7<\/strong>. not overtake<\/em> not find them<\/em> ] Because the sense of the mystic nearness of the Baalim, formerly enjoyed by their worshippers, will have disappeared together with the prosperity which they were imagined to have granted; prayers and sacrifices will have lost their supposed efficacy.<\/p>\n I will go and return<\/em> ] Rather, Let me go and return<\/strong>. A resolution which strikingly resembles that of the Jews in Upper Egypt in the time of Jeremiah, who persisted in worshipping the Queen of Heaven, on the ground that when they had worshipped her in former times ‘they had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil’ (Jer 44:17<\/span>). Israel’s language here reminds us of a later parallel passage (Hos 6:1-3<\/span>); it is not so much the expression of penitence, as of a longing to escape from the sense of misery.<\/p>\n then was it better with me than now<\/em> ] For, after all, Israel was better off materially at the opening of her national existence. She had not indeed as yet appropriated the good things of Canaanitish civilization; but her independence was secured, and she had a bright horizon of hope.<\/p>\n And she shall follow after – <\/B>The words rendered follow after and seek (<\/span>, <\/span>) are intensive and express eager, vehement 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. For eighteen hundred years the Jews have chased after a phantom, a Christ, triumphing, after the manner of the kings of the earth, and it has ever escaped them. The sinful soul will too often struggle on, in pursuit of what God is withdrawing, and will not give over, until, through Gods persevering mercy, the fruitless pursuit exhausts her, and she finds it hopeless. Oh the willfulness of man, and the unwearied patience of God!<\/P> Then shall she say, I will go and return – <\/B>She encourages herself tremblingly to return to God. The words express a mixture of purpose and wish. Before, she said, Come, let me go after my lovers; now, she says, Come let me go and return, as the progical in the Gospel, I will arise and go to my Father.<\/P> To my first husband – <\/B>God is the first Husband of the soul, which, while yet pure, He, through the love of the Holy Spirit, united with Himself. Him the soul longeth for, when it findeth manifold bitternesses, as thorns, in those delights of time and sense which it coveted. For when the soul begins to be gnawed by the sorrows of the world which she loveth, then she understandeth more fully, how it was better with her, with her former husband. Those whom a perverse will led astray, distress mostly converts. Mostly, when we cannot obtain in this world what we wish, when we have been wearied with the impossibility of our search of earthly desires, then the thought of God returns to the soul; then, what was before distasteful, becomes pleasant to us; He whose commands had been bitter to the soul, suddenly in memory grows sweet to her, and the sinful soul determines to be a faithful wife. And God still vouchsafes to be, on her return, the Husband even of the adulterous soul, however far she had strayed from Him.<\/P> For then it was better with me than now – <\/B>It is the voice of the prodigal son in the Gospel, which the Father hears, How many hired servants of my Father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will serve, Israel would say, the living and true God, not the pride of people, or of evil spirits, for even in this life it is much sweeter to bear the yoke of the Lord, than to be the servant of men. In regard to the ten tribes, the then must mean the time before the apostasy under Jeroboam. God, in these words, softens the severity of His upbraiding and of His sentences of coming woe, by the sweetness of promised mercy. Israel was so impatient of Gods threats, that their kings and princes killed those whom He sent unto them. God wins her attention to His accusations by this brief tempering of sweetness.<\/P><\/p>\n And she, <\/B>hedged in with many and great distresses, when under the judgments of God, shall follow after her lovers<\/I>; with earnest travel, and with wearisome toil, she shall attempt every way to get to them, but to no purpose: afflictions and sorrows surround Israel; these Israel can by no means break out of to these lovers, and they, like false lovers, hasten as fast and as far from this adulteress as they can. <\/P> Her lovers, <\/B>idols and idolaters, her false friends, and falser gods. <\/P> She shall not overtake them; <\/B>they which hasten after such strange gods and helps, as this shameless harlot, shall meet with sorrow, but never overtake their desired help. <\/P> She shall seek them; <\/B>as is the manner of immodest strumpets; it speaks also her obstinate resolution in her way: so Israel forsook a God that would have sought him to do him good, and by no disappointments would be (for a long time) taken off from this frantic wildness, of seeking to idols that could do him no good. <\/P> But