Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 14:9
Who [is] wise, and he shall understand these [things]? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD [are] right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
9. An epilogue or conclusion to the prophecy, unspecializing it, as it were, and extracting the general moral lesson which underlies it all. The tone and language of it remind us of the Book of Proverbs (Pro 11:5; Pro 15:19). The term ‘the righteous’ occurs nowhere else in Hosea.
Who is wise, &c.] Rather, Whoso is wise, let him understand these things (i.e. the foregoing prophecies). One great mark of ‘wisdom’ in the Old Testament sense was a rational acquiescence in the equity of the providential government.
for the ways of the Lord, &c.] The ‘ways of Jehovah’ are those marked out by Him as Governor of the world for the righteous and for the wicked respectively. These ‘ways’ are ‘straight’ or ‘right’ (synonymous with ‘righteous’, as Deu 32:4; Psa 119:37), alike when they spread themselves out in an unbroken level for the pious, and when they oppose themselves in rocky stumbling-blocks to the ungodly. Comp. Pro 11:5; Pro 15:19; Isa 26:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Who is wise and he shall understand these things? – The prophet says this, not of the words in which he had spoken, but of the substance. He does not mean that his style was obscure, or that he had delivered the message of God in a way difficult to be understood. This would have been to fail of his object. Nor does he mean that human acuteness is the key to the things of God. He means that those only of a certain character, those wise, through God, unto God, will understand the things of God. So the Psalmist, having related some of Gods varied chastenings, mercies and judgments, sums up, Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord Psa 107:43. So Asaph says that Gods dealings with the good and bad in this life were too hard for him to understand, until he went into the sanctuary of God; then understood he their end Psa 73:16-17.
In like way Daniel, at the close of his prophecy, sums up the account of a sifting-time, Many shall be purified and made white and tried, and the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand Dan 12:10. As these say that the wise alone understand the actual dealings of God with man, so Hosea says, that the wise alone would understand what he had set forth of the mercy and severity of God, of His love for man, His desire to pardon, His unwillingness that any should perish, His longing for our repentance, His store of mercies in Christ, His gifts of grace and His free eternal love, and yet His rejection of all half-service and His final rejection of the impenitent. Who is wise? The word who is always taken, not for what is impossible, but for what is difficult. So Isaiah saith, Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? Isa 53:1.
Few are wise with the wisdom which is from above; few understand, because few wish to understand, or seek wisdom from Him who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not Jam 1:5. The question implies also, that God longs that people should understand to their salvation. He inquires for them, calls to them that they would meditate on His mercies and judgments. As Paul says, Behold the goodness and severity of God; on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out Rom 11:22, Rom 11:33. Unsearchable to intellect and theory; intelligible to faith and for acting on.
And he shall understand these things – (that is, that he may understand). The worldly-wise of that generation, too, doubtless, thought themselves too wise to need to understand them; as the wise after this world counted the Cross of Christ foolishness.
Prudent – Properly gifted with understanding, the form of the word expressing, that he was endowed with this understanding, as a gift from God. And He shall know them. While the wise of this world disbelieve, jeer, scoff at them, in the name of human reason, he who has not the natural quickness of man only, but who is endued with the true wisdom, shall know them. So our Lord says, If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it is of God Joh 7:17. The word, wise, may especially mean him who contemplates these truths and understands them in themselves, yet plainly so as to act upon them; and the word endued with prudence, may especially describe such as are gifted with readiness to apply that knowledge to practice, in judgment, discrimination, act . By uniting both, the prophet joins contemplative and practical wisdom, and intensifies the expression of Gods desire that we should be endowed with them.
For the ways of the Lord are right – If in the word, ways, the figure is still preserved, the prophet speaks of the ways, as direct and straight; without a figure, as just and upright.
The ways of the Lord – Are, what we, by a like figure, call the course of His providence; of which Scripture says, His ways are judgment Deu 32:4; Dan 4:37; God, His ways are perfect Psa 18:30; the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works Psa 145:17; Thy way is in the sea, and Thy paths in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known Psa 77:19; lo, these are parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard of Him, and the thunder of His power who can understand? Job 26:14; who hath enjoined Him His way, and who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity? Job 36:23. These ways of God include His ordering for us, in His eternal wisdom, that course of life, which leads most directly to Himself. They include, then, all Gods commandments, precepts, counsels, His whole moral law, as well as His separate purpose for each of us. In the one way, they are Gods ways toward us; in the other they are Gods ways for us.
The just shall walk in them – God reveals His ways to us, not that we may know them only, but that we may do them. The end of moral science is not knowledge, but practice, said the Pagan philosopher . But the life of grace is a life of progress. The word, way, implies not continuance only, but advance. He does not say, they shall stand in Gods ways, but they shall walk in them. They shall go on in them upright, safe, and secure, in great peace and with nothing whereat to stumble . In Gods ways there is no stumbling block, and they who walk in them, are free from those of which other ways are full. Whereas, out of Gods ways, all paths are tangled, uneven, slippery, devious, full of snares and pitfalls, God maketh His way straight, a royal highway, smooth, even, direct unto Himself.
But – (and) the transgressors shall fall therein – Literally, shall stumble thereon Psa 119:165. Transgressors, i. e., those who rebel against the law of God, stumble in divers manners, not in, but at the ways of God. They stumble at God Himself, at His All-Holy Being, Three and One; they stumble at His attributes; they stumble at His providence, they stumble at His acts; they stumble at His interference with them; they stumble at His requirements. They rebel against His commandments, as requiring what they like not; at His prohibitions, as refusing what they like. They stumble at His Wisdom, in ordering His own creation; at His Holiness, in punishing sin; but most of all, they stumble at His Goodness and condescension. They have a greater quarrel with His condescension than with all His other attributes. They have stumbled, and still stumble at God the Son, becoming Man, and taking our flesh in the Virgins womb; they stumble at the humility of the Crucifixion; they stumble at His placing His Manhood at the Right Hand of God; they stumble at the simplicity, power and condescension, which He uses in the sacraments; they stumble at His giving us His Flesh to eat; they stumble at His forgiving sins freely, and again and again; they stumble at His making us members of Himself, without waiting for our own wills; they stumble at His condescension in using our own acts, to the attainment of our degree of everlasting glory.
Every attribute, or gift, or revelation of God, which is full of comfort to the believer, becomes in turn an occasion of stumbling to the rebellious. The things which should have been for his wealth, become to him an occasion of falling. They cannot attemper their own wishes and ways to the divine law, because, obeying what they themselves affect, the law of their members, they stumble at that other law, which leadeth unto life Psa 69:22. : With this the prophet sums up all the teaching of the seventy years of his ministry. This is the end of all which he had said of the severity and mercy of God, of the Coming of Christ, and of our resurrection in Him. This is to us the end of all; this is thy choice, Christian soul, to walk in Gods ways, or to stumble at them. As in the days when Christ came in the Flesh, so it is now; so it will be to the end. So holy Simeon prophesied, This Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel Luk 2:34; and our Lord said of Himself, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind Joh 9:39. And Peter; Unto you which believe He is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling and rock of offence, to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient 1Pe 2:7-8. Christ crucified was unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God 1Co 1:23-24. The commandment, which was ordained to life, Paul, when yet unregenerate, found to be unto death Rom 7:10. : Pray we then the Eternal Wisdom, that we may be truly wise and understanding, and receive not in vain those many good things which Christ has brought to the race of man. Let us cleave to Him by that faith, which worketh by love; let us seek the Good, seek the Just, seek the Lord while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near. Whatever God doeth toward ourselves or others, let us account right; for the ways of the Lord are right, and that cannot be unjust, which pleaseth the Just. Whatever He teacheth, whatever He commandeth, let us believe without discussion, and embrace most firmly for that cannot be false, which the Truth hath taught. Let us walk in His ways; for Christ Himself is the Way unto Himself, the Life. : Look up to heaven; look down to Hell; live for Eternity. Weigh a thousand, yea thousands of years against eternity what dost thou, weighing a finite, how vast soever, against Infinity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 14:9
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
Who is wise
There must be prudence and wisdom before we can understand Divine truths; there must be an illumination within. A man may know whether he be prudent and wise by his relishing of Divine truths, for otherwise he is not wise and prudent in these things which are the main. The prophet now comes to shew and defend the equity of Gods ways, how crooked soever they seem to flesh and blood. By ways he understandeth the whole law and Gospel, the whole Word of God; which he calleth right, not only because they are righteous in themselves, but because they reform whatsoever is amiss in us, and rectify us; and work whatsoever is needful for our good and salvation. Gods ways are those wherein He walks to us: the ways that He prescribes us to walk in; and our ways as they are comformable to His. The ways of the Lord are right; as they agree to that which is right or straight; and right likewise, because they lead directly to a right end. Observe that man is not a prescriber of his own way, and that no creatures will is a rule. The Word of the Lord is every way perfect, and brings us to perfection. The best way to come to a good and right end is to, take Gods ways. Shew the divers effects these right ways of God have in two sorts of people, the godly and the wicked.
1. The just shall walk in them. They are just who give to every one their due, and give God His due. They are such as have respect unto all God s commandments. They do things to a good end, even the glory of God and the good of man. They desire to grow in grace and they love the brethren. In the worst times, God will have always a people that shall justify wisdom. Men must have spiritual life, and be just, before they can walk. For our encouragement to walk in Gods ways, know that they are the most safe ways of all; they are the most pleasant, and they are the cleanest and holiest. The transgressors shall fall therein. The same word which is a word of life and salvation to the godly is an occasion of sin and perdition unto the wicked. (R. Sibbes.)
Who are the truly wise and prudent?
I. The character of the persons who would give heed to the words of this prophecy, and to these doctrines.
1. What does the Spirit mean by wise? Wisdom is described in the Book of Proverbs. In it wisdom calls, reproves, and has a spirit to pour out, actions and attributes which belong only to the very and eternal God. In it wisdom is said to be the source of royal and judicial authority. It is described as eternal. It is said to have a temple and sacrifices.. It promises to do that which the Almighty alone can do. It threatens to execute judgment upon those who refuse to accept the proffered mercy. Then who else can wisdom be but the Lord of Hosts? Wise must mean those who make the knowledge of God their chief study and pursuit. They are wise whose heart, mind, and soul are pervaded by wisdom.
2. What does the Spirit mean by prudent? The original means, an understanding one, or a sound reasoner. So the real meaning of the expression differs considerably from the apparent one. The Spirit means an individual who, by diligent searching and study of Gods dispensations and providential visitations, arrives at accurate conclusions with reference to the Almightys promises and threats; to the consequences of obedience and disobedience; to the effects of impenitence and repentance. A prudent man, in Scripture, but especially in this place, means a knowing individual in the deep mysteries of Gods holy Word.
