CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hosea 9:11. Their glory] Children the glory of parents, sterility a reproach. Eph.]= fruitfulness (Genesis 41:52, marg), which characteristic should cease; licentious worship would diminish the people: leave them childless, by threefold gradation. “First, when their parents should have joy in their birth, they were to come into the world only to go out of it; then their mother’s womb was to be itself their grave; then, stricken with barrenness, the womb itself was to refuse to conceive them.” Cf. the threefold stages of failure (ch. Hosea 8:7).
Hosea 9:12. Bereave] them, though they should rear children (Job 27:14). A man] Lit. from man. Woe] Lit. for woe. God’s departure the source of all evil (1 Samuel 4:21; 1 Samuel 28:15-16). Loss of children sad, but loss of God beyond description.
Hosea 9:13. Planted] Ephraim chosen, and carefully put in soil to grow and flourish, like Tyre, a royal city strongly built and pleasantly situated. The image suggested from the name, a fruitful tree (Ezekiel 16:27-28). Children] brought forth only to be slain.
Hosea 9:14. Give] As if overwhelmed, the prophet deliberates; prays in compassion, let this never happen; then leaves it with God. Miscarrying] Barrenness, usually counted misfortune (Job 3:3; Jeremiah 20:14), will be a blessing, so great will be their calamity.
THE GLORY AND GRIEF OF A PEOPLE.—Hosea 9:11-14
Ephraim had parted with God, the true glory, and now all in which they gloried should be taken from them. Their posterity should be cut off, their prosperity would decay, and God himself would depart from them. The most powerful tribe of the people became the most miserable, and all its glory was turned into grief.
I. The glory of a people. Fruitfulness and strength were promised to Ephraim in great abundance (Genesis 48:19). Moses had assigned tens of thousands to him, while to Manasseh thousands only were promised (Deuteronomy 33:17). She was proud of her offspring and increase, of her wealth and situation.
1. Posterity is considered the glory of a people. In families “children are an heritage from the Lord.” We boast of our sons and daughters. In them we love to see our image, hope to perpetuate our name, and secure our fortunes. Like Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, when asked to display our jewels we point to our sons and say, “These are my jewels.” In nations posterity are the hope and foundation of the future. From the rising generation, fathers and mothers, leaders and teachers, are to spring. As “the child is father of the man,” so children are the nation’s population and prosperity in the bud. Hence to our posterity are entrusted the interests of our commerce, the defence of our throne, and the glory of our name. In them are the germs of national virtues and vices, feelings and sentiments which will determine the character and decide the fate of this empire. “The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals comprising it,” says J. S. Mill.
II. Outward prosperity is considered the glory of a people. “Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place.” Ephraim, like Tyre, was populous and wealthy; strong and beautifully situated; planted with care, and defended by God. Beauty and strength surrounded her. “Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering,” &c. (Ezekiel 28:2; Ezekiel 28:13). So now nations trust to the abundance of their revenues, the beauty of their public buildings, and the strength of their fortifications. England relies on its wealth and position, its armies and its fleets, its philosophy and its morality. But our chief strength, our real power, consists in the characters of the rising generation, the enlightenment of our citizens, and the integrity of our conduct. The nation that has no higher god than pleasure, gold, or position, is poor indeed. Heathen deities often imaged human virtues, but these are vanities to depend upon, and will cause a people’s downfall. Glory is false glory when attributed to numbers and wealth, to outward prosperity and empire, to anything short of God. God warns us as he did Israel. “If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law—ye shall be left few in number—the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought” (Deuteronomy 28:58; Deuteronomy 28:62-63).
III. The glory of a people turned into grief. The glory departed from Ephraim in the destruction of their children, the decay of national prosperity, and the departure of God from their midst.