shall not find them; <\/B>the final issue of all is at last, she is wearied in her folly, tired with fruitless labour, and sits down hopeless of ever finding help from idols and idolaters. <\/P> Then shall she say; <\/B>as the prodigal, first think well on it, next resolve with herself. <\/P> I will go and return; <\/B>restless, she will try one way more; happy she if she had tried this sooner, this would have been successful; she will return, come back, and seek to her Husband. <\/P> To my first Husband, <\/B>i.e. God, who had married Israel to himself, who was her Husband indeed: all others were as adulterers, as deceivers and seducers, who abuse the credulity of wanton women first, and next abuse their husbands beds. <\/P> For then was it better with me than now:<\/B> how much the tune is changed! In Hos 2:5<\/span>, all her gallantry, her feasts, her rich apparel, these are gifts of her lovers; not a word of her Husbands greatest kindnesses. But now she sees and confesseth the least of her Husbands kindnesses was better than the greatest kindness of these her paramours, and at worst with her Husband she was better than at best with adulterers. <\/P> <\/p>\n And she shall follow after her lovers<\/strong>,…. Before mentioned; that is, in her affections and desires, with great eagerness and earnestness, as men pursue what they are bent upon; otherwise, being hedged in and walled up, she could not go after them in a proper sense:<\/p>\n but she shall not overtake them<\/strong>; they fleeing from her, and she pent up:<\/p>\n she shall seek them, but shall not find them<\/strong>; shall not be able to enjoy them, or act according to her wishes and desires, with respect to the performance of sacrifices, rites, and ceremonies, as before observed:<\/p>\n then shall she say<\/strong>; in her heart, finding all endeavours fruitless, and that the things sought after were never to be had; the hedges and wall, the obstructions in the way, were never to be removed, while in such a pursuit; wherefore after a long time, many hundreds of years, even in the latter day, being convinced of her sin and folly in rejecting Christ, and pursuing after other objects, she will take up the following resolution:<\/p>\n I will go and return to my first husband<\/strong>; either the God of Israel, whom the ten tribes departed from by worshipping the calves Jeroboam set up; but in the latter day will seek the Lord their God again, who was a husband to them, and shall cleave to him again, and all Israel shall be saved: so the Targum,<\/p>\n “I will go and return to the service of my first master, for it was well with me when I served him; henceforth I will not serve idols:”<\/p>\n or Christ, who was promised and prophesied of as a husband to the Jewish church, Isa 54:5<\/span> and whom they believed in, and expected as such, but when he came rejected him; but now being convinced of their error shall seek David their King, appoint themselves one head, and embrace Christ as their husband, and adhere to him; see Ho 3:5<\/span>:<\/p>\n for then was it better with me than now<\/strong>; while in the faith, and hope, and expectation of the true Messiah; having a spiritual apprehension of him, true faith in him, and comfort from him, as held forth in the promise; being then possessed of the good land, in the enjoyment of the word and ordinances, and of all religious and civil privileges, but now deprived of them. This may be applied to the case of true believers in Christ, having partially departed from him, and being restored. Christ is a husband to them, who has betrothed them to himself, and they have given themselves to him, and have been loved, nourished, cherished, and provided for by him, and for a while had much nearness, familiarity, and communion with him; but unbelief prevailing, first love waxing cold, and being got into a carnal and sleepy frame, neglect both private and public worship, fall into sin, and removed from church communion, and so may be said to have departed from Christ their husband; but being recovered by divine grace, and sensible of their sins, resolve to return to him again by repentance and acknowledgment, by doing their first works, and by attendance on his word and ordinances; instigated hereunto very much by remembering how it has been with them when they kept close to him, and observing the difference between those times and the present; how they had then the presence of God and Christ, and communion with them, and the secret discoveries of the love of God; in what lively exercise the graces of the Spirit were; what delight and profit they had in ordinances, and what peace, joy, and comfort, in their souls; all which now they want; see Job 29:2<\/span>.