COME AND LET US RETURN UNTO THE LORD - These words depend closely on the foregoing. They are words put into their mouth by God Himself, with which or with the like, they should exhort one another to return to God. Before, when God smote them, they had gone to Assyria; now they should turn to Him, ow... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER TWO DAYS WILL HE REVIVE US (OR QUICKEN US, GIVE US LIFE,) IN THE THIRD DAY HE WILL RAISE US UP - The Resurrection of Christ, and our resurrection in Him and in His Resurrection, could not be more plainly foretold. The prophet expressly mentions “two days,” after which life should be given, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALL WE KNOW, IF WE FOLLOW ON TO KNOW THE LORD - Rather, “Then shall we know, shall follow on to know the Lord,” i. e., we shall not only know Him, but we shall grow continually in that knowledge. Then, in Israel, God says, “there was no knowledge of Him;” His “people was destroyed for lack of... [ Continue Reading ]
O EPHRAIM, WHAT SHALL I DO UNTO THEE? - It is common with the prophets, first to set forth the fullness of the riches of God’s mercies in Christ, and then to turn to their own generation, and upbraid them for the sins which withheld the mercies of God from “them,” and were hurrying them to their des... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE HAVE I HEWED THEM BY THE PROPHETS - Since they despised God’s gentler warnings and measures, He used severer. “He hewed” them, He says, as men hew stones out of the quarry, and with hard blows and sharp instruments overcome the hardness of the stone which they have to work. Their piety and... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I DESIRED MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE - God had said before, that they should “seek” Him “with their flocks and herds, and not find” Him. So here He anticipates their excuses with the same answer wherewith He met those of Saul, when he would compensate for disobedience by burnt-offerings. The answer... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY LIKE MEN - Or (better as in the E. M) “like Adam, have transgressed the covenant.” As Adam our first parent, in Paradise, not out of any pressure, but wantonly, through self-will and pride, broke the covenant of God, eating the forbidden fruit, and then defended himself in his sin against G... [ Continue Reading ]
GILEAD IS A CITY OF THEM THAT WORK INIQUITY - If we regard “Gilead,” (as it elsewhere is,) as the country beyond Jordan, where the two tribes and a half dwelt, this will mean that the whole land was banded in one, as one city of evil-doers. It had an unity, but of evil. As the whole world has been p... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS TROOPS OF ROBBERS WAIT FOR A MAN, SO THE COMPANY OF PRIESTS MURDER IN THE WAY BY CONSENT - Or (more probably) “in the way to Shechem.” Shechem too was a “city of refuge” John 20:7, and so also a city of Levites and priests John 21:21. It was an important city. For there Joshua assembled all I... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SEEN A HORRIBLE THING - Literally, “what would make one shudder.” God had seen it; therefore man could not deny it. In the sight of God, and amid the sense of His presence, all excuses fail. IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL - o: “For what more horrible, more amazing than that this happened, not in any... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO, O JUDAH, HE HATH SET A HARVEST FOR THEE, WHEN I RETURNED - (rather, when I return) the captivity of My people. The “harvest” may be either for good or for bad. If the harvest is spoken of, as bestowed upon the people, then, as being of chief moment for preserving the life of the body, it is a... [ Continue Reading ]