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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
H O S E A.
CHAP. VI.
The closing words of the foregoing chapter gave us some hopes that God
and his Israel, notwithstanding their sins and his wrath, might yet be
happily brought together again, that they would seek him and he would
be found of them; now this chapter carries that matter further, and
some join the beginning of this chapter with the end of that, “They
will seek me early,” saying, “Come and let us return.” But God doth
again complain of the wickedness of this people; for, though some did
repent and reform, the greater part continued obstinate. Observe,
I. Their resolution to return to God, and the comforts wherewith they
encourage themselves in their return,
II. The instability of many of them in their professions and promises
of repentance, and the severe course which God therefore took with them,
III. The covenant God made with them, and his expectations from them
(ver. 6);
their violation of that covenant and frustrating those expectations,
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1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and
he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will
raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his
going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us
as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
These may be taken either as the words of the prophet to the people,
calling them to repentance, or as the words of the people to one
another, exciting and encouraging one another to seek the Lord,
and to humble themselves before him, in hopes of finding mercy with
him. God had said, In their affliction they will seek me; now
the prophet, and the good people his friends, would strike while the
iron was hot, and set in with the convictions their neighbours seemed
to be under. Note, Those who are disposed to turn to God themselves
should do all they can to excite, and engage, and encourage others to
return to him. Observe,
I. What it is they engage to do: “Come, and let us return to the
Lord,
v. 1.
Let us go no more to the Assyrian, nor send to king Jareb; we have had
enough of that. But let us return to the Lord, return to the
worship of him from our idolatries, and to our hope in him from all our
confidences in the creature.” Note, It is the great concern of those
who have revolted from God to return to him. And those who have gone
from him by consent, and in a body, drawing one another to sin, should
by consent, and in a body, return to him, which will be for his glory
and their mutual edification.
II. What inducements and encouragements to do this they fasten upon, to
stir up one another with.
1. The experience they had had of his displeasure: “Let us return to
him, for he has torn, he has smitten. We have been torn, and it
was he that tore us; we have been smitten, and it was he that smote us.
Therefore let us return to him, because it is for our revolts
from him that he has torn and smitten us in anger, and we cannot expect
that he should be reconciled to us till we return to him; and for this
end he has afflicted us thus, that we might be wrought upon to return
to him. His hand will be stretched out still against us if the people
turn not to him that smites them,”
Note, The consideration of the judgments of God upon us and our land,
especially when they are tearing judgments, should awaken us to return
to God by repentance, and prayer, and reformation.
2. The expectation they had of his favour: “He that has torn will
heal us, he that has smitten will bind us up,” as the
skilful surgeon with a tender hand binds up the broken bone or bleeding
wound. Note, The same providence of God that afflicts his people
relieves them, and the same Spirit of God that convinces the saints
comforts them; that which is first a Spirit of bondage is
afterwards a Spirit of adoption. This is an acknowledgement of
the power of God (he can heal though we be ever so ill torn), and of
his mercy (he will do it); nay, therefore he has torn that he
may heal. Some think this points particularly to the return of the Jews
out of Babylon, when they sought the Lord, and joined themselves to
him, in the prospect of his gracious return to them in a way of mercy.
