Hosea 4:7

Hos 4:7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: [therefore] will I change their glory into shame.

Ver. 7. As they were increased] sc. in number, wealth, and honour. Their prosperity undid them, they flourished at this time in court and country, they waxed fat and kicked. The priests are here accused of detestable ingratitude, and of insufferable pride and insolence.

As they were multiplied or magnified, they have sinned against me] That is, they have abused my gifts to my great dishonour. Like fed hawks, they have forgotten their master. Nay, like young mules, which, when they have sucked, turn up their heels and kick their dam; so did these haughty and haunty priests. Their hearts were fat as grease, they were enclosed in their own fat, but they delighted not in God’s law, Psa 17:10; Psa 119:70. Cum ipsis opibus lascivire coepit Ecclesia, saith Platina. The Church began to be rich and wanton at once, rich and riotous. They had golden chalices, but wooden priests, repugnante ceutra teipsum felicitate tua, as Salvian saith to the Church in his time: thy prosperity is thy bane. What would he have said if he had seen the pope in his princely state, thundering from his capitol, and heard their big swollen titles of Padre benedicto, Padre Angelo, Archangelo, Cherubino, Seraphino? &c. Ammianus Marcellinus, a heathen historian, inveighed against the bishops of Rome, even in those purer times, for their pride and luxury. Odi fastum illius ecclesiae, saith Basil, I hate the haughtiness of that Western Church. It caused the lamentable separation of the Greek Church from the Latin; the other four patriarchs (not without the like pride and stomach) dividing themselves from the bishop of Rome, and at their parting using these or the like words: Thy greatness we know, thy covetousness we cannot satisfy, thine encroaching we can no longer abide: live to thyself. And yet, if they could have held them there, and shunned those evils which they blamed in others (walking humbly with God, and committing themselves to him in well doing), they might have flourished to this day. But wrangling away the truth, and contracting rust with long ease and prosperity, God was forced to scour off their rust with bloody war by the Turks. Of whom these Churches, being in fear and danger, fled to carnal combinations: sent and subjected themselves to the bishop of Rome, that they might have his help. But all in vain; for shortly after they were destroyed, and lost all. God covered them with confusion, and turned their glory into shame. So he hath done the Roman glory in part, and will do more every day (Parei Medull.).

Roma diu titubans variis erroribus acta,

Corruet: et mundi desinet iste caput.

God will cast dirt in the faces of proud prelates, he will stain the pride of all glory, cast upon them with ignominy, Isa 23:9, reproach, Pro 18:3, crush their crown with a woe, Isa 28:1, change their glory (their dignity and greatness wherein they gloried) into shame, not without much bitterness in the change, as the Hebrew word אמיר here used seemeth to import. Miserum enim est, fuisse felicem.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hos_4:7

As they were increased, so they sinned against me.

Secular prosperity

The increase is in the number of the population; but it may refer to increase of wealth.

I. Secular prosperity attained by the wicked.

1. That is a common fact. Wicked men in all ages have, as a rule, been more prosperous than their contemporaries. Two things account for this fact--

(1) Their secular earnestness. Material good is the one thing With them.

(2) Their moral unscrupulousness. They have no high sense of honour, no inviolable rules of right, no swaying sense of moral responsibilities. Hence they will not reject the fraudulent and false if they will serve them in their course.

2. That is a trying fact. Men of incorruptible truth, honesty, and high devotion have in all ages been baffled and distressed by this fact.

II. Secular prosperity abused. In the hands of the wicked wealth can--

1. Promote injustice. It fattens the despotic in human nature.

2. It promotes sensuality. It provides means to inflame the low passions of human nature, and to pamper the brutal appetites.

3. It promotes practical atheism. The man with wealth, and without God in his heart, sinks into an utter forgetfulness of the Author of all good.

III. Secular prosperity is ruinous to the wicked. God will strip them of all they now glory in, all their worldly prosperity, and give them shame instead. Therefore will I change their glory into shame. I will quench all the lights which they have kindled. I will bring them into wretchedness and contempt. (Homilist.)

Prosperity encouraging sin

The Lord accuses them of ingratitude, that the more they prospered, or increased in number or glory, they were the more bold on sin; therefore He threatens them with ignominy to come in place of that glory which made them miscarry so far. Learn--

1. Such as do provoke God highly, may yet, in His long-suffering patience, not only continue as they are, but increase in prosperity, issue, and glory for a time.

