Commentary on Hosea John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
sense of the words seems to me to be this, that the battle had not laid hold on the Israelites, because they had not been touched by that example. The judgements of God, we know, are set forth before our eyes, that each of us may apply them for our own benefit. The Prophet now reproves the neglect of the Israelites in this matter, because they disregarded the event as a thing of no moment. Hence the battle did not lay hold on them; that is, they did not perceive that they were warned at the expense of others to repent, and to live afterwards a holier and purer life in subjection to God. And this view is confirmed by the last clause, ``against the children of iniquity;'' for why is this expressly added by the Prophet, except that the Lord testified that they should not be unpunished, who were like the Gibeonites, with whom he dealt so rigidly and severely. Since, then, the Israelites had not been touched, their stupidity was hence proved. And for the same reason Paul says, that the wrath of God shall come on the children of disobedience or of unbelief, (Ephesians
5:6:) for when God takes vengeance on one people or on one man, he doubtless shows himself in that particular judgement to be the judge of the world. This seems to me to be the genuine meaning of the Prophet.
We ought further to bear in mind, that when men go on in their wickedness, whatever sins their fathers have done are justly imputed to them. When we return to the right way, the Lord instantly buries all our sins, and reconciles us to himself on this condition, that he will pardon whatever fault there may be in us: though we may, through our whole life, have provoked his wrath against us, he will yet as I have said, instantly bury the whole. But if we repent not, the Lord will remember, not only our own sins, but also those of our fathers, as it is evident from what is here said by the Prophet.
Prayer
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast once appeared in the person of thy onlybegotten Son, and hast rendered in him thy glory visible to us, and as thou dost daily set forth to us the same Christ in the glass of thy gospel, --- O grant, that we, fixing our eyes on him, may not go astray, nor be led here and there after wicked inventions, the fallacies of Satan, and the allurements of this world: but may we continue firm in the obedience of faith and persevere in it through the whole course of our life, until we be at length fully transformed into the image of thy eternal glory, which now in part shines in us, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lecture Twenty-eighth
Hosea 10:10
10. It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. 68
10. In voto meo est, et castigabo eos, et congregabuntur contra eos populi, ubi colligati fuerint (vel, se colligaverint) in duobus sulcis suis (alii vertunt, in duobus iniquitatibus suis, quasi nomen esset ab {) }עון
68The word here rendered "furrows" is not so found any where else. The Masoretic points have alone fixed to it this meaning. The Hebrew text has {,{עינתםtheir spring or fountain; and Keri, the marginal reading, and twelve MSS, have ,{}עונותםtheir sins or iniquities. The latter reading is countenanced by the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Vulgate. Then the right translation would be, ``when they are bound to their two iniquities;'' that is, the two alliances with Assyria and Egypt, or the two calves, one in Dan, the other at Bethel. ``When they are chastised for their two iniquities.'' --- Newcome.