John Calvin Commentary Hosea 9:5

"What will ye do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah?" — Hosea 9:5 (ASV)

The Prophet here alludes again to their exile and shows how deplorable the condition of the people would be when deprived of all their sacrifices.

It is indeed true that the Israelites became wholly rejected when they changed the place of the temple and when new and spurious rites were introduced by Jeroboam. From that time, no sacrifice pleased God, for they sacrificed to idols and demons and not to God, as it is elsewhere stated (Deuteronomy 32:17). Yet, because they had some kind of divine worship—as circumcision remained, and sacrifices were offered, as it were, by Moses’ command, and they boasted that they were the children of Abraham and lived in the holy land—they were satisfied with their condition.

But when in exile they saw no sign of God’s favour, when they were deprived of the temple, the altar, and all sacrifices, when on every side mere solitude and waste met their eyes, and when God thus showed that he was far removed from them, great sorrow must have entered their hearts. Therefore the Prophet says, What will you do in the solemn day?

And he expressly mentions solemn and festal days. “If the morning and the evening oblation, which was customarily made, will not be remembered, and if the other sacrifices will not come to your minds, what will you do when the festal days come? For the Lord will then show that he has nothing to do with you.” For the trumpets sounded on the festivals so that the people might come from the whole land into the temple; and it was, as it were, the voice of God sounding from heaven. But when the feast days were forgotten, when there were no holy assemblies, it was the same as if the Lord, by commanding silence, had shown that he no longer cared for the people.

So that the Israelites might not think that exile only was threatened them, the Prophet here shows that something worse was connected with it: namely, that the Lord would wholly forsake them, and that there would exist no sign of his presence, as though they were cut off from the Church.

What then will you do on the solemn day, on the day of Jehovah’s festivity? That is, “Do you think that something of an ordinary kind is declared against you when I speak of exile? The Lord will indeed take away the whole of your worship and will deprive you of all the evidences of his presence. What then will you do? But if a brutish stupor should so occupy your minds that this does not come to your thoughts daily, the solemn and festal days will at least constrain you to think how dreadful it is that you have nothing remaining among you which may offer a hope of God’s favour.” We now understand the meaning of the Prophet.

From this we learn what I have said before: that nothing worse can happen to us in this world than to be scattered without any order, when no outward sign appears by which the Lord gathers us to himself.

It would therefore be better for us to be deprived of food and drink, to go naked, and to finally perish from lack, than that the exercises of religion (exercita pietatis — exercises of religion), by which the Lord holds us, as it were, in his own bosom, should be taken away from us.

When, therefore, we are deprived of these aids, and God thus hides his face from us, and mournful desolation reveals dread to us on every side, it is an extreme calamity, a sign of the dreadful judgment of God.

Let us then learn, when our flesh is touched, when sterility or some other evil threatens us—let us learn to dread this deprivation still more, and to fear lest the Lord deprive us of our festal days; that is, take away all the aids of religion by which he holds us together in his house and shows us to be a part of his Church. This then, finally, ought to be noted: what remains we will consider in our next lecture.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since you draw us at this time to yourself by so many chastisements, while we are still insensible through the slothfulness and the indolence of our flesh—O grant, that Satan may not thus continually harden and deceive us; but that we, being finally awakened, may truly feel our evils, and not merely be affected by outward punishments, but rouse ourselves, and feel how severely we have in various ways offended you, so that we may return to you with real sorrow, and so detest ourselves, that we may seek every delight in you, until we finally offer to you a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice, by dedicating ourselves and all we have to you, in sincerity and truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.