Charles Spurgeon Commentary Hosea 11
Charles Spurgeon Commentary
Hosea 11
Charles Spurgeon Commentary
Hosea 11
Commentary Groups
This author has written multiple commentaries over their lifetime on this chapter. We have grouped their commentaries for easier reading."When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." — Hosea 11:1 (ASV)
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
God's love was very early love. He began with the nation of Israel when it was a mere handful of men in Egypt. There he multiplied them; and, in due time, he called them out from among the heathen. God's love to some of us manifested itself at a very early period of our lives, when we were still children. It is among our most joyous memories that we have known the Lord since our youth. Happy man, happy woman, of whom God can say, as he said concerning his ancient people, When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
"The more [the prophets] called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images." — Hosea 11:2 (ASV)
As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
The nation of Israel did not fulfill the promise of its youth; it was not faithful to God. The people heard from the lips of Moses the command Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: yet they turned aside continually to the idols of the nations. Have some of us not also, although we have been loved by God, been faithless to him? Can we not look back, with great regret and sorrow, upon our many stumblings and backslidings? If it is so, let us repent of our sin, and never repeat it.
"When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." — Hosea 11:1 (ASV)
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
God remembers what he did for us when we were young; and sin against him is much aggravated by his long kindness to us. He brings this up against his rebellious people, When Israel was a child, then I loved him. Some of you may remember your childhood with deep regret – when you used to sing your hymn, and bow your knees on your mother's lap. Times have greatly changed since then, but God remembers them.
"The more [the prophets] called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images." — Hosea 11:2 (ASV)
As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
These people only had to be called away, and away they went.
There are some of that sort. You have only to beckon them anywhere. Like a dog that is whistled to, they will follow anybody's call. They leave God for anything, for nothing. These people went and forgot the true God, and burnt incense to graven images.
"When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." — Hosea 11:1 (ASV)
When Israel was a child,
When the nation was yet young, and had scarcely started on its march among the peoples of the earth: When Israel was a child,—
Then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
God's love does not depend upon the standard of our spiritual attainments. While we are still children in grace, the Father's love is set upon us, as it was upon Israel in its beginnings as a nation.
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