<\/p>\n God now shows what takes place when he chastises hardened and rebellious people with heavy punishment. In the first clause he shows that perverseness will cleave so completely to their hearts, that they will not immediately return to a sound mind. She will follow her lovers, he says, and seek them. Here the Prophet tells us, that though the Israelites should be chastised by frequent punishments, they would yet continue in their obstinacy. It hence appears how hard a neck they had, and how uncircumcised in heart they were; and such did the Prophets, as well as Moses, represent them to be. And we hence learn, that had they been only moderately corrected, it would not have been sufficient for their amendment. Amazing, indeed, was their obstinacy; for God had divorced them, and then led them into great straits; and yet they went on in their course, as though they were utterly stupid and destitute of every feeling. Is it not a prodigious madness, when men run on so obstinately, even when God sets his hand so strongly against them? Such, however, is represented to have been the obstinacy of the Israelites. <\/p>\n The meaning then is, that when they were subdued, God would not immediately soften their hearts. Then God, though he bruised, did not yet reform them; for their hardness was so great, that they could not be turned immediately to a docile state of mind; but, on the contrary, they followed their lovers. By the word, follow, is expressed that mad zeal which possesses idolaters; for as we see, they are like men who are frantic. As then the superstitious know no bounds, nor any moderation, but a mad zeal at times lays hold on them, the Prophet says She will follow her lovers and shall not overtake them. What does the latter clause mean? That God will frustrate the hope of the ungodly, that they may know that they in vain worship false gods and follow with avidity absurd superstitions. They will seek them, he says, and shall not find them. He ever speaks of the people under the character of a shameless and unfaithful wife. <\/p>\n We then see what the Prophet intended to do, — to vindicate God from every blame, that men might not raise a clamour, as though he dealt unkindly with them. He shows that God, even when so rigid, produces hardly any effect; for the ungodly in their perverseness struggle against his scourges, and suffer not themselves to be brought immediately into due order. <\/p>\n But in the second clause the Prophet adds, that some benefit would at length arise, that though idolaters abused God’s goodness, and even hardened themselves against his rods, yet this would not be perpetually the case; for the Lord would grant better success. Hence it follows, She will then say, I will go and return to my former husband. Here the Prophet shows more clearly a hope of pardon, inasmuch as he speaks of the people’s repentance; for men, we know, repent not without benefit, as God is ever ready to receive them when they return to him in genuine sorrow. Then the Prophet here avowedly speaks of the repentance of the people, that the Israelites might hence know, that corrections, which men naturally ever dislike, would be profitable to them. It is our wish that God should always favour us, and that we should be nourished kindly and tenderly in his bosom; but in the meantime, he cannot allure us to himself, by whatever means he may try to do so: and hence it is, that chastisements are bitter to us, and our flesh immediately murmurs. When the Lord raises his finger, before he strikes us, we instantly groan and become angry, and even roar against him: in short, men can never be brought willingly to offer themselves to be chastised by God. Hence the Prophet now shows, that the severity of God is profitable to us; for it drives us at length to repentance: in a word, he commends the favour of God in his very severity, that we may know that he furthers our salvation, even when he seems to treat us most unkindly. She will then say, I will go and return to my former husband. <\/p>\n But we must observe, that when men really repent, they do so through the special influence of the Spirit; for they would otherwise perpetually remain in that perverseness of which we have spoken. Were God for a hundred years continually to chastise perverse men, they would not yet change their disposition; and true is that common saying, “The wicked are sooner broken than reformed.” But when men, after many admonitions, begin to be wise, this change comes through the Spirit of God. We may also learn from this passage what true repentance is; that is, when he who has sinned not only confesses himself to be guilty, and owns himself worthy of punishment, but is also displeased with himself, and then with sincere desire turns to God. Many, we see, are ready enough, and disposed, to confess their sins, and yet go on in the same course. But the Prophet shows here that true repentance is something very different, “I will go and return”, he says. Repentance then consists (as they say) in the act itself; that is, repentance produces a reforming change in man, so that he reconciles himself to God, whom he had forsaken. <\/p>\n I will then go and return to my former husband. Why? Because better