John Calvin Commentary Hosea 5:14

"For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver." — Hosea 5:14 (ASV)

As I have said, the Prophet confirms this truth: that Israel turned in vain to false physicians when they left God. How so? Because the whole world, even if it were to favor us, still could not help us against God's will and His opposing power. But God here declares that He would be opposed to the Israelites, as if He said, “Provide human help as much as you please; but will the Assyrian be superior to Me in power?”

Can he hinder Me from pursuing you as I have determined?” Thus God shows that He would deal in a new and different manner with the Israelites and the Jews: “I will not,” He says, “be any longer like a moth and a worm; I will come like a lion to you, with an open mouth to devour you. Now let the Assyrian king come forth when I will thus go armed against you; can he put any hindrance in My way, so that I should not execute My vengeance as it seems good to Me?” We now, then, perceive the Prophet's design.

He had said that God would punish the Israelites and the Jews by consuming them by degrees, so that there might be more time for repentance. But he says that this would be useless, because they would not think that it was done seriously. Therefore, they would deceive themselves with vain fallacies.

What, then, would remain at last? Even this: “I will,” He says, “put on a new form and go to battle. I will be to you as a lion and a young lion; I will rage against you as a fierce wild beast. Your suffering will not now be from moths and worms; but you will have an open and dreadful contest with the lion and the young lion.

What then will the Assyrian king avail you?” And this passage teaches that when men attempt to oppose God's wrath with vain help, they only gain this: they provoke and inflame His wrath against themselves more and more. After God has first gnawed, He will at length devour; after He has pricked, He will deeply wound; after He has struck, He will wholly destroy.

We bring all this on ourselves by our perverse attempts when we try to find escapes for ourselves. Unless, then, we would willingly kindle God’s displeasure, so that He may appear as a lion and rage against us with the whole force of His wrath, let us take heed that we do not deceive ourselves with vain comforts.

He therefore says, I, I will take away, or, “tear,” or, “tear in pieces;” for שרף, shereph, properly means this, and it agrees better with the rest of the context. “I will then, as lions and young lions are accustomed to do, tear in pieces, limb from limb, the whole people.”

Then He says, I will go away as a lion, who, after he has enjoyed his prey, departs a conqueror with greater courage, not being put to flight, because he is moved by no fear.

So also the Prophet says, “Let the Assyrian king come; he will not compel Me to retreat, nor will he rescue the spoil from Me. And when I am satiated with your destruction, I will not then have any fear on account of the Assyrian king, that I should stealthily flee away, as foxes are accustomed to do. I will not contend craftily; but I will go forth openly; My violence will be sufficient to put him to flight. I will thus depart of My own accord, for your subsidies will cause Me no fear. I will take away, He says, and none shall rescue.”

We now comprehend the Prophet's whole meaning.