1. The loss of children brings grief. “Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them.” This carriage and abortion, death at the very birth of their offspring, would diminish their number, and weaken their nation. (a.) They would die suddenly. “Their glory shall fly away like a bird.” Swiftly cut off, like Job’s family, by tornado, whirlwind, or accident. (b.) They would die violently. “Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.” If any grew up to manhood, they were to be cut off by the sword. (c.) They were to die hopelessly. “There shall not be a man left.” They were reduced in every stage from conception to maturity—to die suddenly and prematurely by ruthless hands and sword. Thus the beauty of all earthly blessings is quickly blasted (Isaiah 60:6; Isaiah 60:8). Accidents and diseases, “the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth at noonday,” cut down the hopes of our life. We mourn like Burke at the loss of his only son: “They who should have succeeded me have gone before me. They who should have been to me as posterity are in the place of ancestors.” “Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.”
2. The decay of national prosperity brings grief. Strong and rich, proud and secure, as Tyre was, Ephraim’s glory would fade away like a flower. Riches take unto themselves wings and fly away. Trade may prosper and mechanism flourish; the dew may couch beneath, and the sun shine above; the chief things of the ancient mountains and the precious things of the lasting hills may abound (Deuteronomy 33:13-16); but the greatness of a nation depends not on the wealth of its population, nor the extent of its territories. Idleness and love of pleasure, idolatry and forgetfulness of God, will cause inevitable decay. The fatal weakness of Athens were free men, outnumbered by slaves, citizens, corrupt in morals, and women unchaste in conduct. The decline and fall of Rome may be traced to the general corruption of the people. Ephraim fell into sin, and her glory departed from her.
3. The departure of God from a people brings grief. “Woe also to them when I depart from them.” The loss of children was grievous; the decay of present prosperity and future hope sad enough; but God’s departure was the source of all evil to them. When God withdraws his presence and providence nothing can sustain a Church or people. When Cain was cut off, and Saul forsaken by God, they became more wicked and miserable. When the ark of God was taken Ichabod was pronounced, for the glory had departed from Israel (1 Samuel 4:21-22). Pestilence and famine can turn a nation’s glory into grief. Withdrawment of Divine favour can change the pride of the Church into shame, and the hope of the family into grief. God’s favour is the sublimest of all joys, all triumphs, and all delights. But woe unto any with whom God is angry and from whom God departs. Present afflictions only foreshadow future judgments. Their sun will set, and darkness cover their lands. “I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us” (Deuteronomy 31:17)?
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hosea 9:12. Bring up their children. How soon could our God insensibly waste the most populous nations! Nay, how often does he thus decrease them! and what awful instances of this has our eventful age exhibited! What an alloy it is to our comfort in our beloved children to reflect for what purposes they may possibly be brought up and reserved! “This is a sore vanity;” but the best remedy of it is submission and confidence in God, and a conscientious performance of our duty: especially in training up our families in the fear of God, and in seeking for them, as well as ourselves, “first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” and setting them a good example. Surely it is far more desirable to be written childless, than to bring up children in the service of sin and Satan [Scott].
The destiny of the rising generation and the fate of the nation is in the “Home School.” The great German teacher Fröbel declared that the great motto of the people should be, “Let us live for our children.” If Simon had thought of what Judas might have been, would not this have affected his treatment of the boy? What if the mother of Napoleon, and of his brother kings and sister queers, had foreseen what became of those around her humble fireside in Corsica? We do not know what part our children may play in life, what joy or sorrow they may cause to millions yet unborn. Think how much depends upon early training!
God’s departure. They had departed and turned away from or against God. It had been their characteristic (ch. Hosea 4:16). Now God himself would requite them, as they had requited him. He would depart from them. This is the last state of privation, which forms “the punishment of loss” in hell. When the soul has lost God, what has it [Pusey]?
Woe unto them.
1. In personal bereavement.
2. In national distress.
3. In the hour of death.
4. In the day of judgment. “It shall be well with them that fear God … But it shall not be well with the wicked” (Ecclesiastes 8:12-13).
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 9
Hosea 9:11-12. Children. “Better is it to have no children, and to have virtue: for the memorial thereof is immortal; because it is known with God and with men” (Wis. of Song of Solomon 4:1). “Our children that lie in the cradle are ours, and bear in them those lives which shall yet make them to appear, the boy like the father, and the daughter like the mother” [Beecher]. Glory or shame lies in the future of your child, according to your conduct and training.