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Hosea 11:12 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

12 Ephraim H669 compasseth H5437 me about with lies, H3585 and the house H1004 of Israel H3478 with deceit: H4820 but Judah H3063 yet ruleth H7300 with God, H410 and is faithful H539 with the saints. H6918

Cross Reference

Hosea 4:15 STRONG

Though thou, Israel, H3478 play the harlot, H2181 yet let not Judah H3063 offend; H816 and come H935 not ye unto Gilgal, H1537 neither go ye up H5927 to Bethaven, H1007 nor swear, H7650 The LORD H3068 liveth. H2416

Revelation 5:10 STRONG

And G2532 hast made G4160 us G2248 unto our G2257 God G2316 kings G935 and G2532 priests: G2409 and G2532 we shall reign G936 on G1909 the earth. G1093

Revelation 3:21 STRONG

To him G846 that overcometh G3528 will I grant G1325 to sit G2523 with G3326 me G1700 in G1722 my G3450 throne, G2362 even G2504 as G5613 I also G2504 overcame, G3528 and G2532 am set down G2523 with G3326 my G3450 Father G3962 in G1722 his G846 throne. G2362

Revelation 1:6 STRONG

And G2532 hath made G4160 us G2248 kings G935 and G2532 priests G2409 unto God G2316 and G2532 his G846 Father; G3962 to him G846 be glory G1391 and G2532 dominion G2904 for G1519 ever G165 and ever. G165 Amen. G281

1 Corinthians 6:2 STRONG

Do ye G1492 not G3756 know G1492 that G3754 the saints G40 shall judge G2919 the world? G2889 and G2532 if G1487 the world G2889 shall be judged G2919 by G1722 you, G5213 are ye G2075 unworthy G370 to judge G2922 the smallest matters? G1646

Micah 6:12 STRONG

For the rich men H6223 thereof are full H4390 of violence, H2555 and the inhabitants H3427 thereof have spoken H1696 lies, H8267 and their tongue H3956 is deceitful H7423 in their mouth. H6310

Hosea 12:7 STRONG

He is a merchant, H3667 the balances H3976 of deceit H4820 are in his hand: H3027 he loveth H157 to oppress. H6231

Hosea 12:1 STRONG

Ephraim H669 feedeth H7462 on wind, H7307 and followeth H7291 after the east wind: H6921 he daily H3117 increaseth H7235 lies H3577 and desolation; H7701 and they do make H3772 a covenant H1285 with the Assyrians, H804 and oil H8081 is carried H2986 into Egypt. H4714

Hosea 7:16 STRONG

They return, H7725 but not to the most High: H5920 they are like a deceitful H7423 bow: H7198 their princes H8269 shall fall H5307 by the sword H2719 for the rage H2195 of their tongue: H3956 this H2097 shall be their derision H3933 in the land H776 of Egypt. H4714

Genesis 32:28 STRONG

And he said, H559 Thy name H8034 shall be called H559 no more Jacob, H3290 but Israel: H3478 for as a prince hast thou power H8280 with God H430 and with men, H582 and hast prevailed. H3201

Hosea 4:2 STRONG

By swearing, H422 and lying, H3584 and killing, H7523 and stealing, H1589 and committing adultery, H5003 they break out, H6555 and blood H1818 toucheth H5060 blood. H1818

Isaiah 59:3-4 STRONG

For your hands H3709 are defiled H1351 with blood, H1818 and your fingers H676 with iniquity; H5771 your lips H8193 have spoken H1696 lies, H8267 your tongue H3956 hath muttered H1897 perverseness. H5766 None calleth H7121 for justice, H6664 nor any pleadeth H8199 for truth: H530 they trust H982 in vanity, H8414 and speak H1696 lies; H7723 they conceive H2029 mischief, H5999 and bring forth H3205 iniquity. H205

Isaiah 44:20 STRONG

He feedeth H7462 on ashes: H665 a deceived H2048 heart H3820 hath turned him aside, H5186 that he cannot deliver H5337 his soul, H5315 nor say, H559 Is there not a lie H8267 in my right hand? H3225

Isaiah 29:13 STRONG

Wherefore the Lord H136 said, H559 Forasmuch H3282 as this people H5971 draw near H5066 me with their mouth, H6310 and with their lips H8193 do honour H3513 me, but have removed H7368 their heart H3820 far H7368 from me, and their fear H3374 toward me is taught H3925 by the precept H4687 of men: H582

Psalms 78:36 STRONG

Nevertheless they did flatter H6601 him with their mouth, H6310 and they lied H3576 unto him with their tongues. H3956

