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Commentary on Hosea, Chapter Thirteen
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COMMENTARY ON HOSEA, CHAPTER THIRTEEN He received ordinances in Israel, he assigned them to the Baal and died. He continued to sin, and they made for themselves an object molded from their silver in the form of idols, works made for them by craftsmen (vv.1–2). N THIS IT is not the ten tribes individually that he blames, but Israel as a whole, saying that, though ordi- nances were given to them through Moses, through which they were instructed on how they should worship God and offer sacrifices in petition, they for their part dedicated them, as it were, to the Baal, or the idols (referring to the whole sometimes by mention of a part). In other words, they no longer sacrificed to God; instead, they celebrated festivals for the works of their own hands and offered them worship, first-fruits, adoration , gifts, thanksgiving offerings; they deprived God of his proper glory, and accorded it to the statues. Having done this, however, Israel died, he says, and again continued to sin. It is like saying, He has been punished for doing this, he has perished for committing it, he knew the anger of the Lord, who inflicts on the deceived punishment unto death. Though he in no way put a stop to his own knavery, he would be apprehended for other crimes of equal gravity; we read in Numbers that the sons of Israel were unfaithful, inflamed with unlawful desires, and they had intercourse with Moabite women, and then paid the ultimate penalty for this. The text says, “Israel camped at Shittim. The people profaned themselves by committing fornication with the daughters of Moab, who invited them to the sacrifices of their idols; the people ate of their sacrifices and worshiped their idols, (260) and Israel was initiated in the rites of Baal of Peor. The Lord was very angry with Israel; the Lord said to Moses, Take all the rulers of the people and make an example of them for the Lord, exposing them to the sun, and 236 the Lord’s wrath will be averted from Israel. Moses said to the tribes of Israel, Each of you is to kill any of his family who has been initiated in the rites of Baal of Peor.”1 When this took effect , a vast number of the people of Israel lost their lives. Consider, therefore, that by offering God’s ordinances to idols at the time of Moses Israel died in misery; by being deceived it was slaughtered by its own swords, not by the hand of foreigners. Yet it continued to sin: it made for itself an object molded from gold,2 and works of a craftsman, gods produced by the skill of artisans. Now, the verse, as it were, mocks their folly: they believed to be gods what they themselves had crafted. So let the psalmist cry aloud also to them, “Let all who make them be like them, and all who trust in them.”3 They say, Sacrifice human beings: there are no more calves. For this reason they will be like a morning cloud and like dew at dawn that disappears , and like chaff that is blown off the threshing floor and like a haze from a chimney (vv.2–3). Once again he charges them not only with being guilty of impious behavior in molding into the form of idols the silver given by God, and in assigning the name of the divine glory to things made of wood and stone, (261) but also with being so caught up in such a degree of stupidity—or rather knavery and inhumanity and the ferocity proper to wild animals, or even worse than that—as not even to spare their own children , but even to sacrifice them to the demons. This was despite God’s abominating the practice, and not allowing mention of it even to others, or even a report of it from anyone; the Lord has no love for blood, nor does he take satisfaction in the annihilation of people—far from it. Scripture says, remember, “He created all things for them to exist; the generative forces of the world maintain its welfare.”4 Since the rebellious dragon, on the other hand, is the inventor and source of death, consequently he takes satisfaction in the slaughter of people. So the fact that the foolish statement on this is hated by God he clarifies by sayCOMMENTARY ON HOSEA 13 237 1. Nm 25.1–5...