CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hosea 13:1. Eph.] formerly enjoyed great distinction in Israel. Men listened with fear and trembling to him (Job 29:21); he exalted himself, secured the rule among the tribes, and then seceded and established a separate kingdom. By the introduction of the worship of Baal and the custom of calf-worship he offended and died. Two conditions of Eph. are contrasted, prosperity and destruction.
Hosea 13:2. Sin] Add sin to sin, i.e. continue in former transgressions. “This seems to be a third stage in sin. First, under Jeroboam, was the worship of the calves. Then, under Ahab, the worship of Baal. Thirdly, the multiplying of other idols (2 Kings 17:9-10), penetrating and pervading the private life, even of their less wealthy people” [Pusey]. Say of them] Such things as these mentioned. Kiss] An act of adoration (Psalms 2:2; Psalms 106:20).
Hosea 13:3. Therefore] punishment shall be swift. Their goodness is fleeting as the dew, and the morning cloud; their prosperity worthless is the chaff or the smoke.
HOMILETICS
SELF-ESTIMATION THE MEASURE OF RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE.—Hosea 13:1-3
God raised Ephraim to chief power, and Judah was afraid of him. Through God’s goodness he was respected; but when he sinned, he lost his reputation and honour. When he exalted himself, he offended and died. When we walk humbly before God we prosper; but when we are proud and forsake him we die.
I. Humility exalts. “When Ephraim spake” all reverently feared him. “Princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.” Men whom God blesses have mighty influence.
1. Humility exalts before God. God looks upon the contrite, and dwells with the humble. The world counts nothing great without display. The “honour that cometh from God only” is despised. Men like Job, Isaiah, and Paul, who abhor themselves in dust and ashes, are considered weak-minded. Humility is not a heathen, but a Christian, virtue. Conscious dependence upon God, as the animating principle of life in all its relations and duties, is opposed to the self-esteem and self-confidence of modern philosophy. True humility will lead to dependence upon God, and those who trust most in God will be the strongest and most honoured by God. Such “the king delighteth to honour.”
2. Humility exalts before men. Self-conceit will lower men in the estimation of others; but a true spirit and noble life will gain real worth. The dogmatical opinion, the fancied superiority, the over-weening pride of men will clothe them with shame (Proverbs 26:12; Proverbs 29:20). We lost our position through pride, and must recover it by humility. He that would build a lasting fame must begin low. David was as distinguished in retirement as in the court of Saul. Washington as a private citizen was admired as much as Washington the commander of an army. Some become great by elevation, others by condescension. We stoop to conquer, and “before honour is humility.” When God exalts and magnifies men, they are formidable, as Joshua and Moses. When crowned with virtues, and strong in faith, they are greater than Alexander and Cæsar. “It is an uncontroverted truth,” said Swift, “that no man ever made an ill figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one who mistook them.” “Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
II. Self-exaltation destroys. The proud and insolent fall into danger. “A man’s pride shall bring him low; but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.”
1. Self-exaltation tends to idolatry. Man unduly values himself, and raises himself to lofty heights only to fall from them. Men are proud of rank, talent, and success. They adore their gold and silver, and make idols of vanities. Disaffected toward God, they run to excess, unchecked by Divine goodness, and emboldened by human flattery. They lean “to their own understanding,” and reject the word of God. They cut out and carve images of their own, multiply and deify gods with their own fancies, and worship them. “Go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands.”
2. Self-exaltation tends to self-degradation. “Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.” What a degradation for king and counsellors, priests and people, to fall down to calves! What do we see now? The objects may be changed, but the same spirit is displayed. We have rivals of the Living God in the forms of human device. Potentates and princes kiss the feet of the Pope. Rich and poor adore the consecrated wafer, and fall before the golden crucifix. In the Christian Church, we have “craftsmen,” and gods that oppose and exalt themselves “above all that is called God.” Mortals sitting “as God in the temple of God,” and demanding the homage and service which are due to God. God has made us for himself, and to kiss any idol is to degrade our mental and moral nature. “Stand up; I myself also am a man.”
3. Self-exaltation tends to self-destruction. “When he offended in Baal, he died” by the judgments of God, which he brought upon himself.
(1) It increases sin. “They sin more and more.” They added one sin to another, until it became habitual and universal. Sin is essentially cumulative in its nature and consequences. One sin contains and brings on another. The perversion of religion leads to more ungodliness. To the guilt of idolatry is added obstinate persistence in evil courses. Under the pretence of ignorance and infirmity, idolators pursue their malicious designs.
