6<\/strong>. I will hedge up thy way with thorns<\/em> ] Notice how, in the excitement of anger, the person changes from the second to the third. The figure is that of a traveller, who has not indeed lost his way, but finds it shut up by a thorn-hedge planted right across it, and by a wall, which formerly could be scaled through a breach, but is now solidly built up. Job 3:23<\/span>; Job 19:8<\/span> and Lam 3:7<\/span>; Lam 3:9<\/span> are strikingly parallel. The reality signified is of course some dark calamity utterly paralyzing the vital powers. In the second line render a wall for her<\/strong> (lit., ‘her wall’).<\/p>\n Therefore – <\/B>that is, because she said, I will go after my lovers, behold I will hedge up thy ways; literally, behold, I hedging. It expresses an immediate future, or something which, as being fixed in the mind of God, is as certain as if it were actually taking place. So swift and certain should be her judgments.<\/P> Thy way – <\/B>God had before spoken of Israel; now He turns to her, pronouncing judgment upon her; then again He turneth away from her, as not deigning to regard her. If the sinners way were plain, and the soul still had temporal prosperity, after it had turned away from its Creator, scarcely or never could it be recalled, nor would it hear the voice behind it, warning it. But when adversity befalls it, and tribulation or temporal difficulties overtake it in its course, then it remembers the Lord its God. So it was with Israel in Egypt. When they sat by the flesh pots, and did eat bread to the full, amid the fish, which they did eat freely, the cucumbers and the melons, they forgat the God of their fathers, and served the idols of Egypt. Then He raised up a new king, who made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick and in all the service of the field; then they groaned by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of their bondage, and God heard their groaning Exo 16:3<\/span>; Num 11:5<\/span>; Exo 1:8<\/span>, Exo 1:14<\/span>; Exo 2:23<\/span>, Exo 2:4<\/span>.<\/P> So in the book of Judges the ever-recurring history is, they forsook God; He delivered them into the hands of their enemies; they cried unto Him; He sent them a deliverer. A way may be found through a hedge of thorns, although with pain and suffering; through a stone wall even a strong man cannot burst a way. Thorns then may be the pains to the flesh, with which God visits sinful pleasures, so that the soul, if it would break through to them, is held back and torn; the wall may mean, that all such sinful joys shall be cut off altogether, as by bereavement, poverty, sickness, failure of plans, etc. In sorrows, we cannot find our idols, which, although so near, vanish from us; but we may find our God, though we are so far from Him, and He so often seems so far from us. God hedgeth with thorns the ways of the elect, when they find prickles in the things of time, which they desire. They attain not the pleasures of this world which they crave. They cannot find their paths, when, in the special love of God, they are hindered from obtaining what they seek amiss. I escaped not Thy scourges, says Augustine, as to his pagan state, for what mortal can? For Thou wert ever with me, mercifully rigorous, and with most bitter alloy all my unlawful pleasures, that I might seek pleasure without alloy. But where to find such, I could not discover, save in Thee, O Lord, who teachest by sorrow, and woundest us, to heal, and killest us, lest we die from Thee (Conf. ii. 4).<\/P><\/p>\n Hos 2:6-7<\/span><\/p>\n Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Divine restraints<\/strong><\/p>\n God <\/em>puts forth restraints on the sinner here.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The restraint of affliction.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The restraint of public sentiment. The most daring cower before the public voice.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The restraint of conscience. A Divine officer holding the sinner in.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>For the sinner himself. Were it not for these he would go galloping to perdition.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>For the world. What would become of the world if the wicked were not reined in?<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>For the Church. Had wicked men their full fling, how long would the Church last? Thank God for thorny hedges and massive walls, for all the restraints He puts on sinful men. (Homilist.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Thorns and wall<\/strong><\/p>\n A <\/em>way may be found through a hedge of thorns, although with pain and suffering; through a stone wall even a strong man cannot burst a way. Thorns may mean the pains to the flesh with which God visits sinful pleasures, so that the soul, if it would break through to them, is held back and torn; the wall may mean, that all such sinful joys shall be cut off altogether, as by bereavement, poverty, sickness, failure of plans, etc<\/em>. <\/em>(E. B. Pusey, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Blessings from apparent evils<\/strong><\/p>\n The idea of disease being a messenger, or under orders from God, has long been a familiar one. Ancient history tells of a merchant who lost his all in a storm at sea, in which his vessels laden with merchandise foundered. The merchant went to Athens to study philosophy, having no capital to resume business. He was so happy in his studies that he was thankful for his losses. If God had not taken away my fortune, he said, I had not gained that which is far better.