(Calvin on Hosea, part 5)
Lecture Fifth.
It remains for us to explain what the Prophet declares
concerning the Israelites, that they boasted of their abundance of
wine and oil, and all good things as having come to them through
their superstitions. What, then, they ought to have ascribed to God
alone, they absurdly transferred to their idols. Of this ingratitude
the Prophet here accuses them in the person of God himself, and at
the same time shows that the ungodly are so deluded by prosperity,
that they harden themselves more and more in their superstitions;
and this is not the case only at one time, but almost universally in
the world. We see how full of pride the Papists are at this day,
because they bear rule in the world, and possess riches and honours.
They think their services acceptable to God, because he shows not
himself openly opposed to and angry with them; and so it has been
from the beginning.
But the Prophet here condemns this foolish presumption, that we
may learn not to judge at all times of God's love by the prosperous
issue of events. There are then two things to be observed here, -
that the superstitious falsely ascribe to their idols what comes
from God alone; - and further, that they conclude that they are
loved by God, whenever he does not immediately take vengeance on
them. The Sodomites, we find, became obstinate in their sins for the
same reason; when all kinds of pleasures abounded, they thought
themselves to be approved of God. Let us now proceed to what
follows.
Hosea 2:6
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a
wall, that she shall not find her paths.
The Prophet here pursues the subject we touched upon yesterday;
for he shows how necessary chastisement is, when people felicitate
themselves in their vices. And God, when he sees that men confess
not immediately their sins, defends as it were his own cause, as one
pleading before a judge. In a word, God here shows that he could not
do otherwise than punish so great an obstinacy in the people, as
there appeared no other remedy.
"Therefore", he says, "behold I"--. There is a special meaning
in these words; for God testifies that he becomes the avenger of
impieties, when people are brought into straits; as though he said,
"Though the Israelites are not ready to confess that they suffer
justly, yet I now declare that to punish them will be my work, when
they shall be deprived of their pleasures, and when the occasion of
their pride shall be removed from them." And he intimates by the
metaphorical words he uses, that he would so deal with them, as to
keep the people from wandering, as they had done hitherto, after
their idols; but he retains the similitude of a harlot. Now when an
unchaste wife goes after her paramours, the husband must either
connive at her, or be not aware of her base conduct. However this
may be, wives cannot thus violate the marriage-vow, except they are
set at liberty by their husbands. But when a husband understands
that his wife plays the wanton, he watches her more closely, notices
all her ways day and night. God now takes up this comparison, "I
will close up", he says, "her way with thorns, and surround her with
a mound", that there may be no way of access open to adulterers.
But by this simile the Prophet means that the people would be
reduced to such straits, that they might not lasciviate, as they had
done, in their superstitions; for while the Israelites enjoyed
prosperity, they thought everything lawful for them; hence their
security, and hence their contempt of the word of the Lord. By
hedge, then, and by thorns, God means those adversities by which he
restrains the ungodly, so that they may cease to flatter themselves,
and may not thoughtlessly follow, as they were before wont to do,
their own superstitions. "She shall not" then "find her ways"; that
is, "I will constrain them so to groan under the burden of evils,
that they shall no longer, as they have hitherto done, allow loose
reins to themselves." It afterwards follows -
Hosea 2:7
And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake
them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find [them]: then shall
she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then [was it]
better with me than now.
God now shows what takes place when he chastises hardened and
rebellious people with heavy punishment. In the first clause he
shows that perverseness will cleave so completely to their hearts,
that they will not immediately return to a sound mind. "She will
follow her lovers", he says, "and seek them". Here the Prophet tells
us, that though the Israelites should be chastised by frequent
punishments, they would yet continue in their obstinacy. It hence
appears how hard a neck they had, and how uncircumcised in heart
they were; and such did the Prophets, as well as Moses, represent
them to be. And we hence learn, that had they been only moderately
corrected, it would not have been sufficient for their amendment.
