Samarias Downfall, Verse 1
HOSEA 13. 12.
The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up [by God] his sin is hid [with him.]
THis Chapter contains the sum of the eleventh Sermon of Hosea, Inter omnes Prophetas Hoseas maxime velut summaria concionum suarum ponit. Mercer.wherein the Propher (like the sweet Singer of Israel) treats both of Judgement and Mercy; and useth both drawing and driving Motives, (one or both of which usually work upon all ingenuous dispositions.) to bring them to Repentance. And since God hath ordained the Law to make way for the Gospel, and Humiliation to go before Consolation; therefore the Prophet, first denounceth Judgements against Israel, and specially that of the Sword, which should cut off his Kings, destroy his Kingdome take a way all their pleasant things, and make them a desolation; neither was God to bee blamed for all this, for it was their own sins that had brought those evils upon them, viz. their Idolatry, Pride, Carnal-confidence, Impenitency, Stupidity, … and Forgetfulness of that God, who had raised them to great glory and dignity.
2. He sets forth the fierceness of Gods wrath against them, (ver. Deus comparatur L…oni saevo, quo nulla bestia truculentior. 2. Pardo in via observanti, quo nulla subtilior. 3. Urso …atulis orbato, quo nulla saevior. 4. Cuivis immani b…stiae, siqua alia prio… ribus immanior, sub genere continetur. Tarnovius in locum.7, 8.) Great blessings when abused, bring great judgements. Their sins had turned God their great Benefactour into a Lyon, a Leopard, a Bear; and imbittered his soul against them. They dreamt they should finde him a God all of mercy, he tells them they are mistaken; for now they should finde him a God full of fury.
3. Whereas they might think to escape because God had so long forborne them; the Prophet by a Prolepsis prevents this conceit, Ver. 12, 13. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, and his sin is hid, q. d. Ephraim thinks now he may take his pleasure since his iniquity lyes hid, and he hath so long escaped; but mark what follows, ver. 13. The sorrows of a travelling woman shall come upon him. As the pleasure of conception hath the pangs of child-birth attending it; so this secure and pleasant people shall certainly meet with sorrow in the end, and therefore Ephraim is but an unwise son, and guilty of great folly, in that he doth not speedily make his peace with God.
4. Lest they should be despondent and despair, he intermixeth comfort with his threatnings, and allayes the terrours of the Law with the promises of the Gospel, ver. 14.
5. Yet lest they should grow secure, after a little hyperbaton and interruption of the order of the words, he returns to denounce judgements, and tells them, that notwithstanding the promise of deliverance, yet first they must expect a desolation of the chief City and the Kingdom, ver. 15. 16.
In this twelfth Verse we have briefly set forth the desperate and deplorable condition of Gods people;Hosea est commaticus, et quas… per sententias …quens. Hieron. they were come to that height of wickedness, and grown so stupid under Gods stroaks, that now they must expect no more pardon, nor look that God should bear any longer with them. So that in these words the Lord meets with the vain conceits of the loose persons of those times, who soothed up themselves in their evil wayes, and because the Lord suspended his judgements for a time, therefore they never suspected them, but thought that the Lord was such a one as themselves, that is, no way displeased with their sins, but since he connived at them, therefore they conclude he slept, & took no notice of them, but had utterly forgot them. But they are much deceived, saith the Lord, for I have seen all their wickedness, and have sealed up all their sins till the due time of revealing them (which is now at hand) be come. 'Tis true, I have borne long with them (let that offend none) for I have not forgot their provocations, they are all bound and bundled up so that not one of them shall be lost, but they shall dearly reckon for them all together. As God hath a book of remembrance wherein he records the good deeds of his people, which shall one day be publisht to their everlasting praise, (Mal. 3. 16.) So he hath a book of remembrance, wherein he records the wickedness of the wicked, which shall ere long be publisht to their everlasting shame. As the sin of Iudah was written with a pen of iron, and an adamantine claw, so that it should not easily be blotted out, (Ier. 17. 1.) So all the sins of Ephraim, from the time of Ieroboams reign, to their going into captivity, were bound up and sealed, that they might not be lost. Papers that lye loose and unbound are scattered with every wind, but when they are fast bound up and sealed, then they are safe and sure. Mony that lyes at random is lost, but that which is lockt up in Coffers is safe, and will be brought forth when need requires. So God had not forgot Ephraims sin, but had hid and sealed it up till the determined time to punish him was come, and lockt them up in his memory for a day of reckoning.
Yet to leave no clod unbroken that we may find out the golden Oare, I shall give you the Grammatical reading of the words; for a good foundation is the strength of the building.
