Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 5:15
I will go [and] return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
15. return to my place ] See Mic 1:3, from which it is clear that Jehovah’s ‘place’ is the heavenly temple (Isa 6:1). Now that Jehovah has for a time deserted his guilty people, he will return to his seat on high, and watch (Isa 18:4) the doings of men. He has full confidence that Israel on his side will return and repent.
acknowledge their offence ] Rather, feel their guilt (as the word means in Lev 4:4-5; Zec 11:5).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will go and return to My place – As the wild beast, when he has taken his prey, returns to his covert, so God, when He had fulfilled His will, would, for the time, withdraw all tokens of his presence. God, who is wholly everywhere, is said to dwell there, relatively to us, where he manifests Himself, as of old, in the tabernacle, the temple, Zion, Jerusalem. He is said to go and return, when He withdraws all tokens of His presence, His help, care, and providence. This is worse than any affliction on Gods part , a state like theirs who, in the lowest part of hell, are delivered into chains of darkness, shut out from His presence, and so from all hope of comfort; and this must needs be their condition, so long as He shall be absent from them; and so perpetually, except there be a way for obtaining again His favorable presence.
Till they acknowledge their offence – o: He who hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live, withdraws Himself from them, not to cast them off altogether, but that they might know and acknowledge their folly and wickedness, and, seeing there is no comfort out of Him, prefer His presence to those vain things. which they had preferred to Him To say, that God would hide His Face from them, until they should acknowledge their offence, holds out in itself a gleam of hope, that hereafter they would turn to Him, and would find Him.
And seek My Face – The first step in repentance is confession of sin; the second, turning to God. For to own sin without turning to God is the despair of Judas.
In their affliction they shall seek Me early – God does not only leave them hopes, that He would show forth his presence, when they sought him, but He promises that they shah seek Him, i. e. He would give them His grace whereby alone they could seek Him, and that grace should be effectual. Of itself affliction drives to despair and more obdurate rebellion and final impenitence. Through the grace of God, evil brings forth good; fear, love; chastisement, repentance. They shall seek Me early, originally, in the morning, i. e., with all diligence and earnestness, as a man riseth early to do what he is very much set upon. So these shall shake off the sleep of sin and the torpor of listlessness, when the light of repentance shall shine upon them.
This was fulfilled in the two tribes, toward the end of the seventy years, when many doubtless, together with Daniel, set their face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes Dan 9:2-3; and again in, those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem Luk 2:25, Luk 2:38, when our Lord came; and it will be fulfillment in all at the end of the world. The first flash of thought on the power and goodness of the true Deliverer, is like the morning streaks of a new day. At the sight of that light, Israel shall arise early to seek his God; he shall rise quickly like the Prodigal, out of his wanderings and his indigence.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 5:15
I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early.
Gods end and design in affliction
This whole chapter, with the following one, contains a pathetic remonstrance, of Gods just quarrel with. His people; aggravated by much long-suffering and lenity, and many warnings, verbal and real, on His part, and much stubbornness, impenitence, and multiplied provocation on theirs; He using all means to reclaim and save them, and they using all means to despise Him, and ruin themselves. In the text we have the Lord concluding upon a severe course, as being necessary, and likely to be more effectual for their conversion.
I. The procuring cause of Gods afflicting His people.
1. The procuring cause is made up of these two–sin and impenitence.
(1) We may see how unwilling God is to afflict His people. Judgments are termed His strange work. but mercy is His darling attribute. He will not leave them, unless they drive Him away.
(2) We see where the true blame of the many sufferings and miseries of the Church is to be found. The abounding of sin, and the want of repentance, these make her troubles to abound. This is our folly, that usually we abuse all Gods goodness, and will not part with our sins, till we smart, for them, and be beaten from them. We pull punishment out of Gods hand.
II. Gods ways of afflicting His people. Upon the withdrawing of His gracious presence, as necessarily follows affliction, as mist upon the setting of the sun. This was heavier than all His corrections. No evil does the child of God fear so much, or feel so heavy, as Gods absenting and withdrawing Himself in displeasure
III. The end of gods thus afflicting His people.
1. Gods intention in the means. To bring them to a sorrow for their offences, and an ingenuous confession of it. If He withdraw Himself it is not to leave them for ever and look at them no more. On the contrary, it is that they may learn whether it is better to enjoy Him or their sins.
2. The efficacy of the means for reaching it. There is moral fitness in great affliction to work a diligent seeking of God, before neglected, and acknowledgment of sin, before unfelt. Affliction sets men in upon themselves, calls in their thoughts, which, in a fair season, more readily dissipate and scatter themselves abroad. When a man is driven by force from the comforts of the world, then, if he have any thoughts concerning God, these begin to work with him. When a man is straitened on all hands by a crowd of troubles, and finds no way out, then he finds his only way is upward. (Archbishop Leighton.)
Gods withdrawal and return
Sin is here characterised as an offence.
1. It is committed against God.
2. It is contrary to the nature and judgment of God.
3. It awakens the indignation of God.
I. Because of sin, God withdraws Himself from His people.
1. He goes and returns to His place, when He leaves His people in the hands of their enemies, and does not interfere.
2. When He removes from them the ordinances of His grace–the symbols of His presence.
3. When He allows these to continue, but is not in them.
4. When He leaves them to insensibility under His dealings.
5. When the soul, feeling His absence, seeks for Him in vain.
II. Gods withdrawal from His offending people is not absolute and for ever.
1. Though God withdraws from His people, He does not cease to love them.
2. He never withdraws His spirit and grace for their preservation in the faith.
3. He never withdraws from them finally, and so as never to return.
4. Sometimes, when He withdraws in the way of ceasing to afford sensible comfort, He is present in the way of restraining, and defending, and sanctifying–in the way of chastisement. There are degrees in the withdrawings of God.
III. That God returns to His people when they acknowledge their offence and seek His face.
1. They must acknowledge their offence. This implies that they have discovered it. That they see its enormity. That they are contrite and penitent. That they forsake it. That they go to Christs blood.
2. They must seek Gods face. They feel that their comfort is in God only. They mourn and lament His absence. They seek Him in the appointed ordinances of His house. They seek Him by prayer. They are dissatisfied with the choicest of means and ordinances, if God be not in them. They seek Him in Christ. (James Stewart.)
Coming to God in trouble
We only see those birds, sir, when the storms are about, said an old man to me on the seashore last week. That is typical of some people who only come to God in times of storm, and dearth, and epidemic, and never make their dwelling in God. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. I will go and return to my place] I will abandon them till they acknowledge their offenses. This had the wished-for effect, as we shall see in the following chapter; for they repented and turned to God, and he had mercy upon them. These two verses are considered as instances of the true sublime.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I will go and return to my place: after the manner of man God speaks, he will do that which shall be like a mans going away from such as refuse though they need his help, he retires; God will withdraw his saving help.
