Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets

by John Calvin

Now first translated from the original Latin by the Rev. John Owen,
vicar of Thrussington, Leicestershire

Volume First, Hosea

Wm. M. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1950, Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America



Table of Contents

Translator's preface
Postscript
Portrait of Calvin
The Epistle Dedicatory
John Calvin to the Christian Reader, health.
John Budaeus, to Christian Readers, health.
John Crispin to Christian Readers, health.
The Commentaries of John Calvin on the Prophet Hosea.
Commentaries on the prophet Hosea









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 impressions unfavourable to the
Author. In his own and the succeeding age, the authority of Calvin
as a Divine, and especially 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
Melanchthon "the Theologian of the Reformation," yet there is
sufficient 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.
Various 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 prejudice; and where the former ground of difference
and dislike did not exist, the latter prevailed: so that, generally
in our Church, and among Dissenting bodies, the revered name 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 reputation.
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 implicit 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 judgement. 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 considered 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, was Bishop
Horsley; and when we consider the very strong prejudice which at
that time prevailed almost in all quarters against Calvin, to
vindicate his character was no ordinary proof of moral courage.
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 discriminating 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 judgement. 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 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, simplify, 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 commatic, 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, hut 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 of
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 emendations which Archbishop Newcome
introduced in his version, about 50 in number, the Bishop has swept
away as unauthorised, 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 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 version as
the text, and to put Calvin's Latin version in a parallel 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 understood 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 Translators.
    
    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 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 quotations, 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 corresponding English characters,
with the insertion of such vowels only as are necessary to enunciate
them, and these vowels, to distinguish 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 "vau" is always represented
by "u", except when in some instances it is followed 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 develops, 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 referred
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 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 amazing power and blinding effects of superstition. The
conduct of the Israelites, notwithstanding all the means employed 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
systems 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.
    
    It may be useful to subjoin here an account of the time in
which the twelve Minor Prophets lived. The precise 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 Babylonian Captivity.
    
                        before Christ.
    
    1. Jonah             856 - 784.
    2. Amos              810 - 785.
    3. Hosea             810 - 725.
        1. Isaiah        810 - 698.
    4. Joel              810 - 660.
    5. Micah             758 - 699.
    6. Nahum             720 - 698.
    7. Zephaniah          640 - 609.
    
    Immediately previous to and during the Captivity.
    
        2. Jeremiah       628 - 586.
    8. Habakkuk           612 - 598.
        3. Daniel        606 - 534.
    9. Obadiah                588 - 583.
        4. Ezekiel            595 - 536.
    
    After the Captivity.
    
    10. Haggai                520 - 518.
    11. Zechariah         520 - 518.
    12. Malachi           436 - 420.
    
    In the last volume, the fourth, will be given the two indices
appended to the original work.
    
    Thrussington, September 1, 1846.
    
    J. O.
    
    
    
    
    
    

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 calculation was made from
the Latin: he was not then fully aware of the great disparity in the
two languages as to relative diffuseness of style. He has since
found, by a minute comparison, 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 contained in four, must be extended to five 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 resolved shall be appended to each
successive commentary.
    
    The arrangement of this Work, now made with some degree of
certainty, is as follows:
    The first volume is to contain Hosea;
    The second volume, Joel, Amos, and Obadiah;
    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 was originally contemplated, there will be
given 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, September 1846.
    
    
    
    
    
    

Portrait of Calvin

Engraved in facsimile, and prefixed to the present volume.

