Worship service 02/08/26.

Greetings and call to worship.

Greetings and good morning, saints and Christian brethren. Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied to you through the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We are gathered once more on this Sabbath morning to bless and praise our great and glorious King for who He is and what he hath done for us. He hath taken us from our low estate and made us kings and priests in the city of our God, and we eagerly await the day that we are taken to be with Him where He is, where all love and glory dwelleth. Psalm 87:2-3 says, “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.” The Lord has chosen us for His special people, and that place where He is pleased to dwell, where His honor dwelleth in His church and in the hearts of His people. Let us therefore be glad, and shout to God with praise with the whole heart, for praise for the righteous is fitting. A Puritan minister writes, “Make conscience of keeping this day holy. The other commandments have an affirmative in them only, or a negative; this fourth commandment has both an affirmative in it and a negative. ‘Thou shalt keep the Sabbath day holy,’ and, ‘thou shalt not do any manner of work in it,’ shows how carefully God would have us observe this day. Not only must you keep this day yourselves, but have a care that all under your charge keep it; ‘Thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maidservant;’ that is, thou who art a superior, a parent or a master, thou must have a care that not only thou thyself, but those who are under thy trust and tuition, sanctify the day. Those masters of families are to blame who are careful that their servants serve them, but have no care that they serve God; who care not though their servants should serve the devil, so long as their bodies do them service. That which Paul says to Timothy, Serva depositum, ‘That good thing, which was committed unto thee, keep,’ is of large meaning. 1 Tim 1: 11. Not only have a care of thy own soul, but have a care of the souls thou art entrusted with. See that they who are under thy charge sanctify the Sabbath. God’s law provided, that if a man met with an ox or an ass going astray, he should bring him back again; much more, when thou sees the soul of thy child or servant going astray from God, and breaking his Sabbath, thou shouldest bring him back again to a religious observation of this day.”

Prayer unto the public reading of the Holy Scripture:
Our holy and righteous Father,
Full of all glory, justice, and righteousness,
Merciful and faithful—The Covenant God who will by no means clear the guilty, taking vengeance on them that follow after other gods, yet showing mercy to thousands that love thee with the whole heart and keep thy commandments:
We come before thee solemnly and sincerely, as those whom thou hast elected from before the creation of all worlds and purchased by the precious blood of thy Son, called out of darkness and brought into the fellowship of the gospel and the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We bow in all reverence before thy throne, knowing the severity of thy law, the holy requirements of the gospel, as well as our own vileness and unworthiness to draw so near unto thee.
We freely confess, O Lord, that apart from the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are denied access to the covenant promises, are under the wrath and curse of God, and must be cast from thy presence as an abominable thing. Moreover, we confess that without faith in the Mediator, consent to sound doctrine and a repentant heart, endeavouring to walk evenly and zealously for thee, which is the gracious work of the Spirit, we have no evidence of fellowship with thee. For we are by nature guilty and polluted, unable of ourselves to repent or return, and altogether unfit to render thee any service that is not defiled by sin. Therefore, do we confess our utter dependence on the Father’s love for our election, the Son’s righteousness for our justification and the Spirit’s work in our hearts for our sanctification. We believe that thou art our God, and the rewarder of them that diligently seek thy face. Therefore, inasmuch as we are convinced of our sin in Adam and the redemption in Jesus Christ alone, we cry out to thee for mercy: For pardoning mercy to cover our iniquities, And sanctifying mercy to make us meet for thy presence. Hear our prayers, deliver us from all trouble, cleanse us by the blood of Christ and the washing of the Spirit by the word. Sanctify us by the truth of thy word. Defend us from all evil, Strengthen our faith, subdue the lusts of the flesh that swell within us, And enable us to perform this holy service, Not in our own strength, But in the virtue which thou dost supply of thine own free goodness. And now, O Lord, as we come to the reading of thy holy word, we pray for a special blessing upon this portion of Scripture, that it may be effectual to build up thy holy church, which thou hast called thy special possession, and thy little flock. Open our hearts to receive it with meekness; Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and cause us by thy grace to live by it; And may the same Spirit who breathed life into the church in all ages; the fathers, apostles and prophets, the reformers and Puritans, so guide our whole lives, That we may grow up in Him in all things, even He who is the Bridegroom and Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, our Prophet, Priest and King. All this we ask in his most worthy name, Amen.

