Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 7:13
Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
13. they have fled from me ] like birds scared out of their nest (Isa 16:2); but the Israelites have only themselves to blame for the fatal consequence. They have left their true home, and shall find no second (see on Hos 9:17).
transgressed ] Or, ‘rebelled; strictly, ‘broken away.’
though I have redeemed ] Rather, I indeed would redeem them, but they, &c. The ‘lies’ of the Israelites related (see next verse) to Jehovah’s power and willingness to save.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Woe unto them, for they have fled from Me – The threatening rises in severity, as did the measure of their sin. Whereas Salvation belonged to God Psa 3:8 alone, and they only abide under His shadow Psa 91:1-2, who make Him their refuge, woe must needs come on them, who leave Him. They forsake their own mercy Jon 2:8. Woe they draw upon themselves, who forget God; how much more then they, who willfully and with a high hand transgress against Him! Destruction unto them, for they have transgressed against Me. To be separated from God is the source of all evils; it is the pain of loss of Gods presence, in hell; but destruction is more than this; it is everlasting death.
And I have redeemed them and they have spoken lies against Me – The I and they are both emphatic in Hebrew; I redeemed; they spoke lies. Such is mans requital of His God. Oft as He redeemed, so often did they traduce Him. Such was the history of the passage through the wilderness; such, of the period under the Judges; such had it been recently, when God delivered Israel by the hand of Jereboam II 2Ki 14:25-27. The word, I have redeemed, denotes habitual oft-renewed deliverance, that He was their constant Redeemer, from whom they had found help, did still find it, and might yet look to find it, if they did not, by their ill behavior, stop the course of His favor toward them . Gods mercy overflowed their ingratitude. They had Spoken lies against Him, often as He had delivered them; He was still their abiding Redeemer. I do redeem them.
They have spoken lies against Me – People speak lies against God, in their hearts, their words, their deeds; whenever they harbor thoughts, speak words, or act, so as to deny that God is what He is, or as to imply that He is not what He has declared Himself to be. Whoever seeks anything out of God or against His will; whoever seeks from man, or from idols, or from fortune, or from his own powers, what God alone bestows; whoever acts as if God was not a good God, ready to receive the penitent, or a just God who will avenge the holiness of His laws and not clear the guilty, does in fact, speak lies against God. People, day by day, speak lies against God, against His Wisdom, His providence, His justice, His Goodness, His Omniscience, when they are thinking of nothing less. Jeroboam spake lies against God, when he said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, whereas God had so often enforced upon them Exo 20:2; Lev 19:36; Lev 23:43; Num 15:41; Deu 5:6, Deu 5:15, the Lord redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt (Deu 7:8; add. Deu 13:5; Deu 15:15; Deu 24:18); the Lord thy God brought thee out thence with a mighty hand and stretched out arm.
Israel spake lies against God, when he said, these are my rewards which my lovers have given me Hos 2:12, or when, they returned not to Him but called on Egypt, as though God would not help them, who said that He would, or as though Egypt could help them, of whom God said that it should not. Sometimes, they spoke out lies boldly, telling Gods true prophets that He had not sent them, or forbidding them to speak in His Name; sometimes covertly, as when they turned to God, not sincerely but feignedly; but always perversely. And when God the Son came on earth to redeem them, then still more, they spoke lies against Him, all His life long, saying, He deceiveth the people, and all their other blasphemies, and , when He, forgave them the sin of His death, saying, Father, forgave them for they know not what they do, they persevered in speaking lies against Him, and bribed the soldiers to speak lies against Him, and themselves do so to this day.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. Wo unto them!] They shall have wo, because they have fled from me. They shall have destruction, because they have transgressed against me.
Though I have redeemed them] Out of Egypt; and given them the fullest proof of my love and power.
Yet they have spoken lies against me.] They have represented me as rigorous and cruel; and my service as painful and unprofitable.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Woe unto them! it is the voice both of menace and lamentation, the prophet doth at once foretell and bewail their miseries.
They have fled from me; as if it were not enough that they did at first leave my government, temple, and worship, they have gone further from me, they have hastened herein, they flew from me as birds on wing: their sin is apostacy.
Destruction unto them! this explains the woe already mentioned, such woe it will be as ends in destruction.
Because they have transgressed against me; rebelliously cast off my law and government, much in state, more in church matters, oppressors in one, idolaters in the other, and incorrigible in both.