Note, It will be of great use to us, both for our support under our
afflictions and for our encouragement in our repentance, to keep up
good thoughts of God and of his purposes and designs concerning us. Now
this favour of God which they are here in expectation of is described
in several instances:–
(1.) They promise themselves that their deliverance out of their
troubles should be to them as life from the dead
(v. 2):
“After two days he will revive us (that is, in a short time, in
a day or two), and the third day, when it is expected that the
dead body should putrefy and corrupt, and be buried out of our
sight, then will he raise us up, and we shall live in his
sight, we shall see his face with comfort and it shall be reviving
to us. Though he forsake for a small moment, he will
gather with everlasting kindness.” Note, The people of
God may not only be torn and smitten, but left for dead, and may lie so
a great while; but they shall not always lie so, nor shall they long
lie so; God will in a little time revive them; and the assurance given
them of this should engage them to return and adhere to him. But this
seems to have a further reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ;
and the time limited is expressed by two days and the third
day, that it may be a type and figure of Christ’s rising the
third day, which he is said to do according to the
scriptures, according to this scripture; for all the prophets
testified of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow. Let us see and admire the wisdom and goodness of God, in
ordering the prophet’s words so that when he foretold the deliverance
of the church out of her troubles he should at the same time point out
our salvation by Christ, which other salvations were both figures and
fruits of; and, though they might not be aware of this mystery in the
words, yet now that they are fulfilled in the letter of them in the
resurrection of Christ it is a confirmation to our faith that this
is he that should come, and we are to look for no other. And
it is every way suitable that a prophecy of Christ’s rising should be
thus expressed, “He will raise us up, and we shall live,”
for Christ rose as the first-fruits, and we revive with him, we live
through him; he rose for our justification, and all believers are said
to be risen with Christ. See
And it would serve for a comfort to the church then, and an assurance
that God would raise them out of their low estate, for in his fulness
of time he would raise his Son from the grave, who would be the life
and glory of his people Israel. Note, A regard by faith to a rising
Christ is a great support to a suffering Christian, and gives abundant
encouragement to a repenting returning sinner; for he has said,
Because I live, you shall live also.
(2.) That then they shall improve in the knowledge of God
(v. 3):
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know, the Lord. Then,
when God returns in mercy to his people and designs favour for them, he
will, as a pledge and fruit of his favour, give them more of the
knowledge of himself; the earth shall be full of that knowledge,
Isa. xi. 9.
Knowledge shall be increased,
Dan. xii. 4.
All shall know God,
Jer. xxxi. 34.
We shall know, we shall follow to know, the Lord, (so the words
are); and it may be taken as the fruit of Christ’s resurrection, and
the life we live in God’s sight by him, that we shall have not only
greater means of knowledge, but grace to improve in knowledge by those
means. Note, When God designs mercy for a people he gives them a
heart to know him,
Jer. xxiv. 7.
Those that have risen with Christ have the spirit of wisdom and
revelation given them. And if we understand our living in his sight, as
the Chaldee paraphrast does, of the day of the resurrection of the
dead, it fitly follows, We shall know, we shall follow to know, the
Lord; for in that day we shall see him be perfected, and yet be
eternally increasing. Or, taking it as we read it, If we follow on
to know, we have here,
[1.] A precious blessing promised: Then shall we know, shall
know the Lord, then when we return to God; those that
come to God shall be brought into an acquaintance with him. When we are
designed to live in his sight, then he gives us to know him; for
this is life eternal to know God,
John xvii. 3.
[2.] The way and means of obtaining this blessing. We must follow on
to know him. We must value and esteem the knowledge of God as the
best knowledge, we must cry after it, and dig for it
must seek and intermeddle with all wisdom
and must proceed in our enquiries after this knowledge and our
endeavours to improve in it. And, if we do the prescribed duty, we
have reason to expect the promised mercy, that we shall know more and
more of God, and be at last perfect in this knowledge.
(3.) That then they shall abound in divine consolations: His going
forth is prepared as the morning, that is, the returns of his
favour, which he had withdrawn from us when he went and returned to
his place. His out-goings again are prepared and secured to us as
firmly as the return of the morning after a dark night, and we expect
it, as those do that wait for the morning after a long night,
and are sure that it will come at the time appointed and will not fail;
and the light of his countenance will be both welcome to us and growing
upon us, unto the perfect day, as the light of the morning is. He
shall come to us, and be welcome to us, as the rain, as the
latter and former rain unto the earth, which refreshes it and makes
it fruitful. Now this looks further than their deliverance out of
captivity, and, no doubt, was to have its full accomplishment in
Christ, and the grace of the gospel. The Old-Testament saints
followed on to know him, earnestly looked for redemption in
Jerusalem; and at length the out-goings of divine grace in him, in his
going forth to visit this world, were
[1.] As the morning to this earth when it is dark for he went forth as
the sun of righteousness, and in him the day-spring from on
high visited us. His going forth was prepared as the morning, for
he came in the fulness of time; John Baptist was his fore-runner, nay,
he was himself the bright and morning star.
