Hosea 4:9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. There shall be, like people, like priest. Though perhaps the translation of Keil and Delitzsch - "Therefore it will happen as to the people, so to the priest" - may give the literal idea, I take the words as they stand, which have become a proverb, "Like people, like priest." Instead of taking up the primary idea of the words, viz. that the rank and wealth of the priests would not exempt them from sharing the same fate as the rest of the nation, I would put into prominence for a moment the idea of the reciprocal influence of priesthood and people. And I make two general remarks on this idea. I. THERE IS SOMETIMES A DISGRACEFUL RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE. 1. It is a disgrace to a true priest to become like the people. A true priest - that is, a God-made priest - is a man above the average in brain, heart, being, culture, intelligence, and virtue. He who is not above the average is no priest; he is out of his place. A priest is a man to mould, not to be molded; to control, not to cringe; to lead, not to be led. His thoughts should away the thoughts of the people, and his character should command their reverence. Sometimes, nay, too frequently, you see priests become like the people - mean, sordid, groveling. There are men who call themselves priests that are the mere creatures of the people. The true priest is the prince of the people; his ministry is a "royal priesthood." 2. It is a disgrace to a people to become like a bad priest. There are priests whose natures are lean, whose capacities are feeble, whose religion is sensuous, whose sympathies are exclusive, whose opinions are stereotyped, whose spirit is intolerant. Shame on the people that allow themselves to become like such a priest! And yet the transformation is pretty general. How often one meets in a social circle with those who represent the miserable spirit of their little priest! II. THERE IS SOMETIMES AN HONORABLE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE. 1. It is honorable when people become like a true priest. When they catch his broad spirit, cherish his soul-quickening thought, and grasp his lofty aims, when they feel one with him in spiritual interests and Christly pursuits. 2. It is honorable to the true priest when he has succeeded in making the people like him. He may welt feel a devout exultation as he moves amongst them that their moral hearts beat in unison with his, that their lives are set to the same key-note, that they are of one mind and one heart in relation to the grand purpose of life. "I venerate the man whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life Coincident, exhibit lucid proof That he is honest in the sacred cause. To such I render more than mere respect, Whose actions say that they respect themselves." (Cowper.) D.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. |
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