(Calvin on Hosea, part 21)
Lecture Twenty-first.
We were not able yesterday to complete the first verse of the
eighth chapter. It then remains for us to consider the latter
clause, in which the Prophet expresses the cause of the war which he
had previously proclaimed by God's command. He says, that the
Israelites had transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and conducted
themselves perfidiously against his law. He repeats the same thing
twice, for the covenant and the law are synonymous; only the word,
law, in my view, is added as explanatory, as though he had said,
that they had violated the covenant of the Lord, which had been
sanctioned or sealed by the law. God then had made a covenant with
Israel, which he designed to be comprehended in the tables. Since
then it was not unknown to the Israelites what they owed to God,
they were covenant-breakers. It was then the doubling of their
crime, as the Prophet shows, that they had not fallen through
mistake when they transgressed the covenant of the Lord, for they
had been more than sufficiently taught by the law what faith and
what purity the Lord required of them: at the same time, the
covenant which the Lord so openly made with them was yet neglected.
It follows -
Hosea 8:2,3
Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
Israel hath cast off [the thing that is] good: the enemy shall
pursue him.
By the Prophet saying, "To me shall they cry", some understand
that the Israelites are blamed for not fleeing to God; and they thus
explain the Prophet's words, "They ought to have cried to me." It
seems to others to be an exhortation, "Let the Israelites now cry to
me." But I take the words simply as they are, that is that God here
again touches the dissimulation of the Israelites, "They will cry to
me, We know thee"; and to this the ready answer is "Israel has cast
away good far from himself; the enemy shall pursue him". I thus join
together the two verses; for in the former the Lord relates what
they would do, and what the Israelites had already begun to do; and
in the latter verse he shows that their labour would be in vain,
because they ever cherished wickedness in their hearts, and falsely
pretended the name of God, as it has been previously observed, even
in their prayers. Israel, then will cry to me, "My God, we know
thee". Thus hypocrites confidently profess the name of God, and with
a lofty air affirm that they are God's people; but God laughs to
scorn all this boasting, as it is vain, and worthy of derision. They
will then cry to me; and then he imitates their cries, "My God, we
know thee". When hypocrites, as if they were the friends of God,
cover themselves with his shadow, and profess to act under his
guardianship, and also boast at the same time of their knowledge of
true doctrine, and boast of faith and of the worship of God; be it
so, he says, that these cries are uttered by their mouths, yet facts
speak differently, and reprove and expose their hypocrisy. We now
then see how these two verses are connected together, and what is
the Prophet's object.
The verb "Zanach" means "to remove far off," and "to throw to a
distance;" and sometimes, as some think, "to detest." There is here,
I doubt not, an implied contrast between the rejection of good and
the pursuing of which the Prophet speaks afterwards, "Israel has
driven good far from himself"; some expound "tov" of God himself, as
if it was of the masculine gender: but the Prophet, I have no doubt,
simply accuses the Israelites of having receded from all justice and
uprightness; yea, of having driven far off every thing right and
just. Israeli then, has repelled good; "the enemy", he says, "will
pursue him". There is a contrast between repelling and pursuing, as
though the prophet said, that the Israelites had by their defection
obtained this, that the enemy would now seize them. There is then no
better defense for us against all harms than attention to piety and
justice; but when integrity is banished from us, then we are exposed
to all evils, for we are deprived of the aid of God. We then see how
beautifully the Prophet compares these two things - the rejection of
good by Israel - and their pursuit by their enemies. He then adds -
Hosea 8:4
They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I
knew [it] not: of their silver and their gold have they made them
idols, that they may be cut off.
