Commentary on Hosea John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
it is less to be endured than when they grow in dry and desert places; for this is what is wont naturally to happen. But when wormwood grows up instead of wheat in the furrows, that is, on lands well cultivated, it is a thing more strange and less to be endured. We now then apprehend what the Prophet meant. They indeed seemed at times to be touched with some feeling of piety, and promised much, and were very liberal in good words; they even swore, and seemed prepared to renew their covenant with God, --- but what was all this? It was the same as if a husband man had prepared his field, and noxious herbs had grown up where he had bestowed much labour and toil. Such was their rectitude, --- a disguised form or shadow of religion; it was nothing else, but like wormwood growing in well-cultivated land.
Prayer
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou dost train us up with so much diligence and assiduous care, and regard us as dear and precious like an hereditary vine, --- O grant, that we may not bring forth wild grapes, and that our fruit may not be bitter and unpleasant to thee, but that we may strive so to form our whole life in obedience to thy law, that all our actions and thoughts may be pleasant and sweet fruits to thee. And as there is ever some sin mixed up with our works, even when we desire to serve thee sincerely and from the heart, grant that all stains in our works may be so cleansed and washed away by the sacrifice of thy Son, that they may be to thee sacrifices of sweet odour, through the same, even Christ Jesus, who has so reconciled us to thee, as to obtain pardon even for our works. Amen.
Lecture Twenty-seventh
Hosea 10:5
5. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
5. Propter vitulas 64 (juvencas) Bethaven pavebunt (ad verbum) incola Samaria (sed mutatio est numeri, pavebunt igitur: alii vertunt, exulabunt incolae Samariae, sed male:) quia lugebit super eum populus suus et sacerdotes ejus, qui super eum exultant (vel, propter eum exultabunt) super gloria ejus, quia transivit ab eo (vel, aversa est ab eo.)
I shall first briefly touch on what I have mentioned in reading over the text; that is, that some interpreters expound this verse of the exile of the people. The word
{,}גורgur, signifies to be banished: and it means also to fear; but the context, as we shall see, will not allow it to be taken here in the sense of being banished. Some render the other word {,}שכןshecan, to dwell, but they are mistaken. The Prophet simply means that the inhabitants of Samaria were now glorying in their calves, (for the calves we know, were in Dan and Bethel,) but that in a short time the Lord would strike them with terror, and the cause we shall see hereafter.
I now come to show the real meaning of the prophet The inhabitants of Samaria, 64The word rendered "calves" is in the form of a feminine plural: but it is evidently a noun in the singular number, for all the pronouns in the verse, referring to it, are in the singular number. It is a peculiar form, expressive of something huge or great: as {,{בהמותa great beast in Psalm
73:22; and ,{}חכמותchief wisdom, in Proverbs 9:1. And so Bishop Horsley renders it ``great calf.'' The Septuagint has ``calf.'' ---
{τω} {μοσχω}. --- Ed.