Devotional and doctrinal exposition on the Psalms:

Psalm 27 [17] (Verse 8): 1 David maketh this Psalm being delivered from great perils, as appeareth by the praises and thanksgiving annexed:  6 Wherein we may see the constant faith of David against the assaults of all his enemies. 7 And also the end wherefore he desireth to live and to be delivered, only to worship God in his Congregation.

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I request; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

8 When thou saidst, seek ye my face; my heart answered unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

9 Hide not therefore thy face from me; nor cast thy servant away in displeasure: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

10 Though my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a right path, because of mine enemies.

12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as speak cruelly.

13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Exposition:
We saw previously the nature and pattern of prayer: how God first stirs up His people to seek His face, and how they, being thus moved, answer and seek Him diligently. As it is written,

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

And again,

“Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” (Luke 13:23–24)

From this we learn that it is the very nature of faith to seek the Lord earnestly, and to expect all benefit from His hand alone. Faith is not idle assent to some things contained in scripture, but a living habit of the mind and soul fixed upon the high and heavenly things of God, on His holiness and truth. Therefore away with all idolatry, superstition, doubting, unbelief, and carnal contentment with outward form. God delights in true faith—in sincerity of heart—and in those who seek Him with zeal and devotion, delighting to do His commandments and endeavoring to mortify the sinful deeds of the body.

We should observe, then, in this verse several things of note.

1. “When thou saidst.” We are stirred in heart and spirit to seek God only when He first calls us by His own effectual work, and not before. 
2. “When thou saidst.” It is God who speaks with all majesty and authority. He it is who made us; He it is who begat us by His Word and Spirit; and to Him we owe all fealty, fidelity, and filial obedience.
   
3. “When thou saidst.” God speaks to us by His Word, and by His Word alone. Therefore, we are not to superstitiously look for outward signs, inward voices, or extraordinary impressions. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after signs. His Word is sufficient.
   
4. “Seek ye my face.” The whole Christian life, in a manner of speaking, is the seeking after God. To seek and to find the knowledge and glory of God, hidden and scattered throughout His Word, is the honour of kings, as the proverb saith.
   
5. “Seek ye my face.” The Lord both knows and effects what is best for His people; therefore He stirs them only to seek the best gifts, as the apostle speaks. And the greatest gift is this—to love the Lord with the whole heart. For though we speak with the tongues of the greatest poets and philosophers, or even of angels excelling beyond human eloquence, yet if we have not love—that is, holy diligence and zeal to seek His face, and to eschew wicked and blasphemous opinions and iniquitous forms of living—we are but sounding brass or a clanging cymbal, noisome and abhorrent. And if such noise is rejected by men of sense, how much more shall false worship be rejected by God?

Let us therefore come before Him with pure hearts, and answer His Word with “Yes” and “Amen,” that His Word may abide and dwell in us richly, that He may be our Lord and husband, and that we may be His faithful spouse and people.

Opening Prayer.
Our gracious and merciful Father in heaven,
righteous and true, just and mighty in power.

Thou who hast authority over all things,
and whose hand ordereth and directeth all according to perfect wisdom,
we praise thee and give thee honor
for thy truth, thy mercy, and thy love.

We give thee thanks that thou hast delivered us from many enemies,
that thou hast purged us from our sins,
and made us partakers of the blessed inheritance
laid up for thy people in heaven.

Therefore, continue thy grace and lovingkindness toward us,
and be merciful unto us according to thine own good pleasure.
Have regard unto us because of our enemies,
for they are full of malice and cruelty,
and blaspheme thy holy name
both in their doctrine and in their lives.

Deliver us from them, O Lord,
and bring their designs to nothing;
yet have mercy upon thy people,
for we are called by thy name
and do seek thy face according to thy word.

Grant us continual help and blessing,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
our Captain and Governor.

Amen.