The Prophet here notices two things, with respect to which he
reprobates the perfidy and impious perverseness of the people, -
they had, against the will of God, framed a religion for themselves,
- and they had instituted a new kingdom. The salvation of that
people, we know, was, as it were, founded on a certain kingdom and
priesthood; and by these two things God testified that he was allied
to the children of Abraham. We know where the happiness of the godly
is deposited, even in Christ; for Christ is to us the fulness of a
blessed life, because he is a king and a priest. Hence I have said,
that through a certain kingdom and priesthood did the favor of God
towards the people then shine forth. Now when the Israelites
overturned the kingdom, which God by his own authority instituted,
and when they corrupted and adulterated the priesthood, did they
not, as it were, designedly extinguish the favor of God, and strive
to annihilate whatever was needful for their salvation? This then is
what the Prophet now speaks of, that is, that the Israelites in
changing the kingdom and priesthood had undermined the whole
appointment of God, and openly showed that they were unwilling to be
ruled by God's hand; for they would have never dared to turn asides
even in the least degree, from the kingdom of David, nor would they
have dared to set up a new and spurious priesthood, if any particle
of the fear of God had prevailed in their hearts.
We now perceive the design of the Prophet, which interpreters
have not sufficiently considered; for some refer this to the
covenants, as it seemed strange to them, that the Israelites should
be so severely reproved for setting up Jeroboam as their king, since
Ahijah the Shilonite had already declared by God's command, that it
would be so. But they attend not sufficiently to what the Prophet
had in view; for, as I have already said, when God instituted the
priesthood, there shone forth in it the image of Christ the
Mediator, whose office it is, to intercede with God that he might
reconcile him to men; and then in the person of David shone forth
also the kingdom of Christ. Now when the people tumultuously chose a
new king for themselves without any command from God, and when they
built for themselves a new temple and altar contrary to what the law
prescribed, and when they divided the priesthood, was not all this a
manifest corruption, a denial of religion? It is hence evident that
the Israelites were in both these respects apostates; for they
forsook God in two ways, - first, by separating from the house of
David, - and then by forming for themselves a strange worship, which
God had not commanded in his law.
With regard to the first, he says, "They have caused to reign,
but not through me; they have instituted a government, and I knew it
not", that is, without my consent; for God is said not to knov what
he does not approve, or that concerning which he is not consulted.
But some one may object and say, that God knew of the new kingdom
since he was the founder of it. To this the answer is, that God so
works, that this pretext does not yet excuse the ungodly, since they
aim at something else, rather than to execute his purpose. As for
instance, God designed to prove the patience of his servant Job: the
robbers who took away his property, were they excusable? By no
means. For what was their object, but to enrich themselves by
injustice and plunder? Since then they purchased their advantage at
the expense of another, and unjustly robbed a man who had never
injured them, they were destitute of every excuse. The Lord,
however, did in the meantime execute by them what he had appointed,
and what he had already permitted Satan to do. He intended, as it
has been said, that his servant should be plundered; and Satan, who
influenced the robbers, could not himself move a finger except by
the permission of God; nay, except it was commanded him. At the same
time, the Lord had nothing in common or in connection with the
wicked, because his purpose was far apart from their depraved lust.
So also it must be said of what is said here by the Prophet. As God
intended to punish Solomon, so he took away the ten tribes. He
indeed suffered Solomon to reign to the end of his days, and to
retain the government of the kingdom; but Rehoboam, who succeeded
him, lost the ten tribes. This did not happen by chance; for God had
so decreed; yea, he had declared that it would be so. He sent Ahijah
the Shilonite to offer the kingdom to Jeroboam, who had dreamt of
nothing of the kind. God then ruled the whole by his own secret
counsel, that the ten tribes should desert their allegiance to
Rehoboam, and that Jeroboam, being made king, should possess the
greater part of the kingdom. This, I say, was done by God'a decree:
but yet the people did not think that they were obeying God in
revolting from Rehoboam, for they desired some relaxation, when they
saw that the young king wished tyrannically to oppress them; hence
they chose to themselves a new king. But they ought to have endured
every wrong rather than to deprive themselves of that inestimable
blessing, of which God gave them a symbol and pledge in the kingdom
of David; for David, as it has been said, did not reign as a common
king, but was a type of Christ, and God had promised his favor to
the people as long as his kingdom flourished, as though Christ did
then dwell in the midst of the people. When therefore the people
shook off the yoke of David, it was the same as if they had rejected
Christ himself because Christ in his type was despised.
