(Calvin on Hosea, part 23)
Lecture Twenti-third.
It remains for us to consider the second part of the last verse
of the eighth chapter, in which the Prophet blames the tribe of
Judah for multiplying fenced cities. This was not in itself
condemnable before God; but the Prophet saw that the confidence of
the people was transferred to these cities as it usually happens.
Rare indeed is the example, when any people are well fortified, that
they become not implicated in this charge of misplaced confidence.
But as this vice in the tribe of Judah was well known, the Prophet
does not here complain without reason, that they reposed their hope
on their fortified cities, and thus deprived God of his just praise.
And then he denounces a punishment. "I will send Jire upon his
cities, and it shall devour his palaces". The meaning is, that when
men turn away their minds from God, and rely on perishable things, a
fatal destruction will at last follow; for the Lord will frustrate
the hope of those who thus deprive him of his honor. This then is
the meaning. Now follows the ninth chapter.
Chapter 9.
Hosea 9:1
Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as [other] people: for thou hast
gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every
cornfloor.
It is not known at what time the Prophet delivered this
discourse, but it is enough to know that it is directed against the
obstinate wickedness of the people, because they could by no means
be turned to repentance, though their defection was, at the same
time, manifest. He now declares that God was so angry, that no
success could be hoped for. And this warning ought to be carefully
noticed; for we see that hypocrites as long as God spares or
indulges them, take occasion to be secure: they think that they have
sure peace with God, when he bears with them even for a short time;
and further, except the drawn sword appears, they are never afraid.
Since, then, men sleep so securely in their vices, especially when
the Lord treats them with forbearance and kindness, the Prophet here
declares, that the Israelites had no reason to rejoice for their
prosperity, or to flatter themselves under this cover, that the Lord
had not immediately taken vengeance on them; for he says, that
though all people under heaven were prosperous, yet Israel would be
miserable, because he had committed fornication against his God.
We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet. "Israel", he says,
"rejoice not thou with exultations like the people"; that is,
"Whatever prosperity may happen to thee, though God may seem
propitious by not afflicting thee, but kindly bearing with thee, -
nay, though he may bountifully nourish thee, and may seem to give
thee many proofs of paternal favor, yet there is no reason for thee
to felicitate thyself, for vain will be this joy, because an unhappy
end awaits thee." "Thou hast committed fornication" he says,
"against thy God". This warning was very necessary. This vice, we
know, has ever prevailed among men, that they are blind to their
sins as long as the Lord spares them; and experience, at the present
day, most fully proves, that the same disease still cleaves to our
marrow. As it is so, let this passage of the Prophet awaken us, so
that we may not rejoice, though great prosperity may smile on us;
but let us rather inquire, whether God has a just cause of anger
against us. Though he may not openly put forth his hand, though he
may not pursue us, we ought yet to anticipate his wrath; for it is
the proper office of faith, not only to find out from present
punishment that God is angry, but also to fear, on account of any
prevailing vices, the punishment that is far distant. Let us then
learn to examine ourselves, and to make a severe scrutiny, even when
the Lord conceals his displeasure, and visits us not for our sins.
If, then, we have committed fornication against God, all our
prosperity ought to be suspected by us; for this contempt, in
abusing God's blessings, will have to be dearly bought by us.
The comparison here made is also of great weight. "As other
people", says the Prophet. He means, that though God might pardon
heathen nations, yet he would punish Israel, for less excusable was
his apostasy and rebellion in having committed fornication against
his God. That other nations wandered in their errors, was no wonder;
but that Israel should have thus cast off the yoke, and then denied
his God, that he should have broken and violated the fidelity of
sacred marriage, - all this was quite monstrous. It is then no
wonder that God here declares, by the mouth of his Prophet, that
though he spared other people, he would yet inflict just punishment
on Israel.
He then adds, "Thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor".
