BS 485 ."C168 TSA'y^vTTT Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564. Commentaries . . .
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COMMENTARIES
ON THE
TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS.
VOL. I.
HOSEA.
THE CALVIN TRANSLATION SOCIETY,
INSTITUTED IN MAT M.DCCC.XI.III.
FOR THE PUBLICATION OF TRANSLATIONS OF THE WORKS OF
JOHN CALVIN.
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COMMENTARIES
ON THE
TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS.
BY JOHN '^LVIN.
»
NOW FIRST TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN
BY THE REV. JOHN OWEN,
VICAR OF THRUSSINGTON, LEICESTERSHIRE.
VOLUME FIRST.
HOSEA.
EDINBURGH :
FEINTED FOR THE CALVIN TRANSLATION SOCIETY.
M.DCCC.XLVI.
[CBntereB at ©tatfoneris' J^all.]
THE EDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY,
12, South St David Street.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
Prejudice has often deprived many of advantages which they might have otherwise derived : and this has been much the case with respect to THE Works of Calvin ; they have been almost entirely neglected for a long time, owing to im- pressions unfavourable to the Author. In his own and the succeeding age, the authority of Calvin as a Divine, and espe- cially as an Expounder of Scripture, was very high, and higher than that of any of the Reformers. Though an eminent writer of the present day, Dr D'Aubigne, has pronounced Melancthon " the Theologian of the Reformation," yet there is suflficient reason to ascribe that distinction to Calvin ; and to him, no doubt, it more justly belongs, than to any other of the many illustrious men whom God raised up during that memorable period.
It is not difficult to account for what happened to our Author. Varioui#things combined to depreciate his repute. In this country his views on Church government created in many a prejudice against him ; and then the progress of a theological system, not more contrary to what he held than to what our own Reformers maintained, increased this pre- judice ; and where the former ground of difference and dis- like did not exist, the latter prevailed : so that, generally in our Church, and among Dissenting bodies, the revered name
vi translator's preface.
of Calvin has been regarded with no feelings of affection, or even of respect ; no discrimination being exercised, and no distinction being made between his great excellencies as an Expounder of Scripture, and his peculiar views on Church discipline, and on the doctrine of Predestination.
On the Continent other things operated against his repu- tation. Popery owed him a deep grudge ; for no one of the Reformers probed the depths of its iniquities with so much discrimination, and with such an unsparing hand as he did. His remarkably acute mind enabled him to do this most effectually; and there is much on this subject in the present work, which renders it especially valuable at this period, when Popery makes such efforts to spread its errors and delusions. The two weapons which he commonly employed were Scripture and common sense, — weapons ever dreaded by Popery ; and to blunt their edge has at all times been its attempt, the first, by vain tradition, and the other, by im- plicit faith, not in God, or in God's word, but in a palpably degenerated Church. But these weapons Calvin wielded with no common skill, dexterity, and power, being deeply versed in Scripture, and endued with no ordinary share of sound and penetrating judgment. In addition to this, his doctrinal views were diametrically opposed to those of Popery, and especially to the papal system, as modified by and concentrated in Jesuitism, which may be cousidered to be the most perfect form of Popery. For these reasons, the Writings of Calvin could not have been otherwise than extremely obnoxious to the adherents of the Church of Rome : and the consequence has been, that they spared no efforts to vilify his name, and to lessen his reputation.
The first writer of eminence and acknowledged learning in this country, who has done any thing like justice to Calvin,
translator's preface. vii
was Bishop Horsley; and when we consider the very strong prejudice which at that time prevailed ahnost in all quarters against Calvin, to vindicate his character was no ordinary proof of moral coui'age. There were, no doubt, some points in which the two were very like. They both possessed minds of no common strength and vigour, and minds discriminat- ing no less than vigorous. In clearness of perception, also, they had few equals ; so that no one needs hardly ever read a passage in the writings of either twice over in order to understand its meaning. But probably the most striking point of likeness was their independence of mind. They thought for themselves, without being swayed by authority either ancient or modern, and acknowledged no rule and no authority in religion but that which is divine. The Bishop had more imagination, but the Pastor of Geneva had a sounder judgment. Hence the Bishop, notwithstanding his strong mind and great acuteness, was sometimes led away by what was plausible and novel ; but Calvin was ever sober- minded and judicious, and whatever new view he gives to a passage, it is commonly well supported, and for the most part gains at once our approbation.
But something must be said of the present work.
It embraces the most difficult portion, in some respects, of THE Old Testament, and of that portion, as acknowledged by all, the most difficult is the Book of the Prophet HoSEA. Probably no part of Scripture is commonly read with so little benefit as the Minor Prophets, owing, no doubt, to the obscurity in which some parts are involved. That there is much light thrown on many abstruse passages in this Work, and more than by any existing Comment in our language, is the full conviction of the writer. Acute, sagacious, and sometimes profound, the Author is at the same
viii translator's preface.
time remarkably simple, plain, and lucid, and ever practical and useful. The most learned may here gather instruction, and the most unlearned may understand almost every thing that is said. The whole object of the Author seems to be to explain, simjDlify, and illustrate the text, and he never turns aside to other matters. He is throughout an Expounder, keeps strictly to his office, and gives to every part its full and legitimate meaning according to the context, to which he ever especially attends.
The style of Hosea is somewhat peculiar. Jerome has long ago characterised it as being conunatic, sententious ; and those links, the connective particles, by which different parts are joined together, are sometimes omitted. This is, indeed, in a measure the character of the style of all the Prophets, but more so with respect to Hosea than any other. What at the same time creates the greatest difficulty is the rapidity of his transitions, and the change of person, number, and gender. Persons are spoken to and spoken o/" sometimes in the same verse ; and he passes from the singular to the plural number, and the reverse, and sometimes from the masculine to the feminine gender. To account for these transitions is not always easy.
It has been thought by many critics, that the received Hebrew text of Hosea is in a more imperfect state than that of any other portion of Scripture ; but Bishop Horsley denies this in a manner the most unhesitating ; and those emen- dations which Archbishop Newcome introduced in his version, about 51 in number, the Bishop has swept away as unauthor- ised, and, indeed, as unnecessary, for most of them had been proposed to remedy the anomalies peculiar to the style of this Prophet ; and some of those few emendations, which the Bishop himself introduced, founded on the authority of
translator's preface. IX
MSS., Calvin's exposition shows to be unnecessary. The fact is, that different readings, collected by the laborious Kennicott and others, have done chiefly this great good — to show the extraordinary correctness of our received text. Throughout this Prophet, there is hardly an instance in which the collations of MSS. have supplied an improvement, and certainly no improvement of any material consequence.
This Work of Calvin appears now for the first time in the English language. There is a French translation, but not made by the Author himself, as in the case of some other portions of his writings, and can therefore be of no authority. The following translation has been made from an edition printed at Geneva in 1567, three years after Calvin's death, compared with another, printed also at Geneva in 1610.
It has been thought advisable to adopt our common ver- sion as the text, and to put Calvin's Latin version in a paral- lel column. His version is a literal rendering of the original, without any regard to idiom, and to translate it has been found impracticable, at least in such a way as to be under- stood by common readers. His practice evidently was to translate the Hebrew word for word, and to make this his text, and then in his Comment to modify the expressions so as to reduce them into readable Latin, and his version thus modified agrees in most instances with our authorised version. The agreement is so remarkable, that the only conclusion is, that this Work must have been much consulted by our Trans- lators.
In making quotations from Scripture, the Author seems to have followed no version, but to have made one of his own ; and they are often given paraphrastically, the meaning rather than the words being regarded. The same is often done
X TRANSLATOR S PREFACE.
also with respect to the passages explained, the words being frequently varied. In these instances the Author has been strictly followed throughout in this Translation, and his quo- tations, and the text when paraphrased, are marked by a single inverted comma.
The Hebrew words which occur in the Lectures are not accompanied with the points, and it has not been deemed necessary to add them. The words are given in correspond- ing English characters, with the insertion of such vowels only as are necessary to enunciate them, and these vowels, to dis- tinguish them from the Hebrew vowels, are put in Roman characters. The Hebrew vowels are uniformly given the same, and not with that almost endless variety of sounds to which the points have reduced them. The 1, vau^ is always represented by u, except when in some instances it is fol- lowed by a vowel, and then by v. The Hebrews have four vowels corresponding with a, e, u, i, and o, in English.
This work is calculated to be of material help to those engaged in translations. Our Missionaries may derive from it no small assistance, as it gives as literal a version of the Hebrew as can well be made, and contains much valuable criticism, and developes, in a very lucid and satisfactory manner, the drift and meaning of many difficult passages. There is no existing Commentary in which the text is so minutely examined, and so clearly explained. There are also many of the most approved expositions given by others I'eferred to and stated ; and the Translator has added, on interesting and difficult passages, what has been suggested by learned critics since the time of the Author.
If it be a right rule to judge of the impressions which the perusal of this volume, now presented to the public, may
translator's preface. xi
produce on others, by what one has himself experienced, the Editor will mention one thing in particular, and that is, that he fully expects that those who will carefully read this volume will be more impressed than ever with the extreme propensity of human nature to idolatry, and with the amaz- ing power and blinding effects of superstition. The con- duct of the Israelites, notwithstanding all the means em- ployed to restore them to the true worship of God, is here described with no ordinary minuteness and speciality. Though God sent his Prophets to them to remind them of their sins, to reason and expostulate with them, to threaten and to exhort them, to draw and allure them with promises of pardon and acceptance ; and though God chastised them in various ways, and then withheld his displeasure, and showed them indulgence, they yet continued obstinately attached to their idolatry and superstition, and all the while professed and boasted that they worshipped the true God, and perversely maintained that their mixed service, the worship of God, and the worship of idols, was right and lawful, and vastly superior to what the Prophets recommended.
Having this case of the Israelites in view, we need not be surprised at the fascinating and blinding influence of Popery, whose idolatry and superstitions are exactly of the same character with those of the Israelites ; no two cases can be more alike. Their identity is especially seen in this, — that there is an union of two worships — of God and of images ; and this union was the idolatry condemned in the Israelites, and is the very idolatry that now exists in the Church of Rome : and as among the Israelites, so among the Papists, though God is not excluded, but owned, yet the chief worship is given to false gods and their images. That the two sys- tems are the same, no one can doubt, except those who are under the influence of strong delusion ; and this is what is often referred to and amply proved in this work.
xii translator's preface.
It may be useful to subjoin here an account of the time in which the Twelve Minor Prophets lived. The pre- cise time cannot be ascertained : they flourished between the two dates which are here given. The names of the other four Prophets are also added.
BEFORE THE BABYLONIAJST CAPTIVITY.
BEFORE CHRIST.
I. Jonah, 856—784.
n. Amos, 810—785.
in. HosEA, 810—725.
1. Isaiah, 810—698.
IV. Joel, 810—660.
V. MicAH, 758—699.
VI. Nahum, 720—698.
Vn. Zephaniah, 640—609.
IMMEDIATELY PEEVIOUS TO AND DUEING THE
CAPTIVITY.
2. Jeremiah, 628—586.
Vm. Habakkuk, 612—598.
3. Daniel, 606—534. ^
IX. Obadiah 588— 583r^"^
4. Ezekiel, 695—536.
AFTER THE CAPTIVITY.
X. Haggai, 520—518.
XI. Zechariah, 520—518.
Xn. Malachi, 436—420.
In the last Volume, the fourth, will be given the two Indices appended to the original work.
J. O.
Thkusslngtok, September 1, 1846.
POSTSCRIPT.
After the preceding Preface had gone through the press, it has been discovered that The Twelve Minor Prophets cannot be comprised in four volumes of the size generally published in the present Series of The Works of John Calvin.
The Translation, though it be as brief and concise as the idiom of the English language will well admit, takes up more space than the Editor at first anticipated. His first calcula- tion was made from the Latin : he was not then fully aware of the great disparity in the two languages as to relative dif- fuseness of style. He has since found, by a minute compa- rison, that a work in Latin, comprised in five volumes, would require at least six of the same size and type in English : .and in the present instance, what was calculated would be con- tained in four, must be extended to Jive volumes, on account of the respective Prefaces and Notes, &c. by the Editor, besides the Literal Translations of each of the Books of THE Twelve Minor Prophets, which it has since been re- solved shall be appended to each successive Commentary.
The arrangement of this Work, now made with some de- gree of certainty, is as follows :
The First Volume is to contain Hosea ;
The Second Volume, Joel, Amos, and Obadiah ;
xiv POSTSCRIPT.
The Third Volume, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum ;
The Fourth Volume, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai; and
The Fifth Volume, Zechariah and Malachi ; with the Tables and Indices to the whole Work.
On this account, the Volumes cannot be all of equal size, some being considerably above, and some below, the average extent of the present Series of Calvin's Works, being 500 pages on the average. To avoid such inequality, it would have been needful to divide some of the Books — a thing by no means desirable in any case, and which has been studiously shunned in all the other Commentaries.
In addition to what w^as originally contemplated, there will be sriven at the end of each Book a continuous Literal Translation of Calvin's Latin Version, as modified by his Commentary ; and the Editor is requested to state that a similar plan is to be observed in all the other Prophetical Books of the Old Testament.
EDITOR.
Thrussington, Se]>temhci' 1846.
LECONS
ET
EXPOSITIONS FAMILIERES
DE JEAN CALVIN
SUE LES
DOVZE PETIS PROPHETES:
|
ASCAVOIR, |
||
|
HOSEE |
lONAS |
SOPHONIAS |
|
lOEL |
MICHEE |
AGGEE |
|
AMOS |
NAHVM |
ZACHARIE |
|
ABDIAS |
HABACVC |
MALACHIE : |
Traduites de Latin en Francois.
Auec deux Tables: I'vne des matieres principales qui y font contenues: V autre des pajfages de VEfcriture expofezpar VAutlieur.
A LION, PAR SEBASTIEN HONORATL
M. D. LXIII.
I 0 A ]N ^ I S
C A L V I N I
FRJELECTIONES
IN
DVODECIM PROPHE-
TAS (QVOS VOCANT)
M I N O R E S.
Ad Serenifsimum Sueticz &f GothicB Regem.
Reconditam harum Commentationum doctrinam facile common- ftrabunt Indices in calce operis adiecti.
CO
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B-
GENEVA. APVD JOANNEM CRISPINVM, • M. D. LXVII.
PORTRAIT OF OALA^N,
ENGRAVED IN FAC-SIMILE, AND PREFIXED TO THE PRESENT VOLUME.
It has been deemed a matter of importance as well as curio- sity to preserve, in the present Series of English Transla- tions OF THE AVoRKS OF Calvin, facsimile engravings of all the authentic contemporaneous Portraits which can still be recovered of the great Genevan Reformer.
The Portrait which accompanies the present Volume is preserved in the curious and valuable collection of likenesses, or Portraits, and Characters of Illustrious Eeformers, published by Theodore Beza, the pupil, friendj and biographer of Calvin, under the title of "Icones," &c. ; which work passed through several editions in Latin' and French. The Characters of the individuals represented in the wood engravings are annexed to each portrait, and are therefore necessarily drawn up with great conciseness, but with Beza's usual ability and discrimination.
ThQfac-simile in question has been taken from a very fresh impression contained in a copy of the French edition belonging to the Secretary, which was formerly in the library of the Duke of Sussex. The title-page is as follows : —
"Les Vrais Povrtraits des Hommes Illvstres en piete et doctrine, dv trauail desquels DIEV s'est serui en
•^ The Latin edition in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, is, "Genevre, Apvd loannem Laonivm, m.d.lxxx."
VOL. I. A *
18 * PORTRAIT OF CALVIN.
ces derniers temps, pour remettre sus la vraye Religion en (liners pays de la Chrestiente. Auec les Descriptions de leurs vie & de leurs faits plus memorables. Plvs qvraranteqvatre Emblemes Chrestiens. Traduicts du latin de Theodore de Besze. A Geneye, par lean de Laon. m.d.lxxx."
Both the Latin and French copies are dedicated to James VI. of Scotland, and have a curious early portrait of that King prefixed. The latter is addressed, " A tres-illvstre Prince, lacqves Sixiesme, par la grace de Diev serenissime lioy d'Escosse ;" and closes, " De Geneue, le premier iour de Mars, I'an cIo.Io.LXXX. De vostre serenissime & Eoyale Maieste le tres-humble Seruiteur, Theodore de Besze" Care has been taken to have this Jac-simile carefully collated with an impression in another copy of the same edition, also belonging to the Secretary, which was purchased by him at the sale of the duplicates of the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh.
It has been considered indispensable that all the facsimiles which accompany the Calvin Translations shall be executed with most scrupulous fidelity ; and therefore no liberty is allowed the artists employed, in the way of improving the style of the original engraving, or of remedying any artis- tical defects ; but to present an accurate and exact copy, line for line, &c., precisely as in the original.
The following graphic Character of Calvin, by Beza, is annexed to the Portrait : —
lEAN CALVIN DE NO YON EN PICARDIE,
PASTEUR DE L'EGLISE DE GENEVE.
[_Par Theodore de Besze.^
D'avtant que le tesmolgnage du fils pour son pere ne pent pas estre du tout hors de soup(joni qu'on conoisse done, 6 Caluin, par tes deportemens, que tu as este vn excellent in- strument en la main de Dieu tout puissant & tout bon, qui
PORTRAIT OF CALVIN. * 19
par ton ministere a paracheue la Restauration de la vraye Religion, heureusement encoramencee par certains autres quelques annees auparauant. Car c'est toy specialement, a la doctrine, diligence & zele ardent duquel la France & I'Escosse se rendent redeuables du restablissement du roy- aume de Christ au milieu d'elles : les autres Eglises, esparses en nombre infini par tout le monde, confessent t'estre grande- ment obligees pour ce regard. De cela soyet tesmoins, pre- mieremet tes liures qui viuront a iamais, & que tons h5mes doctes & craignans Dieu, reconoissent estre dressez auec tel iugement, de si solide erudition, & d'vn stile si beau, que Ton ne sauroit trouuer homme qui iusques a present ait ex- pose plus dextreraent I'Escriture Saincte : & pour I'autre bande de tesmoins, voici les furieux matheologiens ennemis iurez de la verite de Dieu, qui ont escume toute leur rage contre toy deuant & apres ta mort. Mais cependat, ioui aupres de lesus Christ to maistre des loyers dont il recopense ton fidele seruice: & vous, Eglises du Fils de Dieu, con- tinuez d'aprendre des liures de ce grande docteur, qui ayant la bouche close ne laisse toutesfois (maugre I'enuie) de vous ensigner encores auiourd'hui. Quant k vous, Sophistes, monstres detestables & vouez a perdition, en continuant d'abayer apres ce sainct & docte Theologien, descouurez de plus en plus vostre sottise & meschancete, afin que Ton vous siffle & maudie, en attendant que le iuste luge vieue pour rendre a chascun selon sel oeuures. Au reste, Caluin deuenu phtisique, a cause de ses vielles & abstinences trop grandes, mourut a Geneue I'an mil cinq cens soixante quatre, le vingt- septiesme iour de May, estant en I'aage de cinquate quatre ans, vingtcinq desquels il auoit employez en la charge de Pasteur & Docteur de ceste Eglise par lui dressee & afFermie non sans grades difficultez, & qu'il auoit heureusement gouuernee auec ses doctes compagnons au ministere durant ce teps. II fut enterre sans aucun pompe, comme il en auoit donne charge expresse, & fut regrette comme pere de tous ceux de Geneue, & de plusieursfidelesespars en diuerses parties du monde. Entre les autres ie fus vn qui deploray son trespas par vn epigramme latin, qui a cste tourne en fran^ois comme s' en suit.
20 * PORTRAIT OF CALVIN.
JOHN CALVIN, or NOYON IN PICARDY, THE PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF GENEVA.
\By Theodore Beza.^
As the testimony of a son respecting his own father cannot be altogether free from suspicion, let all then know, by what thou hast done, O Calvin, that thou hast been a remarkable instrument in the hand of the Almighty and all-gracious God, who has by thy ministry completed the E-estoi'ation of true Religion, happily commenced by others some years before. For to thee this especially belongs — to thy doctrine, diligence, and ardent zeal ; to which France and Scotland are indebted for the re-establishment of the kingdom of Christ among them ; other Churches, scattered in great number through the whole world, acknowledge themselves to be also in this respect under great obligations to thee.
