John Calvin Commentary Hosea 11:8-9

"How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? [how] shall I cast thee off, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? [how] shall I set thee as Zeboiim? my heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee; and I will not come in wrath." — Hosea 11:8-9 (ASV)

Here God consults what He would do with the people: and first, indeed, He shows that it was His purpose to execute vengeance, such as the Israelites deserved, even wholly to destroy them. But yet He assumes the character of one deliberating, so that no one might think that He hastily fell into anger, or that, being quickly excited by excessive fury, He devoted to ruin those who had sinned lightly, or were guilty of no great crimes.

So that no one, then, might attribute to God an anger too fervent, He says here, How shall I set thee aside, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee up, Israel? How shall I set thee as Sodom? By these expressions God shows what the Israelites deserved, and that He was now inclined to inflict the punishment of which they were worthy, and yet not without repentance, or at least not without hesitation. He afterwards adds in the next clause, This I will not do; my heart is within me changed; I now alter My purpose, and my repenting are brought back again; that is, it was in My mind to destroy you all, but now a repenting, which reverses that design, lays hold on Me. We now understand what the Prophet means.

Regarding this way of speaking, it indeed appears strange at first glance that God should make Himself like mortals in changing His purposes and in exhibiting Himself as wavering. God, we know, is subject to no passions, and we know that no change takes place in Him.

What then do these expressions mean, by which He appears to be changeable? Doubtless He accommodates Himself to our ignorance whenever He assumes a character foreign to Himself. And this consideration exposes the folly as well as the impiety of those who bring forward isolated words to show that God is, as it were, like mortals; as those unreasonable men do who today seek to overturn the eternal providence of God, and to blot out that election by which He makes a distinction between men.

“O!” they say, “God is sincere, and He has said that He wills not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live.” God must then in this case remain, as it were, uncertain, and depend on the free will of everyone: it is therefore in the power of man either to bring destruction upon himself, or to come to salvation.

God must in the meantime wait quietly to see what men will do, and can determine nothing except through their free will. While these insane men trifle in this way, they think themselves to be supported by this invincible reason: that God’s will is one and simple. But if the will of God is one, it does not therefore follow that He does not accommodate Himself to men, and assume a character foreign to Himself, as much as a regard for our salvation will permit or require.

So it is in this passage. God does not in vain portray Himself as being uncertain; for we therefore learn that He is not carried away too suddenly to inflict punishment, even when men in various ways provoke His vengeance. This then is what God shows by this way of speaking.

At the same time, we know that what He will do is certain, and that His decree does not depend on the free will of men; for He is not ignorant of what we shall do. God then does not deliberate concerning Himself, but with reference to men. This is one thing.

But we must also bear in mind what I have already said: that the Prophet here strikes proud and profane despisers with terror by setting their own destruction before their eyes, and by showing how close they were to the fate of Gomorrah and other cities. “For what remains,” the Lord says, “but that I should set you as Sodom and Zeboim? This condition and this recompense await you, if I execute the judgement which has already, as it were, been decreed.” Not that God would immediately do this; but He only reminds the Israelites of what they deserved, and of what would happen to them, unless the Lord dealt mercifully with them. So much for the first part of the verse.

But when He says that His heart was changed, and that His repentings were brought back again, the same way of speaking, in the manner of men, is adopted. For we know that these feelings do not belong to God; He cannot be touched with repentance, and His heart cannot undergo changes. To imagine such a thing would be impiety.

But the design is to show that if He dealt with the people of Israel as they deserved, they would now be made like Sodom and Gomorrah. As God was merciful, and embraced His people with paternal affection, He could not forget that He was a Father, but would be willing to grant pardon. This is like a human father who, on seeing his son’s wicked disposition, suddenly feels strong displeasure, and then, being seized with relenting, is inclined to spare him. God then declares that He would deal with His people in this way.

Then follows an explanation of this sentence, I will not execute the fury of My wrath. By this figurative way of speaking He sets forth the punishment which was suitable for the sins of men. For it must always be remembered that God is exempt from every passion.

But if we are to suppose no anger in God, what does He mean by the fury of His wrath? It signifies the relation between His nature and our innate or natural sins. But why does Scripture say that God is angry? It is because we imagine Him to be so according to our fleshly perception, for we do not understand God’s indignation, except insofar as our sins provoke Him to anger and kindle His vengeance against us.

Then God, with regard to our perception, calls the fury of His wrath the heavy judgement, which is equal to, or appropriate for, our sins. I will not execute, He says; that is, “I will not repay you the reward which you have deserved.”

What then? I will not return to destroy Ephraim. The verb אשוב (ashub) seems to have been introduced for this reason: because God had in part laid waste the kingdom of Israel. He therefore says that the second overthrow, which He would soon bring, would not be such as would destroy the whole of Israel, or completely consume them. I will not then return to destroy Ephraim; that is, “Though I shall again prepare Myself to punish the sins of the people, I shall yet restrain Myself so that My vengeance shall not proceed to the destruction of the whole people.” The reason is added: For I am God, and not man.

As He intended in this passage to leave the godly some hope of salvation, He adds what may confirm this hope; for we know that when God denounces wrath, how difficult it is for trembling consciences to be restored to hope.

Ungodly men laugh to scorn all threatening, but those in whom there is any seed of piety dread the vengeance of God. Whenever terror seizes them, they are tormented with remarkable distress and cannot be easily pacified.

This then is the reason why the Prophet now confirms the doctrine which he had laid down: I am God, He says, and not man; as though He had said that He would be merciful to His people, for He was not implacable as men are. And they are very wrong who judge Him, or measure Him, by men.

