Hosea 10:4-8 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. The people were preparing the way for their own punishment by their false dealing with Assyria. Vengeance would overtake them. The calf in which they trusted would be carried away captive. The kingdom would be overthrown. Their altars would grow up with thorns and thistles. They would be glad of death to relieve them of their misery. "Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel." I. A SOWING OF JUDGMENT. (Ver. 4.) Israel's overthrow was connected with: 1. Falsity to international engagements. "Swearing falsely in making a covenant." The allusion is probably to Hoshea's false dealing with Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:3, 4; of. Hosea 12:1), which was the immediate occasion of the overthrow of Samaria. In international diplomacy there is too much of this "speaking words" and "swearing falsely." Engagements are entered into which neither side intends to keep longer than it suits. The result is breach of faith, and sometimes war. 2. Perversion of right at home. This, if we follow the analogy of Amos 5:7, 6:12, is what is meant by judgment or justice" springing up as hemlock in the furrows of the field." Mal-administered justice is the most deadly and poisonous of all things. Another and, taken by itself, more natural interpretation of the words is, that judgment would spring up for woe to Israel in the track on the falsehoods of which the nation had been guilty. The sinner's own hands make the furrows in which retribution springs up like deadly hemlock. His treacheries and duplicities recoil upon himself. Speaking false words is the sowing of dragon's teeth. II. THE CAPTIVE CALF. (Vers. 5, 6.) 1. Ephraim's idol in danger. "The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-avert." What a picture of the folly of idolatry! The people tremble for the safety of the idol-god to whom they yet look to protect them. Have we not here an indication of the lurking consciousness there is in the idolater's mind that after all his god is no god? Trembling for themselves, the inhabitants of Samaria are yet more afraid lest anything should happen to their deity. We read of idolaters beating their gods when they do not please them. Was Samaria's conduct more rational in trembling for its god? Their trembling is a proof that they worshipped the calves, not because in their inmost hearts they thought an idol could help them, or was a right thing to have, but simply because, in defiance of God's commandment ("his own counsel," per. 6), it pleased them better to have an idol. 2. Ephraim mourning for his idol. "The people thereof shall mourn over it," etc. Mark in this: (1) How God separates himself from the image by which the people represented him (the calf), and also separates himself from the people. The place of the calf-worship is no longer Beth-el ("house of God"), but Beth-aven ("house of vanity"). The people are not his people, but the people of the call - its votaries, not his; he disowns them. (2) How, when they see their calf ignominiously shorn of its glory, they mourn for it, both priests and people. The sinner's idols will be taken from him, and their vanity exposed. This fills him with mourning. It is, however, his idols, not his sins, that he mourns for. 3. Ephraim ashamed of his idol. "It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to King Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame," etc. What a burst bubble the worship of the calf now appeared! Unable to save itself, not to speak of others, it is now ignominiously carried off as a present to a heathen king. Yet Ephraim in his heart, no doubt, grieved for his calf, and would gladly, had he been permitted, have returned to its service. The sinner's idols shall yet cover him with shame. "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death" (Romans 6:21). III. FINAL OVERTHROW. (Vers. 7, 8.) 1. A destroyed kingdom. "Samaria is destroyed; her king is like a chip on the face of the water." Light, helpless, borne away by the impetuous current, submerged, and seen no more. Such would be Samaria's king (cf. per. 3) - the same flood which swept him away destroying also the kingdom. 2. Desolate altars. "The high places also of Avert, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come upon their altars." The judgment would strike very specially the place of sin. The utter end of the false system of worship is figured in the thorn and thistle covered altars. Broken and disused, they are to stand as monuments of wrath. 3. Prayer for annihilation. "They shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us." This would be preferable to the awful misery of falling into the hands of the Assyrian foe (ver. 14; Hosea 13:16). The scene of judgment, with a like dreadful prayer, would be repeated at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (Luke 23:30). Yet these are but feeble prefigurations of the woe and consternation that shall prevail on the day of the "wrath of the Lamb" (Revelation 6:16). Men shall pray for annihilation; but, it is noteworthy, this is a prayer which is not granted. - J.O. Parallel Verses KJV: They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. |
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