Lesson 70. [1.2.44.] The Contents of Holy Scripture: The Prophets. Hosea. The prophet against the whoredoms of Israel.

Westminster Confession of Faith 1.2.

Under the name of holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments,
Genesis—Daniel, Hosea.
All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.

Intro. Hos. 1.

I. General Introduction to Hosea.

The prophecies of Hosea arise during one of the most outwardly prosperous and inwardly corrupt periods in the history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Hosea ministered primarily to Israel (often called Ephraim by the prophets) in the eighth century before Christ, a generation before the Assyrian captivity, when the nation stood ripe for judgment yet secure in its sin.

The opening verse:

Hosea 1:1

“The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.”

Jeroboam II (circa 793–753 B.C.) presided over a period of remarkable political stability, military success, and economic expansion for Israel. Scripture records:

2 Kings 14:23–25 

“In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.
He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher.”

This prosperity, however, only concealed deep covenantal decay. The worship of the LORD had been vitiated and corrupted by calf-worship at Bethel and Dan, the priesthood was illegitimate, and Baalism had been assimilated into the religious life of the nation. Gross moral corruption was normalized, and covenant faithfulness was treated with contempt. Hosea himself summarizes the condition of the land:

Hosea 4:1–2 

“Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.”

Hosea prophesied in the final decades before the Assyrian conquest of Israel in 722 B.C. His ministry addresses a nation that presumed upon election, trusted in outward prosperity, and clung to the name of the covenant while forsaking its substance. Fidelity and moral purity.

---

Why the Kings of Judah Are Named

Although Hosea’s prophetic burden is directed chiefly against the Northern Kingdom, the Spirit of God deliberately dates his ministry by the reigns of the kings of Judah as well as the king of Israel. This is neither incidental nor merely chronological.

First, Judah represents the legitimate continuation of the Davidic covenant. Though Judah itself would later fall into grievous sin and eventually into exile, the LORD had not yet rejected the house of David nor the temple in Jerusalem. By naming the kings of Judah, the text directly points to the place where lawful kingship, lawful worship, and covenant continuity had been planted.

This distinction is historically and covenantally important. Israel had severed itself from the house of David and from the divinely appointed place of worship. Jeroboam the son of Nebat established an alternative priesthood, alternative holy days, and alternative sanctuaries:

1 Kings 12:28–31

“Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.”

By dating Hosea’s ministry according to the kings of Judah, Scripture underscores that Israel’s apostasy was not merely moral but national, ecclesiastical and covenantal. They were not ignorant of the true order; they had knowingly and wickedly departed from it.

Second, the naming of Judah’s kings serves as a standing witness against Israel. While Israel boasted in prosperity and mocked the warnings of the prophets, Judah—though far from pure—still maintained the temple, the Aaronic priesthood, and the Davidic throne. Israel’s guilt is therefore aggravated: they sinned not in darkness, but in the presence of a visible witness.

Third, the inclusion of Judah anticipates the preservation of the remnant and the future hope of restoration. Hosea’s message is severe, but it is not without promise. Israel will be stripped of every false confidence so that salvation may be seen to rest wholly in the mercy of God. That mercy would ultimately be preserved through Judah, through David’s line, and finally through Christ, the Messiah.

Hosea 3:4–5 

“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
Afterward 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.”

Thus, the mention of the kings of Judah is not a historical curiosity, but a theological declaration: the covenant has not failed, though Israel has. The LORD will judge apostasy, yet preserve His promise, and in due time gather His people again under the true King, the Son of David.

