Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 14:1
O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
1. return for thou hast fallen ] To ‘stumble’ or to ‘fall’ means to be visited by a calamity (as Hos 4:3, Hos 5:5). Experience has shown the Israelites, to quote Jeremiah (Hos 2:19), ‘what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake Jehovah their God.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O Israel, return – (now, quite) unto the Lord your God The heavy and scarcely interrupted tide of denunciation is now past. Billow upon billow have rolled over Ephraim and the last wave discharged itself in the overwhelming, indiscriminating destruction of the seat of its strength. As a nation, it was to cease to be. its separate existence was a curse, not a blessing; the offspring of rivalry, matured by apostasy; the parent, in its turn, of jealousy, hatred, and mutual vexation.
But while the kingdom was past and gone, the children still remained heirs of the promises made to their fathers. As then, before, Hosea declared that Israel, after having long remained solitary, should in the end seek the Lord and David their king Hos 3:5, so now, after these manifold denunciations of their temporal destruction, God not only invites them to repentance, but foretells that they should be wholly converted.
Every word is full of mercy. God calls them by the name of acceptance, which he had given to their forefather, Jacob; O Israel. He deigns to beseech them to return; return now; and that not toward but quite up to Himself, the unchangeable God, whose mercies and promises were as immutable as His Being. To Himself, the Unchangeable, God invites them to return; trod that, as being still their God. They had cast off their God; God had not cast off His people whom He foreknew Rom 11:2.
: He entreats them not only to turn back and look toward the Lord with a partial and imperfect repentance, but not to leave off until they were come quite home to Him by a total and sincere repentance and amendment. He bids them return quite to Himself, the Unchangeable God, and their God. Great is repentance, is a Jewish saying , which maketh men to reach quite up to the Throne of glory.
For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity – This is the first ray of divine light on the sinner. God begins by discovering to him the abyss into which he has fallen, and the way by which he fell. Their own iniquity it was, on which they had stumbled and so had fallen, powerless to rise, except through His call, whose voice is with power Psa 29:4, and Who giveth what He commandeth. : Ascribe not thy calamity, He would say, to thine own weakness, to civil dissension, to the disuse of miltary discipline, to want of wisdom in thy rulers, to the ambition and cruelty of the enemy, to reverse of fortune. These things had not gone against thee, hadst not thou gone to war with the law of thy God. Thou inflictest the deadly wound on thyself; thou destroyedst thyself. Not as fools vaunt, by fate, or fortune of war, but by thine iniquity hast thou fallen. Thy remedy then is in thine own hand. Return to thy God.
: In these words, by thine iniquity, he briefly conveys, that each is to ascribe to himself the iniquity of all sin, of whatsoever he has been guilty, not defending himself, as Adam did, in whom we all, Jews and Gentiles, have sinned and fallen, as the Apostle says, For we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others Eph 2:3. By adding actual, to that original, sin, Israel and every other nation falleth. He would say then, O Israel, be thou first converted, for thou hast need of conversion; for thou hast fallen; and confess this very thing, that thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; for such confession is the beginning of conversion.
But wherewith should he return?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 14:1
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.
Mans evil estate, and hope of deliverance
While the freeness of Gods mercy is the leading idea suggested by the text, it is not the only one: the condition of our nature is accurately expressed, as is the mode by which alone it can be ameliorated.
I. The state into which man has brought himself. There are few things more important than the fastening on the sinner all the blame of his sin. Adam might have obeyed the simple injunction, and, holding on his probation, might have won for himself and his descendants a hereafter fenced up against the spoiler. God foreknew that Adam would transgress, and prepared for the contingency. We can see that if there had been no ruin there could have been no restoration. The work of redemption takes, of course, for granted the apostasy of our race. On Adam must be fastened all the blame of his transgression. There was no extenuating plea which the offender could in justice have urged. The blame of the fall belongs individually to man. Thou hast not fallen through an inherent inability to stand; He has so constituted thee that thou mightest have stood. Thou hast not fallen through the ground being slippery, and thick-set with snares. He placed thee where thy footing was firm, and thy pathway direct. So that upon man himself comes home wholly all the effect of the fall. We argue from this the unqualified gratuitousness of Gods interposition on mans behalf. In whatever degree there may be a necessity of sinning, in no degree is there a necessity of perishing. God places no man in such a moral condition that our falling into perdition is unavoidable. Let a man have once heard of Christ, and from that moment forward salvation is within arms length of this man. Man can have no right to take off the burthen of responsibilities and cast it on the secret decrees of his Maker.
II. The mode of mans deliverance. Return unto the Lord thy God. It comes not within our power to destroy or diminish Gods title to our service. The fall did not do away with Gods claim on man. Some teach that God proportions His demands to our impaired capacities, and will be satisfied with the honest endeavour, seeing that we cannot come up to the thorough performance. But this is making God answerable for the apostasy of man. We may, however, gather an inference of consolation as well as one of admonition. There is the groundwork of hope, that God will yet look mercifully upon us, and restore us, seeing that, notwithstanding our alienation, He is still our God. Man of himself hath no power to turn unto God; but since God invites, He surely enables. He bestows all requisite assistance, and a clear pathway has been made. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
On repentance
In the history of the children of Israel we see the perverseness and ingratitude of man, and the forbearance and goodness of God. Israels sins were peculiarly aggravated by their having been committed after repeated and wonderful deliverances, after signal chastisements and mercies. At the period of Hoseas prophecy Israels continued rebellion against God had nearly exhausted His patience toward that people. Though these words were primarily addressed to Israel, we shall consider them–
I. As conveying a gracious exhortation to all sinners to return unto the lord.
1. We must return unto the Lord with consideration. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways.
2. With weeping and supplication. A proper review of our past follies and perverse wanderings, and of Gods mercies and patience towards us, will produce sorrow of heart, will cause tears of compunction to flow.
3. With humility. Our lofty imaginations and high opinion of ourselves must be brought low.
4. Through the Mediator. We cannot expect to find mercy unless, we seek mercy through Christ. Of this righteousness, not our own, we must make mention.
5. Without delay. This may be urged from the shortness and uncertainty of life, and from the greatness of the work which we have to do.
II. As declaring the reasonableness of the exhortation. For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. The text is applicable to the case of backsliders who have fallen from their steadfastness. But all mankind have fallen from God. Adam fell, and in him fell all his posterity.
1. Man is fallen from the favour of God, and is under the displeasure of God.
2. Man is fallen under the dominion of sin and the curse of the law.
3. Man is fallen into the snares and power of the devil.
4. Man, if not recovered by Divine grace, will at last fall into the bottomless pit.
Apply to those who are still in their fallen state, and are wandering from God.
1. Yield to the solemn and affecting truth that you have fallen by your iniquity, and let this truth stir you up to inquire with solicitude, What must I do to be saved?
2. Listen to Gods gracious invitation, and believe His willingness to receive you.
3. Contemplate what has been done to accomplish the great work of your redemption.
4. Consider the awful doom of the finally impenitent transgressor. (E. Edwards.)
Repentance as return
The Divine love is content with nothing less than return. And nothing less and nothing else will give safety. There must not only be a cessation of the present journey, but a definite and conclusive retracement of the steps. What the prophet sighs for, and what his God so earnestly commands, is not the mere inactive terror of proceeding onwards when the fiery abyss stretches to the view, nor the attempt, while that terror lasts, to breathe a hasty vow or utter a disordered prayer. What the Divine love insists on is a decided and complete retreat, such as when, conscious of peril and aware of only one refuge, and that in God, he eagerly seeks Him with the whole heart. I will arise and go to my Father is his earnest and practical resolution. (John Eadie, D. D. , LL. D.)
A message to backsliding Israel
I. The lords address unto His backsliding ones. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. God glorifies His sanctifying grace in some, and His pardoning grace in others. Let the children of God be in what state they may, as it respects their acts of grace or sin, this makes no alteration in the Lords love unto them. As they have the body of sin and death dwelling within them, there is a continual propensity in their fallen natures, to slide into themselves, and to backslide from the Lord Jesus Christ. Israels case was extreme. Be could not return unto the Lord by any strength of his own. He must be fallen by his iniquity into a state and kind of desperation. This was the fruit of his iniquity. It is the Lord Himself who here speaks. He does so in the language of commiseration. From these words what an infinity of grace and blessed encouragement may be derived, so as to encourage the people of the Lord to trust and hope in Him. None but backsliders know and feel the sorrows which arise from the same.
II. One substantial reason for the return of backsliding Israel to God. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. It lies in their relation to Him, and His relation to them. All sin is the effect of unbelief. Every act of departure from the Lord is the fruit of it; let it be mental, or let it be open and manifest. Backsliders need great encouragement, even from the Lord Himself, to return to Him. He is pleased to give it them. The interest the Lord God hath in His people can never be broken in upon, neither can their interest in Him ever be impaired or cease. It is always the same on both sides. The intercourse between the Lord and His people may be interrupted. But God is immutable in His love and mercy.
III. The reason made use of to hasten Gods peoples return to Him. Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. The mercy of God in Christ Jesus exceeds the very uttermost of our minds to receive any adequate ideas of. Guilt in the conscience produces fear in the heart; so long as we indulge the same it weakens our faith and keeps us from Christ. (Samuel Eyles Pierce.)
A call to repentant return
In Hoseas days idolatry was first universally set up and countenanced by regal power. Here we have–
I. An exhortation to repentance, with the motives enforcing the same. Every word hath its weight, and in a manner is an argument to enforce this returning. Israel is a word of covenant. Return unto the Lord Jehovah, who is the chief good, the fountain of all good. Thy God in covenant, who will make good His gracious covenant unto thee. Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; thine own inventions have brought these miseries upon thee, and none but God can help thee out of these miseries. God comes not as a sudden storm upon His people, but gives them warning before He smites them. He is a God of long-suffering, and has a special regard to His own children. Another point–
II. The best provision for preventing of destruction is spiritual means. Of all spiritual means the best is, to return to the Lord. In this returning there must be a stop. To make this stop there must be examination and consideration, humiliation and displeasure against ourselves, judging and taking revenge of ourselves, for our ways and courses. There must be a resolution to overcome impediments. In the original it is a very emphatic, Return even to Jehovah. Do not only begin to return, but so return as you never cease coming till you come to Jehovah. Where there is a falling into sin there will be a falling into misery and judgment. The cause of every mans misery is his own sin. Then take heed of sin. Pray to God to make our way plain before us, and not to lead us into temptation. Take with you words. They who would have help and comfort against all sins and sorrows must come to God with words of prayer. Barrenness and want of words to go unto God are blameworthy. This is for consolation: if they can take words, and can pray well, they shall speed well. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
Sin separates from God
You may sometimes see in the ocean a pile of rock rising steeply to a considerable height, and having on it here and there, where a patch of soil covers it, the remains of what was once a luxuriant vegetation. If you examine it, and also the mainland a few furlongs off, you will come to the conclusion that they were at one time, now long gone by, united together. They have become separated by the action of the sea. At first there was but a small inlet, scarcely large enough for a single boat to anchor in; this was gradually enlarged by the incessant beating of the surf until it became a broad bay, and at last the sea, striking with more and more force upon the cliffs every year, cut its way completely through, and now what was once part of the mainland is but a solitary and desolate isle. One of the most direct and appalling effects of sin is the breach which it makes between the human heart and God. Man is made in the likeness of God; he is an offspring of the Divine thought and love; he is endowed with the same moral and spiritual capacities as those which God Himself possesses; but let sin be suffered to find an entrance into his heart, and, like the gnawing, devouring, destructive sea, it will eat away all the holy and sacred ties which bind his:heart to God, and cut him off from God, and leave him inwardly lonely and desolate. (B. Wilkinson, F. G. S.)
How to return to an earnest Christian life
As long as the bright summer sun shines into the forest glades the fungus has no chance to flourish; but when the sunshine wanes, in the months of autumn, the woods are filled with these strange products of decay. It is because we drift from God that our lives are the prey to numberless and nameless ills. Make the best of all new starts, and returning to the more earnest habits of earlier days, or beginning them from now, give yourself to God, believing that He will receive and welcome you, without a word of remonstrance or a moment of interval. Form habits of morning and evening prayer; especially in the morning get time for deep communion with God, waiting at His footstool, or in the perusal of the Bible, till He speaks to you. Take up again your habits of attendance at the house of God: in the morning and the evening go with the multitude that, with the voice of praise, keeps holy-day, and in the afternoon find some niche of the Christian service, in your home or elsewhere. Then, inasmuch as you do not wish to be a slip-carriage, which, when the couplings are unfastened, runs for a little behind the express, but gets slower and slower till it comes to a stand, ask the grace of the Holy Spirit to confirm these holy desires, keeping you true to them, causing you to be steadfast, immovable, and set on maintaining life on a higher level. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
God always watching for our return
Bianconi, the introducer of the car system in Ireland, on leaving his home in Italy, found his most trying leave-taking in separating from his mother. She fainted as he left her. Her last words were words which he never forgot: When you remember me, think of me as waiting at this window watching for your return. We may think of God in the same way if we have departed from Him at all. In spite of all our faults, all our sins, He is always watching for our return, for His mercy endureth for ever.
For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Our fall by sin
The sight of fallen greatness is exceedingly affecting to the mind of a thoughtful man, and excites inquiries concerning the cause or causes of it. The prophet looked on the kingdom of Israel fallen from its past strength and honour, and declares the cause of the fall to be–iniquity.
I. The fall by sin is the most grievous in human experience.
1. The fall by sin is from the highest relationships the soul can enjoy. No relationships, how distinguished and valued soever, can equal those of God, There are none so essential to the souls good and safety. Without holiness no true relationship with Him can be sustained.
2. The fall by sin is from lifes great purpose. Short as life is, it has a great mission to fulfil. Eternal life has to be secured. The worlds truest good has to be promoted. Sin causes a lamentable failure.
3. The fall by sin is a loss of truest power. A right life wields a great influence. No power can be compared with that of a holy character. This power is lost by sin.
4. The fall by sin is from truest content of soul. The hallowed quiet and peace depart. Painful misgivings and pangs of remorse tear the breast. The consciousness of guilt prevents the light and joy of hope.
II. This fall is the inevitable result of sin. The course of sin is the act of mans free will. But if he choose the path he cannot escape the ruin.
1. The path of sin leads to ruin.
(1) The pleasures of the way cannot avert the consequences.
(2) The fall may be delayed, but it will come.
2. None can pursue the path of sin and escape the ruin. The individual cannot; the Church cannot; the nation cannot.
III. For this fall man himself is responsible. He falls by his own iniquity,
1. None can compel another to sin.
2. As none can compel another to sin, so none can compel his fall.
Apply–
1. Sin with such power and consequences should have our intensest hate, and should be guarded against.
2. He who is fallen should forsake his sin, and seek mercy and grace from God. Gods mercy can cover the past, and His grace can sanctify and secure the future. (Rombeth.)
Message to the remnant
So the admonition of Hosea has ended, and the note of destruction has been sounded. It only remains to look for a remnant out of the fallen nation, which by repentance and faithfulness may plead with God for their own rescue if not for the nations restoration. Hope, unwilling to be quenched in the pious patriarchs breast, suggests words of returning to God, to relinquishment of human politics, and reliance on His faithfulness. To such a remnant, be it small or great, the everlasting mercy of God offers out of the jaws of ruin, as out of death and the grave, the possibility of return to Him who is not afar from every one of us. If there are any that will understand, let them not charge their Maker with folly. He has dealt justly by sinful Israel, and will deal mercifully with all men repentant. (Rowland Williams, D. D.)
Gods call to the fallen
God seems to find an argument in the very fact of our fall. He is moved with compassion at the spectacle. He sees from what a height to what a depth man has fallen.
1. The call to return implies that we had wandered away. Our fall has indeed been occasioned by our wandering. All sin originates in the apostasy of the human heart from God. Sin would never have entered human hearts, and defiled the lives of men, if man had been true to his primal relations with God. As with the race, so with the individual. Moral deterioration and corruption naturally and necessarily ensue from the apostasy of the soul from God. Evil works naturally flow from the corrupt condition. The fallen soul not only loses contact and fellowship with God, but comes under the influence of a certain feeling of aversion, and almost of antipathy, towards God which leads him to shrink from the very thought of God. The apostate man is fallen not only in position, but in character. Innocence has been forfeited instead of being developed, and sin reigns where moral beauty should be crowned. Man needs no revelation to convince him of his fall. He alone of all the animals fails to live up to his own proper ideal, and violates in many cases systematically the laws of his own nature. Fallen in position and character, he is fallen in conduct also. Then the first thing needful for the fallen and falling is to return to God. He who invites us wants us to come back to Him. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XIV
By the terrible denunciation of vengeance which concludes the
preceding chapter, the prophet is led to exhort Israel to
repentance, furnishing them with a beautiful form of prayer,
very suitable to the occasion, 1-3.
Upon which God, ever ready to pardon the penitent, is
introduced making large promises of blessings, in allusion to
those copious dews which refresh the green herbs, and which
frequently denote, not only temporal salvation, but also the
rich and refreshing comforts of the Gospel, 4-7.
Their reformation from idolatry is foretold, and their
consequent prosperity, under the emblem of a green flourishing
fir tree, 8;
but these promises are confined to those who may bring forth
the fruits of righteousness, and the wicked are declared to
have no share in them, 9.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIV
Verse 1. O Israel, return unto the Lord] These words may be considered as addressed to the people now in captivity; suffering much, but having still much more to suffer if they did not repent. But it seems all these evils might yet be prevented, though so positively predicted, if the people would repent and return; and the very exhortation to this repentance shows that they still had power to repent, and that God was ready to save them and avert all these evils. All this is easily accounted for on the doctrine of the contingency of events, i.e., the poising a multitude of events on the possibility of being and not being, and leaving the will of man to turn the scale; and that God will not foreknow a thing as absolutely certain, which his will has determined to make contingent. A doctrine against which some solemn men have blasphemed, and philosophic infidels declaimed; but without which fate and dire necessity must be the universal governors, prayer be a useless meddling, and Providence nothing but the ineluctable adamantine chain of unchangeable events; all virtue is vice, and vice virtue, or there is no distinction between them, each being eternally determined and unalterably fixed by a sovereign and uncontrollable will and unvarying necessity, from the operation of which no soul of man can escape, and no occurrence in the universe be otherwise than it is. From such blasphemy, and from the monthly publications which avouch it, good Lord, deliver us!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
O Israel, you that are the true Israel of God, you that are the remnant amidst so great a body of incurable rebels, return; repent ye thoroughly, not hypocritically, turn ye from all your sins in which with others you have been defiled, and turn to
the Lord, the everlasting, living God, who is worthy to be worshipped and obeyed; your idols were never worth your love, but the Lord, the Fountain of being and life, is worthy of it. Turn to him as
thy God, in covenant with thee, to get pardon for past sins according to covenant promise, to renew covenant for time to come, and to engage thyself sincerely and heartily to be his people.
For thou hast fallen; thy sins against the Lord thy God have enkindled his wrath against thee, have involved thee in endless troubles, have turned thy prosperity into extreme adversity; sin hath cast thee from the height of glory to the depth of reproach and contempt, thus thou art fallen.
By thine iniquity: it is the singular number, either because all their sins were so linked together they were as one huge mass of sin, or it refers particularly to their idolatry, which is by way of eminency, and above any one other sin a falling from God, and here punished with a fall into calamities.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. fallen by thine iniquity(Hos 5:5; Hos 13:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God,…. From whom they had revolted and backslidden; whose worship and service they had forsaken, and whose word and ordinances they had slighted and neglected, and had served idols, and had given into idolatry, superstition, and will worship; and are here exhorted to turn again to the Lord by repentance and reformation, to abandon their idols, and every false way, and cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart; and the rather, since he was their God; not only their Creator, Preserver, and kind Benefactor, but their God, by his special choice of them above all people; by his covenant with them; by his redemption of them; and by their profession of him; and who was still their God, and ready to receive them, upon their return to him: and a thorough return is here meant, a returning “even unto” w, or quite up to the Lord thy God; it is not a going to him halfway, but a going quite up to his seat; falling down before him, acknowledging sin and backslidings, and having hold upon him by faith as their God, Redeemer, and Saviour: hence, from the way of speaking here used, the Jews x have a saying, as Kimchi observes,
“great is repentance, for it brings a man to the throne of glory;”
the imperative may be here used for the future, as some take it; and then it is a prediction of the conversion of Israel, “thou shalt return, O Israel” y; and which was in part fulfilled in the first times of the Gospel, which met with many of the Israelites dispersed among the Gentiles, and was the means of their conversion; and will have a greater accomplishment when all Israel shall be converted and saved:
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; or “though thou art fallen” z; into sin, and by it into ruin, temporal and spiritual; from a state of great prosperity and happiness, both in things civil and religious, into great adversity, and calamities of every sort; yet return, repent, consider from whence thou art fallen, and by what; or thou shall return, be recovered and restored, notwithstanding thy fall, and the low estate in which thou art. The Targum is,
“return to the fear of the Lord.”
w “asque ad Dominum”, Montanus, Tigurine version, Oecolampadius, Schmidt, Burkius. x T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 86. 1. y “revertere”, i. e. “reverteris”, Schmidt. z “etsi corruisti”, Luther apud Tarnovium.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After the prophet has set before the sinful nation in various ways its own guilt, and the punishment that awaits it, viz., the destruction of the kingdom, he concludes his addresses with a call to thorough conversion to the Lord, and the promise that the Lord will bestow His grace once more upon those who turn to Him, and will bless them abundantly (Hos 14:1-8). Hos 14:1. (Heb. Bib. v. 2). “Return, O Israel, to Jehovah thy God; for thou hast stumbled through thy guilt. Hos 14:2. Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say ye to Him, Forgive all guilt, and accept what is good, that we may offer our lips as bullocks. Hos 14:3. Asshur will not help us: we will not ride upon horses, nor say ‘Our God’ any more to the manufacture of our own hands; for with Thee the orphan findeth compassion.” There is no salvation for fallen man without return to God. It is therefore with a call to return to the Lord their God, that the prophet opens the announcement of the salvation with which the Lord will bless His people, whom He has brought to reflection by means of the judgment (cf. Deu 4:30; Deu 30:1.). , to return, to be converted to the Lord, denotes complete conversion; is, strictly speaking, simply to turn towards God, to direct heart and mind towards Him. By kashalta sin is represented as a false step, which still leaves it possible to return; so that in a call to conversion it is very appropriately chosen. But if the conversion is to be of the right kind, it must begin with a prayer for the forgiveness of sin, and attest itself by the renunciation of earthly help and simple trust in the mercy of God. Israel is to draw near to God in this state of mind. “Take with you words,” i.e., do not appear before the Lord empty (Exo 23:15; Exo 34:20); but for this ye do not require outward sacrifices, but simply words, sc. those of confession of your guilt, as the Chaldee has correctly explained it. The correctness of this explanation is evident from the confession of sin which follows, with which they are to come before God. In , the position of col at the head of the sentence may be accounted for from the emphasis that rests upon it, and the separation of avon , from the fact that col was beginning to acquire more of the force of an adjective, like our all (thus 2Sa 1:9; Job 27:3: cf. Ewald, 289, a; Ges. 114, 3, Anm. 1). Qach tobh means neither “accept goodness,” i.e., let goodness be shown thee (Hitzig), nor “take it as good,” sc. that we pray (Grotius, Ros.); but in the closest connection with what proceeds: Accept the only good thing that we are able to bring, viz., the sacrifices of our lips. Jerome has given the correct interpretation, viz.: “For unless Thou hadst borne away our evil things, we could not possibly have the good thing which we offer Thee;” according to that which is written elsewhere (Psa 37:27), “Turn from evil, and do good.” … , literally, “we will repay (pay) as young oxen our lips,” i.e., present the prayers of our lips as thank-offerings. The expression is to be explained from the fact that shillem , to wipe off what is owing, to pay, is a technical term, applied to the sacrifice offered in fulfilment of a vow (Deu 23:22; Psa 22:26; Psa 50:14, etc.), and that parm , young oxen, were the best animals for thank-offerings (Exo 24:5). As such thank-offerings, i.e., in the place of the best animal sacrifices, they would offer their lips, i.e., their prayers, to God (cf. Psa 51:17-19; Psa 69:31-32). In the Sept. rendering, , to which there is an allusion in Heb 13:15, has been confounded with , as Jerome has already observed. but turning to God requires renunciation of the world, of its power, and of all idolatry. Rebellious Israel placed its reliance upon Assyria and Egypt (Hos 5:13; Hos 7:11; Hos 8:9). It will do this no longer. The riding upon horses refers partly to the military force of Egypt (Isa 31:1), and partly to their own (Hos 1:7; Isa 2:7). For the expression, “neither will we say to the work of our hands,” compare Isa 42:17; Isa 44:17. , not “Thou with whom,” but “for with Thee” ( ‘asher as in Deu 3:24). The thought, “with Thee the orphan findeth compassion,” as God promises in His word (Exo 22:22; Deu 10:18), serves not only as a reason for the resolution no longer to call the manufacture of their own hands God, but generally for the whole of the penitential prayer, which they are encouraged to offer by the compassionate nature of God. In response to such a penitential prayer, the Lord will heal all His people’s wounds, and bestow upon them once more the fulness of the blessings of His grace. The prophet announces this in Isa 44:4-8 as the answer from the Lord.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Penitents Encouraged. | B. C. 720. |
1 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. 2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. 3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
Here we have,
I. A kind invitation given to sinners to repent, v. 1. It is directed to Israel, God’s professing people. They are called to return. Note, Conversion must be preached even to those that are within the pale of the church as well as to heathen. “Thou are Israel, and therefore art bound to thy God in duty, gratitude, and interest; thy revolt from him is so much the more heinous, and thy return to him so much the more necessary.” Let Israel see, 1. What work he has made for repentance: “Thou has fallen by thy iniquity.” Thou has stumbled; so some read it. Their idols were their stumbling-blocks. “Thou has fallen from God into sin, fallen off from all good, fallen down under the load of guilt and the curse.” Note, Sin is a fall; and it concerns those that have fallen by sin to get up again by repentance. 2. What work he has to do in his repentance: “Return to the Lord thy God; return to him as the Lord whom thou has a dependence upon, as thy God, thine in covenant, whom thou has an interest in.” Note, It is the great concern of those that have revolted from God to return to God, and so to do their first works. “Return to him from whom thou has fallen, and who alone is able to raise thee up. Return even to the Lord, or quite home to the Lord; do not only look to him, or take some steps towards him, but make thorough work of it.” The ancient Jews had a saying grounded on this, Repentance is a great thing, for it brings men quite up to the throne of glory.
II. Necessary instructions given them how to repent. 1. They must bethink themselves what to say to God when they come to him: Take with you words. They are required to bring, not sacrifices and offerings, but penitential prayers and supplications, the fruit of thy lips, yet not of the lips only, but of the heart, else words are but wind. One of the rabbin says, They must be such words as proceed from what is spoken first in the inner man; the heart must dictate to the tongue. We must take good words with us, by taking good thoughts and good affections with us. Verbaque prvisam rem non invita sequentur–Those who master a subject are seldom at a loss for language. Note, When we come to God we should consider what we have to say to him; for, if we come without an errand, we are likely to go without an answer. Ezra ix. 10, What shall we say? We must take with us words from the scripture, take them from the Spirit of grace and supplication, who teaches us to cry, Abba, Father, and makes intercession in us. 2. They must bethink themselves what to do. They must not only take with them words, but must turn to the Lord; inwardly in their hearts, outwardly in their lives.
III. For their assistance herein, and encouragement, God is pleased to put words into their mouths, to teach them what they shall say. Surely we may hope to speed with God, when he himself has ordered our address to be drawn up ready to our hands, and his own Spirit has indited it for us; and no doubt we shall speed if the workings of our souls agree with the words here recommended to us. They are,
1. Petitioning words. Two things we are here directed to petition for:– (1.) To be acquitted from guilt. When we return to the Lord we must say to him, Lord, take away all iniquity. They were now smarting for sin, under the load of affliction, but are taught to pray, not as Pharaoh, Take away this death, but, Take away this sin. Note, When we are in affliction we should be more concerned for the forgiveness of our sins than for the removal of our trouble. “Take away iniquity, lift it off as a burden we are ready to sink under or as the stumbling-block which we have often fallen over. Lord, take it away, that it may not appear against us, to our confusion and condemnation. Take it all away by a free and full remission, for we cannot pretend to strike any of it off by a satisfaction of our own.” When God pardons sin he pardons all, that great debt; and when we pray against sin we must pray against it all and not except any. (2.) To be accepted as righteous in God’s sight: “Receive us graciously. Let us have thy favour and love, and have thou respect to us and to our performances. Receive our prayer graciously; be well pleased with that good which by thy grace we are enabled to do.” Take good (so the word is); take it to bestow upon us, so the margin reads it–Give good. This follows upon the petition for the taking away of iniquity; for, till iniquity is taken away, we have no reason to expect any good from God, but the taking away of iniquity makes way for the conferring of good removendo prohibens–by taking that out of the way which hindered. Give good; they do not say what good, but refer themselves to God; it is not good of the world’s showing (Ps. iv. 6), but good of God’s giving. “Give good, that good which we have forfeited, and which thou has promised, and which the necessity of our case calls for.” Note, God’s gracious acceptance, and the blessed fruits and tokens of that acceptance, are to be earnestly desired and prayed for by us in our returning to God. “Give good, that good which will make us good and keep us from returning to iniquity again.”
2. Promising words. These also are put into their mouths, not to move God, or to oblige him to show them mercy, but to move themselves, and oblige themselves to returns of duty. Note, Our prayers for pardon and acceptance with God should be always accompanied with sincere purposes and vows of new obedience. Two things they are to promise and vow:– (1.) Thanksgiving. “Pardon our sins, and accept of us, so will we render the calves of our lips.” The fruit of our lips (so the LXX.), a word they used for burnt-offerings, and so it agrees with the Hebrew. The apostle quotes this phrase (Heb. xiii. 15), and by the fruit of our lips understands the sacrifice of praise to God, giving thanks to his name. Note, Praise and thanksgiving are our spiritual sacrifice, and, if they come from an upright heart, shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock,Psa 69:30; Psa 69:32. And the sense of our pardon and acceptance with God will enlarge our hearts in praise and thankfulness. Those that are received graciously may, and must, render the calves of their lips–poor returns for rich receivings, yet, if sincere, more acceptable than the calves of the stall. (2.) Amendment of life. They are taught to promise, not only verbal acknowledgements, but a real reformation. And we are taught here, [1.] In our returns to God to covenant against sin. We cannot expect that God should take it away by forgiving it if we do not put it away by forsaking it. [2.] To be particular in our covenants and resolutions against sin, as we ought to be in our confession, because deceit lies in generals. [3.] To covenant especially and expressly against those sins which we have been most subject to, which have most easily beset us, and which we have been most frequently overcome by. We must keep ourselves from, and therefore must thus fortify ourselves against, our own iniquity, Ps. xviii. 23. The sin they here covenant against, owning thereby that they had been guilty of it, is giving that glory to another which is due to God only; this they promise they will never do, First, By putting that confidence in creatures which should be put in God only. They will not trust to their alliances abroad: Asshur (that is, Assyria) shall not save us. “We will not court the help of the Assyrians when we are in distress, as we have done (Hos 5:13; Hos 7:11; Hos 8:9); we will not contract for it, nor will we confide in it, or depend upon it. Having a God to go to, a God all-sufficient to trust to, we scorn to be beholden to the Assyrians for help.” They will not trust to their warlike preparations at home, especially not those which they were forbidden to multiply: “We will not ride upon horses, that is, we will not make court to Egypt,” for thence they fetched their horses, Deu 17:16; Isa 30:16; Isa 31:1; Isa 31:3. “When our enemies invade us we will depend upon our God to succour our infantry, and will be in no care to remount our cavalry.” Or, “We will not post on horseback, for haste, from one creature to another, to seek relief, but will take the nearest way, and the only sure way, by addressing ourselves to God,” Isa. xx. 5. Note, True repentance takes us off from trusting to an arm of flesh, and brings us to rely on God only for all the good we stand in need of. Secondly, Nor will they do it by paying that homage to creatures which is due to God only. We will not say any more to the works of our hands, You are our gods. They must promise never to worship idols again, and for a good reason, because it is the most absurd and senseless thing in the world to pray to that as a god which is the work of our hands. We must promise that we will not set our hearts upon the gains of this world, nor pride ourselves in our external performances in religion, for that is, in effect, to say to the work of our hands, You are our gods.
3. Pleading words are here put into their mouths: For in thee the fatherless find mercy. We must take our encouragement in prayer, not from any merit God finds in us, but purely from the mercy we hope to find in God. This contains in itself a great truth, that God takes special care of fatherless children, Psa 68:4; Psa 68:5. So he did in his law, Exod. xxii. 22. So he does in his providence, Ps. xxvii. 10. It is God’s prerogative to help the helpless. In him there is mercy for such, for they are proper objects of mercy. In him they find it; there it is laid up for them, and there they must seek it; seek and you shall find. It comes in here as a good plea for mercy and grace and an encouraging one to their faith. (1.) They plead the distress of their state and condition: “We are fatherless orphans, destitute of help.” Those may expect to find help in God that are truly sensible of their helplessness in themselves and are willing to acknowledge it. This is a good step towards comfort. “If we have not yet boldness to call God Father, yet we look upon ourselves as fatherless without him, and therefore lay ourselves at his feet, to be looked upon by him with compassion.” (2.) They plead God’s wonted lovingkindness to such as were in that condition: With thee the fatherless not only may find, but does find, and shall find, mercy. It is a great encouragement to our faith and hope, in returning to God, that it is his glory to father the fatherless and help the helpless.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
HOSEA – CHAPTER 14
JEHOVAH APPEALS TO ISRAEL TO RETURN TO HIM, TO COME BACK HOME
Verses 1-9:
Verse 1 is a strong, intensive, emotional appeal, from God to Israel, His estranged whoring wife, to return to Him, because of and in spite of her terrible fall into sin and rebellion, Hos 12:6; Joe 2:13. He desires that she return to Him in genuine repentance. The fall and guilt of the sinful nation has been described, and warning of the pending punishment has been given, yet, God in love calls for her conversion, with view to his extended mercy and restoration of her to himself, for He is yet married to her, Jer 3:14; Jer 3:22.
Verse 2 appeals to Ephraim to take with her words, words of genuine repentance, as David did, Psa 51:1-3; Psa 51:7; Psa 51:12-13, and as the prodigal son did, Luk 15:17-21, asking to be pardoned for personal sins and restored to Divine fellowship, by grace, not by reason of any personal merit, 1Ch 29:14; Tit 3:5. Grace, not works, or moral merit, is always the way for a sinner, or backslider’s return to God. Only then may one offer the “calves of his lips”, not slaughtered calves, in praise and testimony to God’s grace, Psa 78:36. What is true of an individual is also true of a nation, Psa 107:2; Isa 29:13; Heb 13:15.
Verse 3 warns that Asshur, Assyria, or Egypt will not save her from certain judgment, her war-horses cannot outrun her judgment, for her idolatry, the works of her hands, are renounced of God, Psa 33:17; Pro 21:31. Israel is to be brought so low that she shall never again trust in or bow before idol gods, who offer help to no one, Psa 115:4-9. This warning is an inducement for her to turn back to the true God in prayer, Exo 22:22; Deu 10:18; 2Ch 7:14; Psa 10:14; Psa 68:5.
Verse 4 is a Divine pledge that God will heed them, in their prayers of genuine repentance, and heal their backsliding, Hos 11:7; Jer 3:14; Jer 3:20; Jer 5:6; Jer 14:7. He also pledges to love them freely, without holding back, without pretense, Eph 1:6; Rom 3:24; Rom 12:9. Freely, gratuitously, with spontaneity, impelled by His Divine attributes of love, mercy, and holiness He assures Ephraim and Israel that she may find restoration with His anger turned away, on the basis of her repentance and return, Eze 16:60-63; 1Jn 4:10; Rom 5:8.
Verse 5 pictures and pledges future divine help for Israel in her return to her God. It is described as a constant dew or continuing refreshing to her, to cause her to grow like a lily of the field or Valley in Israel, Job 29:19; Pro 19:12; Isa 26:19. The lily is a most beautiful and productive flower in Lebanon, where it is deeply rooted and spreads abundantly, providing up to 50 bulbs to the root. With such, Israel, God’s divorced wife, because of her idolatrous whoredoms, is compared, when she shall have repented of her abominable ways and returned to Him.
Verse 6 further describes Ephraim’s spreading branches and desirable beauty, like the productive olive trees of Israel, and his smell or aroma shall be like that of the flowers of Lebanon, of the then northern kingdom of Israel, where Ephraim was the royal and predominant tribe of the ten, Psa 52:8; Psa 128:3. Stability and fruitful propagation are here suggested as future hope for this once backslidden people and nation, Mat 6:29; Isa 10:34.
Verse 7 states that those who dwell or reside under the shadow or will of God shall return to their land. They shall revive as wilted corn after a sea 3oning rain, enjoying new life and grow, spread, or prosper, as a spreading vine, Psa 17:8; Psa 91:1. The scene or aroma of her restored obedience and goodness is said to be like the aroma of Israel’s most desired wine in the mountains of Lebanon, Son 1:2-3.
Verse 8 describes Ephraim’s lament over her former vanity, with idols, and pledges never again to return to such. For she has tried them and they failed her, but having turned back to her lover, her husband has graciously received and restored her, done for her what idols did not or could not do. She realizes she is not like a green tree, an evergreen, protected and supported by her true lover alike in summer and winter. This is a true lover, one who provides for all her needs, from whom to stray, of whom to disobey, is not wise, Joh 15:4-5; Joh 15:8; Php_4:19; Jas 1:17.
Verse 9 concludes Hosea’s prophecy by suggesting that each one who is wise, or exercises true wisdom, shall understand that the things he has prophecied are “the word of the Lord,” that came to Him, Hos 1:1; 2Pe 1:20-21. He further asserts that those who are prudent shall know, recognize, or accept the message that He has delivered from the Lord, for “the wise shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand,” Dan 12:10. It is further affirmed that the ways of the Lord are right and the just are to walk in (in harmony with) them, Psa 1:1-4; Psa 119:160. But the transgressors of God’s ways, commands, laws shall fall under them, their just judgment, Pro 10:29; Ecc 12:13-14; Deu 30:19-20; 1Co 1:18 But great peace is in God, Psa 119:165.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here the Prophet exhorts the Israelites to repentance, and still propounds some hope of mercy. But this may seem inconsistent as he had already testified that there would be no remedy any more, because they had extremely provoked God. The Prophet seems in this case to contradict himself. But the solution is ready at hand, and it is this, — In speaking before of the final destruction of the people, he had respect to the whole body of the people; but now he directs his discourse to the few, who had as yet remained faithful. And this distinction, as we have reminded you in other places, ought to be carefully noticed; otherwise we shall find ourselves perplexed in many parts of Scripture. We now then see for what purpose the Prophet annexed this exhortation, after having asserted that God would be implacable to the people of Israel; for with regard to the whole body, there was no hope of deliverance; God had now indeed determined to destroy them, and he wished this to be made known to them by the preaching of Hosea. But yet God had ever some seed remaining among his chosen people: though the body, as a whole, was putrid and corrupt; yet some sound members remained, as in a large heap of chaff some grains may be found concealed. As God then had preserved some (as he is wont always to do,) he sets forth to them his mercy: and as they had been carried away, as it were by a tempest, when iniquity so prevailed among the people, that there was nothing sound, the Prophet addresses them here, because they were not wholly incurable.
Let us then know that the irreclaimable, the whole body of the people, are now dismissed; for they were so obstinate that the Prophet could address them with no prospect of success. Then his sermon here ought to be especially applied to the elect of God, who, having fallen away for a time, and become entangled in the common vices of the age, were yet not altogether incurable. The Prophet now exhorts them and says Return, Israel, to Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity This reason is added, because men will never repent unless they are made humble; and whence comes true and genuine humility, except from a sense of sin? Unless then men become displeased with themselves, and acknowledge that they are worthy of perdition, they will never be touched by a genuine feeling of penitence. These two things are then wisely joined together by Hosea, that Israel had fallen by their iniquities, and then, that it was time to return to Jehovah. How so? Because, when we are convinced that we are worthy of destruction, nays that we are already doomed to death for having so often provoked God, then we begin to hate ourselves; and a detestation of sin drives us to seek repentance.
But he says, Turn thou, Israel, to thy God The Prophet now kindly invites them; for he could not succeed by severe words without mingling a hope of favour, as we know that there can be no hope of repentance without faith. Then the Prophet not only shows what was necessary to be done, but says also, ‘Thou art Israel, thou art an elect people.’ He does not, however, as it has been already stated, address all indiscriminately, but those who were the true children of Abraham, though they had for a time degenerated. “Turn thou, Israel, then to thy God; for how much soever thou hast for a time fallen away, yet God has not rejected thee: only return to him, and thou shalt find favour, for he is placable to his own people.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
HOSEAOR GODS AFFECTION FOR AN UNFAITHFUL PEOPLE
Hos 1:1 to Hos 14:9.
IT is our purpose in this series of articles on the Minor Prophets to throw such light upon these twelve Books as to make them meaningful and profitable to our readers. I suppose it may be safely said that the average Christian leaves these Books unstudied, and some of them unreada circumstance due to certain natural difficulties in their interpretation; but in greater measure still, to the poor work of present-day preaching. The custom of taking a text has wrought havoc in Bible study. Our fathers in the ministry were Bible expositors; their successors are textual preachers. The result is described in one of the minor Prophets:
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of the Lord:
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it (Amo 8:11-12).
There are some simple and yet fundamental facts regarding the prophecy of Hosea that are essential to its proper understanding. It was doubtless written by the man whose name it wears. It refers, unquestionably, to the time of Jeroboam the Second, when Elisha, the Prophet of God, was living, and Isaiah, that great Evangel of the Old Testament, was a babe; and when those kings of Judah Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiahwere successively occupying the throne. The date is supposed to be 790 to 725 B. C.
Hosea was the great Evangel of his time. While he was an Elijah the Tishbite, in his stern denunciation of sin, he was a John the Apostle in his sense of Divine love and his eloquent call to repentance.
Some of the Books of the Bible break easily into divisions, and some of the students of Hosea have seen fit to divide it into two such. But our research does not justify the method. To us it is one grand whole, with not a break in thought from first to last. It is a recital of Israels history in her unfaithfulness, and an illustration of Gods goodness to His own people.
For our convenience, however, we divide it into four sections.
THE SYMBOLISM OF GOMERS SIN
And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim (Hos 8:2-3).
