Bible Commentaries

When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.

When Ephraim spake trembling — Or, there was trembling, as there is among the beasts of the field when the lion roareth. Ephraim, while innocent of the great offence, spake with authority, and none durst budge against him; for he had great power in his hand. Now, as the philosopher told Adrian the emperor, who challenged him to dispute, Difficile est ei contradicere qui potest aqua et igni interdicere; vel adversus eum scribere, qui potest proscribere. It is dangerous meddling with the lion’s beard. Nebuchadnezzar’s majesty was such that "all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him," Daniel 5:19 ; wheresoever his commands or armies came there were very great heart quakes and concussions of spirit. "Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" Ecclesiastes 8:4 . Job was no king; and yet while he was Jobab, Genesis 36:34 , that is, in a prosperous condition, "The young men saw him, and hid themselves; the nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth," Job 29:8 ; Job 29:10 . The people feared Joshua, Joshua 4:14 , as they feared Moses, all the days of his life; for what reason? the Lord had magnified him in the sight of all Israel. Natural conscience cannot but stoop to the image of God in whomsoever. When Ephraim was first in the throne he became formidable; but when he fell openly from God he grew feeble; first he was a terror, and then a scorn.

But when he offended in Baal, he died — When, by Jezebel (who did all under her husband, she was king, and he queen) Baal worship was brought in, then Ephraim fell from his dignity; then every paltry adversary trampled upon him, as the hare will do upon a dead lion. See how Benhadad insulted over Ahab, 1 Kings 20:3-4 "Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have." Look how the worried cur falls upon his back, and holds up all four, as craving quarter; so did this sordid idolater, glad to crouch to his enemy: when God was departed from him he was even as a dead carcase.

“ Morti vicinus iam magis atque magis. ”

He that departeth from God (who is his life) by an evil heart of unbelief, Hebrews 3:12 , subjecteth himself to all sorts of deaths, natural, civil, spiritual, and eternal.

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And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, [and] idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

And now they sin more and more — Heb. They add to sin: God in his just judgment hath given them up unto hardness of mind, and to their heart’s lust; that for all this sudden change they repent not, but run more and more into idolatry. Not content to worship Baal and such heathen deities,

They make them molten images of their silver — They laid their money together, to make the golden calves, or silver shrines, as Acts 19:24 , and other idolatrous trinkets; they lavished silver out of the bag, and were at no small charge. They multiplied their altars, Hosea 10:1 , and abused God’s gold and silver to mystical adultery, Hosea 2:8 . All this they did now, saith the text; most unseasonably, and as it were in flat opposition to God; after he had sought to reclaim them both by counsels and corrections, and had hanged Ahab and his house up in gibbets, as it were, before them, for their admonition. Surely it is a just both presage and desert of ruin not to be warned. See Hosea 7:1 . See Trapp on " Hosea 7:1 "

And idols according to their own understanding — i.e. According to their own inventions, motu suo roprio; forsaking the rule of the word, they will needs be scholars to their own reason, though they are sure to have a fool to their master. That is a good saying of Solomon, Proverbs 3:5 , "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding," in matters of God’s worship especially; for there Deus damnat quicquid arridet iudicio hominum vel rationi God despises whatever is pleasing in the opinion of men or reason. (Calv. in loc.), "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God," Luke 16:15 .

All of it the work of the craftsmen — And should men worship the work of their own hands? what can be imagined more irrational and sottish? But it is a most righteous recompense of their error, Romans 1:27 . See Isaiah 29:13-14 , God doth blind and blast such, causing their madness to appear to all, and that they are men compact of mere incongruities, soloecising in opinion, speeches, actions, all: nothing is more irrational than irreligion.

They say of it, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves — They, that is, the king and his counsellors, or the idolatrous priests by their appointment. These were active to invite and incite men to partake of those idolatrous services. Should we be less diligent in calling upon others to "kiss the Son," with a kiss of love and homage? should we not be as serious and sedulous in building staircases for heaven as the wicked are in digging descents to hell?