2. It brings destruction. “He died.” Death, spiritual and eternal, is the penalty of sin. Israel died as a kingdom and nation. God is the fountain of all life, and departure from him is real death. “The wages of sin is death.” All prosperity and reputation based on wickedness, will violently and swiftly pass away like the morning cloud and the early dew. Every fleeting object in nature preaches the vanity of idolatry, and the transient hopes built upon it. Judgments upon the proud and impenitent will bring utter desolation. “As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hosea 13:1. Natural conscience cannot but stoop to the image of God in whomsoever found. When Ephraim was first in the throne he became formidable; but when he fell openly from God he grew feeble; first he was a terror and then a scorn [Trapp].
Hosea 13:2. Idolatry. I. Its origin. A human creation. “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” Discontent with God, they have invented a new mode of happiness. The first invention was the parent of many, all marked by the same folly and lies. Craftsmen now make their own deities, and worship creatures inferior to themselves.
1. An idol is the conception of man. It was the device of the human mind. It represents what the mind has imagined, and is no better, no higher than its creator. “Idols according to their own understanding.”
2. An idol is the work of man. “All of it the work of the craftsmen,” who completed with their hands what they conceived with their minds. Diana was said to have come from Jupiter (Acts 19:35); but men stamp their names upon and give their hearts to their own workmanship (Isaiah 44:9). The scene at Sinai is often repeated in history and experience. “These be thy Gods, O Israel.” II. Its expense. “Molten images of their silver.” Wood and stone were not good enough. Gold and silver were thought to honour and exalt the gods. Wealth is often lavished on selfish ends, and men spare no expense to decorate and support their own idols. They tax their minds and spend their silver in the service of sin. What a blessing if men would devote as much time and energy in the service of God as in the because of idolatry! III. Its degradation. “Men kiss the calves.”
1. It degrades human nature. When we exclude spiritual interests, inferior matters become great, and the same energy of mind that might be employed for good will be expended in evil. The mind contracts its dimensions, impairs its powers, by devoting itself to objects below itself, and lowers itself to the level of those objects. But applied to higher objects, it is expanded, elevated, and strengthened. God’s service dignifies human nature by giving it useful activity, wise direction, and Divine influence.
2. It degrades the Divine nature. The conceptions and ideas of a corrupt mind are in harmony with that mind. Its worship is “according to the flesh.” As man cannot rise to God, God is brought down to the level of sinful man. “And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” IV. Its guilt. “They add sin to sin.” Idolatry is not a mere mistake, nor infirmity, but a guilty departure from God.
1. Men sin by forgetting God. We never forget anything in which we take great interest. The carnal mind takes no interest in God, is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God. God is excluded from the thoughts and life of the wicked.
2. Men sin by substituting idols for God. Men will worship something. If the true God is forsaken, they make gods of their own. This provokes God to anger, and brings misery upon them. Impenitence after Divine chastisement, perseverance in known sin after Divine warning, will aggravate human guilt, and result in “fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversary.” “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way.”
Hosea 13:3. The prosperity of the wicked. I. It is of short duration. It may flourish and make a fair show for a while; but it vanishes away. It is evanescent “as the early dew,” which glistens only to pass away. It is deceptive “as the morning cloud.” You admire its beauty and changing hues. But its existence is short; it is only a temporary substance, and like men’s goodness, “it goeth away” (ch. Hosea 6:4). II. It is worthless in its nature. If it continues long it does not satisfy. Like chaff, it is light and unsubstantial; lifted up, the sport of every wind, and carried along to be seen no more. “As smoke out of the chimney,” empty, baseless, and inflated, it disappears for ever. Such the prosperity of Ephraim, and such the prosperity built on any wickedness. The wicked may seem to live and flourish; but they sin, die, and perish eternally. “Virtue makes man upright and stable; vice, empty and unstable,” says an author. “They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away” (Job 21:18; Psalms 1:4; Psalms 35:5; Proverbs 14:32).
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 13
Hosea 13:1-3. Humility. The more God honoureth men, the more they should humble themselves. The more bounty God shows, the more humility he requires. Humility teaches us in our works to draw strength from God, not from ourselves; in our graces to ascribe their goodness to God, and their weakness to ourselves [Reynolds]. Praise is a comely garment. But though thyself doth wear it, another must put it on, or else it will never sit well on thee. Praise is sweet music, but it is never tuneable in thine own mouth. If it cometh from the mouth of another it soundeth most tuneably in the ears of all that hear it [Jermin].
When people once fall into the habit of admiring and encouraging ability as such, without reference to moral character, they are on the highway to all sorts of degradation.
Kiss. Read the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and see if there is one exaggerating touch. That chapter is a terrible but true picture of the lower strata of humanity. What were the deities in heathen times? Jupiter was a monster, Mercury a thief, Mars a sort of cannibal, who drank the blood of his victims. Such the gods of the heathen; and like gods like people.