5<\/strong>. I will go after my lovers<\/em> ] Israel, then, had given up the true Jehovah for ‘lovers’ (i.e. not, as the Targum explains it, and as the phrase often means, especially in Ezekiel, the neighbouring peoples whose favour was courted by the Israelites, but, as Hos 2:10<\/em><\/span> ; Hos 2:15<\/em><\/span><\/em> suggest, the Baalim).<\/p>\n mine oil and my drink<\/em> ] Rather, drinks<\/strong> (as margin), i.e. wine and various fermented liquors made from fruits such as the date, the mulberry, the fig, and the dried raisin (see Tristram, Natural Hist. of Bible<\/em>, p. 412). Observe the influence of the primitive idea that the land (rather than the people) was in mystic relation to Jehovah; see on Hos 2:21-22<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n She that conceived them hath done shamefully, literally, hath made shameful – <\/B>The silence as to what she made shameful is more emphatic than any words. She made shameful everything which she could make shameful, her acts, her children, and herself.<\/P> I will go after my lovers – <\/B>(:iterally let me go, I would go). The Hebrew word Meahabim denotes intense passionate love; the plural form implies that they were sinful loves. Every word aggravates the shamelessness. Amid Gods chastisements, she encourages herself, Come, let me go, as people harden and embolden, and, as it were, lash themselves into further sin, lest they should shrink back, or stop short in it. Let me go after. She waits not, as it were, to be enticed, allured, seduced. She herself, uninvited, unbidden, unsought, contrary to the accustomed and natural feeling of woman, follows after those by whom she is not drawn, and refuses to follow God who would draw her (see Eze 16:31-34<\/span>). The lovers are, whatever a man loves and courts, out of God. They were the idols and false gods, whom the Jews, like the pagan, took to themselves, besides God. But in truth they were devils. Devils she sought; the will of devils she followed; their pleasure she fulfilled, abandoning herself to sin, shamefully filled with all wickedness, and travailing with all manner of impurity. These she professed that she loved, and that they, not God, loved her. For whoever receives the gifts of God, except from God and in Gods way, receives them from devils. Whoso seeks what God forbids, seeks it from Satan, and holds that Satan, not God, loves him; since God refuses it, Satan encourages him to possess himself of it. Satan, then, is his lover.<\/P> That gave me my bread and my water – <\/B>The sense of human weakness abides, even when divine love is gone. The whole history of mans superstitions is an evidence of this, whether they have been the mere instincts of nature, or whether they have attached themselves to religion or irreligion, Jewish or Pagan or Muslim, or have been practiced by half-Christians. She is conscious that she hath not these things by her own power, but is beholden to some other for them; but not remembering Him (as was commanded) who had given her power to get wealth, and richly all things to enjoy, she professes them to be the gifts of her lovers. Bread and water, wool and flax, express the necessaries of life, food and clothing; mine oil and my drink (Hebrew, drinks), its luxuries. Oil includes also ointments, and so served both for health, food and medicine, for anointing the body, and for perfume. In perfumes and choice drinks, the rich people of Israel were guilty of great profusion; from where it is said, He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich Pro 21:17<\/span>. For such things alone, the things of the body, did Israel care. Ascribing them to her false gods, she loved these gods, and held that they loved her. In like way, the Jewish women shamelessly told Jeremiah, we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine Jer 44:17-18<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n Hos 2:5<\/span><\/p>\n For she said, I will go after my lovers.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The sin of Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n The <\/em>sin of Israel was not simple whoredom, which may be done in the dark, but avowed, effronted idolatry. Whence learn–<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Such is the stupidity of grossest sinners, that they neither see the ill nor danger of their way, unless it be much and frequently inculcated.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>A visible church declining, will readily turn impudent in sin. The more corruption hath been hemmed in by the external bonds of order, it swells the more over all banks and bounds; and God justly giveth such up to be filled with their own devices.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>It is a great aggravation of the sin of idolatry, that idols do become lovers, and do bewitch and draw the heart from God.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>As it is a great sin to depart from God and His true worship, so especially it is a shameful way of departing from Him, when mens ends are so low and base, that they will follow any way of religion for interest and advantage, and account the thriving way to be the best way.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>It is also a great evidence of impudence, when men do not sin through infirmity or temptation, but deliberately, and do wilfully follow their resolutions, whatever may be said to the contrary. For, herein also she did shamefully, in that she said, I will go after my lovers. She avowed it, and was obstinate in it against all warnings. (George Hutcheson.