These opening sentences of Hosea have given no small trouble to students. Some have received it historically; while others have insisted that God could not send the Prophet on any such mission, without Himself being a party to sin; and so have attempted to interpret it as a dream or vision. Following the custom which we have found alone to be safe, we believe with those who accept the Book at what it says. And yet we have not found the question involved so difficult of solution as some. When it is remembered that the whole people of Israel had already turned to idolatry, we can understand that any daughter selected from them could be spoken of in this language, since the charge of whoredom, with the false gods of the land, lay against every son and daughter of Israel. And even when the narrative seems to specifically charge this woman with this sin, it does not necessitate Gods participation in evil because He sends Hosea to wed her. You will see, ere the history ends, she is won to a righteous life again. So the Prophet is to her what he has become to all IsraelGods agent of salvation. But her sin is symbolical.
It was a sin against law and love. The seventh commandment antedated Hosea and stood as a protest against the violation of that relation which husband and wife sustain to one another, as the whole decalogue stands as Gods protest against the violation of the relation which He and His people sustain to each other. When, therefore, Gomer forgets the law and despises the love of Hosea, she fitly represents the conduct of the whole kingdom in forgetting Gods Law and despising the Divine love. The man who, today, living under the reign of grace, disregards the moral Law and tramples it beneath his feet with impunity, is guilty of a crime of the first magnitude. But the man who adds to that an equal disregard of the Divine love takes the last step needful in the contemplation of his folly and the sealing of his fate.
Paul wrote to the Hebrews:
If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses;
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the covenant, wherewith he wets sanctified, an holy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I wilt recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people (Heb 10:26-30).
This sin was again symbolical in that it was against good society.
The moment the foundations of domestic life are undermined the whole fabric of society is endangered. When lust assaults the home it strikes the essential pillar of the State. And when it overrides the law and love of domestic relation, it leaves desolation in its track and brings in a dark day for the people. When such a sin as this can be found in the first houses the very nation has fallen. Dr. Talmage said truly enough that where there is no pure home there are the Vandals and the Goths of Europe; the Numidians of Africa, and the Nomads of Asia. No home, no school; no household, no republic; no family, no church.
But Gomers sin became more significant still, God made it to be a sorrowful instruction! Strange as it seems, it is yet probably according to the natural law in the spiritual world that Gods spokesmen must be sufferers. It was only after the iron had entered Moses soul as he watched the oppression of his own people from his position in the palace, and by his enforced exile spent forty years on the back side of the desert that he was eloquent as Israels leader. Joshua was fitted by forty years of wilderness wandering for his great work of commanding Israel and conquering Canaan.
But no man could read this Book of Hosea without feeling that its authorour Prophethad suffered probably as much as either of these great predecessors. Joseph Parker says, Hoseas sorrow was of the deepest kind. The daughter of Diblaim was the daughter of the devil. He had no peace, no rest, no singing joy within the four corners of his own house. He lived in clouds; his life was a continual passage through a sea deeper than the Red Sea. If we may vary the figure, his wandering was in the wilderness, unblessed; cursed by the very spirit of desolation.
And yet we do believe that strong natures have the very power to transmute their sorrows into eloquent appeals for righteousness; that the very intensity of their suffering adds solidity to their thought and eloquence to its utterance. We seriously doubt if Hoseas wife had not been a scarlet woman, as she was, whether he could ever have properly sympathized with God, the Father, in that Israel turned from Him to moral infidelity, by worshiping at false shrines and living wicked, sensual lives.
John Bright, that marvelous leader of thought in England, started on his career of splendid service in consequence of an unspeakable sorrow. His young wife, to whom he was devoted, lay dead when Richard Cobden called on him. Having expressed, as best he could, sympathy and condolence, Cobden looked up and said, Bright, there are thousands and thousands of homes in England, at this moment, where wives and mothers and children are dying of hunger. Now when the first paroxysm of your grief has passed, I would advise you to come with me and we will never rest until the corn-laws are repealed.
Cobden showed himself a philosopher that day. He knew full well that one way to recover from a personal pain was to take into ones heart as an antidote, the pain of the people.
You will remember what had more to do, perhaps, with the declaration of war with Spain than any other single thing, the destruction of the Maine excepted. It was Senator Thurstons speech. And how did it happen that this Nebraskan, who had never before been eloquent, spoke before the Senate of the United States with such an appeal as to move even opponents to agree with him? That speech opened in these words,
Mr. President: I am here by command of silent lips to speak once and for all upon the Cuban situation, and trust that no one has expected anything sensational from me. God forbid that the bitterness of a personal loss should induce me to color, in the slightest degree, the statements that I feel it my duty to make. I shall endeavor to be honest, conservative and just. Then he proceeded with such an oration as American law-makers of any decade seldom, if ever, heard. Concluding with these words, Mr. President, in the cable that moored me to life and hope the strongest strands are broken. I have but little left to offer at the altar of freedoms shrine. But all I have I am glad to give. I am ready to serve my country as best I can in the Senate or in the field. My dearest hope, my most earnest prayer to God is this, that when death comes to end all I may meet it calmly and fearlessly, as did my Beloved, in the cause of humanity, and under the American flag.
There is but one explanation of such an address as that. The eloquence of it was born of the sorrow of burying a beloved wife in Cuban soil, and feeling in his heart that the pain of the oppressed people of that land had been already the occasion of her death; and to relieve it, was worthy the laying down of his life.
The Psalmist said, I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good, and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.
It was sorrow. It was that suffering that only a righteous man can feel when sinned against by her whom he loves most, that made Hosea understand the Divine Ones suffering in Israels sin, and adequate to its expression.
PHASES OF ISRAELS INFIDELITY
It found first expression in unwarranted forms. There seems to be a general agreement between students of Hosea that the groves and altars, when first chosen and erected, were unto the Lord. But it does not take long for them to go from unwarranted forms to open infidelity. God did not command any of these at their hands. Her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts, became occasions of Baal-worship. Instead of saying any longer, Ishimy husband, they turned to say, Baalimy lord. It is the history of unwarranted forms in all ages.
When Christ came into the world He found the Church of the Old Testament cold in death, slain by the hands of ceremonialists,the Scribes and Pharisees of His time,who, with their hollow ritualism and hypocrisies, had driven many men to the infidelity of Sadduceeism; so that they said, There is neither angel nor spirit. Truly, as Frederick Robertson said,
No self-righteous formalism will ever satisfy the Conscience of man; neither will infidelity give rise to a devoted spirit. Formalism in religion and infidelity in conduct often go hand in hand.
Charles Dudley Warner tells us that after having traveled around the world he came back to Brindisi, Italy, a so-called Christian country, and entered a so-called Christian Church to see a figure of Christ, the Crucified One, set off in a dark corner with dust gathered on it, while a representation of Mary, the mother, clad with the latest mode of French millinery, flamed before an altar, and their knees bowed there.
It was little better than the Baal-worship of Hoseas time. And if Jesus should come to that church He would have occasion to utter the words which He once addressed to Scribes and Pharisees.
Thus have ye made the Commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.
But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
This degenerate worship was popularized by priest and prince. By reading fourteen verses of the fifth chapter you will see they were its chief patrons. The Prophet of God addressed them Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye House of Israel. Then, after describing their participation in these false and foul ceremonies, he voices God as saying: I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the House of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away: I will take away; and none shall rescue him.
It is a sad day for the Church when the prince, or the man in the place of power, is putrid. It is a darker day when the priest, or the leader in the Church of God, is correspondingly corrupt. When the time came that Tetzel could sell indulgences, with the consent of the priesthood of Rome, the very moral rottenness existing in the Name of Jesus, compelled the Reformation, and gave rise to Luthers opinions, and victory to his appeal. And when, at the present time, a Pastor, either by evil practices, leads his people into iniquity, or by his silence concerning the commercial and other sins of those who contribute to his salary, connives at iniquity, the condition becomes akin to that which Hosea was raised up to rebuke nearly three thousand years ago. And the result for the present day will be the very same as that which came to the Israel of Hoseas time.
It produced the grossest idolatry and immorality.
There is not time to read to you these chapters,4 to 13,but if there were, the reading would only profit you by giving you pain as you looked upon Israels open sore.
It was this principle that Hosea saw and clearly stated so many, many centuries ago,namely, when men become lawless, and are libertines, they cannot hope to keep women upon a plane of chastity and holiness. God distinctly declares that He would not punish their daughters for their sins, in view of the conditions of society, for which priest, prince and peasant were responsible.
George Adam Smith reminds us that history in many periods has confirmed the justice of Hoseas observations, and by one strong voice after another, enforced his terrible warnings. The experience of ancient Persia and Egypt, the languor of the Greek cities, the deep weariness and sated lust which in Imperial Rome made human life a hell. It is only another illustration of the Apostle James words,When lust hath conceived, it bring eth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (Joe 1:15).
THE FOLLY WHICH INFIDELITY EFFECTS
There can be traced in this volume a striking parallelism between the conduct of the individual and of the nation. Gomers treatment of Hosea was Israels treatment of God.
There is a supreme insensibility to undeserved favor. The Prophet says, She did not know that I gave her corn, etc.
Insensibility to Divine favor has often marked the conduct of man. We easily forget that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights. We quickly attribute our blessings to our own ingenuity, to the bounty of nature, or to luck, and just as easily forget Godthe Giver of all. Strange isnt it that the one creature made in His image, endowed with the highest faculties, blessed of Him thousands of times beyond all other works of His hands, should be insensible to what he had received, and to what he is receiving, and know not God gave corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied * * silver and gold.
If this spirit were all in the world it were not so bad; but Gomer is the Prophets wife, and Israel is espoused of God; and this insensibility to Divine favor has smitten the Church, and her children forget Me, saith the Lord. Sam Jones had a man come to him who said, Jones, the church is putting my assessment too high. How much do you pay? asked Jones. Five dollars a year, was the reply. Well, said Jones, how long have you been converted? About four years. What did you do before you were converted? I was a drunkard. How much were you worth? I rented land, and was plowing with a steer. What have you got now? I have a good plantation and a pair of horses. Well, said Jones, you paid the devil two hundred and fifty dollars a year for the privilege of plowing a steer on rented land, and now you dont want to give the God who saved you five dollars a year for the privilege of plowing your own horses on your own plantation. Insensibility to Divine favor! Moses had occasion for that passage in his song, They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not He thy Father that hath bought thee? hath He not made thee, and established thee? (Deu 32:5-6).
They were slow to realize the Divine intent of judgment. After announcing His purpose in judgment, I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the House of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him (Hos 5:14). The Lord reveals His reasons by adding, I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early (Hos 5:15). Deliverance is always the Divine purpose in Gods judgments against His people. The Psalmist said, Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word. And it was only after the Lord had visited them with judgment that Israel could say, Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up (Hos 6:1).
But, like sinners of all ages, Ephraim must be smitten, her root dried up, so that they shall bear no fruit, and they realize themselves utterly cast away because they did not hearken unto the Lord. It is only after Israel hath destroyed herself that she realizes the source of life in God.
How strikingly this experience parallels that of weak men in all ages! Only when the prodigal, clothed in rags, starved to the point of sustenance on the honeysuckle, and sitting with the swine, does he come to himself. As a rule, the man that follows the lusts of the flesh, and goes the way of the libertine, or the drunkard, never sees the meaning of the Divine judgment until his sins have slain his manhood, wrecked his business, scattered his family, consumed his flesh, and left him as perfectly stranded as was ever a vessel when driven high upon the ragged rocks. It is amazing to study the folly of men who have departed from the Lord! Almost universally they are conceited up to the very day when they are undone. They think that they are going to recover themselves. Like Ephraim, strangers have devoured their strength, and they know it not: gray hairs are here and there upon them, and yet they know it not. They feed on the wind and follow after the east wind, and daily increase in desolation. They make a covenant with the Assyrians and boast their righteousness as Ephraim did, saying, In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
God can do nothing else with such men than to bring them low; nothing else than to whelm them with sorrow; nothing else than to strike them to the very earth with judgment; for they must be made to see that their condition is not due to circumstances, but to an evil spirit.
Dr. Chapman tells the story of a woman who was seated in Central Park, New York, with her little child playing about her. Suddenly the child was startled by the barking of a dog. In her frightened state she ran into her mothers arms. When the dog ceased his barking she said, Why are you frightened, dear; he is quiet? Oh, yes, I know, mamma; but the bark is still in him.
One thing always being said by unregenerate men is, If I could only remove to a new location; settle myself with new associates, and in new business employment, I would be all right. All right! And yet evil still in you! Better turn over to Gal 5:19-21, and read, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like What one needs is not a change of location, but a change of nature, so that the incoming of the Holy Spirit shall give you the fruits of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Such folly is followed only by shame and degradation. The tenth chapter of Hosea illustrates the consequences of Israels conduct.
Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.
Their heart is divided: now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the Lord; what then should a king do to us?
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shalt mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
It shall be also carried into Assyria for a present to King Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
It is in My desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.
Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shahnan spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness; in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
In conclusion we pass to
GODS AFFECTION FOR AN UNFAITHFUL PEOPLE
That affection was expressed in undeserved words and acts. God bares His heart here as He has often done before, crying,
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away (Hos 6:4),
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt,
I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them (Hos 11:1; Hos 11:3-4).
How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together.
I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city (Hos 11:8-9).
Beloved, one lesson that it seems difficult to learn is thisto remember the goodness of God. One should adopt the custom of thinking upon Divine favor. It is only as we forget the source of our blessings, of every good and perfect gift that we grow indifferent to the grace of our God.
Dr. Torrey says, I was talking one night to one who was apparently most indifferent and hardened. She told me the story of her sin, with seemingly very little sense of shame, and when I urged her to accept Christ, she simply refused. I put a Bible in her hands and asked her to read this verse. She began to read, God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, and before she had finished reading the verse she had broken into tears, softened by the thought of Gods wondrous love to her.
It is a strange thing that more people dont answer temptation as did Joseph,How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
When God executes judgment it is commonly for the purpose of correction. Take the reference in this volume,
Therefore will I return, and take away My com in the time thereof, and My wine in the season thereof, and will recover My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness,
And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of Mine hand,
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts, And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them,
And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and for gat Me, saith the Lord (Hos 2:9-13).
What is the purpose? He immediately proceeds to tell us, Therefore(God never employs that word without occasionit is the great conjunction with Him.)
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her,
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt (Hos 2:14-15).
Beloved, there is a beneficent purpose when the fiery trial is on. The very whips with which He makes Israels back to bleed are not the expressions of His wrath; but, rather, of His love.
Henry Ward Beecher declares that his father used to make him believe that the end of the rod that he held in his hand was a great deal more painful than the end which he applied to Henry. And the great preacher says, It was a strange mystery to me; but I did believe it, and it seemed a great deal worse to me to be whipped on that account.
It ought to be so with the children of God. I once had in my church a woman who punished her children by vicarious suffering. When they misbehaved at the table she denied herself a meal, and she told me that it broke their hearts.
Would to God that we were as sensitive to the suffering which our sin imposes upon the Heavenly Father, and as sensible concerning the purpose which He has in visiting correction against our sins.
But, after all, God gave best evidence of His affection by,
Keeping for His people an open heart. I like to dwell on the last chapter of this Book,
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; * *
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously (Hos 14:1-2).
And I like to listen to Gods answer to this cry which He Himself seeks to put into their lips,
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him.
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? (Hos 14:4-6; Hos 14:8).
It is a beautiful picture! It ought to encourage the children whose hearts have departed from the plain paths of privilege in Christ; it ought to incite hope in the heart of the individual who has played the prodigal and paid the penalty.
I like to reflect upon the words of that sweet-spirited man, F. B. Meyer, as he speaks of Gods attitude toward those who turn again to Him, saying,
Be sure that God will give you a hearty welcome. He has not given you up or ceased to love you. He longs for you. Read the last chapter of the Book of Hosea, which may be well called the backsliders gospel. Read the third chapter of Jeremiah, and let the plaintive pleadings to return soak into your spirit. Read the story of Peters fall and restoration, and let your tears fall thick and fast on John 21: as you learn how delicately the Lord forgave, and how generously He entrusted the backslider with His sheep and with His lambs. Be sure that though your repeated failures and sins have worn out every one else, they have not exhausted the infinite love of God. He tells us to forgive our offending brother unto four hundred and ninety times; how much oftener will He not forgive us? According to the height of heaven above the earth, so great is His mercy.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] The guilt of the sinful nation and the punishment awaiting have been described: now there is a call to conversion, and a promise that God will bless abundantly.
Hos. 14:1. Return] Heb. intensive, expressing strong desire. Unto] Lit. up to, not merely towards the Lord. Great is repentance which maketh men to reach quite up to the throne of glory, is a Jewish saying.
Hos. 14:2. Words] Not empty, yet outward gifts not required; only words, and these even found. Rec-] Lit. receive the good, viz. the words of sincere repentance, given by thyself (1Ch. 29:14). Calves] i.e. our lips shall be for calves. Instead of offering sacrifice we give thanksgiving and praise, the fruit of our lips (Heb. 13:5).
Hos. 14:3. Save] Israel relied upon Assyria and Egypt; now horses (warlike power) and the work of our hands (idolatry) are entirely renounced. Fatherless] Descriptive of Israels condition without God; a reason for turning from idols, and an inducement to prayer (Exo. 22:22; Deu. 10:18).
HOMILETICS
REAL CONVERSION TO GOD DESCRIBED.Hos. 14:1-3
There is a change in the words of the prophet now. Wrath and threatening are past, and sweetness and light, like the sun, burst from the dark clouds. Every word of the invitation is full of mercy, urgent upon Israel and upon all who have gone astray. God is still unchangeable and true to his covenant. There is hope for all who sincerely repent and return to him. The character of this return is clearly described in the text.
I. Its necessity. For thou hast fallen. This is the first dawn of light upon the sinner. God discovers to him the abyss into which he has fallen.
1. He has fallen by iniquity: not a mere stumble, but a fall. All sin is a deep fall. A fall from God into idolatry; from holiness into guilt; from honour to disgrace. A fall from which we cannot raise ourselves. It is a pit of distress, an horrible pit and miry clay (Psa. 40:2), out of which God alone can deliver us. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works.
2. He has fallen by his own iniquity. Nations often ascribe their calamity to civil dissension, foolish rules, and disuse of military discipline: to the cruelty of the enemy and reverse of fortune; but the fall is caused by opposition to God, and contempt of his word. Individuals blame their circumstances and their fate; but sin is their own act and deed. The fall is the result of their own conduct. The sinner eats the fruit of his own way, and is filled with his own devices. But though fallen he need not stay in his sin. The way of return is open. The invitation is given. Return unto the Lord thy God.
II. Its nature. Return (up to) the Lord thy God. True conversion is abandonment of all sin and restoration to all good.
1. Idolatry is abandoned. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods. It is folly to trust to creatures which God has made. How much greater folly to adore things which we ourselves have made. The penitent renounces all idolatry, and views God as the Lord his God. Williams gives a graphic account in his missionary enterprises of the conversion of a chief from idolatry. Romatane decreed the destruction of his temples, the conflagration of his gods, and the erection of a house for God. We must not pride ourselves in monuments of genius, gains of the world, and external performances in religion. Consecration to God excludes every kind of worship to strange gods. Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth (Exo. 23:13).
2. Former sins are renounced. Israel were guilty of two thingsreliance upon foreign aid and upon their own warlike strength. (a) Human dependence is renounced. Asshur shall not save us. They will betake themselves no more to an arm of flesh: for vain is the help of man. Human helps must never take the place of God. All merit and self-righteousness must be renounced. The best proof of true repentance is utter forsaking of former sin. (b) Dependence upon self is renounced. The horse was a symbol of their own, as well as foreign strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. The strongest self-defences are nothing when most needed. Sennacherib with all his cavalry was no match for the angel of God. We must not look to creature strength, to personal merit, for salvation. The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient, says Quarles. Some put their trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
3. Entire return to God is seen. The true penitent rises up from his fall, feels that he cannot stay in distance, and returns right up to God. Many vow and never perform, resolve and resolve again, but never forsake their sins. Others shed tears, feel desires, and take some steps towards repentance, and conclude that they are safe. The prodigal started home, did not merely turn his face, nor stop half-way; but came to his father, up to his fathers house, quite home.Many come out of Egypt who never enter Canaan; put on garments of sorrow, who never rend their hearts and return to God. Half-conversions are unsafe; almost a Christian is not enough. Nothing short of actual conversion will do; an entire change is necessary. Whatever distance we travel, however high we mount in religion, if we come short of Christ we cannot be saved. If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me (Jer. 4:1).
III. Its method. Take with you words and turn to the Lord. Words are not necessary to God. We do not induce him to bless us by mere words. We may argue and persuade men to grant a thing; but words without meaning are sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.
1. Take words of confession. God does not require costly gifts; nor burnt-offerings of goats and bullocks; but a humble and contrite heart; a full and free confession of sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2. Take words of prayer. Say unto him. God himself supplies the words and directs our hearts. We are sensible of inaptitude and ignorance; but he bestows the spirit of prayer, and orders our speech before him (Job. 37:19); Method is helpful in everything, and the ordering of words in prayer, words marshalled like military ranks, may quicken and discipline. Method is the soul of business. Ask for two things. (a) Take away iniquity. The true penitent is most concerned about sin, desires to be free from its consequences and dominion, to be entirely cleansed and preserved in the future. All iniquity. We must not have partial zeal, but strike at all sin, great and small. God must take it away from our hearts and lives. We can neither remove its guilt nor destroy its power. Gods grace can deliver, renew and save. If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (b) Receive us graciously. When God has pardoned sin and imparted grace, he accepts our imperfect services. Give what thou demandest and then require what thou wilt, says Augustine. The gifts are from God and then received by him. For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
3. Take words of thanksgiving. So will we render the calves, i.e. the fruit, of our lips, giving thanks to his name (Heb. 13:15). Those that receive much from God will offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. The expressions of the lips will spring from a grateful heart. Lip service without sincerity of heart is an abomination to God: but a holy life is a perpetual thank-offering. The sacrifices of the law are abolished; but Gods goodness lays us under deep obligation to praise him. The penitent feels that he cannot praise too much, and resolves that the language of his lips and the fruit of his life shall be given to God. Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
IV. Its motive.
1. God will hear prayer. This we may presume, and hence the request. Take words. But this truth is specially revealed and taught in the word of God. The grand fact which distinguishes God from heathen deities is the fact that he is accessible. O thou that hearest prayer! We have every encouragement and every motive to pray. It is the first thing wherewith a righteous life beginneth, and the last wherewith it doth end. So much of our lives is celestial and divine as we spend in the exercise of prayer, writes Hooker.
2. God will have mercy upon the miserable. With thee the fatherless findeth mercy. Men without God are fatherless; orphans in a sinful world. Israel was helpless, and the prey to every oppressor. The sinner forsaking God forsakes his own mercy. Christ does not leave his people orphans, or comfortless (Joh. 14:18). God, the Father of the fatherless, will have compassion on returning sinners. Men are cruel, but God is kind, and reserves his greatest mercy for greatest need. God governs not as an absolute monarch, but as a tender father. He has greater pleasure in showing his goodness than his power. The poor committeth himself unto thee: thou art the helper of the fatherless.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos. 14:1. Fallen. The holy contrasted with the sinful state of man. Fallen in nature and condition, in pursuit and desire. God calls men to him by his prophets and his providence. O Israel. It is well to hear when God calls through his deeds; but it is better to hear his words.
Return.
1. The object. The Lord thy God,not to a strange god. The God of mercy, and the fountain of all good.
2. The reason. Thou hast fallen. Thoughts of a fall should make us think of rising from our sad condition.
Hos. 14:2. Take words. The influence of words in prayer
1. Not necessary to inform God of our wants.
2. A means of stirring up and relieving our own hearts. Words require more exertion than thoughts, and influence our minds by their sounds.
3. Exercise a power over others often when utteredprompts them to kindred feelings and acts, and quickens them with pathos, passion, and thought.
4. When our words accord with our hearts and the Scriptures we shall be encouraged.
5. God supplies us with words adapted to our varied feelings and necessities. Come to God with his own words. Plead help in his own promises, and you shall find it. Men must as well look to their words, as to their feet, when they come before God; and see that their affections in prayer be not without answerable expressions in lips.
Say unto him. Mentally and vocally, with spirit and speech. Prayer is not the labour of the lips, but the travail of the heart, and God hath promised to answer his people before they call (Isa. 65:24). By calling upon his name we neither inform him of what he knows not, nor move him to show us more mercy than he intendeth. But yet prayers are necessary, as a means which God will have used, that he may receive what he of free mercy giveth. Besides, it prepareth us holily to enjoy the things received; and makes us ready either to wait for them or to want them; and to be content, that he may be glorified, though we be not gratified [Trapp].
Prayer to God to take away all iniquity, contains a confession of sin and expresses our faith, that we place our whole hope of recovering our lost purity and of obtaining salvation in the mercy of Christ. Receive good. What other good can we offer, than detestation of our past sin, with burning desire of holiness? This is the burnt-offering. Lastly, we will repay the calves of our lips, is the promise of that solemn vow, most acceptable to God, whereby we bind ourselves to keep in continual remembrance all the benefits of God, and to render ceaseless praise to the Lord, who has bestowed on us such priceless gifts [Pusey].
Hos. 14:3. Fatherless. A plea for orphans. God takes special care of them in his law (Exo. 22:22.) and providence (Psa. 68:4-5; Psa. 27:10).
1. A description of the sinners condition. Without the love, help, and guidance of a father.
2. A display of Gods mercy. When earthly fathers sleep in the grave, God watches over and provides for orphan children. This should be a motive to penitence, prayer, and daily trust in God.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 14
Hos. 14:2. Words are the daughters of earth, and deeds are the sons of heaven.
Hos. 14:3. Gods. At the introduction of Christianity into this country, a general council was summoned to consider the new doctrines of Paulinus. All present were unanimous as to the utter inefficiency of the gods whom they worshipped. Coifi, the pagan high-priest, in an eloquent harangue proposed their overthrow, and casting aside his priestly garments, called for arms, which Saxon priests were forbidden to wield, and for a horse, which they were not permitted to mount; and thus accoutred, galloped to the shrine at Godmundham, where the chief idol stood, hurled his lance into the enclosure, and profaned the consecrated shrine. The people, encouraged by the example of their priest, destroyed the sacred temple.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
LOVE RECONCILING PEACE REMAINSLURED
TEXT: Hos. 14:1-3
1
O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
2
Take with you words, and return unto Jehovah: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.
3
Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods; for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
QUERIES
a.
Why is Israel directed to take . . . words unto Jehovah?
b.
Why does Israel pledge not to ride upon horses?
PARAPHRASE
Return, O Israel, by taking the right steps toward God. You have stumbled in taking the wrong steps of sin and rebellion. It is still possible for you to return, but if your return is to be in the right way, it must begin with a prayer for the forgiveness of your sin. So take with you words of repentance asking the Lord to forgive all your guilt and accept the only good thing that you are able to bring, the sacrifice of penitent lips. Taking the right steps toward God also includes, O Israel, renunciation of trust in world power such as the alliances you have made with Assyria, renunciation of your own military forces, renunciation of idolatry, and trusting completely in the Lord because you have no other One in whom you may trust.
SUMMARY
Israel is given directions for a proper response to the salvation God has offered earlier (Hos. 13:13-15) and will offer (Hos. 14:4-8). The proper response is penitent prayer and complete faith in God as their Father.
COMMENT
Hos. 14:1 . . . RETURN UNTO JEHOVAH . . . FOR THOU HAST FALLEN . . . Few books in the Bible close on a higher note, with a more climactic appeal, than Hosea. Some, like Genesis, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, II Samuel, II Kings, Jeremiah, and others end on ominous, tragic notes. Other books, of course, close with a joyful note, but none is more dramatically impressive in this regard than Hosea. One gets the feeling from Hos. 14:1, here, that Hosea has just offered Israel its last call to repentance before the awful judgment falls, The Hebrew word for fallen here is kashalta which means literally, stumbled; made a false step. Israel is exhorted then, to return which is equivalent to taking the right steps toward God. Jeremiah says it thusly: Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls (Jer. 6:16), (cf. also Psa. 16:11; Psa. 23:3; Psa. 25:10; Psa. 119:35; Pro. 2:8-9; Pro. 4:11; Isa. 2:3).
Hos. 14:2 TAKE WITH YOU WORDS . . . TAKE AWAY ALL INIQUITY . . . SO WILL WE RENDER . . . THE OFFERING OF OUR LIPS . . . One of the first, and most necessary, steps to be taken is that of confession of sin. If we are honest with ourselves and honest with God and confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1Jn. 1:9). However, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1Jn. 1:8). The work of the Holy Spirit today is to convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment (see comments on Joh. 16:8-9 in Gospel of John, by Paul T. Butler, pub. College Press). God cannot bless until man realizes and acknowledges he is estranged from God and takes the necessary steps to return to the grace of God. The very word confess in Greek is homologeo which means literally to say the same as. When we confess that we are sinners we simply say the same as God says in His word. And until we do we are rebelling against His word. So with Israelshe must say the same as God has been saying to her through the prophet Hosea. She has stumbled through her false stepping and must now confess it.
The phrase accept that which is good refers to Israels plea to God to accept the only good thing they are able to offer Himthat is the sacrifice of penitent lips. They had no merit of their own to offer. He must love them freely (cf. Hos. 14:4). God is pleased with the sacrifices of penitent, worshipping lips (cf. Heb. 13:15-16; Psa. 107:22; Psa. 116:17; Jer. 17:-26; Jer. 33:11; Jon. 2:9). And this is what Israel is directed to offer, penitent praise from their lips which would be better than the sacrifice of bullocks (cf. Isa. 1:10-20; Mic. 6:6-8).
Hos. 14:3 ASSYRIA SHALL NOT SAVE US . . . After prayer for pardon and for acceptance of themselves, and thanksgiving for acceptance, comes the promise not to fall back into their former sins. Trust in man, in their own strength, in their idols, had been their besetting sins. Now, one by one, they disavow them. First, they disclaim trust in man. No longer are they to put their trust for security in political alliances with godless, heathen nations, forgetting that God can protect them from any enemy, regardless of how powerful that enemy might be. The sin involved in making such alliances is, first off all a manifest lack of trust in God, and second, certain compromises with paganism is necessary in any such alliance.
Second, they disclaim trust in their own strength. War was almost the only end for which the horse was used among the Jews. They measured their own military strength by the number of horses their king could command (cf. Deu. 17:16; 1Ki. 10:28; 2Ki. 18:23; Psa. 33:17; Pro. 21:31). Civil defense is not necessarily spiritual defense. National security is not necessary spiritual protection. Without spiritual health there can be no national strength. Men today may boast of man-made satellites and of intercontinental ballistic missiles with the terrifying potential of nuclear energy, but what can any people do without God? If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us (Psa. 124:2-3). This will ever be true in spite of our military might.
Third, they must renounce all idolatry, We have dealt at length with the nature and causes of Israels idolatry. It would be superflous to add to our former comments, only to remark how foolish indeed to trust in gods made with their own hands.
The phrase in thee the fatherless findeth mercy must be another step Israel must take in its way to humbleness. Israel must recognize that it is an orphan and since it is homeless, fatherless and helpless, must throw itself completely upon the mercy of Jehovah who will give mercy to those who so trust in Him.
The words of the Chronicler come to mind as we contemplate Hoseas closing admonition. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Ch. 7:14). The three-stage program offered by Hosea to Israel for her salvation would fit the situation of America today: (1) Repent, change the mind in relation to Gods word and will; (2) Confess its sins; (3) Renounce its vain hope in political alliances and treaties with godless, tyrannical governments whose avowed goals are enslavement of the world (instead of building bridges to our enemies we ought to be repairing bridges made by our pioneer ancestors of trust and praise to God); renounce its pride in its military and economic prowess; renounce all the idols it worships (sex, affluence, sports, sophistication, intellectualism). But, since America is not necessarily Gods people any more than any other nation, the primary application of Hoseas admonition must be made to the Church (Gods chosen nation ever since the Day of Pentecost), see the sermon on Hosea at the end of this book for this application.
QUIZ
1.
How had Israel fallen by its iniquity?
2.
Why is Israel exhorted to confess its sin?
3.
What is the only good thing Israel has to offer to God?
4.
Name the three-fold renunciation Israel is directed to make?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XIV.
(1) Thy.Tenderness and inextinguishable love are suggested by the use of the pronoun. Repentance (say the Rabbis) presses right up to the Eternal Throne.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ISRAEL’S REPENTANCE JEHOVAH’S PARDON, 1-9.
Aside from the question of authorship (see Introduction, p. 35ff.) chapter 14 presents several exegetical difficulties, especially in its latter part. Hos 14:9 stands by itself as an epilogue to the whole book. The author of this verse, who seems to look back over the fulfillment of Hosea’s oracles, expresses the thought that whosoever desires to become wise and prudent should become acquainted with the Book of Hosea. From it he may learn that Jehovah’s ways are right, and that the destinies of men are determined by their attitude toward the divine will. There is some uncertainty concerning the interpretation of Hos 14:8, but the general thought of Hos 14:1-8 is clear. The prophet exhorts Israel to return to Jehovah in humility and sorrow (Hos 14:1-2 a). He puts upon the lips of the Israelites words expressive of the deepest remorse, and of an earnest determination to remain forever loyal to Jehovah (Hos 14:2-3). To this penitent prayer Jehovah responds that he will graciously pardon, and shower upon the God-fearing people blessings hitherto unknown (Hos 14:4-8).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. Return Israel was an apostate; had gone after the Baals. To enjoy again the divine favor the people must return to their own God, Jehovah, in obedience and love (compare Hos 6:1; Joe 2:12; Amo 4:6 ff.). Out of the Old Testament idea of a return to Jehovah grew the New Testament idea of conversion.
Jehovah thy God In view of their constant tendency to run after other gods (Hos 2:5; Hos 4:12, etc.) they needed to be reminded again and again that Jehovah was their only legitimate God.
Hast fallen Or, stumbled; they were over-taken by calamity (Hos 4:5; Hos 5:5) as a result of their sin.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘O Israel, return to YHWH your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity.’
Hosea’s initial call is for Israel to return to YHWH their God from the iniquity (inherent wickedness, total disloyalty) into which they have fallen (see Hos 4:8; Hos 5:5; Hos 7:1; Hos 8:13; Hos 9:7; Hos 9:9; Hos 13:12). The need for Israel to ‘return’ has been consistently made clear throughout the prophecy (Hos 2:7; Hos 2:9; Hos 3:5; Hos 5:4; Hos 6:1; Hos 7:10; Hos 7:16; Hos 11:5; Hos 12:6), and is mentioned four times in this chapter (Hos 14:1-2; Hos 14:4; Hos 14:7). The idea of ‘returning to YHWH’ comes initially from Deu 1:45; Deu 30:2; Deu 30:8. Once they have been carried off into exile it is the message that he wants them to carry with them. It will be a reminder to them that God had not finally finished with them, but that any return could only be on condition of full repentance and a recognition of Him in His uniqueness as Saviour, Deliverer and Covenant God, rather than as a figure to be manipulated through ritual. He is ‘YHWH their God’, the One Who is revealed to them in their ancient records as the Deliverer from Egypt (Hos 12:9; Hos 12:13; Hos 13:4), the God of Sinai, the Only Saviour (Hos 13:4), and the Upholder of the Davidic dynasty (Hos 1:11; Hos 3:5; Hos 8:4; Hos 13:11). And it is to Him in this capacity that they must return (Hos 3:5).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Israel Are Called On To Return To YHWH With The Assurance That When They Do So YHWH Will Restore Them And Love Them Freely, And They Then Learn Of All The Good Things That He Has In Store For Them As A Result( Hos 14:1-9 ).
YHWH’s terms for His people’s return to Him are now clearly laid out. They include a call from them to return to Him and to be forgiven, and an assurance that they will no more look to Assyria, or to their military arms, or to their idols. And once they do this YHWH assures them that He will heal their backslidings and love them freely, because His anger will be turned away from them.
Once this is so He will water them with His dew, so that they will blossom and flourish, and the result will be that those who live under the new Israel’s protecting shadow will also revive and blossom and flourish. They will repudiate idols, and walk in the right ways of the Lord. Comparison can be made with Hos 6:1-3 where the same principles are in mind.
Hosea has, however, previously made clear that this would in practise not happen until Israel had suffered the chastening of exile., and these words may well have been spoken in the last days of Israel before Samaria was finally destroyed offering hope for the future, but only once they had undergone their chastening.
Analysis of Hos 14:1-9 .
a
b Take with you words, and return to YHWH. Say to him, “Take away all iniquity, and accept what is good, so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips (Hos 14:2).
c Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, nor will we say any more to the work of our hands, “Our gods”, for in you the fatherless find mercy (Hos 14:3).
d I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for my anger is turned away from him (Hos 14:3).
e I will be as the dew to Israel, he will blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches will spread, and his beauty will be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon (Hos 14:4-6).
d Those who dwell under his shadow will return, they will revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine, their scent will be as the wine of Lebanon (Hos 14:7).
c Ephraim will say, “What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will regard him. I am like a green fir-tree, from me is your fruit found.” (Hos 14:8).
b Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Prudent, that he may know them? (Hos 14:9 a)
a For the ways of YHWH are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will fall in them (Hos 14:9 b).
Note that in ‘a’ Israel have fallen by their iniquity, and in the parallel transgressors will fall in the ways of YHWH. In ‘b’ they are to come to YHWH with words indicating that they will no longer look elsewhere than YHWH, and in the parallel they are asked who is wise to understand, and prudent to know such things. In ‘c’ they will no more call the work of their hands gods, and in the parallel they will ask what they have more to do with idols. In ‘d’ YHWH will heal their backsliding and love them freely, and in the parallel they will return to YHWH and will revive and blossom Centrally in ‘e’ they will flourish under the effects of YHWH’s dew.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
AN APPEAL IS MADE TO JACOB’S EXAMPLE WHICH SIMPLY SERVES TO REVEAL ISRAEL’S PARLOUS STATE AND GUARANTEES THE COMING JUDGMENT OF DESTRUCTION AND THE EXILE BUT IT IS WITH THE PROMISE OF FINAL RESTORATION AND FRUITFULNESS IN VIEW ( Hos 12:1 to Hos 14:9 ).
These words were probably mainly spoken during the latter part of the reign of Hoshea, with the destruction of Samaria threatening on the horizon. After a further appeal for repentance Israel is seen to be finally doomed, with any hope that they have lying far in the future because of their unrepentant hearts.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 14:2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
Hos 14:2
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
A Final Exhortation to Return, with a Promise of Redemption.
v. 1. O Israel, return unto the Lord, thy God, v. 2. Take with you words, v. 3. Asshur, v. 4. I will heal their backsliding, v. 5. I will be as the dew unto Israel, v. 6. His branches shall spread, v. 7. They that dwell under His shadow, v. 8. Ephraim shall say, v. 9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Hos 14:1
The foregoing part of this book abounds with denunciations of punishment; this closing chapter superabounds with promises of pardon. Wave after wave of threatened wrath had rolled over Israel and come in unto their soul; now offer after offer of grace is made to them. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. The invitation to return implies previous departure, or distance, or wandering from God. The return to which they are invited is expressed, not by , to or towards, but by , quite up to, or as far as right home; the penitent, therefore, is not merely to turn his mind or his face toward God, but to turn his face and his feet home to God; he is not to go half the way and then turn aside, or part of the way and then turn back, but the whole way; in other words, his repentance is to be complete and entire, wanting nothing, according to the state merit of the psalmist, “It is good for me to draw near to God.” As punishment was threatened in case of obstinate impenitence, so mercy is promised on condition of thorough repentance. For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. A reason is here assigned for the preceding invitation; kashalta is properly “thou hast stumbled,” “made a false step,” fallen, yet so that recovery was among future possibilities. The same thought may be included in the fact that Jehovah continues to call his erring people by the honored and honorable name of Israel, and to acknowledge himself their God. Further, many and grievous were the calamities into which by their fall they had been precipitated; neither were any to blame but themselvestheir iniquity or their folly was the cause, nor was there any one to lift them up, now that they lay prostrate, save Jehovah. After referring to the desolation of Samaria and the ruthless destruction of its inhabitants, as portrayed in the last verse of the previous chapter, Jerome adds, “All Israel is invited to repentance, that he who has been debilitated, or has fallen headlong in his iniquities, may return to the physician and recover health, or that he who had fallen headlong may begin to stand.” The penitent is to direct his thoughts to Jehovah; to him as Center he is attracted, and in him he finds his place of rest; nor is there ether means of recovery or source of help. Thus Kimchi says, “For thou seest that through thine iniquity thou hast fallen, therefore it behooves thee to return to Jehovah, as nothing besides can raise thee from thy fall but thy return to him.” “There is none,” says Aben Ezra, “can raise thee from thy fall but the Eternal alone.”
Hos 14:2
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord.
(1) Some render this clause. “Take with you [i.e. forget not, neglect not, but receive with obedient spirit] my words.” This rendering is obviously erroneous.
(2) The correct translation is that of the Authorized Version, and the words referred to are such as express prayer for pardon and confession of sinthe audible sound of the heart’s desires. There is an allusion, perhaps, to the requirement of the Law: “None shall appear before me empty.” Not outward sacrifices, but words of confession, were the offering to be presented. Thus Cyril eloquently explains it: “Ye shall propitiate the Deity, not by making offerings of riches, not by dedicating gold, not by honoring him with silver vessels, not gladdening him by sacrifices of oxen, not by slaughtering of birds; but ye shall give him discourses and wish to praise the Lord of the universe, appeasing him.” To the same purport is the exposition of Aben Ezra: “He desires not from you, when ye go to seek his favor, treasures or burnt offerings, only words with which ye are to confess;” so also Kimchi: “He does not require of you on your return to him silver or gold or offering, which the Israelites lavished at great expense on their idols, but good works with which ye are to confess your iniquities.” Say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously. On turning to the Lord with their whole heart, not with their lips only, they are furnished with a form of sound words which God by his prophet puts into their mouth. Elsewhere a formula is prescribed, thus: “Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel” (Jer 31:7); compare also Isa 48:20; Psa 16:3; 1Ch 16:35.
The position of before the verb creates a difficulty and causes diversity of rendering; for example,
(1) besides the ordinary rendering, which takes kol as holding its peculiar position by an hypallage, there is a modification of it: “All take away of iniquity.”
(2) Some supply mem, and translate accordingly: “From all take away iniquity.” Kimchi explains it as a transposition: “All iniquity forgive,” and compares Eze 39:11; or, understanding le, “Forgive to every one iniquity.” The object of the separation may be for greater emphasis. In like manner, the following clause is also subject to diversity of translation and interpretation.
There is
(1) the rendering of the Authorized Version, which appears to supply le before tov: “Receive us for good,” viz. in bonam partem, or graciously; or, “receive our prayer graciously.”