Though I have redeemed them; out of Egypt; but that is long since, and the prophet speaks of deliverance nearer to the times he lived in: God redeemed them partly by Joash, 2Ki 18, but more fully by Jeroboam the Second, 2Ki 14, and would have completed this deliverance, but they by sins hinder it.
Yet they have spoken lies against me; practically they belie me, fleeing to idols, worshipping them, praying to them, as if I were not able or willing to help them; and ascribing praise of the good they enjoy to their idols, Hos 2:5-7; they belied his corrections, as if not deserved, or severer than need; they belied the good done, as if too little, or not done by God, but by their idol.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. fledas birds from theirnest (Pro 27:8; Isa 16:2).
mewho both could andwould have healed them (Ho 7:1),had they applied to Me.
redeemed themfromEgypt and their other enemies (Mic6:4).
lies (Psa 78:36;Jer 3:10). Pretending to be Myworshippers, when they all the while worshipped idols (Hos 7:14;Hos 12:1); also defrauding Me ofthe glory of their deliverance, and ascribing it and their otherblessings to idols [CALVIN].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe unto them, for they have fled from me,…. From the Lord, from his worship, and the place of it; from obedience to him, and the service of him; as birds fly from their nests, and leave their young, and wander about; so they had deserted the temple at Jerusalem, and forsaken the service of the sanctuary, and set up calves at Dan and Bethel, and worshipped them; and, instead of fleeing to God for help in time of distress, fled further off still, even out of their own land to Egypt or Assyria: the consequence of which was, nothing but ruin; and so lamentation and woes:
destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me; against the laws which God gave them; setting up idols, and worshipping them, and so broke the first table of the law; committing murder, adultery, thefts and robberies, with which they are charged the preceding part of this chapter, and so transgressed the second table of the law; and by all brought destruction upon themselves, which was near at hand, and would certainly come, as here threatened; though they promised themselves peace, and expected assistance from neighbouring nations, but in vain, having made the Lord their enemy, by breaking his laws:
though I have redeemed them; out of Egypt formerly, and out of the hands of the Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and others, in the times of the judges; and more lately in the times of Joash and Jeroboam the second, who recovered many cities out of the hands of the Syrians. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret this of the good disposition of God towards them, having it in his heart to redeem them now from their present afflictions and distresses, but that they were so impious and wicked, and so unfaithful to him:
yet they have spoken lies against me; against his being and providence, being atheistically inclined; or pretending repentance for their sins, when they were hypocrites, and returned to their former courses; or setting up idols in opposition to him, which were vanity to him; attributing all their good things to them, and charging him with all their evils. Abendana reads the words interrogatively, “should I redeem them, when they have spoken lies against me?” t no, I will not.
t “et ego redimerem eos?” so some in Rivet.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“Woe to them! for they have flown from me; devastation to them! for they have fallen away from me. I would redeem them, but they speak lies concerning me. Hos 7:14. They did not cry to me in their heart, but howl upon their beds; they crowd together for corn and new wine, and depart against me.” The Lord, thinking of the chastisement, exclaims, Woe to them, because they have fled from Him! Nadad , which is applied to the flying of birds, points back to the figures employed in Hos 7:11, Hos 7:12. Shod , used as an exclamation, gives the literal explanation of ‘oi (woe). The imperfect ‘ephdem cannot be taken as referring to the redemption out of Egypt, because it does not stand for the preterite. It is rather voluntative or optative. “I would (should like to) redeem them (still); but they say I cannot and will not do it.” These are the lies which they utter concerning Jehovah, partly with their mouths and partly by their actions, namely, in the fact that they do not seek help from Him, as is explained in Hos 7:14. They cry to the Lord; yet it does not come from the heart, but ( after ) they howl ( , cf. Ges. 70, 2, note) upon their beds, in unbelieving despair at the distress that has come upon them. What follows points to this. Hithgorer , to assemble, to crowd together (Psa 56:7; Psa 59:4; Isa 54:15); here to gather in troops or crowd together for corn and new wine, because their only desire is to fill their belly. Thus they depart from God. The construction of with , instead of with or , is a pregnant one: to depart and turn against God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Here the Prophet takes away from the Israelites the hope of pardon, and declares that it was all over with them, for God had now resolved to destroy them. For as God everywhere declares himself to be ready and inclined to pardon, hypocrites hope that God will be propitious to them; and entertaining this vain confidence, they despise his threatening and boldly rise up against him. Hence the Prophet here shows, that God would hereafter be inexorable to them, because they had too long pertinaciously abused his patience. Woe to them! he says, for they have withdrawn from me: desolation to them! for they have acted perfidiously towards me There is then no reason, says the Prophet, for them to delude themselves in future with vain confidence, as they have hitherto done; for this has been once for all determined by God — to indict on them his extreme vengeance, for their defection deserves this.
