CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hosea 8:1.] Abruptness indicating sudden judgment. Eagle] Swift and alarming (Deuteronomy 28:49). He] Shalmanezer, king of Assyria. House] Not the temple, nor land, but Israel viewed as the residence of God and one family (Numbers 12:7; Jeremiah 12:7).
HOMILETICS
A CORRUPT CHURCH.—Hosea 8:1
Judgment is again threatened upon Israel for their sins. They were corrupt notwithstanding all profession to the contrary. They had forsaken God and cast off all good; they had changed the civil government, and maintained the golden calf, and were bringing upon them destruction swift and sure. Taking the house of God as meaning the family of Israel, the professed people of God, we have a corrupt Church endangered and warned.
I. The sins of a corrupt Church. “They have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.”
1. The covenant was broken. In condescension God made a covenant with them, to which they consented, and for the keeping of which he promised them rewards. They transgressed not the mere command, but their own original contract; revolted from their allegiance; and in effect declared that they would no longer be God’s chosen people. They acted foolishly and deceitfully.
2. The law was transgressed. Divine authority was disregarded. Their sins were malignant and defied the bounds of law. All sin is lawless. When men break their own, God’s laws cannot bind them. Those who have no respect for human stipulations will have no regard for Divine covenants. Israel were the professed children of God, yet how grievously they sinned. “God help me, my own children have forsaken me,” cried James II. He could bear the defection of a kingdom and the desertion of an army, but burst into tears and wept in agony at the disloyalty of his family.
II. The danger of a corrupt Church. 1. Its sins are great. The sins of a people who profess much, the defections of a Church which belongs to God, are more aggravating than ordinary transgressions. Israel were guilty of apostasy from God and sins against their neighbour. The Church can have no pretence of ignorance, nothing to excuse or extenuate her sins. She has the covenant, the law, and the gospel. “Woe unto thee, Chorazin; woe unto thee, Bethsaida,” &c.
2. Its danger is imminent. “He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord.” Their fair titles and exalted privileges will not keep off the stroke. Enemies are ever prepared to execute judgments. The eagles gather where the carcass is found. The destruction is—(a) near, (b) swift, (c) certain, and (d) violent. Swift as an eagle swooping on its prey does retribution come upon false professors and conventional churches (Deuteronomy 28:49; Isaiah 5:26).
III. The warning of a corrupt Church. “Set the trumpet to thy mouth.” So God bids Isaiah, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.” As the sound of a war-trumpet would startle a sleeping army, so God would have religious teachers to rouse a sleeping Church. They are “watchmen,” and must warn of coming judgments. There must be no cowardly silence, when the house of God is imperilled by sin and destruction. Augustine prayed, “Lord, deliver me from other men’s sins.” David cried, “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness.” Men are asleep, and the danger is nigh. The trumpet must neither be silent nor give any uncertain sound. “Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.”