Hosea 6:4

A threefold theme.

"O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away."

"What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim!

What shall I do to thee, O Judah!

For your goodness is like the morning cloud,

And like the dew which early departeth"

(Henderson)

Here we have a threefold theme of thought.

I. DIVINE SOLICITUDE . Here the Infinite condescends to speak after the manner of men, that men may appreciate him. The language seems to imply:

1. I have done much for thee . It has the sound of another utterance, "What more could I have done to my vineyard that has not been done in it?" ( Isaiah 5:4 ). God has done much for Ephraim and Judah. He had given them emancipators, lawgivers, priests, prophets; granted to them for ages many signal and merciful manifestations of himself.

2. I am ready to do more . My heart overflows with compassion. Your rebellions and your iniquities have not exhausted my love. I am still ready to show you mercy.

3. I am fettered in my actions . I know not what to do; I am nonplussed. The Infinite has limits of action; Almightiness has restrictions. All things are not possible with God. It is not possible for him to tell a lie, it is not possible for him to be immoral, it is not possible for him to make moral intelligences virtuous and happy contrary to their will. Christ said to the men of Jerusalem, "I would, but ye would not." "What shall I do?" What wonderful language this for the Infinite to employ! His incapacity at this point is his glory. It is his glory that he will not outrage moral minds.

II. HUMAN PERVERSITY . The right answer to this appeal, "What shall I do unto thee?" would have been, "Whatever thou willest, Lord;" "Not our will, but thine, be done." We cordially submit to thine authority, we loyally acquiesce in thy arrangements, we lovingly yield to thy operations. This is the language of heaven, hence God knows no restrictions in his operations there; all go with him, and he pours forth his love freely and without restraint. On earth it is not so. Men set their wills in hostility to his. Their language is, "We will not have thee to reign over us." They are rebels, and will not lay down their arms of hostility and become loyal subjects, hence they must be crushed; they are diseased, and will not accept the means he has prescribed for their restoration; they are captives, and will not leave their ceils though he has thrown their doers wide open; they are paupers dying of starvation, but will not take from him the Bread of life which he offers to them without money and without price. Hence he says, "What shall I do unto thee?" I can reverse the laws of nature, I can break up old universes and create new ones; but I cannot make beings whom! have endowed with the power of freedom virtuous and happy contrary to their own will. "Why will ye die?"

III. EVANESCENT GOODNESS . "Your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away." Whether the goodness here refers exclusively to human kindness or includes some amount of pious sentiment, it matters not; it was so evanescent that it was of no worth. It was like the cloud, empty, fickle, disappointing. When it appeared first, men thought it had in it the refreshing element, and they expected a shower to come down on the parched earth; but a gust of wind came and swept it out of sight. Like the "early dew," it sparkles as diamonds on the greensward for a short hour, but is soon exhaled by the summer beams. Evanescent goodness is worthless. Most men have some amount of goodness in them, which continues for a time and then passes away. Goodness is of no worth to any being until it becomes supreme and permanent .

CONCLUSION . Thank God for endowing thee with freedom; it is a fearful power. It gives to men a widely different destiny even here.

"From the same cradle's side,

From the same mother's knee,

One to long darkness and the frozen tide,

One to the peaceful seal"

But a destiny in eternity infinitely more dissimilar. It leads some to God ' s heights of blessedness, others to the deepest depths of perdition.—D.T.