<\/p>\n The benefit of difficulty<\/strong><\/p>\n A <\/em>few days since there came to me a man whom I had known many years before as a person of good character, and who had made and saved money in business. He had been led to invest his savings in a partnership which had every guarantee of respectability and trustworthiness, but which within a few weeks became bankrupt, and left him not merely without a penny, but responsible for heavy debts. This happened some two years since; and for some time it was a question whether he and his large family must not go to the workhouse. In order to feed and clothe them he had to take to manual labour by day and by night at a very small remuneration; and since then things have somewhat bettered with him, though he is still a very poor man, instead of being, as he was, in very easy circumstances. But he said to me: I would not for the world, sir, have it otherwise. My troubles have been nay greatest blessing in my whole life. And then he reminded me how he had had a religious education, and he told me how he had forgotten God in his years of prosperity, and how he had been driven back upon God as his hope and refuge, and had found in Him more, much more, than he had lost in earthly things. His religious duties, prayer, the Bible, the Holy Communion, all had been forgotten, all had again been resumed, and with a sense of the truest support and strength. (Canon Liddon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Thankful for a thorn<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. George Matheson, of Scotland, is totally blind. He is one of the most learned and gifted men, and, above all, a cheerful and happy-hearted Christian. The following touching words from his pen ought to strengthen the Christian patience of afflicted ones: My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorn. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Thou Divine Love, whose human path has been perfected through sufferings, teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow. Reveal to me that my strength was the product of the hour when I wrestled until the break of day. Then shall I know that my thorn was blessed by Thee; then shall I know that my cross was a gift from Thee. I shall raise a monument to the hour of my sorrow, and the words which I shall write upon it will be these: It is good for me that I have been afflicted.<\/p>\n She shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them.<\/strong>—<\/p>\n The warning lesson of Israels apostacy<\/strong><\/p>\n Hosea, <\/em>who lived in a corrupt age of the <\/strong>Israelitish Church, was commissioned to show forth, with great faithfulness and plainness of speech, the gross departures of that people from the laws and service of God, and at the same time to exhibit the mingled actings of judgment and mercy wherewith God would visit His people.<\/p>\n Worldly pleasure, a vain pursuit<\/strong><\/p>\n What has been the experience of every man, of every woman, that has tried this world for a portion? Queen Elizabeth, amidst the surroundings of pomp, is unhappy because the painter sketches too minutely the wrinkles on her face, and she indignantly cries out, You must strike off my likeness without any shadows! Hogarth, at the very height of his artistic triumph, is stung almost to death with chagrin because the painting he had dedicated to the king does not seem to be acceptable; for George II. cries out, Who is this Hogarth? Take this trumpery out of my presence! Brinsley Sheridan, of thrilling eloquence, had for his last words, I am absolutely undone! Stephen Girard, the wealthiest man in his day, or, at any rate, only second in wealth, says, I live the life of a galley-slave; when I arise in the morning my one effort is to work so hard that I can sleep when it gets to be night. Charles Lamb, applauded of all the world, in the very midst of his literary triumph, says, Do you remember, Bridget, when we used to laugh from the shilling gallery at the play? There are now no good plays to laugh at from the boxes. But why go so far as that? I need go no farther than your street, and possibly your own house, to find an illustration. (T. De Witt Talmage.