(Calvin on Hosea, part 35)
Lecture Thirty-fifth.
We observed in our yesterday's lecture, that the Israelites
were condemned, because they were, when fed in rich pastures, like
mettlesome horses; and this is what commonly happens. And even Moses
foretold this in his song, 'My chosen, having become fat, kicked
against me,' (Deut. 32: 15.) What the Prophet said was now
fulfilled; fulness had produced ferocity in the people of Israel.
"According to their pastures, he says, they were filled; they were
satiated, and their heart was elevated". Ezekiel declares the same
of Sodom; when their stomach was well filled they became proud,
(Ezek. 16: 49.) But the Prophet speaks there of their cruelty
towards men; for he says, that the Sodomites, while abounding in all
blessings, were full of cruelty, so that they contemptuously
despised the poor. But the prophet condemns here a worse thing in
the people of Israel, for their heart was inflated with pride
against God.
And there is, in the last place, a mention made of their
forgetfulness of God. It is impossible, when men are blinded by a
wilful self-confidence, but that they will cast aside every fear of
God and every concern for religion. And this passage teaches us,
that we ought to use our abundance temperately and frugally, and
that we ought, in the first place, beware lest the bounty of God
should introduce a forgetfulness of him. For it is an extreme
perversion, that when the more largely God pours his gifts upon us,
our hearts should be more narrow, and that his benefits should be
like veils to cover our eyes. We ought then to labour, that the
benefits of God may, on the contrary, renew the recollection of him
in our minds: and then, as I have said, let moderation and frugality
be added. Let us now proceed -
Hosea 13:7,8
Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way
will I observe [them]:
I will meet them as a bear [that is] bereaved [of her whelps], and
will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like
a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
The Prophet denounces again on the Israelites the vengeance of
God; and as they were become torpid through their own flatteries, as
we have already often observed, he here describes the terrible
judgement of God, that he might strike fear into the obstinate, so
that they might at length perceive that they had to do with God, and
begin to dread his power. And this, as we have said, was very
necessary, when the Prophets intended to awaken hypocrites; for self-
confidence so inebriates them, that they hesitate not to despise a11
the threatenings of God: and this is the reason why he adopts these
three similitudes. He first compares God to a lion, then to a
leopard, and then to a bear. "I will be, he says, like a lion, like
a leopard, and then like a bear". God, we know, is in his own nature
merciful and kind; when he says that he will be like a lion, he puts
on as it were another character; but this is done on account of
men's wickedness, as it is said in Ps. 18, 'With the gentle, thou
wilt be gentle; with the perverse, thou wilt be perverse.' For,
though God speaks sharply and severely through his Prophet, he yet
expresses what we ought to remember, and that is, that he thus
speaks, because we do not allow him to treat us according to his own
nature, that is, gently and kindly; and that when he sees us to be
obstinate and unnameable, he then contends with us (so to speak)
with the like contumacy; not that perversity properly belongs to
God, but he borrows this similitude from men, and for this reason,
that men may not continue to flatter themselves when he is
displeased with them. I shall therefore be like a lion, like a
leopard in the way.
As to the word "Assur", interpreters take it in various ways.
Some render it, Assyria, though it is here written with Kamets: but
the Hebrews consider it as an appellative, not the name of a place
or country. Some again render it thus, "I will look on them," and
derive it from "shur", and take aleph, as designative of the future
tense. Others derive it from "asher", and will have it to be in the
conjugation Pual: and here they differ again among themselves. Some
render it, "I will lay in wait for them:" and others think it to be
"Shoar", "I will be a layer in wait like a leopard." But this
variety, with regard to the meaning of the passage, is of but little
moment; for we see the drift of the Prophet's object. He intends
here to take away from hypocrites their vain confidence, and to
terrify them with the apprehension of God's vengeance which was
impending. He therefore says that though God had hitherto spared
them, nay, had in a manner kindly cherished them, yet since they
continued to provoke his wrath, their condition would soon be very
different; for he would come against them like a lion; that is, he
would leap on them with the greatest fury; he would also be like a
leopard: and a leopard, we know, is a very cruel beast: and, lastly,
he compares him to a bereaved she-bear, or, a bereaved bear.