Till they acknowledge their offence; till they confess and humble themselves for their sins.
And seek my face; me their God, my mercy, and my law; their Sovereign as well as Saviour.
In their affliction they will seek me early; in deep distresses they will, at least some will, seek me diligently, as indeed they did at the end of Judahs seventy years captivity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. return to my placethatis, withdraw My favor.
till they acknowledge theiroffenceThe Hebrew is, “till they suffer thepenalty of their guilt.” Probably “accepting thepunishment of their guilt” (compare Zec11:5) is included in the idea, as English Versiontranslates. Compare Lev 26:40;Lev 26:41; Jer 29:12;Jer 29:13; Eze 6:9;Eze 20:43; Eze 36:31.
seek my facethat is,seek My favor (Pr 29:26,Margin).
in . . . affliction . . .seek me earlythat is, diligently; rising up before dawn toseek Me (Ps 119:147; comparePs 78:34).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I will go [and] return to my place,…. Leave the countries of Israel and of Judah, where he had used to grant his gracious and spiritual presence unto his people, and watched over them, and cared for them, and bestowed many favours on them, and go up to heaven, the place of his more glorious presence, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it; and there, as it were, shut himself up, particularly with respect to these people, as if he had no more thought of them, or concern for them: this is to be understood in a sense becoming and agreeable to the omnipresence of God:
till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face; till the Israelites acknowledge their idolatry, and the Jews their disbelief and rejection of the Messiah, and all other sins; till they ingenuously confess themselves to be guilty, or know and acknowledge they have sinned, as the Targum; and then humbly seek the face and favour of God, the remission of their sins from him, and acceptance with him:
in their affliction they will seek me early; in the morning, betimes, early, and earnestly; which affliction may be understood both of the Assyrian and Babylonish captivity; or rather of their present affliction toward the close of it, when they shall be sensible of their sins, and confess them, and look to him whom they have pierced, and mourn, and seek for pardon, righteousness, and salvation, from him; and so all Israel shall be saved, of whose conversion this is a prophecy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The word שחר, shicker, signifies the morning: hence the verb means, “to seek early,” or, “to rise early,” as men do when they apply themselves diligently to anything: but in many places of Scripture it is taken simply in the sense of seeking; and this simple meaning seems most suitable to this place, They will seek me in their tribulation God here declares, that after having been dreadfully fierce against both the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, he would for a time rest quietly and wait from heaven what they would do. He then adds, “They will at length return to a sane mind: when they shall perceive the finishing part, they will then, having lost their perverseness, acknowledge their sins and be truly humbled.” This is the meaning.
The mode of speaking seems apparently strange, when God says, that he will go away; for he neither so hides himself in heaven, that he neglects human affairs, nor withdraws his hand, but that he sustains the world by the continued exercise of his power, nor even takes away his Spirit from men, especially when he would lead them to repentance; for men never of their own accord turn themselves to God, but by his hidden influence. What then does he mean by this, I will go and return to my place? Why, indeed, he speaks here of the external state of the people: then the meaning is, “After the two kingdoms shall be cut off, I will then for a time hide my face from both the people; and they will think that I care not for their salvation; they will think that they are far removed from me.” We hence see that the Prophet here only refers to what would be the external condition of the people; and then we also see, that these forms of speech are accommodated to the perceptions of men. So God also himself speaks in Isa 18:0, (26) though for a different purpose; yet the Prophet expresses there in reality the same thing; ‘I will rest,’ he says, ‘and I will wait in my tabernacle.’ What was that rest of God, and what was his tabernacle? Why, when God exercised his judgments, we are then constrained to feel his presence, and when he kindly favors us and exhibits the kindness of a Father, he then really shows himself propitious to us: but when he neither visits us for our sins, nor gives us tokens of his favor, he seems to withdraw himself from us, and to show no regard for our life. We now then understand that the Prophet speaks of the time of exile; as though he said, “After God shall execute against you his extreme judgment, and ye shall be liken away into exile, God will then forsake you, as if he in no way regarded you, but were unmindful of you; for he will leave you there to rest, even in Chaldea and Assyria; and then he will not send forth any light of salvation. God therefore will be as it were idle in heaven.” This is one thing.
But the Prophet shows at the same time the final issue, that is, that they will afterwards return to the Lord; and that this is also the purpose of God he affirms, Till they acknowledge, he says, that they have sinned For it is the beginning of healing, when men consider the cause of their disease. He had said before that Israel saw his disease, but not in a right way; for the origin of the disease was hid from him, and continued as yet hid. But now the Prophet distinctly shows that it is to seek God, when people acknowledge and confess their sins. This word continually occurs in Scripture when sacrifices are spoken of. Hence men are said then to sin, when they go forth before God, making a true confession, when they acknowledge their guilt and pray for pardon. So also in this place he says, Until they confess that they have sinned I will for a time hide myself And he adds, “They will seek my face”. This is the second thing in attaining salvation — to seek the face of God: for we are reconciled to God, we know, by repentance and faith; not that repentance procures pardon for us, but because it is necessarily required; it is a cause, as they say, which is indispensable.
The first step then towards healing, as we have already said, is to be touched with grief, when we perceive that we have provoked the wrath of God, and when thus our sins displease us. But he who is thus become in himself a sinner, that is, who begins to be his own judge, ought afterwards to add this second thing — to seek the face of God, that is, to present himself a suppliant before God, and to ask for pardon; and this arises from faith. It is then to repentance that the word אשם, ahsim, belongs, which is to “acknowledge sin:” and to “seek the face of God,” properly belongs to faith.
Now let us see what is the application of this doctrine as to both people. When the Israelites and the Jews lived in exile, it was of great benefit for them to have this testified, that God was hiding his face for a time, that he might afford them time to repent; this is one thing. Now when men considerately attend to this, that they are to seek God, that they may repent, they are encouraged; and this is the sharpest goad to rouse men, that they may no longer be torpid in their vices: and this is what the Prophet meant. When the Lord shall banish into exile both the Jews and the Israelites, let them not think that though for a time he will seem to cast them away they are wholly deserted; for as yet a convenient time for repentance will be given them. He afterwards describes the way of reconciliations that is, that they shall acknowledge that they have sinned, and then that they shall seek the face of God.