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now<\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The design of affliction<\/strong><\/p>\n Since we derive our knowledge through the medium of the senses, only by the aid of figurative language can spiritual truths forcibly lay hold of the mind. Nothing is more common in the prophecies than to express the relation between God and the Jews of old by the alliance of marriage. He was considered as their husband; hence they were laid under peculiar obligations to Him; and hence their sins had the character of violating the marriage-contract. Because of their unfaithfulness, calamities befell them. But while these were the effects of sin, they were also the means of bringing them to a proper state of mind. They are therefore considered eventually as mercies. The hedge here spoken of is the hedge of affliction, composed of some of those thorns and briars which sin has so plentifully produced in this wilderness world. The metaphor is taken from the husbandman, who, to keep his cattle in the pasture, and prevent their going astray, fences them in; and the sharper the hedge the better. Thus God resolves to make our rovings difficult. If we will go astray, we must smart for it. If lighter afflictions fail of their end, God will employ heavier. They may be foolhardy enough to break through the thorns, and may go on though wounded and bleeding, but they shall not get over the wall–I have stones as well as brambles–I will present insuperable difficulties. What a variety of troubles God has to dispose of. The passage reminds us–<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Afflictions are designed to be trials. Let our earthly blessings be removed, and our reliance will quickly appear. If our dependence has been on them, we sink when they are removed.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Afflictions are excitements. They quicken to the exercise of grace, and to the performance of duty. When we become indifferent to communion with God, He will send some fiery trial to bring us to our knees.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Afflictions are spiritual preventions,–they are to keep man from his purpose. Disappointments in favourite wishes are trying, and we are not always wise enough to recollect–that disappointments in time are often the means of preventing disappointments in eternity. It is a most singular mercy for God to render the pursuit of sin difficult. If we are going astray–is it not better to have the road filled with thorns than strewed with flowers? There are some who are now rejoicing because their plans succeed, and everything favours their wishes, who, if they knew all, would see awful reason to weep and mourn. And there are others, who, if they knew all, would no longer be sorrowful because they cannot advance, but are checked in every path they tread. They would see that they are chastened of the Lord, that they may not be condemned with the world. How awful is it when afflictions are useless, and even medicine is administered in vain!<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>It cannot be better with them than it is until they return to God.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>They should, in returning, guard against that despondency which would tell you that it will be in vain. Have any of you been restored? Turn not again to folly. Live near to God; your welfare depends upon it. (William Jay.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The first husband<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The marriage union. In such an union we look for the consent of the parties; reciprocal affection, harmony of interest, and oneness of spirit.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>A violation of this union acknowledged. I <\/em>will go and return is an indirect confession of unfaithfulness, due to a culpable inattention to Divine instruction, to a forgetfulness of the Divine law. It is evinced by forming attachments to other objects, and by a violation of their covenant with God.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>A purpose to renew this union avowed. This purpose was rationally founded, was absolutely expressed, practically to be exemplified.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>As it is more honourable.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>As it is more comfortable.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>As it is more safe.<\/p>\n Infer from this subject–<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>How much saints should prize their privileges; how thankful they should be for them, and how careful not to forfeit them by stretching out their hands to a strange god.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The folly of apostates, and the reasons they have for returning to their first husband. (G. Brooks.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Returning to God<\/strong><\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>In times of affliction the only rest of the soul is to return to God.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>So long as men can have anything in their sinful way to satisfy themselves with, they will not return to God.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Returning to God, if it be in truth, though it be after we have sought out all other helps, yet God is willing to accept.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>A heart effectually wrought upon by God, is a resolute heart to return to God.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>Those who have ever found the sweetness of Christ in their hearts, though they should be backsliders, have something remaining that will at length draw them to Him.<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>There must be a sight and an acknowledgment of our shameful folly, or else there can be no true returning to God.<\/p>\n 7. <\/strong>Though acknowledgment must go before, returning must follow. (Jeremiah Burroughs.