Hosea 6

Ho 6:1-11.

THE

ISRAELITES'

EXHORTATION TO

ONE

ANOTHER TO

SEEK THE

LORD.

At

Ho 6:4

a new discourse, complaining of them, begins; for

Ho 6:1-3

evidently belong to

Ho 5:15,

and form the happy termination of Israel's punishment:

primarily, the return from Babylon; ultimately, the return from their

present long dispersion.

Ho 6:8

perhaps refers to the murder of Pekahiah; the discourse cannot be later

than Pekah's reign, for it was under it that Gilead was carried

into captivity

(2Ki 15:29).

1. let us return--in order that God who has "returned to His place"

may return to us

(Ho 5:15).

torn, and . . . heal--

(De 32:39;

Jer 30:17).

They ascribe their punishment not to fortune, or man, but to God, and

acknowledge that none (not the Assyrian, as they once vainly thought,

Ho 5:13)

but God can heal their wound. They are at the same time persuaded of

the mercy of God, which persuasion is the starting-point of true

repentance, and without which men would not seek, but hate and flee

from God. Though our wound be severe, it is not past hope of recovery;

there is room for grace, and a hope of pardon. He hath smitten us, but

not so badly that He cannot heal us

(Ps 130:4).

2. Primarily, in type, Israel's national revival, in a short period ("two or three" being used to denote a few days,

Isa 17:6;

Lu 13:32, 33);

antitypically the language is so framed as to refer in its full

accuracy only to Messiah, the ideal Israel

(Isa 49:3;

compare

Mt 2:15,

with Ho 11:1),

raised on the third day

(Joh 2:19;

1Co 15:4;

compare

Isa 53:10).

"He shall prolong His days." Compare the similar use of

Israel's political resurrection as the type of the general resurrection

of which "Christ is the first-fruits"

(Isa 26:19;

Eze 37:1-14;

Da 12:2).

live in his sight--enjoy His favour and the light of His

countenance shining on us, as of old; in contrast to

Ho 5:6, 15,

"Withdrawn Himself from them."

3. know, if we follow on to know the Lord--The result of His recovered

favor

(Ho 6:2)

will be onward growth in saving knowledge of God, as the result of

perseverance in following after Him

(Ps 63:8;

Isa 54:13).

"Then" implies the consequence of the revival in

Ho 6:2.

The "if" is not so much conditional, as expressive of the

means which God's grace will sanctify to the full enlightenment

of Israel in the knowledge of Him. As want of "knowledge of God" has

been the source of all evils

(Ho 4:1; 5:4),

so the knowledge of Him will bring with it all blessings; yea, it is

"life"

(Joh 17:3).

This knowledge is practice, not mere theory

(Jer 22:15, 16).

Theology is life, not science; realities, not words. This onward

progress is illustrated by the light of "morning" increasing more and

more "unto the perfect day"

(Pr 4:18).

prepared--"is sure," literally, "fixed," ordered in His everlasting

purposes of love to His covenant-people. Compare "prepared of God"

(Ge 41:32,

Margin;

Re 12:6).

Jehovah shall surely come to the relief of His people after their dark

night of calamity.

as the morning--

(2Sa 23:4).

as the rain . . . latter . . . former--

(Job 29:23;

Joe 2:23).

First, "the rain" generally is mentioned; then the two rains

(De 11:14)

which caused the fertility of Palestine, and the absence of which was

accounted the greatest calamity: "the latter rain" which falls in the

latter half of February, and during March and April, just before the

harvest whence it takes its name, from a root meaning "to

gather"; and "the former rain," literally, "the darting rain," from

the middle of October to the middle of December. As the rain fertilizes

the otherwise barren land, so God's favor will restore Israel long

nationally lifeless.

4. what shall I do unto thee--to bring thee back to piety. What

more could be done that I have not done, both in mercies and

chastenings

(Isa 5:4)?

At this verse a new discourse begins, resuming the threats

(Ho 5:14).

See

opening remarks

on this chapter.

goodness--godliness.

morning cloud--soon dispersed by the sun

(Ho 13:3).

There is a tacit contrast here to the promise of God's grace to Israel

hereafter, in

Ho 6:3.

His going forth is "as the morning," shining more and more unto

the perfect day; your goodness is "as a morning cloud," soon

vanishing. His coming to His people is "as the (fertilizing) latter and

former rains"; your coming to Him "as the early dew goeth away."

5. I hewed them by the prophets--that is, I announced by the

prophets that they should be hewn asunder, like trees of the forest. God

identifies His act with that of His prophets; the word being His

instrument for executing His will

(Jer 1:10;

Eze 43:3).

(Isa 11:4;

Jer 23:29;

Heb 4:12).

thy judgments--the judgments which I will inflict on thee, Ephraim

and Judah

(Ho 6:4).

