---
title: "Commentary on Hosea"
author: "John Calvin"
translator: "John Owen"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 38 of 86
url: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/38/
cite: "John Calvin, tr. John Owen, Commentary on Hosea, section 38. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/38/"
---

# Commentary on Hosea

*John Calvin, tr. John Owen*

Calvin on Hosea, the prophet of a faithful God and an unfaithful people.

## 38. Hosea 7:7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/38/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/38/#p-N

[¶0] Hosea 7:7 7. They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me. 7. Omnes calent tanquam clibanus, comederunt judices suos: omne reges eorum ceciderunt; nemo in illis clamat ad me.

[¶1] The Prophet repeats what he had said before, that the Israelites were carried away by a mad zeal into their own superstitions and wicked practices, and could not be allayed or quieted by any remedies; and he shows at the same time that this malady or intemperance raged in the whole people, lest the vulgar should accuse a few men, as if they were the authors of all the wickedness. He gives proof of their frenzy, because they could not have been hitherto amended by any corrections. They have eaten, he says, their own judges; their kings have fallen; and in the meantime not one of them cries to me What the Prophet says here I refer to good kings, or to those who were able to uphold an ordinary government among the people. He says that judges as well as kings had fallen; by which words he means, that the Israelites had been deprived of good and wise governors; and this was a sad and miserable disorder to the people; it was the same as if the head were taken from the body. He says, in short, that the body was mangled and mutilated, because the Lord had taken away the kings and judges. We indeed know that kings in continual succession reigned among the Israelites; but we must consider of what kings the Prophet here speaks.

[¶2] But let us now notice what he says: Judges have been devoured Some hold that the people through their wantonness had risen up against their judges, and, as if freed from all laws, had by main force upset all order; but this seems to me strained. The Prophet, I doubt not, means that the judges had been devoured, because the people had through their own fault made, as it were, entirely void the favor of God, as it often happens daily. God indeed so begins to do good, that he intends to continue his benefits to us to the end; but we devour his benefits; for we dry up, as it were, the fountain of his goodness, which would otherwise be exhaustless and perpetually flow to us. As then the goodness of God, which is otherwise inexhaustible, is in a manner dried up to us, when we allow it not to approach us; it is in this sense that the Prophet now complains that judges had been devoured by the Israelites; for through their impiety they had been deprived of this singular kindness of God; and they had consumed it, as rust or some other fault in brass destroys good fruit. We now comprehend the meaning of this verse.

[¶3] God first shows that the Israelites were so ardent, that their frenzy could not be corrected or quieted. How so? “I have tried,” he says, “whether their disease was healable; for I have taken away their kings and governors, which was no obscure sign of my displeasure: but I have effected nothing.” Then it follows, אין קרא בהם אלי, ain kora beem ali, There is no one, he says, among them who cries to me He had said that all were burning with the lust of committing sin; now, accusing their stupidity, he excepts none. We hence see that the whole people were so seized with frenzy, that when chastised by God’s hand, they did not yet cry to him. It is indeed certain that the Israelites did cry, but without repentance; and it is usual with hypocrites to howl when God punishes them; but they yet direct not to him their supplications and their groans, for their heart is locked up by obstinacy. Thus then ought this clause to be expounded, that they repented not, nor fled to God for mercy. Then it follows —

### Hosea 7:8

[¶5] Hosea 7:8 8. Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 8. Ephraim inter populos ipse miscuitse: Ephraim fuit panis subciniricius, qui versus non est.

[¶6] God now complains, that Ephraim, whom he had chosen to be a peculiar possession to himself, differed nothing from other nations. The children of Abraham, we know, had been adopted by God for this end, that they might not be like the heathens: for the calling of God brings holiness with it. And we ought to remember that memorable sentence, which often occurs, ‘Be ye holy, for I am holy.’ The Israelites then ought to have been mindful of their calling, and to resolve to worship God purely, and not to pollute themselves with the defilements and filth of the Gentiles. But God says here that Ephraim differed now nothing from the uncircumcised nations. He mingles himself, he says, with the peoples And there is an emphasis to be noticed in the pronoun demonstrative, הוא, eva, Ephraim himself, he says: for surely this was unworthy and by no means to be endured, that Ephraim, on whom God had engraven the mark of his election, was now entangled in the superstitions of the Gentiles. We now then see the drift of the Prophet’s words, He, even Ephraim, mingles himself with the nations If the condition of Israel and of all the nations had been alike and equal, the Prophet would not have thus spoken; but as God had designed Ephraim to be holy to himself; the Prophet here amplifies his sin, when he says that even Ephraim had mingled himself with the nations.

