Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 3:5
Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
5. return ] i.e. from their evil courses of disobedience to their God and to the legitimate royal house.
David their king ] There is a great body of authority for regarding this as an expression for the Messiah. So the Targum took it, so Aben Ezra, and other Jewish writers cited by Pococke. The interpretation rests on the undoubted fact that in Jer 30:9; Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:24-25 ‘David’ means the ideal king of the future who should prove as it were a second David. In all these passages however there is something in the context to determine the reference to a person, and all these passages belong to a later period in the development of the Messianic revelation. The analogy of Amo 9:11 suggests that what is in Hosea’s mind is, not the person of the king, but the dynasty. In short, ‘David’ = the representative of David. Precisely so Rehoboam is still ‘David’ in 1Ki 12:16, and the high priest ‘Aaron’ in Psa 133:2. Hosea does not sanction the usurping dynasties (see on Hos 1:11).
and shall fear the Lord and his goodness ] Rather, and shall come eagerly to Jehovah and to his goodness (or, ‘to His good things’). ‘Come eagerly to’ is literally, ‘tremble to’, but the idea is not that they will tremble at their own unworthiness, but rather ‘trement pr gaudio’ (as the same verb means in Isa 60:8). Comp. the similar expression in Hos 11:10, where however the idea of speech is included. The parallel passage in Jer 31:10 proves that the revived love of the Israelites for Jehovah will have ‘cast out fear’.
in the latter days ] Rather, in the days to come (lit., ‘in the sequel of the days’); see on Mic 4:1. Hosea does not mean to say that this will be the last in the course of history; but only that after Israel’s captivity, nothing will arise to break the harmony between Jehovah and his people.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Afterward shall the children of Israel return – Elsewhere it is said more fully, return to the Lord. It expresses more than turning or even conversion to God. It is not conversion only, but reversion too, a turning back from the unbelief and sins, for which they had left God, and a return to Him whom they had forsaken.
And shall seek the Lord – This word, seek, expresses in Hebrew, from its intensive form, a diligent search; as used with regard to God, it signifies a religious search. It is not such seeking as our Lord speaks of, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled Joh 6:26, or, many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Luk 13:24, but that earnest seeking, to which He has promised, Seek and ye shall find. Before, she had diligently sought her false gods. Now, in the end she shall as diligently seek God and His grace, as she had heretofore sought her idols and her sins.
And David their King – David himself, after the flesh, this could not be. For he had long since been gathered to his fathers; nor was he to return to this earth. David then must be the Son of David, the same, of whom God says, I will set up One Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David, and He shall be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a Prince among them Eze 34:23-24. The same was to be a witness, leader, commander to the people Isa 55:4; He who was to be raised up to David Jer 23:5-6, a righteous Branch, and who was to be called the Lord our Righteousness; Davids Lord Psa 110:1, as well as Davids Son. Whence the older Jews, of every school, Talmudic, mystical, Biblical, grammatical, explained this prophecy, of Christ. Thus their received paraphrase is: Afterward the children of Israel shall repent, or turn by repentance, and shall seek the service of the Lord their God, and shall obey Messiah the Son of David, their King .
And shall fear the Lord – Literally, shall fear toward the Lord and toward His goodness. It is not then a servile fear, not even, as elsewhere, a fear, which makes them shrink back from His awful Majesty. It is a fear, the most opposed to this; a fear, whereby they shall flee to Him for help, from all that is to be feared; a reverent holy awe, which should even impel them to Him; a fear of losing Him, which should make them hasten to Him. : They shall fear, and wonder exceedingly, astonied at the greatness of Gods dealing, or of their own joy. Yet they should hasten tremblingly, as bearing in memory their past unfathfulness and ill deserts, and fearing to approach, but for the greater fear on turning away. Nor do they hasten with this reverent awe and awful joy to God only, but to His Goodness also. His Goodness draws them, and to it they betake themselves, away from all cause of fear, their sins, themselves, the Evil one. Yet even His Goodness is a source of awe. His Goodness! How much it contains. All whereby God is good in Himself, all whereby he is good to us. That whereby he is essentially good, or rather Goodness; that whereby He is good to us, as His creatures, its yet more as His sinfill, ungrateful, redeemed creatures, re-born to bear the Image of His Son. So then His Goodness overflows into beneficence, and condescension, and graciousness and mercy and forgiving love, and joy in imparting Himself, and complacence in the creatures which he has formed, and re-formed, redeemed and sanctified for His glory. Well may His creatures tremble toward it, with admiring wonder that all this can be made theirs!
This was to take place in the latter days. These words, which are adopted in the New Testament, where Apostles say, in the last days, in these last days Act 2:17; Heb 1:2, mean this, the last dispensation of God, in contrast with all which went before, the times of the Gospel . The prophecy has all along been fulfilled during this period to those, whether of the ten or of the two tribes, who have been converted to Christ, since God ended their temple-worship. It is fulfilled in every soul from among them, who now is converted and lives. There will be a more full fulfillment, of which Paul speaks, when the eyes of all Israel shall be opened to the deceivableness of the last antichrist; and Enoch and Elias, the two witnesses Rev 11:3, shall have come to prepare our Lords second Coming, and shall have keen slain, and, by Gods converting grace, all Israel shall be saved Rom 11:26.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 3:5
And shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.
