John Calvin Commentary Hosea 6:10-11

"In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there whoredom is [found] in Ephraim, Israel is defiled. Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for thee, when I bring back the captivity of my people." — Hosea 6:10-11 (ASV)

Here God declares that He is the fit judge to take notice of the vices of Israel; and He does this so that He might remove the opportunity for vain excuses, which hypocrites often offer when they are reproved. Who indeed can today persuade the Papists that all their worship is a filthy abomination, a mere profanation?

We see how furiously they rise up as soon as anyone by a whisper dares to touch their superstitions. Why is this? Because they wish their own will to stand for reason. Why? Good intention, they say, is the judge; as if this good intention were, indeed, the queen who ought to rule in heaven and earth, and God were now excluded from all His rights.

This fury and this madness, even today, possess the Papists; and no wonder, for Satan drives men insane when he leads them to corrupt and degenerate forms of worship, and all hypocrites have been thus intoxicated from the beginning.

This then is the reason why the Prophet now says in the person of God, I have seen, or do see, infamy in the kingdom of Israel. God here by one word strikes down whatever men may set up for themselves, and shows that there remains no more defense for what He declares He does not approve, however much men may value and applaud it.

“What! You think this to be My worship; and in your imagination, this is most holy religion, this is the way of salvation, this is extraordinary sanctity. But I, on the contrary, declare that it is profanation, that it is depravity, that it is infamy. Go now,” He says, “take your follies elsewhere; with Me they are of no value.”

We now understand the meaning of the Prophet when he says, In the house of Israel have I seen infamy; and by the house of Israel, the Prophet means the whole kingdom of the ten tribes. Why is this? Because there is the fornication of Ephraim; that is, idolatry reigns there, which Jeroboam introduced, and which the other kings of Israel followed.

Thus we see that the Prophet spared neither the king, nor his counselors, nor the princes of the kingdom; and he also did not spare the priests. This courage is fitting for all God’s servants, so that they cast down every height that rises up against the word of the Lord; as it was said to Ezekiel:

Chide mountains and reprove hills (Ezekiel 6:2, 36:1).

The Prophet sets an example of this before us when he compares priests to robbers, and then compares royal temples to a brothel. Jeroboam had built a temple in which he thought that God would be worshipped in the best manner; but this, says the Prophet, is a brothel, this is filthy fornication.

Then he adds, Judah also has set a plantation for thee. So that I may finish the chapter, I will briefly notice this verse.

Interpreters translate it this way: “Also Judah, you have set for yourself a harvest.” But the verb, as is evident, is in the third person; it cannot then be translated otherwise than, ‘Also Judah has set.’ Those who translate it in the second person, “You have set for yourself a harvest,” derive this meaning: “You also Judah, whom I have chosen for myself, have set for yourself a harvest; that is, you have prepared a miserable harvest for yourself, for you sow ungodliness, whose fruit you will gather in the future.” But this is forced.

Now since the word קציר, kotsir, signifies in Hebrew not only “harvest,” but also “a plant,” it may properly be understood this way in this place: Also Judah, while I was returning the captivity of My people, did set for himself a plant; that is, he propagated his own ungodly acts. God indeed addresses the Israelites here and complains of Judah; for the Jews, we know, were retained by the Lord when the ten tribes separated.

This apostasy of the ten tribes did not cause religion to fail entirely among the whole people. The pure worship of God remained, at least in its outward form, at Jerusalem. The Lord then does not complain here of Judah without a cause.

He had said before, Judah shall be saved by his God; but now He says, Judah also has set for himself a plant; that is, “superstitions have been long and widely enough springing up among all Israel; they have spread through all the corners of the land. And now Judah also,” He says, “is planting his own shoots, for he draws the Israelites to himself.” There is therefore a new propagation, and this is done, While I am returning the captivity of My people; that is, “while I am seeking to restore the scattering of My people.”

In a word, God shows here that there was no part any longer sound. When one undertakes the cure of a diseased body, and when he sees at least some parts sound, he has some hope of applying a remedy; but when not even a finger remains sound, what can the physician do?

So also the Lord says in this place, “There was at least some hope of Judah, for some form of My worship remained there, and the purer teaching of the law continued. But now Judah propagates superstitions for Israel; observing that the whole land of Israel is full of superstitions, he takes shoots and slips from there, and corrupts the remaining portion of the land, which has until now remained sacred to Me.” We now perceive, as I think, the genuine meaning of the Prophet.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we are prone to every kind of wickedness, and are so easily led away to imitate it when there is any excuse for going astray and any opportunity is offered—O grant, that being strengthened by the help of Your Spirit, we may continue in purity of faith. May what we have learned concerning You, that You are a Spirit, so benefit us that we may worship You in spirit and with a sincere heart, and never turn aside after the corruptions of the world, nor think that we can deceive You. But may we so devote our souls and bodies to You, that our life may in every part of it testify that we are a pure and holy sacrifice to You in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.