Kiss the calves — That the custom of kissing in divine worship was used in all nations is evident. They kissed either the idol’s mouth or their own hand (where the idol stood on high, so that they could not come at it) in token of homage. See 1 Kings 19:18 Job 31:27 . ( Adorare est quasi applicare manum ad os. ) To wordship is just as to bring the hand to the mouth. So (after the example of Dioclesian) the pope holds forth his foot to be kissed by the greatest potentates, while he sitteth as God, in the temple of God.

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Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff [that] is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud — They shall vanish and come to nothing: the morning cloud, irradiated by the sun, seems very gay at first, but is soon dispelled by it; the dew lies very lovely upon the grass, and seems to impearl it, but is soon dried up; see Hosea 6:4 . The chaff lies hollow and high, but is soon dispersed before a whirlwind; see Psalms 35:5 Daniel 2:35 Psalms 1:5 . The smoke rolls out of the chimney as if it were some solid substance, and would muffle the whole heavens, but is presently scattered evaporat et evanescit, the higher it ascendeth the sooner it vanisheth. See here how that is verified, Hosea 12:10 , "I have used similitudes by the ministry of my prophets" (four in a breath we have here), and be hereby advertised. 1. Of man’s weakness; 2. Of God’s power; 3. Of the swiftness of Ephraim’s ensuing misery; 4. The severity of God’s dealing with idolaters; he will leave no sign nor remain of them; he will utterly remove them, as a man takes away dung, till it be gone, 1 Kings 14:19 . Sic transit gloria mundi. So passes worldly honour. Life itself is but a shadow, a dream, yea, a dream of a shadow ( οκιας οναρ ανθρωπος ), Psalms 144:4 ; profit, an uncertainty, 1 Timothy 6:17 ; pleasure, a spirt; honour, a blast, pomp, a fancy, Acts 25:23 ; the whole world a scheme or notion, that hath nothing in it of any firmness, or solid consistency, 1 Corinthians 7:31 . Why then should wicked wordlings brag, and look so big? Why should the saints be affected either with its allurements or affrightments, and not cry out with that heroical Luther, Contemptus est a me Romanus et favor et furor, I care neither for Rome’s favour nor fury, I am neither fond of the one nor afraid of the other, for all is but fumus aut funus, vanity and vexation?

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Yet I [am] the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for [there is] no saviour beside me.

Yet I am the Lord thy God, … — Yet for all the sorrow; and though I thus threaten thee: "for since I spake against thee, I do earnestly remember thee still," …, Jeremiah 31:20 . It is easy to observe all along this chapter, an interchange of menaces and mercies, as in the preceding verse and this, so Hosea 13:8-9 ; Hosea 13:13-14 ; Hosea 13:16 ; Hosea 14:1 , to show how soon the Lord repents him of the evil, and how ready to show mercy to the worst that return. If men could but find a penitent heart, he would easily find a pitying heart; like as David would have been friends with Absalom after all the unkindness, would he have been but better at last. To reduce Ephraim it was, that this chapter, like checquer work, is made up of promises and threatenings; that the tartness of the one might make him the better to taste the sweetness of the other.

Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt — See the note on Hosea 12:9 . He was their God before, Genesis 17:7 , but then he mainly manifested himself so to be, when he brought them thence with a strong hand, and so declared himself to be Jehovah, Exodus 6:2 ; yea, I am ready to show thee the like mercy still; for "I remember" (saith he) "the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown," Jeremiah 2:2 .

And thou shalt know no God but me — i.e. Effectually acknowledge, worship, serve, love, none save me, Deuteronomy 13:2 Galatians 5:9 . Thou shalt experience none other. It is a blessed thing to be ignorant of false worship; and not to be insighted into, or versed in, the depths of Satan, Revelation 2:24 . Thou shalt not inquire how these nations worshipped their gods, Deuteronomy 12:30 . Ahaz got hurt by seeing the altar at Damascus: many that will needs see the Popish service are insnared thereby.

