to be destroyed. Let us look well to our principles, views, and ends; or God may condemn us for what we think an act of obedience, and suppose will be pleasing to him.

2. See the evil of sin, and the dreadful effects of God's displeasure against it. It turned away his mercy from Israel, of which they had long been partakers; and the consequence of this was, their utter destruction. All our hopes should be founded on divine mercy; but allowed sin will deprive us of it. If men do wickedly, whatever they may hope, He that made them will not have mercy upon them, and he that formed them will show them no favour.

3. See the nature of the christian covenant, and our duty and privileges under it. It is much the same as the Jewish. If we deliberately and sincerely choose the Lord for our God, he will own and treat us as his people; we shall be the children of the living God. But if we desert his service, and prove false to our covenant engagements, the relation is dissolved; he will disown and condemn us. Be ye therefore ever mindful of his covenant.

CHAP. II.

The first verse, in which they are ordered to congratulate one another in the happy change in their state, and their restoration to the divine favour, should have been added to the former chapter.

1

SAY ye unto your brethren, Ammi, that is, my peoples and to your sisters, Ruhamah, that is, having obtained mercy. 2 Plead with your mother, plead for she [is] not my wife, neither [am] I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; O ye pious Israelites, attempt the reformation of your country, and engage them to put away their idols, and their 3 alliances with idolaters; Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst; lest, as a husband turns out an adulterous wife, so I should strip them of their wealth and ornaments, and send them into captivity. 4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they [be] the children of whoredoms; I will leave them in the power of 5 their enemies. For their mother hath played the harlot : she that conceived them hath done shamefully for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give [me] my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink; they ascribe their prosperity to their idols, and, because of that, go 6 on in idolatry. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way

with thorns, and, if that will not do, I will make a wall, that she shall not find her paths; I will bring great calamities upon them, so that they shall not know which way to turn themselves. 7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find [them ;] they shall seek help from their idols and allies, but in vain : then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then [was it] better with me than now; they shall afterward 8 repent and return to God. For she did not know, did not consider, that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, [which] they prepared for Baal, or, where9 with they made Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, when they are just about to gather it in, so that the disappoint. ment shall be peculiarly mortifying, and will recover, or, take away, my wool and my flax [given] to cover her nakedness. 10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand; her wicked 11 ness shall be discovered by its punishment. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts; she hath kept up these amidst her idolatry, for the sake of company and feasting; but they shall have no opportunity for doing this when they are 12 carried captive. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These [are] my rewards that my lovers have given me and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them; all the country shall 13 be desolate. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, I will punish her for all her idolatries, wherein she burned incense to them, to different sorts of Baals, (different idols being worshipped under the name of Baal, as Baalberith, Baalzebub, Baalpeor ;*) and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD; this was the root of all, even forgetfulness of God,

14

Therefore, or, notwithstandding this, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, or, after I have brought her into the wilderness, (an allusion to Israel's being led through the wilderness to Canaan) and speak comfortably unto her; speak to her heart, like an affectionate husband, who uses many arguments to persuade a perverse wife to return to her duty, 15 and to cultivate a better temper. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, at that time her vineyards shall be restored, and the valley of Achor, a fruitful valley, that lay to the north of Jericho, for a door of hope, as an earnest of future blessings and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt; when the accursed thing was done away, then the Is

• Newcome.

raelites felt no more tokens of the divine displeasure, but went on joyfully, conquering the land; so shall they, when brought to repentance, enter on the possession of their hopes, and all good 16 things shall be before them. And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, [that] thou shalt call me Ishi, that is, my husband ; and shalt call me no more Baali, that is, my lord ; whereas she was before divorced, she shall now be received again as a wife. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name, through disuse and detestation, because it was also the name of false 18 gods; that is, they shall scrupulously avoid idolatry. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and [with] the creeping things of the ground and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely; I will guard them from every injury and every 19 evil. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies; the marriage covenant being renewed, I will do, not only what is just and right, but 20 whatever is kind and affectionate. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; I will enter into a more durable, indis, soluble engagement than ever : and thou shalt know the LORD; continue obedient to God and his gospel, and largely experience 21 his goodness. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall 22 hear, the earth; And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. Jezreel, that is, the seed of the Lord, (put for Israel, who shall be numerous as the seeds of the field) shall call on the corn, wine, and oil: they shall call upon the earth to nourish and produce them; the earth shall call on the heavens for showers and sunshine, and the heavens shall call on God to give them : all second causes shall 93 concur for their welfare, and all depend upon God. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; as I have multiplied her corn, so they, who are the seed of the Lord, shall bring forth abundantly; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them which were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, [Thou art] my God; an allusion to the names of the children in the former chapter; and the whole refers to the conversion of the Jews in the latter day.

