14<\/strong>. But a father cannot long endure to contemplate the prospect of his child’s ruin.<\/p>\n from the power of the grave from death<\/em> ] Rather, from the hand of Shel from Death.<\/strong> Shel and Death are used synonymously for the nether world (as in Isa 28:15<\/span>; Psa 6:5<\/span>; Psa 49:14<\/span>). In Isa 5:14<\/span> Shel has an enormous mouth; so here a hand.<\/p>\n O death destruction<\/em> ] So Gesenius, following the Targum and Vulgate. But, as Dr Pusey remarks, on this view of the construction, we must render ‘I would be thy plagues’, &c., whereas the context requires an absolute declaration. Render therefore, Where are thy plagues, O Shel? where thy pestilence, O Death?<\/strong> (Comp. Psa 91:6<\/span> Hebr.). ‘The plagues are the mille vi leti<\/em> the many kinds of sickness, the most terrible of which is called “the firstborn of Death”, Job 18:13<\/span> (Hitzig). Though all the plagues which fill the dark city of Shel were let loose upon Israel as a nation, they would be incapable of destroying Jehovah’s ‘son.’ St Paul quotes these words (1Co 15:55<\/span>) in a translation of his own either as proving the doctrine of the Resurrection, or simply as well expressing his own triumphant feelings. Triumphant the tone of Hosea’s words certainly is, and hence some have thought Jehovah calls for the pestilences as agents in Israel’s threatened destruction, taking the first part of the verse interrogatively, ‘From the hand of Shel should I ransom them? from Death should I redeem them?’ But this is not the most natural explanation, nor is it required on the above view of the context.<\/p>\n repentance shall be hid<\/em> ] Rather, repentance is hid.<\/strong> Perhaps an assurance of the irrevocable nature of the promise. But as the tone of promise is so transient, it seems better to take this clause in connexion with the threat of judgment in Hos 13:12<\/em><\/span> of which indeed it may possibly once have formed the third member. At any rate, we need a resumption of threatening here, to prepare the way for the stern announcement in Hos 13:15<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n I will ransom them from the power of the grave – <\/B>Literally, from the hand, i. e., the grasp of the grave, or of hell. God, by His prophets, mingles promises of mercy in the midst of His threats of punishment. His mercy overflows the bounds of the occasion upon which He makes it known. He had sentenced Ephraim to temporal destruction. This was unchangeable. He points to that which turns all temporal less into gain, their eternal redemption. The words are the fullest which could have been chosen. The word rendered ransom, signifies, rescued them by the payment of a price, the word rendered redeem, relates to one, who, as the nearest of kin, had the right to acquire anything as his own, by paying that price. Both words, in their exactest sense, describe what Jesus did, buying us with a price, a full and dear price, not of corruptible things, as of silver and gold, but with His precious blood 1Pe 1:18-19<\/span>; and that, becoming our near kinsman, by His Incarnation, for which cause He is not ashamed to call us brethren Heb 2:11<\/span>, and little children Joh 13:33<\/span>.<\/P> This was never done by God at any other time, than when, out of love for our lost world, He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh 3:16<\/span>; and He came to give His life a ransom for many (Mat 20:28<\/span>, add 1Ti 2:6<\/span>). Then only was man really delivered from the grasp of the grave; so that the first death should only be a freedom from corruption, an earnest, and, to fallen man, a necessary condition of immortality; man the second death should have no power over them Rev 20:6<\/span>. : Thenceforward death, the parent of sorrow, ministers to joy; death, our dishonor, is employed to our glory; the gate of hell is the portal to the kingdom of heaven; the pit of destruction is the entrance to salvation; and that to man, a sinner. At no other time , were men freed from death and the grave, so as to make any distinction between them and others subject to mortality. The words refuse to be tied down to a temporal deliverance. A little longer continuance in Canaan is not a redemption from the power of the grave; nor was Ephraim so delivered. Words of God , cannot mean so little, while they express so much. Then and then alone were they, in their literal meaning, fulfilled when God the Son took our flesh, that, through death, He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage Heb 2:14-15<\/span>.<\/P> The Jews have a tradition wrapped up in their way, that this was to be accomplished in Christ. : I went with the angel Kippod, and Messiah son of David went with me, until I came to the gates of hell. When the prisoners of hell saw the light of the Messiah, they wished to receive him, saying, this is he who will bring us out of this darkness, as it is written, I will redeem them from the hand of hell. <\/P> : Not without reason is the vouchsafed mercy thus once and again outspoken to us, I will ranson them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. It is said in regard to that twofold death whereby we all died in Adam, of the body and of the soul. O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction. So full is Gods word, that the sense remains the same, amid much difference of rendering. Christ was the death of death, when He became subject to it; the destruction of the grave when He lay in the tomb. Yet to render it in the form of a question is most agreeable to the language. O death, where are thy plagues? O grave, where is thy destruction? It is a burst of triumph at the promised redemption, then fulfilled to us in earnest and in hope, when Christ, being risen from the dead, became the First-fruits of them that slept 1Co 15:20<\/span>, and we rose in Him. But the Apostle teaches us, that then it shall be altogether fulfilled, when, at the Last Day, this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality 1Co 15:54<\/span>. Then shall death and hell deliver up the dead which shall be in them, and themselves be cast into the lake of fire Rev 20:13-14<\/span>. Then shall there be no sting of death; sorrow and sighing shall flee away; fear and anxiety shall depart; tears shall be no more, and in place thereof shall be boundless pleasure, everlasting joy, praise of the glory of God in most sweet harmony. But now too, through death, the good man ceases to die, and begins to live; he dies wholly to the world, that he may live perfectly with God; the soul returns to the Author of its being, and is hidden in the hidden presence of God .<\/P> Death and hell had no power to resist, and God says that He will not alter His sentence; Repentance shall be hid from Mine eyes; as the Apostle says, the gifts and calling of God are with out repentance Rom 11:29<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n Hos 13:14<\/span><\/p>\n I will ransom them from the power of the grave.