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n For then was it better with me than now<\/strong>.–<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The way of simple faith best<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a story told of Robert Robinson, the hymn-writer, which forcibly illustrates Brownings words, Stand back the man I am behind the man I used to be. In his early ministry, Robinson, the Baptist minister at Cambridge, wrote that beautiful and well-known hymn–Come, Thou Fount of every blessing. In the latter part of his life, Robinsons views of evangelical truth had changed, and he seemed to have lost a good deal of his spiritual fervour. Riding one day on a stage-coach, a lady, who was quite a stranger to him, entered into conversation. The subject of hymns came up, and she asked, little knowing that he was the author, what he thought of the hymn, Come, Thou Fount of every blessing. But he waived the subject, and turned her attention to some other topic; but, after a short period, she contrived to return to it, and described the benefits she had often derived from the hymn, and her strong admiration of its sentiments. At length, Robinson, entirely overcome by the power of his feelings, burst into tears, and said, Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago; and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I then had. (A. Hampden Lee.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 6<\/span>. I will hedge up thy way with thorns<\/B><\/I>] I will put it out of your power to escape the judgments I have threatened; and, in spite of all your attachment to your idols, you shall find that they can give you neither bread<\/I>, nor water<\/I>, nor wool<\/I>, nor flax,<\/I> nor oil<\/I>, nor drink<\/I>. And ye shall be brought into such circumstances, that the pursuit of your expensive idolatry shall be impossible. And she shall be led so deep into captivity, as never to find the road back to her own land. And this is the fact; for those who were carried away into Assyria have been lost among the nations, few of them having ever returned to Judea. And, if in being, where they are now is utterly unknown.<\/P> <\/p>\n Therefore; <\/B>because she is so impetuous and shameless in her idolatrous courses, nothing hath, and she resolves nothing shall, hinder her, but she will follow them. <\/P> Behold; <\/B>take notice of it, thou lewd woman, and all that stand by. <\/P> I will hedge up thy way with thorns:<\/B> thou wilt set no bounds to thy lusts, and thy wanderings to satisfy them; I will deal with thee as men do with unruly and rambling beasts, set a hedge of thorns about thee, i.e. compass thee in with wars and other calamities, which shall wound and pierce thee, that though thou love thy sinful courses, and wilt follow them, thou shalt have little pleasure in them. <\/P> And make a wall; <\/B>another allusion to the method men take to keep in the wildest cattle, which would break through hedges, but cannot break through walls. God will make the calamities of this people as a strong and high wall, over which they cannot leap, nor through which they cannot break. So was the Assyrian army under Shalmaneser, which cooped them up in a long siege of Samaria, and at last took them, and carried them into a long captivity, which now lasteth. <\/P> That she shall not find her paths; <\/B>wherein then didst go when thou wentest to Egypt or Syria for help; but by my judgments, and thine enemies power and watchfulness, always shall be watched and guarded, thou shalt not find how to send to them for relief. These were her paths, whereas a chaste wife would have gone to her husband for relief. <\/P> <\/p>\n 6, 7. thorns . . . wall<\/B>(Job 19:8<\/span>; Lam 3:7<\/span>;Lam 3:9<\/span>). The hindrances whichthe captivity interposed between Israel and her idols. As sheattributes all her temporal blessings to idols, I will reduce her tostraits in which, when she in vain has sought help from false gods,she will at last seek Me as her only God and Husband, as at the first(Isa 54:5<\/span>; Jer 3:14<\/span>;Eze 16:8<\/span>). <\/P> then<\/B>before Israel’sapostasy, under Jeroboam. The way of duty is hedged about<\/I> withthorns; it is the way of sin that is hedged up<\/I> with thorns.Crosses in an evil course are God’s hedges to turn us from it.Restraining grace and restraining providences (even sicknesses andtrials) are great blessings when they stop us in a course of sin.Compare Lu 15:14-18<\/span>,”I will arise, and go to my father.” So here, “I willgo, and return,” c. crosses in the both cases being sanctifiedto produce this effect.