Hosea 8:5

Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast [thee] off,.... Or, is the cause of thy being cast off by the Lord, and of being cast out of thine own land, and carried captive into another; the past tense is used

Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off.

Thy calf; Jeroboam at first set up two calves, at Dan and Beth-el, but it is probable that in process of time there were more set up in other places, for when Israel forgot his God he built temples, . The calf then here is the chief idol set up in Samaria, and worshipped there. The prophet, in contempt of the idol, and in derision of their folly, gives it its right name, it is no god, but a calf; nor yet so much, for that it is senseless and without life. Hath cast thee off; been the occasion of casting thee far off, in that by this thou hast provoked God to anger, and he hath cast thee off. Or else thus, if thy God, thy idol, thy calf, have done aught, it is mischief; thy calf could not keep itself in Samaria, but it is either carried a captive god, or, broken into pieces, is carried piecemeal into Assyria, and so hath cast time off: it carrieth somewhat of irony in it. Mine anger is kindled against them; now it is evident that my anger, as fire, burneth against the idols, idol-makers, and idol-worshippers, and shall so burn till they are purified or consumed. How long will it be ere they attain to innocency? the prophet is very concise, and perhaps here must be supposed some or other (some one of the people, or the prophet himself) sighing out to God, How long shall thine anger burn? and answer returned by God, How long will it be ere they be cleansed?

Hosea 8:5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast [thee] off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long [will it be] ere they attain to innocency?Ver. 5. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off] That is, it can do thee no stead, nor deliver thee from the destroyer. "Be not afraid of such idols" (saith Jeremiah), "for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good," Jeremiah 10:5, they can neither hurt nor help; for an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians 8:4, nothing but a mere fiction; it hath no godhead or power divine in itself, as the following words show, "that there is none other God but one." How then can help be reasonably expected from it? Israel had cast off the thing that is good for calf worship, Hosea 8:3, therefore is he worthily cast off by his calf, called here Samaria’ s calf, or calves, because that was the chief city, the palace of the king, and is therefore put for the whole province; and their idols called a calf, by way of contempt, as the brazen serpent is called Nehushtan, or a piece of brass, when once it was idolized. See how Rabshakeh insults over those heathen deities, 2 Kings 18:33-35, and blasphemously applieth it to the God of Israel, who never casteth off his faithful servants; but is with them in trouble, to deliver them, and honour them, Psalms 91:15. Surely "the Lord will not cast off his faithful people, neither will he forsake his inheritance," Psalms 94:14. "Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man," Job 8:20. "But though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies," Lamentations 3:32. Some read it thus, "Thy calf, O Samaria, hath been carried away into a far country," namely, into Assyria; as the idols of the nations which were overcome were carried away captive in triumph by the conquerors. See Hosea 10:6. Mine anger is kindled against them] God is said to be angry against idolaters, because he doth that which an angry man useth to do, viz. 1. chide, 2. fight: see the second commandment in the sanction of it, and tremble at God’ s displeasure, which when once kindled, and comes into his face, or nostrils (as here), it burneth to the lowest hell, consumeth the earth with her increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains, Deuteronomy 32:22. It is ill angering him that is the Ancient of days, and a consuming fire. The Jews use to say to this day, that there is no punishment befalleth them in which there is not an ounce of Aaron’ s golden calf. How long will it be ere they attain to innocency?] Quousque non poterunt innocentiam? a forcible ellipsis; as if God were so vexed, that be could not fully utter himself, nor at all speak to Samaria as he had begun, but turns his discourse to others, saying, How long will they not be cleansed?

(5) Thy calf . . . hath cast thee off.—Rather, is loathsome, Nothing can exceed the scorn of this outburst. The last clause should be rendered, How long are ye unable to attain purity? The attribution of consuming fire to God is not peculiar to the prophet. (Comp. Hebrews 12:29.)

Verse 5. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off] Bishop Newcome translates: "Remove far from thee thy calf, O Samaria!" Abandon thy idolatry; for my anger is kindled against thee. How long will it be ere they attain to innocency?] How long will ye continue your guilty practices? When shall it be said that ye are from these vices? The calf or ox, which was the object of the idolatrous worship of the Israelites, was a supreme deity in Egypt; and it was there they learned this idolatry. A white ox was worshipped under the name of Apis, at Memphis; and another ox under the name of Mnevis, was worshipped at On, or Heliopolis. To Osiris the males of this genus were consecrated, and the females to Isis. It is a most ancient superstition, and still prevails in the East. The cow is a most sacred animal among the Hindoos.

5. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off] This rendering is very harsh in this context; Ewald prefers ‘He hath cast off thy calf’, a contrast to ‘Israel hath cast off that which is good’ in Hosea 8:3. But ‘casting off’ implies a previous connexion (e. g. Psalms 43:2); it is better to revert to the intransitive sense which belongs to the cognate verb in Arabic, and render, Thy calf, O Samaria, is loathsome. ‘Thy calf’ is a contemptuous expression for the small golden bull which was symbolic of Jehovah; such a bull, it appears, existed at Samaria, and doubtless at other places besides Dan and Bethel (e. g. at Gilgal). ere they can attain innocency] Lit. ‘will they be incapable of innocency.’ Idolatry presented itself to Hosea, not only as a form of worship, but as an immoral way of living.

Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off - Israel had cast off God, his good.

5. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off — R.V., “He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria.” The latter is a more accurate reproduction of the Hebrew, and gives better sense; but when taken with the