Matthew Henry

The whirlwind has wrapped them in its wings, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.

“And then they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices, ashamed of their sin in offering sacrifice to idols, ashamed of their folly in putting themselves to such an expense upon gods that have no power to help them, and thereby making that God their…”

“Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O royal house!

“Note, Those that allure and entice men to sin, however they may pretend friendship and good-will, are to be looked upon as snares and nets to them, and their hands as bands, Eccl. vii.”

The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I will chastise them all.

“God himself had been a rebuker of them all by their own consciences and by his providences. Note, Sins against reproof are doubly sinful, Prov. xxix.”

I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.

“Nay, the piercing eye of God saw the spirit of whoredom that was in the midst of them, their secret inclination and disposition to those sins, the love they had to their sins, and the dominion their sins had over them, how much they were…”

Israel’s arrogance testifies against them; Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; even Judah stumbles with them.

“Their pride kept them from repenting of their iniquity, and therefore they shall fall in it. Note, Those that are not humbled for their sins are likely to perish for ever in their sins.”

They go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they do not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.

“Nor shall those speed who do not seek the Lord while he may be found, for there is a time when he will not be found.”

Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.

“Note, The destruction of impenitent sinners is a thing which shall surely be; it is not mere talk, to frighten them, but it is an irrevocable sentence.”

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols.

“Note, Nothing gives greater advantage to a mastiff-like tyranny, that is fierce and furious, than a spaniel-like submission, that is fawning and flattering. Thus is Ephraim oppressed and broken in judgment, that is, he is wronged under a face and colour of right.”

When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.

“Those who repent not that they have offended God by their sins are loth to be beholden to him in their afflictions, but would rather seek relief any where than with him. And what is the consequence?”

For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away.

“Note, If less judgments prevail not to do their work, it may be expected that God will send greater. Christ is sometimes a lion of the tribe of Judah, here he is a lion against that tribe.”

After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence.

“And it is every way suitable that a prophecy of Christ's rising should be thus expressed, "He will raise us up, and we shall live," for Christ rose as the first-fruits, and we revive with him, we live through him; he rose for our justification…”

So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the…

“We shall know, we shall follow to know, the Lord, (so the words are); and it may be taken as the fruit of Christ's resurrection, and the life we live in God's sight by him, that we shall have not only greater means of knowledge…”

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.

“What their conduct was towards God: Their goodness, or kindness, was as the morning cloud. Some understand it of their kindness to themselves and their own souls, in their repentance; it is indeed mercy to ourselves to repent of our sins, but they soon retracted…”

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.

“The prophet turns to him and acknowledges, Thy judgments are as the light that goes forth, evidently just and righteous.”

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

“Our Saviour quotes this to show that moral duties are to be preferred before rituals whenever they come in competition, and to justify himself in eating with publicans and sinners, because it was in mercy to the souls of men, and in healing on the…”

But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

“There is something sacred and binding in a man's covenant (as the apostle shows, Gal. iii. 15 ), but much more in the covenant of God, which yet they made small account of; and there in that covenant they dealt treacherously, promised fair, but performed…”

Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people from captivity.

“The general judgment is compared to a harvest ( Matt. xiii. 39 ), so are particular judgments, Joel iii.”

But they fail to consider in their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds are all around them; they are before My face.

“This is the sinner's atheism; as good say that there is no God as say that he is either ignorant or forgetful, that there is none that judges in the earth as that he remembers not the things he is to give judgment upon.”

Foreigners consume his strength, but he does not notice. Even his hair is streaked with gray, but he does not know.

“Their regardlessness of these warnings: He knows it not; he is not aware of the hand of God gone out against him; it is lifted up, but he will not see, Isa. xxvi.”

Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against Me! Though I would redeem them, they speak lies against Me.

“Note, The woes of God's word have real effects; destruction makes them good. The judgments of his hand shall verify the judgments of his mouth. Those whom he curses, and pronounces woeful, they are cursed, they are woeful indeed.”

They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.

“To pray is to lift up the soul to God, this is the essence of prayer. If this be not done, words, though ever so well chosen, are but wind; but, if it be, it is an acceptable prayer, though the groanings cannot be uttered.”

They turn, but not to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow.

“Such were their essays towards repentance and reformation. (2.) The sin of the princes of Israel. That which is charged upon them is the rage of their tongue, quarrelling with God and his providence and with all about them when they are crossed.”

But Israel has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him.

“But, if we make it to point at the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes by the king of Assyria, we must reckon it is the body of that people which as Israelites, to whom pertained the adoption, the glory, and the covenants…”

They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction.

“So they did when they revolted from their allegiance to the house of David, and set up Jeroboam, wherein, though they fulfilled God's secret counsel, yet they aimed not at his glory, nor consulted his oracle, nor applied to him by prayer for direction, nor…”

He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

“They in trouble cry, How long will it be ere God return to us in a way of mercy? but they do not hear him ask, How long will it be ere they return to God in a way of duty?”