John Calvin Commentary Hosea 10:13

"Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies; for thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men." — Hosea 10:13 (ASV)

The reason is found here why I thought that the Prophet did not simply exhort the people, but rather charged them with obduracy for not growing better, even though they were often admonished. He then relates how much God had previously done to restore the people to a sound mind. For it had been His constant teaching, Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in proportion kindness, or according to the proportion of kindness; plow a plowing for yourselves; it is the time to seek the Lord.

Even though the people heard these words daily, and their ears were almost stunned by them, they still did not change for the better, nor did they make themselves pliable. Indeed, as if with a fixed purpose, he says, they plowed ungodliness and reaped iniquity. Therefore, they ate the fruit of falsehood, for they endured just punishments or satisfied themselves with falsehood and treachery. We now understand the Prophet's meaning, and I will come to the particulars.

Sow for yourselves righteousness. He shows that God had not neglected the salvation of this people, for He had tried to see if they were healable. The remedy was for the people to know that God would be reconciled to them if they devoted themselves to righteousness. The Lord offered His favor: “Return only to Me; for as soon as the seed of righteousness is sown by you, the harvest will be prepared, a reward will be laid up for you; you will then reap fruit according to your kindness.”

But if anyone asks whether it is in human power to sow righteousness, the answer is ready: the Prophet does not explain here how far human ability extends, but rather requires what they ought to do. For why is it that so many of God’s curses often overwhelm us, except that we sow seed similar to the produce? That is, God repays us what we have deserved. This, then, is what the Prophet shows when he says, Sow for yourselves righteousness: he shows that it was their fault if the Lord did not cherish them kindly, bountifully, and in a fatherly manner; it was because their impiety did not permit Him.

And the Prophet speaks only of the duties of the second table, as the Prophets also do when they exhort men to repentance. They often begin with the second table of the law because the perverseness of men in this regard is more palpable, and they can thereby be more easily convicted.

But what He afterwards adds, נירו ניר, niru nir, plow the plowing, is not, I confess, in its proper place; but there is nothing inconsistent in this. For after having exhorted them to plow, He now adds that they were like uncultivated and desolate fields, so that it was not right to sow the seed until they had been prepared.

The Prophet then, according to the natural order, ought to have begun with plowing; but He simply said what He wished to convey: that the Israelites did not receive the fruit they desired because they had only sown unrighteousness. If they now wished to be dealt with more kindly, He shows the remedy, which is to sow righteousness.

If it was so, that they were already filled with wickedness, He shows that they were like a field overgrown with briers and thorns. Therefore, when a field has long remained uncultivated, thorns and thistles and other noxious weeds grow there, and a double plowing will be necessary; this double labor is called Novation. Jeremiah speaks of the same thing when he shows that the people had grown hardened in their wickedness and could not bear any fruit until the thorns were torn up by the roots and until they had been thoroughly cleansed from the vices in which they had become fixed. And so He says:

Plow again your fallow ground (Jeremiah 4:3).

And it is the time for seeking Jehovah, until He come. Here the Prophet offers the people a hope of pardon to encourage them to repent. For we know that when men are called back to God, they are sluggish and even faint in their minds until they are assured that God will be propitious to them; this is what we have discussed more fully elsewhere.

The Prophet now addresses the same truth: that it is the time for seeking the Lord. He indeed uses the word עת, ot, which means a seasonable time. It is then the time for seeking the Lord. It is as though He said, “The way of salvation is not yet closed against you, for the Lord invites you to Himself, and He is of His own accord inclined to mercy.” This is one point.

However, we are also taught at the same time that there should be no delay. For such tardiness will cost them dearly if they despise such a kind invitation from God and continue in their own obstinacy. It is then the time for seeking Jehovah. As Isaiah also says:

Seek the Lord while He may be found,
call on Him while He is nigh.
Behold, now is the time of good-pleasure;
behold, now is the day of salvation (Isaiah 55:6).

