HOSEA v. 15.
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
In the preceding part of the chapter is threatened the destruction of Ephraim. Ephraim, in the prophets, generally means the ten tribes, or the kingdom of Israel, as distinguished from the kingdom of Judah. When we read of Ephraim and Judah in the prophets, thereby is meant the whole people of Israel of the twelve tribes, as in verse 12. of this chapter, “Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.” By Judah is meant the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which were under the king of Judah; and by Ephraim is meant the ten tribes under the king of Israel. Ephraim is put for the whole kingdom of Israel, because Samaria, the seat of the kingdom, the royal city, was in that tribe. In the verse immediately preceding the text it is declared in what a terrible manner God was about to deal with Ephraim. Hosea v. 14. “For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away, and none shall rescue him.” In the text God declares how he would deal with them after he had torn as a lion, &c. And here,
1. God declares how he would withdraw from them. Hosea v. 15. “I will go and return to my place;” when I have torn as a lion. I will go away; I will leave them in that condition. I will depart from them, and they shall see no more of me.
2. What God will wait for in them before he returns to them to show them mercy. There are three things here signified.
1. That they should be sensible of their guilt. Hosea v. 15. “Till they acknowledge their offence.” It is in the original, “till they become guilty. ” That is, till they become guilty in their own eyes, till they are sensible of their guilt; in the same sense as the same expression is used in Rom. iii. 19. “That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” that is, become guilty in their own eyes.
2. That they would be sensible of their misery, implied in the expression, Hosea v. 15. “in their affliction they shall seek me.” Their calamity was brought upon them, before God had torn them, and left them. But in their pride and perverseness, they were not well sensible of their own miserable condition, as this prophet observes in chapter vii. 9.
3. That they should be sensible of their need of God’s help, which is implied in their seeking God’s face, and seeking him early; that is, with great care and earnestness. Before, they would not seek God; they were not sensible of their helplessness, as we learn in the verse but one preceding the text. Hosea v. 13. “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jacob.” But as we are there told, he could not heal him, nor cure his wound. And notwithstanding all the help he could afford, God wounded him, tore him as a young lion; and, as he declares, would leave him, and he should cease going to any other, and should be sensible that no other could heal, and accordingly come to him for healing.
doctrine. That it is God’s manner to make men sensible of their misery and unworthiness, before he appears in his mercy and love to them.
I. That it is ordinarily thus with respect to the bestowment of great and signal mercies.
II. That it is particularly so with respect to revealing his love and mercy to their souls.
I. This is God’s ordinary way before great and signal expressions of his mercy and favour. He very commonly so orders it in his providence, and so influences men by his Spirit, that they are brought to see their miserable condition as they are in themselves, and to despair of help from themselves, or from an arm of flesh, before he appears for them, and also makes them sensible of their sin, and their unworthiness of God’s help. This appears from the account which the Scriptures give us of God’s dealings with his people. Joseph, before his great advancement in Egypt, must lie in the dungeon to humble him, and prepare him for such honour and prosperity. The children of Jacob, before Joseph reveals himself to them, and they receive that joy, and honour, and prosperity, which were consequent thereupon, pass through a train of difficulties and anxieties, till at last they are reduced to distress, and are brought to reflect upon their guilt, and to say, that they were verily guilty concerning their brother. God humbled them in his providence, and then an end was put to all their difficulties, and their sorrow was turned into joy upon Joseph’s revealing himself to them. Jacob, before he hears the joyful news of Joseph’s being yet alive, must be brought into great distress at the parting with Benjamin, and supposed loss of Simeon. He was reduced to great straits in his mind. He says in Genesis xlii. 36. “All these things are against me.” But soon after this he had these gladsome tidings brought to him, Genesis xlv. 26. “Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. ” And to confirm it, he sees the waggons and the noble presents, which Joseph sent to him: so that he was now brought to say, Genesis xlv. 28. “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die.” And so with the children of Israel in Egypt. Their bondage must wax more and more extreme. Their bondage had been very extreme. But yet Pharaoh gives commandment that more work should be laid upon them, and the task-masters tell them they must get their straw where they can find it; and nothing of their work should be diminished. And quickly upon this was their deliverance. So when the children of Israel were brought to the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them, and were just at their heels, and they were reduced to the utmost distress, they see that they must assuredly perish, unless God work a miracle for them; for they were shut up on all sides: the Red sea was before them, and the army of the Egyptians encompassing them round behind. And they cried unto the Lord. And then God wonderfully appeared for their help, and made them pass through the Red Sea, and put songs of deliverance into their mouths.