<\/P><\/p>\n Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns<\/strong>,…. As fields and vineyards are fenced with thorn hedges to keep out beasts; or rather as closes and fields are fenced to keep cattle in, from going out and straying elsewhere; which may be expressive of afflictions, aud particularly wars among them, that they could not stir out and go from place to place: and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths: to go to Dan and Bethel, and worship the calves there, as some; or to go to the Egyptians and Assyrians for help, as Jarchi and Kimchi; though it was by the latter that they were hedged in, and walled and cooped up, when the city of Samaria was besieged three years: rather this respects the straits and difficulties the Jews have been reduced to by the destruction of Jerusalem, and the continuance of them ever since; so that they are not able to offer their daily sacrifice, kill and eat their passover lamb, and perform other rites and ceremonies they used in their own land; which they would fain perform, though abolished by Christ, but are restrained by this hedge and wall, the destruction of their temple and altar, and not being suffered to possess their land; hence they are said to be without a sacrifice and an ephod. Ho 3:4<\/span>.<\/p>\n “Therefore<\/em> (because the woman says this), behold, thus will I hedge up thy way with thorns, and wall up a wall, and she shall not find her paths.” <\/em> The hedging up of the way, strengthened by the similar figure of the building of a wall to cut off the way, denotes her transportation into a situation in which she could no longer continue her adultery with the idols. The reference is to distress and tribulation (compare Hos 5:15<\/span> with Deu 4:30<\/span>; Job 3:23<\/span>; Job 19:8<\/span>; Lam 3:7<\/span>), especially the distress and anguish of exile, in which, although Israel was in the midst of idolatrous nations, and therefore had even more outward opportunity to practise idolatry, it learned the worthlessness of all trust in idols, and their utter inability to help, and was thus impelled to reflect and turn to the Lord, who smites and heals (Hos 6:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n This thought is carried out still further in Hos 2:7<\/span>: “ And she will pursue her lovers, and not overtake them; and seek them, and not find them: and will say, I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now.” <\/em> Distress at first increases their zeal in idolatry, but it soon brings them to see that the idols afford no help. The failure to reach or find the lovers, who are sought with zeal ( riddeph <\/em>, piel <\/em> in an intensive sense, to pursue eagerly), denotes the failure to secure what is sought from them, viz., the anticipated deliverance from the calamity, which the living God has sent as a punishment. This sad experience awakens the desire to return to the faithful covenant God, and the acknowledgment that prosperity and all good things are to be found in vital fellowship with Him.<\/p>\n The thought that God will fill the idolatrous nation with disgust at its coquetry with strange gods, by taking away all its possessions, and thus putting to shame its delusive fancy that the possessions which it enjoyed really came from the idols, is still further expanded in the second strophe, commencing with the eighth verse. Hos 2:8<\/span>. “And she knows not that I have given her the corn, and the must, and the oil, and have multiplied silver to her, and gold, which they have used for Baal.” <\/em> Corn, must, and oil are specified with the definite article as being the fruits of the land, which Israel received from year to year. These possessions were the foundation of the nation’s wealth, through which gold and silver were multiplied. Ignorance of the fact that Jehovah was the giver of these blessings, was a sin. That Jehovah had given the land to His people, was impressed upon the minds of the people for all time, together with the recollection of the mighty acts of the Lord, by the manner in which Israel had been put in possession of Canaan; and not only had Moses again and again reminded the Israelites most solemnly that it was He who gave rain to the land, and multiplied and blessed its fruitfulness and its fruits (compare, for example, Deu 7:13<\/span>; Deu 11:14-15<\/span>), but this was also perpetually called to their remembrance by the law concerning the offering of the first-fruits at the feasts. The words asu labbaal <\/em> are to be taken as a relative clause without ‘asher <\/em>, though not in the sense of “which they have made into Baal,” i.e., out of which they have made Baal-images (Chald., Rabb., Hitzig, Ewald, and others); for even though occurs in this sense in Isa 44:17<\/span>, the article, which is wanting in Isaiah, and also in Gen 12:2<\/span> and Exo 32:10<\/span>, precludes such an explanation here, apart from the fact that habbaal <\/em> cannot stand by itself for a statue of Baal. Here has rather the general meaning “apply to anything,” just as in 2Ch 24:7<\/span>, where it occurs in a perfectly similar train of thought. This use of the word may be obtained from the meaning “to prepare for anything,” whereas the meaning “to offer,” which Gesenius adopts (“which they have offered to Baal”), is untenable, since simply denotes the preparation of the sacrifice for the altar, which is out of the question in the case of silver and gold. They had applied their gold and silver to Baal, however, not merely by using them for the preparation of idols, but by employing them in the maintenance and extension of the worship of Baal, or even by regarding them as gifts of Baal, and thus confirming themselves in the zealous worship of that god. By habba’al we are not simply to understand the Canaanitish or Phoenician Baal in the stricter sense of the word, whose worship Jehu had exterminated from Israel, though not entirely, as is evident from the allusion to an Asherah<\/em> in Samaria in the reign of Jehoahaz (2Ki 13:6<\/span>); but Baal<\/em> is a general expression for all idols, including the golden calves, which are called other gods in 1Ki 14:9<\/span>, and compared to actual idols.