II. The nature of the doctrines taught. The ways of the Lord are right. This is an expression for true religion which binds and knits man to God. True religion is irresistible. What can be more reasonable than that He who made all things for Himself should demand us to Himself? The ways of the Lord are right, with regard to their conformity to the holy nature and will of God, with regard to the peace which they confer.
III. The double use made of the ways of the Lord by different parties. The just shall walk in them: the transgressors shall fall therein. We never make the Word of the Lord our rule of life whereby to walk, until we are made righteous; until the sun of righteousness hath shone in our hearts, and illumined our souls. But how fearful is the doom of those who have despised the wisdom and prudence which the prophet recommended for their knowledge and understanding. The same Being who helps forward the just on their way, and removes every impediment from their path, becomes the insurmountable obstruction in the way of transgressors. Many are the things in the Word of God at which corrupt hearts are apt to stumble. The profoundness and incomprehensibleness of some of its mysterious doctrines, instead of humbling the finite mind and bringing it into subjection to the infinite, puffs up with pride and arrogance the depraved and scanty reason, and makes it exalt itself against Him who is exalted above all. The sanctity and strictness of Gods ways make many an unholy temper and disposition revolt against making those ways their choice. (Moses Margoliouth, B. A.)
The right ways of the Lord
Here the prophet makes an application of his subject.
I. The import of this question of appeal.
1. Vain men would fain be wise. The question implies that the number of the wise and intelligent on these subjects was but small. And those who did not understand such things as the prophet had delivered did not deserve the name of wise and intelligent, however they might assume it to themselves.
I. The important declaration. The ways of the Lord are right. Need not prove this. It is a first principle in religion. It is now before us as matter of reflection.
III. The different views of the ways of God which are entertained, and the different effects produced thereby. The righteous, being taught of God, have a proper and spiritual discernment of things. Transgressors, blinded by the god of the world, discern no spiritual objects in their proper colours. (S. Knight, M. A.)
Gods ways made known unto the wise
The truth is, that men live the chief part of their lives without any knowledge of their own separation from the Lord; they do not understand that sin separates the sinner from his Maker.
I. Who are the wise?
1. They are willing hearers of Gods truth. Like Cornelius of old.
2. Humble receivers of truth. Like the jailer at Philippi.
3. They are careful thinkers. Like Mary, who pondered things in her heart. No others but these can really be spoken of as wise.
II. Gods right ways. He has a right to demand obedience on our part to whatever He may please to lay down. If we walk in His ways we shall have grace to support us, and supply our various wants, we shall have guidance in the hour of difficulty, we shall have our hearts prepared for the enjoyment of those pleasures which are at Gods right hand for evermore. He will give us strength for the day, and grace unto the end. The ways of the just shall be increasingly clear. The wicked shall fall therein. The ways are the same, but men receive them and walk in them differently. That which is really good for those who are anxious to serve God, we are told here, is turned into evil in the case of the wicked. (H. Montagu Villiers, M. A.)
Walking or failing in Gods ways
In the worst times God will have always a people that shall justify wisdom. Some are foolish; not caring for the ways of God, cavilling at them. But the just shall walk in them, that is, they take a contrary course to the world that slights wisdom. In ill times, let us labour to justify truth, both the truth of things to be believed and all just religious courses.
1. Men must have spiritual life, and be just, before they can walk. Walking is an action of life; there must be life before there can be walking. Unless there is first spiritual life in the inward man there will not be a harmony and correspondency betwixt a man and his ways.
2. Because a just man is also a prudent and wise man, he walks in Gods ways. Spiritual wisdom and prudence lead to walking in obedience.
What things doth this walking in the ways of God imply?
1. Perspicuity. Those who walk in the ways of God discern those ways to be Gods ways, and discern them aright.
2. Resolution to go on in those ways till he come to the end, though there be never so much opposition.
How shall we know whether we go on in this way or not?
1. When earthly profits and pleasures seem little, and heaven and heavenly things seem near.
2. It implies a uniform course of life.
3. He who would walk in Gods ways must be resolute against all opposition whatsoever.
The use of this teaching may be–
1. Reprehension unto those who can talk, but not walk; that have tongues, but not feet.
2. It is for instruction, to stir us up to walk in Gods ways.
3. It is for consolation. If this be our walk, then God will walk with us, and the angels of God shall have charge of us, to keep us in all our ways. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
The cause and cure of social evils
It cannot be said that our position as a nation is like that of Israel in those days when she was tottering to her fall. But the same, or very similar, evils to those which proved the ruin of Israel exist among us to a deplorable degree. Those who are familiar with the prophecy will know what I mean when I say that evil is with us at the moth stage, not yet at the lion stage (see chap. 5.). The moth stage is when evil keeps eating like a canker into the vitals of a people, but where there is nothing, or very little, to attract attention; no noise, nothing to alarm. But let the moth stage go on, let corruption increase among the people, and presently the roar of a lion will be heard; there will be tumult and commotion, there will be the outbreak of open rebellion against the powers that be, in heaven and on earth too. Hosea has it for his great object throughout to show the cause and the cure of all these evils. The cause is unfaithfulness to God, and the cure is returning to Him with the whole heart. There is never more vigour in Hoseas tone than when, reminding of the sin of Jehovah, he says, Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off! Has modern society no calf? Does it not make a god of gold? Is not that covetousness which is idolatry a national vice? Israel had a calf at Dan as well as at Bethel. This may be taken to represent the idol of natural law. People trust in the laws of evolution, working through the struggle for existence to the survival of the fittest. The great effort, of these people is to bring man and all that concerns him under the stern operation of that law. What shall we do? A question much more easily asked than answered. There are many reforms, and these by far the most needful and far-reaching in their result, which can only be accomplished by the diffusion of a spirit of love; and this is only possible by a general return of the people to the Lord their God. The humanitarian spirit which is shown by not a few of those who make no profession of faith in God is much to be commended; but it never can by its inherent force make way in society. To flow as a fertilising stream through the waste places of society, it must take its rise in the high mountains of Divine faith and hope and love. The nether springs of human generosity must be fed by the upper springs of Divine grace. (J. Monro Gibson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?] What things? Those which relate to the backslidings, iniquity, and punishment of Israel; and to the mercy and kindness of God in their promised restoration. The things which belong to the work of sin in the heart; the things which belong to the work of grace in the soul; and particularly the things mentioned in this wonderful chapter.
Prudent, and he shall know them?] He who endeavours to understand them, who lays his heart to them, such a person shall understand them.
For the ways of the Lord are right] This is the conclusion which the prophet makes from the whole. All God’s conduct, both in the dispensation of justice and mercy, is right: all as it should be, all as it must be; because he is too wise to err, too good to be unkind.
The just shall walk in them] This is a truth which he will always acknowledge; and illustrate it by a righteous and godly life.
But the transgressors shall fall therein.] Howsoever good they might have been before, if they do not consider the necessity of depending upon God; of receiving all their light, life, power, and love from him; ever evidencing that faith which worketh by love; maintaining an obedient conduct, and having respect to all God’s precepts; they shall fall, even in the “way of righteousness.” When still using the Divine ordinances, and associating with God’s people, they shall perish from the way; and be like Ephraim, who once “spoke trembling,” and “was exalted in Israel,” who was “God’s beloved son,” and “called out of Egypt;” yet, by “offending in Baal,” giving way to “the idols of his heart,” fell from God, fell into the hands of his enemies, and became a wretched thrall in a heathen land.
“Whoso is wise, let him understand these things!
Whoso is prudent, let him know them!”—–
He who is well instructed will make a proper application of what he has here read; will tremble at the threatenings, and embrace the promises, of his God.
The Targum is worthy the most serious attention.
“The ways of the Lord are right, and the just who walk in them shall live for ever; but the ungodly, because they have not walked in them, shall be delivered into hell.”
How instructive, how convincing, how awakening, and yet how consolatory, are the words of this prophecy! Reader, lay them to heart. A godly mind cannot consider them in vain; such shall know them, and know that the ways of the Lord are right.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? though not many wise, yet some methinks; now of those few, who is there that will consider what sins God complains of and threatens to punish in his people, what sins God forbade them so much as once to commit, and peremptorily commanded them to turn from when once committed; what duties he required, what promises he proposed, what patience he used toward them while any hope of their amendment, what severity upon their incorrigible sins? Whoso with any tolerable degree of wisdom will view these things, and seriously consider of them, they will understand, and know that the prophet hath given best advice, and that it is the safest course to follow it.
Prudent, and he shall know them? the same thing doubled with elegancy, and to confirm the word, as is usual in Scripture.
For the ways of the Lord are right; the ways which he would have us walk in towards him, his law, his ordinances of worship, his whole doctrine which directeth our walk, are all righteous and equal. And the ways wherein God walketh toward us, in corrections for sins committed, in suspending his. promises of grace, on conditions of duty, in afflicting or comforting, are all righteous and very equal.
The just shall walk in them; will approve them, all justifying the righteousness of Gods displeasure, and confessing he remembereth mercy in the midst of judgment; and justifying the righteousness of his precepts by endeavouring to observe them.
But the transgressors, wilful, obstinate, and inconsiderate sinners,
shall fall therein; eventually it proves so, they stumble and are offended somewhat at his precepts and commands, but more at his severe judgments; they cast off the one, and vainly hope to shift off the other, till at last they fall under the weight of their own sins and Gods wrath.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. EPILOGUE,summing up the whole previous teaching. Here alone Hosea uses theterm “righteous,” so rare were such characters in his day.There is enough of saving truth clear in God’s Word to guide thosehumbly seeking salvation, and enough of difficulties to confoundthose who curiously seek them out, rather than practically seeksalvation.