Of this let these be the Avitnesses — first, thy writings, which shall ever live ; and all men, Avho are learned and fear God, confess them to have been prepared with judgment so re- markable, with erudition so solid, and in a style so beautiful, that no one has been hitherto found, who hath with so much skill expounded the Holy Scripture. And there is another band of witnesses — the furious matheologians, (men of science,) the sworn enemies of God's truth, who have poured the scum of their rage upon thee before and after thy death. But thou however enjoy est, near thy Master, Jesus Christ, the reward with which he recompenses thy faithful services. And ye, Churches of the Son of God, continue to peruse the works of this great Teacher; who, though he speaks no longer, has left what, in spite of envy, you may every day learn.
As to you, Sophists, hateful monsters and doomed to per- dition, what you do by continuing to depreciate this holy and learned Theologian, is to discover more and more your infatuation and wickedness, to the end that 3'^ou may be con- demned and accursed, when the righteous Judge shall come to give to every one according to his Avoiks.
PORTRAIT or CALVIN. * 21
It may be added, that Calvin, having become consump- tive through excessive study and abstinence, died at Geneva in one thousand five hundred and sixty-four, on the twenty- seventh day of May, at the age of fifty-four ; twenty-five of which he had been employed in the charge of a Pastor and Teacher to that Church, which had been built up and estab- lished by him with no small difficulties, and which he had happily governed in connection with other learned fellow- labourers in the ministry during that time.
He was interred without any pomp, according to the express charge which he had given ; and his loss was lamented as that of a father by all at Geneva, and by many of the faithful, dispersed in different parts of the w^orld. Among others, I was one who expressed my feelings on his death in a Latin Epigram, which has been translated into French, as follows : —
EPIGRAM BY BEZA ON THE DEATH OF CALVIN,
TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH.
POVRQVOY dans vne fosse obscure Sf incomie Est la chair de Caliiin par la mort detenue ? De ce docte Caluin, tant 8^' tant redoute De Rome ruineiise S^ de la Papaute Duquel les gens de Men desirent la presence, Et de qui les meschans craignent mesmes V absence : De qui vertu pouuoit (tant il estoit vestu Et orne de grands dons) aprendre la vertu.
En V admirable cours de son heureuse vie Pour compagne ordinaire il cut la modestie : Elle enterra Caluin de ses deux propres mains.
O moncelet poudreux, que ton hoste fhonore ! QuHl y a de tombeaux ore entre les humains laloux &f desireux de Theur qui te decore !
22 * PORTRAIT OF CALVIN.
beza's original epigram.
RoM^ ruentis terror ille maximus,
Quem mortuura lugent boni, horrescunt mali,
Ipsa a quo potuit virtutem discere virtus,
Cur ad^o exiguo ignotoque in cespite clausus
Caluinus Ijeteat, rogas ?
Caluinum assidufe comitata modestia viuum,
Hoc tumulo manibus condidit ipsa suis.
O te beatum cespitem tanto hospite !
O cui inuidere cuncta possine marmora !
THE SAME IN ENGLISH.
Rome's greatest terror he, whom now being dead The best of men lament, the wicked dread : Virtue itself from him might virtue learn ; — And dost thou ask why Calvin did not earn A place more splendid for his last repose, Than that small spot which does his bones inclose ? But know, that modesty even from the womb Had been his guest, — and she has built his tomb. O happy clod ! thy tenant, great was he ; The gorgeous shrines may justly envy thee.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
JOHN CALYTX
TO THE MOST SERENE AND MOST MIGHTY
KING GUSTAVUS,!
THE KING OF THE GOTHS AND VANDALS.
What I once said, most excellent king, when the Anno- tations ON HosEA, taken from my Lectures, were pub- lished, I now again repeat, — that I was not the author of that edition : for I am one who is not easily pleased with works I finish with more labour and care. Had it been in my power, I should have rather tried to prevent the wider circu- lation of that extemporaneous kind of teaching, intended for the particular benefit of my auditory, and with which bene- fit I was abundantly satisfied.
But since that specimen, (the Commentary on Hosea,) published with better success than I expected, has kindled a desire in many to see that one Prophet followed by the other
1 GusTAVUS was the King of Sweden, the inhabitants of which were then called Goths and Vandals. He was the first king of that name in Sweden, and had the surname of Vasa. He was bom in 1490, and was a descendant of the royal family of Sweden. He delivered the kingdom from the attempted nsm-pation of Christian 11. of Denmark, was made king in 1523, abolished Popery, and introduced Lutheranism in 1530, and died, at the age of seventy, in 1560, the year following the date of this Epistle. — Ed.
VOL. I. B
xviii Calvin's epistle.
eleven Minor Prophets, I thought it not unseasonable to dedicate to your Majesty a work of suitable extent, and re- plete with important instructions, not only that it may be a pledge of my high regards, but also that the dedication to so celebrated a name, might procure for it some favour. It is not, however, ambition that has led me to do this, for I have long ago learned not to court the applause of the world, and have become hardened to the ingratitude of the many ; but I wished that some fruit might come to men of your station from the recesses of our mountains ; and it has also been my legitimate endeavour, that many to whom I am unknown, being influenced by the sacred sanction of their king, might be made more impartial, and come better prepared to read the work.
And this, I promise to myself, will be the case, as you en- joy so much veneration among all your subjects, provided you condescend to interpose your judgment, such as your singular wisdom may dictate ; or, as age may possibly not bear the fatigue of reading, such as your Majesty's eldest son Heric, the heir to the throne, may suggest, whom you have taken care to be so instructed in the liberal sciences, that this office may be safely intrusted to him. And that I might have less doubt of your kindness, there are many heralds of your virtues, and even some judicious and wise men, who are entitled to be deemed competent witnesses. It is not, therefore, to be wondered, most noble king, that a present from so distant a region should be offered to your Majesty by a man as yet unknown to you, who, on account of the excellent and heroic endowments of mind and heart in which he has understood you to excel, thinks himself to be especially attached to you.
But though the excellency of the Book may not, perhaps, be such as will procure much favour to myself, you will not yet despise the desire by which I have been led to manifest the high regards I entertain towards your Majesty, nor will you yet find this present now offered to you wholly unworthy, however much it may be below the elevated station of so great a king. If God has endued me with any aptness for the interpretation of Scripture, I am fully persuaded that I
Calvin's epistle. xIx
have faithfully and carefully endeavoured to exclude from it ' all barren refinements, however plausible and fitted to please the ear, and to preserve genuine simplicity, adapted solidly to edify the children of God, who, being not content with the shell, wish to penetrate to the kernel. What I have really done it is not for me to say, except that pious and learned men persuade me that I have not laboured without success. But these Commentaries may not, perhaps, answer the wishes and expectations of all ; and I myself could have wished that I had been able to give something more excel- lent and more perfect, or at least what would have come nearer to the Prophetic Spirit. But this, I trust, will be the issue, — that experience will prove to upright and impartial readers, and those endued Avith sound judgment, provided they read with well-disposed minds, and not fastidiously, what I have written for their benefit, that more light has been thrown on the Twelve Prophets than modesty will allow me to affirm.
With the industry of others I compare not my own, (which would be unbecoming,) nor do I ask any thing else, but that intelligent and discreet Readers, profiting by my labours, should study to be of more extensive advantage to the public good of the Church ; but as it has not been my care, nor even my desire, to adorn this Book with various attractives, this admonition is not unseasonable ; for it may invite the more slothful to read, until, by making a trial, they may be able to judge whether it may be useful for them to proceed farther in their course of reading. Indeed, the fruit which my other attempts in the interpretation of Scripture have produced, and the hope which I entertain of the usefulness of this, please me so much, that 1 desire to spend the remain- der of my life in this kind of laboui', as far as my continued and multiplied employments will allow me. For what may be expected from a man at leisure cannot be expected from me, who, in addition to the ordinary office of a pastor, have other duties, which hardly allow me the least relaxation : I shall not, however, deem my spare time in any other way better employed.
I now return again to you, most valiant king. lie who
XX Calvin's epistle.
knows your prudence and equity in managing public affairs, your moral habits, your whole character and virtues, will not wonder that I have resolved to dedicate to you this work. But as it is not my design to write a long eulogy on what is praiseworthy in you, I shall only briefly touch on what is well known, both by report and public writings : — God tried you in a wonderful manner before he raised you to the throne, for the purpose not only of exhibiting in you a singular proof of his providence, but also of setting forth to our age as well as to posterity, an illustrious example of a steady perseverance in a right course. You have, doubtless, been thus proved by both fortunes, that there might not be wanting a due trial of your temperance and moderation in prosperity, and of your patience in adversity, until it was given you from above to emerge at length, no less happily than in a praiseworthy manner, from so many dangers, perils, difficulties, and hin- derances, that having set the kingdom in order, you might publicly and privately enjoy a cheerful tranquillity. And now, by the unanimous consent of all orders, you bear a bur- den more splendid and honourable to you than grievous, for all venerate your authority, and show their esteem by love as well as by commendations.
In addition to these benefits of God comes this, the chief, which must not be omitted, — that your eldest son, Heric, a successor chosen by you from yom' own blood, is not only of a generous disposition, but also adorned with mature virtues ; and hardly any one more fit, had you no children, could the people have chosen for themselves. And this, among other things, is his rare commendation, that he has made so much progress in the liberal sciences, that he occupies a high sta- tion among the learned, and that he is not tired with diligent application to them, as far as he is allowed by those many cares and distractions in which the royal dignity is involved. At the same time, the principal thing with me is this, that he hath consecrated in his palace a sanctuary, not only to the heathen muses, but also to celestial philosophy. The more confidence therefore I have, that some place will be there found, and some favour shown to these Commentaries, which he will find to have been written according to the rule of
CALVIN'S EPISTLE. Xxi
true religion, and will perceive calculated to be of some small help to himself.
May God, O most serene king ! keep your Majesty long in prosperity, and continue to enrich you with all kinds of blessings. May He guide you by his Spirit, until, having finished your course, and migrating from earth to the celes- tial kingdom, you may leave alive behind you the most serene king Heric, your successor, and his most illustrious brothers, John Magnus and Charles : and may the same grace of God, after your death, appear eminent in them, as well as fraternal and unanimous concord.
Geneva, January 2'o^ 1559.
JOHN CALYIN
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER, HEALTH.
Since I can truly and justly say, and prove by competent •witnesses, that the writings, which I have hitherto sent forth to the public, and which might have been finished with more care and attention, have been almost extorted from me by importunity, it is evident that these Annotations, which I thought might bear a hearing, but were unworthy of being read, would have never through me been brought forth to the light. For if, by many watchings, I can hardly suc- ceed in rendering even a small benefit to the Church by my meditations, how foolish were it in me to claim a place for my sermons among the works which are published ? Besides, if, with regard to those compositions which I write or dictate privately at home, when there is more leisure for meditation, and when a finished brevity is attained by care and dili- gence, my industry is yet made a crime by the malignant and the envious, how can I escape the charge of presumption, if I now force upon the whole world the reading of those thoughts which I freely poured forth for the present edification of my hearers ? But since to suppress them was not in my power, and their publication could not be otherwise prevented by me than by undertaking the labour (which my circum- stances allowed not) of writing the Avhole anew, and many friends, thinking me to be too scrupulous a judge of my own labours, cried out, that I was doing an injury to the Church, I chose to allow this volume, as it is, taken from my lips, to go forth to the public, rather than by prohibition to im- pose on myself the necessity of writing ; which I was
CALVIN TO THE READER. XXIU
forced to do as to The Psalms, before I found out, by that long and difficult work, how unequal I am to so much writing.^
Let, then, these explanations on Hosea go forth, which it is not in my power to keep from the public. But how they have been taken down, it is needful to declare, not only that the diligence, industry, and skill of those who have per- formed this labour for the Church, may not be deprived of their commendation, but also that readers may be fully per- suaded, that there are here no additions, and that the writers did not allow themselves to change a single word for a better one. How they assisted one another, one of their number, my best friend, and through his virtues, dear to all good men, Mr John Budieus, will, as I expect, more fully explain.
But it would have been incredible to me, had I not clearly seen, when the day after they read the whole to me, that what they had written differed nothing from my discourse. It would have perhaps been better had more liberty been taken to cut off redundancies, to bring the arrangement into better order, and to use, in some instances, more distinct or graceful language : but I do not interpose my judgment ; this only I wish to witness with my own hand. That they have taken down what they have heard from my lips with so much fidelity, that I perceive no change. Farewell, Christian reader, whoever thou be, Avho desirest with me to make progress in celestial truth.
Geneva, February 13, 1557.
^ He was at this time engaged in writing his Comments on The Psalms ; and they were published the following July. — Ed.
JOHN BUDiEUS
TO CHRISTIAN READERS, HEALTH.
When some years ago the most learned John Calyin, at the request and entreaty of his friends, undertook to explain in the School the Psalms of David, some of us, his hearers, took notes from the beginning of a few things in our own way, for our own private meditation, according to our own judgment and discretion. But being at length admonished by our own experience, we began to think how great a loss would it be to many, and almost to the whole Church, that the benefit of such Lectures should be confined to a few hearers. Having therefore gathered courage, we fully thought that it was our duty to unite a care and concern for the public with our own private benefit, and this seemed possi- ble, if, instead of following our usual practice, we tried, as far as we could, to take down the Lectures word for word. Without delay I joined myself as the thii-d to two zealous brethren in this undertaking ; and it so happened, through God's kindness, that a happy issue was not wholly wanting to our attempt : for when the labours of each of us were com- pared together, and the Lectures were immediately written out, we found that so few things had escaped us, that the gaps could easily be made up. And that this was the case as to the work in which was made the first trial of our capa- cities, Calvin himself is a witness to us ; and that this has been far more fully the case with respect to the Lectures on Hosea, (as by long use and exercise we became moi'e skilful,) even all the hearers will readily acknowledge.
But the design on this occasion was to induce him, if pos- sible, to publish complete Commentaries on this Author ; but
BUD^US TO THE READER. XXV
it then happened to us otherwise than we expected : for all hope of obtaining this object he cut off from us from rever- ence to BuCER, who, in this case, as well as in all other things, had performed most faithful and most useful services, as the whole Church acknowledges, and as Calvin in particular has at all times most honourably declared to us and to all. It therefore remained that the Lectures, as taken down by us, should be published. And as all the most pious promised to themselves great benefit from our labour, we daily increased our exertions, that such a hope might not pass away into smoke. Being therefore stirred on by these desires, as well, doubtless, as by the prospect of benefiting the godly, we exerted ourselves so much, that all readily allowed that we exercised nothing short of the greatest diligence. The more wonderful it may seem, that he was afterwards induced to change his mind, so as to frustrate our hope and that of many of the godly ; and that, on the other hand, he was constrained, however anxious to perform a most useful service to the Church, to incur the great envy and implacable hatred of many. But those who plead only the authority of Bucer in this affair are moved, I willingly acknowledge, by a reason not altogether unjust ; yet they will seem to me too stiff" and unbending, if they will not suffer themselves to be influenced by sufficient excuses, which I hope will be the case before long. But as to those who are carried away by the insane love of evil-speaking, and avail themselves of the least oppor- tunity of strife, as they ought to be disregarded and detested as monsters by all the godly, so it is not needful to labour much to satisfy them, for the barking of dogs, provided it hurt not the Church, may without great danger be passed by and despised.
We have, indeed, prefaced these things for the sake of those who have very often solicited us respecting the Lectures on the Psalms, that they may not think them- selves to have been deceived by us with a vain expectation ; for, let them know, that they shall sometimes have, through God's favour, correct and complete Commentaries on The Book of Psalms. But if this long desire does much distress them, let them remember that we also no less anxiously look for that
XXVI BUD.EUS TO THE READER.
great treasure. But it is right that we both should pardon a man who has constant and most burdensome occupations, and somewhat moderate our too prurient and premature wishes : and to indulge him seems right even on this one account, that he, the least of all, indulges himself, never taking any rest or relaxation of mind from his vast labours, so that it is a matter of doubt to none but that he drags a little body, not only through the divine kindness, but by a singular miracle, which cannot be told to posterity, — a body, by nature weak, violently attacked by frequent diseases, and then exhausted by immense labours ; and, lastly, pierced by the unceasing stings of the ungodly, and on all sides distressed and tormented by all kinds of reproaches.
But as this is not the place for making complaints, I now come to you. Christian Readers, to whom it is our purpose to dedicate this work, the Lectures on the Prophet HoSEA ; and we dedicate it, not that we claim any thing as our own, except the diligence we employed in collecting it : but we hesitate not to make it, as it were, our own, for it would have never come to you except through our assistance. For though we judged the work altogether excellent, which is now offered to the Church, yet we could hardly at last convince the author of this ; and he suffered himself to be overcome by our importunate entreaties only on this con- dition, that we were to be accountable for whatever judgment good men might form of the work : so unfit a judge he is of his own productions. But we, though he may modestly extenuate them more than what is right, yet dare to promise to ourselves, that not only the author's labour will be duly appreciated by you, but that we shall also secure to ourselves no common favour.
These Lectures, we trust, Avill not be less acceptable to you, because the author, regarding the benefit of the school, (as it was right,) in some degree departed from the usual elegance of all his other works, and from embellishment of style. For, being oppressed with a vast quantity of business, he was constrained to leave home, after having had hardly, for the most part, half an hour to meditate on these Lectures : he preferred to advance the edification and benefit of his
BUDiEUS TO THE READER. XXVH
hearers by eliciting the true sense and making it plain, rather than by vain pomp of words to delight their ears, or to regard ostentation and his own glory. I would not, at the same time, deny, but that these Lectures were delivered more in the scholastic than in the oratorical style. If, however, this simple, though not rude, mode of speaking should offend any one, let him have recourse to the works of others, or of this author himself, especially those in which, being freed from the laws of the school, he appears no less the orator than the illustrious theologian : and this we declare wdthout hesita- tion, and with no less modesty than with the full consent and approbation of the best and the most learned.
We do not indeed thus speak as if we would, by a censor- ious superciliousness, claim for him alone the glory of an orator, or would not, by calling him a theologian, acknow- ledge many others as celebrated men. Far from us be such a folly. But an occasion such as this being offered of testi- fying our mind, we could hardly, even in any other way, excuse our neglect to the godly, to Avhom it is well known, that our silence concerning Calvin has not hitherto well pleased turbulent men ; who are more willing to have their vanity expressly reprobated by us, than to suffer us by a tacit consent and modest silence either to approve of his doctrine, and to acknowledge in him an evidence, the most clear, of God's kindness towards us, or to cover by a fraternal dis- simulation their madness ; and thus each of us would have to mourn by himself in silence.
But, as I have said, the language here is unadorned and simple, very like that which we know was ever wont to be used formerly in Lectures : not such as many of whom we have heard employ, who repeat to their hearers from a written paper what had been previously prepared at home ; but such as could be formed and framed at the time, more adapted to teach and edify than to please the ear. Except, then, we are greatly mistaken, he so expresses almost to the life the mind of the Prophet, that no addition seems possible. For, after having carefully examined every sentence, he then briefly shows the use and application of the doctrine, so that no one, however ignorant, can mistake the meaning : in short.
XXVlll BUD^US TO THE KEADER.
he 80 unfolds and opens the subjects and fountains of true theology, that it is easy for any one to draw from them what is needful to restore and refresh the soul ; yea, the ministers of the word may hence advantageously derive ample streams, with which, as by a celestial dew, they may abundantly refresh the people of God, whether by exhortation, or consolation, or reproof, or edification. And of these things we clearly see some instances and examples in all his discourses, especially in those in which he so accommodates the doctrine of the Prophets to our own times, that it seems to suit their age no better than ours.
But that we may at length make an end, it remains. Christian Readers, that we receive and embrace with suit- able gratitude all the other inummerable gifts of God which he daily pours on us in great abundance, as well as this in- comparable treasure of his goodness, and employ them for the purpose of leading a holy and godly life to the glory of his name, and to the edification of our brethren : and that this may be done, Ave must pray for the Spirit of God, that we may come to the reading of Scripture instructed by him, and bring a mind purified from the defilements of the flesh, and a meek spirit capable of receiving celestial truth. And for this end much help may be given us by the short prayers which we have taken care to add at the close of every Lecture, as gathered by us with the same care and fidelity as the Lec- tures were: the minds of the pious may by these be refreshed, and may collect new vigour for the next Lecture ; and the ignorant may also have in these a pattern, as it were, painted before them, by which they may form their prayers from the words of Scripture. For as at the beginning of the Lec- tures he ever used the same form of prayer, which we intend also to add, that his manner of teaching may be fully known to you ; so he was wont ever to finish every Lecture by a new prayer formed at the time, as given him by the Spirit of God, and accommodated to the subject of the Lecture.