<\/p>\n Threatenings of Judgment.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 764.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. 7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them:<\/I> then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it<\/I> better with me than now. 8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which<\/I> they prepared for Baal. 9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given<\/I> to cover her nakedness. 10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. 12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are<\/I> my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. 13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD<\/B>.<\/P> God here goes on to threaten what he would do with this treacherous idolatrous people; and he warns that he may not wound, he threatens that he may not strike. If he turn not, he will whet his sword<\/I> (Ps. vii. 12<\/span>); but, if he turn, he will sheathe it. They did not turn, and therefore all this came upon them: and its being threatened before shows that it was the execution of a divine sentence upon them for their wickedness; and it is written for admonition to us.<\/P> I. They shall be perplexed and embarrassed in all their counsels, and disappointed in all their expectations. This is threatened Hos 2:6<\/span>; Hos 2:7<\/span>. But to the threatening is annexed a promise that this shall be a means to convince them of their folly, and bring them home to their duty; and so good shall be brought out of evil, in token of the mercy God has yet in reserve for them. And, this being the happy fruit and effect of the distress, it is hard to say whether the prediction, or the distress itself, should be called a threatening or a promise.<\/P> 1. God will raise up difficulties and troubles in their way, so that their public counsels and affairs shall have no success, nor shall they be able to get forward in them: I will hedge up thy way with thorns,<\/I> with such crosses as, like thorns and briers, are the product of sin and the curse, and are scratching, and tearing, and vexing, and, when the way we are in is hedged up with them, stop our progress, and force us to turn back. She said, “I will go after my lovers;<\/I> I will pursue my leagues and alliances with foreign powers, and depend upon them.” But God says, “She shall be frustrated in these projects, and not be able to proceed in them. I will hedge up thy way with thorns,<\/I> and, if that do not serve, I will make a wall.<\/I>” If some smaller difficulties be got over, and prevail not to break her measures, God will raise greater, for he will overcome when he judges. It shall be such a hedge, and such a wall, that she shall not find her paths.<\/I> The change of the person here, I will hedge up thy way,<\/I> and then, She<\/I> shall not find it,<\/I> is usual in scripture, especially in an earnest way of speaking. “Sinner, do thou take notice, I will hedge up thy way,<\/I> and all you that are bystanders take notice what will be the effect of this, you may observe that she<\/I> cannot find her paths.” She shall be as a traveller that not only knows not which way to go, of many that are before him, but that finds no way at all to go forward. And then she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them;<\/I> she shall endeavour to make an interest in the Assyrians and Egyptians, and to have them for her protectors, but she shall not gain her point; they shall either not come into confederacy with her or not do her any service, shall help in vain<\/I> and be as the staff of a broken reed. She shall seek them, but shall not find them,<\/I> shall seek to her idols, but shall not find that satisfaction in them which she promised herself; the gods whom she trusted and courted not only can do nothing for her, but have nothing to say to her to encourage her. Now, (1.) This is such a just judgment as the Sodomites met with, that were struck with blindness,<\/I> and wearied themselves to find the door<\/I> (Gen. xix. 11<\/span>), and the Syrians, 2 Kings vi. 18<\/span>. Note, Those that are most resolute in their sinful pursuits are commonly most crossed in them. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward<\/I> (Prov. xxii. 5<\/span>); and thus with them God shows himself froward<\/I> (Ps. xviii. 26<\/span>), and walks contrary to those that walk contrary to him,<\/I>Lev 26:23<\/span>; Lev 26:24<\/span>. The lamenting prophet complains, He has enclosed my ways,<\/I>Lam 3:7<\/span>; Lam 3:9<\/span>. The way of God and duty is often hedged about with thorns, but we have reason to think it is a sinful way that is hedged up with thorns. (2.) This is such a kind rebuke, and indeed such a mercy, as Balaam met with, when the angel stood in his way, to hinder his going forward to curse Israel,<\/I> Num. xxii. 22<\/I><\/span>. Note, Crosses and obstacles in an evil course are great blessings, and are so to be accounted. They are God’s hedges, to keep us from transgressing, to restrain us from wandering out of the green pastures, to withdraw man from his purpose<\/I> (Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>these restraints are manifold. I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall. The first metaphor is taken from a husbandman who to prevent the cattle from breaking away plants a prickly hedge. The ether is taken from architecture. If the thorns are insufficient, high and massive walls must be built.