Commentary on Hosea John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
of terms with God himself. "There shall come," he says, "a common ruin to you all; this boasting shall not prevent me from taking vengeance at last on your sins." But he adds As an eagle, that the Israelites might not think that there was to be a long delay; for the impious procrastinate, when they see any danger at hand. Hence, that the Israelites might not continue torpid in their vices, the Prophet says, that the destruction of which he spoke would be like the eagle; for in a moment the eagle goes over an immense distance, and we wonder when we see it over our heads, though a little before it did not appear. So also the Prophet says, that destruction, though not yet seen, was however nigh at hand, that being smitten with terror, though now late, yet as the Lord was thus urging them, they might return to him.
Prayer Grant, Almighty God, that since thou continues daily to restore us to thyself, both by scourges and by thy word, though we cease not to go astray after sinful desires, — O grant, that by the direction of thy Spirit, we may at length so return to thee, that we may never afterwards fall away, but be preserved in pure and true obedience, and thus constantly continue in the pure worship of thy majesty and in true, obedience, that after this life past, we may at last reach that blessed rest, which is reserved for us in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lecture Twenty-first We were not able yesterday to complete the first verse of the eighth chapter. It then remains for us to consider the latter clause, in which the Prophet expresses the cause of the war which he had previously proclaimed by God's command. He says, that the Israelites had transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and conducted themselves perfidiously against his law. He repeats the same thing twice, for the covenant and the law are synonymous; only the word, law, in my view, is added as explanatory, as though he had said, that they had violated the covenant of the Lord, which had been sanctioned or sealed by the law. God then had made a covenant with Israel, which he designed to be comprehended in the tables. Since then it was not unknown to the Israelites what they owed to God, they were covenant-breakers. It was then the doubling of their crime, as the Prophet shows, that they had not fallen through mistake when they transgressed the covenant of the Lord, for they had been more than sufficiently taught by the law what faith and what purity the Lord required of them: at the same time, the covenant which the Lord so openly made with them was yet neglected. It follows — Hosea 8:2-3
2. Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. 2. Mihi clamabunt, Deus mi, novimus te, Israel. 51
51The construction of this versed is anomalous, there being a mixture of numbers, not uncommon in this book. The original is the following: — {{}ישראל{ }ידענוך{ }אלהי{ }יזעקו{ ליThe literal rendering is this: --- ``To me they will cry, My God, we have known thee, Israel.'' If we take the future as expressive of a continued act, as it is often to be taken, and consider ``my God'' as the expression of each one includes in ``they,'' or accommodate it to ``They,'' and say ``our God,'' and if we regard ``Israel'' to be in apposition with ``we,'' as some critics think and very justly, then we have the following appropriate rendering: --- ``To me they cry, Our God; we, Israel, have known thee.'' --- Ed.