He then adds, I will redeem them, and they have spoken lies against me. They who render the first word in the future tense, think that the Prophet asks a question, “Shall I redeem them? for they have spoken lies against me:” and they think it to be an indefinite mode of speaking — “Should I redeem them, men of no faith; for what good should I do by such kindness?” Others give this expositions — “Though I wished to redeem them, yet I found that this would not be beneficial nor just, because they speak lies against me;” as though God did not express here what he had done, but what he had wished to do. But the past tense is not unsuitable to this place; and we know how common and familiar to the Hebrews was the change of tenses. The meaning, then, will be, “I have redeemed them, and they have spoken lies against me;” that is, “I have often delivered them from death, when they were in extreme peril; but they have not changed their disposition; nay, they have deprived me of the praise due for their deliverance, and they have lived in no way better after their deliverance. Since, then, I have hitherto conferred my benefits to no good purpose, nothing now remains but that I must destroy them.” And this seems to me to be the Prophet’s meaning.
He then declares, in the first clause, that they hoped for mercy in vain from God, because their ultimate destruction was decreed. Then follows the reason for this, because they had foolishly and impiously abused the favor of God, inasmuch as, having been redeemed by him, they yet went on in their own wickedness, and even acted perfidiously towards God, while yet they pretended to act differently. Since, then, there was no change for the better, God now shows that he would spend his favor no longer on men so impious. Now this place teaches how intolerable is our ingratitude, when, after having been redeemed by the Lord, we keep not the faith pledged to him, and which he requires from us; for God is our deliverer on this condition, that we be wholly devoted to him. For he who has been redeemed ought not so to live, as if he had a right to himself and to his own will; but he ought to be wholly dependent on his Redeemer. If, then, we thus act perfidiously towards God, after having been delivered by his grace, we shall be guilty of such impiety and perfidiousness as deserve a twofold vengeance: and this is what the Prophet here teaches.
We indeed know how mercifully God had spared the people of Israel: after they had fallen away into superstitious worship, and had also violated their faith to the posterity of David, the Lord did not yet cease to show to that people many favors, notwithstanding their unworthiness. We know also, that under Jeroboam prosperity had attended them beyond all human expectation. But they yet hardened themselves more and more in their wickedness, so far were they from returning to the right way. Let us now proceed —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Fled.The word thus translated is used of the wandering flight of birds, and arises naturally out of the images employed in Hos. 7:11-12.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(13) Though I have redeemed.Should be, Though I would fain redeem them: an impressive picture of all the insults to longsuffering Divine love.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Woe to them! for they have fled from me,
Destruction to them! for they have trespassed (rebelled) against me,
Though I would redeem them,
Yet they have spoken lies against me.’
YHWH now pronounces a lament over them. Woe is to come on them because they have fled from Him. Destruction is to come on them because they have rebelled against Him by trespassing against the covenant. Though He would willingly have redeemed them (delivered them from bondage at a cost – Exo 20:2; Deu 7:8; Deu 9:26), or bought them back as His firstborn (Exo 13:13; Lev 27:27-31; compare Exo 4:22), as he had done from Egypt) He had not been able to do so because of their lies against Him. These lies included the false representations made about Him by making Him a part of the Bethel cult with its admixture of Baalism. They had lied about Him by representing Him as the equivalent of a nature God. They had also lied against Him when they made their (false) promises to Him at their feasts, and as a consequence of their false pretences in pretending to worship Him when what they were worshipping was an image of a bull, and when by their words and actions they had depicted Him as not being faithful, and when in their ritual they had professed faithfulness to Him. Indeed much of their syncretistic worship had been a lie from start to finish
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
DISCOURSE: 1160
GUILT AND DANGER OF AN UNCONVERTED STATE
Hos 7:13. Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
SUCH is the infatuation of unregenerate men, that they always promise themselves security in the ways of sin: but it is certain that they are never more in danger than when they fancy themselves most secure: they may be well compared to a bird that is allured to a net: it hears the notes that call and invite it to the society of some kindred bird: fearless of danger, it obeys the summons: it hastens to the place from whence the sound issues, little thinking that, instead of a companion, it shall find a foe. The fowler, however, who has spread the net, sees that the unsuspecting bird is quickly to resign its liberty, and perhaps its life. Thus it is with those who listen to the enchanting voice of sin: they follow it, but know not that it is for their life [Note: Pro 7:23.]: The word of Jehovah is gone forth, nor can it ever be reversed: it says, Woe unto the wicked, it shall go ill with him; and, when he saith, Peace and safety, then shall sudden destruction come upon him as travail upon a woman with child, and he shall not escape. To this purpose God speaks to the Israelites in the passage before us: he says, Ephraim is like a silly dove, without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria: but when they go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven. Having thus represented their danger in figurative expressions, he declares it plainly in the most awful terms: Woe unto them, for they have fled from me! destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me! though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me. From these words, we will endeavour to set before you,
I.