2. As there is no outward mercy conferred on wicked or unrenewed men, but they do make it a snare to draw them into sin, and harden them in it, so this abuse of Gods goodness doth aggravate sin exceedingly, for it is a challenge that as they were increased, so they sinned against Me.

3. Any glory or splendour which men abuse to harden themselves in sin, neglecting that which is their true honour, will certainly end in ignominy; and especially when ministers glory of worldly state or riches as their chief excellency, neglecting that true honour of being faithful in their station. (George Hutcheson.)

Worldly prosperity an insidious danger

Once an English friend found Jenny Lind sitting on the steps of a bathing-machine, on the sands, with a Lutheran Bible open on her knee, and looking out into the glory of a sunset that was shining over the waters. They talked, and the talk drew near to the inevitable question: Oh, Madame Goldschmidt, how was it that you ever came to abandon the stage, at the very height of your success? When, every day, was the quiet answer, it made me think less of this (laying a finger on the Bible) and nothing at all of that (pointing to the sunset), what else could I do? (Life of Jenny Lind, by Canon Scott Holland.)

Spiritual ruin through temporal prosperity

It is not an unmixed blessing to be born with a silver spoon in ones mouth, for we all need the benefit of the struggle. I knew a man who commenced business on a small scale, and at that time he attended the chapel twice every Sunday. The business increased rapidly, and he attended chapel once a Sunday, and then once a month, and now he spends his Sundays in a house-boat on the river, and has lost all taste for sacred things! He is the miserable slave of his gold--he worships it by day and dreams of it by night- and one would not be surprised to hear of his seeking his euthanasia in suicide! A man alone with his money is a sorry sight, for his heart is petrified, his spirit materialised, and his life poisoned. The gold mines of Peru helped to wreck the fortunes of Spain, for men abandoned honest work, and became avaricious adventurers. Excessive luxury and avarice are the sure forerunners of national decadence, and we Britons must be on our guard against it, or the fate of Spain will be ours. Life is qualitative rather than quantitative, and our prosperity will spoil us unless we give to soul-culture the first and highest place. As Seneca says: One of the most serious calamities which can befall any man is not to know something of adversity. (J. Ossian Davies.)

Therefore will I turn their glory into shame.

Perverted gifts

God bestows on man gifts, which may be to him matter of praise and glory, if only ordered aright to their highest and only true end, the glory of God. Man perverts them to vainglory, and therefore to sin; God turns the gifts, so abused, to shame. He not only gives them shame instead of their glory; He makes the glory itself the means and occasion of their shame. Beauty becomes the occasion of degradation; pride is proverbially near a fall; vaulting ambition overleaps itself and falls on the other side. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)

Mans glory changed into shame

The very blessings which God had bestowed on these priests for their glory, in order to their good, were to be converted into their shame, and be made instrumental to their injury.

I. The threatening in its relation to the Jews. There never was a nation upon which were poured with such profusion things which should have been for their good and for their glory. But in a very wonderful manner the Jews perverted all their privileges, and thus turned their glory into shame. Their national mercies only strengthened the national apostasy, and then the threatening took literal effect, though only through their own misuse of their many advantages.

II. The threatening in its relation to ourselves. Constantly things which should have turned to our glory have been instrumental to our shame. But this cannot occur without fatal injury.

1. How may our temporal blessings be turned into shame? Nothing tries a man more than prosperity. There are many tempers and dispositions which are comparatively repressed by straitness of condition, but which walk abroad in full liberty when that condition is enlarged. Nevertheless, riches are designed of God to be for mans glory. Alas! there too often occurs the reverse of this, and riches are turned into shame. This is also true of intellectual riches. Genius has often been the ruin of its possessor; the powers which ought to have been for their glory, needing nothing but righteous employment in order to the rendering their possessors happy in themselves, and benefactors to the world, have been given to the cause of vice and infidelity. But illustrations had better be taken from commonplace than from rare instances.

2. How may our spiritual advantages be turned into shame? Every doctrine of religion, every leading of providence may clearly be for our own glory if rightly employed, and as clearly for our shame if misused and perverted. Illustrate by the doctrine of human helplessness, or of the forbearance God manifests to sinners. In dealing with the dispensations of providence, illustrate by affections. They are our glory, but, unsanctified, they become our shame. The prophet Malachi has this threatening in the name of God, I will curse your blessings. (Henry Melvill, B. D.)

Shame for glory

God loves to stain the pride and haughtiness of men.