If we shall understand that these Commentaries will be acceptable to you, though the work is the fruit of another's labour, we shall yet engage, God favouring us, to do the same as to the remaining Prophets. When he shall under-
BUD^US TO THE EEADEE. XXIX
take to lecture on them, it is our purpose to follow him with no less diligence, and take down what remains to the end. In the meantime, enjoy these. Farewell.
Geneva, February 14, 1557.
JOHN CRISPIN
TO CHRISTIAN READERS, HEALTH.
As it may seem wonderful to some, and indeed incredible, that these Lectures were taken down with such fidelity and care, that Mr John Calvin uttered not a word in delivering them, which was not immediately written down ; it may be needful here shortly to remind pious readers of the plan they pursued who have transmitted them to us. And this is done, that their singular diligence and industry may stimulate others to do the same, and that the thing itself may not appear in- credible.
And, first, it must be remembered, that Calvin himself never dictated, as many do, any of his Lectures, nor gave any orders that any thing should be noted down while he was interpreting Scripture, much less after finishing the Lecture, or on the day after its delivery ; but he occupied a whole hour in speaking, and was not wont to write in his book a single word to assist his memory. When, therefore, some years ago, Mr John Bud^us and Charles Jonvill, with two other brethren, (whom Bud^us himself mentions in his preface, and that so it was many know,) found, in writing out THE Exposition on the Psalms, that their common labour would not be wholly in vain, they were impelled by a stronger desire and alacrity of mind, so that they resolved to take doAvn, with more diligence than before, if possible, the whole exposition on whatare called THE Twelve Minor Prophets. And, in copying, they followed this plan. Each had his paper prepared in a form the most convenient, and each took down by himself with the greatest speed. If a word had escaped one, (which sometimes happened, particularly on points of dispute and in those parts which were delivered with some
CRISPIN TO THE READER. XXXI
warmth,) It was taken up by another ; and when It so hap- pened, it was easily set down again by the writer. Irumediately at the close of the Lecture, Jonvill took with him the papers of the other two, placing them before him, and consulting his own, and collating them together, he dictated to some other person for the purpose of copying what they had hastily taken down. At last he read the whole over himself, that he might be able to recite it the following day before Mr Calvin at home. When sometimes any little word was wanting, it was added in its place ; or, if any thing seemed not suffi- ciently explained, it was readily made plainer.
Thus it happened that these Lectures came forth to the light ; and what great benefit they will derive from them, who will seriously read them, can by no means be told : for who, endued with a sound judgment, does not see that such was the Avay which this most illustrious man possessed in explain- ing Scripture, that he had it in common with very few ? He everywhere so unfolds the design of the Holy Spirit, so gives his genuine meaning, and also so sets before our eyes every recondite doctrine, that you find nothing but what is openly explained ; and this is what his many writings most abun- dantly testify, in which he has made every point of the Christian religion so plain, that all, except they be wholly blind to the sun, acknowledge him to be a most faithful in- terpreter.
But that I may now say nothing of his many Commentaries, he has so surpassed himself in these Lectures, that one can hardly persuade himself that a style so elegant, and so per- fect in all its parts, could have flowed extemporaneously, for he explains the weightiest sentiments in suitable words, clearly handles obscure things, clothes them with various ornaments, and so proceeds in his teaching, that the language he uses, spontaneously povu'cd forth, seems to have been long and much laboured. But of all these things I prefer that a judgment should be formed by a perusal, rather than that I should longer detain readers by a lengthened discussion of particulars. Then farewell all ye who hope for some benefit from these Lectures.
Geneva, February 1, 1559.
THE
COMMENTARIES OF JOHN CALVIN
ON THE
PROPHET HOSEA.
VOL. I.
THE PRAYER WHICH JOHN CALVIN WAS WONT TO USE AT THE BEGINNINa OF HIS LECTURES :
May the Lord grant, that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of his heavenly wisdom with really increasing devo- tion, to his glory and to our edification. Amen.
COMMENTARIES
ON
THE PROPHET HOSEA.
THE ARGUMENT.
I HAVE undertaken to expound the Twelve Minor Prophets. They have been long ago joined together, and their writings have been reduced to one volume ; and for this reason, lest by being extant singly in our hands, they should, as it often happens, disappear in coiu'se of time on account of their brevity.
Then the Twelve Minor Prophets form but one volume. The first of them is Hosea, who was specifically destined for the kingdom of Israel : Micah and Isaiah prophesied at the same time among the Jews. But it ought to be noticed, that this Prophet was a teacher in the kingdom of Israel, as Isaiah and Micah were in the kingdom of Judah. The Lord doubtless intended to employ him in that part ; for had he prophesied among the Jews, he would not have complimented them ; since the state of things was then very corrupt, not only in Judea, but also at Jerusalem, though the palace and sanctuary of God were there. We see how sharply and severely Isaiah and Micah reproved the people ; and the style of our Prophet would have been the same had the Lord employed his service among the Jews : but he followed his own call. He knew what the Lord had intrusted to him ; he faithfully discharged his own ofiice. The same was the case with the Prophet Amos : for the Prophet Amos sharply inveighs against the Israelites, and seems to spare the Jews ; and he taught at the same time with Hosea.
We see, then, in what respect these four difi'er : Isaiah and Micah address their reproofs to the kingdom of Judah ; and Hosea and Amos only assail the kingdom of Israel, and seem to spare the Jews. Each of them undertook what God had committed to his charge; and so each confined himself within the limits of his own call and office. For if we, who are called to instruct the Church, close our eyes to the sins which prevail in it, and neglect those whom the Lord hath appointed to
36 THE ARGUMENT.
be taught by us, we confound all order ; since they who are appointed to other places must attend to those to whom they have been sent by the Lord's call.
We now, then, see to whom this whole book of Hosea belongs, — that is, to the kingdom of Israel.
But with regard to the Prophets, this is true of them all, as we have sometimes said, that they are interpreters of the law. And this is the sum of the law, that God designs to rule by his oa\ti authority the people whom he has adopted. But the law has tAvo parts, — a promise of salva- tion and eternal life, and a nile for a godly and holy living. To these is added a third part, — that men, not responding to their call, are to be restored to the fear of God by threatenings and reproofs. The Prophets do further teach what the law has commanded respecting the true and pure worship of God, respecting love; in short, they instruct the people in a holy and godly life, and then offer to them the favoixr of the Lord. And as there is no hope of reconciliation with God except through a Media- tor, they ever set forth the Messiah, whom the Lord had long before jiromised.
As to the third part, which includes threats and reproofs, it was peculiar to the Prophets ; for they point out times, and denounce this or that judgment of God : " The Lord will punish you in this way, and will punish you at such a time." The Prophets, then, do not simply call men to God's tribunal, but specify also certain kinds of punishment, and also in the same way they declare prophecies respecting the Lord's grace and his redemption. But on this I only briefly touch ; for it will be better to notice each point as we proceed.
I now return to Hosea. I have said that his ministry belonged espe- cially to THE KINGDOM OF IsRAEL ; for then the whole worship of God was there polluted, nor had corruption lately begiin ; but they were so obstinate in their superstitions, that there was no hope of repentance. We indeed know, that as soon as Jeroboam withdrew the ten tribes from their allegiance to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, fictitious worship was set up : and Jeroboam seemed to have wisely contrived that artifice, that the people might not return to the house of David ; but at the same time he brought on himself and the whole people the vengeance of God. And those who came after him followed the same impiety. When such perverseness became intolerable, God resolved to put forth his power, and to give some signal proof of his displeasure, that the people might at length repent. Hence Jehu was by God's command anointed King of Israel, that he might destroy all the posterity of Ahab : but he also soon relapsed into the same idolatry. He executed God's judgment, he pretended great zeal ; but his hypocrisy soon came to light, for he embraced false and perverted worship ; and his followers were nothing better even down to Jeroboam, under whom Hosea prophesied ; but of this we shall speak in considering the inscription of the book.
CHAP. I. 1. COMMENTARIES ON HOSE A. 37
CHAPTER I.
3Lectiire JFir&t
1. The word of the Lord that came 1. Sermo Jehovje, qui fuit unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days ad Hoseam filium Beri, diebus of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Heze- Uzia, Jotham, Achaz, Eze- kiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of chiae, regum Jehudah, et die- Jeroboam, the sou of Joash, king of bus Jarobeam filii Joas regis Israel. Israel.
This first verse shows the time in which PIosea prophesied. He names four kings of Judah, — Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah. Uzziah, called also Azariah, reigned fifty-two years ; but after having been smitten with leprosy, he did not associate w^ith men, and abdicated his royal dignity. Jotham, his son, succeeded him. The years of Jotham were about sixteen, and about as many were those of king Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah ; and it was under king Hezekiah that Hosea died. If we now wish to ascertain how lono; he dis- charged his office of teaching, we must take notice of what sacred history says, — Uzziah began to reign in the twenty- seventh year of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. By supposing that Hosea performed his duties as a teacher, excepting a few years during the reign of Jeroboam, that is, the sixteen years which passed from the beginning of Uzziah's reign to the death of Jeroboam, he must have prophesied thirty-six years under the reign of Uzziah. There is, however, no doubt but that he began to execute his office some years before the end of Jeroboam's reign.
Here, then, there appear to be at least forty years. Jotham succeeded his father, and reigned sixteen years ; and though it be a probable conjecture, that the beginning of his reign is to be counted from the time he undertook the government, after his father, being smitten with leprosy, was ejected from
38 - THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. I.
the society of men, it is yet probable that the remaining time to the death of his father ought to come to our reckon- ing. When, howevei% we take for granted a few years, it must be that Hosea had prophesied more than forty-five years before Alia^ began to reign. Add now the sixteen years in which Ahaz reigned, and the number will amount to sixty-one. There remain the years in which he prophesied under the reign of Hezekiah. It cannot, then, be otherwise, but that he had followed his office more than sixty years, and probably continued beyond the seventieth year.
It hence aj)pears with how great and with how invincible a courage and perseverance he was endued by the Holy Spirit. But when God employs our service for twenty or thirty years, we think it very wearisome, especially when we have to contend with wicked men, and those who do not willingly undertake the yoke, but pertinaciously resist us ; we then instantly desire to be set free, and wish to become like soldiers who have completed their time. When, there- fore, we see that this Prophet persevered for so long a time, let him be to us an example of patience, so that we may not despond, though the Lord may not immediately free us from our burden.
Thus much of the four kings whom he names. He must indeed have prophesied (as I have just shown) for nearly forty years under the king Uzziah or Azariah, and then for some years under the king Ahaz, (to omit now the reign of Jotham, which was concurrent with that of his father,) and he con- tinued to the time of Hezekiah : but why has he particularly mentioned Jeroboam the son of Joash, since he could not have prophesied under him except for a short time ? His son Zachariah succeeded him ; there arose afterward the conspiracy of Shallum, who was soon destroyed ; then the kingdom became involved in great confusion ; and at length the Assyrian, by means of Shalmanazar, led away captive the ten tribes, which became dispersed among the Medes. As this was the case, why does the Prophet here mention only one king of Israel ? This seems strange ; for he continued his office of teaching to the end of his reign and to his death. But an answer may be easily given : He wished distinctly to express, that he began to teach while the state was entire ;
CHAP. I. 1. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 3i9
for, had he prophesied after the death of Jeroboam, he might have seemed to conjecture some great calamity from the then present view of things : thus it Avould not have been prophecy, or, at least, his credit would have been much less. " He now, forsooth ! divines what is evident to the eyes of all." For Zachariah flourished but a short time ; and the con- spiracy alluded to before was a certain presage of an approach- ing destruction, and the kingdom became soon dissolved. Hence the Prophet testifies here in express words, that he had already threatened future vengeance to the people, even when the kingdom of Israel flourished in wealth and power, when Jeroboam was enjoying his triumphs, and when pro- sperity inebriated the whole land.
This, then, was the reason why the Prophet mentioned only this one king ; for under him the kingdom of Israel became strong, and was fortified by many strongholds and a large army, and abounded also in great riches. Indeed, sacred history tells us, that God had by Jeroboam delivered the kingdom of Israel, though he himself was unworthy, and that he had recovered many cities and a very wide extent of country. As, then, he had increased the kingdom, as he had become formidable to all his neighbours, as he had collected great riches, and as the people lived in ease and luxury, what the Prophet declared seemed incredible. " Ye are not," he said, " the people of the Lord ; ye are adulterous children, ye are born of fornication." Such a reproof cer- tainly seemed not seasonable. Then he said, " The kingdom shall be taken from you, destruction is nigh to you." " What, to us ? and yet our king has now obtained so many victories, and has struck terror into other kings." The kingdom of Judah, which was a rival, being then nearly broken down, there was no one who could have ventured to suspect such an event.
We now, then, perceive why the Prophet here says ex- pressly that he had prophesied under Jeroboam. He indeed prophesied after his death, and folloAved his office even after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel ; but he began to teach at a time when he was a sport to the ungodly, who exalted themselves against God, and boldly despised his
40 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. I.
threatenings as long as he spared and bore with them ; which is ever the case, as proved by the constant experience of all ages. We hence see more clearly with what power of the Spirit God had endued the Prophet, who dared to rise up against so powerful a king, and to reprove his wickedness, and also to summon his subjects to the same judgment. When, therefore, the Prophet conducted himself so boldly, at a time when the Israelites were not only sottish on ac- count of their great success, but also wholly insane, it was certainly nothing short of a miracle ; and this ought to avail much to establish his authority. We now, then, see the de- sign of the inscription contained in the first verse. It follows —
2. The beginning of tlie 2. Principium quo loquutus est Jehova
M^oi'd of the Lord by Hosea. per Hoseam, {alii vei-tunt^ cum Hosea ;
And tlie Lord said to Hosea, adverbiim est, in Hosea; est litera betli.^
Go, take unto thee a wife of Dixit Jehova ad Hoseara, Vade, sume
whoredoms and children of tibi uxorem scortationum et filios scor-
whoredoms : for the land hath tationum, quia scortaudo scortabitur
committed great whoredom, terra, (hoc est, scortata est,) ne sequatur
departing from the Lord. Jehovam.
The Prophet shows here what charge was given him at the beginning, even to declare open war with the Israelites, and to be, as it were, very angry in the person of God, and to de- nounce destruction. He begins not with smooth things, nor does he gently exhort the people to repentance, nor adopt a circuitous course to soften the asperity of his doctrine. He shows that he had used nothing of this kind, but says, that he had been sent like heralds or messengers to proclaim war. The beginning, then, of what the Lord spake by Hosea was this, " This people are an adulterous race, all are bom, as it were, of a harlot, the kingdom of Israel is the filtliiest brothel ; and I now repudiate and reject them, I no longer own them as ray children." This was no common vehemence. We hence see that the word heginning was not set down without reason, but advisedly, that we may know that the Prophet, as soon as he undertook the office of teaching, was vehement and severe, and, as it were, fulminated against the kingdom of Israel.
CHAP. I. 2. COMMENTARIES ON H08EA. 41
Now, if it be asked, why was God so greatly displeased ? why did he not first recall the wretched men to himself, since the usual method seems to have been, that the Prophet tried, by a kind and paternal address, to restore those to a sound mind who had departed from the pure worship of God, — why, then, did not God adopt this ordinary course ? But we hence gather that the diseases of the people were incurable. The Prophet, no doubt, intimates here distinctly, that he was sent by God, when the state of things was almost past recovery. We indeed know that God is not wont to deal so severely with men, but when he has tried all other remedies ; and this may doubtless be easily learned from the records of Scripture. The ten tribes, immediately after their revolt from the family of David, having renounced the worship of God, embraced idolatry and ungodly superstitions. They ought to have retained in their minds the recollection of this oracle, ^ The Lord hath chosen mount Zion, where he hath desired to be worshipped ; this,' he said, ' is my rest forever ; here will I dwell, for I have chosen it,' (Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14.) And this prediction, we know, had not been once or ten times repeated, but a hundred times, that it might be more firmly fixed in the hearts of men. Since, then, they ought to have had this truth fully impressed on their hearts, that the Lord would have himself worshipped nowhere except on mount Zion, it was monstrous stupidity in them to erect a new temple and to make the calves. That the people, then, had so quickly fallen away from God was an instance of the most perverse madness. But, as I have said, they had reached the highest point of impiety. When God punished so great sins by Jehu, the people ought then to have returned to the pure worship of God, and there was some reformation in the land ; but they ever reverted to their own nature, yea, the event proved that they only dissembled for a short time ; so blinded they were by a diabolical perverseness, that they ever con- tinued in their superstitions. It is not, then, to be wondered at, that the Lord toade this beginning by Hosea, " Ye are all horn of fornication^ your kingdom is the filthiest brothel ; ye are not my people, ye are not beloved." Who, then, will not allow, that God, by fulminating in so dreadful a manner
42 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. I.
against this people, dealt justly with them, and for the best reason ? The contumacy of the people was so indomitable, that it could be overcome in no other way. We now under- stand why the Prophet used this expression, The heginning of speaking which. God made.
Then it follows, in Hosea. He had said in the first verse, The word of Jehovah which teas to Hosea ; he now says, J^^inij beusho, in Hosea ; and he adds, God spake and said to Hosea, repeating the preposition used in the first verse. The word of the Lord is said to have been to Hosea, not simply because God addressed the Prophet, but because he sent him forth with certain commissions, for in this sense is the word of God said to have been to the Prophets. God addresses his word also indiscriminately to others, whomso- ever he is pleased to teach by his word, but he speaks to and addresses his Prophets in a peculiar way, for he makes them the ministers and heralds of his word, and puts, as it were, into their mouth what they afterwards bring forth to the people. So Christ says, that the word of God came to kings, because he constitutes and appoints them to govern mankind. " If he calls them gods," he says, " to whom the word of God came ;" and that psalm, we know, was written with a special reference to kings. We now perceive what this sentence in the first verse contains. The word of God came to Hosea ; for the Lord did not simply address the Prophet in a com- mon way, but furnished him with instructions, that he might afterwards teach the people, as it were, in the person of God himself.
It is now added in the second verse. The beginning of speaking, such as the Lord made by Hosea. They who give this rendering, " w^ith Hosea," seem to explain the Prophet's meaning frigidly. The letter ^, bcth, I know, has this sense often in Scripture ; but the Prophet, no doubt, in this place represents himself as the instrument of the Holy Spirit. God then spake in Hosea, or by Hosea, for he brought forth no- thing from his own brain, but God spake by him ; this is a form of speaking with which we shall often meet. On this, indeed, depends the whole autliority of God's servants, that they give not themselves loose reins, but faithfully
CHAP. I. 2. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 43
deliver, as it were, from hand to hand, what the Lord has commanded them, without adding any thing whatever of their own. God then spake in Hosea. It afterwards follows, The Lord said to Hosea. Now this, which is said the third time, or three times repeated, is nothing else than the com- mission in different forms. He first said in general, " The word of the Lord which was to Hosea ;" now he says, " The Lord spake thus," and he expresses distinctly what the word was which he referred to in the first verse.
Go, he says, take to thee a loife of icantonnessy and the children of wantonness ; and the reason is added, ybr btj fornicating, or wantoning, hath the land grown wanton. He doubtless speaks here of the vices which the Lord had long endured with in- expressible forbearance. By icantoning then hath the land grown loanton, that it shoidd not follow Jehovah.