The iniquity. Gnavon, pravitas, praevaricatio, malitia; a Gnaval, …ucvus, obliquus fuit.] Avon, the pravity and perversness, the prevarication and crookedness of Ephraims wayes is laid up.
Of Ephraim.] Ephraim in the letter was Iosephs second son, here 'tis put for the ten Tribes of Israel of which Ephraim was one of the chiefest. So Hos. 4. 17. and 5. 3. and 6. 4. and 7. 8, 11. and their first King after the division was an Ephraimite.
Is bound up. Signari in sacculo prodi…igen… custodia. Proverb. Tsarur, tigat… est, a Tsarar sigavi…, custodivit, constrinxit qua…i in …, ita Gen. 42. 35. 1 Sam. 25. 29. Prov. 13. 22. & 30. 4.] The metaphor implies special care and custody, and is borrowed from the men of the world, who are careful to lock up their money that it be not lost; the like expressions you may read, Deut. 32. 34. Iob 14. 17. and 22. 19. Lam. 1. 14. So the iniquity of Ephraim was sealed and kept safe to be brought forth in due time as a charge against him. Though men scatter their sins abroad and forget them, yet God bundles them up and remembers them, and as pardoning grace doth loose the sinner, so sin unpardoned is said to be bound up and reserved for punishment, Mat. 16. 19.
His sin.] (i. e.) The punishment of his sin; 'tis a frequent Metonymical speech to put sin for the punishment of sin. So Levit. 20. 20. Numb. 12. 11. Ezek. 4. 4, 5, 6. Hattatho, peccatum ejus, from (hata, to erre or wander from the mark; such is sin, 'tis a wandring and going astray from the Law of God, 'tis an erring from the mark which we should alwayes aym at, viz. the glory of God and our own salvation.
Is hid] Not from God,Tsephunal abscondita est, a Tsaphan, recondidit, custodivit. So Iob 10. 13. but with God; 'tis laid up by him for a day of reckoning, when the Lord shall pour out the fierceness of his wrath on Israel. So that their sin is hid, not in mercy, but in judgement; not for protection, but for desolation. Samaria shall be made desolate. The Metaphor is taken from a treasure where things are hid and laid up in store,…. 17. 14. that when time serves they may be forth-coming.…. 27. 6. God layes up the sins of the wicked in store against a day of wrath,…. 16. 17. Rom. 2. 5. when he intends to punish them for all together.
OBSERVATIONS.
1. The Lord is very patient and bears long with sinners.
2. Though he do bear long, yet he will not alwayes bear, but first or last he will certainly bring the punishment due to their sin upon them. I shall only handle the first, the second will fall in with the Application.
1. God is wondrous patient and bears long with sinners. He's many years in bundling up mens sins, and laying them up in his treasury. He doth not presently cut off sinners, nor alwayes destroy wicked men in the act of sin, as he might do (for so many sins as men commit, so many damnations they deserve) but with much patience and great-long-suffering he beares with the Vessels of wrath, Rom. 9. 22. He bore with the old world many hundred years, even till the whole earth was corrupt before him, and his Spirit tyred out (as it were with striving with them, Gen. 6. 3. 1 Pet. 3. 20. He spare… Sodom so long that their sins cryed to heaven for vengeance against them, Gen. 18. 20, 21. He spared Israel here three hundred and sixty years ere he sent them into captivity, Ezek. 4. 4, 5, 6. He spared the Gentiles foure thousand years, Act. 14. 16. and bore with Ierusalem till they stoned his Prophets, and would not nee reclaimed, Matth. 23. 37. and spare… Amalech four hundred years, L …am. 15. 2, 3. His Vials of wrath are Vessels of large extent, but narrow mouths, they pour our slowly, but drench deeply, and distil effectually Gods wrath on the heads of his enemies, Rev. 16. 1. and 18 19. Though we provoke him dayly, yet he's Patient towards us, not willing that wee should perish but come to repentance. 2 Per. 3. 9. Rev. 2. 21. He sends his messengers in great compassion to us, rifing early to stop us in our sinful courses. and so prevent our destruction, 2 Chron. 36. 15. Ier. 25. 4. Yea he's not only Patient, but long suffering, which is a further degree of Patience, 'tis Patience length…ed our (Exod. 34. 6. Psal 103. 8. Ionah 4. 2.) he waits, and waits long for our returning, crying, oh when will you bee made clean, when shall it once be? Ier. 13. ult. if some good man should sit but one houre in the Throne of God, and look down upon the earth, as God doth continually, and should see what abominable Idolatries, Witchcrafts, Blasphemies, Heresies, Homicides, Perjuries, Adulteries, Persecutions, Oppressions, &c. were committed in that houre, he would undoubredly in the next set all the world on fire. 'Tis well (in this respect) that we have to do with God, and not with man, Hos. 11. