John Calvin Commentary Hosea 2:8

"For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal." — Hosea 2:8 (ASV)

God here amplifies the ingratitude of the people, because they did not understand from where such abundance of good things came. She understood not, He says, that I gave to her corn and wine. The superstitious sin twice, or in two ways: first, they ascribe to their idols what rightly belongs to God alone; and then they deprive God Himself of His own honor, for they do not understand that He is the only giver of all things, but think their labor lost if they were to worship the true God.

Hence the Prophet now complains of this ingratitude: She understood not that I gave to her corn and wine and oil. And this was an inexcusable stupidity in the Israelites, since they had been abundantly instructed that the abundance of all good things, and everything that supports human life, flows from God’s bounty.

Of this they had the clear testimony of Moses; and then the land of Canaan itself was a living representation of the Divine favor. It was then a prodigious madness in the people that, though taught by word and deed that God alone is the Giver of all things, they still did not consider this truth.

The Prophet, therefore, condemns this outrageous folly of the people, because neither experience nor the teaching of the law had any effect. She knew not, he says. Stress is to be laid on the pronoun "she," for the people ought to have been familiarly acquainted with God, since they had been brought up in His household, like a wife who is her husband’s companion. It was then inexcusable that the people should thus turn their minds and all their thoughts away from God.

She knew not then that I had given to her corn and wine and oil, that I had multiplied to her the silver, and also the gold she has prepared for Baal. The verb עשה means specifically, to make, but here it means to appropriate for a certain purpose. They have, therefore, prepared gold for Baal; when they ought to have dedicated to Me the first-fruits of all good things, in obedience to Me and to the honor of My name, they have appropriated to Baal whatever blessings I have bestowed on them.

We then see that in this verse two evils are condemned—that the people deprived God of His just honor, and that they transferred to their own idols what they ought to have given to God only. But he touched upon the last wickedness in the fifth verse, where he said in the person of the people, I will go after my lovers, who give my bread and my waters, my wool and my wine, etc. Here again he repeats, that they had prepared gold for Baal.

As to the word Baal, no doubt the superstitious included under this name all those whom they called inferior gods. No such madness had indeed possessed the Israelites that they forgot that there is but one Maker of heaven and earth. They therefore maintained the truth that there is some supreme God, but they added their patrons; and this, by common consent, was the practice of all nations.

They did not then think that God was altogether robbed of His own glory when they joined patrons or inferior gods with Him. They called them by a common name, Baalim, or, as it were, patrons. Baal of every kind was a patron. Some translate it as "husband."

But foolish men, I doubt not, have always had this superstitious notion: that inferior gods come nearer to humans and are, as it were, mediators between this world and the supreme God.

It is the same with the Papists of the present day. They have their Baalim; not that they regard their patrons as being in the place of God, but because they dread every approach to God and do not understand that Christ is the Mediator, they resort here and there to various Baalim to procure favor for themselves.

At the same time, whatever honor they show to stones, wood, bones of dead men, or to any of their own inventions, they call it the worship of God. Therefore, whatever is worshipped by the Papists is Baal; but they also have their patrons for their Baalim. We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet in this verse.

It now follows: Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its time, and my new wine in its stated time. Here, again, the Prophet shows that God was, by extreme necessity, compelled to take vengeance on an ungodly and irreclaimable people.

He makes known how great the stubbornness of the people was, and then adds, “What now remains, but to deprive those who have been so ungrateful to Me of all their blessings?”

It is, indeed, more than base for people to enjoy the gifts of God and to despise the Giver; indeed, to exalt His creatures to His place and to reduce, as it were, all His authority to nothing. This the superstitious do, for they thrust God from His pre-eminence and insult His glory.

Will God, in the meantime, throw away His blessings in such a way as to allow them to be profaned by the ungodly, and Himself to be mocked with impunity? We now see the Prophet's object, for God here shows that there was no other remedy but to deprive the Israelites of all His gifts. He had indeed enriched them, but they had abused all their abundance. It was therefore necessary to reduce them to extreme want, so that they might no longer pollute God’s gifts, which ought to be held sacred by us.

And He uses a very suitable word, for נצל natsal means properly, to pluck away, to set free. I will by force take away, He says, my wool and my flax. It seems, indeed, to denote an unjust possession, as when one takes away by force from the hand of a robber what he unjustly possesses, or as when anyone rescues wretched people from the power of a tyrant. So God now speaks, ‘I will pluck away My gifts from these men who basely and unjustly pollute them.’

And He adds, to cover her nakedness. ערוה, orue, properly, though not simply, means nakedness: it is the nakedness of the unseemly parts. Moses calls any indecorous part of the body ערוה, orue, and so it means what is unseemly. This word we ought carefully to notice, for God here shows that unless He strips idolaters bare, they will always remain obstinate.

How so? Because they use coverings for their baseness. While the ungodly enjoy their triumphs in the world, they regard them as veils drawn over them, so that nothing base or disgraceful can be seen in them. The same is the case with great kings and monarchs; they think that the eyes of all are dazzled by their splendor, and hence they are so audaciously dissolute.

They think their own filth is a fine fragrance: such is the arrogance of the world. It is even so with the superstitious; when God is indulgent to them, they think that they have coverings.

Therefore, when they abandon themselves to any kind of wickedness, they regard it as if it were a holy thing. How so? Because whatever obscene thing is in them is covered by prosperity.

When God observes such madness in people, can He do otherwise than pluck away His blessings, so that such pollution may not continually prevail? For it is an extremely gross abuse: when God’s blessings are so many images of His glory, and when His paternal goodness shines forth even towards the ungodly, the world converts them to a wholly contrary purpose.

They make them coverings for themselves, so that they may conceal their own baseness, and more freely sin and wage war against God Himself. Hence He says, “That they may no longer cover their baseness, I will pluck away whatever I have bestowed on them.”

When He says, I will take away the corn and wine in its time, and in its stated time, He alludes, I have no doubt, to the time of harvest and vintage, as if He said, “The harvest will come, the vintage will come. There has been great fruitfulness until now, but I will show that the earth and all its fruits are subject to My will.”

Therefore, though the Israelites are now full and have their storehouses well-furnished, they will know that I rule over the harvest and the vintage when the stated time comes.”

Now, the Spirit of God announced this punishment early, so that the Israelites, if reclaimable, might return to a right course. But as their blindness was so great that they despised all that had been said to them, no excuse remained for them.