Hosea 10:4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. I. SOCIAL SINS. There are three sins referred to in this verse. 1. Vain speech. "They have spoken words." This means, according to Henderson, Elzas, and others, "They utter empty speeches." Not only are words of falsehood, blasphemy, and unchastity sinful, but empty words. For every "idle word" we shall have to give an account. How much idle language is there current in society! The chat of gossip, the formalities of etiquette, the vapid compliments of society, as well as those airy words of wit and humor which sometimes delude, sometimes pain, and sometimes please. 2. False swearing. False speech is bad enough, for it misrepresents facts, and often does serious mischief; but when backed by an oath its heinousness is intensified and blackened. How much false swearing there is in society! Not merely in judicial courts, but in homes, in shops, in fields, in general society. 3. Unrighteous treaties. "Making a covenant." The word "bad" is implied here, for there is no harm in making covenants. Making a bad covenant. The primal reference, perhaps, is to certain treaties Israel had formed with foreign nations. How much wicked contracting there is going on in society every day in commerce, in politics, as well as in private life. Untruthful as well as unrighteous bargains are being struck every hour in all circles. In truth, the sins here charged to Israel are not uncommon in England this day - empty speech, false swearing, and making unrighteous treaties. II. RESULTS OF SOCIAL SINS. "Thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field." It matters not to the sense of the passage whether you read "poppy" for "hemlock," or "ridges" for "furrows;" the idea is the same - viz. that out of the social sins certain results appear. How do they come? 1. They come as a growth. They "spring up" or blossom. Sins bring with them their own punishment - no positive infliction is required; every sin is a seed from which a pestiferous plant must spring. 2. They come as a poison. "Hemlock;" some read "poppy," and some "darnel," but all agree in the poisonousness of its production. In any case it is a "hemlock," a small decoction of which destroyed a Socrates. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." 3. They come in abundance. "That springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field." Very prolific is sin. See its plants growing in the ridges and furrows of life; in sick-chambers, in hospitals, in workhouses, in prisons, in battlefields also! How thickly the hemlock grows! - D.T. Parallel Verses KJV: They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. |
    |