(2) Another rendering or exposition is: “Take what is good (of thine own to bestow it on us);” thus in the sixty-eighth psalm at the nineteenth verse God is said to receive gifts among men, i.e. for distribution among men, and hence the apostle, in Eph 4:8, substitutes for , and thus expresses the sense. The literal sense
(3) is the correct sense, namely, “and receive good:” “And receive good,” says Jerome, “for unless thou hadst borne away our evil things we could not possibly have any good thing to offer thee, according to that which is written, ‘Cease from evil and do good.'” Thus also the words are translated and interpreted by Pusey: “When then Israel and, in him, the penitent soul, is taught to say, receive good, it can mean only the good which thou thyself hast given; as David says, ‘ Of thine own we have given thee;” while he adds in a note on these words, “No one would have doubted that means, ‘receive good,’ as just before, means ‘take words,’ but for the seeming difficultyWhat good had they?”
So will we render the calves of our lips.
This is more accurately rendered,
(1) “So will we render young bullocks, even our lips.” The word shillem, to render, or repay, is almost technical in its application to thank offer-tugs or sacrifices in fulfillment of a vow; the best animals for thank offerings were parm, or young oxen; but the lips, that is, the utterances of the lips, consisting of prayers or praises, or both, are to take the place of the animal sacrifices offered in thanksgiving. Thus the psalmist says, “I will praise the Name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.”
(2) The Septuagint, reading instead of , renders by , to which the inspired author of Hebrews alludes, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks [margin, ‘confessing’] to his Name;” or perhaps the reference in Hebrews is to Isa 57:19, “I create the fruit of the lips.” Further, as words of confession in Isa 57:2 take the place of sacrifices of sin offerings, so here words of thanksgiving replace sacrifices of thanksgiving.
Hos 14:3
Asshur shall not save us: we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. This was the practical side of Israel’s repentance; this was bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. Here was a renunciation of all hope of safety from the world-powersboth Assyria and Egypt. They would never again have recourse to Assyria for help, nor to Egypt for horses; nor confide in their own unaided power or prowess; while this renunciation of worldly power and carnal confidences implied, as its opposite, unfaltering faith in the protecting power and saving strength of Jehovah. All thin was much, and yet more was required; next to such renunciation of merely human aid, as indicated, and its contrary, the recognition of Divine assistance, comes the absolute and complete abandonment of their national and besetting sin of idolatry. They have so far come to themselves and received the right use of reason as to confess that the manufacture of man’s hands cannot be man’s god, thus giving up with feelings of contempt and disgust the groveling sin of idolatry with its attendant vices. Still more, they are penetrated with the conviction that man without God is a poor fatherless creature, in no better, if not in a worse, condition than that of a weak orphan child. They have the consolation at the same time that for all such, on their return to him, the father of the fatherless and the God of the orphan has bowels of tenderest compassion. To the presumed prayer of the penitent an answer overflowing with mercy is promised at once, and by God himself in the next section, consisting of
Hos 14:4-7
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. The penitential prayer put in the mouth of the people receives in this verse a gracious response; words of contrite confession are echoed back in accents of compassion and consolation. When thus penitent and prayerful they returned to the Lord, he promises them favor as well as forgiveness, so as to heal the moral malady under which they had long labored, remedy the evil effects of their apostasy, and withhold the stripes he was going to inflict. Meshubhatham means
(1) their turning away from God and all included thereindefection, rebellion, idolatry, and other sins. The disease would be healed, and its consequences averted.
(2) Some, however, understand the word, in a good sense, to mean “conversion ‘ or “the converted,” the abstract being put for the concrete; the blessing is thus promised them when they turned or returned to God. Thus the Syriac version.
(3) The LXX. again, connecting meshubhah with yashav, to sit or dwell, render it by , that is,” I will heal their dwelling.” There is little doubt that (1) is the correct translation, and it is generally accepted as such. They are next assured of God’s love, and that spontaneously (, the preposition le understood) with ready willinghood and unfeignedly. God’s love is
(a) free, anticipating its objects, not waiting to be merited or purchased, without money and without price; it is
(b) also purest and most sincere affection, altogether unlike that feigned affection sometimes found among men, who profess much love while their heart goeth after their covetousness, or after some other and different object from that pretended. Then follows an assurance that there is no barrier to the exercise and no obstacle to the outgoing of God’s love; the turning away of God’s anger from Israel is the ground of such assurance. Some copies read mimmeni, my anger is turned away from me, instead of mimmena; this, however, is erroneous, though the sense is not much affected by it. The error may have arisen from a misunderstanding of Jer 2:35. Rashi explains the verse correctly: “After they have thus spoken before me: I will heal them of their apostasy, and love them of my own free will; although they themselves are not worthy of love, yet will I love them freely, for mine anger has turned away from them.” Aben Ezra says. “Backsliding is in the soul what disease is in the body, therefore he uses the word ‘heal.’ But God proceeds to perform what he has promised; he does not confine his goodness to words, he exhibits it in works, as the following verses show.” I will be as the dew unto Israel. “The Jussive assumes different shades of meaning, varying with the situation or authority of the speaker . Sometimes, from the circumstances of the case, the command becomes a permission: Hos 14:6, ‘I will be as the dew to Israel: let him flourish, , and strike forth his roots as Lebanon'” (Driver). In lands where there is little rain, the dew, falling copiously, fertilizes the earth, refreshes the languid plants, revives the face of nature, and makes all things grow. Thus the dew becomes the source of fruitfulness. So God, by his Spirit’s grace, is the Source of Israel’s spiritual fruitfulness. He shall grow (margin, blossom) as the lily. This comparison suggests many qualities, any one of which may characterize, or all of which may combine in, the spiritual growth thus pictured. There is the purity of the lily, the beauty of the lily, the fecundity of the lily, the perfume of the lily, the rapidity of its growth, the stately slightness of its stem. We may combine the rapidity of its growth; its fecundity, with regard to which Pliny informs us that a single root produces fifty bulbs; its beauty, to which our Lord refers in contrast with the glory of Solomon. But its root is weak, and he, on that account perhaps, subjoins: And cast forth (margin, strike) his roots as Lebanon. Whether it mean that the roots are as the trees of Lebanon or the mountain of Lebanon itself, the thought expressed by this comparison is stability. “As the trees of Lebanon,” says Jerome, “which strike their roots as far down into the depths as they lift their heads up into the air, so that they can be shaken by no storm, but by their stable massiveness maintain their position.” His branches shall spread; margin, go; rather, go on. This feature in the representation denotes enlargement or expansion. The tender branches (suckers) spreading out in all directions very aptly set forth the multiplication of Israel or their growth and increase numerically. But branches straggling, crooked, and ill-shaped would rather be a blemish than a beauty. It is, therefore, added: His beauty shall be as the olive tree. The olive has been called the crown of the fruit trees of Palestine, but besides, its fruitage so plentiful and useful, the splendor of its green, and the enduring freshness of its foliage, make it a vivid picture of that beauty of holiness or spiritual graces which it is here employed to represent. There is still an additional element of interest pertaining to this goodly tree, namely, And his smell as Lebanon. This signifies the fragrance of this beautiful tree of righteousness. The smell of Lebanon is referred to in So Hos 4:11, “And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.” What with its cedars, and spices, and fruit, and flowers, and aromatic shrubs, and fragrant vines, Lebanon must perfume the air with the most delightful odors. Thus acceptable to God and pleasing to man shall Israel become. The commentators quote with commendation Rosenmller’s explanation of the individual features of this inimitable picture: “The rooting indicates stability; the spreading of the branches, propagation and the multitude of inhabitants; the splendor of the olive, beauty and glory, and that constant and lasting; the fragrance, hilarity and loveliness.” The simile changes into the metaphor; Israel, from being likened to a tree, becomes the tree. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow (margin, blossom) as the vine: the scent (rather, renown) thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. There is some difficulty and consequent diversity of rendering and explanation in connection with this verse. If the tree be Israel in its collective or national capacity, the dwellers under its shadow are the members of the nation, separate]y and severally, flourishing under the widespread branches of this umbrageous tree. The word yashubhu is explained:
(1) (a) return, i.e. betake themselves to his shadow, which is incongruous, for how could they be said to return to their own shadow or dwell securely under it?
(b) return to their native land, so the Chaldee,this is somewhat better;
(c) return to the worship of Jehovah, said of Israelites who had abandoned it, not properly of Gentiles turning to that worship;
(d) Rosenmller, comparing Jdg 15:19 and 1Sa 30:12, explains it in the sense of coming to themselves, reviving.
(2) Keil constructs yashubhu adverbially by a common idiom with yechayyu, and
(a) translates “shalt give life to come again,” that is, “Those who sit beneath the shade of Israel, the tree that is bursting into leaf, will revive corn, cause it to return to life, or produce it for nourishment, satiety, and strengthening.” Similarly the Vulgate, “sustain life by corn.” This, however, must appear tame after the splendid promises that went before.
(b) Vivify; i.e. produce seed like corn, and rejoice in a numerous offspring as from a seed of corn many proceed; according to this, “seed” () must be supplied, and caph of comparison. The added clause agrees with this, for the flourishing of the vine also symbolizes prolific persons (comp. Psa 128:3). Further, the vine does not always flourish, yet, not like the corn which after harvest ceases and is no more seen, its root remains, and next year grows green and yields its fruit anew. The fame of the wine of Lebanon is celebrated for its taste and fragrance. Kimchi cites Asaph, a physician, as writing that the wine of Lebanon, of Hermon, of Carmel, of the mountains of Israel and Jerusalem and Caphior, surpass all others in flavor, taste, and for medicinal purposes.
Hos 14:8
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? This is full, final, and for over a renunciation of idolatry on the part of Israel. I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. This is God’s promise, that his eye is fixed on Israel in order to look after him, care for him, and provide for him, and to protect and prosper him; while the figure of a green fir tree is the pledge of shelter and security. But, though the fir tree is evergreen, it is fruitless; and therefore it is added that God will prove the Source of fruitfulness, and supply all that his people shall or can ever need.
Hos 14:9
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall far therein. This verse demands attention to all the prophet has written, whether for warning, or reproof, or correction in righteousness, or encouragement to piety and virtue, and evidently alludes to Deu 32:4. The ways of the Lord are those he prescribes for them to walk in, as also the ways he takes in guiding, guarding, and governing men. Like the dictates of the Word, so the dispensations of his providence are to some the savor of life, to others the savor of death; therefore it is added that, while the righteous walk therein, the wicked stumble in them (comp. Deu 30:19, Deu 30:20).
HOMILETICS
Hos 14:1-3
The fallen invited to return.
The history of Israel is the moral history of the world, at least in miniature.
I. HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. The history of Israel repeats itself in the history of mankind in general. Their history is the history of sin and of salvation, of ruin and of recovery, of the mercy of God and of the backsliding of man. Their bondage in Egypt represents the slavery of sin; their rescue out of the hand of the oppressor, our redemption; their sojourn in the wilderness, our strangership on earth; their entrance into Canaan, our admission into the better country, even the heavenly; their backsliding from time to time, our own wanderings of heart and life from the living God; their return to the path of obedience, our repentance.
II. GOD‘S READINESS TO RECEIVE THE PENITENT. The reproofs for sin and threatenings of wrath scattered over the preceding chapters of this book now give place to invitations to repentance and promises of mercy. The former were a preparation for the latter. Not only so, even interspersed with reproofs for sin we find most gracious calls to repentance; alongside the threatenings of wrath are the most precious promises. It is in this way that God wounds in order to make whole; when he convinces us of sin, his object is to comfort us; when he brings to mind our sin, it is that he may lead us to the Savior; when he proves to us our ruin by sin, he is at pains to point us to the remedy and provide for our restoration; having warned us of our danger, he urges us to the discharge of duty. He deals with us as with Israel at the time to which the prophet refers, showing us our fall and how we are to rise again; he urges us to repentance, instructing us what to do and what to say, and encouraging us withal by God’s willingness to receive us on repentance.
III. MAN‘S FALL AND ITS CAUSE. In the passage before us the words apply in the first instance to Israel; they had stumbled, such being the meaning of the original word. Their stumbling-blocks were their idols; they had forgotten the living and true God; they had proved ungrateful for his benefits and unmindful of his favors. Despising the riches of his goodness and forbearance, they had lapsed into gross idolatry; they had sunk deep into that degrading sin, making molten images of their silver and idols according to their own understanding,all of it the work of the craftsman. Their ingratitude for the Divine goodness made their iniquity still less excusable, for according to the multitude of his fruit they increased the altars, according to the goodness of his land he made goodly images. No wonder the Majesty of heaven was provoked with that stiffnecked and rebellious people. But the fall of Israel reminds us of the fall of man, and leads us naturally to revert to the infancy of our race.
1. Before the Fall. When we picture to ourselves, as far as the Scripture record enables us, the place of our first parents in the state of pristine innocence, we think of that lovely garden “planted eastward in Eden ;” of its trees and shrubs; of its fruits and flowers; of the rivers that watered it; of its unclouded sky; of the genial warmth of the glorious sun fructifying and beautifying it; of the dews that refreshed it; of man its caretaker and cultivator of his pleasant position in that paradise, placed there as he was to dress it and to keep it. To this must be added the communion of the creature with the Creator, so close, so cordial, and so confidential as that communion then must have been. If Enoch, after sin and Satan had done their worst, still walked with God; if Abraham was called, not only the father of the faithful, but the friend of God; if God spake face to face with Moses, as a man speaketh with his friend;we may form some faint idea, and it is only a faint idea, of that heavenly communion which man there enjoyed with his Maker as he walked in the garden in the cool of the day.
2. After the Fall. We know how the scene was changedsuddenly and shockingly changed. We have seen a picture designed to represent the change which sin introduced into Paradise, and the wreck which iniquity wrought. In one part of the picture all is beauty, all is loveliness; the sky is cleat’, earth beneath is charming; above, below, around, everything appears inexpressibly gay and grand and gorgeous. Man is the monarch of all; every bird of every wing is subject to him, every animal of every species is submissive to his sway, even the most savage beast of prey owns his sovereignty. The lion crouches at his feet, he strokes the tiger with his hand. But no sooner has he tasted the forbidden fruit than the sky is clouded, lightning flashes with fearful fury, the elements are at war with him. The animals, lately so meek and mild, rise in rebellion against himthe lion opens his mouth in wrath, the tiger is wild with fury. Our first parents themselves, shivering with horror, shuddering with fright, are hurried out of Paradise. A flaming sword prevents their return, and guards on every side the tree of life. Such is the painting referred to, and it pictures a dread reality. It points out how man fell, and how far he fell from his state of primeval bliss, of fellowship with the Holy One, and of Divine favor.
3. The cause of such a fall. Iniquity was the cause, as we here read of Israel, “Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” In that iniquity there were various elements; when analyzed it is found to be made up of several component parts. There was the lust of the flesh, for the tree was good for food; there was the lust of the eyes, for that tree was pleasant to the eyes; there was the pride of life, it was a tree to be desired to make one wise”Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” There was, in short, rebellion against the mildest authority; there was disobedience to the most reasonable command.
4. Consequences of the fall are seen in posterity. When we read the records of the ancient nations of heathendom, even the most enlightened and polished, we cannot fail to be convinced of the deep degradation into which man by iniquity had fallen. In Egypt, the cradle of civilization, men worshipped animals and plants, and even reptiles. In Greece, with all its boasted intellectual superiority, aesthetic tastes, and fine arts, men worshipped a host of false gods, deified men, and even impersonations of the lowest passions and worst vices that agitate the human heart; while of Athens itself it was said that you could as easily find a god as a man in that celebrated city in Rome men multiplied gods, for, in addition to the national divinities, they readily admitted into their pantheon the gods, however monstrous and motley, of the nations which they conquered. Among the people of Israel in the prophet’s time the great besetting sin was idolatry with all its foul accompaniments. In heathen lands at the present day it is still the same; multitudes bow down to stocks and stones, and call these vanities gods. Can anything afford clearer evidence of the fearful fall of our race than this sottish idolatry of ancient and modern heathen, as also of the Hebrew people, though so highly favored with the written Law, besides that which they had in common with their heathen neighbors? We forbear to speak of the gross impurities and shocking immoralities that go hand-in-hand with idolatry.
5. Illustration of the Fall. Of manifold illustrations which the subject admits take that of a stately tree. Its dimensions are mighty and magnificentits top waves high in air, its branches spread far around, its leafy honors are luxuriant, its foliage umbrageous; it claims or seems to claim supremacy over all the forest trees. But the axe is laid to its root. You beg the woodman to spare that tree. It is vain, however; he has made up his mind, and it is doomed to fall. Blow after blow is struck; the sturdy strokes are redoubled; at length the root is giving way, the top is nodding, the tree topples to its fall. One creak, one crash, and the goodly tree is prostrate; ruin spreads the ground. Ere long the branches wither and the leaves decay. What a contrast between that tree flourishing in the stateliness of its strength and the loveliness of its life, and that same tree felled to the earth, its leaves stripped off, its branches lopped, the whole a sad emblem of decay, a solemn memorial of destruction! Such is the contrast between man in his original purity, while standing by faith, and man at the present day fallen by iniquity.
6. Greatness of the Fall. When the great Roman dictator had usurped the liberties of his country and changed the republican form of government to the imperial; when he had overcome all opposition, conquered all enemies, and fully gained the mastery; when he had reached the summit of popularity and power;just then the daggers of the conspirators smote him to the earth. He fell at the foot of his great rival’s statue. The friend who spoke his funeral oration and improved the occasion did justly magnify that fall, exclaiming, as well he might, “What a fall was there, my countrymen!” But what, after all, is the fall of the warrior, or hero, or emperor, even from the pinnacle of his fame and of his fortune, compared with the fall of an immortal soul by sin, dragged down into the deep pit of perdition? The sight of the fallen warrior, as he sat amid the ruins of Carthage, has furnished a subject for men to moralize on, while historians have commented on the fact; and it is indeed sufficiently impressive. The harmony that existed between the person and the place was necessarily striking and even startling; the fate of the one was so like that of the other, the downfall of the one was so similar to the desolation of the other, that we scarcely know which of the two is more entitled to the tear of pity or sigh of sympathythe degradation of the chieftain or the destruction of the city. Yet greater far are the degradation and desolation which the blight of sin brings upon person or place.
7. Practical considerations. We need not travel far for proof of our fallen state; we do not need to go back to our first parents except for the purpose of tracing the evil to its fountain-head; we need not visit pagan lands, whether past or present; we do not require to quit the lands of Christendom. The condition of the Hebrew people as set forth by the Prophet Hosea is one that often repeats itself in the experiencessome of them sad enoughof everyday life. How many have fallen by iniquity around us! How many are falling by iniquity at our very doors, on this side and on that! How many have we known to begin life well, but they fell by iniquity! The wrecks of the fallen are strewn on the right hand and on the left. Some fall by drunkenness, some by lewdness, some by want of rectitude and right principle, some by what the world calls unsteadiness. If the sword slays its thousands, iniquity slays its tens of thousands.
8. Personal duties. Several personal duties of much importance may be learnt from this part of the subject; these may be expressed in Scripture language as follows: “Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall;” “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall;” “Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.” Also pity the fallen; try to lift them up; pray for the backslider who has fallen back from the position he seemed to have attained, and seek to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
IV. THE RETURN OF THE PENITENT. Many motives, and those of the most powerful kind, urge the sinner to return to God.
1. There is the character of the invitation. It is an earnest one, a precious one, and a glorious one. It is the gospel re-echoing through the past and resounding about us at the present. This invitation proves the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the Divine goodness.
2. There is the Author of the invitation. It proceeds from the Friend whom we have treated so ungratefully and so ungraciously; he comes after us, as it were, calling and entreating us to return; he promises us a hearty welcome when we do return; he assures us that his heart and hearth and home stand open to receive us; his arms are stretched out to embrace us.
3. There are the persons invited. The vilest are subjects of this invitation; the oldest, the worst, the most wicked, are comprehended; they are offered present pardon, they are assured of instant forgiveness, and all without money and without price: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Oh, then, since God is waiting and willing to be gracious, let not the sinner ignore that goodness, nor regard it with insensibility, nor trample underfoot his great mercy, nor treat his gracious overtures as the idle wind that passeth by; but allow himself to be led by the goodness of God to repent race.
V. THE MODE OF RETURNING TO GOD. We are to take with us words, as the worshipper in the olden time did not go empty-handed, but brought with him an offering when he went to worship God.
1. The words we are required to bring are words of confession, like the poor prodigal when he said, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son;” like the contrite publican when he cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” If we thus confess our sins, he “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
2. There must be petition as well as confession; our words must be words of earnest pleading. Nor are we left without instruction on this head; suitable petitions are suggested, and the very words put in our lips. There is, according to the Authorized Version, a petition for forgiveness and one for favor. The former is, “Take away all iniquity;” for it is iniquity that has wrought our ruin, it is sin that is the source of all our sorrows; take it away, for by it we have fallen. Take it all awaythe guilt of it, the defilement of it, the dominion of it, the love of it, and the practice of it. Take it all away and forever, for it is only thus we can be saved; only thus our souls are washed and justified and sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. The second part of the petition pleads for favor; it is, “Receive us graciously;” that is, receive us into thy favor, thy family, and thy service. Receive us graciously, that is, gratuitously, of thy free favor and sovereign grace; not on the ground of innocence, for
“Not in our innocence we trust
We bow before thee in the dust:
And through our Savior’s blood alone
We seek acceptance at thy throne.”
Not on the ground of merit, for we have sinned and merit only wrath; not on the ground of price, for we have nothing to pay
“Nothing in our hand we bring,
Simply to thy cross we cling.”
Not on the ground of works, for we are saved solely of the Divine mercy, according to the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus.
3. There are words of thanksgiving. The calves, even the lips, are the thank offerings and service of the lips in general; nor do these differ aught from the fruit of the lips. Thanksgiving, praise, prayer, self-dedication, and self-surrender are all expressed by the lips, and are thus their offerings or their fruit.
“Nay, rather unto me, thy God,
Thanksgiving offer thou;
To the Most High perform thy word.
And fully pay thy vow:
And in the day of thy distress
Do thou unto me cry;
I will deliver thee, and thou
My Name shalt glorify.”
VI. FRUITS MEET FOR REPENTANCE. These in the present instance consist in the complete rejection of carnal confidences and sole dependence on God. The penitent Israelite renounces all confidence in worldly policy, and worldly allies as secured by such policythe Assyrian and the Egyptian alike. He renounces his idolatrous practices and superstitious devotions; and, depending no longer on foreign help, or objects and observances of idol-worship, or domestic resources, he places his entire and undivided trust in the living God. Henceforth the rule of his conduct and motto of his life may be conceived as summed up in the words of the psalmist: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God.” It has been well said that “there is no sin more usual among men than carnal confidence; to lean on our own wisdom, or wealth, or power, or supplies from others; to deify counsels and armies, or horses and treasures, and to let our hearts rise or fall, sink or bear up within us, according as the creature is helpful or useless, nearer or further from us; as if God were not a God afar off, as well as near at hand.” This was one of Israel’s great sins, and which on repentance is renounced. This is a common sin, and one which all must renounce, trusting, not in an arm of flesh, but sanctifying the Lord alone in our hearts. It is when we feel our condition in this world to be one of orphanage, of weakness, destitution, desolateness, and distress, that we repose trustfully and securely in the Divine mercy and gracious fatherhood of God.
Hos 14:4-7
These verses describe the happy result of Israel’s penitence and the merciful response to Israel’s prayer.
1. The pardon sought is secured, and that for the greatest sinthat of backsliding, and so for all minor trespasses. The acceptance prayed for is presently and plentifully vouchsafed. The dark storm-cloud of God’s wrath is dispersed and dispelled forever.
2. We next learn the fullness of God’s forgiving love and his superabundant mercy to them that trust in him. By the most pleasing figures we are taught what God promises to be to his people; what they themselves become; and what a blessing they prove to others.
I. PICTORIAL CHARACTER OF DIVINE TEACHING. We find great variety as well as great beauty in the lessons of the Bible. There is great variety, for all nature, animate and inanimate, is laid under contribution to supply fit illustrations of Divine things; there is great beauty, for the loveliest objects above us, around us, and beneath us are employed for this purpose. In the passage before us there is a cluster of lovely natural objects employed in this manner to set forth spiritual truths with all the reality of nature and all the vividness of life. Here we read of the dew, the deep-rooted and everlasting hill, the lily, the tall tree with umbrageous foliage, the olive ever green, and Lebanon ever fragrant. We read also of the springing corn, the blooming vine, and wine of aromatic odor. These, it must be acknowledged, are beautiful figures, and the facts which they are intended to convey are equally blessed. But what enhances the beauty and the blessedness is the circumstance that the persons to whom these facts and figures have reference are those very persons who had erred and strayed from the Lord their Godeven Israel who had fallen by their iniquity, Israel who had sadly backslidden, Israel who had grievously provoked the just anger of the Almighty; but Israel repenting and returning, praying and pleading, giving up their false refuges and casting aside their false gods. Oh how cheering and encouraging that God welcomes his erring children to return! Like the father in the parable, he runs to meet the prodigal, he casts the arms of his love around him; he receives the penitent to his fond embrace, laying aside the wrath that had been provoked; he bestows the love that had been undeserved; he forgives the sins that had been committed; he foregoes the punishment that had been incurred; and, physician-like, he heals the backslidings great and manifold.
II. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATIONS OF THE DEW. Figurative applications of dew are frequent in Scripture. Sometimes it signifies temporal benefits, as when Isaac blessed his son Jacob, saying, “God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine.” Sometimes it denotes spiritual blessings, as in the case of Israel, of whom we read,” His heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the Shield of thy help, and who is the Sword of thy excellency!” Sometimes it implies the reviving power and refreshing nature of the Divine Word, as when Moses the man of God, before he went up to the top of Pisgah and closed his eyes in death, addressed the people in that lovely song in which he says,” My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew.” Solomon compares the king’s favor to “dew upon the grass.” The psalmist compares brotherly love and union and peace to dew.
“As Hermon’s dew, the dew that doth
On Zion hills descend;
For there the blessing God commands
Life that shall never end.”
He also speaks of the children of God who have been born of the Spiritborn from above as dew, because Divine light shines in upon them the Divine image is reflected in them, and, like the morning dewdrops, they deck and ornament the wide field of humanity; thus: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.” In like manner the Prophet Micah, speaking of the conversion of the Jews, and of the benefit which they shall in that day confer upon the rest of the world, and of their blessing to the peoples among whom they have been long scattered, says, “The remnant of Israel shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord.” So also Isaiah, in a beautiful and highly poetic passage in which he refers to the resurrection of the dead, says, “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs.” Here God, speaking of himself, says, “I will be as the dew unto Israel.”
III. PROPERTIES OF THE DEW AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THIS PROMISE. The first and perhaps most obvious property of the dew is its refreshing quality.
1. This refreshing property is experienced most in the summer months, and especially during a season of drought, like that with which the land of Israel was visited, when, for three years and a half, there was neither rain nor dew. At such a time the ground is dry and parched; vegetation languishes; gardens and meadows and corn-lands are scorched; fields of grain, blades of grass, and leaves of trees wither; fruits and flowers droop. The showers of the sky have been withheld; rain-clouds, it may be, have gathered and darkened and promised much; but they have passed over without the long-hoped-for and much-required rain. Oh, how refreshing at such a juncture is the dew when it comes down copiously on the bosom of the thirsty earth! There it lies like a shower of gems upon the ground, shimmering in the morning sunrise; it covers the surface with pearly beauty.
“As Morn, her rosy steps in th’ Eastern clime
Advancing, sows the earth with Orient pearl.”
But those dewdrops are as refreshing as they are beautiful: they water to some extent the fields; they invigorate the languishing herbs; they refresh every green thing; they revive the plants and shrubs, the grasses, herbs, and flowers, and lift up their drooping heads; they gladden all nature. The transition from the soil to the soul is easy and not unnatural. What the dew is to the soil, grace is to the soul. In the natural world, where all erewhile was parched and scorched, dry and hard, waste and withered, consequently bleak and bare and barren, abundant dews, largely supplying in Eastern lauds the place of rain, descend; soon new life springs up and revives the half-withered plants and exhausted herbage, new loveliness appears in the leaves of trees and flower-petals. Just so when the grace of God is vouchsafed to the soul, and when the Spirit of God communicates it in rich abundance, new life is imparted to the soul, new energies are awakened, new spiritual vigor manifests itself, and new holy sympathies are developed. Sometimes, too, after the first bestowal of grace and impartation of life, believers may droop and their graces languish; the winds of the wilderness may blow upon us, the drought of the desert may scorch or wither us; in other words, the world, with its trials and temptations, Satan and his snares, sin and its enticements, the flesh and its lusts, all tend to dry up the spiritual affections of the soul, exhaust its energies, and check the heavenly flow of its feelings. Again a fresh communication of the dew of Divine grace is granted, and spiritual greenness springs up afresh and spreads throughout the soul, a renewal of spiritual life ensues, so that we live no longer to self and sin, but to him who died for us; no longer to the world, but are crucified to it; no longer to the flesh to serve it in the lusts thereof.
2. Dew has a fertilizing and fructifying property. Hence the dew is indispensable to germination and growth. Without it the husbandman would labor in vain and spend his strength for naught. He might industriously break up the fallow ground and carefully scatter the seed, but without the moisture of rain or dew the seed sown would neither bud nor grow; so in spiritual husbandry, men may plough and sow, but without the dew of Divine grace there will be no increase. How different when the dew of God’s grace is abundantly bestowed l Then hard hearts are softened, stubborn wills renewed, invitations of the gospel accepted, the warnings of the Divine Word touch the conscience, its instructions impress the heart, awakenings take place in Churches, revivals occur throughout the land. Nay, more, the weakest means become effectual, the simplest instrumentalities powerful; while in individual life the weak Christian is strengthened, the weary is refreshed, the fainting revived, the unlovely spiritually beautified, and the spiritual fruitfulness or virtues of all developed or revived.
3. God‘s wise economy of the dew. There is not a single drop of dew formed by the rude hand of chance or made in vain. Neither is there a shrub, or herb, or leaf, or flower, or blade of grass that does not collect as much dew as is needed 10r its peculiar wants. Grass-lauds and cultivated soils radiate very freely by night the heat which they absorb by day; consequently they cool down speedily and condense plentifully into dew the vapor of the air as it passes over them. Gravel, rocks, barren lands, on the contrary, radiate very slowly and very little heat, so that very little dew forms upon them. Thus there are places where little or no dew falls and which no dew refreshes. There is the barren rockno dew refreshes it; there are the gravel walk and the sandy desertlittle or no dew is formed, collected, or needed thereon; there is the stone-paved streetno dew is needed to moisten it. Exactly so there are hearts so hardened by unbelief that no dew of grace either settles on them or softens them. The seed of Divine truth may be scattered on them from sabbath to sabbath, but it makes no impression on them, and takes no root in them; it lies, it may be, for a little on the surface, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown thereon. It is not for want of willingness in God to bestow the dew of his grace, or for want of sufficiency in Divine grace, that such is the case; but because the heart has been so hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, the conscience so seared by iniquity, and the whole man so alienated from the life of God, that there is no disposition to receive or profit by the heavenly boon.
IV. EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE DEW OF GOD‘S GRACE. The first effect is growth as of the lily.
1. The growth of the lily is rapid as it is beautiful. Here we may consider it as an emblem of beauty. Thus our Lord says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That oven Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” In a passage in Ezekiel God says to his people, “Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.” The comeliness to which the prophet refers is the comeliness of the soul. There is nothing so beautiful as holiness; there is no ornament like piety. The earth is beautiful when God adorns it with the bounties of his providence; when he replenishes it with fruit and flower, with grass for the cattle and herb for the service of man; when he carpets its surface with living green, clothing the fields with verdure, and covering the hills with corn. There is beauty in the over-canopying sky, in the bright orbs that sparkle like gems in the firmament. There is beauty in the widespread world of waters, and in the waves that dimple ocean’s cheek. There is beauty twinkling in every star above us, sparkling in the dewdrops at our feet, and shining in every shimmer of noonday splendor. All these testify how beautiful this world once was, and how beautiful it would still be but for sin. There is beauty in the human face divine: there is beauty in the face of fair woman, and beauty of a rougher east in the countenance of man, and beauty, playful, cheerful beauty, in the pretty countenance of childhood. But all the varied beauties of a lovely world are not to be compared with the beauty of holiness. It is a beauty that reflects God’s own image, and by which we resemble Christ.
“Come, then, O house of Jacob, come,
To worship at his shrine;
And, walking in the light of God,
With holy beauties shine.”
There may be beauty in the adorning of the person, in the plaiting of the hair, the wearing of gold, and the putting on of apparel; but the true beauty is the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the beauty of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
2. The next characteristic of this growth is stability. The growth of the lily may be fair or fast, but it soon fades; it may be easily plucked up, and so another figure is added to show the firmness of the believer. He is firmly rooted as well as spiritually fair. Some colors are very beautiful and very showy, but they are not fast colors; they soon fade, they soon lose their vividness. Some plants are very beautiful in their bloom, but weak in their root and soon uptorn. Not so the Christian. He casts forth his roots as Lebanoneither as the mountain itself, one of earth’s deep foundations; or as the forest trees, those cedars of God, deeply rooted therein. Thus, with the flower of the lily, the believer has the root of the mountain or of the cedar tree, over which the winds of heaven have swept for centuries. He is fair as the one and firm as the other, for Christ dwells in his heart by faith; he is rooted and grounded in love; he is rooted in Christ and established in the faith, abounding therein with thanksgiving. He is, moreover, “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,” forasmuch as he knows that his labor is not in vain in the Lord. Besides, as the root of trees draws up nourishment from the ground, so the Christian derives nourishment and strength from Christ; while the union is so close and so constant that nothing can separate him from Christ, nothing can wrench him from that rock in which he is rooted, nothing can detach him from the foundation on which he rests.
3. The next characteristic is expansiveness, as expressed by the words, “His branches shall spread.” While his roots spread far and sink deeply into the soil, his branches spread. The application of this promise is to Israel literally, and so to the Church in general, as well as to the individual Christian. The Church of God is destined to grow to a great extent, and to spread her branches widely on every side, sending out “her boughs into the sea, and her branches unto the river,” and ultimately to fill the whole earth. The Christian’s growth likewise is expansive. He grows inwardly in the graces of the Spirit, outwardly in good works, upward in heavenly mindedness, and downward in humility. He adds to his faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. These things are in him and abound, and thus is neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of God and in the doing of the Divine will. Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy, he thinks on and practices these things. His profiting appears to all, and his holy demeanor is so manifested that he promotes the growth of grace in others, and consequently the progress of the gospel in the world. He resembles the shining light, which continues to spread more widely and to shine more brightly until the perfect day.
4. The next element of this growth is permanence of beauty and abundance of fruit. In addition to the beauty or glory of the lily, the stability of the cedar rooted in Lebanon, or of Lebanon itself, the expansiveness of numerous and magnificent branches, we have also the abiding beauty and rich fruitage of the olive. The beauty of the lily is frail and its glory lading; but the greenness of the olive is perpetual; and as abundance of branches and plenty of leaves may make a show for a time, and suggest the idea of a sort of empty ostentatiousness, the prophet gives a fresh touch to his picture by adding the greenery of the olive, which is lasting, and the fruitfulness of the olive, which is so profitable and for many purposes serviceableenlightenment, nourishment, and embellishment. Thus the psalmist says, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” So also in Jer 11:8 God calls his people a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit; such too is the individual believerplanted in the garden of the Lord, watered by the dew of heaven, his leaf is ever fresh and his fruit ever seasonable. Even in the winter of adversity the leaf of the righteous is green; in the winter of age they still bear fruit; in the wintry storms of the world their beauty remains like that of the olive tree, ever green, ever fresh, and ever flourishing. The beauty of an evergreen is enhanced, like most other things, by contrast; it appears most when other shrubs and trees are stripped and bared by the wintry blast; it is seen to most advantage when deadness and desolation reign around. In like manner, when the storms of’ life, when the decrepitude of age, when the languor of decay, has stripped the mere worldly professor of the leaves of a merely assumed and temporary profession, a profession without reality, then true Christians stand out in striking contrast.
“Those that within the house of God
Are planted by his grace,
They shall grow up and flourish all
In our God’s holy place:
And in old age, when others fade,
They fruit still forth shall bring:
They shall be fat and full of sap.
And aye be flourishing.”
5. By the smell of Lebanon is set forth the fragrance of holiness. There is nothing so pleasing to God as holiness proceeding from faith in Christ and love to God. The believers’ efforts in the cause of God have a rich perfume; their zeal and devotedness are like ointment poured forth; their spiritual sacrifices send forth the savor of a sweet smell. Thus the children of God are trees of righteousness, God’s own planting, precious in his sight, pleasant and pleasing to God, and to all who love God and are like God. God compares his Church to a garden of spices: “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphor, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.”
6. The people or Church of God become a blessing to others, Not only are they blessed themselves, but are made a blessing to others; they benefit all around. Like the pebble dropped into a pool and sending out wavelets to the furthest shore, so the people of God communicate benefits that, may reach to the utmost bound of earth and to the very end of time. Such as are converted through their influence, repenting of sin and returning to God, will join themselves to God’s people and rest under the shadow of God’s Churchshall be spiritually fruitful, reviving like the corn, of which a grain when it dies in the earth brings forth many more; and prolific as the vine, which, when pruned, produces many clusters, and each cluster many grapes; while their persons and their services are fragrant and even medicinal spiritually, as the scent of the far-famed wine of Lebanon physically. So with the Church of the old dispensation; so with that of the new; so with God’s Church still.
Hos 14:8, Hos 14:9
A call to understanding.
The former verse exhibits Ephraim brining forth the fruits of repentance, abandoning idolatry forever. God on his part hears his prayers, grants his petitions, and makes him the object of his paternal care and kind providence. Nor is that all; he becomes to him refreshment in every time of need, and the source of fruitfulness at all times. It is the part of understanding and the privilege of the prudent to devote due attention to and to attain to proper discernment of such things. By the judicious exercise of their natural powers, quickened and strengthened by grace, they convince themselves of the rightness and justness of God’s ways, and continue, to their own unspeakable comfort, to walk therein; but transgressors stumble at God’s dealings and fall into the perdition of ungodly men.
HOMILIES BY C. JERDAN
Hos 14:1-3
Return to God: its beginnings.
The long and terrible storm of denunciation is now at last over; the wrath-clouds roll away, and the sunshine of the Divine love bursts forth with healing in its wings. Beyond all the hurly-burly of the tempest sent as the punishment of sin, the prophet discerns the paternal tenderness and the loving patience of the God of Israel. So he begins this closing chapter of his book with a last tender entreaty to return to him who “sitteth upon the flood,” and who “will bless his people with peace.” How changed the prophet’s style, in this final strophe, from what it is in most of the preceding! When denouncing Ephraim’s sin and doom Hoses is obscure, abrupt, rugged, and volcanic; but in Hos 14:1-9. all is pellucid and restful and full of beauty. The whirlwind and the earthquake and the fire have given place to the still small voice. The subject in these opening verses isThe beginnings of spiritual revival. In its rise there are three stages.
I. THE LORD BESEECHING. (Hos 14:1) As applied to Israel, the exhortation has for its background all the judgments which have been threatened throughout the Book. And since these words were written Israel “has fallen” indeed. The ten tribes were soon carried into Assyria; Judah was by-and-by driven away to weep beside the rivers of Babylon; regained Jerusalem was at length fiercely overthrown by the Romans; and for eighteen centuries now the Jews have been dispersed over the wide world, and exposed to reproach and persecution and cruelty. All this has been the punishment of Israel’s own “iniquity”the political schism, the calf-worship, the Baalism, the godless pride, the unblushing immorality, and at last the rejection and murder of the Son of God. Jehovah could not avoid punishing; he could not but allow the apostate nation to lie under its doom during centuries and millenniums; but all the while the Divine heart is saying, “O Israel, return!” How wonderful that the eternal God should condescend to entreat men to repent! But “the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations” (Psa 100:5). If, however, there is to be salvation, there must be repentance, and all true repentance takes its rise in the call of God’s Spirit. The Lord seeks the sinner with his grace before the sinner can seek him. And thus “Return unto the Lord” is the burden of the entire revelation of the Bible; it is the key-note of all Hebrew prophecy, as of all New Testament gospel. Not only so, but in this passage God also condescends to direct the people as to the thoughts and words” with which they may acceptably approach him in complying with his urgent entreaty (verses 2, 8). How different all this from “the manner of man”!
II. THE PENITENT PRAYING. (Verse 2) This verse and verse 3 form a sort of “Lord‘s Prayer” for backsliders. God desires no longer the animal sacrifices of the Law; indeed, the twelve tribes cannot in their exile offer any, for the temple-worship has now ceased. But he requires “words“ which shall be the evidence of “a broken and a contrite heart.” Even these, however, he here provides for his penitent children. “What need God words? He knows our hearts before we speak unto him. It is true, God needs no words; but we do, to stir up our hearts and affections” (Sibbes). Although the Lord does not now demand sacrifices, the kind of” words” which he asks recalls to our minds the three principal forms of sacrifice ordained by the Levitical Law, viz. the propitiatory, the dedicatory, and the eucharistic, represented respectively by the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering. In a true return to God there will be:
1. Words of confession. “Take away all iniquity.” A child who has done wrong recovers his father’s favor so soon as he confesses his fault; so Jehovah’s children, who have made themselves “fatherless’ by their apostasy, take the first step in the direction of” finding mercy ‘ when they “return up to” (verse 1) him with words of repentance. The penitent draws near with the leper’s confession, “Unclean! Unclean!” and with the publican’s prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” His first and deepest need is pardon; he wants mercy for the past, and grace to help for the future. He prays to be delivered from the power of evil; and pleads, in doing so, the merit of Jesus Christ as his Sin Offering.
2. Words of dedication. “Receive us graciously;” literally, “receive good.” The barrier of sin being removed through faith in the atonement, the next step in revival is the presentation of the person “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God” (Rom 12:1). It is true that of ourselves we have no good which we can offer; but we are to give to the Lord of his own. The grace which he bestows upon us we are to employ in his service and for his glory. The Christian dedicates his renewed humanity, in body and soul, to his Redeemer (Mic 6:6-8).
3. Words of thanksgiving. “So will we render the calves of our lips,” i.e. we shall offer our lips as a peace offering, instead of calves. The praise of a redeemed heart is an acceptable sacrifice, and “shall please the Lord better than a bullock that hath horns and hoots” (Psa 69:31). The soul that has been forgiven much loves much, and should therefore overflow with thanksgiving and praise (Heb 13:15). Such are the three sorts of “words” which God expects from all who “return” to him. He wants words of confession like those of Psa 51:1-19.; of self-dedication, like those of Psa 116:1-19.; of thanksgiving, like those of Psa 103:1-22. And, now that Christ has come, these are “the sacrifices of God,” alike for the sons of Israel and for sinners of the Gentiles.