For there is no Saviour beside me — This is a title that God much glorieth in; see Isaiah 60:16 ; Isaiah 63:1 Acts 5:31 ; and we should go often to him in this name, as Jeremiah 14:8 , since "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto him," Hebrews 7:25 , to save them perpetually, and perfectly, εις το παντελες . He is a sole Saviour, a thorough Saviour, a Saviour in solidum; and doth not his work to the halves, as Papists make it. How blasphemous is that direction of theirs to dying men, to say, Join, Lord, mine obedience with those things which Christ suffered for me.

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I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

I knew thee in the wilderness, in a place of great drought — In terra torridissima, where I gave thee pluviam escatilem et petram aquatilem, as Tertullian phraseth it, where I gave thee bread from heaven, set the flint abroach, kept thy clothes whole and fit, kept back thine enemies, led thee by a pillar of cloud, sent thee in flesh at even and bread in the morning, served thee as never prince was served in his greatest pomp, Psalms 78:20 ; Psalms 78:24 . And wilt thou yet kiss the calf, qui te nec servat, nec satiat, ut ego? who neither saveth thee, nor satisfieth thee, as I have done? not suffering thee to lack anything, Deuteronomy 2:7 , but crowning thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; insomuch as Moses stands amazed at it, and cries out, "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved of the Lord?" Deuteronomy 33:29 .

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According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.

According to their pasture so were they filled — Saturity bred security; fulness, forgetfulness. This was a foul fault, and is much complained of, Deuteronomy 32:13-14 Psalms 78:10-11 . God had brought them out of a place of great drought into large and fat pastures, a land flowing with milk and honey, where he filled their "hearts with food and gladness," Acts 14:17 , where he fed them among the lilies, daily and daintily. But they, as if God had hired them to be wicked, basely abused his bounty to luxury, and having fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness, grew proud as Sodom, and out of measure sinful, Ezekiel 16:49 ; forgetting God and his will, themselves and their duties, and running out into all excess of riot, though they had been fairly warned and commanded to the contrary, Deuteronomy 8:10 , … Their heart grew fat as grease, and became as a foul stomach, which the more you fill it the more you spill it; or like fed horses, they grew fierce and filthy, Jeremiah 5:7-8 , there was no hoe with them, οποσον αν θρεψης μαλλον βλαψης (Hippoc.). See Ezekiel 34:16 ; Ezekiel 34:18 ; Ezekiel 34:20 . While they were in the wilderness God knew them, yea, he knew their souls in adversity: they both knew God, and were known of him. But now, God neither knew them so much, nor they him; they lived not upon him now, as once in the wilderness; but being "filled, yea, filled," Galatians 3:1-2 , (you have the word here twice together), to note how they fell upon those allowed delights, and even glutted themselves, gorged themselves; they flew upon them, as those in Saul’s time did upon the spoil of the Philistines; they fed without fear, as those Pseudo-Christians in Jude, Judges 1:12 ; they gormandized, as those flesh mongers before the flood, more like beasts than men, as the Greek word signifieth, τρωγοντες , Luke 17:27 . And hereupon

their hearts were exalted — Prosperity and plenty will easily blow up such a blab as pride, in the best hearts, if care be not taken to the contrary; as Agur knew, and therefore prayed, Give me a mediocrity, "lest I be full and deny," and proudly ask, "Who is the Lord?" Proverbs 30:9 ; and as Solomon felt, whose wealth did him more harm than his wisdom did him good, Ecclesiastes 2:1-26 ; and as Hezekiah experimented to his cost, Isaiah 39:1-8 . Indeed of Jehoshaphat it is noted, 2 Chronicles 17:3 , that he walked in the first ways of David his father (for the truth is, David’s first ways were his best ways; neither was he ever so good and tender as when he was hunted as a partridge in the mountains); and of Vespasian it is reported that he was made the better man by being made emperor ( Vespasianus unus accepto imperio melior rectus ); but he was a rare bird and had scarce his fellow again. It is the property of prosperity to turn out the heart and ubi uber, ibi tuber. where there is pleny there is a tumor. See Psalms 73:3 ; Psalms 73:6 1 Timothy 6:17 , they eat and are swelled, as being poisoned with pride; they are fatted, but it is for the slaughter.