But he afterwards adds, "I will rends or will tear, the
inclosure" of their heart. They who understand the enclosure of the
heart to be their obstinate hardness, seem to refine too much on the
words of the Prophet. We know, indeed, that the Prophets sometimes
use this mode of speaking; for they call that a hard heart, or a
heart covered with fatness, which is not pliant, and does not
willingly receive sound doctrine. But the Prophet rather alludes to
the savageness of the bear, when he says, I will rend or tear in
pieces the membrane of the heart, and will devour you as a lion. For
it is the most cruel kind of death, when the lion with his claws and
teeth aims at the heart itself and tears the bowels of man. The
Prophet therefore intended to set forth this most cruel kind of
death. "I will therefore," he says, "tear asunder the pericardium,
or the enclosure of the heart." I do not at the same time say, that
the Prophet does not allude to the hardness of the people, while he
retains his own similitude.
And "the beast of the field shall rend them". He speaks now
without a similitude; for God means that all the wild beasts would
be his ministers to execute his judgement. "I will then send all the
beasts of the field to rend and tear them, so that nothing among
them shall remain safe." We now see the purport of this passage, and
to what use it ought to be applied. If we are by nature so slothful,
yea, and careless, and when God does not stir us up, we indulge our
own delusions, we ought to notice those figurative representations
which tend to shake off from us our tardiness and show to us how
dreadful the judgement of God is. For the same purpose are those
metaphors respecting the eternal fire and the worm that never dies.
For Gods seeing the feelings of men to be so torpid has in Scripture
applied those things which may correct their sluggishness. Whenever
then God puts on a character not his own, let us know that it is
through our fault; for we suffer him not to deal with us according
to his own nature, inasmuch as we are intractable. Let us go on -
Hosea 13:9-11
9 O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me [is] thine help.
10 I will be thy king: where [is any other] that may save thee in
all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king
and princes?
11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took [him] away in my
wrath.
In the first place, God upbraids the Israelites for having in
their perverseness rejected whatever was offered for their safety:
but he proceeds farther and says, that they were past hope, and that
there was a hidden cause which prevented God from helping them, and
bringing them aid when they laboured under extreme necessity. "He
has destroyed thee, Israel", he says. Some consider the word, calf,
to be understood, "The calf has destroyed thee:" but this is
strained. Others think that there is a change of person: and I am
inclined to adopt this opinion, as this mode of speaking we know, is
very common: Destroyed thee has Israel; thou art the cause of thine
own destruction, or, "Israel has destroyed himself." Though then
there is here a verb of the third person, and there is afterwards
added an affixed pronoun at the second person, we may yet thus
render the passage, "Israel has destroyed himself." At the same
time, when I weigh more fully every particular, this passage, I
think, would be better and more fitly explained by being taken
indefinitely: "Something has destroyed thee, Israel:" as though he
said, "Inquire now who has destroyed thee." God then does not here
name Israel as the author, nor does he point out any as the author
of their ruin; but yet he shows that Israel was lost, and that the
cause of their destruction was to be sought in some one else, and
not in him. This is the meaning. Then it is, "Something has
destroyed thee, Israel; for in me was thy help". God shows and
proves that Israel, who had been hitherto preserved, is now
destroyed through their own fault; for God had once adopted the
people, and for this end, that he might continue to show his favour
towards them. If then the wickedness and ingratitude of the people
had not hindered, God would have been doubtless always like himself,
and his goodness towards that people would have flowed in a
continuous and uniform stream.
