John Calvin Commentary Hosea 10:14-15

"Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with her children. So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: at daybreak shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off." — Hosea 10:14-15 (ASV)

The Prophet here denounces punishment, having previously exposed the sins of the people and sufficiently proved them guilty, who by subterfuges avoided judgment. He now adds that God would be a just avenger.

A tumult then shall arise among thy people. You have until now satiated yourself with falsehood, for hope in your own courage has inebriated you, and also a false notion of wisdom. But the Lord will suddenly stir up tumults among your people; that is, a tumult will in one moment arise on every side. He intimates that its progress would not be slow, but that the tumult would be such as would confound things from one corner of the land to the other.

A tumult then, or perdition, shall arise among thy people; for the word שאון, shaun, “on” means perdition or destruction. However, I prefer “tumult,” as the verb קאם, kam, seems to require. Every one of thy fortresses, he says, shall be demolished. He shows that whatever strength the people had would be weak and wholly useless when the Lord had begun to raise a tumult, for this tumult would reduce to ruin all their fortified cities.

He then adds an example, which some refer to Shalmaneser. He only mentions Shaman, and Shalmaneser is indeed a compound name. However, it is not known whether the Prophet had written down his name here in its simple form, Shaman. He then mentions Betharbel, a city referred to in some parts of Scripture, which was, with respect to Judea, beyond Jordan.

If we accept this opinion, it seems that the Prophet wished to revive the memory of a recent slaughter: “You know what recently happened to you when Shalmaneser marched with such cruelty through your country, when he laid waste to your villages, towns, and cities. You especially know how fierce the battle was in Betharbel, when a carnage occurred, when mothers were violently thrown on their children, when the enemy spared neither sex nor age—which in the worst wars is a most cruel thing.” Such, then, may have been the meaning of the Prophet.

But others think that he relates a history which is not told anywhere else. However this may be, it appears that the Prophet spoke of some slaughter which was well known in his day. The report of it was common enough then, whether it was a slaughter made by Shalmaneser or any other, of which no express mention is found. We now see the meaning of the Prophet, but we cannot finish today.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we still remain in our own wickedness, though often warned and sweetly invited by You, and as You do not prevail with us by Your daily instruction—O grant that we may, in a spirit of meekness, at length turn to Your service, and fight against the hardness and obstinacy of our flesh, until we render ourselves submissive to You, and not wait until You put forth Your hand against us, or at least so profit under Your chastisements as not to constrain You to execute extreme vengeance against us, but to repent without delay. Grant also that we may indeed, without hypocrisy, plow under Your yoke and so enjoy Your special blessings, that You may show Yourself to us not only as our Lord but also as our Father, full of mercy and kindness, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We explained yesterday Hosea 10:14, in which the Prophet denounced the vengeance of God on his people—such as they had experienced either when the country was laid waste by the army of Shalmaneser, or when some other slaughter occurred. From the words, we certainly learn that a battle had been fought in Arbel (which was a town, as we have said, beyond Jordan).

But the Prophet also shows the great atrocity of that battle and how grievous and dreadful the slaughter he now threatens to the people would be, by saying that even the mother had been violently thrown upon her children. And the Prophet also shows that God’s vengeance would be just, because the Israelites had provoked God by their superstitions.

He then points out in the last verse the cause why the Lord would deal so severely with his people, and his manner of speaking ought to be observed. So, he says, shall Bethel do unto you. He might have said, ‘So will God do to you,’ but he more distinctly shows that the evil, or the cause of the evil, was in themselves: Bethel, he says, shall do this unto you.

It is certain that the war did not arise from Bethel. But as they had corrupted the worship of God by worshipping the calf, the Prophet says that the Assyrian was not, properly speaking, the author of this slaughter, but that it was to be imputed to the corruption that had arisen in Bethel. Bethel then shall do this unto you.

But he adds, Because of wickedness—of your wickedness. Some give this explanation: “Because of the wickedness of wickedness,” by which something extreme is expressed, as the genitive case is often used by the Hebrews in place of the superlative degree. But it may be viewed as a simple repetition: “This shall be for wickedness—your wickedness, and it shall be so that you may not be able to transfer the blame to any other cause, for you are yourselves the authors of all the evils.”

He says, in the last place, In a morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off, or, by perishing shall perish. The Prophet means by these words that the Lord would so punish the people of Israel that it would appear plain enough that it was not done by man or by chance, for the Lord would suddenly overturn that kingdom, which had been so well fortified and which flourished so much in wealth and power.

Cut off then in a morning, or in one morning, shall be the king of Israel. Some read “as the morning” instead of “in a morning,” כשחר, cashicher, בשחר, beshicher. ‘The king of Israel shall perish like the dawn,’ for the dawn, we know, immediately disappears when the sun rises. The sun brings with it the full day, and then the dawn immediately passes away.

But the other is the more correct reading, as it has also been more commonly received; that is, “In a morning, or in one morning, shall the king of Israel perish,” as we say in French, Cela n’est que pour un déjeuner. For that proud people thought that no adversity could happen to them for many years, as they had a blind confidence in their own strength.

The Prophet derides this madness and says that the slaughter would be sudden, that the king would in a moment be destroyed, though he thought himself well supplied with soldiers and all other defenses.