John Calvin Commentary Hosea 1:6

"And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And [Jehovah] said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah; for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, that I should in any wise pardon them." — Hosea 1:6 (ASV)

The Prophet shows in this verse that things had become worse and worse in the kingdom of Israel: they sinned, keeping within no limits, and rushed headlong into the extremes of impiety.

He has already told us, by calling them Jezreelites, that they were from the beginning rejected and degenerate. It is as if he said, “Your origin has nothing commendable in it; you think yourselves to be very eminent because you derive your descent from holy Jacob, but you are illegitimate children, born of a harlot. A brothel is not the house of Abraham, nor is the house of Abraham a brothel. You are then the offspring of debauchery.”

But he now goes further and says that, as time advanced, they had continually been falling into a worse state, for this word, Loruchamah, is a more disgraceful name than Jezreel. And the Lord also here denounces His vengeance more openly when He says,

I will no more add to pursue with mercy the house of Israel. The Hebrew word רחם, rechem, means to pity and also to love, but this second meaning is derived from the first. For רחם, rechem, is not simply to love, but to show gratuitous favour. By calling the daughter, then, Lo-ruchamah, God intimates that His favour was now taken away from the people.

We know, indeed, that the people had been freely chosen, for if the cause of adoption is inquired for, it must be said that it was the mere mercy and goodness of God. Now then God, in repudiating the people, says, “You are like a daughter whom her father casts away and disowns because he deems her unworthy of his favour.” We now, then, comprehend the Prophet’s design. For, after having shown the Israelites to have been from the beginning illegitimate, and not the true children of Abraham, he now adds that, in course of time, they had become so corrupt that God would now utterly disown them and would no longer deem them as His house.

He, therefore, charges them with something more grievous than before, by saying, ‘Call this daughter Lo-ruchamah;’ for she was born after Jezreel. Here he describes by degrees the state of the people: that it continually degenerated. Though they were depraved at the beginning, they were now, after the lapse of some time, utterly unworthy of God’s favour.

I will no more add, the Prophet says, to pursue with favour the house of Israel. God here shows what constant forbearance He had exercised towards this people. I will no more add, He declares, as if the Lord had said, “I do not now rush out at the first heat of wrath to take vengeance on you, as passionate men are accustomed to do, who seize the sword as soon as any affront is given; I do not become so suddenly hot with anger. I have, therefore, until now borne with you; but now your obstinacy is intolerable. I will not then bear with you any more.” The Prophet, as we see, evidently intimates that the Israelites had for a very long time abused the Lord’s mercy while He spared them, so that now the ripe time of vengeance had come. For the Lord had, for many years, showed His favour to them, though they never ceased at any time to seek their own destruction.

Hence we learn, as was stated yesterday, that the Prophet’s vehemence was not hasty, for God had previously given warnings, more than sufficient, to the Israelites. He had also forgiven them many sins; He had borne with them until the state of things proved that they were altogether incurable. Since, then, the forbearance of God produced no effect on them, it was necessary to come to this last remedy: that the Lord should, as it were, with a drawn sword, appear as a judge to take vengeance.

He afterwards says, כי נשוא אשא להם, ki neshua asha lem. This sentence is variously explained. Some think that the verb is derived from the root נשה, nesche, with a final ה, he, which means “to forget,” as if it were said, “By forgetting, I will forget them;” and the sense is not unsuitable.

The Chaldean paraphraser wholly departs from this meaning, for he renders the clause, “By sparing, I will spare them.” There is no reason for this, for God, as the context clearly shows, does not yet promise pardon to them; this meaning, then, cannot stand.

Those who translate it as, “I will bring to them” (that is, the enemy), come nearer to the Prophet’s design, for נשא, nesha, signifies to take and also to bring into the middle. However, I prefer to embrace the opinion of those who consider that להם, lem, is placed here for אותם, autem. This is because the servile letter ל, lamed, often has the same meaning as the particle את, at, which is prefixed to an objective case.

Then the literal rendering is, “For, by taking away, I will take them away.” The Hebrews often use this mode of speaking, and the sense is plainer: “By taking away, I will take them away.” Some render the passage, “I will burn them,” but this explanation is rather harsh. I am satisfied with the meaning “to take,” but I understand it in the sense of “taking away.” Therefore, it is, “By taking away, I will take them away.”

And this is what the following verse confirms, for when the Prophet speaks of the house of Judah, the Lord says, “With mercy will I follow the house of Judah, and will save them.” The Prophet sets “to save” and “to take away” in opposition to each other.

We may then learn from the context what he meant by these words: that Israel had until now stood through the Lord’s mercy. It is as if he said, “How has it happened that you are still alive? Do you think yourselves to be safe through your own valour? No, My mercy has until now preserved you. Now, then, when I withdraw My favour from you, your ruin will be inevitable; you must necessarily perish and be brought to nothing. For as I have until now preserved you, so I will utterly tear you away and destroy you.”

A profitable lesson may be further gathered from this passage: namely, that hypocrites deceive themselves when they boast of the present favour of God and, at the same time, exult without any fear against Him. For as God for a time spares and tolerates them, so He can justly destroy and reduce them to nothing. But the next verse must also be joined.