John Calvin Commentary Hosea 3:1

"And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a woman beloved of [her] friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and love cakes of raisins." — Hosea 3:1 (ASV)

The substance of this chapter is that it was God’s purpose to keep the minds of the faithful in firm hope during the exile, lest, being overwhelmed with despair, they should completely lose heart.

The Prophet had previously spoken of God’s reconciliation with His people, and he magnificently extolled that favor when he said, ‘You shall be as in the valley of Achor; I will restore to you the abundance of all blessings; in a word, you shall be in all respects happy.’

But, in the meantime, the daily misery of the people continued. God had indeed determined to remove them into Babylon. They might, therefore, have despaired under that calamity, as though every hope of deliverance were completely taken from them.

Therefore, the Prophet now shows that God would restore the people to favor in such a way that He would not immediately erase every memory of His wrath, but His purpose was to continue, for a time, some measure of His severity.

We therefore see that this prediction occupies a middle place between the denunciation the Prophet had previously pronounced and the promise of pardon.

It was a dreadful thing that God should divorce His people and cast away the Israelites as illegitimate children; but a consolation was afterwards added.

But lest the Israelites should think that God would immediately, as on the first day, be so gracious to them as to visit them with no chastisement, it was the Prophet’s design expressly to correct this mistake, as though he said, ‘God will indeed receive you again, but in the meantime a chastisement is prepared for you, which by its intensity would break down your spirits, if this comfort did not ease you: namely, that God, though He punishes you for your sins, yet continues to provide for your salvation and to be, as it were, your husband.’

We now perceive the Prophet's intention. But I shall first go over the words, and then return to the subject.

Jehovah said to me, Go yet and love a woman. There is no doubt that God describes here, in a type or vision, the favor He promises to the Israelites; for those who think that the Prophet married a woman who had been a prostitute are too crude in their understanding.

It was then only a vision, as though God had set a picture before the eyes of the people, in which they might see their own conduct. And when He says, “yet,” He refers to the vision mentioned in the first chapter.

But He commands a woman to be loved before the Prophet took her to be the partner of his conjugal bed, which should be noticed; for God intends here to make a distinction between the people’s restoration and His hidden favor.

God then, before He restored the people from exile, loved them, as it were, in their widowhood. We now understand why the Prophet does not say, ‘Take yourself a wife,’ but, ‘love a woman.’

The meaning is this: God intimates that, though exile would be sad and bitter, the people, whom He treated with harshness and severity, were still dear to Him. Hence, Love a woman, who had been loved by a husband.

The word רע, ro, is here to be taken for a husband, as it is in the second chapter of Jeremiah , where it is said, ‘Perfidiously have the children of Israel dealt with me, as though a woman had departed from her husband, מרעה, meroe, or, ‘from her partner.’

And an aggravation of the crime is implied in this word: for women, when they prostitute themselves, often complain that they have done so because of excessive severity, because they were not treated with sufficient kindness by their husbands.

But when a husband behaves kindly towards his wife and performs his duty as a husband, there is then less excuse for a wife if she fixes her affections on others. Therefore, to magnify the sin of the people, this circumstance is stated: that the woman had been loved by her friend or partner, and yet this kindness of her husband had not preserved her mind in chastity.

He afterwards says, According to the love of Jehovah towards the children of Israel; that is, just as God loved the people of Israel, who yet did not cease to look to other gods.

This metaphor occurs often in Scripture: that is, when the verb פנה (“panah”), which in Hebrew means “to look to,” is used to express hope or desire, so that when people’s minds are intent on anything, or their affections fixed on it, they are said to look to that.

Since then the Israelites burned with insane passion for their superstitions, they are said to look to other gods.

It then follows, And they love flagons of grapes. The Prophet, I do not doubt, compares this rage to drunkenness.

He mentions flagons of grapes rather than of wine because idolaters are like drunkards, who sometimes so gorge themselves that they no longer have a taste for wine; indeed, the very smell of wine offends them and produces nausea from excessive drinking. But they try new methods by which they may regain their fondness for wine.

And such is the desire for novelty that prevails among the superstitious. At one time they pursue this, at another time that, and their minds are continually tossed back and forth, because they cannot rest in the only true God.

We now therefore perceive what this metaphor means, when the Prophet reproaches the Israelites because they loved flagons of grapes.

I now return to what the Prophet, or rather God, had in view. God here comforts the hearts of the faithful, so that they might surely conclude that they were loved, even when they were chastised.

It was indeed necessary that this distinction should have been well impressed upon the Israelites, so that in exile they might entertain hope, patiently bear God’s chastisement, and that this hope might mitigate the bitterness of sorrow.

God therefore says that though He does not show Himself as yet reconciled to them, but still appears severe, at the same time He is not without love.

And from this we learn how useful this doctrine is, and how widely it applies; for it affords a consolation that we all commonly need.

When God humbles us by adversities, when He shows us some signs of severity or wrath, we cannot help but instantly falter, if this thought did not occur to us: that God loves us, even when He is severe towards us, and that though He seems to cast us away, we are not yet altogether estranged, for He retains some affection even in the midst of His wrath.

So He is to us as a husband, though He does not admit us immediately into conjugal honor, nor restore us to our former rank. We now therefore see how the doctrine is to be applied to ourselves.

We must at the same time notice the reprehensible conduct of which I have spoken—namely, that though the woman was loved, yet she could not be preserved in chastity, and that she was loved, though an adulteress.

Here the most shameful ingratitude of the people is pointed out, and contrasted with it is God’s infinite mercy and goodness.

It was the height of wickedness for the people to forsake their God, when He had treated them with so much benevolence and kindness. But wonderful was the patience of God, who did not cease to love a people whom He had found to be so perverse that they could not be turned by any acts of kindness nor retained by any favors.

With regard to the flagons of grapes, we may observe that this strange disposition is always dominant in the superstitious: namely, that they wander here and there after their own inventions and have nothing settled in them.

Therefore, lest such charms deceive us, let us learn to cling firmly and constantly to the word of the Lord. Indeed, the Papists of this day boast of their antiquity when they try to create ill-will towards us, as though the religion we follow were new and recently invented.

But we see how modern their superstitions are, for a passion for them continually bubbles up, and they have nothing that remains constant. And it is no wonder, because the eternal truth of God is regarded by them as of no value.

If, then, we desire to restrain this depraved lust, which the Prophet condemns in the Israelites, let us adhere so firmly to the word of the Lord that no novelty may captivate us and lead us astray.