Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 14:7
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.
7. They that dwell as the corn ] Rather, Once more shall they that dwell under his shadow bring corn to life (i.e. in prosaic language, cultivate corn). A contrast to the lamentation for the corn in Hos 7:14. ‘His shadow’, i.e. Israel’s; Jehovah is presumably still the speaker. For the idea, comp. Jer 31:5; Jer 31:12.
grow [ blossom ] as the vine ] There is a transition from the prosperity of the agriculture to that of the people who live by it, as in Psa 72:16.
the sent thereof ] Rather, his [i.e. Israel’s] renown (lit. his memorial or name). For the comparison which follows, comp. Son 1:3, ‘Thy name is as ointment poured forth.’
as the wine of Lebanon ] The vine is still largely cultivated in every part of Lebanon. But the finest grapes in Syria are those of Helbon, a village in the Antilibanus district, a little to the north of Damascus, precisely as in the days of Ezekiel (Eze 27:18) and Nebuchadnezzar (Lenormant, tude sur quelques parties des syllabaires cuniformes Par. 1876, p. 123).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They that dwell under his shadow – that is, the shadow of the restored Israel, who had just been described under the image of a magnificent tree uniting in itself all perfections. : They that are under the shadow of the Church are together under the shadow of Christ the Head thereof, and also of God the Father. The Jews, of old, explained it , they shall dwell under the shadow of their Messias. These, he says, shall return, i. e., they shall turn to be quite other than they had been, even back to Him, to whom they belonged, whose creatures they were, God. They shall revive as the corn. The words may be differently rendered, in the same general meaning. The simple words, They shall revive (literally, give life to, or preserve in life,) corn, have been filled up differently. Some of old, (from where ours has been taken) understood it, they shall revive themselves, and so, shall live , and that either as corn, (as it is said, shall grow as the vine); or by corn which is also very natural, since bread is the staff of life, and our spiritual Bread is the support of our spiritual life.
Or lastly, (of which the grammar is easier, yet the idiom less natural) it as been rendered they shall give life to corn, make corn to live, by cultivating it. In all ways the sense is perfect. If we render, shall revive as corn, it means, being, as it were, dead, they shall net only live again with renewed life, but shall even increase. Corn first dies in its outward form, and so is multiplied; the fruit-bearing branches of the vine are pruned and cut, and so they bear richer fruit. So through suffering, chastisement, or the heavy hand of God or man, the Church, being purified, yields more abundant fruits of grace. Or if rendered, shall make corn to grow, since the prophet, all around, is under figures of Gods workings in nature, speaking of His workings of grace, then it is the same image, as when our Lord speaks of those who receive the seed in an honest and true heart and bring forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty Mat 13:23. Or if we were to render, shall produce life through wheat, what were this, but that seed-corn, which, for us and for our salvation, was sown in the earth, and died, and brought forth much fruit; the Bread of life, of which our Lord says, I am the Bread of life, whoso eateth of this bread shall live forever, and the bread which I will give is My Flesh, which I will give for the life of the world? Joh 6:48, Joh 6:51.
The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon – The grapes of Lebanon have been of the size of plums; its wine has been spoken of as the best in the East or even in the world . Formerly Israel was as a luxuriant, but empty, vine, bringing forth no fruit to God Hos 10:1. God looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes Isa 5:2. Now its glory and luxuriance should not hinder its bearing fruit, and that, the noblest of its kind. Rich and fragrant is the odor of graces, the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and not fleeting, but abiding.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return] The Targum is curious: “They shall be gathered together from the midst of their captivity; they shall dwell under the shadow of his CHRIST, and the dead shall revive.”
They shall revive as the corn] The justness and beauty of this metaphor is not generally perceived. After the corn has been a short time above the earth, in a single spike, the blades begin to separate, and the stalk to spring out of the centre. The side leaves turn back to make way for the protruding stalk; and fall bending down to the earth, assuming a withered appearance, though still attached to the plant. To look at the corn in this state, no one, unacquainted with the circumstance, could entertain any sanguine hope of a copious harvest. In a short time other leaves spring out; the former freshen, and begin to stand erect; and the whole seems to revive from a vegetative death. This is the circumstance to which the prophet refers “they shall revive as the corn.” Of this a prudent and profitable use may be made.