I. He would bring shame instead of glory. So God is wont to do. Women that glory in their beauty and splendour should mark well (Isa_3:16-24). If any will glory in parts, the Lord justly brings shame on them, blasting their gifts. It is reported of Albertus Magnus, that great scholar, that for five years before his death, he lost his faculties so completely that he could not read. If any glory in riches, God can soon turn that into shame. If any glory in honour, God can soon turn that into shame, as in the case of Herod. According to the glory of men in external things, so is their shame when God takes them away. Here is the difference between the saints and the wicked when they lose these outward things.

II. God makes the very things they glory in turn to their shame. He makes their very gifts to be their undoing. When men glory in this, that they had such success, and such a victory at such a time, and thence infer, Surely God is with us, and blesses and owns us, God will turn this glorying into shame when He blasts their success, and makes it manifest to all that though they have all outward means, yet they avail nothing. When the saints suffer any shame for God, they can glory. What the world accounts their shame is their glory; and that which the world judges to be their glory is their shame. The prophet is speaking here more especially of the priests. God casts shame upon wicked priests. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hos 4:7. As they were increased, so they sinned — Or, The more they were increased, the more they sinned against me — The greater the favours were which I heaped upon them, and the more I multiplied them, the more presumptuously they sinned against me: see Hos 13:6. Instead of, as they were increased, Bishop Horsley reads, In proportion as they were magnified, (a translation the Hebrew word, כרבם, will well bear,) “the priesthood,” he observes, “among the Jews was, by God’s appointment, a situation of the highest rank and authority; and the complaint is, that, in proportion as they were raised in dignity and power above the rest of the people, they surpassed them in impiety.” Therefore will I change their glory into shame — Therefore I will divest them of all those glories for which they pride themselves, and lead them away in a poor and miserable condition into captivity.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. They — The priests. Were increased [“multiplied”] — Not only in numbers, but also in wealth and prosperity, sharing in the glories of the successful reign of Jeroboam II.

They sinned against me — Prosperity led to moral and religious corruption among the people; the priests instead of stemming the tide of worldliness were carried away by it, and rather encouraged it (Hos_4:8; compare Mic_3:11).

Change their glory into shame — From their honorable position as representatives of Jehovah they will be cast into shame and degradation. In Hos_4:5-6 the description of sin is followed by announcement of judgment; this is also the order in Hos_4:7 and gives acceptable sense; emendations therefore seem unnecessary. It should be noted, however, that Targum and Peshitto appear to have read “they have changed” instead of “I will change.” That would be an additional description of the priests’ corruption; they have exchanged the glory which was theirs as priests of the true God for the degrading position of priests of the Baalim — not in name, perhaps, but in deed. Ancient Jewish tradition recognizes this as a more accurate text but goes further, declaring that “their glory” was originally “my glory”; that is, they have exchanged the glory of Jehovah for the shameful service of the Baalim. All three readings give satisfactory sense; and in view of the conflicting testimony it may be impossible to say with certainty which is the original.

Hos_4:8 continues the condemnation of the priests. Their holy office they use for selfish and mean ends.

They eat up the sin of my people — Better, with R.V., “They feed on the sin of my people.” It is not necessary to translate sin offering for “sin”; and the question whether sin offering, in the technical sense of the term, was known in the days of Hosea cannot be determined from this passage; it is quite possible that it did exist. In a general sense all offerings may be called sin offerings. The thought is that “the more the people sin the more merrily thrive the priests”; for they receive a share of nearly all the offerings (1Sa_2:13-17).

They (the priests) set their heart — Literally every one his heart. The expression means to cherish a longing for, and thus to encourage (Deu_24:15; Psa_24:4).

Their — The people’s.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Hos_4:7. Increased] in number and wealth. Shame] i.e. dishonoured by the loss of all. Some, in proportion as priests were elevated in power and dignity above the people, they surpassed them in sin.

Hos_4:8. They] The priests made gain on the sins of the people, lived upon them. Set their heart] Lusted after, strongly desired, instead of checking iniquity.They encouraged idolatry for selfish ends.

Hos_4:9. Punish] Visit upon them. Reward] Make to return upon them their doings; rank and wealth will not preserve them from sharing the fate of the nation. Presumptuous sins return to their own bosom (Pro_1:31).

HOMILETICS

THE DANGER OF WORLDLY PROSPERITY.—Hos_4:7-9

The increase may refer to number, or wealth, power, and dignity. Israel had grown into a strong and powerful nation, but increase of greatness was attended with increase of sin. Its prosperity was attributed to idols (Hos_2:7), thought to be the fruit of their worship, and strengthened them in their delusion. God would therefore turn their glory into shame and make them a warning to others.

