Hosea 10:12-15

Moral husbandry.

Israel's duty is here contrasted with their practice.

I. THE KIND OF HUSBANDRY ISRAEL OUGHT TO HAVE FOLLOWED . ( Hosea 10:12 )

1. Preparation of the soil . Israel is first bid to sow; then going a step further back, the people are commanded, "Break up your fallow ground." If fruits of righteousness are to be produced, it needs, not simply a weeding and recultivation of the old soil—the natural, unrenewed heart—but the preparation of a soil entirely new. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" ( John 3:6 ). Ezekiel, accordingly, promises that God will take away the hard and stony heart from Israel, and will give them a heart of flesh ( Ezekiel 36:26 ). The first need of our souls is renewal. Yet we have the duty laid on us of seeking this renewal, and of co-operating (by prayer, use of means of grace, faith, repentance) in bringing it about. "Make you a new heart, and a new spirit" ( Ezekiel 18:31 ).

2. Sowing in the soil . The sowing is to be "in righteousness," i.e. in the practice of truth, kindness, justice, mercy, godliness, and everything else which the Law of God requires. Each must sow for himself. The sowing cannot be done by proxy. Sowing in righteousness is "for ourselves" in the sense also that our own highest well-being is involved in it ( Psalms 19:11 ). Righteousness in the long run profits the doer himself more than it profits any other. It is his "life" ( Deuteronomy 32:47 ).

3. Waiting on God . "For it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." As in the outer world rain is indispensable to growth, so is the blessing of God, given in rains of his Spirit, essential to growth in grace. In raining the Spirit upon us, God rains righteousness. Cause is put for effect. It is the Spirit's influences which cause righteousness to spring up. This waiting on God must accompany the whole process. It implies an earnest direction of the heart, supplication, and patient looking for the blessing. It is always "time" for the sinner to seek the Lord. He cannot do it too soon.

4. The gracious reaping . "Reap in mercy." Not according to desert, but according to God's infinite grace and love. The reaping is

II. THE KIND OF HUSBANDRY ISRAEL DID FOLLOW . (Verse 13)

1. Instead of " sowing in righteousness," Israel ploughed wickedness . They took pains to do evil, bestowed labor upon it, prepared the soil in which it might grow, and seemed to delight in multiplying transgressions. If God's people were as diligent in cultivating goodness as sinners are in cultivating sin, the Church would soon be in a healthier condition.

2. Instead of " reaping in mercy," they reaped iniquity . Sin brought forth sin. They served 'iniquity unto iniquity'" ( Romans 6:19 ). As weeds multiply quicker than good gram, so sin, in the same space of time, yields a far greater harvest (of its own kind) than righteousness.

3. Instead of spiritual and temporal blessings, Israel reaped disappointment and ruin .