1. When a soul is first “drawn by the cords of love,” Ho 11:4, every thing seems to it promising, comfortable, and delightful, like the corn in its first state.
2. But when the Spirit of judgment brings to the light of conscience the hidden things of iniquity, and repentance is deepened into contrition, the broken and the contrite heart groans, and thinks that all is lost; deep distress takes place, and discouragement succeeds discouragement. This answers to the corn in its second state.
3. By and by the pardon comes, and God’s love is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost; every hope is revived and realized, the full corn in the ear becomes manifest; and this answers to the corn in its third state. “They shall revive as the corn.” Glory be to God for his unspeakable gift!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They that dwell under his shadow; as many as unite to the church, are members of it, shall dwell under these spreading trees: the churches planted and spreading shall be to new converts as such trees to fainting travellers, almost spent with toil and heat; they shall find rest in this shadow, which may refer to Christ and the church.
Shall return; revive and recover new strength and life; so do souls weary and heavy laden with sin and fears find comfort and life coming to Christ, conversing with such as have been eased and comforted by Christ in like manner formerly.
They shall revive as the corn, which dieth ere it liveth to bring forth fruit; so converts die indeed to sin that they may live to God, die to all legal righteousness that they may live on rich grace: or else it may refer to the increase of the church, which shall be as many stalks from one ear of wheat.
And grow as the vine; which in winter seems dead, is pruned, and promiseth little to the eye, but yet life, sap, and a fructifying virtue is in it, and it will spring and bring forth fruit; so the church of Christ is used, that it may bring forth fruit more abundantly, Joh 15:2.
The scent thereof, the savour of it to God and good men, shall be pleasing as the scent of the delicious wines of Lebanon, which are mentioned by profane authors with a great praise for their sweetness and deliciousness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. They that used todwell under Israel’s shadow (but who shall have beenforced to leave it), shall return, that is, be restored (Eze35:9). Others take “His shadow” to meanJehovah’s (compare Psa 17:8;Psa 91:1; Isa 4:6),which Hos 14:1; Hos 14:2(“return unto the Lord,” c.) favor. But the”his” in Ho 14:6refers to Israel, and therefore must refer to the same here.
revive as . . . cornAsthe corn long buried in the earth springs up, with an abundantproduce, so shall they revive from their calamities, with a greatincrease of offspring (compare Joh12:24).
scent thereofthat is,Israel’s fame. Compare Ho14:6, “His smell as Lebanon” So1:3: “Thy name is as ointment poured forth.” TheSeptuagint favors the Margin, “memorial.”
as the wine of Lebanonwhichwas most celebrated for its aroma, flavor, and medicinal restorativeproperties.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They that dwell under his shadow shall return,…. Either under the shadow of Lebanon, as Japhet and Jarchi; the shadow of that mountain, or of the trees that grew upon it; or under the shadow of Israel, the church, to which young converts have recourse, and under which they sit with pleasure; or rather under the shadow of the Lord Israel was called to return unto, and now return, Ho 14:1; as the Israelites will in the latter day. So the Targum,
“and they shall be gathered out of the midst of their captivity, they shall dwell under the shadow of their Messiah;”
thus truly gracious persons sit under the shadow of Christ, who come to themselves, and return unto the Lord; even under the shadow of his word and ordinances, where they desire to sit, and do sit with delight and pleasure, as well as in the greatest safety; and find it a very refreshing and comfortable shadow to them; even a shadow from the heat of avenging justice, a fiery law, the fiery darts of Satan, and the fury of the world; and, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, exceeding pleasing and cheering to weary travellers; see So 2:3
Isa 25:4;
they shall revive [as] the corn: which first dies, and then is quickened; or which, after a cold nipping winter, at spring revives again: thus do believers under the dews of divine grace, under the shadow of Christ, and the influences of his Spirit: or, “shall revive [with] corn” e; by means of it; by which may be signified the corn of heaven, angels’ food, the hidden manna, the Gospel of Christ, and Christ himself, the bread of life; by which the spirits of his people are revived, their souls upheld in life, and their graces quickened; which they find and eat, and it is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts:
and grow as the vine: which, though weak, and needs support, and its wood unprofitable; yet grows and spreads very much, and brings forth rich fruit in clusters: so the saints, though they are weak in themselves, and need divine supports, and when they have done all they can are unprofitable servants; yet through the power of divine grace, which is like the dew, they grow in every grace, and are filled with the blessings of it, and bring forth much fruit to the glory of God:
