till now. I have pursued shadows, and entertained myself with dreams. I have been treasuring up dust and sporting myself with the wind. I look back upon my past life, and, but for memorials of infamy and guilt, it is all a blank, a perfect vacancy. Oh, my friend, with what horror I recall those hours of vanity we have wasted together. Let me dwell with hermits, let me rest on the cold earth, may I but once more stand a candidate for an immortal crown, and have my probation for celestial happiness.”
Then time turns torment, when man turns a fool. [Young.]