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>These restraints are necessary.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The sin of Israel. Their sin was departing from the Lord, and going after forbidden sources of dependence, and forbidden objects of desire. We need not a more striking proof of the depravity of mans heart universally, than we find in this ungrateful conduct of Israel. The manner in which their sin is set forth is peculiarly striking. They are represented in the character of an unfaithful wife toward the most tender and affectionate husband. There is scarcely anything affects a well-regulated mind more painfully than an instance of unfaithfulness on the part of a beloved wife towards an affectionate husband. It excites in our minds mingled emotions of pity, sorrow, and indignation. How deeply should we feel the dishonour done to God by the unfaithfulness of Israel, and-how humbling a lesson should we learn of the depraved nature of our own hearts! The sin of Israel was summed up in this: departing from the God of love–setting at nought the love of God. This is our sin, nationally and individually. We have our national idols; we have our personal idols. The condition of Israel further represents the case of those who have had some experience of the love of God, yet forsake the guide of their youth, and become entangled with the world.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The chastisement of Israel. Gods forbearance and long-suffering with His people was very great. He was continually provoked to anger by their evil doings, but nevertheless He bare long with them. But the time came when it was necessary to throw obstacles in the way of their idolatry, and so hinder the accomplishment of their desires after worldly enjoyments, that they should be like persons hedged in with thorns and briars. This time came with the Captivity. The instruction of this fact belongs to us specially as a nation whom God has signally blessed with the pure light of Gospel truth. It is not, however, to be limited to Gods chastisement of nations. It applies to those amongst us who have been personally convinced of sin, and of our need of such a Saviour as Jesus. Gods rule of dealing with us is the same as with nations. God will make us feel the bitterness of sin. If ever you are saved, it shall be by first bringing you through the deep waters of soul affliction for sin. You must see yourself hedged in by the greatness and the number of your sins. It is a merciful chastisement which makes us feel the utter vanity of things of time and sense.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The blessed consequences of the chastisement. As regards us individually, Gods dealings with Israel find a perfect parallel. All the chastisements for sin issue in nearness to God, and peaceful communion with God, and holy confidence in His love. (James Cooper, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>Of our depravity. It appears in our proneness to go astray. We transfer to the creature those regards which are duo only to the Creator. We make earthly things our idols. These draw away our hearts from God. Let us not deceive ourselves, and judge of our declensions only by gross acts, but by the state of our minds. Where no vices have appeared in the life, there may have been many deviations from God in our thoughts and affections and pursuits.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Of the Divine goodness and care. He employs means, various means, to hinder and to reclaim us. Why all these expedients? Is it because He stands in need of us? Nay, but because we stand in need of Him; because He would not have us deceived, ensnared, destroyed.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Of the benefit of affliction.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>Of the difference there is between our adhering to God and our forsaking him. Behold the declining Christian, seduced by the world. He would try deviating ways for himself. And God says, Let him try,–that he may know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. By and by, he begins to bethink himself, and compare the present with the past, and is miserable. Let those who have been led astray, and have fallen by their iniquity, consider the melancholy change that has taken place in their experience, and remember two things–<\/p>\n
I.<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>A resolution formed.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>A reason expressed upon which this resolution is founded. Self-love is a powerful principle; it is the main-spring of human actions. The doctrine of, the text is, that fidelity to God is relatively better than apostasy from Him; better in itself, and better for me.<\/p>\nFuente: 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