_Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you._ GOD IN WAYS OF JUDGMENT Here is a summons to all sorts of judgment. Three classes are named, “priests, people, house of the king.” All sorts are cited to judgment, for corr... [ Continue Reading ]
_The revolters are profound to make slaughter._ THE DEEP WAYS OF APOSTATES AND FALSE WORSHIPPERS There can be no blacker brand on a people or a man than this--he is an apostate, a revolter. We must understand this, their revolting, especially in reference to their falling off from the true worship... [ Continue Reading ]
_I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me._ KNOWLEDGE AS A BASIS OF JUDGMENT To know Ephraim is to know all his shifts, evasions, and cunning devices, all his plots, pretences, and base ends. 1. God’s eye is upon the secrets of men’s hearts. 2. God’s eye upon our hearts and ways is a specia... [ Continue Reading ]
_They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God._ FRAMING THE DOINGS This is one of those strong Old English expressions which have been retained in our north country speech. People say, “He frames well,” meaning of a new servant, he sets hopefully to his work, he shows adaptation. Hosea... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the pride of Israel doth testify to His face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity._ THE FALL OF ISRAEL Tiglath pileser died in b.c. 727, and was succeeded by Shalmaneser IV. The refusal of Hoshea to continue the annual tribute brought the new Assyrian monarch into the Wes... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath withdrawn Himself from them._ DIVINE WITHDRAWAL “Withdrawn” is a word that may well chill our heart. It would be enough to express intolerable displeasure, if it stood just as it stands in this verse; but a larger meaning belongs to the word. “Withdrawn” is in some senses a negative relat... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah._ AN EARNEST MINISTRY The idea of the passage is, Give an earnest warning of the judgment about to break on the people, sound the alarm and startle the population. I. The nature of an earnest ministry. “Cry aloud.” Let the whole soul go forth in the work. Earnestness... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke._ THE LORD’S ANGER “Desolate” may be reckoned with energetic adjectives. It was another form of the word that the prophet used; it was a substantive, colder than ice, hollower than the wind: Ephraim shall be a desolation. Here we come from the descrip... [ Continue Reading ]
_The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound._ BREAKING BOUNDS It was a custom among the heathen and the Romans, if any man removed the bound, the ancient landmark, to adjudge them, if poor, to slavery, to dig in deep pits; if rich, to banishment, and a forfeiture of the third part o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth._ THE MOTH; OR GOD’S QUIET METHOD OF DESTROYING “And I am like the moth to Ephraim, and like the worm to the house of Judah.”--Keil and Delitzsch. “The moth and worm are figures employed to represent destructive powers: the moth destroying clothes (Isaia... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Ephraim saw his sickness. .. then went Ephraim to the Assyrian._ THE FOLLY OF CREATURE-CONFIDENCE Men continually provoke God to chastise them, but rarely make a due improvement of His chastisements. Instead of turning to God, they dishonour Him more by applying to the creature under their d... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early._ GOD’S END AND DESIGN IN AFFLICTION This whole chapter, with the following one, contains a pathetic remonstrance, of God’s just quarrel with. His people; aggravate... [ Continue Reading ]