Commentary on the Minor Prophets, Commentary 1 · Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
Verſe 1. THen ſaid the Lord unto me, Go yet, &c.] This Yet is emphaticall: and it is as if he had ſaid Go over the ſame ſubject again in a ſhorter diſcourſe: and lay before them the ſame truthes, but in more lively colours, that the obſtinate may be left without excuſe, and the penitent may not be left without comfort. Iterum abi, foreignGo to them once more, and be inſtant with them or ſtand over them as Saint Paul ſaith. 2 Tim. 4.2. and as Saint Paul doth, in crying down the Jewes conceit of being juſtified by the works of the law, and in diſgracing the ſin of fornication ſo common at Corinth. Chryſoſtom at Antioch having preached ſundry Sermons againſt ſwearing, was at length asked when he would preach upon another ſubject? He anſwered when you leave ſwearing, Ile leave preaching againſt ſwearing. Auſtin would have a preacher ſo long to purſue and preſſe the ſame point,De Doct. Christian. Deut. 6.7. Shanan et Shanah repetere ſicut in acuende. untill by the geſture and countenance of the hearers he perceive tha… …hey underſtand it, and will practiſe it. This is to whet the word of God upon pe…le (as Moſes his phraſe is) by going oft over the ſame thing, as the knife doth th… whet-ſtone. A like type to the former is here firſt propounded, ſecondly expounded, that at length it might faſten. A preacher muſt not deſiſt, though at firſt he prevail not (as ſome from this ſecond injunction collect, that this Prophet would have done) but he muſt turn himſelf into all ſhapes and faſhions both of ſpeech and of ſpirit to win people to God, with all long ſuffering and doctrine, 2 Tim. 4.2. And this the Lord here teacheth Hoſea to do by his own example of patience and tolerance, notably ſet forth in this enſuing type.
Love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adultereſſe] This was an harder task then to take her chap. 1.2. in hope ſhe would prove honeſt. But now that ſhe hath plaid the adultereſſe and ſo deſerved to be diſcarded, yet to love her, yea and that when ſhe is habituated and hardened in her lewd practiſes (as the Hebrew word ſignifieth) Durus eſt hic ſerm…, who can bear it? If none elſe can,Nontam actum quam habitum ſignificat. Rivet. yet God both can and will, as appeareth by this whole Parable wherein the Prophet is commanded to repreſent God, as in the former type Chap. 1. and by loving that wife which he had taken before, though ſhe had plaid falſe with him, to ſhew what was the love of God toward Iſrael. She forſaketh me, ſaith He, who give her all the good ſhe either hath or hopeth for, and followeth after thoſe that put bottles of wine to her mouth, ſhe loves thoſe flagons, &c. Ah ſinfull nation, a people laden with iniquity, &c. howbeit I will not relinquiſh her, but will love her freely as if ſhe had never offended me. O matchleſs mercy. O concio plena conſolationis! Mercer.O moſt comfortable Sermon. God ſo loved the world, the Mundus immundus, that he gave his onelyonly begotten Son, &c. This was a Sic withouta Sicut, there being nothing in nature that can poſſibly parallel it. See Rom. 5.8. God loveth Apoſtates, idolaters, adulterers, yet not as ſuch, but as he intendeth and reſpecteth their converſion to himſelf: which nothing will ſooner effect then the ſenſe of ſuch an undeſerved love. I am not ignorant that another ſenſe is ſet upon theſe words, as thus; Go yet love a woman not married, as yet but eſpouſed unto thee, who may hereafter be thy wife; but is for her adultery rejected for a long ſeaſon: ſo God loved the Iſraelites as an adulterous ſpouſe: and therefore for a long while neglected, but yet at length to be taken by him to wife, according to Chap. 2.15.19.
Beloved of her friend] ſc. of ſome paramour, as Jer. 3.1. thou haſt played the harlot, with many lovers. Theſe the Greeks called foreign fellow-friends, the whore was called foreign: ſo they flattered their own vices putting gilded names on them, as our blades name drunkenneſs good-fellowſhip, harlots ſhe-ſinners, &c. The Septuagint render it a woman that loveth naughty things or naughty packs. But I like the former interpretation better; and it is agreeable to the Chaldee Paraphraſt.