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n For Easter morning<\/strong><\/p>\n For long ages,, it must have almost seemed as if God had forgotten His challenge. Death reigned from Adam to Moses; from Moses to David, who died and was buried; and from David to Christ. One of the earliest chapters of the Bible (Gen 5:1-32<\/span>.) is a cemetery of the old world; and in the case of each the monotonous announcement follows, and he died. The generations of mankind spring smiling and beautiful on mother earth, like the clover crops of successive years, as if to defy or with their charms to fascinate the tyrant reaper. But all to no avail. There were only two exceptions to the dread monotony of death–the rapture of Enoch, and the ascension of Elijah; they were like the early crocus or aconite, which announces the coming of the spring. All the rest died. At last He <\/em>came in human form who had been fore-announced as deaths death, the destined fulfiller of the promise of paradise. At least He will not succumb. He will not see death! Or if they meet, before one glance of His eyes, which are as a flame of fire, surely death will wane as the moon when smitten by sunlight! But contrary to all that we might have thought, it was not so. He, too, the Prince of Life, having entered the lists with the fell tyrant, allowed Himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter. And it might have seemed therefore that none, not even God, could break the thrall of death. Such was the appearance; but not the fact. We are reminded of the old Greek story that when the city of Athens was doomed to supply each year a tribute of youths and maidens to the monster of Crete, the here Theseus embarked with the crew, and accompanied the victims that he might beard the dreadful ogre in his den, sad slaying him, for ever free his native city from the burden under which it groaned. So Christ through death abolished death, and destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Here was fulfilled the Divine announcement, O death, I will be thy plagues. Nor is this all. In the last vision vouchsafed to man of the ascended Christ, the keys of death are said to hang at His girdle, and He has the power to shut so that none can open, and to open so that none can shut. Nor is even this all. The day is not far distant when all His saints that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; then shall be fulfilled the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Nor is even this all. The world of men is to participate in the resurrection power of deaths victor. As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. They shall come from the ages before the flood; from the foot of the pyramids, where the slaves of the Pharaohs mingled their dust with the bricks they made; from the earliest scenes of life, and from the latest; from the most enlightened races of mankind, and the most degraded; from the most warlike and the most peaceful tribes; cathedral vaults shall split and give up their contents; Marathon, Austerlitz, and Waterloo shall add their contributions; the sea shall give return of the harvest sown through the centuries. Nor is this all. All enemies are to be put beneath His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed by Emmanuel shall be death itself. In what its destruction shall consist we do not know; except that in that world which the King who sits <\/strong>upon the throne shall create, we are told, There shall be no more death. No funeral cortege shall wind its way over the golden pavement. How gloriously then will God realise the words that glisten before our eyes this Easter morning! Already in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead we see that the empire of death is doomed. But, in the meanwhile, is there no comfort for us who are compelled to live in the valley shadowed by death? There is, because He goes beside us; and the Psalmist, who had spoken of Him in the third person, addresses Him in the second as that shadow comes nearer: He restoreth my soul; Thou art with me. And if this should not be the case, and we were doomed to go down, each alone, to die, yet even then we need not be without solace. Death is abolished! The wasp struck its sting into the Cross of the dying Lord, and lost it there, and is now stingless for ever. The poison fang of the viper has been extracted; Goliath beheaded by his own sword. The teeth of the lion have been drawn. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The paean of victory over the last enemy<\/strong><\/p>\n These words of mercy are found amidst words of judgment. In wrath God remembers mercy. Ephraim had been sentenced to temporal ruin, but now God speaks of their eternal redemption. Who has not painful associations with the grave! Death is a reaper whose sickle leaves not one sheaf ungathered. How blessed the thought that the gracious Lord Jesus hath entered upon the scene, to become the champion of His trusting people, and the subduer of their enemies. The word ransom signifies to rescue by the payment of a price. To redeem denotes the right of the nearest kinsman to acquire a thing for himself by the payment of a price. Both words describe what the holy Jesus has done. How may Christ be said to be the plague of death?<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>By the full discoveries He made concerning it.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>In many of the miracles which He performed.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>He is the death of death by His own death and resurrection. These were the chief means and instruments of His illustrious triumph.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>By extending to His people all the benefits of His own death and resurrection. Neither in dying nor in living does He stand alone. He appears as the representative of others, and the fruits of His sufferings and sacrifice He imparts to every believer.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>By raising all His people from their graves. This is the first resurrection: blessed is he that hath part in the first resurrection. (A. Clayton Thiselton.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n O<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>death, I will be thy plagues.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The ruin of death<\/strong><\/p>\n By these words the prophet distinctly sets forth the power of God, and magnificently extols it, lest men should think that there is no way open to Him to save, when no hope according to the judgment of the flesh appears. Hence the prophet says, Though men are now dead, there is nothing to prevent God to quicken them. How so? For He is the ruin of death, and the excision of the grave,–that is, Though death should swallow up all men, though the grave should consume them, yet God is superior to both death and the grave, for He can slay death, for He can abolish the grave. We learn from this passage that when men perish God still continues like Himself, and that neither His power, by which He is mighty to save the world, is extinguished, nor His purpose changed, so as not to be always ready to help; but that the obstinacy of men rejects the grace which has been provided, and which God willingly and bountifully offers. This is one thing. We may secondly learn, that the power of God is not to be measured by our rule; were we lost a hundred times, let God be still regarded as a Saviour. Should, then, despair at any time so cast us down that we cannot lay hold on any of Gods promises, let this passage come to our minds, which says that God is the excision of death and the destruction of the grave. But death is nigh to us; what, then, can we hope for any more? This is to say, that God is not superior to death; but when death claims so much power over men, how much more power has God over death itself? Let us then feel assured that God is the destruction of death, which means that death can no more destroy; that is, that death is deprived of that power by which men are naturally destroyed; and that though we may lie in the grave, God is yet the excision of the grave itself. Many interpreters, thinking this passage to be quoted by Paul, have explained what is here said of Christ, and have in many respects erred. They have said first, that God promises redemption here with out any condition; but we see that the design of the prophet was far different. (John Calvin.