Therefore have they forgotten me — Non tam theoretice quam practice, they remember there is a God, but they honour him not as God; they forget their engagements to him, and through the pride of their countenance, they seek not after him, Psalms 10:4 , they consider not their distance, their dependence, … Now of all things God cannot abide to be forgotten, Isaiah 1:2-3 , it is a sin that he can hardly pardon, Jeremiah 5:7 . See Trapp on " Hosea 8:14 "

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Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe [them]:

Therefore will I be unto them as a lion, as a leopard, … — Thus still God proceedeth to use similitudes by the ministry of his prophets, as he did before, Hosea 13:3 . He here compareth himself (who otherwise is compared to an eagle, bearing her young upon her wings; to a hen, hovering over chickens; to a father, cherishing his children, Exodus 19:4 Deuteronomy 32:10-11 Matthew 23:37 ) to a lion, yea, to an old lion, which taketh the prey but seldom, and therefore is more ravenous of it when taken; see Hosea 5:14 to a leopard, or panther, that diligently observeth by the way, and lieth in wait for his prey, and useth subtilty, as not being so swift of foot, confer Jeremiah 5:6 ; to a bear robbed of her whelps, which are very dear to her; to any other cruel creature, Hosea 13:8 , as the tiger that flieth upon the very picture of a man, and teareth it, or if he cannot come at it, teareth himself for anger. Neither is it for nothing (saith Rivet) that God compareth himself here to all these together; but to show that there was no hope of escape, neither could he that had avoided one danger be safe from another, so dreadful a thing is it to fall into the punishing hands of the living God. Oh consider this, ye that forget God; lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you.

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I will meet them as a bear [that is] bereaved [of her whelps], and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.

I mill meet them as a bear bereaved of her whelps — Surgit hic oratio. The bear is more cruel than the lion, for the lion is said to spare the prostrate; but the bear falleth foul upon all, yea, upon dead carcases. See Amos 5:9 cf. 2 Samuel 17:8 Proverbs 17:12 . See also what work the two bears made upon the forty-two children, 2 Kings 2:24 .

And will rend the caul of their heart — The pericardium, a that fat heart of theirs, Hosea 13:6 , that hoof upon their hearts which the Word could not pierce through, that filthy foreskin that grew to their uncircumcised hearts.

There will I devour them like a lion — Once more like a lion ( ìáéà ), ut immanis leo, for the word is not the same as before; as a lion, that is, in heart, and that loves to suck the blood, and the fat that is about the heart. "There will I devour them," that is, in their cities and houses, where they hold themselves safest; as the lions dealt by those mongrel colonies that made a mixture of religions, 2 Kings 17:25 .

The wild beast shall tear them — When they but stir anywhere abroad; so that there shall be no safety, no peace to him that goes out, or to him that cometh in, 2 Chronicles 15:5 , but

“ crudelis ubique

Luetus, ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago. ”

"Let us therefore have grace, whereby we may serve God with reverence and godly fear: for even our God" (and not the God of the Jews only) "is a consuming fire," Hebrews 12:28-29 , is a devouring lion, is a furious leopard, a raging bear; yea, put all the dreadfulness of all the creatures in the world together, it is all to be found in the wrath of God, even the quintessence of all. Hence that of the Psalmist, "Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath," Psalms 90:11 ; as who should say, Let a man fear thy displeasure never so much, he is sure to feel thee much more, if once he fall into thy fingers. Now a fearful man can fancy vast and terrible fears, as ramping lions, ravenous leopards, fire, sword, racks, scalding lead, burning pitch, running bell metal, all this in extremity, and that to all eternity: and yet all these are but as a painted fire in comparison of the unconceivable and unsupportable wrath of God.

a The membranous sac, consisting of an outer fibrous and an inner serous layer, which encloses the heart and the commencements of the great vessels. Also applied to the sac enveloping or enclosing the heart or corresponding organ in certain invertebrates. ŒD

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