I. In worldly prosperity men forget God. The standard of revolt was erected in the first sin. The history of man since has been an endeavour to build an empire, governed by laws and replenished with resources, independent of God. Having by apostasy cut himself off from the true God, he has joined himself to idols, or in his own sufficiency deified himself and made himself his own first and last, all in all.

1. God is not recognized. The gifts are received with ingratitude or attributed to human skill and effort. God is shut out entirely from men’s thoughts and business. When men do not fear, they sink into utter forgetfulness of God, into practical atheism. “Because they have left off to take to the Lord,” Hos_4:10.

2. God is forsaken. “As they were increased so they sinned against me.” It is easy to forsake God when once he is forgotten. Worldlings make their prosperity minister to their pride and ingratitude. Increase of wealth occasions increase of pomp. “Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked, then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation.” An abundant population begets haughty self-reliance, and tempts nations to war. Riches and wealth are not evil in themselves. Nor is the mere possession of them wrong. In almost every stage of civilization they procure the necessities and conveniences of life, and may be made the means of doing good. But to desire them for their own sake, to put them in the place of the highest good, and to let them beget a rapacious worldly spirit, is to abuse them and sin against God. “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

II. In worldly prosperity men become covetous. “They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.” The priests made a gain of the sins of the people. They encouraged idolatry, which involved desertion of God, and connived at sinful customs. The more the people sinned, the more sin-offerings were presented. Their fees and support were derived from the calf worship. They set their heart, i.e. their longing desire, upon their iniquity, had an interest in its growth, and did all in their power to uphold and increase it.

1. False religionists feed upon sin. Religious teachers are most assuming in their authority and dictatorial in their conduct. They feed upon the ignorance and are worshipped by the superstitions of the people. Servility and flattery exalt them and puff them up with pride. A train of followers, a multitude of dependants, look up to them when they go out and when they come in. “Self, is Dives in the mansion, clothed in purple, and faring sumptuously every day—the cause of Christ, is Lazarus lying at his gate, and fed only with the crumbs which fall from his table.” Religious professors are satisfied with forms and ceremonies, anxious for the reputation without performing the duties of Christians, and feed upon merit, not upon Christ. They turn religion into traffic, and “suppose that gain is godliness.”

2. Covetous men feed upon sin. Every passion seeks to justify itself, but covetousness is defended and espoused by all the passions. Covetousness was manifest in the first transgression, and has maintained a fatal ascendency ever since. It turned the nations of old into rapacity, arrogance, and pride, which braved the very throne of God. Alas! it changes the priests and ministers of God into mercenary hirelings, “The heads of Zion judge for reward, and the prophets therefore divine for money.” All covetous men seek to feed, to support themselves, by fraud and deceit; by worldly lusts and pleasure; by idolatry and selfishness. “The covetous man lives as if the world was made altogether for him,” says South, “and not he for the world; to take in everything and part with nothing.” Worldly men have perverted spiritual appetites, relish only inferior and sinful pursuits, and feed upon ashes (Isa_40:20).

III. In worldly prosperity men are ruined. “I will punish them for their ways.” “Therefore will I change their glory into shame.” Sin brings its own punishment. The very objects which excite it form a rod for its chastisement. God is perpetually reminding men that pursuit of worldly good is attended with great anxiety and exhausting toil—that its possession is often a mortification and its loss an anguish—that it is dangerous and destructive, leading men “into temptation and a snare, and piercing them through with many sorrows.”

1. Ruin instead of glory. I will change their glory into shame. God overrules the purposes and pursuits of men. They reap what they do not sow, and are rewarded with the opposite of what they anticipate. God can strip worldly prosperity of all its glory, turn the ornaments of character, and the acquisitions of fortune, into a curse instead of a blessing.

2. Glory the means of ruin. Beauty is often the cause of pride. Pride and a haughty spirit come before a fall. Ambition, power, and population drive nations to war and destruction. “Ambition overleaps itself, and falls on the contrary side.” Amaziah would take no warning, lost his own wealth, and wasted the treasures in God’s temple, and the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, and the city exposed to shame and contempt (2Ki_14:10).