fallstumble and areoffended at difficulties opposed to their prejudices and lusts, orabove their self-wise understanding (compare Pro 10:29;Mic 2:7; Mat 11:19;Luk 2:34; Joh 7:17;1Pe 2:7; 1Pe 2:8).To him who sincerely seeks the agenda, God will make plain thecredenda. Christ is the foundation-stone to some: a stone ofstumbling and rock of offense to others. The same sun softens wax andhardens clay. But their fall is the most fatal who fall in the waysof God, split on the Rock of ages, and suck poison out of the Balm ofGilead.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Who [is] wise, and he shall understand these [things]? prudent,
and he shall know them?…. Contained in this book, and particularly in this chapter; which expresses so much of the goodness of God and grace of Christ to Israel; though it may be applied to the whole Scripture, and to all the mysteries and doctrines of the Gospel, respecting Christ and his grace; and be a recommendation of these to the consideration of every wise and prudent man; where he will find enough to exercise his wisdom and understanding; though he need not be discouraged in his search and inquiry into them. It suggests as if there were but few such wise persons, and that they are the only wise men that do know and understand these things; and all others are but fools, let them be thought as wise as they will:
for the ways of the Lord [are] right; straight, plain, even, according to the rules of, justice and equity; there is no unrighteousness in them; none in the ways in which he himself walks; either in his ways and methods of grace, his decrees and purposes, his counsels and covenant; or in his providential dispensations; nor in those he directs others to walk in, the paths of faith and doctrine; or the ways of his commandments:
and the just shall walk in them; such as are, justified by the righteousness of Christ, and have ills grace wrought in them, and live righteously; these walk, and continue to walk, in the ways of God; which shows that the doctrine of justification by Christ’s implored righteousness is no licentious doctrine:
but the transgressors shall fall therein; the transgressors of the law of God, not being used to his ways, as Kimchi’s father observes, stumble in them and fall; or rather, as Jarchi and the Targum, they fall into hell, into ruin and destruction, because they walk not in them; though the sense seems to be, that as Christ himself, so his ways and his word, his doctrines and his ordinances, are stumbling blocks to wicked men, at which they stumble, and fall, and perish; see Lu 2:34 Ro 9:33.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Hos 14:9 (10) contains the epilogue to the whole book. “Who is wise, that he may understand this? understanding, that he may discern it? For the ways of Jehovah are straight, and the righteous walk therein: but the rebellious stumble in them.” The pronoun and the suffix to refer to everything that the prophet has laid before the people in his book for warning, for reproof, for correction, for chastening in righteousness. He concludes by summing up the whole substance of his teaching in the one general sentence, which points back to Deu 32:4: The ways of the Lord are straight. “The ways of Jehovah” ( darkhe Y e hovah ) are the ways taken by God in the guidance and government of men; not only the ways which He prescribes for them, but also His guidance of them. These ways lead some to life and others to death, according to the different attitudes which men assume towards God, as Moses announced to all the Israelites that they would (Deu 30:19-20), and as the Apostle Paul assured the church at Corinth that the gospel of Jesus also would (1Co 1:18).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Prophet, I have no doubt, very often inculcated what he here says, and frequently recalled it to mind, for we know that he had a constant struggle with extreme obstinacy. It was not only for one day that he found the people hard and perverse, but through the whole course of his preaching. Since then the Israelites continued, either openly to despise the Prophet’s teaching, or at least to regard as fables what they heard from his mouth, or to chide him in words, and even to threaten him, when he treated them with severity and when the Prophet saw that the wickedness of the people was irreclaimable, he, being armed with confidence, no doubt went forth very often among them, and said “Ye think that you shall be unpunished, while ye make a mock of what I teach; ye shall surely find at last that the ways of the Lord are right.” And I have already reminded you, that the Prophets, after having harangued the people at large and in many words, reduced at last into brief heads what they had taught; for it is not probable, that since Hosea had so long discharged the office of a teacher, he had spoken only these few things, which might have been gone through in three hours. This is absurd. But when he had diligently attended to the office deputed to him, he afterwards, as I have said, collected together these few chapters, that the remembrance of his teaching might be perpetuated. What he was constrained then often to repeat, he now lays down at the end of his book, that it might be as it were a complete sealing up of his teaching.
Who is wise, he says, and he will understand these things? who is intelligent, and he will know them? This interrogatory mode is expressive; for Hosea was amazed at the fewness of those who yielded themselves to be taught by God. The Israelites no doubt, arrogated to themselves great wisdom, as ungodly men are wont to do. For they seem to themselves to be then especially acute, when they laugh at every thing like piety, when they treat God’s name with scorn, and indulge themselves, as we see at this day, in their own impiety. And this diabolical rage lays hold on many, because they think that they would be very simple and stupid, were they to embrace any thing the Scripture contains. “O! what is faith but foolish credulity?” This is the thought that comes to their minds. There are also filthy dogs, who hesitate not to vomit forth such a reproach as this, “Only believe! But what is this thy believing, but wilfully to give up all judgement and all choice, and to allow thyself to be like mute cattle driven here and there? If then thou art wise, believe nothing.” Thus godless men speak; and hence, as I have said, they pride themselves on their own acuteness, when they can shake off every fear of God and all regard for divine truth. There were many such, we may easily believe, in the time of the Prophet. Since then the whole land was filled with dreadful contempt of God, and yet men commonly thought themselves wise, nay, imagined in their deep thoughts, as Isaiah says, (101) that they could deceive God, he now asks, Who is wise, and he will understand? As though he said, “I indeed see, that if I believe you, ye are all wise; for, imitating the giants, ye dare to rise up against God, and ye think yourselves ingenious when ye elude every truth, when ye proudly tread religion under foot; in this way ye are all wise. But at the same time, if there be any grain of wisdom in you, you must surely acknowledge me to be sent by God, and that what I declare is not the invention of men, but the word of the living God.” We now then see what force there is in this question, when the Prophet says, Who is wise, and he will understand these things? Who is intelligent, and he will know them?
We at the same time see that the Prophet here condemns all the wisdom of men, and as it were thunders from heaven against the pride of those who thus presumptuously mock God; for how much soever they imagined themselves to be pre-eminent, he intimates that they were both blind and stupid and mad. Who then is wise? he says. But at the same time, he shows that the true wisdom of men is to obey God and to embrace his word; as it is said in another place, that wisdom and the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, (Pro 1:7.) Whosoever then wishes to be truly wise, he must begin with the fear of God and with reverence to his word; for where there is no religion, men cannot certainly understand any thing aright. Let us suppose men endued, not only with great clearness of mind, but also with the knowledge of all the sciences; let them be philosophers, let them be physicians, let them be lawyers, let nothing be wanting to them, except that they have no true knowledge of eternal life, would it not be better for them to be mere cattle than to be thus wise, to exercise their minds for a short time on fading things, and to know that all their highly valued treasure shall perish with their life? Surely to be thus wise is far more wretched than if men were wholly void of understanding. Justly then does the Prophet intimate here that those were not only foolish, but also mad, and wholly destitute of all understanding, who regarded not celestial truth, and were deaf to the Prophets, and discerned not when God spake, nor understood the power of his word. All then who are not thus wise, the Prophet justly says, are utterly void of all prudence and judgement: he therefore repeats the same thing, Who is wise, and he will understand these things? Who is intelligent, and he will know them? that is, “If any excels others, he ought surely to show in this particular his wisdom, and if any one is endued with common understanding, he ought to know what this doctrine means, in which the image and glory of God shine forth brightly. All then who know and understand nothing in this respect are no doubt altogether foolish.”
He afterwards adds, For right are the ways of Jehovah He alleges this truth in opposition to the profane rashness of men, who haughtily reject God, and dare to despise his word. Right, he says, are the ways of the Lord: and by saying that they are right, he no doubt glances at the abominable blasphemies which the ungodly have recourse to, when they wish to render the word of God not only odious and contemptible, but also absurd, so as not to deserve any respect. Thus we see at this day, that godless men not only in words reject both the Law and the Prophets, but also search out pretences, that they may appear to be doing right in destroying all faith in the oracles of God. For instance, they seek out every sort of contradiction in Scripture, every thing not well received, every thing different from the common opinion, — all these absurdities, as they call them, they collect together, and then they draw this conclusion, that all those are fools, who submit to any religion, since the word of God, as they say, contains so many absurd things. This raving madness prevailed then no doubt in the world: and the Prophet, by saying that right are the ways of Jehovah, means, that how much soever the ungodly may clamour, or murmur, or taunt, nothing is yet done by the Lord but what is right, and free from every blame and defect. However much then the ungodly may vomit forth slanders against the word of God, it is the same as if they threw dust into the air to darken the light of the sun; just so much they effect, he seems to say, by their audacity: for perfect rectitude will ever be found in the ways of the Lord; his word will ever be found free from every stain or defect.
He then adds, And the just shall walk in them, but in them shall the ungodly stumble By saying that the just shall walk in them, he confirms the last sentence by experience, for the just really find the ways of the Lord to be right We ought also to be furnished with this assurance, if we would boldly repel all the impious calumnies, which are usually heaped together by profane men against the word of God: for if we know not what it is to walk in the ways of the Lord, we shall surely, as soon as any thing is alleged against them, be suspended in doubt, or be wholly upset; for we see that many, not deeply rooted in the word of God, instantly quail, as soon as any thing is said against it, because they know not what it is to walk in the ways of the Lord; but they who walk in the Lord’s ways courageously fight against all the temptations of the world; they carry on the context that they may attain celestial life; they feel assured that though now miserable for a time, they shall yet be blessed, for they have embraced the grace of God in Christ; they are sustained too by their own conscience, so that they can look down on all the reproaches and slanders of the world, and proceed onward in their course. They then who thus walk in the ways of the Lord are unconquerable; yea, were the whole world to oppose them, and were the ungodly with their profane words to infect the whole atmosphere, the godly would still pursue their course until they reached the end. All the ways of Jehovah are therefore right, the just shall walk in them; but in them shall the ungodly stumble, or fall; for כשל, cashel, means both, but I prefer rendering it “stumble,” as it seems more suitable to the design of the Prophet. The just then find a plain and an even way in the word of the Lord, and nothing stands in their path to obstruct their course, and by daily advances they attain that to which the Lord calls them, even their celestial inheritance. The just shall thus walk in the Lord’s ways, because the Lord will lead them, as it were, by his hand; faith will be to them for hundred eyes, and also for wings: and hope, at the same time, sustains them; for they are armed with promises and encouragements; they have also stimulants, whenever the Lord earnestly exhorts them; they have, besides, in his threatenings, such terrors as keep them awake. Thus then the faithful find in the word of the Lord the best ways, and they follow them. But what of the ungodly? They imagine all doubts, even the least, to be mountains: for as soon as they meet with any thing intricate or obscure, they are confounded, and says “I would gladly seek to know the Holy Scriptures but I meet with so many difficulties.” Hence when a doubt is suggested, they regard it as a mountain; nay, they purposely pretend doubts, that they may have some excuse, when they wish to evade the truth, and turn aside that they may not follow the Lord. The ungodly, then, stumble in the ways of Jehovah. But this ought to be read adversatively, “Though the ungodly stumble, yet the just shall always walk in the ways of Jehovah;” which means, that there is no reason why the ungodly should stop or retard us by their continual stumbling, and by exclaiming that the word of God is full of what gives offence; for we shall find in it an even way, only let us ascribe to God this glory, that he is just, and that his ways are right. This is the meaning of the sentence.
End of the Prophecies of Hosea
(101) Isa 19:15. — fj.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Hos. 14:9.] A most important concluding lesson. Wise] Those who are not, cavil at Gods word, and his providence to them is a complete riddle. The prudentproperly gifted with understanding, the form of the word expressing that he was endowed with this understanding, as a gift of Godshall know and discern. Right] Straight and direct, leading to the object. Ways which lead some to life and others to death, according to the attitudes which men assume towards God. The just, the righteous, walk in them and live; sinners deviate from them, stumble and perish. Moses announced to Israel that this would be the result to them (Deu. 30:19-20); Paul tells us that such will be the effect of the gospel at all times (1Co. 1:18).