Amazing, indeed, was their obstinacy; for God had divorced them, and
then led them into great straits; and yet they went on in their
course, as though they were utterly stupid and destitute of every
feeling. Is it not a prodigious madness, when men run on so
obstinately, even when God sets his hand so strongly against them?
Such, however, is represented to have been the obstinacy of the
Israelites.
The meaning then is, that when they were subdued, God would not
immediately soften their hearts. Then God, though he bruised, did
not yet reform them; for their hardness was so great, that they
could not be turned immediately to a docile state of mind; but, on
the contrary, they followed their lovers. By the word, follow, is
expressed that mad zeal which possesses idolaters; for as we see,
they are like men who are frantic. As then the superstitious know no
bounds, nor any moderation, but a mad zeal at times lays hold on
them, the Prophet says "She will follow her lovers and shall not
overtake them". What does the latter clause mean? That God will
frustrate the hope of the ungodly, that they may know that they in
vain worship false gods and follow with avidity absurd
superstitions. "They will seek them", he says, "and shall not find
them". He ever speaks of the people under the character of a
shameless and unfaithful wife.
We then see what the Prophet intended to do, - to vindicate God
from every blame, that men might not raise a glamour, as though he
dealt unkindly with them. He shows that God, even when so rigid,
produces hardly any effect; for the ungodly in their perverseness
struggle against his scourges, and suffer not themselves to be
brought immediately into due order.
But in the second clause the Prophet adds, that some benefit
would at length arise, that though idolaters abused God's goodness,
and even hardened themselves against his rods, yet this would not be
perpetually the case; for the Lord would grant better success. Hence
it follows, "She will then say, I will go and return to my former
husband". Here the Prophet shows more clearly a hope of pardon,
inasmuch as he speaks of the people's repentance; for men, we know,
repent not without benefit, as God is ever ready to receive them
when they return to him in genuine sorrow. Then the Prophet here
avowedly speaks of the repentance of the people, that the Israelites
might hence know, that corrections, which men naturally ever
dislike, would be profitable to them. It is our wish that God should
always favour us, and that we should be nourished kindly and
tenderly in his bosom; but in the meantime, he cannot allure us to
himself, by whatever means he may try to do so: and hence it is,
that chastisements are bitter to us, and our flesh immediately
murmurs. When the Lord raises his finger, before he strikes us, we
instantly groan and become angry, and even roar against him: in
short, men can never be brought willingly to offer themselves to be
chastised by God. Hence the Prophet now shows, that the severity of
God is profitable to us; for it drives us at length to repentance:
in a word, he commends the favour of God in his very severity, that
we may know that he furthers our salvation, even when he seems to
treat us most unkindly. "She will then say, I will go and return to
my former husband".
But we must observe, that when men really repent, they do so
through the special influence of the Spirit; for they would
otherwise perpetually remain in that perverseness of which we have
spoken. Were God for a hundred years continually to chastise
perverse men, they would not yet change their disposition; and true
is that common saying, "The wicked are sooner broken than reformed."
But when men, after many admonitions, begin to be wise, this change
comes through the Spirit of God. We may also learn from this passage
what true repentance is; that is, when he who has sinned not only
confesses himself to be guilty, and owns himself worthy of
punishment, but is also displeased with himself, and then with
sincere desire turns to God. Many, we see, are ready enough, and
disposed, to confess their sins, and yet go on in the same course.
But the Prophet shows here that true repentance is something very
different, "I will go and return", he says. Repentance then consists
(as they say) in the act itself; that is, repentance produces a
reforming change in man, so that he reconciles himself to God, whom
he had forsaken.
"I will then go and return to my former husband". Why? "Because
better was it with me then than now". The Prophet again confirms
what I lately said, - that the faithful are not made wise, except
they are well chastised; for the Prophet speaks not here of the
reprobate, but of the remnant seed. The people of Israel were to be
exterminated; but the Prophet now declares that there would be some
remaining who would at last receive benefit from God's
chastisements. Since then we must understand the Prophet as speaking
of the elect, we may hence readily conclude, that chastisements are
necessary for us; for we grow torpid in our vices, as long as God
spares us. Unless, then it appears that God is really displeased
with us, it will never come to our minds, that we ought to repent.