III. THE PENITENT RENOUNCING CREATURE–CONFIDENCES. (Psa 103:3) After the threefold word-sacrifice, comes the promise of practical amendment and reformation. Israel resolves to forsake his great national sins, viz. his habit of looking for help to Assyria, his reliance upon the cavalry of Egypt or other warlike strength, and his idolatry of Baal and the calves. The people will show the sincerity of their conversion by endeavors after new obedience. They will realize that away from God they are helpless orphans; and, in all their approaches to him, appeal to his “mercy “as the “Father of the fatherless,” This is just what every sinner must do in returning to the Lord. We all have Asshurs and horses and idols which we must abjure. If we will “return quite up to Jehovah our God” (Psa 103:1) we must put away confidence in every creature-help, and in any defense which is our own handiwork. We may have been “glued to idols” (Hos 4:17); but we must at any cost tear them out of our hearts, even although the soul should seem to be rent asunder in the process. For true conversion implies perfect union to the Lord Jesus Christ, perpetual communion with the Holy Spirit, and persevering progress in the ways of holiness. We obey “the first and great commandment,” and fulfill the chief end of our being, when we choose Jehovah as the Portion of our souls, and give him our supreme and constant and most tender love.
LESSONS.
1. The mercy of God to sinners is untiring and indestructible (Psa 103:1).
2. Now that Christ has died as our Sin Offering, we plead his atonement as the ground on which we ask the Lord to “take away all iniquity” (Psa 103:2).
3. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” and contrition always manifests itself in prayer (Psa 103:2).
4. To obey is better than sacrifice” (Psa 103:3).
5. The penitent sinner and the backsliding believer have this assuring motive to induce them to return to God, that, however they may be scorned by their fellow-men, they are sure of a warm welcome from him who is the “Father of the fatherless.”C.J.
Hos 14:4, Hos 14:5
Return to God: its immediate effects.
So soon as Israel shall return to Jehovah and offer the foregoing words of self-condemning supplication (Hos 14:2, Hos 14:3), they shall receive a glad welcome from him “who delighteth in mercy,” and who will not “keep his anger for ever.” The first clauses of this answer of blessing remind us that there are three results of religious revival which begin to be experienced at once. These are “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” in the form of healing; “the love of God,” in the gift of positive and full salvation; “and the communion of the Holy Ghost,” as manifested in the enjoyment of Divine influence. The answer corresponds to the prayer of the penitents, only that the blessings promised are even larger and richer than those which have been asked.
I. SPIRITUAL HEALING. “I will heal their backsliding” (Hos 14:4); or rather, “their falling away; ‘ “their apostasy.” The Lord will remove the injuries which his people’s apostasy has brought upon them, and will cure them of the malignant disease itself. This blessing of healing includes
(1) the forgiveness of sin;
(2) deliverance from its pollution;
(3) the cure of the tendency to backslide; and
(4) removal of the chastisements and sorrows which past guilt has entailed.
How does God heal all these wounds? He does so by the application of the blood of Christ. That blood is the one unfailing salve for the sinner’s conscience and heart, and it procures also his redemption from all future evil. All men, Jew and Gentile alike, who accept the gospel message, receive such healing in our time; and in “the latter days” this gracious promise shall be completely fulfilled in the national conversion of Israel, as well as in the “coming in” of “the fullness of the Gentiles.”
II. FULL SALVATION. “I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him” (Hos 14:4). Jehovah’s wrath being gone, and his people’s apostasy healed, his generous love is now free to go forth without restraint. He finds in his people themselves, it is true, no cause why he should love them. In himself the backsliding sinner is repulsive and unlovely; and the only acceptable gift which he can bring when he returns is merely feelings and “words” (Hos 14:2). But, as a mother’s love for her child is not based upon the child’s character, or upon the return which he makes for her goodness, so also love is instinctive and natural to the Divine heart. He loves “freely,“ or spontaneously, just because he himself “is love.” The Lord heals his people’s backslidings by discovering anew to their souls the greatness of his tender mercy towards them. His wonderful love leads him first to be the soul’s Physician, and then to become its Husband. His free favor bestows upon the healed one the health of holiness, and continues to be the springing well-head of the believer’s salvation.
III. DIVINE INFLUENCE. “I will be as the dew unto Israel” (Hos 14:5). This promise announces the reversal of the curse of barrenness recorded in Hos 13:15. We think of Jehovah as being “the dew” in connection with the gracious operations of his Spirit. He rewards the prayer and the life of penitence, and evinces his free love to his people, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. There are many points of analogy between the descent of the dew and the work of the Spirit. The Divine dew, like the natural, is:
1. Mysterious and heavenly. It has its source high above us The falling of the dew is independent of man’s skill and power (Mic 5:7; Job 38:28); much less are the workings of grace the result of any human process (Joh 3:3-8).
2. Gentle and silent. No one sees or hears the dew falling, and experience alone has taught man that it is really an important force of nature. Similarly the grace of the Spirit “cometh not with observation” (Luk 17:20). It works on in secrecy, and becomes visible only in its beneficent results upon character and life.
3. Abundant. In Palestine the dew is so copious as to compensate to some extent for the absence of rain. The Divine dew, in like manner, is often seen to be most abundant, especially in a time of religious revival. The work of the Spirit may influence for much good an entire Church, or even a whole nation, so as to enrich its life as a Christian community.
4. Penetrative. The dew pierces the soil, and insinuates itself into the fibers of every herb and plant; so the Holy Ghost, using the Divine Word, “pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit” (Heb 4:12), and searches through the whole nature of man, to purify and bless it.
5. Given daily. “The grace of God, like the dew, is not given once for all, but is day by day waited for, and day by day renewed. Yet doth it not pass away, like the fitful goodness of God’s former people (Hos 6:4), but turns into the growth and spiritual substance of those on whom it descends” (Pusey).
6. Refreshing and fertilizing. The dew produces verdure and fruitfulness. So the constant presence of the Holy Spirit within the soul and in the Church is essential to spiritual freshness and usefulness. The clauses that follow (Hos 13:5-8) show that this is the main point of the emblem as employed here, and trace with exceeding beauty of poetic diction the results of the Lord’s gracious activity when he comes “as the dewy He shall so come in “the last days”blessed be his Name!”unto Israel,” i.e. to his ancient people; and not to them only, but to the whole Israel of God, of every nation, who follow spiritually in the footsteps of Abraham.
LESSONS.
1. Apostasy is a malignant soul-malady, which, if not arrested by the great Healer, will lead to final perdition. If we would be preserved from it, we must avoid habits of backsliding.
2. What a ground of hope to the penitent, and of comfort to the believer, is the “freeness” or spontaneity of the Divine love!
3. The absolute dependence of the individual and the Church upon the work of the Holy Spirit.C.J.
Hos 14:5-8
Return to God: its ultimate results.
These are like the effects of the dew of heaven upon garden and landscape. They are, in fact, the results of the Divine influence which God the Holy Spirit bestows upon returning penitents. The imagery of the passage is borrowed from the vegetable kingdom, and reminds us of that of the Song of Solomon. The prophet employs a combination of emblemsthe lily, the cedar, the olive, the corn-field, the vineyard, because it requires them all to furnish an adequate picture of the blessed outcome of religious revival. This representation shall yet be realized in the spiritual future of the Hebrew nation. “Ephraim,” now so sadly blighted, shall be dowered with “double fruitfulness,” and thus verify the presage of his ancient name (Gen 41:52). The promise is fulfilled also, even now, in the case of every Christian Church, and of every gracious heart, which “returns unto Jehovah,” and receives a fresh baptism of his Spirit. The rich and blessed results of revival are
I. GROWTH. “He shall grow as the lily” (verse 5). There are various plants of the lily species found in Palestine which are remarkable, not only for their beauty, but for their rapid and luxuriant growth. The tall lilies, to whose brilliant colors the Lord Jesus pointed his disciples (Mat 6:28, Mat 6:29), possess also much vitality and productiveness. So is it with the Church that has been watered with the copious dews of God’s good Spirit. How rapidly the infant Church grew after the outpouring on the day of Pentecost! What multitudes turned to the Lord in the times of the Reformation! What numbers do still in every season of revival! And so also is it with the individual soul when the garden of its graces is daily wetted with the heavy heavenly dew. It makes rapid progress in its upward growth. Each of us may profitably ask himself, “Am I growing in grace? Are my Christian faith, and love, and patience, and diligence, and holy zeal larger than they were ten or twenty years ago?”
II. STRENGTH. He shall “strike his roots as Lebanon: his branches shall spread” (verses 5, 6). The lily both grows and multiplies rapidly; but it is not an emblem of stability, for its stalk is frail and its root slender. To find an image of fixedness and forceful reserve, the prophet goes to the cedar of Lebanon. This tree is far-famed for its strength and stateliness. It is very deeply rooted; and from its main trunk numerous branches spread out horizontally, tier upon tier, until the diameter of the compass of ground which the tree covers is even greater than its height. In like manner, spiritual solidity and expansiveness are secured by striking our roots well down into the hidden life of faith, and prayer, and communion with God, and fidelity to conscience. The moral robustness which is proof against whatever “tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the Word” (Mat 13:21) is always the result of a deep sense of sin, a thorough apprehension of the gospel, and a profound love to the Savior.
III. BEAUTY AND FRAGRANCE. “His beauty shall be as the olive tree” (verse 6). There is doubtless a natural glory of its own in the slender grey-green foliage of the olive; but to the Oriental the attractiveness of this tree consists largely in its capacity of yielding that oily matter (“fatness,” Jdg 9:9) which is so essential to health in the dry and hot climate of the East. “His smell as Lebanon” (verse 6); the reference being to the fresh breezes of the mountain, laden in early summer with the fragrance of the vines and the balsamic odor of the cedars and aromatic plants. “The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon” (verse 7), which was celebrated for its fine flavor and its rich aroma. These emblems are suggestive of the beauty of holiness, and the fragrance which proceeds from the renewed heart and life. The Divine dew is sent to make one nature bloom as the lily, and to clothe another with verdure like the ever-green olive. It should impart to every child of God some healthful fragrance or sweetness of disposition which shall lead others to “take knowledge of him, that he has been with Jesus” (Psa 45:8). How many Christians, unhappily, lack this blessed aroma! How many are morose and moody, rather than sunny and joyful; thereby giving countenance to the impression that religion is a melancholy thing, instead of being “cheerful as the day”!
IV. FRUITFULNESS. This is the most important of the results, and Hosea’s mind dwells on it in verses 7 and 8 as the prevailing thought of the passage. Fruitfulness is the ultimate test and the final end of every revival In verse 7 the restored Israelitish nation is spoken of as a wide spreading tree, under whose grateful shadow its people also shall be individually restored from their backslidings. The corn “falls into the ground and dies,” and may seem to be killed a second time by the storms of winter; but when spring comes it revives, and at length yields an abundant harvest. The vine, when its fruit-bearing branches have been carefully pruned, sprouts again with new vigor and bears choicer fruit. So is it with a Church or with an individual believer at the close of a long winter of declension, and after experience of the pruning-knife of affliction. With the blessed consciousness of sin forgiven, and of the restored favor of God, and under the fertilizing influence of the dew of the Holy Spirit, the revived Church ripens like a waving harvest-field, and hangs with luscious clusters like a fragrant vineyard. The purpose of the gift of Divine grace is fruit-bearing. The dew of the Spirit is sent with a view to “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23). The scheme of redemption is God’s plan for the promotion of morality. The Savior says to his disciples, “I have chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit” (Joh 15:8, Joh 15:16). It is true, of course, that in different lives spiritual fruitfulness varies in character. One believer has the beauty of the lily; another, the stability of the cedar; a third, the fatness of the olive. But in the communion of the saints, and even within each separate Christian congregation, all the forms of strength, beauty, and usefulness should meet. A revived Church, watered with the Divine dew, should be garden, orchard, vineyard, fruitful field, and forest, all in one.
CONCLUSION. In verse 8; Jehovah joyfully anticipates the permanence of Ephraim’s reformation. He “hears” him resolving to put away idols forever, and “observes” him bringing forth fruit meet for repentance. The backsliders have returned, and have repented from sin as well as for it. Those who were “joined to idols” are now joined to the Lord. And the Lord reminds them, in a closing word, that all their “springs ‘ are in himself. Jehovah is “like a green cypress tree; ‘ he is “the Tree of life,” and the Giver of “fruit’ to all who dwell under his shadow. May the good Lord incline our hearts also to abjure every idolatry, and to seek our “fruit” in himself only, that he may with joy address us as “Ephraim,” because he finds in us “double fruitfulness”!C.J.
Hos 14:9
The epilogue.
With this weighty sentence the prophet seals up the written record of his life-message. As the foregoing chapters express the essence of Hosea’s public teaching during his prolonged ministry, this closing verse, in like manner, sets before us the quintessence of that written record. The conclusion “unspecializes the prophecy, as it were, and extracts the general moral lesson which underlies it all” (Cheyne). Two main points are suggested here for our consideration.
I. A SUMMARY OF THE PROPHET‘S TEACHING. This is given in the second half of the verse. The Book of Hosea is full of precious instruction:
1. About God. That “the ways of Jehovah are right” is the sum of its theology. God’s “ways“ are to be understood to mean his dealings with men as the supreme moral Governor. And the prophet’s aim in these pages is akin to that which Milton announces in the beginning of his great epic, viz. to “assert eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to men.”
(1) His ways in judgment are right. “These things” cannot but include all the lamentations and chidings and announcements of punishment with which the book is so largely occupied. Ephraim had sinned against the voice of God’s Law, against the assurances of his love, and even against the pleadings of his mercy; so the Lord could not be “unrighteous in taking vengeance,” however dreadful and prolonged that vengeance might be. Hosea’s message, on its side of sternness, announced that “righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” God’s ways are right in his dealings with every ungodly nation, despite all the difficulty and mystery which may gather round them. And his ways are right in his dealings with each individual transgressor, albeit that the reasons of his procedure may be “past finding out.” The rectitude of the Divine ways is attested by experience; for, although they prove stumbling-blocks to the ungodly, “the just walk in them,” and by-and-by arrive at “a city of habitation.” To his own people Jehovah is “just,” and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
(2) His ways in mercy are right. If there be any book of Old Testament Scripture which exhibits the Divine grace and compassion, that book is Hosea. The strain of it is not ethical alone; it is evangelical also. The prophet represents the love of God as the fundamental ground of God’s relations to his ancient people. Hosea conceives of Jehovah as Israel’s Husband (Hos 2:1-23) and Father (Hos 11:1-12). But, as the prophet was persuaded that it was not wrong for himself to continue to love Gomer, his adulterous wife, and to yearn for the well-being of her children, when they followed in her evil ways,so Goal’s dealings in mercy towards apostate Israel, and towards sinners of the Gentiles, are right also. “Oar book is, therefore, truly a classic for the right understanding of the Old Testament conception of God with its interaction of love and wrath, and of the nature of the Old Testament revelation concerning God. Only such a God who can be so angry and so loving, who in all his love so displays anger, and in all his anger so displays love, could give up his only begotten Son to the accursed death for the deliverance of rebellious man” (Lange). But the Book of Hosea is also full of teaching:
2. About men. It separates them into two classes,”the just” or righteous, and “the transgressors;” those who “walk in” the Lord’s ways, and those who “stumble thereon.” In other words, this book deals with the great theme of spiritual apostasy and revival.
(1) Spiritual apostasy. There are always many “transgressors,” who, like Ephraim, stumble and fall in the right ways of the Lord. And this book is written to warn men against becoming such. Hosea points out the earliest symptoms of backsliding; e.g. the “morning-cloud goodness” (Hos 6:4); the “grey hairs” (Hos 7:9); the “removing of the bound” (Hos 5:10); the “forgetting of one‘s Maker” (Hos 8:14); the “hiring of lovers” (Hos 8:9), etc. He indicates its further manifestations; e.g. “counting God’s Law a strange thing” (Hos 8:12); “mixing among the people; “being like “a cake not turned” (Hos 7:8); becoming “an empty vine” (Hos 10:1); “sowing the wind” (Hos 8:7); “sinning more and more” (Hos 13:2), etc. And he warns against ultimate results; e.g. idols “broken in pieces” (Hos 8:6); “the land mourning” (Hos 4:3); “reaping the whirlwind” (Hos 8:7); “joined to idols” (Hos 4:17); “cast away by God” (Hos 9:17), etc.
(2) Spiritual revival. The prophet deals with this more pleasant side of his message in Hos 2:14-23, Hos 6:1-3, and especially in Hos 14:1-9. (For an outline of his teaching regarding the rise, progress, and fruits of revival, see the three preceding homilies)
II. THE MORAL QUALIFICATION NECESSARY IF WE WOULD PROFIT BY THIS TEACHING. The student of Hosea, who desires to get at the mind of the Spirit contained in these oracles, must be “wise” and “prudent.” The “just” or pious man “walks in the Lord’s ways;” and these ways require to be walked in to be understood. The “wisdom” which the prophet desiderates is not to be confounded with intellectual acuteness; it is a moral qualification. Here, as in the Book of Proverbs, and indeed throughout all Scripture, the “wise” are they whose souls have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and who have been brought into a right moral state in relation to Divine truth. The profound theology of Hosea, accordingly, will not be grasped by the man of merely intellectual discernment, or by any one who has only accumulated stores of human learning. Moral preparation is necessary in order to the reception and assimilation of spiritual truth. As the psalmist has it, “Light is sown for the righteous” (Psa 97:11). Or, as the Lord Jesus expressed the same thought,” If any man is willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God” (Joh 7:17). This experimental qualification is within every one’s reach. The possession of it makes the simple-minded shepherd really wiser than the “undevout astronomer.” Cowper’s “cottager, who weaves at her own door,” has it to the full; while “the brilliant Frenchman never knew” it. Only the right-hearted man will be habitually persuaded of the equity of the Divine government, both as regards judgment and mercy. Such a one has learned to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” Correctness of conduct promotes correctness of creed, and helps to the proper understanding of God’s ways. A man thinks rightly just to the extent of his living purely (Psa 111:10). In our day, accordingly, one must be a believer in Christ and a follower of him if he would profit by the study of Hosea.
LESSONS.
1. What a commentary upon this verse is the whole history, of the Hebrew nation, from the beginning until now!
2. Hosea’s last word, like Holy Scripture everywhere, draws a sharp contrast between the righteous and the wicked.
3. Every man must make choice either of “walking in God’s ways,” or of “stumbling thereon.”
4. The believer should derive comfort from this text in presence of the mysteries of Providence.
5. This final exhortation should come home to us with still greater power than it was fitted to do to Hosea’s contemporaries; for, since he lived, the four great world-empires have successively fallen, the Jews remain scattered among the cities of the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ has been lifted up on the cross as an atonement for sin, and his gospel has been preached among the nations.C.J.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND
Hos 14:1, Hos 14:2
God’s message to the prodigal.
This chapter stands out in vivid contrast from much that precedes it. The denunciation of threats is over, and now Hosea turns to tender pleading with the godless. The change is like that which we see sometimes during a thunderstorm. The clouds gather, the wind sinks into a solemn silence, then the thunder rolls and crashes overhead, and men’s hearts fail them for fear. But suddenly there is a lull, the clouds break, and, as a burst of sunshine lights up the earth, the rainbow of God’s faithfulness and goodness is seen. With such a sudden and sublime transition does Hosea pass here from storm to calm, from denunciation to pleading. The prophet is addressing a nation which, as such, could not be saved. The kingdom of Israel was to be hopelessly destroyed. But the children were still “heirs of the promises,” and, while the corporate society to which they belonged would be swept away, they themselves might return to their God. There is no nation so evil but that in it some may work righteousness, no family so godless but that some of its members may be loyal to Christ. Circumstances never necessitate the ruin of a soul. The desolation of society has been historically the means of saving what is best in it; e.g. if in the reign of Charles I. the unscrupulous Buckingham had been successful in his foreign policy, the result would have been the establishment of a tyranny in England. Our national defeats just then were the cause of our constitutional salvation; men being roused to a consciousness of wrongdoing by the consequences of wrong-doing. So with Israel. The destruction of Israel seemed to the heathen the failure of Jehovah’s purpose; but it was the means of salvation to many who heard and obeyed in the misery of exile, as they would not have heard and obeyed in prosperity, the exhortation, “O Israel, return unto the Lord.” A world-wide truth was taught by our Lord when he described the prodigal as thinking of the father’s home, when he “had spent all,” and famine was in the land, so that “he began to be in want.” Our text is God’s message to such a one.
I. THE CONDITION OF THE SINNER.
1. A condition of estrangement. Implied in “return.” 0f those addressed by Hoses, some had once joined in Jehovah’s worship, but had forsaken it, while others had been taken as children to the altars of idols. These two classes are represented still. There are those who have never known God; to them he is no more than the emperor of a distant land might be, the ruler of others, one to be heard and read of, but nothing more. There are also those whose hearts were once tender, who were nominally on the side of the Church, to whom the Lord says, “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Apply the text to each.
2. A condition of moral degradation. “Fallen.”
(1) Godlessness is itself an inward degradation. The godless man has “fallen” below what he might have been, as a ruler of himself and a worshipper of God. He has fallen from the likeness and from the favor of God.
(2) It leads to moral degradation; so that ultimately courage, purity, and reverence in the outward life disappear. “Iniquity,” i.e. an inward tendency to evil, does for the character what the sea does for the cliff, undermining it secretly, till unexpectedly it falls.
3. A condition of self-destructiveness. “Thine iniquity.” Not Adam’s transgression, not thy father’s neglect or evil example, not the associations of life, but “thine own iniquity,” ruins thee. Therefore, with a sense of weakness and guilt, let us return to the Lord, saying, “I have sinned against Heaven,” etc.; “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
II. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS RETURN.
1. Sincerity, or thoroughness. The Pharisees were condemned for want of it. All are rejected of whom God can say, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth but their heart is far from me,“ The Hebrew signifies, “Return right up to thy God.” You are not to stop at self-reformation or at sentimental feeling, but to return “right up to” God, and stand face to face with him. To be nearly saved is to be altogether lost.
2. Confession. “Take with you words.” Words are cheap enough. It is well that no costly sacrifice is required, but only “words,” which the poorest and most illiterate can utter. Words are worthless in themselves, but they have true value when they come from an honest and good heart. If a child who has done wrong is shut up alone to think over his fault, he knows that all he has to say is, “I’m sorry.” It is easy enough to say the words; yet he sits there, proud and defiant, until better thoughts come to him; and when at last he falters out “I’m sorry,” it is enough to win him reconciliation. The “words ‘ are nothing, but they mean much, for they involve self-conquest and humiliation. That is the meaning of the exhortation to the penitent. “Take with you words.”
3. Entreaty.
(1) “Take away all iniquity.” This implies that only God can do so. The prayer involves much. We want not only the consciousness of sin or the punishment of sin removed, but the “iniquity” itself taken away. The true penitent does not say, “Take away the sins that disgrace me, but spare those by which I make money,” or, “Destroy my lusts, but let ambition and pride remain.” Popular sins, pet sins, as well as vile sins, are included in the words, “Take away all iniquity.”
(2) “And receive us graciously;“ literally, “receive good.” The “good” we offer God comes from himself, so that we must say of all right desire and true thought and Christian service, “Of thine own have we given thee.” He can only cast out evil by pouting in good. He leaves no heart empty, but gives the new love to keep out, as well as to cast out, the old. Yet even the good he gives is so affected by our imperfections that, casting ourselves upon his condescension and mercy, we need to pray, “Receive good.”
4. Resolve:
(1) To have done with the old sins. “Asshur shall not save us,” etc. This is an abjuration of Israel’s three sins:
(a) trust in man (Asshur);
(b) trust in self (horses, equivalent to military power);
(c) trust in idols.
These have their modern counterparts, when we trust
(a) in the influence of others to get us on in life;
(b) in our physical or intellectual power;
(c) in our wealth and position, instead of in God.
(2) To offer perpetual thanksgiving. “So will we render the calves of our lips.” The meaning of the phrase iswhen we have received pardon and conquest of sin, “we will praise thee with joyful lips.” What more noble than praise, such as the redeemed render! what more natural, when we remember the goodness of God! what more helpful to others than the songs which of old caused the glory of God to fill the house of the Lord! “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,” etc.
III. THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO HIS OBEDIENCE.
1. It is found in the fatherliness o God. Verse 3: “For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.” He is “thy God,” to whom thou owest obedience; who has girded thee, though thou hast not known him; and who now sees thee a great way off, and has compassion on thee. When the dove found no rest for her foot in a dark and desolate world, she returned to the ark; nor had she to flutter outside it in vain. Noah saw her, and put out his hand and “took her in unto him into the ark.” If Noah did that for a poor tired bird, what will not God do for his own tired child?
2. They are found in the promises of God. Verse 4: “I will heal their backsliding,” etc. He pledges himself to cure our waywardness and fickleness, and he is faithful. Therefore, though a good reputation has been lost, a pious ancestry disgraced, and holy promises broken, yet be encouraged to obey the loving exhortation, “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.”A.R.
Hos 14:5
The heavenly dewfall.
The former part of the chapter describes the experience through which a Church or a soul must pass before the fulfillment of this promise. The repentance, the vows, the hopes of the penitent are here crowned by Divine goodness. With a startling and sudden transition, in the fourth verse, Jehovah is represented as interposing amidst the prayers of those returning to him. So our Lord describes the father as unable to listen to the close of the prodigal’s confession, before he breaks forth in a gush of generous pardon and blessing. How encouraging the truth this suggests for all who turn to God! We accept our text as a figurative description of the revivifying and beautifying influence of the Holy Spirit upon the human heart. Let us notice, therefore, some of the characteristics of the dew.
I. DEW IS UNSEEN IN ITS COMING. We see its effects when every leaf and flower glitters in the early sunshine; but the dew came unperceived, when darkness was over the earth.
1. Probably the most powerful forces are those which are unseen. The noblest part of man is hidden from human gaze, and of him who is the directing Power of the universe it is said, “No man hath seen God at any time.” If it be argued that because God is, and always has been invisible, he must be non-existent; it may also be argued that the conscious ego does not exist, because it has never been seen. It is true that no research or analysis in the natural world has discovered God; it is equally true that no investigation of the human body, living or dead, has ever revealed the subtle consciousness of whose existence each man is, however, certain. Both are beyond the range of experimental science. We do not know how the Spirit of God affects us; we cannot discover the nexus by means of which holy thoughts and impulses from above becomes ours, yet we are confident that they are of God and not of us. In our holiest and best hours the Holy Spirit comes to us, but secretly, “as the dew lighteth upon the grass.”
2. The evidence of the work of the Spirit is to be found in its effects; e.g. the conversion of Saul of Tarsus; the profound teaching of the unscholarly writers of Holy Scripture; the triumph of Christianity through the influence of such men as were its first representatives; the moral transformation of some we ourselves have seen. One example of genuine conversion will do more to prove the work of the Spirit than all the tomes of theology ever written.
II. DEW IS SILENT IN ITS FALL. We can hear the pattering of rain or the rippling of streams, but the dewfall does not disturb an insect’s sleep.
1. The Church, as well as the world, depends too often on noise and bustle, as the signs or the causes of success. The preacher whose eloquence attracts the multitude, around whom are clustered societies and organizations to do all manner of work, is not always the man most richly blessed of God. Be that as it may, the signs that the work is of God are to be found, not in the outward, but in the inwardin truer thoughts of sin and holiness, in a loftier standard of Christian integrity, in the generosity and self-sacrifice of Christ’s disciples, in the purity and love which are being silently inwrought by the power of the Holy Ghost. Hence we should be slow to measure success in our own efforts or those of others.
2. As a rule, spiritual blessing is richest when outward joy is least. The dew falls not during sunshine, but in the night. Note the spiritual richness and power of the Church in times of persecution. Refer to the development of Christian faith, peace, hope, devoutness, in the dark seasons of affliction. The world must be hushed that we may hear God’s voice. Earth must be darkened before the dew of heavenly blessing falls.
III. DEW IS REVIVING IN ITS INFLUENCE. We see nothing comparable to that with which Hoses was familiar, living as he did in a land where no rain fell for months together, and where the withholding of dew meant the death of vegetation. Without it corn would not reach maturity, and olives and vines and fig trees would yield no fruit. A more terrible curse than that pronounced by Elijah in Ahab’s reign could not have been inflicted. Christ Jesus foresaw the dearth of comfort arid hope and energy which would prevail in his Church if his disciples were left to themselves. Hence he gave the promise of the Comforter, whom he would send from the Father, to lead his disciples into all truth, and to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The garden, glittering and beautiful after its dewy baptism, may illustrate such spiritual refreshment as we see in Peter coming from the upper room at Pentecost, or in John rejoicing even in the exile of Patmos. What are the graces and giftsthe fruits of the Spirit in us, which need the heavenly benediction? Whence their impoverishment? Where their source of revival? “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”
IV. DEW IS REPEATED AND ABUNDANT IN ITS FALL. Its departure, as well as its coming, is rapid and secret. Hence Hosea elsewhere uses it as an illustration of transient religious feeling. To give a dewfall once in a season would be of little use.
1. It comes night after night, and tags is in accordance with the Divine method. Thus God gave the manna, which could not be hoarded or stored up for future use. By this means the people learnt their constant dependence on God. Still we are taught to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”a prayer which includes spiritual as well as temporal sustenance. Israel could not live on yesterday’s manna. You cannot live on the relics of your old faith. Your character will break down if it rests on the memory of your past experience. The feeling aroused when you first thought of God was enough to bring you to him, but not enough to keep you near him. The prayer which brought pardon must be daily repeated for purification from sin. And in our weakness this is necessary, lest we should lapse into a prayerless life, and go on our way in a spirit of presumptuous self-dependence.
2. It is not that God cannot give grace abundantly, or that he willingly withholds from the feeblest and most worthless what they want and can receive. He does not stint the world of dew. The humblest flower has its drop; unsightly things are baptized with that blessing; the rough bracken shares it equally with the rose, and the tiny flower on the window-sill of the pauper is as much blessed as the garden of the peer. Free to all, it is a fit emblem of the fullness of the Holy Spirit which God will in nowise withhold from him who seeks. “I will be as the dew unto Israel.”
CONCLUSION. If God is prepared to give, are we prepared to receive? Let us not make a mistake about the Holy Spirit similar to that which men formerly made about the dew, which represents him. They supposed that the moon and planets poured it down upon the earth, regardless of its condition. But at the beginning of this century, Dr. Wells, by three years’ experiments, established the theory which, as Dr. Tyndall says, “has stood the test of all subsequent criticism, and is now universally accepted.” It was demonstrated, in short, that dew was not dependent on the condition of the heavens only, but on the condition of the earth; ay, and of the various things upon the earth. It was shown that the aqueous vapor condenses on things which are cooled by the radiation of their own heat, and on those only; so that if anything, a cloud, for example, comes between them and heaven, which prevents the giving off of their heat, the dew does not come; or, if they do not themselves freely give off their heat, though all around are blessed, they are not. Carry the thought into the higher sphere of which we have spoken. If there be no outgoing of warm earnest desire on your part, if there be not an honest putting away of any cloud, be it of doubt or of sin, which lies between your soul and heaven, though others may be blessed, you will fail to receive the fulfillment of the promise, “I will be as the dew unto Israel.”A.R.
Hos 14:5, Hos 14:6
The bedewed Church.
This is a description of the condition of a Church which has received the fulfillment of the promise, “I will be as the dew unto Israel.” Its blessedness is so full and so varied in its manifestations that no one emblem would suffice to represent it. Hence the text is crowded with imagery. The bedewed Church has these characteristics.
I. GROWTH. “He shall grow as the lily.”
1. This presupposes life. A lifeless log would not grow, however rich the soil, favorable the season, abundant the sunshine and dew; but if these conditions be given to a lily bulb, though it be unsightly in appearance and deeply buried in the earth, it must grow, because it lives. No Church can expect the blessedness described in the text unless it is living, consisting of those who have more than a name to live, whose consciousness of God’s presence and devotion to his service prove that they have passed from death unto life.
2. This indicates multiplication. A lily multiplies itself, and so foot by foot conquers the soil about it. Similar extension is a sign of vitality in a Church; for if the life of Christ be in it, it will never be self-absorbed, content with enjoyment, or even with self-culture, but will propagate itself in the waste places around.
3. It implies variety. The lily genus contains an unusual variety of species. Sometimes a single scale will produce a new plant. Some lilies are stately, others lowly; some grow in heat, others spread their broad leaves over the surface of a quiet pool. Far greater varieties are seen in the forms in which Divine life displays itself to the world. Some Churches are ornate in their acts of worship, others stern in their simplicity; some lay stress on accurate definitions of theology, others on the human side of their mission, etc. Yet all these but imperfectly represent the fullness of Divine life which was in Christ. These are not antagonistic forms of life, but imperfect developments of the one life.
4. It suggests purity. All Churches are agreed in seeking this which the lily so often represents. “The pure in heart shall see God,” and “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” Happy is it for men that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin.”
II. STABILITY. “He shall…cast forth his roots as Lebanon.” The lily grows fast, but is fragile; indeed, stability is seldom reached rapidly in nature. The succulent plant, which swiftly reaches maturity, is killed by the first frost; but the oak, which wrestles with the wind and laughs at the storm, is the growth of years or centuries. In the spiritual sphere, however, God can create a Church swiftly, whose beauty is not transient: “It grows as the lily, but cast forth its roots as Lebanon.” The allusion is, not to the cedars of Lebanon, but to Lebanon itself. Standing on the summit of that mountain range, you see below you blooming flowers, solemn cedars, here a patch of waving corn and there a terraced vineyard, here a quiet dell and there a busy village. These change, but Lebanon abides; for it sends out its rocky ridges, like giant roots, down deep beneath the distant sea. That is Hosea’s emblem of the stability of the Church, of which Christ said, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The outward forms of Christian life may change, but Christ the Son of God, the one Hope of humanity, the one true King of the world, is rooted deep in the hearts of men, and the purpose of God and “his kingdom is that which shall never be destroyed.”
III. EXTENSION. “His branches shall spread.” No man can be good without doing good. If he has high moral tone, intense spiritual earnestness, strong, deep-rooted convictions, an attractive Christ-like character, his influence will spread in spite of himselfover his home and business relationships. This power is quite distinct from social or intellectual influence, and may exist without it. Hence it is that the rough-handed fishermen of a despised country are swaying the destinies of the world. “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.” Show how far-reaching is the quiet influence of a Christian mother, whose only sphere of activity is her own home. Note: Influence is not less because it is morally bad. Not only do the branches of the cedar spread, but also the branches of the upas tree, whose shadow is deadly. God forbid that the extension of our influence should prove the extension of our evildoing, and therefore of our retribution.
IV. BEAUTY. “His beauty shall be as the olive tree.” No tree in Palestine was more valuable than the olive. Its oil was used as food, was poured on sacrifices, was employed in the coronation of the king, and afforded sustenance for light. No wonder it is so often used in Scripture as an emblem of prosperity. Here, probably, the reference is to the abiding beauty of the character created by God’s Spiritthe olive being evergreen, as beautiful in winter as in summer. In natural disposition we often see gaiety and pleasantness supplanted by moroseness and irritability, when the experience of life has been bitter. But we have seen Christians whose luxurious home has been exchanged for straitened circumstances, whose vigorous health has failed, whose family circle has been broken up; and yet, in thankfulness for what is left, in serenity of spirit, in trustfulness for the future, we see the unfading beauty of the olive. “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not wither.”
V. ATTRACTIVENESS. “His smell as Lebanon.” In the valley between the two ranges of Lebanon, aromatic plants abound; myrtle and lavender and sweet-smelling reeds send forth delicious fragrance, and every passing breeze is perfumed and carries over the world a message concerning the tender mercy of God. It was with some thought of this that the Church is represented as praying, “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; and blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.” Doubtless the graces of the Spirit are signified in that verse and in this, but the reference is chiefly to the diffusive influence of love, the greatest yet the quietest moral power we know. There is, unhappily, in the spiritual world, as in the physical, a beauty that is cold and almost repellant. There are Churches and Christians whose intellectual culture and social respectability none would dispute, but they are the last in the world to whom the troubled, the sinful, the skeptical, would turn for sympathy. They are deep-rooted as Lebanon, pure as the lily, but they have none of the smell of Lebanon, and do not bewray themselves and attract others by their sweetness. We cannot do Christ’s work without his Spirit, without revealing sympathy and love like his. If we are to have any power for him, it must be spiritual power. If we are to lay hold of men and save them, it must be by the arms of brotherly love. “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it!”A.R.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
Hos 14:1, Hos 14:2
Counsels to the sinful.
It was the office of the prophet to be faithful at once with man and with God. He was bound not to flatter man, not to conceal or palliate human sins. At the same time, it was his to declare the whole counsel of God as the Ruler of all men, the Judge of the obdurate, the Healer of the penitent.
I. A REMINDER OF THE FALL. The Book of Hosea’s prophecies is full of reproaches and expostulations addressed to backsliding, idolatrous Israel. The people are charged with iniquity, and they are put in mind of the “fall” into which their ungodliness has brought them. As surely as men wander from the ways of God into the ways of error, unrighteousness, and folly, so surely do they, sooner or later, meet with a fall. It is a plain truth that the godly stand upright. Under a Divine and righteous rule it cannot be well with those who neglect and despise the moral law. Our first parents “fell” by sin, and in this they furnished an exemplification of the consequences of disobedience as a lesson to their posterity.
II. AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO REPENTANCE. In the very language used in this expostulation and entreaty there is much to cheer and to justify the approach of the penitent sinner unto God.
1. There is the designation “Israel,” the use of which seems a reminder of the Divine favor.
2. There is the appellation given to Jehovah”the Lord thy God;” thine, even though thou hast shown thyself so insensible and so ungrateful.
3. There is the term which the counselor employs”turn,” “return,” unto the Lord, implying that the right and proper path is Godward, that to have forsaken that path was deviation and error, that steps must be retraced. What stress is laid in Scripture upon sincere repentance and conversionupon the turning of the soul unto him against whom sin has been committed, needs not to be shown; yet the sinful need that such directions should be repeated, both to preserve them from any other and any false way, and to encourage diffident and desponding souls in their access to God.
III. A DIRECTION TO CONFESSION AND ENTREATY. “Take with you words.”
1. This is an encouragement to the expression and outpouring of the feelings of the heart. Mere words, that is, meaningless and insincere words, are vain; but words which are the utterance of a penitent and lowly soul, are acceptable.
2. Words should utter the self-abasement which is the sinner’s proper attitude of heart before a righteous Lord. Confession is indispensable; for only the hardened and insensible can withhold it.
3. Words should plead for pardon and acceptance. The prophet himself puts such language into Israel’s lips, and at the same time represents the willingness of an offended God graciously to hear and royally to answer.
APPLICATION. To show what light is furnished by the gospel of Christ to make evident alike the sinner’s condition and also the grounds and assurance of Divine favor and forgiveness.T.
Hos 14:2, Hos 14:3
The supplication and the vow.
Words alone are vain. Yet, in the order of nature, words are the expression of thought and sentiment and resolve. Especially must words uttered to Heaven be sincere and truthful; for he is the Searcher of hearts, whose favor the sinner beseeches with contrition and with confidence. Let it, then, be understood that the words here suggested as suitable for the repenting sinner’s address to God are the utterance of deep emotion and sincere resolution.
I. PENITENT CONFESSION. Israel acknowledges that there has been misplaced confidence. She has trusted in alliances with Assyria, in military resources, in the vain aid of the idols of the surrounding idolaters. In all this she has been her own enemy, and has been proving her own folly. The confession, which is the indispensable condition to acceptance, is here made.
II. REPENTANCE AND RESOLVE. Israel not only sees the fact and feels the reproach concerning herself; she resolves upon a changea turning from human aid and an abandonment of self-confidence. Apart from this there is no hope of a safer way, a better life.
III. ENTREATY FOR FORGIVENESS AND ACCEPTANCE. Israel loathes her sin, and desires that both the sin and its consequences should be removed. Israel is weary of enmity with God, and desires that there may be peace, that she may be accepted and dealt with in grace and love.
IV. THE SUPPLIANT‘S VOW. It has ever been characteristic of human nature to deal with the higher Power as though that power were human, and to be appeased with offerings and with promises of service. Vows have been and still are made under the influence of this superstitious belief, Yet this is no argument against such vows as that here put into the lips of Israel: “So will we render the calves of our lips.” Sacrifices of obedience and of praise are just on the part of man, and are acceptable to God. None who is graciously pardoned and accepted can withhold this tribute. There have doubtless been those who, in their ignorance and unspirituality, have hoped to bribe Deity with the proffer of their praises. But none the less does it become the pardoned penitent to express his gratitude to him who is plenteous in forgiveness.T.
Hos 14:3
The fatherless findeth mercy.
The sorrows of human life are many, and some of them are, by us, largely inexplicable. The relation of father and son is an obvious provision of Divine wisdom and goodness, and beautifully symbolizes the relation between God and his dependent children. Yet there are the fatherless, deprived of the care and protection so urgently needed. Why should it be permitted that any should be placed in a position so painful and pitiable? We cannot tell. Still the case of such furnishes an opportunity for the intervention of him who is the Father of the fatherless.
I. WHAT THE FATHERLESS NEED. To understand this we must consider:
1. Of what they are deprived. They are without a father’s kindness, wisdom, and bounty.
2. To what they are exposed. How many are the ills which befall the orphan! He is exposed to neglect; poverty may prevent his enjoyment of a suitable nurture and education. He is exposed to injustice and wrong. If he has property, he is liable to the cupidity of a selfish guardian, tie is exposed to actual ill treatment. The cruel may take advantage of his defenseless position to treat him with violence for which there is little or no redress.
II. WHAT THE FATHERLESS FIND. They may look for help to man, and look in vain. But in God the fatherless findeth mercy. That which is denied by earth is accorded by Heaven.
1. God raises up friends who, to some extent, take the father’s place. Pity leads Christians to adopt orphans into their own families, or to found asylums where they can enjoy the blessings of kind supervision and liberal education.
2. God, in his providence: opens up before the fatherless careers of usefulness and honor in life. How many orphans have occupied distinguished and serviceable positions in society! It is by the mercy of God that what, from a human point of view, seemed so unlikely, has come to pass.
3. God, by his Word and his Spirit, often reveals to the fatherless the riches of his own fatherly love. In him are compassion and affection deeper and vaster than a human heart can know. He dries the orphan’s tears, supplies the orphan’s wants, and enriches the orphan’s nature with the treasures of his grace and love.T.
Hos 14:4
Gracious assurances.
As the father was forward to meet and to welcome the returning prodigal, so our heavenly Father is ever anxious and ready to console and to restore the wandering sinner who repents, confesses, and deplores his transgressions, and casts himself upon Divine compassion. The assurances of this verse must have been comforting to Israel; they have been comforting to multitudes who have sought in the Word of God some consolation for their burdened and penitent spirits.