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not destroy Ephraim; why so? for I am God, most true in my Promises, and of infinite Patience; and not man, who is mutable and Passionate, and could not bear the dayly indignities and provocations which are committed again…t me. Great then is the sin of those who abuse the Patience and long-suffering of the Lord, adding sin … drunkenness to thirst, that draw on iniquity with the … Vanity, and so treasure up wrath against the day of … …unity breeds in them impenitency, because punishment is not speedily executed; therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully se… in them to do evil, Eccles. 8. 11. Every word hath its weight; these indulged sinners do not barely practise sin, but their heart is set on it; the very bent of their spirit is to evil indefinitely (i. e.) to all manner of evil, …and that with resolution and full purpose of heart, they follow it fully: as good men cleave to God and his wayes with full purpose of heart (Act. 11. 23.) and are married to him, Cant. 2. 16. So do these to sin and Satan, they are married to them, Hos. 4. 17. 'Tis this impunity and prosperous wickedness which makes men Insolent, Psal. 73. 8, 9. Impudent, Isay 3. 9. and Resolute in sin, Jer. 44. 16, 17. Such are apt to think there is no God, or at least that he regards not things below, or that he is like themselves, approving of their wayes, and that which they do is no sin, Psal. 50. 16, to 22. Those gross hypocrites that talked so much of Gods Word, but denied him in their works, being Slanderers, Adulterers, Theeves, thought that because God was silent and did not presently punish them, that therefore he approved of their wickedness. But mark what follows, there is a stinging But, But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thee. Thou shalt know one day how I hated thy sin by the punishments which I will inflict upon thee for them, and though now thou hidest them, yet then I will marshal them and set them in rank and order before thy face. Consider this therefore you that cast Gods counsels behinde your backs, and hate to be reformed, before he awaken your drowsie consciences, and rouse up that mastiff that lyeth sleeping in your bosoms; and before you come to answer for all with flames about your eares. 'Tis a sad and sore delusion wherewith Satan deceives millions of men, viz. that because they are not presently punished,Etsi Deus pae…am differt, non tamen aufert; sed singula peccata notat in libro, colligat in fasciculo, recondit in sacculo, idcoque securitas est vitanda, & paenitentia agenda Tarnovius. therefore they shall never be punished, and since God hath forborne so long, therefore he will alwayes bear, and they shall never hear more of their sins: hence it is that the wicked flatter themselves in their sins, Deut. 29. 19. Psal. 36. 1, 2. Isay 47. 7. To take off this, 1. Consider that Gods forbearance is no acquittance; though he bear long, yet he will not alwayes bear. Wee see hee bore long with the Old world, Sodom, Ierus…lem &c. but at last they paid for all. Mercy abused turns … fury, and the Preservations of wicked men, are but … tions to greater wrath. God hath leaden heels, but iron hands; the further he fetcheth his arm, the heavier will the blow come; the further he draws his arrow, the deeper will it wound.Sero licet veniat, …rte venire solet. Gods mill may grind soft and slow, but it grinds sure and small, Nahum 1. 3. 6. and he will recompence his Patience with the fierceness of his fury. Ever after the sweetmeats of sin, look for a sad and sour reckoning. There was never any that sinned against the Lord (be it never so secretly or subtilly contrived) but first or last the punishment of their sin did find them out, Gen. 4. 7. Num. 32. 23. As Parents let their children alone till they have multiplyed faults and have committed some signal one, and then they reckon with them for all together; so the Lord lets the wicked alone till they be ripe for ruine (Gen. 15. 16.) and have filled up the measure of their sin, that wrath may come upon them to the uttermost, Amos 1. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13. The whore of Babylon that hath so long made her self drunk with the blood of the Saints shall at last be burnt with fire, yea 'tis said she is fallen already, to shew the certainty of it, Revel. 14. 8. God will avenge the injuries that be done to his Church, though it be long first, Luk. 18. 6. yea as the longer the mother goes with the child, the bigger will the child bee, and the more pain it puts the mother to; so the longer God keeps in his wrath and beares with a people, the bigger will the childe of wrath bee when it comes forth, and the greater will our misery bee, when God hath long held his peace and been still, then hee'l cry suddenly like a travelling woman, and will destroy and devoar at once, Isa. 42. 14.