Goodness producing fear
There are three points here peculiarly worthy of our notice. The designation which is given to the Gospel dispensation–the goodness of the Lord. The first stage of its development–in the latter days. The peculiar effect which this development was to produce on the feelings and passions of men–They shall fear the Lord. The Gospel dispensation is in itself the essence, the consummation, the perfection of excellence. It deserves that appellation because it is the supreme gift, the supreme evidence, and the supreme instrument of Divine love. Goodness generally excites admiration and gratitude and obedience, but here it is said that the exhibition of goodness produces fear. In the first establishment of the Christian dispensation there was everything calculated to produce fear. The astonishing fall of the Jews. A most splendid exhibition of Divine power. Expectation that the end of the world was at hand. The general principle which we consider is–that the goodness of God in the Gospel is calculated to produce fear. Why?
I. Because this goodness throws fresh light on the terrors of sin. Fear, philosophically defined, is this, a painful sensation produced by the apprehension of imminent danger, and that danger may be the loss of present enjoyment, the fear of future disappointment, or the infliction of positive injury. But this is not the fear of our text. There is in it a holy, reverential, and even pleasing awe, produced in the mind by the sight of those visions which the goodness of God in the Gospels unfolds to the mind. When Divine light pierces the darkness of the soul, the mind sees its guilt, feels its pollution, apprehends its terrific and awful doom. I much question whether any man has ever been converted without, first of all, feeling the sensation of fear. It is impossible for any man to be impressed with the depravity of his own mind unless he is impressed with the excellence of the Gospel.
II. By the exhibition of the goodness of the Gospel we see the terrors of sin in the world. Who is the man that detects, mourns over, and attempts by Gods help to remove the sin that is in the world? Surely it is the man who has received this light. Let us be alive to the real state of things in the world.
III. The goodness of god in the gospel produces fear because it is an extraordinary act of Jehovah, and arises from absolute sovereignty. If our salvation were in our own hands why should we fear? If we had a power superior to any power hostile to our salvation, why should we fear? Or if our salvation depended upon the absolute justice of God–if God could not have been just without saving us, why should we fear? But the fact is that God saves us purely and exclusively because He wishes to do it. The very perfections of the Deity qualify Him to act as a sovereign. He acts from His own spontaneousness. God might not have exercised any sovereignty in the way of mercy. The sovereignty of God does real and positive good. But while it does this good, it leaves the sinner just where he was. There is a real exercise of the sovereignty in the salvation of man. Let us fear, then, because our responsibility is awfully augmented. Our gratitude to God ought to correspond to the character of the blessings which we have received. And our exertions for the good of others ought to correspond to the value of the blessings that we enjoy. (Caleb Morris.)
True and worthy fear
It is not a servile fear, not even, as elsewhere, a fear which makes them shrink back from His awful majesty. It is a fear most opposed to this; a fear whereby they shall flee to Him for help, from all that is to be feared; a reverent holy awe, which should even impel them to Him; a fear of losing Him, which should make them hasten to Him. They shall fear, and wonder exceedingly, astonied, at the greatness of Gods dealing, or of their now joy. Yet they should hasten tremblingly, as bearing in memory their past unfaithfulness and ill deserts, and fearing to approach but for the greater fear of turning away. Nor do they hasten with this reverent awe and awful joy to God only, but to His goodness also. His goodness draws them, and to it they betake themselves, away from all cause of fear, their sins, themselves, the evil One. Yet even His goodness is a source of awe. How much it contains! All whereby God is good in Himself, all whereby He is good to us. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Fear to the Lord
I shall speak of the fear of God here only as it concerns this place. It is introduced here to show that when this glorious Church shall be formed, when God shall call home His own people the Jews, and bring in the fulness of the Gentiles, then shall the fear of God mightily prevail upon the hearts of the people; and the greater Gods goodness shall be, the more shall the fear of God be on their hearts. It is remarkable that almost all the prophecies which speak of the glorious condition of the Church ever make mention of the fear of God that should rest then on the hearts of the people. One would rather think that there should be a reference to the joy they would have. But why fear the Lord in these times?
1. Because of the glory of Christ their King. They shall behold their King in glory that shall cause fear.
2. Because of the great works of God that shall then take place.
3. Because the holiness and purity of the worship of God and of His ordinances shall cause fear.
4. Because the holiness of the saints, appearing brightly in their very faces and conversations, shall Strike great fear. Surely when the saints shall be exalted in their holiness, when every one of them shall have their souls filled with God, it will cause abundance of fear in the hearts of all those who shall even converse with them. But the wicked shall fear too, as well as the saints. Mens hearts shall fail them for fear, shall be verified in these days, as it was in the destruction of Jerusalem. The saints shall fear the Lord and His goodness. The goodness of God which in that day they shall fear, shall be this–
(1) That ever He should regard such a wretched people as this, and pardon all their sins.
(2) Because God shall then make the difference between him that feareth God, and him that feareth Him not. Then shall God take away all the reproach of His saints. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Israels conversion
1. Albeit that Israel as a nation hath been, and yet is, rejected and lost, yet they will certainly return to God. This we should long and pray for.
2. As true repentance and conversion will appear in mens being sensible of their great distance from God, and in their seeking to make up this distance, so all this is a sweet and blessed fruit of affliction.
3. The covenant standeth still to be forthcoming for apostates, when they repent and turn to God, renouncing false ways and worship.
4. There is no right seeking of God, nor finding Him, or the comforts of the Covenant, but through Christ, whom converted Israel shall acknowledge and embrace.
5. The conversion will appear in its constancy and perseverance, and particularly in the converts entertaining a holy fear and awe of God.
6. As God is always good to His own people, whatever they may think to the contrary, so much of His goodness will be manifested in the time of that life from the dead, when all Israel shall be saved.
7. The goodness of God will not make a true convert presumptuous, but will be unto him matter of reverence and holy fear and trembling.