2 Chronicles 29:1-32 STRONG

Hezekiah H3169 began to reign H4427 when he was five H2568 and twenty H6242 years H8141 old, H1121 and he reigned H4427 nine H8672 and twenty H6242 years H8141 in Jerusalem. H3389 And his mother's H517 name H8034 was Abijah, H29 the daughter H1323 of Zechariah. H2148 And he did H6213 that which was right H3477 in the sight H5869 of the LORD, H3068 according to all that David H1732 his father H1 had done. H6213 He in the first H7223 year H8141 of his reign, H4427 in the first H7223 month, H2320 opened H6605 the doors H1817 of the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 and repaired H2388 them. And he brought in H935 the priests H3548 and the Levites, H3881 and gathered them together H622 into the east H4217 street, H7339 And said H559 unto them, Hear H8085 me, ye Levites, H3881 sanctify H6942 now yourselves, and sanctify H6942 the house H1004 of the LORD H3068 God H430 of your fathers, H1 and carry forth H3318 the filthiness H5079 out of the holy H6944 place. For our fathers H1 have trespassed, H4603 and done H6213 that which was evil H7451 in the eyes H5869 of the LORD H3068 our God, H430 and have forsaken H5800 him, and have turned away H5437 their faces H6440 from the habitation H4908 of the LORD, H3068 and turned H5414 their backs. H6203 Also they have shut up H5462 the doors H1817 of the porch, H197 and put out H3518 the lamps, H5216 and have not burned H6999 incense H7004 nor offered H5927 burnt offerings H5930 in the holy H6944 place unto the God H430 of Israel. H3478 Wherefore the wrath H7110 of the LORD H3068 was upon Judah H3063 and Jerusalem, H3389 and he hath delivered H5414 them to trouble, H2189 H2113 to astonishment, H8047 and to hissing, H8322 as ye see H7200 with your eyes. H5869 For, lo, our fathers H1 have fallen H5307 by the sword, H2719 and our sons H1121 and our daughters H1323 and our wives H802 are in captivity H7628 for this. Now it is in mine heart H3824 to make H3772 a covenant H1285 with the LORD H3068 God H430 of Israel, H3478 that his fierce H2740 wrath H639 may turn away H7725 from us. My sons, H1121 be not now negligent: H7952 for the LORD H3068 hath chosen H977 you to stand H5975 before H6440 him, to serve H8334 him, and that ye should minister H8334 unto him, and burn incense. H6999 Then the Levites H3881 arose, H6965 Mahath H4287 the son H1121 of Amasai, H6022 and Joel H3100 the son H1121 of Azariah, H5838 of the sons H1121 of the Kohathites: H6956 and of the sons H1121 of Merari, H4847 Kish H7027 the son H1121 of Abdi, H5660 and Azariah H5838 the son H1121 of Jehalelel: H3094 and of the Gershonites; H1649 Joah H3098 the son H1121 of Zimmah, H2155 and Eden H5731 the son H1121 of Joah: H3098 And of the sons H1121 of Elizaphan; H469 Shimri, H8113 and Jeiel: H3273 and of the sons H1121 of Asaph; H623 Zechariah, H2148 and Mattaniah: H4983 And of the sons H1121 of Heman; H1968 Jehiel, H3171 and Shimei: H8096 and of the sons H1121 of Jeduthun; H3038 Shemaiah, H8098 and Uzziel. H5816 And they gathered H622 their brethren, H251 and sanctified H6942 themselves, and came, H935 according to the commandment H4687 of the king, H4428 by the words H1697 of the LORD, H3068 to cleanse H2891 the house H1004 of the LORD. H3068 And the priests H3548 went H935 into the inner part H6441 of the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 to cleanse H2891 it, and brought out H3318 all the uncleanness H2932 that they found H4672 in the temple H1964 of the LORD H3068 into the court H2691 of the house H1004 of the LORD. H3068 And the Levites H3881 took H6901 it, to carry it out H3318 abroad H2351 into the brook H5158 Kidron. H6939 Now they began H2490 on the first H259 day of the first H7223 month H2320 to sanctify, H6942 and on the eighth H8083 day H3117 of the month H2320 came H935 they to the porch H197 of the LORD: H3068 so they sanctified H6942 the house H1004 of the LORD H3068 in eight H8083 days; H3117 and in the sixteenth H8337 H6240 day of the first H7223 month H2320 they made an end. H3615 