    It has been deemed a matter of importance as well as curiosity
to preserve, in the present series of English Translations of The
Works 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 Reformers, published by Theodore Beza,
the pupil, friend, 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.
    The facsimile 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 Pourtraits des Hommes Illustres en piete et
doctrine, du travail desquels Dieu s'est serui en ces derniers
temps, pour remettre sus la vraye Religion en divers pays de la
Chrestiente. Avec les Descriptions de leurs via & de leurs faits
plus memorables. Plus qurarantequatre Emblemes Chretiens. Traduicts
du latin de Theodore de Bexze. A Geneve, par Iean 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-illustre Prince, Iacques Sixiesme,
par la grace de Dieu serenissime Roy d'Escosse;" and closes, "De
Geneve, le premier iour de Mars, l'an cI-.cI-.lxxx. De vostre
serenissime & Royale Maieste le tres-humble Serviteur, Theodore de
Besze." Care has been taken to have this facsimile 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 artistical 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: -
    
John Calvin, of 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 Restoration 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 witnesses - first, thy writings, which
shall ever live; and all men, who are learned and fear God, confess
them to have been prepared with judgement so remarkable, with
erudition so solid, and in a style so beautiful, that no one has
been hitherto found, who has 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 enjoyest, 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 perdition,
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 you may be condemned and accursed when
the righteous Judge shall come to give to every one according to his
works.
    It may be added, that Calvin, having become consumptive 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 established 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 world. 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.

[French translation omitted]

[Latin original omitted]

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 Calvin 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 Annotations on
Hosea, taken from my Lectures, were published, 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
circulation of that extemporaneous kind of teaching, intended for
the particular benefit of my auditory and with which benefit 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 eleven Minor Prophets, I
thought it not unseasonable to dedicate to your Majesty a work of
suitable extent, and replete 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 enjoy
so much veneration among all your subjects, provided you condescend
to interpose your judgement, 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 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 excellent 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 with sound judgement, 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 I desire to spend the remainder of my life in this kind of
labour, 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. He who 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 hindrances, 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 burden 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 your 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 station 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 has 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 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 celestial kingdom, you may leave
alive behind you the most serene king Heric, your successor, and his
most illustrious brothers, John Magnum 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 26, 1559.














John Calvin 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 succeed 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 diligence, 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 circumstances allowed not)
of writing the whole 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 impose on myself the necessity of writing; which I was 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 performed this labour for the
Church, may not be deprived of their commendation, but also that
readers may be fully persuaded, 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 Budaeus, 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 judgement; 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, who desires with me to make
progress in celestial truth.
    
    Geneva, February 13, 1557.
    











John Budaeus, to Christian Readers, health.

    When some years ago the most learned John Calvin, 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 judgement 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 benefits and this seemed possible, 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 third
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 compared
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 capacities, 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 more
skilful,) even all the hearers will readily acknowledge.
    But the design on this occasion was to induce him, if possible,
to publish complete Commentaries on this Author; but it then
happened to us otherwise than we expected: for all hope of obtaining
this object he cut off from us from reverence 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
opportunity 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 themselves 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 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 owns 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 condition, that we were
to be accountable for whatever judgement 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, will 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 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
without hesitation, 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 censorious
superciliousness, claim for him alone the glory of an orator, or
would not, by calling him a theologian, acknowledge many others as
celebrated men. Far from us be such a folly. But an occasion such as
this being offered of testifying our mind, we could hardly, even in
any other way, excuse our neglect to the godly, to whom 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 dissimulation 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, he so 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 suitable gratitude all the
other innumerable gifts of God which he daily pours on us in great
abundance, as well as this incomparable 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, we 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 Lectures 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 Lectures 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 undertake 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 incredible.
    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 Budaeus and Charles Jonvill, with
two other brethren, (whom Budaeus 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 minds so
that they resolved to take down, with more diligence than before, if
possible, the whole exposition on what are 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 warmth,) it was taken up by
another; and when it so happened, it was easily set down again by
the writer. Immediately 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 sufficiently 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 judgement, does not see that such was the way which this most
illustrious man possessed in explaining 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 abundantly
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 interpreter.
    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 perfect 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 poured forth,
seems to have been long and much laboured. But of all these things I
prefer that a judgement 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.



The prayer which John Calvin was wont to use at the beginning of his
lectures:

May the Lord grant, that we may engage in contemplating the
mysteries of his heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, 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
course 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 office. 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 differ: 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 has
appointed to 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 own
authority the people whom he has adopted. But the law has two parts,
- a promise of salvation and eternal life, and a rule 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
threatening 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 favour of the Lord. And as
there is no hope of reconciliation with God except through a
Mediator, they ever set forth the Messiah, whom the Lord had long
before promised.
    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 judgement 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
especially to the Kingdom of Israel; for then the whole worship of
God was there polluted, nor had corruption lately begun; 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 John 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 judgement, 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.








