ptness of the transition. It is
explained from the circumstance, that behind even the darkest clouds of
wrath which have gathered over the Congregation of the Lord, there is,
nevertheless, concealed the sun of mercy. In the prophets, it sometimes
breaks through suddenly and abruptly; but in this they are at one with
history, in which the deepest darkness of the night is oftentimes
suddenly illuminated by the shining of the Lord: "And at midnight there
was a cry made: Behold, the bridegroom cometh."

The sum and substance of Hosea's prophetic announcement is the
following:--Israel falls, through Asshur: Judah, the main tribe, shall
be preserved from destruction in this catastrophe. (The prophet's
tender care for Judah is strikingly brought out in his exhortation to
Israel, in iv. 15, that they should desist from their compromises in
religion, and that, if they chose to commit sin, they should rather
desert the Lord altogether, lest by their hypocrisy Judah also should
be seduced and infected.) But at a later period, Judah too is to fall
under the divine judgment (ii. 2 [i. 11], where it is supposed that
Judah shall also be carried away into captivity; v. 5: "Israel and
Ephraim fall by their iniquity, Judah also falleth with them;" v. 12:
"I am unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness;"
compare also xii. 1, 3), although the immediate instruments of the
judgment upon Judah are not mentioned [Pg 183] by Hosea. But the
judgments which the two houses of Israel draw upon themselves by their
works (ii. 2 [i. 11], iii. 5, indicate that even Judah will, at some
future time, rebel against the house of David) shall be followed by the
deliverance to be accomplished by grace. Judah and Israel shall, in the
future, be again gathered together under one head, ii. 2 (i. 11); a
glorious king out of David's house not only restores what was lost, but
also raises the Congregation of the Lord to a decree of glory never
before conceived of, iii. 5: "Afterwards shall the children of Israel
return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall
fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days."

The peculiarity of the Messianic prophecies of Hosea, as compared with
those of the time of David and Solomon, consists in the connection of
the promise with threatenings of judgments, and in the Messiah's
appearing as the light of those who walk in the deepest darkness of the
divine judgments. It was necessary that