sin as consisting in the rebellion
which set up a king and in the schism which established the calf
worship; while there is also a double phase of the punishment
corresponding to these, in the annihilation of the kingdom and the
destruction of the idols.

The first section may be taken to be verses 1-3. The image of a
luxuriant vine laden with fruit is as old as Jacob's blessing of the
tribes (Gen. xlix. 22), where it is applied to Joseph, whose descendants
were the strength of the Northern Kingdom. Hosea has already used it,
and here it is employed to set forth picturesquely the material
prosperity of Israel. Probably the period referred to is the successful
reign of Jeroboam II. But prosperity increased sin. The more fruit or
material wealth, the more altars; the better the harvests, the more the
obelisks or pillars to gods, falsely supposed to be the authors of the
blessings. The words are as condensed as a proverb, and are as true
to-day as ever. Israel had attributed its prosperity to Baal (Hosea ii.
8). The misuse of worldly wealth and the tendency of success to draw us
away from God, and to blind to the true source of all blessing, are as
rife now as then.

The root of the evil was, as always, a heart divided--that is, between
God and Baal--or, perhaps, 'smooth'; that is, dissimulating and
insincere. In reality, Baal alone possesses the heart which its owner
would share between him and Jehovah. 'All in all, or not at all,' is the
law. Whether Baals or calves were set beside God, He was equally
deposed.

Then, with a swift turn, Hosea proclaims the impending judgment, setting
himself and the people as if already in the future. He hears the first
peal of the storm, and echoes it in that abrupt 'now.' The first burst
of the judgment shatters dreams of innocence, and the cowering wretches
see their sin by the lurid light. That discovery awaits every man whose
heart has been 'divided.' To the gazers and to himself masks drop, and
the true character stands out with appalling clearness. What will that
light show us to be? An unnamed hand overthrows altars and pillars. No
need to say whose it is. One half of Israel's sin is crushed at a blow,
and the destruction of the other follows immediately.

They themselves abjure their allegiance; for they have found out that
their king is a king Log, and can do them no good. A king, set up in
opposition to God's will, cannot save. The ruin of their projects
teaches godless me