The state of men in general
[To those who can see nothing but the outward conduct, there may appear to be a very considerable difference between the states of different men: the moral and decent may be esteemed exceeding righteous and good, while the openly vicious and profane are execrated as exceeding vile. And it must be acknowledged, that, as far as the conduct of these different persons respects society, there is a great difference between them; but God, who looks at the heart, and estimates every thing by the respect it has to him, sees that all men are very nearly, if not altogether, upon a level; all men appear to him as sepulchres, full of all uncleanness: some indeed appear whited and outwardly adorned, while others are open, and discover all their deformity. Still, however, inwardly they are all the same.
In the first place, all flee from him. Adam had no sooner sinned, than he lost his delight in God, and fled from the presence of his Maker. From that time, all his descendants have felt the same aversion to intercourse with the Deity: they love not the ordinances where God reveals himself to men: when God calls them, they all begin with one consent to make excuse: some plead their social engagements; others the pressure of worldly business; all have some plea to make; all say, in effect, I can not, or, I will not, come. In dangers or in troubles, they will rather go to the creature than to God: even under a sense of sin, they will rather flee to their own resolutions, and trust in their own endeavours, than they will rely upon the strength and righteousness of the Lord Jesus. When God calls, they turn a deaf ear to his invitations. When he follows them, as it were, by the convictions of his Spirit, they actually flee from him: they shake off the thoughts that trouble them; they endeavour to drown reflection in business or pleasure; and the whole language of their hearts and actions is, like theirs in Job, Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of thy ways [Note: Job 21:14.].
But the aversion to God which carnal men feel, is carried much further: they not only flee from him, as finding no pleasure, no satisfaction in his presence, but they also transgress against him. The law is yet in a measure written on their hearts, but they will not comply with its dictates: they see clearly, in many things, that such or such a course of action must be displeasing to God, and that they who do such things are worthy of death; yet they both do these things themselves, and have pleasure in those that do them; choosing them for their companions, and countenancing them in their actions: nor is this occasionally only, and through temptation or inadvertence: no; it is the settled course and tenour of their lives. The commands or prohibitions of God have no weight with them: whatever is reputable in the world, or agreeable to themselves, that they do; whenever their sensual inclinations or worldly interests strongly bias them to any line of conduct, it soon appears that they have cast off the yoke of God, and that they feel no restraint whatever, except that which arises from temporal considerations.
Nor is this all: they speak lies against God: they declare, in the face of the whole world, that the service of sin and Satan is to be preferred before the service of God. In every transgression they commit, they virtually speak to this effect; This is happiness: as for obedience to God, that would be an insupportable restraint: true happiness consists in renouncing all allegiance to God, and in following our own will. Moreover they say, like those of old, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil [Note: Zep 1:12.]; i.e. if we serve him, we shall have no profit; nor shall we sustain any loss if we serve him not. We must remember, that God interprets our actions; and considers men as speaking those things which their conduct shews to be the secret language of their hearts. And indeed this is strictly just; for all must allow, that actions speak more forcibly, and more truly, than words. But will not the Lord do good or evil? Will he not reward those that diligently seek him? Will he clear the guilty, and suffer them to pass unpunished? No, assuredly; he will put a difference between the righteous and the wicked; between those who serve him, and those who serve him not [Note: Mal 3:18.]. Yet such are the lies which ungodly men are speaking against him.