We hence see how base was the conduct of the people in joining
themselves to Jeroboam. For that sedition was not merely a proof of
levity, as some people do often rashly upset the state of things; it
was not merely a rash levity, but an impious denial of God's favor,
the same as if they had rejected Christ himself. They had also, in
this way, torn themselves from the body of the Church; and though
the kingdom of Israel surpassed the kingdom of Judah in wealth and
power, it yet became like a putrid member, for the whole soundness
depended on the head, from which the ten tribes had cut themselves
off. We now then see why the Prophet so sharply expostulates with
the Israelites for setting up a kingdom, but not through God; and
solved also is the question, how God here declares that that was not
through him, which yet he had determined and testified by the mouth
of his prophet, Ahijah the Shilonite; that is, that God, as it has
been said, had not given a command to the people, nor permitted the
people to withdraw themselves from their allegiance to Rehoboam. God
then denies that that kingdom, with respect to the people, was set
up by his decree; and he says that what was done was this, - that
the people made a king without consulting him; for the people ought
to have attended to what pleased him, to what the Lord himself
conceded; this they did not, but suddenly followed their own blind
impulse.
And this place is worthy of being observed; for we hence learn
that the same thing is done and not done by the Lord. Foolish men at
this day, not versed in the Scripture, excite great commotions among
us about the providence of God; yea, there are many rabid dogs who
bark at us, because we say, (what even Scripture teaches
everywhere,) that nothing is done except by the ordination and
secret counsel of God, and that whatever is carried on in this world
is governed by his hand. "How so? Is God, then a murderer? Is God,
then a thief? Or, in other words, are slaughters, thefts, and all
kinds of wickedness, to be imputed to him?" These men show, while
they would be deemed acute, how stupid they are, and also how
absurd; nay, rather what mad wild beasts they are. For the Prophet
here shows that the same thing was done and not done by the Lord,
but in a different way. God here expressly denies that Jcroboam was
created king by him; on the other hand, by referring to sacred
history, it appears that Jeroboam was created king, not by the
suffrages of the people, but by the command of God; for no such
thing had yet entered the mind of the people, when Ahijah was bidden
to go to Jeroboam; and he himself did not aspire to the kingdom, no
ambition impelled him; he remained quiet as a private man, and the
Lord stirred him up and said, "I will have thee to reign." The
people knew nothing of these things. After it was done, who could
have denied but that Jeroboam was set on the throne, as it were, by
the hand of God? All this is true; but with are regard to the
people, he was not created by God a king. Why? Because the Lord had
commanded David and his posterity to reign perpetually. We hence see
that all things done in the world are so disposed by the secret
counsel of God, that he regulates whatever the ungodly attempts and
whatever even Satan tries to do, and yet he remains just; and it
avails nothing to lessen the fault of evils when they say, that all
things are governed by the secret counsel of God. With regard to
themselves, they know what the Lord enjoins in his law; let them
follow that rule: when they deviate from it, there is no ground for
them to excuse themselves and say that they have obeyed God; for
their design is ever to be regarded. We hence see how the Israelites
appointed a king, but not by God; for it was sedition that impelled
them, when, at the same time, the law enjoined that they should
choose no one as a king except him who had been elected by God; and
he had marked out the posterity of David, and designed that they
should occupy the royal throne till the coming of Christ.