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 5<\/span>. That give me my bread<\/B><\/I>] See the note on Jer 44:17-18<\/span>, where nearly the same words are found and illustrated.<\/P> <\/p>\n For:<\/B> this demonstrates the truth of the charge, and justifieth the severity of the punishment. <\/P> Their mother:<\/B> see Hos 2:2<\/span>. <\/P> Played the harlot; <\/B>doted on idols, worshipped them, and brought forth and educated children for diem. <\/P> She hath done shamefully:<\/B> this practice, in the best circumstances it can be put, was dishonourable as well as dishonest; but here is an aggravation of it, it was done with shameless impudence, and openly avowed, with a whores forehead<\/I>, Jer 3:3<\/span>. <\/P> She said; <\/B>she took lip resolutions, declared them, stood to them, none could alter her course. <\/P> I will go after:<\/B> when they came not to her, she will go to them. Impudent adulteress! forsaken, thou courtest and wooest. <\/P> My lovers:<\/B> this spoken as if they loved her better than her Husband loved her; a high degree of impudence. These are the idols she worshipped, and the idolaters she associated and traded with. <\/P> That give me my bread, <\/B>& c.: whereas every mercy she enjoyed was Gods gift to her, and a fruit of his covenant love and faithfulness towards her; yet she denies (like an impudent strumpet) all his kindness, and in a manner chargeth him with such hardness and ill usage, that she had starved if her idols and idolatrous friends had not maintained her, and gives out, the bread she ate, and water she drank, and the clothes she wore, all was of their kindness. This is shameful indeed, and the prophet hath set it forth to the life: and now is there not good reason why a Husband so abused should without pity cast off such a mother, such children, and leave them to live on their chosen lovers, or to perish under the hatred of their despised God? <\/P> <\/p>\n 5. I will go after<\/B>The Hebrew<\/I>expresses a settled determination.<\/I> <\/P> lovers<\/B>the idols whichIsrael fancied to be the givers of all their goods, whereas God gaveall these goods (Ho 2:8-13<\/span>;compare Jer 44:17-19<\/span>).<\/P> bread and . . . water<\/B>thenecessaries<\/I> of life in food. <\/P> wool . . . flax<\/B>clothing.<\/P> oil . . . drink<\/B>perfumedunguents and palatable drinks: the luxuries<\/I> of Hebrew life.<\/P><\/p>\n For their mother hath played the harlot<\/strong>,…. Or committed idolatry; which is the reason why she is to be pleaded with, and why the Lord will not own her as his wife, or be a husband to her; and why she is to be exhorted to put away her whoredoms from her; and was in danger of all the above evils coming upon her, continuing in the same practice; and why her children were children of whoredoms. Though the connection may be with the verse following, “for” or “because their mother hath played the harlot”, c. “therefore I will hedge up her way”, c.<\/p>\n She that conceived them hath done shamefully<\/strong> all sin is shameful and scandalous, especially adultery it brings a reproach and a blot upon a person, that will not be wiped off; and so idolatry, worshipping stocks and stones instead of the living God; and particularly the sin of the Jewish church, in rejecting the true Messiah and his righteousness, and setting up their own, and tenaciously adhering to the traditions of the elders; and so departing from the true God, and his word and worship, which is no other than spiritual adultery or idolatry. The Targum is,<\/p>\n “because their congregation hath erred after the false prophets, their teachers are confounded;”<\/p>\n and which Jarchi interprets of the wise men that teach doctrines, who are ashamed because of the people of the earth; to whom they say, ye shall not steal, and yet they steal themselves; see Ro 2:21<\/span>. Or, “she hath made ashamed” f; her husband, and her children: or, “she is confounded” g, and “ashamed” herself, for what she has done.<\/p>\n For she said, I will go after my lovers<\/strong>; her idols, as the ten tribes did after the calves at Dan and Bethel. So Kimchi’s father interprets it of the sun, moon, and stars, they worshipped: though he himself understands it of the Assyrians and Egyptians they were in alliance with, and trusted in. Some join together the Gentile nations and their gods. Or else it may be understood of the Jews seeking to the Romans, and courting their favour and friendship; desiring to be governed not by their own kings, but by the Romans h; declaring they had no king but Caesar, and rejecting Christ as such, Joh 19:12<\/span> or rather of their beloved tenets, concerning traditions, the rites and ceremonies of the law, self-righteousness, c.: the words are expressive of impudence, obstinacy, and self-will resolving to pursue their own fancies and have their own wills, be it as it would.