8. Albeit Israel be long in gathering and converting, yet we are firmly to believe that, before time end, it will certainly come to pass; for all this shall be in the latter days. (George Hutcheson.)
Fearing the Lords goodness
Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
I. There is much that men do not know.
II. One thing that men do not know is the goodness of God. Goodness is a comprehensive term. God saw creation, and pronounced it good. Goodness includes beneficence, forbearance, patience. It may be likened to a rich flowing river, or to the sun shedding light and warmth all around. But goodness is not the thing that most strikes men in God. But it should be. It may be seen everywhere.
1. Trace it in Scripture story. Life of Jacob. Tale of the wanderings. Time of captivity. Life of Jesus.
2. See it in gracious providences. Winter snows. Summer storms. Autumn harvests.
3. See it in individual experiences. If we read the story of our lives aright, we shall be able to trace everywhere upon us the good hand of our God for good. But is this mans chief thought of God? Is it not rather the Gospel which has to be declared? Is not this the surprising, melting, persuading Gospel, whose chief rays fall from Christ crucified?
III. If men did but know the goodness of God they would feel the holy fear and hear the call to repentance. Men either find a sort of excuse in persisting that God is a God of wrath and judgment, or they presume on His goodness, and say that He will take no notice of sin. Spite of this, the mightiest of all moral forces is goodness. It is mothers power. It is Christs power. It melts, draws, wins. But it is goodness not in the abstract. It is goodness brought home to us. Who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Goodness says, Repent. Is that hard? Nay, it is but the first step on the way to trust, love, and life eternal. Gods new goodness seems to freshen the sense of His lifelong goodness, and of His saving goodness, until the cords of God seem to be all about us, and it becomes evident that He is graciously leading us to Himself. (Robert Tuck, B. A.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return] Shall repent of their iniquities, and seek the Lord; lay aside their mock worship, and serve the true God in spirit and in truth.
And David their king] Or as the Targum, “They shall obey the Messiah, the Son of David, their King;” and thus look believingly upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn. And then shall their long spiritual darkness and dismal captivity have an end; but not before. The Messiah, as David, is promised in Jer 30:9; Eze 24:23; Eze 37:22; Eze 37:24-25, (where see the notes,) and in this place of Hosea. Some think that the family of David is intended; but if we go to the rigour of the letter, the house of Israel was scarcely ever perfectly submissive to David. And we know that after the death of Solomon they never acknowledged the house of David till they were all carried away captive; and certainly never since. And to say that Zerubbabel is here meant, is not supportable, as the very short and imperfect obedience of the Jews to Zerubbabel can never comport with the high terms of this and similar prophecies. We are obliged, therefore, from the evidence of these prophecies, from the evidence of the above facts, from the evidence of the rabbins themselves, and from the evidence of the New Testament, to consider these texts as applying solely to JESUS CHRIST, the promised MESSIAH, who has been a light to lighten the Gentiles, and will yet be the glory of his people Israel. There is a strange propensity in some men to deny these evidences of Christianity, while they profess to believe its doctrines.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Afterward; after these long and sore troubles have broken their hearts and opened their eyes.
Return; repent; it is not a promise of return into their own country.
Seek the Lord their God, to know his way, and to live under his protection and blessing, to worship him, and they shall pray to him, depend on him, consult with him, with ardency and earnestness of desire.
David their king; not son of Jesse, who was long since dead; nor Zerubbabel; but Messiah, who is elsewhere called David, Psa 132:10; Jer 30:9; Eze 34:24; 37:24,25, which see; and Amo 9:11. Shall fear the Lord; with reverence shall pray, depend on, and consult their God, and worship his Son the Messiah, whom the Father sent out of his infinite goodness and kindness towards us.
And his goodness; God and his goodness, i.e. the good and gracious God, such to us in Christ; God in Christ and with Christ shall be worshipped. In the latter days; in the days of the Messiah, in gospel times, and perhaps the last of these latter days.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. Afterwardafter the longperiod (“many days,” Ho3:4) has elapsed.
returnfrom their idolsto “their God,” from whom they had wandered.
David their kingIsraelhad forsaken the worship of Jehovah at the same time that theyforsook their allegiance to David’s line. Their repentance towardsGod is therefore to be accompanied by their return to the latter. SoJudah and Israel shall be one, and under “one head,” as isalso foretold (Ho 1:11). Thatrepresentative and antitype of David is Messiah. “David”means “the beloved.” Compare as to Messiah, Mat 3:17;Eph 1:6. Messiah is called David(Isa 55:3; Isa 55:4;Jer 30:9; Eze 34:23;Eze 34:24; Eze 37:24;Eze 37:25).
fear the Lord and hisgoodnessthat is, tremblingly flee to the Lord, to escape fromthe wrath to come; and to His goodness,” as manifested inMessiah, which attracts them to Him (Jer31:12). The “fear” is not that which “hathtorment” (1Jo 4:18), butreverence inspired by His goodness realized in the soul (Ps130:4).
