V. 1. Hear, O children of Israel, the word of the Lord: for the Lord hath caused to ring in the land.
At this point, the chapters are correctly differentiated, because the prophet begins a new sermon here, which is so suitable for our times that one could believe that he did not prophesy about his people, but about us. There are many things from which learned people take the indication 2) of future events, because
2) Erlanger: significationis instead of: significationes.
Both the extraordinary phenomena that are seen everywhere do not promise anything good, and the world's trades are gradually coming to the point that a certain disruption of all orders must finally follow. But indeed, the most certain signs of the coming misfortune are taken from the way of life, which is extremely corrupt and degenerated. And with this kind of proclamation, which is taken from life, come the
3) Erlanger: impsuditium instead of: impsnäentium.
The prophecies of the prophets agree. For who does not see what Hosea punished his people for? But since in our times the same vices are before our eyes, which are going on most violently, can we doubt that it will have a similar end?
Therefore, this sermon serves for repentance, so that the godly learn diligently to practice the fear of God for themselves and their families. For although Germany is facing an unfortunate doom, the Lord will protect and preserve those who live holy lives in fear and do not stain themselves with the widespread sins, like Daniel and his companions, so that they will feel the reward of godliness, just as the other sinners feel the deserved punishments.
It is a very emphatic preface which Hosea prefaces his prophecy, for he says that he brings the word of the Lord. Therefore, let no one doubt that what he threatens will surely follow. And it is a hard thing that he assures that the Lord has cause to rebuke the people. For who can stand in the judgment in which he is accused by the Lord? For in this court, as before a judge, we do not argue with words, but we bring against ourselves the testimony of our conscience, like a manuscript.
But how does the Lord complain or rebuke? He does not thunder down from heaven, nor does he send angels as messengers of wrath, but poor, despised and lowly people, whom the world despises and abhors as scum.
Therefore, the world commits a double sin here. For it not only surely sins, but also does not want to suffer its sins to be punished. It accuses the teachers of rebellion and interprets this as blasphemy when it hears that their sins will be punished. Therefore, the teachers are distressed on both sides: if they do their duty and accuse the world, the world is angry and furious; if they do not do the same, God is angry with them, as Ezekiel [Cap. 3, 18. 13, 18. 33, 8.] testifies. Therefore, the teachers must have great courage and punish the world freely.
Then it comes to the listeners that they have to
Do not despise the scolding or punishment of the teachers as the words of men, but accept them with a grateful heart and correct what they hear is being punished. For this punishment is inflicted so that we, reminded of our sins, may return to the right path, so that in time of calamity we may have God as our protector, while wrath will sweep the wicked away to destruction. But now let us hear the punishment.
For there is no faithfulness, no love, no word of God in the land.
The knowledge of God belongs to the first table. This, therefore, is the racecourse in which the godly should firmly set themselves to run, if they wish otherwise to do their duty and escape the wrath of God.
Jerome has his reasons why he believes that from the prophet the mercy is connected with the truth. But there is nothing to prevent "faithfulness" (veritatem) and "love" (misericordiam) from being taken for one and the same thing, that is, for a true love, and not for a feigned love, as Paul calls it in the Epistle to Timothy [1 Ep. 1, 5.] άγάπην ix χα&αρας χαρδίας,
"Love from a pure heart". For often we do good to others in the hope of greater benefit, often ambition makes us generous, often shame, but true love does not seek its own, looks only at God's command and the need of the neighbor. Such love, says the prophet, is nowhere to be found, therefore the punishment will no longer be absent.
Those who take "faithfulness" simply for reliability in words and deeds
The words "love" and "charity" are not wrong, but this too is included in "love," which the prophet calls "beneficence" (beneficentiam in the Vulgate).
But how did this evil come about in the world, that nothing is true, but everything is pretended, and nowhere are any signs of true love seen? Of course, it is because there is no knowledge of God among men, that is, because men do not respect the Word, because they have no godly teachers. Therefore, those who wish to heal this disease of the world must use the true and right remedy, the Word of God; that alone heals this disease. For the hearts that have been properly instructed about the will of God are not safe, but begin to fear God and call upon His name, and fight against sin and keep to the will of God.
But what a completely incurable plague this is! For how 1) many can you find in Germany, who are determined with all their might that their own should not come to the knowledge of God, since they oppose the word with such great zeal and force their subjects to idolatry. Therefore, we should not doubt that they are in for the same misfortune that the people of Israel experienced.
In this way the prophet connects the same things below in the sixth chapter, v. 6. "I delight in XXX, in love, and not in sacrifice, XXXXX XXXX, and in knowing
ness of God, and not in the burnt offering." And Micah says in the sixth chapter, v. 8: "It is told thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee, namely, to keep the word of God, and to love, and to be humble before thy God. Therefore, we should also remember that we must make an effort to do this if we want to escape God's wrath in any other way.
V. 2. But blasphemy, lying, murder, stealing and adultery have abounded, and bloodguilt comes one after another.
Compare this with our times, and you will say that one egg is not like another.
be similar as our life is to the life of the house of Israel.
