John Calvin Commentary Hosea 11:12

"Ephraim compasseth me about with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the Holy One." — Hosea 11:12 (ASV)

I will not pause now to recite the opinions of others, nor does it seem necessary. I might indeed have referred in the last verse to what some say regarding the roaring of God—that His voice will roar through the Gospel. But as this and similar ideas are refinements that I believe the Prophet never considered, it is enough to understand the Prophet's simple meaning and not to accumulate the opinions of others. I do indeed know that this makes a great display, and some are delighted with a mass of opinions; but I focus on what is more useful.

I come now to the last verse, in which the Lord complains that he had been compassed with the falsehood and fraud of the people. By these words, He means that He had in every way found the multiplied perfidy of the Israelites, for this is the meaning of the word “compassed.”

So we now perceive that the Prophet means that the Israelites not only acted unfaithfully towards God and used frauds in one way or in one thing, but that it was as when one besieges an enemy with a great army; so that they were thus full of innumerable frauds with which they surrounded God on every side.

And this is what hypocrites are accustomed to do, for not only do they endeavor to deceive God in one thing, but they transform themselves in various ways and always seek new subterfuges. When they are caught in one sin, they pass into another, so that there is no end to their deceit. The Prophet now takes up this subject: that is, that the Israelites never ceased to act deceitfully towards God.

And He speaks of frauds and falsehood, for they thought that they escaped, provided they covered themselves with some disguise whenever the Prophets reproved them. But God here testifies that they gained nothing by their craftiness, as though He said, “You think indeed that your coverings will avail with Me, but they are vain. I indeed see Myself as it were encompassed by your falsehoods, for on every side you attempt to cover your sins; but they are false coverings.”

In short, the Prophet condemns those specious excuses by which people think they are absolved before God, so as to elude, through this confidence, all the threatenings and reproofs of the Prophets. “I see,” the Lord says, “what the Israelites bring forward for themselves; but they are only falsehoods and frauds.” This passage then teaches that people make excuses before God in vain; for when they contrive pretenses to deceive God, they are themselves greatly deceived, for He clearly perceives their guiles and falsehoods.

He afterwards adds that Judah still ruled, or, held sovereignty, with God, and was faithful with the saints. By saying that Judah held sovereignty with God, the Prophet declares, I do not doubt, that the kingdom of Judah was legitimate because it was connected with a pure and lawful priesthood. For from where did the corruptions in the other kingdom arise, but because the people had revolted from the family of David?

Therefore, the new king changed both the law and the worship of God and erected new temples. Israel then did not rule with God, for the kingdom was spurious and the beginning of the dispersion, so that the people forsook God. But of Judah the Prophet speaks very differently: that he still ruled with God, because the posterity of David, though we know that they struggled with many vices, had not yet changed the worship prescribed by the law (except that Ahab had erected an altar like one at Damascus, as the sacred history relates, 2 Kings 16:11, 12); yet pure religion always prevailed at Jerusalem.

But the Prophet speaks comparatively, as will soon be seen, for he does not wholly excuse the Jews but says that, in comparison with Israel, they still ruled with God. For the kingdom and the priesthood, as we have said, were joined together in Judah, and both had been divinely instituted.

He says further that Judah was faithful with the saints. By “saints,” some understand God. The word קדושים, kodushim, we know, is plural, and sometimes an epithet of the singular number is joined to it, though not often. In the last chapter of Joshua, we have these words, קדושים הרא, kodushim eva, holy is he. But as I have said, these examples are rare.

And here I do not know whether or not the Prophet means God. I would rather refer this word to the holy fathers or to the whole Church, so that the Prophet here calls קדושים, kodushim, saints: Abraham and others who justly deserved to be counted among the children of God; and I am inclined to include the angels.

But we do not find this word used anywhere for the sanctuary; when Scripture refers to the sanctuary, the letter מ, mem, is added. He indeed uses the plural number, though one might suppose that both the sanctuary and its worship are intended here. But as this application would be strained and without example, I am satisfied with this plain meaning: that Judah was faithful with the saints; that is, that Judah retained faith in God together with the fathers and did not depart from the pure worship that had been delivered to him, according to which God had made His covenant with Abraham and his seed.

But the Prophet here praises the tribe of Judah, not because he wished to flatter them, but, as has been stated in a former place, he was mindful of the office entrusted to him. When we today cry out against our domestic evils, when we say that things are better ordered elsewhere, under what supposition is this done?

We take it for granted that others have their own teachers by whom they are reproved, and if any vices are prevailing, there are those who are to apply the remedy. This consideration then should often be remembered by us, so that we may, by way of reproach, bring forward the conduct of others when we wish deeply to wound those whose care has been committed to us by God.

Our Prophet did likewise: at the same time, those who then taught at Jerusalem did not spare the Jews; they cried boldly and vehemently against their vices. But Hosea, as we have said, here attends to his own calling; and therefore he exposes the sin of the ten tribes in having departed from the legitimate worship of God, when they had at the same time a well-known and memorable example in the tribe of Judah, which had continued in obedience to the law. This is the meaning. Let us now go on.