Then follows the other charge, - that "they made to themselves
idols from their gold and from their silver". God here complains
that his worship was not only fallen into decay, but that it was
also wholly corrupted by superstitions. It was an impiety not to be
borne, that the people had desired a new king for themselves; but it
was the summit of all evils, when the Israelites converted their
gold and their silver into idols. "They have made", he says, "their
gold and silver idols"; that is, "I destined the gold and the
silver, with which they have been enriched, for very different
purposes. When, therefore, I was liberal to them, they abused my
kindness, and from their gold and their silver they made to
themselves idols or gods." Here, then, the Prophet, by implication,
sharply reproves the blind madness of the people, that they made to
themselves gods of corruptible things, which ought, in the meantime,
to be serviceable to them; for to what purpose is money given us by
the Lord, but for our daily use? Since, then, the Lord has destined
gold and silver for our service, what frenzy it is when men work
them into gods for themselves! But this main point must be ever
remembered, that the Israelites, in all things, betrayed their own
defection; for they hesitated not to overthrow the kingdom which God
had instituted for their salvation, and they dared to pervert the
whole worship of God, together with the priesthood, by introducing
new superstitions.
Then follows a denunciation of punishment - "Therefore Israel
shall be cut of". Were any, indeed, to object and say that God was
too rigid, there would be no reason for such an objection; for they
had betrayed and violated their pledged faith, and by condemning and
treading under foot both the kingdom and priesthood, they had
rejected his favor. We hence see that the Prophet threatens them now
with deserved destruction. Let us proceed -
Hosea 8:5
Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast [thee] off; mine anger is kindled
against them: how long [will it be] ere they attain to innocency?
The Prophet goes on with the same subject; for he shows that
Israel perished through their own fault, and that the crime, or the
cause of destruction, could not be transferred to any other. There
is some ambiguity in the words, which does note however, obscure the
sense; for whether we read calf in the objective case, or say, "thy
calf has removed thee far off", it will be the same. Some say, "has
forsaken thee," as they do above, "Israel has forsaken good;" but
the sense of throwing away is to be preferred. Thy calf, then,
Samaria, has cast thee off", or, "The Lord has cast far off thy
calf." If we read thy calf in the "objective" case, then the Prophet
denounces destruction not only on the Israelites, but also on the
calf in which they hoped. But the probable exposition is, that the
calf had removed far off", or driven far Samaria or the people of
Samaria; and this, I have no doubt, is the meaning of the words; for
the Prophet, to confirm his previous doctrine, seems to remind the
Israelites again, that the cause of their destruction was not
anywhere to be sought but in their wickedness, and especially
because they, having forsaken the true God, had made an idol for
themselves, and formed the calf to be in the place of God. Now, it
was a stupidity extremely gross and perverse, that having
experienced, through so many miracles, the infinite power and
goodness of God, they should yet have betaken themselves to a dead
thing. They forged for themselves a calf! Must they not have been
moved, as it were, by a prodigious madness, when they did thus fall
away from the true God, who had so often and so wonderfully made
himself known to them?
Hence God says now "Thy calf O Samaria"; that is "The captivity
which now impends over thee will not happen by a fortuitous chance,
nor will it be right to ascribe it to the wrong done by enemies,
that they shall by force take thee to distant lands; but thy very
calf drives thee away. God had indeed fixed thee in this land, that
it might be to thee a quiet heritage to the end; but thy calf has
not suffered thee to rest here. The land of Canaan was indeed thy
heritage, as it was also the Lord's heritage; but after God has been
banished, and the calf has been introduced in his place, by what
right can you now remain in the possession of it? Thy calf, then,
expels thee, inasmuch as by thy calf thou hast first attempted to
banish the true God." We now perceive the mind of the Prophet.
He afterwards says that "his anger kindled against them". He
includes here all the Israelites, and shows that it cannot be
otherwise, but that God would inflict on them extreme vengeance,
inasmuch as they were not teachable, (as we have before often
observed,) and could not be turned nor reformed by any admonitions.
