And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And [God] said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
Ver. 6. And she conceived again] To show, in a continued allegory, the weak and woeful state of the ten tribes, when the Assyrian took from them all the land of Gilead and Galilee, together with all the land of Nephthali, and carried them captive, subduing, in a manner, five tribes of Israel: to wit, those without Jordan (who as they had first their inheritance given them, so they were now first carried captives), and the tribes of Zebulon and Nephthali, who were seated in the land of Galilee. And this was the first captivity of Israel: see 2Ki 15:29 Isaiah 9:1 .
And bare a daughter] This age is compared to a daughter, because from that time forward, after the bow of Israel was so broken, as Hosea 1:5, they should be no more able to defend themselves than if they were a commonwealth of women. Their spirits should be so cowed out and emasculated, their backs so bowed down with unsupportable burdens and bondages, that there was scarcely place left of a worse condition, nor hope of a better. Like them were those we read of Isaiah 51:23, that yielded to such as would but say to them, "Bow down that we may go over you." Or as those in Nahum, Nahum 3:13, Their "men shall be as women," Aχηιδες ουκετ Aχαιοι, a timorous and cowardly, like Issachar's ass, Genesis 49:14 (whose lot fell in Galilee, Jos 19:18), or those fugitives of Ephraim, Judges 12:4, that therefore bare a brand of dishonour, because they would not rather die bravely than live basely. Of such it may be said, as of harts and stags, they have great horns and strength, but do nothing with them, quia de est animus, because their spirits are imbased: as the Israelites in Egypt were of old by Pharaoh, and as the Grecians are to this day by the Turk.
Call her name Loruhamah] When God once calls a people or a person by this name, we may well write upon their doors (if any place be yet left for prayer, any good to be done by it), Lord, have mercy upon them: their condition is deplorable, if not desperate. Vade frater in cellam et dic, Miserere mei Deus, Brother, go into thy cell, and say, Lord, have mercy upon me, said Crantzius to Luther, when he began to declaim against the pope, for he looked upon him as an undone man, and yet he was not (Scaltet. Annal.). But those are doubly undone, to whom God shall say, as here to Israel,
I will no more have mercy] Heb., I will add no more to show mercy: but my so often abused mercy shall turn into fury. That it is not so yet with this sinful nation, that we are not yet a Loruhamah, an Aceldama, that we are not already as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah, even a place of nettles and salt pits, a perpetual desolation, as another prophet hath it, we may well cry out, O the depth, the fathomless depth of God's dear love to England, Isa 1:9 Zephaniah 2:9. Certain it is that we have hitherto subsisted by a miracle of his mercy, and by a prop of his extraordinary patience. Certain it is that God hath not dealt with England according to his ordinary rule, but according to his prerogative royal. England (if one may so speak with reverence) is a paradox to the Bible. God grant that being lifted up to heaven with Capernaum in the abundance of blessings, she be not brought down to hell by the abuse of them; that God set not that sad impression of Loruhamah (worse than any black Theta) upon her, and make her know the worth of his undervalued favours by the want of them: why should it be said of us as once, Anglica gens est optima flens, et pessima ridens? why should we provoke the Lord so long till he shall resolve upon an evil, an only evil, i.e. without mixture of mercy, Ezekiel 7:5; till the decree bring forth, Zephaniah 2:2, and God pronounceth that fatal sentence against us that he did once against the old world, Fiat iustitia, ruat mundus, Let justice be done, though the world be thereby undone. "Of all God's attributes he can least abide an abuse in his mercy; God's mercy is precious" (saith one), "and he will not let it run out to waste; he will not be prodigal of it. There is a time wherein God will say, Now I have done, I have even done with this people, mercy hath had her turn, &c. I will not always serve them for a sinning-stock, but will take another course with them: I will take my own and be gone: and woe be unto them when I depart from them." When the sun is eclipsed, all creatures fade and flag here below. "Thou hiddest thy face, Lord, and I was troubled," Psalms 30:7. David could not live but in the light of God's countenance: he begs for mercy everywhere, as for life. Never did poor prisoner at the bar beg harder for a psalm of mercy than he doth, Psalms 51:1, and other places. Neither would common mercies content him, he must have such as are proper and peculiar to God's own people, even the "sure mercies of David." Oh, make sure of mercy, whatever you go without. And the rather, because there are a race of Loruhamahs, a sort of such among men as are excluded from mercy. God is not merciful to any wicked transgressors, Psalms 59:5, that go on in their trespasses, Psalms 68:21, that allow them and wallow in them. That last letter in God's name had need to be well remembered, Exodus 34:7, "He will by no means clear the guilty." And that terrible text should never be forgotten by those that are obstinate in an evil course, and bless themselves when God curseth them, Deuteronomy 29:19,20. God's mercy goes often times in Scripture bounded by his truth: and as the same fire hath burning heat and cheerful light, so hath God plagues for the obstinate and mercy for the penitent. Surely as he is Pater miserationum, the Father of mercies: so he is Deus ultionum, the God of vengeances: as he hath ubera, blessings, so he hath verbera, whip, treasures of punishments for those, especially that kick at his bowels, that despise his longsufferance, that argue from love to liberty, which is the devil's logic. Cavete a Melampygo.
But I will utterly take them away] Tollendo tollam, so Calvin renders it: and further tells us that some render it comburam, I will burn them; and indeed war is fitly compared to fire, that cruel element, and to extreme famine, Isaiah 9:19,20. The Vulgate Latin translateth it obliviscendo obliviscar, I will utterly forget them, and that is punishment enough: as when one carried himself insolently toward the state of Rome, a grave senator gave this counsel, Let us forget him, and he will soon remember himself. Woe be to those to whom Christ shall say, "Verily, I know you not," I have utterly forgotten you. Mercer rendereth it, Levabo, id est, proieciam, I will lift them up, that I may throw them down again with the greater poise. The LXX hath, "I will set myself against them in battle array." Now "the Lord is a man of war," Exodus 15:3; yea, he is the Lord and Victor of wars, as the Chaldee there paraphraseth. But what meant the Chaldee here to render this text by parcendo parcam eis, sparing, I will spare them: is not this point blank against Loruhamah? How much better Tremellius, ut ullo pacto condonem istis, that I should any way forgive them. Have I not pardoned them enough already? may I not well by this time be weary of repenting? I will even break off my patience, and forbear to punish no longer: "I have long time holden my peace, I have been still and refrained myself; now will I cry like a travailing woman" (who bites in her pain as long as she is able), "I will destroy and devour at once: I will, I will," Isa 42:14 The ten tribes never returned out of captivity, unless it were some few of them that came up with the other two tribes out of Babylon, Ezra 2:1, by the appointment of Cyrus, and some others that fled home when Nineveh (where they were held captive) was destroyed; but for the generality of them, whether they abide in China or Tartary, or West Indies, I cannot tell you. Pareus rendereth it, nam tolerando toleravi eos, for I have a long while borne with their evil manners. And surely subito tollitur, qui diu toleratur, as an ancient saith, God's patience will not always hold.
a Hom. II: sic Virg. Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges.