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Hos_10:13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
Ver. 13. Ye have plowed wickedness] The former exhortation was even spilt upon them; for they went on to plot and plough wickedness; they had their necks in the devil’s yoke, and promoted his kingdom with sides and shoulders; they let out the strength of their spirits for the furtherance of sin, and were at no small pains to go to hell, as being the devil’s hinds and horses to draw his plough, Pro_21:4. "Even as I have seen," saith Eliphaz, "they that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same," Job_4:8. Ye have reaped iniquity, saith our prophet, that is dignum factis praemium, the reward of your wickedness. And her iniquity is opposed to mercy in the former verse, as wickedness also is to righteousness; or wickedness may be taken for their apostasy, idolatry, and creature confidence; and iniquity for the rest of their enormities, proceeding from those former; for these wicked ones are never out of action. Arant, serunt, errant, scelera, they plough, sow, and harrow mischief (Plaut. Capt. Act_3:1-26. sc. 5); so that would they but take the like pains for heaven that they do for hell, they could not lightly miss it.
Ye have eaten the fruit of lies] That is, ye have been deceived by your false prophets and state politicians; whose fetch it is to formalize and enervate the power of truth, till at length they have left you a heartless and sapless religion. Ye have fed hungerly upon the murdering morsels of sin; and that is the reason that there is so much ill blood among you. Your bread is that panis mendacii bread of falsehood, Solomon speaks of Pro_20:17, full of grit and gravel, made up with sawdust (as they served the martyrs) and mixed with lime, as the treacherous Greeks dealt by the Western Christians, marching towards the Holy Land.
Because thou didst trust in thy way] In thy calf worship. Way is often put for religion; and every action men do is a step either to heaven or to hell: he that walketh uprightly walketh safely. These idolaters were very confident of their way; so are our Papists, and other heretics; as David George, that pestilent Libertine, was fully persuaded that the whole world would submit to him. And Campian, Coster, and other zealous Papists tell us to our heads that our religion is error, ourselves heretics, our end destruction; that one heaven cannot hold us hereafter, one Church now, &c. Thus "the way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth to counsel" (as no confident fool will) "is wise," Pro_12:15.
And in the multitude of their mighty men] This made them ready to boast, as that young king of Hungary did, that though the sky should fall down upon them, yet they were men enough, and strong enough, with their pikes to bear it up. These Ephraimites liked their way of false worship the better because backed by a strong army. That way the mighty men go, that shall be trodden; this is a secret bias, a strong poise upon the spirits of most men. Rev_13:4, when power and authority was put into Antichrist’s hands, the whole world wondered after him. But cursed be that man that maketh flesh his arm, Jer_17:5. I will not trust in my bow, my sword shall not save me, saith David. "There is no king saved by the multitude of a host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength," Psa_33:16. See Psa_146:3-5.