Let us now proceed -
Hosea 2:8
For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and
multiplied her silver and gold, [which] they prepared for Baal.
Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof,
and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my
flax [given] to cover her nakedness.
God here amplifies the ingratitude of the people, that they
understood not whence came such abundance of good things. "She
understood not", he says, "that I gave to her corn and wine". The
superstitious sin twice, or in two ways; - first, they ascribe to
their idols what rightly belongs to God alone; and then they deprive
God himself of his own honour, for they understand not that he is
the only giver of all things, but think their labour lost were they
to worship the true God. Hence the Prophet now complains of this
ingratitude, "She understood not that I gave to her corn and wine
and oil". And this was an inexcusable stupidity in the Israelites,
since they had been abundantly instructed, that the abundance of all
good things, and every thing that supports man, flow from God's
bounty. Of this they had the clear testimony of Moses; and then the
land of Canaan itself was a living representation of the Divine
favour. It was then a prodigious madness in the people, that they
who had been taught by word and by fact, that God alone is the Giver
of all things, should yet not consider this truth. The Prophet,
therefore, condemns this outrageous folly of the people, that
neither experience nor the teaching of the law availed anything,
"She knew not", he says. There is stress to be laid on the pronoun,
she; for the people ought to have been familiarly acquainted with
God, inasmuch as they had been brought up in his household, as a
wife, who is her husband's companion. It was then incapable of any
excuse, that the people should thus turn their minds and all their
thoughts away from God.
"She knew not" then "that I had given to her corn and wine and
oil, that I had multiplied to her the silver, and also the gold she
has prepared for Baal". The verb "'asah" means specifically, to
make: but here to appropriate to a certain purpose. They have,
therefore, prepared gold for Baal; when they ought to have dedicated
to me the first-fruits of all good things, in obedience to me and to
the honour of my name, they have appropriated to Baal whatever
blessings I have bestowed on them. We then see that in this verse
two evils are condemned, - that the people deprived God of his just
honour, - and that they transferred to their own idols what they
ought to have given to God only. But he touched upon the last
wickedness in the fifth verse, where he said in the person of the
people, "I will go after my lovers, who give my bread and my waters,
my wool and my wine, &c." Here again he repeats, that they had
prepared gold for Baal.
As to the word Baal, no doubt the superstitious included under
this name all those whom they called inferior gods. No such madness
had indeed possessed the Israelites, that they had forgotten that
there is but one Maker of heaven and earth. They therefore
maintained the truth, that there is some supreme God; but they added
their patrons; and this, by common consent, was the practice of all
nations. They did not then think that God was altogether robbed of
his own glory, when they joined with him patrons or inferior gods.
And they called them by a common name, Baalim, or, as it were,
patrons. Baal of every kind was a patron. Some render it, husband.
But foolish men, I doubt not, have ever had this superstitious
notion, that inferior gods come nearer to men, and are, as it were,
mediators between this world and the supreme God. It is the same
with the Papists of the present day; they have their Baalim; not
that they regard their patrons in the place of God: but as they
dread every access to God, and understand not that Christ is a
mediator, they retake themselves here and there to various Baalim,
that they may procure favour to themselves; and at the same time,
whatever honour they show to stones, or wood, or bones of dead men,
or to any of their own inventions, they call it the worship of God.
Whatever then, is worshipped by the Papists is Baal: but they have,
at the same time, their patrons for their Baalim. We now then
perceive the meaning of the Prophet in this verse.
