John Calvin Commentary Hosea 1:11

"And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel." — Hosea 1:11 (ASV)

The Prophet speaks here particularly of the children of Abraham. For though God would regard them no more highly than other nations, He yet wished it to be attributed to His covenant that they excelled others in honor; and the right of primogeniture, we know, is everywhere given to them.

Then, as Abraham’s children were the firstborn in the Church, even after the coming of Christ, God here especially addresses them: Ascend together from the land shall the children of Israel and the children of Judah, and they shall assemble together, and appoint for themselves one head. In the last verse, Hosea spoke of the universal gathering of the Church; but now he confines his address to the natural descendants of Abraham.

Why? Because God began a restoration with that people when He extended His hand to the miserable exiles to bring them back from the Babylonian captivity to their own country. Since this was the beginning of the gathering, the Prophet, not without reason, turns his address here to them. Thus, he sets them in higher honor—not because they were worthy, nor because they could by any merit claim this dignity, but because God would not make His covenant void. He had chosen them so that they might be the firstborn, as has already been stated, and as they are also elsewhere called, My first-begotten is Ephraim (Jeremiah 31:9).

So now we understand the Prophet's order and arrangement, which should be carefully noted. This is all the more important because interpreters confuse all these things and make no distinctions, when in fact the Prophet has not mixed together the children of Israel and the children of Judah with the Gentiles here, except for a specific purpose.

Let us now consider the words of the Prophet. Assembled together, he says, shall be the children of Israel and the children of Judah. Undoubtedly, the Prophet has in view the scattering, which had by then lasted more than two hundred years, when Jeroboam had led away the ten tribes.

Since the body then became torn apart, the Prophet says, Together shall be gathered the children of Judah and the children of Israel. And he intentionally speaks this way, lest the Israelites should congratulate themselves on their own power, since they were a mutilated body without a head; for the king of Israel, properly speaking, was not legitimate.

The Lord had indeed anointed Jeroboam; and afterwards Jehu, I admit, had been anointed; but it was done for the sake of executing judgment. For when the Lord truly intended to bless the people, He chose David to rule over them; and then He committed the government over all the children of Abraham to the descendants of David.

Therefore, there was no legitimate head over the people of Israel. And the Prophet clearly intended to express this by saying, Gathered together shall be the children of Judah and the children of Israel; which means this: “You may feel secure now because fortune smiles on you, because you are overflowing with money and all good things, because you are formidable to your neighbors, and because you have well-fortified cities. But your safety actually depends on something else: that you be one body under one head.”

“For you must be miserable unless God rules over you; and the only way this can happen is for you to be under the government of David. Your separation, then, proves your state to be accursed; your earthly happiness, in which you congratulate yourselves, is unhappiness before God.”

The Prophet then reminded the people of Israel that God would at last deal kindly with them by restoring them to their original unity. The meaning of the whole, then, is that the children of Abraham shall at last be blessed when they unite again in one body and when one head rules over them. They shall then be gathered together, and appoint one head.

The Prophet also shows here what kind of assembling this will be that he mentions: they shall be gathered under the government of one king. For whenever God speaks of the restoration of the people, He always calls the attention of the faithful to David: David shall rule, there shall be one shepherd. Then one king and one head shall be among them. We now perceive the Prophet's design.

But this passage clearly teaches that human unity is of no account before God unless it originates from one head. Besides, it is well known that God set David over His ancient people until the coming of Christ.

So now, the Church of the Lord is only rightly formed when the true David rules over it—that is, when all with one consent obey Christ and submit to His command (pendebunt ab ejus nutu, meaning they hang on His nod). We know how Christ intends to rule in His Church, for the scepter of His kingdom is the gospel.

Hence, when Christ is honored with the obedience of faith, all things are safe; and this is the happy state of the Church, of which the Prophet now speaks. It seems, indeed, strange that what is unique to God should be transferred to men—that is, to appoint a king.

But the Prophet has, by this expression, characterized the obedience of faith; for it is not enough that Christ should be given as a king and set over men, unless they also embrace Him as their king and reverently receive Him. We now learn that when we believe the gospel, we choose Christ for our king, as it were, by voluntary consent.

He afterwards adds, They shall ascend from the land. He expresses more than at the beginning of the verse, for he says that God would restore them from exile to their own country.

He then promises what was very necessary: that exile would be no hindrance to God in renewing His Church. For it was the people’s ruin to be removed far from their country and consequently to be deprived of their promised inheritance while dispersed among heathen nations.

The Lord then removes this difficulty and clearly declares that though for a time they should be as if completely destroyed, they shall yet come again to their own land. They shall, therefore, ascend (this is said with regard to Judea, for it is higher than Chaldea); they shall, therefore, ascend from Chaldea and other places where they had been dispersed.

We now understand what the Prophet means by saying, Gathered together shall be the children of Israel and the children of Judah—that is, into one body; and further, they shall appoint for themselves one head. This is the manner of the gathering.

It must also be added that the Church then obeys God when all, from the first to the last, consent to one head. For it is not enough to be constrained, unless all willingly offer themselves to Christ, as it is said in Psalm 110: There shall be a willing people in the day in which the King will call his own. Thus, the Prophet intended to express the obedience of faith, which the faithful will render to Christ when the Lord restores them.

And they shall ascend, he says, from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel. It may be asked, why does he here call the day of Jezreel great, for it seems contrary to prophecy? This passage may be explained in two ways. Great shall be the day of Jezreel, some say, because God will sow the people whom He had previously scattered.

So they think that the Prophet, as in a former instance, alludes to the word Jezreel. But the meaning seems to me to be different. I do not restrict this clause to the latter part, nor to the promise, but apply it to the slaughter that has been previously mentioned, for they correspond with one another: They shall ascend from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

The Israelites were still resting in their nests and thought that they could not possibly be torn away; besides, the kingdom of Judah did not then fear imminent destruction. The Prophet, therefore, intimates here that there would be a need for some significant and extraordinary remedy, because it will be the severe and dreadful slaughter in the day of Jezreel.

We now perceive the real meaning of the Prophet: They shall ascend from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

They might, indeed, have otherwise objected and said, “Why do you prophesy to us like this about ascending? What is this ascending? Do we not rest quietly in the inheritance which God formerly promised to our fathers? What do you mean, then, by this ascending?”

The Prophet here rouses them and reminds them that they had no reason to trust in their present quiet state, like wine settled on its dregs; and this very same simile is even used in another place (Jeremiah 48:11). The Prophet here declares that there would be a most dreadful slaughter, which would call for the remarkable mercy of God, for He would in a wonderful manner restore the people and draw them out like the dead from their graves.

For great then shall be the day of Jezreel; that is, “Since the calamity which the Lord will bring on you will be grievous and dreadful, I do not promise you this return and ascending in vain.” This truly seems to be the Prophet's meaning.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we have not only been redeemed from Babylonian exile, but have also emerged from hell itself; for when we were the children of wrath You freely adopted us, and when we were aliens, You in Your infinite goodness opened to us the gate of Your kingdom, that we might be made Your heirs through the Son. O grant that we may walk circumspectly before You, and submit ourselves wholly to You and to Your Christ, and not pretend to be His members, but really prove ourselves to be His body, and to be so governed by His Spirit, that You may at last gather us together into Your celestial kingdom, to which You daily invite us by the same Christ our Lord. Amen.