_Hear the Word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land._ A CORRUPT PEOPLE AND AN EXPOSTULATING GOD In the previous Chapter s the prophet’s language had been highly and somewhat perplexingly symbolical. In this chapter he begins to speak... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish._ THE SOCIAL CAUSES OF HUMAN MISERY It is a principle illustrated by the holy records, that when immorality has thoroughly infected a state, in defiance of all warning and ordinary discipline, it is given up to dest... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another._ RESTRAINT OF CONVERTING AGENCIES Here is given an order of court that no pains should be taken with the condemned criminal to bring him to repentance, and the reason for that order. I. The order itself. “Let no man strive, nor reprove another.” Let.no... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother._ COMMON DESTRUCTION The threatening is that destruction should come upon such sinners and on the false prophets who flattered and soothed them up in this course. Learn-- 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge._ THE PERILS OF IGNORANCE If there is a knowledge on which not only the improvements and the refinements but the very being of society depends, the state of this must be in its nature most deeply awful and interesting. It was the language of pagan phil... [ Continue Reading ]
_As they were increased, so they sinned against me._ SECULAR PROSPERITY The “increase” is in the number of the population; but it may refer to increase of wealth. I. Secular prosperity attained by the wicked. 1. That is a common fact. Wicked men in all ages have, as a rule, been more prosperous... [ Continue Reading ]
_They eat up the sin of My people._ FEEDING ON SIN Dr. Henderson renders these words, “They devour the sin-offering of My people.” The priests lived upon the sacrificial meat (Leviticus 6:26), and the more they had of this the more they were pleased. But this increased with the increase of the sin... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there shall be, like people, like priest._ HOSEA’S PROVERB “Like princes, like people”; but also, alas! “like people, like priests,”--a proverb which has acquired currency from its fatal truth, but which Hosea originated. The causes for the widespread immorality were twofold, as Hosea, reside... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their staff declareth unto them._ RHABDOMANIA, OR DIVINING BY THE STICK OR STAFF There was a kind of idolatry which the Jews had, a way to ask counsel by the staff, and with this the prophet here charges them. The Romans practised the same, calling it divination by rods, sticks, arrows, or staves.... [ Continue Reading ]
_They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills._ BLUSTERING SINNERS That is the bold aspect, that is the public phase; instead of doing all these things, as Ezekiel would say, in a chamber of imagery far down, at which you get through a hole in the wall, they go up... [ Continue Reading ]
_Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer._ THE EVIL AND DANGER OF BACKSLIDING I. When we may be said to resemble a backsliding heifer. 1. When we will not draw in God’s yoke at all. 2. When we draw in it only by fits and starts. 3. When we grow weary of the yoke. Weary of performing our dut... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone._ BEWARE OF UNHOLY COMPANIONSHIPS These words do not mean that nothing was to be done for Ephraim. The prophets again and again pleaded with that people. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thy help.” Our text is addressed to Judah. “Let... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wind hath bound her up in her wings._ RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE The simple meaning is that Israel shall be borne away from her land, suddenly and violently, as by the winds of heaven. There is retributive justice in the universe. I. Its emblem. The wind. It is like wind-- 1. In its agitation. Win... [ Continue Reading ]