the latter daysthoseof Messiah [KIMCHI].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Afterward shall the children of Israel return,…. The ten tribes of Israel, and also the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which are included in the name of Israel, as Aben Ezra interprets it; and these are joined together in parallel places; see Jer 30:3 for though they did not go into captivity together, yet their return and conversion will be at the same time; and they are all spoken of under the name of Israel by the Apostle Paul, when he foretells their conversion and salvation, Ro 11:26. The “return” of them, here prophesied of, does not barely mean their return to their own land, which will be at this time; see Jer 30:3, but their return to the Lord by repentance; when they shall repent of, and turn from, their sinful course of life, and particularly of their unbelief and rejection of the true Messiah, and embrace him; and of their traditions and false ways of worship, which they shall discard; and of their own righteousness they shall now renounce; and shall turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in him for righteousness, life, and salvation:
and seek the Lord their God, and David their King; these may be considered either as two distinct persons, Jehovah the Father, and the Messiah, as in Eze 34:23 and so the Targum,
“and seek the worship of the Lord their God, and obey Messiah the Son of David their King;”
who will be both equally sought after, and unto, by them; and which is a proof of the divinity of the Messiah, and of his equality with God his Father; as well as points out the right way in which Jehovah is to be sought, namely, with Christ, or in him, in whom he is a God gracious and merciful; and to seek and know both the one and the other is eternal life, Joh 17:3 or else all this is to be understood of the Messiah, rendering the words, “and seek the Lord their God, even David their King” as also Jer 30:9, may be rendered; and so these are all epithets, titles, and characters of him: he is Jehovah, the everlasting I AM; the true God, and eternal life; Immanuel, God with us; God in our nature, manifest in the flesh; the Son of David, and his antitype, often called David in Scripture. Ps 89:3, King of kings, King of the saints, of his church, and will be owned as such by the Jews at the time of their conversion, though they have rejected him; but now they will receive him, and be subject to him; they will seek to him for salvation, for the pardon of their sins, for righteousness, for rest, for food, for protection and safety, and to serve and obey him: and this seeking will not be out of curiosity, or in a carnal way, or for selfish ends; nor hypocritically; but with their whole hearts, and diligently, and in earnest. Not only the Targum interprets this of Messiah the Son of David, but Aben Ezra on the place says, this is the Messiah; and it is applied to him, and his times, by other Jewish writers, both ancient and modern. In an ancient book h of theirs, speaking of David, it is said, the holy blessed God is well pleased with him in this world, and in the world to come; in this world, as it is written, “and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake”, 2Ki 20:6, and in the world to come, as it is written,
they shall seek the Lord their God, and David their King, c. David was King in this world, and David shall be King in the time to come. And in both Talmuds the words are applied to the Messiah; in one of them i, after quoting this text, it is added, the Rabbins say this is the King Messiah; if of the living, David is his name; if of the dead, David is his name. And in the other k, it is said, when Jerusalem is built, David comes; that is, the Son of David, the Messiah; which is proved by this passage, “afterwards the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King”; that is, as the gloss interprets it, after they shall return to the house of the sanctuary, or the temple: so Abarbinel, both in his commentary upon this place, and elsewhere l, as he interprets the “one head” in Ho 1:11, of Messiah ben Ephraim, whom he, with the rest of his tribe, feign shall perish in war; so he observes, that then Israel shall seek David their King, the rod out of the root of Jesse, whom the Lord shall choose, and cause to reign over them. And another of their later writers m interprets the passage of the Messiah, and produces it to prove against the Christians that he should come in the end of days, or in the latter days; as it is plain and certain that our Jesus, the true Messiah, came at the end of the Jewish world, in the last days of their civil and church state; see Heb 1:1,
and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter day; not man, but the Lord; not his wrath and vengeance, but his goodness; not with a servile, but with a godly filial fear; a fear influenced by the blessings of goodness they shall now be partakers of, particularly pardoning grace and mercy, Ps 130:3, they shall fear the Lord, who is good, and goodness itself, and Christ, in whom the goodness of God is displayed, and who is prevented with the blessings of goodness for his people: it may be rendered, they “shall fear”, or “come fearing to the Lord, and his goodness” n, being sensible of their sin, danger, and misery; they shall flee to the Lord as to their city of refuge, and to the blessings of his goodness they see their need of; and this they shall do in haste, as Aben Ezra interprets it, comparing it with Ho 11:11. The Septuagint version is, “they shall be amazed at the Lord, and his good things”; the Syriac version, “they shall know the Lord, and his goodness”: the Arabic version, they shall confess the Lord, and his benefits; the Targum,
“they shall give themselves to the service of the Lord, and his goodness shall be multiplied, which shall come to them in the end of days;”
or, as Aben Ezra, in the end of the prophecy of the prophets, in future time, in the times of the Messiah; which, as Kimchi serves, are always meant by the last days; and here it signifies the latter day of the last days, or of the Gospel dispensation.