Who look to other gods] Look and luſt, ut vidi! ut perij! the mind lodgeth in the eye, and looketh out at that window of wickedneſſe. If I beheld the Sunne when it ſhined,Job 31.26, 27. or the Moon walking in brightneſſe: And my heart hath been ſecretly enticed: or my mouth hath kiſſed my hand, &c. Job alludeth to the practiſe of thoſe old Idolaters, which was to kiſſe their Idols, if they could reach them, as 1 King. 19.18. (Cicero tels of the image of Hercules, cujus mentum oſculis adorantium attritum fuit: and the Papiſts ſo kiſſe their pictures, that hard Marble is worn with it,Spec. Europ. ſaith Sir Edwin Sands, an eye-witneſſe:) But when they could not come at the Idol to kiſſe it, they looked up and kiſſed their hand, in token of homage: and this was called adoration. Quaſt applicatio manus adosThis looking to other gods, imports a turning toward them. Se Deut. 31.18, 20. a loving them, a longing after them, and an expectation of ſome good from them. No wonder therefore that ſuch whoriſh hankerings and honings were offenſive to the jealous and juſt God: but the unjuſt knoweth no ſhame, Zeph. 3.5. men are forbidden ſo much as to lift up their eyes to their Idols,Pſal. 121.1. Ezek. 23.27. And ſhall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills (ſaith David, as ſome read that Text) as if from thence came my help? Abſit. Chriſts Spouſe hath a Doves chaſt eye: and he would have her like that Perſian Lady,Cant. 4. who being at Cyrus his Wedding, and asked, how ſhe liked the Bride-groom? How? ſaith ſhe, I know not. I ſaw no body there but my husband.
and love flagons of wine.]See Judg. 9.27. & Amos 2.8. Bechive of Rome. Luxury is the ordinary companion of Idolatry, as Exod. 32.6.1 Cor. 10.7. Rovel. 18.13, 14. O monachi veſtri ſtomachi, &c. At Paris and Lovain, the beſhin vine is called Vinum Theologicum, the Divinity-wine: it is alſo called, Vinum Cos, …we. caloris, odoris, ſaporis, optims. Thoſe Clergy-Locuſts lick up all: thoſe Abby-lubbers are good for nothing but to devour grain, like vermine: thoſe wine-bibbers and fleſh-mongers (as Salmon calleth them) are no better then the execrements of humane ſociety, gelulim, belly-gods, and fit ſervants of thoſe dungy-gods, as idols are called, Hab. 2.18. with Ezek. 4.17, 18. And a ſcavenger whoſe living is to empty privies, is far to be preferred before ſuch an one, as looking to other gods, and making his gut his god lives but to fill privies. For a flagon of wine, or a meals-meat, any god may ſoon have the hearts and ſervices of ſuch as have (Poliphemus-like) no ſupream deity but their belly.
Verſe 2. So I bought her to me] God is to be obeyed, though it go never ſo much againſt the heart,Epictet. and the hair with us. foreign. Follow God was a Heathen, but an honeſt precept. This he that would do, muſt firſt deny himſelf, and ſay with that Dutch Divine, Veniat, veniat, verbum Dei, &c. Let a word of command come forth from God, and we will ſubmit thereto, though we had ſix hundred lives to loſe, yea though we can ſee no reaſon for it. Indeed, in humane governments, where reaſon is ſhut out, there tyranny is thruſt in. But where God commandeth, there to ask a reaſon is preſumption, to oppoſe reaſon, is … rebellion.
I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of ſilver,] That is, fifteen ſhekels, or ſhillings, or thereabouts: no great price it was that he gave for her, whether for hire or dowry: probably it was in order to marrying her, and in reference to that law, Deut. 21.11. Iſrael was once a precious people, Gods peculiar treaſure, ſuch as comprehended all his gettings. The Jews have a ſaying, that thoſe ſeventy ſouls, that went down with Jacob into Egypt, were more worth then all the ſeventy Nations of the earth beſide. But now behold, how cheap they are grown; they are valued all of them at fifteen pieces of ſilver, a goodly price. (Zach. 11.12. Matt. 27.9.) If the tongue of the righteous be as choice ſilver, yet the heart of the wicked is little worth, Prov. 10.20. There, (as in the Sea) is that Leviathan (the king of all the children of pride) and there are creeping things innumerable, crawling luſts, and lawleſſe paſſions; but for any thing of worth, it is not there to be had. Hence as at the laſt deſtruction of Jeruſalem, thirty Jews were ſold for one penny, ſo here the whole body of the Nation are bought and ſold for a ſmall ſum. How weak is thine heart, (how light-cheap) ſaith the Lord God to this light-huſwife, ſeeing thou doſt all theſe things,Ezek. 16.30. the work of an imperious whoriſh woman? God and his people reckon of men by their righteouſneſſe: He looked down from heaven to ſee who ſought after God, &c. Pſal. 14.3. As for others, he regards them no more then men do droſſe, draffe, chaffe, or ſuch like refuſe ſtuffe, Pſal. 119.119. Pſal. 1.3. &c. what ever great thoughts they take up of themſelves, and how ever the world rate them. Antiochus Epiphanes, that great king of Syria, is called a vile perſon, Dan. 11.21. And, the adverſary is this wicked Haman, ſaith Eſther: that was his true title, which he perhaps never heard till now.