HOMILETICS
THE WAYS OF GOD AND THE DESTINIES OF MEN.Hos. 14:9
In this epilogue the prophet sums up his teaching, and seeks to justify the ways of God to man. The dealings of God with men are often mysterious and difficult to understand; but are right in themselves, designed to lead to life, and will influence men according to their treatment of them.
I. The ways of God in their aspects towards men. These ways indicate the ways of Providence and the paths of duty; Gods treatment of men and his requirements from them.
1. They are right in themselves. The ways of the Lord are right. No fault can be found with them. (a) They are conformed to the will of God, which is holy and just; the standard of righteousness to the universe. (b) They are the most direct and straight line to a right end. They never deviate from truth and duty. They are more holy and more trustworthy than any code of morals. Invincible in power and unimpeachable in justice. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. (c) They are proved to be right by our moral nature. The written word accords with the human conscience; the law without is confirmed by the testimony within. We have a sense of obligation, approve the right, though we follow the wrong. We are filled with remorse and delight. The work of the law is written in our hearts, our conscience bears witness, and our thoughts accuse or excuse us continually (Rom. 2:15).
2. They are difficult to be understood. Who is wise? Mystery and majesty, justice and mercy, are displayed in Gods providence. We are finite creatures, and should not presume to penetrate the clouds and darkness round about him. There are things hard to be understood in the works as well as in the word of God. We may go forward and backward, on the right hand and on the left, and yet not perceive God (Job. 23:8-10). It is the glory of God to conceal a thing (Pro. 25:2). Little can we at the beginning of any action guess at Gods intention in the conclusion, says Bp Hall. His judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out. Some are obvious and plain; written with beams of light and love; and he that runs may read. Others are obscure and beyond our comprehension. Lo! these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him!
3. Yet enough may be known for the duties of life. The question indicates that some know, that all who wish may know, and do right. The prudent shall know them. Gods ways are unsearchable to the intellectual and the theorist, but intelligible to the humble and the obedient. We know a part, and that is enough to practise. Aristotle teaches that the end of moral science is not knowledge, but practice. Those have the best knowledge who know their duty, says Matt. Henry. Let no man, says South, presume that he can see beforehand into the ways of Providence. His part is to contemplate them in the past, and trust in them for the future: but so trusting, to act always upon motives of human prudence, directed by religious principles.
II. The ways of God in their requirements from men. Who is wise and prudent?
1. They require to be known. Many have a slight acquaintance with them, but few study them. The wise alone meditate upon them and understand them. The proud and self-conceited often scoff and ridicule. A right and teachable disposition is required. He that comes to seek after knowledge with a mind to scorn and censure, shall be sure to find enough for his humour, but none for his instruction [Bacon]. True wisdom is to understand what we have to do, and knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth this. A true heart and a ready mind, a single eye and a right motive, will make the path of duty easy. If any man will (is willing, wishes to) do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.
2. They require to be observed. The just shall walk in them. We are not to speculate, but to obey; not to stand, but walk in the way; not merely continue, but advance in it. Delay and sloth create difficulty, raise a hedge of thorns, and harass to the end of the journey. Exertion and hope will make the way plain and prosperous (Pro. 15:19). Wait not for louder calls and greater opportunities. Duties are ours, events are Gods. To wait for Gods performance and do nothing is to abuse that Divine providence which will always so work as not to allow us to remain in inactivity [Bp Hall]. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Act an honest part.
Look before thee as thou goest,
Do the duty which thou knowest.
III. The ways of God in their influence upon men. Transgressors shall fall therein. Truth will influence according to the method in which it is received. The best blessings may be perverted by malicious dispositions. The things which should have been for his wealth become to him an occasion of falling (Psa. 69:22). Christ himself is set for the rising and falling of many (Luk. 2:34). Hence the ways of God influence men in two methods.
1. The righteous walk in them and live. The wise discern their rectitude and desire to secure their end. The righteous walk in them, become like them, and live in them. There is much to discourage and oppose; but the sincere persevere in holiness, add strength to strength, and enjoy foretastes of heaven. The righteous also shall hold (take firm hold) on his way, and he that is of clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
2. The ungodly deviate from them and perish. If Gods ways lead to life, departing from them must be death. The disobedient stumble at the word and the ways of God. They are offended at the requirements and the providence of God. They transgress, fall, and perish. This is the sum of Hoseas ministry; the fulfilment of ancient prediction (Deu. 30:19-20); and the general effect of gospel preaching (1Co. 1:18). Gods ways are just and true. Those who walk in them shall live, and those who depart from them shall perish. Whoso readeth, let him understand.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 14
Hos. 14:9. Providences are sometimes dark texts; which require an expositor (Gen. 42:36). They that would judge aright of any one of the Lords dispensations must be careful students of them all. They must not slight any work of his, because all, though they may be many and difficult to us, make but one entire work in Gods hand. And every part of that work is a commentary, clearing the nature and use of the whole and Gods intent therein [Nisbet].
Just are the ways of God,
And justifiable to men;
Unless there be who think not God at all.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
EPILOGUE OR POSTSCRIPT
TEXT: Hos. 14:9
9
Who is wise, that he may understand these things? prudent, that he may know them? for the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein.
QUERIES
a.
Why did Hosea add this Epilogue or Postscript?
b.
What does it mean?
PARAPHRASE
Whoever is intelligent will understand what I have written. Whoever acts wisely will be convinced that what I say is true. That is, the ways of Jehovah are the only correct, true and right ways. Furthermore, those who are righteous and just will walk in these ways. The wicked, however, will stumble and fall in them just because they are right and true.
SUMMARY
Gods ways are straight and true, and we walk, or fall, according to our relationship with those ways.
COMMENT
Hos. 14:9 WHO IS WISE, THAT HE MAY UNDERSTAND THESE THINGS? . . . The RSV puts this verse in the form of a declaration and we prefer it that way. Moses declared long before Hosea that keeping and doing the commandments of the Lord was wisdom and understanding (cf. Deu. 4:3-9). Compare also Psa. 111:10; Pro. 1:7; Pro. 9:10; Pro. 30:3-5. Hoseas challenge is that whoever was wise and prudent in Israel in his day would comprehend that what he was preaching was right! Prudent means acting according to intelligence; squaring conduct with conviction.
We may summarize the teachings of Hosea and make them applicable for today: (1) Sin separates from God, and blinds us, so that we lose the vision of Him; (2) Idolatry follows inevitably a loss of the vision of Him. (3) Hosea then reveals the heart and the holiness of GodHis love is freely given and eternal, but it is never divorced from moral requirement on the part of man.
We, today, are living in fuller light than Hosea had. We see God as Hosea never saw Him, We see Him in Jesus Christ. There seeing Him, we know, as never before, that He can make no terms with sin; but we know that he stops at no sacrifice in order that He may heal our backsliding.
If we are guilty of idolatry, what will cure us? The vision of God the Supreme Lover, as He is seen in Jesus Christ.
Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?
Is not thine a captured heart?
Chief among ten thousand own Him,
Joyful choose the better part.
Idols once they won thee, charmed thee,
Lovely things of time and sense;
Gilded thus does sin disarm thee,
Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence.
What has stript the seeming beauty
From the idols of the earth?
Not a sense of right or duty,
But the sight of peerless worth.
Not the crushing of those idols,
With its bitter void and smart;
But the beaming of His beauty,
The unveiling of His heart.
Who extinguishes their taper
Till they hail the rising sun?
Who discards the garb of winter
Till the summer has begun?
Tis that look that melted Peter,
Tis that face that Stephen saw,
Tis that heart that wept with Mary,
Can alone from idols draw.
Draw and win and fill completely,
Till the cup oerflows the brim;
What have we to do with idols
Who have companied with Him?
THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
by Francis Thompson
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beatand a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet
All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.
I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwinning charities;
(For, though I knew His love Who followed,
Yet was I ere adread
Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside.)
But, if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of His approach would clash it to:
Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clanged bars;
Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o the moon.
I said to Dawn: Be suddento Eve: Be soon;
With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!
I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deciet.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue;
Or whether, Thunder-driven,
They clanged his chariot thwart a heaven,
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o their feet
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet,
And a Voice above their beat
Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me.
I sought no more that after which I strayed
In face of man or maid;
But still within the little childrens eyes
Seems something, something that replies,
They at least are for me, surely for me!
I turned me to them very wistfully;
But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
Come then, ye other children, Naturesshare
With me (said I) your delicate fellowship;
Let me greet you lip to lip,
Let me twine with you caresses,
Wantoning
With our Lady-Mothers vagrant tresses,
Banqueting
With her in her wind-walled palace,
Underneath her azured dais,
Quaffing, as your taintless way is,
From a chalice
Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring.
So it was done:
I in their delicate fellowship was one
Drew the bolt of Natures secrecies.
I knew all the swift importings
On the wilful face of skies;
I knew how the clouds arise
Spumed of the wild sea-snortings;
All thats born or dies
Rose and drooped with; made them shapers
Of mine own moods, or wailful or divine;
With them joyed and was bereaven.
I was heavy with the even,
When she lit her glimmering tapers
Round the days dead sanctities.
I laughed in the mornings eyes.
I triumphed and I saddened with all weather,
Heaven and I wept together,
And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;
Against the red throb of its sunset-heart
I laid my own to beat,
And share commingling heat;
But not by that, was eased by my human smart.
In vain my tears were wet on Heavens grey cheek.
For ah! we know not what each other says,
These things and I; in sound I speak
Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.
Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drouth;
Let her, if she would own me,
Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me
The breasts o her tenderness:
Never did any milk of hers once bless
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
And past those noised Feet
A voice comes yet more fleet
Lo! naught contents thee, who contentst not Me.
Naked I wait Thy loves uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
And smitten me to my knee;
I am defenseless utterly.
I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihood of my young powers,
I stood the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o the mounded years
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
Yea, faileth now each dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist;
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
Ah! is Thy love indeed
A weed, albeit an amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?
Ah! must
Designer Infinite!
Ah! must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it?
My freshness spent its wavering showed i the dust;
And now my heart is as a briken fount,
Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, spilt down over
From the dank thoughts that shiver
Upon the sighful branches of my mind.
Such is; what is to be?
The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind?
I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
From the hid battlements of Eternity;
Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then
Round the half-glimpsed turrets slowly wash again.
But not ever him who summoneth
I first have seen, unwound
With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned;
His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.
Whether mans heart or life it be which yields
Thee harvest, must Thy harvest-fields
Be dunged with rotten death?
Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
And is thy earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught (He said).
And human love needs human meriting:
How hast thou merited
Ol all mans clotted clay the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou mightst seek it in My arms.
All which thy childs mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
As, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(9) Who is wise.Hosea hands his words over to all students of the ways of God. The exhortation to wisdom is expressed in the form of a question. Wisdom and wise men take in the later Hebrew literature the place of prophecy and prophets. Wisdom interprets both the word and its fulfilment. Christs own teaching goes beyond wisdom and prudence (Mat. 11:28; comp. 1Co. 1:20): it was spirit and life (Joh. 6:63).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Who is wise, that he may understand these things?
Prudent, that he may know them?
For the ways of YHWH are right,
And the righteous will walk in them,
But transgressors will fall in them.’
There is a hint of wisdom writing in these final words (compare the similar parallel situation in Psa 107:43), but it will be noted that whilst the wisdom writers in the Old Testament always contrast ‘the righteous’ with ‘the wicked’, here Hosea contrasts ‘the righteous’ with ‘transgressors’. Being familiar with wisdom writing he calls on it and fashions it in accordance with his own purpose, at least in the first two lines. We should, however, note that the thoughts behind the second two lines are found elsewhere in Scripture, in what some would call ‘Deuteronomic’ literature, with the phrase ‘the ways of YHWH’ appearing in 2Sa 22:22 (and not appearing in any wisdom literature). Compare also Psa 138:5; Deu 32:4. Furthermore the thought of ‘walking in His ways’ is comparable to Deu 10:12 (compare also Deu 5:33). Reference to ‘transgressors’ is found in the Davidic Psa 51:13 and in Isa 1:28 (whose ministry would by now be under way).
That being said Hosea’s purpose here is simply to make his readers consider his prophecy more deeply, something which indicates that the heart of the prophecy is by this stage already in writing. He is emphasising, with all the authority of a wisdom teacher, that the wise and the prudent will take note of what he has said, and with all the authority of the Scriptures available to him that they will do so because YHWH’s ways are right, and because those who are righteous will therefore walk in them.
In contrast he points out that transgressors will fall in them. So all must consider seriously which path they take, and will know whether they are righteous or transgressors by how they respond. Furthermore while the wise will know that His ways are right, it is the righteous who will walk in them. It is a reminder that it is possible to be ‘wise’ without being obedient, and that that then makes the person a transgressor.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 14:9. Who is wise, &c. Many interpreters are of opinion, that the prophet here hints at the obscurity of his prophesy: as much as to say, “Behold, I have set before you what is dark and difficult, surrounded with obscurity: who will have penetration sufficient to enter into and develope the mystery?” See Calmet, and Bishop Reynolds’s Sermons on this chapter; where the reader will find a variety of useful and improving remarks.
Transgressors It should be rendered revolters. poshiim. This word expresses a degree and enormity of disobedience far beyond any thing contained in the notion of “transgressors, prevaricators,” or any other denomination of guilt, by which the word is rendered in our English Bible. It denotes rebels, in the highest sense of the word; and, in a religious sense, such as wilfully, with premeditation, disobey God from hatred of his authority. It is bold avowed rebellion, or revolt, disowning the authority of the sovereign, and having for its end the overthrow of his sovereignty. But it will be said, Who ever was so mad, as to avow or entertain a design or hope of overthrowing the sovereignty of God? I say, numbers in all ages of the world. Atheists, deists, idolaters, and secular powers that persecute revealed religion. Many of these, indeed, retain the name of a god, or gods, as signifying, in their conceptions, an animus mundi, or physical powers in the different parts of the material world. But they all disown and oppose the God of the Old Testament, and the New; the God of Jews, and of Christians. And they endeavour what they can to overthrow his authority, by uniting their efforts (in vain, but much in earnest) for the extirpation of the Christian religion. If those, who, in the present day, are the most forward, and most powerful, in this work of impiety, affect a partiality for the Jews; it is because they hope to draw them in, to take part in the demolition of Christianity; and, when that is effected, they expect to find in Judaism an easy conquest. Whether any part, or what part, of the Jews may be drawn into this snare of hell, we presume not to predict. We hope that the great majority of that race will have too much discretion to be duped. This at least we know, that ultimately the whole race of Israel, of the natural Israel, will return and seek Jehovah their God, and the David their king. They shall return, and, sitting under his shadow, they will flourish. The head of the faction leagued against us and them, against our God and theirs, is the devil. If I am not much mistaken, he is more than once named in Scripture posheang, The Rebel, The Apostate. And the same participle in the plural, which is the word here, denotes the followers of that chief, rebels, revolters. See Bishop Horsley. This ninth verse, the close of Hosea’s written prophesies, much resembles those grave moral sayings, with which the Greek dramas are usually closed by the chorus; but for the weightiness of the matter, and the simplicity, brevity, and solemnity of easy unaffected diction, it is not to be equalled by any thing that the Attic muse, in her soberest mood, produced.
REFLECTIONS.1st, A door of hope is here opened for God’s believing people. He is not inexorable, if we will return: he waiteth to be gracious.
1. They are called upon and enjoined to come to him. O Israel, return unto the Lord, who is still ready to receive the perishing but returning sinner, to pardon and save him; and, though so long rejected, will not in that case refuse to be called thy God: for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity, which then, now, and ever, was, is, and will be, the cause of all our miseries; but when we see, feel, and lament it, and turn to God, then shall not iniquity be our destruction.
2. Words are suggested to them, suitable to their state and condition. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto him, Take away all iniquity, this being the first great want of the penitent sinner’s soul. His guilt lies upon him as a heavy burden, which he longs to have removed; his corruptions thrust sore at him, and he is without power of himself to help himself: earnestly, therefore, he prays for a sense of God’s pardoning love, to deliver him from the condemnation of sin, of all sin, as blotted out through the blood of Jesus; and for power against iniquity, against every iniquity, that it may be mortified and conquered by divine grace: and receive us graciously; for we have no desert to plead, but the very reverse: or receive good; accept us and our services as well-pleasing in Christ Jesus: or give good, every blessing which we need, and the ability for that goodness which thou dost enjoin; for from him alone cometh every good and perfect gift: so will we render the calves of our lips, those sacrifices of praise which shall please the Lord better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofs. Asshur shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, seeking to Assyria or Egypt for help; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods, their idols being renounced and abhorred; and thus the returning sinner, who in simplicity approaches a pardoning God, feels his heart constrained to part with every idol; to renounce his most easily besetting sin; to disclaim all dependence upon his own doings and duties, and every trust upon creature help, that he may solely rest on the blood, the infinite merit, and the Spirit of a Redeemer, and expect his whole salvation from the rich and unmerited grace of God. For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. It is God’s great honour and glory, that he doth not despise nor reject the prayer of the poor destitute penitent: nay, though our distresses arise from our own folly and perverseness, he will not therefore cast us out, if we penitently apply to him for mercy; but the more magnify the wonders of his mercy in the depths of our misery, and in the views of our utter unworthiness.
2nd, Great and precious are the promises recorded in this chapter, in answer to the prayer of real penitence. God assures the penitent,
1. Of the removal of that wrath which they dreaded: mine anger is turned away from him. There is no wrath in God against the sinner who returns to him through Jesus Christ, and pleads the full atonement and infinite merit of his divine Substitute.
2. I will love them freely. Sin, the cause of his displeasure, being now through the Redeemer forgiven and blotted out, he can, consistently with his own glory, love them; and he will do it freely, not in consideration of any desert in his believing people, for they have none; but according to his own rich mercy and amazing love.
3. I will heal their backsliding; recover his returning people from their sinful departures, apply the suitable medicines of grace to their wounds, and deliver them from the power of all that iniquity against which they pray.
4. He will quicken, comfort, stablish, strengthen, settle them. I will be as the dew unto Israel, refreshing the parched ground; and so do his Word and Spirit revive the drooping heart of the poor dejected sinner. He shall grow as the lily, in the beauty of a gracious profession, and the unsullied exemplariness of a good conversation; and cast forth his roots as Lebanon, firm rooted on the rock Christ, enabled to withstand every stormy blast of temptation and the united force of earth and hell. Thus in the faithful believer the purity of the lily and the strength of the cedar are united. His branches shall spread, the gospel-church being enlarged with converts, and each believing soul increasing in the knowledge and love of God; and, abounding in every good word and work, his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, whose leaves are ever green; so pleasing in the beauty of holiness shall God’s people appear; and his smell as Lebanon, the graces that he exercises, and the acceptable sacrifices that he offers, fragrant as the odoriferous trees which grew on that famed mountain. They that dwell under his shadow shall return, under the shadow of Jesus, which covers the genuine believer from the scorching heat of a fiery law, and refreshes the soul of the weary; and to him shall they confidently fly for shelter and consolation; they shall revive as the corn, which in the spring vegetates strongly after the nipping blasts of winter’s cold; so the saints of God rise from their afflictions and temptations, fairer and stronger than before; and grow as the vine, supported by the divine power, and fruitful in all good works, to the praise and glory of God; and the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon, diffusing their fragrance, and by their examples and gracious discourse serving as cordials to revive the dejected and disconsolate.
3rdly, We have,
1. Penitent Ephraim’s final determination. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? with abhorrence casting them away, and purposing in the strength of divine grace to return to them no more. Thus does the converted soul renounce, with detestation, its once most beloved sins; not that we can fulfil the least of these resolutions in our own natural strength, but by the grace of God, and by his love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us. No. It is God who promises, that he will enable penitent returning Ephraim to speak thus; and he will give him the ability to perform his resolutions.
2. God’s gracious regard towards him. I have heard him, and observed him; heard his prayers, and seen his tears, and noted all the gracious purposes which his heart has formed; for God delights to behold the returning prodigal, and looks with tenderest compassion and warmest affection on him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, ready to answer and relieve all his complaints.
3. The Lord will bless, protect, and save him. I am like a green fir-tree. Under the shadow of Jesus, his believing people sit with delight, safe from the sultry beams of day, and protected from storm and rain, from every spiritual enemy, and from the power of evil: from me is thy fruit found; all our spiritual blessings being derived from him, and all our fruits of grace springing from the supplies ministered by him the living root, are therefore to be ascribed entirely to his praise and glory.
