Commentary on Hosea John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
show to you the way of salvation; but it has been with no profit." We now then understand what the Prophet meant by these words. It follows — Hosea 6:6-7
6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
6. Quia misericordiam volo (vel, quia humanitas placet mihi) et non sacrificuim; et cognitio Dei (placet mihi, subaudiendum est) prae holocaustis.
7. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
7. Et ipsi tanquam homines ransgressi sunt pactum; 33 illic perfide egerunt in me (vel, Tanquam hominis pactum transgressi sunt, ut postea videbimus.)
God in this place declares that he desires mercy, and not sacrifices; and he does so to prevent an objections and to anticipate all frivolous pretenses. There is never wanting to hypocrites, we well know, a cover for themselves; and so great is their assurance, that they hesitate not sometimes to contend with God. It is indeed their common practice to maintain that they worship God, provided they offer sacrifices to him, provided they toil in ceremonies, and accumulate many rites. They think then that God is made bound to them, and that they have fully performed their duty. This evil has been common in all ages. The Prophet therefore anticipates this evasion, and says, Mercy I desire, and not sacrifice; as though he said, "I know what you are ready to allege, and that you will say, that you offer sacrifices to me, that you perform all the ceremonies; but this excuse is deemed by me frivolous and of no moment." Why? "Because I desire not sacrifices, but mercy and faith." We now understand the main object of this verse.
It is a remarkable passage; the Son of God has twice quoted it. The Pharisees reproached him for his intercourse with men of bad and abandoned life, and he said to them in Matthew 34 'Mercy I desire, and not sacrifice:' he shows, by this defense, that God is not worshipped by external ceremonies, but when men forgive and bear with one another, and are not above measure rigid. Again, in the Matthew 12, 35 when the Pharisees blamed the disciples for gathering ears of corn, he said 'But rather go and learn what this is, Mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.' Inasmuch as they were so severe against his disciples, Christ shows that those who make holiness to consist in ceremonies are foolish worshipers of God; and that they also blamed their brethren without a cause, and made a crime of what was not in itself sinful, and what could be easily defended by any wise and calm expounder.
But that we may more fully understand this sentence of the Prophet, it must be observed, firsts that the outward worship of God, and all legal ceremonies, are included under the name of sacrifice and burnt-offerings.
33"But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant." — Newcome. So Horsley renders it, and also Grotius; but the Septuagint, Pagninus, and others, favor our version, and that of Calvin. —Ed.
34Matthew 9:13. — fj. 35Matthew 12:7. — fj.