And an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley.] God buyes not this people (though for never ſo little) to ſtarve them, but alloweth them alimony, though not ſo fine a food: barley and not wheat. See Revel. 6.5. priſoners pittance, courſe fare, ſuch as ſlaves and beaſts are fed with; as ſhe had been like horſe and mule, Pſal. 32. and leſt ſhe ſhould wax fat and kick, ſhe is held to ſtrait allowance. Whereby is ſignified the mean and low condition that the ten Tribes (and afterwards all the Jews) ſhould be in, till Chriſt came to marry them to himſelfe. Firſt, they ſhould be valued but at half the price of a ſlave. Secondly, they ſhould be courſly fed, as beaſts, with barley, or perhaps, not ſo well as the Jews beaſts: for among them, the mouth of the Ox treading out their corn, might not be muzled. But the Heathens were wont to put an Engin about their ſervants necks,This engin was called. foreign and it reached down to their hands, that they might not ſo much as lick of the wheatmeal, when they were ſi…ting it. Now they were ſcattered among the Heathen, and ſold to the Nations for nought, Pſal. 44.11, 12. They that were wont to feed delicately, were deſolate in the ſtreets: they that were brought up in ſcarlet, embraced dunghils, Lam. 4.5. their flagons of wine were turned into tankards of water, and their bellaria, or junkets (ſo the Septuagint render it, and not flagons) into brown-bread, horſe-bread: that ſo thoſe whom pride,Ezek. 16.49. fulneſſe of bread, and abundance of idleneſſe had undone, hardſhip and penury might reduce to duty. God would ſeem for a time to have forgotten them, that they might at length remember themſelves: he loves to chaſtiſe mens inſolency with indigency, as he did Hagars, Gen. 21.15. and the Prodigals, Luke 15. who for his ſwiniſh life, was brought to ſwines-meat, and thereby brought home to his father. It is the way of God to humble thoſe he intendeth good unto, to prepare them for mercy by cutting them ſhort of theſe outward comforts. Though this be here a threatning, yet there is a promiſe in it, verſe 3. that God will take off the ſmarting plaiſter, ſo ſoon as it hath eaten out the proud fleſh. It is in very faithfulneſſe that he afflicteth his people, becauſe he will be true to their ſouls, and ſave them. And hence it is that he ſo diets them, and keeps them ſhort, that he may do them good in the latter end, that he may change their bricks (made in their bondage) into Saphires, and Agates. See Exod. 24.10. with Iſai. 54 11.
Verſe 3. Thou ſhalt abide for me many dayes,] Even till the laſt dayes, verſe 5. or laſt year, as Ezekiel hath it, chap. 38.8. Thus they have abode, or ſat (as a deſolate widow, ſo the Hebrew hath it) 700. years before Chriſt, and above 1600. years ſince in a moſt forlorn condition; crying out in their daily prayers to God, Veniat regnum trum, bimherah, bejamenu, Let thy kingdom come ſpeedily, even in our dayes. And again, Aedificu templum tuum, aedifica, aedifica, citò, citò, citò; Lord build, build, build thy Temple quickly, quickly, quickly. But Gods time is not yet come; for they are not yet throughly humbled. Were they but ripe, he is ready: when help is ſeaſonable, his fingers itch (ſaith One) to be doing, as the mothers breaſt akes, when it is time the childe had ſuck, Exod. 12.40, 41. At midnight were the firſt-born ſlain, and Iſrael ſent away, becauſe then exactly the 400. or 430. years of their captivity in Egypt were expired. So Dan. 5.30. In that night was Belſhazzar ſlain: becauſe then exactly the ſeventy years were ended. God promiſeth to take this Church again to wife, but having found her formerly ſo fickle and faithleſſe, he would for a long time trie her, and keep her unmarried as a probationer: he would lay her (as we do filthy garments) a ſoaking, and a froſting, for many hundred years, to try them, and to purge, and to make white, even to the time of the end, becauſe it is yet for a time appointed, Dan: 11.35. And to preſume to preſcribe to him in this caſe, is to ſet the Sun by our Dial. As he never fails his in his own time, ſo he ſeldome comes at ours. Here then our ſtrength is, to ſit ſtill, Eſay 30.7. and not to ſtart up, and ſay as that impatient Prince did,2 Kings 6.30. What ſhould I wait for the Lord any longer? Shall Chriſt loſe his right in his wife, becauſe he takes her not by the day ſet down in our Calender? Poſſibly the Calender of heaven hath a poſt-date to ours. Sure it is, that we are apt to antedate the promiſes in regard of the accompliſhment: as thoſe Jer. 8.20. that looked for help that ſummer at furtheſt, but were deceived. See the diſeaſe and the remedy put together Hab. 2.2.3. and learn to wait. God will ſurely bring us to it if we belong to him: and thereby inure us both to patience and continence as here.