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Death the plague of sinners, and Christ the plague of death<\/strong><\/p>\n There is no form of death more terrible than what is termed plague or pestilence, which are the names commonly given to any distemper that is peculiarly malignant and deadly in its character, and wide-spreading, or as the phrase is, epidemic in its progress. In the Hebrew language, destruction was another name for the grave, and is sometimes found joined with hell, when that word signifies the separate state of departed souls.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Contemplate death in connection with its forerunners. By which is meant everything of suffering and sorrow. These all tell us of deaths approach.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>View death in its attendants. What is death but just the grand unfathomed mystery of wonder and depth and fear which lies under life from its beginning to its close? The anticipated terror of death is dot its only attendant. It is accompanied with pain, the pain of separation and the pain of disease.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>View death in its consequences. Its future and final consequences. (About which we say much, and know little.)<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Christ showed Himself the plague of death, by the full discoveries He made and the clear instructions He delivered regarding it. Until He appeared a thick cloud rested on the state of the dead. As the Sun of Righteousness, He dissipated the clouds which hung over the tomb, He poured a flood of light on the regions beyond it, He disclosed futurity in all its bliss and in all its woes.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Christ showed Himself the plague of death in many of the miracles He performed. Are disease and wretched ness the concomitants of death? It was His daily work of mercy to make distress vanish, and to chase away misery. But not satisfied with giving repeated checks to deaths ministers, He trampled on the grim monster himself. See cases of raising the little maid, the widows son, and Lazarus.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Christ showed Himself the plague of death by His own death and resurrection. These were the chief means and instruments of His illustrious triumph.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Christ has proved Himself, and will yet prove Himself, the plague of death, by extending to His people all the benefits of His own death and resurrection. Neither in dying nor in living does He stand alone; He appears as the representative of others, and the fruits of His every toil and suffering and sacrifice He imparts to His believing and beloved people. (N. Morrew, A. M.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The great conqueror of the world conquered<\/strong><\/p>\n Primarily, these words apply to Gods restoration of Israel from Assyria–partially and in times yet future, fully from all the lands of their present long-continued dispersion and political death.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Here is the great conqueror called the death and the grave. What a conqueror is death!<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Heartless, dead to all appeals.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> Resistless. Bulwarks, battalions, castles are nothing before him.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> Universal, his eyes fastened on the world.<\/p>\n (4)<\/strong> Ever active.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Here is the great conqueror of the world conquered. Who? I am the resurrection and the life, whoso believeth in Me shall never die. How has He conquered death? Not by weakening his power or arresting his progress, for he is as mighty and active as ever, but by stripping him of his terror. (Homilist.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Saviours final conquest<\/strong><\/p>\n Our <\/em>text is not all solemnity; it also Wakens within the mind emotions of deep and heartfelt joy.<\/p>\n Christ, the Conqueror of death<\/strong><\/p>\n This is bold and striking language. Death has ever shown himself to be no respecter of persons. The wide extent of deaths dominion is so universally admitted that it were a waste of time to adduce any argument in its proof. In order to the right understanding of this passage we must have regard to the early history of man. During the whole period of the Old Testament history intimations were given of a coming Saviour, and every promise, as well as every type, had reference to the blessings of His kingdom. There is something peculiarly striking in the language here employed. Never does death appear in a more terrific form than when, by plague or pestilence, thousands are swept away as in a moment. Under whatever aspect death is presented to our notice in the sacred Volume, it is associated with sin; it appears as its result: It is sin that arms death with all its poison, and renders it so truly dreadful, What is it that gives to sin its condemning power? The strength of sin is the law. Sin is the transgression of the law. Then, how has the Son of God achieved the victory predicted in our text? For the accomplishment of mans redemption the Son of God assumed the form of humanity, endured the Cross, and rose again from the dead. For us there is a bright and glorious prospect of final triumph over the darkness and desolation of the grave. (E. Pizey, B. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Life reappearing after death<\/strong><\/p>\n There are mountain streams which, after flowing a little way in a broken current, are lost to sight. But far down the mountain they reappear, no longer tossed and restless, but peaceful as they flow toward the sea. So our restless lives roll in rocky channels but a little way on earth; but beyond the grave they too will reappear, realising all the peace and joy of Christ, and thus flow on for ever. For since Christ has risen again, all who believe in Him have the certainty of an endless life in His presence. (S. S. Chronicle.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The land beyond the mist of death<\/strong><\/p>\n An <\/em>untaught Englishman, standing at Dover when a mist lies over the Channel, might think an endless ocean was before him. When it lifts a resident tells him that what he sees is not merely France, but Europe and Asia. The intervening sea, though lashed by storms, is but a little thing. There was a mist hanging over the Straits of Death, and people thought them a shoreless ocean; Jesus lifted the mist, and men saw there was a boundless continent on the other side. (Christian World.