Here interpreters labour much, because it seems very strange that the Prophet should take a harlot for a wife. Some say that this was an extraordinary case.' Certainly such a license could not have been borne in a teacher. We see what Paul requires in a bishop, and no doubt the same was required formerly in the Prophets, that their families should be chaste and free from every stain and reproach. It would have then exposed the Prophet to the scorn of all, if he had entered a brothel and taken to himself a harlot ; for he speaks not here of an unchaste woman only, but of a woman of wantonness, which means a common harlot, far a woman of wantonness is she called, Avho has long habituated herself to Avantonness, who has exposed herself to all, to gratify the wish of all, who has prostituted herself, not once nor twice, nor to few men, but to all. That this was done by
^ Much difference has pi-evailed on this subject. That it was a real trans- action, has been the opinion of not a few. Poole quotes Basil, Axiyustine, Jerome and Theodore.t, as entertaining this view. Bishop Horsley agrees with them • but he makes this wise remarlc, " This is in tnxth a question of little import- ance to the interpretation of the prophecy, for the act was equally emblema- tical, whether it was real or visionary only ; and the signification of the emblem whether the act were done in reality or in vision, will be the same."
Henry seems to lean to the opinion that it was a parable ; and Scott, that it was a real transaction. The notion of a parable is attended with the least difficulty, and corresponds with the mode of teaching often adopted both in the Old and in the New Testament. — Ed.
44 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. I.
the Prophet seems very improbable. But some reply, as I have said, that this ought not to be regarded as a common rule, for it was an extraordinary command of God. And yet it seems not consistent with reason, that the Lord should thus gratuitously render his Pi'ophet contemptible ; for how could he expect to be received on coming abroad before the public, after having brought on himself such a disgrace ? If he had married a wife such as is here described, he ought to have con- cealed himself for life rather than to undertake the Prophetic office. Their opinion, therefore, is not probable, who think that the Prophet had taken such a wife as is here described.
Then another reason, utterly unresolvable, militates against them ; for the Prophet is not only bidden to take a wife of wantonness, but also children of Avantonness, begotten by whoredom. It is, therefore, the same as if he himself had committed whoredom.^ For if we say that he married a wife who had previously conducted herself with some in- decency and want of chastity, (as Jerome at length argues in order to excuse the Prophet,) the excuse is frivolous, for he speaks not only of the wife, but also of the children, inas- much as God would have the whole offspring to be adulter- ous, and this could not be the case in a lawful marriage. Hence almost all the Hebrews agree in this opinion, that the Prophet did not actually marry a wife, but that he was bidden to do this in a vision. And we shall see in the third chapter almost the same thing described ; and yet what is narrated there could not have been actually done, for the Prophet is bidden to marry a wife who had violated her conjugal fidelity, and after having bought her, to retain her at home for a time. This, we know, was not done. It then follows that this was a representation exhibited to the people.
Some object and say, that the whole passage, as given by the Prophet, cannot be understood as relating a vision. Why not ? For the vision, they say, was given to him alone, and God had a regard to the whole people rather than to the Prophet.
1 This does not follow ; for, as Bishop HorsJey justly observes, " the children of wantonness" were those previously begotten. The Prophet was to take a woman who was a harlot, together with her spurious children. This is the evident meaning of the passage. — Ed.
CHAP. I. 2. COMMENTARIES ON HOSE A. 45
But it may be, and it is probable, that no vision was presented to the Prophet, but that God only ordered him to proclaim what had been given him in charge. When, therefore, the Prophet began to teach, he commenced somewhat in this way : '' The Lord places me here as on a stage, to make known to you that I have married a wife, a wife habituated to adulteries and whoredoms, and that I have begotten children by her." The whole people knew that he had done no such thing ; but the Prophet spake thus in order to set before their eyes a vivid representation. Such, then, was the vision, a figurative exhibition, not that the Prophet knew this by a vision, but the Lord had bidden him to relate this parable, (so to speak,) or this similitude, that the people might see, as in a living portraiture, their turpitude and perfidious- ness. It is, in short, an exhibition, in which the thing itself is not only set forth in words, but is also placed, as it were, before their eyes in a visible form. The reason is added, ^or hy wantoning hath the land grown wanton.
"We now then see how the words of the Prophet ought to be understood ; for he assumed a character, when going forth before the public, and in this character he said to the people, that God had bidden him to take a harlot for his wife, and to beget adulterous children by her. His ministry was not on this account made contemptible, for they all knew that he had ever lived virtuously and temperately ; they all knew that his household was exempt from every reproach ; but here he exhibited in his assumed character, as it were, a living image of the baseness of the people. This is the mean- ing, and I see nothing strained in this explanation ; and we, at the same time, see the meaning of this clause. By loanton- ing hath the land grown icanton. Hosea might have said this in one word, but he had to address the deaf, and we know how great and how stupid is the madness of those who delight themselves in their own superstitions, they cannot bear any reproof. The Prophet then would not have been attended to, unless he had exhibited, as in a mirror before their eyes, what he wished to be understood by them, as though he had said, "If none of you can so know himself as to own his public baseness, if ye are all so obstinate against God, at
46 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. I.
least know now by ray assumed character, that you are all adulterous, and derive your origin from a filthy brothel, for God declares thus concerning you ; and as you are not willing to receive such a declaration, it is now set before you in my assumed character."
That it should not follow Jehovah, literally. From after Jehovah, "•'^ni^/b, meachri. We here see what is the spiritual chastity of God's people, and what also is the signification of the word wantoning. Then the spiritual chastity of God's people is to follow the Lord ; and what else is this to follow, but to suffer ourselves to be ruled by his word, and willingly to obey him, to be ready and prepared for any work to which he may call us ? When, then, the Lord goes before us with his instruction and shows the way, and we become teachable and obedient, and look up to him, and turn not aside, either to the right or to the left hand, but bring our whole life to the obedience of faith, — this is really to follow the Lord; and it is a most beautiful definition of the spiritual chastity of God's people.
And we may also, from the opposite of this, learn what it is to grow wanton ; we do so when we depart from the word of the Lord, when we give ear to false doctrines, when we abandon ourselves to superstitions ; when we, in short, wander after our own devices, and keep not our thoughts under the authority of the word of the Lord. But as to the word wantoning, more will be said in chap. ii. ; but I only wished now briefly to touch on what the Prophet means when he chides the Israelites for having all become wanton. Now follows —
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast once adopted us, and continuest to confirm this thy favour by calling us unceasingly to thyself, and dost not only severely chastise us, but also gently and paternally invite us to thyself, and exhort us at the same time to repentance, — O grant that we may not be so hardened as to resist thy goodness, nor abuse this thine incre- dible forbearance, but submit ourselves in obedience to thee ; that whenever thou mayest severely chastise us, we may bear thy corrections with genuine submission of faith, and not con-
CHA^. I. 3, 4. COMMENTAKIES ON IIOSEA. 47
tinue untameable and obstinate to the last, but return to thee, the ouly fountain of life and salvation, that as thou hast once begun in us a good work, so thou mayest perfect it to the day of our Lord. Amen.
%(ctnve Seconlr.
3. So he went and took Gomer, 8. Et profectus est et accepit Go- thedaughter of Diblaim; which con- mer, filiam Diblaim : et concepit ceived and bare him a son. et peperit ei filium.
4. And the Lord said unto him, 4. Et dixit Jehova ad eum, Voca CallhisnameJezreel; for yet a little nomen Jizi-eel, quia adhuc paux- while, and I will avenge the blood ilium, et visitabo sanguines Jiz- of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, reel super domum Jehu, et cessare and will cause to cease the kingdom faciam (hoc est, abolebo) regnum of Israel. domus Israel.
We said in yesterday's Lecture^ that God. ordered his Pro- phet to take a wife of whoredoms, but that this was not actually done ; for what other effect could it have had, but to render the Prophet contemptible to all? and thus his authority would have been reduced to nothing. But God only meant to show to the IsraeHtes by such a representa- tion, that they vaunted themselves without reason ; for they had nothing worthy of praise, but were in every way igno- minious. It is then said, Hosea we?it and took to himself Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. "HlbJ, Gomer, means in Hebrew, to fail ; and sometimes it signifies actively, to con- sume ; and hence Gomer means consumption. But Diblaim are masses of figs, or dry figs reduced to a mass. The Greeks call them •n-aXadag: The Cabalists say here that the wife of Hosea was called by this name, because they who are much given to wantonness at length fall into death and corrup- tion. So consumption is the daughter of figs, for by figs they understand the sweetness of lusts. But it will be more simple to say, that this representation was exhibited to the people, that the Prophet set before them, instead of a wife, consumption, the daughter of figs ; that is, that he laid before them masses of figs, or TaXa^as, representing Gomer, Avhich means consumption, and that he adopted a similar manner
48 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LEdt. II.
with mathematicians, when they describe their figures, — " If this be so much, then that is so much." We may then thus understand the passage, that the Prophet here named for his wife the corrupt masses of figs ; so that she was consumption or putrefaction, born of figs, reduced into such masses. For I still persist in the opinion I expressed yesterday, that the Prophet did not enter a brothel to take a wife to himself: for otherwise he must have begotten bastards, and not legiti- mate children ; for, as it Avas said yesterday, the case with the wife and the children was the same.
We now then understand the true meaning of this verse to be, that the Prophet did not marry a harlot, but only ex- hibited her befoi'c the eyes of the people as though she were corruption, born of putrified masses of figs.
It now follows, the wife conceived, — the imaginary one, the wife as represented and exhibited. She conceived, he says, and hare a son : then said Jehovah to him, Call his name Jezreel. Many render 7{<yiTS Izroal, dispersion, and follow the Chal- dean paraphraser. They also think that this ambiguous term contains some allusion ; for as ^^T? z^ro, is seed, they suppose that the Prophet indirectly glances at the vain boast- ino- of the people; for they called themselves the chosen seed, because they had been planted by the Lord ; hence the name Jezreel. But the Prophet here, according to these interpreters, exposes this folly to contempt; as though he said, " Ye are Israel ; but in another respect, ye are disper- sion : for as the seed is cast in various directions, so the Lord will scatter you, and thus destroy and cast you away. You think yourselves to have been planted in this land, and to have a standing from which you can never be shaken or torn away ; but the Lord will, with his own hand, lay hold on you to cast you away to the remotest regions of the world." This sense is what many interpreters give ; nor do I deny but that the Prophet alludes to the words sowing and seed ; with this I disagree not : only it seems to me that the Prophet looks farther, and intimates, that they were wholly degenerate, not the true nor the genuine offspring of Abra- ham.
CHAr. I. 3j 4. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 49
There is, as we see, much affinity between the names Jez- reel and Israel. How honourable is the name, Israel, it is evident from its etymology ; and we also know that it was given from above to the holy father Jacob. God, then, the bestower of this name, procured by his own authority, that those called Israelites should be superior to others : and then we must remember the reason why Jacob was called Israel; for he had a contest with God, and overcame in the struggle, (Gen. xxxii. 28.) Hence the posterity of Abraham gloried that they were Israelites. And the prophet Isaiah also glances at this arrogance, when he says, ' Come ye who are called by the name of Israel,' (Isa. xlviii. 1 ;) as though he said, " Ye are Israelites, but only as to the title, for the reality exists not in you."
Let us now retui'n to our Hosea. Call, he says, Ms name Jezreel -^ as though he said, " They call themselves Israelites ; but I will show, by a little change in the word, that they are degenerate and spurious, for they are Jezreelites rather than Israelites." And it appears that Jezreel was the metropolis, of the kingdom in the time of Ahab, and where also that great slaughter was made by Jehu, which is related in the tenth chapter of 2 Kings. We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet to be, that the whole kingdom had degenerated from its first beginning, and could no longer be deemed as including the race of Abraham ; for the people had, by their own perfidy, fallen from that honour, and lost their first name. God then, by way of contempt, calls them Jezreelites, and not Israelites.
A reason afterwards follows which confirms this view, For yet a little ivhile, and I icill visit the slaughters of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. Here interpreters labour not a little, be-
' The explanation given of this word by Ilorsley does not in the least con-espond with the context, or with the reason afterwards assigned for it. lie interprets it " the seed of God," meaning the sei-vants of God, according to the supposed etymology of the word : hut the first son of Hosea was called Jezreel, as stated expressly on account of what was to take place in the city, or in the valley of Jezreel. And to say that as the word is taken in its etymological sense in chap. ii. ver. 22, it ought to be so taken here, is no valid reason. When a word, as in this case, admits of two meanings, it is the context that must be our guide, and not the sense of it in another chapter.
VOL. I. D
50 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. II.
cause it seems strange that God should visit the slaughter made by Jehu, which yet he had approved ; nay, Jehu did nothing thoughtlessly, but knew that he was commanded to execute that vengeance. He was, therefore, God's legitimate minister ; and why is what God commanded imputed to him now as a crime ? This reasoning has driven some interpret- ers to take Moods here for wicked deeds in general : ' I Avill avenge the sins of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.' Some say, " I Avill avenge the slaughter of Naboth :" but this is wholly absurd, nor can it suit the place, for, " upon the house of Jehu," is distinctly expressed ; and God did not visit Ins slaughter on the house of Jehu, but on the house of Ahab. But they who are thus embarrassed do not consider what the Prophet has in view. For God, when he wished Jehu with his drawn sword to destroy the whole house of Ahab, had this end as his object, — that Jehu should restore pure Avorship, and cleanse the land from all defilements.-'"' Jehu then was stirred up by the Spirit of God, that he might re- establish God's pure Avorship. When a defender of religion, how did he act ? He became contented with his prey. After having seized on the kingdom for himself, he confirmed idolatry and every abomination. He did not then spend his labour for God^^^,>Hence that slaughter with regard to Jehu was robbery,; "with regard to God it was a just revenge^ This view ought to satisfy us as to the explanation of tjns passage ; and I bring nothing but what the Holy Scripture contains. For after Jehu seemed to burn with zeal for God, he soon proved that there was nothing sincere in his heart ; for he embraced all the superstitions which previously pre- vailed in the kingdom of Israel. In short, the reformation under Jehu was like that under Henry King of England ; who, when he saw that he could not otherwise shake off the yoke of the Roman Antichrist than by some disguise, pre- tended great zeal for a time : he afterwards raged cruelly against all the godly, and doubled {diiplicavit — duplicated) the tyranny of the Roman Pontiff : and such was Jehu.
When we duly consider what was done by Henry, it was indeed an heroic valour to deliver his kingdom from the hardest of tyrannies : but yet, with regard to him, he was
CIIAr. I. 3, 4. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 51
certainly worse tlian all the other vassals of the Roman An- tichrist; for they who continue under that bondage, retain at least some kind of religion ; but he was restrained by no shame from men, and proved himself wholly void of every fear towards God. He was a monster, {homo helluinus — a beastly man ;) and such was Jehu.
Now, when the Prophet says, I will avenge the slaughters of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, it is no matter of wonder. How so ? For it was the highest honour to him, that God anointed him king, that he, who was of a low family, was chosen a king by the Lord. He ought then to have stretched every nerve to restore God's pure worship, and to destroy all superstitions. This he did not ; on the contrary, he confirmed them. He was then a robber, and as to him- self, no minister of God.
The meaning of the whole then is this : " Ye are not Israelites, (there is here only an ambiguity as to the pro- nunciation of one letter,) but Jezreelites ;" Avhich means, " Ye are not the descendants of Jacob, but Jezreelites ;" that is, " Ye are a degenerate people, and differ nothing from king Ahab. He was accursed, and under him the king- dom became accursed. Are ye changed ? Is there any re- formation ? Since then ye are obstinate in your wickedness, though ye proudly claim the name of Jacob, ye are yet un- •\vorthy of such an honour. I therefore call you Jezreelites."
And the reason is added. For yet a little ichile, and I will visit the slaughters upon the house of Jehu. God now shows that the people were destitute of all glory. But they thought that the memory of all sins had been buried since the time that the house of Ahab had been cut off. " Why ? I will avenge these slaughters," saith the Lord. It is customary, we know, with hypocrites, after having punished one sin, to think that all things are laAvful to them, and to wish to be thus discharged before God. A thief will punish a murder, but he himself Avill commit many murders. He thinks him- self redeemed, because he has paid God the price in punish- ing one man ; but he lets go others, who have been his ac- complices, and he himself hesitates not to commit many un- just murders. Since, then, hypocrites thus mock God, the
52 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. II.
Prophet now justly shakes off such senselessness, and says, / will avenge these slaughters. " Do ye think it a deed worthy of praise in Jehu, to destroy and root out the house of Ahab ? I indeed commanded it to be done, but he turned the ven- geance enjoined on him to another end." How so ? Because he became a robber ; for he did not punish the sins of Ahab, because he did the same himself to the «id of life, and con- tinued to do the same in his posterity, for Jeroboam was the fourth from him in the kingdom. " Since, then, Jehu did not change the condition of the country, and ye have ever been obstinate in your wickedness, I will avenge these slaughters.''
This is a remarkable passage ; for it shows that it is not enough, nay, that it is of no moment, that a man should con- duct himself honourably before men, except he possesses also an upright and sincere heart. He then who punishes evil deeds in others, ought himself to abstain from them, and to measure the same justice to himself as he does to others ; for he who takes to himself a liberty to sin, and yet punishes others, provokes against himself the wrath of God.
We now then perceive the true sense of this sentence, / ivill avenge the slaughters of Jezreel, to be this, that he would avenge the slaughters made in the valley of Jezreel on the house of Jehu. It is added, and I ivill abolish the kingdom of the house of Israel. The house of Israel he calls that which had separated from the family of David, as though he said, " This is a separated house." God had indeed joined the whole people together, and they became one body. It was torn asunder under Jeroboam. This was God's dreadful judgment ; for it was the same as if the people, like a torn body, had been cut into two parts. But God, however, had hitherto preserved these two parts, as though they Avere but one body, and would have become the Kedeemer of both people, had not a base defection followed. And the Israelites having become, as it were, putrified, so as now to be no part of his chosen people, our Prophet, by way of contempt and reproach, rightly calls thera the house of Israel. It now follows —
CHAP. I. 5. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 53
5. And it shall come to pass at 6. Et erit in die ilia et conteram that day, that I will break the bow arcum (vel^ confringam) Israel in of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. valle Jizreel.
This verse was intentionally added ; for the Israelites were so inflated with their present good fortune, that they laughed at the judgment denounced. They indeed knew that they were well furnished with arms, and men, and money ; in short, they thought themselves in every way unassailable. Hence the Prophet declares, that all this could not prevent God from punishing them. " Ye are," he says, " inflated with pride ; ye set up your valour against God, thinking yourselves strong in arms and in power ; and because ye are military men, ye think that God can do nothing ; and yet your bows cannot restrain his hand from destroying you." But when he says, / icill break the bow, he mentions a part for the whole ; for under one sort he comprehends every kind of arms. But as to what the Prophet had in view, we sec that his only object was to break down their false confidence ; for the Israelites thought that they should not be exposed to the destruction which Hosea had predicted ; for they were dazzled with their own power, and thought themselves be- yond the reach of any danger, while they were so well forti- fied on every side. Hence the Prophet says, that all their fortresses would be nothing against God ; for m that day, when the ripe time for vengeance shall come, the Lord will break all their bows, he will tear in pieces all their arms, and reduce to nothing their power.
We are here warned ever to take heed, lest any thing should lead us to a torpid state when God threatens us. Though we may have strength, though fortune (so to speak) may smile on us, though, in a word, the whole world should combine to secure our safety, yet there is no reason why we should felicitate ourselves, when God declares himself op- posed to and angry with us. Why so ? Because, as he can preserve us when unarmed whenever he pleases, so he can spoil us of all our arms, and reduce our power to nothing. Let this verse then come to our minds whenever God terri- fies us by his threatenings ; and what it teaches us is, that he can take away all the defences in which we vainly trust.
54 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. II.
Now, as Jezreel was the metropolis of the kingdom, the Prophet distinctly mentions the place, I will break in pieces the how of Israel in the valley of Jezreel ; that is, the Lord sees what sort of fortress there is in Saraaria, in Jezreel ; but he will make an end of you there, in the very midst of the land. Ye think that you have there a place of safety and a firm position ; but the Lord will bring you to nothing even in the valley of Jezreel. It follows —
6. Aiid she conceived 6. Et concepit adlmc (coiicepit rursum) et pe-
again, andbare a daugh- perit filiarn : et dixit ei, Voca nomcn ejus Lo-
ter. And God said unto rucliama, (/?oc es<, non adepta misericordiam,
liim, Call hev name Lo- vel^ non dilecta : sic enim Grceci verterunt^ et
rubamah, for I will no Paulus seqimtus est illam receptam versionem
more have mercy upon cajnte 6, ad Rom. :) quia non adjiciam amplius
the house of Israel, but ut misericordia persequar {pel., ut diligam)
I will utterly take them domum Israel, quia toUendo toUam eos. away.