II. Lessons from Hosea.

1. God had not forsaken Israel, yet the covenant line of kings was bound to Judah. (Hos. 1:1)
   
2. Israel committed great iniquity, departing from the Lord. (The controversy of Gomer. Hos. 1:2-3)
   Calvin, “The Prophet shows here what charge was given him at the beginning, even to declare open war with the Israelites, and to be, as it were, very angry in the person of God, and to denounce destruction. He begins not with smooth things, nor does he gently exhort the people to repentance, nor adopt a circuitous course to soften the asperity of his doctrine. He shows that he had used nothing of this kind, but says, that he had been sent like heralds or messengers to proclaim war. The beginning, then, of what the Lord spake by Hosea was this, “This people are an adulterous race, all are born, as it were, of a harlot, the kingdom of Israel is the filthiest brothel; and I now repudiate and reject them, I no longer own them as my children.” This was no common vehemence. We hence see that the word beginning was not set down without reason, but advisedly, that we may know that the Prophet, as soon as he undertook the office of teaching, was vehement and severe, and, as it were, fulminated against the kingdom of Israel.
   Now, if it be asked, why was God so greatly displeased? why did he not first recall the wretched men to himself, since the usual method seems to have been, that the Prophet tried, by a kind and paternal address, to restore those to a sound mind who had departed from the pure worship of God, — why, then, did not God adopt this ordinary course? But we hence gather that the diseases of the people were incurable. The Prophet, no doubt, intimates here distinctly, that he was sent by God, when the state of things was almost past recovery. We indeed know that God is not wont to deal so severely with men, but when he has tried all other remedies; and this may doubtless be easily learned from the records of Scripture. The ten tribes, immediately after their revolt from the family of David, having renounced the worship of God, embraced idolatry and ungodly superstitions. They ought to have retained in their minds the recollection of this oracle, ‘The Lord has chosen mount Zion, where he has desired to be worshipped; this,’ he said ‘is my rest forever; here will I dwell, for I have chosen it,’ (Psalms 132:13.) And this prediction, we know, had not been once or ten times repeated, but a hundred times, that it might be more firmly fixed in the hearts of men. Since, then, they ought to have had this truth fully impressed on their hearts, that the Lord would have himself worshipped nowhere except on mount Zion, it was monstrous stupidity in them to erect a new temple and to make the calves. That the people, then, had so quickly fallen away from God was an instance of the most perverse madness. But, as I have said, they had reached the highest point of impiety. When God punished so great sins by Jehu, the people ought then to have returned to the pure worship of God, and there was some reformation in the land; but they ever reverted to their own nature, yea, the event proved that they only dissembled for a short time; so blinded they were by a diabolical perverseness, that they ever continued in their superstitions. It is not, then, to be wondered at, that the Lord made this beginning by Hosea, “Ye are all born of fornication, your kingdom is the filthiest brothel; ye are not my people, ye are not beloved.” Who, then, will not allow, that God, by fulminating in so dreadful a manner against this people, dealt justly with them, and for the best reason? The contumacy of the people was so indomitable that it could be overcome in no other way. We now understand why the Prophet used this expression, The beginning of speaking which God mad.
   Then it follows, in Hosea. He had said in the first verse, The word of Jehovah which was to Hosea; he now says, נהושע,beusho, in Hosea; and he adds God spake and said to Hosea, repeating the preposition used in the first verse. The word of the Lord is said to have been to Hosea, not simply because God addressed the Prophet, but because he sent him forth with certain commissions, for in this sense is the word of God said to have been to the Prophets. God addresses his word also indiscriminately to others whomsoever he is pleased to teach by his word, but he speaks to and addresses his Prophets in a peculiar way, for he makes them the ministers and heralds of his word, and puts, as it were, into their mouth what they afterwards bring forth to the people. So Christ says, that the word of God came to kings, because he constitutes and appoints them to govern mankind. “If he calls them gods,” he says, “to whom the word of God came;” and that psalm, we know, was written with a special reference to kings. We now perceive what this sentence in the first verse contains. The word of God came to Hosea; for the Lord did not simply address the Prophet in a common way, but furnished him with instructions, that he might afterwards teach the people, as it were, in the person of God himself.
   
   Go, he says, take to thee a wife of wantonness, and the children of wantonness; and the reason is added, for by fornicating, or wantoning, has the land grown wanton. He doubtless speaks here of the vices which the Lord had long endured with inexpressible forbearance. By wantoning then has the land grown wanton, that it should not follow Jehovah.
   