[2.] As the rain to this earth when it is dry. He shall come down as
the rain upon the mown grass,
Ps. lxxii. 6.
In him showers of blessings descend upon this world, which give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater,
Isa. lv. 10.
And the favour of God in Christ is what is said of the king’s favour,
like the cloud of the latter rain,
Prov. xvi. 15.
The grace of God in Christ is both the latter and the former
rain, for by it the good work of our fruit-bearing is both begun
and carried on.
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4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I
do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as
the early dew it goeth away.
5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain
them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the
light that goeth forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of
God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have
they dealt treacherously against me.
8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is
polluted with blood.
9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of
priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: there
is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee, when I
returned the captivity of my people.
Two things, two evil things, both Judah and Ephraim are here charged
with, and justly accused of:–
I. That they were not firm to their own convictions, but were unsteady,
unstable as water,
v. 4, 5.
O Ephraim! what shall I do unto thee? O Judah! what shall I do unto
thee? This is a strange expression. Can Infinite Wisdom be at a
loss what to do? Can it be nonplussed, or put upon taking new measures?
By no means; but God speaks after the manner of men, to show how absurd
and unreasonable they were, and how just his proceedings against them
were. Let them not complain of him as harsh and severe in tearing them,
and smiting them, as he has done; for what else should he do? What
other course could he take with them? God had tried various methods
with them (What could have been done more to his vineyard than he
had done?
Isa. v. 4),
and very loth he was to let things go to extremity; he reasons with
himself (as
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? God would have done them
good, but they were not qualified for it: “What shall I do unto
thee? What else can I do but cast thee off, when I cannot in honour
save thee?” Note, God never destroys sinners till he sees there is no
other way with them. See here,
1. What their conduct was towards God: Their goodness, or
kindness, was as the morning cloud. Some understand it of
their kindness to themselves and their own souls, in their repentance;
it is indeed mercy to ourselves to repent of our sins, but they soon
retracted that kindness to themselves, undid it again, and wronged
their own souls as much as ever. But it is rather to be taken for their
piety and religion; what good appeared in them sometimes, it soon
vanished and disappeared again, as the morning cloud and the early
dew. Such was the goodness of Israel in Jehu’s time, and of Judah
in Hezekiah’s and Josiah’s time; it was soon gone. In time of drought
the morning-cloud promises rain, and the early dew is
some present refreshment to the earth; but the cloud is dispersed (and
hypocrites are compared to clouds without water,
Jude 12)
and the dew does not soak into the ground, but is drawn back again into
the air, and the earth is parched still. What shall he do with them?
Shall he accept their goodness? No, for it passes away; and
factum non dicitur quod non perseverat–that which does not continue
can scarcely be said to be done. Note, That goodness will never be
either pleasing to God or profitable to ourselves which is as the
morning cloud and the early dew. When men promise fair and do not
perform, when they begin well in religion and do not hold on, when they
leave their first love and their first works, or, though they do not
quite cast off religion, are yet unsteady, uneven, and inconstant in
it, then is their goodness as the morning cloud and the early
dew.
2. What course God had taken with them
(v. 5):
“Therefore, because they were so rough and ill-shapen, I have
hewn them by the prophets, as timber or stone is hewn for use; I
have slain them by the words of my mouth.” What the prophets did
was done by the word of God in their mouths, which never returned void.
By it they thought themselves slain, were ready to say that the
prophets killed them, or cut them to the heart when they dealt
faithfully with them.