thou ſhalt not play the harlot &c.] thou ſhalt not haſten after another God, and ſo multiply ſorrowes upon thy ſelf Pſal. 16.4. as he that hath broke priſon gets but more irons to be laid upon him and a ſtricter watch, Pſal. 44.19. the Church though ſore broken in the place of dragons, and covered with the ſhadow of death, yet ſhe ſtretched not out her hands to a ſtrange God. She knew that was not the way to get off with comfort. Is it becauſe there is no God in Iſrael, that thou gaddeſt to the God of Ekron.Iſay. 20.19. 2 King. 1. Should not a people ſeek unto their God? from the living to the dead? Should they ſeek to ſlip out at a back-dore and to help themſelves by ſorry ſhifts, or ſiniſter practiſes. Is that ever like to do well? or will not ſuch be miſerable even by their own election, Ion. 2.8. Wherefore if God defer to help (as he doth uſually) hold out faith and patience. Wait upon him who even waits to be gracious,Eſay. 30.18. for he is a God of judgement and well knoweth how and when to deale forth his favours: Cito data cito vileſcunt, Manna being lightly come by, was as lightly ſet by. He therefore ſuſpends us, that he may commend his mercies to us: and when he comes with them, be the better welcome. The longer he holds us in requeſt, the more will he do for us at length: and if we abide for him many dayes, we ſhall be no loſers thereby.
for I alſo will be for thee] He will love thoſe that love him,Prov. 8.17. 1 Sam. 2.30. and honour thoſe that honour him. Yea, if any man love me, ſaith Chriſt, my Father will love him, and I will love him, and will manifeſt my ſelf unto him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Joh. 14.21.23. I will gather them (ſc. into my boſome out of all nations) that are ſorrowfull for the ſolemn aſſembly who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burthen. Behold at that time I will undo all that afflict thee &c. Zeph. 5.18.19.20. God eſteems highly of thoſe that abide for him in their baniſhment, that ſtay for him till he minde marriage with them, that ſtick to him in affliction, that reſolve to reſerve themſelves for him, ſo as if they cannot have comfort in God they will have none elſewhere. The Cherethites and the Pelethites that were with David at Gath, and afterwards ſtuck to him when Abſalom was up, they were ever neare about him, as his guard, and dear to him as his favourites. God is All in all to thoſe that with the Spouſe will be his altogether: Jer. 29.13.he will do good to them with his whole heart, that ſeek him with their whole heart &c.