The Prophet shows in this verse that things were become worse and worse in the kingdom of Israel, that they sinned, keeping within no limits, that they rushed headlong into the extremes of impiety. He has already told us, by calling them Jezreelltes, that they were from the beginning rejected and degenerate ; as though he said, " Your origin has nothing commendable in it ; ye think yourselves to be very eminent, because ye derive your descent from holy Jacob ; but ye are spurious children, born of a harlot : a brothel is not the house of Abraham, nor is the house of Abraham a brothel. Ye are then the offspring of debauchery." But he now goes farther and says, that as time advanced, they had ever been falling into a worse state ; for this word, Lo- ruchamah, is a more disgraceful name than Jezreel : and the Lord also denounces here his vengeance more openly, when he says,
/ will no more add to pursue loith mercy the house of Israel. DHI, rechcm, means to pity, and also to love : but this second meaning is derived from the other ; for DHI, rechem, is not simply to love, but to show gratuitous favour. By calling the daughter, then, Lo-ruchamah, God intimates that his favour was now taken away from the people. We know, indeed, that the people had been freely chosen ; for if the
CHAP. I. 6. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 55
cause of adoption be inquired for, it must be said to have been the mere mercy and goodness of God. Now then God, in repudiating the people, says, " Ye are like a daughter whom her father casts away and disowns, because he deems her unworthy of his favour." We now, then, comprehend the design of the Prophet; for, after having shown the Israelites to have been from the beginning spurious, and not the true children of Abraham, he now adds, that, in course of time, they had become so corrupt, that God would now utterly disown them, and woiild no longer deem them as his house. He, therefore, charges them with something more grievous than before, by saying, ' Call this daughter Lo-ruchamah ;' for she was born after Jezreel. Plere he describes by degrees the state of the people, that it con- tinually degenerated. Though they were at the beginning depraved ; but they were now, after the lapse of some time, utterly unworthy of God's favour.
I will no more add, he says, to -pursue with favour the house of Israel. God here shows what constant forbearance he had exercised towards this people. / will no more add, he says ; as though the Lord had said, " I do not now sally forth at the first heat of wrath to take vengeance on you, as passionate men are wont to do, who seize the sword as soon as any affront is given ; I become not so suddenly hot with anger. 1 have, therefore, hitherto borne with you ; but now your obstinacy is intolerable ; I will not then bear Avith you any more." The Prophet, as we see, evidently intimates that the Israelites had very long abused the Lord's mercy, while he spared them, so that now the ripe time of vengeance had come ; for the Lord had, for many years, showed his favour to them, though they never ceased at any time to seek destruction to themselves. Hence we learn, as stated yesterday, that the Prophet's vehemence was not hasty : for God had before given warnings, more than sufficient, to the Israelites ; he had also forgiven them many sins ; he had borne with them until the state of things proved that thc}'^ were altogether incurable. Since, then, the forbearance of God produced no effect on them, it was necessary to come to this last remedy, that the Lord should, as it
5(5 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. II.
were, with a drawn sword, appear as a judge to take ven- geance.
He afterwards says, DH? ^^2J^^^ X'lSJ'i ""Dj ^i neshua asha lem. This sentence is variously explained. Some think that the verb js derived from the root Ht^ij neshe, with a final ri, f^e ; which means to forget, as though it was said, " By forgetting, I will forget them ;" and the sense is not unsuitable. The Chaldean paraphraser wholly departs from this meaning, for he renders the clause, " By sparing, I will spare them." There is no reason for this ; for God, as the context clearly shows, does not yet promise pardon to them ; this meaning, then, cannot stand. They come nearer to the design of the Prophet who thus translate, " I will bring to them," that is, the enemy ; for ^vtJ^i, Jiesha, signifies to take, and also to bring into the middle. But I prefer embracing their opinion who consider that QnS ^^^n, is placed here for DniXj autem ; for the servile letter 7, lamed, has often the same meaning with the particle H^^j at^ which is prefixed to an objective case. Then the rendering is, literally given, " For, by taking away, I will take them away : " and the Hebrews often use this mode of speaking, and the sense is plainer, " By taking away, I will take them away." Some render the passage, '' I will burn them ;" bat this explana- tion is rather harsh. I am satisfied with the meaning, to take, but I understand it in the sense of taking away. Then it is, " By taking away, I will take them away." ^
And this is what the following verse confirms ; for Avhen
' Though Newcome and others agree Avith Calviu in this sense, yet I stUl believe that the true rendering is that which is substantially given
in the naargin of our version. The verb here used, when followed by 7, does not mean to take away, but to pardon, to forgive, and the particle *^ is sometimes rendered, that, so that, ut. Then the two lines may be thus translated : —
" I will no more show mercy to the house of Israel, That by pardoning I should pardon them."
The main drift of the passage is still the same with what is assigned to it by Calvin. The version of Bishop Horsley favom's what I have otfered : he renders the last line thus : —
" Insomuch as to be perpetually forgiving them."
CHAP. I. 7. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 57
the Prophet speaks of the house of Judcah, the Lord says, " With mercy will I follow the house of Judah, and will save them." The Prophet sets " to save" and " to take away" in opposition the one to the other.
We may then learn by the context what he meant by these words, and that is, that Israel had hitherto stood through the Lord's mercy ; as though he said, " How has it happened that ye continue as yet alive ? Do you think yourselves to be safe through your own valour ? Nay, my mercy has hitherto preserved you. Now, then, when I shall withdraw my favour from you, your ruin will be in- evitable ; you must necessarily perish, and be brought to nothing : for as I have hitherto preserved you, so I will utterly tear you away and destroy you." A profitable lesson may be farther gathered from this passage, and that is, that hypocrites deceive themselves when they boast of the present favour of God, and, at the same time, exult without any fear against him ; for as God for a time spares and tolerates them, so he can justly destroy and reduce them to nothing. But the next verse must be also joined.
7. But I will have mei'cy 7. Et domum Jehudah raiscricordia
upon the house of Judah, and prosequar, {vel^ favore ; vel^ dlligam :
will save them by the Lord cUximus enim jam de /loc verba,) et
their God, and will not save servabo eos in Jehova Deo ipsorum,
them by bow, nor by sword, et non servabo eos in arcu, neque in
nor by battle, by horses, nor gladio, neque in prelio, neqiie in equis,
by horsemen. neque in ecpiitibus.
This verse sufficiently proves what I said yesterday, that the Prophet was specifically appointed to the kingdom of Is- rael ; for he seems here to speak favourably of the Jews, {blandiri — to compliment,) who yet, we know, had been severely and deservedly reproved by their own teachers. For what does Isaiah say, after having spoken of the dread- ful corruptions which then prevailed in the kingdom of Israel ? '■ Come,' he says, ' into the house of Judah, they at least continue as yet pure : there,' he says, ' all the tables are full of vomiting ; they ai*e drunken ; there reigns also the con- tempt of God and all impiety,' (Isa. xxviii. 8.) We see then that the Jews were not a virtuous people, of whom the Pro- phet has spoken so honourably. For though the exterior
58 THE TWELVE MIXOK PROPHETS. LECT. II.
worship of God continued at Jei'usalem, and the temple, at least under Uzziah and Jotham, was free from every super- stition, and also under king Hezekiah ; yet the morals of the people, we know, were very corrupt. Avarice, and cruelty, and every kind of fraud, reigned there, and also filthy lusts. The conduct, then, of that people was nothing better than that of the Israelites. Why, then, does the Prophet dignify them with so great an honour as to exempt them from God's vengeance? Because he had an eye to the people to whom he was appointed a Prophet. He therefore institutes a comparison. He interferes not with the Jews, for he knew that they had faithful pastors who reproved their sins ; but he continued among his own hearers. But this comparison served, in an especial manner, to touch the hearts of the people of Israel ; for the Prophet, we know, made this reference particularly for this end, to condemn fictitious wor- ship. He now sets the worship at Jerusalem in opposition to all those superstitions which Jeroboam first introduced, which Ahab increased, and all their posterity followed. Hence he says, I will shoio favour to the house of Judah.
That we may better understand the mind of the Prophet, it may be well to repeat what we said yesterday : — The king- dom of Judah was then miserably wasted. The kingdom of Israel had ten tribes, the kingdom of Judah only one and a half, and it was also diminished by many slaughters ; yea, the Israelites had spoiled the temple of the Lord, and had taken all the gold and silver they found there. The Jcavs, then, had been reduced to a very low state, they hardly dared to mutter ; but the Israelites, as our Prophet will here- after tell us, were like beasts well fed. Since, then, they despised the Jews, who seemed despicable in the eyes of the world, the Prophet beats down this vain confidence, and says, With mercy tvill I folloiv the house of Judah. " The house ol Judah seems now to be almost nothing, for they are few in number, nor are they very strong, and Avealth abounds not among them as among you ; but with them shall dwell my favour, and I will take it away from you."
It afterwards follows. And I will save them hy Jehovah their God. Salvation is here set in opposition to the destruction
CHAP. I. 7. COMMENTAEIES ON HOSEA. 59
which the Prophet mentioned in the last verse. But Hosea shows that salvation depends not in the least either on arms or on any of the intervenients/ as they say, of this world ; but has its foundation only on God's favour. / loill save therrij he says — why ? because my favour loill I show them. This connection ought to be carefully noticed. Where the Lord's favour is, there is life. ' Thou art our God, then we shall never perish,' as it is written in the first chapter of Habakkuk. Hence the Prophet here connects salvation with God's gratuitous favour; for we cannot continue safe, but as long as God is propitious to us. He has, on the other hand, declared that it would be all over with the Israelites as soon as God would take aAvay from them his favour.
But he says, By Jehovah their God. An antithesis is to be understood here between the false gods and Jehovah, who was the God of the house of Judah. It is the same as though the Prophet said, " Ye indeed profess the name of God, but ye worship the devil and not God : for ye have nothing to do with Jehovah, with the God who is the creator and maker of heaven and earth ; for he dwells in his own temple ; he pledged his faith to David, when he commanded him to build a temple for him on mount Zion ; he dwells there between the cherubims, as the Prophets invariably de- clare : but the true God is become exiled from you." We hence see how he condemns here all the worship which the Israelites then so highly valued. Why did he do so ? Be- cause it was not acceptable to God.
And this passage deserves to be noticed, for we see how stupid men are in this respect. When once they are per- suaded that they worship God, they are seized by some fas- cination of Satan, so as to become delighted with all their own dotages, as we see to be the case at this day with the Papists, who are not only insane, but doubly frantic. If any one reproves them and says, that they worship not the true God, they are instantly on fire — " What ! does not God ac-
' Mediis — media, means. Wc use medium, but not media ; and yet ■we have no word as a substitute. " Intervenients, " perhaps, is the most iutcUigible word to the English reader. — Ed.
60 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. HI.
cept our worship?" But the Prophet here shows by one word that Jehovah is not in any place, except where he is rightly worshipped according to the rule of his word. Iioill save them, he says — How? By Jehovah their God; and God himself speaks : ,He might have said, " I will save them by myself;" but it was not without reason that he used this circuitous mode of speaking; it was to show the Israelites that they had no reason to think that God would be propi- tious to them. How so ? Because God had chosen an habi- tation for himself on mount Zion and in Jerusalem. A fuller declaration afterwards follows, I will save them neither hy the bow, nor by the sword, nor hy war, nor by horses, nor hy horse- men. But this clause, by God's favour, I will explain to- morrow.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we were fi'om our beginning lost, when thou Avert pleased to extend to us thy hand, and to re- store us to salvation for the sake of thy Son ; and that as we continue even daQy to run headlong to our own ruin, — O graiat that we may not, by sinning so often, so pi-ovoke at length thy displeasure as to cause thee to take away fi'om us the mercy which thou hast hitherto exercised towards us, and through which thou hast adopted us : but by thy Spirit destroy the wickedness of our heart, and restore us to a sound mind, that we may ever cleave to thee with a true and sincere heart, that being fortified by thy defence, we may continue safe even amidst all kinds of danger, until at length thou gatherest us into that blessed rest, which has been prepared for us in heaven by our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
%tc\\xvt Sri^trti.
We have to explain first this clause, Itvill save the house of Judahneitherhy thehow, nor hythe sivord, nor hy tear, nor hy horses, nor by horsemen. TVHiat the Prophet had touched upon before is here more clearly expressed, and that is, that God has no need of foreign aids, for he is content with his own power. But Hosea continues his contrast ; for the people of Israel, as they possessed much carnal power, thought themselves, as they say, beyond the reach of darts : but the kingdom of
CHAP. I. 8, 9. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 61
Judah was exposed to all dangers, as it was not powerful In forces and arms. This folly the Prophet exposes to con- tempt, and says, that safety is dependant on God alone, that men in vain trust in their own valour, and that there is no reason why the needy and destitute should despair of their safety, as God alone is abundantly sufficient to preserve the faithful. The meaning then is, that though the destitute condition of the kingdom of Judah was an object of contempt to all, yet this would be no obstacle, that it should not be preserved through God's favour, though it obtained no aid from men. And let us learn from this place, that we are not so preserved by the Lord, that he never employs any natural means ; and further, that when he has no recourse to them, he is abundantly sufficient to secure our safety. We ought then so to ascribe our safety to the Lord as not to think that any thing comes to us through ourselves, or through angels, or through men. Let us now proceed —
8. Now when she had weaned 8. Et ablactavit Lo-ruchama, et Lo-nihamah, she conceived, and concepit et peperit filiam.
bare a son. 9. Et dixit, Vocanomen ejus, Non
9. Then said God^ Call his name popuhis mens, (Lo-ammi :) quia vos Lo-ammi : for ye are not my non populus mens, et ego non ero people, and I will not be your God. vobis {hoc est, non ero vester.)
The weaning the Prophet mentions here is by some un- derstood all egoric ally ; as though he said, that the people would for a time be deprived of prophecies, and of the priest- hood, and of other spiritual gifts : but this is frigid. The Prophet here, I have no doubt, sets forth the patience of God towards that people. The Lord then, before he had uttei'ly cast away the Israelites, waited patiently for their repentance, if, indeed, there was any hope for it; but when he found them be ever like themselves, he then at length pro- ceeded to the last punishment. Hence Hosea says, that the daughter, who was the second child, was weaned ; as though he said, that the people of Israel had not been suddenly cast away, for God had with long patience borne with them, and thus suspended heavier judgment, until, having found their wickedness to be unhealable, he at length commenced what follows, Call the third child Lo-ammi.
€2 THE TWELVE MINOR PROrHETS. LECT. III.
The reason is added, For ye are not my 'people^ and I will not hereafter be yours. This, as I have said, is the final dis- owning of them. They had been before called Jezreelites, and then by the name of the daughter God testified that he was alienated from them ; but now the third name is still more grievous, Ye are not my people ; for God here abolishes, in a manner, the covenant he made with the holy fathers, so that the people would cease to have any pre-eminence over other nations. So then the Israelites were reduced to a con- dition in which they differed nothing fi-om the profane Gentiles ; and thus God wholly disinherited them. The Prophet, doubtless, was not well received, when he denied them to be God's people, who had yet descended from Abraham according to the flesh, who had ever been so accounted, and who continued proudly to boast of their election.
But let us hence learn, that those awfully mistake who are blind to their ow^n vices, because God spares and indulges them. For we must ever remember what I have said before, that the kingdom of Isi'ael was then opulent ; and yet the Prophet denies them, who flourished in strength, and power, and riches, to be God's people. There is then no reason for hypocrites to felicitate themselves in prosperity ; but they ought, on the contrary, to have regard to God's judgment. But though these, as we see to be the case, heedlessly despise God, yet this passage reminds us carefully to beware lest we abuse the present favours of God. It follows —
10. Yet the number of the child- 10. Et erit numerus filiorum Israel ren of Israel shall be as thesaud tanquam arena maris, quai uou raen- of the sea, -which cannot bemea- suratur et non uumeratur, (non men- sured nor numbered ; and it shall surabitur nee numerabitur, ad verbum, come to pass, that in the place sed significant hcec verba actum con- where it was said unto them, iinuum^ et est indefinita etiamlocutio ;) Ye are not my people, there it et erit in loco nbi dicetm*, (Jioc est, ubi shall be said unto them. Ye are dictum fuerit eis,) Non populus meus the sons of the living God. vos ; et dicetm- {hoc est, illic dicetur)
Filii Dei vivi.
Now follows consolation, yet not unmixed. God seems here to meet the objections Avhich we know hypocrites had in readiness, whenever the Prophets denounced destruction on
CHAP. I. 10. COMMENTAEIES ON ROSEA. 63
them ; for they accused God of being unfaithful if he did not save them. Arrogating to themselves the title of Church, they concluded that it would be impossible for them to perish, for God Avould not be untrue in his promises. " Why ! God has promised that his Church shall be for ever : we are his Church ; then we are safe, for God cannot deny himself." In what they took as granted they w^ere deceived ; for though they usurped the title of Church, they were yet ahenated from God. We see that the Papists swell with this pride at this day. To excuse all their errors, they set up against us this shield, " Christ promised to be with his own to the end of the world. Can the spouse desert his Church ? Can the Son of God, who is the eternal Truth of the Father, fail in liis faithfulness ?" The Papists magnificently extol the fiiith- fulness of Christ, that they may bind him to themselves : but at the same time, they consider not that they are covenant- breakers ; they consider not that they are manifestly the enemies of God ; they consider not that they have divorced themselves from him.
The Prophet, therefore, seeing that he had to do with proud men, who were wont to arraign the justice of God, says. The number of the children of Israel shall he as the sand of the sea ; that is, " When the Lord shall cut you off, still safe will remain this promise which was given to Abraham ; ^ Look at the stars of heaven, number, if thou canst, the sand of the sea ; so shall thy seed be," (Gen. xxii. 5.) We indeed know, that whenever the Prophets severely reproved the people and denounced destruction, this was ever opposed to them, '' What ! can it be that the Lord will destroy us ? What would then become of this promise. Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea ?" Hence the Prophet here checks this vain-confidence, by which hypo- crites supported themselves against all threatenings, "Though God may cut you off, he will yet continue true and faithful to the promise, that Abraham's seed shall be innumerable as the sand of the sea."
I indeed admit that the Prophet here gave hope of salva- tion to the faithful ; for it is certain that there were some remaining in the kingdom of Israel. Though the whole
64 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. III.
body liad revolted, yet God, as it was said to Elijah, had preserved to himself some seed. The Prophet then was unwilling to leave the faithful, who remained among that lost people, without hope of salvation ; but, at the same time, he had regard to hypocrites, as we have already stated. We now see the design of the Prophet, for he teaches that there would be such a vengeance as he had spoken of, though God would not yet be forgetful of his word; he teaches that there would be such a casting away of the people, though God's election would yet remain firm and unchange- able ; in short, he teaches that the adoption by which God had chosen the offspring of Abraham as his people would not be void. This is the import of the whole. Then the num- ber of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which is not to be measured nor numbered.
He afterwards adds, And it shall be in the place ichere it had been said to them, (shall be said, literally,) Ye are not my people ; there it shall be said, Ye are the sons of the living God. It has been asked, whether this prophecy belongs to the pos- terity of those who had been dispersed. This, indeed, would be strange ; for so long a time has passed away since their exile, and dejected and broken, they dwell at this day in mountains and in other desert places ; at least many of them are in the mountains of Armenia, some are in Media and Chaldea ; in short, throughout the whole of the East. And since there has been no restoration of this people, it is cer- tain that this prophecy ought not to be restricted to seed according to the flesh. For there was a prescribed time for the Jews, when the Lord purposed to restore them to their country ; and, at the end of seventy years, a free return Avas granted them by Cyrus. Then Hosea speaks not here of the kingdom of Israel, but of the Church, which was to be re- stored by a return, composed both of Jews and of Gentiles. So Paul, a fit interpreter of this passage, reminds us, ' Whom he has called, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles ; as he says by Hosea, I will call a people, who were not mine, my people ; and her beloved, who was not beloved : and it shall be, where it had been said to them, Ye are not my people ; there shall they be called the sons of the living
CHAP. I. 10. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 65
God,' (Eom. ix. 24, &c.) Paul applies this passage, and that rightly, to the whole body of the faithful, collected with- out any diflference, from the Jews as well as from the Gen- tiles : for otherwise, as we have said, the correctness and truth of prophecy would not be evident : and this view also agrees best with the design of the Prophet which I have just explained. For, since hypocrites in a manner tie to them- selves the power of God, the Prophet says, that God can, if he chooses, raise up in an instant a new Church, which would exceed in number the sand of the sea. How so ? God will create a Church for himself. From what? From stones, from nothing: for, as Paul says elsewhere, 'he calls those things Avhich are not, as though they were,' (Rom. iv. 17.) At the same time, God, as it has been said, by his goodness contended with the wickedness of that people ; for though they rejected his favour, yea, and obstinately thrust it away from themselves, yet such perverseness did not hinder the Lord from preserving a remnant for himself.
