Commentary on Hosea John Calvin (continued)
HOSEA
remember that this sentence is added, that the faithful, when it pleases God to turn his back on them, may not doubt but that he will again look on them. Let us now go on —
Hosea 6:3
3. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
3. Et cognoscemus et persequemur ad cognitionem Jehovae: sicut aurora dispositus est egressus ejus, et veniet tanquam pluvia nobis, tanquam pluvia serotina pluvia terrae. 28
In this verse the faithful pursue what we have before considered, making the hope of salvation sure to themselves: nor is it a matter of wonder that the Prophet dwells more fully on this subject; for we know how prone we are to entertain doubt. There is nothing more difficult, especially when God shows to us signs of his wrath, than to recover us, so that we may be really persuaded that he is our physician, when he seems to visit us for our sins. We must then, in this case, earnestly strive, for it cannot be done without labour. Hence the faithful now say, We shall know, and we shall pursue to know Jehovah. They show then by these words that they distrust not, but that light would arise after darkness; for this is the meaning of the words: We shall then know, they say; that is, "Though there is now on every side horrible darkness, yet the Lord will manifest his goodness to us, even though it may not immediately appear." They therefore add, And we shall pursue after the knowledge of Jehovah. We now perceive the purport of the words.
Now this passage teaches us, that when God hides his face, we act foolishly if we cherish our unbelief; for we ought, on the contrary, as I have already said, to contend with this destructive disease, inasmuch as Satan seeks nothing else but to sink us in despair. This his device then ought to be understood by us, as Paul reminds us, (2 Corinthians 2:11;) and the Holy Spirit supplies us here with weapons, by which we may repel this temptation of Satan, "What? Thou seest that God is angry with thee; nor is it of any use to thee to attempt to come to him, for every access is shut up." This is what Satan suggests to us, when we are sensible of our sins. What is to be done? The Prophet here propounds a remedy, We shall know; "Though now we are sunk in thick darkness, though there never shines on us, no, not even a spark of light, yet we shall know (as Isaiah says, 'I will hope in the Lord, who hides his face from Jacob') 29 that this is the true exercise of our faith, when we lift up our eyes to the light which seems to be extinguished, and
28The last clause, word for word, is the following: — "And he shall come as a shower to us, as the crop-rain, irrigating the earth." The reference here seems to be only to "the crop-rain," the rain which ripened the crop. The only difficulty is about the word rendered "irrigating." Its leading idea is, to guide, direct, regulate: and doubtless what regulates and determines the produce of the earth is the rain. It may be rendered "regulating," that is, the fruitfulness of the earth. There is no other construction that suits the place, without supposing something left out, as the preposition {{לbefore ``earth.'' ``Which watereth the earth,'' is the version of Newcome. ---Ed.
29Isaiah 8:17. — fj.