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 14<\/span>. I will ransom them from the power of the grave<\/B><\/I>] In their captivity they are represented as dead<\/I> and buried<\/I>, which is a similar view to that taken of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity by Ezekiel in his vision of the valley of dry bones<\/I>. They are now lost as to the purpose for which they were made, for which God had wrought so many miracles for them and for their ancestors; but the gracious purpose of God shall not be utterly defeated. He will bring them out of that grave, and ransom them from that death; for as they have deserved<\/I> that death and disgraceful burial, they must be redeemed<\/I> and ransomed<\/I> from it, or still lie under it. And who can do this but God himself? And he will do it. In the prospect of this the prophet exclaims, in the person of the universal Redeemer, “O death, I will be thy plagues;” I will bring into thy reign the principle of its destruction. The Prince of life<\/I> shall lie for a time under thy power, that he may destroy that power.<\/P> <\/P> O grave, I will be thy destruction<\/B><\/I>] I will put an end to thy dreary domination by rising from the dead, and bringing life and immortality to life by my Gospel, and by finally raising from the death the whole human race in the day of the general resurrection.<\/P> <\/P> sheol, which we translate grave<\/I>, is the state of the<\/I> dead<\/I>. maveth, which we translate death<\/I>, is the principle<\/I> of corruption<\/I> that renders the body unfit to be longer the tenement of the soul, and finally decomposes it. Sheol<\/I> shall be destroyed, for it must deliver up all its dead. Maveth<\/I> shall be annihilated, for the body shall be raised incorruptible<\/I>. See the use which the apostle makes of this passage, 1Co 15:54-55<\/span>; but he does not quote from the Hebrew, nor from any of the ancient versions. He had to apply the subject anew; and the Spirit, which had originally given the words, chose to adapt them to the subject then in hand, which was the resurrection of the dead in the last<\/I> day<\/I>. Instead of debareycha, thy plagues<\/I>, one of my oldest MSS., ninety-six<\/I> of Kennicott’s<\/I> and thirty-two<\/I> of De Rossi’s<\/I>, have debarcha, thy plague<\/I>, that which shall carry thee off<\/I>, as the plague<\/I> does them who are affected by it. To carry off,<\/I> carry away<\/I>, is one of the regular meanings of the verb dabar<\/I>.<\/P> <\/P> Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.<\/B><\/I>] On these points I will not change my purpose<\/I>; this is the signification of repentance<\/I> when attributed to God.<\/P> <\/p>\n Some interpreters render this text not in the future absolute, but in the subjunctive and conditionally, I would have ransomed, I would have redeemed, &c., if Israel had been wise; so it will well cohere with the 13th and 15th verses. And if the words be considered as spoken of the whole body of Israel, they will be most intelligible, as they include a condition and are subjunctive. But the apostle doth, and most Christian interpreters with the apostle, interpret them as an absolute promise made for the comfort of the pious and elect among these Israelites, and labour not to connect them with the foregoing or following words, but suppose them to be in a parenthesis between them. And so we take them. <\/P> I, Jehovah<\/B> or Messiah, the Father promiseth the Messiah. <\/P> Will ransom, <\/B>by power and purchase, by the price of the blood of the Lamb of God, and by the power of his Godhead. <\/P> Them<\/B> that repent and believe, and wait for redemption through Christ the Messiah. <\/P> From the power of the grave; <\/B>he conquered the grave, and rose out of it as our Captain and Head, and he will at the great day of the resurrection, by his almighty power, open those prison doors, and bring them out in glory, immortality, and incorruption, whom he redeemed by an inestimable and invaluable price. <\/P> I will redeem them from death; <\/B>from the curse of the first death, henceforth they that die in the Lord shall be blessed; and from the second death, which shall have no power over them; I will take away the sting of death, which is sin, i.e. in the dominion and guilt of it: now Christ redeems from the one by sanctifying grace, and from the other by justifying grace. <\/P> O death, I will be thy plagues; <\/B>thus I will destroy death, and defeat him that had the power of death: it is a metaphor, as the next. <\/P> O grave, I will be thy destruction; <\/B>I will recover the prey out of the mouth of the grave, I will pull down those prison walls, and bring out all that are confined there, of which the bad I will remove into other kind of prisons, the good I will restore to glorious liberty. The wicked shall have a worse prison, the godly shall for ever be freed from prison and so I will raze this prison, the grave, to the very foundation. <\/P> Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes:<\/B> this grace toward the godly, toward believers among Israel and in the church, through all ages, is unchangeable; I will never, as man that repenteth, change my word and purpose, saith the Lord. In either sense they speak the grace of God toward us; he is ready to pardon and save all that will repent, and he will most certainly and eternally save from death. The grave, sin, and hell all that do repent and obey the Messiah; an abundant comfort to pious ones who should yet die captives in Assyria, but rise by the power of the Messiah to eternal glory in the day of the general resurrection. <\/P> <\/p>\n 14.<\/B> Applying primarily to God’srestoration of Israel from Assyria partially, and, in times yetfuture, fully from all the lands of their present long-continueddispersion, and political death<\/I> (compare Hos 6:2<\/span>;Isa 25:8<\/span>; Isa 26:19<\/span>;Eze 37:12<\/span>). God’s power and graceare magnified in quickening what to the eye of flesh seems dead andhopeless (Rom 4:17<\/span>; Rom 4:19<\/span>).As Israel’s history, past and future, has a representative characterin relation to the Church, this verse is expressed in languagealluding to Messiah’s (who is the ideal Israel) grand victory overthe grave and death, the first-fruits of His own resurrection, thefull harvest to come at the general resurrection; hence thesimilarity between this verse and Paul’s language as to the latter(1Co 15:55<\/span>). That similaritybecomes more obvious by translating<\/I> as the Septuagint,<\/I>from which Paul plainly quotes; and as the same Hebrew<\/I> word istranslated in Ho 13:10<\/span>, “Odeath, where<\/I> are thy plagues (paraphrased by the Septuagint,<\/I>‘thy victory’)? O grave, where is thy destruction (rendered by theSeptuagint,<\/I> ‘thy sting’)?” The question is that of onetriumphing over a foe, once a cruel tyrant, but now robbed of allpower to hurt. <\/P> repentance shall be hid frommine eyes<\/B>that is, I will not change My purpose of fulfillingMy promise by delivering Israel, on the condition of their return toMe (compare Hos 14:2-8<\/span>;Num 23:19<\/span>; Rom 11:29<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n I will ransom them from the power of the grave<\/strong>,…. That is, “when” or “at which time” before spoken of, and here understood, as the above interpreter rightly connects the words, “I will” do this and what follows:<\/p>\n I will redeem them from death<\/strong>; these are the words, not of Jehovah the Father, as in Ho 1:7<\/span>; but of the Son, who redeemed Israel out of Egypt, which was a typical redemption, Ho 13:4<\/span>; in whom is the help of his people laid and found, Ho 13:9<\/span>; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; who is the true God, the mighty God, and so equal to this work of redemption and who is also the near kinsman of the redeemed as one of the words here used implies, and so to him belonged the right of redemption: the persons redeemed are not Israel after the flesh, but spiritual Israel, whether Jews or Gentiles; a special and peculiar people, chosen of God, and