Now the Lord shew mercy unto England and awaken us out of our deep security, for we have been a people that have exceedingly abused the Patience and long-suffering of our God; as he hath loaded us with mercies, so we h…ve loaded him with our iniquities; wee have made him to wait with our sins, and broken his heart with our abominations,So long wee have enjoyed the Gospel compleatly without interruption. Ezek. 6. 9. As wee have been encreased, so wee have sinned against him: the more victories and success wee have had, the more blasphemous and licentious we have been. Do wee thus requite the Lord oh foolish and unwise? Is this the thanks wee give unto God for above an hundred years Preaching?Q Elizabeth began her reign, 1558. shall not the Lord visit for such sins as these, and will not his soul bee avenged on such a Nation as this? 'Tis true, the Lord hath borne long with us, but he will not alwayes, bear; but as he said to Ephraim here, so may I …ay to England, The iniquity of England is bound up, and her sin is hid till a meet time of punishment is come, which we have cause to fear is now at hand; and then God will reckon with us for all together, as wee use to do with rebellious children. Now sirrah, remember your villany at such a time, and your stubbornness at such a time. So now, remember your Covenant-breaking, saith God. Item, take this for your blasphemies, and that for your witchcraft; yea, and take this for your Heresies, aye, and take that for your Atheism and Apoftacy. Take this for your intolerable Tolerations, and that for your reviling my Messengers.
Satan hath his Methods, Depths and Devices, and amongst the rest this is a special one, first to tempt men to sin, and then to security in sin. To this …nd he perswades them they may do well enough, though they have done thus and thus, yet they shall hear no more of it. Thus hee deluded our first Parents, …irst hee tempts them to sin,Facit securos quos cupit …sse captivos. Aug. See Mr. Brooks his Remedyes against Satans Devices p. 8, 9… 52. And Dr. Horto… his Fast Serm. on Nu. 32. 23. Preacht 1646. and then goes about to perswade them that they shall not dye nor bee punisht for their sin, Gen. 3. 4. Hee labours to free men from fear, that so they may bee free to sin. In good things, hee separates the means from the end, and in evil, he separates the end f…om the means. Thus this great deceiver of the whole world, blinds men and deludes them, perswading them that what they have done, either 'tis no sin, or if it be a sin, yet 'tis but a small one; or if it be a great one, yet it is not known, or if it be known, yet it shall never be punisht. Thus Seducers and false-Prophers, those Devils incarnte, Devils cloathed with flesh and blood, like their father the Devil, they curse where God blesseth, and bless where God curseth. They daw… over mens sins, and sow pillows under mens elbows, perswading men that the evils threatned shall never come, but they shall have Peace, though God hath said there is no Peace to the wicked, 2 Kings 9. 18. Ier. 8. 11. hence the Apostle warn's us thrice to take heed that no man deceive us with vain words, making us beleeve that we may be Idolaters, cove…ous, fornicators, &c. and never be punisht for it, 1 Cor. 6. 9. Gal. 6. 7. Ephes. 5. 6. … not deceived, for God will not be …cked, you may by your …, distinctions and evasions delude your selves and delude others; but there is no deluding God, who knows us better than wee know our selves. Carnal hiding of sin hinders the prosperity of the sinner, Prov. 28. 13. the more men hide them in this kinde, the more God will reveal them; as wee see in Saul, Achan, and David, what means did he use to cove… his iniquity, but all in vain, for God brought it to the publick view of all,So…cmus ut san…mur, aperiamus ut operiantur. Aug. 2 Sam. 12. 12. the onelyonly way to have our sins hid indeed, is plainly and sincerely to confess them, psalm 32. 5.
2. Whereas thou gloriest that thou hast escaped so long unpunisht, know, that tis a sore punishment to go unpunisht for sin. When the Lord was angry with Ephraim, hee bids let him alone; and tells him that he will not punish him for his sin, Hos. 4. 14, 17. q. d. Since Ephraim will go after Idols, after Idols he shall go, I will not by any punishment restrain him, but I will let him go on and prosper in his abominations to his utter confusion; and thus to be given up to ones own hearts lust is a signe of Gods highest displeasure, Psalm 87. 11, 12. in this sense, not be stricken is the sorest stroke, Isay 1. 5. and for God not to bee angry, is the greatest anger: as to bee stopt and corrected for sin is the greatest mercy, Psalm 89. 32, 33, 34. and 94. 12, 13.