The word means a curse, that is, blasphemies and terrifying imprecations, which children in our country learn almost earlier than they can speak. Lies in trade and commerce even have the praise of indicating great prudence. Murder and theft are, as it were, a peculiar ornament of the nobility. Adultery, according to our customs, is not even punishable.
In truth, therefore, as the prophet here so appropriately says, XXXX XXXXX XXXX, "one blood debt comes after another," that is, sins are heaped upon sins, and one sin supplants another. For this expression is known from the 51st Psalm, v. 16, that "blood debts" are not only called murderous deeds, but in general all sins that are worthy of death. But the prophet seems to be referring to the cruel murder of the holy prophets and to the persecution in the church. But what kind of fate will finally follow such a depraved life?
V. 3: Therefore the land will be miserable, and all the inhabitants will be destroyed; for the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea will be destroyed.
This is a frightening sermon, but experience teaches us that in this way the punishments of sins rage. The figurative expression in the word [stand miserably"), lament, is well known. For just as the field is said to laugh when everything is in bloom, so it is said to mourn when it is barren, spoiled by unfavorable weather. This misfortune is followed by another, that an external enemy breaks in and devastates everything. For this means the word s "it will go badly").
What he says of the animals of the field and of the birds under the sky, some explain by the figure of the hypallage, namely that the people themselves are to be taken away, which the birds under the sky and the animals of the field used to enjoy. But such an interpretation is not necessary. For we see that it so happens when the
The Lord's wrath comes when there is a great shortage of all things. For today there is not the same abundance of fish and birds as was remembered to have been in former years. If someone says that this is the punishment of sin, he will certainly not be mistaken. Therefore, I like to interpret the present passage in this way, that it indicates a lack and a theurality in all things, which was not so great in the former times, when the wrath of God was still at rest.
I am very surprised about Jerome. Because he holds exactly this opinion. For these are his words, which I have gladly put here. He says: "When the captivity of the ten tribes has come, after the people have been taken away, there will also be a lack of animals in the field and birds under the sky and fish in the sea, and even the dumb elements will feel the wrath of the Lord. Whoever does not believe that this has happened to the people of Israel, let him look at Illyria, let him look at Thrace, Macedonia and Pannonia, and all the land that extends from the Propontis and the Bosporus to the Julian Alps, and he will realize that there is a lack not only of men but also of all the animals that were previously nourished by the Creator for the use of men.
So far Jerome speaks of his times. But who does not see that he prophesied more correctly of our times, who see and feel that the devastation of these regions, which he names, was done by the Turk for the sake of our sins?
V. 4 But you must not rebuke or punish anyone, for your people are like those who rebuke the priests.
The way of speaking is known: XXXXXX XXX, the man shall not rebuke. For the Hebrews are wont to use the word "man" for the indefinite particle [man]. So far the prophet has enumerated the sins of his people. But that which he has mentioned must be impressed upon our hearts all the more carefully, because our present age reflects the image of those times. Therefore, if we do not by true repentance
avert the wrath of the Lord, the same punishment will befall Germany.
But now the prophet adds another sin, which seems to be lesser in appearance, but is by far the most serious. For the fact that one has sinned is not something so great as not wanting to suffer the punishment of sin and to excuse the sins. For where one lives in such a way that the hearts have an abhorrence of the medicine, the punishment can no longer fail to come. Therefore, the fact that the prophet says: one must not rebuke, no one must punish, does not mean that one should not punish the vices, but indicates that the punishment is futile, that it is not allowed or tolerated by the people.
This sin, too, is going on enormously in our time. For look at the church, and you will see that everywhere the teachers are hated, because they, as the orientation of their office demands, quite freely punish sins. And especially those who are in a magisterial office have exceedingly tender ears. For when those who are drunkards hear that drunkenness is being punished, they think they are being hurt, and that they are being targeted; those who are adulterers, miserly, unjust people, take it as an insult when these vices are punished.
But in this way God is even more provoked to anger, for these sins should either have been refrained from and corrected, or one should have suffered their frank punishment. For it is not man but God who reproves and confronts the sinner, as the prophet said in the beginning of the preface [v. 1], and here he uses the same word ["reprove"] But when God punishes, we must not hate Him, but worship Him, obey Him and follow Him. Those who do not do this will hear later what punishment awaits them.
But with much greater displeasure our adversaries, who do not have the Word, receive our punishment. For when they hear that their idolatrous worship is being punished, they also want to silence the teachers with the sword. Well known are also the examples of the old prophets, of the
Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and in the New Testament, the history of Christ and the apostles sufficiently testifies to the agitation with which the synagogue received the just punishments. In this way, Hosea shows in this passage that godly teachers will not lack dangers when they carry out their ministry, because the world does not want to suffer the punishment.
That he adds: "Your people are like those who reproach the priests" is a peculiar magnification of sin. For in the previous sentence he showed that the people are of such a nature that they do not want to be punished by anyone. Here he adds that when they are punished by the priest, they begin to argue with him and confront him. But this means to turn everything around. For the people should hear, but the priest should speak and teach. But the teaching includes the punishment of the things that are evil. But these they will not suffer. Therefore, you can find [nd everywhere, that is, such people who, if they deserve to be punished by the teachers because of their sins, even punish the teachers and quarrel with them. But how dangerous it is when someone in a disease of the body quarrels with the doctor and does not want to obey him! But it is much more dangerous when the word is thrown away and the discipline is shaken off. For then what is left to heal the sickness of the soul?