Then they went H935 in H6441 to Hezekiah H2396 the king, H4428 and said, H559 We have cleansed H2891 all the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 and the altar H4196 of burnt offering, H5930 with all the vessels H3627 thereof, and the shewbread H4635 table, H7979 with all the vessels H3627 thereof. Moreover all the vessels, H3627 which king H4428 Ahaz H271 in his reign H4438 did cast away H2186 in his transgression, H4604 have we prepared H3559 and sanctified, H6942 and, behold, they are before H6440 the altar H4196 of the LORD. H3068 Then Hezekiah H3169 the king H4428 rose early, H7925 and gathered H622 the rulers H8269 of the city, H5892 and went up H5927 to the house H1004 of the LORD. H3068 And they brought H935 seven H7651 bullocks, H6499 and seven H7651 rams, H352 and seven H7651 lambs, H3532 and seven H7651 he H6842 goats, H5795 for a sin offering H2403 for the kingdom, H4467 and for the sanctuary, H4720 and for Judah. H3063 And he commanded H559 the priests H3548 the sons H1121 of Aaron H175 to offer H5927 them on the altar H4196 of the LORD. H3068 So they killed H7819 the bullocks, H1241 and the priests H3548 received H6901 the blood, H1818 and sprinkled H2236 it on the altar: H4196 likewise, when they had killed H7819 the rams, H352 they sprinkled H2236 the blood H1818 upon the altar: H4196 they killed H7819 also the lambs, H3532 and they sprinkled H2236 the blood H1818 upon the altar. H4196 And they brought forth H5066 the he goats H8163 for the sin offering H2403 before H6440 the king H4428 and the congregation; H6951 and they laid H5564 their hands H3027 upon them: And the priests H3548 killed H7819 them, and they made reconciliation H2398 with their blood H1818 upon the altar, H4196 to make an atonement H3722 for all Israel: H3478 for the king H4428 commanded H559 that the burnt offering H5930 and the sin offering H2403 should be made for all Israel. H3478 And he set H5975 the Levites H3881 in the house H1004 of the LORD H3068 with cymbals, H4700 with psalteries, H5035 and with harps, H3658 according to the commandment H4687 of David, H1732 and of Gad H1410 the king's H4428 seer, H2374 and Nathan H5416 the prophet: H5030 for so was the commandment H4687 of H3027 the LORD H3068 by H3027 his prophets. H5030 And the Levites H3881 stood H5975 with the instruments H3627 of David, H1732 and the priests H3548 with the trumpets. H2689 And Hezekiah H2396 commanded H559 to offer H5927 the burnt offering H5930 upon the altar. H4196 And when H6256 the burnt offering H5930 began, H2490 the song H7892 of the LORD H3068 began H2490 also with the trumpets, H2689 and with the instruments H3627 ordained by H3027 David H1732 king H4428 of Israel. H3478 And all the congregation H6951 worshipped, H7812 and the singers H7892 sang, H7891 and the trumpeters H2689 sounded: H2690 H2690 and all this continued until the burnt offering H5930 was finished. H3615 And when they had made an end H3615 of offering, H5927 the king H4428 and all that were present H4672 with him bowed H3766 themselves, and worshipped. H7812 Moreover Hezekiah H3169 the king H4428 and the princes H8269 commanded H559 the Levites H3881 to sing praise H1984 unto the LORD H3068 with the words H1697 of David, H1732 and of Asaph H623 the seer. H2374 And they sang praises H1984 with gladness, H8057 and they bowed their heads H6915 and worshipped. H7812 Then Hezekiah H3169 answered H6030 and said, H559 Now ye have consecrated H4390 H3027 yourselves unto the LORD, H3068 come near H5066 and bring H935 sacrifices H2077 and thank offerings H8426 into the house H1004 of the LORD. H3068 And the congregation H6951 brought in H935 sacrifices H2077 and thank offerings; H8426 and as many as were of a free H5081 heart H3820 burnt offerings. H5930 And the number H4557 of the burnt offerings, H5930 which the congregation H6951 brought, H935 was threescore and ten H7657 bullocks, H1241 an hundred H3967 rams, H352 and two hundred H3967 lambs: H3532 all these were for a burnt offering H5930 to the LORD. H3068