And at the same time he makes known the fruit of affliction, and says, When affliction shall be to them, then they will seek me The Prophet here shows, that exile, though very bitter to Israel, would yet be useful; as when a physician gives a bitter draughts or is compelled to use strong medicine to cure an inveterate disease; so the Prophet shows that this punishment would be useful to the people, and even pleasant, however bitter it might be for a time. How so? For they will return to the Lord; and he says distinctly, “They will seek me”. He includes in this expression both faith and repentance; for he separates not the two clauses as before, but shows generally that the end of affliction would be, that the people would turn themselves to God. With respect to the expression, “to seek early,” I have said already that I do not approve of that meaning; for neither the Israelites nor the Jews, sought God early, but were with difficulty at lasts after a long period, and a long series of seventy years, led to repentance. What sort of seeking early was this? I do not then approve of rendering the word, ‘They shall seek me early;’ but, as I have said the simple idea of “seeking” is more suitable.
(26) Isa 18:4. — fj.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Tenderness blends with judgment, and insulted love bleeds and hopes. The image of the lion is dropped. Jehovah speaks of His own placeHeaven. He will cause all manifestations of His regard for them to cease till they suffer punishment, and seek my face, and, like the prodigal in the flush of a new morning, will arise and go unto the Father.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘I will go and return to my place,
Until they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face.
In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.’
The thought of the lion going away to the shelter of his lair having torn his prey is now applied to YHWH’s treatment of Israel. He too will go away, leaving Israel torn and bleeding and deserted, and return to His place (to Heaven). But it will only be ‘until they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face.’ YHWH’s aim was always repentance. The problem was that it would be a long time before Israel would repent. In the end, however, they will do so, for as a result of their long affliction in exile they will eventually seek Him earnestly. These words are a perfect build up to Hos 6:1-3.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 5:15. I will go, and return, &c. “I will give them up to exile, and withdraw myself, till with a sincere humiliation they implore my favour.” The Chaldee expresses the sense in the. following manner: “I will take away my majestic presence from among them, and will return into heaven.”
REFLECTIONS.1st, Again the prophet returns to the charge, and cites the king, priests, and people of Israel, to hear their accusation and doom from God, who knew all their wickedness, however hypocritically covered, or committed in secret. Note; (1.) No sinner is so great as to be above God’s judgments, or so mean as to be overlooked by him. (2.) God knoweth the hidden things of darkness; nor can the shadow of death hide the workers of iniquity.
1. He charges a variety of crimes upon them: [1.] They studied to draw their neighbours to join in their idolatries: Ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor; two mountains, where probably their idol altars stood near the borders of Judah, as snares set by hunters to entrap their game. Some have suggested, that here Jeroboam placed spies to see who went up to Jerusalem at the solemn feasts, that they might be prosecuted for it on their return. Note; They, who under the cloak of friendship would entice us into sin, are our most mortal enemies. [2.] The revolters are profound to make slaughter; apostates being the bitterest persecutors; they who had themselves revolted from God, laid snares to murder those who refused to comply with their wicked ways: or, as the words may be interpreted, they offered vast sacrifices with a show of devotion; to provide noble entertainments, in order to reduce the unwary to join with them; though I have been a rebuker of them all; God by his prophet had awfully and repeatedly warned them of their wickedness, yet they still persisted in it; and this greatly aggravated their guilt. [3.] They committed fornication: the spirit of whoredoms possessed their hearts, and the acts of it defiled their bodies; this God saw, who searcheth the heart, and whose eye no deeds of darkness, however secretly committed, can escape. Let guilty sinners know it and tremble. [4.] They were wilfully ignorant, and obstinately perverse: They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God; utterly averse to all the means and methods which might lead to their convection; and they have not known the Lord; for indeed they desired not the knowledge of his ways. [5.] The pride of Israel doth testify to his face; so open, avowed, and notorious, they were grown insolent in sin, and past shame, as their very looks declared. [6.] They dealt treacherously against the Lord; as a wife that leaves her husband for another: they have begotten strange children; either living in fornication, or intermingling in marriages with the heathen, or bringing up their children in the same idolatries which they themselves committed; and dreadful is that parent’s guilt, whose children’s murdered souls, destroyed by his example, or bad instructions, shall cry for vengeance against him.
2. He pronounces sentence upon them: Judgment is toward you. God is ready to call them to his bar, and make them know his terrible wrath. They shall fall in their iniquity; under the load of unrepented guilt: and Judah shall fall with them; who, copying their wicked ways, shall partake of their ruin, led captive with them into the same strange land. So surely shall companions in sin suffer together; and they who persist in their iniquities shall in them assuredly perish: nor shall their forced return to God in the day of their distress stand them in any stead. Though they go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, their hearts being unhumbled, and their prayers merely extorted by the apprehension of danger, God will pay no regard to them; they shall not find him, so as to obtain any favour or protection; he hath withdrawn himself from them, and left them to their deserved ruin. There is a time when God will be no more entreated; and they who will not know the day of their visitation shall be disregarded when they cry in the day of their calamity; and now their swift destruction approaches, a month shall devour them with their portions; they, and all they possess, shall be shortly ruined. Or this may refer to their new-moons and sacrifices, on which they relied; but, so far from being of use to them, their hypocritical services added but to their guilt, and hastened the wrath of God upon them. Note; (1.) The sinner’s day is near, when vengeance will overtake him. (2.) They who take up with their portion in this world, will find to their sorrow how wretched a choice they have made.
2nd, The judgment was denounced, and lo! it is even now at the door.
1. The alarm is sounded: Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah; the frontier towns of Judah, to let them know the approach of the enemy: cry aloud at Beth-aven: after thee, O Benjamin; the enemy is on thy back, and ready to advance from the conquest of Israel to invade Judaea. When our neighbour’s house is on fire, it is high time to look to our own. The ruin of those who are cut off in their sins, should be a warning to the survivors.
2. The destruction of Ephraim had been long foretold: Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; led captive by Salmaneser: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be; the prophets repeatedly gave them notice of what would be the consequence of their sins; but they rejected their admonitions, and disbelieved their prophesies, and therefore were without excuse. Note; Sinners turn a deaf ear to the denunciations of God’s wrath, and would fain treat them as chimaeras; but they will find them terrible realities, and things that shall surely be.
3. The princes of Judah took no warning by their neighbours’ fall, but equalled them in iniquity, and therefore must perish together with them. The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound, or land-mark; paid no regard to property, but oppressed their inferiors, and seized their possessions: or, figuratively taken, they refused to be kept within any bounds by God’s law, and broke through every restraint: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water; which, as the deluge, shall sweep them away. Note; They who abuse their power to oppression, shall be made to know that there is a judge above, the patron of the injured, and the avenger of their wrongs.
