Hosea 9:1-6

The Lord's land for the Lord's people.

This chapter may fall in the interval between the Assyrian invasions of B.C. 743-738, and the invasions ending in the overthrow of Pekah, B.C. 734-730 (cf. 2 Kings 15:29 , 2 Kings 15:30 ; 2 Chronicles 28:16-21 , and Assyrian monuments). The interval seems to have been one of revived prosperity ( 2 Chronicles 28:6-15 ).

I. ABUSED GOODNESS . ( Hosea 9:1 , Hosea 9:2 )

1. A glimpse of prosperity . Israel had been rejoiced with a bounteous harvest. Land and people had previously suffered sore from the Assyrian. For a moment judgment pauses. It would be interesting if we could connect this gleam of prosperity with the momentary gleam of better feeling in the nation, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 28:1-27 . God tries all methods with the sinner. He varies judgment with mercy. He pauses, as it were, to give space for repentance. He tries, having humbled by application, again to melt by goodness ( Romans 2:4 ).

2. Goodness abused . Israel knew not the meaning of this grace. The momentary softening led to no good results. The people, reassured by the heaped-up corn-floor and the full wine-press, fell into the old error of attributing their prosperity to the idols ( Hosea 2:5 ), and renewed their assiduity in their service. Our joy in the use of God's good gifts becomes sinful when,

3. The disappointed expectation . "The floor and the wine-press shall not feed them," etc. One swallow does not make a summer, and the sinner errs if he supposes that one returning glimpse of prosperity means the reversal or collapse of God's threatenings. God punishes the abuse of his gifts:

II. DECREED EXPULSION . ( 2 Chronicles 28:3 ) The glimpse of prosperity did not mean much. The sinner, notwithstanding passing appearances to the contrary, abides under wrath ( John 3:36 ). The decree of judgment stands unrepealed. "They shall not dwell in the Lord's land," etc.

1. The Lord ' s land only for the holy . Canaan was chosen by God as the seat of his majesty, the place of his abode. His presence sanctified it. Israel possessed it as his people. They held it on condition of obedience. Their first work in it was to purge it of the impurities which had formerly desecrated it ( Deuteronomy 7:1-6 ). Now that Israel themselves had become unholy, they must, in turn, be expelled from the land. God could not allow them to remain in it. The "holy land" is for a holy people. So it is said of heaven that into it "shall in no wise enter anything that defileth" ( Revelation 21:27 ).

2. The Lord resuming his own from the wicked . The land was the Lord's, and, when Israel proved incorrigible, the Lord took his own from them, They had not owned him in the possession of what he gave, and he now resumed his gift. The sinner, who depends on God for "life, and breath, and all things," would fain keep the gifts, while declining all recognition of the Giver. This God refuses to permit. The day is coming when he will strip the sinner of all he has. The Lord has given, and the Lord will take away.

3. Egypt-bondage . "Ephraim shall return to Egypt." The people were to sink back into the state of oppression, misery, and mixture with the heathen in which they were when God took pity on them in Egypt. The Exodus gave them a national existence, a calling, and a land. They were now to become a "no people" to God, and be sent back, as it were, to Egypt again. Rejection by God means the loss of distinctive being, of life-aim, of sphere, of liberty, and subjection to the hard tyranny of sin, Satan, and the world.

III. UNCLEANNESS IN ASSYRIA . ( 2 Chronicles 28:3-5 ) "They shall eat unclean things in Assyria," etc. Israel's condition in exile would be marked by:

1. Privation of privilege . They would be cut off from the sanctuary ("house of the Lord"), and prevented from observing their feasts, and bringing their usual offerings (cf. Hosea 3:4 ). Their worship, as it stood, was not acceptable to God. They, however, attached importance to their sanctuaries, altars, wine offerings, sacrifices, etc. And it would be part of their punishment that they would be deprived of them.

2. Legal uncleanness . The prophet speaks here also from the standpoint of the people. Their outward life, even in Canaan, had no right sanctification in it. Now, however, their food, sacrifices, etc; would become even formally unclean. Uncleanness would arise

3. An end of joy . ( 2 Chronicles 28:5 ; cf. Hosea 2:11 )

IV. DESOLATE HABITATIONS . ( 2 Chronicles 28:6 )

1. Exile as burial . "Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis [a noted place of burial] shall bury them." The allusion is still to Assyria figured as a second Egypt. The tribes would be lost in it as in a grave. Hence recovery is described as resurrection ( Hosea 6:2 ). Sin is death. Those shah-cloned to sin are as the dead in graves.

2. Deserted dwellings . "Their pleasant places for their silver [or, 'valuables of silver'], nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their habitation." The present state of the Holy Land is the best commentary on this prediction. Sin leaves behind it rank desolation. Look at man's own soul! What desolation there! Nettles, thorns, a temple in ruins.—J.O.