<\/p>\n That give me my bread and any water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink<\/strong>; “or drinks” i; wine and other liquors, as Kimchi; these take in everything belonging to food and raiment, and all the necessaries, and even delights and pleasures, of life: bread and water; all sorts of food: wool and flax; all sorts of clothing, both woollen and linen, for outward or inward covering: and oil, and drinks, or liquors; everything for pleasure and delight; all which she ascribed not to God, from whence all good things come; but, which was an aggravation of her sin, to her lovers, her allies, or her idols; as the Jews did their plenty of victuals to the queen of heaven, and their worship of her, Jer 44:17<\/span> and as, in the times of Christ, they ascribed not only their enjoyment of temporal good things, but their righteousness, life, and salvation, to their observance of traditions, rites, and ceremonies, and the externals of religion.<\/p>\n f “pudefecit”, Junius apud Rivet. g “Confusa, [vel] pudefacta”, Pagninus, Montanus; “pudore suffusa est”, Gussetius. h Joseph. Antiqu. l. 17. c. 13, sect. 2. i “potationes meas”, Montanus, “potiones meas”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “potus meos”, Cocceius, Schmidt.<\/p>\n “For their mother hath committed whoredom; she that bare them hath practised shame: for she said, I will go after my lovers, who give (me) my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.” <\/em> By k <\/em> (for) and the suffixes attached to ‘immam <\/em> ( their<\/em> mother) and horatham <\/em> (that bare them), the first clauses are indeed introduced as though simply explanatory and confirmatory of the last clause of Hos 2:4<\/span>; but if we look at the train of thought generally, it is obvious that Hos 2:5<\/span> is not merely intended to explain the expression sons of whoredom, but to explain and vindicate the main thought, viz., that the children of whoredom, i.e., the idolatrous Israelites, will find no mercy. Now, as the mother and children are identical, if we trace back the figurative drapery to its actual basis, the punishment with which the children are threatened applies to the mother also; and the description of the mother’s whoredom serves also to explain the reason for the punishment with which the mother is threatened in Hos 2:3<\/span>. And this also accounts for the fact that, in the threat which follows in Hos 2:6<\/span>, “I hedge up thy way,” the other herself is again directly addressed. The hiphil hobhsh <\/em>, which is traceable to yabhesh <\/em>, so far as the form is concerned, but derives its meaning from , is not used here in its ordinary sense of being put to shame, but in the transitive sense of practising shame, analogous to the transitive meaning “to shame,” which we find in 2Sa 19:5<\/span>. To explain this thought, the coquetting with idols is more minutely described in the second hemistich. The delusive idea expressed by the wife ( , in the perfect<\/em>, indicates speaking or thinking which stretches from the past into the present), viz., that the idols give her food (bread and water), clothing (wool and flax), and the delicacies of life (oil and drink, i.e., wine and must and strong drink), that is to say, “everything that conduces to luxury and superfluity,” which we also find expressed in Jer 44:17-18<\/span>, arose from the sight of the heathen nations round about, who were rich and mighty, and attributed this to their gods. It is impossible, however, that such a thought can ever occur, except in cases where the heart is already estranged from the living God. For so long as a man continues in undisturbed vital fellowship with God, “he sees with the eye of faith the hand in the clouds, from which he receives all, by which he is guided, and on which everything, even that which has apparently the most independence and strength, entirely depends” (Hengstenberg).<\/p>\n He afterwards declares how the children became spurious; their mother, who conceived or bare them, has been wanton; with shameful acts has she defiled herself בוש bush, means, to be ashamed; but here the Prophet means not that the Israelites were touched with shame, for such a meaning would be inconsistent with the former sentence; but that they were like a shameless and infamous woman, touched with no shame for her baseness. Their mother, then, had been wanton, and she who bare them had become scandalous Here the Prophet strips the Israelites of their foolish confidence, who were wont to profess the name of God, while they were entirely alienated from him: for they had fallen away by their impiety from pure worship, they had rejected the law, yea, and every yoke. Since then they were wild beasts, it was extreme stupidity ever to set up for their shield the name of God, and ever to boast of the adoption of their father Abraham. But as the Jews were so perversely proud, the Prophet here answers them, “ Your mother has been wanton, and with shameful acts has she defiled herself; I will not therefore count nor own you as my children, for ye were born by adultery.” <\/p>\n This passage confirms what I have shortly before explained, — that it is not enough that God should choose any people for himself, except the people themselves persevere in the obedience of faith; for this is the spiritual chastity which the Lord requires from all his people. But when is a wife, whom God has bound to himself by a sacred marriage, said to become wanton? When she falls away, as we shall more clearly see hereafter, from pure and sound faith. Then it follows that the marriage between God and men so long endures at they who have been adopted continue in pure faith, and apostasy in a manner frees God from us, so that he may justly repudiate us. Since such apostasy prevails under the Papacy, and has for many ages prevailed, how senseless they are in their boasting, while