V. 5 Therefore you shall fall by day, and the prophet shall fall by night beside you; so I will put your mother to death.
This is the punishment that is held against sinners who despise the word of God. As it happens nowadays, when we exhort the adversaries to the right religion and threaten that if they continue in their idolatry, they will be attacked by misfortunes of all kinds, but they not only do not care about these threats and despise them, but also persuade their own that these punishments will be inflicted on them because the religion of the pope is not defended more fiercely, so it happened exactly in the kingdom of Israel. Since the right prophets were sent to them, which they had to
The false prophets, who were supposed to admonish the right worship and punish idolatry, opposed them and strengthened their own in idolatry.
But the Lord threatens both the people and the prophets at this point that it will happen that they fall. And the fact that he says of the prophets that they will fall in the night indicates in a figurative way a very serious circumstance, namely that when misfortune will seize them, they will also be plagued by the thorns of an evil conscience, that they have brought the people into such great misery only for the sake of their belly.
V. 6. my fullness is gone, because it will not learn. 1)
This is the most wicked thing, when God sends His word, and the world refuses to accept it, and rather keeps its, usual idolatry. In Hebrew, this saying is extraordinarily well rounded and delicate: XXXXX XXXX XXX XXXX, my people are devastated without
Knowledge (scientia). For the word scientia, as stated above [v. 1], is taken for knowledge of God. Since this can only be obtained from the word of God, I have retained the term "word", although the prophet does not say that they completely lacked the word, but because, although they had the word, they did not want to accept it. A similar saying is in Solomon [Prov. 29:18.], "When the prophecy is out, the people become wild and desolate." And Amos also teaches the same, since he threatens [Cap. 8, 11.] a hunger, not for bread. Therefore, princes and the secular regiment should kiss the gift of the word, for if it is either lost or disregarded, certain desolation follows,
For thou rejectest the word of God, therefore will I also forbid thee, that thou be not my priest. You forget the law of your God, therefore I will also forget your other.
1) Vulgate: Oontleuit populus rusus, so quoä non tiuduerit sei kntiaru. Luther rendered the same as follows: ?ox "n1n8 rnen8 psrit, qnia 68t sine verbo. Both versions are referred to in the following interpretation.
This is the other part of the complaint, in which he actually complains about the priests. For the most noble office of the priests is to teach the church, and not only to establish the right services, but also to cut off the aversions, and to exhort the people to a holy life. But they do nothing less than that, says Hosea. Therefore I will also destroy them, and the ministry in which they are shall not save them.
But this passage is worth paying attention to. For not only the Jews protected themselves with the dignity of the office, as the examples of the prophets show, whom the priests, trusting in their office, opposed, as if the law could not get away from the priest, nor the counsel from the wise man, nor the word from the prophets. But the same thing is done today by the pope, the cardinals and the bishops, for they claim the name of the church for the sake of the office that must be necessary in the church, and with this they cover, as it were with a cloak, everything that has been brought into the church by them in ungodly teachings and services, as if in fact those who are in office could not err, or the church were bound to a certain order, and not rather to the word.
It is true that the ministry of preaching is only in the church, but even the ministry of preaching has its definite limits within which it must keep. It does not give the power to establish new services, it does not release from obedience to the Word, it does not excuse sins, it does not change what Christ has given to the church and what he has instituted, but, as Christ says of the Holy Spirit [John 15:26 ff], "He will testify of me, and you also will testify," those who are in the preaching office must keep this testimony and nowhere deviate from it. But if they deviate, they lose the preaching ministry, that is, their listeners are forced by God's commandment not to obey them, as Christ says [Matth. 7, 15.]: "Beware of false prophets."
And of the priesthood of the Jews it is known that the succession in the same H of
1) Instead of Sam in the editions it would be better to read ejus. After that we have translated.
God commanded, and a certain place was appointed for their worship. This is certainly not the case in the New Testament, for only Christ has and exercises the name and office of a priest. And yet the priesthood of the ancient people, which God had ordained, was bound to the Word. Therefore, those who deviated from the Word erred, as the passage in Ezekiel says about the right priesthood of Judah: "There shall be no more law with the priests, nor counsel with the ancients", Ezek. 7, 26. And Hosea says here clearly: "For you reject the Word of God, therefore I will also reject you, that you shall not be My priest. You forget the law of your God, therefore I will also forget your children," that is, I will reject the succession to the priesthood.
If this, I say, happened to the ancient priesthood, whose succession was commanded by God, what then do the pope, the cardinals and the bishops hold against us their titles and 2) the preaching office? First of all, let them prove to us that they hold fast the word, that they teach nothing contrary to what was instituted by Christ, that they have changed nothing of what Christ commanded and ordered, and let us acknowledge that their preaching ministry is one that all should obey, according to the saying [Luc. 10, 16]: "He who hears you hears me"; likewise [Joh. 15, 26. 27.]: "The Holy Spirit will testify of me, and you also will testify."
