Come and let us return unto Jehovah for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before his face;
Hosea has just pictured the Lord withdrawing from His people until they own their guilt. Here a voice answers Him: a people counting the days until He heals what He Himself has torn. The verse raises two questions at once: whose revival is this, and why is it measured in two days and a third?
One writer reads these opening verses of chapter 6 as the words of a repentant Israel still to come, not of the prophet's own generation.
The division of the chapter at this point is unfortunate. Do not separate the three verses of chapter 6 from the previous chapter. Here we have the future repentance of the remnant of Israel, that is, during the great tribulation. In faith they will acknowledge His righteous judgment. They will express their faith and hope in His mercy, and in the promised blessings and restoration. They express what their great prophet Moses stated so beautifully in his prophetic song… "I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand" (Deut. 32:39).
Faith can still appeal, because it knows whose hand did the striking.
Faith has always this resource, because it sees the hand of God, its own God, in the discipline, and can appeal to the mercy of a God it knows well.
One reading takes the days as the measure God needs to establish a case — first about us, then about Himself.
"After two days" — that seems to be witness enough. Then, "on the third day," the witness was complete, for "in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established." He first gives enough proof of what we are; then He will prove what He is, by raising His people up as a nation from the dead.
Others read the days as long stretches of national history.
"On the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him" — literally, before His face. They have been dead, both spiritually and as a nation. But when the two days of their blindness and dispersion are over, the third day of life and resurrection will come for them. Jewish interpreters have pointed out that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years. They say Israel will be scattered for two days, that is, two thousand years. Then comes the third day of Israel's glorious restoration.
All is plain and just if it applies to the national revival of Israel, in the same way as in Ezekiel and Isaiah. God will bring them out of their present condition of shame, though some of them will be allowed to show fatal wickedness and pride.
Others stress that the third day itself carries a fixed meaning across Scripture — Jonah brought up from the sea, Hezekiah told he would go up to the house of the Lord on the third day.
The third day is also stamped with the divine mark of resurrection by the prophet Hosea — "After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him."
Writers differ over how directly the verse speaks of Christ. One holds both sides together: the immediate subject is Israel, yet Christ is there too.
Can there be any doubt that the passage refers to the resurrection of Christ in an indirect and hidden, but real, way? He became the true Israel… Still, its plain and immediate bearing is on Israel rather than on the Messiah. It refers to Him only because the Holy Spirit must bring Him in everywhere in the Bible… The chosen people may grow, fade, or disappear; but He remains — sometimes behind clouds, the Sun that never sets.
One writer sees three things at once in this span of time.
It is the adequate time of the trial of the people. Literally, it was the time our Lord lay in the grave. But it is connected also with the future blessing of Israel.
The verse also describes an experience anyone who has drifted from God can recognise: repentance first, revival after a measured interval.
So a period of time is expected between the turning of their souls to the Lord and the revival and raising up that will come from Him. This time lets the soul pass through exercise, and tests whether it is real. But if the soul keeps its attitude of true contrition and self-judgment, the restoration is as certain as the forgiveness. We may be sure that God will not keep anyone waiting longer than is enough for the needed lessons to be learnt.
- Torn — the wound is God's own doing, and faith reasons from that very fact: the hand that struck is the hand to appeal to.
- Two days — the delay is not neglect. It is the sufficient witness to what we are, and the testing of whether repentance is real.
- Third day — the point where God stops proving us and proves Himself, raising a people up as from the dead.
- Christ — writers differ on how far the verse speaks of His rising. One holds the plain bearing is on Israel, with Christ underneath as the Sun that never sets.
- You — the same order runs through any restoration: return, wait, rise. God will not keep you waiting longer than the lesson needs.
and we shall know, -- we shall follow on to know Jehovah his going forth is assured as the morning dawn; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain which watereth the earth.
Earlier in the book the charge against Israel was that they did not know the Lord. One writer follows that charge through to its cure:
This too stood in the way of their return to God: "They have not known the Lord" (Hosea 5:4). But when repentance is worked in them, and they are raised up, and live before God, then they will know. They will "follow on to know the Lord" (Hosea 6:3). And they will learn that this pleases God more than anything else — "the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6).
Hosea 6:3, "Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord." The Hebrew expresses no condition: "And we shall know, we shall follow on to know the Lord."
Others keep the conditional force and press it as an encouragement to go on with truth that costs something:
We are bound to know the whole mind of God — His entire revealed will… We must still not hold back from any statements, however hard they are on the flesh, however much they set us apart. Such statements are sure to bring fresh disclosures of the love and power of Jesus. For that word is sure: "Then shall you know, if you follow on to know the Lord."
