Hosea 13:2

Hosea 13:2. And now they sin more and more They did not content themselves with worshipping the golden calves only, which they made to be symbols of Jehovah the true God, but made themselves images of various idols after the manner of the heathen nations; which were nothing more than merely pieces of handicraft work. They at first worshipped Jehovah under the images of the golden calves, but at last they came to worship the mere images themselves. Thus do men sink deeper and deeper into vice, folly, and ignorance, whenever they depart from the right way! Instead of, according to their own understanding, Bishop Horsley reads, In their great wisdom they made themselves images, &c., considering the words as spoken ironically. They say of them Of the idols; Let the men that sacrifice, kiss the calves Let all that bring their offerings to these idols worship and adore, and show they do so by kissing the calves. Among the ancient idolaters, to kiss the idol was an act of the most solemn adoration. Thus we read, 1 Kings 19:18, of all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. And so Job describes the adoration which the idolaters of his time paid to the heavenly bodies, Job 31:27. Tully mentions a brazen statue of Hercules at Agrigentum, in which the workmanship of the mouth was sensibly worn by the frequent kisses of the worshippers. And, in allusion to this rite, the holy psalmist, calling upon the apostate faction to avert the wrath of the incarnate God, by a full acknowledgment of his divinity, bids them kiss the Son, that is, worship him.