(1.) The prophets hewed them by convictions of sin, endeavouring to cut
off their transgressions from them. They were uneven in religion
(v. 4),
therefore God hewed them. The hearts of sinners are not only as stone,
but as rough stone, which requires a great deal of pains to bring it
into shape, or as knotty timber, that is not squared without a great
deal of difficulty; ministers’ work is to hew them, and God by the
minister hews them, for with the froward will he show himself
froward. And there are those whom ministers must rebuke sharply;
every word should cut, and though the chips fly in the face of the
workman, though the reproved fly in the face of the reprover and reckon
him an enemy because he tells the truth, yet he goes on with his work.
(2.) They slew them by the denunciations of wrath, foretelling that
they should be slain, as Ezekiel is said to destroy the city when he
prophesied of the destruction of it,
And God accomplished that which was foretold: “I have slain them
by my judgments, according to the words of my mouth.” Note, The word of
God will be the death either of the sin or of the sinner, a savour
either of life unto life or of death unto death. Some read it, “I
have hewn the prophets, and slain them by the words of my mouth,
that is, I have employed them in laborious service for the people’s
good, which has wasted their strength; they have spent themselves, and
hews away all their spirits, in their work, and in hazardous service,
which has cost many of them their lives.” Note, Ministers are the tools
which God makes use of in working upon people; and, though with many
they labour in vain, yet God will reckon for the wearing out of his
tools.
(3.) God was hereby justified in the severest proceedings against them
afterwards. His prophets had taken a great deal of pains with them, had
admonished them of their sin and warned them of their danger, but the
means used had not the desired effect; some good impressions perhaps
were made for the present, but they wore off, and passed away as the
morning cloud, and now they cannot charge God with severity if he bring
upon them the miseries threatened. The prophet turns to him and
acknowledges, Thy judgments are as the light that goes forth,
evidently just and righteous. Note, Though sinners be not reclaimed by
the pains that ministers take with them, yet thereby God will be
justified when he speaks and clear when he judges. See
II. That they were not faithful to God’s covenant with them,
Here observe,
1. What the covenant was that God made with them, and upon what terms
they should obtain his favour and be accepted of him
(v. 6):
I desired mercy and not sacrifice (that is, rather than
sacrifice), and insisted upon the knowledge of God more than
upon burnt-offerings. Mercy here is the same word which in
is rendered goodness–chesed–piety, sanctity; it is put for all
practical religion; it is the same with charity in the New
Testament, the reigning love of God and our neighbour, and this
accompanied with and flowing from the knowledge of God, as he
has revealed himself in his word, a firm belief that he is, and is the
rewarder of those that diligently seek him, a good affection to
divine things guided by a good judgment, which cannot but produce a
very good conversation; this is that which God by his covenant
requires, and not sacrifice and offering. This is fully
explained,
I spoke not to your fathers concerning burnt-offerings (that was
the smallest of the matters I spoke to them of, and on which the least
stress was laid), but this I said, Obey my voice,
Mic. vi. 6-8.
To love God and our neighbour is better than all burnt offering and
sacrifice,
Mark xii. 33; Ps. li. 16, 17.
Not but that sacrifice and offering were required, and to be paid, and
had their use, and, when they were accompanied with mercy and the
knowledge of God, were acceptable to him, but, without them, God
regarded them not, he despised them,
Perhaps this is mentioned here to show a difference between the God
whom they deserted and the gods whom they went over to. The true God
aimed at nothing but that they should be good men, and live good lives
for their own good, and the ceremony of honouring him with sacrifices
was one of the smallest matters of his law; whereas the false gods
required that only; let their priests and altars be regaled with
sacrifices and offerings, and the people might live as they listed.