But since they can be convicted that they have brought such things into the church, which Christ has forbidden, as there is the commandment of the marriageless state, for Christ [Matth. 19, 12.The pope generally forbids all ministers of the church to marry; likewise, that they have changed things instituted and commanded by Christ, such as the use of the whole sacrament; likewise, that they have instituted new doctrines and new services of which the first church knew nothing, such as masses for the living and the dead, the invocation of the saints, intercessions for the dead, and the like: so we say with Hosea to the church
2) Erlanger: at instead of: 6t.
of the Pabst: You have rejected the Word, therefore you are not a priest of God, but God has also rejected you.
And with us, the reputation of the popes or bishops, after they have departed from the word, is no more valid than that of any private person, because they do not have such a succession (successionem), which could last without the word, but the preaching office is bound to the word. Whoever does not follow this, whoever changes anything about it, whoever adds anything to it, whether he be a priest or a bishop, let him be accursed, and not only not the head, but not even a member of the true church, according to the saying of Paul [Gal. 1:8]: "If anyone preaches the gospel otherwise, let him be accursed," even if an angel from heaven should do so.
V. 7. the more they sin against me, the more I will disgrace their honor.
The word XXXX, according to their quantity, is ambiguous, for it can refer either to the increase of persons, or to that of things, or to the blessing that the priests stood in great honor and were enriched by God with goods of every kind, but after they had misused these gifts for avarice and sins, the Lord would punish them, not only by taking away these things, but also by showering them with various evils.
In this way Jeremiah complains about all the people [Jer. 2:7], "I brought you into a good land to eat its fruit and goods. And when ye came in, ye polluted my land."
But here the prophet uses the sublime word XXXX ["honor"], so that it may be seen that he is speaking only of the most distinguished part of the people, that is, of the priests whom God wanted to be in the land to teach the people about God and worship, to petition God for the people, and also to perform the sacrifices for the people. All this is very noble, but because they depart from the word, and do not do that which is their office: so he says: I will take this ornament, that is, the office itself, from them,
and fill them with shame, so that they will see that their worship is useless and does not please me.
V. 8. They devour the sin offerings of my people and are eager for their sins.
The word "sin," XXXX, is used not merely for guilt, but also for the atonement of guilt, or sacrifice, as Paul, following this Hebrew idiom, also says [2 Cor. 5:21], "Let Christ be made sin for us," that is, the sacrificial lamb or sacrifice for sins. In this sense it is also taken in this passage. In the second part of our saying there is another way of speaking, they lifted up their souls. Although some explain it differently, it seems to be interpreted most correctly of the great desire with which someone eagerly desires something.
But what a new thing is revealed here! Was it sin to eat of the sacrifices and of the altar? Why then were those who were not priests so seriously forbidden to eat of the sacrifices? Why does Malachi [Cap. 1, 8.] threaten so severely those who offer lean and defective sacrificial animals? But this is not the sin which the prophet here so earnestly condemns; he has to do with something greater and more important, as the following words indicate, namely, that the priests, in order to have the richer profit, provoked the people to the Mosaic sacrifices, but taught nothing of the true sacrifice of the Son of God. But before we indicate the meaning, the nature of the sacrifices of the Old Testament must be explained in a few words.
The people of the Law had their services, which were instituted for a certain period of time, so that they would have an opportunity to demonstrate their obedience to God (for they were commanded by God), and at the same time so that they would be distinguished from other peoples who used such services, which were either devised by themselves or adopted from elsewhere without any commandment from God. Moreover, the sacrifices of the ancient people were also images that were to remind the people of the right and eternal sacrifice that was to be offered through the Son of God. But even though among
These sacrifices were said to be sacrifices for sin, but in general all sacrifices were considered a worship service, and according to the law the priests were allowed to eat of what was sacrificed, as is clear from Moses.
But these services did not have the promise of the forgiveness of sins before God. For for this purpose another sacrificial lamb was appointed, the Son of God, as John therefore calls Him [John 1:29] "God's Lamb," that is, appointed by God to become the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Therefore, in this passage he does not condemn that the priests ate of the sacrifices, but he condemns the doctrine that they taught that by these legal sacrifices forgiveness of sins and righteousness were obtained. For since the people were corrupted by this delusion, they sacrificed all the more abundantly.
We have also experienced this in the papacy, because the delusion of merit and righteousness opened all the treasures of the rich. Now that it is taught that forgiveness of sins and salvation can only be obtained through faith in Christ, but that one must do good works as an obedience owed to God, there is no one who wants to help the church, the ministers of the Word and the poor. Therefore, a twofold sin occurs here: the first and most serious is the falsification of pure doctrine, the other is avarice, which causes the doctrine to be falsified.
Hence the opinion that the priests, for the sake of their profit, taught the people that sins would be taken away through sacrifices, as today the papists teach that one must attain righteousness through masses and alms. From this arose an exceedingly rich profit. And this is called "devouring the sin offerings of the people and being eager for their sins", because the sins gave the occasion to offer many sacrifices.
Thus, under the papacy, since it was believed that a murder would be atoned for by undertaking a pilgrimage to Rome or Compostella, it was extremely pleasing to the papists if as many murders as possible were committed. Since it was believed that the most serious sins would be expiated by indulgences, this was an extremely rich gift.
