n at last that they have been fools to take their own
way; for all defences, recourses, and protectors, chosen in defiance of
God, prove powerless when the strain comes. The annihilation of one half
of their sin sickens them of the other. The calves and the monarchy
stood or fell together. It is a dismal thing to have to bear the brunt
of chastisement for what we see to have been a blunder as well as a
crime. But such is the fate of those who seek other gods and another
king.

In verse 4 Hosea recurs to Israel's crime, and appends a description of
the chastisement, substantially the same as before, but more detailed,
which continues till verse 8. The sin now is contemplated in its effects
on human relations. Before, it was regarded in relation to God. But men
who are wrong with Him cannot be right with one another. Morality is
rooted in religion, and if we lie to God, we shall not be true to our
brother. Hence, passing over all other sins for the present, Hosea fixes
upon one, the prevalence of which strikes at the very foundation of
society. What can be done with a community in which lying has become a
national characteristic, and that even in formal agreements?
Honey-combed with falsehood, it is only fit for burning.

Sin is bound by an iron link to penalty. Therefore, says Hosea, God's
judgment springs up, like a bitter plant (the precise name of which is
unknown) in the furrows, where the farmer did not know that its seeds
lay. They little dreamed what they were sowing when they scattered
abroad their lies, but this is the fruit of these. 'Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap'; and whatever other crop we may hope to
gather from our sins, we shall gather that bitter one which we did not
expect. The inevitable connection of sin and judgment, the bitterness of
its results, the unexpectedness of them, are all here, and to be laid to
heart by us.

Then verses 5 and 6 dilate with keen irony on the fate of the first half
of Israel's sin--the calf. It was thought a god, but its worshippers
shall be in a fright for it. 'Calves,' says Hosea, though there was but
one at Beth-el; and he uses the feminine, as some think, depreciatingly.
'Beth-aven' or the 'house of vanity,' he says, instead of Beth-el, 'the
house of God.' A fine god whose worshippers had to be alarmed for its
safety! 'Its people'--what a contrast to the name they might have borne,
'My people'! God disowns them, and says, 'They belong to it, not to