He pursues the same metaphor, that Israel had committed fornication
like an unchaste and perfidious woman. Hence he says, that they were
like harlots, who are so enticed by gain, that they are not ashamed
of their lewdness. He said yesterday, that the people had hired
lovers; but now he says, that they were led astray by the hope of
reward. These things are apparently contradictory; but their
different aspect is to be noticed. Israel hired for himself lovers,
when he purchased, with a large sum of money, a confederacy with the
Assyrians; but, at the same time, when he worshipped false gods with
the hope of gain, he was like strumpets, who prostitute their body
to all kinds of filthiness, when any rewards entice them.
But a question may be here moved, Why does the Prophet say that
the reward is meretricious, when a plenty of corn is sought for? for
he reproaches the Israelites for no other thing, but that they
wished their floors to be filled with wheat. This seems not indeed
to be in itself worthy of reproof, for who of us does not desire a
fruitful increase of corn and wine? Nay, since the Lord, among other
blessings, promises to give abundance of provision, it is certainly
lawful to ask by supplications and prayers what he promises. But the
Prophet calls it a wicked reward, when what God has promised to give
is sought from idols. When therefore we depart from the one true
God, and devise for ourselves new gods to nourish us and supply our
food and raiment, we are like strumpets, who choose by lewdness to
gain support, rather than to receive it from their own husbands.
This is then to be like a woman whom her husband treats bountifully,
and she casts her eyes on others, and seeks a filthy reward from
adulterers. Such are idolaters. For God offers himself freely to us,
and testifies that he will perform the part of a father and
preserver; but the greater part, despising the blessing of God, flee
elsewhere, and invent for themselves false gods, as we see to be
done under the Papacy: for who are the patrons (nutricios -
nourishers) they implore, when either drought or any other adverse
season threatens sterility and want? They have an innumerable
multitude of gods to whom they flee. They are then strumpets who
hunt for gain from adulterers; while, at the same time, God freely
promises to be a husband to them, and to take care that nothing
should be wanting. Since, then, they are not satisfied with the
blessing of God alone, it is a meretricious lust, which is
insatiable, and in itself filthy and disgraceful.
We now then see what the Prophet repudiates in the people of
Israel, and that is, They hoped for a larger abundance of corn from
their idols than from the true God, as was the case with the
idolaters mentioned by Jeremiah, 'when we served,' they said, 'the
queen of heaven, we abounded in wine and corn,' (Jer. 44: 17.) They
compared God with idols, and denied that they were so well and so
sumptuously provided for when they worshipped God alone. Since,
then, idolaters give honour to fictitious gods, so as to think them
to be more liberal to them than the true God, this is the reason
that the Prophet now so severely blames Israel, when he says that
they loved a meretricious reward on all the floors of wheat. It then
follows -
Hosea 9:2
The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine
shall fail in her.
God now denounces such a punishment as the Israelites deserved.
They had been drawn away, as we have said, from the pure worship of
God by allurements; they hoped for more profit from superstitions.
Hence God shows, that he would on this account punish them by taking
away from them their wine and corn, as we have already noticed in
chap. 2: for it is the only way by which the Lord restores men to a
sane mind, or at least renders them inexcusable, to deprive them of
his blessings. The harlot, as long as gain is to be had, as long as
she surpasses all honest and chaste matrons in her dress and mode of
living, is pleased with herself and blinded by her own splendour;
but when she is reduced to extreme want, when she sees herself to be
the laughing-stock of all, and when she drags a miserable life in
poverty, she then sighs and owns how infatuated she had been in
leaving her husband. So the Lord now declares by his Prophet, that
he would thus deal with the Israelites, that they might no longer
please themselves with such delusions.