The verse follows two others, and one writer reads all three as a single sequence. On that reading, the sunrise shows both God's readiness and the pace of the discovery.
The first verse shows the remnant of the Jews in search of the right Person. The second verse suggests that the right way to enjoy life is to follow Him into resurrection. The third verse shows that when we are joined to Him in life, there is a quiet, growing discovery of all that He is, if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared — everything is ready on His side — for this revealing of Himself to you. It comes like the morning: a little light and the scattering of darkness, then more and more light until the perfect day.
The verse ends with a second picture: rain. One note prefers a rendering that ties the rain to what it does to the ground:
Hosea 6:3, "As the latter and former rain to the earth." Better: "as the latter rain which makes the earth fruitful."
Rain carried that weight because of terms God set for Israel long before. The land lived or died by its rainfall, and the rainfall answered to their obedience.
Deuteronomy 11:13-17 sheds light here. There God promised the people that if they honoured Him and kept His laws, He would give them a generous supply of early and latter rains, the early rains falling in autumn, the latter rains in spring. In a land so dependent on its rainfall, this was necessary for its very existence. But if they disobeyed God, turned from His laws and worshipped other gods, He would hold back the rain.
Though the confession belongs to Israel, one writer applies "follow on to know the Lord" to any believer. Years of walking with Christ are not the same as arriving:
The highest point mature believers reach is to know Him who is from the beginning. Many of us have been walking with Christ for some time. Years of journeying have passed, and do we not now know something about Him? Certainly. Yet let it still be the aim of our lives to follow on to know the Lord. Let us live face to face with Him, so that in close communion we come to know Him well enough to rely on Him for everything.
- Cause — Not knowing the Lord was Israel's disease. Repentance turns that same knowledge into their pursuit, and God values it above sacrifices.
- Gift — His going out is prepared. Everything needed for Him to reveal Himself is ready on His side, not ours.
- Pace — The dawn means growth, not a flash. First a little light, then darkness scattered, then more and more light to the perfect day.
- Supply — He comes as the rain that makes the ground fruitful. Israel lost that blessing by turning away, and He gives it back.
- Pursuit — Commentators differ: is this a promise or a condition? Both readings end in the same practice. Keep following on, and He keeps showing Himself.
What shall I do unto thee, Ephraim? What shall I do unto thee, Judah? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that early passeth away.
The prophet has just called Israel back to the Lord, and God answers with a question asked twice: what is He to do with a people whose devotion keeps evaporating? He compares their love — "goodness" in older translations — to a cloud at sunrise and to dew that dries before noon.
Up to this point Hosea has been pleading with the people. From verse 4 the speaker changes, and the grief becomes God's own.
Next we have from verse 4 Jehovah's grief, to which Hosea gives expression... It is the language of Jehovah, as the earlier verses were the prophet's exhortation. From there he slides into the words of the One who appointed him. A prophet was the voice of Jehovah. So Hosea starts as a prophet and rises into words that suit Jehovah Himself.
God picked two beautiful things. Both are gone by mid-morning.
But while He loved them, their love was like the morning cloud, like the dew, vanishing soon away. The morning cloud looks beautiful, lit up by the rays of the rising sun. Then the heat of the sun burns it off. The dew glitters in the early morning, but soon it is gone. So was their love, fluctuating and changing. How often is the love of His heavenly people like the morning cloud and the dew! Thank God that His love never changes!
Later the same picture returns as a judgment: they themselves would vanish like the mist.
Just as the rising sun quickly disperses the morning clouds and the dew, so they should pass away (chapter 6:4).
Read as God's own words, the question shows how little He needs before He acts.
In verse 4 the Spirit expresses the lovingkindness of God towards His rebellious children. He is ready to meet the smallest movement of their heart towards good. Therefore God had sent them the testimony of the prophets — an extraordinary means... In the heart and mind of God it was not a question of outward forms; the moral relationship with God had failed. He had raised up prophets, as a means of relationship with Himself, to bring back the hearts of the people.
Commentators trace the fading to one cause: religion that never reaches the conscience.
In sinners or in saints, if the conscience is never reached, nothing is gained. The ministry of the truth may produce outward effects, but they count for nothing. In all such cases it will be as with Ephraim and Judah, of whom Hosea speaks. Their "goodness" will be "as a morning cloud, and as the early dew which passes away." (Hosea 6:4.) On the other hand, the fear of the Lord always appears in a soul whose conscience is at work before God.