Let any one say, whether this be not really the state of carnal unregenerate men? Do they not thus flee from Gods presence, transgress against his laws, and, in their conduct at least, misrepresent him to the world? Let us look round the world, and see whether this be not a true picture of mankind? Let us look into our own bosoms, and see whether it do not exactly represent ourselves? It may be, that we have not been so openly immoral as others: but yet, if we will examine our own hearts, we shall see that we have been as far from any real delight in secret communion with God as the most profligate man on earth. We have been as far from sacrificing all our own interests and inclinations to the will and law of God as the most flagrant rebel in the world: nor have we, in our actions, been living witnesses for the truth of God, any more than those who have denied every word of the Bible. This then is clearly the state of all unregenerate men.]
We come now to shew you,
II.
The peculiar sinfulness of their state
[If, without attending to any collateral circumstances, we were simply to point out the evil which is contained in the foregoing conduct, methinks the state of such men would appear beyond measure sinful: but the sinfulness of it is greatly aggravated by the consideration in my text; Though I have redeemed them, yet have they spoken lies against me.
If we call to mind the mercies which had been vouchsafed to the Israelites, we shall perceive that the malignity of their sins was exceedingly enhanced by the obligations which had been conferred upon them: they had been delivered from their bondage in Egypt, and brought to a land flowing with milk and honey. Such an interposition as this never had been known from the beginning of the world: that God should go and take an oppressed nation out of the midst of another nation; that he should reign over them as their king; that he should destroy seven nations greater and mightier than they, and establish them in the possession of their land; that he should, in ten thousand instances, step forth as their protector and deliverer, when they were reduced to the lowest state of wretchedness and misery; that he should vouchsafe them, not one redemption only, but many; this, I say, required the most ample returns of gratitude and obedience: the ingratitude therefore which they manifested, stamped a tenfold malignity on every sin they committed. But we have an infinitely better redemption vouchsafed to us: a Redemption of which theirs was but a type and shadow. We have been redeemed from a far sorer bondage, even from bondage to sin and Satan; from all the curses of the broken law; from all the miseries of death and hell. We have also been brought into a better land; not to the possession of mere temporal comforts, but to spiritual and eternal happiness; to the society of glorified saints and angels; to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and never-fading; in short, to all the glory of heaven. This has been accomplished also for us by far more wonderful and endearing means: God has sent his own Son into our guilty world; sent him to become a man, and to stand in our stead; sent him to give his own life a ransom for us; sent him to pay down the price of our redemption; and has appointed him to bring forth every one of his redeemed; to support and guide them through this dreary wilderness, and to conduct them, with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arm, to the full possession of their inheritance. O, what a Redemption is this! What obligations does this lay upon us to be faithful and obedient! And what a fearful aggravation must this be of all our disobedience! Yet, behold, we are the persons whose transgressions are so multiplied: we are they whom Christ came from heaven to seek and save: and yet we flee from his presence: we are they, for whose sakes he gave himself, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; and yet we are continually transgressing against him: we are they towards whom he has shewn such astonishing love and mercy; and yet we are saying, that he regards us not, and that it will be in vain to serve him. Ah, Brethren, is there no guilt in such a state? and shall not God be avenged of such a people as this? Do not look at your sins merely as they affect society; that is no just criterion; that is no proper test. Estimating your conduct merely in that view, you will be ready to applaud yourselves as righteous, if you should happen to have escaped the grosser pollutions of the world: but view your sins as contrasted with the love of Christ; see him dying to bring you nigh to God, and yet yourselves fleeing from God; see him shedding his blood to cleanse you from sin, and yet yourselves continuing to transgress; see him faithfully executing every tiling he had undertaken for you, and yet yourselves lying against him. This is the light wherein to view your conduct. Draw nigh, then, and see it; ponder it in your hearts; consider it well. What offence can a servant commit against his master, or a child against his parent, or a man against his benefactor, that can bear any proportion to the smallest offence that you have committed against Christ? and yet you have offended times without number, and that too without any remorse; as though men were bound to requite your kindnesses, but you were at liberty to trample upon the most sacred obligations that God is able to confer upon you. Ah, Beloved! know every one of you, that God seeth not as man seeth; he considers things not according to mans estimation, but as they really are: and when he shall call you to an account, you will see every sin aggravated by redeeming love: you will see that, in fact, you crucify Christ afresh, you trample under foot his blood, you put him to an open shame. And shall not God visit for these things? Yes, assuredly.]