h Zohar in Exod. fol. 93. 3. i T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 5. 1. k T. Bab Megillah, fol. 18. 1. l Mashmiah Jeshuah, fol. 55. 4. m R. Isaac Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. p. 44. n “pavebunt ad Dominum”, Montanus; “providi accedent ad Jehovam, et ad bonitatem ejus”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius “et cum timore venient ad Jehovam, et ad bonum ejus”, Schmidt; so Ben Melech interprets it, “they shall fear, and be afraid of him, flow to him, and to his goodness”; and which, he says, Saadiah explains of his glory, agreeably to Exod. xxxiii. 19.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“Afterward will the sons of Israel turn and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and will go trembling to Jehovah and to His goodness at the end of the days.” This section, like the previous one, closes with the announcement of the eventual conversation of Israel, which was not indicated in the symbolical action which precedes it, but is added to complete the interpretation of the symbol. Seeking Jehovah their God is connected with seeking David their king. For just as the falling away of the ten tribes from the royal house of David was merely the sequel and effect of their inward apostasy from Jehovah, and was openly declared in the setting up of the golden calves; the true return to the Lord cannot take place without a return to David their king, since God has promised the kingdom to David and his seed for ever (2Sa 7:13, 2Sa 7:16), and therefore David is the only true king of Israel ( their king). This King David, however, is no other than the Messiah. For although David received the promise of the everlasting continuance of his government, not with reference to his own person, but for his seed, i.e., his family; and on the ground of this promise, the whole of the royal house of David is frequently embraced under the expression “King David,” so that we might imagine that David is introduced here, not as an individual, but as signifying the Davidic family; yet we must not understand it on this account as referring to such historical representatives of the Davidic government as Zerubbabel, and other earthly representatives of the house of David, since the return of the Israelites to “their King David” was not to take place till ‘acharth hayyamm (the end of the days). For “the end of the days” does not denote the future generally, but always the closing future of the kingdom of God, commencing with the coming of the Messiah (see at Gen 49:1; Isa 2:2). Pachad ‘el Y e hovah , to shake or tremble to Jehovah, is a pregnant expression for “to turn to Jehovah with trembling;” i.e., either trembling at the holiness of God, in the consciousness of their own sinfulness and unworthiness, or else with anguish and distress, in the consciousness of their utter helplessness. It is used here in the latter sense, as the two parallels, Hos 5:15. “in their affliction they will seek me,” and Hos 11:11, “they shall tremble as a bird,” etc., clearly show. This is also required by the following expression, , which is to be understood, according to Hos 2:7, as denoting the goodness of God manifested in His gifts. Affliction will drive them to seek the Lord, ad His goodness which is inseparable from Himself (Hengstenberg). Compare Jer 31:12, where “the goodness of the Lord” is explained as corn, new wine, oil, lambs, and oxen, these being the gifts that come from the goodness of the Lord (Zec 9:17; Psa 27:13; Psa 31:20). He who has the Lord for his God will want no good thing.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
But it follows, Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king. Here the Prophet shows by the fruit of their chastisement, that the Israelites had no reason to murmur or clamour against God, as though he treated them with too much severity; for if he had stretched out his hand to them immediately, there would have been in them no repentance: but when thoroughly cleansed by long correction, they would then truly and sincerely confess their God. We then see that this comfort is set forth as arising from the fruit of chastisement, that the Israelites might patiently bear the temporary wrath of God. Afterwards, he says, they shall return; as though he said, “They are now led away headlong into their impiety, and they can by no means be restrained except by this long endurance of evils.”
They shall therefore return, and then will they seek Jehovah their God. The name of the only true God is set here in opposition, as before, to all Baalim. The Israelites, indeed, professed to worship God; but Baalim, we know, were at the same time in high esteem among them, who were so many gods, and had crept into the place of God, and extinguished his pure worship: hence the Prophet says not simply, They shall seek God, but they shall “seek Jehovah their God”. And there is here an implied reproof in the word אלהים “Elohehem”; for it intimates that they were drawn aside into ungodly superstitions, that they were without the true God, that no knowledge of him existed among them; though God had offered himself to them, yea, had familiarly held intercourse with them, and brought them up as it were in his bosom, as a father his own children. Hence the Prophet indirectly upbraids them for this great wickedness when he says, They shall seek their God. And who is this God? He is even Jehovah. They had hitherto formed for themselves vain gods: and though, he says, they had been deluded by their own devices, they shall now know the only true God, who from the beginning revealed himself to them even as their God. He afterwards adds a second clause respecting King David: but I cannot now finish the subject.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) David their king.Meaning the predicted representative of the Davidic dynasty. Thus Rehoboam and his house are spoken of as David (1Ki. 12:16). The phrase latter days is used indefinitely of the distant future, the horizon of the seers gaze. It occurs in Gen. 49:1 (Authorised version, last days). We can only see the fulfilment of this anticipation in the Messianic reign. (Comp. Eze. 34:23; Eze. 37:24.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. The judgment will bring the people to their senses and prepare them for intimate fellowship with Jehovah.
Afterward After the judgment has exercised its salutary effect.
Return, and seek Not necessarily from exile. The construction is the same as that in Hos 2:9, where R.V. renders “take back”; here equivalent to seek again Cured from apostasy, they will return from following the Baalim and seek Jehovah. Him, and him alone, will they recognize as their God.
David their king See Introduction, p. 34.
Shall fear [“come with fear unto”] Jehovah The same verb is translated “shall thrill,” that is, with joyous emotion, in Isa 60:5 (compare Jer 33:9; Hos 11:11); that seems to be the thought here: they will approach Jehovah trembling with joyful anticipation, though a sense of fear is not absent when they think of their former sinfulness.
His goodness As manifested in the restoration of the gifts withdrawn, in his readiness to forgive, and in the pouring out of countless blessings in which the Messianic age abounds (Hos 2:21-22; Amo 9:11 ff.; Jer 31:11-13, etc.).
In the latter days See on Mic 4:1.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Afterward will the children of Israel return, and seek YHWH their God, and David their king, and will come with fear to YHWH and to his goodness in the latter days.’
However, there will come a time when Israel do return (in repentance; compare Deu 4:30) and seek YHWH their God and David their king. Note the implication that they will be reunited with Judah under the rightful, God-approved king. And then they will come in ‘trembling’, (reverent, awed fear), to seek YHWH and His goodness in the latter days (compare Hos 11:11). The thought is of an Israel fully restored to what was God’s initial purpose in choosing David as king.
‘In the latter days.’ The phrase comes from Gen 49:1 where it simply indicates ‘in later days’. It does not therefore necessarily indicate what some call ‘the end times’. The point here is that it will be after God’s retribution has been meted out on Israel. The New Testament writers saw themselves as being in the latter days.
Once again we can see this as partially fulfilled in the inter-Testamental days, for there is no reason to doubt that members of both Israel and Judah took the opportunity offered to them to return (and anyway Judah itself had by the time of the Exile become a conglomeration of people from the twelve tribes). Nor would all the people in the land have been exiled. And when they did so it was to take a Davidide (Zerubbabel) as governor.
