John Calvin Commentary Hosea 7:10

"And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: yet they have not returned unto Jehovah their God, nor sought him, for all this." — Hosea 7:10 (ASV)

The Prophet now confirms his previous doctrine and speaks generally, that the pride of Israel shall bear testimony to him to his face, or shall humble him to his face. The Hebrew word ענה means “to testify,” and often also “to humble” or “to afflict,” as was stated in the fifth chapter. The Prophet's words are now the same, and both meanings are appropriate.

I do not, however, make much of this, for the Prophet's purpose is clear. What he means is that God had so openly chastised the Israelites that they must have perceived His hand, unless they were blind indeed; and that, being warned at the same time, they ought to have suppliantly humbled themselves.

Whether then we read, “to testify” or “to humble,” the meaning will be the same, and the Prophet’s purpose will appear to be the same. “The pride, then, of Israel will humble him to his face,” or, “the pride of Israel will testify to his face.” For the Prophet means that however fiercely the Israelites might rise up against God and be disrespectful to His prophets, and however perversely they might reject all teaching and also excuse their own sins, yet all this would be of no avail to them. This was because their own pride had so cast them down that the Lord regarded them as convicted, as much as if their crime had been proved by many witnesses and their mask had now been taken away. In short, there was no longer any doubt: this is what the Prophet means.

The pride, then, of Israel testifies, or, humbles him to his face. That is, though Israel had previously appeared inflexible against all admonitions and punishments, they were yet held as convicted. And, at the same time, they return not, he says, to their God, and seek Him not for all these things. We now perceive what I have said: that the previous complaint respecting the diabolical perverseness which so reigned in the people is here confirmed, so that their salvation was now past hope. And he says that they returned not to Jehovah their God. For they were constantly running after their idols, as we have seen before. Indeed, they were possessed with that inordinate zeal of which the Prophet speaks in the beginning of the chapter. But they did not return to Jehovah; they were wholly taken up with the multitude of their deities and, at the same time, had no regard for God.

And when he says, their God, he conveys a strong reprobation. For God had manifested Himself to them; indeed, He had made Himself plainly known to them by His law. That they then did not return to Him was not simply through ignorance or error, but through a diabolical madness, as if they wished of their own accord and deliberately to perish. God then calls Himself here the God of Israel, not for honor’s sake, but that He might all the more expose their ingratitude and underscore their faithlessness, because they had fallen away from Him and would not seek Him.

What he means, when he says, For all these things, is that every kind of remedy had been tried, and therefore that their disease was wholly incurable. When we can do nothing in one way, we often try another. Now God had not tried in only one way to bring Israel back to Himself, but He had tried all remedies. When no good resulted, what could be concluded, except that the people were lost and past all hope? This then is what the Prophet means here.