"How long", he says, "will they be not able to attain
cleanness, or innocence?" He here deplores the obstinacy of the
people, that at no period or space of time had they returned to a
sane mind, and that there was no hope of them in future. "How long
then will they not be able to attain innocence?" "Since it is so;
that is, since they are unimpressible, as they commonly say, since
they are void of all purity or innocence, I am, therefore, now
constrained to adopt the last remedy, and, that is, to destroy
them." Here God shuts the mouth of the ungodly, that they could not
object that the severity which he so rigidly exercised towards them
was immoderate. He refutes their calumnies by saying, that he had
patiently borne with them, and was still bearing with them. But he
saw them to be so obstinate in their wickedness, that no hope of
them could be entertained. It follows -
Hosea 8:6
For from Israel [was] it also: the workman made it; therefore it
[is] not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
The beginning of this verse is not rightly explained, as I
thinks by those who so connect the pronoun demonstrative "hu'" as if
it had an interposed copulative; and this ought to be noticed, for
it gives a great emphasis to the Prophet's words. "Even this is from
Israel. But what does the Prophet mean? He means this, that the calf
was from Israel, as they had long before, at te beginning, formed to
themselves a calf in the desert. But we do not yet clearly apprehend
the mind of the Prophet, unless we perceive that there is here an
implied comparison. For he accuses the Israelites of being the first
founders of this superstition, and that they had not been, as it
were, deceived by others; for they had not borrowed this corruption
from the Gentiles, as it had been at times the case; but it was, so
to speak, an intrinsic invention. "From Israel", he says, "it is";
that is, "I find that you are now the second time the fabricators of
this impious superstition. Could your fathers, when they forged a
calf for themselves in the desert, make excuse (ae they did) and
say, that they were led by the faith of others? Could they plead
that this cause of offence was presented to them by the Gentiles,
and that they were ensnared, as it often happens, when some draw
others into error? By no means. As then your fathers, when no one
tempted them to superstition, became the founders of this new
superstition through their own inclination, and, as it weren through
the instigation of the devil, so this calf is the second time from
Israel, for ye cannot otherwise account for its origin, ye cannot
transfer the fault to other nations; within, within," he says, "has
this evil been generated." We now perceive the meaning of the
Prophet, which is, that this superstition was not derived from
others, but that Israel, under the influenee of no evil persuader,
had devised for themselves, of their own accord, this corruption,
through which they had departed from the true and pure worship of
God. It ia indeed true, that oxen and calves were worshipped in
Egypt, and the same also might be said of other nations; but
rivalship did not influence the people of Israel. What then? It
cannot certainly be denied, but that they had stimulated themselves
to this impious denial of God.
The same thing may be brought against the Papists of this day;
that is, that the filthy mass of superstitions, by which the whole
worship of God ia corrupted by them, has been produced by
themselves. If they object and say, that they have borrowed many
rites from the heathens: this is indeed true; but was it the
imitation of heathens which led them to these wicked inventions? By
no means, but their own lust has led them astray; for being not
content with the simple word of God, they have devised for
themselves strange and spurious modes of worship; and afterwards
additions were made according to the caprices of individuals: thus
it has happened, that they are sunk in the deepest gulf. Whence then
have the Papists so many patrons, on whom relying, then despise
Christ the Mediator? Even because they have adopted them for
themselves. Whence also have they so many ungodly ceremonies, by
which they pervert the worship of God? Even because they have
fabricated them for themselves.
We now then see how grievous was the accusation, that the calf
was even from Israel. "There ia no reason then", the Lord says, "for
you to say that you have been deceived by bad examples, like tbose
who are mixed with profane heathens and contract their viccs, as
contagion creeps in easily among men, for they are by nature prone
to vice; there is no reason," he says, "for any one to make an
objection of this kind." Why? "Because the calf your fathers made
for themselves in the desert was from Israel; and this calf also is
from Israel, for it was not thrust upon you by others, but Jeroboam,
your king, made it for you, and you willingly and applaudingly
received it."