they would be thought to be the holy Catholic Church, and the elect people of God? For they are all born by wantonness, they are all spurious children. The incorruptible seed is the word of God; but what sort of doctrine have they? It is a spurious seed. Then as to God all the Papists are bastards. In vain then they boast themselves to be the children of God, and that they have the holy Mother Church, for they are born by filthy wantonness. <\/p>\n The Prophet pursues still the same subject: “She said, I will go after my lovers, the givers of my bread, of my waters, of my wool, and of my flax, and of my oil, and of my drink The Prophet here defines the whoredom of which he had spoken: this part is explanatory; the Prophet unfolds in several words what he had briefly touched when he said, your mother has been wanton. Now, if the Jews object and say, How has she become wanton? Because, “she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my waters, etc. The Prophet here compares false gods to lovers, who seduce women from their conjugal fidelity; for he pursues the similitude which he had introduced. The Church, to whom God has pledged his faith, is represented as a wife; and as a woman does, when enticed by gifts, and as many women follow covetousness and become lascivious, that they may dress sumptuously, and live luxuriously, so the Prophet now points out this vice in the Israelitic Church, She said, I will go after my lovers Some understand by lovers either the Assyrians or the Egyptians; for when the Israelites formed connections with these heathen nations, they were drawn away, we know, from their God. But the Prophet inveighs especially against false and corrupt modes of worship, and all kinds of superstitions; for the pure worship of God, we know, is ever to have the first place, and that justly; for on this depend all the duties of life. I therefore doubt not, but that he includes all false gods, when he says, “I will go after my lovers”. <\/p>\n But by introducing the word, “said”, he amplifies the shamelessness of the people, who deliberately forsook their God, who was to them as a legitimate husband. It indeed happens sometimes that a man is thoughtlessly drawn aside by a mistake or folly, but he soon repents; for we see many of the unexperienced deceived for a short time: but the Prophet here shows that the Israelites premeditated their unfaithfulness, so that they wilfully departed from God. Hence she said; and we know that this said means so much; and it is to be referred, not to the outward word as pronounced, but to the inward purpose. She therefore said, that is, she made this resolution; as though he said, “Let no one make this frivolous excuse, that they were deceived, that they did it in their simplicity: ye are, he says, avowedly perfidious, ye have with a premeditated purpose sought this divorce.” He, however, ascribes this to their mother: for defection began at the root, when they were drawn away by Jeroboam into corrupt superstitions; and the promotion of this evil became as it were hereditary. He therefore intended to condemn here the whole community. Hence, “she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my waters”. But I cannot finish today; I must therefore break off the sentence. <\/p>\n CRITICAL NOTES<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Hos. 2:6<\/span><\/strong>. Hedge and make<\/strong>] Build a wall<\/em>, a double enclosure of stones and thorns. In the East cattle are fenced with thorns and closes. God with determined purpose will interpose between Israel and her idols. Behold, I will hedge<\/strong>] Exile and distress, and the inability of her gods to help, would prove the folly of her conduct (Job. 19:18<\/span>; Lam. 3:7-9<\/span>). <\/p>\n Hos. 2:7<\/span><\/strong>. Follow after and seek<\/strong>] In eager pursuit and diligent search. They express together a pursuit, whose minuteness is not hindered by its vehemence, nor its extent and wideness by its exactness. She shall seek far and wide, minutely and carefully, everywhere and in all things, and shall fail in all [Pusey<\/em>]. Not find<\/strong>] deliverance from calamity. <\/p>\n HOMILETICS<\/em><\/p>\n THE UNSUCCESSFUL PURSUIT.Hos. 2:6-7<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Though Israel is dishonoured and fallen, she is not left to herself. Gods mercy yearns over and seeks to check her in sin and recall her to himself. God even now has not written a bill of divorcement, nor cast away the people whom he did foreknow. Through eighteen hundred years they have been wandering without a dwelling-place and a temple; but the day will come, when she will no more be termed Forsaken, nor the land be termed Desolate; but she will be called Hephzi-bah and the land Beulah. Men are prone to wander. They are disappointed in their wanderings, and God rouses, instructs, and restores his backsliding people.