Now, this passage teaches, that they are very perverted in their notions, who, by their own feelings, form a judgment of the state of the Church, and accuse God of being un- faithful, when its external appearance does not correspond with their opinion. So the Papists think ; for except they see the splendour of great pomp, they conclude that no Church remains in the world. But God at one time so di- minishes the Church, that it seems to be almost reduced to nothing ; at another time, he increases and multiplies it be- yond all hope, after having raised it, as it were, from death. Isaiah says in the tenth chapter, ver. 22, * Were the number of the children of Israel as the sand of the sea, a remnant only shaU be saved.' The Prophet there designedly exposes to scorn the hypocrites, who falsely pleaded that prophecy, ' Look on the stars of heaven, and on the sand of the sea, if thou canst number them ; so shall thy seed be.' Since, then, Isaiah saw that hypocrites, relying on that prophecy, were rising so perversely against him, he said, " Be it so, be it so, that ye are as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea ; yet a remnant only shall be saved ;" which means, "" The Lord will at last cut you down, and reduce you to so
VOL. I. £
66 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. III.
small a number, that ye shall be extremely few." Now, on the other hand, Hosea says, That after the Israelites shall be reduced to a very small number, that nothing but waste and solitude will appear, then the Lord will restore the Church beyond all human thought, and will prove that he had not in vain promised to Abraham that his seed would be as the sand of the sea. Since, then, the Lord wonderfully defends his Church, and preserves it in this world, so that at one time he seems to bury it, and then he raises it from death ; at one time he cuts it down as to its outward appearance, and then afterwards he renews it; we ought to take heed, lest we measure according to our own judgment and carnal reason, what the Lord declares respecting the preservation of his Church. For its safety is often hid from the eyes of men. However the case may be, God does not bind himself here to human means, nor to the order of nature, but his purpose is to surpass by his incredible power whatever the minds of men can conceive.
Thus then ought this passage. The number of the children of Israel shall he as the sand of the sea, to be expounded: God will gather his Church from all quarters, from the Gentiles as well as from the Jews, when the whole world will think it to be extinct.
And it shall he in the place where it had been said. Ye are not my -people ; there it shall he said, Ye are the sons of the living God. The Prophet, in these words, amplifies by a compari- son the grace of God ; as though he said, " When God shall restore anew his Church, its state shall be more excellent than before." How so? "They shall not only," he says, " be the people of God, but also the sons of the living God;" which means, that God will more familiarly show himself a Father to those, whom he will thus suddenly gather into one body. I indeed allow that the ancients under the law were honoured with this title; but we ought to attend to the pre- sent passage; for the Prophet contrasts the two clauses, the one with the other : And it shall be in the place where it had been said, Ye are not my jjeople; it shall he said there. Ye are the sons of the living God. He might have said, "And it shall be in the place where it had been said, Ye are not my people;
CHAP. I. 10. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 67
there it shall be said, Ye are now my people:" but he ascends higher ; God will confer more honour on his new people, for he will more clearly manifest his favour to them by this title of adoption : and it belongs in common to all, to the Gentiles as well as to the Israelites. We ought not to apply this, as it is commonly done, exclusively to the Gentiles: for Hosea speaks not here only of the Church which God attained for himself from the Gentiles, but of the whole Israel of God, a part of whom is the seed of Abraham. Let us then know that God here offers his grace generally, to the Israelites as well as to the Gentiles, and testifies, that after having justly cast away this people, he would make all to know that he had not been unmindful of his covenant, for he would attain to himself a much larger Cliurch — from whom? From the children of Abraham, as it has been said, as well as from strangers.
And there is an important meaning In the verb, ' It shall be said :' It shall he where it had been said, Ye are not my j^coplc, there it shall he said, — The Prophet means, that our salvation appears not, before the Lord has begun to testify to us of his good-will. Hence the beginning of our salvation is God's call, when he declares himself to be propitious to us : without his word, no hope shines on us. Hosea might have said, ' It shall be in the place where it had been said, Ye are not my people, there they shall begin to be the sons of God :' but he expresses more, *It shall be where it had been said. Ye are not my people, there it shall be said, Ye are the sons of the living God.'
As to the first clause, it must be referred to the threaten- ings which have been already explained; and in this way waa also checked the contumacy of the people, who heedlessly despised all the Prophets. "What! God has bound himself to us : we are the race of Abraham ; then we are a holy and elect nation." But the Prophet here claims authority to him- self as a teacher: "I am a herald of God's vengeance, and seriously proclaim to you your rejection: there is then no reason why ye should now harden your hearts and close your ears ; for now at length will follow the execution of that ven- geance which I now declare to you." The Prophet then de-
68 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. III.
clares here that he had not rashly pronounced what we before noticed, that it was not an empty bugbear, but that he had spoken in the Lord's name ; as Paul also says, 'Vengeance is prepared by us against all them who extol themselves against Christ,' (2 Cor. x; 6.) And w^e see also what was said to Ezekiel, 'Go and besiege Jerusalem; turn thy face, and stand there until thou stormest it, until thou overthrowest it.' The 1^'ophet was not certainly furnished with an army, so that he could make an attack upon Jerusalem : but God means there, that there is power enough in his word to destroy all the ungodly. So alsoHosea signifies the same here: "Wlien by the word alone the Israelites shall be cast away, it shall be said. Ye are the sons of the living God." Let us then know, that God rises upon us with certain salvation, when we hear him speaking to us. It followi
11. Then shall the children of Judah ll.Etcongregabuntur filii
and the children of Israel be gathered to- Jehudah et filii Israel si-
gether, and appoint themselves one head, niul, et poneut sibi caput
and thej' shall come up out of the land : for imum, et ascendent e terra;
great shall be the day of Jezi-eel. quia magnus dies Jizreel.
The Prophet speaks here peculiarly of the children of Abraham; for though God would make no more account of them than of other nations, he yet wished it to be ascribed to his covenant, that they in honour excelled others ; and the right of primogeniture, we know, is everywhere given to them. Then as Abraham's children were first-begotten in the Church, even after the coming of Christ, God here espe- cially addresses them. Ascend together from the land shall the children of Israel and the children of Judah, and they shall assemble together, and apj)oint for themselves one head. In the last verse, Hosea spake of the universal gathering of the Church; but now he confines his address to the natural race of Abraham. Why? Because God commenced a restoration with that people, when he extended his hand to the miserable exiles to bring them back from the Babylonian captivity to their own country. As then this was the beginning of the gathering, the Prophet, not without reason, turns his address here to them, and thus sets them in higher honour, not that they were worthy, not that they could by any merit claim
CHAP. I. 11. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 69
this dignity; but because God would not make void his covenant, and because he had chosen them that they might be the first-begotten, as it has been already stated, and as they are also elsewhere called, ' My first-begotten is Ephraim,' (Jer. xxxi. 9.) We now then understand the order and ar- rangement of the Prophet, which is to be casefuUy noticed, and the more so, because interpreters confound all these things, and make no distinctions, when yet the Prophet has not here mingled together the children of Israel and the child- ren of Judah with the Gentiles, except for a certain purpose. Let us now consider the words of the Prophet. Assembled together, he says, shall he the children of Israel and the children of Judah. No doubt, the Prophet has in view the scatter- ing, which had now lasted more than two hundred years, when Jeroboam had led away the ten tribes. Inasmuch as the body became then torn asunder, the Prophet says. To- gether shall be gathered the children of Judah and the children of Israel. And designedly does he thus speak, lest the Is- raelites should felicitate themselves on their own power ; since they were a mutilated body without a head ; for the king of Israel, properly speaking, was not legitimate. The Lord had indeed anointed Jeroboam; and afterwards Jehu, I admit, had been anointed; but it was done for the sake of executinof judgment. For when the Lord intended really to bless the people, he chose David to rule over them ; and then he com- mitted the government over all the children of Abraham to the posterity of David. There was therefore no legitimate head over the people of Israel. And the Prophet intended distinctly to express this by saying, Gathered together shall be the cldldren of Judah and the children of Israel; which means this, " Ye are now secure, because fortune smiles on you ; be- cause ye are overflowing with money and all good things ; because ye are terrible to your neighbours ; because ye have cities well fortified; but your safety depends on another thing, even on this, — that ye be one body under one head. For ye must be miserable except God rules over you; and the only way in which this can be is, that ye be under the government of David. Your separation, then, proves your state to be accursed ; your earthly happiness, in which you
70 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. III.
felicitate yourselves, is unhappiness before God." The Pro- phet then reminded the people of Israel, that God would at last deal kindly with tliem by restoring them to their first unity. The import of the whole then is, that the children of Abraham shall then at length be blessed, when they shall unite again in one body, and when one head shall rule over them. They shall then he gathered together, and appoint one head. The Prophet shows here also what kind of assembling this will be which he mentions, which was to be this, — they shall be gathered under the government of one king. For whenever God speaks of the restoration of the people, he ever calls the attention of the faithful to David : ' David shall rule, there shall be one shepherd.' Then one king and one head shall be among them. We now perceive the design of the Prophet.
But this passage clearly teaches, that the unity of men is of no account before God, except it originates from one head. Besides, it is well known that God set David over his ancient people until the coming of Christ. Now, then, the Church of the Lord is only rightly formed, when the true David rules over it ; that is, when all with one consent obey Christ, and submit to his bidding, {pendehunt ah ejus nutu — hang on his nod :) and how Christ designs to I'ule in his Church, we know ; for the sceptre of his kingdom is the gospel. Hence, when Christ is honoured with the obedience of faith, all things are safe ; and this is the happy state of the Church, of which the Prophet now speaks. It seems, indeed, strange, that Avhat is peculiar to God should be transferred to men — that is, to appoint a king. But the Prophet has, by this ex- pression, characterized the obedience of faith; for it is not enough that Christ should be given as a king, and set over men, unless they also embrace him as their king, and with reverence receive him. We now learn, that when we believe the gospel we choose Christ for our king, as it were, by a voluntary consent.
He afterwards subjoins. They shall ascend from the land. He expresses more than at the beginning of the verse ; for he says, that God would restore them from exile to their own country. He then promises what was very necessary, that
CHAP. 1. 11. COMMENTARIES ON IIOSEA. 71
exile would be no hinderance to God to renew his Cliurch ; for it was the people's ruin to be removed far from their country, and consequently to be deprived of their promised inheritance during their dispersion among heathen nations. The Lord then takes away this difficulty, and distinctly de- clares, that though for a time they should be as whoUy de- stroyed, they should yet come again to their own land. They shall, therefore, ascend — (this is said with regard to Judea, for it is higher than Chaldea) — they sliall, therefore, ascend from Chaldea and other places in which they had been dispersed. We now understand what the Prophet means by saying. Gathered together shall he the children of Israel and the children of Judah — that is, into one body; and further, they shall appoint for themselves one head. This is the manner of the gathering ; and it must be also added, that the Church then obeys God, Avhen all, from the first to the last, consent to one head : for it is not enough to be constrained, unless all willingly offer themselves to Christ ; as it is said in Psalm ex., 'There shall be a willing people in the day in which the King will call his own.' Then the Prophet intended to ex- press the obedience of faith, which the faithful will render to Christ, when the Lord shall restore them.
And the J shall ascend, he sa,js, from the land ; for great shall be the day of Jezreel. It may be asked, why does he here call the day of Jezreel great ; for it seems contrary to prophecy? This passage may be explained in two ways. Great shall be the day of Jezreel, some say, because God will sow the people whom he had before scattered. So they think that the Prophet, as in a former instance, alludes to the word, Jezreel. But the sens eseems to me to be another. I do not restrict this clause to the last, nor to the promise, but apply it to the slaughter which has been before mentioned ; for they correspond with one another. They shall ascend from the land; for great shall he the day of Jezreel. The Israelites were as yet resting in their nests, and thought that they could not by any means be torn away ; besides, the kingdom of Judah did not then fear a near destruction. The Prophet, therefore, intimates here, that there would be a need of some signal and extraordinary remedy ; for it shall be the severe
72 THE TWELVE MINOE PROPHETS. LECT. HI.
and dreadful slaughter in the day of Jezreel. We now per- ceive the real meaning of the Prophet, They shall ascend from the land ; for ^ great shall he the day of Jezreel.
They might, indeed, have otherwise objected, and said, " Why dost thou thus prophesy to us about ascending ? What is this ascending ? Do we not rest quietly in the inheritance which God formerly promised to our fathers ? What meanest thou, then, by this ascending ?" The Prophet here rouses them, and reminds them that they had no reason to trust in their now quiet state, as wine settled on its lees ; and this very similitude is even used in another place, (Jer. xlviii. 11.) The Prophet here declares, that there would be a most dread- ful slaughter, which would call for the signal mercy of God ; for he would in a wonderful manner restore the people, and draw them out like the dead from then- graves : for great then shall be the day of Jezreel ; that is, '' As the calamity which the Lord shall bring on you will be grievous and dreadful, I do not in vain promise to you this return and ascending." This seems to be really the meaning of the Prophet.
PEAYEE.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we have not only been redeemed from Babylonian exile, but have also emerged from hell itself; for when we were the childi'en of wi'ath thou didst freely adopt us, and when we were aliens, thou didst in thine infinite good- ness open to us the gate of thy kingdom, that we might be made thy heirs through thy Son, — O grant that we may walk cfrcum- spectly before thee, and submit ourselves wholly to thee and to thy Christ, and not feign to be his members, but really prove ourselves to be his body, and to be so govenied by his Spirit, that thou mayest at last gather us together into thy celestial kingdom, to which thou daily invitest us by the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
• If this were rendered ' though,' as it is by some, the meaning would be more evident ; that is, they shall ascend fi'om the land, notwithstand- ing the greatness of the slaughter in Jezreel, when thej' should be led captive — Ed,
CHAF. II. 1, 2. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 7<J
CHAPTER II.
1. Say ye unto your brethren, 1. Dicite fratribusvestris, Popii- Ammi ; and to your sisters, Iluha- lus mens ; et sororibus vestris, Di- mah. lecta.
The Prophet having spoken of the people's restoration, and promised that God would some time receive into favour those whom he had before rejected, now exhorts the faithful mutually to stir up one another to receive this favour. He had previously mentioned a public proclamation ; for it is not in the power of men to make themselves the children of God, but God himself freely adopts them. But now the mu- tual exhortation of which the Prophet speaks follows the proclamation ; for God at the same time invites us to him- self. After we are taught in common, it remains then that each one should extend his hand to his brethren, that we may thus with one consent be brought together to the Lord.
This then is what the Prophet means by saying, Saj^ ye to your brethren, ^^y, omi, and to your sisters, nXSn^'lj ruchame ; that is, since I have promised to be propitious to you, you can now safely testify this to one another. We then see that this discourse is addressed to each of the faithful, that they may mutually confirm themselves in the faith, after the Lord shall offer them favour and reconciliation. Let us now proceed —
2. Plead with your mother, 2. Litigate cum matre vestra, liti- plead ; for she is not my wife, nei- gate ; quia ipsa non uxor mea, et ther am I her husband : let her ego non maritus ejus : et toUat (hoc therefore put away her whoredoms est^ toUat igitur) scortationes suas out of her sight, and her adulteries e facie sua, et adulteria sua e medio from between her breasts. uberum suorum.
The Prophet seems in this verse to contradict himself; for he promised reconciliation, and now he speaks of a new repu-
74 THE TWELVE MINOR PEOPHETS. LECT. IV.
diatlon. These things do not seem to agree well together — that God should embrace, or be willing to embrace, again in his love those whom he had before rejected, — and that he should at the same time send a bill of divorce, and renounce the bond of marriage. But if we weigh the design of the Prophet, we shall see that the passage is very consistent, and that there is in the words no contrariety. He has indeed promised that at a future time God would be propitious to the Israelites : but as they had not yet repented, it was need- fid to deal again more severely with them, that they might return to their God really and thoroughly subdued. So we see that in Scripture, promises and threatenings are mingled together, and rightly too. For were the Lord to spend a whole month in reproving sinners, they may in that time fall away a hundred times. Hence God, after showing to men their sins, adds some consolation and moderates severity, lest they should despond : he afterwards returns again to threaten- ings, and does so from necessity ; for though men may be terrified with the fear of punishment, they do not yet really repent. It is then necessary for them to be reproved not only once and again, but very often.
We now then perceive what the Prophet had in view : he had spoken of the people's defection ; afterwards he proved that the people had been justly rejected by the Lord ; and then he promised the hope of pardon. But now seeing that they still continued obstinate in their vices, he reproves again those who had need of such chastisement. He, in a word, has in view their present state.
Almost all so expound this verse as if the Prophet ad- dressed the faithful : and with greater refinement still do they expound, who say, that the Prophet addresses the faithful who had fallen away from the synagogue. They have all, I have no doubt, been much deceived ; for the Prophet, on the contraiy, shows here that God was justly punishing the Israelites, who were wont to excuse themselves in the same way as hypocrites are wont to do. When the Lord treated them otherwise than according to their wishes, they expos- tulated, and raised up contention — "What does this mean?" So do we find them introduced, as thus speaking, by Isaiah, in
CHAP. II. 2. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 75
chapter Iviii. There, indeed, they fiercely contend with God, as if the Lord dealt with them unjustly, for they seemed not conscious of having done any evil. Hence the Prophet, seeing the IsraeHtes so senseless in their sins, says. Contend^ contend tcith your mother. He speaks here in the person of God : and God, as it has been stated, uses the similitude of a marriage. Let us now see what is the import of the words.
When a husband repudiates his wife, he fixes a mark of disgrace on the children born by that marriage : their mother has been divorced ; then the children, on account of that dir vorce, are held in less esteem. When a husband repudiates his wife through waywardness, the children justly regard him Avith hatred. Why ? " Because he loved not our mother as he ought to have done ; he has not honoured the bond of marriage." It is therefore usually the case, that the children's affections are alienated from their father, when he treats their mother with too little humanity or with entire contempt. So the Israelites, when they saw themselves rejected, wished to throw the blame on God. For by the name, mother, are the people here called ; it is transferred to the whole body of the people, or the race of Abraham. God had espoused that people to himself, and wished them to be like a wife to him. Since then God was a husband to the people, the Israelites were as sons born by that marriage. But when they were repudiated, the Israelites said, that God dealt cruelly with them, for he had cast them away for no fault. The Prophet now undertakes the defence of God's cause, and speaks also in his person. Contend, contend, he says, with your mother. In a word, this passage agrees with what is said in the beginning of the 50th chapter of Isaiah, 'Where is the bill of repu- diation ? Have I sold you to my creditors ? But ye have been sold for your sins, and your mother has been repudiated for her iniquity.' Husbands were wont to give a bill of divorce to their wives, that they themselves might see it : for it freed them from every reproach, inasmuch as the hus- band bore a testimony to his wife : " I dismiss her, not that she has been unfaithful, not that she has violated the bond of marriage ; but because her beauty does not please me, or because her manners are not agreeable to me." The law com-
76 THE TWELVE MINOK PROPHETS. LECT. IV.
pelled the husband to give such a testimony as this. God now says by his Prophet, " Show me now the bill of repudia- tion : have I of my own accord cast away your mother ? No, I have not done so. Ye cannot accuse me of cruelty, as though her beauty did not please me, and as though I had followed the common practice approved by you. I have not willingly rejected her, nor at my own pleasure, and I have not sold her to my creditors, as your fathers were sometimes wont to do, as to their children, when they were in debt." In short, the Lord shows there that the Jews were to be blamed, that they Avere rejected together with their mother. So he says also in this place, Contend, contend with your mo- ther ; which means, " Your dispute is not with me :" and by the repetition he shows how inveterate was their perverse- ness, for they never ceased to clamour against God. We now see the real meaning of the Prophet.
