John Calvin Commentary Hosea 13:3

"Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney." — Hosea 13:3 (ASV)

The Prophet here employs four similes to show the condition of Israel. However much they flourished for a time and might be considered happy, their state would still be fading and evanescent. He says:

1. They shall be, he says, as the morning cloud: though they are loftily proud, the Lord will still shake off from them whatever power they may have.
2. They shall be as the dew that rises up in the morning—having nothing substantial in them.
3. They shall be as the chaff which is driven from the floor by a whirlwind.
4. They shall be, he says, as the smoke; for as the smoke produces thick darkness and, after having gone out of the chimney, disperses and disappears, so these proud people, however much they may have praised themselves, would not continue in a permanent condition.

From this we conclude that the Israelites were not so much like the dead, yet they still had some power remaining in them. For God would otherwise have threatened to no purpose that they should be made like a cloud, the dew, the chaff, and the smoke. However, they had already been largely consumed.

And God here denounces utter destruction on them, so that they might not think they had already suffered the final punishment, and so that they might not suppose they could gather new strength. For proud men entertain vain confidence, through which they put God’s judgment far from them. Therefore, lest they should delude themselves with such allurements, the Prophet here declares that their condition would be fading, one that would soon come to ruin.