was it with me then than now. The Prophet again confirms what I lately said, — that the faithful are not made wise, except they are well chastised; for the Prophet speaks not here of the reprobate, but of the remnant seed. The people of Israel were to be exterminated; but the Prophet now declares that there would be some remaining who would at last receive benefit from God’s chastisements. Since then we must understand the Prophet as speaking of the elect, we may hence readily conclude, that chastisements are necessary for us; for we grow torpid in our vices, as long as God spares us. Unless, then it appears that God is really displeased with us, it will never come to our minds, that we ought to repent. Let us now proceed — <\/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 “And she will follow after her lovers, but she will not overtake them, and she will seek them, but will not find them.’<\/p>\n So while she may still seek to follow after her lovers, she will not be able to catch up with them, and she will seek them and not find them. All access to them will have been lost. There would be no Baalim to worship in exile. It will always be so with earthly ‘lovers’.<\/p>\n “Then she will say, “I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now. For she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil,”<\/p>\n The result of this will be that she will be brought to her senses and will recognise how foolish she has been. She will recognise that she had not realised that it was YHWH who had provided her grain and new wine and oil (compare for example, Deu 7:13<\/span>; Deu 11:14-15<\/span>). And she will therefore determine to return to her first husband, acknowledging that things had been far better when she had been faithful to Him. (This would be one result of the Exiles that would follow).<\/p>\n Thus once again, after judgment is to come deliverance. But Hosea will not let Israel off the hook yet. And he leaps back from her moment of repentance to the consequences that will result before repentance. He was under no illusions. He knew very well that that repentance was a long way off.<\/p>\n Hos 2:8<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “And multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.”<\/p>\n But before he does leap back he has one more thing to add. YHWH had also been the One Who had provided her with wealth (Jeroboam’s reign had seen prosperity grow and blossom). And what had she done with it? She had squandered it on Baal. The living God had been far from her thoughts. That was why judgment had to come.<\/p>\n Hos 2:7<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>I will go, and return, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> After finding that her attachment to idols and idolatrous nations will not avail her, but rather plunge her into misfortunes, she will through divine grace be brought to a sense of her duty, and of the happiness that she enjoyed, while cleaving stedfastly to her God. See Isa 54:5<\/span>. <\/span>Jer 3:1<\/span>; Jer 44:17<\/span>; Jer 44:30<\/span>. Eze 16:18<\/span> : <\/p>\n Here we have the beautiful consequence of God’s gracious dealings with his people. Though the Lord’s people have done, and do commit spiritual adultery with the Mammon of this world, and the Church is continually running after her idols; yet, meeting with nothing but sorrow, disappointment, and vexation of spirit, the Lord mercifully tinging all her pursuits with bitterness and vanity; and by the secret inclinations the Lord works in the heart, working grace, at length issues a cry from the soul, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now. Reader! I pray you not to overlook the blessed soul-rejoicing, soul-comforting doctrine here taught the Church. Jesus was, and is, and ever will be, the first, and constant, and last, and only husband of his Church. For whatever idols our poor souls, in the fallen state of an unregenerated, unrenewed nature, through the temptation of hell, may go after, still the Lord Jesus loseth not his right in us, neither we our interest in him. Oh! what a thought is here! Oh! what unknown, unexplored, and endless mercies, are found in it, for every redeemed soul to rejoice in! Christ, as Mediator, received his Church, his bride, his spouse, from the hand and gift of God the Father, before all worlds. True, he was to redeem it in time; but this he had bargained for from all eternity. The lapsed state in Adam, like what is said here of the Church, left our whole nature naked, and as in the day in which we were born, children of whoredoms, and deserving wrath. But Jesus claims his right, and recovers his redeemed, the purchase of his blood, by the sovereignty of his Almighty arm. And having undertaken for her debt, he undertook for her duty also, and therefore makes her willing in the day of his power.<\/p>\n Hos 2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find [them]: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then [was it] better with me than now.