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Hos_7:13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
Ver. 13. Woe unto them! for they have fled from me] As Cain (the devil’s patriarch) did when he went out from the presence of the Lord, in his father’s family, into the land of Nod, Gen_4:16, being himself a "have not," that is, a runaway, Hos_7:12, of the same root that is here made use of in the text (Nadedu). Now as that land took name of Cain, and his woeful state therein, so is every land and place a Nod to apostates; and St Jude throws a woe after them, "Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain," Jdg_1:11, that is, they have wickedly departed from God and his blessing, and gotten into the world’s warm sun; yea, they not only go from God, but flee from him in hurried haste, as from an enemy; a metaphor from birds flying amain: Pro_27:8, "As a bird that wandereth from her nest" (where God took order for her security, Deu_22:6-7), "so is a man that wandereth from his place" (how much more from his God, that infinite good!), exposed to misery and mischief, to ruth and ruin. Woe to such, yea, double woe: Woe and alas: destruction to such, and devastation, as the word signifieth, שׁø . Perdition and destruction, as the apostle phraseth it, 1Ti_6:9, whereby is meant torments without end, and past imagination; remediless misery, mischief without measure. This truth must be told, however it be taken, that wicked men may not perish without warning. Toothless truths and silken words would better please people, who are most of them sick of a Noli me tangere, and cry out against these fierce preachers, that come with their Woe unto them, Destruction unto them, &c. This is the way, say they, to drive men into utter despair. We answer, first, if it should be so, yet that is not the proper effect of the word so dispensed; but to abate the pleasure that reprobates take in sin, and to restrain them from outrage; that they despair, it proceeds merely from their own corruption and guiltiness. They reply, that it comes rather from the severity of the teachers, who set themselves to preach damnation, and utter terrible things. Secondly, therefore, we answer, that the mad world (ever beside itself in point of salvation) is herein very much mistaken. Let them give us an instance of any one that was ever driven to despair by the sincere preaching of the word: and yet for one bitter word given by us, the prophets gave ten. This whole Prophecy of Hosea is much more comminatory then consolatory. God himself comes here with Woe unto them, Destruction to them. Indeed by this pathetic exclamation he declareth his affection toward them whom he threateneth; and how little delight he takes either in their destruction or in such denunciation thereof; and so must God’s ministers, &c.
Because they have transgressed against me] This is a new degree of their apostasy from God. Wicked men and deceivers grow worse and worse, and add rebellion to sin. As a stone will fall down to come to its centre, though it break itself in twenty pieces; so will apostates, till they come to their own place with Judas; they cease not till they become altogether filthy, Psa_53:3, as the dog at his vomit, or the sow in her slough, 2Pe_2:22. It fareth with such as in that case, Lev_13:18-20; if a man had a boil healed, and it afterwards broke out, it proved the plague of leprosy.
Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me] All was done against God, whence the word "me" is so often inculcated in this and the next verse. God is, as it were, a sufferer in all the sins of the sons of men; and this is no small aggravation of the evil of sin, that it strikes at God’s face, lifts at his throne, makes to his dishonour. "Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, and wearied me with thine iniquities," Isa_43:23. And to show this to be so, it was, that the offender was confined to the city of refuge during the high priest’s life, as being the chief god on earth. Good David was very sensible of this, and much humbled, when he said, "Against thee, thee only have I sinned," Psa_51:4. The trespass was against Uriah, but the transgression against God, so gracious a God; and there lay the pinch of his grief; viz. the unkindness that was in his sin. Therefore also Moses, in his swan song, sets on this humbling consideration, Deu_32:6, "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father?" and wilt thou kick against his naked bowels? hast nowhere else to hit him but there? Again, "Is not he thy Redeemer," that hath bought thee, and brought thee out of the iron furnace, where thou labouredst in the very fire, and wast wearied out with unsufferable servitude? More, "hath he not made thee," and dost thou rebel against thy Maker, thy Master? Or, "hath he not made thee," that is, exalted thee? in which sense he is said to have made Moses and Aaron, 1Sa_12:6, that is, to have advanced them to that honour in his Church; and so we say, such a one is made for ever. Lastly, "hath he not established thee," that thou mightest abide in his grace, and remain unmoveable? and dost thou yet "evil requite him?" &c. To render good for evil is divine; good for good is human; evil for evil is brutish; but evil for good is devilish. See how grievously God taketh it here. "Though I have redeemed them," viz. out of the hands of their enemies in general (see an ample proof hereof, Neh_9:1-38 and the whole Book of Judges throughout), and in special, as a late particular mercy to Ephraim; I have delivered and prospered them in their wars, under Jeroboam, the son of Joash, 2Ki_14:27, and therefore they should have given me their good word at least, and spoken good of my name; yet "they have spoken lies against me," ascribing the glory of their deliverances to their idols, or arrogating it to themselves, or fathering their false worship upon me as the author, or at least, abettor thereof, by my present prospering of them. See Jer_7:10.