I will proceed therefore to set before you,
III.
The danger of such a state
[You can bear me witness, my Brethren, that I delight not in setting forth the terrors of the Lord. I find it far more pleasant to be publishing the glad tidings, and to be expatiating on the fulness and freeness of the Gospel salvation: but I must not conceal from you what God speaks concerning you. Were I to be unfaithful to you in this respect, I should but betray your souls to ruin; and your blood would be required at my hands. Attend therefore to the solemn denunciations of Gods wrath against you: hear, I say, and tremble: hear, and lift up your hearts to God for mercy and deliverance: Woe unto them, for they have fled from me! Destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me! Woe and destruction comprehend both present and eternal misery. There is much woe, even in this life, as the consequence of sin. Who can tell the alarms which haunt the wicked in their secret retirements? Who can tell the apprehensions they feel at the approach of death? I know that they may sear their consciences, so far as to become past feeling: and they may delude themselves with ungrounded hopes, so far as even to attain a confidence of their safety: but notwithstanding this, it is certain that there is no peace to the wicked: wherever they go, and whatever they do, they have no solid peace: they are either harassed with tumultuous passions, or terrified with misgiving fears. God has said repeatedly, that there is no peace to the wicked. But let us suppose that they pass through life with tolerable serenity; what will they do at the instant of their departure from the body? Then they will begin to understand the meaning of the word destruction: now perhaps they listen to it with indifference; but then they cannot remain insensible to it. What terror must seize them when they behold the face of incensed Majesty! when they see that God, whose laws they have trampled on, and that Saviour whose redemption they have slighted! What agony must pierce their souls, when they hear him say, Depart, accursed, into everlasting fire! And, when they are hurled headlong into the bottomless abyss, when they are lying down in flames of fire, and know that they must dwell with everlasting burnings, how will they gnash their teeth with anguish! how will they curse the day that they were born! how will they curse themselves for their own folly in neglecting redeeming love! But can it be, that they who live in the state before described, are exposed to all this misery? Yes, Woe unto them! Destruction unto them! saith Jehovah. And the apostle says, that they who know not God and obey not his Gospel, or, in other words, they who flee from God and trample on redeeming love, shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power [Note: 2Th 1:8-9.]. The whole sacred volume attests and confirms this awful truth: every part of it speaks to the same effect as David, The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God [Note: Psa 9:17.].
Now, my Brethren, deceive not your own souls. To what purpose will it be, to be speaking peace to yourselves, when God is denouncing woe and destruction unto you? If you say that you are not the worst of sinners, what will that avail you? If you say that you are honest, and just, and sober, what is all that to the purpose? This, and more than this, the Pharisee could say for himself; yet was he not hereby justified. The only question is, Do you answer to the character drawn in my text? Have you not fled from God? have you not transgressed against him? have you not spoken lies against him;? If you are disposed to deny any of these charges, consider with yourselves, Have you sought your happiness in communion with God;? and;, when he has said, Seek ye my face, has your heart always answered, Thy face, Lord, will I seek? Are you not also transgressors against his law? Have you not been just now acknowledging upon your knees, that you have done those things which you ought not to have done, and left undone those things which you ought to have done? And can you affirm that the constant course and tenour of your life has proclaimed to all around you, that to fear God and keep his commandments was the whole end and happiness of man? No; every mouth must be shut; and not you only, but the whole world, must become guilty before God. Know then that you, and that every man, while in an unregenerate state, is exposed to the wrath of God; and that that wrath will come upon you to the uttermost, if you flee not for refuge to the Hope set before you.]
We will now conclude, with two inferences from the whole:
1.
What suitable provision is made for us in the Gospel!
