The prophet is Ephraim's watchman, along with my God, yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths. Hostility is in the house of his God! Sermons
I. BY WHOM APPOINTED. The watchman is placed at his post by authority. "I have set thee a watchman," is the utterance of the Lord himself. The minister of Christ prefaces his counsels and admonitions, as did the olden prophets theirs, with the assertion "Thus saith the Lord." II. OVER WHOM STATIONED. The Hebrew prophet testified to the Hebrew people. There is no limit to the commission of the Christian preacher, who is bound to witness to Jew and Gentile, to young and old, etc. III. WITH WHAT FUNCTION CHARGED. St. Paul describes this when he writes of spiritual pastors and overseers, "They watch for your souls, as those who shall give account." Warning of the temptations which assail, counsels regarding the way of escape and the promises of deliverance, - these form a large part of the duties of the spiritual watchman's sacred office. IV. WITH WHAT RESPONSIBILITY ATTACHED. The watchman who fulfils his trust is permitted to cast the responsibility upon those to whom he ministers. It is for them to take warning. If they do so, they will escape; if not, their blood will be upon their own head. V. OF WHAT TREATMENT DESERVING. For his work's sake, for his message's sake, for his Master's sake, he merits a respectful hearing and a grateful regard. No superstitious reverence attaches to his person, but his office is a sacred office, and the herald is honored when he faithfully carries his message to sinful men. VI. THE PERSONAL PROBATION INVOLVED. Let it not be forgotten by him who is stationed upon the walls as a watchman entrusted with stuffs, that he also, as well as those to whom he ministers, is upon his trial. By faithfulness he may deliver his soul, whilst he secures the safety of the people and the approval of the Lord. By unfaithfulness he may not only be the means of ruining others; he may incur the displeasure of God, and may bring down upon himself the sentence due to disobedience or remissness. APPLICATION. 1. The watchman is admonished to watch. 2. Those who hear his warning are entreated to give heed to what they hear, and thus escape the danger:, of this probationary life, and avail themselves of the opportunities of salvation. - T.
The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come. The passionate anguish that breathes in these words gives its colour to the whole book of Hosea's prophecies. His language, and the movements of his thoughts, are far removed from the simplicity and self-control which characterise the prophecy of Amos. Indignation and sorrow, tenderness and severity, faith in the sovereignty of Jehovah's love and a despairing sense of Israel's infidelity, are woven together in a sequence which has no logical plan, but is determined by the battle and alternate victory of contending emotions; and the swift transitions, the fragmentary, unbalanced utterance, the half. developed allusions, that make his prophecy so difficult to the commentator, express the agony of this inward conflict. Hosea, above all other prophets, is a man of deep affections, of a gentle, poetic nature. His heart is too true and tender to snap the bonds of kindred and country, or mingle aught of personal bitterness with the severity of Jehovah's words. Alone in the midst of a nation that knows not Jehovah, without disciple or friend, without the solace of domestic affection — for even his home was full of shame and sorrow — he yet clings to Israel with inextinguishable love. The doom which he proclaims against his people is the doom of all that is dearest to him on earth; his heart is ready to break with sorrow, his very reason totters under the awful vision of judgment, his whole prophecy is a long cry of anguish, as again and again he renews his appeal to the heedless nation that is running headlong to destruction. But it is all in vain. The weary years roll out, the signs of Israel's dissolution thicken, and still his words find no audience. Like a silly dove fluttering in the toils, Ephraim turns now to Assyria, now to Egypt, "but they return not to Jehovah their God, and seek not Him for all this." Still the prophet stands alone in his recognition of the true cause of the multiplied distresses of his nation, and still it is his task to preach repentance to deaf ears, to declare a judgment in which only himself believes.(W. Robertson Smith, LL. D.) The prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is mad Homilist. What the prophet means is this. When the predicted retribution had come, Israel would learn that the prosperity which some of the prophets had predicted (Ezekiel 13:10) proved them infatuated fools. This charge against religious ministers is — SOMETIMES TOO TRUE.1. There are men of weak minds; utterly incapable of taking a harmonious view of truth, or even forming a clear and complete conception of any great principle. 2. There are men of irrational theologies. They propound theological dogmas which are utterly incongruous with human reason, and therefore un-Biblical and un-Divine. 3. There are men of silly rituals. II. OFTEN A SCOFFING CALUMNY. The ideal preacher is the wisest and most philosophical man of his age. 1. He aims at the highest end. 2. He works in the right direction. 3. He employs the best means. The best is not legislation, art, poetry, rhetoric, but love. This is the Cross, the power of God unto salvation. (Homilist.) (Joseph Parker, D. D.) Rev. John Robertson says: "During the revivals of 1859, a woman living in an Aberdeenshire village with her mother and sister was converted, and was full of enthusiasm. She went from door to door pleading with the people to let the Lord Jesus into their hearts. The mother and sister had a consultation together, and they came to the sad conclusion that Mary was mad. The village doctor, and with him the doctor of a neighbouring village, was called in. They consulted, and they came to the same conclusion, and thereupon signed the schedule for her admission to a lunatic asylum, simply because she besought one and all of those whom she loved to come to Jesus. On the night preceding the day upon which she was to be sent to the asylum the sister and the mother had strange thoughts, and when they met in the morning the mother said to her daughter, "Do you know, I have just been wondering all night whether it is Mary that is mad, or we." "Well, do you know, mother," replied the daughter, "I have just been wondering the same thing." They thought deeply, and searched their hearts, until they came to the conclusion that it was not Mary, but they themselves who were mad. Brownley North says that he took tea with the whole family, and with the relations on both sides of the house, about twenty-three in all, who, through Mary's pleading, had been led to Christ."People Baalpeor, HoseaPlaces Assyria, Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Gibeah, Gilgal, MemphisTopics Along, Await, Bird, Catcher, Enmity, Ephraim, E'phraim, Fowler, Fowler's, Hate, Hatred, Hostility, Nay, Net, Paths, Prophet, Snare, Snares, Watches, Watchman, YetOutline 1. The distress and captivity of Israel for their sins.Dictionary of Bible Themes Hosea 9:8 5589 trap Library Of Councils and their Authority. 1. The true nature of Councils. 2. Whence the authority of Councils is derived. What meant by assembling in the name of Christ. 3. Objection, that no truth remains in the Church if it be not in Pastors and Councils. Answer, showing by passages from the Old Testament that Pastors were often devoid of the spirit of knowledge and truth. 4. Passages from the New Testament showing that our times were to be subject to the same evil. This confirmed by the example of almost all ages. 5. All not Pastors who … John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Earliest Chapters in Divine Revelation John's Introduction. Hosea Links Hosea 9:8 NIVHosea 9:8 NLT Hosea 9:8 ESV Hosea 9:8 NASB Hosea 9:8 KJV Hosea 9:8 Bible Apps Hosea 9:8 Parallel Hosea 9:8 Biblia Paralela Hosea 9:8 Chinese Bible Hosea 9:8 French Bible Hosea 9:8 German Bible Hosea 9:8 Commentaries Bible Hub |
    |