Commentators see the same pattern in professions of faith that shine and then fade. One writer tells of a young man who seemed converted along with three others in his family.
When reminded of what he had so recently professed, and asked why he had given it up so soon, he could not tell. The feeling, he said, had gone completely away. He had nothing before his mind: neither himself as a sinner, nor Christ as a Saviour. He had no real sense of sin, and no appreciation of the Person and work of Christ. He was naturally pleasant, so there was no opposition. But like the morning cloud and the early dew, what at first seemed a happy conversion passed away. But its lessons remain; it teaches the need of dealing with the conscience.
Hosea does not end with the fading dew. At the close of the book, God promises to become for Israel what their love never was for Him. The lines below come from an older translation.
Then comes Jehovah's answer: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew to Israel"... What mercy, faced with such fickleness and with hearts firm only in rebellion!... Love that is free and full, with its motive in God Himself! He once struck His people in anger. Now He will be as the dew to them, who were so long without one drop of moisture to refresh them!
- Grief, not verdict. The double question is Jehovah's own grief, spoken through the prophet. Hosea's plea rises into the words of the One who sent him.
- Beautiful, brief. Cloud and dew are lovely things that vanish by mid-morning. That is their love: fluctuating and changing, set against a love that never changes.
- The cause. Goodness fades where the conscience was never reached. Where God's word does touch it, the fear of the Lord follows.
- The gift. God watches for the smallest movement of the heart toward good. He sent prophet after prophet to draw those hearts back.
- The reversal. What Israel's love failed to be, God promises to become for them: "I will be as the dew to Israel." Love given freely, with His anger turned away.
Therefore have I hewed [them] by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth and my judgment goeth forth as the light.
Hosea 6 opens with people saying the right words about returning to the Lord. Yet their goodness fades like a morning cloud. Verse 5 is God's answer to that fading. He says what He has already done about it, and His instrument was not an army but a message.
The chapter opens with the prophet pleading. By verse 5 the speaker has changed:
It is the language of Jehovah, as the earlier verses were the prophet's appeal. From there he slides, so to speak, into the language of Him who gave him his office. A prophet was really the voice of Jehovah. So, beginning as a prophet, he rises to the language that suits Jehovah Himself. The hewing of the people by the prophets is a vivid picture of God's moral dealings, which did not spare the wicked. "I have slain them by the words of my mouth," he adds, to make still plainer what kind of slaying it was.
(Kelly works from an older translation reading "their judgments are as the light that goes forth"; the ESV has "my judgment goes forth as the light.")
Their love for God kept fading, and that shaped the message the prophets brought:
The morning cloud looks beautiful, turned gold by the rays of the rising sun. But the heat of the sun soon makes it disappear. The dew glitters in the early morning, but soon it is gone. That was their love — unsteady and changing… So the prophets He had sent to them came with words of condemnation, instead of words of comfort and cheer. They came to hew, as stone or wood is hewn. The message of judgment they preached condemned them. That is what the words mean: "I have slain them by the words of My mouth."
Verse 5 runs straight on into verse 6, where the reason is given. The people were careful about religious ceremony while their lives were corrupt. This writer quotes verse 6 in an older wording — its "mercy" is "steadfast love" in the ESV:
Both Ephraim and Judah (Hosea 5, 6) had badly corrupted themselves. Yet at the same time they seem to have been strict about their sacrificial ceremonies, as if attention to outward forms could win God's favour. "Therefore," says the prophet, speaking in Jehovah's name, "I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth… for I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." That is, character and state — the character and state produced by the knowledge of Jehovah as a God of mercy — were of more value before God than outward observances. Those observances were completely worthless unless they were the sign of a spiritual condition.
The hewing was not a sudden reaction. It came after centuries of patience with the same people:
But for centuries in the land He bore with their lawless behaviour. He pleaded with them by the love He had shown them from the time He first stepped in to help them. He hewed them by His prophets. He slew them by the words of His mouth. He disciplined them with the rod of the land's original inhabitants, who were barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides. He whipped them with the attacks of the nations, until from head to foot they were wounds and bruises and festering sores. No one had bound them up or soothed them with ointment — and all to no purpose.
Centuries later the pattern repeated, and the One who had sent the prophets spoke in person:
Who does not recall here Hosea 6:5, where He said, "I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth"? Listen to the One whose voice once shook the earth: "Blind guides," "whitewashed tombs," "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?"