2 Kings 18:4-7 STRONG

He removed H5493 the high places, H1116 and brake H7665 the images, H4676 and cut down H3772 the groves, H842 and brake in pieces H3807 the brasen H5178 serpent H5175 that Moses H4872 had made: H6213 for unto those days H3117 the children H1121 of Israel H3478 did burn incense H6999 to it: and he called H7121 it Nehushtan. H5180 He trusted H982 in the LORD H3068 God H430 of Israel; H3478 so that after H310 him was none like him among all the kings H4428 of Judah, H3063 nor any that were before H6440 him. For he clave H1692 to the LORD, H3068 and departed H5493 not from following H310 him, but kept H8104 his commandments, H4687 which the LORD H3068 commanded H6680 Moses. H4872 And the LORD H3068 was with him; and he prospered H7919 whithersoever he went forth: H3318 and he rebelled H4775 against the king H4428 of Assyria, H804 and served H5647 him not.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hosea 11

Commentary on Hosea 11 Matthew Henry Commentary


Chapter 11

In this chapter we have,

  • I. The great goodness of God towards his people Israel, and the great things he had done for them (v. 1, 3, 4).
  • II. Their ungrateful conduct towards him, notwithstanding his favours towards them (v. 2-4, 7, 12).
  • III. Threatenings of wrath against them for their ingratitude and treachery (v. 5, 6).
  • IV. Mercy remembered in the midst of wrath (v. 8, 9).
  • V. Promises of what God would yet do for them (v. 10, 11).
  • VI. An honourable character given of Judah (v. 12).