4. The prophet closes with recommending these words to our most serious attention: Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? such will be inquisitive into the mind of God, and searching the scriptures daily, shall be enlightened with the knowledge of the truth: for the ways of the Lord are right, all his dispensations of providence and grace being consonant to the strictest rules of eternal justice; and the more they are truly understood, the more shall we acknowledge them to be so; and the just shall walk in them; obedient to his will, submissive to his providences; but the transgressors shall fall therein; the same word, which is a savour of life unto life to some, will prove the savour of death unto death to others, through their disobedience to God’s word, or their abuse of the most glorious truths contained therein; the same doctrines of gospel-grace affording the sweetest consolations, and suggesting to the faithful the strongest arguments for all holy conversation, while the hypocrite and apostate suck from them deadly poison, and make that which should have been for their help an occasion of falling.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1179
SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE PECULIAR TO GODS PEOPLE
Hos 14:9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
TO guide mankind into the way of peace, and to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation to their souls, is certainly the most pleasant and honourable employment in the world: but it is an employment accompanied, for the most part, with heavy discouragements, and those peculiar to itself. If we labour to convey instruction in any branch of science, we find our labours attended with some degree of success to all: for though all make not the same proficiency, yet all reap some advantage. This however is very far from being the case when we would impart spiritual knowledge: some, blessed be God! receive benefit; but the generality of our hearers continue as ignorant and blind as ever. Many indeed get somewhat of head-knowledge; but as to any saving experience of the things we teach (and that alone is worthy the name of knowledge), few, very few, attain to it. Nor is this unteachableness peculiar to the present age: it is frequently represented in the Scriptures as a subject of lamentation, not only to the prophets, but even to God himself. How often does God call his people foolish and unwise; and, with a mixture of tenderness and disappointment, say, O that they were wise, and that they understood these things [Note: Deu 32:6; Deu 32:29.]! Hence the inspired writers, as though they had no expectation that all should profit from their instructions, express themselves as looking for success only among those who were endued with heavenly wisdom. Thus the Psalmist, after expatiating largely upon the goodness of God, both in his works of providence and grace, concludes the psalm [Note: Psalms 107.] with saying, Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. And in nearly the same terms the Prophet Hosea, having preached no less than seventy years with very little effect, and having comprised the principal and most important parts of the Divine messages in a book, concludes the whole with these most affecting words; Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right; and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.
From these words we shall take occasion to shew,
I.
Who they are that will understand divine things
[The things which the prophet is speaking of in the former part of our text, are the same which he afterwards calls the ways of the Lord. Now we might be led to suppose that he refers to the sins against which he had guarded them, the duties he had inculcated, the punishments he had denounced, and the blessings which he had promised them in the name of God; seeing that these things are the general scope of the whole book: but he limits his own words to one particular sense, and teaches us to understand him as speaking, not so much of those ways wherein God had walked towards them, as of the ways wherein they were to walk before him: and therefore the things which the wise only can understand, are the things which pertain to vital experimental religion: and indeed this best agrees with the preceding context; for through the whole chapter, God delineates the experience of true penitents, and shews, that when he shall come down as the dew upon their souls, they shall resemble the olive in their beauty, the lily in their growth, the cedar in their stability, the wines of Lebanon in their fragrancy, and the corn itself, or vine, in their fruitfulness. These things, it must be confessed, surpass the comprehension of the natural man; and therefore the prophet adds, Who is wise, and he shall understand these things; prudent, and he shall know them.
But here we must attentively consider whom the prophet intends under the description of the wise and prudent? Is it worldly wisdom and worldly prudence of which he speaks in such high terms? Are these the great requisites for the right understanding of spiritual matters? Surely not; this cannot be the meaning of the prophet; for then he would directly oppose the whole tenour of the sacred writings. Carnal wisdom and prudence are universally represented in the Scriptures as most adverse to divine truth, and as the greatest obstacles to the attainment of spiritual knowledge. Hear how St. Paul speaks of the wisdom and prudence of this world, in 1Co 1:18, and following verses; The preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God; for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? for, after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Then, in ver. 26, he appeals to their own experience and observation; Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, that no flesh should glory in his presence. If any additional testimony were needed, we might take that of our Lord himself, who not only affirmed the same truth, but was exhilarated and comforted by the consideration of it, and made it the subject of his devoutest thanksgiving: I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. God indeed has been pleased in all ages to enlighten and convert some who were reputed wise; because he would shew to all the world, that his truths, however despised, were consistent with the profoundest wisdom, and capable of enlarging the most refined understanding: nevertheless, the wise and prudent of this world have always been the foremost to reject the truth of God. None cavilled more at our Lords discourses than the Scribes and Pharisees; nor were any more contemptuous in their treatment of Paul than the philosophers at Athens. We may be sure, therefore, that such are not the persons intended by the prophet in my text?
Who then are the wise? who are the prudent? First, they are those whose understandings have been enlightened by the Holy Ghost. True wisdom is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. We have not the smallest spark of it by nature: on the contrary, we are blind; and folly is bound up in our hearts: nor unless He, who first commanded light to shine out of darkness, shine into our hearts, can we ever see one ray of that divine glory which shines in the person of Jesus Christ. Hence they who are truly wise have learned that most humiliating lesson, to become fools, that they may be wise: they have been deeply convinced that they needed a divine illumination, and have obtained it in answer to their prayers: to them has been fulfilled that blessed promise, All thy children shall be taught of God. This therefore is the first part of the wise mans character, that he has been taught by the Holy Ghost. But a further mark whereby the wise and prudent are to be distinguished is, that they view things in their proper colours; they no longer call good evil, and evil good; they no longer put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; but they see things in the light of Gods word, and estimate every thing, in a measure, according to the judgment of God respecting it: the body appears to them of small value, when set in competition with the soul; nor do the enjoyments or sufferings of this present world appear worthy to be compared with the glory that shall ere long be revealed in them. Sin is now considered by them as a most tremendous evil, more to be shunned than death itself: and a life of holiness appears to be the perfection and happiness of man. But most of all, true wisdom and prudence discover themselves in this, that they unite their influence to govern our whole lives: I Wisdom dwell with prudence, says Solomon. They who are truly enlightened do not rest satisfied with clear notions, but desire to have their practice conformable to the convictions of their minds: they therefore take the word of God as a light to their feet and a lantern to their paths: they strive to walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long: this, I say, is the best evidence of their wisdom; for indeed it is the very beginning of wisdom; as Solomon has observed, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and as Job also says, The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, that is understanding [Note: Chap. 28:28.].
We see then who are the wise and prudent. Not they who boast of their intellectual powers, and abound with human learning, but those who are taught of God to judge and act agreeably to the sacred oracles.
Now these persons shall have a true knowledge and understanding of divine things: the ways of the Lord shall be clear to them from their own experience: they shall know how delightful it is to live a life of faith on the Son of God: they shall understand what it is to have fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ: they shall enjoy that sweet security which they possess, who are instructed in the Covenant of Grace, and who know the faithfulness of a promise-keeping God. These indeed are secrets hid from the natural man; but we are assured, that they are, and shall be, revealed unto those who are spiritual: David says, (and he himself had experienced the truth of it,) The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will shew them his covenant.]
But this knowledge is peculiar to the persons above described; and this leads me to shew you,
II.
Why this knowledge is peculiar to them
[Two reasons the prophet assigns: one taken from the peculiar excellence of the things known, and the other from the use which different persons make of them.
The first reason is taken from the excellence of the things knownWho is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right. There is a rectitude in a life of godliness; there is something in it which is fit and proper in itself; something which is agreeable to the mind and will of God; something which is calculated to promote the perfection and happiness of man. The most refined reason cannot conceive any thing more fit and becoming, than that He, whose loveliness and loving-kindness are infinite, should be the supreme object of our affections; or that He who is omnipotent, immutable, and eternal, should be honoured, trusted, and obeyed with our whole hearts. To a carnal eye, that views only the Majesty of God, it might appear unsuitable, that the Deity should condescend to commune with such sinful worms: but his condescension and grace reflect a lustre on all his other attributes, and overwhelm us with wonder and astonishment. As for the pleasantness and peace which are found in the ways of religion, or the effect of it on our hearts and lives, we have the united testimony of all who ever devoted themselves to it, that in keeping of Gods commandments there is great reward. Indeed it is this excellency which helps the godly to know and understand the things themselves; at least it helps to enlarge and perfect their knowledge of them. The Holy Spirit first leads them to a life of godliness, and then discovers to them how fit in itself, how honourable to God, and beneficial to man, such a life is: and then this discovery confirms them in their ways: confirms them, I say, beyond every thing in the world; so that though they began to walk in the Lords ways from the fear of hell, and from a desire after heaven, they now walk in his ways because they are right; they now see, that to yield themselves a living sacrifice to God is the most reasonable service in the world: and so much is their knowledge and understanding confirmed by this discovery of the rectitude and excellency of Gods ways, that they would wish to walk in them, even though there were no heaven to reward their obedience, nor any hell to punish their disobedience: they can say with David, I esteem thy commandments concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way; that is, My soul approves the way of duty, therefore would I walk in it, and not for the sake of the reward: I hate sin, and therefore would I avoid it to the uttermost, and not merely because I am afraid of punishment: I would not be excused from my duty, if I might; nor would I practise sin, though I might do it with impunity. On the other hand, this very excellency is one reason why none but the wise and prudent can know these things. A weak and disordered eye cannot bear the light. This is true with respect to spiritual light, as well as to the light of the sun. Our Lord says, that the ungodly hate the light, neither come to the light; they love darkness rather than light. If we draw a picture of morality, the amiableness of it will commend itself to them; but if we set before them a life of godliness, they are dazzled by it; they are hurt with it; its splendour, like that of the sun, overwhelms them: it is so high above them, that they cannot comprehend it: not having a spiritual discernment, they account it foolishness: it appears to them more like the ravings of enthusiasm, than the words of truth and soberness: they know not how to annex a proper meaning to our words: being low and carnal in their apprehensions, they cannot rise above a carnal sense of our expressions. We see therefore, that the very excellency of these things is one reason why the true knowledge of them is peculiar to the wise and prudent. Thus it was in our Lords time: he told his hearers, that the reason they murmured at his words was, that their apprehensions were carnal, whereas his words were spiritual: Doth this offend you? The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. At another time he said, Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my words.
The other reason assigned by the prophet is taken from the use which different persons make of spiritual truths: The just, he observes, will walk in them, but the transgressors will fall therein.
Now the just and righteous, as far as they are acquainted with the ways of God, will endeavour to walk in them: they desire to reduce every truth to practice, and wish to have even the thoughts of their hearts brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ: and their knowledge is wonderfully furthered and advanced by this disposition: their apprehension is quickened by the previous disposition which they feel to embrace the truth; and their memory is strengthened by the love which they bear towards it, when once it is discovered. Hence unenlightened persons, who have studied the Scriptures critically for many years, are often not half so well acquainted with them as others of very inferior abilities, who, under the influence of such a disposition, have studied them but a short time: to the one, the Bible is a sealed book; its contents are dark, intricate, and unintelligible: to the other, it is clear, perspicuous, and easy to be understood: the one meets with nothing but difficulties and stumbling-blocks; the other has a clew to every truth contained in it. And whence is it that the one knows the mysteries of the kingdom, while the other sees nothing but dark and obscure parables? Our Lord enables us to solve this difficulty; If any man, says he, will do my will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God; his disposition and desire to do my will shall operate in such a manner as greatly to facilitate the understanding of my word.