They would even more seek David their king when great David’s greater Son came into the world and called men under the Kingly Rule of God. And this happened in ‘the latter days’, for the early church considered that the latter days were upon them. See Act 2:17; 1Co 10:11; Heb 1:1-2; Heb 9:26; 1Pe 1:20; 1Pe 4:7. Finally, of course, it will result in the everlasting kingdom.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
DISCOURSE: 1145
THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS
Hos 3:5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.
KNOWN unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world: and whatever he has predetermined in his eternal counsels shall surely be fulfilled. Often indeed is the execution of his purposes delayed till unbelievers begin to think that his word has failed of its accomplishment: but in the evening time it shall be light: and when the obstacles to his will seem almost insurmountable, he will glorify himself in fulfilling it beyond all human expectation. Thus he acted, when, according to his promise, he brought the Israelites out of Egypt. He suffered them to be detained till the very last day that they could be detained consistently with the truth of his promise; and then, when the Israelites themselves were almost reduced to despair, he brought them out with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. Thus also will he act yet once more towards that chosen people. They are now dispersed almost beyond the hope of conversion to God. But there is a period when they shall as universally, and perhaps too as suddenly, commit themselves to the government of Christ, as ever they did to the direction of Moses; nor is it improbable that they will yet again inhabit that very land, from which they have been driven for their iniquities.
To elucidate this subject we shall consider,
I.
The event foretold in this prophecy
The whole of the Gospel dispensation is often called the latter days: but here the expression refers to what is called by many, the Millennium, or the time when all the kingdoms of the world shall be converted to Christ. In that day,
The Jews shall universally return to God through Christ
[When the ten tribes revolted from the house of David under Jeroboam, they established idolatry in opposition to the worship of the true God, and set up kings of their own in opposition to those who sat on the throne of David. But in about two hundred and fifty years they were carried captive to Assyria; and from that time to the present hour they have had no king or governor of their own; and have been deprived of all opportunities of worshipping God, either according to the Mosaic ritual, or according to their own idolatrous superstitions [Note: ver. 4. The Teraphim seem to have been images to which they resorted for the purposes of divination.]. However they are not wholly and finally abandoned of their God: for, when his Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh, they shall take the lead in turning unto God [Note: Zec 8:23.], and shall voluntarily appoint the Lord Jesus Christ as their head [Note: Hos 1:11.]. This blessed truth is abundantly confirmed in Scripture [Note: Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:21-22; Eze 37:24.]: and the accomplishment of it will display in a most stupendous manner the unsearchable riches of Gods wisdom and goodness [Note: Rom 11:33.].]
In turning to God, they shall be peculiarly influenced by the Divine goodness
[The sanctions of the Jewish law were principally of a penal nature, and calculated to beget a servile spirit. Even Moses himself at the giving of the law exceedingly trembled and quaked [Note: Heb 12:21.]. But, as formerly they feared the Lord and his judgments, so in the latter day they will fear the Lord and his goodness [Note: Rom 11:4.]: they will marvel at his kindness in choosing their nation in the days of old: and at his patience in bearing with them during their long departure from him; and, above all, at his mercy and faithfulness in bringing them back into his Church, and manifesting to them again the tokens of his love. With these considerations they will be overwhelmed; and, constrained by his love, will become patterns of all righteousness [Note: Jer 33:9.].]
While we contemplate this stupendous event, let us improve it by considering,
II.
The instruction to be derived from it
Very appropriate instruction may be gathered from it,
1.
By the unbelieving world
[There are infidels who deny the inspiration of Scripture: and, even amongst those who profess to believe the Scriptures, there are not a few, who look upon the future restoration of the Jews to God as a cunningly-devised fable. But let both the one and the other of these persons look at this prophecy, and see how unreasonable their doubts are. Who that was not inspired of God, would have ventured to predict such events as are here referred to, namely, The continuance of the Jews as a distinct people all over the world, yet without any king or governor of their own, and without any priest or sacrifice, or opportunity to worship the true God according to their law, and equally without practising the idolatrous superstitions to which in every period of their history they were prone? Who, I say, would have ventured to predict such a state of things as this, if he was not inspired of God so to do? And who would go on to foretell their future restoration to God, and their entire consecration to him as his willing and obedient servants? Yet has the former part of this prediction been unquestionably fulfilled. We see them preserved a distinct people to this hour; the ten tribes, from the time of their captivity in Assyria, and the other two tribes, from the time of their dispersion by the Romans. Every where are they distinguished by these two great peculiarities,an incapacity to worship their own God according to his appointment, and an aversion to idolatry, to which their whole nation were so long and so obstinately addicted. This then is to the whole world an evidence, that the Scriptures are divinely inspired, and a pledge, that the event predicted shall in due time be fulfilled.]
2.
By those who are inquiring after God
[Every awakened soul desires to know how it may find acceptance with God. And here the way of access to God, and of acceptance with him, is plainly declared. The Jews in due season will return to God through Christ, and will devote themselves to his service with filial gratitude and love. And it is in this way that every sinner must return to God. There is no other Mediator through whom any sinner in the universe can come to God: nor will any man be accepted of him, unless he surrender up himself to God in a way of holy obedience. On the other hand, no one who approaches God under a grateful sense of redeeming love, and with a desire to fulfil his will, shall ever be cast out. In fact, it is for this very end, even to produce this change in the hearts and lives of men, that Gods perfections are manifested [Note: See the blessed effect on Moses, Exo 34:6; Exo 34:8.], or his promises revealed [Note: 2Co 7:1.], or his blessings given [Note: Heb 12:28.]. Let every one of you then return to God in this way: for there is not one who has not departed from him, even as the Jews themselves, or who does not need the same penitence and faith as they: and I can venture to assure every penitent and believing soul, that whosoever cherishes this holy fear, shall have the light of Gods reconciled countenance lifted up upon him, and experience to his joy the same blessed liberty and the same divine enlargement, as they [Note: Isa 6:1; Isa 6:5.].]