I. DIVINE ANGER IS AVERTED.
1. The displeasure of God with sin and with the sinner is a fact in the moral government of the universe which it would be folly to overlook. God is angry, i.e. with the wicked, every day.
2. Yet God delights not in wrath, but in mercy. Hence the provision in the gospel of redemption from the curse of the Law. It is not by any interposition from without; it is by the exercise of his own wisdom and clemency, that the great Judge of all lays aside his anger. The penitent and believing sinner is the object of the compassion of a God of righteousness and love.
II. HUMAN DEFECTION AND DISOBEDIENCE ARE OVERLOOKED AND FORGIVEN. “Backsliding” is an expression which implies that privileges and blessings have in the past been enjoyed, but then misused. Such was the case with Israel; the sin was the greater because it was sin against light and knowledge, against favor and forbearance. The grace of God is sufficient not as in the olden times, to deal with cases of defection and apostasy. These are regarded as malignant spiritual diseases; but they are not beyond the healing power of the great Physician. The virtue of the Savior’s blood, the efficacy of the Spirit’s purifying energy, are sufficient even for a case apparently so hard and hopeless as this supposed. None need despair who “truly repents, and unfeignedly believes Christ’s holy gospel.”
III. THE LOVE OF GOD ENRICHES HEARTS LONG AND PAINFULLY ESTRANGED. The promise here uttered is beyond our highest expectations. Forbearance and forgiveness do not, among men, necessarily imply the bestowal of friendship, of love. But God’s ways are not our ways. He is not satisfied simply to annul a sentence of condemnation, to remit a merited penalty. He reveals the tenderness of a fatherly heart rejoicing over the restoration of those long alienated. He completes the work of recovery by manifesting his love towards those whom he pardons and accepts. The freedom and generosity of this Divine love are specially mentioned; and may well awaken the wonder and admiration of the ransomed and. restored.
APPLICATION. What gratitude, affection, and devotion are due from pardoned and accepted sinners towards him who is not satisfied merely to heal, but who condescends to love!T.
Hos 14:5-7
National prosperity.
The prospect of Israel’s repentance and reformation fills the mind of the prophet with a happy exultation, and suggests imagery of the most beautiful and vivacious description. The poetical allusions crowd in upon his mind and flow from his pen with a harmonious prodigality. Reading this passage, we are transported in imagination into the scenes of verdure, fragrance, and fruitfulness, which furnished Hosea with the lively emblems of that national prosperity which he was inspired to anticipate with patriotic confidence and hope. There rise before our vision the cedar-glades of Lebanon, the flowery slopes of Carmel, the yellow corn-fields of Bethlehem, the gray and unchanging olive-yards of Judaea. All are too faint to depict the glorious visiona vision which surely no material prosperity can realize, upon which no earthly day shall ever dawn.
I. THE SOURCE OF LIFE AND PROSPERITY. “I will be as the dew unto Israel.” As the sweetly tempered elements are the source of life and growth, of beauty and fertility, in field and garden and forest; so only Heaven’s favor, “the continual dew of God’s blessing,” can give rise to true national greatness, to the growth of a noble patriotism, a disinterested virtue, a general prevalence of piety. A blessed promise is this of showers of blessing, of heavenly nurture, of abundant grace.
II. THE SIGNS OF VITALITY AND PROSPERITY. We notice here figurative descriptions of:
1. Life. The several productions of the vegetable kingdom are laid, so to speak, under tribute, and are constrained to set forth the true and higher life of the individual man, and especially of society, of nations. The olive and the vine, the cedar tree and the luxuriant corn are all the signs of the vitality and prodigality of nature. Many and varied are the forms in which life manifests its presence and its activity. When nations rise from calamity and chastisement, when public spirit springs into being, when the arts and industries of society are vigorous and prosperous, when justice and mutual consideration prevail, when the poor are cared for, when piety assumes practical and beneficent forms,there is life.
2. Growth. Steady and vigorous growth is the result of genial influences acting upon life. Declension is the precursor of death. As surely as the tree lives and thrives, it spreads; as surely as the seed is sown in a fruitful soil, the crop, by its abundance, rewards the laborer’s toil. Emblematic of the extension of the people who are filled with a true national life, in whom the Spirit of God lives and moves, and in whose midst the Church is not a dead organism, but an organism which is the vesture and embodiment of a spiritual and imperishable life.
3. Beauty and attractiveness. The Author of nature, the Giver of life, has ordered that beauty and fragrance shall accompany the vital growththat the cedar shall be stately and the olive evergreen, that the vine shall cling with grace around the elm, that the fragrance of the lily shall delight the sense, that the corn shall wave in beauty and rustle with music in the passing breeze. And the same Being appoints that, in the moral realm, true excellence and true attractiveness shall be conjoined. The beauty of holiness, the harmonies of praise, the fragrance of piety, are signs and ornaments of spiritual life. Where these graces abound, the world will feel the spiritual magnetism of the Church. “They shall come again who dwell under his shadow.”T.
Hos 14:8
Idolatry abjured.
This is the language of sincere repentance. The state of mind here revealed is decisively acceptable to God, and is the earnest and promise of better days. It is a sign of the Spirit’s gracious working in the heart that every rival to God’s dominion is forsaken and abjured.
I. THE EXPERIENCE THAT LEADS TO THIS RESOLUTION.
1. Disappointment in the service of others than the true God. Israel had addicted herself to strange gods, only to learn that all the flattering promises of their priests and ministers were delusive and vain. And whatever deity man has set before himself, as worthy of the homage and service due to God alone, it may be confidently asserted that such a rival has failed to answer prayer, to fulfill hope, to satisfy the heart.
2. Chastisement on the part of Divine Providence. As long as there is a Supreme Ruler, let men be assured he will not suffer his prerogatives to be invaded without inflicting the righteous penalties due to disobedience and defiance. Israel learned by bitter experience that Jehovah would tolerate no rival; and every generation of sinners has been taught the same lesson. “The way of transgressors is hard.” Happy they who, through however painful an experience, have, nevertheless, come to see and feel that to have aught to do with idols is to involve themselves in distress and misery!
II. THE RESULTS THAT FLOW FROM THIS RESOLUTION.
1. When the soul abjures the objects of a foolish affection and devotion, Divine forgiveness and favor are waiting to restore and comfort it. The soul that is without idols shall not be left without God.
2. The rivals to the true worship and service shall lose their charms, and the soul shall wonder how it could have been captivated and enthralled.
3. A full and eternal satisfaction shall take possession of the nature which turns away from idols with abhorrence, and turns confidingly and devoutly unto God. What the false deities were powerless to bestow, the living God confers in perfect completeness. “His loving-kindness is better than life.”T.
Hos 14:9
Wisdom and righteousness.
The book of Hosea’s prophecies closes with a solemn statement of human freedom and human responsibility. God’s mind and will are revealed, but the prophet gives all concerned to understand that the revelation alone is insufficient. Let men observe that it depends upon the spirit in which they receive it, and the action which they take upon it, that all its benefit and advantage depend.
I. DIVINE REVELATION CALLS FOR THE EXERCISE OF HUMAN WISDOM. The praise of folly, which some religionists account a proper part of piety, has no countenance in Scripture. The wise man is the good man; and his wisdom is apparent in his acceptance of Divine counsels and his submission to Divine appointments. The faculty of understanding has been implanted by the Creator, and the due exercise of that faculty is honorable to God. Human wisdom may be misdirected; but human ignorance and imprudence are far more likely to lead men astray. What is needed is a more active exercise of all the powers of the mind; sloth is of all things the most disastrous. On the whole, to know what wise and great men have thought is an advantage to the religious inquirer; a comparison of inspired with uninspired wisdom is likely to lead men into the paths of true and Divine wisdom.
II. DIVINE REVELATION CALLS FOR THE EXERCISE OF RIGHTEOUS OBEDIENCE. Man is not a purely speculative being; he is eminently practical, and knowledge of the truth answers the intended purpose when it leads to the love and practice of rectitude. That abandoned sinners have been converted is true and is ground for rejoicing; that correctness of outward conduct has sometimes stood in the way of a spiritual life is also sadly undeniable. Yet the just are likely to long for a higher righteousness. To admire and to aspire to goodness is to be in the way for the perfect satisfaction which attends those who walk “in the ways of the Lord.” These ways are right. And it is hypocrisy to profess to know the revelation of God unless we accept its practical precepts, and make the Scriptures the lamp of our feet and the light of our path. They are truly wise who understand and know God’s declarations, and they are truly just who walk in his ways.T.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Hos 14:1-7
Repentance, or reformation.
“O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God,” etc. “After the prophet has set before the sinful nation in various ways its own guilt, and the punishment that awaits it, viz. the destruction of the kingdom, he concludes his addresses with a call to thorough conversion to the Lord, and the promise that the Lord will bestow his grace once more upon those who turn to him, and will bless them abundantly” (Delitzsch). The subject of these words is Repentance; or, the greatest reformation. Reformation is a subject on which men are never tired of talking: it is the grand text of the demagogue, as well as the leading purpose of the philanthropist. There are various kinds of reformation. There is the doctrinal reformationreformation in creed, the renunciation of one set of opinions and the adoption of another. There is the institutional reformationreformation in political, in ecclesiastical, and in social laws. There is the reformation in external characterinvolving the renunciation of old habits and the formation of new ones. But all such reformations are of little, if any worth, apart from the moral reformationa reformation in the leading spirit and controlling dispositions of the soul, a reformation involving a thorough change of heart. This is the only reformation worth working for. In these verses we have several things worth notice in relation to it.
I. ITS NATURE AND METHOD INDICATED.
1. Its nature. “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.” The description contained in the first and third verses of this reformation implies three things.
(1) That the soul is away from God. Truly the moral heart of humanity is far gone from the great Father. The souls of men are in the “far country” of sin. “Fallen by thine iniquity.” It has gone down from the high hills of spiritual purity and Divine communion.
(2) The renunciation of all dependence upon creatures. “Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses.” This meansWe will not trust to Asshurthat is, Assyriafor help. Nor will we ride upon horsescourt friendship with Egypt from whence they are fetched. When danger comes, we will trust in God, and him only. Moral reformation involves all this. All dependence on anything short of God for salvation is given upscience, philosophy, ritualism, priesthood, shall not save us.
(3) Utter abandonment of all idols. “Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods. For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.”
2. Its method. “Take with you words, and turn to the Lord.” Why take words to God?
(1) Not because words can inform him of anything of which he is ignorant. With words we enlighten men; but Omniscience knows all connected with usall that we are, have been, and shall be, through all the ages of the future.
(2) Not because words can induce him to be more kind to us than he is. With words we persuade men to grant us our requests; but our words can never dispose him to do what he has not been always ready to accomplish. Words can never make him more kind and merciful than he has ever been. Why, then, use words? Because words relieve our own spirits; words aid our own devotions. This, then, is the methodgo to God at once, and pour out your souls before him. Before him resolve, “So will we render the calves of our lips.” And before him pray. Pray for two things.
(a) His forgiveness. “Take away all sin.”
(b) His acceptance. “Receive us graciously”
II. ITS CAUSE AND BLESSEDNESS SPECIFIED.
1. Its cause. God. “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely … I will be as the dew.” All reformation is brought about by his agency. I will act upon the soul silently, penetratingly, revivifying, “as the dew.” All true reformation brings with it God’s silent but effective agency.
2. Its blessedness.
(1) Health. “I will heal their backsliding.” The soul is diseased. God is its great Physician.
(2) Divine favor. “I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.” The auger with which their guilty consciences invested him is removed as a thick cloud from the sky of their soul, and it glows in the sunshine of their love.
(3) Growth. “He shall grow as the lily.”
(a) The growth is connected with beauty. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like it.
(b) Its growth is connected with strength. “Cast forth his roots as Lebanon.” How deeply did the roots of the cedar in Lebanon strike into the earth! and how firm their grasp! The storms of centuries could not remove them.
(c) Its growth is connected with expansiveness. “His branches shall spread.” Widely grew the branches of those old cedars, offering to the traveler a cooling shade from the sun and a shelter from the tempest. How a divinely formed soul expands! It outgrows the boundaries of sects and the limits of creeds. Its sympathies become world-wide.
(d) Its growth is connected with fragrance. “His beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.” Sweet was the aroma that was swept by the wind over those old hills. How delectable the fragrance of a holy life!
(e) Its growth is connected with social usefulness. It shall offer protection to men. “They that dwell under his shadow shall return.” Where car we flee in distress but to the sympathy and love of the good? Not only protection, but beneficent progress. “They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine.”D.T.
Hos 14:8
God and his reformed people.
“Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.” Some think that this is a dialogistic parallel as follows: “Ephraim: What have I further to do with idols? God: I have answered and will regard him. Ephraim: I am like a green cypress. God: From me is thy fruit found.” But I am disposed to regard, with Delitzsch and others, that God, and not Ephraim, is representing himself as the “green fir tree.” I observe, therefore
I. THAT GOD FORESEES THE CHANGE IN HIS REFORMED PEOPLE. “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?”
1. Mark the description of the change. Before the period of their conversion comes, he hears them say, “What have I to do any more with idols?” What have I to do with them?
(1) They are beneath me. I am ashamed of them. “What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?”
(2) They are a curse to me. Idols degrade, deceive, damn. Omniscience foresees all the workings of the penitent soul.
2. Mark God‘s recognition of the change. “I have heard him, and observed him.” He is cognizant of all the reflections, remorses, resolutions, of the repentant soul.
II. THAT GOD PROVIDES BLESSINGS FOR HIS REFORMED PEOPLE.
1. Protection. “I am like a green fir tree.” Those trees in Eastern countries were exceedingly large and thick, affording shelter from sun and storms and showers.
2. Support. “From me is thy fruit found.” God is to his people the source of all relief and good, both for this life and the life to come.
CONCLUSION. Sinner, repent and be converted. Say, “What have I to do any more with idols?” Renounce the old. The Almighty Father is ready to receive and bless you.D.T.
Hos 14:9
God’s ways.
“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.” God has his ways, his methods of action. He proceeds on certain principles in all his operations, both in the realm of matter and of mind. The Infinite has a way of doing things.
I. HIS WAYS ARE TO BE STUDIED. “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?” It is one thing to know the works of a man, and another thing to know his ways, his methods of action. He only knows a man who understands his way of doing things. God’s ways are the highest subjects of study. It is said that he made known his “way ‘ unto Moses, his “works ‘ unto the children of Israel. The millions know something of his works; only the “wise,” the “prudent,” the initiated, like Moses, understand his ways. Brother, come away from the study of details, ascend into the realm of principles. Men who understand God’s ways become prophets. They can foretell the future.
II. HIS WAYS ARE RIGHTEOUS. “The ways of the Lord are right.”
1. They are right; they cannot be otherwise. They are right because they are his. He cannot do wrong; there is no law external to him, no law above him. What he does is right because he does it. To say he does a thing because it is right is tantamount to the assertion that there is something independent of him.
2. They are right; human conscience attests it. No conscience in heaven, earth, hell, doubts the rectitude of God’s ways. If sinners in hell felt they were wrong, they would feel no remorse for their conduct. They are right essentially, immutably, everlastingly right.
III. HIS WAYS ARE TO BE PURSUED. “The just shall walk in them.” They are not merely to be studied, but to be practically followed. You cannot do what God does, but what you do you can do in God’s waydo silently, lovingly, beneficently. Walk in this way, the way of love and usefulness.
IV. HIS WAYS MAY RUIN. “The transgressors shall fall therein.” As God moves in calm majesty and resistless force on his way, he crushes in his march all who oppose him. His chariot-wheels grind them into powder. Recipitur ad modum recipientis. What is received influences according to the qualities of the receiver. “The same sun,” says an old author, “softens wax and hardens clay. But of all transgressors those certainly have the most dangerous fatal falls that fall in the ways of God, that split on the Rock of Ages, and suck poison out of the balm of Gilead. Let the sinners in Zion be afraid of this.”D.T.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Hos 14:1-3
The prayer of the penitent.
The prophecy does not close without comforting glimpses into the future, and sweet words of promise. The opening verses of this section invite the nation to repentance. They put a prayer into the people’s lips with which to return to God.
I. THE INVITATION. (Hos 14:1) The door of mercy stands open to Israel. But the invitation addressed to the ancient people is equally, in Christ, addressed to every sinner. Consider, accordingly:
1. The condition in which the sinner is found. “Fallen by thine iniquity.” “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10). We have all fallen by our iniquity.
(1) Fallen from the state in which we were created.
(2) Fallen out of the Divine favor.
(3) Fallen into wretchedness, guilt, discord with self, pollution, bondage.
(4) Fallenin some casesunder heavy strokes of the Divine anger.
We have so fallen that we cannot raise ourselves up again.
2. To whom the sinner is pointed. “The Lord thy God.” Israel’s God and ours. God is our God, as being
(1) our Maker;
(2) our Sustainer;
(3) our moral Ruler;
(4) our Savior.
He is the God and Father of Jesus Christ our Lord. He gives us in the promises of the gospel a claim upon himself. He is ours in offer, and will be ours in fact, if only we will receive him. There is no Savior beside him (Hos 13:4), and no other is needed. He alone is all-sufficient.
3. The invitation given to the sinner. “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.” God might command, but he condescends to invite, to entreat (2Co 5:20). He asks us to return to him. He can ask no less, for without penitent return, salvation is impossible. His mercy is seen in this, that he asks no moreno sacrifices, no price, no probationary curriculum, no works of the Law. But the return must be sincere, not with the body, but with the mind, the affections, the will.
II. THE PRAYER. (Hos 14:2) The penitent, resolved on returning to God, is counseled to take with him “words.” The inward penitence is to express itself outwardly. It is to utter itself in prayer. This is the only sacrifice God will require. The prayer with which we are to come is:
1. Prayer for forgiveness. “Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity.” Forgiveness is the first need of our nature. Till sin is forgiven us we can have no peace with God, we cannot be visited by his love or made partakers of his Spirit. Forgiveness at once precedes, and is a pledge of, the communication of every other blessing. It is, therefore, the thing we first ask lot We are to confess sin and to seek the pardon of it (1Jn 1:9).
2. The prayer of uprightness. “Accept what is good”for thus the second clause must be rendered. The language is not that of self-righteousness, but of sincere motive. The penitent knows his unworthiness, but is conscious at the same time that his prayer no longer proceeds from feigned lips (Psa 17:1); that his spirit is truly contrite; that there is some good thing “in his heart towards the Lord God” (1Ki 13:14). He recognizes this:
(1) As a fruit of Divine grace in the soultherefore a pledge of acceptance. God, who by his Spirit draws the sinner to himself, will not east him off when he comes (Joh 6:37, Joh 6:44, Joh 6:45).
(2) As essential to forgiveness. For though it is God’s mercy, not our own righteousness, that saves us, it is yet essential to acceptance that our spirit, in returning to God, be without guile (Psa 32:2; Psa 51:4, Psa 51:6). Coming to God with upright intent, and conscious that we do so, it is natural that we should appeal to this in prayer.
3. Prayer in order to praise. “So will we render the calves of our lips.” Salvation carries with it the obligation to consecration (Rom 12:1). The penitent has no other desire than now to live to God, rendering to him spiritual sacrifices. He asks God to open his lips (by forgiveness), that he may thereafter show forth God’s praise (Psa 51:15). We render to God “the calves of our lips”
(1) in acknowledgment of him;
(2) in thanksgiving (Heb 13:15);
(3) in praises (Psa 40:3; Psa 50:23);
(4) in confession of him before men.
III. THE VOW. (Hos 14:5) With prayer is connected a solemn vow. Israel renounces all sinful trusts, and looks to God only. He renounces:
1. Trust in man. “Asshur shall not save us.” The world is a poor savior. It promises much, but gives little. Its favor is deceitful. Its will to help is even more limited than its power. But its power is not great. It cannot save when God contends with us. It must leave us to shift for ourselves at death. It has no salvation for the soulfor eternity.
2. Trust in his own strength. “We will not ride upon horses.” Israel had multiplied horses. He put trust in them for his deliverance. This trust, with every other of a similar kind, he now renounced. Neither in war, nor in peace, nor in anything he did, would he exalt himself as independent of God. He would be humble.
3. Trust in idols. “Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods.” Thus, in succession, Israel renounced, as Christians would say, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Every heart not serving God has its idolits something which it puts in God’s place. This it now renounces, and gives him all the glory. The prayer concludes with an appeal to the Divine pity. “For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.” The soul without God is as one orphaned. In penitence it seeks the pity of him who compassionates the fatherless. God feels this pity for his alienated children.J.O.
Hos 14:4-8
God’s response to the penitent.
Israel’s repentance will be followed by the turning away of God’s anger, and by superabundant blessings. Figures are heaped on each other, and one figure is employed to fill in another, to set forth the fullness with which this blessing will descend. The prophecy, hitherto so dark and troubled, ends in heavenly peace.
I. BACKSLIDING HEALED. (Hos 14:4) No time is lost in answering Israel’s prayer. Forgiveness follows close upon return. So David also found it: “I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Psa 32:5). The penitent need not fear being kept long waiting at the door of mercy (cf. Luk 15:20-24). God:
1. Turns away his anger. “For mine anger is turned away from him.” Terrible to him who realizes it is the thought of lying under the Divine anger. Infinite things are to be hoped for from God’s love. Infinite things are to be dreaded from his wrath. We dread the anger of fellow-men. Much more should we dread to be the objects of the anger of the Omnipotent. “Fear not them which kill the body,” Christ says, “but are not able to kill the soul,” etc. (Mat 10:28). Just, however, because God’s anger is so terrible, is it a blessed thing to know, as every pardoned sinner may, that this anger is turned away. “O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me” (Isa 12:1). If God s anger is turned away from us, there is nothing else we need fear. And under the gospel it is turned away from every one who believes in Christ.
2. Restores his love. “I will love them freely.” The love is free as being
(1) spontaneous,
(2) unbought,
(3) unlimited in measure.
God loves the redeemed with the same love which he bears to his Son. He rejoices in his love towards them. As it is the nature of the sun to shine, so it is the nature of God to love. Judgment is his strange work, but love is the proper exercise of his being. The gospel is the manifestation of love. Salvation is the triumph of love. God rejoices more over one lost sheep brought back to him than over the ninety and nine that went not astray. He sheds his love abroad in his people’s heart (Rom 5:5).
3. Heals their backsliding. “I will heal their backsliding.” He heals the wounds made by sin (cf. Hos 6:1), both the spiritual wounds, and the wounds resulting from temporal chastisements. He revokes the curse. He restores prosperity. He gives compensations for past sorrow. Often, when wounds are healed, the scar remains. Even the sinner, though repentant, is not in this life relieved from all the consequences of his transgressions. He has to suffer both in soul and body for past indulgence in vice. But when God heals Israel, no scar remains. And all scars will be removed in eternity.
II. THE DEW TO ISRAEL. (Hos 14:5) God will be as the dew to Israel.
1. He himself will be as the dew. It is not merely his blessing which he gives; it is himself. He comes in his Spirit. He came first in the Son; and, now that Christ has ascended, he comes in the Holy Ghost.
2. The dew is copious. It was so in the East even more than it is with us. It lay thick and soaking on the herbage. Every tree, every twig, every leaflet, every blade of grass, every flower, received its abundant portion. Thus is it with grace. The Spirit will be poured out in the latter days yet more plentifully.
3. The dew is a source of manifold blessing.
(1) It refreshes;
(2) it revives;
(3) it promotes growth;
(4) it beautifies;
(5) it increases fragrance.
So God’s Spirit is a reviving, refreshing, fructifying, beautifying, and sanctifying power in the soul. It gladdens, comforts, enriches, gives sweetness and fragrance to the character.
4. This dew is not, like Israel‘s goodness, evanescent. It does not pass away (cf. Hos 6:4). It is not merely a thing of the dawn. Or, rather, it is ever morning with the soul to which this dew is given. It flourishes in perpetual youth.
III. LIFE AND FRUIT. (Hos 14:5-7) These figures from the vegetable world are used to fill out the different aspects of the prosperity which God would bestow on Israel. All are emblems of life, and fitly symbolize the life of grace. The features represented are:
1. Lily-like purity and beauty. “He shall grow as the lily.” The lily is white, pure, delicate, fragile. It symbolizes innocence, purity, spiritual beauty. Grace bestows a rare sweetness and refinement. Nothing is more fair than a pure soul.
2. Cedar-like strength. “His roots as Lebanon.” The lily, though graceful, has a weak root. But God would have his people “rooted and grounded” in faith and lovenot easily shaken or removed (1Co 15:58; Eph 3:17; Col 1:23). The cedar is an emblem, not merely of strength, but of stateliness (majesty), immovability, uprightness.
3. Spreading magnificence. “His branches shall spread.” Depth of root leads to wide-spreading branches. The life of grace has breadth and expansiveness as well as depth and growth upwards.
4. Olive-like freshness. “His beauty shall be as the olive tree.” “Like a green olive tree in the house of God” (Psa 52:8; cf. Psa 92:14). Fresh, unfading, evergreen, fruit-bearing.
5. Widely diffused fragrance. “His smell as Lebanon” Character has its aroma. Cf. what Christ says of Mary of Bethany (Mat 26:13); what Paul says of Epaphroditus (Php 4:18). The renown of good deeds flows forth like spices.
6. Fruitfulness. “They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent [‘glory’] thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.” Corn and wine are symbols of the highest material blessingsof plenty, comfort, nourishment, invigoration, joy. The soul possessed by grace is at once fed with bread of heaven, and becomes itself a fruit-producer. In holy deeds, in useful service, in efforts for the advancement of the kingdom of God, in the cherishing of noble and God-like affections, it yields both corn and wine.
IV. EPHRAIM AND GOD. (Hos 14:8)
1. God‘s goodness confirms Ephraim in his renunciation of idols. “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?” This time the goodness is not abused. It does not make Ephraim haughty. It does not lead him to forget God. He no longer attributes his prosperity to Baal. Taught by experience, he loves God more the more God bestows on him.
2. Ephraim‘s renewed vows are observed by God. “I have heard him, and observed him.” God takes notice of every stage of our advance in grace. He takes pleasure in our progress, m our renewed vows, in our deepening consecration.
3. Ephraim, as the result of his renewed vows, becomes yet more fruitful. “I am like a green fir [cypress] tree. From me is thy fruit found.” The first words are (as we understand them) Ephraim’s; the last words are God’s. The cypress is an evergreen, but it does net bear fruit. God, however, will give fruit to Ephraim as well as unfadingness.
(1) Ephraim derives his fruit from God. His fruit is spiritual. It is only as he abides in God that he is able to bring forth fruit at all.
(2) Ephraim “finds” his fruit in God. Fruitfulness is maintained by active fellowship, by constant trust, waiting, watchfulness, and prayer. “Abide in me,” Christ says (Joh 15:4). “Without me,” he adds, “ye can do nothing” (Hos 14:5).J.O.
Hos 14:9
The lesson of the book.
The lesson may be summed up in few words, but it is so comprehensive that the acceptance or rejection of it makes all the difference between supreme wisdom and supreme folly. The lesson simply is that “the ways of the Lord are right.” Men prefer their own ways to God’s, but what the history of Israel teaches is that, if they do so, it is to their own ruin.
I. GOD‘S WAYS ARE RIGHT. They are:
1. Bight in themselves. They are the ways of absolute rectitude. They are marked out for us by perfect wisdom, spotless holiness, and unchanging goodness. Equally right are God‘s own ways, the principles of his government, the modes of his action. His commands are just, his requirements reasonable, his doings wise, his intentions kind.
2. Bight as conducting to a right end. God desires the good of every one. He has no pleasure in the death of any. He sets before us the way of life. “See,” he says, “I have set before you life and death” (Deu 30:15, Deu 30:19). God knows better than any other wherein our true good lies. Taking the way he prescribes, we shall infallibly attain to blessedness.
II. WISDOM IS TESTED BY THE ACCEPTANCE OR REFUSAL OF GOD‘S WAYS. “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them?”
1. The wise recognize the rightness of God‘s ways. They are taught of God to recognize this rightness. Plain as the truth seems that God’s ways alone are right, the natural heart is incapable of receiving it (1Co 2:14).
2. The wise show their wisdom by walking in God‘s ways. “The just shall walk in them.” Wisdom is a practical thing. It implies the adoption of that which we know to be right. Wisdom is connected with uprightness. It is the upright in heartthe justwho choose the right ways.
3. The unwise show their folly by rejecting God‘s ways. This is their ruin. “The transgressors shall fall therein.”J.O.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
3. Exhortation to Return: Promise of Complete Redemption.
Hosea 14
1 Samaria will suffer punishment,1
Because she rebelled against her God;
They shall fall by the sword,
Their sucklings shall be dashed to pieces,
Their pregnant women2 shall be cut open.
2 Return, O Israel, to Jehovah, thy God,
For thou hast fallen through thy transgression.
3 Take with you words
And return to the Lord and say unto Him:
Forgive all (our) iniquity3 and receive (what is) good [acceptable],
And we shall render unto thee our lips (as) oxen [as our sacrifices].
4 Assyria shall not help us, We will not ride upon horses,
We will no more say: our God, to the work of our hands,
(O Thou) in whom the orphan finds pity:
5 I will heal their backsliding;
I will love them readily,4
For my anger is turned away from them.
6 I will be as the dew to Israel:
He shall bloom as the lily,
And shall strike his roots like Lebanon!5
7 His shoots shall go forth,
And his glory shall be like the olive,
And his fragrance like Lebanon!
8 Those that dwell under his shade shall revive [produce] corn once more.
And shall bloom as the vine,
His renown (shall be) like the wine of Lebanon.
9 O Ephraim, what have I to do any longer with idols?
I answer and regard [watch over] him.
I am like a green cypress;
With me is thy fruit found.
10 Who is wise, that he may understand these things?
Discerning, that he may know them?
For the ways of the Lord are direct,
And the righteous walk in them;
But transgressors stumble thereon.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Hos 14:1. Samaria shall make expiation, etc, , from , to make atonement, to suffer punishment. [Rendered in E. V.: shall be desolate, comp. the remarks in the Text. and Gram. Section.M.] It is unnecessary to join this verse to Hosea 13, although it is naturally connected with it. The foregoing threatenings converge here first into the prophecy concerning the destruction of Samaria because of its apostasy from its God, and then upon this groundwork is based the exhortation to return, and the promise of renewed mercy conditioned upon repentance. [Henderson] For the concluding portion of the verse, comp. 2Ki 8:12; 2Ki 15:16; Amo 1:13. That such cruelties were not unknown among other nations, see Iliad, 6:58, and Horace, Carm. 4 Od. 6.M.]
Hos 14:2. , even unto Jehovah [literally: until, as far as, unto Jehovah.M.]
Hos 14:3. Take with you words: They are not to come to Jehovah empty, but at the same time need take nothing more than words, no outward gifts. The words they are to use are now named, : and accept good, namely, what now follows: the sacrifices of the lips. [The true idea of the phrase seems to be: receive what is good, pleasing, acceptable. For this sense of , comp. Num 24:1; Deu 6:18. I find the meaning of the passage admirably expressed by Ewald: The people must first return to Gods love. The Prophet does not merely exhort them to this course; he shows them also in what manner it should be made; how and in what spirit the penitent are again to draw near to Gods favor; namely, not with outward, even though imposing sacrifices, with bulls, e.g., but with words, with the lips, i.e., with the living promises of the spirit that struggles after mercy and offers what is good. The English expositors have, for the most part, followed the rendering of E. V.: and receive us graciously. Horsley (who is strangely opposed by Henderson on the ground of philolgy) and Pusey recognize and adopt the natural and true construction.M.] Literally: and we will render as bullocks our lips, i.e., we will offer to thee for our sins the confession of our guilt and the promise of our return instead of sacrificial oxen (comp. Psa 51:17-19; Psa 69:31 f.; Psa 116:17; Psa 141:2).
Hos 14:4 follows immediately with such a vow, no longer to rely upon Assyria, no longer upon warlike power (horses) generally, no longer to serve idols, : Thou, through whom, etc. Reliance upon Gods compassion is that upon which the whole prayer of penitence is based.
Hos 14:5. The promise of mercy follows as an answer to such a prayer of penitence. Heal their apostasy = the calamities which it has entailed. [spontaneously] expresses Gods perfect readiness to bestow such love.
Hos 14:6 ff. The effects of this love of the Lord are rich blessings upon Israel: Jehovah Himself will become to Israel like a refreshing dew, and the consequences of this would be that they should bloom and strike root and send forth branches, or that they should flourish and develop a vigorous life. Like Lebanon, not simply like the cedars, but like the mountain itself, rooted as deeply and firmly. Like the olive [Hos 14:7] with its evergreen leaves and rich fruitage. His fragrance like Lebanon with its cedars and aromatic shrubs.
Hos 14:8. Here from Israel as a whole, compared to a tree, are distinguished the members of the people, as those who flourish vigorously beneath the shadow of the tree. is to be joined with in an adverbial sense=again. The latter word=live again, become fruitful. They themselves shall even become like a vine, producing wine as precious as that of Lebanon. O Ephraim! what have I still to do with idols? = I will have nothing more to do with idols, i.e., I have now no longer to plead with thee on account of idols, as during the whole course of this prophecy Jehovahs claims to honor as against idols have formed the predominant theme. This is all done away upon the ground on which this promise rests, that Israel has returned to the Lord (Schmieder). I have answered and will regard him (Ephraim)=will concern myself, care for him. God lastly compares Himself to a green cypress. In Him the people are to find their fruit, i.e., the fruit which shall nourish them. [The English expositors, generally, adopt the rendering of the E. V., chiefly because the words of the first line do not seem to them suitable as uttered by God. But if they are held to assert that God would not have anything more to do with idols, would not come any longer into competition with idols for the affections of the people and so be brought into connection with them, they are seen to be suitable, and just what would be expected at the close of this book. And it would be altogether unnatural to introduce Ephraim as uttering this single exclamation in the midst of an extended passage in which God is the speaker. Finally, it is a most arbitrary principle which would require the insertion of the supplied words, or of any other, in a sentence in which the sense would be complete without an ellipsis. Manger carries such an unwarranted license to an extreme when he supposes that the whole verse forms a sort of dialogue, thus:
Ephraim: What have I more to do with idols?
God: I have answered him and will regard him.
Ephraim: I am like a green cypress.
God: From me is thy Fruit found.
Upon this it is obvious to remark, that if the verse is a dialogue, and it were necessary to indicate who the speaker is in his first utterance, it would be just as necessary to give a similar intimation at the beginning of his next response.M.]
Hos 14:9. Who is wise, etc. An epilogue to the whole Prophetic Book. refers to all that precedes, to the chidings and threatenings concerning sin and idolatry. For right are the ways of the Lord. This the crowning declaration, comp. Deu 32:4. The ways which God is said to follow are straight, i.e., direct, leading to the object. The righteous walk upon them, and are thereby righteous. But transgressors stumble thereon, i.e., they deviate from them, and are thereby transgressors, and at the same time the consequences of such deviation are recorded: they fall into ruin.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is clearly manifest here that the severe judgments announced as impending upon the kingdom of Israel have not their object in themselves, but are only means to an end. The kingdom in its present form must assuredly be destroyed, for it is utterly corrupt. But this is not to be done because God has turned Himself away from his people or desired to do so, or because his love for them is extinguished, but only because it is the only means of making room for something new, for the regeneration of his people.
2. Repentance, a return to God who had been forsaken, is to be the fruit of these judgments (comp. Hos 2:18-19), because it was their only design to lead to repentance, to make its necessity clear to the hearts of the people, and to prepare them for it through the severity of the wrath of God which they experienced, through their condition as orphans (Hos 14:4). The essential element of such a return was the prayer for forgiveness of guilt, involving both confession of and sorrow for sin, and in connection therewith the vow of a change of life. Rieger: When the sinner resolves to return unto the Lord, the Spirit of Grace makes his soul willing. I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord. O how good it is if only the sullen silence is broken and he begins to speak with God from a heart freed from deceit. The highest instance of the honor which he can give to God in sincerely returning to Him, is to reject all help in men which he had sought before, and all creaturely consolation, to sanctify God the Lord in his heart, and to seek mercy like a helpless orphan, as our Lord Jesus has shown us that we are all orphans, teaching us to seek our Father in Heaven, like orphans who have no father on earth.
3. It is significant how words are emphasized as an expression of such repentance, and as explained by the contrast to sacrifices, literal offerings of animals, every external legal service. Such sacrifices are not needed; words are sufficient; these are the true sacrifices well pleasing to God; and yet they must be words that express a right state of mind within. (On the other hand it must be remembered that words are no guarantee of a freedom from outward lip-service.) It cannot be said with certainty from this brief remark, whether the Prophet contemplates the sacrifices as entirely done away, as in the expected time of the coming redemption. The main object is to speak of the return to God, and it is clear that he regards this as a going forth of the heart, which does not need the intervention of any sacrifice, and therefore as a prayerful and penitent approach to Him without the medium of an offering. The idea is certainly at once suggested that if mercy can be found without sacrifices, there is no need of them afterwards in the state of grace.
4. Such a return presupposes the restoration of Gods favor, which is manifested by the promise of a condition of rich blessing. On this promise a restoration into their own country is not indicated as a special element, although it is evidently assumed, as exile from their country is to be regarded as the punishment that was decreed, according to the threatenings of chaps. 911. The promise in our chapter presents, so to speak, the positive side, after the negative has been shown. Punishment shall not merely be taken away; blessing shall be restored to them, through which alone a return to their country is to be gained. From the fact, however, that here at the close of the Book such a return is not promised, it is to be inferred that in the picture of the future redemption which the Prophet sketches, such return is not of itself the most important element, i.e., the Prophecy looks beyond it and towards something greater connected with it, a complete manifestation of Gods favor to his people, which finds its expression in a state of rich and wondrous blessedness. This we designate the Messianic character of the prophetic promise. It is therefore clear that we are not to seek the fulfillment of this promise in premessianic time; apart from the consideration that it did not then appear. The Messiah Himself, according to the statement of the promise, did not accomplish it as consisting in the glorious bloom and vigor of the people; nor will He do so, simply because He has already brought a still higher disclosure of Gods mercy, and will yet introduce a more glorious display, in which the whole believing people of God will enjoy (outward and inward) blessedness, as the nation of Israel will no longer be the object of special favor.
5. The promise here made to the people of Israel, that of full bloom and prosperity, and vigor, through the influence of Gods gracestill chiefly in a temporal sense,shall be fulfilled for all believers as Gods true people in a higher sense: they shall be perpetually bedewed with power from God. The favor of God is ever fresh and blooming for them, and they enjoy its fruits without intermission, as they themselves become like a living, firmly-rooted, wide-spreading, never-fading, sweet-smelling tree. All this has its beginning even now, as surely as the divine favor brought to us through Christ is a reality, but shall only find its complete perfection when the kingdom of God shall have attained its complete realization.
6. It is the object of the Prophet Hosea and of all Prophecy, in the spirit of Hosea 14:10, to alarm and to warn the apostate, to confirm and to comfort the converted, and to glorify the Lord (Schmieder). Only the ways of the Lord are right. Then inevitable destruction must befall him who departs from them. True wisdom is to regard them, and all the prophetic Scriptures are like an uplifted finger, which warns against any departure from them, and at the same time like an outstretched finger which points to the way upon which the righteous must walk.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Hos 14:2-9. Franke: He who would read what is sweet and agreeable, should read the close of all the Prophets. They are like a choir of singers, one singing one part, another another; but at last they all dwell upon one note. The glory of Christs Church at last is the finale.
Hos 14:2. This is the key-note of all Prophecy; it always comes back to this. This warning is the most needed and the weightiest of all. All Gods judgments have this as their aim. They cry out earnestly: Return. O that we might hear! It is well to hear when God calls through his deeds; but it is better to hear his Words. To thy God, not to a strange God, but to One from whom so much good has been experienced, and who remains, the God of mercy and our God, even when He must punish us. Return! (I) the object: to the Lord, thy God; (2) the reason: because thou hast fallen through thy iniquity.
[Matt. Henry: Sin is a fall, and it concerns those who have fallen by sin to get up again by repentance.
Fausset: God assures us that He is the God of his people, and invites us not merely to return towards, but never to rest until we have reached even up to Himselfto be satisfied with nothing short of Himself.M.]
Hos 14:3. Words are nothing unless they come from the depths of the heart. But when they come from thence, as did the Publicans prayer, and Davids psalm of confession, then, though seemingly slight and less than sacrifices, they are in truth as great and naturally more than all merely outward offerings, since they are measured according to the disposition of the heart. All grief over sin avails nothing without the prayer for forgiveness addressed to God. Not repentance but forgiveness, gives rest and peace.
[Pusey: What other good can we offer than detestation of our past sins with burning desire of holiness?
Fausset: What so cheap as words? And yet words such as God requires are not natural to fallen man. The Spirit of God alone can teach such words. In Gospel times we have no longer burdensome literal sacrifices to offer, but we have an offering continually to render which is more acceptable to Him (Psa 69:30-31), the thanksgivings of unfeigned lips, sanctified through the offering of Christ once for all.M.]
Hos 14:4. God is gracious to orphans. O that all orphaned ones might turn to Gods mercy!
[Pusey: He is indeed fatherless who hath not God for his Father.
Hos 14:5. Pusey: Steadfastness to the end is the special gift of the Gospel. In healing that disease of unsteadfastness God heals ail besides.M.]
Hos 14:6. Starke: God alone can truly revive the heart. Let him who needs comfort and refreshing seek them in God.
Pfaff. Bibelwerk: See how believers bloom in their holiness, strike root, bring forth fruit, and diffuse fragrance all around! Art thou also such a fruitful tree displaying such vigor of spiritual life?
[Fausset: All that is beautiful, solid, harmonious, and enduring shall be found in harmonious unison in the trees of righteousness, etc. (Isa 61:3).
Pusey: Such reunion of qualities, being beyond nature, suggests the more, that that wherein they are all combined, the future Israel, the Church, shall flourish with graces that are beyond nature, in their manifold ness, completeness, unfadingness.M.]
Hos 14:9. O that God could speak thus of us, finding in us no idolatry, nor needing to plead with us any longer because of our idols! What better thing could we wish than that God would regard us in mercy? In Christ this is realized. In Him he is also as an evergreen tree of life to believers; his mercy never ceases, and from its fullness they may all receive grace for grace. He is for them an evergreen tree of life, but also one whose fruit never fails, and ever nourishes.
[Matt. Henry: God will be to all true converts both a delight and a defense; under his protection and influence they shall both dwell in safety and dwell at ease. He will be either a sun and a shield, or a shade and a shield, as their case requires.
Pusey: Created beauty must at best be but a faint image of the beauty of the soul in grace; for this is from the indwelling of God the Holy Ghost.M.]