   Here interpreters labour much, because it seems very strange that the Prophet should take a harlot for a wife. Some say that this was an extraordinary case. (3) Certainly such a license could not have been borne in a teacher. We see what Paul requires in a bishop, and no doubt the same was required formerly in the Prophets, that their families should be chaste and free from every stain and reproach. It would have then exposed the Prophet to the scorn of all, if he had entered a brothel and taken to himself a harlot; for he speaks not here of an unchaste woman only, but of a woman of wantonness, which means a common harlot, for a woman of wantonness is she called, who has long habituated herself to wantonness, who has exposed herself to all, to gratify the wish of all, who has prostituted herself, not once nor twice, nor to few men, but to all. That this was done by the Prophet seems very improbable. But some reply as I have said, that this ought not to be regarded as a common rule, for it was an extraordinary command of God. And yet it seems not consistent with reason, that the Lord should thus gratuitously render his Prophet contemptible; for how could he expect to be received on coming abroad before the public, after having brought on himself such a disgrace? If he had married a wife such as is here described, he ought to have concealed himself for life rather than to undertake the Prophetic office. Their opinion, therefore, is not probable, who think that the Prophet had taken such a wife as is here described.
   
   Then another reason, utterly unresolvable, militates against them; for the Prophet is not only bidden to take a wife of wantonness, but also children of wantonness, begotten by whoredom. It is, therefore, the same as if he himself had committed whoredom. (4) For if we say that he married a wife who had previously conducted herself with some indecency and want of chastity, (as Jerome at length argues in order to excuse the Prophet,) the excuse is frivolous, for he speaks not only of the wife, but also of the children, inasmuch as God would have the whole offspring to be adulterous, and this could not be the case in a lawful marriage. Hence almost all the Hebrews agree in this opinion, that the Prophet did not actually marry a wife, but that he was bidden to do this in a vision. And we shall see in the third chapter (Hosea 3:1) almost the same thing described; and yet what is narrated there could not have been actually done, for the Prophet is bidden to marry a wife who had violated her conjugal fidelity, and after having bought her, to retain her at home for a time. This, we know, was not done. It then follows that this was a representation exhibited to the people.
   
   Some object and say, that the whole passage, as given by the Prophet, cannot be understood as relating a vision. Why not? For the vision, they say, was given to him alone, and God had a regard to the whole people rather than to the Prophet. But it may be, and it is probable, that no vision was presented to the Prophet, but that God only ordered him to proclaim what had been given him in charge. When, therefore, the Prophet began to teach, he commenced somewhat in this way: “The Lord places me here as on a stage, to make known to you that I have married a wife, a wife habituated to adulteries and whoredoms, and that I have begotten children by her.” The whole people knew that he had done no such thing; but the Prophet spake thus in order to set before their eyes a vivid representation. Such then, was the vision, a figurative exhibition, not that the Prophet knew this by a vision, but the Lord had bidden him to relate this parable, (so to speak,) or this similitude, that the people might see, as in a living portraiture, their turpitude and perfidiousness. It is, in short, an exhibition, in which the thing itself is not only set forth in words, but is also placed, as it were, before their eyes in a visible form. The reason is added, for by wantoning has the land grown wanton

We now then see how the words of the Prophet ought to be understood; for he assumed a character, when going forth before the public, and in this character he said to the people, that God had bidden him to take a harlot for his wife, and to beget adulterous children by her. His ministry was not on this account made contemptible, for they all knew that he had ever lived virtuously and temperately; they all knew that his household was exempt from every reproach; but here he exhibited in his assumed character, as it were, a living image of the baseness of the people. This is the meaning, and I see nothing strained in this explanation; and we, at the same time, see the meaning of this clause, By wantoning has the land grown wanton. Hosea might have said this in one word, but he had to address the deaf, and we know how great and how stupid is the madness of those who delight themselves in their own superstitions, they cannot bear any reproof. The Prophet then would not have been attended to, unless he had exhibited, as in a mirror before their eyes, what he wished to be understood by them, as though he had said, “If none of you can so know himself as to own his public baseness, if ye are all so obstinate against God, at least know now by my assumed character, that you are all adulterous, and derive your origin from a filthy brothel, for God declares thus concerning you; and as you are not willing to receive such a declaration, it is now set before you in my assumed character.”

