(Calvin on Hosea, part 13)
Lecture Thirteenth.
Hosea 4:19
The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed
because of their sacrifices.
If this rendering be approved, "The wind hath bound her in its
wings", the meaning is, that a sudden storm would sweep away the
people, and thus would they be made ashamed of their sacrifices. So
the past tense is to be taken for the future. We may indeed read the
words in the past tense, as though the Prophet was speaking of what
had already taken place. The wind, then, has already swept away the
people; by which he intimates, that they seemed to have struck long
and deep roots in their superstitions, but that the Lord had already
given them up to the wind, that it might hold them tied in its
wings. And wings, we know, is elsewhere ascribed to the wind, Ps.
104: 3. And thus the verse will be throughout a denunciation of
vengeance.
The other similitude or metaphor is the most appropriate, and
harmonizes better with the subject; for were not men to support
their minds with vain confidence, they could never with so much
audacity despise God's word. Hence they are said to tie the wind in
their wings; being unmindful of their own condition, they attempt as
by means of the wind to fly; but when they proudly raise up
themselves, they have no support but the wind. Let us now proceed -
Chapter 5.
Hosea 5:1
Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give
ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment [is] toward you, because
ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
The Prophet here again preaches against the whole people: but
he mainly directs his discourse to the priests and the rulers; for
they were the source of the prevailing evils: the priests, intent on
gain, neglected the worship of God; and the chief men, as we have
seen, were become in every way corrupt. Hence the Prophet here
especially inveighs against these orders, and at the same time,
records some vices which then prevailed among the people, and that
through the fault of the priests and rulers. But before I pursue
farther the subject of the Prophets something must be said of the
words.
When he says, "To you is judgment", some explain it, "It is
your duty to do judgment," to maintain government, that every one
may discharge his own office; for judgment is taken for rectitude;
the word "mishpat" means a right order of things. Hence they think
that the priests and rulers are here condemned for discharging so
badly their office, because they had no care for what was right. But
this sense is too strained. The Prophet, therefore, I doubt not,
summons here the priests and the king's counselors to God's
tribunal, that they might give an answer there; for the contempt of
God, we know, prevailed among the great; they were secure, as though
exempt from judgment, as though released from laws and all order.
"To you", then "is judgment"; that is, God addresses you by name,
and declares that he will be your avenger, though ye heedlessly
despise his judgment.
Some again take "Mitspah" for a beacon, and thus translate, "Ye
have been a snare instead of a beacon." But this mistake is refuted
by the second clause, for the Prophet adds immediately, "a net
expanded over Tabor": and it is well known that Mizpah and Tabor
were high mountains, and for their height celebrated and renowned;
we also know that hunting was common on these mountains. The
Prophet, then, no doubt means here, that both the priests and the
king's counselors were like snares and nets: "As fowlers and hunters
were wont to spread their nets and snares on mount Mizpah and on
Tabor; so the people also have been ensnared by you." This is the
plain meaning of the words. Some conjecture, that robbers were there
located by the kings of Israel to intercept the Israelites, when
they found any ascending into Jerusalem, as we now see everywhere
persons lying in wait, that no one from the Papacy may come over to
us. But this conjecture is too far fetched. I have already explained
the Prophet's meaning: he makes use, as we have said, of a
similitude.
Let us now return to what he teaches: "Hear this", he says, "ye
Priests, and attend, ye house of Israel, and give ear, ye house of
the king". The Prophet, indeed, includes the whole people in the
second clause, but turns his discourse expressly to the priests and
the king's counselors; which ought to be specially noticed; for it
is indeed, as we shall hereafter see, the general subject of this
chapter. He did not without reason attack the princes, because the
main fault was in them; nor the priests, because they were dumb
dogs, and had also led away the people from God's pure worship into
false superstitions; and so great was their avidity for filthy lucre
that they perverted the law and every thing that was before pure
among the people. It is no wonder then that the Prophet, while
treating a general subject, suitable to all orders indiscriminately,
should yet denounce judgment on the priests and the king's
counselors. With regard to these counselors, they, in order to
confirm the kingdom, had also approved of false and spurious forms
of worship, as it has been before stated; and they had also followed
other vices; for the Prophet, I doubt not, condemns here other
corruptions besides superstitions, and those which we know
everywhere prevailed among the people, and of which something has
been already said.
And to show his earnestness, he uses three sentences: "Ye
priests, hear this"; then, "house of Israel, attend"; and in the
third place, "house of the king, give ear"; as though he said, "In
vain do they seek subterfuges, for the Lord will execute on them the
judgment he now declares:" and yet he gives them opportunity and
time for repentance, inasmuch as he bids them to attend to this
denunciation.