Hence he says, "The floor and the wine-press shall not feed
them, and the new wine shall disappoint them", (mentietur illis -
shall lie to them;) - that is, the vineyards shall not answer their
expectation. It is the same as though he said, "As these men regard
only their stomach, as they deem nothing of any moment but
provision, therefore the floor and the wine-press shall not feed
them; I will deprive them of their support, that they may understand
that they in vain worship false gods." Let us take a common
similitude: We see some boys so disingenuous as not to be moved
either by disgrace or even by stripes; but as they are subject to
the cravings of appetite, when the father deprives them of bread,
they nearly lose all hope. Stripes do no good, all warnings are
slighted; but when the boy who loves excess sees that bread is
denied him, he finds out that his father's displeasure ought to be
feared. Thus God corrects men addicted to excessive indulgence; for
they are so insensible, that no other remedy can do them any good.
We now, then, apprehend the meaning of the Prophet. He first
reproaches the Israelites for loving a reward, for hastening after
fictitious gods, that they might glut themselves with great
abundance of things: but when the Lord saw that they had become
stupefied in their fatness, he said, "I will deprive them of all
their provisions; neither wine nor wheat shall be given them; this
want will at length drive them to repentance." We hence see how the
Lord deals with men according to their disposition. And his manner
of speaking ought to be noticed; he says, that neither the floor nor
the wine-press shall feed them. He does not say, that the fields
shall be barren; he does not say, that he would send hail or storm;
but he says, that neither the floor nor the wine-press shall feed
them; and further, that the new wine shall disappoint them; that is,
when they shall think themselves to be blessed with all plenty, when
the harvest shall appear abundant, and when they shall have already,
by anticipation, swallowed up the large produce of their vineyards,
all this shall come to nothing; for neither the floor nor the
wine-press shall feed them; nay, the very wine which they thought to
have been prepared shall disappoint them. It follows -
Hosea 9:3
They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to
Egypt, and they shall eat unclean [things] in Assyria.
The Prophet proclaims here a heavier punishment - that the Lord
would drive them into exile. It was indeed a dreadful repudiation,
when they were deprived of the land of Canaan, which was the Lord's
rest, as it is called in the Psalms, (Ps. 132: 14.) While they dwelt
in the land of Canaan, they lived as it were in the habitations of
God, and could have a sure hope that he would be a father to them:
but when they were thence expelled, the Lord testified that he
regarded them as aliens; it was the same as when a father
disinherits his son. The Prophet now threatens them not only with
the want of food, but also with repudiation, which was far more
grievous - "They shall not dwell", he says, "in the Lord's land".
There is an elegant play on words in the verbs here used;
"yeshvu" and "weshav"; the one is from "yashav" and the other from
"shuv". 'They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall
return into Egypt:' and the other circumstance is still more
dreadful. In Assyria they shall eat what is unclean; for it was the
same as if the Lord intended to blend that holy people with the
profane Gentiles, so that there should be afterwards no difference;
for the uncleanness of which the Prophet speaks would have the
effect of destroying the distinction which the adoption of God made
between that people and the profane nations. It was indeed by badges
that the Lord retained the people of Israel, when he ordered them to
abstain from unclean meats: but when they differed nothing, as to
common food, from the Gentiles, it was evident that they were
rejected by God, and that the holiness which belonged to them
through the free covenant of God was obliterated. "They shall eat",
then, "what is unclean in Assyria"; that is, "They shall not now be
under my care and protection; they shall live according to their own
will, as the other nations. I have hitherto preserved them under
some restraint; but now, as they will not bear to live under my law,
they shall have their own liberty, and shall be profane like the
rest of the world, so that they shall become involved in all the
defilements and pollutions of the Gentiles." This is the meaning.