Hsa 11:1-7

Here we find,

  • I. God very gracious to Israel. They were a people for whom he had done more than for any people under heaven, and to whom he had given more, which they are here, I will not say upbraided with (for God gives, and upbraids not), but put in mind of, as an aggravation of their sin and an encouragement to repentance.
    • 1. He had a kindness for them when they were young (v. 1): When Israel was a child then I loved him; when they first began to multiply into a nation in Egypt God then set his love upon them, and chose them because he loved them, because he would love them, Deu. 7:7, 8. When they were weak and helpless as children, foolish and froward as children, when they were outcasts, and children exposed, then God loved them; he pitied them, and testified his goodwill to them; he bore them as the nurse does the sucking child, nourished them, and suffered their manners. Note, Those that have grown up, nay, those that have grown old, ought often to reflect upon the goodness of God to them in their childhood.
    • 2. He delivered them out of the house of bondage: I called my son out of Egypt, because a son, because a beloved son. When God demanded Israel's discharge from Pharaoh he called them his son, his first-born. Note, Those whom God loves he calls out of the bondage of sin and Satan into the glorious liberty of his children. These words are said to have been fulfilled in Christ, when, upon the death of Herod, he and his parents were called out of Egypt (Mt. 2:15), so that the words have a double aspect, speaking historically of the calling of Israel out of Egypt and prophetically of the bringing of Christ thence; and the former was a type of the latter, and a pledge and earnest of the many and great favours God had in reserve for that people, especially the sending of his Son into the world, and the bringing him again into the land of Israel when they had unkindly driven him out, and he might justly never have returned. The calling of Christ out of Egypt was a figure of the calling of all that are his, through him, out of spiritual slavery.
    • 3. He gave them a good education, took care of them, took pains with them, not only as a father or tutor, but, such is the condescension of divine grace, as a mother or nurse (v. 3): I taught Ephraim also to go, as a child in leading-strings is taught. When they were in the wilderness God led them by the pillar of cloud and fire, showed them the way in which they should go, and bore them up, taking them by the arms. He taught them to go in the way of his commandments, by the institutions of the ceremonial law, which were as tutors and governors to that people under age. He took them by the arms, to guide them, that they might not stray, and to hold them up, that they might not stumble and fall. God's spiritual Israel are thus supported. Thou has holden me by my right hand, Ps. 73:23.
    • 4. When any thing was amiss with them, or they were ever so little out of order, he was their physician: "I healed them; I not only took a tender care of them (a friend may do that), but wrought an effectual cure: it is a God only that can do that. I am the Lord that healeth thee (Ex. 15:26), that redresseth all thy grievances.'
    • 5. He brought them into his service by mild and gentle methods (v. 4): I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. Note, It is God's work to draw poor souls to himself; and none can come to him except he draw them, Jn. 6:44. He draws,
      • (1.) With the cords of a man, with such cords as men draw with that have a principle of humanity, or such cords as men are drawn with; he dealt with them as men, in an equitable rational way, in an easy gentle way, with the cords of Adam. He dealt with them as with Adam in innocency, bringing them at once into a paradise, and into covenant with himself.
      • (2.) With bands of love, or cartropes of love. This word signifies stronger cords than the former. He did not drive them by force into his service, whether they would or no, nor rule them with rigour, nor detain them by violence, but his attractives were all loving and endearing, all sweet and gentle, that he might overcome them with kindness. Moses, whom he made their guide, was the meekest man in the world. Kindnesses among men we commonly call obligations, or bonds, bonds of love. Thus God draws with the savour of his good ointments (Cant. 1:4), draws with lovingkindness, Jer. 31:3. Thus God deals with us, and we must deal in like manner with those that are under our instruction and government, deal rationally and mildly with them.
    • 6. He eased them of the burdens they had been long groaning under: I was to them as those that take off the yoke on their jaws, alluding to the care of the good husbandman, who is merciful to his beast, and will not tire him with hard and constant labour. Probably, in those times, the yoke on the neck of the oxen was fastened with some bridle, or headstall, over the jaws, which muzzled the mouth of the ox. Israel in Egypt were thus restrained from the enjoyments of their comforts and constrained to hard labour; but God eased them, removed their shoulder from the burden, Ps. 81:6. Note, Liberty is a great mercy, especially out of bondage.
    • 7. He supplied them with food convenient. In Egypt they fared hard, but, when God brought them out, he laid meat unto them, as the husbandman, when he has unyoked his cattle, fodders them. God rained manna about their camp, bread from heaven, angels' food; other creatures seek their meat, but God laid meat to his own people, as we do to our children, was himself their caterer and carver, anticipated them with the blessings of goodness.
  • II. Here is Israel very ungrateful to God.
    • 1. They were deaf and disobedient to his voice. He spoke to them by his messengers, Moses and his other prophets, called them from their sins, called them to himself, to their work and duty; but as they called them so they went from them; they rebelled in those particular instances wherein they were admonished; the more pressing and importunate the prophets were with them, to persuade them to that which was good, the more refractory they were, and the more resolute in their evil ways, disobeying for disobedience-sake. This foolishness is bound in the hearts of children, who, as soon as they are taught to go, will go from those that call them.