precious, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation; and who, in their nature state, are under sin, in bondage to it, and liable to the curse of the law, the wrath of God, hell and damnation; which are meant by the “grave” and “death”, and so needed a Redeemer to ransom them: for the word for “grace” should be rendered “hell” q, as it often is; and “death” intends not corporeal one only, but eternal death, or the second death; and both signify the wrath of God due to sin, and which God’s elect are deserving of, and Christ has bore, and delivered them from; and the curse of the law, which he has redeemed them from, being made a curse for them; and eternal death, the equivalent to which he has suffered, and so has saved them from it, and all this by redeeming them from their sins, the cause of it; and which he has done by giving a redemption or ransom price, which is his blood, his life, yea, himself, and which the first of the words here used imports. It is indeed true, that, in consequence of all this, there will be a redemption by him from a corporeal death, and from the grave; not as yet, for the ransomed of the Lord die as others, and are laid in the grave, the house appointed for all living; but in the resurrection morn there will be a redemption, a deliverance of the bodies of the saints from the grave, from mortality and corruption; yea, of them from the moral corruption of sin, and all the defilements of it, as well as from all afflictions and diseases, and from death itself, which shall have no more dominion over them; to which purpose the words are applied by the apostle;<\/p>\n [See comments on 1Co 15:55]<\/span>; and so by some ancient Jews r to the Messiah, and his times;<\/p>\n O death, I will be thy plagues; O grace, I will be thy destruction<\/strong>; that is, the utter destruction of them for the plague or pestilence is a wasting destruction, Ps 91:6<\/span>; it is the same which in New Testament language is the abolishing of death, 2Ti 1:10<\/span>; which is true of eternal death with respect to the redeemed, which Christ’s death is the death of, he having by his death reconciled them to God, and opened the way to eternal life for them, which he has in his hands to give unto them; and of corporeal death and the grave, which Christ has utterly destroyed with respect to himself having loosed the builds of death, and set himself free, and on whom that shall have no more dominion; and, with respect to his pie, he has destroyed him that had the power of it, which is the devil; he has put away and abolished sin, the cause of it; he has took away that which is its sting; so that it may be truly said, as the apostle quotes these words, “O death, where is thy sting?” he has removed the curse from it, and made it a blessing; he has abolished it as a penal evil, so theft it is not inflicted as a punishment on his people; and in the last day will entirely deliver them from the power of that, and of the grave; and then that which has slain its millions and millions, a number not to be numbered, will never slay one more: and that grave, which devoured as many, will never be opened more, or one more put into it; and then it may be said, “O grave, where is thy victory?” thou shall conquer no more, but be at an end; see 1Co 15:55<\/span>;<\/p>\n repentance shall be hid from mine eyes<\/strong>; that is, the Lord will never repent of his decree of redemption from hell, death, and the grave; nor of the work of it by Christ; nor of the entire destruction of these things; which being once done, will never be repented of nor recalled, but remain so for ever.<\/p>\n q “inferni”, Schmidt. r Gloss. Heb. in Lyra in loc. Vid. Galatin. Arcan. Cathol. Ver. l. 6. c. 21.<\/p>\n But in order to preserve believers from despair, the Lord announces in Hos 13:14<\/span> that He will nevertheless redeem His people from the power of death. Hos 13:14<\/span>. “Out of the hand of hell will I redeem them; from death will I set them free! Where are thy plagues, O death? where thy destruction, O hell! Repentance is hidden from mine eyes.” <\/em> The fact that this verse contains a promise, and not a threat, would hardly have been overlooked by so many commentators, if they had not been led, out of regard to Hos 13:13<\/span>, Hos 13:15<\/span>, to put force upon the words, and either take the first clauses as interrogative, “Should I … redeem?” (Calvin and others), or as conditional, “I would redeem them,” with “ si resipiscerent <\/em> ” (supplied (Kimchi, Sal. b. Mel. Ros., etc.). But apart from the fact that the words supplied are perfectly arbitrary, with nothing at all to indicate them, both of these explanations are precluded by the sentences which follow: for the questions, “Where are thy plagues, O death?” etc., are obviously meant to affirm the conquest or destruction of hell and death. And this argument retains its force even if we take as an optative from , without regard to Hos 13:10<\/span>, since the thought, “I should like to be thy plague, O death,” presupposes that deliverance from the power of death is affirmed in what comes before. But, on account of the style of address, we cannot take even as an interrogative, in the sense of “Should I be,” etc. And what would be the object of this gradation of thought, if the redemption from death were only hypothetical, or were represented as altogether questionable? If we take the words as they stand, therefore, it is evident that they affirm something more than deliverance when life is in danger, or preservation from death. To redeem or ransom from the hand (or power) of hell, i.e., of the under world, the realm of death, is equivalent to depriving hell of its prey, not only by not suffering the living to die, but by bringing back to life those who have fallen victims to hell, i.e., to the region of the dead. The cessation or annihilation of death is expressed still more forcibly in the triumphant words: “Where are thy plagues (pestilences), O death? where thy destruction, O hell?” of which Theodoret has aptly observed, . is an intensive plural of debher <\/em>, plague, pestilence, and is to be explained in accordance with Psa 91:6<\/span>, where we also find the synonym in the form , pestilence or destruction. The Apostle Paul has therefore very properly quoted these words in 1Co 15:55<\/span>, in combination with the declaration in Isa 25:8<\/span>, “Death is swallowed up in victory,” to confirm the truth, that at the resurrection of the last day, death will be annihilated, and that which is corruptible changed into immortality. We must not restrict the substance of this promise, however, to the ultimate issue of the redemption, in which it will receive its complete fulfilment. The suffixes attached to ‘ephdem <\/em> and ‘eg’alem <\/em> point to Israel of the ten tribes, like the verbal suffixes in Isa 25:8<\/span>. Consequently the promised redemption from death must stand in intimate connection with the threatened destruction of the kingdom of Israel. Moreover, the idea of the resurrection of the dead was by no means so clearly comprehended in Israel at that time, as that the prophet could point believers to it as a ground of consolation when the kingdom was destroyed. The only meaning that the promise had for the Israelites of the prophet’s day, was that the Lord possessed the power even to redeem from death, and raise Israel from destruction into newness of life; just as Ezekiel (ch. 37) depicts the restoration of Israel as the giving of life to the dry bones that lay scattered about the field. The full and deeper meaning of these words was but gradually unfolded to believers under the Old Testament, and only attained complete and absolute certainty for all believers through the actual resurrection of Christ. But in order to anticipate all doubt as to this exceedingly great promise, the Lord adds, “repentance is hidden from mine eyes,” i.e., my purpose of salvation will be irrevocably accomplished. The . . nocham <\/em> does not mean “resentment” (Ewald), but, as a derivative of nicham <\/em>, simply consolation or repentance. The former, which the Septuagint adopts, does not suit the context, which the latter alone does. The words are to be interpreted in accordance with Psa 89:36<\/span> and Psa 110:4<\/span>, where the oath of God is still further strengthened by the words , “and will not repent;” and corresponds to in Psa 89:36<\/span> (Marck and Krabbe, Quaestion. de Hos. vatic. spec.