[¶7] He then adds, Ephraim is like bread baked under the ashes, which is not turned This metaphor most fitly suits the meaning of the Prophet and the circumstances of this passage, provided it be rightly understood. And I think the Prophet simply meant this, that Ephraim was in nothing fixed, but was inconstant and changeable; as, when we in vulgar language notify their changeableness who are not consistent with themselves, and in whom there is no sincerity, we say, Il n’est ne chair ne poisson, (It is neither flesh nor fish.) So also in this place the Prophet says, that Ephraim was like a cake burnt on one side, and was on the other doughy, or a crude and unbaked lump of paste. For Ephraim, we know, boasted themselves to be a people sacred to God; and since circumcision distinguished that people from other nations, there seemed to be some difference; but in the meantime the worship of God was corrupted; all the sacrifices were adulterated, as we have already seen and the whole of their religion was a confused mixture; yea, a chaos composed of Gentile superstitions and of something that resembled true and legitimate worship. When, therefore, the Israelites were thus perfidiously mocking God, they had nothing fixed: hence the Prophet compares them to a cake, which, being placed on the hearth, is not turned; for on one side it must be burnt, while on the other it remains unbaked.

[¶8] The Prophet here anticipates what the Israelites might object; for hypocrites, we know, never want pretenses. The Israelites might then bring forward this defense, “Thou sayest that we are now entangled in the pollutions of the heathens; but the heathens have no circumcision; among them the God of Israel is despised, there is no altar on which the people can sacrifice to the true God; we, on the contrary, are the children of Abraham, we have the God who stretched forth his hand to deliver us from Egypt, and the priesthood ever abides with us.” As then the Israelites might have introduced these pretenses for their superstitions, the Prophet says, by anticipation, that they were like bread baked under the ashes, which, being thrown on the hearth, is not turned, so that the baking might be equal; for then on the one side it would receive heat, and on the other there would be no proportionate temperature. “Ye are,” he says, “on one side burnt, but on the other crude; so that with you there is nothing but mere perfidiousness.” We now understand what the Prophet means.

[¶9] But this similitude might also be referred to their punishment; for God had shown before in many places, that the Israelites were so perverse, that they could not be subdued nor brought to a sound mind by any distresses: and he again repeats this complaint. The meaning of the words may then be this, That Ephraim was like a cake, which was not turned on the hearth, because he had been sharply and severely chastised, but without any benefit; being like reprobates, who, though the Lord may bruise them, yet continue obstinate in their hardness. They are then on one side burnt, because they are nearly wasted away under their evils; but on the other side they are wholly unbaked, because the Lord had not softened their perverseness. But what I have adduced in the first place is more suitable to the context.

[¶10] We now then understand what the Prophet says: in the first clause God accuses Ephraim, because he had made himself profane by receiving the rites and superstitions of heathens, so that there was, as I have said before, a confused mixture. In the second place, he answers the Israelites, in case they pleaded in their favor the name of God, for it was usual for them to make false pretenses. He therefore says, that they were in some things different from the uncircumcised nations, but that this difference was nothing before God, for they were like bread baked under the ashes, which is neither baked nor unbaked on either side; for on one side it is burnt, and on the other it remains unbaked. It now follows —

### Hosea 7:9

[¶12] Hosea 7:9 9. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. 9. Comederunt extranei robur ejus, et ipse non intelligit: etiam canities sparsa est in eo, et ipse non intelligit.

[¶13] The Prophet follows the same subject, that is, that Israel had not repented, though the Lord had in various ways invited them to repentance; yea, and constrained them by his scourges. It is indeed a proof of desperate and incurable wickedness, when God prevails nothing with us either by his word or by his stripes. When we are deaf to his teaching and admonitions, it is quite evident that we are wholly perverse: but when the Lord also raises up his hand and inflicts punishment, if then we bend not, what can be said, but that our sins have taken such deep roots, that they cannot be torn away from us? Hence God in these words shows that the Israelites were now past all remedy; for after having been so often and in so many ways warned, they did not return to the right way; nay, they did not think of their sins, but remained insensible. And Paul says of such that they are απηλγηκοτας, (“past feeling,” Ephesians 4:19,) that is void of feeling. When men are touched by no grief in their distresses, it is certain that they are smitten by the spirit of giddiness. Notwithstanding, the Israelites no doubt felt their evils; but the Prophet means, that they were so stupefied, that they did not consider the cause and source of them. And what can it avail, when one knows himself to be ill, and yet looks not to God, nor thinks that he is justly visited? Hence when any one cries only on account of the strokes, and regards not the hand of the striker, as another Prophet says, (Isaiah 9:13,) there is certainly in him complete stupidity. We hence see what the Prophet had in view when he said, that Israel did not understand while he was devoured by strangers, while hoariness was spreading over him; for he attended not to the cause of evils, but remained stupid; nor did he raise up his mind to God, so as to impute to his sins all the evils which he suffered.