4. Ephraim’s sin and ruin are again mentioned. [1.] Their sin. They willingly walked after the commandment; obeying the orders of Jeroboam and his idolatrous successors, who enjoined the worship of the calves: and, far from opposing these impious commands, the people, very well pleased with the idolatrous worship, readily complied with them. For this God threatens, [2.] To punish them. Ephraim is oppressed, and broken in judgment; this was a part of their immediate sufferings, being ruled by tyrants, and broken with the oppression and injustice of their princes and magistrates; and this was a just judgment upon them. They who willingly became slaves to the impious commands of their princes, deserved the galling yoke laid upon them. Servility invites the exercise of tyranny. Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth; silently, and by degrees weakening them, and bringing them to destruction: and to the house of Judah as rottenness in the bones, that spreads, and destroys me substance; or a worm that eats into the heart of the tree, and it withers away. Note; Vengeance comes slowly, that sinners may have space to repent; but if they neglect the warnings given them, they are sure to be undone at the last.
5. The methods that they took to help their weakness were sinful, and proved ineffectual: When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb; probably the same with Pul, or Tiglath-Pileser, (see 2Ki 15:19; 2Ki 16:7; 2Ki 17:3.) yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound; on the contrary, he increased, instead of relieving their malady, and helped forward their ruin, 2Ki 15:29. 2Ch 28:20. So surely will they, who fly to creature dependencies, and forsake God, find them miserable comforters, and rue their foolish choice.
6. Provoked by such conduct, God threatens them with heavier judgments. Before, he was but as a moth; but now, I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; devouring and destroying them by his judgments, and by the sword of the Assyrians: I, even I, will tear and go away as a lion, fearless of being pursued; I will take away, as that ravenous beast drags the prey to his den, and none shall rescue him; those who survived of the people of Judah and Israel, should be carried captives, and none be able to release them from this afflictive dispensation, till he should return in mercy unto them. I will go and return to my place, abandoning them for a season to their miseries, till his chastisements had humbled their stubborn hearts, and they acknowledge their offence, taking shame for their abominations, and confessing the justice of their punishment; and seek my face for pardon and restoration: for in their affliction, brought to a sense of their sins by the sufferings they endure, they will seek me early; with fervent importunity, rising up betimes, and crying for mercy; and then there is hope that their miseries may come to an end. Note; (1.) When lesser chastisements are ineffectual, God will make sinners feel his heavy hand. (2.) If he depart from the soul, then nothing but misery is left behind him. (3.) When God sometimes appears utterly to have forsaken a people, he still waits for their humiliations and prayers, in order to return and be gracious unto them, if they will but repent. (4.) True penitents are always liberal in acknowledgments and self-reproaches. (5.) The afflictions, however severe, which drive the sinner to seek God’s face, are in reality the greatest mercies.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1152
SPIRITUAL DESERTION
Hos 5:15. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
MEN. when they become Christians, do not lose any of their natural feelings, but they experience many sensations both of pleasure and pain, which are altogether new, and peculiar to themselves: when God lifts up the light of his countenance upon them, they possess the sublimest happiness of which our nature is capable, a joy with which the stranger intermeddleth not: so also, when God withdraws the light of his countenance from them, they are made to feel the most exquisite sorrow, with which no temporal affliction, no bodily anguish, can be compared. This is the sorest chastisement which can be inflicted on a godly and ingenuous soul: yet sore as it is, the wickedness of our hearts too often makes it necessary for us: for this will often avail to humble the soul, when every thing else has been tried in vain. Hence it is generally Gods last resource: he uses various other methods first, to make his people holy, and to keep them vigilant: but when they are still remiss and negligent, he departs from them, and says, I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith or dependence. Thus he dealt with his people of old: he had told them, in verse 12, that he would be to them as a moth, or as rottenness, to consume them: then, because they went to the Assyrian rather than to him for help, he told them, in the verse before my text, that he would tear them, as a young lion teareth his prey: and then he adds, as the sorest calamity of all, and as the only one which would produce the desired effect, that he would forsake them; I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
From these words we will endeavour to shew you,
I.
The nature of spiritual desertion
[They who view Gods dealings with the Jews merely as a history, will lose the most important benefits which the relation of them is intended to convey. There is a striking similarity and agreement between the dispensations of Providence and the dispensations of grace; so that there can be no doubt but that the former were intended typically to represent the latter. And, in order to understand the Scriptures aright, we must interpret them according to this canon. The most sober and candid expositors have agreed in this. The desertion spoken of in my text literally refers to the abandoning of the Jews to the power of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, till they should be brought to repent of their sins: and the return which is there foretold as the effect of this desertion, had its accomplishment in part under Ezra and Nehemiah; partly also on the day of Pentecost; but principally, we expect it to be fulfilled at a future period, when the whole nation shall look on Him whom they pierced, and mourn. But we may with the utmost propriety take occasion from it to speak of spiritual desertion, which all the Israel of God in a greater or less degree experience. In my text, God says, I will go and return unto my place: this is a good description of that which we call spiritual desertion. God, properly speaking, is in every place; he filleth all in all: but yet, as to the manifestation of his presence, he is more particularly in heaven: He is the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity. whose name is Holy; and he dwells in the high and holy place. Heaven is his throne; and he humbleth himself when he beholdeth the things that are on earth. It is the habitation of his holiness; so that if, either for purposes of judgment or of mercy, he vouchsafe to visit the earth, he leaves, as it were, his proper place, and comes down to us. When he noticed the iniquity of Sodom and Gomorrah, he said, I will go down now and see whether they have done according to the cry which is come up unto me: and, when he was about to punish the Jews, the prophet said, Behold, the Lord cometh out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the land [Note: Isa 26:21.]. So when the Church prayed to him for the manifestations of his power, they said, O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down [Note: Isa 64:1.]