Therefore I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were given to cover her nakedness. Sermons
I. PROSPERITY PLENTIFULLY BESTOWED. (Vers. 8, 9.) The time of Jeroboam II., to which this part of the prophecy refers, was to Israel one of unexampled national wealth. The kingdom seemed as rich and powerful at that period as it had been even in the days of Solomon. The ten northern cantons, we must remember, included the fairest and most fertile districts of Palestine. They possessed "the glory of Lebanon, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon," the fruitful meadows of Bashan, and the green pasture-lands of Gilead. So Ephraim was rich in "corn and wine and oil," in "wool and flax," in "silver and gold." But has not God bestowed vastly greater gifts upon our own country? The climate of our island is damp, and its soil only moderately fertile; yet how much wealth there is amongst us! God has exalted Great Britain to heaven. The English nation is colonizing the world. And for what purpose does the Lord confer temporal prosperity? It is with the same design for which he lends us spiritual blessings - that we may learn to know him, and love him, and serve him. II. PROSPERITY SHAMEFULLY ABUSED. Israel's prosperity was only in material things. Although imposing, it was external and hollow. It was not the wealth of well-being; for: 1. The Giver was ignored. (Ver. 8.) "She did not know," means that she was not willing to know. Her material prosperity begat pride, and pride engendered forgetfulness of God. But Israel was without excuse. For she had been taught by Moses (Deuteronomy 8.). She had been warned by Elijah (1 Kings 17.). Every page of her marvelous history spoke of the Divine bounty. The offering of the first-fruits - the three great Hebrew festivals - and especially the Feast of Pentecost, were all just so many solemn thanksgivings to Jehovah for the blessings of his providence. It was true that the men of Ephraim still formally observed these institutions, but the living spirit of them had ebbed away; God was no longer remembered as the Giver of all good. And are there not multitudes still, even in Christian lands, who make no grateful acknowledgment of the Divine mercies? They ascribe their successes entirely to their good luck; or, at best, to their skill, or enterprise, or industry (Habakkuk 1:16), without recognizing the smile of a benignant Providence upon their efforts. 2. The prosperity itself was deified. (Vers. 8, 12, 13.) Ephraim prostituted it to the worship of the powers of physical nature. The people became "lotus-eaters;" they were enervated with sensuous pleasure. They regarded their harvests as the gifts of the Baalim - the "lovers' wages" which they received from their idols (ver. 12). They employed their silver and gold in the manufacture of images of Baal and Ashtaroth (ver. 8), as well as in the adornment of their persons for the celebration of the idolatrous festivals (ver. 13). But are not similar evils rampant just now amongst ourselves? The air is still full of the spirit of Baalism - the deification of force, the worship of success. We meet with this spirit: (1) In politics. "Witness the French saying: ' God is always on the side of the heavy battalions.' Witness Prince Bismarck's motto: 'Beati possidentes.' Witness the modern English phrase: ' British interests,' as used to express a rule of diplomacy which some regard as even more binding than the moral Law." (2) In economics. There can be only one true system of political economy; but in times of trade-disputes the capitalist and the laborer often adhere to diverse systems. The strike and the lock-out are an appeal to physical force - a virtual offering of the prayer, "O Baal, hear us!" (3) In philosophy. How many of our modern scientists deify nature under the name of" law"! They repudiate Providence, and recognize only force. They ignore the living God, and substitute in his room some blind impersonal power. They exalt proud reason to the place which should be occupied by a childlike faith. They ask us to accept a reading of the universe which leaves out the fact of sin, and the soul's hunger for immortality. (4) In literature. How many of our great authors - poet historians, and even moralists - have dedicated their golden intellectual gifts to the service of materialism! (5) In social life. The immense increase of wealth in our time tends to foster ostentatious and luxurious habits. What multitudes "bow the knee" to the Baal of commercial success! With many life consists not in being, but only in having. But" the word of the Lord by Hosea" reminds us that the love of the world is moral harlotry, and that deference to its spirit is Baalism. III. PROSPERITY MISERABLY BLIGHTED. Israel shall suffer: 1. Deprivation. (Ver. 9.) She has refused to remember God, therefore he win compel her to think of him. He is the real Proprietor of the corn and wine, of the wool and flax. Israel was only his steward, and yet she has claimed these precious gifts as if they were altogether within her own power. So the Lord will suddenly withdraw them. He will send the foreign foe, or the simoom, or the locusts. He will blast the ears of corn when they are just ready for the sickle. He will destroy the vine-clusters in the very hour of the vintage. He will take away his material gifts from those who worship only a God of corn and wine, forgetting that the true God is "righteous," and "loveth righteousness." It is a simple matter for Divine Providence to pauperize the man who is making his own prosperity an idol. He may do it by means of business losses, or family bereavement, or personal affliction, or by giving power to the monitions of conscience. 