It was profitable for the papists if there were as many great sinners as possible. Yes, what is also shameful to say, it was profitable for the bishops that the priests lived in the most shameful way, because from the concubines [of the priests] they had a very large income. But what does the prophet say about his priests?
V. 9 Therefore it shall be to the people as it is to the priest; for I will punish their doings and repay them according to their deserts.
How exactly everything fits our times! The papists boast of the peace and prosperity of former times, and attribute it to their worship and idolatry. But if you want to know the true cause of this prosperity, it is none other than that the Lord did not afflict their sins and their ways in those days. He kept his eyes shut, as it were, and was like one who does not see, but he will not slumber nor sleep forever. But now he opens his eyes and repays the idolaters, just as he threatens Israel.
V. 10: That they may eat, and not be satisfied, and commit fornication, and shall not prosper: because they have forsaken the Lord, and have no respect unto him.
That is, they will be overwhelmed with misfortune of all kinds. The advantages of the former times will cease and fornication will no longer be successful. The papists praise the masses, the public supplications made in honor of the saints, and do not yet abandon this fornication. They still insist on these services in public dangers, but, as the prophet says, XXXXX XXX XXXX, they fornicate, but it does not go well with them, they do not obtain what they want. They are sunk deeper into dangers and misfortunes day by day, as experience shows. If they would stop idolatry and pay attention to the Lord, that is, if they would accept the pure doctrine and stop idolatrous worship, they would be happier. But they do not believe this, therefore they will perish.
V. 11. Fornication, wine and must make mad.
So far, the prophet has mentioned the sins in general, both of the people and of the people.
the priest or teacher, and also spoke of the punishments. Now he preaches a special sermon about fornication, that is, about idolatry, because the prophet has this before others as something special, that he attacks idolatry extremely vehemently as the head of sin. For as good fruit follows from faith, which is a good tree, so sins of all kinds follow from false trust, which is idolatry.
It is not uncommon for this saying to be applied to carnal fornication, and this view is not inconsistent. For the examples teach that those who are entangled in this vice do not consider anything, but, as if they were senseless, throw themselves wherever their evil-consulting unchastity drives them. And the similarity, both of the attitudes and the outcome, moved the prophet to transfer fornication to the pursuit of idolatry. For everything is the same on both sides, except that spiritual fornication is more serious and in innumerable ways more dangerous, for hearts that are thus possessed and infected cannot easily be cured. For it is thought to be spirituality [Col. 2, 23.] and the highest worship of God. In physical fornication, on the other hand, there is an obvious shamefulness that can neither be excused nor defended before men, nor before the conscience. Then people cease to sin after they are afflicted with the damage that shameful fornication brings.
Therefore we see in the history of the Gospel that the Pharisees, the great fornicators, that is, the idolaters who were puffed up by the delusion of their own righteousness, are quite incorrigible, and Christ freely reproaches them [Matt. 21:31, 1 that fornicators and publicans may enter the kingdom of heaven rather than they.
It is obvious, however, that this saying was in general use and was used as a proverb: "Fornication, wine and must make mad", because these two vices, fornication and drunkenness, occupy the mind of man in such a way that he cannot think, speak or do anything that would be worthy of him. Therefore, the boy Cyrus aptly says in Xenophon that poison is added to wine.
because he saw that the drunkards waver in mind as well as in body. This, it seems, is what the comic poet [Terence] wanted to express when he has a hulking young man say: After I have risen, neither my feet nor my mind will do their duty. And the saying of Archilochus about impure love is well known:
ερως
πολλην χατ άχλόν όμμάτων εχευεν χλέψας ίχ στη&έων άπαλάς φρέζας.
[Love showers the eyes with deep darkness, stealing the lovely insight from the heart]. And this was the cause why the poets portrayed love as blind. For since it is in truth blind, no one is understanding in love. But in a far more dangerous way the heart is moved after 1) it has departed from the trust that must be placed in God. This fornication is the most harmful, and "makes mad", as the prophet says. For if one loses the word, one loses the knowledge of God. And not only this, but the hearts are filled with hatred against God and the Word, and all diligence is spent in defending idolatry. But what counsel, what outcome follows this ungodliness, is not hidden; known are the dangers into which a shameful love plunges people; known are the countless evils that drunkenness brings with it. But all this surpasses spiritual fornication, which is followed both by extreme dangers and certain destruction of the soul.
Against fornication there are very serious sermons in Paul and Solomon, and all the histories, both sacred and secular, are full of frightening examples by which God shows how much He hates fornication.
Drunkenness is also detestable in many respects, which Christ also seeks to make detestable to us by the name that it weighs down the hearts, as the prophet also preaches in this passage. He says [Luc. 21, 34.], "Beware lest your hearts be burdened with eating and drinking." For it ent-
1) Erlanger: xost^as instead of:
a twofold evil springs from it. We are forced by God's command to work, and to work in a certain way. The work, however, requires diligence and a good reputation. But this cannot be where the hearts are weighed down by wine. But the higher the station in which you see yourself placed by God, the more carefully you must guard against drunkenness, which does not allow anything to be done properly.
