An Exposition of Hosea 8-10, Exposition · Chapter 9 · Verse 11
VER. 11.
As for Ephraim, their glory ſhall fly away like a bird from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
AS for Ephraim.] A Pathetical expreſſion, he makes a ſtop at Ephraim, Oh Ephraim! how ſad, how much to be lamented is thy condition?
As for Ephraim, their Glory &c.
By it is meant,Expoſ. all their pomp, riches, ſtrength, proſperity, but eſpecially by Glory here is meant, their numerous progeny in which they did ſo much glory, Ephraim (the ten Tribes) did proſper very much and were a very great multitude more than Judah. This Scripture hath reference unto the proſperous eſtate eſpecially in the time of Jeroboam the ſecond,2 King. 14. of which you reade in 2 King. 14. Ephraim was in a very proſperous condition and had proſpered very much.
Their Glory.
Children and numerous progeny, Obſ. 1.is accounted a glory unto people. Pro. 17. 6.That in which they do much glory, in Prov. 17. 6. Childrens children are the Crown of old men: foreign ▪ gloriatio 70.(the Seventy) are the Glory of old men. Parents uſe to glory and pride themſelves much in their children;ô grata ſuperbia mat…is. (ſaith one) Oh! lovely pride of the Mother! ſo it may be ſaid of many ſons and daughters of children,Claudian▪ de proſerpina. Oh! the delightful pride of the Father and the Mother in ſuch and ſuch children.
They accounted it their Glory, For,
1. By their children themſelves are multiplied.Re…ſ. 1. And,
2. They ſee what excellency ſoever there is in the child,2. they look upon it as their own, as themſelves the cauſe of it; and men and women love themſelves much, and becauſe they are pieces of themſelves therefore they glory in them. And,
3. They have ſome hope of continuation from Generation to Generation in their children;3. and this is their Glory.
But let Parents learn to give God the glory of their children,Uſe to Parents. and to bring them up to the glory of God, then they may rejoyce in them indeed as a great mercy of God. In Prov. 10. 1. Pro. 10. 1.A wiſe Son maketh a glad Father, but a fooliſh Son is heavineſs to his Mother. explained….Why is a wiſe Son ſaid to be the gladneſs of the Father? Why? Doth not a Mother rejoyce in a wiſe Son too? And why is a fooliſh Son ſaid to be the ſorrow of the Mother? Why? Doth not the Father ſorrow and mourn for a fooliſh Son? The holy Ghoſt not without reaſon doth expreſs himſelf thus; A wiſe Son makes the Father glad.
Firſt; becauſe the Father uſually hath a more ſtrict hand over his Son in his education to bring him to wiſdom more than the Mother, ordinarily Mothers are tender over their children, and they co…ker them and ſo make them fools, ſome they cannot endure that they ſhould ſuffer any hardſhip, and hence their children proves fooliſh and fit for nothing, and great ſorrows to them.
And ſecondly, A wiſe Son is fit for imployment abroad in the world, therfore rejoyces the heart of his Father; but a fooliſh Son is fit for nothing but to be at home in the Chimney corner with his Mother, and as he grows up grows ſtout and ſtubborn againſt her there. And if children be a glory to their Parents, they ſhould labor to be ſuch as they may be a glory and not a ſhame to them indeed. There are many which inſtead a glory to their parents are a great ſhame to them,Tres Vomi…as, tria Carcinomata. Auguſtus. as it was ſaid of Auguſtus Caeſar, he had three daughters that were wicked, and he uſed to call them his three Impoſtumes, and his three …ankers upon his body. And ſo children that ſhould be the glory of their Parents, and the glory of a family, many times they are but the very Impoſtumes, and Cankers of it, and the ſhame to their Parents, every time they come abroad in the world.Parents muſt not be a ſhame to their children. And if you expect that your children ſhould be a glory to, you muſt not be a ſhame to them; ſometimes children are a ſhame to their Parents, and ſometimes Parents are a ſhame to their Children. It follows.
Their glory ſhall fly away like a bird.
Men glory in their outward pomp and proſperity, and their children,Expoſ. 1. but both theſe ſhall fly away like a bird. That is,
