John Calvin Commentary Hosea 7:2

"And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now have their own doings beset them about; they are before my face." — Hosea 7:2 (ASV)

The Prophet shows here that the Israelites had advanced to the highest summit of all wickedness, because they thought that no account was ever to be given by them to God. From this arises the contempt of God; that is, when people imagine that he is, as it were, sleeping in heaven, and that he rests from every work. They dare not indeed deny God, and yet they take from him what especially belongs to his divinity, for they exclude him from the office of being a judge.

Therefore, people allow themselves so much liberty because they imagine that they have made a truce with God. Yes, they think that they can do anything with impurity, as if they had made a covenant with death and hell, as Isaiah says (Isaiah 28:15).

Of this foolishness, then, the Prophet here accuses the Israelites: They have not said, he says, in their heart, that I remember all their wickedness;

That is, “They so audaciously mock me, as though I were not the judge of the world. They do not consider that all things are in my sight, and that nothing is hidden from me. Since then they suppose me to be like a dead idol, they have no fear; indeed, they abandon themselves to every wickedness.”

He then adds, Now their wicked deeds have surrounded them, for they are in my sight; that is, “Though they promise impunity to themselves and flatter themselves in their hypocrisy, all their works are yet before me; and thus their deeds surround them.” That is, “They shall at last perceive that they are enveloped in their own sins, and that no escape will be open to them.”

We now understand the Prophet's point. For after complaining about the stupidity of the people, he now says that they flattered themselves to no avail, because God is not, in the meantime, blind.

So, though they think that a veil is drawn over their sins, they are nevertheless mistaken, for all their sins are in my sight. This they themselves shall at last find out by experience, because their sins will surround or besiege them.

Let us learn from this passage that we should fear nothing more than Satan so fascinating us that we think God rests idly in heaven. There is nothing that can stir us up more to repentance than when we recognize God in his own power, are persuaded that he is the judge of the world, and also when we walk as in his sight, and know that our sins cannot be forgotten, except when he buries them by pardon.

This then is what the Prophet teaches in the first part of the verse. Now, when we imagine that we have peace with God, and with death and hell, as Isaiah says in the place we have quoted, the Prophet teaches that God is still awake, and that his office cannot be taken from him, for he knows whatever happens in this world.

And this will eventually be made openly known when our sins shall surround us, as it is also said in Genesis 4, Sin will lie down at thy door.

For we may for a time imagine that we have many escapes or at least hiding-places, but God will eventually show that all this is in vain. For he will come upon us and has no need of forces obtained from various sources; we shall have enemies enough in our own vices, for we shall be besieged by them just as if God were to arm the whole world against us. Let us go on—