The other evil is that hearts weighed down by wine are quite unskilled in speaking and praying. Therefore they are, as it were, deprived of the protection of the angels who are around those who fear the Lord; they are exposed to the tyranny of Satan, and, as Christ says [Luc. 21:35], are assailed by dangers before they mean it. If this be rightly considered, it will move godly hearts to beware of drunkenness. And Paul says with a serious word [sEph. 5, 18]: "Do not get drunk with wine, from which follows a disorderly life," that is, those who give themselves over to drunkenness degenerate and become wild and get into a dissolute life in general. Thus Seneca says finely: "The vices that one has adopted through wine continue even without wine. But let us return to the prophet, who will now show how fornication takes away the mind or makes it mad.
V. 12. My people shall ask his wood, and his staff shall preach unto him.
The Hebrews use the word like the Greeks the word έρωταν and the Latins the word rogare for ask or request. And it seems most fitting in this place to take it as a request, so that the sense would be: they call upon the wood, from the wood they ask for help in dangers, as also 1) the pope has introduced the invocation of the images in the church. For it was believed that the images of the saints would bring greater salvation to those who invoked them in certain places. But what can be more foolish, what can be more contrary to common sense, than that one should seek help from
1) Erlanger: HnoHuarn instead of: Huoyus.
than to believe that the wood understands what you move in your heart and say with your tongue?
Therefore, Isaiah treats this nonsense of men in a long sermon, Cap. 44, 2) 15-17 . "The master," he says, "takes of the firewood, whereof one takes to warm himself, and which one kindles, and bakes bread therewith. There he makes a god of it and worships it, he makes an idol of it and kneels down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire, and over the other half he eats meat, he roasts a roast, and satiates himself, and warms himself also, saying, Hoja, I am warmed, I see my delight in the fire. But the rest he makes his god, that it may be his idol, before which he kneels, and falls down, and prays, saying, Save me, for thou art my God." This is a rich interpretation of what Hosea says they ask the wood.
What follows in Isaiah [Cap. 44, 18-20.] explains what Hosea says that fornication makes mad: "They know nothing, and understand nothing; their eyes are blinded, that they cannot see, and their hearts cannot perceive. For such a man entereth not into his heart; no understanding nor wit is in him to say: I have burned half of this wood with fire, and have baked bread on the coals, and roasted meat, how then should I make the rest an idol, and why should I kneel to a log? Therefore the same wood gives ashes, and inclines the deceived heart toward it, since it cannot save the soul. And yet a man does not realize that what his right hand is doing is a lie" etc. I have preferred to reproduce the meaning rather than the words, which an understanding reader will not blame.
And this is also the reason why everywhere in Scripture the use of images is so strongly condemned, and why we also admonish that annoying images should not be tolerated in the churches. For though this makes no impression on those who are instructed in the Word, yet it should have been prevented for the sake of the unintelligent, for when the cause of offense is removed,
2) In the editions: oax. 40.
there is less danger. And one should not look only at what people do; this is the workshop of the devil, who does not cease to destroy the churches as long as the occasion for such sins exists publicly. And with us the use of the images can be defended all the less, because most of them are lying, and, as the prophet says here, are nothing but wood. For what are the image pillars of George and Margaretha but inventions of the Greeks, Perseus and Andromeda? The right images, however, can have some use, namely, that they remind us of history; but since these are also misused for idolatry, they should be discarded, as we have explained more extensively in the interpretation of Micah.
For the spirit of fornication seduces them to commit fornication against their God.
This statement is to be particularly noted for the sake of contrast. For just as Zechariah calls the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of grace" [Zech. 12, 10.For just as Zechariah calls the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of grace" [Zech. 12:10], who testifies of Christ and makes known to us the kind will of God, that He will not condemn those who accept Christ for their sins, so Hosea calls the evil spirit XXXXX XXX [the spirit of fornication], who takes away the right thoughts of God from the hearts, and either falsifies the Word or suppresses it altogether, and fills the hearts with trust in creatures, which is true idolatry. For not only the worship of images is to be considered idolatry, but also the trust in one's own righteousness, works and merits, in the wealth and power of men. And this is as the most common, so also the most harmful idolatry, as Paul calls avarice an idolatry. How ungodly do you think it is to trust in these things and to abandon trust in the eternal and almighty God?
V. 13. Up on the mountains they sacrifice, and on the hills they burn incense, under the oaks and limes and beeches, for they have fine shade.
1) Erlanger: Huoä instead of: tzuam.
This is another kind of idolatry. For although these sacrifices were done in honor of the true God, the fault was that they were done in a place that God had not indicated nor commanded them. Therefore, there was disobedience involved in these services, for God had appointed a certain place for the outward services, namely, in Jerusalem or in the Temple, but the Kingdom of Israel sacrificed in other places. Therefore, it must be noted that these services were punished because they were connected with disobedience, and were undertaken not according to the precepts of the Word, but according to the counsel of individuals. It is often said, however, that these are not services which are undertaken without the Word of God, according to the saying of Christ [Matt. 15:9]: "In vain do they serve me with the commandments of men." What follows now shows the punishments of idolatry.
V. 13. 14. Therefore your daughters also shall become harlots, and your brides adulteresses. Neither will I prevent your daughters and your brides from being defiled and becoming harlots, because you worship with harlots and sacrifice with harlots. For the foolish people want to be beaten.
