by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. 8. And she weaned Lo-Ruhamah; and she conceived, and bare a son. 9. And God said, Call his name Lo-Ammi (not a people of mine), for ye are no people of mine, and I will not be yours. 10. Nevertheless the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured, and cannot be counted; and it shall be, that, in the place where it was said unto them, No people of mine are ye, there it shall be said unto them, Children of the living God. And the children of Judah shall be collected, and

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* The number of the children of Israel.] "I think this is to "be understood of the mystical Israel; their numbers, consist"ing of myriads of converts, both of the natural Israel, and ❝ their adopted brethren of the Gentiles, shall be immeasurably "great" (Bp. Horsley in loc.). It may however relate, with perhaps equal propriety, to the literal Israel. See Ezek. xxxvii. 2, 10. and Isaiah xlix. 19, 20, 21.

+ In the place.] "That is at Jerusalem, or at least in Judea, "where this prophecy was delivered, and where the execution "of the sentence took place. There, in that very place, they, "to whom it was said, Ye are no people of mine, shall be called “children of the living God. This must relate to the natural "Israel of the house of Judah, for to them it was said, Ye are "no people of mine. And, since they are to be acknowledged again as the children of the living God in the same place "where this sentence was pronounced and executed, the prophecy clearly promises their restoration to their own land." Bp. Horsely in loc.

The children of Judah shall be collected.] "When converts of the house of Judah shall have obtained a re-settlement in the

"Holy

and the children of Israel shall be united, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and come up from the earth. For great shall be the day of Jezrael *.

per

ii. 21. And it shall be in that day, I will perform my part, saith the Lord. I will perform my part upon the heavens; and they shall perform their part upon the earth; 22. And the earth shall form her part upon the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall perform their part upon the Jezrael (the seed of God). 23. And I will sow her as a seed, for my own-self, in the earth;

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"Holy Land, then a general conversion shall take place of the race of Judah, and the race of the ten tribes. They shall "unite in one confession, and in one polity, under one king, "Christ the Saviour." Bp. Horsley in loc.

"Great and happy

* Great shall be, the day of Jezrael.] "shall be the day, when the holy seed of both branches of the "natural Israel shall be publicly acknowledged of their God; "united under one head, their king Messiah; and restored to "the possession of the promised land, and to a situation of "high pre-eminence among the kingdoms of the earth" (Bp. Horsley in loc.). Great likewise will this day be, as a day of judgment upon the Antichristian fuction.

I will sow her.] "The myriads of the natural Israel, con"verted by the preaching of the Apostles, were the first seed "of the Universal Church. And there is reason to believe, "that the restoration of the converted Jews will be the occasion "and means of a prodigious influx of new converts from the "Gentiles in the. latter ages (Rom. xi. 12, 15.). Thus the "Jezrael of the naturul Israel from the first have been, and to "the last will prove, a seed sown of God for himself in the "earth." Bp. Horsley in loc.

and with tenderness I will cherish her, that had been Lo-Ruhamah (the not beloved); and I will say to Lo-Ammi (no people of mine), Ammi (my own people) art thou; and he shall say, My God.

iii. 1. And the Lord said unto me again, Go, love the woman addicted to wickedness and an adultress; after the manner of the Lord's love for the children of Israel, although they look to other gods, and are addicted to goblets of wine. 2. So I owned her as my own by fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer and a half of barley. 3. And I said unto her, Many days shalt thou tarry for me *; thou shalt not play the wanton, and thou shalt not have to do with a husband, neither will I with thee.

4. For many days shall the children of Israel tarry, without king, and without ruler †, and without sacrifice, and without statue, and without

* Many days shalt thou tarry for me.] "The condition of "the woman, restrained from licentious courses, owned as a "wife, but without restitution of conjugal rites, admirably represents the present state of the Jews, manifestly owned as a peculiar people, withheld from idolatry, but as yet without access to God through the Saviour." Bp. Horsley in loc. + Without king and without ruler.] "Without a monaich, "and without any government of their own." Bp. Horsley in loc.

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↑ Without sacrifice.] Deprived of the means of offering "the typical sacrifices of the law, and having as yet no share "in the true sacrifice of Christ." Bp. Horsley in loc.

ephod and teraphim *. 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and seek the Lord and his goodness, in the futurity of days.

"After much con

* Without statue, ephod, and teraphim.] "sideration of the passage, and of much that has been written "upon it by expositors, I rest in the opinion strenuously main"tained by the learned Pocock; in which he agrees with many "that went before him, and has the concurrence of many that "came after, Luther, Calvin, Vatablus, Drusius, Livelye, "Houbigant, and Abp. Newcome, with many others of inferior "note: I rest, I say, after much consideration in the opinion, "that statue, ephod, and teraphim, are mentioned as principal "implements of idolatrous rites. And the sum of the 4th verse "is this: that for many ages the Jews would not be their own masters; would be deprived of the exercise of their own religion, in its most essential parts; not embracing the Christian, they would have no share in the true, service; and yet "would be restrained from idolatry, to which their forefathers "had been so prone. It is to be observed, that this 4th verse "is the exposition of the type of the prophet's dealing with "his wife. If the restriction of the Jews from idolatry is not "mentioned, we have nothing in the exposition answering to "that article of the typical contract with the woman, Thou "shalt not play the wanton. And certainly the restriction from "idolatry is not mentioned in this 4th verse at all, if it be not "represented by tarrying without statue, without ephod, and teraphim." Bp. Horsley in loc.

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"Quæso

The exposition of Vitringa is to the same purpose. "jam, respice sortem hujus gentis in præsenti exilio. Est per "divortium separata a Deo, nec tamen facta alteri viro. Non transiit ad alias nuptias. Abstinet idololatria, et vult eti"amnum censeri populus Dei, expectans gratiam sibi foedere "condictam, ut clarissimè præcinerat Hoseas." Vitring. in Isa. 1. 2.

COM

COMMENTARY.

God, having foretold by the mouth of Hosea the subversion of the two kingdoms of Judah aud Israel, declares, with reference to the first restoration from Babylon, that he will no more cherish with tenderness the house of Israel, but that the house of Judah he will cherish with tenderness. Afterwards, with reference to the second restoration, he promises that the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea; that the children of Judah shall be collected, and that the children of Israel shall be united with them; and that they shall appoint themselves one head, even Christ the Lord. For, although they shall continue many days without any independent polity, without availing themselves of the great mediatorial sacrifice, and yet without relapsing into the idolatry of their fathers; they shall, nevertheless, return at length from their captivity, and in future times seek the Lord their God and the mystical David their king.