The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof [that] rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
Ver. 5. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear] sc. When God shall break the necks of their altars, and spoil their images, as Hosea 10:2. They feared not God, by their own confession, Hosea 10:3, therefore they are full of base fears, whereof the true fear of God would have freed them, Matthew 10:28. He that feareth God needeth not fear any other thing, or person, Psalms 112:7; but can say with David, "My feet," that is, mine affections, "stand in an even place," that is, in an equal tenor; Impavidum ferient ruinae. "I shall rest in the day of trouble, when he cometh up against the people" (saith holy Habakkuk, Hab 3:16). I shall rejoice in the God of my salvation; when those that fear not God shall be at their wits' end; yea, they shall be mad for the sight of their eyes that they shall see, Deuteronomy 28:34 .
Because of the calves of Bethaven] Calves in the feminine gender, she-calves, by way of contempt and derision, as Jerome noteth; as Isaiah 3:12, "women rule over them." The Jews at this day look upon women as a lower creation, and do not allow them to enter into the synagogue. As among the Turks they never go to church, neither is there any reckoning made of their religion. The heathens had the like conceits and expressions: O Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges - Aχηιδες ουκ ετ Aχαιοι, &c. (Virg. Aeneid. 9. Hom. II 8). We cannot speak overbasely of idols; the Scripture calleth them excrements, nothings, &c. Luther wonders that Jeroboam, knowing how ill the people had sped with their golden calf in the wilderness, should yet dare to set up two at Dan and Bethel (both here called Bethaven, or houses of iniquity); and a man might as well wonder that, having as great a miracle wrought before him in the drying up of his hand, as St Paul at his conversion, yet was he no whit wrought upon. But if God strike not the stroke, if the Spirit set not in with the means, all is to no purpose. Who would think that men should ever be so void of reason as to trust in that which cannot save itself from the enemies' hands? as these calves of Bethaven, and as the Papists' breaden god, brought into the field by the rebels of Norfolk in King Edward VI's days; neither was there lacking masses, crosses, banners, candlesticks, with holy bread, and holy water plenty, to defend them from devils and all adversary power; which, in the end, neither could help their friends nor save themselves from the hands of their enemies; but again both the consecrated god, and all the trumpery about him, was taken in a cart, and there lay all in the dust; leaving to them a notable lesson of bitter experience, saith Mr Fox, who relateth it.
For the people thereof] i.e. of the calf, to whom they had dedicated themselves; as the Moabites are called the people of Chemosh, Numbers 21:29, and Turks Mahometans. "For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever," Micah 4:5 .
Do mourn over it] As those women wept for Tammuz, Ezekiel 8:14, that is, for Osiris, king of Egypt, whose image they had adored, as those, Revelation 18:15, wailed over that old whore, when they saw her a broiling; as idolatrous Micah cried after his gods, Judges 18:24, and as the people of the East Indies, in the isle Ceylon, having an ape's tooth which they had consecrated gotten from them, mourned, and offered an incredible mass of treasure to recover it. Should not men then mourn after the sincere service of God, and hold it dear to their souls?
And the priests thereof that rejoiced in it] Heb. the Chemarims, or chimney chaplains, that were all black and sooty with the smoke of the sacrifices, and were therefore called Chemarim, or Camilli, as affecting a black habit, sanctimoniae ergo; therefore sacred, or having black brand marks upon their bodies, in honour of their idols, whereof these haply were the Hierophantae, or masters of the ceremonies, and made a great gain thereof the ground of their joy; for it is κερδος because κεαρ ηδει, gain so called, because it delights the heart.
For the glory thereof] i.e. of the calf, the beauty and bravery of its worship, all is now utterly gone.