Hosea 14:10, Gods ways are direct; we must therefore not follow roundabout or crooked courses, but go straight forward in faith and labor; a straight course makes the best runner. Righteousness brings a blessing; unfaithfulness a curse, remains the simple and infallible rule of living, attested by Gods word, and confirmed by experience.
Luther: Let us thank the merciful Father of Jesus Christ, for these greatest gifts, that He has revealed to us these direct ways, and pray that He would guide by his Holy Spirit those that walk therein, and preserve us to eternity.
[Matt. Henry: Gods discovery of Himself, both in the judgments of his mouth, and the judgments of his hand, is to us according as we are affected by it. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay. But of all transgressors, those certainly have the most dangerous fatal falls that fall in the way of God, that split on the Rock of Ages, that suck poison out of the balm in Gilead. Let sinners in Zion be afraid of this.
Pusey God reveals his ways to us not that we may know them only, but that we may do them, The life of grace is a life of progress. Every attribute or gift or revelation of God, which is full of comfort to the believer, becomes in turn an occasion of stumbling to the rebellious. With this the Prophet sums up all the teaching of the seventy years of his ministry. This is to us the end of all; this is thy choice, O Christian soul, to walk in Gods ways, or to stumble at them.M.]
Footnotes:
[1]Hos 14:1.. From the notion of suffering punishment is derived the signification: to be desolated, waste =. [The reverse would be the order if any connection between the verbs existed. But there is none whatever. The latter meaning in all likelihood arose from the similarity in form between the two words, the one form naturally suggesting the other. But it is not to be inferred from this that the words are cognate. The roots are not at all related, but belong to families essentially distinct. Frst, however, holds to the affinity. But see the forms in Arabic and Ethiopic related to , and compare the radically different notions which lie at the basis of their prevailing significations respectively.M.]
[2]Hos 14:1.= . The masc. verb, with a fem. substantive is anomalous. According to Ewald it is to be explained from the fact that the fem, terminations of the plur. imperf. are but seldom employed. [The suggestion of Henderson is worthy of consideration, that the anomaly was occasioned by the form of immediately preceding.M.]
[3]Hos 14:3. . precedes for the sake of emphasis, and becomes an adverbial notion [=take away our iniquity altogether.]
[4]Hos 14:5. is an adverbial accusative [spontaneously, voluntarily, readily].
[5]Hos 14:6.Newcome prefers to read , as more consistent with the context. But this cannot be admitted though it was the one followed by the Targum. See the exposition for the propriety of the image.M.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 1175
DIRECTIONS FOR AN ACCEPTABLE APPROACH TO GOD
Hos 14:1-3. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us: we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our Gods: for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
FOR the encouragement of all who feel the burthen of their sins, God has declared, yea has sworn, that he has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live: and the whole Scriptures bear testimony to that blessed truth. But, lest any should be discouraged by the idea that they know not how to approach him acceptably, it has pleased God to prescribe the very words whereby he would have them address him. And assuredly, if he had consulted all the weary and heavy-laden sinners in the universe, and had permitted them, or any individual among them, to dictate to him what expressions he should prescribe, the whole world could never have suggested any that were more suited to the necessities of men, or more satisfactory to their minds, than those recorded in our text.
In the words before us, we see, not merely our general warrant for returning to the Lord, but more particularly,
I.
What petitions to offer
[What would any one who felt the burthen of sin, and a restoration to the Divine favour, desire? What but a full remission of all his sins, and a free communication of all spiritual and eternal blessings? He would wish for pardon to be complete; because if so much as one sin were left upon his soul, it would inevitably plunge him into everlasting perdition He would also wish for his reception to be perfectly gratuitous, because he can never do any thing to merit it at the hands of God Behold then, it is precisely in this way that we are directed to pray; Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously. And let it be remembered, that this address is not put into the mouths of those only who have contracted a less measure of guilt than others, but of all, to whatever extent their iniquities may have abounded, and to whatever depth they may have fallen by them. If only we have a desire to return to the Lord our God, we are the persons invited and commanded to return in this way.]
In our text, we are further told,
II.
What promises to make
We must not imagine that we can make to God any adequate return for his mercies towards us; nor must we presume to offer any thing to him as an inducement to exercise mercy towards us: nor in any point of view whatever must we promise any thing in our own strength. But his mercies undoubtedly call for the best return that we can make; and they lay us under an obligation to do our utmost to please and serve him. Whatever tribute we can render to him, we should: and he here tells us what he will accept at our hands, namely, the tribute of,
1.
A grateful heart
[The blood of bulls or calves is no longer required of us: there are other and better sacrifices which he expects us to offer, namely, the calves of our lips, or the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving [Note: Psa 50:13-14; Psa 50:23.]. And these are the offerings which all who are looking to him for mercy desire to offer. In fact, the more any persons are bowed down with a sense of sin, the more they are ready to say, How shall I praise God, if ever I should obtain mercy at his hands! If ever God should admit me to a participation of his kingdom and glory, there will not be one in heaven that will shout the praises of redeeming love so loud as I. This tribute therefore the pardoned sinner will delight to pay ]
2.
A devoted life
[To turn from sin, and especially from our besetting sins, is indispensably required of all who seek for mercy at Gods hands [Note: Heb 12:1.] The besetting sins of Israel were, creature-confidence, and idolatry: they were always looking to Egypt or Assyria for help, rather than to God; and giving to dumb idols the worship that was due to him alone. These evils therefore they were to renounce; and an engagement to renounce them was required of all who desired the remission of their former sins. Thus, in approaching the Most High God, and supplicating mercy from him, we should determine, with Gods help, never more to provoke the Lord to jealousy by a renewal of those sins of which we profess to have repented. Our besetting sins in particular must be searched out: and whatever they may have been, whether of a spiritual or carnal nature, we must engage, through grace, to mortify and subdue them We must engage, in dependence upon God, to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.]
As great earnestness is required in our prayers, we are taught,
III.
What pleas to urge
[God indeed is not, nor can be, wrought upon by any considerations that we can propose: but for the stirring up of our own souls it is proper and necessary that we should enforce our petitions with becoming pleas. But where shall we find any consideration fit to be presented to the Deity? No where, but in his own perfections, or in his gracious promises. Here however we are at no loss: the compassions of our God are infinite; and may well be pleaded by those who feel their need of mercy. In him the fatherless findeth mercy: in him, too, the guilty, as well as the destitute, find mercy. Search the records of his word; and this truth will be seen written as with a sun-beam. Mark that stupendous effort of mercy, the gift of his only dear Son to the accursed death of the cross! Mark the invitations, the promises, the expostulations, the complaints; Wilt thou not be made clean? O! when shall it once be? Mark these, I say; and they form such a plea, as must satisfy the most doubting mind, and turn to transports of joy the apprehensions of every desponding soul ]
Address
1.
o those who refuse to turn to God
[Alas! how many turn a deaf ear to the solicitations of heaven! How often would the Saviour gather us under his wings, and we will not? But, if you will not turn at Gods reproof, what will ye answer him in the day when he shall judge the world? Low as ye are fallen, he now is willing to raise you up: but all possibility of recovery will then be past; and you will sink yet lower still, even into the bottomless abyss of misery. O consider this, ye that forget God; lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you.]
2.
To those who are beginning to return
[Mind that you return in his appointed way. Seek not merely a deliverance from wrath, but a restoration to the state from whence ye are fallen. Look back on man in his primeval state, and see how Adam walked with God in Paradise: that is the pattern that you should endeavour to follow, and the standard to which you should aspire. Or, if he be too far removed from your apprehensions, look at the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and see how he walked in the midst of this ungodly world: and endeavour to walk as he walked. For the remission of your sins, and your restoration to the Divine favour, let the mercy of God in Christ Jesus be your only plea, your only hope: and, for the honouring of your reconciled God, let the sacrifice of praise be continually offered to him on the altar of your hearts, and every defilement be banished without hesitation or reserve. Thus coming to him, you shall never be cast out; but shall surely be received to a participation of his favour, and to a possession of his glory.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
In this Chapter the man of God closeth his prophecy, in the sweetest and tenderest expressions of the Lord’s grace and mercy. Israel is shown his fall by nature; and the richest promises follow of grace.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
We may divide this Chapter into three grand parts. The first, in which the Holy Ghost points out to Israel his fall, and shows what method he is to take in seeking to the Lord for a recovery. The second sets forth the Lord’s gracious assurances of pardon, mercy, and peace. And the third represents the blessed effects which take place in the soul, when the Lord hath given grace and faith, and is pacified to Israel for all the evil that he hath done, in the rich salvation of the Lord. These three verses contain the first of those doctrines. The Chapter begins with a faithful account of Israel’s fall, and as gracious a call to return. And the method to be adopted is shown in coming to the Lord, with an earnest petition for the Lord to take away all iniquity. Reader! mark this method of every sinner’s return, for it is the Lord’s own method. We cannot come to the Lord after our fall, until the Lord first come to us. We cannot say anything to the Lord, but what the Lord hath first said to us. If we love him, it is because he first loved us. And how very blessed it is to behold the workings of the Holy Ghost in the heart, when the poor penitent comes to the footstool of the mercy-seat, renouncing all self-righteousness, all the Ashures of created excellency, and laying low and humble at the foot of the cross, crying out, Lord save, or I perish!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Repent and Return
Hos 14:1
Hosea’s closing appeal is full of tenderness, gracious; authoritativeness, and hopefulness.
I. God’s Call to Israel. It was a call to repentance. They had gone far and for a long time from Him. It is not yet too late nor too far to return; but they must return, and not stop short of Him. The simple word ‘return’ speaks of hope, and may inspire confidence. They are encouraged also by the reminder that they are ‘Israel,’ the name so significant as their covenant name. Still further are they helped by God’s name expressing the relation in which He stood to them, ‘The Lord thy God’. Jehovah, their Creator, Benefactor, Redeemer, in covenant with them, and still their God, willing as ever to bless them, and with claims upon them notwithstanding their departure from Him. That which might seem to bar repentance is the very reason for its exercise. The need of repentance is pressed home. The fallen are the proper subjects of repentance.
II. The Method of Returning. God does not leave Israel in the dark as to the style and spirit of repentance, but gives specific information regarding the acceptable and successful way of returning to Him. ‘ Take with you words.’ Do not appear before the Lord empty or silent, yet bring no outward gifts or sacrifices; bring only words words of penitent confession. Do not put Him off with vague longings and wistful yearnings and confused thoughts; give shape to your feelings and form your thoughts in words; be definite; say something. Of course the words must come from the heart, and be its true expression. There is to be no sullen silence, but a simple utterance of penitence. Words coming from the heart are worth more than elaborate and costly but heartless sacrifices. Words compel us to analyse our emotions and embody our desires, and fix us down to distinct statements. But such words as God thus requires are not natural to those fallen in iniquity. God Himself gives them; He fills our mouth with arguments.
III. What Words Shall We Take? ‘Say unto Him’
a. ‘ Take away all iniquity.’ A great saying, involving confession of our iniquity, the need of its removal, God’s power and readiness to remove it, our inability to remove it.
b. ‘ Receive us graciously;’ literally, ‘receive good’; q.d. accept the only good thing we bring, the confession which we offer, and which Thou hast put into our heart and mouth.
c. ‘So will we render the calves of our lips,’ i.e. present the prayers and praises of our lips as thank offerings. This stands for the vow of a new and changed life of devotion to God’s worship and service It is the promise of self-consecration to God an indispensable element in true repentance, without which prayer for forgiveness becomes little else than a request for liberty to sin afresh, and with impunity.
d. ‘ Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods.’ These words primarily refer to two serious breaches of Israel’s covenant relation. They had recourse to foreign aid in national straits, instead of calling on Jehovah. Sometimes they looked to Assyria and sometimes to Egypt, the great country for horses and chariots. They had also fallen into idolatrous worship, and gone deeper until they worshipped gods of their own making. They had, in short, depended on foreign help and on their own devices. This dependence they abjure. All other confidences than God are to be rejected; all worldly policies and refuges and helps forsaken; all trust in self, or in any work of our own hands, renounced.
e. ‘ In Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.’ This is to back up the whole penitential prayer. It is a revelation and assurance of the compassionate nature of God. It is an appropriate encouragement to a penitent sinner coming back to God, away from Whom he has been truly fatherless, coming back conscious of his loneliness and dependence as a desolate orphan.
Public Worship
Hos 14:2
There is but One Priest Who in His own right can approach God; but One Mediator Who can plead His own goodness; and so there is but One propitiatory, expiatory sacrifice, even ‘the One full, perfect, and sufficient Sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction,’ once made upon the Cross, for the sins of the whole world. There never has been, there never will be, any other. Except for this one and only Atonement, nothing we could say, think, or do, would be acceptable to God; but for this we should remain as we were born, an accursed race.
But though this be true, yet, with respect to those who rely on the intercession of that one great Priest, and, by faith, plead and apply to their souls the merits of that One expiatory sacrifice, the Spirit teaches us that they render unto God acceptable service; God for Christ’s sake will permit them to approach Him, and accept a service at their hands. And this gives us the idea of a sacrifice. For a sacrifice is something presented to God, in behalf of man, by persons Divinely appointed to ‘offer gifts unto the Lord’. In this sense, the ‘blood of bulls and of goats,’ under the law, became a typical sacrifice; and, under the Gospel, the Eucharist is thus designated, being a commemorative sacrifice. But according to Scripture
I. Public worship is also a sacrifice, and it is very essential to represent it as such. This doctrine is directly implied in the text by a figure of speech. As calves were offered in sacrifice, so are the lips of worshippers to be as calves; they are to offer to God the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving (Amo 4:5 ; Heb 13:15 ). St. Peter, speaking of the Christian Church, says: ‘Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ’ (1Pe 2:5 ). He cannot here refer to the Eucharist, because he is addressing Christians generally as a holy priesthood, and the celebration of the Eucharist requires the intervention of a special order of men separated from among the general body of believers; he must, therefore, refer to the service of public or common prayer, which he describes as a spiritual sacrifice. The sacrifice offered in public worship is the Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise. It is offered in each congregation for the Church universal, for the Church of the province, for the Church of the diocese, more especially for the Church of the parish, and for all the members of the same; it is offered by the assembled worshippers, being baptized persons, ‘continuing steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers’ (Act 2:42 ). Such persons are for this purpose ‘an holy Priesthood,’ appointed to offer up these ‘spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ’ ( 1Pe 2:5 ; 1Pe 2:9 ; Rev 1:5-6 ; Rev 5:9-10 ). As certain believers are elected from their brethren, and ordained to be priests for the higher service of the Holy Eucharist, and that they may bless the people in the Name of Him Whose ministers they are; so are the members of the Church, as their name denotes (Ecclesia), a people ‘called out’ of mankind, to act as priests in the general sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving; and, although the presence of ministers is required in the conduct of the morning and evening prayers, by the responses ample provision is made for the people generally to discharge their priestly function.
It would appear, then, that we are all permitted, for the sake of a crucified Saviour, to draw nigh unto God with boldness, and to offer Him a gift, even our reasonable service, our service of prayer and praise, which, through the mediation of an Interceding Saviour, is a sacrifice acceptable to God.
II. Now let this view be taken of the public worship of the Church, and we shall discharge this, our bounden duty and service, with very different feelings from those who regard it as doing openly what they do when they pray in private. We shall not palliate neglect of public worship, if no sermon be preached, by saying that we can pray at home as well as in the Sanctuary. When we regard public worship as a sacrifice, we look off from ourselves, and on to God; we are exerting all our energies to glorify God. That our own souls will be benefited is most true; but by it we are called off from that self-contemplation which makes men ‘lovers of their own selves’. Prayer is beneficial to the soul. And as God is praised, God blesses; and in the blessing which alights on the Church, each living member, each ‘lively stone,’ has his share.
Reference. XIV. 5. J. H. Norton, The King’s Ferryboat, p. 135.
The Dew and Its Influences
Hos 14:5
Consider some of the points of analogy between dew and the work of Christ and His Spirit.
I. Dew is silent, gentle, and noiseless in its operations. The dew moves on the noiseless wing of night. The eye cannot see, the ear cannot hear its silent and secret fall. It eludes the touch. The great forces of nature which influence the being, the life, the comfort, and joy of man, work the most silently.
II. The dew is free and copious. The abundant supply of the Spirit implied in the promise which is the subject of my sermon is aptly typified in the world of nature.
How free is the grace of God! ‘I will love them freely.’ The believer is freely loved (Deu 7:7-8 ); freely chosen (Eph 1:4-8 ). Christ is the gift of free love (Joh 3:16 ). The spirit is free: ‘Uphold me with Thy free Spirit’ (Psa 51:12 ). Our justification is free (Rom 3:24 ); our adoption free (Eph 1:5 ); our entire salvation free (Tit 3:5 ; Act 15:11 ) like the ‘dew of the Lord that waiteth not for man, nor tarrieth for the sons of men’. ‘The morning light comes unfettered by any condition, and so also descends the rain. They are like God’s greatest gifts, without money and without price; and they come with an overflowing plenty, for freeness and fullness go hand in hand.’
III. Dew refreshes, revives, and invigorates. Who has not felt and seen the refreshing influences of the dew in the early summer morning, when every blade of grass and every leaf has sparkled like a diamond in the morning light?
How the Israelites, when marching through the arid desert, must have enjoyed the baptism of the cloud! When any one has experienced the fiery power of the law, or when some assault of Satan has stirred up the passions of the soul, or when some fiery trial has come upon him, how comforting and refreshing the sweet influences of the heavenly dew! ‘Shall not the dew assuage the heat?’ ( Sir 18:16 ). So copious is the grace, and yet so gentle is the influence, that it does not break the bruised reed nor injure the most tender plant It is on this account, because of its refreshing and reviving effects, that the dew symbolizes the mission of the Israel of God in the world around. The ‘remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord’. So shall it be with Israel as a people among the nations of the earth in the time of their regeneration.
IV. I have only time to add one more analogy between the dew and the work of the Holy Spirit. Dew fructifies and matures. Rains and dews are a chief cause of all fruitfulness. In nature the quantity of the fruit as much depends upon the rain and dew as upon the sun. ‘So the believer’s growth and fruitfulness are equally dependent upon the Spirit of grace from Christ Jesus, as upon the glories of His person and the fullness of His work; these, indeed, are in order to the other, and the fullness of the Spirit is in His hand to give, and promised by Him to all His. people.’ Wherever there is much of the Spirit’s influence, there, of necessity, will much fruit be brought forth to God.
J. W. Bardsley, Many Mansions, p. 265.
God’s Love for Israel
Hos 14:5-6
I. The departure of Israel from God. No figure which could be imagined could be so true of God’s love for Israel; none so accurately describe that love which was stronger than her sin. The sadness of God as he looks upon Israel is given in the strongest form in this parable.
II. The ruin which follows departure from God. The sin of Israel was deep, of the darkest order, and yet the love of God is deeper, and will not be turned.
III. There are offers of mercy and restoration. It is the one great feature of this book. In every utterance of woe there is an undercurrent of the tenderest gentleness, continually breaking out into entreaty and sorrow. The application is clear. Be careful to regard the Divine order of things. The safety of home, the security of the nation is endangered when men begin to defy that Divine order, and loosen the ancient bands of morality.
H. Greene, The Church Homilist, p. 229.
The Dew and the Plants
Hos 14:5-6
Hosea is eminently the Prophet of repentance and of pardoning love. The text comes from a fervent and tender appeal to Israel to come back to its God. The Prophet presses into service the lily, the cedar, the olive, and the springing corn and the blossoming vine, as symbols of what God is able and willing to do to penitents that come back and submit themselves to His influence.
I. The source of fruitfulness. The deceitful ray of prosperity is full of danger to the spiritual life, and no less cruel are the fervid beams of fiery temptation with which we have all to be tried. And where is our strength? I know but one source of it that we shall receive the communications of that spiritual life, the gift of which is the central blessing of the Gospel. So we have to begin with confession; we have to begin with penitence; we have to receive into opening hearts the welcome of our pardoning Father, and then we may be sure that we shall receive the promised gift. And the silent influence will come stealing over the landscape, and every thing that was wilting and drooping in the deadly sunshine will be freshened and restored in the cool stillness of the moist-laden night.
II. The profuse beauty which will follow the fall of the dew. ‘He shall grow as the lily.’ A profusion of grace ought to match the profusion with which the dew comes from God. But let Christian people remember what a great many are apt to forget, that we are bound to try to make our Christianity attractive. Grace means both a gift from God and beauty; and the double meaning of the word should always be kept in mind. There ought to be the beauty of holiness where there is the dew from the Lord.
III. The strength which should go with the beauty. To the beauty of the fragile lily we must add the strength of the stable cedar. There must be strength conjoined with beauty in a world like ours, full of conflict and strength. If you are to be beautiful you have to be strong. The only way to be strong is to ‘stand fast in the Lord, and in the power of His might’. Open your hearts to God’s dew, and you will have the beauty of the lily and the strength of the cedar.
IV. The fruitfulness which should crown beauty and strength. On our barren stems little that is good can grow. We must be grafted into the true Vine. Vital union with Jesus Christ through simple faith is the condition of all true goodness. A man that is apart from Christ does nothing and is nothing, and is whirled away at last before the storm.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, 27 April, 1899, p. 488.
References. XIV. 5, 6. J. Vaughan, Sermons (10th Series), p. 181. XIV. 7. J. Keble, Sermons for Holy Week, p. 163. XIV. 8. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii. No. 1339. XIV. 9. J. M, Gibson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii. p. 344.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
An Open Door
Hos 14
All know what a tempest is. Perhaps all do not know the real sweep and force of a cyclone; such knowledge it is not always desirable to acquire, but being acquired, it is not easy to forget. The prophecy of Hosea has hitherto been tempest, and storm, and whirlwind, and cyclone, and great rage and tumult of all elements; but now in this closing chapter we have light, peace, comfort, gospel words, evangelical music, an easy and inviting slope right up into heaven. Judge nothing before the time. Do not judge the book by the preface; do not determine the real scope and temper of providence by occasional occurrences: wait until the voice from heaven says, It is finished, then survey the whole, and fear not to let the heart pronounce its judgment even upon the ways of God. There have been times when we expected no such conclusion as this. Sometimes we thought in reading these prophecies by Hosea that all must end in midnight, and that the objects of the divine judgment must be carried away by an infinite whirlwind, none knowing whither they have been borne; but the wind cries itself to rest, the cloudy sky outgrows its frown, and lo, at eventide there is light, and in the closing hours there is prophecy, and there is assurance of immortality. The Gospel itself has gone no further than the elements which constitute this closing chapter.
“O Israel,” the nation addressed in its unity; all the details brought into living cohesion, and God’s gentle eyes moist with pity fixed only upon the great unit, “return unto the Lord thy God”: come back; do not any longer pursue the way of folly and the path of darkness; turn round, be converted. What said Jesus Christ in his opening sermon that was all music; so brief, yet so elaborate; though in a word, yet filling all the volumes that human literature could write? “Repent.” That is the cry of this closing chapter: “Return,” be converted, be healed, come home. That is an evangelical cry; that is the very passion and the very meaning of the Cross of Christ. Then the door is not closed; then a man need not be a fool unto the end of his life, and die a criminal; then having once set his foot upon the wrong road, there is no divine necessity, as of election or predestination, that he must go on and on until he is burned in perdition. Is it true that somewhere in life yes, anywhere, so that the old man may have his gospel as well as the young prodigal there is a possibility of returning? Who, having heard of that possibility, would resist its play? Who would not say, This is a divinely created opportunity; I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him, I have sinned? “If thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” Then man is not called to come down, but to come up; thou hast fallen flat upon the earth, into the deep gully, into the immeasurable abyss, into the bottomless pit. This is a call from a fall. We are inclined to be a little timid in our use of that old theological term. We have changed the word “fall”; we have elaborated it into a polysyllable, or we have in some way, not wholly explained or justified, got rid of it. But having conjured with the word, have we parted with the solemnity and tragedy of the fact? The fall is not to be argued into a man; the fall is an experience which must be confirmed by the consciousness of the heart itself. The heart cannot speak coherently upon this question, or rest in any argument of its own invention; it dreams, and half-dreams, it plunges into the clouds and mists; then out it springs into green places where the summer seems to be lying in all welcome and hospitality of beauty and fruitfulness. The experience of the heart about this matter of the fall is a varied, conflicting, tumultuous experience. Sometimes the heart would deny it and say, I have never left the Lord; and sometimes the heart would say, I have so far left my God that to return is impossible. Here is a recognition of fallen manhood. The word is “fallen”; there is no mistake about the line of movement; it is not oblique, vertical, collateral, eccentric; it is done. To come up is the difficulty; to ascend is the miracle. There is a kind of gravitation that would seem to be against that action, for all things are tethered to an invisible centre, and limited by lines impalpable. But the gospel delights in miracle; delights in carrying forward nature and its actions to higher applications; delights to find in the darkness stars which the telescope of genius never discovered.
“Take with you words.” How easy! That is the mistake. How cheap! That is the fatal blunder. “Take with you words”: when men are in earnest their words are themselves. We say in our homely proverb, “His word is his bond.” “Take with you words”: leave the bullock, leave the calf, leave the sacrifice, leave all ritualism and pomp and circumstance, and take with you yourselves, speech of the heart, prayer of the soul, cry of the felt necessity. We are coming quickly now upon spiritual regions; presently we shall get rid altogether of bullock and calf and sacrifice of animal, and all the reeking flowing blood; presently we shall come to a new seizure or method of appropriation in relation to God; there shall be between us a Word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. and the Word was God. The Word was made flesh: and man, if he were made in the image and likeness of God, would be a word, unmarred by any insincerity, unconcealed under any garb of ambiguity. Here is a call to spiritual worship. The Lord is tired of all the offerings which have been placed upon his altar; he cannot away with them, but when the heart speaks to him he will listen; that will be a new order of service. Now we shall come to whispered penitence and whispered love; to a suppressed cry of weakness; then to a louder cry of hope; then to a shout of thanksgiving; then to a storm of triumph. Here we come upon a new era: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The Old Testament here unloads itself, and is prepared to introduce us to an era in which there shall be spiritual perception, spiritual communion, the voice of words tenderer than love, more eloquent than music. What words shall be spoken? Is any hint given of the new speech? It is written here in plain letters, but never can be written in all its meaning: “say unto him,” Lord teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. Here is the Lord before John, through the medium of a prophet, teaching us a prayer. What shall we say? Here is your speech: “Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously” do us good. “Take away all iniquity” here is confession. “Take away all iniquity” here is a consciousness that God only can do it. We can commit the sin, but cannot pardon it; we can do the evil, but cannot expunge it; we can incur the burden, we cannot discharge the responsibility. “And receive us graciously”: receive us into grace, into favour, yea, do us good; restore us wholly, as a dislocated joint may be put back into its place again. That is all petition. Are words to be limited to request? is there to be nothing in prayer but this monotonous asking?
The answer we find in the latter part of the second verse: “So will we render the calves of our lips”: our sacrifice shall be a living sacrifice; we have nothing to slay; we will live unto the Lord. The “lips” here stand for life; the “calves” must be regarded as representing symbolically the old sacrifice in a new form, not the unintelligent and irresponsive calves of the meadow, but the calves of our lips, the living sacrifice, the personal offering. What a prayer, thus modelled and outlined! Here is confession, here is hope, here is poetry, here is consecration, here is communion with God: yet is there no bargain-making. Man is not inviting God to enter into a covenant in which there shall be so much for so much. Forgive us, and we will obey. Pardon us, and reckon then upon our worship; the worship does not come as a payment, but as a necessity of nature; it will be the utterance of gratitude; it represents the irrepressible music of spiritual thanksgiving. When the prophet says, “Take with you words, he has often been misunderstood. Some have thought that this is an authority for using forms of prayer; so quick, yet so blind, is the exegetical ingenuity of unqualified expositors. “Take with you words” has been regarded as an instance that we have only to utter a certain description of pious words, and all will be well. The term here signifies heart, life, truth, sincerity, and independence of all ritual, an interview with God. Do not amend these conditions. We cannot surprise God by the magnificence of our offering; we must surprise ourselves by the magnificence of poverty. We must be led to see that there is nothing in grandeur, and that all grandeur is in simplicity. The most difficult lesson for man to learn at a certain point in his spiritual education is that he is doing everything by doing nothing; that he is praying most when he is saying least; that he is moving all heaven not by the might of his intellect, but by the weakness of his tears. How can we take with us words? Only by taking with us the Word the Word that was made flesh, and that dwelt with man. We are not invited to go alone to God; there is no way spoken of now by which a man shall go unaccompanied to face his Creator; we go in the name of Christ, in the company of Christ. We have a meeting-place, and there is none other, and the name of that meeting-place is the Cross.
But can Israel so pray and so promise, and then repeat yesterday as if nothing had occurred in the night time of penitence? No; this is a miracle not permitted by the Lord. Israel must be complete in confession and complete in renunciation. That completeness of renunciation we find in the following words:
“Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods” ( Hos 14:3 ).
It comes to this, that a man must at some point say Good-bye to his old ruined self. There were cleansing days in the moral life days when Assyria must be warned away as a helper that is helpless, as only a name of pride without being an arm of power. Asshur must go. “We will not ride upon horses”: the stables must be cleansed. The horse has always in ancient history, as given in the Old Testament, been regarded as an emblem of pride. Israel at one period bought horses; Solomon committed the folly of having a boundless stable, he would have horses like the Egyptians. The Lord will not have anything to do with such horses in such relations. Men must ride upon his almightiness, and not upon the bared back of some steed of the wilderness; though he fly with the wind, and tear up the desert in the passion of his urgency, it is running itself to death.
“Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods.” Here is the day of good-bye, life-cleansing, a renewal that is complete, all old companionships dismissed, old habitudes given up, the Ethiopian’s skin torn away, the spots or the leper taken out by some divine action. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”: old trusts, old superstitions, old hopes, old sacrifices, all old things have gone, and life enjoys a newness that is not without a touch of the venerableness of eternity; not a paltry superficial newness as of polish just put on, but a newness that connects itself with eternal origins, with eternal springs. This is the mystery of the gospel, this is the mystery of grace, that a man shall grow newer as he grows older; he shall become younger with the flying years, he shall use time as a ladder by which he scales the ramparts of eternity. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his Church; this is a mystery only to the dense understanding that has never felt the splendour and the warmth of the new morning.
We now come upon words never excelled by John or by Paul for sweep of thought and tenderness of pathos:
“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him” ( Hos 14:4 ).
“I will love them freely” is an expression which literally means, I am impelled to love them; some old memory is awakened, some long-disused energy comes into play, considerations that have fallen into desuetude arise, awaken, and operate, and I the Eternal am impelled to love the returning prodigal. Here is another profound mystery; when God meets man it is on both sides as the result of an impulsion not to be fully described in words. They know one another, they have been seeking one another; across the darkness of the foulest apostasy there have shot occasional gleams as if from the lamp that made the old home bright with love; in the revel of midnight, in the debauch of darkness, there have been heard broken tones as of a voice that once filled the soul with ineffable music. When God sees the returned prodigal he sees more than the sin he sees the sinner within the sin, the man within the sinner, the God within the man; old memories, so to say for we must use a language that will accommodate itself to human conceptions are aroused on both sides, and when the sinner and the offended Father meet it is by impulsion, constraint; it is a recognition of the fitness of things, a restoration of suspended harmonies; it is in very deed, in apostolic language, a “reconciliation.”
Now the Lord will betake himself to poetry. To what else could he betake himself? He is all sublimity; his tears are jewels; his words are eternities; his glance is the glory that lights up the universe “I will be as the dew unto Israel.” It would seem as if the Lord had something to make up to the sinner. This is the view which he always takes of the case of repentance; no sooner does the prodigal return than he seems to say, What can I do for him? Bring forth the best robe, the ring, the fatted calf, and instrument of music: let it be heard in vibrant sound or in tender winsomeness of tone: for my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found. “I will be as the dew unto Israel,” a great beauty, but nothing to carry in the way of burdensomeness. What flower ever said, O thou Maker of flowers, this dewdrop is too heavy a load for my poor strength to carry? An infinite jewellery, but quite unburdensome, without one touch of oppression. “He shall grow as the lily,” an image referring to the pureness of God himself. The lily was a flower of dazzling whiteness, the very summation of all colour, caught in a velocity which reconciled and united the colours in one brilliant white. But the lily may be cut down: does the figure terminate with frailty and evanescence? No; for the Lord says, “and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.” The roots shall be as long as the branches. The Chinese proverb is, that when a tree has been blown down it shows that the branches have been longer than the roots. This is not the case with those who really live and move and have their being in God. Measure the branch, that is the length of the root; measure the root, that is the length of the branch; to get at the branch you must get at the root. Blessed be God, the figure was never amended but by him who originated it; said he, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches: as the branch cannot bear fruit in itself, no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” So that we are no longer either branch or root independently, but we are a branch in a living Vine, and if we have aught of root that root is hidden in the infinity and sovereignty of God.
“I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon” ( Hos 14:5-6 ).
And so the wind around him shall be odoriferous. Let your light so shine before men, that they may know your Father; let your fragrance be as the odour of many choice spices that men may know ye belong to the garden of the Lord. Do not have a limited piety. All the little flowers in the well-concealed garden are struggling to get out. Some men how dare they live? wall their gardens round, and there is not a violet in the estate that is not trying to escape; the little thing is saying, I can’t get over that wall, but I can send a kiss over it to some little child that may happen to be chalking the wall on the other side. Children will chalk walls as long as there are walls to be chalked. And every little rose is saying, This is too small a place for me; I can’t get out, but I will breathe a benediction, and perhaps some poor o’er-laboured wight, some burden-carrying old woman, may get a waft of the fragrance, and know that there is a garden on this side the wall. The Church is to be fragrant; the Church is to make itself known. There is no violence here, but the tender violence of love, the aggression of a pity that would save the world.
“Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?” (Hos 14:8 .)
Ephraim has seen his folly; Ephraim has sounded the depths of superstition; Ephraim does not give up his idols without a reason. He says, I have tried you, and you are vain; I have leaned upon you, and you are broken staves; I have consulted you, and you had no answer; I have looked to you, but you never turned a kind eye upon me. The great apostle says, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols”; the old Scotch version says, “Wee bairns, keep yourselves frae dolls”: the meaning is the same. I like the quaintness of the Scotch version. There is a caressing tenderness in that gruff old tone; listen to it; it is the kind of tone that grows upon the heart; at first it is very singular, and not wholly desirable, but there is in it a latent music; if you say the words over and over again, you will come to like them. The time is on the surface; open it, and you find eternity.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
VIII
THE BOOK OF HOSEA PART 2
Hos 4:1-14:9
What has previously been presented in figure and symbol in the first section of the book is now plainly and literally stated. Jehovah’s controversy with Israel is set forth in Hos 4:1-5 . Someone has called this “The Lord’s Lawsuit” in which he brings grave charges against Israel for sins of omission followed by sins of commission. The sins of omission which led to the sins of commission are that there were no truth, no goodness, and no knowledge of God in the land. These omissions led to the gravest sins of commission, viz: profanity, covenant-breaking, murder, stealing, and adultery. The evidence in this case was so strong that there was no plea of “not guilty” entered, and Jehovah proceeded at once, after making the indictment, to announce the sentence: Destruction!
This verdict of destruction was for the lack of knowledge, which emphasizes the responsibility of the opportunity to know. They had rejected knowledge and had forgotten the law of Jehovah, and as the priests were the religious leaders and instructors of the people, the sentence is heavy against them, but “like people, like priest” shows the equality of the responsibility and the judgment. There is no excuse for either. He who seeks to know the agenda, God will reveal the credenda. The sentence is again stated, thus: Rejection, forgetting her children, shame, requite them their doings, hunger and harlotry. Such a sentence hung over them like a deadly pall.
In Hos 4:11-14 whoredom and wine are named together, not by accident but because they are companion evils, which is the universal testimony of those who practice either. Here they are said to take away the understanding, or as the Hebrew puts it, the heart. Both are literally true. That the understanding is marred and blighted by these evils is evidenced in the case of the thousands who have rendered themselves unfit for service anywhere by wasting their strength with wine and harlots. That the heart, the seat of affections, is destroyed by these evils witness the thousands of divorce cases in our courts today. By such a course the very vitals of man are burnt out and he then becomes the prey to every other evil in the catalogue. Let the youth of our country heed the warning of the prophet. Here Israel, engrossed with these sins, is pictured as going deeper and deeper in sin and degradation until they pass beyond the power of description. Notice that the Lord here holds the men responsible and pronounces a mighty invective against the modern double standard of morals. In God’s sight the transgressor is the guilty party, whether man or woman.
Though Israel has played the harlot, Judah is warned in Hos 4:15-19 that she may not follow the example of Israel. The places of danger are pointed out and the example of Israel is used to enforce the warning. Israel is stubborn; Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone. Israel is wrapped in the winds of destruc-tion and shall soon be put to shame, therefore, take heed, Judah.
There are several notable things in the address of Hos 5:1-7 : First, the whole people priests, Israel, and the royal house was involved in the judgment because each one was responsible for the existing conditions, their great centers of revolt against Jehovah being pointed out as Mizpeh, east of the Jordan; and Tabor, west of the Jordan. Second, the fact that Jehovah himself was the rebuker of them. God is the one undisputable judge and he will judge and he will judge them all. Though the mills of God grind slowly, Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all,
Third, God’s omniscience: “I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me.” So he knows us and there is nothing hid from him. Fourth, men are hindered from turning to God by their gins. Fifth, positive instruction awaits the sinner (Hos 5:5 ). Sixth, sacrifices and seeking are too late after doom is pronounced. Repentance must come within the space allotted for it; otherwise, it is too late.
The cornet and trumpet in Hos 5:8-15 signifies the alarm in view of the approaching enemy. In the preceding paragraph the prophet signified their certain destruction and now he indicates that it is at hand, again assigning the reason, that Judah had become as bold as those who remove the landmarks, and Ephraim was content to walk after man’s commandments. Then he shows by the figure of the moth and the woodworm that he is slowly consuming both Israel and Judah, but they were applying to other powers for help to hold out and that the time would come when he, like the lion, would make quick work of his judgments upon Israel and Judah; that they will not seek him till their affliction comes.
Paragraph Hos 6:1-3 is the exhortation of the Israelites to one another at the time of their affliction mentioned in the last verse of the preceding chapter and should be introduced by the word, “saying,” as indicated in the margin of Hos 5:15 . The expressions, “He hath torn” and “he hath smitten,” evidently refer to the preceding verses which describe Jehovah’s dealing with Israel and Judah as a lion. This exhortation represents them after their affliction, saying to one another, “Come, and let us return unto Jehovah,” etc. The “two days” and the “third day” are expressions representing short periods, not literal or typical days. They are then represented as pursuing knowledge which is the opposite to their present condition in their lack of knowledge. Now they are perishing for the lack of knowledge but then they will flourish as land flourishes in the time of the latter rain. There is a primary fulfilment of this prophecy in the return after the captivity but the larger fulfilment will be at their final return and conversion at which commences the revival destined to sweep the world into the kingdom of God. As Peter says, it will be “the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord” (Act 3:19 ).
A paraphrase of Hos 6:4-11 shows its interpretation and application, thus: “O Ephraim, O Judah, I am perplexed as to what remedy next to apply to you; your goodness is so shallow and transitory that my judgments have to be repeated from time to time. I desire goodness, i.e., works of charity, the right attitude of life, and the proper condition of the heart, rather than sacrifice. But instead of this you have, like Adam in the garden of Eden, transgressed my covenant and have dealt treacherously against me, as in the case of the Gileadites and the case of the murderous priests in the way to Shechem, and oh, the horribleness of your crimes! and, O Judah, there is a harvest for you, too.”
In the charges against Israel in Hos 7:1-16 the prophet gives the true state of affairs, viz: that the divine desire to heal was frustrated by the discovery of pollution, and by their persistent ignoring of God; that the pollution of the nation was manifest in the king, the princes, and the judges; that Ephraim was mixing among the people and had widespread influence, over the ten tribes, yet he was as a cake not turned; that he was an utter failure, being developed on one side, and on the other destroyed by burning; that he was unconscious of his wasting strength and ignored the plain testimony of the Pride of Israel; that as a silly dove, he was indicating fear and cowardice. Then the prophet concludes the statement of the case by a declaration of the utter folly of the people whom God was scourging toward redemption, to which they responded by howling, assembling, and rebelling.
Now we take up Hos 8 . From the statement of the case the prophet turned, in Hos 8:1-14 , to the pronouncement of judgment by the figure of the trumpet lifted to the mouth, uttering five blasts, in each of which the sin of the people was set forth as revealing the reason for judgment. The first blast declared the coming of judgment under the figure of an eagle, because of transgression and trespass. The second blast emphasized Israel’s sin of rebellion, in that they had set up kings and princes without authority of Jehovah. The third dealt with Israel’s idolatry, announcing that Jehovah had cast off the calf of Samaria. The fourth denounced Israel’s alliances and declared that her hire among the nations had issued in her diminishing. The fifth drew attention to the altars of sin and announced the coming judgment.
These judgments in detail are given in Hos 9 . Its first note was that of the death of joy. Israel could not find her joy like other peoples. Having known Jehovah, everything to which she turned in turning from him, failed to satisfy. How true is this of the individual backslider! The unsatisfied heart is constantly crying out, Where is the blessedness I knew, When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and his word?
The second note was that of actual exile to which she must pass: back to the slavery of Egypt and Assyria and away from the offerings and feasts of the Lord. The third was that of the cessation of prophecy. The means of testing themselves would be corrupted. The fourth declared the retributive justice of fornication. The prophet traced the growth of this pollution from its beginning at Baal-peor, and clearly set forth the inevitable deterioration of the impure people. The fifth and last was that of the final casting out of the people by God so that they should become wanderers among the nations.
In Hos 10 we have the prophet’s recapitulation and appeal. This closes the section. The whole case is stated under the figure of the vine. Israel was a vine of God’s planting which had turned its fruitfulness to evil account and was therefore doomed to his judgment. The result of this judgment would be the lament of the people that they had no king who was able to deliver them, and chastisement would inevitably follow. The last paragraph is an earnest and passionate appeal to return to loyalty.
Some things in Hos 10 need special explanation: First, note the expression here, “They will say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.” This furnishes the analogue for the final destruction of the world and the judgment as given in Luk 23:30 and Rev 6:16 . Here the expression is used to indicate the horrors of the capture and destruction of the kingdom of Israel, the sufferings and distress of which are a foreshadowing of the great tribulation at the end of the world.
Second, the reference to Gibeah in Hos 10:9 needs a little explanation. This sin of Gibeah is the sin of the shameful outrage which with its consequences is recorded in Judges 19-20. That sin became proverbial, overtopping, as it did, all the ordinary iniquities, by its shameless atrocity and heinousness. By a long-continued course of sin, even from ancient days, Ephraim had been preparing for a fearful doom.