It now follows "Therefore will I return, and take away my corn
in its time, and my new wine in its stated time". Here, again, the
Prophet shows that God was, by extreme necessity, constrained to
take vengeance on an ungodly and irreclaimable people. He makes
known how great was the hardness of the people, and then adds, "What
now remains, but to deprive those who have been so ungrateful to me
of all their blessings?" It is, indeed, more than base for men to
enjoy the gifts of God and to despise the giver; yea, to exalt his
creatures to his place, and to reduce, as it were, all his authority
to nothing. This the superstitious indeed do, for they thrust God
from his pre-eminence, and insult his glory. Will God, in the
meantime, so throw away his blessings as to suffer them to be
profaned by the ungodly, and himself to be thus mocked with
impunity? We now then see the object of the Prophet; for God here
shows that there was no other remedy, but to deprive the Israelites
of all their gifts: he had indeed enriched them, but they had abused
all their abundance. It was therefore necessary to reduce them to
extreme want, that they might no longer pollute God's gifts which
ought to be held sacred by us.
And he uses a very suitable word; for "natsal" means properly,
to pluck away to set free. "I will by force take away", he says, "my
wool and my flax". It seems, indeed, to denote an unjust possession,
as when one takes away by force from the hand of a robber what he
unjustly possesses, or as when any one rescues wretched men from the
power of a tyrant. So God now speaks, 'I will pluck away my gifts
from these men who basely and unjustly pollute them.'
And he adds, "to cover her nakedness". "'Erwah", properly,
though not simply, means nakedness: it is the nakedness of the
uncomely parts. Moses calls any indecorous part of the body
"'erwah"; and so it means what is uncomely. This word we ought
carefully to notice; for God here shows, that except he denudes
idolaters, they will ever continue obstinate. How so? Because they
use coverings for their baseness. While the ungodly enjoy their
triumphs in the world, they regard them as veils drawn over them, so
that nothing base or disgraceful can be seen in them. The same is
the case with great kings and monarchs; they think that the eyes of
all are dazzled by their splendour; and hence it is, that they are
so audaciously dissolute. They think their own filth to be fine
odour: such is the arrogance of the world. It is even so with the
superstitious; when God is indulgent to them, they think that they
have coverings. When, therefore, they abandon themselves to any kind
of wickedness, they regard it as if it were a holy thing. How so?
Because, whatever obscene thing is in them, it is covered by
prosperity. When God observes such madness as this in men, can he do
otherwise than pluck away his blessings, that such a pollution may
not continually prevail? For it is an abuse extremely gross, that
when God's blessings are so many images of his glory, and when his
paternal goodness shines forth even towards the ungodly, the world
should convert them to a purpose wholly contrary, and make them as
coverings for themselves, that they may conceal their own baseness,
and more freely sin and carry on war against God himself. Hence he
says, "That they may no longer cover their baseness, I will pluck
away whatever I have bestowed on them."
When he says, "I will take away the corn and wine in its time,
and in its stated time", he alludes, I have no doubt, to the time of
harvest and vintage; as though he said, "The harvest will come, the
vintage will come: there has been hitherto great fruitfulness; but I
will show that the earth and all its fruits are subject to my will.
Though, then, the Israelites are now full, and have their
storehouses well furnished, they shall know that I rule over the
harvest and the vintage, when the stated time shall come." Now, the
Spirit of God denounced this punishment early, that the Israelites,
if reclaimable, might return to a right course. But as their
blindness was so great that they despised all that had been said to
them, no excuse remained for them. It now follows -
Hosea 2:10-12
And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and
none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new
moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath
said, These [are] my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I
will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
He pursues the same subject; and the Prophet explains at large,
and even divides what he had briefly said before, into many clauses
or particulars. He says firsts "I will uncover her baseness". How
was this done? By God, when he took away the coverings by which the
Israelites kept themselves hid: for, as we have said hypocrites
felicitate themselves on account of God's gifts, and thus hide
themselves as thieves do in caverns; and they think that they can
mock God with impunity; for, through the fatness of their eyes, as
it is said in Psal. 73: 7, they have but a very dim sight. Now then
God declares, that the filthiness of the people would be made to
appear, when he deprived them of those gifts with which he had for a
time enriched them.
