John Calvin Commentary Hosea 12:8

"And Ephraim said, Surely I am become rich, I have found me wealth: in all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that were sin." — Hosea 12:8 (ASV)

Here God complains by His prophet that the Israelites flattered themselves in their vices because their affairs were prospering and going according to their wishes. It is a vice too common that people congratulate themselves as long as fortune, as is commonly said, smiles on them, thinking that God is then favorable to them.

Since the condition of the people was such, they despised all the prophets and their reproofs. Of this audacity the Lord now complains: Ephraim has said, I am yet become rich. There is an emphasis to be noticed in the adversative particle אך (ach). It is sometimes a simple affirmative in Hebrew, but here the prophet meant to express something else: namely, that the Israelites laughed at all reproofs because God seemed to be favorable to them, as though He manifested His favor by prosperity.

“I am, however, become rich; and therefore I care nothing for what the prophets may say, for I am contented with my lot.” This, as I have said, is a common evil. Therefore, this passage ought to be carefully noted, lest, when the Lord spares us for a time, we think that we are innocent before Him. For there is nothing more to be feared than our eyes being dazzled by a prosperous and desirable state of things.

Though the Lord then may bear with us and not immediately unleash His vengeance against us, but, on the contrary, cherish us, as it were, kindly in His bosom, yet if He rebukes us by His word, we ought to pay attention to His threatenings.

But they further add, All my labours shall not find iniquity, or, they shall not find iniquity in all my labours. Many read it simply as the words are, “My labours shall not find iniquity;” but as the expression seems awkward, I have tried to make it smoother, as others also have done, “They shall not find iniquity in all my labours.” This boasting went further, for the prophet shows that the people were not only secure because the Lord gave them some tokens of His paternal favor, but that they were also intoxicated with this impious confidence that God would not have favored them if they had not been exempt from every fault and vice. And this second clause ought to be carefully noted.

Now it is a depravity that is by no means to be endured when people begin to despise God because He deals kindly with them, and when they abuse His leniency so as to condemn all His teaching and all His threatening; this is indeed a very great perversion.

But when to all this is added such pride that ungodly and reprobate men persuade themselves that they are righteous because God does not immediately punish them—this is, so to speak, a diabolical madness. And yet we see that this is a common thing.

For godless people are not only proud of their wealth, they are not only inflated with their own power, but they also think that God is in some way indebted to them. “Why! It must be that God regards me as innocent and pure from every vice, for He favors me. He then does not find in me what is worthy of punishment.” Thus the wicked raise their horns against God while He indulges them and does not appear as severe towards them as they have deserved.

When today we perceive these evils prevailing among the greater portion of mankind, there is no reason to be astonished. But we ought at the same time to profit from the instruction of the prophet, so that we may not be blinded by prosperity, despise reproofs, and flatter ourselves in our sins; and also, that we may not accumulate for ourselves a store of God’s wrath when He deals kindly with us.

Let us not then abuse His forbearance. Let us not think that we are innocent before Him because He does not immediately execute His judgments. Instead, let us learn to examine ourselves carefully and to shake off our vices, so that we may humble ourselves under His hand, though He restrains Himself from inflicting punishment. This is the application of this doctrine.

But we must notice what the prophet adds: They shall not find iniquity in my labours. That is, iniquity shall not be found in my labours because this is wickedness or a crime requiring expiation. I wonder that interpreters explain this passage so coldly, for they say, “There shall not be found in my labours iniquity or sin.”

But the prophet does not use a conjunction, but uses the particle אשר (asher), which is to be interpreted here exegetically. The meaning is that hypocrites, while they claim for themselves the praise of innocence, for the sake of dissembling, ostensibly detest every wickedness and crime.

“Iniquity shall not be found in my labours, for this is wickedness; far be it that I should be discovered to be a wicked person in my doings, for I am without fraud in all my dealings.”

But is this the case? By no means. Because they judge God’s favor by prosperous fortune, they think that God would not be so kind to them unless He regarded them as just and pure. Hence we see how securely hypocrites mock God when they begin to despise His teaching and warnings. We need not then wonder that today so much perverseness prevails everywhere in the world. But let us also apply this mode of teaching which the prophet sets before us.