CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hosea 14:9.] A most important concluding lesson. Wise] Those who are not, cavil at God’s word, and his providence to them is a complete riddle. The prudent—“properly gifted with understanding, the form of the word expressing that he was endowed with this understanding, as a gift of God”—shall know and discern. Right] Straight and direct, leading to the object. Ways which lead some to life and others to death, according to the attitudes which men assume towards God. The just, the righteous, walk in them and live; sinners deviate from them, stumble and perish. Moses announced to Israel that this would be the result to them (Deuteronomy 30:19-20); Paul tells us that such will be the effect of the gospel at all times (1 Corinthians 1:18).
HOMILETICS
THE WAYS OF GOD AND THE DESTINIES OF MEN.—Hosea 14:9
In this epilogue the prophet sums up his teaching, and seeks to “justify the ways of God to man.” The dealings of God with men are often mysterious and difficult to understand; but are right in themselves, designed to lead to life, and will influence men according to their treatment of them.
I. The ways of God in their aspects towards men. These ways indicate the ways of Providence and the paths of duty; God’s treatment of men and his requirements from them.
1. They are right in themselves. “The ways of the Lord are right.” No fault can be found with them. (a) They are conformed to the will of God, which is holy and just; the standard of righteousness to the universe. (b) They are the most direct and straight line to a right end. They never deviate from truth and duty. They are more holy and more trustworthy than any code of morals. Invincible in power and unimpeachable in justice. “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” (c) They are proved to be right by our moral nature. The written word accords with the human conscience; the law without is confirmed by the testimony within. We have a sense of obligation, approve the right, though we follow the wrong. We are filled with remorse and delight. The work of the law is written in our hearts, our conscience bears witness, and our thoughts accuse or excuse us continually (Romans 2:15).
2. They are difficult to be understood. “Who is wise?” Mystery and majesty, justice and mercy, are displayed in God’s providence. We are finite creatures, and should not presume to penetrate “the clouds and darkness round about him.” There are “things hard to be understood” in the works as well as in the word of God. We may go forward and backward, on the right hand and on the left, and yet not perceive God (Job 23:8-10). “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing” (Proverbs 25:2). “Little can we at the beginning of any action guess at God’s intention in the conclusion,” says Bp Hall. “His judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out.” Some are obvious and plain; written with beams of light and love; and he that runs may read. Others are obscure and beyond our comprehension. “Lo! these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him!”
3. Yet enough may be known for the duties of life. The question indicates that some know, that all who wish may know, and do right. “The prudent shall know them.” God’s ways are unsearchable to the intellectual and the theorist, but intelligible to the humble and the obedient. We know a part, and that is enough to practise. Aristotle teaches that the end of moral science is not knowledge, but practice. “Those have the best knowledge who know their duty,” says Matt. Henry. “Let no man,” says South, “presume that he can see beforehand into the ways of Providence. His part is to contemplate them in the past, and trust in them for the future: but so trusting, to act always upon motives of human prudence, directed by religious principles.”
II. The ways of God in their requirements from men. “Who is wise and prudent?”
1. They require to be known. Many have a slight acquaintance with them, but few study them. The wise alone meditate upon them and understand them. The proud and self-conceited often scoff and ridicule. A right and teachable disposition is required. “He that comes to seek after knowledge with a mind to scorn and censure, shall be sure to find enough for his humour, but none for his instruction” [Bacon]. True wisdom is to understand what we have to do, and “knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth” this. A true heart and a ready mind, a single eye and a right motive, will make the path of duty easy. “If any man will” (is willing, wishes to) “do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.”
2. They require to be observed. “The just shall walk in them.” We are not to speculate, but to obey; not to stand, but walk in the way; not merely continue, but advance in it. Delay and sloth create difficulty, raise “a hedge of thorns,” and harass to the end of the journey. Exertion and hope will make the way plain and prosperous (Proverbs 15:19). Wait not for louder calls and greater opportunities. “Duties are ours, events are God’s.” “To wait for God’s performance and do nothing is to abuse that Divine providence which will always so work as not to allow us to remain in inactivity” [Bp Hall]. “Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.”
Act an honest part.
Look before thee as thou goest,
Do the duty which thou knowest.
III. The ways of God in their influence upon men. “Transgressors shall fall therein.” Truth will influence according to the method in which it is received. The best blessings may be perverted by malicious dispositions. “The things which should have been for his wealth become to him an occasion of falling” (Psalms 69:22). “Christ himself is set for the rising and falling of many” (Luke 2:34). Hence the ways of God influence men in two methods.
1. The righteous walk in them and live. The wise discern their rectitude and desire to secure their end. The righteous walk in them, become like them, and live in them. There is much to discourage and oppose; but the sincere persevere in holiness, add strength to strength, and enjoy foretastes of heaven. “The righteous also shall hold” (take firm hold) “on his way, and he that is of clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”
2. The ungodly deviate from them and perish. If God’s ways lead to life, departing from them must be death. The disobedient stumble at the word and the ways of God. They are offended at the requirements and the providence of God. They transgress, fall, and perish. This is the sum of Hosea’s ministry; the fulfilment of ancient prediction (Deuteronomy 30:19-20); and the general effect of gospel preaching (1 Corinthians 1:18). God’s ways are just and true. Those who walk in them shall live, and those who depart from them shall perish. “Whoso readeth, let him understand.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 14
Hosea 14:9. Providences are sometimes dark texts; which require an expositor (Genesis 42:36). They that would judge aright of any one of the Lord’s dispensations must be careful students of them all. They must not slight any work of his, because all, though they may be many and difficult to us, make but one entire work in God’s hand. And every part of that work is a commentary, clearing the nature and use of the whole and God’s intent therein [Nisbet].
Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men;
Unless there be who think not God at all.