An Exposition of Hosea 8-10, Exposition · Chapter · Verse 6
VER. 6.
For from Iſrael was it alſo: the workman made it, therefore it is not God: but the Calf of Samaria ſhall be broken in pieces.
THE Prophet proceeds in his conviction of Iſraels ſin, with the threats of God againſt it.
For from Iſrael was it.Exp…ſ.
That is,
Their Idolatry was from themſelves: It was hard to get them off from their Idolatrous worſhip, for it was from themſelves. Other people worſhiped Idolatrous Images, as being deceived, either made to beleeve that they came from their gods;Acts 19. 35. as that wiſe Town-Cleark of Epheſus, in his grave, ſage ſpeech, Acts, 19. 35. ſaith, their Image came down from Jupiter, or elſe they were ſuch as were brought from the Temples of other People, whoſe Original they knew not. But ſaith God, My People are more ſottiſh than any, for from Iſrael themſelves doth come theſe their Images that they do worſhip, they have ſet them up themſelves, they know that the other day they were but pieces of wood, overlaid with Gold and Silver; for their Calves they were ſuch kind of Idols as Iſrael invented themſelves,Apis what kind of Idol. the Calves of Iſrael not the ſame. they were not the ſame as ſome think with the Egyptian Apis, that Idol, for that was bigger, it was rather a Bullock, and it was a live one, and with ſeveral ſpots and divers things wherein it differed from the Calves that Iſrael worſhiped, ſo that the Calves of Iſraels worſhip, it was their own invention. Hence there is theſe Notes:
Firſt, Obſ. 1.That none are ſo ſottiſh in wicked waies as Apoſtates. Iſrael was more ſottiſh than any people.
And Secondly,Obſ. 2. To be deviſers and inventors of evil, and eſpecially of any thing in the Worſhip of God, of falſe worſhip, it is a great aggravation of ones ſin; Thoſe that are the firſt inventers and deviſers of wickedneſs, and eſpecially of any falſe worſhip, they are moſt wicked and abominable before God. It was from themſelves.
Thirdly,Obſ. 3. What comes from our ſelves we will ſtick much to in the Worſhip of God. For this is given as a reaſon why they could not be brought off from that falſe worſhip; It was from themſelves: And hereby men ſhew that they honor their own Fancies and own Wills above the Will of God, and the Mind of God: We will a great deal more eaſily part with the Worſhip of God, that comes from God, than with Worſhip that comes from our ſelves.
For from Iſrael was it alſo.Expoſ.
There is ſomewhat in that likewiſe: that is, As formerly in the wilderneſs they ſet up a Calf; ſo here again from Iſrael alſo: Former examples of Gods wrath againſt their progenitors will not deter them, they follow ſtil the guize of their Anceſtors in falſe worſhip.
No ſin is more haereditarie than Idolatry: Obſer.Hence the ſecond Commandement only threatens to viſit the ſins of the Fathers upon the Children, becauſe Idolatry is ſo haereditary, From Iſrael alſo.
The workman made it; therefore it is not God.
There are Two Arguments why their Calf was not God.
Firſt, From the workman that made it.
Secondly, Becauſe it ſhould be taken in pieces. It's the greateſt folly to look upon that which hath its excellency from our ſelves to be ſuperior above us, and that in the higheſt degree. To forſake that God that made us, and to make that to be a God unto us that we have made our ſelves: The Father looks upon his Child as inferior to him, becauſe he was the inſtrument of his being, and ſo he may well: If any man have maintainance by one, or is raiſed by him, he expect that he ſhould be ſerviceable to him.Idolatry drives men againſt principls▪ of reaſon. Only Idolatry makes men go againſt the very principles of reaſon: They made it and yet they accounted it their god,
And an eſpecial Note from hemce it, That man by any work of his own cannot put a Divinity upon a creature. They made it, therefore it is not God. Man by any work that he can do cannot put Divinity upon a creature, no, he cannot ſo much as put holineſs into a creature; all the workmanſhip of man by his conſecratien or any thing that he can do, cannot make ſtones and mortar to be holy, ſo as now it ſhould be a ſin to uſe them to any*in caſe of need. common uſe, man takes too much upon him to think to raiſe the creature ſo near to a Divinity, he cannot by any work of his put any Religious reſpect on any creature ſo as that God ſhall be neerer to him, or he neerer to God than in any other place. Whatſoever is of mans work in Gods Worſhip it periſhes in the uſe of it, ſurely then mans creation cannot be God, The work man made it, therefore it is not God.