On the other hand, the indisposition which others feel towards the ways of God will prevent the introduction of Divine knowledge into the soul: the transgressors will fall therein. The pillar and the cloud by which God led the Israelites, may serve to illustrate the operation of his word, by which he leads us: the cloud was a pillar of fire to give light to the Israelites by night, while it was a cloud of darkness towards the Egyptians, insomuch that they could not advance, but were obstructed in their march by means of it. Now so it is with the word of God: to Gods people, it exhibits a bright and luminous appearance, so that they can walk in the light of it: but to transgressors, who do not desire above all things to be conformed to it, it is an offence: to the former it is a savour of life unto life; but unto the latter it is a savour of death unto death: yea, Christ himself, who is the sum and substance of the Bible, is to the former a sanctuary; but to the latter a snare and a gin, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, by means of which many are snared, and taken, and fall, to their more aggravated condemnation. Daily experience shews us that the strictness and purity of Gods ways are an offence unto many: they take occasion from what they hear to shew their enmity against God, more than ever they would have done, if the light had not been thus set before them: Christ being set forth, they make him only a sign to be spoken against; and thus the thoughts of their hearts are revealed. And that this vile and wicked disposition blinds them more than ever, we are sure from the testimony of our Lord: the Pharisees had shut their hearts against conviction, and then were incensed against our Lord for intimating that they were blind; Are we blind also? Upon which our Lord answers them, If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. It is evident therefore, that the very opposite uses which different persons make of the ways of God, must necessarily, and of themselves, as well as by Divine appointment, contribute greatly to enlighten the one, while the others are confirmed in ignorance and unbelief.]
Let us now conclude with an application of the foregoing truths;
1.
To those who are unacquainted with the truths and ways of God
[Many, it is to be feared, there are among you, who are wise and prudent enough with respect to the things of this world, but yet are miserably ignorant of the nature and excellency of vital godliness. Your own consciences testify, that you know not what it is to have God come down as the dew upon your souls: you know not what is meant by that beauty, that growth, that stability comma; that fragrancy, and that fruitfulness, which characterize the true Christian. Nay, some perhaps, instead of experiencing these things in their own souls, are hurt and offended by the very mention of them: instead of judging the ways of the Lord to be right, they are ready to condemn them as enthusiastic or righteous overmuch. To all such persons therefore, whether they be only ignorant of these things, or have taken offence at them, we must testify, that the ways of the Lord are right: whatever exception may be taken against them, they will assuredly prove right in the issue: Wisdom will be justified of all her children.We may challenge all the world to shew, that there is any thing unreasonable in a life of devotedness to God, or that such a life is not calculated to make us happy. Let me therefore entreat you to seek the knowledge of these things: your not having the wisdom and learning of this world will be no obstacle to your proficiency in divine knowledge: it is spiritual wisdom that you want: seek wisdom therefore from Him who has promised to give it liberally, and without upbraiding: seek prudence also; for a prudent man, says Solomon, foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on and are punished. But if you will not be persuaded, remember what God has said, My people perish for lack of knowledge; and again, They are a people of no understanding; therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them, and He that formed them will shew them no favour. Such declarations as these fully prove how awful it is to remain in ignorance: and therefore I entreat you all to improve your present opportunities. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and, with all your getting, get understanding.]
2.
To those who know and walk in the ways of God
[What do you owe to God, my Brethren, for the divine wisdom and prudence which he has bestowed upon you! Surely you were once foolish and unwise, even as others; and perhaps were ready to say of those who felt what you now experience, Thou art beside thyself: much attention to religion hath made thee mad. Well, bless God that your eyes are opened, and that, though ye were once blind, ye now see. Yet rest not in what ye have attained: you know but little yet in comparison of what remains to be known: there are heights and depths in divine things, which will be opened more and more to your view to all eternity; and the promise is, that you shall know, if you follow on to know the Lord: therefore seek to grow in knowledge and in grace: while others stumble at the word, and make the ways of God an occasion of falling, do you be pressing forward; and let your profiting appear unto all men. Pray more and more for a spirit of wisdom and understanding; and endeavour, with truly Christian prudence, to act up to the convictions of your conscience: so shall your knowledge and holiness advance each other, till you come to that blessed place, where faith shall be turned into sight, and hope be consuminated in enjoyment.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
BLESSED be God for the sweet and precious doctrines contained in this Chapter. May God the Holy Ghost write their full import on the heart both of Writer and Reader. I would pray for grace to see my own state described in the first part of it. Indeed every child of God may truly exclaim, I am the man that hath fallen by my iniquity. The Lord help me therefore to take with me words, even God’s own words, and come to the throne of grace, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and find grace, mercy, and peace from Him, in whom the fatherless findeth mercy.
And oh! thou blessed Emmanuel! speak to my soul, yea, speak to every regenerated soul in those reviving words of thine, I will heal thy backsliding; I will love thee freely; I will be as the dew unto Israel
And do thou grant, oh! thou blessed Spirit of truth, in thy sweet office of glorifying the Lord Jesus, that through thy gracious influences I may be kept from anymore going after my former idols. Yea, give me to see that Jesus is the source of all my strength, hope, and consolations; that in Him is my fruit found, and all my fresh springs are in Him.
Farewell Hosea! adieu thou faithful servant of the Lord! Well hast thou ministered to the Church by thy writings in all ages, from thy days to the present hour; and shown in what man’s ruin is found, and in whom alone is salvation. And while I bless the Great Head of his Church for thy ministry: my soul desires to go forth in thanks-givings and praises to the Lord God, in whom alone thy ministry, or all the ministry of men or angels can be profitable; in that Jesus doth bless, and will bless his holy word by his servants the prophets. Praises be to Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for those blessed writings of inspiration! May the Lord go on to commission them to his glory, who in times past spake to the Fathers by the Prophets. But still more would we give praises to God, who hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son. Oh! thou Lord God of the Prophets! everlasting blessings be thine, to whom all the Prophets give witness, that whosoever believeth in thee, shall have eternal life. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 14:9 Who [is] wise, and he shall understand these [things]? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD [are] right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
Ver. 9. Who is wise and he shall understand these things ] A pathetic perclose, whereby the prophet (orator-like) would leave a sting in the hearts of his hearers, and so seal up, and set on all that he had said before, conclusio gnomica, exclamatio emphatica.
Who is wise?
And he shall understand these things
For the ways of the Lord are right
And the just shall walk in them
But the transgressors shall fall therein
“ Linea ducta mihi est, gratia, Christe, tibi. ”
“By the plumline it has been leading to me, oh Christ by grace to thee”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Who is wise . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6. Concluding the whole book, like Psa 107:43.
wise. Hebrew. chakam (adjective) See note on Pro 1:2. Compare Psa 107:43. Jer 9:12. Dan 12:10.
prudent = [who is] understanding? Hebrew. binah. See ‘ note on Pro 1:2. Here it is the passive = gifted with understanding.
right = upright. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 32:4). Compare Job 26:14; Job 36:23. Psa 18:30; Psa 18:77, Psa 18:19; Psa 145:17. Pro 10:29. Dan 4:37.
just = righteous.
transgressors. Hebrew. pasha’. App-41ix.
fall therein = stumble in them. Compare Psa 119:165. Pro 4:19; Pro 10:29; Pro 11:5; Pro 15:9. Mic 2:7. Nah 3:3. 1Co 1:23, 1Co 1:24; 1Pe 2:7, 1Pe 2:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Hos 14:9
EPILOGUE OR POSTSCRIPT
TEXT: Hos 14:9
Gods ways are straight and true, and we walk, or fall, according to our relationship with those ways.
Hos 14:9 WhoH4310 is wise,H2450 and he shall understandH995 theseH428 things? prudent,H995 and he shall knowH3045 them? forH3588 the waysH1870 of the LORDH3068 are right,H3477 and the justH6662 shall walkH1980 in them: but the transgressorsH6586 shall fallH3782 therein.
Hos 14:9 WHO IS WISE, THAT HE MAY UNDERSTAND THESE THINGS? . . . The RSV puts this verse in the form of a declaration and we prefer it that way. Moses declared long before Hosea that keeping and doing the commandments of the Lord was wisdom and understanding (cf. Deu 4:3-9). Compare also Psa 111:10; Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10; Pro 30:3-5. Hoseas challenge is that whoever was wise and prudent in Israel in his day would comprehend that what he was preaching was right! Prudent means acting according to intelligence; squaring conduct with conviction.
Zerr: Hos 14:9. This verse is a general statement that would be appropriate at any time and place, A wise man will understand the ways of the Lord be-cause such will “consider what has been said. Israel had not done so pre-viously and hence this great trouble came upon the nation (Isa 1:3).
We may summarize the teachings of Hosea and make them applicable for today: (1) Sin separates from God, and blinds us, so that we lose the vision of Him; (2) Idolatry follows inevitably a loss of the vision of Him. (3) Hosea then reveals the heart and the holiness of God-His love is freely given and eternal, but it is never divorced from moral requirement on the part of man.
We, today, are living in fuller light than Hosea had. We see God as Hosea never saw Him, We see Him in Jesus Christ. There seeing Him, we know, as never before, that He can make no terms with sin; but we know that he stops at no sacrifice in order that He may heal our backsliding.
If we are guilty of idolatry, what will cure us? The vision of God the Supreme Lover, as He is seen in Jesus Christ.
Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?
Is not thine a captured heart?
Chief among ten thousand own Him,
Joyful choose the better part.
Idols once they won thee, charmed thee,
Lovely things of time and sense;
Gilded thus does sin disarm thee,
Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence.
What has stript the seeming beauty
From the idols of the earth?
Not a sense of right or duty,
But the sight of peerless worth.
Not the crushing of those idols,
With its bitter void and smart;
But the beaming of His beauty,
The unveiling of His heart.
Who extinguishes their taper
Till they hail the rising sun?
Who discards the garb of winter
Till the summer has begun?
Tis that look that melted Peter,
Tis that face that Stephen saw,
Tis that heart that wept with Mary,
Can alone from idols draw.
Draw and win and fill completely,
Till the cup oerflows the brim;
What have we to do with idols
Who have companied with Him?
THE HOUND OF HEAVEN
by Francis Thompson
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat-and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet-
All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.
I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwinning charities;
(For, though I knew His love Who followed,
Yet was I ere adread
Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside.)
But, if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of His approach would clash it to:
Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clanged bars;
Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o the moon.
I said to Dawn: Be sudden-to Eve: Be soon;
With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover-
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!