[You have seen the awful state of unregenerate men, and will be ready to doubt whether there can be any help or hope for persons so circumstanced. But thanks be to our God and Father, that he has not left us to perish in our sins! on the contrary, he has pitied us, and sent us his only dear Son to deliver us from our lost estate. Numberless as our iniquities have been, they were all laid upon the head of Jesus, our great Sacrifice: all were expiated by his blood; so that God can be just, and yet the justifier of those who repent and believe the Gospel. O Brethren, be thankful for this provision: be thankful that you are not only permitted, but commanded, to come to Christ for a free and full remission of all your sins. Have you fled from your God and Father? Behold! Jesus, his beloved Son, is come to seek and save you. Have you transgressed against him times without number? The blood of Jesus is shed to cleanse you from all sin. Have you in the whole course of your life spoken nothing but lies against your adorable Redeemer? That very Redeemer will make you to experience his inviolable truth, in receiving you to mercy, and in rejecting none that come unto him. Surely, if bread be suited to the hungry, or water to the thirsty, then is the provision set before us in the Gospel exactly suited to the wants and necessities of all who feel their need of mercy.]
2.
How happy are they who have cordially embraced the Gospel!
[In two respects have they experienced a most blessed change; namely, in their character and condition. You have heard that the natural and unconverted man flees from God, transgresses against him, and speaks lies against him. Not so the man that is converted: he flees to God; he seeks the Divine presence; he desires the favour of God more than life, and esteems his loving-kindness better than life itself. If any ask him, Who will shew us any good? his answer is, like Davids, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. He now also desires to serve and obey God: it is his grief and burthen that he cannot get rid of sin; he longs for holiness; he desires to be changed into the Divine image; he wishes to be in heaven, not merely because he shall there be free from trouble, but because he shall be free from sin. And now, too, he is a living witness for the truth of God: he sets to his seal that God is true: he is not afraid to testify before the whole world, that Gods service is perfect freedom, and that in keeping his commandments there is great reward: his whole life proclaims to those around him, that God is a mighty God, and greatly to be feared; yet that he is also a loving, merciful, and faithful God, and therefore worthy to be loved and trusted with the whole heart. You have heard also that woe and destruction are denounced against the unconverted; but there is no woe, no destruction, to the converted; but there is no woe, no destruction, to the converted soul: no; his sins are put away from him, as far as the east is from the west: while the iniquities of the ungodly are (as we are told) sealed up in a bag, to be brought forth against them in the day of judgment, the iniquities that have been committed by a converted soul, are, from the first moment of his conversion, cast into the depths of the sea [Note: Mic 7:19.]; not into the shallows, from whence they might be recovered, but into the depths, never more to be brought to remembrance. Whoever then ye be, who have embraced the Gospel, rejoice, and leap for joy, on account of the blessed change that you have experienced. If your consciences testify, that you are really seeking after God, that you desire to be delivered from all sin, and that you are endeavouring to be witnesses for God in the world, rejoice; for it becometh well your souls to be thankful. You have been redeemed; rejoice therefore in the redemption vouchsafed unto you: you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God with your bodies and your spirits, which are Gods.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 7:13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
Ver. 13. Woe unto them! for they have fled from me ] As Cain (the devil’s patriarch) did when he went out from the presence of the Lord, in his father’s family, into the land of Nod, Gen 4:16 , being himself a “have not,” that is, a runaway, Hos 7:12 , of the same root that is here made use of in the text (Nadedu). Now as that land took name of Cain, and his woeful state therein, so is every land and place a Nod to apostates; and St Jude throws a woe after them, “Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain,” Jdg 1:11 , that is, they have wickedly departed from God and his blessing, and gotten into the world’s warm sun; yea, they not only go from God, but flee from him in hurried haste, as from an enemy; a metaphor from birds flying amain: Pro 27:8 , “As a bird that wandereth from her nest” (where God took order for her security, Deu 22:6-7 ), “so is a man that wandereth from his place” (how much more from his God, that infinite good!), exposed to misery and mischief, to ruth and ruin. Woe to such, yea, double woe: Woe and alas: destruction to such, and devastation, as the word signifieth, . Perdition and destruction, as the apostle phraseth it, 1Ti 6:9 , whereby is meant torments without end, and past imagination; remediless misery, mischief without measure. This truth must be told, however it be taken, that wicked men may not perish without warning. Toothless truths and silken words would better please people, who are most of them sick of a Noli me tangere, and cry out against these fierce preachers, that come with their Woe unto them, Destruction unto them, &c. This is the way, say they, to drive men into utter despair. We answer, first, if it should be so, yet that is not the proper effect of the word so dispensed; but to abate the pleasure that reprobates take in sin, and to restrain them from outrage; that they despair, it proceeds merely from their own corruption and guiltiness. They reply, that it comes rather from the severity of the teachers, who set themselves to preach damnation, and utter terrible things. Secondly, therefore, we answer, that the mad world (ever beside itself in point of salvation) is herein very much mistaken. Let them give us an instance of any one that was ever driven to despair by the sincere preaching of the word: and yet for one bitter word given by us, the prophets gave ten. This whole Prophecy of Hosea is much more comminatory then consolatory. God himself comes here with Woe unto them, Destruction to them. Indeed by this pathetic exclamation he declareth his affection toward them whom he threateneth; and how little delight he takes either in their destruction or in such denunciation thereof; and so must God’s ministers, &c.