"Now", he says, "will I uncover her baseness before the eyes of
her lovers". By this sentence he intimates a change, of which the
people were not apprehensive; for, as long as the wicked feel not
the strokes, they laugh at all threatening. Hence God, that he might
rouse them from such an indifference, says, "Now will I uncover her
before the eyes of her lovers". The Prophet, no doubt, speaks of
false gods, and of all those devices by which the Israelites
corrupted the pure worship of God: for I cannot be persuaded to
explain this either of the Assyrians or of the Egyptians. I indeed
know, as I mentioned briefly yesterday, that the treaties into which
the Jews, as well as the Israelites, entered with idolaters, were
the tenter-hooks of Satan: this I allow; but at the same time, I
look on what the Prophet especially treats of; for he directly
inveighs here against absurd and vicious modes of worship. What then
does he mean by saying, that God will uncover the baseness of the
people before their lovers? He alludes to shameless women, who dare,
by terror, to check their husbands, that they may not exercise their
own right. "What! do you treat me ill? there is one who will resent
this conduct." Even when husbands indignantly bear their own
reproach, they often attempt not to assert their own right, because
they see that fear is in the way. But God says, "Nothing will hinder
me from chastising thee as thou deserves (for he addresses the
people under the character of a wife;) before thy lovers then will I
uncover thy baseness."
"And no man shall rescue thee from my hand". The word man is
put here for idols; for it is a word of general import among the
Hebrews. Sometimes when brute animals are spoken of, this word, man,
is used; and it is also applied to the fragments of a carcass. For
when Moses describes the sacrifice made by Abraham, 'Man,' he says,
'was laid to his fellow;' that is, Abraham joined together the
different parts of the sacrifice, as we say in French, Il n'y a
piece. God then speaks here of idols: "No one", he says, "shall
rescue them from my hand". We now comprehend the meaning of the
Prophet.
We must, at the same time, see what he had in view. The
Israelites indeed thought, that as long as their corrupt modes of
worship prevailed, they were safe and secure: it seemed impossible
to them that any adversity should happen to them while idolatry
continued. As, then, they imagined their false gods to be to them
like an invincible rampart, "Thy idols," he says, "shall remain, and
yet thou shalt fall: for I will before thy lovers uncover thy
baseness, and not one of them shall deliver thee from my hand."
The Prophet now descends to particulars; and, in the first
place, he says, that the people would be deprived of their
sacrifices and feast-days, and of that whole external pomp, which
was with them the guise of religion. He then adds, that they would
be spoiled of their food, and all their abundance. He has hitherto
been speaking of their nakedness; but he now describes what this
nakedness would be: and he specially mentions, that sacrifices would
cease, that feast days, new-moons, and whatever belonged to external
worship, would cease. "I will make to cease", he says, "all her
joy". He speaks doubtless, of sacred joys; and this may be easily
collected from the context. He adds, "her every festal-day". As they
were wont to dance on their festal-days, this word may be referred
to that practice. He afterwards adds, "her sabbath", and all
feast-days. Then the first kind of nakedness was, that God would
take away from the Israelites that fallacious and empty form of
religion in which they foolishly delighted. The second kind of
nakedness was, that they were to be stripped of all earthly riches,
and be reduced to misery and extreme want. But I cannot finish
to-day.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that inasmuch as we are so dull and slothful,
that though often admonished, we yet consider not our sins, yea,
though chastised by thy hand, we yet return not immediately to a
right mind, - O grant, that we may hereafter profit more under thy
rod, and not he refractory and untractable; but as soon as thou
raises thy hand, may each of us mourn, know our own evils, and then,
with one consent, surrender ourselves to be ruled by thee; and may
we, in the meantime, patiently and calmly endure thy chastisements,
and never murmur against thee, but ever aspire to the attainment of
true repentance, until, having at length put off all the vices and
corruptions of our flesh, we attain to the fulness of righteousness,
and to that true and blessed glory which has been prepared for us in
heaven by Jesus Christ. Amen.
Calvin on Hosea
(continued in part 6...)
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