<\/p>\n Ver. 7. And she shall follow after her lovers<\/strong> ] Follow them hot foot, pursue them eagerly and earnestly, as the hunter doth his game, or the pursuivant the party to be arrested; so little was she bettered by her former sufferings. Thus the blind Sodomites continue groping still for the door as if they were ambitious of destruction, which was now even at next door by. And thus Pharaoh, that sturdy rebel, rageth against God, and menaceth Moses with death, then, when that palpable gross darkness was upon him. This was one of those wild bulls in a net that was full of the fury of the Lord, Isa 51:20<\/span> . He was full of it, and yet lay raging against it, adding impatience to his impenitence, and passive disobedience to his active. Another bull of the same breed was Ahaziah, who sent a third captain after the two former had been consumed with fire from heaven; as if he would despitefully spit in the face of heaven, and wrestle a fall with the Almighty. And a third was that stubborn stigmatic Ahaz, who the more he was distressed the more he trespassed: “This is that king Ahaz,” 2Ch 28:22<\/span> . These men lost the fruit of their afflictions; which indeed was a great loss, but that they were not sensible of it ( Perdidistis fructum afflictionis.<\/em> Aug.). Those that belong to God shall have stroke upon stroke, one cross in the neck of another, till they be kindly humbled, and brought home to their first busband. God will strike a parting blow between them and their sweethearts; and make them pollute the idols which they had once perfumed, Isa 30:22<\/span> . <\/p>\n <\/p>\n She shall follow them, but she shall not overtake them<\/strong> ] Persequetur, sed non assequetur.<\/em> She shall meet with disappointment, but it shall be in mercy: she shall be crossed with a blessing, chastened by the Lord, that she may not be condemned with the world. She shall seek for favour and help from her sweethearts’ hands, but all in vain, they shall all forsake her, and shall change their ancient love into mortal hatred, Jer 2:36<\/span> Eze 36:17<\/span> . It is the usual practice of the devil and his instruments to bring men into the briars, and there to leave them to shift as they can: thus the Pharisees dealt by Judas; “What is that to us?” say they; “see thou to that,” Mat 27:4<\/span> : they left him when they had led him to his bane; like as familiars leave their witches, when they have once brought them into fetters. God dealeth not so with any of his, when he is most angry. But as in very faithfulness he afflicts them, that he may be true to their souls; so when they follow hard after him, as David did, they are sure to overtake him, though perhaps not presently; when they seek him, they are sure to find him, so they search for him with all their heart, Jer 29:13<\/span> . True it is, that God often by the hand of the enemy, as by a pursuivant at arms, fetcheth in bankrupt tenants, that is, his own untoward and backsliding people, and leaveth them in the pursuivant’s hand, till they take some course to satisfy for their arrears. But that once done, he will soon set them at liberty, and make them glad, according to the days wherein he had afflicted them, Psa 90:15<\/span> . Let a poor soul but say, as here, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I will go and return to my first husband<\/strong> ] That is, to God. I have run away from him by my sins; I will now return again to him by repentance. Let there be but such language in the hearts of God’s prodigals, and he will soon relent toward them, meet them on the way, Isa 65:24<\/span> , fall upon their necks and kiss them, Luk 15:20<\/span> , he will receive them with all sweetness. Iam ex hoc loco licet colligere quae sit vera resipiscentia,<\/em> saith Calvin here. 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 those two essential parts of true repentance, sc.<\/em> 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. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For then was it better with me than now<\/strong> ] It was so: but how came you to conceive or consider of it in this sort? but by disappointments and afflictions? These are to us as Benhadad’s best counsellors, that sent him with a cord about his neck to the merciful king of Israel. The Septuagint render the text thus, For he was good to me then, or he is now. And what wonder? Is there anything to be gotten by departing from Christ, by leaving thy first love, by quenching the Spirit, and making apostasy from former degrees of grace and holiness? Can any son of Jesse do for us as Christ can? or do we think to mend ourselves by running out of God’s blessing into the world’s warm sun, as Demur did? “O call me not Naomi,” said she once, but “call me Marah: for I went out full, and am come home empty,” Rth 1:20<\/span> . So doth a revolted Christian say, when he comes from the act of sinning, when he hath