3. Ruin upon all the people. “Like people, like priest.” Priest and people were alike in sin and must suffer in punishment. “As with the people, so with the priest” (Isa_24:2). Prosperity would not exempt the one, nor sanctity secure the other. None would escape, all must be carried away into disgrace and death. The people shelter themselves under the example of the priest: and the priest excuses himself by the power of number, the weakness of our nature, and the strength of temptation; but God “will punish them for their ways.” The wicked may prosper and rule for a while; but God will visit them. They act foolishly by turning God’s mercies to their own destruction, and because they prosper confirm themselves in their folly. Their fame will become infamous, their disgrace conspicuous, and their “shame will be their promotion” (Pro_3:35). “The prosperity of fools shall destroy them.”

HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES

A just retribution: if we turn God’s glory into shame by idolatry (Psa_106:20; Jer_2:2; Rom_1:23; Php_3:19); God will take away glory and give us our shame. “Such is the course of sin and chastisement. God bestows on man gifts, which may be to him matter of praise and glory, if only ordered aright to their highest and only true end, the glory of God; man perverts them to vain glory and thereby to sin; God turns the gifts, so abused, to shame” [Pusey].

In our own days Christian ministers and Christian laymen, from fear of man and love of popularity, shrink from denouncing the fashionable sins and follies of all classes, the spurious liberalism in religion, the equivocal amusements, luxury, absence of modesty in apparel, and covetousness, so prevalent. Ministers conniving at the corrupt ways of the people, and the people screening their sin behind the worldliness of ministers, are both alike in guilt, and shall therefore be also alike in punishment. God will make their sin their punishment; their own presumptuous doings shall be their reward [Fausset].

Like priests like people.

1. Like in moral character—good or bad.

2. Like in moral conduct—consistent or inconsistent.

3. Like in moral destiny—saved or lost. “Let your life be a commentary on your sermons” [Lamont]. “The life of a pious clergyman is visible rhetoric” [Hooker].

“When nations are to perish in their sins,

’Tis in the Church the leprosy begins.” [Cowper.]

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4

Hos_4:7. Gratitude. Special favours call for great gratitude, as those who rent the largest farms generally pay the most for them. There is ingratitude in concealing a benefit or forgetting it, as well as not making a return for it; but the worst ingratitude is returning evil for good. Prosperity. No sooner does the warm aspect of good fortune shine, than all the plans of virtue, raised like a beautiful frost-work in the winter season of adversity, thaw and disappear [Warburton].

Hos_4:8-9. Covetousness never judges anything unlawful. Blood is not too sacred for it to buy, nor religion too Divine for it to sell. It has turned the priests and ministers of God into mercenary hirelings. In Popery every shrine has its gift, every confession its cost, every prayer its charge, and every benediction its price [Wilson].

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

The more I was beneficial unto them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

As they were increased--in numbers and power. Compare Hos 4:6, "thy children," to which their "increase" in numbers refers.

so they sinned--(Compare Hos 10:1 and Hos 13:6).

will I change their glory into shame--that is, I will strip them of all they now glory in (their numbers and power), and give them shame instead. A just retribution: as they changed their glory into shame, by idolatry (Psa 106:20; Jer 2:11; Rom 1:23; Phi 3:19).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Will I change their glory into shame.] As the idolaters at Dan and Bethel have changed my glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, (Ro 1:23,) so will I change their glory into shame or ignominy. In the day of my wrath, their calf-gods shall not deliver them.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Here the Prophet amplifies the wickedness and impiety of the people, by adding this circumstance, that they the more perversely wantoned against God, the more bountiful he was to them, yea, when he poured upon them riches in full exuberance. Such a complaint we have before noticed: but the Prophets, we know, did not speak only once of the same thing; when they saw that they effected nothing, that the contempt of God still prevailed, they found it necessary to repeat often what they had previously said. Here then the Prophet accuses the Israelites of having shamefully abused the indulgence of God, of having allowed themselves greater liberty in sinning, when God so kindly and liberally dealt with them.

Some confine this to the priests, and think the meaning to be, that they sinned more against God since he increased the Levitical tribe and added to their wealth: but the Prophet, I doubt not, meant to include the whole people. He, indeed, in the last verse, separated the crimes of the priests from those of the people, though in the beginning he advanced a general propositions: he now returns to that statement, which is, that all, from the highest to the lowest, acted impiously and wickedly against God. Now we know that the Israelites had increased in number as well as in wealth; for they were prosperous, as it has been stated, under the second Jeroboam; and thought themselves then extremely happy, because they were filled with every abundance. Hence God shows now that they had become worse and less excusable, for they were grown thus wanton, like a horse well-fed, when he kicks against his own master, — a comparison which even Moses uses in his song, (Deuteronomy 32:15.) We now see what the Prophet means. Hence, when he says כרובם, carubem, according to their multiplying, I explain this not simply of men nor of wealth, but of every kind of blessing: for the Lord here, in a word, accuses the people of ingratitude, because the more kind and liberal he was to them, the more obstinately bent they were on sinning.