The third reference is to Shalman who destroyed Betharbel (Hos 10:14 ). There are several theories about this incident. Some think that “Shalman” is a short form of “Shalmaneser,” that Shalmaneser IV, who in the invasion which is mentioned (2Ki 17:3 ) fought a battle in the valley of Jezreel, in which he broke the power of Samaria in fulfilment of Hos 1:5 and about the same time stormed the neighboring town of Arbela, but who this “Shalman” was and what place was “Betharbel” are only matters of uncertain conjecture. All that is positively known is that the sack of Betharbel had made upon the minds of the Israelites an impression similar to that which in the seventeenth century was made far and wide by the sack of Madgeburg.
According to our brief outline the title of section Hos 11:1-14:8 is “Pollution and Pity.” This third cycle of the prophecy sets forth the pity which Jehovah has for his sinning people, and contains a declaration of Jehovah’s attitude toward Israel notwithstanding her sin. Chapters 11-13 are for the most part the speech of Jehovah himself. He sums up, and in so doing declares his sense of the awfulness of their sin, pronouncing his righteous judgment thereupon. Yet throughout the movement the dominant notes are those of pity and love, and the ultimate victory of that love over sin, and consequently over judgment. Three times in the course of this great message of Jehovah to his people (Hos 11:1-13:16 ), the prophet interpolates words of his own.
This message of Jehovah falls into three clearly marked elements which deal: (1) with the present in the light of past love (Hos 11:1-11 ); (2) with the present in the light of present love (Hos 12:7-11 ) ; (3) with the present in the light of future love (Hos 13:4-14 ).
The prophet’s interpolations set forth the history of Israel indicating their relation to Jehovah, and pronounce judgment. They form a remarkable obligate accompaniment, in a minor key, to the majestic love song of Jehovah, and constitute a contrasting introduction to the final message of the prophet. The first of them reveals the prophet’s sense of Jehovah’s controversy with Judah, his just dealings with Jacob, and, reminiscent of Jacob’s history, he makes a deduction and an appeal (Hos 11:12-13:6 ). The second traces the progress of Israel to death (Hos 12:12-13:3 ). The third declares their doom (Hos 13:15-16 ).
Then in general, Jehovah’s message in Hos 11:1-11 is as follows:
In this first movement, Jehovah reminded the people of his past love for them in words full of tenderness, setting out their present condition in its light, and crying, “How shall I give thee up?” Which inquiry was answered by the determined declaration of the ultimate triumph of love, and the restoration of the people.
There are two incidents of Israel’s history cited in this first part of Jehovah’s message. The first incident cited is the calling of Israel out of Egypt, which is quoted in Mat 2:15 and applied to our Lord Jesus Christ as a fulfilment of this prophecy. Hosea clearly refers to the calling of Israel out of Egypt, the nation being elsewhere spoken of as God’s son (Exo 4:22 ; Jer 3:9 ). But there is evident typical relation between Israel and the Messiah.
As Israel in the childhood of the nation was called out of Egypt, so Jesus. We may even find resemblance in minute details; his temptation of forty days in the desert, resembles Israel’s temptation of forty years in the desert, which itself corresponded to the forty days spent by the spies (Num 14:34 ). Thus we see how Hosea’s historical statement concerning Israel may have been also a prediction concerning the Messiah, as the Evangelist declares it was. It is not necessary to suppose that this was present to the prophet’s consciousness. Exalted by inspiration, a prophet may well have said things having deeper meanings than he was distinctly aware of, and which only a later inspiration, coming when the occasion arose, could fully unfold BROADUS on Mat 2:15 . The second incident in the history of God’s people cited is the destruction of Adman, Zeboim, Sodom, and Gomorrah, all of which are mentioned in Deu 29:23 as destroyed by Jehovah for their wickedness. The warning is a powerful one to Ephraim, or Israel, who are here threatened with destruction.
The prophet’s message in his first interpolation (Hos 11:12-12:6 ) is a lesson from the history of Jacob showing Israel’s relation to him. The prophet here goes back to the earliest history of Jacob showing God’s dealing with him from his conception to his settlement at Bethel, where God gave him the promise of a multitude of descendants. This bit of history includes the struggle between him and Esau before birth, and his wrestling with the angel.
In Hos 12:7-11 Jehovah sets out their present sin in the light of his present love. The sin of Ephraim and its pride and impertinence are distinctly stated and yet over all, love triumphs. Jehovah declared himself to be the God who delivered them from Egypt, and who would be true to the message of the prophets, to the visions of the seers and to the similitudes of the ministry of the prophets. There is an allusion in verse 7 to Jacob’s deception of Isaac, which characteristic seems to have been handed down to his posterity, as here indicated.
In the prophets second interpolation (Hos 12:12-13:3 ) he traces the progress of Israel to death, beginning at the flight to the field of Aram, through the exodus from Egypt and the preservation to the present, in which Ephraim was exalted in Israel, offended in Baal and died. Their certain doom is here announced.
Then follows Jehovah’s message in Hos 13:4-14 in which he sets forth the present condition of Israel in the light of his future love. Sin abounds, and therefore judgment is absolutely unavoidable. Nevertheless, the mighty strength of love must overcome at last.
There are several things in the passage worthy of special note. First, the allusions here to Jehovah’s dealings with them from Egypt to their destination in Canaan, their exaltation and his destruction of them. Second, the allusion to their history under kings, beginning with Saul, whom he gave them in his anger and whom he took away in his wrath. The statement may apply to the long line of kings of the Northern Kingdom, but it fits the case of Saul more especially and throws light on the problem of Saul’s mission as king of Israel. Third, the promise of their restoration under the figure of a resurrection (Hos 13:14 ), which is quoted and applied to the final resurrection by Paul (1Co 15:55 ) and which shows the typical import of this passage. It is like a flash of light in the darkest hour of despair.
Dr. Pusey on this passage has well said:
God by his prophets mingles promises of mercy in the midst of his threats of punishment. His mercy overflows the bounds of the occasion upon which he makes it known. He had sentenced Ephraim to temporal destruction. This was unchangeable. He points to that which turns all temporal loss into gain, that eternal redemption. The words are the fullest which could have been chosen. The word rendered “ransom” signifies rescued them by the payment of a price; the word rendered “redeem” relates to one who, as the nearest of kin, had the right to acquire anything as his own by paying the price. Both words in their exactest sense, describe what Jesus did, buying us with a price . . . and becoming our near kinsman by his incarnation. . . . The words refuse to be tied down to temporal deliverance. A little longer continuance in Canaan is not a redemption from the power of the grave; nor was Ephraim so delivered.
The expression, “repentance shall be hid from mine eyes,” means that God will never turn from his purpose to be merciful to Israel.
In the prophet’s last interpolation (Hos 13:15-16 ) he goes back to the death sentence showing the complete destruction of Ephraim and Samaria by the Eastern power, Assyria. The reference to Ephraim’s fruitfulness goes back to the promise of Jacob to Joseph, “He shall be a fruitful bough,” though Ephraim had turned this fruitfulness to evil and thus is brought to desolation.
Hos 14 gives us the final call of the prophet with the promise of Jehovah. The call was to the people to return because they had fallen by iniquity. It suggests the method of returning, as being that of bringing words of penitence, and forsaking all false gods. To this Jehovah answered in a message full of hope for the people, declaring that he would restore, renew, and ultimately reinstate them. There is no question but that this final word of prophecy has a reference to the return from the exile but that this return does not exhaust the meaning of this prophecy is also very evident. The larger fulfilment is to be spiritual and finds its expression in the final conversion of the Jews as voiced by Peter: “Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord” (Act 3:19 ).
The book closes with a brief epilogue, which demands attention to all the prophet has written, whether for warning, or reproof, or correction in righteousness, or encouragement to piety and virtue. Like the dictates of the Word, so the dispensations of his providence are to some the savor of life, to others the savor of death. So it is added that, while the righteous walk therein, in them the wicked stumble.
In closing this chapter I will say that Hosea occupies a period of transition in developing the messianic idea from the earlier prophets to Micah and Isaiah, in whose writings abounds the messianic element:
(1) Hosea, like Amos, predicts the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, but he looks beyond it to a brighter day, when the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea in number, will be accepted of Jehovah as sons and daughters, and Judah and Israel will have one head, Christ (Hos 1:10-2:1 , et al).
(2) Hosea’s experience with an unfaithful wife is an object lesson of God’s forgiveness of Israel. Their spiritual adultery must lead them into exile but Jehovah will betroth Israel to himself in righteousness, and take the Gentiles into the same covenant (Hos 2:2-3:5 ; Rom 9:25-26 ).
(3) Hos 11:1 was fulfilled in the return of Joseph and Mary from Egypt with the babe, Jesus (Mat 2:15 ). So Jesus the antitype of Adam, Israel, and David.
(4) Hos 11:8-11 expresses Jehovah’s promise to restore Israel.
(5) Hos 13:14 is a messianic promise foreshadowing the resurrection.
(6) Hos 14:1-8 is a messianic promise of Israel’s final repentance, God’s reinstatement of them and their abundant blessings in the millennium.
I quote Dr. Sampey: In general, the earlier prophets describe clearly a terrible captivity of Jehovah’s people, to be followed by a return to their own land, where they were to enjoy the divine blessing. The everlasting love and compassion of Jehovah are repeatedly described, and the future enlargement of Israel is clearly set forth. The person of Messiah, however, is not distinctly brought before the reader. Isaiah and Micah will have much to say of the character and work of the Messaih Himself
QUESTIONS
1. What the character of this division, as contrasted with the first three chapters of Hosea?
2. What Jehovah’s controversy with Israel as set forth in Hos 4:1-5 ?
3. Why the verdict of destruction, as set forth in Hos 4:6-10 ?
4. What two practices are named together in Hos 4:11-14 , and what their effect upon the mind of man?
5. What warning to Judah in Hos 4:15-19 ?
6. What the notable things in the address of Hos 5:1-7 ?
7. What the significance and the application of the cornet and trumpet in Hos 5:8-15 ?
8. What the interpretation and application of Hos 6:1-3 ?
9. Paraphrase Hos 6:4-11 so as to show its interpretation and application.
10. What the charges against Israel in Hos 7:1-16 ?
11. How does the prophet pronounce judgment and what the significance in each case (Hos 8:1-14 )?
12. Describe these judgments in detail as given in Hos 9 .
13. State briefly the prophet’s recapitulation and appeal (Hos 10:1-15 ).
14. What things in Hos 10 need special explanation, and what the explanation in each case?
15. According to our brief outline what the title of section Hos 11:1-14:8 , and what in general, are its contents?
16. What the general features of the message of Jehovah?
17. What the general features of the prophet’s interpolations?
18. What, in general, is Jehovah’s message in Hos 11:1-11 ?
19. What two incidents of Israel’s history cited in this first part of Jehovah’s message, and what their interpretation and application?
20. What the prophet’s message in his first interpolation (Hos 11:12-12:6 )?
21. What, in general, Jehovah’s message in Hos 12:7-11 ?
22. What allusion to an incident in the life of Jacob in this passage?
23. What the substance of the prophet’s second interpolation (Hos 12:12-13:3 )?
24. What, in general, Jehovah’s message in Hos 13:4-14 ?
25. What things in the passage worthy of special note?
26. What the prophet’s message in his last interpolation (Hos 13:15-16 )?
27. What the contents of Hos 14 ?
28. Give a summary of the messianic predictions in the book of Hosea.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Hos 14:1 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Ver. 1. O Israel, return unto the Lord ] Usque ad Dominum, all the way to God, as far as to the Lord: give not the half, but the whole turn; and take it for a mercy that you are yet called upon to return, and may be received; “that yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing,” Ezr 10:2 . All the former part of the prophecy had been mostly denunciations; this last chapter is wholly consolatory; the Sun of Righteousness loves not to set in a cloud.
Return unto the Lord thy God
For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hosea
ISRAEL RETURNING
Hos 14:1 – Hos 14:9
Hosea is eminently the prophet of divine love and of human repentance. Both streams of thought are at their fullest in this great chapter. In Hos 14:1 – Hos 14:3 the very essence of true return to God is set forth in the prayer which Israel is exhorted to offer, while in Hos 14:4 – Hos 14:8 the forgiving love of God and its blessed results are portrayed with equal poetical beauty and spiritual force. Hos 14:9 closes the chapter and the book with a kind of epilogue.
I. The summons to repentance.
The Prophet anticipates the clear accents of the New Testament call to repentance in his expansion of what he meant by returning. He has nothing to say about sacrifices, nor about self-reliant efforts at moral improvement. ‘Take with you words ,’ not ‘the blood of bulls and goats.’ Confession is better than sacrifice. What words are they which will avail? Hosea teaches the penitent’s prayer. It must begin with the petition for forgiveness, which implies recognition of the petitioner’s sin. The cry, ‘Take away all iniquity,’ does not specify sins, but masses the whole black catalogue into one word. However varied the forms of our transgressions, they are in principle one, and it is best to bind them all into one ugly heap, and lay it at God’s feet. We have to confess not only sins, but sin, and the taking away of it includes divine cleansing from its power, as well as divine forgiveness of its guilt. Hosea bids Israel ask that God would take away all iniquity; John pointed to ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ But beyond forgiveness and cleansing, the penitent heart will seek that God would ‘accept the good’ in it, which springs up by His grace, when the evil has been washed from it, like flowers that burst from soil off which the matted under-growth of poisonous jungle has been cleared. Mere negative absence of ‘evil’ is not all that we should desire or exhibit; there must be positive good; and however sinful may have been the past, we are not too bold when we ask and expect that we may be made able to produce ‘good,’ which shall be fragrant as sweet incense to God.
Petitions are followed by vows. On the one hand, the experience of forgiveness and cleansing will put a new song in our mouths, and instead of animal sacrifices, we shall render the praise which is better than ‘calves’ laid on the altar. Perhaps the Septuagint rendering of that difficult phrase ‘the calves of our lips,’ which is given in Heb 13:15 , ‘the fruit of our lips,’ is preferable. In either case, the same thought appears-that the penitent’s experience of forgiving and restoring love makes ‘the tongue of the dumb sing,’ and it will bind men’s hearts more closely to God than anything besides can do, so that their old inclinations to false reliances and idolatries drop away from them. The old fable tells us that the storm made the traveller wrap his cloak closer round him, but the sunshine made him throw it off. Judgments often make men cling more closely to their sins, but forgiving mercy makes them ‘cast off the works of darkness.’ The men who had experienced that in God, the Israel, which by its sins had brought down the punishment of His repudiation of being its father Hos 1:9, had found mercy, would no longer feel temptation to turn to Assyria for help, nor to seek protection from Egypt’s cavalry, nor to debase their manhood by calling stocks and stones, the work of their own hands, their gods. What earthly sweetness will tempt, or what earthly danger will affright, the heart that is feeling the bliss of union with God? Would Judas’s thirty pieces of silver attract the disciple reclining on Jesus’ bosom? We are most firmly bound to God, not by our resolves, but by our experience of His all-sufficient mercy. Fill the heart with that wine of the kingdom, and bitter or poisonous draughts will find no entrance into the cup.
II. God’s welcoming answer.
The blessings consequent on the gift of God’s love are described in lovely imagery, drawn, like Hosea’s other abundant similes, from nature, and especially from trees and flowers. The source of all fruitfulness is a divine influence, which comes silently and refreshing as the ‘dew,’ or, rather, as the ‘night mist,’ a phenomenon occurring in Palestine in summer, and being, accurately, rolling masses of vapour brought from the Mediterranean, which counteract the dry heat and keep vegetation alive. The influences which refresh and fructify our souls must fall in many a silent hour of meditation and communion. They will effloresce into manifold shapes of beauty and fruitfulness, of which the Prophet signalises three. The lily may stand for beauty of purity, though botanists differ as to the particular flower meant. Christians should present to the world ‘whatsoever things are lovely,’ and see to it that their goodness is attractive. But the fragrant, pure lily has but shallow roots, and beauty is not all that a character needs in this world of struggle and effort. So there are to be both the lily’s blossom and roots like Lebanon. The image may refer to the firm buttresses of the widespread foot-hills, from which the sovereign summits of the great mountain range rise, or, as is rather suggested by the accompanying similes from the vegetable world, it may refer to the cedars growing there. Their roots are anchored deep and stretch far underground; therefore they rear towering heads, and spread broad shelves of dark foliage, safe from any blast. Our lives must be deep rooted in God if they are to be strong. Boots generally spread beneath the soil about as far as branches extend above it. There should be at least as much underground, ‘hid with Christ in God,’ as is visible to the world.
But beauty and strength are not all. So Hosea thinks of yet another of the characteristic growths of Palestine, the olive, which is not strikingly beautiful in form, with its strangely gnarled, contorted stem, its feeble branches, and its small, pointed, pale leaves, but has the beauty of fruitfulriess, and is green when other trees are bare. Such ‘beauty’ should be ours, and will be if the ‘dew’ falls on us.
In Hos 14:7 there are difficulties, both as to the application of the ‘his,’ and as to the reading and rendering of some of the words. But the general drift is clear. It prolongs the tones of the foregoing verses, keeping to the same class of images, and expressing fruitfulness, abundant as the corn and precious as the grape, and fragrance like the ‘bouquet’ of the choicest wine.
Hos 14:8 offers great difficulties on any interpretation. The supplement ‘shall say’ is questionable, and it is doubtful whether Ephraim is the speaker at all, and whether, if so, he speaks all the four clauses, and who speaks any or all of them, if not he. To the present writer, it seems best to take the supplement as right, and possible to regard the whole verse as spoken by Ephraim, though perhaps the last clause is meant to be God’s utterance. The meaning will then come out as follows. The penitent Israel again speaks, after the gracious promises preceding. The tribal name is, as usual in Hosea, equivalent to Israel, whose penitent cry we heard at the beginning of the passage. Now we hear his glad response to God’s abundant answer. ‘What have I to do any more with idols?’ He had vowed Hos 14:3 to have no more to do with them, and the resolve is deepened by the rich grace held forth to him. Hosea had lamented Ephraim’s mad adherence to ‘his idols’ Hos 4:17, but now the union is dissolved, and by penitence and reception of God’s grace, he is joined to the Lord, and parted from them. His renunciation of idolatry is based, in the second clause, on his experience of what God can do, and on his having heard God’s gracious voice of pardon and promise. If a man hears God, he will not be drawn to worship at any idol’s shrine.
Further, in the third clause, Ephraim is joyfully conscious of the change that has passed on him, in accordance with the great promises just spoken, and with grateful astonishment that such verdure should have burst out from the dry and rotten stump of his own sinful nature, exclaims, ‘I am like a green fir-tree.’ That is another reason why he will have no more to do with idols. They could never have made his sapless nature break into leafage. But what of the fourth clause-’From Me is thy fruit found’? Can we understand that to mean that Ephraim still speaks, keeping up the image of the previous clause, and declaring that all the new fruitfulness which he finds in himself he recognises to be God’s, both in the sense that, in reality, it is produced by Him, and that it belongs to Him? He comes seeking fruit, and He finds it. All our good is His, and we shall be happy, productive, and wise, in proportion as we offer all our works to Him, and feel that, after all, they are not ours, but the works of that Spirit which dwells in penitent and believing hearts. Some have thought that this last clause must be taken as spoken by God; but, even if so taken, it conveys substantially the same thought as to the divine origin of man’s fruitfulness.
The last verse is rather a general reflection summing up the whole than an integral part of this wonderful representation of penitence, pardon, and fruitfulness. It declares the great truth that the knowledge of the pardoning mercy of God, and of the ways by which He weans men from sin and makes them fruitful of good, makes us truly wise. That knowledge is more than intellectual apprehension; it is experience. Providence has its mysteries, but they who keep near to God, and are ‘just’ because they do, will find the opportunity of free, unfettered activity in God’s ways, and transgressors will stumble therein. Therefore wisdom and safety lie in penitence and confession, which will ever be met by gracious pardon and showers of blessing that will cause our hearts, which sin has made desert, to rejoice and blossom like the rose.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Hos 14:1-3
1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2Take words with you and return to the LORD.
Say to Him, Take away all iniquity
And receive us graciously,
That we may present the fruit of our lips.
3Assyria will not save us,
We will not ride on horses;
Nor will we say again, ‘Our god,’
To the work of our hands;
For in You the orphan finds mercy.
Hos 14:1 Return This (BDB 996, KB 1427) is a Qal IMPERATIVE. Return is a recurrent theme in Hosea (e.g., Hos 3:5; Hos 5:4; Hos 6:1; Hos 7:10; Hos 7:16; Hos 11:5; Hos 12:6; Hos 14:1-2). True repentance brings physical and spiritual benefits! Remember that repentance is related to personal relationship (i.e., return to the LORD your God, e.g., Hos 2:13; Hos 4:6; Hos 8:14; Hos 13:6; Amo 4:6; Amo 4:9-11) as much as it is to rules! See Special Topic: Repentance in the Old Testament .
stumbled The OT metaphor of footing is used to describe the spiritual life. Sure footing is a sign of a healthy spiritual life, while stumbling (BDB 505, KB 502, Qal PERFECT) is a sign of sin (cf. Hos 5:5 b; Isa 3:8; Isa 59:10; Isa 59:14; Jer 46:6).
Hos 14:2 Take words with you and return to the LORD This sentence (Hos 14:1 in MT) has four Qal IMPERATIVES and one Piel COHORTATIVE. God demands that they respond appropriately!
1. take – BDB 542, KB 534
2. return – BDB 996, KB 1427
3. say – BDB 55, KB 65
4. present – BDB 1022, KB 1522 (Piel COHORTATIVE)
Notice the repetition of take. If Israel will truly repent then God will completely accept and restore them!
This refers to the sacrificial system (i.e., MT our lips as bulls). To better understand this phrase we should add take words not lambs. This affirms the proper restoration of Mosaic sacrifice.
Take away all iniquity The VERB (BDB 669, KB 724, Qal IMPERFECT) is surrounded by IMPERATIVES. This phrase occurs several times (7) in the OT with God as its subject (cf. Exo 34:7; Num 14:18; Psa 32:5; Psa 85:2; Isa 33:24; Hos 14:2; Mic 7:18) and always means remove iniquity (cf. NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 162). It is a plea from truly repentant covenant people.
NASB, NKJVAnd receive us graciously
NRSVaccept that which is good
TEVaccept our prayers
NJBaccept our wealth
The variations in translations are due to the confusion over which meaning tob (BDB 373) should carry.
1. good, KB 371 I (LXX, NASB, NRSV, NJB)
2. speech, KB 372 IV (i.e., take words line 1; TEV, NET)
NASBThat we may present the fruit of our lips
NKJVFor we will offer the sacrifices of our lips
NKJV
(footnote)For we will offer the bull calves of our lips
NRSVand we will offer the fruit of our lips
TEVand we will praise you as we have promised
PESHITTAthen he will recompense you for the prayer of your lips
NJBinstead of bulls we will dedicate to you our lips
REBwe shall pay our vows with cattle from our pens
NET Biblethat we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls
The VERB basically means to complete, here to pay a vow (e.g., 2Sa 15:7; Psa 50:14; Psa 66:13; Psa 116:14; Psa 116:18; Isa 19:21). This refers to confession, prayer, and praise. This passage is used by modern Judaism to rationalize the place of prayer as a substitute for sacrifice (cf. Psalms 50; Psa 69:30-31).
The above translation and interpretation, so popular among Jewish sources, reflects the Septuagint. The MT reads, offer bulls. The Hebrew is uncertain and the context must fill in the necessary gaps!
Hos 14:3 Assyria will not save us In this verse there are allusions to political alliances and the things that human leaders tend to trust: (1) foreign alliances (Assyria’s treaties, cf. Hos 5:13); (2) military power (Egyptian horses, cf. Psa 20:7); and (3) idols (work of our hands, i.e., Canaanite fertility gods).
To the work of our hands Hosea ridicules idolatry in Hos 4:12; Hos 14:3; Isaiah in Isa 2:18; Isa 2:20; Isa 17:7-9; Isa 31:7; and Jeremiah in Hos 10:3-5; Hos 10:8-9; Hos 10:14-15. This attitude reflects Exo 20:4-5; Exo 34:17; Lev 19:4; Lev 26:1; Deu 4:15-19; Deu 4:25; Deu 5:8.
For in You the orphan finds mercy God is again depicted as a merciful parent as in Hos 11:1-4 (cf. Psa 68:5; Lam 5:3). The orphan represents the powerless and vulnerable people of society. God’s people should care for these kinds of people (e.g., Exo 22:21-24; Deu 10:18-19; Deu 14:29; Deu 16:11-12; Deu 24:17; Deu 24:19; Deu 26:12-13; Deu 27:19).
The VERB finds mercy (BDB 933, KB 1216, Pual IMPERFECT) is the same as one of Hosea’s children (negated) in Hos 1:6; Hos 2:4, but mercy is restored in Hos 2:1; Hos 2:19; Hos 2:23 and here! This is a covenant term like My people (cf. Hos 1:9 vs. Hos 2:1).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
return. Compare Hos 12:6. Joe 2:13.
unto = quite up to. Hebrew ‘ad; not merely “toward”, which would be ‘el.
for. Compare Hos 13:9.
iniquity. Hebrew. ‘avah. App-44. Some codices, with three early printed editions and Septuagint, read “transgressions” (plural)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 14
Chapter 14 ends God’s plea with the people. His arms are always open; He’s always ready to forgive.
O Israel, [God said,] return unto the LORD thy God ( Hsa Hos 14:1 );
You’ve gone away, you’ve turned after Baal, you’ve turned after your idols, you worshipped the calf, but return.
for you have fallen by your iniquity ( Hsa Hos 14:1 ).
It has been your ruin. It’s been your downfall.
Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away our iniquity, and receive us graciously: so we will render the calves of our lips ( Hsa Hos 14:2 ).
God is even putting the prayer in their mouths. He’s saying just call unto God, ask God for forgiveness. Just say, “Oh, Lord, forgive us. Take away our iniquity and be gracious to us.”
For Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: [for in God, the true God,] in thee the fatherless find mercy ( Hsa Hos 14:3 ).
Now God is saying, “If you’ll but do this then… “
I will heal your backsliding, and I will love you freely: for my anger will be turned away ( Hsa Hos 14:3 )
Oh just ask, ask Me to forgive your iniquities, ask Me to be gracious to you and I will love you,
I will heal you from your backsliding, and I will turn my anger away. I will be as the dew unto Israel: and he will grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots in Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and the smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; and they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: and the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him ( Hsa Hos 14:3-8 ):
I’ve heard God; I’ve seen God. I’ll have nothing more to do with idols because I’ve seen the true and the living God. God’s promising them all these blessings if you’ll just turn to Me, ask Me to forgive your iniquities, ask Me to be gracious and I will. I will do this for you.
Now, Ephraim, earlier in Hosea God said, “Ephraim is joined to her idols, let her alone.” She’s hopelessly bound up in her idolatry, but God foresees the day when they turn back to Him. The Bible says in Zechariah, “They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced.” And in that day when they look upon Him whom they have pierced and they recognize that Jesus indeed is God’s promised Messiah and they open their hearts to receive Him, there’s gonna be such a glorious reunion as they in love and repentance reach out to God and He in love reaches out to them and restores them. And they do away with idols completely.
I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein ( Hsa Hos 14:8-9 ).
Who is wise? Prudent? He’ll understand this: the ways of the Lord are right. You’re wise and you’re prudent when you understand that. When you no longer seek to walk in your own way but you determine that the ways of the Lord are right and the just shall walk in them, but those transgressors shall fall therein.
Shall we pray.
Thank you, Father, for Your love that never ceases, for Your mercies that are new every morning, for Your grace that You have bestowed so freely, fully, and abundantly upon our lives. Thank You, Lord, for loving us and drawing us with bands and cords of love unto Thyself. Thank You for putting Your Spirit upon us. Thank You for showing us Your way. Now may we walk in the ways of the Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
May God bless you and keep His hand upon your life, to guide, to strengthen, to bless. May the Lord be with you throughout all your activities this week. May He minister to your life in such a way that you’ll be very conscious of the presence of God. May He just burst upon the scene and may you just recognize His nearness and His grace and His love and just be overwhelmed by the goodness of God. May the Lord bless, watch over and keep you through Jesus Christ our Lord. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
According to the heading of this chapter, we have here an exhortation to repentance, and a promise of Gods blessing.
Hos 14:1. O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Fallen into sorrow, fallen into shame, fallen into spiritual poverty, fallen into weakness of faith, fallen almost to destruction, though thou art Israel, and God loves thee, yet thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; and the only possible way in which thou canst obtain restoration, is to return unto the Lord thy God. Seek once again thy Fathers face; cry, with the prodigal I will arise, and go to my Father. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. Thou mayest do so, for he bids thee come back to him. Thou should do so, for it was ill of thee to wander from him; so end thy wandering, and return unto him. Return unto the Lord thy God. He is thy God still. He denies not the sacred band which binds thee to himself. Though thou hast forsaken him, yet still he bids thee think of him, not as a stranger, but as thy God. O child of God, are you just now very heavy in heart because of your backsliding? Is the lamp of spirituality burning very low? Do you feel as if you had got into a state of spiritual barrenness? Then returnreturn at onceunto the Lord your God, for your sad condition is due to your iniquity.
Hos 14:2. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him,
He puts the words into our mouths; for he knows that, sometimes, we feel as if we cannot give proper expression to our repentance. We feel it, but we cannot utter it; so he puts the very form of the confession into his childrens mouths: Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him,
Hos 14:2. Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
Sin has had the mastery over you; therefore, ask to have it taken away by pardon, and by the cleansing which shall deliver you from the influence and power of it! Do not ask the Lord merely to take away some of your sin, but say to him, Take away all iniquity. Especially, if I have indulged some darling sin that has been my ruin, take that away. Take away all iniquity, and receive us. Thou canst not receive us with our sins upon us. Wilt thou press us to thy bosom while we are black and foul with iniquity? No, that cannot be; so, first take away all our sin, and then receive us. Receive us again into favour with thee, into a conscious sense of thy love. Receive us when we come to thee in prayer. Receive us when we come to the communion table. Receive us as thou didst at the first, as thy sons and daughters. Receive us graciously. We cannot hope to be received on any other footing but that of thy free and abounding grace; for even if thou dost forgive and cleanse us, we shall be sinners still, and shall still need thy grace and mercy. Receive us graciously; so will we render. When thou hast put away our sin, and received us, then we will begin to serve thee; and we will bring to thee, not the calves of the legal sacrifice; for a sense of thy love will make us feel that thou delightest not in burnt offering; but we will render unto thee the calves of our lips,our testimony to thy faithfulness,our declaration of thy truth,our prayer,our praise.
Hos 14:3. Asshur shall not save us;-
When a man trusts to his God, he gets away from all other trust. Confidence in God is the death of all other confidences: Asshur shall not save
Hos 14:3. We will not ride upon horses:
Which, somehow or other, were always the Israelites fear and trust. They always looked upon horsemen as the most powerful friends or foes in the day of battle; but now they feel that all creatures shall be given up, and they will cling to God alone: Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses.
Hos 14:3. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
What a sweet reason this is for confidence in God, namely, that he cares for those who have nobody else to care for them,that he becomes the Helper of those who have no other helper, and the Guardian of those who are left friendless in the world! O my soul, art thou not just such an one,friendless, helpless, hopeless, orphaned? Fly, then, to that God in whom the fatherless findeth mercy, and thou, too, shalt find mercy. Now let us listen to the voice of God:
Hos 14:4. I will heal their backsliding,
He can do it; he will do it, he evidently rejoices to do it. He soliloquizes with himself, as though it were a very pleasant thought to him: I will heal their backsliding,
Hos 14:4. I will love them freely:
Though there is nothing lovely in them, though they deserve my wrath,though, according to their own confession, they have gone after false gods, I will love them freely.
Hos 14:4. For mine anger is turned away from him.
I have fully forgiven them, and I have caused my great wrath to pass away from them. Now, dear child of God, you to whom I spoke just now, who have fallen into a dull, dead, dreary sort of state, are you not encouraged to return unto the Lord when he thus declares that he will heal your backsliding, and love you freely? You shall have your joy-days back again; you shall have your old love restored; you shall have your old delight renewed; you shall again dance before the Lord for very joy of spirit.
Hos 14:5. I will be as the dew unto Israel:
When they come back to me, I will refresh them,softly, sweetly, efficaciously, abundantly, mysteriously, even as the dew refreshes the thirsty earth.
Hos 14:5. He shall grow as the lily,-
Your souls shall suddenly spring up. As the daffodil-lily springs up almost in a night, and its golden bells speedily appear, so you, who seem so dead, shall grow up adorned with the golden flowers of Gods delight in you.
Hos 14:5. And cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
Fickle as you have been, Gods grace will make you stable. You shall have as firm a roothold as a cedar has, and be as fixed as Libanus himself.
Hos 14:6. His branches shall spread,
You shall begin to have influence upon others, and cast a shadow over them for their good.
Hos 14:6. And his beauty shall be as the olive tree,
His soul, bedewed by grace divine, shall be beautiful as the olive tree, which has an almost indescribable loveliness all its own.
Hos 14:6. And his smell as Lebanon.
There shall be a gracious flavour about you, who are now so sapless and dry, when once the Lord returneth to you because you have returned to him.
Hos 14:7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return;-
Your children, your friends, all those who live in your house, shall be the better for your repentance and return to God. They try you now, but when you have left off trying God, they will leave off trying you. Among a mans own children, there are often those who remind him of his own sin against God. Do you wonder that Jacob had so much trial with his sons when you remember what kind of man he was? Are you surprised that Davids latter days were so full of trouble when you recollect his great sin? Ah! But if the Lord restores, and revives, and refreshes you, your household also shall be blessed: They that dwell under his shadow shall return;
Hos 14:7. They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
Your household shall have such a blessedness about them that observers shall say of you and yours, They are a seed that the Lord hath blest. The Lord has a most gracious way of making families to be very choice and select, and full of comfort and peace, when those families walk in his fear; but when there is sin in the head of the household, there comes disorder in the family, the departure of the divine blessing, and all goes awry.
Hos 14:8. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?
I have had enough of them. They have cost me sorrow enough; they have plagued me enough. I will put them away, for I must have my God, and I cannot have him and idols too.
Hos 14:8. I have heard him and observed him:
God hears the cry of the penitent, and observes what is going on in his heart.
Hos 14:8-9. I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
The Lord give us wisdom, by his Holy Spirit, to understand and know these things, and to put our understanding to practical account by returning unto him, for Jesus Christs sake! Amen.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Hos 14:1-3
LOVE RECONCILING PEACE REMAINS-LURED
TEXT: Hos 14:1-3
Israel is given directions for a proper response to the salvation God has offered earlier (Hos 13:13-15) and will offer (Hos 14:4-8). The proper response is penitent prayer and complete faith in God as their Father.
Hos 14:1 O Israel,H3478 returnH7725 untoH5704 the LORDH3068 thy God;H430 forH3588 thou hast fallenH3782 by thine iniquity.H5771
Hos 14:1 . . . RETURN UNTO JEHOVAH . . . FOR THOU HAST FALLEN . . . Few books in the Bible close on a higher note, with a more climactic appeal, than Hosea. Some, like Genesis, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, II Samuel, II Kings, Jeremiah, and others end on ominous, tragic notes. Other books, of course, close with a joyful note, but none is more dramatically impressive in this regard than Hosea. One gets the feeling from Hos 14:1, here, that Hosea has just offered Israel its last call to repentance before the awful judgment falls, The Hebrew word for fallen here is kashalta which means literally, stumbled; made a false step. Israel is exhorted then, to return which is equivalent to taking the right steps toward God. Jeremiah says it thusly: Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls (Jer 6:16), (cf. also Psa 16:11; Psa 23:3; Psa 25:10; Psa 119:35; Pro 2:8-9; Pro 4:11; Isa 2:3).
Zerr: Hos 14:1. The general subject of this chapter is a prediction of the return from the captivity. One of the objects to be accomplished by that terrible experience was the reformation of the nation. In keeping with that object, this verse is an exhortation to the people to return unto the Lord.
Hos 14:2 TakeH3947 withH5973 you words,H1697 and turnH7725 toH413 the LORD:H3068 sayH559 untoH413 him, Take awayH5375 allH3605 iniquity,H5771 and receiveH3947 us graciously:H2895 so will we renderH7999 the calvesH6499 of our lips.H8193
Hos 14:2 TAKE WITH YOU WORDS . . . TAKE AWAY ALL INIQUITY . . . SO WILL WE RENDER . . . THE OFFERING OF OUR LIPS . . . One of the first, and most necessary, steps to be taken is that of confession of sin. If we are honest with ourselves and honest with God and confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1Jn 1:9). However, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1Jn 1:8). The work of the Holy Spirit today is to convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment (see comments on Joh 16:8-9 in Gospel of John, by Paul T. Butler, pub. College Press). God cannot bless until man realizes and acknowledges he is estranged from God and takes the necessary steps to return to the grace of God. The very word confess in Greek is homologeo which means literally to say the same as. When we confess that we are sinners we simply say the same as God says in His word. And until we do we are rebelling against His word. So with Israel-she must say the same as God has been saying to her through the prophet Hosea. She has stumbled through her false stepping and must now confess it.
Zerr: Hos 14:2. They are exhorted to make the proper supplication to God on account of their departures from the true worship. Render the calves of our lips is a very comprehensive phrase. It is formed in view of the idolatrous worship of the calves set up by Jeroboam (1Ki 12:28). instead of such religious exercises, the people were exhorted to offer proper prayers to God, which is the meaning of the italicized words above. Paul makes the same figurative use of the subject in Heb 13:15.
The phrase accept that which is good refers to Israels plea to God to accept the only good thing they are able to offer Him-that is the sacrifice of penitent lips. They had no merit of their own to offer. He must love them freely (cf. Hos 14:4). God is pleased with the sacrifices of penitent, worshipping lips (cf. Heb 13:15-16; Psa 107:22; Psa 116:17; Jer 17:-26; Jer 33:11; Jon 2:9). And this is what Israel is directed to offer, penitent praise from their lips which would be better than the sacrifice of bullocks (cf. Isa 1:10-20; Mic 6:6-8).
Hos 14:3 AsshurH804 shall notH3808 saveH3467 us; we will notH3808 rideH7392 uponH5921 horses:H5483 neitherH3808 will we sayH559 any moreH5750 to the workH4639 of our hands,H3027 Ye are our gods:H430 forH834 in thee the fatherlessH3490 findeth mercy.H7355
Hos 14:3 ASSYRIA SHALL NOT SAVE US . . . After prayer for pardon and for acceptance of themselves, and thanksgiving for acceptance, comes the promise not to fall back into their former sins. Trust in man, in their own strength, in their idols, had been their besetting sins. Now, one by one, they disavow them. First, they disclaim trust in man. No longer are they to put their trust for security in political alliances with godless, heathen nations, forgetting that God can protect them from any enemy, regardless of how powerful that enemy might be. The sin involved in making such alliances is, first off all a manifest lack of trust in God, and second, certain compromises with paganism is necessary in any such alliance.
Second, they disclaim trust in their own strength. War was almost the only end for which the horse was used among the Jews. They measured their own military strength by the number of horses their king could command (cf. Deu 17:16; 1Ki 10:28; 2Ki 18:23; Psa 33:17; Pro 21:31). Civil defense is not necessarily spiritual defense. National security is not necessary spiritual protection. Without spiritual health there can be no national strength. Men today may boast of man-made satellites and of intercontinental ballistic missiles with the terrifying potential of nuclear energy, but what can any people do without God? If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us (Psa 124:2-3). This will ever be true in spite of our military might.
Third, they must renounce all idolatry. We have dealt at length with the nature and causes of Israels idolatry. It would be superflous to add to our former comments, only to remark how foolish indeed to trust in gods made with their own hands.
Zerr: Hos 14:3. The attitude of penitence toward God is still indicated by the prayer proposed for Israel- Asshur (Assyria) was the nation that took the 10-tribe kingdom out of its home land, and now the people are to realize that no dependence can be placed upon that idolatrous country. To ride upon horses would indicate a favor granted under the protection of a ruling power. There was a time when Israel might have expected to receive such favors from Assyria, but that will have been shown to be a vain thing. Work of our hands refers to the Idols the people had made out of wood, stone or metal. They were to be convinced that such gods are vain and unable to bestow any blessings upon their worshipers. Instead, in thee (the Lord) the poor and helpless find mercy.
The phrase in thee the fatherless findeth mercy must be another step Israel must take in its way to humbleness. Israel must recognize that it is an orphan and since it is homeless, fatherless and helpless, must throw itself completely upon the mercy of Jehovah who will give mercy to those who so trust in Him.
The words of the Chronicler come to mind as we contemplate Hoseas closing admonition. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Ch 7:14). The three-stage program offered by Hosea to Israel for her salvation would fit the situation of America today: (1) Repent, change the mind in relation to Gods word and will; (2) Confess its sins; (3) Renounce its vain hope in political alliances and treaties with godless, tyrannical governments whose avowed goals are enslavement of the world (instead of building bridges to our enemies we ought to be repairing bridges made by our pioneer ancestors of trust and praise to God); renounce its pride in its military and economic prowess; renounce all the idols it worships (sex, affluence, sports, sophistication, intellectualism). But, since America is not necessarily Gods people any more than any other nation, the primary application of Hoseas admonition must be made to the Church (Gods chosen nation ever since the Day of Pentecost), see the sermon on Hosea at the end of this book for this application.
Questions
1. How had Israel fallen by its iniquity?
2. Why is Israel exhorted to confess its sin?
3. What is the only good thing Israel has to offer to God?
4. Name the three-fold renunciation Israel is directed to make?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The cycle closes with the final call of the prophet, and the promise of Jehovah. The call was to the people to return, because by iniquity they had fallen. The method suggested was to bring the words of penitence, forsaking all false gods, in confidence that mercy would be found in Jehovah. To this Jehovah answered in a message full of hope, declaring, first, that He would restore, because His anger was turned away.
Then in a passage full of exquisite beauty He announced His detennination to renew His people and the surrounding nations. He would be as the dew to Israel, which thus would be made fruitful again, and they that dwelt under His shadow would enter into the blessedness. In response to this Ephraim is represented as breaking out into speech which is the language of full and perfect reinstatement.
The prophet closes with a brief word which constitutes an application of the teaching of his message for all time, affirming the ways of Jehovah to be right, and the destiny of man to be determined by his relation thereto.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
I Will Heal Their Backsliding
Hos 13:15-16; Hos 14:1-9
The prophet here ransacks the world of nature for phrases sufficiently expressive of his transports of joy. The whole world seems laid under contribution to set forth the love of God. The gentle dew, the rich raiment of the lily, the far-reaching spurs and roots of the Lebanon range, the spreading branches of the olive, the fragrant breath of the wind which is laden with the perfume of the land, the golden corn ripe for the sickle, the scent of the vines-these are the images with which the inspired imagination of the prophet teems.