3. Know, that punishment is never neerer than when 'tis least feared. A great calm many times is a force-runner of a storm. When men cry Peace, Peace, then comes sudden and swift destruction, 1 Thes. 5. 3. When the old world was eating, drinking, buying, building, marrying and snorting in security, then comes the flood. When Agag thought the bitterness of death was past, now saith Samuel, hew him in peeces. When men bee at ease in Sion, there's a woe hang; over their heads, Amos 6. 1. to 8. When men look upon judgements as a far off, then God will defer no longer, Ezek. 12. 27, 28. Secure Laish becomes a booty to its enemies, Iudg, 18. 7, 27. The Amalakites when they had taken Ziglag and were drunken, fearing no danger, they were suddenly surprised and slain, 1 Sam. 30. 16, 17. When the Philistims met to be merry and sport themselves with Sampson, he brings the house upon their heads, Iudg. 16. 25, 29. Darius in the midst of his cups was …lain by the Persians, Dan. 5. 30. and Babylon that boasted shee … as a Queen and should see no sorrow, had sudden plagues … on her, Rev. 18. 7, 8.
Let no man then delude himself with the thoughts of impunity: for though conscience may sleep for a time, yet at last it will bee awakned, and then the longer thy sins have been hid, the more will it rage against thee, especially at the day of judgement, that day of revealing the hidden work of darkness. God will then bring every work to judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil (Eccles. 12. ul….) God will then unlock his Treasury, and those sins which are now sealed and bundled up, shall then be brought to open light; and those secret Villanies which men would not have known for all the world, shall then be written as with a beam of the Sun upon their foreheads to their everlasting shame. Sinners shall then have no cause to say, where is the God of Iudgement? Mal. 2. 17.
Let us therefore make a right use and improvement of the Patience of God;Nemo sit deterior quia Deus est melior, toties delinquendo, quo…ies ignoscitur; quid enim indignius quam ex divina misericordia desumere argumentum ad divinam justitiam p…ovocandam, & quia Deus libenter excipit paenitentes, data obera velle fieri peccatores? Tertul de Paenit. c. 7. let it melt and humble us, and lead us to repentance. Let us in this our day know the things that belong to our everlasting peace, whil'st the Patience of God yet waits upon us, and hee stands knocking at the door of our hearts, (Rev. 3. 20.) before the door of grace be shut against us: for then 'twill be too late. To quicken you, know that God in the end will reckon with you for all his Patience and forbearance; the longer he hath borne with you, the greater will your sin be. He takes an exact account of every day and year that he hath borne with us. Psal. 95. 10. fourty years long was I grieved with this generation. He takes notice of every provocation. Numb. 14. 22. These ten times have they provoked me: though you forget your provocations,How we should improve the Patience of God, see D. Thomas Geodwins Aggravation of sins against mercy, on Rom. 2. 4. 5. And Mr. Church his Miscelan, p. 122. yet God doth not. Yea hee records every Sermon that wee hear, and the day and year that it was preached to us. Hag. 1. 1.
Lastly, let us imitate God, and be followers of him as dear children; be Patient as he is Patient, though wee cannot bee so by way of Equality, yet by way of Analogy and resemblance, in our degree and measure wee may and must; if hee bear with us, wee may well bear with our brethren; if hee hath forgiven us Pounds, wee may well forgive them Pence. We should forbear one another, and forgive one another, even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us, Ephes. 4. 31. Colos. 3. 13. Let your moderation and quietness of minde be made known to all (Phil. 4. 5.) and if any man wrong us, let us melt them with our kindnesses (Rom. 12. 20.) as David …elted Saul, and made him weep and confess that hee was more righteous than himself. Even*Humanis rebus ignoscere aequum & bonum est, & boni viri est accepta injuria patienter ferre, non ad ulciscendum se parare. Aristor. Rhetor. l. 1. c. 14. Nature could say, it becomes a noble spirit to pass by injuries. When one told King Iohn that his deadly enemie was buried there, and advised him to deface his Monument; no,See Motives to Patience. Youngs Victory of Patience, ch. 17. and a Lapide in Num. 12. 3. & ad Rom. 12. 9 Davenant in Col. 3. 12. p. 313. and my Commentary on 2 Tim. 3. 10. p. 198. said the King, but I wish all the rest of mine enemies were as honourably buried. 'Twas an excellent answer of Chrysostom to the Empress Eudoxa, and savored of a sweet mortified frame of spirit. If the Queen (said he) will banish me, let her banish me; The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof. If she will saw me asunder, let her do it, the Prophet Isay suffered as much. If she will, let her cast me into the sea, and there will I remember Jonah.