This is what he means in the second clause, when he says, "In
me was thine help"; by which he seems to say, "How comes it, and
what is the reason, that I do not now help thee according to my
usual manner? Thou hast indeed found me hitherto to be thy
deliverer: though thou hast often struggled with great and grievous
dangers, I was yet never wanting to thee; thou hast ever found from
me a prompt assistance. How comes it now that I have cast thee away,
that thou criest in vain, and that no one brings thee any help? How
comes it, that thou art thus forsaken, and receives no relief
whatever from my hand, as thou hast been wont to do? And doubtless I
should never be wanting to thee, if thou wouldest allow me; but thou
closest the door against me, and by thy wickedness spurnest my
favour, so that it cannot come to thee. It then follows, that thou
art now destroyed through thy own fault: "Something then has
destroyed thee." He speaks here indefinitely; but this suspended way
of expression is more emphatical when he shows that Israel was
without reason astonished, and had also without reason expostulated
with God. "There is then no ground for contending with God, as if he
had frustrated thy expectation, and despised thy desires and crying;
God indeed is consistent with himself, for he is not changeable;" as
though he said, "Their perdition is from another cause, and they
ought to know that there is some hindrance, why God should not
extend his hand to help them, as he has hitherto usually done."
We now perceive the mind of the Prophet: he in the first place
records what God had been hitherto to the people; and then he takes
for granted that he does not change, but that he possesses a uniform
and unwearied goodness. But since he had hitherto helped his people,
he concludes, that Israel was destroyed through some other cause,
inasmuch as God brought him no aid; for unless Israel had
intercepted God's goodness, it would have certainly flowed as usual.
It then appears that its course was impeded by the wickedness of the
people; for they put as it were an obstacle in its way.
And this passage teaches us, that men in vain clamour against
God in their miseries: for he would be always ready to help them,
were they not to spurn the favour offered to them. Whenever then God
does not help us in our necessity, and suffers us to languish, and
as it were to pine away in our afflictions, it is doubtless so,
because we are not disposed to receive his favour, but, on the
contrary, we obstruct its way; as it is said by Isaiah, "Shortened
is not the Lord's hand, that it cannot save, nor is my ear heavy,
that it does not hear. Your sins, he says, have set up a mound
between you and me," (Isa. 59: 1, 2.) To the same purpose are the
words of the Prophet here when he says, that we ought to inquire
what the cause of our destruction is, when the Lord does not
immediately deliver us: for as he has once given us a taste of his
goodness so he will continue to do the same to the end; for he is
not wearied in his kindness, nor can his bounty be exhausted. The
fault then belongs to us. We hence see how remarkable is this
passage, and what useful instruction it contains.
He afterwards more fully confirms the same by saying, "I will
be"; and then he says, "Thy king, where is he?" By saying, 'I will
be,' God retreats what he had before declared, that he would always
be the same; for, as James says 'No overshadowing happens to him,'
(James 1: 17.) Hence 'I will be;' that is, "Though the Israelites
rail against me, that I do not pursue my usual course of kindness,
it is yet most false; for I remain ever the same, and am always
ready to show kindness to men; for I do not, as I have elsewhere
declared, forsake the works of my hands, (Ps. 138: 8.) Seeing then
that I thus continue my favour towards men, it must be that the way
to my favour is closed up by their wickedness. Let them therefore
examine themselves, when they cry and I answer not. When in their
evils they in a manner pine away, and find no relief, let them
acknowledge it to be their own fault; for I would have made myself
the same as ever I have been, and they would have found me a
deliverer, had not a change taken place in them." We now comprehend
the meaning of the Prophet in the ninth verse, and as to the
expression, "'ehi", I will be, in the verse which follows.
He then says, "Where is thy king? God again reproaches the
Israelites for having reposed their confidence in their king and
other earthly helps, by which they thought themselves to have been
well fortified. "Where is thy king?" he says. He derides the
Israelites; for they saw that their king was now stripped of every
power to help, and that all their princes were destitute both of
prudence and of all other means. Since then there was no protection
from men, the Prophet shows now that Israel had but a vain trust,
when they thought themselves safe under the shadow of their king,
when they considered themselves secure as long as they were governed
by prudent men. All these things, he says, are vain. But we must
ever bear in mind what he had said before "I will be"; for had not
this shield been set up, hypocrites would have ever said in return,
"Where now is God? What is his purpose? Why does he delay?" Hence
God mentioned before that he was ready to help them, but that they
by their wickedness had closed up the way.