and the scent thereof [shall be] as the wine of Lebanon; like the wine of those vines which grow on Mount Lebanon, and judged to be the best. On Mount Lebanon, about the midway between the top and the bottom of it, there is now a convent called Canobine, situated in a very pleasant place; and Le Bruyn in his travels relates, that it is preferable to all other places on account of its wines, which are the richest and finest in the world; they are very sweet, of a red colour, and so oily that they stick to the glass. At Lebanon was a city called by the Greeks Ampeloessa, from the excellency of its wine, as Grotius from Pliny f observes. Gabriel Sionita g assures us, that even to this day the wines of Libanus are in good reputation. Kimchi relates from Asaph, a physician, that the wines of Lebanon, Hermon, and Carmel, and of the mountains of Israel and Jerusalem, and of the mountains of Samaria, and of the mountains of Caphtor Mizraim, were the best of wines, and exceeded all others for scent, taste, and medicine. Japhet interprets it, the smell of their vine afar off was as the wine of Lebanon; and so Kimchi, the smell of the wine of the vine, to which Israel is compared, is like the smell of the wine of Lebanon. This may denote the savouriness of truly converted gracious souls, of their graces, doctrines, life, and conversation. Some choose to render it, “their memory h [shall be] as the wine of Lebanon”; so the Targum interprets it of
“the memory of their goodness;”
the saints obtain a good report through faith, and have a good name, better than precious ointment; their memory is blessed; they, are had in everlasting remembrance; the memory of them is not only dear to the people of God in after ages; but the memory of their persons, and of their works, is exceeding grateful to God and Christ.
e , Sept. “vivent tritico”, V. L. “vivificabunt frumento”, Munster, Castalio; so Syr. & Ar. f Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 18. g Apud Calmet, Dictionary, on the word “Wine”. h “memoria ejus”, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Tarnovius, Cocceius, Castalio, Schmidt, Burkius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The dwellers under his shadow shall return, (so it is literally;) they shall revive themselves with corn, (or, revive as the corn;) they shall grow as the vine: his odour shall be as the wine of Libanus. The Prophet proceeds with the same subject, that God would show himself bountiful to his people, that it might plainly appear from their different state that they had before suffered just punishment. And he says, The dwellers under his shadow shall return. But the verb ישבו, ishibu, in this place rightly means, “to be refreshed,” as in Psa 19:7; where the law of God is spoken of as משיבת, meshibet, converting the soul; which signifies the same as refreshing or restoring the soul. So the Prophet intimates, that after the Israelites shall begin to flourish again, their shadow would be vivifying, such as would restore and refresh those lying under it. He calls the “dwellers under his shadow”, all those who belong to the people; and compares the common state of the people of Israel to a tree full of leaves, which extends its branches far and wide, so that they who flee under its shadow are defended from the heat of the sun. We now see the design of this metaphor, and what the Prophet means by the verb ישבו, ishibu
He afterwards adds They shall vivify themselves with corn, or, revive as corn. If we read the word in the nominative case, the preposition כ, caph, is to be understood. The ablative case is more approved by some, “They shall vivify themselves with corn.” But the former sense seems more suitable; for, as I have said yesterday, the Prophet, as he handles a truth difficult to be believed, does on this account accumulate similitudes, such as serve for confirmation. Hence they shall revive as corn; that is, they shall increase. As from one grain, we know, many stalks proceed; so also, since the prophet speaks of the increase of the people after their restoration to God’s favour, he says that they would grow like corn.
But he adds, They shall germinate as the vine This similitude strengthens what I have just said, that the people are compared both to trees and to corn, and also to vines. And what is said of dwellers ought not to appear strange, for he wished more fully to express how this common benefit would come, that is, to every one. He afterwards adds, His odour shall be as the wine of Libanus; that is, when they shall germinate as the vine, they shall not produce common or sour wine, but the sweetest, such as is made on Mount Libanus, and which is of the best odour. But the Prophet means no other thing than that the Israelites will be happy, and that their condition will be prosperous and joyful, when they shall be converted from their superstitions and other vices, and shall wholly surrender themselves to be governed by God. This is the meaning. Let us now proceed —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
PEACE REMAINSLOVED
TEXT: Hos. 14:7-8
7
They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8
Ephriam shall 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 thy fruit found.