"The workman", he says, "made it, and it is not God". Here the
Prophet derides the stupidity o the people; and there are many
other like places, which occur everywhere, especially in the
Prophets, in which God reprobates this madness of having recourse to
modes of worship so absurd. For what is more contrary to reason than
for man to prostrate himself before a dead piece of wood or before a
atone, and to seek salvation from it? The unbelieving indeed put on
their guises and say that they seek God in heaven, and, because
idols and imaneg are types of God, that they come to him through
them; but yet what they do appears evident. These pretencea are then
altogether vain, for their stupidity is openly seen, when they thus
bend their knees before a wood or stone. Hence the Prophet here
inveighs against this senseless stupidity, because man had made the
idol. "Can a mortal man make a god? Ye do certainly ascribe divinity
to the calf; is this in the power of the workman? Man has not
bestowed life on himself, and cannot for one moment preserve that
life which he has obtained at the pleasure of another; how then can
he make a god from wood or stone? What sort of madness is this?
He then adds, "It is not God, for in fragments shall be the
calf of Samaria". The Prophet shows here from the event, how there
was no power or no divinity in the calf, because it was to be
reduced to fragments. The event then would at length show how madly
the Israelites played the fool, when they formed to themselves a
calf, to be as it were the symbol of the divine presence. We now see
what the Prophet means: for he enhances the sin of Israel, because
they had not been enticed by others to depart from the pure and
genuine worship of God, but they had been their own deceivers. This
is the meaning. It follows -
Hosea 8:7
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it
hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the
strangers shall swallow it up.
The Prophet here shows by another figure how unprofitably the
Israelites exercised themselves in their perverted worship, and then
how vainly they excused their superstitions. And this reproof is
very necessary also in the present day. For we see that hypocrites,
a hundred times convicted, will not yet cease to clamour something:
in short, they cannot bear to be conquered; even when their
conscience reproves them, they will still dare to vomit forth their
virulence against God. They will also dare to bring forward vain
pretences: hence the Prophet says, that they have sown the wind, and
that they shall reap the whirlwind. It is an appropriate metaphor;
for they shall receive a harvest suitable to the sowing. The seed is
cast on the earth, and afterwards the harvest is gathered: "They
have sown", he says, "the wind, they shall then gather the
whirlwind", or, the tempest. To sow the wind is nothing else than to
put on some appearance to dazzle the eyes of the simple, and by
craft and guise of words to cover their own impiety. When one then
casts his hand, he seems to throw seed on the earth, but yet he sows
the wind. So also hypocrites have their displays, and set themselves
in order, that they may appear wholly like the pious worshipers of
God.
We hence see that the design of the Prophet's metaphor, when he
says that they sow the wind, is to show this, that though they
differ nothing from the true worshippers of God in outward
appearance, they yet sow nothing but wind; for when the Israelites
offered their sacrifices in the temple, they no doubt conformed to
the rule of the law, but at the same time came short of obedience to
God. There was no faith in their services: it was then wind; that
is, they had nothing but a windy and an empty show, though the
outward aspect of their service differed nothing from the true and
legitimate worship of God. They then sow the wind and reap the
whirlwind. But we cannot finish to-day.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that since the rule of thy true and lawful
worship is sufficiently known to us, and thou continues to exhart us
to persevere in our course, and to abide in that pure and simple
worship which thou hast fully approved, - O grant, that we may, in
true obedience of faith, respond to thee: and though we now see the
whole world carried here and there, and all places full of the awful
examples of apostacy, and so much madness everywhere prevailing,
that men become more and more hardened daily, - O grant, that, being
fortified by invincible faith against these so many temptations, we
may persevere in true religion, and never at any time turn aside
from the teaching of thy word, until we be at length gathered to
Christ our King, under whom, as our head, thou hast promised that we
shall ever be safe, and until we attain that happy life which is
laid up for us in heaven, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Calvin on Hosea
(continued in part 22...)
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