6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The Prophet shows here that the people were in every way intractable. He has indeed handled this argument in other places; but the repetition is not superfluous. After he had said that the people were ungrateful in not continuing in the service of their Redeemer, by whom they had been so kindly and bountifully treated in the desert, where they must have perished through famine and want, had not the Lord in an unwonted manner brought them help in their great necessity, he now adds, "The Lord would have also allured you by other means, had you not been of a wholly wild and barbarous disposition: but it is hence manifest, that you are utterly disobedient; for after you have been brought out of the desert, you came to rich pastures." For the land of Israel is here compared to rich and fertile pastures; as though he said, "God has placed you in an inheritance where you might eat to the full, as when a shepherd leads his sheep to a spot especially fertile." What did take place? To their pastures they came, and were filled; they were filled, and elevated became their heart, and they forgat me Since, then, the Israelites had extinguished the memory of their redemption, after the Lord had fed them when hungry in the desert, and since in their fulness they rejected God, and shook off his yoke, and, like ferocious horses, kicked against him, it became evident that their nature was so unnameable, that they could by no means be reduced to obedience or submission. We shall defer the rest till tomorrow.
According to their pasture, so were they filled - o: "He implies that their way of being 'filled' was neither good nor praiseworthy, in that he says, 'they were filled according to their pastures.' What or of what kind were these "their pastures?" What they longed for, what they murmured for, and spoke evil of God. For instance, when they said, 'who wil give us flesh to eat? We remember the flesh which we did eat in Egypt freely. Our soul is dried up, because our eyes see nothing but this manna' Numbers 11:4-6. Since they desired such things in such wise, and, desiring, were filled with them to loathing, well are they called 'their pastures.' For they sought God, not for Himself, but for them. They who follow God for Himself, things of this sort are not called 'their' pastures, but the word of God is their pasture, according to that, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, which proceedeth out of the mouth of God' Deuteronomy 8:3.
These words, 'according to their pastures,' convey strong blame. It is as if he said, 'in their eating and drinking, they received their whole reward for leaving the land of Egypt and receiving for a time the law of God.' It is sin, to follow God for such 'pastures.' Blaming such in the Gospel, Jesus saith, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life' John 6:26-27. In like way, let all think themselves blamed, who attend the altar of Christ, not for the love of the sacraments which they celebrate, but only to 'live of the altar.' This fullness is like that of which the Psalmist says, 'The Lord gave them their desire and sent leanness withal into their bones' Psalm 106:15. For such fullness of the belly generates elation of spirit; such satiety produces forgetfulness of God." It is more difficult to bear prosperity than adversity. They who, in the waste howling wilderness, had been retained in a certain degree of duty, forgat God altogether in the good land which he had given them. Whence it follows;
They were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten Me - For they owned not that they had all from Him, therefore they were puffed up with pride, and forgot Him in and by reason of His gifts. This was the aggravation of their sin, with which Hosea often reproaches them Hosea 2:5; Hosea 4:7; Hosea 10:1. They abused God's gifts, (as Christians do now) against Himself, and did the more evil, the more good God was to them. God had forewarned them of this peril, "When thou shalt have eaten and be full, beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage" (Deuteronomy 6:11-12; add Deuteronomy 8:11,). He pictured it to them with the song of Moses; "Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked; thou art waxen fat; thou art grown thick; thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him; thou hast forgotten God that formed thee" Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:18.
They acted (as in one way or other do most Christians now,) as though God had commanded what he foretold of their evil deeds, or what he warned them against. "As their fathers did, so did they" Acts 7:51. "They walked in the statutes of the pagan, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they made. They did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger. And the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, turn ye from your evil ways. And they hearkened not, and hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God" 2-Kings 17:8, 2-Kings 17:11, 2-Kings 17:13-14. : "The words are true also of those rich and ungrateful, whom God hath filled with spiritual or temporal goods. But they, 'being in honor, and having no understanding,' abuse the gifts of God, and, becoming unworthy of the benefits which they have received, have their hearts uplifted and swollen with pride, despising others, 'glorying as though they had not received,' and not obeying the commands of God. Of such the Lord saith in Isaiah, 'I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against Me. '"
According to their pasture - They had a rich pasture, and were amply supplied with every good. They became exalted in their heart, forgat their God, and became a prey to their enemies. "He that exalteth himself shall be abased."
According to their pasture, so were they filled,.... When they came into the land of Canaan, which was a land flowing with milk and honey, they were like a flock of sheep brought from short commons to a good pasture; and there they tilled themselves to the fail, and indulged to luxury and excess, pampered themselves, and made provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts, and became carnal and sensual:
they were filled, and their hearts were exalted: they were elated with their plenty, and grew proud and haughty, and attributed their fulness not to the goodness of God, but to their own excellency and merit; and put their trust and confidence in their affluence, and not in the Lord; and thought themselves safe and secure, and out of all danger, and concluded it would never be otherwise with them:
therefore have they forgotten me; the Author of their beings, the Father of their mercies, and God of all their comforts; they forgot to give him praise and glory for their abundance; to place their trust and have their dependence on him, and to serve and worship him; this was the consequence of their luxury and pride. The Targum is,
"therefore they left my worship;''
they waxed fat, and kicked, and lightly esteemed and forsook the God and Rock of their salvation, Deuteronomy 32:15.
Image from cattle, waxing wanton in abundant pasture (compare Hosea 2:5, Hosea 2:8; Deuteronomy 32:13-15). In proportion as I fed them to the full, they were so satiated that "their heart was exalted"; a sad contrast to the time when, by God's blessing, Ephraim truly "exalted himself in Israel" (Hosea 13:1).
therefore have they forgotten me--the very reason why men should remember God (namely, prosperity, which comes from Him) is the cause often of their forgetting Him. God had warned them of this danger (Deuteronomy 6:11-12).
But prosperity made Israel proud, so that it forgot its God. Hosea 13:6. "As they had their pasture, they became full; they became full, and their heart was lifted up: therefore have they forgotten me." This reproof is taken almost word for word from Deuteronomy 8:11. (cf. Deuteronomy 31:20; Deuteronomy 32:15.). כּמרעיתם, answering to their pasture, i.e., because they had such good pasture in the land given them by the Lord. The very thing of which Moses warned the people in Deuteronomy 8:11 has come to pass. Therefore are the threats of the law against the rebellious fulfilled upon them.
Their pasture - When they were come into Canaan, and had abundance of all things, they ran into luxury. Was exalted - They grew proud.
*More commentary available at chapter level.