Chapter 1

Lecture first.

Hosea 1:1
The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the
days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in
the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

    This first verse shows the time in which Hosea prophesied. He
names four kings of Judah, - Uzziah, Jotham, Ahab, Hezekiah. Uzziah,
called also Azariah, reigned fifty-two years; but after having been
smitten with leprosy, he did not associate with 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
Ahab, the father of Hezekiah; and it was under king Hezekiah that
Hosea died. If we now wish to ascertain how long he discharged 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 the society of men, it
is yet probable that the remaining time to the death of his father
ought to come to our reckoning. When however, we take for granted a
few years, it must be that Hosea had prophesied more than forty-five
years before Ahab began to reign. Add now the sixteen years in which
Ahab 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 appears with how great and with how invincible 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 therefore,
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 Ahab,
(to omit now the reign of Jotham, which was concurrent with that of
his father,) and he continued 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; 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 would not have been prophecy, or, at leas, this 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
conspiracy alluded to before was a certain presage of an approaching
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 prosperity 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 certainly 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 expressly that
he had prophesied under Jeroboam. He indeed prophesied after his
death, and followed 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 threatening 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 judgement. When, therefore, the Prophet conducted
himself so boldly, at a time when the Israelites were not only
sottish on account 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 design of the
inscription contained in the first verse. It follows --
    
Hosea 1:2
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to
Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of
whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, [departing]
from the LORD.
    
    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 denounce
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 born, as it were, of a harlot, the kingdom of Israel is the
filthiest brothel; and I now repudiate and reject them, I no longer
own them as my children." This was no common vehemence. We hence see
that the word "beginning" 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.
    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 has chosen mount Zion, where
he has desired to be worshipped; this,' he said 'is my rest forever;
here will I dwell, for I have chosen it,' (Ps. 132: 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
continued in their superstitions. It is not, then, to be wondered
at, that the Lord made this beginning by Hosea, "Ye are all born 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 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 understand why the Prophet used this expression, "The
beginning of speaking which God made."
    Then it follows, "in Hosea". He had said in the first verse,
"The word of Jehovah which was to Hosea"; he now says, "beHoshea",
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 whomsoever 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 common 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, "with Hosea," seem to explain the Prophet's meaning
frigidly. The letter beth, 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 nothing 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 authority of
God's servants that they give not themselves loose reins, but
faithfully 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 commission 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 wife of wantonness, and the
children of wantonness"; and the reason is added, "for by
fornicating, or wantoning, has the land grown wanton". He doubtless
speaks here of the vices which the Lord had long endured with
inexpressible forbearance. "By wantoning then has the land grown
wanton, that it should 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, for a woman of wantonness is she called, who
has long habituated herself to wantonness, 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
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 Prophet
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 concealed 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 wantonness, 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 indecency 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, inasmuch as God would have the whole offspring to be
adulterous, 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. 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 perfidiousness.
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, "for by wantoning
has 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
meaning, and I see nothing strained in this explanation; and we, at
the same time, see the meaning of this clause, "By wantoning has the
land grown wanton." 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 least know now
by my 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 follows Jehovah", literally, "From after
Jehovah", "me'acharei". 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. 2; 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
continues 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, - 0 grant that we may not be so hardened as to resist
thy goodness, nor abuse this thine incredible 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 continue untameable and obstinate to
the last, but return to thee the only fountain of life and
salvation, that as thou has once begun in us a good work, so thou
mayest perfect it to the day of our Lord. Amen.
    
    
Lecture Second

Hosea 1:3,4
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived,
and bare him a son.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little
[while], and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of
Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.