In vain then do they philosophise, who say that the mother was to be condemned by her own children ; because, when they shall be converted to their former faith, they ought then to condemn the synagogue. The Prophet meant no such thing; but, on the contrary, he brings this charge against the Israelites, that they had been repudiated for the flagitious conduct of their mother, and had ceased to be counted the children of God. For the comparison between husband and wife is here to be understood ; and then the children are placed as it were in the middle. When the mother is dismissed, the children indignantly say that the father has been too inhuman, if in- deed he wilfully divorces his wife : but when a wife becomes unfaithful to her husband, or prostitutes herself to any shame- ful crime, the husband is then free from every blame ; and there is no cause for the children to expostulate with him ; for he ought thus to punish a shameless wife. God then shows that the Israelites w^ere justly rejected, and that the blame of their rejection belonged to the whole race of Abraham ; but that no blame could be imputed to him.
And for a reason it is added. Let her then take away her for- nications fro7n her face, and her adulteries from, the midst of her breasts. The Prophet, by saying, Let her then take away her fornications, (for the copulative 1, vau, ought to be regarded
CHAP. II. 2. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 77
as an illative,) confirms what we have just now said ; that is, that God had stood to his pledged faith, but that the people had become perfidious ; and that the cause of the divorce or separation was, that the Israelites persevered not, as they ought to have done, in the obedience of faith. Then God says, Let her take away her fornications. But the phrase. Let her take away from her face and from her hreasts, seems singu- lar ; and what does it mean ? because women commit forni- cations neither by the face nor by the breasts. It is evident the Prophet alludes to meretricious finery ; for harlots, that they may entice men, sumptuously adorn themselves, and carefully paint their face and decorate their breasts. Wan- tonness then appears in the face as well as in the breasts. But interpreters do not touch on what the Prophet had in view. The Prophet, no doubt, sets forth here the shamelessness of the people ; for they had now so hardened themselves in their contempt of God, in their ungodly superstitions, in all kinds of Avickedness, that they were like harlots, who conceal not their baseness, but openly prostitute themselves, yea, and ex- hibit tokens of their shamelessness in their eyes as well as in every part of their bodies. We see then that the people are here accused of disgraceful impudence, as they had grown so callous as to wish to be known to be such as they were. In the same way does Ezekiel set forth their reproachful con- duct, ' Spread hath the harlot her feet, she called on all who passed by the way,' (Ezek. xvi. 25.)
We now then understand why the Prophet expressly said, Let her take away from her face her fornications, and from her hreasts her adulteries : for he teaches that the vices of the ])eople were not hidden, and that they did not now sin and cover their baseness as hypocrites do, but that they were so unrestrained in their contempt of God, that they were become like common harlots.
Here is a remarkable passage ; for we first see that men in vain complain when the Lord seems to deal with them in severity ; for they will ever find the fault to be in themselves and in their parents : yea, when they look on all impartially, they will confess that all throughout the whole community are included in one and the same guilt. Let us hence learn,
78 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. IV.
whenever the Lord may chastise us, to come home to our- selves, and to confess that he is justly severe towards us ; yea, were we apparently cast away, we ought yet to confess, that it is through our own fault, and not through God's immoderate severity. We also learn how frivolous is their pretext, who set up against God the authority of their fathers, as the Pa- pists do : for they would, if they could, call or compel God to an account, because he forsakes them, and owns them not now as his Church. " What ! has not God bound his faith to us ? Is not the Church his spouse ? Can he be unfaithful ?" So say the Papists : but at the same time they consider not, that their mother has become utterly filthy through her many abominations ; they consider not, that she has been repudiated, because the Lord could no longer bear her great wickedness. Let us then know, that it is in vain to bring against God the examples of men ; for what is here said by the Prophet will ever stand true, that God has not given a bill of divorce to his Church ; that is, that he has not of his own accord divorced her, as peevish and cruel husbands are wont to do, but that he has been constrained to do so, because he could no longer connive at so many abominations. It now follows —
3. Lest I strip her naked, S.Neexpoliem earn nudain, (/<oces^, ne
and set her as in the day that expoliando denudem,) et statuam earn
she was born, and make her secundum diem nativitatissna3,etponam
as a wilderness, and set her earn quasi desertum, pouam earn quasi
like a dry laud, and slay her terram siccitatis (Jioc est, terram aridam)
with thirst. et occidam earn siti, {hoc est, perire faci-
am : Je la feray mourir, ad verbian.)
Though the Prophet in this verse severely threatens the Israelites, yet it appears from a full view of the whole passage, that he mitigates the sentence we have explained : for by declaring what sort of vengeance was suspended over them, except they timely repented, he shows that there was some hope of pardon remaining, which, as we shall see, he expresses afterwards more clearly.
He now begins by saying. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as on the day of her nativity. This alone would have been dreadfld ; but we shall see in the passage, that God so de- nounces punishment, that he cuts not off altogether the hope of mercy : and at the same time he reminds them that the
CHAP. II. 3. COMMENTAKIES ON HOSEA. 79
divorce, for which they were disposed to contend with God, was such, that God yet shows indulgence to the repudiated wife. For when a husband dismisses an adulteress, he strips her entirely, and rightly so : but God shows here, that though the Israelites had become wanton, and were like a shameless woman, he had yet so divorced them hitherto, that he had left them their dowry, their ornaments and marriage gifts. We then see that God had not used, as he might have done, his right ; and hence he says, Lest I strip her naked; which means this, " I seem to you too rigid, because 1 have declared, that I am no longer a husband to your mother : and yet see how kindly I have spared her ; for she remains as yet almost untouched : though she has lost the name of wife, I have not yet stripped her; she as yet lives in sufficient plenty. Whence is this but from my indulgence ? for I did not wish to follow up my right, as husbands do. But except she learns to hum- ble herself, I now gird up myself for the purpose of executing heavier punishments." We now comprehend the whole im- port of the passage.
What the Prophet means by the day of nativity, we may readily learn from Ezek. xvi. ; for Ezekiel there treats the same subject with our Prophet, but much more at large. He says that the Israelites were then born, when God delivered them from the tyranny of Egypt. This then was the nativity of the people. And yet it was a miserable sight, when they fled away with fear and trembling, when they were exposed to their enemies : and after they entered the wilderness, being without bread and water, their condition was very wretched. The Prophet says now. Lest L set her as on the day of her nativity, and set her as the desert. Some regard the letter 5, caphy to be understood, as if it were written, ^^*]^^^, cabe7md- ber, as in the desert ; that is, I will set her as she was formerly in the desert ; and this exposition is not unsuitable ; for the day of nativity, the Prophet doubtless calls that time, when the people were brought out of Egypt : they immediately entered the desert, where there was the want of every thing. They might then have soon perished there, being consumed by famine and thirst, had not the Lord miraculously supported them. The sense then seems consistent by this rendering,
80 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. IV.
Lest I set her as in the desert, and as in a dry land. But another exposition is more approved, Lest L set her like the desert and dry land.
With regard to what the Prophet had in view, it was necessary to remind the Israelites here of what they were at their beginning. For whence was their contempt of God, whence was their obstinate pride, but that they were inebriated with their pleasures ? For when there flowed an abundance of all good things, they thought of themselves that they had come as it were from- the clouds ; for men commonly forget what they formerly were, when the Lord has made them rich. As then the benefits of God for the most part blind us, and make us to think ourselves to be as it were half-gods, the Prophet here sets before the children of Abraham what their condition was when the Lord redeemed them. " I have re- deemed you," he says, "from the greatest miseries and extreme degradation." Sons of kings are born kings, and are brought up in the midst of pomps and pleasures ; nay, before they are born, great pomps, we know, are prepared for them, which they enjoy from their mother's womb. But when one is bom of an ignoble and obscure mother, and begotten by a mean and poor father, and afterwards arises to a different condition, if he is proud of his splendour, and remembers not that he was once a plebeian and of no repute, this may be justly thrown in his face, " Who were you formerly ? Why ! do you not know that you were a cow-herd, or a mechanic, or one covered with filth ? Fortune has smiled on you, or God has raised you to riches and honours ; but you are so self-com- placent as though your condition had ever been the same."
This is the drift of what the Prophet says : ^^ I will set thy mother, he says, as she was at her first nativity. For who are you ? A holy race, a chosen nation, a people sacred to me ? Be it so : but free adoption has brought all this to you. Ye were exiles in Egypt, strangers in the land of Canaan, and were nothing better than other people. Besides, Pharaoh reduced you to a base servitude, ye were then the most abject of slaves. How magnificent, with regard to you, was your going forth ! Did you not flee away tremblingly and in the night ? And did you not afterwards live in a
CHAP. II. 4, I). COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 81
miraculous way for forty years In the desert, when I rained manna on you from the clouds ? Since then your poverty and want has been so great, since there is nothing to make you to raise your crests, how is it that you show no more modesty ? But if your present condition creates in you for- getfulness, I will set you as on the day of your nativity.' It now follows —
4. And I will not have mercy 4. Et filiorum ejus non miserabor, quia upon her chUdren, for they be filii aclulterini sunt.
the children of whoredoms.
5. For theii- mother hath 5. Quia scortata est mater eorum, pro- played the harlot; she that con- briis fcedata est quje concepit ipsos, (vel, ceived them hath done shame- genitrix ipsorum :) dixit enim, Ibo post fully : for she said, I will go araatores meos, datores panis mei {vel, after my lovers, that gave me qui dant panem meum) et aquas meas, my bread and my water, my lanam meam et liiium meum, et oleum wool and my flax, mine oil and meum et potum meum.
my drink.
The Lord now comes close to each Individual, after having spoken In general of the whole people : and thus we see that to be true which I have said, that it was far from the mind of the Prophet -to suppose, that God here teaches the faithful who had already repented, that they ought to condemn their own mother. The Prophet meant nothing of the kind ; but, on the contrary, he wished to check the waywardness of the people, who ceased not to contend with God, as though he had been more severe than just towards their race. Now then he reproves each of them ; your children, he says, / will not pity ; for they are spurious children. He had indeed said before that they had been born by adultery ; but he after- wards received them into favour. This is true ; but what I have said must be remembered, that the Prophet as yet con- tinues in his reproofs ; for though he has mingled some con- solation, he yet saw that their hearts were not as yet contrite and sufficiently humbled. We must bear in mind the differ- ence between their present state and their future favour. God before promised that he would be propitious to apostates who had departed from him : but now he shows that it waa not yet the ripe time, for they had not ceased to sin. Hence he says, I will not pity your children.
Having spoken of the mother's divorce, he now says that
VOL. I. F
82 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. IV.
the children, born of adultery, were not his : and certainly what the Prophet promised before was not immediately ful- filled ; for the people, we know, had been disowned, and when deprived of the land of Canaan, were rejected, as it were, by the Lord. The Babylonian exile was a kind of death : and then when they returned from exile, a small portion only returned, not the whole people ; and they were tossed, we know, by many calamities until Christ our Redeemer appeared. Since then the Prophet included the whole of this time, it is no wonder that he says that the children were to be repudi- ated by the Lord, because they were born of adultery : for until they returned from captivity, and Christ was at length revealed, this repudiation, of which the Prophet speaks, ever continued. Thy children, he says, I will not pity. At first sight it seems very dreadful, that God takes away the hope of mercy ; but we ought to confine this sentence to that time during which it pleased God to cast away his people. As long, then, as that temporary casting away lasted, God's favour was hid ; and to this the Prophet now refers, / will not then pity her children, _/or they are horn hy adultery. At the same time, we must remember that this sentence specifically be- longed to the reprobate, who boasted of being the children of Abraham, while they were profane and unholy, while they impiously perverted the whole worship of God, while they were wholly ungovernable. Then the Prophet justly pro- nounces such a severe judgment on obstinate men, who could be reformed by no admonitions.
He afterwards declares how the children became spurious ; their mother, toho conceived or bare them, has been wanton ; with shameful acts hath she defiled herself. ^"J^, bush, means, to be ashamed ; but here the Prophet means not that the Israelites were touched with shame, for such a meaning would be in- consistent with the former sentence ; but that they were like a shameless and infamous woman, touched with no shame for her baseness. Their mother, then, had been wanton, and she toho bare them had become scandalous. Here the Prophet strips the Israelites of their foolish confidence, who were wont to profess the name of God, while they were entirely alienated from him : for they had fallen away by their impiety from
CHAP. II. 4, 5. COMMENTAKIES ON HOSEA. 83
pure worship, they had rejected the laAV, yea, and every yoke. Since then they were wild beasts, it was extreme stupidity ever to set up for thek shield the name of God, and ever to boast of the adoption of their father Abraham. But as the Jews were so perversely proud, the Prophet here answers them, " Your mother has been wanton^ and with shameful acts hath she defiled herself; I will not therefore count nor own you as my children, for ye were born by adultery."
This passage confirms what I have shortly before explained, — that it is not enough that God should choose any people for himself, except the people themselves persevere in the obedience of faith ; for this is the spiritual chastity which the Lord requires from all his people. But when is a wife, whom God hath bound to himself by a sacred marriage, said to be- come wanton ? "When she falls away, as we shall more clearly see hereafter, from pure and sound faith. Then it follows that the marriage between God and men so long endures as they who have been adopted continue in pure faith, and apostacy in a manner frees God from us, so that he may justly repudiate us. Since such apostacy prevails under the Papacy, and has for many ages prevailed, how senseless they are in their boastings while they would be thought to be the holy Catholic Church, and the elect people of God ? For they are all born by wantonness, they are all spurious child- ren. The incorruptible seed is the word of God ; but what sort of doctrine have they ? It is a spurious seed. Then as to God all the Papists are bastards. In vain then they boast themselves to be the children of God, and that they have the holy Mother Church, for they are born by filthy wantonness.
The Prophet pursues still the same subject : She said, I will go after my lovers, the givers of my bread, of my waters, of my wool, and of my flax, and of my oil, and of my drink. The Prophet here defines the whoredom of which he had spoken : this part is explanatory ; the Prophet unfolds in several words what he had briefly touched when he said, your mother has been wanton. Now, if the Jews object and say. How has she become wanton? Because, she said, I will go after my lovers, v)ho give me my bread and my waters, 8fc. The Prophet here compares false gods to lovers, who seduce women from their
84 THE TWELVE MINOK PROPHETS. LECT. IV.
conjugal fidelity ; for he pursues the similitude which he had introduced. The Church, to whom God has pledged his faith, is represented as a wife ; and as a woman does, when enticed by gifts, and as many women follow covetousness and become lasciviousj that they may dress sumptuously, and live luxuriously, so the Prophet now points out this vice in the Israelitic Church, She said, I loill go after my lovers. Some understand by lovers either the Assyrians or the Egyptians ; for when the Israelites formed connections with these heathen nations, they were drawn away, we know, from their God. But the Prophet inveighs especially against false and corrupt modes of worship, and all kinds of superstitions ; for the pure worship of God, we know, is ever to have the first place, and that justly ; for on this depend all the duties of life. I there- fore doubt not, but that he includes all false gods, when he says, / will go after my lovers.
But by introducing the word, said, he amplifies the shame- lessness of the people, who deliberately forsook their God, who was to them as a legitimate husband. It indeed happens sometimes that a man is thoughtlessly drawn aside by a mis- take or folly, but he soon repents ; for we see many of the unexperienced deceived for a short time : but the Prophet here shows that the Israelites premeditated their unfaithful- ness, so that they wilfuUy departed from God. Hence she said; and we know that this said means so much ; and it is to be referred, not to the outward word as pronounced, but to the inward purpose. She therefore said, that is, she made this resolution ; as though he said, " Let no one make this frivolous excuse, that they were deceived, that they did it in their simplicity : ye are, he says, avowedly perfidious, ye have with a premeditated purpose sought this divorce." He, however, ascribes this to their mother : for defection began at the root, when they were drawn away by Jeroboam into corrupt superstitions ; and the promotion of this evil became as it were hereditary. He therefore intended to con- demn here the whole community. Hence, she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my waters. But I cannot finish to-day ; I must therefore break off the sentence.
CHAP. II. 4, 5. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 85
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast not only of late adopted us as thy chUcben, but before we were born, and as thou hast been pleased to sign us, as soon as we came forth from our mother's womb, with the symbol of that holy redemption, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thy only begotten Son, though we have by our ingratitude renounced so gi-eat a benefit, — O grant, that being mindfiil of our defection and un- faithfulness, of which we are all guilty, and for which thou hast justly rejected us, we may now with true humility and obedience of faith embrace the grace of thy gospel now again offered to us, by which thou reconcilest thyself to us ; and grant that we may stedfastly persevere in pm*e faith, so as never to tm'n aside from the true obedience of faith, buJ to ad- vance more and more in the knowledge of thy mercy, that having strong and deep roots, and being firmly grounded in the con- fidence of sure faith, we may never fall away from the true worship of thee, until thou at length receivest us into that eternal kingdom, which has been procured for us by the blood of thy only Son. Amen.
lecture S<(tff,
It remains for us to explain what the Prophet declares con- cerning the Israelites, that they boasted of their abundance of wine and oil, and all good things, as having come to them through their superstitions. What, then, they ought to have ascribed to God alone, they absurdly transferred to their idols. Of this ingratitude the Prophet here accuses them in the person of God himself, and at the same time shows that the ungodly are so deluded by prosperity, that they harden themselves more and more in their superstitions ; and this is not the case only at one time, but almost universally in the world. We see how full of pride the Papists are at this day, because they bear rule in the world, and possess riches and honours. They think their services acceptable to God, because he shows not himself openly opposed to and angry with them ; and so it has been from the beginning.
But the Prophet here condemns this foolish presumption, that we may learn not to judge at all times of God's love by the prosperous issue of events. There are then two things to
86 THE TWELVE MINOE PROPHETS. LECT. V.
be observed here, — that the superstitious falsely ascribe to their idols what comes from God alone; — and further, that they conclude that they are loved by God, whenever he does not immediately take vengeance on them. The Sodomites, we find, became obstinate in their sins for the same reason ; when all kinds of pleasures abounded, they thought themselves to be approved of God. Let us now proceed to what follows.
6. Therefore, behold, I 6. Propterea ecce ego concludo viam -tuam
will hedge up thy way spinis, et circumdo (circumdabo) sepem (ad
with thorns, and make a verbum^ sepire sepem ; sed tamen sensus cla-
wall, that she shall not rus est, ch-cumdabo sepem, vel maceriem) et
find her paths. semitam suam non reperiet.
The Prophet here pursues the subject we touched upon yesterday ; for he shows how necessary chastisement is, when people felicitate themselves in their vices. And God, when he sees that men confess not immediately their sins, defends as it were his own cause, as one pleading before a judge. In a word, God here shows, that he could not do otherwise than punish so great an obstinacy in the people, as there appeared no other remedy.
Therefore, he says, behold I — . There is a special meaning in these words; for God testifies that he becomes the avenger of impieties, when people are brought into straits ; as though he said, " Though the Israelites are not ready to confess that they suffer justly, yet I now declare that to punish them will be my work, when they shall be deprived of their pleasures, and when the occasion of their pride shall be removed from them." And he intimates by the meta- phorical words he uses, that he would so deal with them, as to keep the people from wandering, as they had done hitherto, after their idols ; but he retains the similitude of a harlot. Now when an unchaste wife goes after her paramours, the husband must either connive at her, or be not aware of her base conduct. However this may be, wives cannot thus violate the marriage-vow, except they are set at liberty by their husbands. But when a husband understands that his wife plays the wanton, he watches her more closely, notices all her ways day and night. God now takes up this com- parison, / ivill close up, he says, her way with thorns, and sur-
CHAP. II. 7. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 87
round her with a mound, that there may be no way of access open to adulterers.
But by this simile the Prophet means that the people would be reduced to such straits, that they might not lasciviate, as they had done, in their superstitions ; for while the Israelites enjoyed prosperity, they thought everything lawful for them ; hence their security, and hence their con- tempt of the word of the Lord. By hedge, then, and by thorns, God means those adversities by which he restrains the un- godly, so that they may cease to flatter themselves, and may not thoughtlessly follow, as they were before wont to do, their own superstitions. She shall not then find her ways ; that is, " I will constrain them so to groan under the burden of evils, that they shall no longer, as they have hitherto done, allow loose reins to themselves," It afterwards follows —
7. And she shall foUo-w after her 7. Et persequetur amatores
lovers, but she shall not overtake suos, et non apprehendet eos ;
them ; and she shall seek them, and et quasret eos, et non inveniet :
shall not find them : then shall she tunc dicet, Ibo et revertar ad
say, I will go and return to my first maritum meum priorem, quia
husband ; for then was it better with melius mihi tunc fuit quam
me than now. nunc.