I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deciet.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue;
Or whether, Thunder-driven,
They clanged his chariot thwart a heaven,
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o their feet-
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet,
And a Voice above their beat-
Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me.
I sought no more that after which I strayed
In face of man or maid;
But still within the little childrens eyes
Seems something, something that replies,
They at least are for me, surely for me!
I turned me to them very wistfully;
But just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
Come then, ye other children, Natures-share
With me (said I) your delicate fellowship;
Let me greet you lip to lip,
Let me twine with you caresses,
Wantoning
With our Lady-Mothers vagrant tresses,
Banqueting
With her in her wind-walled palace,
Underneath her azured dais,
Quaffing, as your taintless way is,
From a chalice
Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring.
So it was done:
I in their delicate fellowship was one-
Drew the bolt of Natures secrecies.
I knew all the swift importings
On the wilful face of skies;
I knew how the clouds arise
Spumed of the wild sea-snortings;
All thats born or dies
Rose and drooped with; made them shapers
Of mine own moods, or wailful or divine;
With them joyed and was bereaven.
I was heavy with the even,
When she lit her glimmering tapers
Round the days dead sanctities.
I laughed in the mornings eyes.
I triumphed and I saddened with all weather,
Heaven and I wept together,
And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;
Against the red throb of its sunset-heart
I laid my own to beat,
And share commingling heat;
But not by that, was eased by my human smart.
In vain my tears were wet on Heavens grey cheek.
For ah! we know not what each other says,
These things and I; in sound I speak-
Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.
Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drouth;
Let her, if she would own me,
Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me
The breasts o her tenderness:
Never did any milk of hers once bless
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
And past those noised Feet
A voice comes yet more fleet-
Lo! naught contents thee, who contentst not Me.
Naked I wait Thy loves uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
And smitten me to my knee;
I am defenseless utterly.
I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihood of my young powers,
I stood the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o the mounded years-
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
Yea, faileth now each dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist;
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
Ah! is Thy love indeed
A weed, albeit an amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?
Ah! must-
Designer Infinite!-
Ah! must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it?
My freshness spent its wavering showed i the dust;
And now my heart is as a briken fount,
Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, spilt down over
From the dank thoughts that shiver
Upon the sighful branches of my mind.
Such is; what is to be?
The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind?
I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
From the hid battlements of Eternity;
Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then
Round the half-glimpsed turrets slowly wash again.
But not ever him who summoneth
I first have seen, unwound
With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned;
His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.
Whether mans heart or life it be which yields
Thee harvest, must Thy harvest-fields
Be dunged with rotten death?
Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
And is thy earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught (He said).
And human love needs human meriting:
How hast thou merited-
Ol all mans clotted clay the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou mightst seek it in My arms.
All which thy childs mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
As, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
wise: Psa 107:43, Pro 1:5, Pro 1:6, Pro 4:18, Jer 9:12, Dan 12:10, Mat 13:11, Mat 13:12, Joh 8:47, Joh 18:37
for: Gen 18:25, Deu 32:4, Job 34:10-12, Job 34:18, Job 34:19, Psa 19:7, Psa 19:8, Psa 119:75, Psa 119:128, Eze 18:25, Eze 33:17-20, Zep 3:5, Rom 7:12
and the: Job 17:9, Psa 84:5, Psa 84:7, Pro 10:29, Isa 8:13-15, Mat 11:19
but: Luk 2:34, Luk 4:28, Luk 4:29, Luk 7:23, Joh 3:19, Joh 3:20, Joh 9:39, Joh 15:24, Rom 9:32, Rom 9:33, 2Co 2:15, 2Co 2:16, 2Th 2:9-12, 1Pe 2:7, 1Pe 2:8
Reciprocal: Gen 5:22 – General Deu 6:18 – shalt do Deu 32:29 – O that 2Ch 17:6 – in the ways 2Ch 22:7 – was of God Est 6:13 – but shalt surely Psa 2:10 – Be wise Psa 10:5 – thy judgments Psa 25:10 – keep Psa 28:5 – Because Psa 64:9 – they Pro 21:12 – wisely Pro 23:26 – let Pro 24:23 – things Isa 44:18 – cannot Isa 55:8 – General Eze 10:22 – they went Hos 4:14 – therefore Mic 2:7 – walketh Mic 6:9 – and Hag 2:15 – consider Luk 2:19 – General Luk 7:35 – General Luk 15:32 – was meet Joh 8:43 – do Act 10:22 – a just Act 13:7 – a prudent Act 13:10 – the right Act 18:25 – instructed Rom 11:25 – I would Eph 6:1 – for 2Jo 1:4 – walking Rev 13:18 – Here Rev 15:3 – just Rev 17:9 – here
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE WAYS OF GOD JUSTIFIED
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and be shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
Hos 14:9
The prophet viewed with dismay the heavy visitation of his countrymen, and the ruin of Ephraim. As a true patriot his heart was deeply pained by its afflictions, but in and through all he recognises the righteous dealings of Providence, and so sums up his collection of prophecies with this passage, in which he justifies the ways of God to man.
I. A recognition of the right ways of God.(1) Gods ways are right in the laws He imposes. (2) Gods ways are right in the blessings He gives. (3) Gods ways are right in the troubles and afflictions He sends. This is true of nation and individual.
II. The qualities of soul necessary to this recognition.Wisdom and prudence. The wise and prudent man studies, and endeavours to follow Providence.
III. The happiness of those who submit to the right ways of God.The righteous endeavour to walk in them, and find that this is the way of peace. To obey His laws, to submit to His rule, is the only way to true happiness.
IV. The misery of those who rebel against the right ways of God.The way of transgressors is hard. Disobedience, rebellion, doubt and unbelief, can only lead to discomfiture. The transgressor shall fall therein.
Illustrations
(1) In Hos 14:8 Hosea has still further portrayed the renunciation of idols which should be a part of Israels repentance. In the last verse we have a general summing; up of the teachings of the chapter. The wise man will pay heed to the lessons which have been taught and will walk in them. The saddest thing of all is that this wonderful dream of penitence, of blessing, and restoration, never became anything but a dream. The prodigal returned to his father and found the good he had dreamed of. Israel never returned, but went on and on in sin until the nation perished.
(2) This last verse is the epilogue to the entire Book. These things. The warnings and threatenings of God regarding sin, which are recorded in this Book, and the promises regarding righteousness; compare the prologue to Revelation (Rev 1:3), and the introduction to the Book of Psalms. The ways of the Lord. The course which he takes in governing mankind. Right. Straight, righteous. The pious walk in them, observing Gods directions, and are led to life; but the wicked, opposing themselves to these ways, stumble and fall.
(3) It is the object of the prophet Hosea and of all prophecy, in the a spirit of Rev 1:9, to alarm and to warn the apostate, to confirm and to comfort the converted, and to glorify the Lord. Only the ways of the Lord are right. Then inevitable destruction must befall him who departs from them. True wisdom is to regard them, and all the prophetic Scriptures are like an uplifted finger, which warns against any departure from them, and at the same time like an outstretched finger which points to the way upon which the righteous must walk.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Hos 14:9. This verse is a general statement that would be appropriate at any time and place, A wise man will understand the ways of the Lord be-cause such will “consider what has been said. Israel had not done so pre-viously and hence this great trouble came upon the nation (Isa 1:3),
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 14:9. Who is wise, &c. That is, who is so truly wise as duly to weigh and consider the important things contained in this prophecy, the duties prescribed, the blessings promised to the obedient, and the judgments threatened to the disobedient? The prophets words imply, that there were but few that were endued with such spiritual wisdom and understanding as to do so; but that those who were, would seriously consider and be affected by these things. He shall understand he shall know them Those that set themselves to understand and know these things, thereby make it appear that they are truly wise and prudent, and will thereby be made more so; and that many do not understand and know them, is because they are inconsiderate and unwise. Those that are wise in the doing of their duty, that are prudent in practical religion, are most likely to know and understand both the truths and providences of God, which are a mystery to others. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. For the ways of the Lord are right The ways of the Lord are both the ways which he himself takes in his moral government of the world, and the ways of godliness which he prescribes to man. These, taken together, are the ways of the Lord, and they are right, or straight, (as may be properly rendered,) because they go straight forward, without deviation, to the end, the happiness of man, and the glory of God. And the just shall walk therein The truly righteous will conform to the will of God, both in his precepts and in his providences, and shall have the comfort of so doing. They shall well understand the mind of God, both in his word and in his works, shall be well reconciled to both, and shall accommodate themselves to Gods intention in both. The righteous shall walk in those ways toward their great end, and shall not come short of it. Bishop Horsley renders this clause, And in them shall the justified proceed, but revolters shall stumble. In the ways of God, says he, as they have been described, the justified, those who by faith in Christ have obtained remission of their sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, shall proceed; they will be making daily and hourly approaches to their journeys end. They shall be able to advance continually in the understanding of the ways of Providence, and of the way laid out by Jehovah for them. But to the incorrigible enemies of God, the very scheme of mercy itself will be a cause of error, confusion, and ruin. Thus also Mr. Lowth: They who are sincerely desirous to know and do the will of God, will be fully satisfied of the reasonableness of his laws, and the methods of his providence, and will readily comply with the directions of both, to the securing of their own eternal happiness; whereas men of perverse and disobedient tempers take offence at Gods commands, and repine against his providence, to their own ruin and perdition. The same sense is expressed in that observation of the son of Sirach, Sir 39:24, As Gods ways are plain to the holy, so they are stumbling blocks to the workers of iniquity. To the same purpose are those words of Christ, Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice, Joh 18:37; and, He that is of God heareth Gods word, chap. Joh 8:47. And St. Peter says, that Christ is become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the disobedient, 1Pe 2:8. The observation of Grotius is very remarkable upon this subject, De Verit. Christian. Relig., lib. 2. c. ult. The doctrine of the gospel was designed to be tanquam lapis Lydius, ad quem ingenia sanabilia explorarentur, as a touchstone to try the tempers of men, whether they were corrigible or not.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
14:9 Who [is] {h} wise, and he shall understand these [things]? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD [are] right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
(h) Signifying that the true wisdom and knowledge consists in this, even to rest upon God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
VII. CONCLUSION 14:9
Hosea added a conclusion to his prophecies that is a word of wisdom for the discerning reader. One should learn three things from this book. First, the Lord’s ways (covenant commands) are the right (correct and, therefore, best) ways. Second, righteous people will choose to walk in the Lord’s ways and to keep His covenant commands because that results in blessing. Third, transgressors (rebels) will stumble over His ways and bring destruction on themselves for their disobedience. Their downfall results from their failure to obey His commands, to walk in His ways
This is an unusual closing verse in a Bible book in that it applies the teaching of the whole Book of Hosea to the reader.