What fools were those then that left a God who aimed at giving his
worshippers a new nature, for gods who aimed at nothing but making
themselves a new name! It is mentioned likewise to show that God’s
controversy with them was not for the omission of sacrifices (I will
not reprove thee for them,
Ps. l. 8),
but because there was no justice, nor mercy, nor knowledge of
God, among them
(ch. iv. 1),
and to teach us all that the power of godliness is the main
thing God looks at and requires, and without it the form of
godliness is of no avail. Serious piety in the heart and life is
the one thing needful, and, separate from that, the performances
of devotion, though ever so plausible, ever so costly, are of no
account. Our Saviour quotes this to show that moral duties are to be
preferred before rituals whenever they come in competition, and to
justify himself in eating with publicans and sinners, because it
was in mercy to the souls of men, and in healing on the sabbath day,
because it was in mercy to the bodies of men, to which the ceremony of
singularity in eating and the sabbath-rest must give way,
2. How little they had regarded this covenant, though it was so well
ordered in all things, though they, and not God, would be the gainers
by it. See here what came of it.
(1.) In general, they broke with God, and proved unfaithful; there were
good things committed to them to keep, the jewels of mercy and
piety, and the knowledge of God, in the cabinet of sacrifice and
burnt-offering, but they betrayed their trust, kept the cabinet, but
pawned the jewels for the gratification of a base lust, and this is
that for which God has justly a quarrel with them
(v. 7):
They, like men, have transgressed the covenant, that covenant
which God made with them; they have broken the conditions of it, and so
forfeited the benefit of it. By casting off mercy and the knowledge of
God, and other instances of disobedience,
[1.] They had contracted the guilt of perjury and covenant-breaking;
they were like men that transgress a covenant by which they had
solemnly bound themselves, which is a thing that all the world cries
out shame on; men that have done so deserve not again to be valued, or
trusted, or dealt with. “There, in that thing, they have
dealt treacherously against me; they have been perfidious, base,
and false children, in whom is no faith, though I depended upon their
being children that would not lie.”
[2.] In this they had but acted like themselves, like men, who
are generally false and fickle, and in whose nature (their corrupt
nature) it is to deal treacherously; all men are liars, and they
are like the rest of that degenerate race, all gone aside,
Ps. xiv. 2, 3.
They have transgressed the covenant like men (like the
Gentiles that transgressed the covenant of nature), like mean
men (the word here used is sometimes put for men of low
degree); they have dealt deceitfully, like base men that have no
sense of honour.
[3.] Herein they trod in the steps of our first parents: They, like
Adam, have transgressed the covenant (so it might very well be
read); as he transgressed the covenant of innocency, so they
transgressed the covenant of grace, so treacherously, so foolishly;
there in paradise he violated his engagements to God, and there
in Canaan, another paradise, they violated their engagements. And by
their treacherous dealing they, like Adam, have ruined themselves and
theirs. Note, Sin is so much the worse the more there is in it of the
similitude of Adam’s transgression,
Rom. v. 14.
[4.] Low thoughts of God and of his authority and favour were at the
bottom of all this; for so some read it: They have transgressed the
covenant, as of a man, as if it had been but the covenant of a man,
that stood upon even ground with them, as if the commands of the
covenant were but like those of a man like themselves, and the kindness
conveyed by it no more valuable than that of a man. There is something
sacred and binding in a man’s covenant (as the apostle shows,
but much more in the covenant of God, which yet they made small account
of; and there in that covenant they dealt treacherously,
promised fair, but performed nothing. Dealing treacherously with God is
here called dealing treacherously against him, for it is both an
affront and an opposition. Deserters are traitors, and will be so
treated; the revolting heart is a rebellious heart.
(2.) Some particular instances of their treachery are here given:
There they dealt treacherously, that is, in the places hereafter
named
[1.] Look on the other side Jordan, to the country which lay most
exposed to the insults of the neighbouring nations, and where therefore
the people were concerned to keep themselves under the divine
protection, and yet there you will find the most daring provocations of
the divine Majesty,
v. 8.