But he further derides them for having in vain placed their
hope and their help in their king and princes. "Where is thy king,
he says, that he may save thee in all thy cities?" It is not without
reason that the Prophet mentions cities, because the Israelites
despised all threatening, while their cities were on every side
unassailable and strong to keep out enemies. Hence when God
threatened them by his Prophets, they regarded what was said to them
as fables, and thus defended themselves, "How can enemies assail us?
Though there were hundred wars nigh at hand, have we not cities
which can resist the onsets of enemies? We shall therefore dwell in
safety, and enjoy our pleasures, though God should shake heaven and
earth." Since then they were so inebriated with this false
confidence, the Prophet now says, "I know that you excel in having
great and many cities; but as you deem them as your protection, God
will show that this hope is vain and deceptive. Where then is thy
king that he may save thee in thy cities? And though thy king be
well furnished with an army and with defences, it will yet avail
thee nothing, when God shall once rise up against thee."
But he subjoins, "And thy judges of whom thou hast said, Give
me a king and princes?" Here the Prophet ascends higher; for he
shows that the people of Israel had not only sinned in this respect,
that they had placed their hope in their king, and in other helps;
but that they had also chosen for themselves a king, whom God had
not approved. For David, we know, was anointed for this end, that he
might unite together the whole body of the people; and God intended
that his Church and chosen people should remain under one head, that
they might be safe. It was therefore an impious separations when the
ten tribes wished for themselves a new king. How so? Because a
defection from the kingdom of David was as it were a denial of God.
For if it was said to Samuel, 'Thee have they not rejected, but me,
that I should not reign over them,' (1 Sam. 8: 7,) it was certainly
more fully verified as to David. We now then see what the Prophet
meant: after having inveighed against the false confidence of the
people for thinking that they were safe through the power of their
king, he now adds, "I will advance to another source: for thou didst
not then begin to sin, when thou didst transfer the glory of God to
the king, but when thou didst wish to have a kingdom of thine own,
being not content with that kingdom which he had instituted in the
person of David." The Prophet does now then accuse the people of
defection, when a new king, that is, Jeroboam, was elected by them.
For though it was done according to the certain purpose of God, as
we have elsewhere observed, yet this availed nothing to alleviate
the fault of the people; for they, as far as they could, renounced
God. As the foot, if cut off from the body, is not only a mutilated
and useless member, but immediately putrefies; so also was Israel,
being like a half part of a torn and mutilated body; and they must
have become putrified, had they not been miraculously preserved. But
at the same time God here justly condemns that defection, that
Israel, by desiring a new king, had broken asunder the sacred unity
of the Church and introduced an impious separation.
These are "the princes, of whom thou hast said, Give me a king
and princes. I gave to thee in my wrath, and took away in my fury";
that is "It was a cursed beginning, and it shall be a cursed end;
for the election of Jeroboam was not lawful; but through an impious
wilfulness, the people then rebelled against me, when they revolted
from the family of David." Nothing successful could then proceed
from so inauspicious a beginning. For it is only then an auspicious
token, when we obey God, when his Spirit presides over our counsels,
when we ask at his mouth, and when we begin with prayer to him. But
when we despise the word of God, and give loose reins to our own
humour, and fix on whatever pleases us, it cannot be but that an
unhappy and disastrous issue will follow. God therefore says, that
he gave them a king in his wrath; as though he said, "Ye think that
you have done nobly, when Jeroboam was raised to the throne, that he
might become eminent: for the kingdom of Judah was then far inferior
to that of Israel, which not only excelled in power, but also in the
number of its subjects. Ye think that you were then happy, because
Jeroboam ruled over you: but he was given you in the anger and wrath
of God," saith the Prophet. "But God commanded Jeroboam to be
anointed." True, it was so: but this, says God, I did in my wrath;
and now I will take away in my fury; that is, "I will deprive you of
that kingdom which I see is the cause of your blindness. For if that
kingdom remains entire, I shall be nothing, the authority of my word
will be of no weight among you. It is then necessary that this
kingdom should be wholly subverted; for ye began to be unhappy as
soon as ye sought a new king."