And now we ought to consider, whether it be right, when we are
among idolaters, to conform to the rites approved by them. This
place, no doubt, as other places, most clearly shows, that nothing
more grievous can happen to us than the doing away of all difference
between us and the profane despisers of God, even in the outward
manner of living. Had the Prophet said, "The Israelites shall now be
hungry in a far country; - the Lord has hitherto fed them with
plenty, for he has performed what he had formerly promised by Moses;
this land has in every way been blessed, and has supplied us with
great abundance of wine, wheat, and oil; yea, honey has flowed like
water; but they shall now be constrained to pine away with want
among their enemies:" - Had the Prophet said this, it would have
been a grievous and severe denunciation; but now he fills them, as
it has been already said, with much greater horror, for he says,
'They shall eat what is unclean.' There seemed to be some great
importance belonging to the external rite: but the outward
profession was the badge of divine adoption. When therefore the
people loosened the reins and ate indiscriminately any meat, and
made no choice according to the directions of the law, then the
distinction was removed, so that they ceased to be the people of
God. It is the same also, at this day, with those who turn aside
from a sincere profession of their faith and associate with the
Papists; they renounce, as far as they can, the favour of God, and
abandon themselves to the will of Satan.
Let us then know that it is a dreadful judgement of God, when
we are not allowed to profess our faith by outward worship; and when
the ungodly so rule, as to put us under the necessity of which the
Prophet here speaks, even of eating unclean things, that is, of
being implicated in their profane superstitions. It is then a
favour, to be highly valued, when we are permitted to abstain from
all defilements and to worship God purely, so that no one may
contaminate himself by dissimulation: but when we are compelled,
under the tyranny of the ungodly, to conform to impure
superstitions, it is a sign of the dreadful judgement of God; and
there is nothing by which any one can excuse himself in this respect
or extenuate his fault, as many do, whom yet conscience bites
within, though they deem it sufficient to spread forth their own
excuses before the eyes of men. But there is nothing by which such
men can either flatter themselves, or dazzle the eyes of the simple;
for it is an extreme reproach, when people, who ought to be sacred
to God and to profess outwardly his pure worship, suffer themselves
to be polluted with unclean food. It follows -
Hosea 9:4
They shall not offer wine [offerings] to the LORD, neither shall
they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices [shall be] unto them as
the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for
their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the
LORD.
It is uncertain whether the Prophet testifies here, that they
should lose their labour and their oil (as they say) when they
sacrificed to God; or whether he declares what would be the case
when they had been driven into exile. Both views seem probable. Now,
if we refer the words of the Prophet to the time of exile, they seem
not unsuitable, "They shall not then pour out wine to Jehovah, and
their sacrifices shall not be acceptable to him; no oblation shall
come any more to the temple of Jehovah." And thus many understand
the passage; yet the former sense is the most appropriate, as it may
be easily gathered from the context. The Prophet says, that they
shall not pour out wine to Jehovah, and that their sacrifices shall
not be acceptable to him; and then he adds, "All that eat shall be
polluted". It seems not by any means applicable to exiles, that they
should vainly endeavour to pour out wine to God; for their religion
forbade them to do such a thing. Further, when he says, "Their
sacrifices shall be to them as the bread of mourners", - this must
also be understood of sacrifices, which they were wont daily to
offer to God; for in exile (as it has been said) it was not lawful
for them to make any offering, nor had they there an altar or a
sanctuary.
What, then, is the meaning of the Prophet, when he says, "All
that eat of their sacrifices shall be polluted"? We must know that
the Prophet speaks here of the intermediate time, as though he said,
"What the Israelites now sacrifice is without any advantage, and God
is not pacified with these trifles for they bring polluted hands,
they change not their minds, they obtrude their sacrifices on God,
but they themselves first pollute them." Of this same doctrine we
have already often treated; I shall not then dwell on it now; but it
is enough to point out the design of the Prophet, which was to show
that the Israelites were seeking in vain to pacify God by their
ceremonies, for they were vain expiations which God did not regard,
but deemed as worthless.