    We said in yesterday's Lecture, that God ordered his Prophet 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 Israelites by such a
representation, that they vaunted themselves without reason; for
they had nothing worthy of praise, but were in every way
ignominious. It is then said, "Hosea went and took to himself Gomer,
the daughter of Diblaim." "Gomer", means in Hebrew, to fail; and
sometimes it signifies actively, to consume; and hence "Gomer" means
consumption. But "Diblaim" are masses of figs, or dry figs reduced
to a mass. The Greeks call them "palathas". 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 corruption.
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 "palathas",
representing Gomer, which means consumption and that he adopted a
similar manner 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 legitimate children; for, as it was
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 exhibited her
before 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
bare a son: then said Jehovah to him, Call his name Jezreel". Many
render to "Jizre'el", dispersions and follow the Chaldean
paraphraser. They also think that this ambiguous term contains some
allusion; for as "zera'" is seed, they suppose that the Prophet
indirectly glances at the vain boasting 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 dispersion: 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 Abraham.
    There is, as we see, much affinity between the names Jezreel
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. 32: 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.
48: 1;) as though he said, "Ye are Israelites, but only as to the
title, for the reality exists not in you."
    Let us now return to our Hosea. "Call", he says "his 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 wag 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 confines this view, "For yet
a little while, and I will visit the slaughters of Jezreel upon the
house of Jehu". Here interpreters labour not a little, because 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
interpreters to take "bloods" here for wicked deeds in general: 'I
will avenge the sins of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.' Some say,
"I will 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 the 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
worship, 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 worship. 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 this 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 prevailed 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, pretended great zeal for
a time: he afterwards raged cruelly against all the godly, and
doubled the tyranny of the Roman Pontiff: and such was Jehu.
    When we duly consider what was done by Henry, it was indeed an
heroic velour to deliver his kingdom from the hardest of tyrannies:
but yet, with regard to him, he was certainly worse than all the
other vassals of the Roman Antichrist; 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, 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
himself, 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 pronunciation of one
letter,) but Jezreelites;" which 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 kingdom became accursed. Are ye changed? Is there any
reformation? Since then ye are obstinate in your wickedness, though
ye proudly claim the name of Jacob, ye are yet unworthy of such an
honour. I therefore call you Jezreelites."
    And the reason is added, "For yet a little while, 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 lawful to them, and
to wish to be thus discharged before God. A thief will punish a
murder, but he himself will commit many murders. He thinks himself
redeemed, because he has paid God the price in punishing one man;
but he lets go others, who have been his accomplices, and he himself
hesitates not to commit many unjust murders. Since, then, hypocrites
thus mock God, the Prophet now justly shakes off such senselessness,
and says, "I 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 vengeance
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 end of life, and continued 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 conduct
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, "I will
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 will 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
judgement; 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 were but one body, and
would have become the Redeemer 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 them the
house of Israel. It now follows -

Hosea 1:5
And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of
Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
    
    This verse was intentionally added; for the Israelites were so
inflated with their present good fortune, that they laughed at the
judgement 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 velour 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, "I will
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 see 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 beyond the
reach of any danger, while they were so well fortified on every
side. Hence the Prophet says, that all their fortresses would be
nothing against God; for "in 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 opposed 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 terrifies us by his threatening; and
what it teaches us is, that he can take away all the defences in
which we vainly trust.
    Now, as Jezreel was the metropolis of the kingdom, the Prophet
distinctly mentions the place, "I will break in pieces the bow of
Israel in the valley of Jezreel"; that is, the Lord sees what sort
of fortress there is in Samaria, 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 -

Hosea 1:6
And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And [God] said unto
him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the
house of Israel; but I will utterly take them 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 Jezreelites, 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, Loruchamah, is a more disgraceful name than Jezreel: and
the Lord also denounces here his vengeance more openly, when he
says,
    "I will no more add to pursue with mercy the house of Israel".
"Racham" means to pity, and also to love: but this second meaning is
derived from the other; for "racham" 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
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
would 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. Here he
describes by degrees the state of the people, that it continually
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. "I 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. I have, therefore, hitherto borne
with you; but now your obstinacy is intolerable; I will not then
bear with 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 they 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 were, with a drawn sword, appear as a judge to take
vengeance.
    He afterwards says, "ki naso esa lahem". This sentence is
variously explained. Some think that the verb is derived from the
root "nasah", with a final "he"; 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 "nasa"
signifies to take, and also to bring into the middle. But I prefer
embracing their opinion who consider that "lahem" is placed here for
"otam"; for the servile letter "lamed", has often the same meaning
with the particle "et", 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;" but this explanation 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 when the
Prophet speaks of the house of Judah, 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 inevitable; 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.

