Hosea 7:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Driven by animosity towards God and his own miseries, he schemed to create golden calves and introduced idolatry by establishing new festivities in their honor, as recounted in 1 Kings 12:26-32.

In the beginning, Jeroboam was deeply anxious that those who remained devoted to the ancestral worship would abandon him or take his life, thus dismissing his evil plot and yearning to revert to their rightful king, rightfully upset by the dishonor shown to Moses and their disobedience to God's commandments. Accordingly, in a cunning manner, he dispatched many in Israel to promote the idea of crafting a calf for worship and reinstating their own feasts. Observing their readiness and unanimous agreement with this plan, he publicly declared that the golden calf should be venerated, assigning the fifteenth day of the eighth month for the festival, as noted in 1 Kings 12:32. The people endorsed his decisions, proclaiming, "This is the king's day; we shall listen to his intentions," thereby reassuring him with their support. The populace followed their leaders, aligning themselves with Jeroboam’s decrees, which is what the prophetic word highlights at this moment.

The prophetic voice urges, "All ye that love," expressing that those who have forsaken God for spiritual infidelity are comparable to searing furnaces, primed to reach a boiling point. Their souls, inflamed with unrestrained desires, personify heat and lust—akin to dough that has risen excessively on the king's day when sacrifices to the calves and their associated feasts were proclaimed. Their wicked decree was finalized, leading to extreme impiety as they succumbed to overwhelming temptation on the king’s day. A similar scenario unfolded among the Jews towards Christ. The scribes and Pharisees, through deceitful words that tarnished His glory, gradually turned the people away from their love for Him, committing an act of spiritual adultery by distracting the masses from devotion to Him.

The phrase ‘when it shall be leavened’ signifies that Christ will arrive at the end of time, when humanity is permeated with the leaven of its iniquity, and Christ, purifying it from this leaven, will fill it with a new leaven.

This imagery of a furnace made ready for baking bread illustrates that the addition of leaven symbolizes the complicity of the entire populace, emphasizing the shared eagerness of both king and people towards idolatry.

It is clear that the hearts of heretics are ignited by the flames of the adversary, leading to the production of the bread of Antichrist within them. Initially, they remain subdued in the Church, whispering in secrecy and offering a facade of peace, allowing their contagion to slowly infiltrate the nations. When the leaven of their teachings, to which the Lord warns, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees" (Matt. 16:6), begins to stir the hearts of the misled, they eventually lose control and madness takes over. The words of the Apostle John become relevant to them: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us" (1 John 2:19).

Like a contagion, their vice, once it infects an individual, spreads to those nearby. Those who live immorally also corrupt those in their circles, leading to the deterioration of virtuous conduct (1 Cor. 15:31). Yet, the Prophet reveals that they do not rest by night; their schemes continue, and by day, like fire, they bring ruin to those who oppose them. For it is said: