Hos 10:12

“Observe how holy and how marvelous is the sequence of things. Do not imagine that wisdom will come before its enactment in deeds. The deeds ought to come first, and wisdom sought afterwards.… We ought not teach others before we ourselves are instructed and rational. After these things, however, "truth" is added because "truth" is the highest wisdom. The prophet also preserves this same order when he says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of life; illuminate yourselves with the light of knowledge." See how he does not first say, "Illuminate yourselves with the light of knowledge," but first, "Sow for yourselves righteousness." It is not sufficient just to sow, but he says, "reap the fruit of life" so that after these you can fulfill what follows, "illuminate yourselves with the light of knowledge."”

“So that we may know clearly what is meant by not having a share in the works which do not bear fruit, let us first inquire as to what sort of actions merit the attribute unfruitful—whether those only that are forbidden or such also are commendable but are not performed in good dispositions. In the Old Testament, the prophet, comparing the saints with the tree, says, "which shall bring forth its fruit in due season." Solomon declares, "The work of the just is unto life, but the fruit of the wicked is sin"; and Hosea, "Sow for yourselves in justice, reap the fruit of life."”

“"Sow for yourselves according to righteousness, reap according to the merciful act. Cultivate for yourselves a new crop, but require the time of seeking the Lord when He comes to teach you righteousness. Sow for yourselves according to righteousness, reap the fruit of life. Illuminate yourselves with the light of knowledge, for it is time to seek the Lord until the fruits of righteousness come to you." The translation once begun by the farmers is preserved. Ephraim said that he loved the trained heifer for threshing and had gone up to the mountains to plow Judah and break up Jacob's clods or furrows. Now he advises that they plant for themselves through repentance, and sow in justice, that is, in the Law, and they reap in mercy, that is, in the grace of the Gospel. For there we read, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" (Exod. XXI); but here we read, "But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike you on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other" (Matt. V, 39). And when you have sown in justice, and reaped in mercy, then renew for yourself joyful gardens. And give reasons for why they sow, why they reap, and why they renew the joyful gardens. "Time," said Christ, our savior, "to seek the Lord, when he comes, who will teach you righteousness," which you now hope for in the law: "For the end of the law is Christ, to righteousness to everyone who does good" (Rom. X). For what we have said, "measure in the mouth of mercy," the Seventy translated, "reap the fruit of life:" and the Messiah is more fitting for the seed, than the vintage: but the fruit of life itself is the tree of life. And because we have put forth "innovate vobis novale," they have turned it into "illuminate vobis lumen scientiae," so that we may deserve to have knowledge of the Law from its works and commands, according to what we read in a certain book: "You have desired wisdom: keep the commandments, and the Lord will give it to you" (Ecclus. 1:33). For he who turns commandments into works, sows in justice, and will reap from it the fruits of life. Hence, we read elsewhere: "The commandment of the Lord is a shining light, enlightening the eyes" (Ps. 18:9). And Isaiah said to the Lord: "Your command is a lamp upon my feet." And in another place: "From your precepts I gained understanding" (Psal. 119). Those also, who have separated themselves from the Church, and have falsely taken on the name of Christians, are commanded to repent and receive both the Old and New Testaments: in the Old they sow justice, in the New they reap mercy: and let them illuminate themselves with the light of knowledge, or renew themselves by seeking the Lord, who can teach them true justice, and destroy false teachers from whom they do not learn justice, but iniquity.”

“Therefore, if you are concerned to attain to the light of spiritual knowledge not by the vice of empty boastfulness but by the grace of correction, you are first inflamed with desire for that blessedness about which it is said, "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God." [Thus] you may also attain to that about which the angel said to Daniel: "Those who are learned shall shine like the splendor of the firmament, and those who instruct many in righteousness like the stars forever." And in another prophet: "Enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge while there is time."”

“Sow righteousness for yourselves But you have plowed wickedness etc.; therefore, a tumult shall rise in your people. plow yourselves a plowing Engage in the Torah and from there you will learn to go on the good way, to overpower temptation, like a person who plows the field to turn over the roots of grasses which sap the strength of the grain in the summer many days prior to sowing, and you shall set aside a time to seek the Lord, i.e., for the study of the Torah. until He comes and instructs you in righteousness When you toil in it, He will give you to understand to let you know its secrets with righteousness. Another explanation: Plow yourselves a plowing Do good deeds before oppression comes upon you, and that will cause for you that your prayer will be accepted in time of necessity, and then it will be a time fit for you to seek the Holy One, blessed he He, for all your necessities, for then your cry will be heard, and He will cast down (יוֹרֶה) charity to you; i.e., He will rain down charity to you. Comp. (Ex. 15:3) “He cast (יָרָה) into the sea.””