Indeed there is a creation of man that the Scripture ſpeaks of that is called, God, but not truly, not God really, rather a Metaphorical God;1 Pet. 2. 13. Kings and Magiſtrates mans creation in ſome ſort. that creature that the Scripture ſpeaks of in 1. Pet. 2. 13. he cals their Kings and Governors mans creation, man made them; and you know the Scripture calls Governors, Gods. I have ſaid, you are Gods. *Pſ. 82. 6I but it is ſaid, they die like men: this text will ſhew it: if man made them they cannot be Gods. And the former Scripture tells us, that Kings and Governors are mans creation. In your books it's tranſlated mans Ordinance but it is in the Greek,foreign. mans Creation: man made them and therefore they are not Gods; therefore we muſt not give them the honor of a God, to ſubject our conſciences unto them, no, neither are we bound to ſubject our outward eſtates and liberties, and lives to their humors and luſts, meerly to their own wills, for this is proper to God to ſubject all to his will, meerly becauſe it is his will; but ſeeing man made them they are not truly God, and therefore they muſt not have the honor that is due to God.
If all the Art, and Skill, Power and Riches, if all the men in the world were put together, and all the wiſdom and power of Angels joyned to it, to extract all excellency in all things in all creatures, and to make that which ſhould have all created excellency in it, yet this ſurely could not be a God to us; I ſay, if we conceive all art, skill power, and riches, of all the world brought together into one man, yea, all the skill and power of Angels put into him too, and if he were able to make an extract of all the excellencies of all creatures, and put into one thing, yet this could not be a God unto us; becauſe it was made. And ſhall we ſay further, God himſelf by his infinite power cannot make any thing to be a God to us: I ſay, God himſelf by his infinite power cannot make any thing to be a God to us; if he himſelf were made he could not be God to us; nay, if God himſelf were made he could not be God: therefore ſurely that which the workman hath made cannot be a God.
How vile then are our hearts? and how do we debaſe our ſelves, to ſubject our ſelves to every vanity, as if it were a God, when as that all the power in God himſelf cannot raiſe a created excellency to that height as to be a God to us? how vain is the heart of men that makes pleaſure their god? as the voluptuous, his belly; that makes money his god, as the covetous; that makes honor and the applauſe of men, as the ambitious, to be a god unto us. Bernice and Agrippa came with great Pomp, Act. 25. 23.they came with much Phanſie as the word ſignifies; the excellency that al their pomp had,foreign. it was but that that phanſie put upon them.
In this God ſhewes the excellency of an Immortal Soul,The excellency of the ſoul. that it is in that excellency that only an Infinite Eternal being that is of Himſelf can be a God to us.
Again,Uſe 2. the abominableneſs of the Maſs This is an argument againſt the Idol of the Maſs▪ a vile Prieſt, a filthy Whoremaſter makes it a God: What a Deity is that that is from his maker? Is there any greater ſtumbling-block to Jews, Turks, or Heathens, to keep them from Chriſtian Religion than this, That Chriſtians ſhould make their God, and eat him when they have done? That's the firſt Argument: It is no God, becauſe the workman made it.
Secondly: But the Calf of Samaria ſhall be broken in pieces.
