(compare Hos_2:2):--“Let her put away her whoredoms,” etc. What should we learn hereby, but that it hangs upon our own will whether God suspend the judgment orno? For we ought not to impute our own evil to God, or impiously think that fate rules us. In other words, this or that evil comes, not because God foreknew or foreordained it, but because this evil was to be, or would be, done, therefore God both foreknew it, and prefixed His sentence upon it. Why then does God predetermine an irrevocable sentence? Because He foresaw incorrigible malice. Why, again, after pronouncing sentence, doth God counsel amendment? That we may know, by experience, that they are incorrigible. Therefore He waits for them, although they will not return, and with much patience invites them to repentance. Moreover, individuals repented, although the nation was incorrigible. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Incorrigible sinners
1. However the Lord may for a time spare sinners, and they be ready to sleep because of this; yet at last when their cup is full, and they have proven themselves incorrigible, judgment will certainly come.
2. However a carnal church may be ready to swell with conceit of her own enjoyments and excellences, yet the Lord needs no more to make her miserable, but take away what He hath given her, and leave her as He found her. Sin will prove a wasting plague to souls. (George Hutcheson.)