He afterwards subjoins, Their glory will I turn to shame. He here denounces God’s judgment on proud men, which they feared not: for men, we know, are blinded by prosperity. And it is the worst kind of drunkenness, when we seem to ourselves to be happy; for then we allow ourselves every thing that is contrary to God, and are deaf to all instruction, and are, in short, wholly intractable. But the Prophet says, I will commute this glory into shame, which means, “There is no reason for them to trust in themselves, and foolishly to impose on themselves, by fixing their eyes on their present splendor; for it is in my power,” the Lord says, “to change their glory.” We then see that the Prophet meant here to shake off from the Israelites their vain confidence; for they were wont to set up against God their riches, their glory, their power, their horses and chariots. “This is your glorying; but in my hand and power is adversity and prosperity; yea,” the Lord says, “on me alone depends the changing of glory into shame.” But at the same time, the Prophet intimates, that it could not be that God would thus prostitute his blessings to unworthy men as to swine: for it is a kind of profanation, when men are thus proud against God, while he bears with them, while he spares them. This combination then applies to all who abuse God’s kindness; for the Lord intends not that his favor should be thus profaned. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7, 8) The increase in numbers and prosperity probably refers to the priesthood, who, as they grew in numbers, became more alienated from the true God. These eat up, or fatten on, the very sins they ought to rebuke. The reference here may be either to the portion of sacrificial offerings which fell to the share of the priests, or (less probably) to the sin-money and trespass-money exacted in place of sin-offerings of 2Ki_12:16. (On the general condition of the priesthood at this time, see W. R. Smith, Prophets of Israel pp. 99-101.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. As they were increased …] Rather, The more they increased, the more, &c. No doubt the priestly caste shared in the general prosperity under Jeroboam II., but the official conscience, torpid to begin with, was only the more deadened. A flagrant example of the sinning of the priests is given in the next verse.

will I change their glory into shame] An ancient various reading (one of the so-called Tikkunç Soferim, on which see the Introductions to the Old Testament) is, ‘they have exchanged my glory for shame’, i.e. the glory of Jehovah for the shameful worship of Baal. ‘To exchange (gods)’ or ‘to take another in exchange’ is a recognized phrase for a lapse into idolatry, and we know that the Jewish scribes sometimes ventured to modify expressions in the Scriptures which they thought too bold or liable to misunderstanding (see Geiger’s Urschrift). If we do not go so far as to accept the whole of this various reading, it would seem that we must at least accept the correction of the 1st pers. sing. into the 3rd plur. in the verb, rendering they have exchanged their glory for infamy; comp. Jer_2:11 ‘my people have exchanged their glory for that which doth not profit’ (i.e. idols), Psa_106:20 ‘they exchanged their glory (Psa 5:50 his glory) for the form of an ox.’ Still the received reading, already adopted in the versions, gives a good sense, and considered by itself is not less justifiable than the proposed correction. According to it, ‘their glory’ means, not Jehovah, but the splendour of their position as priests. These verses are important as showing how influential that position was; we could not have inferred this from the scanty references in the historical books.

7–10. Here the priests are referred to in the third person; they have been degraded from a great position; how sore must be the punishment!

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As they were increased, so they sinned against me,.... As the children of the priests increased and grew up, they sinned against the Lord, imitating their parents; they were as many sinners as they were persons, not one to be excepted: this expresses their universal depravity and corruption. Some understand it of their increase, as in number, so in riches, wealth, honour, dignity, and authority, and yet they sinned more and more; which shows their ingratitude. So the Targum,

"as I have multiplied fruits unto them, &c.''

