Commentary on Hosea John Calvin (continued)
HOSEA
brass destroys good fruit. We now comprehend the meaning of this verse.
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{ }אליain 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
8. Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 42
8. Ephraim inter populos ipse miscuitse: Ephraim fuit panis subciniricius, qui versus non est.
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, {,}הואeva, 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.
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
42"Ephraim! he hath mixed himself among the peoples! Ephraim is a cake not turned!" —Bp. Horsley. The Bishop adds this note, — "The word {,{עמיםin the plural, always signifies the various nations of the earth, the unenlightened nations, in opposition to God's peculiar people, the Israelites.''