John Calvin Commentary Hosea 4:12

"My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, [departing] from under their God." — Hosea 4:12 (ASV)

The Prophet here calls the Israelites the people of God, not to honor them, but rather to increase their sin; for their treachery was the more heinous because, having been chosen, they had afterward forsaken their heavenly Father.

Hence My people: there is here an implied comparison between all other nations and the seed of Abraham, whom God had adopted. “This is, indeed! the people whom I intended to be sacred to myself, whom of all nations in the world I have taken to myself: they are my heritage. Now this people, who ought to be mine, consult their own wood, and their staff answers them!” From this we see that it was a grievous and severe denunciation when the Lord reminded them of the invaluable kindness with which he had favored the children of Abraham.

So today our guilt will be more grievous if we do not continue in the pure worship of God, since God has called us to himself and intended us to be his special flock.

The same charge that the Prophet brought against the Israelites may also be brought against the Papists. For as soon as infants are born among them, the Lord signs them with the sacred symbol of baptism; they are therefore in some sense (aliqua ex parte) the people of God. Yet we see, at the same time, how gross and abominable are the superstitions that prevail among them; indeed, none are more foolish than they. Even the Turks and the Saracens are wise when compared with them. How great, then, and how shameful is this baseness, that the Papists, who boast of being the people of God, should go astray after their own mad follies!

But the Prophet says the Israelites consulted their own wood, or inquired of wood. He no doubt accuses them here of having transferred the glory of the only true God to their own idols, or false gods. They consult, he says, their own wood, and the staff answers them. He seems, in the second clause, to allude to the blind: just as when a blind man consults his staff, so, he says, the Israelites asked counsel of their wood and staff.

Some think that superstitions practiced at that time are pointed out here. We know that augurs used a staff, and it is probable that diviners in the East also employed a staff, or something similar, in performing their incantations. Others explain these words allegorically, as though wood was false religion, and staff the ungodly prophets.

But I am inclined to hold to simplicity. It therefore seems more probable to me that the Israelites, as I have already stated, are here condemned for consulting wood or dead idols, instead of the only true God. This was the same as if a blind man were to ask counsel of his staff, though the staff is without any reason or sense.

A staff is indeed useful, but for a different purpose. And so the Prophet not only contemptuously, but also ironically, exposes to ridicule the folly of those who consult their gods of wood and stone; for to do so will avail them no more than if one had a staff for a counselor.

He then adds, for the spirit of fornication has deceived them. Here again the Prophet aggravates their guilt, because no ordinary blame was to be ascribed to the Israelites; for they were, he says, wholly given to fornication. The spirit, then, of fornication deceived them.

It was the same as if one inflamed with lust ran headlong into evil, as we see to be the case with brutish men when carried away by a blind and shameful passion. For then every distinction between right and wrong disappears from their eyes—no choice is made, no shame is felt.

Just as such heat of lust sometimes seizes men, so that they distinguish nothing, so the Prophet says, to shame the people more, that they were like those given to fornication, who no longer exercise any judgment and are restrained by no shame. The spirit, then, of fornication has deceived them. But as we often encounter this comparison, I will not dwell on it.

They have played the wanton, he says, that they may not obey the Lord. He does not say simply ‘from their God,’ but ‘from under’ מתחת, metachet, They have then played the wanton, that they might no more obey God, or continue under his government.

From this we may learn what our spiritual chastity is: it is when God rules us by his word, and when we do not go here and there and rashly follow our own superstitions. When we then abide under the government of our God, and look to him with fixed eyes, then we chastely preserve our faithfulness to him. But when we follow idols, we then play the wanton and depart from God.