<\/p>\n I. A pursuit after wrong objects<\/strong>. Man is a creature of strong affections. His feelings cling round the objects of his choice like ivy round a tree. Through sin these affections are misplaced. He loves the things which he should hate, and hates the things which he should love; forsakes the true God, and pursues lovers of his own. He must love, he will worship, something; that I may win is the desire of every soul. Wealth, honour, position, and learning are eagerly sought, loved for their own sake and for the sake of what they are thought to give. Thus men are seeking happiness where it cannot be found; committing two evils, forsaking the fountain of living waters, and hewing out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns which will hold no water. Who will show us any good? is the cry of the many. Lord, lift thou upon us the light of thy countenance, is the prayer of the few. <\/p>\n II. A pursuit with intense anxiety<\/strong>. Mans spiritual desires are insatiable, yet ever seek gratification. They forbid him to rest, and compel him to seek supply. Inward sense of want, incapacity for alliance with sin, and instinctive longing for God, the first good, first perfect, and first fairof whom all created beauty and good are mere shadowsmake men restless and discontented. But instead of lifting the soul to God, they look to the creature for satisfaction; seek<\/em> and follow after<\/em> in eager pursuit of what they love; labour harder in sin, and seeking pleasure, than in serving God. They weary themselves in pursuit, rendered more eager by thorn-hedges and hindrances. Vexation and disappointment excite to desperate tenacity; affliction and remorse are often no check to the sinner; fuel is added to the fire, and with renewed ardour onward he goes to ruin and despair. I will<\/em> go after my lovers. The impenitent struggle on after that which God is taking from them, and will not give up, until the pursuit is found hopeless and exhaustive, and God in preserving mercy brings him back. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? <\/p>\n III. A pursuit under Divine restraint<\/strong>. God governs the world, and seeks the good of his creatures. The way of transgressors is rendered hard through much tribulation. It is a warfare against conscience, reason, and revelation. In consciousness of guilt we may discern our relationship to God. The trouble and anguish of spirit springing from this consciousness, the inward unrest which sometimes seizes the slave of sin are proofs that he has not quite broken away from God. God works within by his Spirit and without by his providences. Hedges and walls are fixed up to restrain men in sin. <\/p>\n 1. The restraints of Gods providence are various in their nature<\/em>. God sought to cut off Israel from idolatry by solitude and affliction. Like a thorn-hedge, affliction is painful. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Conscience, the Divine officer, warns and checks the sinner. Disappointments in pursuits, pains attending pleasures, Divine judgments, and special manifestations, turn men from their purpose. Saul was overcome by light from heaven; Balaam was met by an angel, and David by Abigail (1Sa. 25:32<\/span>). <\/p>\n 2. The restraints of Gods providence are merciful in their design<\/em>, that she shall not find her paths. (a) Given to withdraw men from sinful pursuits<\/em>. She shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them. (b<\/em>) Given to restore men to God<\/em>. Then shall she say, I will go and return. Strong barriers and painful providences are not sufficient. If God did not mercifully interfere we should all go astray. Let us repent of sin, be thankful for correction, and admire the wondrous grace of God. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. <\/p>\n IV. A pursuit ending in failure<\/strong>. She shall not overtake what she follows; she shall not find what she seeks. Failure and disappointment after all her eagerness and effort! Egypt and Assyria were trusted in vain. Worldly alliances were of no service; did not give the anticipated deliverance. Idols were impotent; foreign nations were a broken reed, a source of sorrow and bitterness of spirit. Israel was obliged to confess, it was better with me than now<\/em>. The sinner gains nothing, but loses everything, by forsaking God. He pursues phantoms of bliss. The pursuit will disgust, and end in failure. Why did the cannon-balls spare me to die in this manner? I am no longer the Great Napoleon. How fallen and disappointed I am! cried Napoleon in his latter end. Nothing can take the place of Godnothing can satisfy but bread. A sinful life can never give peace of conscience and peace with God. The beast may be satisfied with what it finds on earth, for its nature aspires no higher; but man is linked to God, longs for him, and cannot be contented without him. Though the heart once alienated from him turns further away, and moves not towards him until renewed, yet even in its wandering it retains its nature and necessities. God is its centre, and it is restless and void till it meets with him again. Men go here and there, do this and that, in quest of good, as moments dictate and circumstances call forth, but all in vain. They faint in mind and fail in hope. God never created man to find rest and happiness in utter rejection of himself. Thou madest us for thyself, and our heart is restless until it repose in thee [Augustine<\/em>]. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.<\/p>\n THE BACKSLIDERS WAY HEDGED UP.Hos. 2:5-7<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Consider the text, and seek to arouse and restore backsliders, who have left their first love, and may have forsaken the Church of God, given up their profession and all attendance upon Divine worship.