[¶14] He says, that his strength was eaten by strangers God had promised that the people would be under his protection; and when they were exposed to the plunder of strangers, why did they not perceive that they were deprived of God’s protection? And this could not have happened, except their own sin had deprived them of this privilege. Hence the Israelites must have been extremely blind and alienated in mind, when they did not perceive that they were thus spoiled by strangers, because God did not now defend them, nor was their patron, as he was wont to be formerly.

[¶15] He adds, that hoariness was upon him Some understand by this, that the Israelites were not improved by long succession of years. Age, as we know, through long experience, brings to men some prudence. Young people, even when the Lord invites them to himself, are carried away by some impulse or another; but in the aged there is greater prudence and moderation. Many hence think that the Israelites are here condemned because they had profited nothing — no, not even by the advance of age. But the Prophet, I doubt not, expresses the greatness of their calamities by this mode of speaking, when he says that hoariness was sprinkled over him; for we know, that when any one is grievously pained and afflicted, he becomes hoary through the very pressure of evils; inasmuch as hoariness proceeds not only from years, but also from troubles and heavy cares, which not only waste men, but consume them. We indeed know that men grow old through the suffering of evils. And here, in my judgment, the Prophet means, that “hoariness had come upon Israel,” — that is, that he had been visited with so many evils, that he was worn out, as it were, with old age; and that, after all, he had derived no benefit. We now perceive the truth of what I have said before, that it was the constant teaching of the Prophet, that the diseases which prevailed among the people of Israel were incurable, for they could by no remedies be brought to repentance. It follows —

### Hosea 7:10

[¶17] Hosea 7:10 10. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this. 10. Et testificabitur (vel, testificata est) superbia Israelis ad faciem ejus, et non reversi sunt ad Jehovam Deum suum, et non quaesierunt eum in omnibus his.

[¶18] The Prophet now confirms his previous doctrine, and speaks generally, that the pride of Israel shall bear testimony to him to his face, or shall humble him to his face. The word ענה, one, means, in Hebrew, “to testify,” and often, also, “to humble,” or “to afflict,” as it was stated in the fifth chapter; and the words of the Prophet are now the same, and both senses are appropriate. I do not, however, make much of this, for the design of the Prophet is clear; what he means is, that God had so openly chastised the Israelites, that they must have perceived his hand, except they were blind indeed, and that, being at the same time warned, they ought to have suppliantly humbled themselves. Whether then we read, “to testify” or “to humble,” the sense will be the same, and the design of the Prophet will appear to be the same. “The pride, then, of Israel will humble him to his face,” or, “the pride of Israel will testify to his face:” for the Prophet means, that however fiercely the Israelites might rise up against God, and be uncourteous to his Prophets and however perversely they might reject all teaching, and also excuse their own sins, yet all this would avail them nothing, since they were so cast down by their pride, that the Lord regarded them as convicted as much so as if their crime had been proved by many witnesses, and their mask now taken away; in short, there was no longer any doubt: this is what the Prophet means.

[¶19] The pride, then, of Israel testifies, or, humbles him to his face; that is, though Israel had appeared hitherto inflexible against all admonitions, against all punishments, they were yet held as convicted; and, at the same time, they return not, he says, to their God, and seek him not for all these things We now perceive what I have said, that the previous complaint respecting the diabolical perverseness which so reigned in the people is here confirmed, so that their salvation was now past hope. And he says that they returned not to Jehovah their God; for they were running constantly after their idols, as we have before seen; yea, they were possessed with that inordinate zeal of which the Prophet speaks in the beginning of the chapter; but they returned not to Jehovah; they were wholly taken up with the multitude of their deities, and at the same time had no regard for God.

[¶20] And when he says, their God, he conveys a strong reprobation; for God had manifested himself to them; yea, he had made himself plainly known to them by his law. That they then did not return to him, was not simply through ignorance or error; but through a diabolical madness, as if they wished of their own accord and deliberately to perish. God then calls himself here the God of Israel, not for honour’s sake, but that he might the more expose their ingratitude, and enhance their perfidiousness, because they had fallen away from him, and would not seek him.

[¶21] What he means, when he says, For all these things, is, that every kind of remedy had been tried, and hence that their disease was wholly incurable. When we can do nothing in one way, we often try another. Now God had not tried in one way only to bring Israel back to himself, but he had tried all remedies. When no good followed, what was to be said, but the people were lost, and past all hope? This then is what the Prophet means here. It now follows —