Because they have transgressed against me
Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
transgressed = revolted. Hebrew. pasha’, as in Hos 14:9. Not the same word as in Hos 6:7, and Hos 8:1.
I have redeemed them. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 7:8; Deu 9:26; Deu 15:15; Deu 21:8; Deu 24:18).
redeemed. Heb padah. See note on Exo 6:6, and Exo 13:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
redeemed
(See Scofield “Isa 59:20”). See Scofield “Exo 14:30”.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Woe: Hos 9:12, Isa 31:1, Lam 5:16, Eze 16:23, Mat 23:13-29, Rev 8:13
fled: Hos 11:2, Job 21:14, Job 21:15, Job 22:17, Psa 139:7-9, Jon 1:3, Jon 1:10
destruction: Heb. spoil
though: Deu 15:15, Neh 1:10, Psa 106:10, Psa 107:2, Psa 107:3, Isa 41:14, Isa 43:1, Isa 63:8, Mic 6:4, 1Pe 1:18, 1Pe 1:19
spoken: Hos 7:3, Hos 11:12, Isa 59:13, Jer 18:11, Jer 18:12, Jer 42:20, Jer 44:17, Jer 44:18, Eze 18:2, Eze 18:25, Mal 3:13-15, 1Jo 1:10
Reciprocal: Isa 30:1 – the rebellious Isa 59:3 – your lips Hos 7:16 – the rage Hos 8:2 – General Hos 9:6 – destruction Hos 9:17 – because Mic 6:12 – spoken
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 7:13. We note that the woe and destruction were decreed upon the people after or because they had fled from the Lord and transgressed his law. God never causes a good man to become a bad one, but if he chooses the life of s!a, then the Lord wilt treat him as an evil person. Have redeemed them refers to past favors that God had bestowed upon the nation of the Jews, such as the deliverance from Egypt, and the many rescues that are recorded in the book of Judges. But. all of these favors had been forgotten and they became guilty of one of the greatest faults, that of ingratitude.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 7:13-14. Wo unto them, &c. These are words both of menace and lamentation. The prophet at once foretels and bewails their miseries. For they have fled from me As if it had not been enough that they at first left my government, temple, and worship, they have gone still further from me by their sinful and idolatrous courses. Destruction unto them The ruin of their country and commonwealth will be the consequence of their apostacy. Because they have transgressed against me Rebelliously cast off my authority and laws. Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies, &c. Though I delivered them from the Egyptians, and afforded them many other signal deliverances, yet they have not given me true glory, but have likened me to golden calves, and other images. Idolatry is frequently called in Scripture a lie, because it gives false representations of things; attributing power, &c., to things which, in their own nature, have no such power, or representing the Deity by forms which he is in no way like; therefore it was, properly speaking, changing the truth and glory of God into a lie, or, speaking lies against him. They also belied his corrections, as if not deserved; they belied the good which God had done them, as if it were too little, or not done by him, but by their idols. And they have not cried unto me, when they howled, &c. When they bemoaned their calamities, as sick men bewail themselves upon their beds of sickness; yet they did not call upon me heartily and sincerely. They assemble, &c., for corn and wine, and they rebel, &c. When they assemble themselves to deprecate a famine, they still retain the same disobedient temper toward me.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7:13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have {k} redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
(k) That is, at different times redeemed them, and delivered them from death.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord pronounced doom on the Israelites because He would judge them for straying from Him like sheep from their Shepherd. Destruction would be their punishment because they rebelled against Him. His desire was to redeem them from destruction, but they only spoke lies about His desire and ability to redeem them. That is why they made foreign treaties: to defend themselves since they thought Yahweh would or could not.
"The God of the Exodus is unchanged in His will, but because of Israel’s lies there will be no ’exodus’ from the Assyrian danger." [Note: Mays, p. 111.]