John Calvin Commentary Hosea 7:13

"Woe unto them! for they have wandered from me; destruction unto them! for they have trespassed against me: though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me." — Hosea 7:13 (ASV)

Here the Prophet takes away from the Israelites the hope of pardon and declares that it was all over with them, for God had now resolved to destroy them. Because God everywhere declares himself to be ready and inclined to pardon, hypocrites hope that God will be favorable to them; and entertaining this vain confidence, they despise his threats and boldly rise up against him. Therefore, the Prophet here shows that God would in the future be inexorable to them because they had too long stubbornly abused his patience. Woe to them! he says, for they have withdrawn from me: desolation to them! for they have acted perfidiously towards me. There is then no reason, says the Prophet, for them to delude themselves in the future with vain confidence, as they have previously done; for this has been once for all determined by God—to inflict on them his extreme vengeance, for their defection deserves this.

He then adds, I will redeem them, and they have spoken lies against me. Those who render the first word in the future tense think that the Prophet asks a question: “Shall I redeem them? For they have spoken lies against me.” They consider it an indefinite mode of speaking: “Should I redeem them, faithless men; for what good would I accomplish by such kindness?” Others offer this interpretation: “Though I wished to redeem them, I found that this would not be beneficial or just, because they speak lies against me,” as though God did not express here what he had done, but what he had wished to do.

But the past tense is not unsuitable here, and we know how common and familiar the change of tenses was to the Hebrews. The meaning, then, will be: “I have redeemed them, and they have spoken lies against me”; that is, “I have often delivered them from death when they were in extreme peril, but they have not changed their disposition. Indeed, they have deprived me of the praise due for their deliverance, and they have lived no better after their deliverance. Since, then, I have until now conferred my benefits to no avail, nothing now remains but that I must destroy them.” This seems to me to be the Prophet’s meaning.

He then declares, in the first clause, that they hoped for mercy in vain from God, because their ultimate destruction was decreed. Then follows the reason for this: because they had foolishly and impiously abused the favor of God, since, having been redeemed by him, they still went on in their own wickedness and even acted perfidiously towards God, while still pretending to act differently.

Since, then, there was no change for the better, God now shows that he would no longer bestow his favor on such impious men. Now this passage teaches how intolerable our ingratitude is when, after having been redeemed by the Lord, we do not keep the faith pledged to him, which he requires from us. For God is our deliverer on this condition: that we are to be wholly devoted to him.

For he who has been redeemed ought not to live as if he had a right to himself and to his own will, but he ought to be wholly dependent on his Redeemer. If, then, we act perfidiously towards God in this way after having been delivered by his grace, we shall be guilty of such impiety and perfidiousness as deserve a twofold vengeance; and this is what the Prophet here teaches.

We indeed know how mercifully God had spared the people of Israel. After they had fallen away into superstitious worship and had also violated their faith with the descendants of David, the Lord still did not cease to show that people many favors, notwithstanding their unworthiness. We also know that under Jeroboam, prosperity had attended them beyond all human expectation. But they still hardened themselves more and more in their wickedness, so far were they from returning to the right way.