Now this passage teaches, that even kings are not exempted from
the duty of learning what is commonly taught, if they wish to be
counted members of the Church; for the Lord would have all, without
exception, to be ruled by his word; and he takes this as a proof of
men's obedience, their submission to his word. And as kings think
themselves separated from the general class of men, the Prophet here
shows that he was sent to the king and his counselors. The same
reason holds good as to priests; for as the dignity of their order
is the highest, so this impiety has prevailed in all ages, that the
priests think themselves at liberty to do what they please. The
Prophet therefore shows, that they are not raised up so much on
high, but that the Lord shines eminently above their heads with his
word. Let us know, lastly, that in the Church the word of God so
possesses the highest rank, that neither priests, nor kings, nor
their counselors, can claim a privilege to themselves, as though
their conduct was not to be subject to God's word.
This then is a remarkable passage for establishing the word of
God: and thus we see how abominable is the boast of the Papal clergy
of this day; for they spread before us the mask of the priesthood,
when the word of God is brought forward, as though they would
outshine by the splendor of their dignity the whole Law, all the
Prophets, and the very Gospel. But the Lord here upholds his word
against all degrees of men, and shows that both kings and priests
must be brought down from their eminence, that they may obey the
word. Yea, we must bear in mind what I have before said, that though
the whole people had sinned, yet kings and priests are here in a
special manner reproved, because they deserved a heavier punishment,
inasmuch as by their depraved examples they had corrupted the whole
people.
When he compares them to snares and nets, I do not then confine
this to one thing; but as the contagion among the whole people had
proceeded from the priests and the king's counselors, and also from
the king himself, the Prophet compares them, not without reason, to
snares; not only because they were the authors of superstitions, but
also because they perverted judgment and all equity. Let us go on -
Hosea 5:2
And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I [have
been] a rebuker of them all.
The verb "shachat" means, to kill, to sacrifice; and this place
is usually explained of sacrifices; and this opinion I do not
reject. But though the Prophet spake of sacrifices, he no doubt
called sacrificing, in contempt, killing: as though one should call
the temple, the shambles, and the killing of victims, slaughtering,
so also the Prophet says, "In sacrificing and killing, they, having
turned aside, have become deeply fixed"; that is, By turning aside
to their own sacrificing, they have completely hardened their
hearts, so that their depravity is incurable. For by saying that
they had gone deep, the meaning is, that they were so addicted to
their own superstitions, that they could not be restored to a sound
mind, however often admonished by the Prophets. Yet this verb has
another meaning in Scripture, even this, that men flatter themselves
with their own counsels, and think that by twining together reasons
of their own, they can deceive God: and this metaphor the Prophets
employ with regard to profane despisers of God, whom they call
"letsim", mockers: for these, while they deceive men, think that
they have nothing to do with God. The same we see at this day:
courtiers and proud men of the same character, flatter themselves
with their own deceptions, and complacently laugh at our simplicity;
because they think that wisdom was born with them, and that it is
enclosed as it were within their brains. But I know not whether this
idea is suitable to this passage. That simpler meaning which I have
already stated, I prefer, and that is, that the Israelites were so
obstinate in their superstitions, that they perversely despised all
counsels, all admonitions, yea, that they petulantly resisted every
instruction.
But each word must be noticed: "turning aside in sacrificing",
he says, "they became deep". By saying, that they had turned aside
in sacrificing, he no doubt makes a distinction between false and
strange forms of worship and the true worship of God, prescribed in
the law. The frequency of sacrificing could not indeed have been
condemned in itself either as to the Israelites or the Jews; but
they turned aside, that is, departed from what the law prescribes.
Hence the more zealously they engaged in sacrificing, and the more
victims they offered to God, the more they provoked God's vengeance
against themselves. We then see that the Prophet points out here as
by the finger the sin he reproved in the people of Israel, and that
was, - they sacrificed not according to God's command and according
to the ritual of the law, but turned aside and followed their own
devices. Hence it is, that in contempt and in scorn he calls their
sacrificing, killing, or cutting the throat: "they are," he says
"executioners," or, "they are butchers. What is it to me, that they
bring their victims with great pomp and show? That they use so many
ceremonies? I repudiate," the Lord says, "the whole of this; it is
profane butchering; these slaughterings have nothing in common with
the worship which I approve."
That our sacrifices then may please God, they must be according
to the rule of his word; for 'obedience,' as it has been said
already, 'is better than all sacrifices,' (1 Sam. 15: 22.) But when
men retake themselves to false forms of worship or such as are
invented, nothing then is holy or acceptable to God, but an
abominable filth. And further, the Prophet, as I have said, not only
accuses the people of having turned aside to perverted forms of
worship, but also of having become obstinately fixed in them. They
have become deep, he says, in their superstitions: as he said
before, that they were fast joined to their idols, that they could
not be torn away from them; so also he says now, that they were
deeply rooted in their iniquity.