Gilead, which lay in the lot of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, was
a city of the workers of iniquity. Wickedness was the trade that
was driven there; the country was called Gilead, but it was all
called a city, because they were all as it were incorporated in
one society of rebels against God. Or (as most think) Ramoth Gilead is
the city here meant, one of the three cities of refuge on the other
side Jordan, and a Levites’ city; the inhabitants of it, though of the
sacred tribe, were workers of iniquity, contrived it, and
practised it. Note, It is bad indeed when a Levites’ city is a city
of those that work iniquity, when those that are to preach good
doctrine live bad lives. Particularly it is polluted with blood,
as if that were a sin which the wicked Levites were in a special manner
guilty of. In popish countries the clergy are observed to be the most
bloody persecutors. Or, as it was a city of refuge, by abusing
the power it had to judge of murders it became polluted with
blood. They would, for a bribe, protect those that were guilty of
wilful murder, whom they ought to have put to death, and would deliver
those to the avenger of blood who were guilty but of chance-medley, if
they were poor and had nothing to give them; and both these ways they
were polluted with blood. Note, Blood defiles the land where it
is shed, and where no inquisition is made or no vengeance taken for it.
See how the best institutions, that are ever so well designed to keep
the balance even between justice and mercy, are capable of being abused
and perverted to the manifest prejudice and violation of both.
[2.] Look among those whose business it was to minister in holy things,
and they were as bad as the worst and as vile as the vilest
(v. 9):
The company of priests are so, not here and there one that is
the scandal of his order, but the whole order and body of them, the
priests go all one way by consent, with one shoulder (as
the word is), one and all; and they make one another worse, more
daring, and fierce, and impudent, in sin, more crafty and more cruel. A
company of priests will say and do that in conspiracy which none
of them would dare to say or do singly. The companies of priests
were as troops of robbers, as banditti, or gangs of
highwaymen, that cut men’s throats to get their money. First,
They were cruel and blood-thirsty. They murder those that they
have a pique against, or that stand in their way; nothing less will
satisfy them. Secondly, They were cunning. They laid wait
for men, that they might have a fair opportunity to compass their
mischievous malicious designs; thus the company of priests laid wait
for Christ to take him, saying, Not on the feast-day. Thirdly,
They were concurring as one man: They murder in the way; in the
highway, where travellers should be safe, there they murder by
consent, aiding and abetting one another in it. See how unanimous
wicked people are in doing mischief; and should not good people be so
then in doing good? They murder in the way to Shechem (so the
margin reads it, as a proper name) such as were going to Jerusalem (for
that way Shechem lay) to worship. Or in the way to Shechem (some
think) means in the same manner that their father Levi, with Simeon his
brother, murdered the Shechemites
(Gen. xxxiv.),
by fraud and deceit; and some understand it of their destroying the
souls of men by drawing them to sin. Fourthly, They did it with
contrivance: They commit lewdness; the word signifies such
wickedness as is committed with deliberation, and of malice prepense,
as we say. The more there is of device and design in sin the worse it
is.
[3.] Look into the body of the people, take a view of the whole house
of Israel, and they are all alike
(v. 10):
I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel, and, though
it be ever so artfully managed, God discovers it, and will discover it
to them; and who can deny that which God himself says that he has seen?
There is the whoredom of Ephraim, both corporal and spiritual
whoredom; there it is too plain to be denied. Note, The sin of sinners,
especially sinners of the house of Israel, has enough in it to make
them tremble, for it is a horrible thing, it is amazing, and it is
threatening, enough to make them blush, for Israel is thereby defiled
and rendered odious in the sight of God.
[4.] Look into Judah, and you find them sharing with Israel
(v. 11):
Also, O Judah! he has set a harvest for thee; thou must be
reckoned with as well as Ephraim; thou art ripe for destruction too,
and the time, even the set time, of thy destruction is hastening on,
when thou that hast ploughed iniquity, and sown
wickedness, shalt reap the same. The general judgment is
compared to a harvest
so are particular judgments,
I have appointed a time to call thee to account, even when I
returned the captivity of my people, that is, when those captives
of Judah which were taken by the men of Israel were restored, in
obedience to the command of God sent them by Oded the prophet,
When God spared them that time he set them a harvest, that is,
he designed to reckon with them another time for all together. Note,
Preservations from present judgments, if a good use be not made of
them, are but reservations for greater judgments.
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