Truly, a severe punishment of idolatry, which also extends to the descendants. For all this is figuratively spoken. The Greeks say that maids follow the manners of their mistresses, and experience teaches that children imitate the shameful life of their parents. So it will also happen here, says the prophet, the idolatrous parents will also have idolatrous children.
To this punishment he adds a far more severe one, that he says it will happen that the Lord will not visit this fornication, that is, that he will allow them to be guided by their will and will not defend the erring people by punishments. For chastisement indicates, as we said above [Cap. 2, 7.], that God cares for us, that God is concerned that He keep us, that He thus keeps us from sinning. But when God leaves people to themselves, that is only the most severe wrath. Therefore
1196 D. XXIV, 300-303. interpretation of Hosea (3.), cap. 4, 13-15. W. VI, I7SS-I7S8. 1197
The word "I will not resist" (visitabo in the Vulgate) is here actually taken for the fact that the Lord will not bring the erring people back on the right path by His chastisement, but that they will suffer to fall from one sin into another, as Paul preaches in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans [v. 19] about the Gentiles who have departed from the knowledge of God, which nature has given them.
But the prophet undoubtedly looks at the descendants of the synagogue who would reject the gospel. For now this wretched people is in error, and in this error it will surely continue. This saying should wake us up to the fact that we should diligently take care of the word of God. For what do those who do not respect God's word do but leave godless descendants behind them?
But what is the end of the wicked, that is, of those who either do not have the word or do not respect the word, is indicated by the prophet when he closes this sermon and says: "The foolish people," that is, those who do not want to be instructed by the word and do not respect the word, "will be defeated," as he also said above [v. 6]: "My people have perished because they did not want to learn. For what else should God do with those to whom he gives his word, and yet who will not be instructed by the word, but that he gives them over in a hardened mind, that is, that he leaves them to their counsels until they perish? This is the end of idolatry and godlessness.
As far as grammar is concerned, the word XXXX, in this place, means: to be set apart or separated after leaving the church or the assembly of the people of God for a special service.
V.15. Will you, O Israel, go to whoredom, lest Judah also be guilty? Go not to Gilgal, and come not up to Bethaven, and swear not, As the Lord liveth.
To the long punishment the prophet adds an exhortation to the kingdom of Judah, lest, after the example of Israel, it also be deprived of the true
The first church was so corrupted by the example of the children of Cain that only eight souls were finally saved from this contagious plague. The first church was so corrupted by the example of the children of Cain that finally only eight souls were saved from this contagious plague. The idolatry of the Moabites and other pagans became a trap for the people in the desert. Solomon, who was otherwise an exceedingly excellent man, was harmed by his affinity with the kings of Egypt, so that he even set up the worship services of the Egyptians. Finally, the kingdom of Judah learned to sin by the example of the kingdom of Israel, as the histories show.
Therefore, Paul rightly compares the aergerniss with the leaven, which, even if it is very small, nevertheless leavens the whole dough gradually [Gal. 5:9, 1 Cor. 5:6]. Therefore, both the rulers of the churches and the Christian authorities must take great care to counteract in good time the emerging upsets. For they are indeed a seed of the devil, so that whatever part of the church it has taken over, it grows again so abundantly that it cannot be eradicated.
Gilgal is a place known from the fourth and fifth chapters of the Book of Joshua. For there is erected a memorial mark of twelve stones to preserve the memory of the drying up of the Jordan. There the new people, born and raised in the wilderness, were circumcised. The Passover to the Lord was also celebrated there. This gave the place a divine reputation among the descendants. Therefore, when the kingdom of Israel separated from Judah, the idolaters began to worship God there as a holy place.
About BethAven one is doubtful. Jos. 7, 2. a city of this name is mentioned, but the prophets did not mention that an idolatry was done there. Therefore, I believe that the prophet uses this name to refer to the city of BethEl, where Jeroboam set up the golden calf. BethEl is known from the first book of Moses, Cap. 28, 19. 28:19; for when it was called Lus before, Jacob would call it BethEl, because there he had seen heaven open, and the angels ascending and descending upon the earth.
the leader. For he thus says [v. 17.], "How holy is this place! Here is nothing else but God's house, and here is the gate of heaven."
But when Jeroboam there had prepared the golden calf, the prophets would no longer call the place BethEl (that is, God's house), but called it by the name of the neighboring city BethAven, that is, Hans of Sin. For sin is everything that is done without faith, that is, everything that is instituted as worship without the Word of God or against the Word of God. For it is the word alone whereby all things are sanctified, and whereby faith is sustained. This opinion of mine is confirmed below in the 10th chapter [v. 5. 8.], where he speaks of the calf at BethAven, since the prophet clearly indicates at the end of the chapter [v. 15.] that he spoke of BethEl, where Jeroboam wanted the golden calf to be worshipped. Thus the devil makes BethEl, the house of God, a BethAven, a house of sin, by having the ungodly perform new services against the word of God.