It follows, "And I" have been, or will be, "a correction to
them all". Some think that the Prophet in the person of God
threatens the Israelites, that God declares that he himself would
become the avenger, because the people had so stubbornly followed
wicked superstitions, - "I sit as a judge in heaven, nor will I
suffer you to fall away with impunity, since you are become so
hardened in your wickedness." But they are more correct who think
that their sin was more increased by this circumstance, that God by
his Prophets had not ceased to recall the Israelites to a sound
mind, since they might not have been wholly irreclaimable: I have
been to them a correction; that is, "They cannot excuse themselves
and say, that they had fallen through error and ignorance; for there
has been in them a wilful obstinacy, as I have not ceased to show
them the right way by my Prophets. I have, then, been a correction
to them; but I could not bend them, so indomitable has been that
stubbornness, or rather madness, with which they were inflamed
towards their idols." It is now seen which of the two views I deem
the most correct.
But I will adduce a third: God may be thought to be here
complaining that he had been an object of dislike to the Israelites,
as though he said, "When I sent my Prophets, they could not bear to
be admonished, because my word was too bitter for them." Reproofs
are not easily endured by men. We indeed know, that those who are
ill at ease with themselves, are yet not willing to hear any
reproof: every one who deceives himself, wishes to be deceived by
others. As then the ears of men are so tender and delicate, that
they will patiently receive no reproof, this meaning seems not
inappropriate, "I have been to them all a correction", that is, "My
doctrine has been by them rejected because it had in it too much
asperity." But the other explanation, which I have mentioned as the
second, has been more approved: I was, however, unwilling to omit
what seems to me to be no less suitable.
We may now choose or receive either of these two expositions, -
either that the Lord here takes away from the Israelites the excuse
of error, because he had continued to reprove their vices by his
Prophets, - or that he expostulates with the Israelites for having
rejected his word on the ground that it was too rigid and severe:
yet this main thing will still remain the same, that the people of
Israel were not only apostates, having fallen away from the lawful
worship of God into their own superstitions but were also
contumacious and refractory in their wickedness, so that they would
receive no instruction, no salutary counsels. Let us proceed -
Hosea 5:3
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim,
thou committest whoredom, [and] Israel is defiled.
God shows here that he is not pacified by the vain excuses
which hypocrites allege, and by which they think that the judgment
of God himself can be turned away. We see what great dullness there
is in many, when God reproves them, and brings to light their vices;
for they defend themselves with vain and frivolous excuses, and
think that they thus put a restraint on God, so that he dares not
urge them any more. In this way hypocrites elude every truth. But
God here testifies, that men are greatly deceived when they thus
judge, by their own perception, of that celestial tribunal to which
they are summoned; "I", he says, "know Ephraim, and Israel is not
hid from me". There is to be understood an implied contrast, as
though he said, that they were ignorant of themselves; for they
covered their vices, as I have said, with frivolous excuses. God
testifies that his eyes were not dazzled with such fine pretenses.
"How much soever, then, Ephraim and Israel may excuse themselves,
they shall not escape my judgment: vain and absurd are these shifts
which they use; I indeed am not ignorant."
Let us then learn not to belie, by our own notions, the
judgment of God; and when he reproves us by his word, let us not
delude ourselves by our own fancies; for they who harden themselves
in such a state of security gain nothing. God sees more keenly than
men. Let use then, beware of spreading a veil over our sins, for
God's eyes penetrate through all such excuses.
That he names Ephraim particularly, was not done, we know,
without reason. From that tribe sprang the first Jeroboam: it was
therefore by way of honor that the name of Ephraim was given to the
ten tribes. But the Prophet names Ephraim here, who thought
themselves superior to the other tribes, by way of reproach: I know
them, and Israel is not hid from me. He afterwards expresses what he
knew of the people, which was, that Ephraim was wanton, and that
Israel was polluted; as though he said "Contend as you please; but
you will do so without profit: I have indeed my ears stunned by your
lies; but after you have adduced everything, after you have
sedulously pleaded your own cause, and have omitted nothing which
may serve for an excuse, the fact still will be, that you are
wantons and polluted." In short, the Prophet confirms in this second
clause what I have before stated, that men, when they flatter
themselves, deceive themselves; for God in the meantime condemns
them, and allows no disguise of this kind. Israel and Ephraim
gloried, then, in their superstitions, as though they held God bound
to them: "This is wantonness," he says, "This is pollution." The
Prophet indeed does here cut off the handle from all those
self-deceptions which men use as reasons, when they defend
fictitious forms of worship; for God from on high proclaims, that
all are polluted who turn aside from his word.
Hosea 5:4
They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the
spirit of whoredoms [is] in the midst of them, and they have not
known the LORD.