QUERIES
a.
Whos shadow are they to dwell under?
b.
Who is like a green fir-tree?
PARAPHRASE
All the faithful people who dwell in the shady peaceful and restful influence of this new Israel shall prosper in the presence of the Lord. They will produce and bear fruit because Israel is abiding in the Lord. Israel will say, I will have nothing more to do with idols. And the Lord will have answered out of His concern and care, I have become your everlasting source of joy and satisfaction; in Me you have found life and fruitfulness.
SUMMARY
The idyllic portrait of the Messianic age now comes to a climax from the artist Hosea. Gods gracious invitation is responded to by new Israel who finds God able to do exceeding abundantly above all that can be imagined.
COMMENT
Hos. 14:7 THEY THAT DWELL UNDER HIS SHADOW SHALL RETURN . . . They undoubtedly includes all the nations who shall dwell under the shadow of the new-Israel. It is they now, not henot Israel, but they that dwell under his shadow. It is certainly confirmed from other prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, etc., that the promises to new-Israel belong to the nations (Gentiles) in the coming Messianic age (the Church), Furthermore, as we have noted in our comments on Hos. 1:6Hos. 2:23, the promises to new-Israel belong to the Gentiles also since the apostle Paul applied Hos. 1:6 ff to them in Romans 9-11. G. Campbell Morgan says, The fulfillment of all this is coming through Christ. This nation as an earthly people was rejected when Jesus said in the Temple courts, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Almost immediately after, the Lord was alone with His own disciples, and He said, I am the Vine, ye are the branches. Everything of beauty and of glory and of strength and of fruitfulness, is to be produced through Him, and those associated with Him as branches in the Vine. And this newIsrael, as a result of the free love of God shown through His Son, will be drawn to Him (cf. Joh. 12:32) forever. Israels response will be, What have I to do any more with idols?Ephraim has broken with idols. What has brought this break with idols? What is it that sweeps idolatry out of the soul of a man, or of a nation? It is the loving care God expresses for men (once they have known and experienced it). Or, as our text puts it, I have answered and will regard him (new-Israel). The love of God, as it has been revealed through Jesus Christ our Lord, is the power that drives sin, anxiety, and fear out of the hearts of men (cf. 1 John 3-4). We love Him because He first loved us and if we have this hope in us we are able to purify ourselves by it (cf. also 2Pe. 1:3-4).
Hos. 14:8 . . . I AM LIKE A GREEN FIR-TREE; FROM ME IS THY FRUIT FOUND. This is from Gods mouth, God compares Himself to a cypress becoming green, not only to denote the shelter which He will afford the new-Israel, but as the true tree of life, on which the new-Israel finds its fruitsa fruit which invigorates the spiritual life of the new-Israel. We add here the comments of Keil; The salvation which this promise sets before the people when they shall return to the Lord, is indeed depicted, according to the circumstances and peculiar views prevailing under the Old Testament, as earthly growth and prosperity; but its real nature is such, that it will receive a spiritual fulfillment in those Israelites alone who are brought to belief in Jesus Christ.
QUIZ
1.
Who are the they of Hos. 14:7? How do you know?
2.
What motivates Israel to renounce idolatry?
3.
When was all this fulfilled? To whom?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7) It would be more in accordance with the Hebrew idiom to render, The dwellers under its shadow shall once more cause the corn to grow. The word translated scent (margin, memorial) should be renown. The form of these promises is derived from the external signs of national prosperity. (Comp. Hos. 12:10.) But corn and wine are throughout the Scriptures the great symbols of spiritual refreshment, and are still the memorials of the supreme love of Him whose body was broken and whose blood was shed for us.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Those who dwell under his shadow will return, they will revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine, their taste (name/memorial) will be as the wine of Lebanon.’
And those who dwell under the shadow of the new Israel’s spreading branches will return to YHWH, (or return from exile, compare Hos 11:11), and there they will revive like the grain (recalling the sudden coming to life of the greenery when the rains fell after the hot season, a transformation remarkable in its suddenness), and blossom as the vine (the blossoming of the vine promising a good harvest was always greeted with rapture). The picture is one of abundant fruitfulness and joy. ‘Their taste (literally ‘name/memorial’; compare Hos 12:5) will be as the wine of Lebanon’. No one ever forgot the taste of Lebanese wine, and the taste of Israel will be as sumptuous.