<\/em> p. 47). Compare 1Sa 15:29<\/span> and Num 23:19<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Prophet, I doubt not, continues here the same subject, namely, that the Israelites could not bear the mercy offered to them by God, though he speaks here more fully. God seems to promise redemption, but he does this conditionally: they are then mistaken, in my judgement, who take these words in the same sense as when God, after having reproved and threatened, mitigates the severity of his instruction, and adds consolation by offering his grace. But the import of this passage is different; for God, as we have already said, does not here simply promise salvation, but shows that he is indeed ready to save, but that the wickedness of the people, as it has been said, was an impediment in the way. Let us, however, more carefully examine the words. <\/p>\n From the hand of the grave, he says. By the hand he doubtless means power: for Jerome does nothing but trifle, when he speaks here of works, and says that the works of the grave are our sins. But this is far away from the mind of the Prophet. It is indeed a metaphor common in Scripture, that the hand is put for power or authority. Then it is, I will redeem them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death; that is, except they resist, I will become willingly their Redeemer. Some have therefore rendered the passage in the subjunctive mood, “From the hand of the grave I would redeem them, from death I would deliver them.” But there is no need to change the tense, though, as I have said, they who do so faithfully set forth the design of the Prophet. But lest any one say that this is too remote from the words, the text of the Prophet may be very well understood, though the future tense be preserved. I will then redeem them, as far as this depends on me; for a condition is to be introduced as though God came forth and declared that he was present to fulfil the office of a Redeemer. What, then, does stand in the way? Even the hardness of the people; for they would have preferred to perish a hundred times rather than to turn to the Lord, as we shall presently see. <\/p>\n He afterwards adds, I will be thy perdition, O death; I will be thy excision, O grave. By these words, the Prophet more distinctly sets forth the power of God, and magnificently extols it, lest men should think that there is no way open to him to save, when no hope according to the judgement of the flesh appears. Hence the Prophet says, “Though men are now dead, there is yet nothing to prevent God to quicken them. How so? For he is the ruin of death, and the excision of the grave;” that is, “Though death should swallow up all men, though the grave should consume them, yet God is superior to both death and the grave, for he can slay death, for he can abolish the grave.” We now perceive the real meaning of the Prophet. <\/p>\n And we may learn from this passage, that when men perish, God still continues like himself, and that neither his power, by which he is mighty to save the world, is extinguished, nor his purpose changed, so as not to be always ready to help; but that the obstinacy of men rejects the grace which has been provided, and which God willingly and bountifully offers. This is one thing. We may secondly learn, that the power of God is not to be measured by our rule: were we lost a hundred times, let God be still regarded as a Saviour. Should then despair at any time so cast us down, that we cannot lay hold on any of God’s promises, let this passage come to our minds, which says, that God is the excision of death, and the destruction of the grave. “But death is nigh to us, what then can we hope for any more?” This is to say, that God is not superior to death: but when death claims so much power over men, how much more power has God over death itself? Let us then feel assured that God is the destruction of death, which means that death can no more destroy; that is, that death is deprived of that power by which men are naturally destroyed; and that though we may lie in the grave, God is yet the excision of the grave itself. This is the application of what is here taught. But some one gives this version, “I will be thy perdition to death,” as if this was addressed to the people: it is an absurd perversion of the whole passage, and deprives us of a most useful doctrine. <\/p>\n But many interpreters, thinking this passage to be quoted by Paul, have explained what is here said of Christ, and have in many respects erred. They have said first, that God promises redemption here without any condition; but we see that the design of the Prophet was far different. They have then assumed, that this is said in the person of Christ, “From the hand of the grave will I redeem them.” They have at the same time thought, with too much refinement, that the grave or hell is put for the torments with which the reprobate are visited, or for the place itself where they are tormented. But the Prophet repeats the same thing in different words, and well known is this character of the Hebrew style. The grave then here differs not from death; though Jerome labours and contends that the grave means what is wholly different from death: but the whole of what he says is frivolous. They have then been deceived as to these words. And then into the words of the Prophet “I will be thy excision, O hell, (or grave,”) they have introduced the word, bait, and have allegorically explained it of Christ, that he was like a hook: for as a worm, when fastened to the hook, and swallowed by a fish, becomes death to it; so also Christ, as they have said, when committed to the sepulchre, became a fatal bait; for as the fish are taken by the hook, so death was taken by the bait of the death of Christ. And these vain subtilties have been received with great applause: hence under the whole Papacy it is received without doubt as a divine truth, that Christ was the bait of death. But yet let any one narrowly examine the words of the Prophet, and he will see that they have ignorantly and shamefully abused the testimony of the Prophet. And we ought especially to take care, that the meaning of Scripture should be preserved true and certain. <\/p>\n But let us see what to answer to that which is said of Paul quoting this passage. The solution is not difficult. The Apostles do not avowedly at all times adduce passages, which in their whole context apply to the subject they handle; but sometimes they allude to a word only, sometimes they apply a passage to a subject in the way of resemblance, and sometimes they bring forward passages as testimonies. When the Apostles use the testimonies of Scripture, then the genuine and real truth must be