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Hos_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 Act_19:24, and other idolatrous trinkets; they lavished silver out of the bag, and were at no small charge. They multiplied their altars, Hos_10:1, and abused God’s gold and silver to mystical adultery, Hos_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 Hos_7:1. {See Trapp on "Hos_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, Pro_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," Luk_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, Rom_1:27. See Isa_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?
Kiss the calves] That the custom of kissing in divine worship was used in all nations is evident. They kissed either the idol’s mouth or their own hand (where the idol stood on high, so that they could not come at it) in token of homage. See 1Ki_19:18 Job_31:27. ( Adorare est quasi applicare manum ad os.) To wordship is just as to bring the hand to the mouth. So (after the example of Dioclesian) the pope holds forth his foot to be kissed by the greatest potentates, while he sitteth as God, in the temple of God.