God now shows what takes place when he chastises har- dened and rebellious people with heavy punishment. In the first clause he shows that perverseness will cleave so com- pletely to their hearts, that they will not immediately return to a sound mind. She icillfolloio her lovers, he says, and seek them. Here the Prophet tells us, that though the Israelites should be chastised by frequent punishments, they would yet continue in their obstinacy. It hence appears how hard a neck they had, and how uncircumeised in heart they were ; and such did the Prophets, as well as Moses, represent them to be. And we hence learn, that had they been only mode- rately corrected, it would not have been sufficient for their amendment. Amazing, indeed, was their obstinacy ; for God had divorced them, and then led them into great straits ; and yet they went on in their course, as though they were utterly stupid and destitute of every feeling. Is it not a prodigious madness, when men run on so obstinately, even when God sets his hand so strongly against them ? Such, however, is represented to have been the obstinacy of the Israelites.
88 THE TWELVE MINOR PEOPHETS. LECT. V.
The meaning then is, that when they were subdued, God would not immediately soften their hearts. Then God, though he bruised, did not yet reform them ; for their hardness was so great, that they could not be turned immediately to a docile state of mind ; but, on the contrary, they followed their lovers. By the word, folloic, is expressed that mad zeal which possesses idolaters ; for as we see, they are like men who are frantic. As then the superstitious know no bounds, nor any moderation, but a mad zeal at times lays hold on them, the Prophet says, She will follow her lovers, and shall not overtake them. AVhat does the latter clause mean ? That God will frustrate the hope of the ungodly, that they may know that they in vain worship false gods and follow with avidity ab- surd superstitions. They loill seek them, he says, and shall not find them. He ever speaks of the people under the character of a shameless and unfaithful wife.
We then see what the Prophet intended to do, — to vindi- cate God from every blame, that men might not raise a clamour, as though he dealt unkindly with them. He shows that God, even when so rigid, produces hardly any effect ; for the ungodly in their perverseness struggle against his scourges, and suifer not themselves to be brought imme- diately into due order.
But in the second clause the Prophet adds, that some benefit would at length arise, that though idolaters abused God's goodness, and even hardened themselves against his rods, yet this would not be perpetually the case ; for the Lord would grant better success. Hence it follows, She will then say, Iivill go and return to my former husband. Here the Prophet shows more clearly a hope of pardon, inasmuch as he speaks of the people's repentance ; for men, we know, re- pent not without benefit, as God is ever ready to receive them when they return to him in genuine sorrow. Then the Prophet here avowedly speaks of the repentance of the people, that the Israelites might hence know, that correc- tions, which men naturally ever dislike, would be profitable to them. It is our wish that God should always favour us, and that we should be nourished kindly and tenderly in his bosom ; but in the meantime, he cannot allure us to himself, by whatever means he may try to do so : and hence it is,
CHAP. II. 7. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 89
that chastisements are bitter to us, and our flesh immediately murmurs. When the Lord raises his finger, before he strikes us, we instantly groan and become angry, and even roar against him : in short, men can never be brought willingly to offer themselves to be chastised by God. Hence the Prophet now shows, that the severity of God is profitable to us ; for it drives us at length to repentance : in a word, he com- mends the favour of God in his very severity, that we may know that he furthers our salvation, even when he seems to treat us most unkindly. Site loill then say, I will go and return to my former husband.
But we must observe, that when men really repent, they do so through the special influence of the Spirit ; for they would otherwise perpetually remain in that per- verseness of which we have spoken. Were God for a hundred years continually to chastise perverse men, they would not yet change their disposition ; and true is that common saying, " The wicked are sooner broken than re- formed." But when men, after many admonitions, begin to be wise, this change comes through the Spirit of God. We may also learn from this passage what true repentance is ; that is, when he who has sinned not only confesses himself to be guilty, and owns himself worthy of punishment, but is also displeased with himself, and then with sincere desire turns to God. Many, we see, are ready enough, and dis- posed, to confess their sins, and yet go on in the same course. But the Prophet shows here that true repentance is some- thing very different, / loill go and return, he says. Repent- ance then consists (as they say) in the act itself; that is, repentance produces a reforming change in man, so that he reconciles himself to God, whom he had forsaken.
I will then^o and return to my former husband. Why? Be- cause better xoas it with me then than note. The Prophet ao-ain confirms what I lately said, — that the faithful are not made wise, except they are well chastised ; for the Prophet speaks not here of the reprobate, but of the remnant seed. The people of Israel were to be exterminated ; but the Prophet now de- clares that there would be some remaining, who would at last receive benefit from God's chastisements. Since then we
90 THE TWELVE MINOK PROPHETS. LECT. V.
must understand the Prophet as speaking of the elect, we may hence readily conclude, that chastisements are necessary for us ; for we grow torpid in our vices, as long as God spares us. Unless, then, it appears that God is really displeased with us, it will never come to our minds, that we ought to repent. Let us now proceed —
8. For she did not know that 8. Et ipsa non cognovit quod ego I gave her corn and wine and dederim ei triticum et vinum (SJ^'l^Tl oil, and multiplied her silver and significat propice mustum,) et oleum, gold, which they prepared for et argentum multiplicaverim ei, et au- Baal. rum aptarunt ipsi Baal.
9. Therefore will I return and 9. Propterea revertar et tollam tri- take away my corn in the time ticum meum tempore suo, et mustum thereof, and my wine in the meum suo statuto tempore, et linum season thereof, and will recover meum ad tegeudum tui-pitudinem ejus my wool and my flax, given to (yel^ nuditatem ; hoc est, quibus texit cover her nakedness. suam nuditatem.)
God here amplifies the ingratitude of the people, that they imderstood not whence came such abundance of good things. She understood 7iot, he says, that I gave to Iter corn and loine. The superstitious sin twice, or in two ways ; — first, they ascribe to their idols what rightly belongs to God alone ; and then, they deprive God himself of his own honour, for they understand not that he is the only giver of all things, but think their labour lost were they to worship the true God. Hence the Prophet now complains of this ingratitude. She understood not that I gave to her corn and icine and oil. And this was an inexcusable stupidity in the Israelites, since they had been abundantly instructed, that the abundance of all good things, and every thing that supports man, flow from God's bounty. Of this they had the clear testimony of Moses ; and then the land of Canaan itself was a living representa- tion of the Divine favour. It was then a prodigious madness in the people, that they who had been taught by word and by facts that God alone is the giver of all things, should yet not consider this truth. The Prophet, therefore, condemns this outrageous foUy of the people, that neither experience nor the teaching of the law availed anything. She kneio not^ he says. There is stress to be laid on the pronoun, she ; for the people ought to have been familiarly acquainted with God, inasmuch as they had been brought up in his house-
CHAP. II. 8, 9. COMMENTARIES ON HOSE A. 91
hold, as a wife, who is her husband's companion. It was then incapable of any excuse, that the people should thus turn their minds and all their thoughts away from God.
She knew not then that I had given to her corn and wine and oil, that I had multiplied to her the silver, and also the gold she has prepared for Baal. The verb nb^y? oshe, means specifically, to make : but here to appropriate to a certain purpose. They have, therefore, prepared gold for Baal ; when they ought to have dedicated to me the first-fruits of all good things, in obedience to me and to the honour of my name, they have appropriated to Baal whatever blessings I have bestowed on them. We then see that in this verse two evils are con- demned,— that the people deprived God of his just honour, — and that they transferred to their own idols what they ought to have given to God only. But he touched upon the last wickedness in the fifth verse, where he said in the person of the people, / will go after my lovers, who give my bread and my waters, my wool and my wine, &c. Here again he repeats, that they had prepared gold for Baal.
As to the word Baal, no doubt the superstitious included under this name all those whom they called inferior gods. No such madness had indeed possessed the Israelites, that they had forgotten that there is but one Maker of heaven and earth. They therefore maintained the truth, that there is some supreme God ; but they added their patrons ; and this, by common consent, was the practice of all nations. They did not then think that God was altogether robbed of his own glory, when they joined with him patrons or inferior gods. And they called them by a common name, Baalim, or, as it were, patrons. Baal of every kind was a patron. Some render it, husband. But foolish men, I doubt not, have ever had this superstitious notion, that inferior gods come nearer to men, and are, as it were, mediators between this world and the supreme God. It is the same with the Papists of the present day ; they have their Baalim ; not that they reo-ard their patrons in the place of God : but as they dread every access to God, and understand not that Christ is a mediator, they betake themselves here and there to various Baalim, that they may procure favour to themselves; and at the same
92 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. V.
time, whatever honour they show to stones, or wood, or bones of dead men, or to any of their own inventions, they call it the Avorship of God. Whatever, then, is worshipped by the Papists is Baal : but they have, at the same time, their pa- trons for their Baalim. We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet in this verse.
It now follows. Therefore loill I return, and take away my corn in its time, and my new wine in its stated time. Here, again, the Prophet shows that God was, by extreme neces- sity, constrained to take vengeance on an ungodly and irre- claimable people. He makes known how great was the hard- ness of the people, and then adds, " What now remains, but to deprive those who have been so ungrateful to me of all their blessings ?" It is, indeed, more than base for men to enjoy the gifts of God and to despise the giver; yea, to exalt his creatures to his place, and to reduce, as it were, all his authority to nothing. This the superstitious indeed do, for they thrust God from his pre-eminence, and insult his glory. Will God, in the meantime, so throw away his blessings as to suffer them to be profaned by the ungodly, and himself to be thus mocked with impunity ? We now then see the object of the Prophet ; for God here shows that there was no other remedy, but to deprive the Israelites of all their gifts : he had indeed enriched them, but they had abused all their abundance. It was therefore necessary to reduce them to extreme want, that they might no longer pollute God's gifts, which ought to be held sacred by us.
And he uses a very suitable word ; for 7^f35 netsel, means properly, to pluck away, to set free. / will by force take away, he says, my wool and my flax. It seems, indeed, to de- note an unjust possession, as when one takes away by force from the hand of a robber what he unjustly possesses, or as when any one rescues wretched men from the power of a tyrant. So God now speaks, ' I will pluck away my gifts from these men who basely and unjustly pollute them.'
And he adds, to cover her nakedness. n*11J^j orue, properly, though not simply, means nakedness : it is the nakedness of the uncomely parts. Moses calls any indecorous part of the body TTn^i oi'uc; and so it means what is uncomely. This
CHAP. II. 8, 9. COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA. 93
word we ought carefully to notice ; for God here shows, that except he denudes idolaters, they will ever continue obstinate. How so? Because they use coverings for their baseness. While the ungodly enjoy their triumphs in the world, they regard them as veils drawn over them, so that nothing base or disgraceful can be seen in them. The same is the case with great kings and monarchs ; they think that the eyes of all are dazzled by their splendour ; and hence it is, that they are so audaciously dissolute. They think their own filth to be fine odour : such is the arrogance of the world. It is even so with the superstitious ; when God is indulgent to them, they think that they have coverings. When, therefore, they abandon themselves to any kind of wickedness, they regard it as if it were a holy thing. How so ? Because, whatever obscene thing is in them, it is covered by prosperity. When God observes such madness as this in men, can he do other- wise than pluck away his blessings, that such a pollution may not continually prevail ? For it is an abuse extremely gross, that when God's blessings are so many images of his glory, and when his paternal goodness shines forth even towards the ungodly, the world should convert them to a purpose wholly contrary, and make them as coverings for themselves, that they may conceal their own baseness, and more freely sin and carry on war against God himself. Hence he says, " That they may no longer cover their baseness, I will pluck away whatever I have bestowed on them."
When he says, / will take away the corn and wine in its time, and in its stated time, he alludes, I have no doubt, to the time of harvest and vintage ; as though he said, " The harvest will come, the vintage will come : there has been hitherto great fruitfulness ; but I will show that the earth and all its fruits are subject to my will. Though, then, the Israelites are now full, and have their storehouses well furnished, they shall know that I rule over the harvest and the vintage, when the stated time shall come." Now, the Spirit of God de- nounced this punishment early, that the Israelites, if reclaim- able, might return to a right course. But as their blindness was so great that they despised all that had been said to them, no excuse remained for them. It now follows —
94 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. V.
10. And uow will I discover 10. Et nunc retegam flagitium ejus her lewdness in the sight of her in oculis amatorum ejus, et nuUus lovers, and none shall deliver her eripiet earn e manu mea.
out of mine hand.
11. And I will also cause all her 11. Et cessare faciam omne gaudi- mirth to cease, her feast-days, um ejus, festivitatem ejus {alii ver- her new-moons, and her sabbaths, iunt^ tripudium,) novilunium ejus, and all her solemn feasts. sabbathum ejus et omnem diem ejus
festum.
12. And I will destroy her vines 12. Et destruam (vel, in solitudinem and her fig-trees, whereof she redigam) vineam ejus etficum ejus, de hath said, These are my rewards quibus dixit, Merces hsec sunt mihi, that my lovers have given me : quam dederunt mihi amatores mei : and I wiU make them a forest, et ponam eas (vcl^ redigam, nempe and the beasts of the field shall vineas etficus) in sylvam, et comedet eat them. (?ue/, depascet) eas fera campestris.
He pursues the same subject ; and the Prophet explains at large, and even divides what he had briefly said before, into many clauses or particulars. He says first, I will un- cover her baseness. How was this done? By God, when he took away the coverings by which the Israelites kept themselves hid : for, as we have said, hypocrites felicitate themselves on account of God's gifts, and thus hide them- selves as thieves do in caverns ; and they think that they can mock God with impunity ; for, through the fatness of their eyes, as it is said in Psal. Ixxiii. 7, they have but a very dim sight. Now, then, God declares, that the filthiness of the people would be made to appear, when he deprived them of those gifts with which he had for a time enriched them.
Now, he says, will I uncover her baseness before the eyes of her lovers. By this sentence he intimates a change, of which the people were not apprehensive ; for, as long as the wicked feel not the strokes, they laugh at all threatenings. Hence God, that he might rouse them from such an indifference, says, Now will I uncover her before the eyes of her lovers. The Prophet, no doubt, speaks of false gods, and of all those de- vices by which the Israelites corrupted the pure worship of God: for I cannot be persuaded to explain this either of the Assyrians or of the Egyptians. I indeed know, as I mentioned briefly yesterday, that the treaties into which the Jews, as well as the Israelites, entered with idolaters, were the tenter-hooks of Satan : this I allow ; but at the same time, I look on what the Prophet especially treats of; for he
CHAP. II. 10-12. COMMENTARIES ON HOSE A. 95
directly inveighs here against absurd and vicious modes of worship. What then does he mean by saying, that God will uncover the baseness of the people before their lovers ? He alludes to shameless women, who dare, by terror, to check their husbands, that they may not exercise their own right. " What ! do you treat me ill ? there is one who will resent this conduct." Even when husbands indignantly bear their own reproach, they often attempt not to assert their own right, because they see that fear is in the way. But God says, " Nothing will hinder me from chastising thee as thou deservest (for he addresses the people under the character of a wife;) before thy lovers then will I uncover thy baseness."
And no man shall rescue thee from my hand. The word man is put here for idols ; for it is a word of general import among the Hebrews. Sometimes when brute animals are spoken of, this word, man, is used ; and it is also applied to the fragments of a carcass. For when Moses describes the sacrifice made by Abraham, ' Man,' he says, ' was laid to his fellow ;' that is, Abraham joined together the different parts of the sacrifice, as we say in French, // w'w a piece. God then speaks here of idols : No one, he says, shall rescue them from my hand. We now comprehend the meaning of the Prophet.
We must, at the same time, see what he had in view. The Israelites indeed thought, that as long as their corrupt modes of worship prevailed, they were safe and secure : it seemed impossible to them that any adversity should happen to them while idolatry continued. As, then, they imagined their false gods to be to them like an invincible rampart, " Thy idols," he says, " shall remain, and yet thou shalt fall : for I will be- fore thy lovers uncover thy baseness, and not one of them shall dehver thee from my hand."
The Prophet now descends to particulars ; and, in the first place, he says, that the people would be deprived of their sa- crifices and feast-days, and of that whole external pomp, which was with them the guise of religion. He then adds, that they would be spoiled of their food, and all their abun- dance. He has hitherto been speaking of their nakedness ; but he now describes what this nakedness Avould be : and he
96 THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS. LECT. VI.
specially mentions, that sacrifices w^ould cease, that feast- days, new-moons, and whatever belonged to external wor- ship, would cease. / will make to cease, he says, all her joy. He speaks, doubtless, of sacred joys ; and this may be easily collected from the context. He adds, her every festal-day. As they were wont to dance on their festal-days, this word may be referred to that practice. He afterwards adds, her sahhath, and all feast-days. Then ' the first kind of naked- ness was, that God would take away from the Israelites that fallacious and empty form of religion in which they foolishly delighted. The second kind of nakedness was, that they were to be stripped of all earthly riches, and be reduced to misery and extreme want. But I cannot finish to-day.
PRAYER.
Grant, Almighty God, that inasmuch as we are so dull and sloth- ful, that though often admonished, we yet consider not our sins, yea, though chastised by thy hand, we yet return not imme- diately to a right mind, — O grant, that we may hereafter profit more under thy rod, and not be refractory and untractable ; but as soon as thou raisest thy hand, may each of us mourn, know our own evils, and then, with one consent, surrender ourselves to be ruled by thee ; and may we, in the meantime, patiently and calmly endure thy chastisements, and never mm-mm- against thee, but ever aspire to the attainment of true repentance, \va.- til, having at length put off all the vices and corruptions of our flesh, we attain to the fulness of righteousness, and to that true and blessed glory which has been prepared for us in heaven by Jesus Chj-ist. Amen.
nocture %\xi\i.
We began yesterday to explain the verse in which the Lord speaks of the intermission of the Sabbath, and of the new-moon, and of external worship. The people of Israel, as we have stated, were to be deprived of these excellent gifts with which they had been favoured. And God, we know, is, in two respects, bountiful to men. There is his common bounty as to food, and other earthly benefits : but he is especially bountiful to his people in those gifts which
CHAP. II. 10-12. COMMENTAEIES ON HOSEA. 97
are called supernatural. Hence the Prophet says in the first place, / ivill make to cease the sahhath, and the neio-moon, and the festal-days. They indeed thought themselves blessed ■when they celebrated the festal-days, when they offered sa- crifices, and in a word, Avhen the external pomp of God's worship shone forth among them : yet we know that they worshipped God neither in a lawfid place nor in a right man- ner, as he had commanded in the law; for they mingled many superstitions ; nay, the whole of religion among them was polluted ; and yet they thought that their worship pleased God. We now see that the object of their punishment was this, — that the people of Israel might now cease to feli- citate themselves on account of their external form of relioion, when deprived of their temple, and sacrifices, and all outward worship : and all this happened when the Israelites were driven away into exile. We indeed know that they did not leave off their superstitions until they were deprived of their country and driven into banishment.
I now come to the second kind of nakedness : the Prophet says, / loill icaste or destroy her vine and her Jig-tree, of which she has said, Reivard are these to me ; that is. These things are wages to me, ivhich my lovers have given to me : and I will make them a forest, and feed on them shall the beast of the f eld. The second part of the spoiling, as we have said, is, that the Israelites would be reduced to miserable want, who, before, had not only great abundance of good things, but also luxury, as Ave shall hereafter see more fully in other passages. As then they were swollen Avith pride on account of their pros- perity, the Prophet now announces their future nakedness, / will take away, he says, the vine and the fig-tree. It is a mode of speaking by which a part is to be taken for the whole; for under the vine and the fig-tree the Prophet in- tended to comprehend every variety of temporal blessings. Whatever then belongs to man's support, the Prophet here includes in these two Avords : and he repeats Avhat he had said before, that the Israelites falsely thought, that it was a reward paid them for their superstitions, while they worshiji- ped false gods.
She said, These are my reward. The word is derived from VOL. I. G
98 THE TWELVE MINOR PIIOPHETS. LECT. VI.
the verb rUD