2. Chastisement. God can and will "curse our blessings" (Malachi 2:2) if we persistently misuse them. So in store for poor Israel there shall be: (1) Shame. (Ver. 10.) The Lord will dishonor her before her idols themselves by withdrawing his gifts, and exposing Israel's folly in placing her trust in material things. (2) Mourning. (Ver. 11.) The people's sinfulness and their light-hearted mirth, which they had unnaturally wedded to each other, shall be divorced. What though Israel still professed to observe joyfully the Mosaic festivals? She could have no true gladness in Jehovah, so long as she refused to recognize his supremacy in providence. Her mirth was "the laughter of the fool," and God would turn it into mourning. (3) Exile. (Ver. 12.) The vineyards and the fig orchards shall become "a forest" (Psalm 107:33, 34). The ravaging Assyrian shall come, like "the boar out of the wood," and root up the vine which was at first brought out of Egypt. Ephraim shall disappear forever from among the nations. CONCLUSION. We should cherish gratitude to the Hebrew prophets for the great lesson which they constantly teach, viz., that national sin is certain, in the course of providence, to be followed by national calamity. "In them is plainest taught and easiest learnt
Therefore will I return. "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 the very time of harvest and vintage. "And will recover My wool." I will snatch it away; I will spoil you of it. I will recover it out of the hands of usurpers. Or those creatures, corn, wine, wool, are now in bondage to you, and I will recover them out of your hands. Observe —1. Though God gives mercy out of free grace without cause in ourselves, yet He takes not away mercy without cause. 2. Sin causes God to change the way of His administrations towards His people. 3. Abuse of mercy causes the removing of mercy. 4. God keeps the propriety of all that we have. 5. The taking away the good things which we enjoy is a means Of making us return to God. 6. There is an uncertainty in all things in the world; though they promise fair, yet they are ready to fail us when they promise most. 7. God often shows His displeasure to those who provoke Him, when they are at the greatest height of prosperity. 8. When men abuse mercies, they forfeit their right in those mercies. 9. All the time the creature serves wicked men, it is in bondage, and God looks upon it with pity. 10. God gives His blessings to us, not for luxury, but for necessity, 11. When abundance is abused, it is just with God that we should want necessaries. (Jeremiah Burroughs.) And take away My corn Two subjects for reflection; the goodness of God, and the wickedness of man. The Jews were fair specimens of human nature.I. THE SOURCE OF OUR MERCIES. "I gave her." Here we do not refer to those blessings which we call spiritual. We speak of temporal good things. "He giveth us richly all things to enjoy." Never suffer instruments to keep your thoughts from God. 1. Unconscious instrumentality. This takes in what we call nature. 2. Voluntary instrumentality. Our fellow-creatures may do us good in a thousand ways. They act knowingly and freely in relieving us, and display the noblest principles of their nature. But here God has higher claims; for who placed these friends and benefactors in our way? 3. Personal instrumentality. Few of the good things of life are obtained without some exertions of our own. Indeed, if they were, they would not be half so sweet. But from whom have we derived our natural talents? Whose providence fixed us in a situation favourable to our efforts? II. OUR GUILT IN THE USE OF OUR MERCIES. Here are two charges. 1. Ignorance. God does much more good in the world than is ever known. He has done us all countless acts of kindness of which we have never been aware. There are two kinds of knowledge, speculative and practical. The former is nothing without the latter; it is no better than ignorance. 2. Perversion. Instead of using God's gifts in the service and for the glory of God, we appropriate them to the use of idols. This is worse than the former, as indifference is exceeded by insult. What would you feel more provoking than for a man to borrow of you, in order to publish a libel upon your character? Is not God perpetually thus affronted and dishonoured? III. THE REMOVAL. "Take away My corn," etc. 1. We see how precarious everything earthly is. 2. God withdraws our comforts as well as gives them. 3. God does not relinquish His propriety in any of His blessings when He bestows them. Still they are His. When He comes for them He comes but to resume. 4. He often removes our blessings and comforts when they seem most attractive and most necessary, when their loss is least expected, and we are rejoicing to see them flourish. 5. God does not deprive us of our enjoyments without a cause. It is our non-improvement, it is our abuse of our mercies that endangers them. 6. His conduct, in the removal of our joys, looks forward as well as backward. He punishes, not for our destruction but advantage, and the very consequences of sin are made to cure. While this subject leads us to magnify the Lord, it should afford instruction and encouragement to those who are afflicted. No affliction will ever do us good unless it excite in us both fear and hope. The day of trouble is a period peculiarly eventful and important. Salvation or destruction may hinge upon it. (William Jay.) Homilist. The goodness of God and the ingratitude of man meet us everywhere, and in our own hearts are as prominent as in the world.I. GOD'S MERCIES. All our blessings come direct from God. Whatever may be the instrument, the gift is of God. 1. There is nature. 