sought out; but when they glance only at one word, there is no occasion to make any anxious inquiry; and when they quote any passage of Scripture in the way of resemblance, it is a too scrupulous anxiety to seek out how all the parts agree. But it is quite evident that Paul, in 1Co 15:54<\/span>, has not quoted the testimony of the Prophet for the purpose of confirming the doctrine of which he speaks. (97) What then? As the resurrection of the flesh was a truth very difficult to be believed, nay, wholly contrary to the judgement of nature, Paul says that it is no matter of wonder, inasmuch as Christ will come to raise us. How so? Because it is the peculiar prerogative of God to be the perdition of death and the destruction of the grave; as though he said, “Were men to putrefy a thousand times, God would still retain that power of which he declared when he said, that he would be the ruin of death and the destruction of the grave.” Let us then know, that, though the judgement of nature rejects the truth, yet God is endued with that incomprehensible power by which he can raise us from a state of putrefaction; nay, since he created the world from nothing, he will also raise us up from the grave, for he is the death of death, the grave of the grave, the ruin of ruin, and the destruction of destruction: and the simple object of Paul is, to extol by these striking words that incredible power of God, which is beyond the reach of human understanding. <\/p>\n Now were any one to quote for the same purpose this place from the Psalms, “The Lord’s are the issues of death, (Psa 68:20<\/span>,) would it be needful to inquire in what sense David said this or of what time he speaks? By no means; but what is spoken of is the unchangeable prerogative and power of God, of which he can never be deprived, so also in this place we see what he declares by Hosea, and what he would have done, had there not been an obstacle in the ingratitude of the people; for he says I will be thy ruin, O grave; I will be thy death, O death And since God has promised this, let us feel assured that we shall at last find this to be true as to ourselves. We now then perceive how the real meaning of the Prophet agrees with the subject handled by Paul. <\/p>\n It now follows, consolation, or, repentance is hid from my eye; for נחם, nuchem, means both. נחם, nuchem, signifies to repent, and it signifies to receive consolation. If the term, consolation, be approved, the sense will be, “There is no reason for any one to wonder that I speak so sharply, and do nothing but thunder against my people; for consolation has now no place among them; therefore consolation is hid from my eyes.” And this was the case, because the irreclaimable wickedness of the people did not allow God to change his severity into mildness, so as to give any hope of pardon and salvation. In this sense then it is said that consolation was hid from his eyes. But if the word, repentance, be more approved, it will show exactly the same thing, — that it was fully determined to destroy that people. “There is then no reason for you to hope that I can become milder in course of time; for repentance is hid from mine eyes. This shall remain fixed, you shall be reduced to nothing; for ye are past all hope.” We then see that both the words refer to the same thing, that God takes away from this miserable and reprobate people every hope of salvation. Now it follows — <\/p>\n (97) “The Apostle’s triumphant exclamation, ‘O death,’ etc., is an allusion indeed to this text of Hosea, an indirect allusion, but no citation of it.” — Bishop Horsley. <\/p>\n (14) O death . . . O grave<\/strong>.The rendering should be, Where is thy plague, O death? Where is thy sting, O Sheol?<\/em> as the LXX. have it, and as it is quoted in 1Co. 15:55<\/span>. The rendering of the English version is, however, supported by the Targum, Symmachus, Jerome, and many modern expositors. But the former interpretation is to be preferred. Many Christian interpreters (Henderson, Pusey, &c.) regard this as the sudden outburst of a gracious promise (as St. Paul takes it). The last clause then signifies that the gift and calling of God are without repentance. There is no room for any further merciful change of purpose. But the objection to this interpretation is that in the same breath the prophet rushes on to the most sweeping condemnation. Accordingly Schmoller, Wnsche, Huxtable (Speakers Commentary<\/em>),<\/em> and others understand the passage thus: Shall I ransom them (doomed and dying in agonised travail) from the hand (or power) of Hades? Shall I redeem them from death? (Alas! no.) Where are thy plagues, O death? (Bring them forth.) Where is thy sting, O Hades? (Strike these reprobate ones.) Relenting is hid from my eyes. It should be remembered that St. Paul quoted from Isaiah, Death shall be swallowed up in victory, and then, as here, calls in derisive irony upon death and Sheol to do their very worst at the very moment when they are about to be cast into the lake of fire.<\/p>\n ‘Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?<\/p>\n Shall I redeem them from death?<\/p>\n O death, where are your plagues?<\/p>\n O Sheol, where is your destruction?<\/p>\n Compassion (repentance) will be hid from my eyes.’<\/p>\n But what of the Redeemer from Egypt? What of the Deliverer from death? They had always relied on Him in the past (as was made clear in Hos 13:4<\/span>), and in the end He had always delivered them. Will He not then act now in this desperate situation when they are like a still-born child. YHWH considers His reply. ‘Shall I ransom them from the power of the grave (Sheol was the dark underworld of the grave)? Shall I redeem them from death? And then with a shake of His head He says ‘No’, and then calls on death and the grave to seize them. He calls on Sheol to come forth with its destruction, and to death to come forth with its plagues, and then to inflict them on His people, because they are no longer His people and compassion is hid from His eyes. He will no longer be their Deliverer. This interpretation fits aptly into the sequence of the passage.<\/p>\n Some, however, argue that while it is possible to put the first two statements as questions, there are no specific indications for doing so in the Hebrew. They would therefore translate as ‘I will ransom them from the power of Sheol, I will redeem them from death’, in other words they would not be still-born, with the corollary being that it would be in order that they might face plagues and destruction. What might appear like mercy would in fact be the opposite. They would be delivered in order to face worse. Sheol and death would still inflict their prey (like the lion, and the leopard, and the bear).<\/p>\n A third alternative that is mooted is that it should be taken as a fully positive statement, in line with previous times when Hosea has suddenly introduced a positive note into a negative context (e.g. Hos 1:10<\/span> to Hos 2:1<\/span>; Hos 2:7<\/span>; Hos 6:1-3<\/span>; Hos 10:12<\/span>; Hos 11:12<\/span> b). The idea would then be that whatever might happens to Israel in the meantime, in the end YHWH will deliver them from Sheol, He will deliver them from the power of the grave. The plagues of death and the destruction of Sheol will be rendered powerless because Israel will live again (compare Eze 37:1-14<\/span>). And nothing can make YHWH repent of that fact, because ‘repentance is hid from His eyes.’ This would tie in completely with Paul’s use of the text in 1Co 15:55<\/span>. The main problem with this interpretation is that there is nothing, not even a whisper, in the immediate context to support it. The emphasis in the context is all on death and destruction, while ‘repentance is hid from my eyes’ more naturally means that He will not repent because of the evil of their doings. On the other hand such an interpretation does sit well with Hos 14:1-9<\/span>.<\/p>\n Hos 13:14<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>I will ransom them, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> Shall I deliver them from the jaws of the grave? Shall I redeem them from death? O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy destructive power? <\/em>Houbigant. If the ideas here used primarily refer to the restoration of the Jews; they have also, no doubt, an immediate reference to that great subject to which St. Paul applies them; 1Co 15:54-55<\/span>. <\/p>\n Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> The frequent and sudden transitions from threatening to promise, from indignation to pathetic persuasion, and the contrary, produce much obscurity in the latter part of this prophet; which however disappears, when breaks are made in the proper places. In the 13th verse, the peril of Ephraim’s situation, arising from his own hardened thoughtlessness, is described in the most striking images. In the 14th, God the Saviour comforts him with the promise of the final deliverance of the Jewish nation. In these words, which may be rendered, No repentance is discoverable to my eye, <\/em>the Saviour complains, that these terrors and these hopes are all ineffectual: that he perceives no signs of repentance wrought by them. The Hebrew sounds literally, “Repentance is hidden from mine eyes.” The total defect of the thing is most strongly expressed in the assertion, that nothing of it is to be discerned by the all-searching eye of the divine Saviour. This complaint of universal impenitence, with the reason assigned, introduces new threatening, with which the chapter ends. The reason assigned for the impenitence is, that Ephraim is run wild among savage beasts, broken loose from the restraints of God’s holy law, given up to his depraved appetites, and turned mere heathen. <\/p>\n We can have no difficulty in discovering the blessed sense of this glorious verse; neither of the Almighty Speaker of it; since the Apostle Paul was taught it by God the Holy Ghost, to instruct the Church. 1Co 15:55<\/span> . And while we behold the Lord Jesus thus speaking by his servant the Prophet to this purport, so many hundred years before his incarnation, and accomplishing the whole by his resurrection and triumph over death, hell, and the grave; surely we cannot but take part in the glorious tidings to our nature, convinced that both in his victories for his people, and his conquests in his people; never will he recall his mercies, nor repent in the salvation of his redeemed, and the everlasting destruction of his foes.<\/p>\n Hos 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.<\/p>\n Ver. 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave, &c.<\/strong> ] Some read it thus, I would have ransomed them, &c., I would have redeemed them, &c., had they been wise, or oughts (as we say), had not their incurable hardness and obstinace hindered; had they put forth into my hands, as unto a midwife, &c. But (alas) it is no such matter; therefore that which will die let it die. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes<\/strong> ] I am unchangeably resolved to ruin them; or, repentance should have been hid from mine eyes, my goodness toward them should never have altered, &c. But let us rather look upon the words as a most sweet and comfortable promise of a mighty redemption and glorious resurrection to the remnant according to the election of grace, whom God would not have to want comfort. I will ransom them. Here, therefore, he telleth his heirs of the promises, that he will bring them back out of captivity wherein they lay for dead, as it were; and that this their deliverance should be an evident argument and sure pledge of their resurrection to life eternal. To which purpose the apostle doth aptly and properly allege it, 1Co 15:55<\/span> , and thereupon rings in death’s ears (out of this text and Isa 25:8 ) the shrillest and sharpest note, the boldest and bravest challenge, that ever was heard from the mouth of a mortal: “Death, where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy victory? &c. Oh thanks be to God, who hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” and thereby hath made us more than conquerors, that is, triumphers, 2Co 2:14<\/span> . But to return to the text. Be it, saith the prophet, that the commonwealth of Israel, both mother and child, must perish for want of wisdom, as was threatened in the foregoing verse; yet let not the penitent among them despair; for I, the Lord Christ, will ransom them, by laying down a valuable price (so the word Ephdem signifieth) from the power<\/em> Heb. hand, of the grave, or of hell, that though hell had laid hands on them, yea, closed her mouth upon them, as once the whale had upon Jonas, yet I would open the doors of that Leviathan, and fetch them thence with a strong hand. <\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>Death is the plague of the sinner. A plague denotes anything that is troublesome and vexatious. The idea of death is <\/strong>to the sinner a perpetual source of uneasiness and pain. The sting of death is sin; and therefore the sting, the torment, the curse of a sinful life is death.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Christ is the plague of death. Where philosophy does nothing, and infidelity worse than nothing, Christianity steps in and does everything. The Lord Jesus has well earned to Himself this most expressive designation, the pestilences of death.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The time is coming when the ravages of death shall be for ever ended. Death is always at work. He is never tired. And all alike are seized by him as his victims. The ravages of death! How the mind sinks in despondency as it contemplates what death has done! And the ravages are sometimes sudden. Then, how blessed is the assurance that the time is coming when the promise of the text shall be fulfilled.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Then all the design of the atonement will be fulfilled. When Adam sinned he flung over the sunshine and joy of Gods world the shadow of the tomb. When Jesus entered the world He came to dissipate that shadow, and bring back sunshine and joy by bringing life and immortality to light. The design of the atonement is to be fulfilled; it is not altogether fulfilled yet.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Then the gloomy associations of the grave will be all forgotten. Now it is not possible to think of the grave without gloomy thoughts. But that grave shall one day be destroyed, and all its sad memories shall be blotted out.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>When these words are fulfilled the whole family of God will be reunited for ever. The family of God is scattered now. Part is triumphant in heaven, and part is still militant upon earth. We shall all meet again, where partings are for ever unknown. (W. Meynell Whittemore, S. C. L.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/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
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/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
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