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Hos_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," Jer_10:5, they can neither hurt nor help; for an idol is nothing in the world, 1Co_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, Hos_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, 2Ki_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, Psa_91:15. Surely "the Lord will not cast off his faithful people, neither will he forsake his inheritance," Psa_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," Lam_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 Hos_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, Deu_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? or, not abide innocence? By which powerful expression three things are intimated. First, that these Israelites were refractory and desperate; not only unclean, but enemies to innocence, such as could not abide it: they were inveterate and incurable, their diseases ingrained, and not easily stirred by any potion. Secondly, that God is most patient, who though he thinks over a long period of time that men continue in their evil courses, and therefore cries, Quousque, How long? &c., and, when will it once be? yet bears with their evil manners, and inviteth them to better. Thirdly, that he will at length break off his patience, and proceed to punishment, since there is no other remedy, 2Ch_34:16 Pro_29:1.
“ Compenset longas ut gravitate moras. ”