Hosea 1:7
But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by
the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor
by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
    
    This verse sufficiently proves what I said yesterday, that the
Prophet was specifically appointed to the kingdom of Israel; for he
seems here to speak favourably of the Jews, who yet, we know, had
been severely and deservedly reproved by their own teachers. For
what does Isaiah say, after having spoken of the dreadful
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
are drunken; there reigns also the contempt of God and all impiety,'
(Isa. 28: 8.) We see then that the Jews were not a virtuous people,
of whom the Prophet has spoken so honourably. For though the
exterior worship of God continued at Jerusalem, and the temple, at
least under Uzziah and Jotham, was free from every superstition, 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 worship. 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 show favour" to the house of Judas.
    That we may better understand the mind of the Prophet, it may
be well to repeat what we said yesterday: - The kingdom 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
Jews, then, had been reduced to a very low state, they hardly dared
to mutter; but the Israelites, as our Prophet will hereafter 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 will I follow the
house of Judah". "The house of Judah seems now to be almost nothing,
for they are few in number, nor are they very strong, and wealth
abounds not among them as among you; but with them shall dwell my
favour, and I will take it away from you."
    It after arts follows, "And I will save them by Jehovah their
God". Salvation is here set in opposition to the destruction 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. "I will save them", he says - why? "because my
favour will 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 away
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
cherubim, as the Prophets invariably declare: 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? Because 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 persuaded that they
worship God, they are seized by some fascination 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
accept 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. I will 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 propitious to
them. How so? Because God had chosen an habitation for himself on
mount Zion and in Jerusalem. A fuller declaration afterwards
follows, "I will save them neither by the bow, nor by the sword, nor
by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen". But this clause, by God's
favour, I will explain tomorrow.
    
Prayer.
    
    Grant, Almighty God, that as we were from our beginning lost,
when thou wert pleased to extend to us thy hand, and to restore us
to salvation for the sake of thy Son; and that as we continue even
daily to run headlong to our own ruin, - O grant that we may not, by
sinning so often, so provoke at length thy displeasure as to cause
thee to take away from 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.

Lecture Third
    
    We have to explain first this clause, "I will save the house of
Judah neither by the bow, nor by the sword, nor by war, nor by
horses, nor by horsemen". What 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 Judah was exposed to all dangers, as it
was not powerful in forces and arms. This folly the Prophet exposes
to contempt, and says, that safety is dependent on God alone, that
men in vain trust in their own velour, 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 -

Hosea 1:8,9
Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
Then said [God], Call his name Loammi: for ye [are] not my people,
and I will not be your [God].
    
    The "weaning" the Prophet mentions here is by some understood
allegorically; as though he said, that the people would for a time
be deprived of prophecies, and of the priesthood, 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 utterly 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 proceeded 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
judgement, until, having found their wickedness to be unhealable, he
at length commenced what follows, "Call" the third child Lo-ammi.
    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 disowning 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 condition in which they differed nothing from 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 own vices, because God spares and indulges them. For
we must ever remember what I have said before, that the kingdom of
Israel 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
judgement. 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 -

Hosea 1:10
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the
sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to
pass, [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not
my people, [there] it shall be said unto them, [Ye are] the sons of
the living God.
    