1. Suddenly.
2. Swiftly.
3. Irrecoverably.
A Bird that you have in a Cage, you have kept it perhaps many months, and upon ſome advantage gets out and in a moment ſhe is gone, ſuddenly, and then ſhe goes away ſwiftly that you cannot follow her, and then Irrecoverably that you can never take her. All outward glory is uncertain; Pro. 23. 5.in Prov. 23. 5. Wilt thou ſet thine eyes upon that which is not? illuſtrated.Certainly riches they make to themſelves wings, and fly away as an Eagle into Heaven; fly away like a Bird,Applic. to England. and Ireland. and that Bird, the Eagle, that flies ſo ſwiftly that there is no getting her again: How many lately in Ireland, and in our own Land, that have had eſtates in the evening, and all hath been gone away ſwiftly like a bird before the morning? They have been rich in the morning and have been even beggars in the evening. Let us take our hearts off from glorying in all outward excellencies, and ſeek that glory that is abiding, that is conſtant, that is everlaſting: We ſhould look upon all outward comforts now as upon the wing; if ever you had cauſe to look upon all the outward comforts in the world as upon the wing, you are to do it now, never make account of any ſettlement in any comforts in the world, at this day they are all upon the wing; we cannot reaſon thus, We have enjoyed ſuch proſperity thus long, and therefore we ſhall ſtill enjoy it longer: No, all outward comforts ſlies away like the bird: that comes in one moment that before came not in many years.Ier. 9▪ 23. In Jer. 9. 23. Thus ſaith the LORD, Let not the wiſe man glory in his wiſdom, illuſtrated▪neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth, glory in this, That he underſtandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exerciſe, loving kindneſs, judgment, and righteouſneſs in the earth: for in theſe things I delight ſaith the Lord. Wealth (wicked mens glory) flyes from them in proſperity, God (the Saints glory) flyes to them in adverſity.Your delights are in other vain things, in eſtates, in bravery; but in theſe things I delight, ſaith the Lord God, and if you will glory, do you glory in thoſe things that I my ſelf delight in; your glory in the midſt of your proſperity which flies from you like a bird, but the Lord that is the glory of his in the midſt of their adverſities, flies to them like a bird: (I ſay) the glory of the wicked in the midſt of their proſperity flies from them like a bird, and the Lord God who is the glory of the Saints flies to them in their afflictions like a bird. Thus you have this very phraſe in Iſa. 31. 5. Iſa. 31. 5. enlightned▪As birds flying, ſo will the Lord of hoſt defend Jeruſalem; defending alſo he will deliver it, and paſſing over he will preſerve it. [As birds flying] it's a metaphor taken from the bird when ſhe ſees the yong ones in any danger of the Kite ſhe flies with ſpeed to ſave them, As birds flying, ſo will I defend Jeruſalem. Your glory gets away and flies from you in your proſperity, but the glory of the Saints flies to them in their adverſity.
Secondly, The Glory of their poſterity ſhall flee away like a bird▪ that is,Expoſ. 2. The Lord will cut off their numerous poſteritie, their yong men, that there ſhall be few enough left among them. They gloried in their number. The bleſſing of God upon Abrahams ſeed came very ſwiftly after it began to come; and now God threatens it ſhall go away as ſwiftly: As you may find it if you obſerve the ſtory of the encreaſe of the Seed of Abraham, if you reckon it from the time of their going into Egypt: there was (you know) but threeſcore and ten ſouls that went into Egypt of Abraham's ſeed:The time the Iſraelites abode in Egypt. but when they came out of Egypt, which was but two hundred and fifteen years after they went in; for the four hundred and thirty is to be reckoned from the Promiſe to Abraham until their coming out of Egypt, and it is cleer that there were two hundred and fifteen years from the Promiſe to their going into Egypt, ſo that there were but two hundred and fifteen years from their going in, to their coming out; and ſee how ſwiftly they did encreaſe, from three ſcore and ten ſouls (for there was no more then, but) there came out from twenty years old and upwards, men of war, ſix hundred thouſand, three thouſand, five hundred and fiftie; there were encreaſed of Abrahams ſeed in two hundred and fifteen years, ſix hundred thouſand, and three thouſand, and five hundred and fifty, as you may ſee in the book of Numbers; beſides, the Levites, with the number of the males, from a month old and upwards, was twenty and two thouſand; beſides the women and al the other children: and this was in that time when they were in bondage. Thus the Glory of Abrahams ſeed came very ſwiftly. And now it ſhall fly away like a bird, they ſhall decreaſe more than they did encreaſe.
Godlineſs brings bleſſings ſwiftly,Obſerv. and Wickedneſs it cauſes bleſſings to depart away ſwiftly again like a bird.
It follows;
From the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
Gods Curſe follows the wicked cloſe: ſometimes in their birth; ſometimes in the womb; and ſometimes hindering the conception. You ſee how God hath us at advantage, how he hath us in his hand at every turn; he might if he had pleaſed ſmit us in our conception; if he had ſpar'd there, ſtifled us in the womb; if ſpar'd there, made us ſtick in the birth.
Wherefore learn we to acknowledg Gods merciemercy in the general,Uſe. that he is patient,Gods preſervation in our 1. Conception. 2. Womb. 3. Birth. 4. Cradle. 5. Childhood. 6. [Youth]▪ 7. Middle-age. 8. Old-age▪ 9. [Death]▪ and long ſuffering, and gracious to us; let us conſider at the ſeveral paſſages of his mercy, to bleſs God not only for our general preſervation, but how he did preſerve us in the very conception, preſerves us in our mothers womb, and then in the birth, and then in the cradle, and in our childhood, in our youth, and in our middle age, in our old age, for we lie at his mercy at every point of time.
Their glorie ſhall flie away like a bird; from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception; of ſome I'le hinder the conception, ſome others in the womb ſhall die, others when they come to be born there they ſhall periſh in their birth, and ſo at every time my curſe ſhall follow them, from the conception, from the womb, and from the birth.
Yea and Fourthly, Though perhaps ſome may eſcape in the conception, and in the womb, and in the birth, yet it follows;