3.
By those who are giving way to desponding fears
[Many, when first seeking after God, are ready to ask, Can it be that one so vile as I should ever obtain favour with God, or one so obdurate be ever penetrated with the feelings of penitence and love? Now I say, Look at the Jews; their wickedness, even from their first coming out of Egypt to their final expulsion from their own land, was most atrocious, even beyond that of the nations whom they were sent to extirpate. And now for the space of eighteen hundred years they have been as impenitent and obdurate as men could be. Yet behold, God has still designs of love towards them, and will ere long restore the whole nation to his favour. To all their other sins they added that of crucifying the Lord of glory: and yet are they not utterly and eternally cast off. Nay, when once the Spirit of God shall be poured out upon them, they shall, contrary to the course of nature, be like a majestic river flowing up to the mountain of the Lords house, itself established on the top of other mountains; so wonderful shall be the operation of divine grace upon them [Note: Isa 2:2.]. Who then should despair? Who should limit the exercise either of the power, or of the grace, of God? Dear brethren, let none despair either of themselves or others; for Gods mercy is open to all, and shall be effectual for all who seek it in his appointed way. I say not but that a mans day of grace may be passed even whilst he is alive in this world: but I do say, that no man who desires mercy, can be in that deplorable condition, because he would have been already given up by God to utter insensibility and obduracy. Only let a man come to God through Christ, and he shall find that with God there is mercy, yea, and plenteous redemption. Let any man whatever be moved by a sense of Gods unbounded goodness to him, and be led by that goodness to fear and serve the Lord, and he shall never perish; but shall be made a monument of that very grace, which shall be so wonderfully displayed in the latter days, in the restoration of Gods ancient people, and the consequent salvation of the heathen world.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
PRECIOUS, precious Lord Jesus! let me pass by and pass over every ether thought and consideration furnished by this Chapter, to attend to thee, and to that lovely character of thine set forth in this scripture, as the husband of thy people! It is thou, dearest Lord, and not thy servant Hosea, that is here set forth, as loving a woman, an adulteress, in thy love to thy Church and people. We have indeed all played the harlot, and done that which even the worshippers of the dunghill gods of the earth, never did; changed their gods, which were no gods; but we have changed that which is our glory, for that which cannot profit. But in the midst of all this rebellion, and apostacy, and departure; thou hast not changed thy love, nor given a bill of everlasting divorce, but if at all, yet only for a season. Every act of thine, in all ages of the Church, very fully shows, that thou hast not put away thy people whom thou didst foreknow. And after many days, thou wilt return and visit thine inheritance, and Israel shall again fear the Lord and his goodness, after many days. Oh! for faith in lively exercise, to be always on the lookout for the Lord’s coming. Hasten, O Lord, the gracious promise, and arise and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
Ver. 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return ] They shall come out of the furnace more refined than ever. “By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder; the groves and images shall not stand up,” Isa 27:9 . Then indeed hath Jacob the right fruit of his sufferings, when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones, crumbling them to crattle; when he pulls down the groves and images, those Balaam’s stumbling blocks that lay in his way to God, and now resolves to return.
And seek the herd
And David their king
They shall fear the Lord and his goodness
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Afterward, &c. This mark of time has not yet been reached. It corresponds with the “many days” of Hos 3:4. See the Structure above (“4-. “).
return, &c.: i. e. return [to Jehovah]. See Hos 5:15, and Hos 6:1.
seek. Compare Hos 5:6. Jer 60:4, Jer 60:5.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
David. Compare Jer 30:9. Eze 34:23, Eze 34:24; Eze 37:22, Eze 37:24. Therefore David must rise again, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must; and note the fact of Israel seeking David.
shall fear = shall rejoice in, as in Isa 60:6. Jer 33:9. Hebrew. pahad, a Homonym with another meaning (to fear, as in Deu 28:66. Job 23:15. See notes there).
goodness. Hebrew. tub, as in Hos 14:2 (“graciously”) = Gracious One: i. e. the Messiah. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 33:19). App-92. See the notes on Hos 8:3; Hos 14:2.