We now understand what the Prophet means. At the same time, we
learn from this passage, that God so executes his judgements, that
whatever evil there is, it ought to be ascribed to men. For the
raising of Jeroboam to the kingdom, we certainly allow to have been
rash and unjust; for thereby was violated that celestial decree made
known to David, "My Son art thou, I have this day begotten thee. Ask
of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles,' &c., (Psal. 2: 8.) But
who appointed Jeroboam to be king? The Lord himself. How could it
be, that God raised Jeroboam to the throne, and that he yet by his
decree set David, not only over the children of Abraham, but also
over the Gentiles, with reference to Christ who was to come? God
seems here to be inconsistent with himself. By no means; for when he
set David over his chosen people, it was a lawful appointment: but
when he raised Jeroboam to the throne, it was a singular judgement;
so that in God there is no inconsistency. The people at the same
time, who by their suffrages adopted Jeroboam and made him their
king, acted impiously and perversely. "Yet God seems to have
directed the whole by his providence." True; for before the people
knew any thing of the new king, God had already determined to elect
him and resolved also to punish in this way the defection and
ingratitude of Solomon. All these things are true, that is, that God
by his secret counsel had directed the whole business, and yet that
he had no participation in the sin of the people.
Thus let us learn wisely to admire the secret judgements of
God, and not imitate those profane cavillers, who make a great
noise, because they cannot understand how God thus makes use of
wicked men, and how he directs for the best end what is done by men
wickedly and foolishly. As they do not perceive this, they conclude
that if the Lord governs all things, he must be the author of sin.
But the Scripture, as we see, when it speaks of the wrath and fury
of God, does at the same time set forth to us his rectitude in all
his judgements, and distinguishes between God and men, even as the
difference is great; for God does not turn the perverse designs of
men to answer their own ends - he is a just judge. And yet his
purpose is not always apparent to us: it is, however, our duty
reverently and with chastened minds to admire and adore those
mysteries which surpass our comprehension. It follows -
Hosea 13:12,13
The iniquity of Ephraim [is] bound up; his sin [is] hid.
The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he [is] an
unwise son; for he should not stay long in [the place of] the
breaking forth of children.
He says, first, that "sealed is the iniquity of Ephraim", and
that "hidden is his sin"; by which words he means, that hypocrites
in vain flatter themselves while God suspends his vengeance; for
though he may connive for a time, yet he does not sleep; nor ought
it to be believed that he is blind, but he seals up the sins of men,
and keeps them inclosed until the proper time for revealing them
shall come. This is the chief point; but the Prophet has expressed
something more. For as Jeremiah says, 'The sin of Judah is written
with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond,' (Jer. 17: 1;) so
now also does Hosea say, that the iniquity of Ephraim was sealed up.
For writings may perish, when they spread abroad: but what is laid
up and put under a seal always remains. What, then, Hosea now means
is, that the people flattered themselves in vain, while a truce was
granted them; for the Lord kept their sins under his seal; as though
he said "God forgets not your iniquity: as he, however, spares you
only for a time, it would be far better to suffer immediate
punishment, for thus the memory of your sin would pass away; but he
now carefully keeps all your iniquities as it were under seal, and
your sins are laid up in store."
We now see that what the Prophet means in this verse is, that
the Israelites had made such advances in their sins, that now no
pardon or remission could be hoped for. "God then shall never be
propitious to you, for your sin is sealed up." And this sentence
applies to all those who disguise themselves before God, when he
does not severely treat them, but, on the contrary, kindly sustains
and bears with them. Since, then, they thus disappointed his
forbearance, it was necessary that this should befall them, that he
should seal up their iniquities, and keep inclosed their sina.
He afterwards says, that the "sorrows of one in travail would
come" on this proud and rebellious people. He pursues the same
subject, but under another figure; for by the sorrows of one in
travail he points out the sudden destruction which befalls careless
men. And this mode of speaking is common in Scripture. There will
come then the sorrows of one in travail on these men; that is, "As
they promise to themselves continual peace, and are now awakened by
any threatenings, and as they proudly despise both my hand and my
word, a sudden destruction shall crush them." Thus much as to the
beginning of the verse, There shall come on them the sorrows of one
in travail.