! Thus, in the New Testament, he is frequently said to come and dwell in his people. Thus, when he visits us, he comes out of his place; and, when he withdraws those visits, he goes, and returns to his place. Not that he is really capable of moving from one place to another, because he is alike in every place; but, with respect to the manifestations of his presence, the communications of his grace, the supports of his arm, and the consolations of his Spirit, he may be truly said to move: for neither the presence nor removal of any thing can be more perceptible to the body, than the loss or acquisition of these things is to the soul. The way in which God withdraws himself from the soul, may be very fitly illustrated by the manner in which he forsook the Jews of old. The Shechinah, or bright cloud, was the symbol of the Divine presence; and that rested upon the ark between the cherubims. But when God was incensed against his people for their abominations, he gave them various warnings of his determination to forsake them, unless they should repent: he made his prophet therefore to see in a vision, what indeed all Israel, in the time of Moses, had seen with their bodily eyes,his gradual departure. We have the account in the 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of Ezekiel, to some verses of which we will refer you. In 9:3, God is represented as taking his first step towards his departure; And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house: in 10:18, he removed still farther; Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims, which were at that time, as we are told in ver. 3, and 4, standing in the court: in ver. 19, he went yet farther; And the cherubims lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth, in my sight; and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lords house, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. In 11:23, God goes to a yet greater distance; And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain, which is the east side of the city. See here, how many different removes there were, before God would utterly forsake them; first from the ark to the threshold; then to the court; then to the gate; and then to the mountain; and even there he stood, if that by any means they might humble themselves, and prevent his final departure. Now thus it is in his departure from the soul: when he sits enthroned, as it were, in the soul, all is well: the person thus highly honoured, is happy beyond description: his views of divine truth are clear, his apprehensions of it lively, and his enjoyment of it is unspeakably sweet and precious: having the light of Gods countenance, and a sense of his favour, he has all that man can desire in this mortal state. But, when he becomes proud, or negligent, or worldly, when by any misconduct he begins to grieve the Holy Spirit, he soon perceives symptoms of the Divine displeasure: the effusions of Divine love in his soul are less abundant; his discoveries of the Deity are less glorious; his views and apprehensions are darker; his communion with God is less frequent, and less ardent; and his holy intimacy with the Deity is sensibly diminished. If he do not instantly take the alarm, and humble himself before God, and implore his pardon, he finds gradually a veil drawn between his God and him: he cannot have that access to God that he was wont to enjoy: he loses that enlargement of heart which he used to experience; his joys are in a great measure withdrawn: instead of abounding in praises, he finds it hard even to pray: it is comparatively seldom that he can break forth into songs of praise and adoration; and, if now and then he feel some elevation of soul, he cannot adore God for what he is in himself, but only for what he has done for us. Thus, ere he is aware, his God has withdrawn himself; and, if now he do not call him back by earnest supplication, and by renewed faith in Christ as his Mediator and Advocate, he will find every thing decay: the beauty of the summer will fade away, the autumnal gloom will soon succeed, and every thing will quickly wear a wintry aspect: all the graces of the soul will languish, and the corruptions of the heart regain their former ascendancy. The departing sun does not more surely change the face of nature, than the departure of God from the soul will leave it destitute and forlorn: so truly is it said, Woe unto them, when I depart from them! But these are, as it were, the steps by which God departs from the soul; and by these marks we may judge of his increasing nearness or removal.]
We see, then, what is meant by spiritual desertion
Let us now consider,
II.
The end and intent of it
[God intends our good in all his dispensations, unless indeed we have provoked him utterly to abandon us; and then he may justly cause such events as shall open a way for the exercise of our corruptions, and for the consequent hardening of our hearts: but, till he has thus given us up, he designs ail his dispensations for our good. Especially, in withdrawing from the souls of his people, he has a regard to their best interests: two principal ends which he would accomplish, are, to humble, and to quicken them.First, to humble them; I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence. The confession of our sins is indispensably necessary, as well for our good, as for Gods glory: however God may desire to pardon, he cannot do it, unless we be first disposed to confess: it would be unworthy of his majesty, and diretly contrary to his word. He has said, that he who covereth his sins shall not prosper; and that he only who confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy: and his own honour is so interwoven with the abasement of the sinner, that, when Joshua exhorted Achan to confess his sin, he could use no terms more proper than these; My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him. Indeed the good of man is no less concerned in the humiliation of his soul before God; for, till he be brought to a sense of his iniquities, he has no disposition to accept of mercy: he disdains to become a suppliant for it: he denies that he stands in need of it: he thinks himself affronted by the offer of it, because the offer necessarily implies, what he is utterly averse to acknowledge, namely, that he deserves punishment. This same pride remains, in a measure, in Gods people after their conversion; and though they hate it and lothe themselves for it, yet, upon every fresh sin which they commit, they are but too apt to indulge it: they still feel an unaccountable backwardness to confess their sins, even though they know that God is privy to all, and needs not any information from them. When therefore God sees his people harbouring this pride in any degree, he withdraws himself from them: the more they indulge this vile principle, the more he testifies his displeasure, to shew them, that he will ever resist the proud, and give grace only to the humble. He is determined to abase those who walk in pride; and therefore he never vouchsafes the former tokens of his love, till he has brought the soul to an open and ingenuous confession. We have a remarkable instance of this in David: he had grievously offended God in the matter of Uriah; but his proud heart would not humble itself before God. What was the consequence? God forsook him; and instead of speaking pardon and peace to him, he left his soul to be incessantly harassed with fruitless remorse and anguish; nor ever restored peace to his conscience, till he had humbled himself for his iniquity: thus David says, in Psa 32:3-4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long; for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. This was his state while he persisted in impenitence: but as soon as he made confession, behold the change! I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord, and so thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin: and he who began the psalm with such a deplorable account of his experience, concludes it with saying, Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
A further end which God has in view is, to stir up the soul. His people are but too apt to grow remiss; and sometimes, when they profess to be seeking God with their whole hearts, they are secretly inclining to some earthly vanity. This, if suffered to prevail, would effectually alienate them from the life of God; they would soon be entangled again in the corruptions of the world; and their last end would become worse than their beginning: and therefore God in mercy withdraws himself from them; and hides his face, till they seek after him again with their wonted ardour. In this he acts, if you will permit me for once to use a very familiar illustration, as earthly parents do: the little child perhaps is loitering behind, and amusing himself with some trifling vanity: the parent calls and commands in vain: at last the parent, wearied with fruitless calls, conceals himself; and then the child is filled with anxiety, seeks his parent with tears, and is more solicitous to keep close to him in future. This is an humble illustration, I readily acknowledge: but it is a natural one; and our Lord himself did not disdain the use of such, for the confirmation of his doctrine: if it convey to you the idea more clearly than a plain statement would, my end is answered: let it shew you, what we are at present concerned to declare, the real end for which God hides his face from his children. We may however confirm this statement from the express testimony of God himself: Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart; and I will be found of you [Note: Jer 29:13-14.].]
We come now to shew,
III.
