I will go [and] return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
Ver. 15. I will go and return to my place] To my palace of heaven: so the Chaldee rendereth it. will withdraw my majesty, and return into the habitation of my holiness, which is in heaven. I will go from them, that they may come to themselves with the prodigal; I will forget them, that they may remember themselves; I will trouble myself no farther with them (when God comes against sinners he is said to come out of his place, and so to disease himself, Isa 26:21 cf. Lam 3:33), that they may be afflicted and weep and mourn after me, James 4:9; I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place, as Isaiah 18:4. "I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation," &c., Deuteronomy 32:20, and they shall see that I will be as froward as they, for the hearts of them, Psalms 18:26. "I will gather them in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave them there," Ezekiel 22:20; that they may know the worth of my gracious presence (which they have not prized) by the want of it, and be pricked on thereby to pray, "Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. O satisfy us early with thy mercy," &c., Psalms 90:13,14. Thus mothers use to leave their children (or at least turn their backs upon them) till they mourn and make moan after them. Thus the lion seems to leave her young ones till they have almost killed themselves with roaring and howling, but at the last gasp she relieves them, whereby they become the more courageous. God also will return to his people when they once turn short again upon themselves, and see their sin-guiltiness, and seek his favour. This is God's end, 1 Corinthians 11:32, and the happy effect of affliction sanctified, 1 Kings 8:47 .
Till they acknowledge their offence] Heb. till they become guilty, till they plead guilty, and carry themselves accordingly, blushing and bleeding in my presence. Thus St James, be afflicted, or be miserable, Hosea 4:9 : ye are so, but see yourselves to be so; tremble and humble at God's feet for mercy; give glory to God, my son, and confess thy sin, Joshua 7:19. The viper beaten, casts up her poison. The traitor on the rack confesseth all. He that in affliction acknowledgeth not his offence, and seeketh God's face, is more hard-hearted than a Jew, as is to be seen here and Psa 78:34 and 1 Samuel 7:6. In the year of grace 1556, at Weissenstein, in Germany, a Jew, for theft, was in this cruel manner to be executed. He was hanged by the feet with his head downward, between two dogs, which constantly snatched and bit at him. The strangeness of the torment moved Jacob Andreas, a grave divine, to go to behold it. Coming thither, he found the poor wretch as he hung repeating verses out of the Hebrew Psalms, wherein he cried out to God for mercy. Andreas hereupon took occasion to counsel him to trust in Jesus Christ, the true Saviour of mankind (Melch. Adam. in Vit. Jac. Andrea). The Jew, embracing the Christian faith, requested but this one thing, that he might be taken down and baptized, though presently after he were hanged again (but by the neck, as Christian malefactors suffered), which was accordingly granted him. Latimer reports a like story of one in his time, who being executed at Oxford, was cut down, but not quite dead. And means being used to recover him, he came again to himself, and then confessed all his villany, which before he would not be drawn to do. In the Life of Master Perkins also mention is made of a lusty fellow at Cambridge, who being upon the ladder, and frightened with the forethought of hell torments, was called down again by Master Perkins, who prayed with him and for him so effectually, as that the beholders could not but see a blessed change thereby wrought in the prisoner, who took his death with such patience and alacrity, as if he actually saw himself delivered from the hell which he feared before, and heaven opened for the receiving of his soul, to the great rejoicing of the beholders (Master Fuller and Mr Clark, in Mr Perkins' Life). How well might these men say with Themistocles, Periissem nisi periissem, I had been undone if I had not been undone. David was brought home by the weeping cross, Psalms 119:67. Affliction was a better schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth than Master Ascham. Nocumenta documenta, Harmful lesson, said Croesus, when he was in the hands of his enemies, παθηματα μαθηματα (Herod. lib. 1). The Burgundians, well beaten by the Huns, fled to Christ, the God of the Christians, and embraced his religion.
And seek my face] Out of a deep sense of their sin-guiltiness. This is the work of faith, as the former of repentance. God was not so gone from his people, nor so far out of their call, but that if they could find a praying heart he would find a pitying heart; if they would acknowledge their offence he would forgive the iniquity of their sin, Psalms 32:5. If they would set their faith a work (as she in the Gospel did, of whom it is said, that when Christ would have hid himself it could not be, for a certain woman, whose daughter was diseased, came and fell at his feet, fetched him out of his retiring-room, Mar 7:24-25), he would break the heavens and come down from his place, Isaiah 64:1,2; he would come leaping over all lets and impediments, those mountains of Bether, or of division, to the relief of his people. See Trapp on " Son 5:1 " &c. Provided that they seek not so much their own ease and ends as his face and favour, the sense of his presence and light of his countenance, the fear of his name, and comforts of his Spirit. Thus David, Psalms 63:1, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and barren land." Carnal prayers in time of misery are but such as the dry earth or the hungry raven make. They are the prayers of nature for ease, not of the spirit for grace; such as was that of Pharaoh, when the rack made him roar, the rod flatter: see Zechariah 7:5,6. See Trapp on " Zec 7:5 " See Trapp on " Zec 7:6 "
In their affliction they will seek me early] Manicabunt. They will morning me, so the original hath it, ορθριουσι, Sept. They will do it, saith God, for I will give them to do it; both to will it and to work it; for otherwise afflictions (God's hammers) do but beat cold iron. Wicked men grow worse for corrections, as water is more cold after a heat, as naughty boys are more stubborn or more stupid after a whipping. These also may cry to God, as prisoners at the bar, or malefactors upon the rack. Yea, seek him early, after a sort, and yet not find him, Proverbs 1:27; no, though they seek him with their herds and flocks Hosea 5:6, because they seek him not early, and earnestly, or diligently, as Proverbs 7:15; inflamedly, as Baruch, Nehemiah 3:20, and Jabez, 1 Chronicles 4:10; accurately and anxiously, as the Church sought her Beloved, Song of Solomon 5:1, as the Virgin Mary sought her lost Son, Luke 2:43,46. They seek him not for himself, but for his grain, wine, and oil, Hosea 7:14; they seek not him, but his; they seek him not till they have nothing else to seek to. Most justly, therefore, may God reject their suits and regest upon them, Depart from me, ye wicked, get ye to the gods whom ye have chosen, Judges 10:14. Justly may he say to them, as once Jephthah did to his countrymen, Do ye now come to me in your distress, who in your prosperity said unto me, Depart from us, we will have none of the knowledge of thy ways? Those that will find God must seek him early: "O, satisfy us early with thy mercies," Psalms 90:14. They must seek him early and late too, Isaiah 26:9; "always and by all means," as the apostle speaketh in another case; but especially in affliction, as here; for he looks for it. Our Saviour, being in an agony, prayed more intensively; so did David out of the deep, Jonah out of the whale's belly, the Church when she was in danger; as she thought of losing God, then she set up her note and cried, "Thou art put in the midst of us, leave us not," Jeremiah 14:9. Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam. Thus affliction exciteth devotion in the saints; and although they "seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face evermore," yet especially, in their distress they cry unto the Lord, and he heareth them, Psalms 120:1; in the night of affliction they take the light of a lively faith, and seek him early. And that they may not fail to find him, they call in help of others, as here in the next chapter: "Come, and let us return," &c.