Some see ‘under his shadow’ as referring to YHWH (compare Son 2:3), but ‘his’ in context clearly refers to Israel, and the distinction between Israel as a nation and the Israelites as a people was already contained in the picture found in chapters 1-2 of Israel as the mother and the Israelites as her children. The central idea is of all returning to the covenant into which Israel as a whole have now re-entered.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 14:7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return, &c. They shall return and dwell under his shadow; they shall sprout out again as the corn, and bloom as the vine: he shall be praised as the wine of Lebanon, or “as the most exquisite wine which was offered at the altar.” Under his shadow means the shadow of JEHOVAH.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Hos 14:7 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. They that dwell under his shadow shall return ] Or, shall sit still, shall be at rest. The Chaldee hath it, They shall dwell in the shadow of his Christ. See a like promise of reconcillation and protection, Isa 4:6 ; Isa 25:4 Psa 35:8 . The refuge and refreshment of the Church is wholly from Christ; under the shadow of whose divine grace she resteth in her members, shaded and sheltered under the hollow of his hand, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall, Isa 25:4 , when indignation is kindled, Isa 26:20 , and when the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the land for their iniquity; then shall true converts have a chamber of rest, a Pella provided for them; or, at least, be able to sing David’s requiem, return to thy rest, O my soul, hover and cover under God’s wing, run to his name as a tower, and be safe. Why art thou case down? trust in God, trust in an angry God, in a killing God, as Job, believe him upon his bare word; and that against sense, in things invisible; and against reason, in things incredible. This is faith’s triumph, and this is the saint’s safety.
They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine
And the scent thereof as the wine of Lebanon
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
the scent thereof = his memory or remembrance [pleasant] as, &c. So the Septuagint
wine. Hebrew. yayin. App-27.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Hos 14:7-8
PEACE REMAINS-LOVED
TEXT: Hos 14:7-8
The idyllic portrait of the Messianic age now comes to a climax from the artist Hosea. Gods gracious invitation is responded to by new Israel who finds God able to do exceeding abundantly above all that can be imagined.
Hos 14:7 They that dwellH3427 under his shadowH6738 shall return;H7725 they shall reviveH2421 as the corn,H1715 and growH6524 as the vine:H1612 the scentH2143 thereof shall be as the wineH3196 of Lebanon.H3844
Hos 14:7 THEY THAT DWELL UNDER HIS SHADOW SHALL RETURN . . . They undoubtedly includes all the nations who shall dwell under the shadow of the new-Israel. It is they now, not he-not Israel, but they that dwell under his shadow. It is certainly confirmed from other prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, etc., that the promises to new-Israel belong to the nations (Gentiles) in the coming Messianic age (the Church), Furthermore, as we have noted in our comments on Hos 1:6-Hos 2:23, the promises to new-Israel belong to the Gentiles also since the apostle Paul applied Hos 1:6 ff to them in Romans 9-11. G. Campbell Morgan says, The fulfillment of all this is coming through Christ. This nation as an earthly people was rejected when Jesus said in the Temple courts, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Almost immediately after, the Lord was alone with His own disciples, and He said, I am the Vine, ye are the branches. Everything of beauty and of glory and of strength and of fruitfulness, is to be produced through Him, and those associated with Him as branches in the Vine. And this new-Israel, as a result of the free love of God shown through His Son, will be drawn to Him (cf. Joh 12:32) forever. Israels response will be, What have I to do any more with idols?-Ephraim has broken with idols. What has brought this break with idols? What is it that sweeps idolatry out of the soul of a man, or of a nation? It is the loving care God expresses for men (once they have known and experienced it). Or, as our text puts it, I have answered and will regard him (new-Israel). The love of God, as it has been revealed through Jesus Christ our Lord, is the power that drives sin, anxiety, and fear out of the hearts of men (cf. 1 John 3-4). We love Him because He first loved us and if we have this hope in us we are able to purify ourselves by it (cf. also 2Pe 1:3-4).
Zerr: Hos 14:7. The laws and procedure of vegetation are continued to be used to compare the favorable experiences of Israel. His shadow means the Lords shadow or protection from the scorching heat of enemy fire. Under the soothing effect of the shade and the enlivening help of the renewed seasons of the early and latter rain,” the plant of God (Israel) was to take on new life.