They shall not then pour out wine to God. There is an important
meaning in this sentence; for it is certain that as long as the
Israelites lived in their country, they were sedulous enough in the
performance of outward worship, and that drink-offerings were not
neglected by them. Since, then, this custom prevailed among them,
the Prophet must be speaking here only of the effect, and says, that
they exercised themselves in vain in their frivolous worship, for
they poured not out wine to Jehovah, that is, their libation did not
come to Jehovah; and he explains himself afterwards, when he says,
Their drink-offerings shall not be pleasant to him. However much,
then, the Israelites might labour, the Prophet says that their
labour would be fruitless, for the Lord would reject whatever they
did. He then adds what is to the same purpose, "Their sacrifices
shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat shall be
polluted"; that is, all their sacrifices are polluted. The Prophet
now shows more clearly, not that there would be no sacrifices, but
that they would be in vain, because the Lord would abominate them,
and would repudiate all the masks which they would put on in his
presence, and under the cover of which they withdrew themselves from
their allegiance to him. The reason is, because when any one unclean
touches pure flesh, he pollutes it by his uncleanness. God then must
necessarily abominate whatever impure men offer, unless they seek to
purify their minds. And this principle has ever prevailed among the
very blind, -
An impious right hand does not rightly worship the celestials.
(Non bene coelestes impia dextra colit.)
These words, which spread everywhere, have been witnesses of
the common feeling; for the Lord intended to draw out men, as it
were, from their coverts, when he forced them to make such a
confession. It is no wonder that the Prophet now says (as this truth
is also often taught in Scripture) that the sacrifices of the
people, who continued in their own perfidy, would be like the bread
of mourners; as Isaiah says, 'When one kills an ox, it is the same
as if he slew a man; when one sacrifices a lamb, it is the same as
if he killed a dog,' (Isaiah 66: 3.) He compares sacrifices to
murders; nor is it to be wondered at, for it is a more atrocious
crime to abuse the sacred name of God than to kill a man, and this
is what ungodly men do.
Then he says, "If any one eats, he will be polluted." He
enlarges on what he said before, and says that if any one clean
should come, he would be polluted by being only in company with
them. We now see how sharply the Prophet here arouses hypocrites,
that they might now cease to promise to themselves what they were
wont to do, and that is, that God would be propitious to them while
they pacified him with their vain things. "By no means," he says;
"nay, there is so much defilement in your sacrifices, that they even
contaminate others who come, being themselves clean."
But it may be asked, Can the impiety of others pollute us, when
we afford no proof of companionship, nor by dissimulation manifest
any consent? when we then abstain from all superstition, does
society alone contaminate us? The answer is easy: The Prophet does
not avowedly discuss here how another's impiety may contaminate men
who are clean; but his object was to show in strong language how
much God abhors the ungodly, and that not only he is not pacified
with their sacrifices, but also holds them as the greatest
abominations. But with regard to this question, it is certain that
we become polluted as soon as we content to profane superstitions:
yet when ungodly men administer either holy baptism or the holy
supper, we are not polluted by fellowship with them, for the deed
itself has nothing vicious in it. Then the act only does not pollute
us, nor the hidden and inward impiety of men. This is true: but we
are to understand for what purpose the Prophet said, that all who
eat of their sacrifices shall be polluted.
He proceeds with the same subject, "Their bread for their
souls" &c. This clause, "for their soul," may be explained in two
ways. In saying, Bread for their soul, the Prophet spake by way of
contempt; as though he said, "Let them serve themselves and their
stomach with bread, and no more offer it to God; let them then
satiate themselves with bread, for they cannot consecrate to God
their bread, when they themselves are unclean." But I am inclined to
follow what has been more approved, that bread for their soul shall
not come to the house of the Lord; for men, we know, are then wont
to offer their sacrifices to God to reconcile themselves to him, or
at least to present emblems of their expiation: hence the Prophet
says, that bread is offered for the soul according to the directions
of the law; but that the ungodly could not bring bread into the
house of Jehovah, because the Lord excludes them, as it were, by an
interdict. Not that hypocrites keep away, for we see how boldly they
thrust themselves into the temple; nay, they would occupy the first
place; but the Lord yet forbids them to come to his presence. This
is the reason why he says, that the bread of the ungodly shall not
come before God, though in appearance their oblations glitter before
men. It follows -
Hosea 9:5
What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of
the LORD?
