The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 266

silver wes not used in the construction of the golden calves, It wae employer! to ~nppor~ the idolo.troae worship. Thus, beco.ase they abandoned the "good thinu," they went wrong in their pol_itics and rel_igion. They m_ade their own kings and th;ir own gods. Whe_n onco men give up ~he right thc:y rush ~nto th_e wrong. Let a man go wrong in relation to God, e.nd he will go wrong rn a.II his relations, secular and spiritual. CoNOLUSION. There is nothing in connection with the human race of such tran- scendent importance as worship. The religious element is the strongest of all elemen Ls; and men mast have a god of some sort or other, e.nd their g0d will fashioo their character and determine their destiny. "And yet from bim we tnm away, And fill our hearts with worthless things; And fires of avarice melt the clay, And forth the idol springs. Ambition's flame and passion's heat, By wondrous alchemy, transmute Earth's dross, to raise some gilded brute To fill J ehovo.h's seat." (J. H. Clinch.) D.T. Vera. 5-7.-Idolatry. "Thy calf, 0 Sama.1ia, hath cast thee off." These verses present to us iclolatry in five aspects. I. As ABHORRENT TO JEHOVAH. "Thy calf, 0 Sa.maria, bath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them." By a. synecdoche, Sa.maria. is here used for all the ten tribes. '!'here is no allusion in history to any calf set up in the city of Samaria, bnt its existence in Bethel, the most celebrated place of worship in the kingdom, is a matter of cert-ainty. "The introduction of the worship of the golden calves by Jeroboam, in imitation of that of Apis at Memphis, and of Mnevis at Heliopolis, which he must have seen during his residence in Egypt, paved the way for the imitation and adoption of the gross idola.trie~ practised by the Phrenicians, Syrians, and Cha.ldeans." Now, age.inst this idolatry Jehovah declares his anger "to be kindled." The language is, of course, anthropomorphic, and used only to express his unconquerable opposition to idolatry, the foulest of all evils-a violation of his command, " Thou she.It have no other god beside me." It is the abominable thing which he hates. The fact that idolatry is abhorrent to the great God is the grand reason why his loyal servants should consecrate them- selves to his service. II. As ANTAGONISTI0 TO MORAL PURITY. 11 How long shall they be incapable of purity?" (Elzas). Where there is not supreme love to the supremely Good, there is no soil in which one solitary virtue can germinate, there is no foundation on which one stone can be laid for the temple of goodness. Hence the history of idolatry shows that it is inseparably associated with pollution and crime. Idolatry is a fountain essentially corrupt, and all its streams are filthy and foul. Paul's description in the first chapter of Romans is true to universal fact. If the world is ever to be made virtuous, it must have the one true and living God presented to it WI the one Object of BUpreme love and worship. III. As AN OUTRAGE ON REASON. 11 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God." "It is the greatest folly," says an old author, "to look upon that which derives its excellency from ourselves RS superior to us, and that in the highest degree; to forsake God that made us, and to make that to be a god unto us that we have made ourselves. If one be maintained or raised by another, he is expected to be serviceable to him. In this relation we stand to God, but idolatry makes men go against the very principles of reason. They fashion the idol and yet account it their god; they are made and sustained by God, and yet forget him." And yet this folly men are constantly committing every day, not only in heathen la.ads, but in Christendom. Men are everywhere making their gods. Power, money, pleasure,fa11U1,-these be thy gods, 0 England I IV. As DOOMED TO DESTRUCTION. 11 But the calf of Samaria shall bi, broken in pieces." "All idolatry must be destroyed" (Exod. xxxiv. 13; Deut. vii. 5; Ezek. xx. 7). 1. God has destroyed idols by the gospel. 2. God is destroying idols by the gospel.  266 THE DOOK OF HOSEA. [OH, VIII, 1-14,