No God ſurely.Pſal, 106. 20. Rom. 1. 23. He ſpeaks here with indignation (it is not God, it is a Clalf) as he doth in that of the Pſalmiſt, he made a Calf that eat graſs, It ſhall be broken in pieces, it ſhal not be able to help it ſelf, much leſs help them; it ſhal be as Dagon before the Ark, broken all to pieces.
Hierom upon the place ſaith, that he learned from an Hebrew (this word, broken in pieces, the word is not a Verb, but a Noun, ſhall be breakings in pieces) he learned from an Hebrew, that this word ſignified a thin web, Signifi… of the wordlike Spiders webs in the air, As you ſee in ſome times of the year in the Fields, thin Webs, and upon the graſs, thin webs like Spiders webs that preſently diſſolves into Attoms; ſo that their Calf ſhal be like unto thoſe thin Webs, like unto Spiders Webs that diſſolves it ſelf and comes to nothing. All the confidence and hopes in any thing we ſet up in the place of God,A God. it's ſuch unto us; What difference is there between ſuch a thing and a ſtrong Rock, and an high Tower, ſuch as God is to his people.
And again, The word ſignifies Saw-duſt that comes from Timber that is ſawn, and ſo it ſhal be broken in pieces: Look as the Calf in the wilderneſs was broken even to duſt, to pouder, and Moſes made the people drink of it; ſo God will ſerve this Calf.
And then further obſerve:Obſ. 1. Idols are to be broken in pieces; ſo God commanded, Exod. 34. 13. Deut. 7. 5. Ezek. 20. 7. with many other Scriptures; and thus godly Magiſtrates have ever done, broke Idols in pieces. And bleſſed be God for that that hath been done of late among us that ſo many Idols, and that great Idol that was in the eminent place of the City, that God put a ſpirit into thoſe that were in Athority to break it in pieces: it muſt be done by the Magiſtrate.
I remember Auſtin in his ſixt Sermon upon Chriſts Sermon, ſpeaking of that place in Deut. 1. 5. firſt, ſaith he, You muſt poſſeſs the Land, and then, you muſt overthrow their Altars. And then notes, That thoſe which have the poſſeſſion of the Land, as now thoſe Publick places, men only in Authority have the poſſeſſion of them, and therfore it is for them to break the Idols in pieces.A cuſtom on Baſil. In the City of Baſil we reade, that every Aſh-wedneſday (as they call it) is obſerved a Feaſtival inſtead of the Popiſh Faſt on that day, becauſe of the burning of Popiſh Images, and they account it a great mercy. And though we have no ſuch warrant to obſerve ſuch a day as an Holy day, yet certainly as a day of an outward civil rejoycing, we have cauſe to obſerve thoſe times wherein notorious and abominable Idols have been broken in pieces.
Again,Obſ. 2. Whatſoever it is that is ſubject to be broken in pieces, certainly we are not to make it to be our God. Now all creatures in the world are ſubject to breaking, your eſtates are in danger to be broken in pieces, therefore they are not Gods; that's the argument of the holy Ghoſt here: yea it may be many of your eſtates are broken in pieces already, Oh what poor Gods were thoſe that you made to your ſelves before, and ſo any creature whatſoever? therefore Oh let's truſt in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlaſting ſtrength. Iſa. 26. 4.
The laſt note from hence is this,Obſ. 3. That the putting too much upon a creature, the bringing a creature too neer to God, and Deifying of it makes way for the deſtruction of that creature. The Calf of Samaria ſhall be broken in pieces becauſe it was made an Idol: If you will make uſe of your eſtates as a ſervant to you, to fit you for Gods ſervice you might keep it, but if you would ſet it up in Gods place, it is juſt with God it ſhould be broken in pieces: Whatſoever you ſet your hearts upon and make a God unto you, it's juſt with God it ſhould be broken in pieces; if you ſet your huſband, your wife, your child, your friend, in the place of God, it's the only way to undo them, to undo them in reſpect of you at beſt.England. Many great Inſtruments of God, God hath been fain to break them to pieces, becauſe that men have ſet them up in the place of God, and made even Gods of them. It follows.