Salvation, not of man, but of God.
It may well be that there was in this verse a prediction of one certain definite interposition of the Lord on behalf of Judah. Whilst the northern kingdom should be forsaken, and consequently conquered and desolated, Judah, it was foretold, should experience a very signal instance of Divine delivering mercy. The destruction of the host of Sennacherib, when
"The angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breath'd in the face of the foe as he pass'd,"
exactly corresponds with the language of this verse. Human power and bravery were not the means of the deliverance of Jerusalem; this was due to the intervention of a Divine and omnipotent hand. It is well that pious minds should recognize the wisdom and the power of God in every work of deliverance, and especially in the unparalleled interposition wrought on behalf of our humanity by Jesus Christ our Savior.
I. MAN'S SALVATION IS NOT WROUGHT BY HUMAN MIGHT.
1. History records the insufficiency, the vanity, of all human endeavors to effect the deliverance of man from sin. Rulers by legislation, warriors by arms, philosophers by systems of thought, poets by emotion and imagination, have all essayed the reformation, the moral elevation, of the race; and all who have tried have failed. The wisdom of the world has been proved folly, and its strength weakness.
2. The explanation of this failure is not far to seek. All human means are powerless in affecting the government of God; whatever is to affect that must of necessity originate with the Divine Governor himself. And all human means fail to reach the root of the mischief in man's spiritual nature. They deal with the surface, but do not penetrate to the center; they do not reach the heart of the individual; they do not, consequently, prove able to reconstitute society.
II. SALVATION IS FROM THE LORD OUR GOD, AND FROM HIM ONLY.
1. It might be presumed that such is the case, from the infinity of the Divine resources. God is not buffed in the execution of his purposes, as men constantly are, by insufficient power. On the one hand, the nature of his creatures is accessible to him, and is known perfectly by him; on the other hand, the means of affecting that nature are all at his disposal.
2. We observe the supreme proof of this in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
APPLICATION. This declaration is especially encouraging to those who feel pro-roundly at once their own need of salvation and the insufficiency of all human provision; a Divine interposition satisfies all the conditions and necessities of the sinner's case.—T.
Rejection and restoration.
Paradox is often the highest truth. Consistency is the idol of the logician. And not only is the course of the wise and good man now and again at variance with itself; God's ways sometimes appear to us as returning upon themselves. Yet there is a moral unity and order observable, even when the "dealings" of the Divine King with his subjects seem inexplicable and at first sight irreconcilable.
I. THE UTTER REJECTION OF ISRAEL FORETOLD. Stronger language of repudiation could not be used than that which is used here. Irene is completely disowned. "Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God." The adulterous spouse is divorced, cast out, and forgotten. The idolatrous nation is joined unto idols, and the aggrieved Husband of the adulteress pronounces the sentence, "Let her alone." In all this we discern the degradation into which sin plunges the ungodly. And we discern, too, the righteous rule of the Lord of all, who will not treat evil as good, and who will vindicate his Law.
II. THE GLORIOUS RESTORATION AND PROSPERITY OF ISRAEL ASSURED. In startling contrast to the denunciation of Hosea 1:9, is the gracious and generous promise of Hosea 1:10.
1. Increase and prosperity are denoted by the common expression, "as the sand of the sea."
2. Favor is expressed in the assurance that those who had been disowned as the subjects of God shall yet be regarded as his sons. The very spot that had echoed with the thunder of wrath should resound with the language of fatherly complacency and affection.
III. THE RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE TWO DECLARATIONS. In several places in this prophecy similar paradox is met with; there is a strange and sudden reversal of tone and language.
1. The change is not in the principles of God's government, but in the condition and character of God's subjects. Repentance and renewal are undoubtedly presumed.
2. The two sides of religion are thus harmonized. The law threatens, the gospel promises; but both alike tend to the moral good of men and to the glory of God.
3. The reconciliation is supremely effected in the gospel of Jesus Christ; by him came grace and truth, and he made peace.—T.