Hos 14:8 EphraimH669 shall say, WhatH4100 have I to do any moreH5750 with idols?H6091 IH589 have heardH6030 him, and observedH7789 him: IH589 am like a greenH7488 fir tree.H1265 FromH4480 me is thy fruitH6529 found.H4672
Hos 14:8 . . . I AM LIKE A GREEN FIR-TREE; FROM ME IS THY FRUIT FOUND. This is from Gods mouth, God compares Himself to a cypress becoming green, not only to denote the shelter which He will afford the new-Israel, but as the true tree of life, on which the new-Israel finds its fruits-a fruit which invigorates the spiritual life of the new-Israel. We add here the comments of Keil; The salvation which this promise sets before the people when they shall return to the Lord, is indeed depicted, according to the circumstances and peculiar views prevailing under the Old Testament, as earthly growth and prosperity; but its real nature is such, that it will receive a spiritual fulfillment in those Israelites alone who are brought to belief in Jesus Christ.
Zerr: Hos 14:8. This verse is a direct prediction of the cure of idolatry that was to be accomplished by the captivity. The historical quotation that shows the fulfillment of this prediction is shown in connection with Isa 1:25.
Questions
1. Who are the they of Hos 14:7? How do you know?
2. What motivates Israel to renounce idolatry?
3. When was all this fulfilled? To whom?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that: Psa 91:1, Son 2:3, Isa 32:1, Isa 32:2
revive: Hos 6:2, Psa 85:6, Psa 138:7, Isa 61:11, Joh 11:25, Joh 12:24, 1Co 15:36-38
grow: or, blossom, Hos 14:5, *marg. Son 6:11, Zec 8:12
scent: or, memorial
Reciprocal: Gen 27:27 – the smell of a field Jdg 9:15 – shadow Psa 128:3 – olive plants Son 4:11 – the smell Son 5:15 – as Lebanon Isa 35:2 – the glory Isa 60:13 – The glory Eze 17:23 – under Phi 4:10 – hath flourished 1Pe 2:2 – grow
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 14:7. The laws and procedure of vegetation are continued to be used to compare the favorable experiences of Israel. His shadaiv means the Lords shadow or protection from the scorch-ing heat of enemy fire. Under the soothing effect of the shade and the enlivening help of the renewed seasons of the early and latter rain,” the plant of God (Israel) was to take on new life.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 14:7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return Not only was Israel to regain its former prosperity, but those smaller tribes of people that were connected with Israel, and shared in its depression, which are here described by dwelling under his shadow. But many versions translate this clause, They shall return and dwell under his shadow. That is, they shall return to their own country, and rest safely under the protection of the Almighty. They shall revive as the corn They shall arise out of their calamities: this is properly expressed by reviving as the corn, because the corn is buried, and lies as it were dead in the earth, till, after some time, it springs forth. And grow as the vine Which in winter seems dead, but yet has life, sap, and a fructifying virtue in it. The reference here is to a vine that had been stripped of its leaves, and afterward flourishes again, recovering its lost verdure. A lively emblem this of the Jewish nation, arising from a state of great depression and affliction, and recovering its former prosperity and dignity. And a still more lively image of the revival and increase of true religion in the church of God, and of the graces and virtues of its members after a time of barrenness and unprofitableness. The scent thereof shall be as the vine of Lebanon Their wisdom, holiness, and usefulness, their piety and virtue, shall diffuse an agreeable fragrance far and wide, and shall be acceptable both to God and man. Mr. Harmer produces several testimonies in proof of the excellence of the wine of Lebanon above all the wines of that part of the world: and indeed above those which have been most celebrated elsewhere.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
14:7 They that dwell under his {f} shadow shall return; they shall revive [as] the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof [shall be] as the wine of Lebanon.
(f) Whoever unites themselves to this people will be blessed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Other nations would also flourish as they benefited from Israel’s good influence. The Israelites would again grow grain, a mark of covenant blessing (cf. Hos 2:21-23; Deu 28:4; Deu 28:8; Deu 28:11; Deu 30:9; Amo 9:13-15). The nation would be like a fruitful vine that produced the best wine, no longer like a scraggly vine in the wilderness (Hos 10:1).