But how deeply the chapter appeals to us! The very words that returning prodigals would adopt are set down. As we return, we hear the divine voice assuring us that our backslidings shall be healed, that there is no anger and only love, and that God Himself shall be the sap of our fruit-bearing life. Our Father wants it to be clearly understood that these promises do not belong to Israel only but to all who will accept them.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 14
Restoration And Blessing
The same yearning tenderness that led the rejected Messiah to weep over Jerusalem as He said, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! is manifest throughout this final chapter of our prophet. It is one of the most touching yet faithful entreaties to be found in the Book of God, reminding us of the soul-stirring appeals uttered by the Holy Spirit through a later servant, Jeremiah. Not only does it give us the beseechings of Jehovah that His people heed His voice and return to Himself, but it sets forth clearly just how they should go about it, even putting into their lips the words which, if they came from their hearts, He would delight to hear. Abundant promises too are given of blessing to be poured out upon them when they should thus bow before Him in repentance and contrition of heart.
O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity! (ver. 1). How bitterly had they proven that the way of transgressors is hard! Righteousness, we are elsewhere told, exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people. Had they followed in the paths of uprightness which their faithful, covenant-keeping God had marked out for them, theirs had been a very different history. But they refused to hearken, and turned away the shoulder. The result was failure and disaster from first to last. They had indeed fallen very low. Yet He, who had been so grievously sinned against, could lovingly entreat them still to return unto Him, who was their God from the land of Egypt.
Let us learn from their unhappy course both to avoid their sins and to know the exceeding grace of our God. The Church, as a testimony for an absent Lord, has failed as fully as Israel. But however dark the day, wherever a true heart turns back to God, judging itself for participation in the common sin of those so highly privileged, He who has been so grievously dishonored will still gladly receive such an one; yea, He waits but for open doors to come in and sup in communion, though the hour be late.
If the soul say, But I have erred so seriously, I know not how to approach so holy a God after having dishonored Him to such an extent; then He Himself will put a prayer into the lips of the returning one: thus assuring each seeking soul of His willingness to hear. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy (vers. 2, 3).
This prayer, indited by God Himself, will repay the most careful consideration. Let us take up its clauses one by one, weighing each in the presence of the Lord. Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, cries the repentant soul. Having long been denied, till the conscience was almost calloused, the light of God has now shown things up as they really are. This produces an abhorrence of the waywardness so long tolerated as though it were a thing indifferent. Unconcern is succeeded by deep exercise. Take away all iniquity! is the souls longing. Sin becomes hateful the moment one gets into the presence of God. Then the need of grace is felt, and so the cry comes, Receive us graciously. What a mercy that it is to the God of all grace we are directed to come!
There can be no restoration so long as one sin is trifled with and remains unjudged; but the instant a full confession is made and all iniquity is honestly turned from, the Word assures us of instant forgiveness. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1Jn 1:9). This is the principle that applies to a lost sinner seeking salvation, or an erring saint desiring restoration of soul. Sin judged is sin gone; and the soul may afresh enjoy the communion that has been interrupted from the moment evil was allowed upon the conscience. In the knowledge of this-a knowledge received, not by feelings, but resting on the testimony of Scripture- praise and worship once more spring up in the heart. So shall we render the calves of our lips!
Only when the life is right and the conscience pure from defilement can there be worship in spirit and in truth. Then the happy saint can without hindrance pour forth into the ear of God his grateful praises, and his worship, like incense, arise from the heart to which Christ is all. Israel shall enter into this, when, restored to their land after their disciplinary wanderings, they rejoice before Him who shall dwell in the midst of them, having first purged them with the spirit of burning from all that has hindered their full acknowledgment of His grace.
Asshur shall not save us, is the cry of a people who have learned to cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils. We have seen throughout this book how in the hour of their distress they turned, not to God against whom they had revolted, but to Assyria, the proud northern power, who was destined to be their ruin. Thus they learned that vain is the help of man. Therefore they will say in the day of Jehovahs might, Asshur shall not deliver us;15 but in God alone will they find their Saviour.
Nor will they depend in that day upon their own armies, mounted like the cavalry of the nations. We will not ride upon horses. It is noticeable throughout this history that their strength for warfare consisted not in imitating the manners and customs of the nations, but in reliance upon God in the spirit of praise. When Judah (praise) led, they conquered, as they counted on the Lord alone for succor. When Jehoshaphat met the enemy, he put singers, not cavalrymen, in the van, and a great victory ensued. To this they shall return when humbled before God because of all their failure and sin. A horse is a vain thing for safety, though it seem to add wonderfully to human prowess. But better far is it to lean upon the arm of Jehovah, and remember that the battle is His, not ours.
Idolatry had been their undoing in the past. But then they shall cry, Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods! Having learned the impotence of the gods many and lords many who have had dominion over them, the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. It is a lovely picture of a soul who has proven that no power, seen or unseen, can avail for deliverance, but the strength of the mighty God of Jacob. When everything is thus out in His presence, and no guile remains in their spirit, they can add with assurance, For in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy. Israel had been Jehovahs son, whom He had called out of Egypt. But they had forgotten Him, and done despite to His Spirit of grace. Therefore He had pronounced the Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah sentences upon them, as we saw in the beginning of the prophecy. Thus, when they return, they come in on the ground of pure grace and mercy. They come as the fatherless; not to claim the rights of a child, but to be the subjects of that loving-kindness which is better than life. How suited to the lips of the Remnant of the last days will be the words of this prayer!
The gracious response of the Lord immediately follows: I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for Mine anger is turned away from him (ver. 4). It is as though His great heart of love had been full, nigh to bursting, but their sins had kept Him from expressing all that was there. Now every barrier is removed, and, like an irresistible torrent, His kindness flows forth, overleaping, or sweeping away, every obstruction that a timid faith might yet raise. Loving them freely, He will set them in paths of righteousness, healing their souls and turning them from all their backslidings. Everything of the dark past forgiven and gone, His wrath has vanished, and His grace knows no bounds.
No longer shall they be as a barren and desolate heath, but like a watered garden, tended and kept by Himself. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon (ver. 5). The dew ever, in Scripture, sets forth the refreshing influences of the Holy Spirit, ministering the truth in grace to the soul. The manna in the wilderness fell on the dew-type of Christ ministered in the power of the Holy Ghost. Gideons signs pictured in a marvelous way Gods varied dealings in this regard. At first the dew was on the fleece, while all the ground was dry. Again, the fleece was dry, but all the ground covered with dew. So had Israel been blessed with the Spirits testimony, while the world lay in ignorance and idolatry. But Israel rejected Messiah at His first coming, and now the chosen nation is dry and desolate, while the Spirit of God is working among the Gentiles. In the Millennium He will be poured out on all flesh; then fleece and ground shall alike be refreshed with the dew. In Psalm 133 the dew of Hermon sets forth the same quickening and revivifying power as here in Hosea. God Himself will be as the dew unto His restored people, giving new life and freshness, that they may evermore rejoice in Him. Under His kindly nurture, they shall put on the beauty of the lily, with the strength of the cedar of Lebanon. No fading glory shall again be theirs, but a beauty that shall endure, and a strength that can never fail.
Then his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon (ver. 6). Towering up to heaven like a mighty cedar, Israels branches shall go out in majesty, and their fragrance shall be wafted in the air, that all may know that the Lord has taken them as His own. Nor is it only dignity and fragrance, but there shall be all the loveliness and fruitfulness of the olive tree-the oil tree, as the word might be rendered. This too speaks of the Holy Spirit, who will permeate the nation as the oil permeates the olive, making it a source of spiritual blessing to the whole earth.
They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon (ver. 7). Figure after figure is pressed into service to tell the joy of the Lord in His people, and their beauty and preciousness in His eyes. Jacob shall not only be regathered, but others shall find blessing through him, according to the promise to the fathers. Many shall dwell under his shadow, finding rest through the message committed to him. The corn and wine tell of strength and gladness. It shall no more be said, Israel is an empty vine; he bring-eth forth fruit unto himself. But, planted again in the land, the vine of the Lord shall flourish, and send forth its branches laden with choice clusters, to provide the wine of joy for the whole earth.
Then shall Ephraim say, What have I to do any more with idols? Dwelling in fellowship with God, and enjoying His matchless love and grace, the wretched follies of the past will be detested. The new affection will so possess the heart, that the vain idols at whose altars they once bowed will be hated and forgotten. In holy complacency the Lord looks down and says, I have heard him, and observed him.16 In joyous exultation, Israel answers, I am like a green fir tree!-not temporary verdure; but, like an evergreen, they will be perennially fresh and lovely in His eyes. But all their goodness is from Himself; so He replies, From Me is thy fruit found. Apart from Him, all would be barrenness once more, even as Jesus said, Without Me, ye can do nothing. But, abiding in the uninterrupted enjoyment of His love, their fruit shall never fail nor their freshness ever depart.
This closes the prophecy; but pointedly the Lord presses upon every reader the importance of weighing all in His presence. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein (ver. 9). The ways of the Lord has been the theme of the book. Happy shall we be if we are, through grace, numbered among the wise and prudent who know and understand, and the just who walk in them!
The Lord give efficacy to His Word for His names sake! Amen.
1 It is essential the reader should first read with care, in Scripture, the chapter under consideration in these Notes. To derive profit and blessing, the subject must be familiar.-[Ed.
2 This has been gone into at some length in the authors Notes on the Book of Esther, to be had of the same publishers. Paper covers, 30 cts.; cloth, 75 cts.
3 It will be observed that, in justifying from Scripture the present work of God in showing mercy to the Gentiles, this is one of the passages to which the apostle Paul appeals in Rom 9:25; while his brother-apostle Peter applies the same words to the present remnant of Israel in 1Pe 2:10. Both Jew and Gentile stand now on the same ground before God; therefore the same passage may well apply to both, for the salvation of either is on the ground, not of legal works, but of pure grace.
4 That is, the remnant of Israel: Because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. See Rom 9:27-29; Isa 10:20-23. The remnant then becomes the righteous seed for the millennial kingdom.-[Ed.
5 It is a sad and significant fact that the three words, Condemn not thyself, form an oft-repeated motto among so-called Christian Scientists of our day. Thus they lock against themselves the door to all true blessing; for God can only justify the one who condemns himself and his ways.
6 For a striking instance of what is here portrayed, see Jer 44:15-23. There the remnant actually trace their temporal mercies back to their idolatrous rites.
7 I take without money to mean that they had no money to redeem themselves with-so had to be redeemed by another.
8 For a fuller opening-up of Israels past, present, and future see a book entitled The Mysteries of God. The same author and publishers. Paper, 3 cts.; cloth, 75 cts.
9 For a fuller consideration of this solemn theme, see chapter eight of The Mysteries of God. Same author and publishers. Paper covers, 30 cts.; cloth, 75 cts.
10 G. V. Wigram, a man of much devotedness-now with the Lord.
11 I understand verse 8 should read as follows: The watchman of Ephraim was with God. [But] the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways! [Because of] hatred against the house of his God.
12 Hypocrisy, therefore, developed especially in Judah- This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (Mar 7:6; Isa 29:13). This is the danger where doctrine is right and outward form correct while the heart is away from God. Let every child of God beware of this. See Luk 12:1.-[Ed.
13 In so writing, I simply follow the marginal note. There is no positive proof that Hosea prophesied in the days of Hoshea, or that he is the king referred to.
14 This will take place when they shall be restored to the land of Palestine in unbelief, subsequent to the rapture of the Church, and previous to the establishment of Messiahs kingdom. This has been gone into at length, both in the Authors Notes on Jeremiah (chaps. 30 and 31), and in The Mysteries of God, to which attention has already been drawn.
15 It is usually Gods way to cause the very thing in which His people have dishonored Him to become their chastisement-thus to deliver the heart from the idol it has sought after.-[Ed.
16 There is good ground here to question the proper construction of this dialogue. I have followed J. N. Darbys suggestion in The Synopsis of the Books of the Bible. We might understand Israel as saying, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard Him, and observed Him! I am like a green fir tree. Then Jehovahs answer, From Me is thy fruit found.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Hos 14:1
While the freeness of God’s mercy is the leading idea suggested by these words, it is not the only one; on the contrary, the condition of our nature is accurately expressed, as is the mode by which alone it can be ameliorated.
I. Consider, first, the state into which man has brought himself. There are few things more important, whether we view mankind collectively or individually, than the fastening on the sinner all the blame of his sin. God may invite the prodigal to return, but God has nothing to do with his wandering away into the desert. Thou hast not fallen through an inherent inability to stand; He has so constituted thee that thou mightest have stood. Thou hast not fallen through the ground being slippery, and thick-set with snares; He placed thee where thy footing was firm, and thy pathway direct. Upon man himself come home wholly all the effects of the fall. In whatever degree there may be a necessity of sinning, in no degree is there a necessity of perishing. God places no man in such a moral condition that his falling into perdition is unavoidable. Let a man have once heard of Christ, and from that moment forward salvation is within arm’s length of this man. Is he willing to be saved? Then he may be saved. Is he unwilling? Then, at least, he perishes by his own choice; and our righteous, and merciful, and redeeming God is clear in judgment when He leaves the obdurate one to the fruit of his own folly.
II. Observe the mode of deliverance, as it may be gathered from the invitation: “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.” (1) The fall did not do away with God’s claim on man. Man could not cease to belong to God as a creature, when man had given himself to Satan; and this important fact is assumed, if not asserted, in the words of our text. The party addressed is the fallen, but the party addressing is still the Lord his God. Disobedience has removed man from the centre to the outskirts of the universe, but in one great sense it could not remove him from God, “who is that infinite sphere,” as expressed by an old writer, “whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere.” (2) We gather an inference of consolation from the fact that thou, “Israel, hast fallen by thine iniquity.” There is the groundwork of hope, that God will yet look mercifully upon us and restore us, seeing that, notwithstanding our alienation, He is still our God. The message, “Return unto the Lord thy God,” is full of consolation, because it invites us to the Being from whom all our rebellion has not been able to divide us. (3) That which God invites us to do must be possible for us to do. If God calls on us to return we are not at liberty to question that there lies no impossibility against our returning. Now this assumes two things: (i) that God has removed all existing obstacles: (ii) that He bestows all requisite assistance in the performance of it.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2143.
Hos 14:1-2
How to return to God.
I. The first act of the awakened soul is usually an act of prayer, and it is most natural, and indeed most proper, that it should be so. The very act of expressing our need has a tendency both to bring about clearer views of what it is that we need, and to intensify our desire. Inward silence and reserve tend to benumb the faculties and to check the rising desires of the soul, when the outpouring of earnest supplication seems to stir us to our inmost depths.
II. Notice the urgency of this utterance, which God’s love puts as it were in our mouths. There is only one kind of prayer that is at all appropriate in the lips of an awakened sinner, who finds himself without God in the world, but who desires to arise and go to His Father: and that is the urgent, specific entreaty for present forgiveness and salvation.
III. The divinely suggested utterance of our text is not only an urgent prayer, but it is also the expression of a distinct change in our moral attitude towards God. It marks the end of the life of aversion from God, and the beginning of a true conversion to God. “Take with you words” says the voice of Heavenly Love, “and turn unto the Lord.” Let there be a distinct reversal of your former attitude of independence and alienation.
IV. When thus with all our hearts we truly seek Him, it will not be long before we become aware of something that seems at first to rise like a barrier between Him and us, shutting us off from all contact with Him. What about our sins? This experience is evidently foreseen in our text, where we have a most definite and specific request for an immediate and most necessary benefit. There stands the barrier, and nothing can be done until it is removed; and so the Father’s love bids us pray, “Take away all iniquity.”
When this fatal barrier is removed, then is the way clear and open to the Father’s house; and may we not say into the Father’s arms? “Receive us graciously.” We need not fear going home to God. Their are no taunts on His lips, no frown on His brow; only infinite tenderness in His heart. He is too great to be otherwise than gracious; He has done too much to open up the new and living way not to be ready to welcome us home when at length we do come.
W. Hay Aitken, The Mission Pulpit, No. 72.
References: Hos 14:1, Hos 14:2.-W. Aitken, The Love of the Father, p. 113. Hos 14:1-3.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 162.
Hos 14:2
There is a porch even within the sanctuary of repentance. There is a pause of preparation, words selected, distinct movement, accurate speaking, an order in prayer, a new relation to God recognized, an audience asked, reception given,-leading up to self-dedication.
I. Words are immense helps to thoughts. You will never think accurately, nor think continuously, nor think without wandering, without words. Therefore, never be indifferent to the language in which you clothe your religion. “Take with you words.”
II. When the words are ready, “turn.” Adjust the attitude of your mind. It only wants a real “turn.” The back where the face was, and the face where the back was; looking the other way,-away from the world, away from the past, straight into the love of Christ.
III. Words are sacrifice. It is a pleasant and a holy thought that we all of us carry about with us wherever we go the means of sacrifice to God. We should offer all we have. Our lips should make sacrifice. Sacrifice, in its high propitiatory sense we cannot, and we need not, offer sacerdotally. There is no sacrifice in any Christian worship. We only plead one sacrifice, made once and for ever for the sins of the whole world. But spiritually every one of us is a priest. And there is not a believer who has not a sacrifice to offer: himself, his heart, his life, his soul, his body, his lips.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 10th series, p. 173.
References: Hos 14:3.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1695. Hos 14:4.-Ibid., vol. ix., No. 501, vol. xvi., No. 920; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 296. Hos 14:4-8.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 203.
Hos 14:5
This is a gracious promise to a penitent and returning people. Israel had fallen by her iniquity; but “He who pardoneth iniquity, transgression, and sin” had earnestly exhorted her to arise and return by repentance and righteousness to Himself; to take with her words of humble confession, of earnest entreaty, of renewed covenant engagement, of grateful, loving trust, and of solemn vow and promise for the future. And it is on the supposition that that gracious exhortation has been laid to heart that the Lord comes forth with abundant and adapted promises, among them the promise of the text.
I. The dew falls very quietly and gently. So is God to. His people when He comes to revive and bless them. The soul must have times of recruiting and replenishment, and probably times of silence. The filling of the hidden springs, the growing of the secret inward strength, will be, the “man knoweth not how,” as is the growing of the flowers, as is the falling of the dew.
II. The dew falls very copiously. In the land of Israel it falls much more abundantly than in this country. God’s grace to a Church in a time of spiritual quickening is very copious and full. When hearts are opened to Him in expectation they never close again in collapse and disappointment.
III. The dew is very refreshing. It makes dying nature live. When God comes in fulfilment of this promise there is a recovery of sinking strength, a kindling of dying graces, a returning to the first love, a doing of the first works. To those who are so visited there is a newness in religion every day.
IV. The dew is fertilizing. This silent, copious, refreshing agent works fruitfulness out of all growing things. And when God is as the dew unto Israel, His final end is that the plants of His right hand’s planting may become fruitful.
V. Note, as another analogy, the nearness to us in both cases of the reviving influence-God does not fetch the dew from stars, or from fountains in the skies. He condenses and distils it out of the atmosphere. May not this remind us how we are surrounded with a very atmosphere of grace, which holds all precious things in readiness to be dropped upon us when God shall command it so? The word of life is “nigh unto us,” as near the soul as the atmosphere is to the body.
A. Raleigh, Quiet Resting Places, p. 23.
Reference: Hos 14:5.-Preacher’s Lantern, vol. ii., p. 634.
Hos 14:5-6
I God begins: “I will be as the dew unto Israel.” Of dew we may notice several things. (1) It is beautiful and glistening; but the process by which it is formed, and the way by which it comes, are hidden from us,-as behind a veil, in mystery. (2) Dew is always proportionate. The greater the need, the larger the supply; the hotter the day, the thicker it lies; and by refreshing where it falls it tends to vitality and growth. (3) And it comes faithfully, morning and evening, wherever it is wanted, and never fails. That is like God. How the Holy Spirit distils upon us, or why, we cannot tell. The commencement of the Divine life and its supplies are perfectly inscrutable. The workings are secret, but the results are patent. And just as I want it, I find it. It comes fullest in the morning of our hottest conflicts, and the fiercer and most searching days of trial have their richest drops. At evening what is the most worked is the most renovated. And without it all the soul’s verdure and all the soul’s life would wither and die.
II. Now trace the consequences on the man himself. The metaphor is sustained. It is by the dewlike, gentle workings of God’s Spirit, by myriads of drops, each imperceptibly small. “He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon,” etc. There are five things: growth, strength, expansion, beauty, fragrance.
III. They that dwell under His shadow shall return. We all cast our shadows; and the influence we carry, the effect we produce,-may be, and should be, and must be, always for good and for God. And this is the characteristic of the Christian, that “they that dwell under his shadow shall return”-return to what they have lost: return to peace; return to that good land; return to Canaan; return to their God.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 10th series, p. 181.
Hosea’s picture of what the state of Israel would be, in returning to righteousness and becoming reconciled to heaven, is composed-curiously and daintily composed-of rich colours, drawn from various sources. To his glowing anticipation, no single image sufficed to represent the approaching glory. For an adequate portrayal of the brilliant prospect which his eyes beheld, he had to borrow and cull from this quarter and that-to gather and combine many things-selecting here a little and there a little, and binding the medley together, in one. And it is his eclecticism here that I find inviting and suggestive; his free flitting from object to object, in order to collect materials for an image of perfection.
I. It reminds me of what we need to recognize and act upon, both in the intercourse of life and in the pursuit of truth. No man is worth accepting wholly, and every man has a grace and glory of his own that is worth searching out. See on the one hand, how we renounce and shut ourselves up from canine, snarling, disagreeable people as though there were no lingering lines of beauty in them with which to cultivate acquaintance. See on the other hand, our tendency to hero-worship; to insulate and set up on high and warn off criticism from the man who has shown himself grand and supreme in two or three points, or perhaps in a single quality: how we foolishly assume him to be equally grand and supreme all round on all sides. What is needed is, that we should be more ready and quick to discern the special grace, and the consequent essentialness, of every unit in the crowd, and less ready and quick to confine ourselves to any.
II. The perfect man is here, but not to be brought together and expressed in any single personality. We can approximate towards securing the benefit and use of him by association, uniting in work, study, and intercourse, what we each have-our various distinctive characters and attainments. Instances of this may be seen in politics, in Church fellowship, in differing religious views. What we need in order to a growing discernment of the universe of spiritual truth among us is, comprehension-the comprehension within our circle of intercourse, of as many visions and impressions of earnest brother-souls as possible.
S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 187.
References: Hos 14:5-7.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 342; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xxii., 348. Hos 14:7.-J. Keble, Sermons for Holy Week, p. 163. Hos 14:8.-A. Maclaren, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 159; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1339; vol. x., No. 557; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 252. Hos 14:9.-J. M. Gibson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 344.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 14
The Return and the Glorious Redemption
1. The exhortation to return (Hos 14:1-3)
2. The glorious redemption (Hos 14:4-9)
Hos 14:1-3. This chapter is a wonderful finale to the messages of Hosea. What tender entreaties! What gracious assurance! What glorious promises of a future redemption! it is Jehovah beseeching His people, those who had forsaken Him, outraged His character of holiness and who had despised Him. First is the call to return. Gods hands are tied as long as His people stay away from Him and do not return to Him in true repentance. No true salvation and deliverance for His people is possible without a true heart return unto Him. It is this for which He looks and waits.
Then the Lord Himself puts His word and a prayer into their mouth. He loves to provide all. Take with you words and turn to Jehovah and say unto Him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips. Could their poor, darkened and mistrusting hearts ever even have imagined to ask thus of Him? Their consciences were defiled; the burden of guilt was upon them. But Jehovah does not mention their sins and their guilt, but tells them just to pray for forgiveness and for a gracious reception. And He who tells His wayward people to pray, to turn to Him, to pray for forgiveness, He who assures them that He hears, assures them of a gracious receiving, will never fail. How full of comfort these sentences are to all His people at all times! We can imagine that in Hoseas day there were individual Israelites who took these words to heart. After them generations of Jews read them and turned individually to the Lord, found forgiveness and became the objects of His grace. And we too, as His people, when we have gone back in our spiritual life, can find our comfort here, and appropriate all this in faith as we act upon His Word. In the future the remnant of Israel will take these gracious exhortations to heart, and before the glorious redemption is given to them return to the Lord with this prayer.
So will we render the calves of our lips. Literally rendered it is we will pay as young oxen our lips, i.e., present the prayers of our lips as a thank offering; we will be worshippers. Such is the result of a real return unto the Lord with sins forgiven and restored to His fellowship. The days of singing are coming for Israel in that day when they return unto Him and He appears in His glory to be enthroned as King. It will usher in the singing times for all the world, including groaning creation, then delivered. Then follows the evidence of their genuine repentance. It is expressed in words suited to the condition of Ephraim in Hoseas day. They repudiate Assyria; they acknowledge that no salvation is there, but only in Jehovah. No longer will they trust in their own strength and in the strength of their horses; no longer will they turn to idols and call them Our God, but they will acknowledge Him in whom the fatherless findeth mercy. Israel, Gods firstborn son, had been the prodigal, was fatherless, though the Fathers love never gave them up. But now the prodigal returns and knows there is One in whom the fatherless findeth abundant mercy. All this true repentance will be manifested at the close of this age, when the remnant of Israel turns to the Lord.
Hos 14:4-9. His gracious answer to such repentance follows. Three times Jehovah speaks I will. This is the word of sovereign grace. (See annotations on Ezekiel.) The three I wills are: (1) I will heal their backslidings; (2) I will love them freely; (3) I will be a dew unto Israel. They are arranged in a most blessed order. Mercy, love and gracious refreshment resulting in fruitfulness and beauty, such is the order. The past is wiped out, the present is love and the future is glory. Like the lily, like Lebanon and like the olive-tree, Israel is to be. The lily denotes beauty; they will be clad in the beauty of holiness. Lebanon stands for strength and stability; they will become the nation of power which can never be moved. Then they shall be once more the olive tree; the broken off branches will be put back Rom 11:16, etc.). The blessings of the restored Israel in the millennium are given in the seventh verse.
Beautiful is Hos 14:8. Ephraim (shall say), What have I to do any more with idols? I hear and I look upon Him; I am like a green fir tree. From Me is thy fruit found. Ephraim, the cake half turned, Ephraim, of whom it was said, he is joined to idols, leave him alone, now repudiates the idols. And why? I hear and I look upon Him! The vision of the Lord turned the stubborn heart. It is so still; the great power is to hear Him, to look upon Him. In that day Israel will look on Him whom they pierced, the great turning point in their future history. Then the nation will yield the fruit through their fellowship with Him. Blessed ending of this prophecy. For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
return: Hos 6:1, Hos 12:6, 1Sa 7:3, 1Sa 7:4, 2Ch 30:6-9, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, Jer 3:12-14, Jer 4:1, Joe 2:12, Joe 2:13, Zec 1:3, Zec 1:4, Act 26:18-20
thou: Hos 13:9, Jer 2:19, Lam 5:16, Eze 28:14-16
Reciprocal: Deu 30:2 – return unto Jdg 10:16 – they put 1Ki 8:35 – and turn 1Ki 8:48 – And so return 2Ki 17:13 – Turn ye 2Ch 6:38 – return 2Ch 15:4 – in their trouble 2Ch 33:15 – he took Job 22:23 – return Job 36:10 – commandeth Pro 1:23 – Turn Son 6:13 – return Isa 1:19 – General Isa 10:21 – return Isa 17:7 – General Isa 19:22 – they shall Isa 30:15 – in returning Isa 31:6 – Turn Isa 43:22 – thou hast not Isa 44:22 – return Jer 3:4 – Wilt thou Jer 3:7 – Turn thou Jer 3:22 – Return Jer 8:4 – Shall they Jer 24:7 – for they Jer 26:13 – amend Jer 35:15 – Return Jer 36:7 – It may Lam 3:40 – turn Eze 14:6 – Repent Eze 33:11 – turn ye Eze 33:14 – if he Hos 2:7 – I will Hos 5:5 – fall in Hos 5:15 – till Amo 5:2 – is fallen Zec 7:7 – cried Mal 3:7 – Return unto me Luk 15:18 – will arise Rev 2:5 – thou art
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
COME BACK! COME BACK!
Hos 14:1
All sin is departing from God. Holiness is living near to God. The first thing a sinner has got to do is to return. Repentance is returning to God. How is a sinner to return? God in His infinite mercy and condescension has given to us a form of prayer, an inspired litany of repentancewhich may be used by every repentant sinner. There are five petitions in this inspired litany of repentance.
I. Take away all iniquity.The first thing is deliverance from sin, not from punishment. Though all desire to escape punishment, all do not wish to be freed from sin. Take away all iniquity. Some are apt to pray, Take away all iniquityexcept that trick of trade, that habit of mine, that friendship. Others, like Augustine, pray, Lord save mebut not yet. We cannot break away from sin of ourselves. God can help us to do it. He can take it away, and He will, if we come with this petition to Him in sincerity.
II. Receive us graciously.Receive us into Thy favour. We are in disgrace. In disgrace with God, what wretchedness it brings! A mother who had great power in her eye, looked her disapproval of some wrong act. Mother, said her child, punish me, but dont look at me like that. What kind of sinners said this prayer? (see Hosea 4). How can God receive us graciously? Hosea does not tell us, but St. Paul does. He hath made Him to be sin for us Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. For Christs sake He receives us graciously.
III. So will we render the calves of our lips.Calves of our lips means sacrifices of our lips. As long as we live we will praise Thy Name. The sinner does not merely wish to get off, but to live to this praise. If only sin is forgiven, he will praise God as long as he lives.
IV. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses, etc.This, rendered in twentieth century language, means, We will renounce all trust in an arm of flesh. We must not trust to anything we can do ourselves. So many trust in what they can do, instead of Christ. Prayers, tears, religious ordinances, wont save us.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy Cross I cling.
V. For in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.This is a beautiful finish to the prayer. Im your Father. Who so fatherless as he who has gone away from God! Though the prodigal son, Im your Father. When his father saw him he had compassion upon him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. To all who use this litany of repentance, the promise is given, I will heal their back-sliding. I will love them freely, for Mine anger is turned away from him.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Hos 14:1. The general subject of this chapter is a prediction of the return from the captivity. One of the objects to be accomplished by that terrible experience was the reformation of the nation. In keeping with that object, tills verse is an exhortation to the people to return unto the Lord.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 14:1-2. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God O Israel, return now at length, after thou hast suffered so many evils, to the Lord by true repentance and reformation of conduct. The whole family of Israel, in both its branches, seems to be here addressed. For thou hast fallen From Gods love and favour into his displeasure, and consequently into misery, by thine iniquity Which has involved thee in endless troubles, and will be the cause of thy destruction. Take with you words Make your confessions, present your petitions, and signify your promises and resolutions unto God, not only in your thoughts, but also by words well chosen and digested; sanctioned by the Holy Scriptures, and agreeable to the will of God. The prophet here prescribes a form of confession, petition, and supplication very proper to be used upon their repentance and conversion. It implies in substance, Confess your sins, entreat for pardon, and promise amendment. And turn to the Lord In heart and life, in faith, love, and new obedience, otherwise your confessions and prayers will be to little purpose. Say, Take away all iniquity, &c. Deliver us from the guilt and power of our sins, internal and external; take entirely away the sinful principle within us, the carnal heart of the old Adam. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me; and receive us graciously Accept our persons and performances of thy mere grace and favour, thy unmerited mercy and love. But this clause may be rendered, Give us what is good; that is, bestow thy grace and blessing upon us: or, accept the good; that is, when we are begotten again unto holiness by thy Spirit, accept, as good, what we, thus regenerated, shall be enabled to perform. So will we render the calves of our lips That is, the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving uttered by our lips. By calling vocal devotions calves, (or bullocks, as Bishop Horsley renders the word ,) is shown, that this form of supplication is prepared for those times, when animal sacrifices will be abolished, and prayer and thanksgiving will be the only offering.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Hos 14:2. So will we render the calves of our lips. The fruit of our lips, in worship, in praise, and in all holy obedience. The sacrifices of thanksgiving are pleasing to God.
Hos 14:3. In thee the fatherless findeth mercy. The Israelites in their captivity and dispersion might indeed be called a fatherless people.
Hos 14:5. I will be as the dew unto Israel. By doctrine, by all the effusions of the Spirit, and by the grace of the gospel. The church shall flourish in all the glory of the latter day, as the prophets have foretold. Isaiah 35, 60. to the end of the book.
Hos 14:8. What have I to do any more with idols. When he shall come into covenant with Christ, every idol shall be abhorred.
REFLECTIONS.
It is said of Hannibal that he left Italy weeping: he had failed to capture Rome. So in the preseding chapters, we see the man of God, after a fight of more than fifty years, driven from the field, but not vanquished; cast down, but not destroyed. Leaving Samaria to the flames, whither could he go but to his God, and to all the glorious promises of the latter day. These promises the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform.
But the prophet going to his God, wished to take the remnant with him. He still cries, Oh Israel, return to the Lord. Take words with you, confess your sins. God will yet be the first to hear. Let the lips, which once perhaps kissed the calves, be washed and give glory to the Lord. Neither Asshur nor Egypt shall save us. We will trust no more in horses nor in chariots; then the Lord will heal our backslidings.
See here the happy effects of divine influences. When God is as the dew to his people, and pours out his Spirit upon them, they grow in knowledge, in holiness and comfort; they become strong in the Lord, appear amiable in the eyes of good people, and are real blessings to all about them. Let us constantly and earnestly pray for these influences, that all the beautiful allusions may be exemplified in us; and that our fruit, derived from God, may continually abound to his glory. Wise and upright men will cheerfully submit to divine truths and dispensations; a most important remark, with which Hosea shuts up his prophecy. When men quarrel with the word, or with the providence of God, the fault is in themselves, not in the bible. Prudent and wise men are satisfied with the reasonableness of Gods laws, and the equity of his providence. Transgressors think they are unreasonable, severe, unkind; and so are led into sin and ruin. This is the consequence of indulging a perverse and conceited spirit. It is necessary therefore that we diligently study the word and providence of God, that we may become wise and prudent; then, while others fail in his ways, we shall continue to walk in them, and find them ways of pleasantness, which lead to everlasting life.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Hos 14:1-9 (Heb. Hos 14:2-9). Israels Repentance and Yahwehs Forgiveness.The section begins with a passionate appeal to Israel to repent and confess his sin (Hos 14:1 f.). A promise of amendment (spoken by Israel) followshe will no longer put his trust in foreign alliances and idols (Hos 14:3). Yahweh now assures Israel of forgiveness; His anger is turned away, and the regenerated people shall blossom as the lily (Hos 14:4-7). Ephraim repeats his renunciation of idols, and Yahweh answers graciously, the dialogue being continued (Hos 14:8). A final exhortation, added by a later hand, urges that the book should be laid to heart (Hos 14:9). Some scholars regard the whole chapter as a later addition intended to mitigate the severe conclusion of Hosea 13. It is argued that the ideas expressed, and the lack of emphasis on ethical requirements, are out of harmony with Hoseas thought. Moreover Hosea demands not a confession of words (Hos 14:2), but an amendment of deeds (cf. Hos 4:1 ff.). But style and language are certainly compatible with his authorship, and the other objections disappear if the section is addressed to the regenerated Israel which will have survived the nations downfall. On this view its present position will be original (so Buttenwieser).
Hos 14:1. thou hast fallen: if the regenerated community is addressed, the ruin of the old state lies behind them.
Hos 14:2. words: a confession of sin rather than an animal sacrificeand accept . . . lips: read, and let us receive good (i.e. from thee) that we may render the fruit (LXX) of our lips (i.e. pay our vows for the blessings received). For fruit of the lips, cf. Isa 57:19.
Hos 14:3. we will not ride upon horses: i.e. will not enter into relations with Egypt, the supply of horses was dependent upon Egypt (cf. 1Ki 10:28). The expression was, perhaps, traditional in this sense (cf. Isa 30:16). The new community will no longer rely on Assyria and Egypt.for . . . mercy: perhaps a gloss (Marti).
Hos 14:4. I will heal their backsliding: regarded as a disease (cf. Jer 3:22).freely: Yahwehs love of Israel is not grounded on any sufficient merit in the people.for . . . him: ? a gloss (note change from them to him).
Hos 14:5. For figure of the refreshing dew, cf. Pro 19:12, Isa 26:19; and for blossoming as the lily. cf. Sir 39:14.Render and strike his roots (deep) as Lebanon (or perhaps read as the cedars, seeing that as Lebanon occurs at end of Hos 14:6).
Hos 14:6. The olive tree, which is green both summer and winter, is a figure for Israel, as in Jer 11:16.The smell of Lebanon: i.e. from its cedars (cf. Ca. Hos 4:11).
Hos 14:7. Read, They shall return and dwell under my shadow, they shall live well-watered (cf. LXX) as a garden, and be famed (reading weyizzkr) as the wine of Lebanon.
Hos 14:8. Read, Ephraimwhat has he to do any more with idols? I respond and will give him an habitation (God being the speaker). Some assign the last clause to Ephraim as speaker. But the whole verse may be regarded as spoken by God, who is compared to an evergreen fir-tree, which refreshes by its shadow and sustains by its fruit (read, his fruit).I have . . . him: render, perhaps, I have afflicted and (reading woashsherenn) will make him blessed (so Welch).
Hos 14:9. A post-exilic addition. The hortatory tone is like that of Proverbs; cf. Pro 11:5; Pro 15:19.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
14:1 O Israel, {a} return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
(a) He exhorts them to repentance to avoid all these plagues, exhorting them to declare by words their obedience and repentance.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. Restoration in spite of unfaithfulness 14:1-8
As usual in the major sections of Hosea, promises of restoration follow announcements of judgment. This final section of restoration promises begins with an appeal for repentance and closes with the prospect of full and complete restoration.
"In beauty of expression these final words of Hosea rank with the memorable chapters of the OT. Like the rainbow after a storm, they promise Israel’s final restoration. Here is the full flowering of God’s unfailing love for his faithless people, the triumph of his grace, the assurance of his healing-all described in imagery that reveals the loving heart of God." [Note: Wood, "Hosea," p. 223.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. An appeal for repentance 14:1-3
"As we move toward the conclusion of Hosea’s prophecy, the thundering voice of the prophet becomes a tender whisper as he pleads lovingly with Israel." [Note: McComiskey, p. 229.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Hosea appealed to Israel to return to Yahweh her God because her iniquities had caused her to stumble in her history as a nation. We know from Israel’s history that Hosea’s generation of Israelites did not repent, but still God’s invitation was open and genuine.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
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2. THE LAST JUDGMENT
Hos 13:1-16 – Hos 14:1
The crisis draws on. On the one hand Israels sin, accumulating, bulks ripe for judgment. On the other the times grow more fatal, or the prophet more than ever feels them so. He will gather once again the old truths on the old lines-the great past when Jehovah was God alone, the descent to the idols and the mushroom monarchs of today, the people, who once had been strong, sapped by luxury, forgetful, stupid, not to be roused. The discourse has every mark of being Hoseas latest. There are clearness and definiteness beyond anything since chapter 4. There are ease and lightness of treatment, a playful sarcasm, as if the themes were now familiar both to the prophet and his audience. But, chiefly, there is the passion-so suitable to last words-of how different it all might have been, if to this crisis Israel had come with store of strength instead of guilt. How these years, with their opening into the great history of the world, might have meant a birth for the nation, which instead was lying upon them like a miscarried child in the mouth of the womb! It was a fatality God Himself could not help in. Only death and hell remained. Let them, then, have their way! Samaria must expiate her guilt in the worst horrors of war.
Instead of with one definite historical event, this last effort of Hosea opens more naturally with a summary of all Ephraims previous history. The tribe had been the first in Israel till they took to idols.
“Whenever Ephraim spake there was trembling. Prince was he in Israel; but he fell into guilt through the Baal, and so-died. Even now they continue to sin and make them a smelting of their silver, idols after their own modelsmiths work all of it. To them”-to such things-“they speak! Sacrificing men kiss calves!” In such unreason have they sunk. They cannot endure. “Therefore shall they be like the morning cloud and like the dew that early vanisheth, like chaff which whirleth up from the floor and like smoke from the window. And I was thy God from the land of Egypt; and god besides Me thou knowest not, nor savior has there been any but Myself. I shepherded thee in the wilderness, in the land of droughts”-long before they came among the gods of fertile Canaan. But once they came hither, “the more pasture they had, the more they ate themselves full, and the more they ate themselves full, the more was their heart uplifted, so they forgat Me. So that I must be to them like a lion, like a leopard in the way I must leap. I will fall on them like a bear robbed of its young, and will tear the caul of their hearts, and will devour them like a lion-wild beasts shall rend them.”
When “He hath destroyed thee, O Israel-who then may help thee? Where is thy king now? that he may save thee, or all thy princes? that they may rule thee; those of whom thou hast said, Give me a king and princes.” Aye, “I give thee a king in Mine anger, and I take him away in My wrath!” Fit summary of the short and bloody reigns of these last years.
“Gathered is Ephraims guilt, stored up is his sin.” The nation is pregnant – but with guilt! “Birth pangs seize him but”-the figure changes, with Hoseas own swiftness, from mother to child-“he is an impracticable son; for this is no time to stand in the mouth of the womb.” The years that might have been the nations birth are by their own folly to prove their death. Israel lies in the way of its own redemption-how truly this has been forced home upon them in one chapter after another! Shall God then step in and work a deliverance on the brink of death? “From the hand of Sheol shall I deliver them? from death shall I redeem them?” Nay, let death and Sheol have their way. “Where are thy plagues, O death? where thy destruction, Sheol?” Here with them. Compassion is hid from Mine eyes.
This great verse has been variously rendered. Some have taken it as a promise: “I will deliver. I will redeem” So the Septuagint translated, and St. Paul borrowed, not the whole Greek verse, but its spirit and one or two of its terms, for his triumphant challenge to death in the power of the Resurrection of Christ. As it stands in Hosea, however, the verse must be a threat. The last clause unambiguously abjures mercy, and the statement that His people will not be saved, for God cannot save them, is one in thorough harmony with all Hoseas teaching.
An appendix follows with the illustration of the exact form which doom shall take. As so frequently with Hosea, it opens with a play upon the peoples name, which at the same time faintly echoes the opening of the chapter.
“Although he among his brethren is the fruit-bearer”-yaphri, he Ephraim-“there shall come an east wind, a wind of Jehovah rising from the wilderness, so that his fountain dry up and his spring be parched.” He -” himself,” not the Assyrian, but Menahem, who had to send gold to the Assyrian-“shall strip the treasury of all its precious jewels. Samaria must bear her guilt: for she hath rebelled against her God.” To this simple issue has the impenitence of the people finally reduced the many possibilities of those momentous years; and their last prophet leaves them looking forward to the crash which came some dozen years later in the invasion and captivity of the land. “They shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child ripped up.” Horrible details, but at that period certain to follow every defeat in war.