2. There is human instrumentality. 3. There is personal exertion. "It is the Lord thy God giveth thee power to get wealth." II. MAN'S ABUSE OF GOD'S MERCIES. Here are two charges. 1. Ignorance. 2. Perversion. III. THE JUST AND INEVITABLE RESULT. 1. God reminds us that our mercies are only lent. 2. God only allots them to us on the condition of using them rightly. (Homilist.) God shews us that His gifts come from Him, either by giving them when we almost despair of them, or taking them away, when they are all but ours. It can seem no chance when He so doeth. The chastisement is severer also, when the good things, long looked for, are at the last taken out of our very hands, and that, when there is no remedy. "Recover My wool." God recovers and, as it were, delivers the works of His hands from serving the ungodly. While He leaves His creatures in the possession of the wicked, they are holden, as it were, in captivity, being kept back from their proper uses, and made the hand maidens and instruments and tempters to sin. It is against the order of nature to use God's gifts to any other end short of God's glory, much more, to turn God's gifts against Himself, and make them serve to pride, or luxury, or sensual sin.(E. B. Pusey, D. D.) So full and continual are our mercies that we are prone to forget the Giver in the enjoyment of the gift, until a voice of sternness calls us home. I heard recently of a young student at college, who became so interested in sports and other things that he neglected to write to his parents. The mother became exceedingly anxious and wanted the father to go to the city and learn the cause. But the father found a simpler method. The supply of money was withheld, and very soon a letter came. Even so, God sometimes withholds from us the very necessaries of life until we learn that while He is willing to supply our needs, He earnestly desires our fellowship. As in the case of the prodigal, He permits a mighty famine in the land where we are feeding swine, in order to bring us to the home table, where His bounty is spread.(Good Tidings.) Trees, if the roots run too deep into the earth, must be cut shorter; if the branches spread too far, they must be lopped; and if canker or caterpillar once infest, and cleave to them, then they must be blazed and smoked. Thus, the children of God, when they be too much rooted by their affections in the things of this world, and with great and large boughs of their ability, wrong and impoverish their poor neighbour, or let their money like the canker eat into their souls — God will give them many a cutting, lopping, and fumigating; and as they cannot but naturally do the one, so God, intending to heal them spiritually, will do the other; His care will be still for them, notwithstanding their several failings.(J. Spencer.) People Hosea, Ishi, Jezreel, ZephaniahPlaces Egypt, Jezreel, Valley of AchorTopics Appointed, Body, Corn, Cover, Covered, Covering, Flax, Grain, Harvest, Intended, Linen, Nakedness, Pluck, Ready, Recover, Return, Ripens, Season, Snatch, Thereof, Turn, Wine, Withdraw, WoolOutline 1. The idolatry of the people.6. God's judgments against them. 14. His promises of reconciliation with them. Dictionary of Bible Themes Hosea 2:9 4693 wool 5721 mothers, a symbol Library The Valley of Achor'I will give her ... the valley of Achor for a door of hope.'--HOSEA II. 15. The Prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of events in the former history of his people. Their past seems to him a mirror in which they may read their future. He believes that 'which is to be hath already been,' the great principles of the divine government living on through all the ages, and issuing in similar acts when the circumstances are similar. So he foretells that there will yet be once … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Unknown Giver and the Misused Gifts 27TH DAY. Everlasting Espousals. "I Know, O Lord, that Thy Judgments are Right, and that Thou in Faithfulness Hast Afflicted Me. " -- Psalm 119:75. The Secret of his Pavilion And After. (xxx, xxxi, xxxix-Xliv. ) And that this Race was to Become an Holy People was Declared in the Twelve... Entire Sanctification in Prophecy. The Prophecy of Obadiah. The Controversy Concerning Fasting 'Fruit which is Death' The Wilderness State How the Rude in Sacred Learning, and those who are Learned but not Humble, are to be Admonished. Of Inward Silence "Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. " Nature of Covenanting. Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence. The Beginning of Justification. In what Sense Progressive. Covenanting According to the Purposes of God. The Gospel Feast The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly The Prophet Hosea. Links Hosea 2:9 NIVHosea 2:9 NLT Hosea 2:9 ESV Hosea 2:9 NASB Hosea 2:9 KJV Hosea 2:9 Bible Apps Hosea 2:9 Parallel Hosea 2:9 Biblia Paralela Hosea 2:9 Chinese Bible Hosea 2:9 French Bible Hosea 2:9 German Bible Hosea 2:9 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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