So "thy judgments," that is, those inflicted on thee

(Zep 3:15).

are as the light, &c.--like the light, palpable to the eyes of all, as

coming from God, the punisher of sin. HENDERSON

translates, "lightning"

(compare Margin,

Job 37:3, 15).

6. mercy--put for piety in general, of which mercy or

charity is a branch.

not sacrifice--that is, "rather than sacrifice." So "not" is

merely comparative

(Ex 16:8;

Joe 2:13;

Joh 6:27;

1Ti 2:14).

As God Himself instituted sacrifices, it cannot mean that He desired

them not absolutely, but that even in the Old Testament, He valued

moral obedience as the only end for which positive

ordinances, such as sacrifices, were instituted--as of more importance

than a mere external ritual obedience

(1Sa 15:22;

Ps 50:8, 9; 51:16;

Isa 1:11, 12;

Mic 6:6-8;

Mt 9:13; 12:7).

knowledge of God--experimental and practical, not merely theoretical

(Ho 6:3;

Jer 22:16;

1Jo 2:3, 4).

"Mercy" refers to the second table of the law, our duty to our

fellow man; "the knowledge of God" to the first table, our duty

to God, including inward spiritual worship. The second table is put

first, not as superior in dignity, for it is secondary, but in the

order of our understanding.

7. like men--the common sort of men

(Ps 82:7).

Not as Margin, "like Adam,"

Job 31:33.

For the expression "covenant" is not found elsewhere applied to

Adam's relation to God; though the thing seems implied

(Ro 5:12-19).

Israel "transgressed the covenant" of God as lightly as men break

everyday compacts with their fellow men.

there--in the northern kingdom, Israel.

8. Gilead . . . city--probably Ramoth-gilead,

metropolis of the hilly region beyond Jordan, south of the Jabbok,

known as "Gilead"

(1Ki 4:13;

compare

Ge 31:21-25).

work iniquity--

(Ho 12:11).

polluted with blood--"marked with blood-traces"

[MAURER]. Referring

to Gilead's complicity in the regicidal conspiracy of Pekah against

Pekahiah

(2Ki 15:25).

See on

Ho 6:1.

Many homicides were there, for there were beyond Jordan more cities of

refuge, in proportion to the extent of territory, than on this side of

Jordan

(Nu 35:14;

De 4:41-43;

Jos 20:8).

Ramoth-gilead was one.

9. company--"association" or guild of priests.

murder by consent--literally, "with one shoulder" (compare

Zep 3:9,

Margin). The image is from oxen putting their shoulders

together to pull the same yoke [RIVETUS].

MAURER translates, "in the way towards

Shechem." It was a city of refuge between Ebal and Gerizim; on

Mount Ephraim

(Jos 20:7; 21:21),

long the civil capital of Ephraim, as Shiloh was the religious capital;

now called Naploos; for a time the residence of Jeroboam

(1Ki 12:25).

The priests there became so corrupted that they waylaid and murdered

persons fleeing to the asylum for refuge [HENDERSON]; the sanctity of the place enhanced the guilt

of the priests who abused their priestly privileges, and the right of

asylum to perpetrate murders themselves, or to screen those committed

commit lewdness--deliberate crime, presumptuous wickedness, from an

Arabic root, "to form a deliberate purpose."

10. horrible thing--

(Jer 5:30; 18:13; 23:14).

whoredom--idolatry.

11. an harvest--namely, of judgments (as in

Jer 51:33;

Joe 3:13;

Re 14:15).

Called a "harvest" because it is the fruit of the seed which Judah

herself had sown

(Ho 8:7; 10:12;

Job 4:8;

Pr 22:8).

Judah, under Ahaz, lost a hundred twenty thousand "slain in one day (by

Israel under Pekah), because they had forsaken the Lord God of their

fathers."

when I returned the captivity of my people--when I, by Oded My prophet,

caused two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters, of Judah to be

restored from captivity by Israel

(2Ch 28:6-15).

This prophecy was delivered under Pekah [LUDOVICUS

DE DIEU]. MAURER explains, When Israel shall have been exiled for

its sins, and has been subsequently restored by Me, thou, Judah, also

shalt be exiled for thine. But as Judah's punishment was not at the

time when God restored Israel, LUDOVICUS

DE DIEU'S explanation must

be taken. GROTIUS translates, "When I shall

have returned to make captive (that is, when I shall have again

made captive) My people." The first captivity of Israel under

Tiglath-pileser was followed by a second under Shalmaneser. Then

came the siege of Jerusalem, and the capture of the fenced cities of

Judah, by Sennacherib, the forerunner of other attacks, ending in

Judah's captivity. But the Hebrew is elsewhere used of

restoration, not renewed punishment

(De 30:3;

Ps 14:7).