He then adds, "He is an unwise son", that is, he is altogether
foolish. Here God reprobates the extreme madness of the people of
Israel, as though he had said, "If any particle of sound
understanding remained in this people, they would at least perceive
the judgement which is impending; and there would then be some hope
of a remedy: but this people are now wholly infatuated." And this
proves their folly, for they ought not, he says, to stay in the
breaking forth of children. This clause, however, some interpreters
explain thus, "The time will come, they will not stay in the
breaking forth of children." But rather the contrary is meant by the
words; for the Prophet means, that when the time of birth came, the
people would stop in the breaking forth; which they would not do,
were they endued with a right and sound mind.
It must be noticed, that the Prophet alludes to the time of
birth; for he had said before, that the sorrows of one in travail
would come on the people of Israel; he now declares that these
sorrows would be filial. Though a woman be in labour and in great
danger in giving birth, she is yet freed in a moment, and as Christ
says, joy and gladness arise from that sorrow, (John 16: 21.) But
the Prophet says that this bringing forth would be very different;
for it would be an abortion, and the child would be retained to
putrefy in the womb. If a woman in the very birth restrains effort
and shrinks in her strength, she destroys the child and herself at
the same time; for she cannot bring forth without exertion. Since
then the safety of the woman depends on the exertion made, the
Prophet now says, that the contrary would be the case with the
people of Israel. They are, he says, like a woman in travail; but
they are at the same time blinded with folly, for they retain the
child in the womb and make no effort: so this parturition must at
last be fatal to them. Why? Because they make no effort to bring
forth the child.
THE Prophet by these figurative representations no doubt
glances at the obstinate hardness of the people; for when they ought
to bewail and humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, we
know how perversely they hardened themselves against all punishment.
Since, then, this people did thus as it were champ the bridle, and
at the same time make hard their heart, partly by their fierce
temper, partly by stupidity, partly by desperation, it was no wonder
that the Prophet said that they were an unwise and insane people,
for "they stayed at the breaking forth of children"; that is they
made no effort to obtain the wished-for end to their evils. For when
the Lord afflicts us, and we bring forth, this bringing forth is our
deliverance. Now, how can there be deliverance except we hate
ourselves for our sins, except we raise up our minds to God, and
thus open a passage for God's grace? But when we oppose God
pertinaciously through our fierceness and stupidity, it is the same
as if one closed up every avenue. We now then see how appropriate is
this metaphor used by the Prophet, when he says that the people were
mad; for when the time of bringing, forth came, they stayed in the
breaking forth; that is, at the opening of the womb, for this is
what the Prophet means by the word. Since then they stayed in the
very opening, and restrained, as it were, every effort, and ceased
from all strivings, they must have perished. We now see what the
obstinacy of men produces when they harden themselves, when they
thus contracts as it were, within narrow limits their heart and mind
and all their faculties. For when a woman who is in travail
restrains all efforts, she wilfully seeks death for herself: so they
do the same who harden themselves against all punishments, and
especially when the time of birth is come; and to this the word,
breaking forth, refers: for when the Lord strikes us not only once,
but continues to lay on us many stripes, so that we must either
repent or perish for ever, it is the ripened time for bringing
forth; for God then leads us to an extremity, and nothing remains
for us but to humble ourselves under his mighty hand or to perish.
The Prophet then calls that condition, the breaking forth, in which
obstinate men continue, who will not obey God. It is necessary to
join with these verses the two which follow: this I shall do
to-morrow.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast given us thy only begotten
Son to rule us, and hast by thy good pleasure consecrated him a King
over us, that we may be perpetually safe and secure under his hand
against all the attempts of the devil and of the whole world,- O
grant, that we may suffer ourselves to be ruled by his authority,
and so conduct ourselves, that he may ever continue to watch for our
safety: and as thou hast committed us to him, that he may be the
guardian of our salvation, so also suffer us not either to turn
aside or to fall, but preserve us ever in his service, until we be
at length gathered into that blessed and everlasting kingdom, which
has been procured for us by the blood of thy only Son. Amen.
Calvin on Hosea
(continued in part 36...)
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