    • 2. They were fond of idols, and worshipped them: They sacrificed to Baalim, first one Baal and then another, and burnt incense to graven images, though they were called to by the prophets of the Lord again and again not to do this abominable thing which he hated. Idolatry was the sin which from the beginning, and all along, had most easily beset them.
    • 3. They were regardless of God, and of his favours to them: They knew not that I healed them. They looked only at Moses and Aaron, the instruments of their relief, and, when any thing was amiss, quarrelled with them, but looked not through them to God who employed them. Or, When God corrected them, and kept them under a severe discipline, they understood not that it was for their good, and that God thereby healed them, and it was necessary for the perfecting of their cure, else they would have been better reconciled to the methods God took. Note, Ignorance is at the bottom of ingratitude, ch. 2:8.
    • 4. They were strongly inclined to apostasy. This is the blackest article in the charge (v. 7): My people are bent to backsliding from me. Every word here is aggravating.
      • (1.) They backslide. There is no hold of them, no stedfastness in them; they seem to come forward, towards God, but they quickly slide back again, and are as a deceitful bow.
      • (2.) They backslide from me, from God, the chief good, the fountain of life and living waters, from their God who never turned from them, nor war as a wilderness to them.
      • (3.) They are bent to backslide; they are ready to sin; there is in their natures a propensity to that which is evil; at the best they hang in suspense between God and the world, so that a little thing serves to draw them the wrong way; they are forward to close with every temptation. It also intimates that they are resolute in sin; their hearts are fully set in them to do evil the bias is strong that way; and they persist in their backslidings, whatever is said or done to stop them; and yet,
      • (4.) "They are, in profession, my people. They are called by my name, and profess relation to me; they are mine, whom I have done much for and expect much from, whom I have nourished and brought up, as children, and yet they backslide from me.' Note, In our repentance we ought to lament not only our backslidings, but our bent to backslide, not only our actual transgressions, but our original corruption, the sin that dwells in us, the carnal mind.
    • 5. They were strangely averse to repentance and reformation. Here are two expressions of their obstinacy:-
      • (1.) They refused to return, v. 5. So much were they bent to backslide that, though they could not but find, upon trial, the folly of their backslidings, and that when they forsook God they changed for the worse, yet they went on frowardly. I have loved strangers, and after them I will go. They were commanded to return, were courted and entreated to return, were promised that if they would they should be kindly received, but they refused.
      • (2.) Though they called them to the Most High. God's prophets and ministers called them to return to the God from whom they had revolted, to the most high God, from whom they had sunk into this wretched degeneracy; they called them from the worship of the idols, which were so much below them, and the worship of which was therefore their disparagement, to the true God, who was so much above them, and the worship of whom was therefore their preferment; they called them from this earth to high and heavenly things; but they called in vain. None at all would exalt him. Though he is the most high God they would not acknowledge him to be so, would do nothing to honour him nor give him the glory due to his name. Or, They would not exalt themselves, would not rise out of that state of apostasy and misery into which they had precipitated themselves; but there they contentedly lay still, would not lift up their heads nor lift up their souls. Note, God's faithful ministers have taken a great deal of pains, to no purpose, with backsliding children, have called them to the Most High; but none would stir, none at all would exalt him.
  • III. Here is God very angry, and justly so, with Israel; see what are the tokens of God's displeasure with which they are here threatened.
    • 1. God, who brought them out of Egypt, to take them for a people to himself, since they would not be faithful to him, shall bring them into a worse condition than he at first found them in (v. 5): "He shall not return into the land of Egypt, though that was a house of bondage grievous enough; but he shall go into a harder service, for the Assyrian shall be his king, who will use him worse than ever Pharaoh did.' They shall not return into Egypt, which lies near, where they may hear often from their own country, and whence they may hope shortly to return to it again; but they shall be carried into Assyria, which lies much more remote, and where they shall be cut off from all correspondence with their own land and from all hopes of returning to it, and justly, because they refused to return. Note, Those that will not return to the duties they have left cannot expect to return to the comforts they have lost.
    • 2. God, who gave them Canaan, that good land, and a very safe and comfortable settlement in it, shall bring his judgments upon them there, which shall make their habitation unsafe and uncomfortable (v. 6): The sword shall come upon them, the sword of war, the sword of a foreign enemy, prevailing against them and triumphing over them.
      • (1.) This judgment shall spread far. The sword shall fasten upon their cities, those nests of people and store-houses of wealth; it shall likewise reach to their branches, the country villages (so some), the citizens themselves (so others), or the bars (so the word signifies) and gates of their city, or all the branches of their revenue and wealth, or their children, the branches of their families.
      • (2.) It shall last long: It shall abide on their cities. David thought three months flying before his enemies was the only judgment of the three that was to be excepted against; but this sword shall abide much longer than three months on the cities of Israel. They continued their rebellions against God, and therefore God continued his judgments on them.
      • (3.) It shall make a full end: It shall consume their branches, and devour them, and lay all waste, and this because of their own counsels, that is, because they would have their own projects, which God therefore, in a way of righteous judgment, gave them up to. Note, The confusion of sinners is owing to their contrivance. God's counsels would have saved them, but their own counsels ruined them.

