_When Israel was a child._ THE NATIONAL UNIT The meaning is not, necessarily, when Israel was an infant, a child in mere years, but when Israel was a child in spirit, docile, simple of mind, sincere of purpose, true in worship. When Israel lifted his eyes heavenward, and sought for Me, then I stoop... [ Continue Reading ]
_They sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images._ GRAVEN IMAGES We read frequently of graven images and of molten images, and the words are become so familiar as names of idolatrous images that, although they axe not well chosen to express the Hebrew names, it seems not advisable... [ Continue Reading ]
_I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms._ TAKEN BY THE ARM When God redeems and shelters His people by the blood of the Paschal Lamb,--_i.e_., of Christ our Passover sacrificed for us--and gives them His law, telling them to serve Him, He does not leave them to their own strength, b... [ Continue Reading ]
_I drew them with cords of a man._ GOD’S SAVING METHOD WITH THE SOUL I. God in the action of great solicitude. “I drew them.” There are two ways by which this thought is confirmed-- 1. By Scripture. 2. By experience. God is represented in the Song of Solomon as drawing us with the odour of a gr... [ Continue Reading ]
_My people are bent to backsliding from Me._ RELIGIOUS DECLENSION How singular is the moral condition of a believer bent on backsliding. It is not a mere vacillation between God and mammon, holiness and sin, but a steady leaning, an earnest leaning toward the latter. I. Who are they who are bent... [ Continue Reading ]
_How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?_ GOD’S FEELING IN THE FACE OF MAN’S OBSTINACY Many have been the ways adopted by God to communicate His thoughts and reveal His will to the human race. But in all, Divine truths were always represented in a manner most adapted to the constitution of the human mi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ephraim compasseth Me about with lies._ BESET ROUND WITH LIES By lies understand false worship, for that is a lie with false pretences; they put fair glosses upon things, but all are but lies; they have beset Me with politic shifts of their own devising. They not only seek to blind men, but they... [ Continue Reading ]