The effect it will produce
[Would to God that the effect were the same on all! but, alas! there are many who are hardened by it more and more, till God swears in his wrath, that they shall never enter into his rest: nevertheless, where the proper effect is produced upon the soul, it is that which is mentioned in my text; In their affliction they will seek me early. This part of our subject is in a measure anticipated by what has gone before: nevertheless, it is of such importance as to deserve further and more distinct consideration. Prosperity does but ill suit with our fallen nature. Not only temporal ease, but in some sense even spiritual pleasure, becomes a source of evil: not that it is so in itself; the joy of the Lord is our strength; but our corruption takes occasion from it to unfold itself. Sometimes a long season of spiritual delight, and peculiar manifestations of Gods love, shall foster pride. Even Paul himself, from the abundance of revelations which were made to him, was in danger of being exalted above measure, and needed a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble. So peculiar sensations of joy are sometimes the means of begetting security. We see daily that professors of religion are apt to look back upon former experiences, and to conclude that all is well, because it once appeared to be well: therefore God counteracts this propensity, and consults the good of his people, in withdrawing his sensible presence from them: he stirs them up to a holy vigilance against their spiritual enemies, and to a diligence and circumspection in his ways. See what was the effect produced upon the Spouse in the 5th chapter of the Song of Solomon: in the 2d verse, Christ, the Husband of the Church, is calling to her for admission: saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night. She, not being disposed for heavenly communion with him, makes frivolous excuses: I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? Thus she provoked him to depart. Presently, however, she rose to let him in; but behold, he was gone: in ver. 5, 6. I rose up to open to my Beloved: I opened to my Beloved, but my Beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. And now observe the effect of this desertion: My soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. She then went about the city, and inquired of all the watchmen respecting him: and failing of success here, she says, in verse 8, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, tell ye him that I am sick of love. This is a striking comment on the last words of my text, In their affliction they will seek me early: and it exactly agrees with the experience of Gods people in all ages: when they, who have been favoured with the light of Gods countenance, are for a season deprived of it, they put away their foolish and vain excuses; they see that they must at all events get nigh to their Beloved; they will spare no pains; they will rather rise at midnight, than not seek him at all: they will attend the ordinances with redoubled diligence: they will inquire of the ministers, the watchmen, how they may find him: they request the intercession of the saints: in short, they will never rest, till they have regained the sensible enjoyment of the Divine presence.]
Let us now come to a short application of the subject.
1.
To the careless world
[My Brethren, many of you must be sensible that you never seek after God: if you pray at any time, you rest satisfied with having performed a duty, and are not at all solicitous to obtain any manifestations of the Divine presence: yea, because you have never experienced any peculiar sensations of Gods favour, you are ready to think, that all hopes of such experience are groundless, and that all must be either hypocrites or enthusiasts who pretend to such things. But surely, your own want of experience in these matters is no more a ground for denying the truth of what others feel, than your ignorance of the concerns of others is a ground for denying what others know. Would to God that you would seek the Lord for yourselves! you should soon find that it is not in vain to call upon him. If you would humble yourselves, confessing your sins, and crying for mercy through the blood of Jesus, you should soon find that God is gracious, and full of compassion, and rich in mercy unto all that call upon him: he would be a Father unto you; he would come unto you, and dwell with you; he would manifest himself unto you as he does not unto the world; he would shed abroad his love in your hearts; and he would make you glad with the light of his countenance. O, then, seek the Lord, seek his face evermore! Remember, it will be an awful matter to be banished for ever from his presence; to hear him say, Depart, accursed how dreadful! On the contrary, how delightful to hear him say, Come, ye blessed! O seek ye the Lord whilst he may be found; call ye upon him whilst he is near.]
2.
To the professors of religion
[How apt are you to draw back from God, instead of pressing forward as you ought to do! How do you compel him to hide his face, when he would gladly be comforting you with his presence! Ah, Brethren, know where the fault is: He delighteth in the prosperity of his people: it is wholly owing to yourselves if ye do not rejoice in the Lord all the day long. Do not then oblige him to withdraw himself; do not bring on yourselves so heavy an affliction: search, and see, what there is that has displeased him: see if the world has drawn you aside; see if pride has grieved his Spirit; see if negligence in secret duties has caused him to hide his face: and, whatever it be, confess it to the Lord; mourn over it; renew your application to the blood of Jesus; and press forward with greater diligence: so shall you walk in the light, as He is in the light; you shall have abiding and increasing fellowship both with the Father and the Son; and soon you shall be admitted into his immediate presence, where you shall never have one cloud to intercept your view of him to all eternity.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
MY soul dost thou behold in this Chapter, the false teachers here described? Ponder well the awfulness of such characters, who to please men, and find favor with the great, set their nets in the Mizpahs, and Tabors, of the present hour, to harass and afflict the people of God. Whatever Hosea knew of this in his day, he could not know more than the present time affords, of such deceivers and antichrists. Surely there never was a period of the Church, when in what is called the Church itself, so little is known, and so little proclaimed, of the person, work, office, and character, of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Christ, if at all spoken of, is for the most part spoken of by such men, not as He really is, the whole sum and substance of the Bible the whole of ordinances; and of means of grace; but seen only in the back ground of the subject, and cautiously mentioned, and as cautiously recommended to the people. Reader! observe the Lord’s jealousy, I beseech you, in this chapter, and mark it well. Oh! for grace to make Christ what God the Father makes him: the whole, substantially so, of all the covenant; yea, the very covenant itself. Jesus is the first, and the last; the author and finisher; the object, means, and end, of everything that concerns salvation. If we seek for pardon, where shall we seek it, but in Christ? If for peace, He, and he alone is our peace, when the Assyrian shall come up into our land. Need we a promise? Jesus is the sum of all, yea, himself the promise. He is the whole of the law; the substance of all the types, and shadows; the body of all the prophecies: to him give all the prophets witness. My soul! see that thou draw improvement from every scripture, in discovering Jesus in that scripture: for, until thou hast found Him, to whom all scriptures witness, and of whom all scriptures testify; thou knowest nothing yet, as thou oughtest to know. Blessed Lord! grant this, both to Writer and Reader, if it be thy blessed will, that we may know thee, whom truly to know is life eternal! Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 5:15 I will go [and] return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
Ver. 15. I will go and return to my place ] To my palace of heaven: so the Chaldee rendereth it. will withdraw my majesty, and return into the habitation of my holiness, which is in heaven. I will go from them, that they may come to themselves with the prodigal; I will forget them, that they may remember themselves; I will trouble myself no farther with them (when God comes against sinners he is said to come out of his place, and so to disease himself, Isa 26:21 cf. Lam 3:33 ), that they may be afflicted and weep and mourn after me, Jas 4:9 ; I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place, as Isa 18:4 . “I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation,” &c., Deu 32:20 , and they shall see that I will be as froward as they, for the hearts of them, Psa 18:26 . “I will gather them in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave them there,” Eze 22:20 ; that they may know the worth of my gracious presence (which they have not prized) by the want of it, and be pricked on thereby to pray, “Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. O satisfy us early with thy mercy,” &c., Psa 90:13-14 . Thus mothers use to leave their children (or at least turn their backs upon them) till they mourn and make moan after them. Thus the lion seems to leave her young ones till they have almost killed themselves with roaring and howling, but at the last gasp she relieves them, whereby they become the more courageous. God also will return to his people when they once turn short again upon themselves, and see their sin-guiltiness, and seek his favour. This is God’s end, 1Co 11:32 , and the happy effect of affliction sanctified, 1Ki 8:47 .