The same word still divides its hearers, and the outcome depends on the response:
The truth either brings repentance or resentment. Those who resent the truth of God's word pressing on their conscience, and do not answer it, are morally slain before God. They have missed their opportunity. They are judged because they refused that word. It is wise for us to obey the word of God when we hear it pricking our conscience. We do not fight back, but accept what God has to say to us.
- Voice — The prophet's plea gives way to God's own speech, because a prophet was the voice of the Lord Himself.
- Tool — God's instrument is His word: He hews as stone or wood is hewn, and the slaying is moral, not military.
- Cause — The blow fell because ceremony had replaced character. God wanted mercy and the knowledge of Himself, not offerings.
- Patience — The hewing was one stage in centuries of pleading and discipline. The people still refused.
- Reach — That same voice later confronted the religious leaders in person. Today the word still brings repentance, or it leaves the hearer morally slain.
For I delight in loving-kindness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.
Israel kept up its sacrifices, yet God says He wants something else. That raises two hard questions: why would God refuse the sacrifices He Himself commanded, and what is the "knowledge of God" He prefers?
The chapter opens with the prophet pleading with the people. By verse 6 the speaker has changed.
It is the language of Jehovah, as the earlier verses were the prophet's exhortation. From there he slides, so to speak, into the language of Him who gave him his office. A prophet was the voice of Jehovah. So he begins as a prophet, then rises to speak what belongs to Jehovah Himself.
God is not only refusing something here. He is naming what He loves. (Where the ESV says "steadfast love," older translations read "mercy" or "loving-kindness," and the writers quoted here use those words.)
But of mercy He speaks. "For I desired mercy" — this is what He loves, and to this end, that He may be morally vindicated in displaying it.
The people were not neglecting worship. That was the problem.
Both Ephraim and Judah had corrupted themselves badly. Yet they seem to have been careful about their sacrificial ceremonies, as if outward forms could win them God's favour... That is, God valued character and state more than outward observances — the character and state that come from knowing Jehovah as a God of mercy. Those observances are worthless unless they show a real spiritual condition.
If sacrifices were not the point, what was? One writer says God was after the relationship, not the ceremony.
In the heart and mind of God it was not a question of outward forms; the moral relationship with God had failed. He had raised up prophets, as a means of relationship with Himself, to bring back the hearts of the people. But, like Adam in the garden of Eden, they had broken the covenant. Their enjoyment of all the blessings God had heaped on them depended on that covenant.
The phrase "the knowledge of God" is not about information. Earlier in the same book, not knowing the LORD is what blocks Israel's return.
This too stood in the way of their return to God: "they know not the LORD" (Hosea 5:4). But God will work repentance in them and raise them up to live before Him. Then they will know Him, and will "press on to know the LORD" (Hosea 6:3). They will learn that this pleases God more than anything else: "the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
Mercy is not the only thing God ranks above sacrifice.
Sacrifice without obedience — a solemn truth — is no better than idol worship. The first mark of faith is obedience... Besides, there are many things God prefers to sacrifice.
The Pharisees prized ceremony. Jesus turned this verse against them.
What counts before Him is moral, not ceremonial. By Hosea God said, "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice"; and the Lord quoted this twice (Matt. 9:13; Matt. 12:7). So we see the hypocrisy that came into full display and reached its peak in the Pharisees when our Lord was on earth.
Commentators differ on what Jesus meant by the quotation. Some read it as a rebuke of empty ritual. Another writer says the point is what Christ Himself was doing.
The words of the prophet, as the Lord uses them here, show what He was doing in receiving tax collectors and sinners. He was carrying out the divine work of displaying mercy, and that agreed with the will of God. God did not want sacrifice from people whose hearts were far from Him, like the Pharisees. The Servant of Jehovah, the "sunrise from on high," had visited His people to forgive sins, not to judge them.
- Mercy is what God loves. The verse is not God rejecting worship. He is naming His own delight — "this is what He loves" — and He works so that He may be morally justified in showing it.
- Mercy known produces character. Knowing God as a God of mercy shapes character. God valued that character more than ceremonies, which were worthless without it.
- Mercy refused breaks relationship. Outward forms were never the question. The relationship with God had failed. Like Adam, they had broken the covenant their blessings depended on.
- Mercy sought is knowledge gained. Not knowing the LORD blocked their return. Pressing on to know Him pleases God more than burnt offerings.
- Mercy shown is Christ. Jesus quoted this verse twice. In receiving tax collectors and sinners, He was doing the divine work of showing the mercy the verse calls for.
But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant there have they dealt treacherously against me.
Hosea is charging Israel with breaking faith with God, and the charge turns on one word: is the comparison to "men" in general, or to Adam by name? The answer decides how the whole verse reads, and whether Adam himself ever stood under a covenant.
