John Calvin Commentary Hosea 4:9-10

"And it shall be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings. And they shall eat, and not have enough; they shall play the harlot, and shall not increase; because they have left off taking heed to Jehovah." — Hosea 4:9-10 (ASV)

The Prophet here again denounces a common punishment on both, as neither was free from guilt. As the people, he says, so shall be the priest. That is, "I will spare neither the one nor the other," the Lord says, "for the priest has abused the honor conferred on him. Though divinely appointed over the Church for this purpose—to preserve the people in piety and holy life—he has nevertheless broken through and violated every right principle. And then the people themselves wished to have such teachers, that is, those who were mute. I will therefore now inflict punishment on them all alike. As the people then, so shall the priest be."

Some go further and say that it means God would rob the priests of their honor, so that they would be no different from the people. This is indeed true, but then they think that the Prophet does not threaten others as well as the priests, which is not true. For though God, when He punishes the priests and the people for the contempt of His law, blots out the honor of the priesthood and so abolishes it as to produce an equality between the great and the despised, yet the Prophet declares here, no doubt, that God would become the vindicator of His law against other sinners as well as against the priests. This subject is broader than what they mean. The rest we must defer until tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since You have until now so kindly invited us to Yourself, and daily invite us, and also often interpose Your threatening to rouse our inattention, and since we have been inattentive to Your reproofs as well as to Your paternal kindness—O grant that we may not, to the last, proceed in this our wickedness and thus provoke the vengeance You here denounce on those past recovery. But grant that we may anticipate Your wrath by true repentance, and be humbled under Your hand, yes, by Your word, so that You may receive us into favor and nourish us in Your paternal bosom, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

One thing escaped me in yesterday’s lecture, which I shall now briefly touch upon.

It may be asked why the Prophet says that the priest was to be robbed of his honor, when that priest was neither a true nor a legitimate one. For, as we know, there was no temple among the Israelites in which God was rightly worshipped. Though it was customary for them to profess the name of the true God, we are aware that all their pretenses were vain. Since the Lord had chosen only one sanctuary at Jerusalem, hence it follows that all the priests among the people of Israel were false.

It could not then be that God had taken their honor from them. But it is nothing new for God to punish the ungodly by taking from them what they seem to possess.

The case is the same today concerning the Papacy. For those who boast of being clergy and priests are mere apes (merae larvae). However, since they retain the title, what the Prophet threatened to the false priests of his age may justly be said of them: that their shame will be made manifest, so that they will cease to boast of their dignity, by which they now deceive the simple and ignorant.

So now we understand the Prophet’s meaning. His meaning is the same as when he said before, I will draw you to the desert, and then the ephod shall cease, and the seraphim shall cease. There was, as we know, no ephod that the Lord approved, except for the one that the legitimate priest wore. But since there was rivalry between the Israelites and the Jews, and since those who had departed from the true and pure worship of God nevertheless boasted that they worshipped the God of Abraham, the Lord here declares that He would not allow them to lurk under such masks.

I now return to that passage of the Prophet in which he says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied, and again, They shall play the wanton and shall not increase; because Jehovah have they left off to attend to. The Prophet here again proclaims the judgment that was near for the Israelites.

And first, he says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied, in which he alludes to the last verse. For the priests gaped for gain, and their only care was to satisfy their appetites. Since then their cupidity was insatiable—which was also the reason they conceded sinful liberty to the people—he now says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied.

The Prophet further intimates by these words that people are not sustained by plenty or abundance of provisions, but rather by the blessing of God. For a person may devour much, yet the quantity, however large, may not satisfy him; we often find this to be the case with a voracious appetite. In such an instance, the staff of bread is broken—that is, the Lord takes away support from bread, so that much eating does not satisfy.

And this is the Prophet’s meaning when he says, They shall eat and shall not be satisfied. The priests thought it was a happy time for them when they gathered great booty from every quarter. God, on the contrary, declares that it would be empty and useless to them, for no satisfying effect would follow: however much they might greedily swallow, they would still not be satisfied.

He afterwards adds, They shall play the wanton and shall not increase. That is, "However much they might give free rein to promiscuous lusts, I will not yet allow them to propagate. They will be so far from increasing or generating offspring by lawful marriages that even if they were to indulge everywhere in illicit intercourse, they would still continue barren."

The Prophet here, in a word, testifies that the ungodly are deceived when they think that they can obtain their wishes by wicked and unlawful means, for the Lord will frustrate their desires.

The avaricious think, when they have much, that they are sufficiently protected against all want; and when penury presses on all others, they think themselves beyond the reach of danger. But the Lord derides this folly: Gather, gather great heaps; but I will blow on your riches, so that they may vanish, or at least yield you no advantage.

"So also strive to beget children; though one may marry ten wives, or play the wanton everywhere, he shall still remain childless." Thus we see that a just punishment is inflicted on profane people when they indulge their own lusts. They indeed promise themselves a happy outcome, but God, on the other hand, pronounces His curse upon them.

He then adds, They have left Jehovah to attend, that is, they ceased to attend or serve Him. Here the Prophet points out the source and the chief cause of all evils: that the Israelites had forsaken the true God and His worship.

Though they indeed retained the name of God and were accustomed, even boldly, to set up this plea against the Prophets—that they were the children of Abraham and the chosen of the supreme God—the Prophet yet says that they were apostates.

How so? Because whoever keeps faith with God also keeps himself under the guidance of His word and does not wander after his own inventions. But the Israelites indulged themselves in anything they pleased.

Since, then, it is certain that they had shaken off the yoke of the law, it is no wonder that the Prophet says that they had departed from the Lord. But we ought to notice the confirmation of this truth: that no one can continue to keep faith with God unless he observes His word and remains under its guidance.