Therefore will I change their glory into shame, take away their priesthood from them, so that they shall be no more priests, and as if they never had been; and reduce them to a state of poverty, meanness, and disgrace; and cause them to go into captivity with the meanest of the people; and be in no more honour, but subject to as much scorn and contempt as they.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As they were increased, so they sinned against Me - The “increase” may be, either in actual number or in wealth, power or dignity. The text includes both. In both kinds of increase, the bad abuse God’s gifts against Himself, and take occasion of them to offend Him. The more they were increased in number, the more there were to sin, the more they were who sinned. God promised to make Abraham’s seed, “as the stars of heaven.” They were to shine in the world through the light of the law, and the glory which God gave them while obeying Him. “Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee like the stars of heaven for multitude. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep His charge, and His statutes, and his judgments and His commandments alway” Deu 10:22; Deu 10:1. God multiplied them, that there might be the more to adore Him. But instead of multiplying subjects, He multiplied apostates. “As many men as Israel had, so many altars did it build to daemons, in the sacrifices to whom it sinned against Me.” “The more sons God gave to Israel, the more enemies He made to Himself, for Israel brought them up in hatred to God, and in the love and worship of idols.” “As too among the devout, one provokes another, by word and deed, to good works, so, in the congregation of evil doers, one incites another to sins.” Again, worldlings make all God’s gifts minister to pride, and so to all the sins, which are the daughters of pride. “Jeshurun, God says, waxed fat and kicked; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation” Deu 32:15. In this way too, the increase of wealth which God gives to those who forget Him, increases the occasions of ingratitude and sins.

I will turn their glory into shame - Such is the course of sin and chastisement. God bestows on man, gifts, which may be to him matter of praise and glory, if only ordered aright to their highest and only true end, the glory of God; man perverts them to vain-glory and thereby to sin; God turns the gifts, so abused, to shame. He not only gives them shame instead of their glory; He makes the glory itself the means and occasion of their shame. Beauty becomes the occasion of degradation; pride is proverbially near a fall; “vaulting ambition overleaps itself, and falls on th’other side;” riches and abundance of population tempt nations to wars, which become their destruction, or they invite other and stronger nations to prey upon them. “Thou hast indeed smitten Edom,” was the message of Jehoash to Amaziah, “and thine heart hath lifted thee up; glory of this, and tarry at home, for why shouldest thou to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou and Judah with thee? But Amaziah would not hear” 2Ki 14:10-11. He lost his own wealth, wasted the treasures in God’s house; and the walls of Jerusalem were broken down.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Me. A father rejoices in a numerous offspring. But my people take occasion to offend me the more they increase. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As they; kings, priests, and people of that age, that is, Jeroboam the Second, great-grandson of Jehu, who raised the kingdom to its highest pitch and glory.

Were increased; both multiplied for number, and grew great in riches, power, and honour. Such temper were they of, Isa 1:2.

So they sinned against me: sin grew with their wealth and honour; God who raised them was by them provoked the more, they turned his bounty into sin: too usual a return from sinners to God.

I will change, turn by a just retaliation,

their glory into shame: they turned their glory, all that in which they might glory above others, into sin; I will turn it into shame; that shall be their dishonour which, had it been well used, might have been their honour. I will degrade their priests, impoverish the people, captivate both.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 7, 8. As they were increased; rather, multiplied. Whether be taken as infinitive with suffix and prefix, or as a noun, it will amount to the same. The reference is rather to the multitude of the population than to the greatness of their prosperity or the abundance of their wealth. In the latter sense it is understood by the Chaldee paraphrase, but in the former by the Syriac translator. So also Kimchi, where he says, "As for Aaron the priest their father, the Law of truth was in his mouth; but now that his sons have multiplied and spread abroad, they have sinned against me and forgotten my law; according as I did them good they did evil." He also gives as the explanation of others, "As I increased them in wealth and riches, they sinned against me." Their glory will I change into shame. The "therefore" of the Authorized Version is inserted unnecessarily. Both the Chaldee and Syriac render, "And they changed their glory into shame;" as they took rymia for the infinitive rymih, and that in the sense of the preterit; or the infinitive in the gerundival sense: "changing their glory into shame." Kimchi explains the meaning correctly: "Therefore I made them beads over the people and expiators, yet if they do not observe my Law I will change their glory into shame; and the people will contemn and despise them." Their numbers multiplied with the multiplication of idols, and the apostasy of the people kept pace with both; and now as a fit punishment they are to be deprived of their priestly glory their dignity and splendor. They eat up the sin of my people. The word haFj may be understood in either of two senses; and the meaning of the verse will correspond thereto. It may either mean that these faithless priests lived upon the sin of the people, deriving their livelihood and profit from the people"s idolatrous practices; or that they were delighted with their sin, approving rather than reproving them for the same. The other explanation understands the word of sin offering, and is thus expressed by Kimchi: "They are only priests for eating up the sin and trespass offering which the people offer on account of sins, not for teaching the Law or right way." To their iniquity they lift up (each one) his soul. They set their heart upon and eagerly desire the continued practice of sin on the part of the people that they may profit by the sacrifices. Thus Kimchi explains this clause in accordance with his exposition of the former: "The priests lift up every one his soul to the sin of the people, saying, When will they sin, and bring sin offering and trespass offering that we may eat?