In this way, the godless kings turned the places where the patriarchs sacrificed into places of idolatrous worship. But one should not have made an example out of what the patriarchs did, since there was a quite obvious commandment about the place which was designated for the services. But the examples must be followed only 1) when a commandment is added to them. Abraham was commanded by God's voice to sacrifice his son. Ahaz did not have this commandment. Therefore, one and the same work was a right service and a glorious proof of obedience for Abraham [Gen. 22:2], but for Ahaz it was an abominable murder [2 Kings 16:3].
In this way, the rich young man in the Gospel [Matth. 19, 21] had the commandment to sell everything and distribute it among the poor. But a monk acts ungodly who leaves his profession and departs from his goods and locks himself up in a monastery, for he has no commandment that he should do so. Therefore, one must adhere to the rule that all God's
1) Instead of äum in the editions will read turn.
The same services were praised in the Fathers, who had a commandment for them.
What he says about swearing can easily be understood from the foregoing. For it is not forbidden but commanded to swear, "As the Lord lives," Deut. 6:13. For it is for the glory of God that we call upon Him as a witness of the truth, and that we take it for granted that He will look upon what we do, and that if we do something against our conscience, He will be an avenger. Therefore, swearing is not evil in itself. But the children of Israel attached this honor to their idols, because they meant the God whom they worshipped in Dan, Gilgal, BethEl and other places where God could not be worshipped, since he had appointed another place for the worship of God. Therefore, the prophet forbids swearing in this way, because the honor due to GOtte alone is attributed to idols.
V. 16: For Israel is running like a mad heifer, and the Lord will feed her like a lamb in the wilderness.
This piece also belongs to the admonition that the kingdom of Judah may be moved by the punishments that follow the idolaters, XXXX XXX means a cow that does not want to suffer the yoke and is unruly, that cannot be kept in check. To this he compares the Israelites, for the word of God is the bond with which God has tied us, so that we do not deviate from the truth, and let the lusts of the flesh shoot the reins. This bond, he says, Israel has broken. For it does not listen to what God reminds it of through the prophets concerning the right worship; it seeks other places for its worship and abandons the Temple in Jerusalem.
But what kind of punishment will follow? Certainly this, that it wanders like a lamb in a desolate place, that is, that it must be among the heathen without the word and without worship. It is just as if you were preaching to the papists today: "Let the Word remind you to stop the abuses, to offer the whole Sacrament, and to give it to the people.
that you may live in holy matrimony without offense to the churches. But because you will not heed these exhortations, it will happen that you will die in these abuses, without sacrament, without the Word, without Christ. I believe that the prophet uses the simile of the lamb in the wilderness for this reason, because there can be nothing more miserable than a lamb without a shepherd. For it is exposed to innumerable dangers, which it is by no means equipped to drive away. That is why Christ also uses the parable of the lost lamb when he wants to show the miserable situation of sinners and his extraordinary kindness towards them.
But at this point some hope is promised. For although it is certain that this sheep will be fed in the wilderness and in an inhospitable place, the comfort is added that the Lord will feed it.
V. 17 For Ephraim has joined himself to idols; so let him go.
This is the conclusion of such a long sermon. Because Israel cannot be turned away from idols, I will leave it to the Gentiles to desolate, as he also said above [v. 14.], "I will not resist it when your daughters are defiled."
The word [XXXXX] by which he here names the idols takes its name from toil. For the life of idolaters is not only arduous, because they do not allow themselves leisure or rest, but certain misfortunes follow idolatry.
V. 18. 19. They have given themselves over to indulgence and whoredom; their masters delight in disgracing them. The wind with its wings will drive them bound, and they must be disgraced over their sacrifice.
I did not want to translate from word to word at this point. For what the Hebrew text says: Their wine has stunk, is nothing else than that they were in shameful
way. However, as it is customary to do at the conclusion, the prophet repeats the sins of the kingdom of Israel at this point and adds what punishment will follow.
Idolatry is blissful in the beginning, that is, it acquires great goods and power, while true religion starves and suffers frost. But how the idolaters use their goods may be exemplified by the papists. For look 1) at the monasteries of the canons, the courts of the bishops and cardinals, and it will become clear to you that the same thing is happening today that the prophet condemns in the kingdom of Israel, for, as Moses says [5th book, chap. 32, 15]: "When the servant became fat and full, he became horny."
This godlessness and impurity of the idolaters protects the worldly authorities. For the kings and princes (whom the prophet calls shields in this passage according to Ps. 47, 10. because of their office, which their power should serve) are almost always the patrons of ungodliness and idolatry. Therefore the prophet says that they delight in dishonor, that is, in idolatry, which dishonor and disgrace will surely follow at last; but what will be the end? Certainly such a one, of which Samuel preaches 1 Sam. 12, 25: XXXXX XXX-XXX
XXXX XXXXX-XX XXX-XX, "but if you do evil, both you and your king will be lost".
The prophet threatens the same here: "The wind with its wings will drive them bound," that is, the wrath of the Lord will drive you back and forth like a violent wind and pursue you, and you will be put to shame with your sacrifices. For the idolatrous services that are undertaken to avert the wrath of God only provoke God more. Today, the papists do nothing else with their masses, supplications, and saints' services than to hasten their downfall. This is the end of idolatry.
1) Erlanger: viäi instead of: viäs.