<\/p>\n I. While sinful men are in prosperity they pervert the mercies of God to their own injury<\/strong>, making them instruments of sin and weapons of warfare against God. While Israel enjoyed abundance of temporal comforts they ascribed all these blessings to false gods. Prosperous sinners make three great mistakes. At the outset they give their temporal mercies the first place in their hearts<\/em>. Business prospers, but they consider not their soul. They say, We must live<\/em>, but they forget that they must die<\/em>. Such folly most shameful, base ingratitude, in one who has known, or professed to have known, better. One error leads to another, and hence such people hold their temporal things upon a wrong tenure<\/em>. Observe how many times the word my is found in the text. Give me my<\/em> bread, &c. They were not hers, but Gods, who expressly claims them, and threatens to take them all away (Hos. 2:9<\/span><\/em>). The backslider once professed himself to be Gods servant; nothing is his nowhouses, lands, profits, and children, only lent for a season. He is but Gods under-bailiff, possesses only as tenant-at-will, or as a borrower, holding a loan. Then, further, backsliders are apt to ascribe their prosperity and their mercies to their sins<\/em>. I have even heard one say, Ever since I gave up a profession of religion I have made more headway in business than I did before. Some apostates have boasted, Since I broke through puritanical restraint, and went out into worldly company, I have been better in spirits, and better in purse than ever I was before. Thus they ascribe the mercies which God has given them to their sins, and wickedly bow down to their lusts, as Israel did before the golden calf, and cry, These be thy gods, O Israel! These things are given to try you, to see how far you will go, and to what extravagances of ingratitude you will descend. <\/p>\n II. Turn from the gloomy side, and observe that the Lord interposes adversity in order to bring back his wandering children<\/strong>. Consider the hindrances which a God of love puts in the way. You see an unexpected hindrance<\/em>, for it is placed right in the mans way. I will hedge up thy wayit was his way<\/em>, his habit;<\/em> he had fallen into it, and he meant to keep on; but suddenly he met with an unlooked-for obstacle. This hedge is placed in your way in different shapes. Business grows slack; bad debts multiply; bankruptcy stares you in the face; and where you had enough to lavish on pleasure you have not enough to supply your need. You thought you would live a millionnaire; more likely now to die a pauper. Or sudden sickness falls upon a strong healthy person. Possibly the hedge is of other thorns. The first-born son, the expected heir, the joy of the fathers heart, falls like a withered flower; his wife is cut off as a lily snapped from its stalk. These are walls across the way of those whom God ordains to bless. Observe, it has a very disappointing impediment<\/em>. The prosperous sinner is stopped when securely pursuing his way. Why, says the man, if it had not been for that I should have made a fortune. Why did death come just when my fair girl looked so lovely, and when my dear boy had grown so engaging? Ah! this is trouble indeed. To meet with misfortune just when I built that new house, and held my head so high, and expected to see my daughters so respectably married; this is very disappointing. The man kicks, and though once professed to be a child of God, he is ready to curse God and die. If he knew the Divine nature, he would thank God for his troubles on bended knees. What painful<\/em> hindrances our heavenly Father often uses. He hedges the sinners path, not with rhododendrons and azaleas, not with roses and laurels, but with thornsprickly thorns, which curse the soil and tear the flesh, are Gods instruments of restraint. Furthermore, the fence is effectual;<\/em> if the thorn hedge will not suffice, it is written, I will make a wall. Some are so desperate in sin that they break through ordinary restraints; then a wall shall be tried, through which there is no breaking, over which there is no climbing. <\/p>\n III. You would think that the sinner would now stop, but instead of that, according to the text, even though God walls up the way of sin, men will try to follow it, but this resolve shall be in vain<\/strong>. He is desperately set on destruction, as though it were to be desired. What a creature is man, though he knows that sin will be his ruin, yet he hugs it as though it were his chief mercy; heaps to himself destruction as though it were gold. If the righteous were half as intent in seeking after goodness as the wicked are in hunting sin, how much more active would they be. Truly this love is so strange, that if we did not see it in ourselves we should wonder at it. It is in you<\/em>, Christians, as in the worst of men, and but for Divine mercy you would have plunged on from bad to worse. <\/p>\n IV. Consider that the backsliders failure is followed by a blessed result<\/strong>. Observe, here is repentance attended with sorrow<\/em>. The poor creature deeply feels to the very soul the wretchedness of her condition. It is an active repentance<\/em>. It is not merely I will return, but, I will go and return. There is much earnestness in a sinner seeking Christ; but more, if possible, in a backslider returning from the error of his ways; for he has not only the guilt of sin to mourn over, but the double guilt of having despised the Saviour, of having known the way of righteousness and turned from it. The confession<\/em> which this poor soul makes of folly is one which is sustained by the best of reasons<\/em>. Then was it better with me than now. Backslider, what have you gained? Have you gained anything more comfortable than the light of your Fathers face?