been seeking after his sweethearts: he went with his heart full of peace, and his hand full of plenty; and meeting with a bargain of sinning, thought to eke out his happiness, and make it fuller (as Solomon did), but came home empty; empty of comfort, but laden with crosses. He hath lost his evidences, is excommunicated from the power of the ordinances, is under the terror of a wounded spirit, is buffetted by Satan, is out of hope of ever recovering the radiance of his graces, hath his back burden of afflictions: so that he is forced to confess it to be the greatest madness in the world to buy the sweetest sin at so dear a rate. David found it so. The Shulamite found it so, Son 5:1-2<\/span> , &c. No rest she had at home, nor comfort abroad, till she had recovered her first husband’s company; for then it was better with her than now; and yet now, too, upon her hearty repentance, all becomes as well with her as ever it had been before, Hos 6:4<\/span> , &c. Was it not so likewise with Ephraim, Jer 31:19-21<\/span> , with the prodigal, Luk 15:16-19<\/span> , with Peter after his shameful backslidinging and denial? Let this then be to all God’s relapsed people as a valley of Achor, a door of hope, that they may be re-admitted. Shall Sarah receive Hagar into favour? Joseph his brethren? David his Absalom? Philemon his Onesimus? Shall that man Ahab show mercy to his professed enemies, the Syrians, that had the second time set upon him? And shall not God receive his repenting children? fetch home his banished yea, though they may seem to be as water spilt upon the ground? bring them back into his own bosom, though they have never so far wandered out of the way? He will, he will. Only he expects that they should say, and do, as the Church of Israel here, and as the Church of Ephesus is advised, Rev 2:4<\/span> . First, Remember whence ye are fallen: sc.<\/em> not only from your former feelings and comforts, but also from your former fitness for God’s kingdom; that ius aptitudinale<\/em> (as the schools call it) that David himself had parted with for a season, and therefore is called plain David so oft together, and not my servant David, as formerly, 2Sa 24:12<\/span> , &c. Secondly, Repent: Sigh out that of Job, “Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shone upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; when the Almighty was yet with me,” Job 29:2-4<\/span> . Oh, it was far better then with me than now. Thus relent, repent, revenge upon your backslidings; spare for no pains, but be extraordinarily humbled: detest yourselves, give God no rest till he return unto his rest. Thirdly, Do your first works with a redoubled diligence for your former negligence; and tie yourselves thereto by solemn covenant. Begin (though at first but faintly) to pray, read, confer, meditate, cease from sin, shun the occasions, recover by degrees as a weak body doth by good diet, moderate exercise, &c.<\/p>\n follow after = eagerly follow after. <\/p>\n I will go, &c. Compare Hos 6:15. Luk 15:18. <\/p>\n first husband. Compare Eze 16:8. <\/p>\n than. Supply the Ellipsis: “than [it is] now”. <\/p>\n she shall follow: Hos 5:13, 2Ch 28:20-22, Isa 30:2, Isa 30:3, Isa 30:16, Isa 31:1-3, Jer 2:28, Jer 2:36, Jer 2:37, Jer 30:12-15, Eze 20:32, Eze 23:22 <\/p>\n I will: Hos 5:15, Hos 6:1, Hos 14:1, Psa 116:7, Jer 3:22-25, Jer 31:18, Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5, Lam 3:40-42, Luk 15:17-20 <\/p>\n first: Jer 2:2, Jer 3:1, Jer 31:32, Eze 16:18, Eze 23:4 <\/p>\n for: Hos 13:6, Deu 6:10-12, Deu 8:17, Deu 8:18, Deu 32:13-15, Neh 9:25, Neh 9:26, Jer 14:22, Dan 4:17, Dan 4:25, Dan 4:32, Dan 5:21 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Gen 20:6 – withheld 1Sa 25:39 – kept his servant Psa 119:67 – but now Ecc 7:14 – set Jer 2:31 – Have I been Lam 1:2 – among Lam 1:7 – remembered Hos 2:13 – she went Hos 2:16 – Ishi Luk 15:18 – will arise<\/p>\n 2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find [them]: then shall she say, {i} I will go and return to my first husband; for then [was it] better with me than now.<\/p>\n (i) This he speaks of the faithful, who are truly converted, and also shows the use and profit of God’s punishments.<\/p>\n Consequently, Gomer would pursue her lovers but not be able to catch up with them. She would seek them but not find them. Out of frustration she would give up pursuing them and return to her husband. She would conclude that she was better off with him than with them.<\/p>\n Out of frustration Israel would turn back to Yahweh.<\/p>\n And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find [them]: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then [was it] better with me than now. 7. not overtake not find them ] Because the sense … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 2:7”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/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: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"