Hsa 11:8-12

In these verses we have,

  • I. God's wonderful backwardness to destroy Israel (v. 8, 9): How shall I give thee up? Here observe,
    • 1. God's gracious debate within himself concerning Israel's case, a debate between justice and mercy, in which victory plainly inclines to mercy's side. Be astonished, O heavens! at this, and wonder, O earth! at the glory of God's goodness. Not that there are any such struggles in God as there are in us, or that he is ever fluctuating or unresolved; no, he is in one mind, and knows it; but they are expressions after the manner of men, designed to show what severity the sin of Israel had deserved, and yet how divine grace would be glorified in sparing them notwithstanding. The connexion of this with what goes before is very surprising; it was said of Israel (v. 7) that they were bent to backslide from God, that though they were called to him they would not exalt him, upon which, one would think, it should have followed, "Now I am determined to destroy them, and never show them mercy any more.' No, such is the sovereignty of mercy, such the freeness, the fulness, of divine grace, that it follows immediately, How shall I give thee up? See here,
      • (1.) The proposals that justice makes concerning Israel, the suggestion of which is here implied. Let Ephraim be given up, as an incorrigible son is given up to be disinherited, as an incurable patient is given over by his physician. Let him be given up to ruin. Let Israel be delivered into the enemy's hand, as a lamb to the lion to be torn in pieces; let them be made as Admah and set as Zeboim, the two cities that with Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone rained from heaven upon them; let them be utterly and irreparably ruined, and be made as like these cities in desolation as they have been in sin. Let that curse which is written in the law be executed upon them, that the whole land shall be brimstone and salt, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, Deu. 29:23. Ephraim and Israel deserve to be thus abandoned, and God will do them no wrong if he deal thus with them.
      • (2.) The opposition that mercy makes to these proposals: How shall I do it? As the tender father reasons with himself, "How can I cast off my untoward son? for he is my son, though he be untoward; how can I find in my heart to do it?' Thus, "Ephraim has been a dear son, a pleasant child: How can I do it? He is ripe for ruin; judgments stand ready to seize him; there wants nothing but giving him up, but I cannot do it. They have been a people near unto me; there are yet some good among them; theirs are the children of the covenant; if they be ruined, the enemy will triumph; it may be they will yet repent and reform; and therefore how can I do it?' Note, The God of heaven is slow to anger, and is especially loth to abandon a people to utter ruin that have been in special relation to him. See how mercy works upon the mention of those severe proceedings: My heart is turned within me, as we say, Our heart fails us, when we come to do a thing that is against the grain with us. God speaks as if he were conscious to himself of a strange striving of affections in compassion to Israel: as Lam. 1:20, My bowels are troubled; my heart is turned within me. As it follows here, My repentings are kindled together. His bowels yearned towards them, and his soul was grieved for their sin and misery, Jdg. 10:16. Compare Jer. 31:20. Since I spoke against him my bowels are troubled for him. When God was to give up his Son to be a sacrifice for sin, and a Saviour for sinners, he did not say, How shall I give him up? No, he spared not his own Son; it pleased the Lord to bruise him; and therefore God spared not him, that he might spare us. But this is only the language of the day of his patience; when men have sinned that away, and the great day of his wrath comes, then no difficulty is made of it; nay, I will laugh at their calamity.
    • 2. His gracious determination of this debate. After a long contest mercy in the issue rejoices against judgment, has the last word, and carries the day, v. 9. It is decreed that the reprieve shall be lengthened out yet longer, and I will not now execute the fierceness of my anger, though I am angry; though they shall not go altogether unpunished, yet he will mitigate the sentence and abate the rigour of it. He will show himself to be justly angry, but not implacably so; they shall be corrected, but not consumed. I will not return to destroy Ephraim; the judgments that have been inflicted shall not be repeated, shall not go so deep as they have deserved. He will not return to destroy, as soldiers, when they have pillaged a town once, return a second time, to take more, as when what the palmer-worm has left the locust has eaten. It is added, in the close of the verse, "I will not enter into the city, into Samaria, or any other of their cities; I will not enter into them as an enemy, utterly to destroy them, and lay them waste, as I did the cities of Admah and Zeboim.'
    • 3. The ground and reason of this determination: For I am God and not man, the Holy One of Israel. To encourage them, to hope that they shall find mercy, consider,
      • (1.) What he is in himself: He is God, and not man, as in other things, so in pardoning sin and sparing sinners. If they had offended a man like themselves, he would not, he could not have borne it; his passion would have overpowered his compassion, and he would have executed the fierceness of his anger; but I am God, and not man. He is Lord of his anger, whereas men's anger commonly lords it over them. If an earthly prince were in such a strait between justice and mercy, he would be at a loss how to compromise the matter between them; but he who is God, and not man, knows how to find out an expedient to secure the honour of his justice and yet advance the honour of his mercy. Man's compassions are nothing in comparison with the tender mercies of our God, whose thoughts and ways, in receiving returning sinners, are as much above ours as heaven is above the earth, Isa. 55:9. Note, It is a great encouragement to our hope in God's mercies to remember that he is God, and not man. He is the Holy One. One would think this were a reason why he should reject such a provoking people. No; God knows how to spare and pardon poor sinners, not only without any reproach to his holiness, but very much to the honour of it, as he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and therein declares his righteousness, now Christ has purchased the pardon and he has promised it.
      • (2.) What he is to them; he is the Holy One in the midst of thee; his holiness is engaged for the good of his church, and even in this corrupt and degenerate land and age there were some that gave thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, and he required of them all to be holy as he is, Lev. 19:2. As long as we have the Holy One in the midst of us we are safe and well; but woe to us when he leaves us! Note, Those who submit to the influence may take the comfort of God's holiness.
