John Calvin Commentary Hosea 13:1

"When Ephraim spake, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died." — Hosea 13:1 (ASV)

Interpreters do not agree in their view of this verse. Some say that trembling was stirred up in Israel when Ephraim—that is, Jeroboam, who was from that tribe—exhorted the people to worship the calves. By the word רתת, retat, "trembling," they understand that the people were so astonished that they, without thinking, immediately obeyed the will, or rather the whim, of their impious king.

And if this sense is approved, the word "trembling" may be explained in another way: namely, that the people did not immediately embrace that perverted worship but dreaded it, as usually happens with new things that seem to have nothing reasonable in their favor.

But these interpreters, in my judgment, completely depart from the Prophet's intention. For, on the contrary, he here sets forth the twofold state of the kingdom of Israel, so that it might therefore be clear that the ten tribes had been rejected by the Lord through their own fault and had thus fallen from the dignity to which the Lord had raised them.

He therefore says, When Ephraim spoke formerly, his voice was dreaded, and he raised himself in Israel; that is, among the whole race of Abraham. But now he is dead, or is fallen, after he has begun to sin in Baal. Thus, in the first sentence, the Prophet records the honors with which God had favored that tribe.

Ephraim, we know, was the younger of Joseph's sons. Manasseh not only should have had preeminence but also should have reigned alone in that family, for the people were divided into twelve tribes. But God intended to raise up two chiefs in the house of Joseph and preferred the younger to the firstborn.

Hence Ephraim, who had increased in number and power and eventually obtained the royal dignity, should have acknowledged God's singular favor. And by way of reproach, the Prophet here says that all trembled at the mere voice of Ephraim—that is, when he became endowed with authority—and then, that he was exalted in Israel. He should have been considered of no account; he should have been inferior to his brother, who was the firstborn, and yet he excelled all the tribes.

Since, then, God had conferred so much honor on the tribe of Ephraim, his fault was all the more grievous that he afterwards fell away to idols; indeed, that he began his reign with superstition, when God was pleased to choose and anoint Jeroboam as king. And surely, for him—raised beyond all hope to the throne by God's hand—to immediately corrupt the whole worship of God instead of testifying his gratitude was extremely inconsistent.

But the Prophet says, in the second place, that they died from the time they had thus fallen away from true and lawful worship, so that they might understand that they received the just reward of their impiety when God's hand was against them and when they were oppressed by adversity.

We now perceive the Prophet's obvious meaning to be that the Israelites formerly flourished, especially the tribe of Ephraim from whom Jeroboam arose. By their voice alone, they subdued all their neighbors; and beyond human expectation, they suddenly emerged and erected a new kingdom among the children of Abraham.

He afterwards adds that after they had sinned by Baal, they became dead; for God deprived the tribe of Ephraim of the power with which He had previously adorned him, so that they were very nearly destroyed.

For though his kingdom had not wholly fallen, it had nevertheless come to such an extremity that the Prophet might justly say that they, being so far removed from their former state, were dead.

But when he says that they sinned by Baal, he does not mean that this was the beginning of their idolatry; for Jeroboam at first made the calves, and it was his successor who built for Baal and borrowed that superstition—as it is supposed—from the neighboring Sidonians.

But God records here what is more grievous and less excusable: that the Israelites polluted themselves with the filth of the Gentiles, so that they differed in no way from the profane and unbelieving, who had no knowledge of sound doctrine.

Moreover, we are taught in this place that when kings are endowed with any authority, when they are strong in power, all this comes from God. For unless God strikes terror into people, no one would accept the yoke of another; at least, all would desire equality, or one would exalt himself above others.

It is therefore certain that when anyone excels among many in power, this is done through the secret purpose of God, who brings the common people to order and causes them not to deny obedience to one man's command.

This is what Hosea now teaches when he rebukes the tribe of Ephraim concerning this terror. For if Ephraim had been formidable through his own power, there would have been no basis for the Prophet's rebuke;

but as this was the peculiar gift of God, the Prophet justly says that the tribe of Ephraim was in great honor until they fell into superstition.