So also in this passage, the Prophet testifies that God will be easily entreated if Israel returned to the right way. But he also testifies that if they continued obstinately in their sins, this time would not be perpetual, for the door would be shut, and the people would cry in vain after neglecting this seasonable invitation and abusing God's patience.

It is then the time, he says, for seeking the Lord, until He come. This last clause confirms the former, for the Prophet here expressly declares that it would not be useless labor for Israel to begin to seek God: “He will come to you.”

At the same time, He warns them not to be too hasty in their expectations. For though God may receive us into favor, He does not yet immediately deliver us from all punishments or evils. We must, then, patiently wait until the fruit of reconciliation appears.

Thus we see that the Prophet wisely handles both points here. For He would have Israel hasten with deep concern and not long delay the time of repentance, and also to remain quiet if God did not immediately show Himself propitious and show tokens of His favor. In this case, the Prophet wished the people to be patient.

And rain righteousness upon you. The word ירה, ire, indeed means “to teach” and also “to throw.” But as the word מורה, mure, derived from this verb, as is well known, means “the rain,” I could not explain it here otherwise than He will rain righteousness upon you. Indeed, what could the teaching of righteousness mean?

For the Prophet alludes to the harvest, and the people might say, “Are we sure of provision if we seek God?” “Certainly,” He says, “He will come—He will come to you and will rain righteousness, or the fruit of righteousness, upon you.” In short, the Prophet here shows that whenever sinners seek God sincerely and from the heart, He comes forth to meet them and shows Himself kind and merciful.

But as He had spoken of plowing and sowing, the fruit or the harvest was now to be mentioned. So that He might therefore hold forth a promise that those who had sown righteousness would not lose their expense and toil, He says, the Lord will rain upon you the fruit of righteousness.

Now follows the other verse, which, as I have said, completes the passage: You have plowed ungodliness, you have reaped iniquity; you have eaten the fruit of falsehood. The Prophet shows that the people had been daily admonished in vain, and so kindly and sweetly drawn by the Lord. For they had not only disregarded wholesome warnings but had, in their perverse wickedness, abandoned themselves to a contrary course. You have plowed, He says, impiety. God has exhorted you to sow righteousness—what have you sown? Impiety. And then you have reaped iniquity.

Some think that the punishments the people had to bear are pointed out here, as though the Prophet had said, “God has returned to you such a produce as was suitable to your sowing; you are therefore satisfied with falsehood—that is, with your own false confidence.”

But he seems rather to pursue the same line of thought and to say that they had plowed impiety—that is, they had been ungodly from the beginning. Then, they reaped iniquity—that is, they had continued their wickedness to the very harvest and laid up their fruit as if in a storehouse, so that they might satisfy themselves with treachery.

The Prophet, I think, speaks in this sense, but let the reader choose. I only show what seems most suitable to me.

For it then follows, For you have trusted in your own way, in the multitude of your valiant ones. Here the Prophet points out the chief source of all sins. For the Israelites, trusting in their own counsels, gave no ear to the Word of God. And then, being fortified by their own strength, they did not dread His judgments, nor did they flee to His pledged protection to defend them.

This pride, then, is not named here by the Prophet without reason as the chief source of all sins. For when one distrusts his own wisdom, or is afraid, being conscious of his weakness, he can be easily subdued. But when pride possesses a person's mind so that he thinks himself wise, nothing will then prevail with him, neither counsel nor instruction. It is the same when anyone greatly extols his own strength and is inflated with pride; he cannot be made tractable, even if he were admonished a hundred times.

The Prophet then defines here the falsehood, the impiety, and the iniquity of which He had been speaking. For though the people sinned in various ways, the fountain and root was in this lie or falsehood: that they were accustomed to set up their own strength in opposition to God and thought themselves so endowed with wisdom that they had no need of teachers. Since, then, the people were so blinded by their own pride, the Prophet shows here that it was this lie with which they had satisfied themselves.