John Calvin Commentary Hosea 8:6

"For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God; yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces." — Hosea 8:6 (ASV)

The beginning of this verse is not correctly explained, in my opinion, by those who connect the demonstrative pronoun הוא, eva, as if it had an interposed copulative; and this should be noted, for it gives great emphasis to the Prophet’s words. Even this is from Israel. But what does the Prophet mean?

He means that the calf was from Israel, as they had long before, at the beginning, formed a calf for themselves in the desert. But we do not yet clearly understand the Prophet's meaning, unless we perceive that there is an implied comparison here. For he accuses the Israelites of being the first founders of this superstition, and that they had not been, as it were, deceived by others; for they had not borrowed this corruption from the Gentiles, as had sometimes been the case; but it was, so to speak, an intrinsic invention.

From Israel, he says, it is; that is, “I find that you are now the second time the fabricators of this impious superstition. Could your fathers, when they forged a calf for themselves in the desert, make an excuse (as they did) and say that they were led by the faith of others?

Could they plead that this cause of offense was presented to them by the Gentiles, and that they were ensnared, as often happens when some draw others into error? By no means. So, just as your fathers, when no one tempted them to superstition, became the founders of this new superstition through their own inclination, and, as it were, through the instigation of the devil, so this calf is the second time from Israel. For you cannot otherwise account for its origin; you cannot transfer the fault to other nations. ‘Within, within,’ he says, ‘has this evil been generated.’ We now understand the Prophet's meaning: that this superstition was not derived from others, but that Israel, under the influence of no evil persuader, had devised this corruption for themselves, of their own accord, through which they had departed from the true and pure worship of God.

It is indeed true that oxen and calves were worshipped in Egypt, and the same might also be said of other nations; but rivalry did not influence the people of Israel. What then? It certainly cannot be denied that they had stimulated themselves to this impious denial of God.

The same argument can be made against the Papists of today; that is, that the filthy mass of superstitions, through which they have corrupted the entire worship of God, originated with themselves. If they object, saying that they have borrowed many rites from the heathens, this is indeed true. But was it the imitation of heathens that led them to these wicked inventions? By no means; rather, their own lust has led them astray. For, not being content with the simple word of God, they have devised for themselves strange and spurious modes of worship; and afterwards, additions were made according to the caprices of individuals. Thus it has happened that they are sunk in the deepest gulf.

From where, then, do the Papists have so many patrons, on whom they rely while despising Christ the Mediator? Simply because they have adopted them for themselves. From where also do they have so many ungodly ceremonies, by which they pervert the worship of God? Simply because they have fabricated them for themselves.

We now see then how grievous the accusation was, that the calf was even from Israel. “Therefore, there is no reason,” the Lord says, “for you to say that you have been deceived by bad examples, like those who are mixed with profane heathens and contract their vices, as contagion creeps in easily among people, for they are by nature prone to vice. There is no reason,” He says, “for anyone to make an objection of this kind.” Why? “Because the calf your fathers made for themselves in the desert was from Israel; and this calf also is from Israel, for it was not thrust upon you by others, but Jeroboam, your king, made it for you, and you willingly and applaudingly received it.”

The workman, he says, made it, and it is not God. Here the Prophet derides the stupidity of the people. There are many other similar passages, which occur everywhere, especially in the Prophets, in which God reprobates this madness of resorting to such absurd modes of worship. For what is more contrary to reason than for a man to prostrate himself before a dead piece of wood or before a stone, and to seek salvation from it?

The unbelieving indeed adopt their guises and say that they seek God in heaven and, believing that idols and images are representations of God, that they come to Him through them. But what they actually do is evident. These pretenses are then altogether vain, for their stupidity is openly seen when they bend their knees in this way before wood or stone.

Hence the Prophet here inveighs against this senseless stupidity, because a human had made the idol. “Can a mortal make a god? You certainly ascribe divinity to the calf; is this in the workman's power? A human has not bestowed life on himself and cannot for one moment preserve the life he has obtained at another's pleasure. How then can he make a god from wood or stone? What sort of madness is this?”

He then adds, It is not God, for in fragments shall be the calf of Samaria. The Prophet shows here from the event how there was no power or divinity in the calf, because it was to be reduced to fragments. The event then would eventually show how madly the Israelites played the fool when they formed a calf for themselves to be, as it were, the symbol of the divine presence. We now see what the Prophet means: for he enhances the sin of Israel, because they had not been enticed by others to depart from the pure and genuine worship of God, but they had been their own deceivers. This is the meaning.