    Now follows consolation, yet not unmixed. God seems here to
meet the objections which we know hypocrites had in readiness,
whenever the Prophets denounced destruction on 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 would 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 were deceived; for though they
usurped the title of Church, they were yet alienated 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 his faithfulness?" The Papists magnificently
extol the faithfulness 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 be 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 can't, the sand of the sea; so shall thy seed be,'"
(Gen. 22: 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 hypocrites supported themselves
against all threatening, "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 salvation to
the faithful; for it is certain that there were some remaining in
the kingdom of Israel. Though the whole body had 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
unchangeable; 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 number 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 where 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 posterity 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
certain 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 was granted them by
Cyrus. Then Hosea speaks not here of the kingdom of Israel, but of
the Church, which was to be restored 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 God,' (Rom. 9: 24,
&c.) Paul applies this passage, and that rightly, to the whole body
of the faithful, collected without any difference, from the Jews as
well as from the Gentiles: 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 themselves
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 which are not, as though they were,' (Rom. 4:
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 judgement of the
state of the Church, and accuse God of being unfaithful, 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
diminishes the Church, that it seems to be almost reduced to
nothing; at another time, he increases and multiplies it beyond 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 shall 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 can't 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 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 thoughts 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
judgement 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 be 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 be in the place where it had been said, Ye are
not my people; there it shall be said, Ye are the sons of the living
God". The Prophet, in these words, amplifies by a comparison 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 present
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 people; it shall be 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; there it shall be said, Ye are nosy
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 Church - 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 be where it had been said, Ye are not my people,
there it shall be 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 threatening
which have been already explained; and in this way was 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 himself 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 vengeance
which I now declare to you." The Prophet then declares here that he
had not rashly pronounced what we before noticed, that it was not an
empty bug bear, 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. 10: 6.) And we 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
prophet 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 also Hosea
signifies the same here: "When 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 follows

Hosea 1:11
Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be
gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall
come up out of the land: for great [shall be] the day of Jezreel.
    
    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 especially addresses them, "Ascend together from the land shall
the children of Israel and the children of Judah, and they shall
assemble together, and appoint 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 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. 31:  9.) We now then understand
the order and arrangement of the Prophet, which is to be carefully
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 children of Judah
with the Gentiles, except for a certain purpose.
    Let us now consider the words of the Prophet. "Assembled
together", he says, "shall be the children of Israel and the
children of Judah". No doubts the Prophet has in view the
scattering, 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, "Together shall be gathered the
children of Judah and the children of Israel". And designedly does
he thus speak, lest the Israelites 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 executing judgement.
For when the Lord intended really to bless the people, he chose
David to rule over them; and then he committed 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 the children of Judah and the children of Israel";
which means this, "Ye are now secure, because fortune smiles on you;
because 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
felicitate yourselves, is unhappiness before God." The Prophet then
reminded the people of Israel, that God would at last deal kindly
with them 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 "be 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, and how
Christ designs to rule 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 what is peculiar to God should be transferred to men -
that is, to appoint a king. But the Prophet has, by this expression,
characterised 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 exile would be no hindrance
to God to renew his Church; 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
declares, that though for a time they should be as wholly destroyed,
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 "shall", 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 be 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, when 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 110:, 'There shall be a willing people in the day
in which the King will call his own.' Then the Prophet intended to
express the obedience of faith, which the faithful will render to
Christ, when the Lord shall restore them.
    And they "shall ascend", he says, "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 Goal 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 sense seems 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 be 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 and dreadful
slaughter in the day of Jezreel. We now perceive the real meaning of
the Prophet, "They shall ascend from the land; for I great shall be
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. 48: 11.) The Prophet here declares, that there would be a most
dreadful 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 their 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.
    
Prayer.

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 children of wrath thou didst freely adopt us, and when
we were aliens, thou didst in thine infinite goodness open to us the
gate of thy kingdom, that we might be made thy heirs through thy
Son, - O grant that we may walk circumspectly 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 governed by his Spirit, that thou mayest at last gather us
together into thy celestial kingdom, to which thou daily invites us
by the same Christ our Lord. Amen.




Chapter 2.

Lecture Fourth.

Hosea 2:1
Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
    
    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 mutual exhortation of which the Prophet speaks follows
the proclamation; for God at the same time invites us to himself.
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, "Say ye to your
brethren, ami, and to your sisters ruchamah"; that is, since I have
promised to be propitious to you, you can now safel