Hosea 14

Ho 14:1-9.

GOD'S

PROMISE OF

BLESSING, ON

THEIR

REPENTANCE:

THEIR

ABANDONMENT OF

IDOLATRY

FORETOLD:

THE

CONCLUSION OF THE

WHOLE, THE

JUST

SHALL

WALK IN

GOD'S

WAYS, BUT THE

TRANSGRESSOR

SHALL

FALL

THEREIN.

1. fallen by thine iniquity--

(Ho 5:5; 13:9).

2. Take with you words--instead of sacrifices, namely, the words of

penitence here put in your mouths by God. "Words," in Hebrew, mean

"realities," there being the same term for "words" and "things"; so God

implies, He will not accept empty professions

(Ps 78:36;

Isa 29:13).

He does not ask costly sacrifices, but words of heartfelt

penitence.

receive us graciously--literally "(for) good."

calves of our lips--that is, instead of sacrifices of

calves, which we cannot offer to Thee in exile, we present the

praises of our lips. Thus the exile, wherein the temple service

ceased, prepared the way for the gospel time when the types of the

animal sacrifices of the Old Testament being realized in Christ's

perfect sacrifice once for all, "the sacrifice of praise to God

continually that is the fruit of our lips"

(Heb 13:14)

takes their place in the New Testament.

3. Three besetting sins of Israel are here renounced, trust in Assyria,

application to Egypt for its cavalry (forbidden,

De 17:16;

compare

Ho 7:11; 11:5; 12:1;

2Ki 17:4;

Ps 33:17;

Isa 30:2, 16; 31:1),

and idolatry.

fatherless--descriptive of the destitute state of Israel, when

severed from God, their true Father. We shall henceforth trust in none

but Thee, the only Father of the fatherless, and Helper of the destitute

(Ps 10:14; 68:5);

our nation has experienced Thee such in our helpless state in Egypt,

and now in a like state again our only hope is Thy goodness.

4. God's gracious reply to their self-condemning prayer.

backsliding--apostasy: not merely occasional backslidings. God can

heal the most desperate sinfulness [CALVIN].

freely--with a gratuitous, unmerited, and abundant love

(Eze 16:60-63).

So as to the spiritual Israel

(Joh 15:16;

Ro 3:24; 5:8;

1Jo 4:10).

5. as the dew--which falls copiously in the East, taking the place of

the more frequent rains in other regions. God will not be "as the early

dew that goeth away," but constant

(Ho 6:3, 4;

Job 29:19;

Pr 19:12).

the lily--No plant is more productive than the lily, one root

often producing fifty bulbs [PLINY, Natural

History, 21.5]. The common lily is white, consisting of six leaves

opening like bells. The royal lily grows to the height of three or four

feet;

Mt 6:29

alludes to the beauty of its flowers.

roots as Lebanon--that is, as the trees of Lebanon (especially the

cedars), which cast down their roots as deeply as is their height

upwards; so that they are immovable [JEROME],

(Isa 10:34).

Spiritual growth consists most in the growth of the root which is out

of sight.

6. branches--shoots, or suckers.

beauty . . . as the olive--which never loses its

verdure. One plant is not enough to express the graces of God's elect

people. The lily depicts its lovely growth; but as it wants

duration and firmness, the deeply rooted cedars of Lebanon are added;

these, however, are fruitless, therefore the fruitful, peace-bearing,

fragrant, ever green olive is added.

smell as Lebanon--which exhaled from it the fragrance of odoriferous

trees and flowers. So Israel's name shall be in good savor with all

(Ge 27:27;

So 4:11).

7. They that used to dwell under Israel's

shadow (but who shall have been forced to leave it), shall

return, that is, be restored

(Eze 35:9).

Others take "His shadow" to mean Jehovah's (compare

Ps 17:8; 91:1;

Isa 4:6),

which

Ho 14:1, 2

("return unto the Lord," &c.) favor. But the "his" in

Ho 14:6

refers to Israel, and therefore must refer to the same here.

revive as . . . corn--As the corn long buried in the

earth springs up, with an abundant produce, so shall they revive from

their calamities, with a great increase of offspring (compare

Joh 12:24).

scent thereof--that is, Israel's fame. Compare

Ho 14:6,

"His smell as Lebanon";

So 1:3:

"Thy name is as ointment poured forth." The Septuagint

favors the Margin, "memorial."

as the wine of Lebanon--which was most celebrated for its aroma,

flavor, and medicinal restorative properties.

8. Ephraim shall say--being brought to penitence by God's goodness,

and confessing and abhorring his past madness.

I have heard . . . and observed him--I Jehovah have

answered and regarded him with favor; the opposite

of God's "hiding His face from" one

(De 31:17).

It is the experience of God's favor, in contrast to God's wrath

heretofore, that leads Ephraim to abhor his past idolatry. Jehovah

heard and answered: whereas the idols, as Ephraim now sees,

could not hear, much less answer.

I am . . . a green fir--or cypress; ever green, winter and summer

alike; the leaves not falling off in winter.

From me is thy fruit found--"From Me," as the root. Thou needest go

no farther than Me for the supply of all thy wants; not merely the

protection implied by the shadow of the cypress, but that which

the cypress has not, namely, fruit, all spiritual and temporal

blessings. It may be also implied, that whatever spiritual graces

Ephraim seeks for or may have, are not of themselves, but of God

(Ps 1:3;

Joh 15:4, 5, 8;

Jas 1:17).

God's promises to us are more our security for mortifying sin than our

promises to God

(Isa 27:9).

9. EPILOGUE,

summing up the whole previous teaching. Here alone Hosea

uses the term "righteous," so rare were such characters in his day.

There is enough of saving truth clear in God's Word to guide those

humbly seeking salvation, and enough of difficulties to confound those

who curiously seek them out, rather than practically seek salvation.

fall--stumble and are offended at difficulties opposed to their

prejudices and lusts, or above their self-wise understanding (compare

Pr 10:29;

Mic 2:7;

Mt 11:19;

Lu 2:34;

Joh 7:17;

1Pe 2:7, 8).

To him who sincerely seeks the agenda, God will make plain the

credenda. Christ is the foundation-stone to some: a stone of

stumbling and rock of offense to others. The same sun softens wax and

hardens clay. But their fall is the most fatal who fall in the ways of

God, split on the Rock of ages, and suck poison out of the Balm of

Gilead.

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