in the latter days. Rabbi Kimchi (A.D. 1160-1235) and other celebrated Jewish commentators writing on Isa 2:2, hold that this expression always means “in the days of the Messiah”. Compare Jer 30:24. Eze 38:8, Eze 38:16. Dan 2:28. Mic 4:1. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 49:1. Num 24:14. Deu 4:30; Deu 31:29). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
seek: Hos 5:6, Hos 5:15, Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13, Jer 3:22, Jer 3:23, Jer 31:6-10, Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5
and David their king: 1Ki 12:16, Isa 55:3, Isa 55:4, Jer 30:9, Jer 33:17, Eze 34:23, Eze 34:24, Eze 37:22-25, Amo 9:11, Act 15:16-18
fear: Psa 130:3, Psa 130:4, Jer 33:9, Eze 16:63, Rom 2:4
in the: Num 24:14, Deu 4:30, Isa 2:2, Jer 30:24, Eze 38:8, Eze 38:16, Dan 2:28, Dan 10:14, Mic 4:1, Rom 11:25
Reciprocal: Deu 30:2 – return unto Jos 24:14 – fear 1Ki 8:40 – fear thee Neh 9:25 – delighted Job 37:24 – fear Psa 5:7 – in thy Psa 34:9 – fear Psa 40:3 – many Psa 89:3 – made Psa 132:10 – thy servant Isa 9:13 – neither Isa 11:11 – set his hand Isa 17:7 – General Isa 29:23 – fear the God Isa 30:8 – the time to come Isa 32:1 – king Isa 32:16 – General Isa 60:5 – thou shalt see Jer 5:24 – Let us now Jer 16:14 – behold Jer 23:20 – in the Jer 29:11 – thoughts Jer 31:12 – and shall Jer 31:17 – General Jer 32:37 – I will gather Jer 48:47 – in the latter Jer 49:39 – in the Eze 21:27 – until Eze 37:24 – David Dan 12:1 – thy people Hos 1:11 – the children of Judah Hos 11:11 – out Jon 1:9 – and I Mic 2:13 – their Zec 5:7 – is Zec 12:8 – the house Zec 14:7 – at Mat 11:3 – Art Mar 11:10 – the kingdom Luk 5:26 – and were Luk 13:35 – Ye shall not Luk 24:44 – in the prophets Joh 1:49 – the King Joh 12:13 – the King Joh 18:31 – It Act 2:17 – in Act 2:43 – fear Act 13:22 – he raised Act 13:34 – the sure Act 26:6 – the promise Rom 11:26 – all 2Co 3:16 – when 1Ti 4:1 – the latter 2Ti 3:1 – in Heb 1:2 – these Rev 11:11 – great Rev 15:4 – Who
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 3:5. This verse is a prediction with both Jewish and Christian application. The Jews returned from the captivity and resumed the national life as it pertained to their religious activities. Also, in the time of Christ the Jews looked to the Lord through the system that was set up by Christ. Hai’irf their King is expressed because he was the first king of the tribe of Judah under the Jewish Dispensation, and he was the ancestor of the King in the Christian Dispensation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 3:5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return When they have lived a long time in this state, without any country or government of their own, without any temple or place of worship, and without the liberty and proper means for offering sacrifices; they shall be touched with a true remorse for their former errors, and weary of this forlorn and desolate condition, shall bethink themselves of Jehovah the true God, and shall seek unto him by prayer and supplication. And shall seek David their king That is, the son of David, the Messiah, often called David by the prophets, as being not only descended from David, but the person in whom all the promises made to David were to receive their full and final accomplishment: see the margin. So the Chaldee paraphrase expounds this and the parallel texts. David was also a type of the Messiah, and therefore the latter is called by the name of David. Thus John the Baptist is called Elias, Mal 4:5, because he was to resemble him, and to succeed him in his office of reproving the people, and calling them to repentance. The expression cannot be literally understood here, David himself having been dead long before the uttering of this prophecy. And shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days That is, they shall reverence the Lord, stand in awe of him, and fear to offend him, and shall put their trust in and be grateful for his goodness, manifested in their redemption, their illumination by the gospel, their conversion to God, and their restoration to their own land; and hence they shall yield an entire obedience to him, shall worship and serve him in spirit and in truth, and live to his glory. And this will come to pass in the latter days, or times, of the world: see notes on Isa 2:2; Dan 2:44.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and {g} David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
(g) This is meant of Christ’s kingdom, which was promised to David to be eternal; Psa 72:17 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
After this period of cleansing, the Israelites would return to the Lord. They would seek Him as their God and a Davidic king as their ruler (cf. Hos 2:7; Hos 5:15; Deu 4:29). They would approach the Lord with a healthy sense of fear because of His rich blessings. This would happen "in the last days," namely, the days of Israel’s national restoration (i.e., the Millennium; cf. Deu 4:30; Isa 2:2; Mic 4:1).
"The reference to ’David their king’ should not be understood in an overly literalistic manner. The prophets view the ideal Davidic ruler of the future as the second coming of David (see Isa 11:1-10; Mic 5:2) and even call him ’David’ on occasion (see Jer 30:9; Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:24-25). This ’David’ carries out royal functions that cannot be distinguished from those assigned to the messianic king. Other texts make it clear that this ’David’ is actually a descendant of David (see Jer 23:5-6; Jer 33:15-16) who comes in his ancestor’s spirit and power, much like John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah and thus fulfilled the prophecy of Mal 4:5 (see Mat 11:10-14; Mat 17:11-12; Mar 1:2-4; Luk 1:17; Luk 1:76; Luk 7:27)." [Note: Chisholm, Handbook on . . ., p. 348. Cf. Kaiser, p. 198.]
This appears to be another messianic prophecy (cf. Hos 1:11).
"Chapter 3 is one of the classic O.T. passages describing Israel’s past, present, and future. Her idolatrous past is illustrated by Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea (Hos 3:1-2), despite which Hosea is commanded to love her and buy her back ’according to the love of the LORD toward . . . Israel,’ a love which led Him to pay the purchase price of the blood of the cross to redeem Israel, the basis of her restoration. The present condition of Israel is illustrated and plainly prophesied in Hos 3:3-4. Her future is declared in Hos 3:5, showing her repentance toward God who, in His faithfulness, will restore her." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 921.]
"To summarize [chapters 1-3]:
"God is gracious, and no matter what ’name’ our birth has given to us, He can change it and give us a new beginning. Even the ’valley of trouble’ can become a ’door of hope.’
"God is holy and He must deal with sin. The essence of idolatry is enjoying the gifts but not honoring the Giver. To live for the world is to break God’s heart and commit ’spiritual adultery.’
"God is love and promises to forgive and restore all who repent and return to Him. He promises to bless all who trust him." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 320.]