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Jezreelite, whose vineyard Ahab took, and caused him to be stoned to death. Thus do we see how faithful

JEHOVAH is to His people.

"And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah ; for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.

"But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the JEHOVAH their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen."

Lo-ruhamah means, not having obtained mercy. This page of history may be read in 2 Kings xvii. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and So, king of Egypt, took Samaria, and led Israel captive into Assyria and Egypt. No mitigation of the sentence, she no more obtained mercy; while Judah did still obtain mercy, was still spared for a short period.

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'Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bare a son.

"Then said the JEHOVAH, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not My people, and I will not be your God."

Lo-ammi means, not my people. And this was said of Judah also. They were taken captive to Babylon about a hundred and forty years after the captivity of Israel, and about two hundred years after this prophetic parable was spoken.

"Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My

people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

"Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel."

The writer has a peculiar affection and reverence for this chapter; it is one of the most graphic and sublime effusions of the Spirit of God in the Bible. The JEHOVAH of the whole Bible speaks, decrees, foretells, declares, proclaims, under a figure that could not be misunderstood. The prophecy was partially fulfilled in the return of the chosen people from captivity; but the voice of the Allseeing, Almighty JEHOVAH, had a far overreaching meaning. A spiritual seed, and a spiritual Israel was intended; the calling of the Gentiles was foretold; and the uniting of the ancient Israel with the Christian throng. The promise was rooted in the original covenant (Gen. xv. 5, xvii. 6, 7, 19). “I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered." "Great shall be the day of Jezreel." Sublime episode! But when shall the Jew and the Gentile "appoint themselves one head ?” Hasten the time, O JEHOVAH of hosts: the promise is Thine own: "Great shall be the day of Jezreel." King Ahab might take the vineyard of "Naboth the Jezreelite," and Jezebel might have him stoned to death, but the voice will be heard: "Thus saith the JEHOVAH, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the

the passages from which He proclaimed so certainly, and so often, His own resurrection on the third day. May we receive the word as implicitly as Christ received it.

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the JEHOVAH: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."

Thus do we see that the JEHOVAH who spake by the prophet was the Messiah who was to come. But by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, by knowledge, He does come to us all. There is a long lesson to learn, and we are slow scholars in the school of Christ. "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." But if we follow on to know Him, He will come to us, as personally as when He came in the flesh. desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

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"Israel shall cry unto me, my God, we know Thee. "Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples" (Hos. viii. 2, 14).

There is an external Church system and the spiritual Church of Christ, which includes all true believers of whatever sect. To belong to Him is the bond of fellowship, and the only bond; those who are wanting in the essential element of His Spirit, will always seek refuge in the external system, in forms. "Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples."

In many places in Scripture, and particularly in this book of Hosea, the name Ephraim is used for Judah, from the second son of Joseph by Asenath, Potiphar's daughter (Gen. xli. 52). And thus, in the

eleventh chapter, we have the direct mention of Israel and Ephraim as divided under Jeroboam the first (2 Chron. x. 16, 19). "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

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How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel. Mine heart is turned within

me, my repentings are kindled together."

In the twelfth chapter and the fourth and fifth verses, there is a remarkable reference to Jacob wrestling with the angel at Peniel, when his name was changed to Israel (Gen. xxxii. 24, 28). "He had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 19), and there He spake with us." Now mark the remarkable declaration that was added: "Even the JEHOVAH GOD of hosts; the JEHOVAH is His memorial." So that the angel who wrestled with Jacob, was God, as he explained: "I have seen God face to face," and that Being was the JEHOVAH, the great I AM of the Exodus (Ex. iii. 2, 14, 16), the Being of the Covenant. "The JEHOVAH is His memorial," that is, His Covenant name. "This is My memorial unto all generations (Ex. iii. 15)." "Thy name, O JEHOVAH, endureth for ever; and Thy memorial, O JEHOVAH, throughout all generations" (Psa. cxxxv. 13).

"The

JEHOVAH is in this place, and I knew it not." "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob called the name of that place Beth-el" (Gen. xxviii. 16, 19). I shall show later that that Being was Christ; and so we see that His presence makes a Church, and that there can

house of Jehu." Like Naboth, we may be called upon to defend and to maintain our spiritual inheritance, our spiritual house, our spiritual liberty: let us do it nobly and fearlessly, as he did it. "Naboth said to Ahab, The JEHOVAH forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee." It may even be said over us, Naboth is not alive, but dead. Let it be said, the voice still vibrates throughout the realm of the dead: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And He will avenge the blood of His spiritual house.

In the second chapter, the grace of the everlasting covenant is again made sure to Israel. God again proclaims judgments against idolatry, but forgive-ness when the idolater returns to Him. Are we not

all idolaters? and idolaters in far grosser forms than the worshippers of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. "Behold thy gods, O Israel" (1 Kings xii.). Still for ancient Israel, and all Christian idolaters, by faith and repentance, eternal mercy is the same.

"I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.

"I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the JEHOVAH.

"And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the JEHOVAH, I will hear the heavens.

"And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

"And I will sow her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.;

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