Trapp,
Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms — An arrant whore, a stinking strumpet, scortum obsoletum, a known and trite harlot; yea, and such a one as, after marriage with a former husband at least, went astray after other sweethearts; for so the application of the figure to the subject, Hosea 2:2-5 , requireth it to be understood. Whereby it appears (saith some) that all this was done in a vision. Others infer as much from that phrase in this verse, “The beginning of the word of the Lord in Hosea,” that is (saith Polanus), appearing and speaking to him by an inward vision, as it were in an ecstasy. Besides, in the third chapter and three first verses, the prophet is bidden to marry another harlot, to buy her for his own use, and to keep her at his house for a time. Now, scimus hoc non fuisse completum, saith Calvin; we know that this was never really done. It follows therefore that this figure was only proposed to the people, that they might perceive, in the looking glass of this allegory, first, their duty towards God; second, their disloyalty; thirdly, their penalty for the same. It is not a historical narration, but a prophetic vision. “Children of fornication, a bastardly brood,” such as this “evil and adulterous generation” is; sons of the “rebellious whorish woman, children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,” Isaiah 57:4 . The Hebrews call such children brambles, such as Abimelech was, who grew in the hedgerow of a harlot: they call them also Mamzer, as ye would say, a strange blot; and Shatuki, or silent, because when others are praising their parents, such must hold their peace, and hold down their heads with shame enough, because they are bastards.

For the land hath committed great whoredoms — Fornicando fornicata est, i.e. frequentissime et fiedissime, most frequently and most filthily. See Ezekiel 23:2-4 , throughout. Aholah (that is, Israel) played the harlot when she was mine, Ezekiel 23:5 , In her youth they lay with her, Ezekiel 23:8 , so that she might say, with that impudent strumpet, Quartilla, in Petronius, that she could never remember herself a virgin: yea, she grew old in her adulteries, Ezekiel 23:43 , opened her feet to every passenger, and multiplied her whoredoms, Ezekiel 16:25 . Meretricis scilicet hoc est meretricissimae. Such a common prostibulum prostitute is the whore of Rome, whom her followers call piam matrem, quae gremium claudat nemini. a pius matron who excludes no one. Joan of Naples was a saint to her. Idolatry is spiritual whoredom in many respects. It defiles the soul, God’s bridal bed. It breaks the marriage knot, and discovenants. It enrageth God, who in this case will take no ransom. It subjecteth men to God’s deepest displeasure: it besots them and unmans them: they that make idols are “like unto them, so are all they that trust in them,” Psalms 115:8 .

Lastly, idolatry is seldom without adultery, in a proper sense; as appears in the old heathens, at their feasts of Priapus, Lupercalia, …, the Canaanites had filled the land from one end to another with their uncleanness, Ezra 9:11 ; and in the Papists today, who reckon fornication a venial sin, have their stews allowed them; yea, among the very Indians, who abhor their most loathsome living. And for Rome itself – tota est iam Roma lupanar, it is become a great brothel house, and her stench is come up to heaven, as Matthew Paris (one of her sons) long since said.

Departing from the Lord — In whom all amiables and admirables are concentred. This did exceedingly aggravate the unkindness.”

GNV—”That is, one that of long time hath accustomed to play the harlot: not that the Prophet did this thing in effect, but he saw this in a vision, or else was commanded by God to set forth under this parable or figure the idolatry of the Synagogue, and of the people her children.”

In a manner of preaching, it is the same as to say, “You really think you are in fellowship and covenant with God while you practice spiritual adultery and whoredom? Do not yourselves look down on such? Will not God judge you as a harlot and not as a wife in covenant?”

3. The end of whoredome and spiritual corruption is rottenness and ruin. Hos. 1:3. GNV—”Gomer signifieth a consumption or corruption, and Diblaim clusters of figs, declaring that they were all corrupt like rotten figs.”
   Diblaim—Overripe figs are characterised by “fatness and attractiveness outwardly, inward rottenness.” pointing to Israel’s national prosperity and the moral corruption of the people.
   
   
   

Conclusion.

Closing Prayer. 

YouTube Audio: https://youtu.be/KN8TDSUYEGs