Verſe 4. For the children of Iſrael ſhall abide many dayes without a king &c.] They ſhall be as it is ſaid of the Braſileans, Sine rege, ſine lege, ſine fide, in a wofull confuſed eſtate, both for State and Church. This they had brought upon themſelves by their Idols ſet up at Dan and Bethel: that is, in the place of Judgment, and in the houſe of God (ſo Dan and Bethel ſignify.) Bethel was become Bethaven, and the place of judicature (called by Solomon the place of the Holy God Eccle. 8.10.) ſo corrupted, that people were ready to ſay as Themiſtocles once did, that if there were two wayes ſhew'd him, the one leading to hell and the other to the Tribunal, he would chuſe that which went to hell and forſake the other. That corruption cauſed this confuſion. The children of Iſrael ſhall be without and without, here are ſix withouts that they might be ſenſible of their abuſe of mercies, and ſee bona a tergo formoſiſſima good things faireſt behind, their worth beſt appearing by their want. The Perſian law commanded, that at the death, of their kings, there ſhould be foreign a ſuſpenſion of lawes,Stob. orat. 42. a lawleſſe liberty, for the ſpace of five dayes: that ſubjects might know the neceſſity of government, by being bereft of the benefit of it for a time: and the better prize it when they had it. The like cuſtome they have now in Turky at the death of the Grand Signor,Turk. hist. which is no ſooner known, but every man doth what is good in his own eyes, till his ſucceſſor be ſent for, and ſet upon his throne. Iſrael hath neither King nor Prince, Ruler nor Civil Magiſtrate of their own, (the ten tribes I meane: for Judah had both Prince and Prieſts after the captivity, till the laſt deſolation, ſince which they have) no forme nor face of Church or common-wealth, no not of a corrupt or depraved Church, meant here by Image and Teraphim, See 2 King. 17.10. Judg. 17.5. much leſs of ſuch an one as God had preſcribed, meant by ſacrifices and Ephod. Proſpers conceit was that this people were called Judaei becauſe they received jus Dei their law from Gods mouth. And Joſephus calleth their common wealth a Theocratie, or God-government. They received their order both for Church and common-wealth from heaven: which no other people ever did in the ſame manner; and might truly take up that of the Prophet Eſay; The Lord is our Judge, Eſay. 33.22.the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our King, he will ſave us. But man being in honour is without underſtanding &c. Jeſhurun waxed fat and kicked: then he forſook God which made him, and ſacrificed unto devils, not to God, to Gods whom they knew not, to new Gods, that came newly up &c.Deut. 32.15.17. When Ephraim ſpake and ſpake right there was trembling and none durſt budge againſt him: but when he offended in Baal, he died: Hoſ. 13.1.then every paltry adverſary trampled upon him as a dead man,Sanet. in Zech. 8.13. Heyl. Georg. 370. then every ſcurrilous Poet could inſult over him and cry, Credat Judaeus Appela Non ego: then every common Turk could by way of execration ſay, Judaeus ſim ſi fallo, and in deteſtation of a thing: I would I might die a Jew then, a diſperſed and deſpiſed people they are (none more) under the cope of heaven; partly for their former Idolatry, but principally for their rejecting of Chriſt crucified: whom they cannot but in their conſciences know to be the Shiloh that ſhould come, ſith the ſcepter is ſo longe ſince departed from Judah, and a Law-giver from between his feet Gen. 49.10. That for their ſins which are many (ſay the Talmudiſts) he yet hides himſelf in the caverns and ſecret places of the earth, is foreign a ſimple pretence, or rather a ſubtlety of Satan, to hold them ſtill in blindneſſe, till God unſeale their eyes: till when things that are never ſo clere will not be beleeved.
Verſe 5. Afterward ſhall the children of Iſrael return] They ſhall come out of the furnace more refined then ever. By this ſhall the iniquity of Jacob be purged: and this is all the fruit to take away her ſin: when he maketh all the ſtones of the Altar as chalk-ſtones that are beaten in ſunder: the groves and images ſhall not ſtand up. Eſay. 27.9.then indeed hath Jacob the right fruit of his ſufferings, when he makes all the ſtones of the Alter, as chalk-ſtones, crumbling them to crattle: when he puls down the groves and images, thoſe Balaams-blocks that lay in his way to God, and now reſolves to return,
and ſeek the Lord] from whom they had deeply revolted to ſeek his face and favour, to ſeek his ordinances & true worſhip, & laſtly, to ſeek to know & do what is well-pleaſing in his ſight. Their hearts ſhall rejoyce that thus ſeek the Lord: & theſe are true converts indeed, theſe are thoſe ſekers Pſal. 24.6. yea this is Jacob (as there) Jſraelites indeed, ſuch as cannot be (whereever they are caſt) without God in the world, without Chriſt,Jer. 30.9. Ezek. 34.24. 1 King. 12.6. who is here called David by a Patronymick (as alſo elſo where) no without alluſion to the Apoſtaſy of the ten tribes from the houſe of David, & ſo from the true God; which now alſo they ſhall bewail as the root of their ſin & ruine.
and David their King] Call'd by Daniel Meſſiah the Prince, Dan. 9. Act. 3.and by Peter, Chriſt the Lord. See Luk. 1.32. Some think he is here called the goodneſſe of God.
They ſhall fear the Lord and his goodneſſe] which also is his glory,Pavehunt ad Dominum. Exod. 33.19 The Hebrew is, they ſhall feare to the Lord, trepidabunt that is, trembling they ſhall make haſt to him (as frighted doves do to their columbaries, See Hoſ. 11.11.) they ſhall kiſs the Son, with a kiſs of homage: and with reverentiall feare ſubmit to he kingdome.