The Prophet here alludes again to their exile, and shows how
deplorable the condition of the people would be, when deprived of
all their sacrifices. It is indeed true that the Israelites, when
they changed the place of the temple, and when new and spurious
rites were introduced by Jeroboam, became wholly rejected, so that
from that time no sacrifice pleased God, for they sacrificed to
idols and demons and not to God, as it is elsewhere stated, (Deut.
32: 17;) but yet, as they had some kind of divine worship, as
circumcision remained, and sacrifices were offered, as it were, by
Moses' command, and they boasted themselves to be the children of
Abraham and lived in the holy land, they were satisfied with their
condition. But when in exile they saw no sign of God's favour, when
they were deprived of the temple and altar and all sacrifices, when
on every side mere solitude and waste met their eyes, when God thus
manifested that he was far removed from them, great sorrow must have
entered their hearts. Hence the Prophet says, What will ye do in the
solemn day?
And he expressly mentions solemn and festal-days. "If the
morning and the evening oblation, which is wont to be made, will not
be remembered, and if the other sacrifices will not occur to your
minds, what will you do when the festal days will come? for the Lord
will then show that he has nothing to do with you." For the trumpets
sounded on the festivals, that the people might come from the whole
land into the temple; and it was, as it were, the voice of God,
sounding from heaven: but when the feast-days were forgotten, when
there were no holy assemblies, it was the same as if the Lord, by
commanding silence, had proved that he no longer cared for the
people. That the Israelites then might not think that exile only was
threatened to them, the Prophet here shows that something worse was
connected with it, and that was, that the Lord would wholly forsake
them, and that there would exist no token of his presence, as though
they were cut off from the Church. What then will ye do on the
solemn day, on the day of Jehovah's festivity? That is, "Do you
think that something of an ordinary kind is denounced on you when I
speak of exile? The Lord will indeed take away the whole of your
worship, and will deprive you of all the evidences of his presence.
What then will you do? But if a brutish stupor should so occupy your
minds, that this should not recur to your thoughts daily, the solemn
and festal-days will at least constrain you to think how dreadful it
is, that you have nothing remaining among you, which may afford a
hope of God's favour." We now apprehend the meaning of the Prophet.
We hence learn what I have said before, that nothing worse can
happen to us in this world, than to be scattered without any order,
when no outward evidence appears by which the Lord collects us to
himself. It would therefore be better for us to be deprived of meat
and drink, and to go naked, and to perish at last through want, than
that the exercises of religion, by which the Lord holds us, as it
were, in his own bosom, should be taken away from us. When therefore
we are deprived of these aids, and God thus hides his face from us,
and mournful waste discovers to us dread on every side, it is an
extreme calamity, an evidence of the dreadful judgement of God. Let
us then learn, when our flesh is touched, when sterility or some
other evil impends over us - let us learn to dread this deprivation
still more, and to fear lest the Lord should deprive us of our
festal-days; that is, take away all the aids of religion by which he
holds us together in his house, and shows us to be a part of his
Church. This then, in the last place, ought to be noticed: what
remains we shall consider in our next lecture.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that inasmuch as thou drawest us at this time
to thyself by so many chastisements, While we are yet insensible,
through the slothfulness and the indolence of our flesh, - O grant,
that Satan may not thus perpetually harden and fascinate us; but
that we, being at length awakened, may feel our evils, and be not
merely affected by outward punishments, but rouse ourselves, and
feel how grievously we have in various ways offended thee, so that
we may return to thee with real sorrow, and so abhor ourselves, that
we may seek in thee every delight, until we at length offer to thee
a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice, by dedicating ourselves and all
we have to thee, in sincerity and truth, through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Calvin on Hosea
(continued in part 24...)
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