Some translate thus, "their inclinations allow them not to turn
themselves;" and this meaning is probable, that is, that they were
so much given to their own superstitions, that they were not now
free, or at liberty, to return to the right way; as though the
Prophet said, "They are entirely enslaved by their own diabolical
inventions, that their inclinations will not allow them to repent."
But the former meaning (it is also more generally approved) seems
more adapted to the context. "They will not apply", he says, "their
endeavors to turn to their God". Here God declares that it was all
over with the people, and that no hope whatever remained: as he said
before, "Leave them, why shouldest thou do anything more? for they
will not receive wholesome instruction; as they are entirely given
up to destruction, there is now no reason for thee to be solicitous
about their salvation, for that would be useless;" - so also he says
in this place, They will not apply their endeavors to turn to their
God
If the Prophet speaks here in his own person, the meaning is,
"Why do I weary myself? God has indeed commanded me to reprove this
people; but I find that my labour is in vain; for I have to do with
brute animals, or with stones rather than with men; there is in them
no reason, no discernment; for the devil has fascinated their minds:
never, then, will they apply their endeavors to turn to their God."
If we prefer to view the sentence as spoken in the person of God,
still the doctrine will remain nearly the same: God here declares
that the people were incurable. "Never", then, "will they apply
their endeavors". How so? For they are sunk, as it were, into a deep
gulf, and their obstinacy is like the abyss. Inasmuch, then, as they
are thus fixed in their superstitions, they will never apply their
endeavors to turn to their God
But God in the meantime not only shows here, that there was no
more any remedy for the diseases of the people; but he also gravely
and severely reprobates their iniquity, because they thought not of
seeking reconciliation with their God; as though he said, "What,
then, do I require of these wretched men, but to return to their
God? This they ought to have done of their own accord; but now, when
they are admonished, they care not; on the contrary, they fiercely
resist wholesome instruction. Is not this a strange and monstrous
madness?" We hence see that there is an important meaning in the
words, "They will not apply their endeavors to return to their God";
for the Prophet might have simply said, "to return to Jehovah," or
"to God;" but he says, "to their God", and he says so, because God
had made himself familiarly known to them, nay, brought them up in
his own bosom, as though they were his children and he their Father:
they had forsaken him and had become apostates; and when the Lord
would now reprove this perfidy, was it not strange that the people
should close their ears and harden their hearts against every
instruction? We hence see how sharp this reproof is.
And he says, "Because the spirit of wantonness is in the midst
of them"; that is, they are so pleased with their own filthiness,
that there is no shame, no fear. But the reason of this comparison,
which I have before explained, must be borne in mind. As a wife,
though not faithful to her husband, yet retains still some modesty,
as long as she continues at home, and while she is in any place
classed with faithful and chaste women; but when she once enters a
brothel, and openly prostitutes herself to all, when she knows that
her baseness is universally known, she then throws off every shame,
and entirely forgets her own character: so also the Prophet says,
that the spirit of wantonness was in the midst of the people of
Israel; as though he said, "The Israelites are so imbrued with their
superstitions, that they cannot now be touched or moved by any
reverence for God; they cannot be restored to the right way, for the
devil has demented them, and having cast off every shame, they are
like abominable strumpets."
And he afterwards adds, "Jehovah they have not known". By this
sentence the Prophet extenuates not the sin of the people, but, on
the contrary, amplifies their ingratitude, because they had
forgotten their God, who had so indulgently treated them. As they
had been redeemed by God's hand, as the teaching of the law had
continued among them, as they had been preserved to that day through
God's constant kindness, it was truly an evidence of monstrous
ignorance, that they could in an instant adopt ungodly forms of
worship, and embrace those corruptions which they knew were
condemned in the law. It was surely an inexcusable wickedness in the
people thus to withdraw themselves from their God. This is the
reason why the Prophet now says, that "they knew not Jehovah". But
if they were asked the cause, they could not have said that they had
no light; for God had made known to them the way of salvation.
Hence, that they knew not Jehovah, was to be imputed to their
perverseness; for, closing their eyes, they knowingly and willfully
ran headlong after those wicked devices, which they knew, as it had
been stated before, to be condemned by God.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that since thou continues daily to exhort us,
and though thou sees us often turning aside from the right course,
thou yet ceases not to stretch forth thy hand to us, and also to
rouse us by reproofs, that we may repent, - O grant, that we may not
be permitted to reject thy word with such perverseness as thou
condemnest here in thine ancient people by the mouth of thy Prophet;
but rule us by thy Spirit, that we may meekly and obediently submit
to thee, and with such teachableness, that if we have not hitherto
been willing to become wise, we may not at least be incurable, but
suffer thee to heal our diseases, so that we may truly repent, and
be so wholly given to obey thee, as never to attempt any thing
beyond the rule of thy word, and without that wisdom which thou hast
revealed to us, not only by Moses and thy Prophets, but also by thy
only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Calvin on Hosea
(continued in part 14...)
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