I have begun a program of reading through the Minor Prophets with Calvin's commentaries alongside - and last night in my devotional time in Hosea, I was struck by the implicit warning given in the opening verses: a warning fairly common to the pre-exilic minor prophets.
That is, Israel (the northen ten kingdoms) were warned sternly of their whoring after the nations - the world - and their pride in their own self-sufficiency.
Calvin notes the similarity of the presumptiousness of the Israelite tribes and that of the Roman church. The tribes of Israel had been taking the same tack as the Pharisees later did. "We are Jehovah's people" "God must by his promise save us". Yet, as they said this, they were far outside the bounds of righteousness. They were presuming, while at the same time abusing the grace God granted them, and disregarding his revealed will.
God seems here to meet the objections which we know hypocrites had in readiness, whenever the Prophets denounced destruction on them; for they accused God of being unfaithful if he did not save them. Arrogating to themselves the title of Church, they concluded that it would be impossible for them to perish for God would not be untrue in his promises. “Why! God has promised that his Church shall be for ever: we are his Church; then we are safe, for God cannot deny himself.” In what they took as granted they were deceived; for though they usurped the title of Church, they were yet alienated from God. We see that the Papists swell with this pride at this day. To excuse all their errors they set up against us this shield, “Christ promised to be with his own to the end of the world. Can the spouse desert his Church? Can the Son of God, who is the eternal Truth of the Father, fail in his faithfulness?” The Papists magnificently extol the faithfulness of Christ, that they may bind him to themselves: but at the same time, they consider not that they are covenant breakers; they consider not that they are manifestly the enemies of God; they consider not that they have divorced themselves from him.
He also gives us a poignant reminder to recall always that it is GOD who saves - and GOD who declares the righteousness of His people:
It afterwards follows, And I will save them by Jehovah their God. Salvation is here set in opposition to the destruction which the Prophet mentioned in the last verse. But Hosea shows that salvation depends not in the least either on arms or on any of the intervenients f5, as they say, of this world; but has its foundation only on God’s favour. I will save them, he says — why? because my favour will I show them. This connection ought to be carefully noticed. Where the Lord’s favour is, there is life. ‘Thou art our God, then we shall never perish,’ as it is written in the first chapter of Habakkuk. Hence the Prophet here connects salvation with God’s gratuitous favour; for we cannot continue safe, but as long as God is propitious to us. He has, on the other hand, declared that it would be all over with the Israelites as soon as God would take away from them his favour.
Finally, I found an interesting comment that Calvin makes about worship in his discussion of these verses:
We hence see how he condemns here all the worship which the Israelites then so highly valued. Why did he do so? Because it was not acceptable to God.And this passage deserves to be noticed, for we see how stupid men are in this respect. When once they are persuaded that they worship God, they are seized by some fascination of Satan so as to become delighted with all their own dotages, as we see to be the case at this day with the Papists, who are not only insane, but doubly frantic. If any one reproves them and says, that they worship not the true God, they are instantly on fire — “What! does not God accept our worship?” But the Prophet here shows by one word that Jehovah is not in any place, except where he is rightly worshipped according to the rule of his word.
Do we pay sufficient attention in our worship to what it is God desires?
Wonderful words from our elder brother Jean. More from Hosea and Jean Calvin, next time, DV.