<\/em> Before, you had the privilege of going to the throne of grace, you could tell your wants before God, and spread your sorrows there;<\/em> but now you have no throne of grace to go to. Then you had<\/em> Gods promises<\/em> to fall back upon<\/em>. Once you had communion with Christ<\/em>. What can the world afford you comparable to this? There is no room to entertain a comparison for a moment. Lastly, this repentance was acceptable<\/em>. It is not often that a husband is willing to take back his wife when she has so grossly sinned, as the metaphor here implies; yet God is willing to receive the sinner, though his sin is even more aggravated. Return unto me, for I am married unto thee. <\/p>\n V. Observe that there is an awful contrast to all this<\/strong>. Some prosper until, like a wide-spread tree, they are cut down and cast into the fire. There are backsliders who, never having had the root of the matter in them, go back unto their own ways and continue there for ever. Never trifle with backsliding. Chosen vessels, notwithstanding their backslidings, are brought back; but, ah! remember that nine out of ten of those who backslide never were Gods people. You must be born again, and only the man who continues to the end shall be saved. <\/p>\n VI. We conclude with thisis not this subject a very solemn warning to the people of God<\/strong>? If one man falls, another may. If one professor turns out to be a hypocrite, another may. There must be the continual keeping and anointing of the Holy Spirit. No man backslides at once. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Wake up your coldness in private prayer. If love to Christ has grown cold, pray to the Master to inflame your heart again. Let us trust the Saviour. There is the sinners hope; there is the saints strength [Spurgeon<\/em>].<\/p>\n HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES<\/em><\/p>\n Hos. 2:6<\/span>. Subject:Divine Restraints<\/em>. I. These restraints are manifold<\/em>. I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall. The first metaphor is from a husbandman who plants a prickly hedge to prevent cattle from breaking away. The other from architecture. If thorns are insufficient, high and massive walls must be built. <\/p>\n 1. There is the restraint of affliction<\/em>. When the wicked purpose some great crime, affliction comes, breaks their plans, and strikes them down. <\/p>\n 2. There is the restraint of public sentiment<\/em>. Public opinion, as it gets enlightened and strong, is a tremendous check to the wicked. The most daring cower before the public voice. <\/p>\n 3. There is the restraint of conscience<\/em>. Conscience is a Divine officer holding the sinner.<\/p>\n II. These restraints are necessary<\/em>. It is necessary that God should plant thorny hedges and build massive walls around the sinner. <\/p>\n 1. It is necessary for the sinner himself<\/em>. Were it not for these he would go galloping to perdition. O, unhappy men, says Luther, when God leaves them to themselves, and does not resist them in their lusts. You bless yourselves many times that in the way of sin you find no difficulty. Bless thyself! Thou hast cause to howl and wring thy hands, thou hast the curse of God on thee. A dreadful curse to make pleasant the way of sin. <\/p>\n 2. It is necessary for the world. What would become of the world<\/em> if the wicked were not reined in? Were it not for restraints the Csars, the Alexanders, and the Napoleons would soon turn it into a Pandemonium. <\/p>\n 3. It is necessary for the Church<\/em>. Had wicked men their full fling, how long would the Church last? The flames of martyrdom would soon blaze to heaven and consume Zion to ashes. Thank God for thorny hedges and massive walls, for all the restraints he puts on sinful men [The Homilist<\/em>].<\/p>\n The Danger of outward Prosperitysufferings a specific against apostasy.<\/p>\n Divine Chastisements<\/em>. <\/p>\n 1. Love, their source. Hos. 2:7<\/span>. The Course of Sin. <\/p>\n 1. A course of labourunrequited toilvexation of spirit and bitter bondage. Sinners labour harder than saints, and receive nothing but exhaustion and fatigue. I will go and return<\/em>. <\/p>\n 1. The sinners wandering. ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2<\/em><\/p>\n Hos. 2:6-7<\/span>. Affliction<\/em>. The hedge stops or gives a turn. God, in pursuance of his covenant, and with a gracious meaning to a revolting people, hedges them up by affliction to stop them from undoing. It is a mercy to be kept out of the pond, though it be by a thorn hedge, sharpest troubles. This stop the Lord doth often give, though not always to sinners; he sometimes lets them run on to fill up their measure of sin and to receive their full measure of punishment. Reproof for sin is a great favour. Though God is angry for what we have done, yet it is a mercy that he will not let us do more, and so make ourselves vile and miserable [Caryl<\/em>].