1.

REFLECTIONS.

ET us acknowledge the hand of God in the blessings and comforts of life, both temporal and spiritual. They all come from him: he gives us our corn, our wine, and our oil:

no second causes, not labour, nor diligence, nor friends are suffi cient, without him. Let us give him the praise of them, and use them for his glory. When men are insensible of his hand, encourage themselves in sin, by their prosperity, and abuse it to luxury and intemperance, he can and will take them away; for they are his still, we are only stewards. And we are indebted to him for our domestic peace, for sabbaths and ordinances; and he may punish abused sabbaths and neglected ordinances, by causing them to cease, and making our souls a desolate wilderness.

2. See the wise designs of God in afflicting his people. When men grow forgetful of him, of his nature and attributes, of their dependence upon him and obligations to him, which is the source of all evil; it is kind in him to correct them, to hedge up their ways, to bring perplexity and distress upon them, and to disappoint all their expectations from creatures. His design is, to bring them to himself, to stop them in their evil courses, to rouse them out of their indolence and sloth, and make them diligent in his service he brings them into a wilderness to instruct them the valley of trouble is a door of hope.

3. Let backsliders be engaged, by these persuasive arguments, to turn to the Lord. What amazing goodness did he show to this idolatrous, perverse people! how kind was he to afflict them, that, by sending mercy, he might allure them. Many may remember that it was better with them in time past than now. When they loved prayer and ordinances, when they kept good company, redeemed their time, and made more conscience of religion, they had more peace, comfort, and hope.. Let those then who have neglected these good ways return to them; these precious promises are designed to invite and encourage them. If they do this, God will betroth them to himself, admit them into the most endearing and indissoluble relation; will bestow on them the greatest honour, in saying, Thou art my people; and they will enjoy the greatest happiness in being able to say, Thou art my God.

CHAP. III.

By a vision of the prophet's receiving his bad wife again, her continuing in a state of separation, yet with hope of reconciliation, is shown the great compassion of God to Israel amidst their desolations and dispersions, and the hope of their conversion and recovery.

'T

HEN said the LORD unto me, Go yet again, love a wo man beloved of [her] friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel,

who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine, idolatrous, 2 and drunken feasts. So I bought her to me for fifteen [pieces] of silver, I paid her dower, about fifteen half crowns in money, and [for] an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley, 3 that is, about fifteen bushels of barley.† And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for [another] man: so [will] I also [be] for thee; that is, thou shalt continue some time in a state of separation, though in my house, as it is neither decent nor prudent to take thee again without due trial. The explana4 tion and meaning of this vision follows: For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and [without] teraphim; they shall remain for a considerable time in a state resembling that of Hosea's wife, who was separated from her adulterous lovers, and the converse of her husband too. So shall they continue desolate and dispersed among the nations; without any king, ruler, or settled form of government; without any altar or ephod, that is, any priestly garments, by which they could consult Jehovah, or any image, statue, or teraphim, (little images of idol gods) by which to consult them, that is, they shall be renounced of God, and have no instituted worship of him; and yet not practise idol5 atry; and this is exactly the case in which they now are. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, they shall again worship him in his appointed way, and David their King, that is, the Messiah; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days; they shall be affected with his goodness in taking them again into covenant, and be led thereby to obedience. This shall be in the latter days of the gospel, when all Israel shall be saved.

1.

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REFLECTIONS.

YOD's dealing with the Israelites, is a lively emblem of the case of sinners and the manner of God's dealing with them; and may assist us in judging of our own character and state. Sinners are departed from God; have thrown themselves out of his protection and family; and can neither comfortably address him, nor receive any agreeable addresses from him : yet he has a love of compassion toward them, and invites and en

The wife he had espoused, after having lived some time well with him, is represented as going away and living with an adulterer; he is commanded to fetch her back again; that is, to go to this base woman, and invite her to return; this is designed to denote God's regard to the ten tribes, and his purpose to take them into covenant again, though shey should seem to have been long forgotten by him.

+ Others think that this was to be allowed her as a separate maintenance, till she was properly humbled for elopement. It represents the sad condition of the Israelites, and yet shows that a remnant of them should be preserved.