Till they acknowledge their offence
And seek my face
In their affliction they will seek me early
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
till they acknowledge their offence. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:40-42). National repentance is the condition of Israel’s restoration.
Seek My face. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 4:29). App-92.
seek Me early. This expression, though not found in the Pentateuch, occurs in Job 7:21; Job 8:5; Job 24:5. Psa 63:1; Psa 78:34. Pro 1:28; Pro 7:15; Pro 8:17; Pro 11:27; Pro 13:24. Hebrew rising up before dawn to seek. Not the same word as in the preceding clause. Supply the ellipsis after “early”: “[they shall say] ‘Come'”, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
return: Hos 5:6, Exo 25:21, Exo 25:22, 1Ki 8:10-13, Psa 132:14, Isa 26:21, Eze 8:6, Eze 10:4, Eze 11:23, Mic 1:3
till: Hos 14:1-3, Lev 26:40-42, Deu 4:29-31, Deu 30:1-3, 1Ki 8:47, 1Ki 8:48, 2Ch 6:36, 2Ch 6:37, 2Ch 7:14, Neh 1:8, Neh 1:9, Job 33:27, Isa 64:5-9, Jer 3:13, Jer 29:12-14, Jer 31:18-20, Eze 6:9, Eze 20:43, Eze 36:31, Dan 9:4-12
acknowledge their offence: Heb. be guilty
in their: Jdg 4:3, Jdg 6:6, Jdg 6:7, Jdg 10:10-16, 2Ch 33:12, 2Ch 33:13, Job 27:8-10, Psa 50:15, Psa 78:34, Psa 83:16, Pro 1:27, Pro 1:28, Pro 8:17, Isa 26:9, Isa 26:16, Jer 2:27, Zep 2:1-3, Luk 13:25
Reciprocal: Gen 42:21 – they said Lev 4:13 – and are guilty Lev 26:39 – shall pine Num 12:9 – General Jdg 20:23 – wept Jdg 21:4 – rose early 2Sa 19:20 – I am come 2Ki 19:3 – This day 2Ch 6:26 – thou dost 2Ch 12:6 – humbled 2Ch 28:22 – in the Psa 27:8 – Seek Psa 50:2 – Out Psa 63:1 – early Psa 89:46 – wilt Psa 107:6 – Then Psa 119:67 – but now Son 5:6 – but my Isa 9:13 – the people Isa 18:4 – I will Isa 19:22 – he shall smite Isa 30:18 – wait Isa 37:3 – General Isa 64:7 – hast hid Jer 2:24 – in her month Jer 22:23 – how Jer 29:13 – ye shall Jer 36:7 – It may Hos 2:7 – I will Hos 3:5 – seek Hos 6:1 – and let Hos 7:7 – there Hos 8:2 – General Amo 4:6 – yet Jon 2:1 – prayed Joh 4:46 – whose
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE CONFESSION OF SIN
I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early.
Hos 5:15
It is the picture of a father dealing with a child who has not yet owned his fault. The father has been trying to persuade the child, but the child will not confess. Then the father says, I will try another way, I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face; my absence will be sure to bring with it sorrow and trouble: and in their affliction they will seek me early. And then it is beautiful to link on the next verse. It is almost a pity that it has been thrown into another chapter. The absence has brought the affliction, and the affliction has brought confession: Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. We often feel as if God was gone away from us. May it not be that there is just that difference, that distinct boundary line between absence and presencetill they shall acknowledge their offence? And may not that affliction which has visited you, have come upon this very errand, to say, Confess, confess that secret sin, which is keeping God away from you? Confess your sins. Let us consider how this confession is to be made.
I. Confess in humiliation.Confession is to God, and it should be done with the deepest and most careful humiliation. Whatever can help to humiliation, do it. God requires that the relation with Himself which has been interrupted and reversed by your sin, should be re-adjusted. You must go very low down into the dust, and God must go up very high. The one will not do without the other. As self goes down, Christ must go up; and as Christ goes up, self must go down. Put yourself, really and simply, at the very lowestdown into the dustthat is the essence of confession.
II. Particularise your sins.To the same end, let your confession to God particularise. Be very minuteas minute, let your confession be, as you can possibly make it. Mention all the little things. Make them stand out in bold relief. It is the sum of confession. Generally, persons are ready enough to confess many, nay, most of their sinsbut there is one which they do not like to speak of, even when they are speaking to God. Now, your confession will be nothing at all if you only reach to that. There are a great many good suggestions and rules about confession in the Book of Leviticus: And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thingthat thing. That thing do you lay out before God in all its partsthe guilty omissions which went before itthe wrong motivesthe secret feelingsthe aggravating circumstances, the special actsthe guilty pleasurethe resistance of the Spirit, the grievings of consciencethe miserable consequences.
III. Accept the punishment.When you confess sin, always do it as one who is accepting punishment. Open your breast to take punishment. Feel and say, Lord, I am hereno punishment can be too heavy for me. But, O Father, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and for the glory of Thy name, turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have deserved. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.
IV. Lay the sin upon the altar.And at the same moment realise, and do not doubt, that you are laying your sin upon the true altar, the Lord Jesus Christ. As you speak the self-demeaning words, and as you feel the heaviest convictions, believe that you are laying all upon the head of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall carry all that is there laid on Him, up, far, far away into a land, not inhabited, where they shall be seen and mentioned no more.
V. Make some act of devotion.Then go and try to embody that confession, and give it all the force and substance you can, by some holy actsome self-denying labour of lovesome gift of Godsome special act of devotion.
But true confession to God will always be accompanied with, and will always produce, the wish to make some confession to man. If you have ever stolen anythingrestore it. If you have told a lie, acknowledge it. If you have done anything that can hurt anybodys feelings, or anybodys soul, go and make what amends you can. You owe it to that man, you owe it to your own soul. It will be good evidence to all men of the reality of your faith and love.
Rev. Jas. Vaughan.
