Commentary on Hosea John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
justly. Hence he says, The faction of the priests kill men in the way, as if they were robbers conspiring together. And then he shows that the priests were so void of every thing like the fear of God, that they perpetrated every kind of cruelty as if they were wholly given to robberies. This is the meaning.
The word {,}שכמהshicame, is no doubt taken by the Prophet for "consent." What is meant by {,}שכםshicam, is properly the "shoulder;" but it is metaphorically changed into the sense which I have mentioned; as it is in the Zephaniah 3 38 'They shall serve the Lord {,}שכם{ }אחדshicam ached, with one shoulder;' that is, "with one consent." So also in this place, the priests conspire together {,}שכמהshicame, with consent." For they who think that the name of a place is intended are much mistaken.
Now in the last clause of the verse it is made evident why the Prophet had said that the priests were like robbers, 'because,' he says, 'they do the thought,' or 'wickedness.' The verb to {,}זמםzamem signifies "to think," as it has been already said: hence {,}זמהzame is "thought" in general; but is often taken by the Hebrews in a bad sense, for a "bad design," or "wicked trick:" They do then their conceived wickedness We hence learn that they were not open robbers, and publicly infamous in the sight of men, but that they were robbers before God, because the city was full of wicked devices, which were there concocted; and since they executed their schemes, it is justly said of them by the Prophet, that they imitated the licentiousness of robbers. Let us now go on — Hosea 6:10-11
10. I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
10. In domo Israel vidi flagitium, illic scortatio Ephraim, pollutus est Israel.
11. Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.
11. Etiam Jehudah posuit messem (vel, plantam) tibi, dum ego reduco captivitatem populi mei (vel, in reducendo me, ad verbum, captivitatem populi mei.)
Here God declares that he is the fit judge to take cognizance of the vices of Israel; and this he does, that he might cut off the handle of vain excuses, which hypocrites often adduce when they are reproved. Who indeed can at this day persuade the Papists that all their worship is a filthy abomination, a mere profanation? We see how furiously they rise up as soon as any one by a whisper dares to touch their superstitions. Whence this? Because they wish their own will to stand for reason. Why? Good intention, they say, is the judge; as if this good intention were, forsooth, the queen, who ought to rule in heaven and earth, and God were now excluded from all his rights. This fury and this madness, even at this day, possess the Papists; and no wonder, for Satan dementates men, when he leads them to corrupt and degenerated
38Zephaniah 3:9. — fj.