Hosea 8:5 Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; my anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocence?… I. AN ATTAINMENT SPOKEN OF. "How long will it be ere they attain unto innocency?" "Innocency" is here put for "true and saving religion." And this is a most desirable attainment, more so than all besides. 1. It is important because without it there can be no fellowship with God. Without fellowship with God there can be no peace; without peace there can be no happiness. 2. It is important because without it man cannot live well. A guilty man lives according to his thoughts. 3. It is important because without it man cannot die well. There is nothing before a sinner but death, darkness, and despair. II. A HINDRANCE SUGGESTED. The calves were the idols set up to prevent the Israelites from worshipping Jehovah. The hindrances to attaining innocency (that is, satisfying the natural cravings of religion in worshipping God) are the idols which are set up in the human heart. These idols may be — 1. The gratification of self. Self is one of the most favoured of idols, it is worshipped by all, and the man who worships self cannot worship God. 2. The vanities of the world. The idolatry of the present day, if not so bold in its rebellion, is not so religious as in the days of old. The idolatrous Jews and heathen were essentially religious. It was death to any one to speak against the gods. It is pleasure now men worship, and a god of any sort is forgotten. 3. The blandishments of science. This is another idol men fall down before. These are the calves which keep men from God, calves set up by themselves at the instigation of Satan. No man can ever "attain unto innocency" so long as they remain. III. THE CONSEQUENCES INFERRED. A time is coming when true religion will be the only thing worth possessing. The day of sifting will arrive. God's anger will be kindled against the persistently ungodly. Then what avail will the false gods which men have served so long be to afford them shelter? The calf will cast thee off. There are two penalties, then, to the guilty. They lose both earth and heaven. They are cast off — 1. By the devil whom they serve. The world cannot offer them help. Satan's object is only to effect their ruin. 2. By the God whom they have neglected. How can He who has been scorned and forsaken be the succour of those who have despised His love and rejected His rule? (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? |
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