We must first remember here that the Prophet does not direct his discourse indiscriminately to all the Israelites, but only to the faithful, who were a remnant among that corrupt people. For God, at no time, allowed all the children of Abraham to become alienated, but at least a few remained, as it is said in another place (1 Kings 19:18). The Prophet now addresses these; and to administer consolation, he moderates what he had said before of the dreadful vengeance of God.

This saying then was not to relieve the sorrow of hypocrites, for the Prophet regarded only the miserable, who had been so struck with the feeling of God’s wrath that despair would have almost swallowed them up, had their grief not been mitigated. This is one thing. But further, when He says that He is God, and not man, this truth ought to come to our minds, so that we may taste God’s gratuitous promises whenever we waver regarding His promises, or whenever terror possesses our minds.

What! Do you doubt when you are dealing with God? But why is it that we rely with such difficulty on the promises of God, except that we imagine Him to be like ourselves? Therefore, since it is our habit to transform Him in this way, let this truth be a remedy for this fault. And whenever God promises pardon to us, from which proceeds the hope of salvation—however much He may have previously terrified us by His judgements—let this come to our mind: that as He is God, He is not to be judged by what we are.

We ought then to rely simply on His promises. “But then we are unworthy to be pardoned; besides, so great is the atrocity of our sins that there can be no hope of reconciliation.” Here we must instantly take hold of this shield; we must learn to fortify ourselves with this declaration of the Prophet: He is God, and not man. Let this shield always be taken to repel every kind of doubt.

But here a question may be raised: “Was He not God when He destroyed Sodom and the neighboring cities?” That judgement did not take away from the Lord His glory, nor was His majesty thereby diminished.

But these two sentences are to be read together: I am God, and not man, holy in the midst of thee. When anyone reads these sentences apart, he does wrong to the meaning of the Prophet.

God, then, not only affirms here that He is not like men, but He also adds that He is holy in the midst of Israel. One view of God’s nature is given to us here, and what is set forth is the immense distance between Him and men, as we find it written by Isaiah the Prophet:

My thoughts are not as yours: as much as the heaven is distant from the earth, so distant are my thoughts from your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).

So also in this passage, the Prophet shows what God is, and how much His nature differs from the dispositions of men. He afterwards refers to the covenant which God made with His people: and what was the purport of that covenant? It was that God would punish His people, yet so as always to leave some seed remaining.

He says, I will chastise them with the rod of men;
I will not yet take away from them My mercy (2 Samuel 7:14–15).

Since God then had promised some mitigation or alleviation in all His punishments, He now reminds us that He will not have His Church completely demolished in the world, for He would thus be inconsistent with Himself. Therefore He says, I am God, and not man, holy in the midst of thee; and since I have chosen thee to Myself to be My peculiar possession and inheritance, and promised also to be forever thy God, I will now moderate My vengeance, so that some Church may always remain.”

For this reason He also says, I will not enter into the city. Some say, “I will not enter another city but Jerusalem.” But this does not suit the passage, for the Prophet speaks here of the ten tribes and not of the tribe of Judah.

Others imagine an opposite meaning—“I will not enter the city”—as though He said that He would indeed act kindly towards the people in not completely destroying them, but that they should hereafter be without civil order, regular government, and other tokens of God’s favour. ‘I will not enter the city;’ that is, “I will not restore you, so that there may be a city and a kingdom, and a united body of people.” But this exposition is too forced; indeed, it is a mere refinement, which vanishes of itself.

There is no doubt that the simile is taken from a military practice. For when a conqueror enters a city with an armed force, slaughter is not restrained, but blood is indiscriminately shed. But when a city surrenders, the conqueror indeed may enter, yet not with a sudden and violent attack, but on certain conditions. Then he waits, perhaps for two days, or for some time, so that the rage of his soldiers may be calmed.

Then he comes, not as to enemies, but as to his own subjects. This is what the Prophet means when he says, I will not enter the city; that is, “I will make war on you and subdue you, and force you to surrender, and that with great loss. But when the gates shall be opened and the wall demolished, I will then restrain Myself, for I am unwilling completely to destroy you.”

If someone objects and says that this statement conflicts with many others we have observed, the answer is easy. The solution has already been offered in another place, and I shall now only touch on it briefly. When God distinctly denounces ruin on the people, the body of the people is in view; and in this body there was then no integrity.

Therefore, since all the Israelites had become corrupt, had departed from the worship and fear of God, and from all piety and righteousness, and had abandoned themselves to all kinds of wickedness, the Prophet declares that they were to perish without any exception. But when he confines the vengeance of God, or moderates it, he has regard for a very small number; for, as it has already been stated, corruption had never so prevailed among the people that some seed did not remain.

Therefore, when the Prophet has the elect of God in view, he then applies these consolations, by which he mitigates their terror, so that they might understand that God, even in His extreme rigor, would be merciful to them. Such is the way to account for this passage.

With regard to the body of the people, the Prophet has already shown that their cities were devoted to the fire, and that the whole nation was doomed to suffer the wrath of God—that everything was given up to the fire and the sword.

But now He says, I will not enter; that is, with regard to those whom the Lord intended to spare. And it must also be observed that punishment was mitigated, not only with regard to the elect, but also with regard to the reprobate who were led into captivity.

We must yet remember that when God spared them for a time, He chiefly considered the good of His elect. For the temporary suspension of vengeance increased His judgement on the reprobate, because whoever did not repent in exile, as is evident, doubled the wrath of God against themselves.

The Lord, however, spared His people for a time, for among them His Church was included, in the same way as the wheat is preserved in the chaff and is carried from the field with the straw. Why so? So that the wheat may be separated.

So also the Lord preserves much chaff with the wheat; but He will afterwards, in due time, divide the wheat from the chaff. We now understand the whole meaning of the Prophet, and also the application of his doctrine.