Hosea 13:2

And now they sin more and more,.... Since the times of Jeroboam, and also of Ahab, adding other deities to the calves, and to Baal, as follows; increasing the number of their idols, and their

And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

And now, though they are admonished, threatened, and in part punished, yet now that Baal is taken in for a god and worshipped, they sin more and more; they go on to sin, and add new idolatries to the old, they increase the number of their sins; in some respect their new sins are greater than those committed formerly, but the prophet here speaks not of greatness of sins, but the number. And have made them molten images of their silver: these were the figures and representations of the gods they worshipped, and were multiplied as families, able to go to the cost, did multiply; every one got their household gods. heathen like, and most of these puppets were made of silver. Or the phrase may imply, that at their own charge these people made them gods; so though it was a straight ash, or wood that would not soon putrefy, which was formed into the idol, yet because bought with their silver it may by a metonymy be called their silver. Idols according to their own understanding; every one as he fancied, as he thought most comely, and proper to represent a deity; perhaps these idolaters vied with each other who should have the handsomest god, as Ahaz would vie altars, and therefore made new ones. Perhaps some of these idolaters melted down their old less handsome gods to run them into more pleasing features. All of it the work of the craftsmen; whatever is of the image is of the workman, who gave it shape, but could not give it breath, still it is a lifeless lump or image. They, either the kings of Israel, or the priests of these idols, or the people, say of them, of the idols, Let the men that sacrifice, let every one that sacrificeth, all that bring their offerings to these idols, kiss; reverence, worship, or adore, and show they do so by kissing the calves. They will make them give full worship to their idols.

Hosea 13:2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, [and] idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.Ver. 2. And now they sin more and more] Heb. They add to sin: God in his just judgment hath given them up unto hardness of mind, and to their heart’ s lust; that for all this sudden change they repent not, but run more and more into idolatry. Not content to worship Baal and such heathen deities, They make them molten images of their silver] They laid their money together, to make the golden calves, or silver shrines, as Acts 19:24, and other idolatrous trinkets; they lavished silver out of the bag, and were at no small charge. They multiplied their altars, Hosea 10:1, and abused God’ s gold and silver to mystical adultery, Hosea 2:8. All this they did now, saith the text; most unseasonably, and as it were in flat opposition to God; after he had sought to reclaim them both by counsels and corrections, and had hanged Ahab and his house up in gibbets, as it were, before them, for their admonition. Surely it is a just both presage and desert of ruin not to be warned. See Hosea 7:1. And idols according to their own understanding] i.e. According to their own inventions, motu suo roprio; forsaking the rule of the word, they will needs be scholars to their own reason, though they are sure to have a fool to their master. That is a good saying of Solomon, Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding," in matters of God’ s worship especially; for there Deus damnat quicquid arridet iudicio hominum vel rationi God despises whatever is pleasing in the opinion of men or reason. (Calv. in loc.), "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God," Luke 16:15. All of it the work of the craftsmen] And should men worship the work of their own hands? what can be imagined more irrational and sottish? But it is a most righteous recompense of their error, Romans 1:27. See Isaiah 29:13-14, God doth blind and blast such, causing their madness to appear to all, and that they are men compact of mere incongruities, soloecising in opinion, speeches, actions, all: nothing is more irrational than irreligion. They say of it, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves] They, that is, the king and his counsellors, or the idolatrous priests by their appointment. These were active to invite and incite men to partake of those idolatrous services. Should we be less diligent in calling upon others to "kiss the Son," with a kiss of love and homage? should we not be as serious and sedulous in building staircases for heaven as the wicked are in digging descents to hell?

(2) Ewald, following the hint of the LXX. (who had a slightly different text), renders “according to their pattern of idols.” (Comp. the language of satire in Psalms 115; Isaiah 44:10-17.) Men that sacrifice.—More accurately, sacrificers from among men. Others would render “sacrificers of men.” But the former is quite consistent with Hebrew usage, while the latter compels us to adopt the unwarrantable supposition that human sacrifices formed part of the calf-worship. The calf images were kissed ike those of the Madonna in Roman Catholic churches at the present day. The Greek προσκυνέω, “to worship,” meant originally to adore by kissing (Curtius, Greek Etymology, p. 158).

Verse 2. And now they sin more and more] They increase in every kind of vice, having abandoned the great Inspirer of virtue. Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.] This was the test. If there be a Jew that pretends to sacrifice, and whose conversion is dubious, let him come openly and kiss the calves. This will show what he is; no real Jew will do this. If he be an idolater, he will not scruple. This was the ancient method of adoration. 1. They kissed the idol. 2. When the statue was too high or too far off, they presented the hand, in token of alliance. 3. They brought that hand respectfully to their mouths, and kissed it. This was the genuine act of adoration; from ad, to, and os, oris, the mouth. So PLINY, Hist. Nat., lib. xxviii., c. 1. Adorando, dexteram ad oscula referimus. And APULEIUS, Asin., lib. iv.: Admoventes oribus suis dexteram, ut ipsam prorsus deam religiosis adorationibus venerabantur. See Calmet, and See Clarke on Job 31:17.

2. And now, &c.] The present race is no better; they go on adding to their guilt. idols according to their own understanding] Sarcastically. Sept., Targ., Vulg., however, read ‘according to the pattern of idols’ (there could be no art, then, in these repetitions of archaic images). they say of them, &c.] This part of the verse is very difficult; it will be best to clear up first the meaning of the closing words. There are two rival renderings, ‘sacrificers of men, they kiss calves’ (so substantially the Sept., the Vulg., Rashi, Aben Ezra, Calvin, Horsley, Kuenen), and human sacrificers, they kiss calves (so Kimchi and many moderns). Either rendering implies a strong touch of sarcasm. In the first case, it is the strange perversity of slaying men and kissing calves which the prophet lashes; in the second, the affront to human reason in doing homage to dumb animals. The objection to the former explanation is the fact that human sacrifices were not, so far as we know, offered to the calf- or rather steer-gods, and indeed were hardly known in the land of Israel before the time of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:3). Besides, would the prophet have referred to such abominable cruelty in such a casual way, more, as has been well said, in a vein of satire than of indignation? Now let us turn to the opening words of the sentence. The parallelism in this and the following verse is so thoroughly carried out, that for symmetry’s sake we can hardly help rendering, unto such [the idols] do they speak. The sarcasm is as manifest here as in the following words; what can be more absurd than to address vows and prayers to the worshippers’ own handiwork, to things ‘which have mouths, and speak not.’ The objection is, that the meaning ‘speak’ is not a common one for ’βmar (properly ‘to say’), but Psalms 4:5 shows that the verb in question may be used absolutely, even in classical Hebrew. It is possible however that there is a corruption, and that we should read, for instance, for ‘speak’ (or ‘say’), ‘burn incense.’ kiss] ‘Kiss’, viz. as a sign of adoration or homage, by a transition like that in the usage of προσκυνέω. So whenever (a) idols, or (b) supposed divine beings, or (c) kings are referred to; comp. (a) 1 Kings 19:18, (b) Job 31:27, (c) Psalms 2:12 (Genesis 41:40; 1 Samuel 10:1 can hardly be quoted here). The ‘kiss’ of adoration consisted sometimes, as in Job l.c., in kissing the hand towards the idol (comp. προσκυνέω again). For the kiss of homage, comp. the Assyrian phrase ‘they kissed my feet.’ the calves] i.e., the small images of an ox, such as are referred to in 1 Kings 12:28.

And now they sin more and more - Sin draws on sin. This seems to be a third stage in sin. First, under Jeroboam, was the worship of the calves. Then, under Ahab, the worship of Baal.

1-3. Israel’s apostasy its own death warrant. Though the interpretation of Hos 13:1 is not quite certain, that embodied in the translation of R.V.