Hosea 14
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Concluding Hosea
Concluding Hosea
We end with exhortation to repent and return to God. The condemnation of Israel is completed and we’re turning to hope, though we know they do not repent, at least in this time. Two sections comprise our final chapter. The first is Hosea’s call to repent and the example of what prayer they can utter.
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take with you words
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
the vows of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride on horses;
and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”
First, is asking God to rid them of their sin.
English Standard Version Chapter 14
“Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
Second is the promise to return to sacrifice and allegiance to God.
English Standard Version Chapter 14
and we will pay with bulls
the vows of our lips.
Third is renouncing their reliance on the other nations.
English Standard Version Chapter 14
Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride on horses;
Fourth that they will give up making idols.
English Standard Version Chapter 14
and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
Last in a single line is an appeal to the character of God in his great and wonderful mercy.
English Standard Version Chapter 14
In you the orphan finds mercy.”
Then we hear from God Hos 14:4-8
I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
from me comes your fruit.
This lovely reply from God seems almost a departure from the declarations of damnation we’ve seen in the book so far. It should grab our attention. RIght from the start of God’s words we have something to chew on. He will heal them of their apostasy. Most of the book sounds like a plea for the kingdom to return to God even though we are told their sin prevents them from acknowledging God. Here it says God will heal it. This is the reality we see in throughout the Bible. There is absolutely human responsibility to respond to God’s call for repentance, yet we never want to repent on our own. It takes an Acts of God to heal us so we are able to respond to Him.
Next God says he will love them freely. This is in contrast to the backing away he has done with the people here when they were unfaithful. Their sin had prevented a true marriage relationship. At some point in the future he was going to take care of that. We are after that future has arrived. Christ is the healer and payment for us and it has turned away God’s anger. Because of Christ we are forgiven and healed and able to be freely loved by God.
This spills over into the blessings he talks about with the dew and blossoms, taking root and spreading out with beauty, nice smell, blossom, and fame.
God has what seems like a final parting word. Don’t have anything to do with idols, God is the one who is always around, answering your prayers and producing your fruit.
I see verse 9 as back in the voice of Hosea and it’s a familiar sounding phrasing. He who has an ear let him hear.
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.
I think the first part of this last verse is a bit comforting. There is an implication that the text of Hosea is not obvious. We need wisdom and discernment to understand Hosea. This whole book has not been an easy read and we’ve had to dive in here and there, rely on some commentaries that give us insight about patterns in the Hebrew that bring out an emphasis we just wouldn’t have seen. We need to be wise to understand and understanding to know it.
Review all of Hosea
Hosea, Joel (Outline of Hosea)
I. Hosea’s Three Children
Jezreel - valley and bloodshed
Lo-Ruhamah - Not Loved
Lo-Ammi - Not my people
II. Gomer’s Restoration
III. The Threefold Complaints (4:1–7:16)
No Faithfulness, No Love, No Knowledge of God
Religious leaders fail, False religions take hold, Morality (specifically sexual) declines
Israel’s Apostasy & Judah’s Warning, Israel leads Juda to sin, Israel and Judah face God’s wrath
IV. Antiphonal Proclamations by Yahweh and His Prophet (8:1-14:8)
Divine and Prophet complaints, call to repentance, promise to restoration
V. Wisdom Postscript: The Riddle of Hosea (14:9)
Joel is next time
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