Hosea 9:3 They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. Before, God was to them as a father taking maintenance away from them, leaving them to suffer want: but here His anger increases, and He puts them out of His house; as a nation out of His land. God would make them know that it was His land, that they were but tenants at will, and enjoyed the land upon conditions of obedience. It is a good meditation for us to dwell upon, that we are God's stewards; the Lord is the great landlord of all the world. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." The land of Canaan was "Jehovah's land" in some special senses. 1. It was a land that God had "espied" as a special place for His people. 2. It was the land of promise. 3. It was a land given by oath (Genesis 24:7). 4. It was a land which the Lord brought His people into by "a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm." 5. It was a land divided by lot. The possession that any man had was ordered by God Himself by lot. 6. It was a land wherein God dwelt Himself, a land that God called His own rest. It was the land wherein were the ordinances and worship of God, and His honour dwelt there, and so it had a peculiar blessing upon it above every land on the face of the whole earth. 7. It was a land over which God's eye was in a more special manner. 8. This land was typical of the rest of the Church in heaven. Then it would be a great judgment of God to drive men out of this land for their sin. To be cast out of those mercies which God by an extraordinary providence has brought to us is a sore and grievous evil. (Jeremiah Burroughs.) Parallel Verses KJV: They shall not dwell in the LORD'S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. |
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