_Lest I strip her naked._ EASTERN DIVORCE CUSTOM It was the custom among the Jews when any married that what dowry they brought their husbands was written down in a table; and if afterwards the husband should divorce his wife, except there could be proved some gross and vile thing against the woma... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will not have mercy._ THREATENING AND PLEADING (compare Hosea 2:2):--“Let her put away her whoredoms,” etc. What should we learn hereby, but that it hangs upon our own will whether God suspend the judgment or no? For we ought not to impute our own evil to God, or impiously think that fate rules... [ Continue Reading ]
_For she said, I will go after my lovers._ THE SIN OF ISRAEL The sin of Israel was not simple whoredom, which may be done in the dark, but avowed, effronted idolatry. Whence learn-- 1. Such is the stupidity of grossest sinners, that they neither see the ill nor danger of their way, unless it be m... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns._ DIVINE RESTRAINTS God puts forth restraints on the sinner here. I. these restraints are manifold. “I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall.” The first metaphor is taken from a husbandman who to prevent the cattle from breaking... [ Continue Reading ]
_For she did not know._ AGNOSTICISM There is a theory which is known to-day by the difficult name Agnosticism. A great deal of worthless thinking may be hidden under that dark term. The meaning is supposed to be “not-know-ism.” Men do not now say, “There is no God”; they say, “If there is a God, we... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore will I return._ CHANGES IN GOD’S WAYS WITH US “Therefore will I return,” that is, I will change the way of My administrations toward them; I will go out of My way of mercy, and turn into My way of judgment; I will go back again. “I will take away My corn in the time thereof.” That is in... [ Continue Reading ]
_None shall deliver her out of My hand._ THE LORD’S SENTENCE I. Taking away things necessary to life, Learn-- 1. However the Lord communicate of His bounty with the children of men, yet He still retains the dominion of all the creatures in His own hand, that He may dispose of them at His pleasure... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will also cause all her mirth to cease._ THE CONJUNCTION OF SIN AND MIRTH Mirth is not happiness. It is but tile mimicry of real joy. There is but little happiness in the world, but there is much mirth. I. The conjunction of sin and mirth is common. The voices of jollity and fun are heard ever... [ Continue Reading ]
_She decked herself with her ornaments and her Jewels._ THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED The wicked-- I. As prospering in the world. Vines and fig-trees stand for prosperity. Wicked men are allowed to prosper on this earth: they are often more successful in worldly enterprises than the righteous. The... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her._ ALLURE The original word is used of one readily enticed, as a simple one, whether to good or ill. God uses, as it were, Satan’s weapons against himself. As Satan had enticed the soul to sin, so would God, by holy... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call Me Ishi; and shalt call Me no more Baali._ HOSEA’S MARRIAGE FIGURE In looking at the allegory of Jehovah’s marriage with mother Israel, or with the mother-land, we must begin by considering the current ideas which served to suggest... [ Continue Reading ]
_And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field._ THE COVENANT OF OUTWARD PEACE God’s favour and covenant shall secure them from hurt by any of the creatures, and shall give them peace and security from wars. Doctrine-- 1. All the creatures of God are justly at enmit... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord._ THE HUSBAND OF THE CHURCH I. The condescension of Christ in calling Himself the husband of His church. This appears if we consider that-- 1. She is a debtor. 2. Deformed (Isaiah 1:6). 3. A prostitute (Jeremiah 3:1... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel _ THE DEPENDENCE OF UNIVERSAL BEING UPON A BENIGNANT PROVIDENCE Jezreel (seed of God) was a city in the tribe of Issachar. The valley in which it stood... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I will sow her unto Me in the earth._ GOD’S SOWING I. These words refute pantheism. God is not nature, nor is nature God. Pantheism teaches that there is no real and practical distinction between God and the universe. This form of infidelity ignores evil as evil, and all moral responsibility,... [ Continue Reading ]