Illustration
When men begin to complain more of their sins than of their afflictions, there begin to be some hopes of them. And this is that which God requires of us when we are under His correcting hand, that we own ourselves to be in fault, and to be justly corrected.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Hos 5:15, Return to my place denotes that God would abandon his people to their fate; leave them in the hands of the heathen to whom they had appealed. This was not to be in the spirit of spite or resentment, for God is incapable of such a principle, but it was in order to make them see their folly, and repent. In their affliction they will seek me early is forcefully described in Psalms 137 and the fulfillment may be seen in Eze 37:11, which was written in Babylon at the time it was happening.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 5:15. I will go and return to my place I will withdraw myself from them, and give them up to exile and punishment, till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face: that is, till they confess their sins, and, by a sincere humiliation, and in fervent prayer, implore my favour. The Chaldee paraphrase expresses the sense thus: I will take away my majestic presence, or shechinah, from among them, and will return into heaven. Thus Ezekiel describes the destruction of the temple and kingdom, by Gods removing his glory from the sanctuary and city: see Eze 10:4; Eze 11:23. In their affliction they will seek me early That is, without delay, and earnestly; or, with great diligence and assiduity. Observe, reader, when we are under the corrections of the divine rod, our business is to seek Gods face, that is, an acquaintance with him, a token of his being at peace with us, and a manifestation of his favour. And it may reasonably be expected that affliction will bring those to God who had gone astray, and kept at a distance from him. For this reason God turns away from us, that he may turn us to himself, and then may return to us. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. The first three verses of the next chapter should have been joined to this. So the LXX. thought, connecting the last verse of this with the first of the next, by the participle , saying.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Hos 5:15 to Hos 6:3. Israels Confession and Penitence.Yahweh, speaking in His own person, declares that He will return to His place (i.e. to heaven; cf. Mic 1:3), there to await Israels penitence (Hos 5:15). When trouble comes they will eagerly seek Him. Then follows (Hos 6:1-3) a light-hearted confession of sin by the people, coupled with expressions of assurance that their God will forgive and help them. Many scholars regard this section as an addition by a later hand, intended to mitigate the unrelieved gloom of what precedes. But nothing in the style or language suggests that the piece is not by Hosea. Batten thinks it represents the confession and penitence of the purified people who will emerge from the judgment. Others regard the confession as a light-hearted one, put into the mouth of the people, which (in Hos 6:4 ff .) Yahweh rejects. Welch suggests that the prophet is quoting (in Hos 6:1-3) a temple-song (used at one of the great festivals), which he uses as a sort of text for comments that follow. Hos 6:4 is then the immediate continuation of Hos 6:3.
Hos 5:15. LXX inserts saying at the end (cf. mg.).
Hos 6:1. Cf. Isa 3:7.
Hos 6:2. After two days . . . the third day, i.e. after an undefined but short interval. Marti thinks that the return from the Exile is referred to.
Hos 6:3. his going forth, etc.: read (rearrangement of Heb. consonants), as soon as we seek him we shall find him.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
As a lion returning to its lair, Yahweh would go away and leave His people until they bore their punishment and sought His forgiveness. When they felt their affliction they would seek Him earnestly (cf. Hos 5:6; Deu 4:29).
"The language would appear to reach into the Millennium, when the Israelites will indeed repent before God and seek his face (cf. Hos 1:10-11; Hos 2:14-23)." [Note: Wood, "Hosea," p. 192.]
"Taken with Mat 23:37-39, this passage gives in broad outline the course of Israel’s future restoration to God." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 922.]
The last statement of this verse provides a transition from the messages of judgment in chapters 4 and 5 to the promises of restoration in Hos 6:1-3.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
3. REPENTANCE FALLS
Hos 5:15 – Hos 7:2
Seeing that their leaders are so helpless, and feeling their wounds, the people may themselves turn to God for healing, but that will be with a repentance so shallow as also to be futile. They have no conviction of sin, nor appreciation of how deeply their evils have eaten.
This too facile repentance is expressed in a prayer which the Christian Church has paraphrased into one of its most beautiful hymns of conversion. Yet the introduction to this prayer, and its own easy assurance of how soon God will heal the wounds He has made, as well as the impatience with which God receives it, oblige us to take the prayer in another sense than the hymn which has been derived from it. It offers but one more symptom of the optimism of this light-hearted people, whom no discipline and no judgment can impress with the reality of their incurable decay. They said of themselves, “The bricks are fallen, let us build with stones,” and now they say just as easily and airily of their God, “He hath torn” only “that He may heal: “we are fallen, but” He will raise us up again in a day or two.” At first it is still God who speaks.
“I am going My way, I am returning to My own place, until they feel their guilt and seek My face. When trouble comes upon them, they will soon enough seek Me, saying”:-
“Come and let us return to Jehovah;
For He hath rent, that He may heal us,
And hath wounded, that He may bind us up.
He will bring us to life in a couple of days;
On the third day He will raise us up again,
That we may live in His presence.”
“Let us know, let us follow up to know, Jehovah:
As soon as we seek Him, we shall find Him
And He shall come to us like the winter-rain,
Like the spring-rain, pouring on the land!”
But how is this fair prayer received by God? With incredulity, with impatience. What can I make of thee, Ephraim? what can I make of thee, Judah? since your love is like the morning cloud and like the dew so early gone. Their shallow hearts need deepening. Have they not been deepened enough? “Wherefore I have hewn” them “by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgment goeth forth like the lightning. For real love have I desired, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.”
That the discourse comes back to the ritual is very intelligible. For what could make repentance stem so easy as the belief that forgiveness can be won by simply offering sacrifices? Then the prophet leaps upon what each new year of that anarchy revealed afresh-the profound sinfulness of the people.
“But they in human fashion have transgressed the covenant! There”-he will now point out the very spots-“have they betrayed Me! Gilead is a city of evil-doers: stamped with the bloody footprints; assassins in troops; a gang of priests murder on the way to Shechem. Yea, crime have they done. In the house of Israel I have seen horrors: there Ephraim hath played the harlot: Israel is defiled-Judah as well.”
Truly the sinfulness of Israel is endless. Every effort to redeem them only discovers more of it. “When I would turn, when I would heal Israel, then the guilt of Ephraim displays itself and the evils of Samaria,” these namely: “that they work fraud and the thief cometh in”-evidently a technical term for housebreaking -” while abroad a crew” of highwaymen foray. And they never think in their hearts that all their evil is recorded by Me. Now have their deeds encompassed them: they are constantly before
Evidently real repentance on the part of such a people is impossible. As Hosea said before, “Their deeds will not let them return.” {Hos 5:4}