Commentary on Hosea John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
know, are, first, destitute of aid, and, secondly, of wisdom; and they are also without strength. They are then dependent on the aid of another, and stand in need of direction; in short, their safety depends on the assistance of others. Thus, also, we are really fatherless, when we rely not on our own prudence, nor recumb on our own strength, nor think that we can be safe through the aids which come from the earth, but cast all our hopes and cares on God alone. This is one thing. The fatherless then shall find mercy in thee; that is, ``When thou, Lord, dost so afÒict us, that we become wholly cast down, then we shall find mercy in thee; and this mercy will be sufÏcient for us, so that we shall no more wander and be drawn aside by false devices, as it has hitherto been the case with us.'' When, therefore, they say, in God will the fatherless find mercy, they mean that the grace offered by the Lord will be sufÏcient, so that there will be no need any more of seeking aid from any other. We now understand what the Prophet means in this verse. It follows ---
Hosea 14:4
4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
4. Sanabo defectiones eorum, diligam eos sponte (vel, liberaliter;) quia aversus est furor meus ab eo.
God here confirms what we have observed respecting his gratuitous reconciliation, nor is the repetition useless; for as men are disposed to entertain vain and false hopes, so nothing is more difÏcult than to preserve them in dependence on the one
God, and to pacify their minds, so that they disturb not nor fret themselves, as experience teaches us all. For when we embrace the promises of free pardon, our flesh ever leads us to distrust, and we become harassed by various fancies. ``What! can you or dare you promise with certainty to yourself that God will be propitious to you, when you know that for many reasons he is justly angry with you?'' Since, then, we are so inclined to harbour distrust, the Prophet again confirms the truth which we have before noticed, which is, that God is ready to be reconciled, and that he desires nothing more than to receive and embrace his people.
Hence he says, I will heal their defections The way of healing is by a gratuitous pardon. For though God, by regenerating us by his Spirit, heals our rebellion, that is, subdues us unto obedience, and removes from us our corruptions, which stimulate us to sin; yet in this place the Prophet no doubt declares in the person of God, that the Israelites would be saved from their defections, so that they might not come against them in judgement, nor be imputed to them. Let us know then that God is in two respects a physician while he is healing our sins: he cleanses us by his Spirit, and he abolishes and buries all our offences. But it is of the second kind of healing that the Prophet now speaks, when he says, I will heal their turnings away: and he employs a strong term, for he might have said, ``your faults or errors'' but he says, ``your defections from God;'' as though he said, ``Though they have so grievously sinned, that by their crimes they have deserved hundred deaths, yet I will heal them from these their atrocious sins, and I will love them freely.''
The word {,}נדבהnudebe, may be explained either freely or bountifully. I will then love them bountifully, that is, with an abounding and not a common love; or I will love