“I do not say, however, that knowledge of letters is to be despised or neglected, which adorns the soul and instructs it, and makes it able to instruct others also. But those two things ought and are expedient to come first, in which the preceding argument declared the sum of salvation to consist. And see whether he was not contemplating and teaching this order who said: Sow for yourselves unto justice, reap the hope of life; and then at last, he says, illuminate for yourselves the light of knowledge. He placed knowledge last, as a painting, which cannot stand upon an empty surface; and therefore he set those two things before it and placed them beneath it, as if he were laying something solid beneath a painting. I shall now attend to knowledge in safety, if first through the benefit of hope I shall have received security of life. You therefore have sown for yourself unto justice, if from true knowledge of yourself you have been awakened to fear God, have humbled yourself, have poured forth tears, have lavished alms, and have given yourself over to other works of piety, if you have afflicted your body with fasts and vigils, if you have wearied your breast with beatings and heaven with cries. For this indeed is to sow unto justice.”

“Mouth. Hebrew, “in proportion to (Calmet) your piety.” Septuagint, “gather a vintage of the fruit of life.” (Haydock) — Ground. Reform your conduct. (Calmet) — Justice, when Christ shall appear, the source of all our grace and justice. (St. Jerome, &c.) (Calmet) — Septuagint, “Light up for yourselves the light of knowledge, for it is time; seek the Lord, till ye obtain the fruit of justice.””

“Continuation of the image in Hos 10:11 (Pro 11:18). Act righteously and ye shall reap the reward; a reward not of debt, but of grace. in mercy--according to the measure of the divine "mercy," which over and above repays the goodness or "mercy" which we show to our fellow man (Luk 6:38). break . . . fallow ground--Remove your superstitions and vices, and be renewed. seek . . . Lord, fill he come--Though not answered immediately, persevere unceasingly "till He come." rain--send down as a copious shower. righteousness--the reward of righteousness, that is, salvation, temporal and spiritual (Sa1 26:23; compare Joe 2:23 ).”

“The call to repentance and reformation of life is then appended in Hos 10:12, Hos 10:13, clothed in similar figures. Hos 10:12. "Sow to yourselves for righteousness, reap according to love; plough for yourselves virgin soil: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till He come and rain righteousness upon you. Hos 10:13. Ye have ploughed wickedness, ye have reaped crime: eaten the fruit of lying: because thou hast trusted in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men." Sowing and reaping are figures used to denote their spiritual and moral conduct. לצדקה, for righteousness, is parallel to לפי חסד; i.e., sow that righteousness may be able to spring up like seed, i.e., righteousness towards your fellow-men. The fruit of this will be chesed, condescending love towards the poor and wretched. Nı̄r nı̄r, both here and in Jer 4:3 to plough virgin soil, i.e., to make land not yet cultivated arable. We have an advance in this figure: they are to give up all their previous course of conduct, and create for themselves a new sphere for their activity, i.e., commence a new course of life. ועת, and indeed it is time, equivalent to, for it is high time to give up your old sinful says and seek the Lord, till (עד) He come, i.e., till He turn His grace to you again, and cause it to rain upon you. Tsedeq, righteousness, not salvation, a meaning which the word never has, and least of all here, where tsedeq corresponds to the tsedâqâh of the first clause. God causes righteousness to rain, inasmuch as He not only gives strength to secure it, like rain for the growth of the seed (cf. Isa 44:3), but must also generate and create it in man by His Spirit (Psa 51:12). The reason for this summons is given in Hos 10:13, in another allusion to the moral conduct of Israel until now. Hitherto they have ploughed as well as reaped unrighteousness and sin, and eaten lies as the fruit thereof, - lies, inasmuch as they did not promote the prosperity of the kingdom as they imagined, but only led to its decay and ruin. For they did not trust in Jehovah the Creator and rock of salvation, but in their way, i.e., their deeds and their might, in the strength of their army (Amo 6:13), the worthlessness of which they will now discover.”