Secular prosperity.

"As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame." The "increase" referred to in the text is in all probability an increase in the number of the population. Israel had become a numerous people. But it might also refer to their increase in wealth; this is the application that we shall make of it, and notice three points.

I SECULAR PROSPERITY ATTAINED BY THE WICKED. They were an idolatrous and rebellious people, yet they had grown rich. Their lands brought forth plentifully, and their merchandise was prosperous.

1. This is a common fact. Wicked men, in all ages from the beginning, have not only been successful in the accumulation of wealth, but as a rule have been more prosperous than their contemporaries. Two things may account for this fact.

(1) Their secular earnestness. Material good is the one thing that fills and fires an unregenerate soul, and for this he labors with might and main. The more earnest a man is in any pursuit (his aptitudes being equal), the more successful. The mere worldly man is "fervent" in business.

(2) Their moral unscrupulousness. They have no high sense of honor, no inviolable rules of right, no swaying sense of moral responsibilities. Hence they will not reject the fraudulent and the false if they will serve them in their course. Fraud and falsehood are perhaps the chief factors in fortune-making. No wonder, then, that the wicked become rich.

2. This is a trying fact. Men of incorruptible truth, honesty, and high devotion have in all ages been baffled and distressed by this fact. "Wherefore do the wicked prosper?" This has been their puzzle.

II SECULAR PROSPERITY ABUSED BY THE WICKED. "As they were increased, so they sinned against me." Wealth has a wonderful power either for good or ill. With it the truly generous and holy can widen the empire of spiritual intelligence and advance the cause of human happiness; and by it the wicked can increase the corruption and swell the tide of human depravity. In the hands of the wicked wealth can:

1. Promote injustice. Wealth gives a man power to baffle the cause of justice, trample on human rights, and oppress the poor and the innocent. Wealth fattens the despotic in human nature.

2. Promote sensuality. It provides means to inflame the low passions of human nature, and to pamper the brutal appetites. It tends to bury the soul in the warm and sparkling stream of animal passions.

3. Promote practical atheism. The man who has an abundance of the things of this life, and who has not the fear of God in his heart, is sure to sink into an utter forgetfulness of the Author of all good. Thus, then, "as they were increased, so they sinned against me." A terrible fact this.

III SECULAR PROSPERITY RUINOUS TO THE WICKED. "Therefore will I change their glory into shame." I will strip them of all they now glory in, all their worldly prosperity, and give them shame instead. I will quench all the lights which they have kindled, and which glare around them, and there shall be darkness. I will bring them into wretchedness and contempt. "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." Today he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes, tomorrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honors thick upon him: The third day comes a frost, a killing frost: And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root, And then he falls, as I do. (Shakespeare.) D.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As they - Kings, priests, and people. Were increased - In number, in riches, and honour. So they sinned - Sin grew with their wealth and honour. Their glory - They turned all that in which they might glory above others, into sin. I will turn it into their dishonour.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

"The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; their glory will I change into shame." כּרבּם, "according to their becoming great," does not refer to the increase of the population only (Hos 9:11), but also to its growing into a powerful nation, to the increase of its wealth and prosperity, in consequence of which the population multiplied. The progressive increase of the greatness of the nation was only attended by increasing sin. As the nation attributed to its own idols the blessings upon which its prosperity was founded, and by which it was promoted (cf. Hos 2:7), and looked upon them as the fruit and reward of its worship, it was strengthened in this delusion by increasing prosperity, and more and more estranged from the living God. The Lord would therefore turn the glory of Ephraim, i.e., its greatness or wealth, into shame. כּבודם is probably chosen on account of its assonance with כּרבּם. For the fact itself, compare Hos 2:3, Hos 2:9-11.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

the more they have sinned against me As they multiplied and increased, so they continued to sin. (Heb. כֵן חָטְאוּ.) So is the Hebrew expression in numerous places: “As they afflicted them, so they increased (Heb. כֲּאֲשֶׁר יְעַנוּ אוֹתוֹ כֵן יִרְבֶּה);” “As they called them so they turned away from them, (Heb. קָרְאוּ לָהֶם כֵּן הָלְכוּ מִפְּנֵיהֶם Hosea 11:2),” the more the prophets called after them to rebuke them, so they ran away from them.

the more they have increased the more they have sinned Therefore “I will exchange their glory for shame.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.