John Calvin Commentary Hosea 8:7

"For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: he hath no standing grain; the blade shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up." — Hosea 8:7 (ASV)

The Prophet here shows by another figure how unprofitably the Israelites engaged in their perverted worship, and then how vainly they excused their superstitions. This reproof is also very necessary in the present day. For we see that hypocrites, though convicted a hundred times, will still not cease to clamor; in short, they cannot bear to be conquered. Even when their conscience reproves them, they will still dare to spew out their venom against God.

They will also dare to bring forward vain pretenses. Therefore, the Prophet says that they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. It is an appropriate metaphor, for they will receive a harvest suitable to their sowing. The seed is cast on the earth, and afterwards the harvest is gathered: They have sown the wind, he says, they shall then gather the whirlwind, or, the tempest. To sow the wind is nothing other than to put on an appearance to dazzle the eyes of the simple, and by craft and the guise of words to cover their own impiety. When one then casts his hand, he seems to throw seed on the earth, but he still sows the wind. So also hypocrites have their displays and arrange themselves so that they may appear entirely like the pious worshipers of God.

Thus, we see that the purpose of the Prophet’s metaphor, when he says that they sow the wind, is to show this: though they differ in no way from the true worshipers of God in outward appearance, they still sow nothing but wind. For when the Israelites offered their sacrifices in the temple, they no doubt conformed to the rule of the law, but at the same time, they fell short of obedience to God. There was no faith in their services: it was then wind. That is, they had nothing but a windy and an empty show, even though the outward aspect of their service differed in no way from the true and legitimate worship of God. They then sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. But we cannot finish today.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since the rule of your true and lawful worship is sufficiently known to us, and you continue to exhort us to persevere in our course, and to abide in that pure and simple worship which you have fully approved—O grant, that we may, in true obedience of faith, respond to you. And though we now see the whole world carried here and there, and all places full of dreadful examples of apostasy, and so much madness everywhere prevailing, that people become more and more hardened daily—O grant, that, being fortified by invincible faith against these many temptations, we may persevere in true religion, and never at any time turn aside from the teaching of your word, until we are at length gathered to Christ our King, under whom, as our head, you have promised that we will always be safe, and until we attain that happy life which is laid up for us in heaven, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We were not able in the last lecture to finish what the Prophet has said in the seventh verse; that is, that whatever hope the Israelites entertained would be deceptive and fruitless, for they imagined many deliverances arising from nothing. He had previously condemned their wandering and perverse, roundabout courses—now flying to Egypt, then to Assyria, to seek assistance—while at the same time overlooking and neglecting God. He therefore says now that they would have to gather fruit corresponding with what was sown: They had sown the wind, they shall reap, he says, the whirlwind. And by this figure, he signifies that their confidence was vain and that their counsels were frivolous.

He afterwards adds that there would be no stalk; and, pursuing the same similitude, he says, The bud shall yield no meal; if so be it yields, strangers shall swallow it up. The meaning is that the Israelites went astray in their counsels and had nothing real; it was the same as if one had sown the wind. Then follows the harvest of the whirlwind, for their seed would not spring up, and no grain would grow that would yield meal. But if their counsels attained any fruit, or if they reaped anything, strangers would devour it, for the Lord would at length cause their enemies to scatter whatever they thought they had attained.