<\/p>\n (5) For their mother hath played<\/strong> . . .We might render, with Ewald, yea, their mother hath played<\/em> . . . This would more easily account for the change of person (your . . . their ), which is, however, very frequent in Hebrew prophecy. The next for introduces a parenthetical clauseher lovers<\/em>a word used in a bad sense. The aggravation of her shame is that she seeks them, and not they her. She attributes to these idol-gods all those temporal benefits which theocratic history shows to have been Jehovahs gift, and the consequence of loyalty to Him. The modern analogue of this sin of Israel is the use of Fortune, Nature, Destiny, Impersonal Law, and even Humanity, as the giver of all good things, as though it were superstitious or heretical to speak of God as the giver.<\/p>\n “Because she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.’ ”<\/p>\n The picture is of Israel thirsting after false religion because they were confident that it was that which, along with cult prostitution, ensured fertility, and resulted in their plentiful supply of bread and water, wool and flax, oil and drink. They gave all the credit for YHWH’s provision to their false rituals.<\/p>\n ‘Their lovers’ may be the fertility symbols borrowed from Baalism, or the cult prostitutes with which they engaged. For us it may be following after singers or film stars or other cultic personalities, for it refers to anything which takes the place of God in our lives.<\/p>\n Judgment Is To Fall On God’s Rejected People Because They Have Followed False Religion And False Gods, Not Realising Who It Was Who Was Really Their Benefactor. They Will Be Exposed And Shamed, Something Which Will Cause Them Once Again To Think Of YHWH ( Hos 2:5-13<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ).<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Because of His people’s unfaithfulness to Him YHWH will move ‘her’ (His people) to a place where she is unable to have contact with ‘her lovers’, that is, with the false aspects of religion which she had introduced beside Yahwism such as images of Baal and Asherah. Then she will be unable to find them, and will thus determine to return to her initial husband. But because she had failed to recognise that it was really YHWH Who had provided for her, she will lose all His provision, will be exposed in her folly, and will receive the due reward for her behaviour. The words have exile in mind.<\/p>\n Analysis of Hos 2:5-13<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> .<\/p>\n a <\/strong> “Because she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink’ ” (Hos 2:5<\/span> b).<\/p>\n b <\/strong> “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths” (Hos 2:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n c <\/strong> “And she will follow after her lovers, but she will not overtake them, and she will seek them, but will not find them” (Hos 2:7<\/span> a).<\/p>\n d <\/strong> “Then she will say, “I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now” (Hos 2:7<\/span> b).<\/p>\n e <\/strong> “For she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil” (Hos 2:8<\/span> a).<\/p>\n f <\/strong> “And multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal” (Hos 2:8<\/span> b).<\/p>\n e <\/strong> “Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness” (Hos 2:9<\/span>).<\/p>\n d <\/strong> “And now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none will deliver her out of my hand” (Hos 2:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n c <\/strong> “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies” (Hos 2:11<\/span>).<\/p>\n b <\/strong> “And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, of which she has said, “These are my hire which my lovers have given me,” and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will eat them” (Hos 2:12<\/span>).<\/p>\n a <\/strong> “And I will visit on her the days of the Baalim, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says YHWH (Hos 2:13<\/span>).<\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
2. Sorrow, their means.
3. Good, their end. Crosses and obstacles in an evil course are a great blessing, and are so to be accounted. They are Gods hedges, to keep us from transgressing, to restrain us from wandering out of the green pastures, to withdraw man from his purpose<\/em> (Job. 33:17<\/span>), to make the way of sin difficult, that we may not go on in it, and to keep us from it whether we will or not. We have reason to bless God both for restraining grace and for restraining providences [Matt. Henry<\/em>].<\/p>\n
2. A course of failure. Loss of health and peaceall loss and no gain.
3. The service of God the only true gain. It was better with me. Godliness is profitable to all thingsbody and soul, this world and the next. Sin suicidal. Gods service real advantage. Those who embrace God, would take him up as the best of choices, and his way as the shortest cut to do well and to be well: they are sensible of their own disadvantage in forsaking him: for so much is imported as the reason for her return, for then was it better with me than now [Hutcheson<\/em>].<\/p>\n
2. The sinners penitence.
3. The sinners return to God. By this text we may gather what true repentance is: namely, when a sinner not only confesseth himself guilty and worthy of punishment, but truly displeaseth himself and seriously returns to God. Here we have two essential parts of true repentancenamely, contrition and conversion; or humiliation and reformation. The former is called in Scripture repentance for sin, the latter repentance from sin: and the one without the other is to no purpose or profit [Trapp<\/em>].<\/p>\nFuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n