  • II. Here is his wonderful forwardness to do good for Israel, which appears in this, that he will qualify them to receive the good he designs for them (v. 10, 11): They shall walk after the Lord. This respects the same favour with that (ch. 3:5), They shall return, and seek the Lord their God; it is spoken of the ten tribes, and had its accomplishment, in part, in the return of some of them with those of the two tribes in Ezra's time; but it had its more full accomplishment in God's spiritual Israel, the gospel-church, brought together and incorporated by the gospel of Christ. The ancient Jews referred it to the time of the Messiah; the learned Dr. Pocock looks upon it as a prophecy of Christ's coming to preach the gospel to the dispersed children of Israel, the children of God that were scattered abroad. And then observe,
    • 1. How they were to be called and brought together: The Lord shall roar like a lion. The word of the Lord (so says the Chaldee) shall be as a lion that roars. Christ is called the lion of the tribe of Judah, and his gospel, in the beginning of it, was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. When Christ cried with a loud voice it was as when a lion roared, Rev. 10:3. The voice of the gospel was heard afar, as the roaring of a lion, and it was a mighty voice. See Joel 3:16.
    • 2. What impression this call should make upon them, such an impression as the roaring of a lion makes upon all the beasts of the forest: When he shall roar then the children shall tremble. See Amos 3:8, The lion has roared; the Lord God has spoken; and then who will not fear? When those whose hearts the gospel reached trembled, and were astonished, and cried out, What shall we do?-when they were by it put upon working out their salvation, and worshipping God with fear and trembling, then this promise was fulfilled. The children shall tremble from the west. The dispersed Jews were carried eastward, to Assyria and Babylon, and those that returned came from the east; therefore this seems to have reference to the calling of the Gentiles that lay westward from Canaan, for that way especially the gospel spread. They shall tremble; they shall move and come with trembling, with care and haste, from the west, from the nations that lay that way, to the mountain of the Lord (Isa. 2:3), to the gospel-Jerusalem, upon hearing the alarm of the gospel. The apostle speaks of mighty signs and wonders that were wrought by the preaching of the gospel from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum, Rom. 15:19. Then the children trembled from the west. And, whereas Israel after the flesh was dispersed in Egypt and Assyria, it is promised that they shall be effectually summoned thence (v. 11): They shall tremble; they shall come trembling, and with all haste, as a bird upon the wing, out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; a dove is noted for swift and constant flight, especially when she flies to her windows, which the flocking of Jews and Gentiles to the church is here compared to, as it is Isa. 60:8. Wherever those are that belong to the election of grace-east, west, north, or south-they shall hear the joyful sound, and be wrought upon by it; those of Egypt and Assyria shall come together; those that lay most remote from each other shall meet in Christ, and be incorporated in the church. Of the uniting of Egypt and Assyria, it was prophesied, Isa. 19:23.
    • 3. What effect these impressions should have upon them. Being moved with fear, they shall flee to the ark: They shall walk after the Lord, after the service of the Lord (so the Chaldee); they shall take the Lord Christ for their leader and commander; they shall enlist themselves under him as the captain of their salvation, and give up themselves to the direction of the Spirit as their guide by the word; they shall leave all to follow Christ, as becomes disciples. Note, Our holy trembling at the word of Christ will draw us to him, not drive us from him. When he roars like a lion the slaves tremble and flee from him, the children tremble and flee to him.
    • 4. What entertainment they shall meet with at their return (v. 11): I will place them in their houses (all those that come at the gospel-call shall have a place and a name in the gospel-church, in the particular churches which are their houses, to which they pertain; they shall dwell in God, and be at home in him, both easy and safe, as a man in his own house; they shall have mansions, for there are many in our Father's house), in his tabernacle on earth and his temple in heaven, in everlasting habitations, which may be called their houses, for they are the lot they shall stand in at the end of the days.
  • III. Here is a sad complaint of the treachery of Ephraim and Israel, which may be an intimation that it is not Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual Israel, to whom the foregoing promises belong, for as for this Ephraim, this Israel, they compass God about with lies and deceit; all their services of him, when they pretended to compass his altar, were feigned and hypocritical; when they surrounded him with their prayers and praises, every one having a petition to present to him, they lied to him with their mouth and flattered him with their tongue; their pretensions were so fair, and yet their intentions so foul, that they would, if possible, have imposed upon God himself. Their professions and promises were all a cheat, and yet with these they thought to compass God about, to enclose him as it were, to keep him among them, and prevent his leaving them.
  • IV. Here is a pleasant commendation of the integrity of the two tribes, which they held fast, and this comes in as an aggravation of the perfidiousness of the ten tribes, and a reason why God had that mercy in store for Judah which he had not for Israel (ch. 1:6, 7), for Judah yet rules with God and is faithful with the saints, or with the Most Holy.
    • 1. Judah rules with God, that is, he serves God, and the service of God is not only true liberty and freedom, but it is dignity and dominion. Judah rules, that is, the princes and governors of Judah rule with God; they use their power for him, for his honour, and the support of his interest. Those rule with God that rule in the fear of God (2 Sa. 23:3), and it is their honour to do so, and their praise shall be of God, as Judah's here is. Judah is Israel-a prince with God.
    • 2. He is faithful with the holy God, keeps close to his worship and to his saints, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose steps they faithfully tread in. They walk in the way of good men; and those that do so rule with God, they have a mighty interest in Heaven. Judah yet does thus, which intimates that the time would come when Judah also would revolt and degenerate. Note, When we see how many there are that compass God about with lies and deceit it may be a comfort to us to think that God has his remnant that cleave to him with purpose of heart, and are faithful to his saints; and for those who are thus faithful unto death is reserved a crown of life, when hypocrites and all liars shall have their portion without.