Older English versions put "men" in the text and "Adam" in the margin. One writer says the context proves the margin is right, and that the word "transgressed" settles it:
The word can mean "men" as well as "Adam." But there need not be the slightest doubt: the context proves the true meaning is the one given in the margin, not in the text — "But they [that is, Israel], like Adam, have transgressed the covenant." Scripture never speaks of man in general this way. Man is called a sinner... Transgression, dreadful as it is, assumes that those guilty of it have had a known revelation of God's mind and will. So they stand on definite ground of relationship, and they have overstepped its limits.
The comparison traces the same story twice: a place given in favour, a command made known, then the door shut behind the offender:
God had made known His covenant to Adam and given him a commandment. In the same way He had made a covenant with Israel and made known His will to them. God called Adam into relationship with Himself as Creator, and gave him a place of blessing and favour in Eden. Adam transgressed, and after his fall he was driven out. This happened to Israel too. God called them, entered into a covenant with them, and gave them the land of promise. But when they transgressed, like Adam, they were also driven out.
Everyone sins. But only someone under a stated command can break it. That difference shapes how Scripture speaks of Israel and of the nations:
Israel had the law, as Adam had a law; and both transgressed the bond that held them. But everyone between Adam and Moses stood on different ground. They were not one bit less truly sinners, but they had no law or laws set before them by God which they broke. So the nations, in contrast with Israel, are always called "sinners of the Gentiles." Having sinned without law, they perished without law. The Jews had the law, sinned in the law, and so were transgressors. The Gentiles, who had no law, could not be... The law put sin to their account. Not so with the Gentiles: God overlooked those times of ignorance.
Romans 5 says death reigned from Adam to Moses, "even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam" (Romans 5:14). How could sin be real before God gave any law?
Sin was there from Adam to Moses, but not transgression; for where there is no law, there is no transgression. So it is said, "Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression." That looks back to Hosea, where it is said of Israel, "They like men [Adam, in the Hebrew] have transgressed the covenant." Israel had broken the law as Adam had. They had not only sinned — done what their conscience condemned — but had violated the authority of God exercised in imposing the law.
Commentators differ on how much weight the word can carry. One treats Adam's standing before God as a covenant, but not the covenant:
The relationship of Adam with God may be regarded as a covenant with God, though not the covenant. There was certainly a law given to Adam, but not the law. Israel had the law and the first or old covenant. That stands in contrast with the new covenant Jeremiah speaks of, under the Messiah's reign of peace and glory.
Another writer says people have built a whole doctrine on this half-verse. He answers it by asking who "they" are:
People draw the idea of the Covenant of Works from Hosea 6:7, taking Romans 5:14 as referring to this verse. However, that is a wrong inference. God gave Adam a prohibition, a boundary he was forbidden to cross. That need not imply a covenant as such. Even so, God made the penalty of death clear to him if he disobeyed. In overstepping the limit, he transgressed. Adam, therefore, had a law. The question that also needs asking about Hosea 6:7 is, who are "they"? In the context, "they" are the nation of Israel... So the covenant mentioned in Hosea 6 is not some inferred covenant that God made with Adam on behalf of his descendants. It is His covenant with Israel.
- Adam, not men. The comparison is to one named man under a known command. Scripture calls man in general a sinner, not a transgressor.
- Privilege first. God placed both Adam and Israel in favour — a garden, a promised land — before either had anything to break.
- Then the boundary. A stated command turns sin into transgression. The offender does what conscience condemns, and also defies God's authority in giving the law.
- Then the door. Adam was driven out of Eden; Israel, transgressing like him, was driven out of the land.
- Then the echo. Romans 5 points back to this line: death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over people who had no law to break.
Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity; it is tracked with blood.
Gilead lay east of the Jordan, and it held one of the cities God set apart to protect life. So why does He now name the whole region a city of wrongdoers, with blood on its ground?
No city called "Gilead" appears in Israel's records. One commentator reads the name here as a figure of speech, not an address.
Next comes the region of Gilead, across the Jordan. No city of that name is known. If there is none, then the name is a bold picture of a whole people joined together in corruption and violence.
Gilead is not a random target. Inside this region God had placed a city of refuge — a shelter for someone who killed another without meaning to.
It is called Ramoth in Gilead, a city belonging to the Levites and a city of refuge. Deut. 4:43; Joshua 20:8; Joshua 21:38; 1 Kings 22:3; 1 Chr. 6:80.
That setting sharpens the charge. The duty this place carried was turned upside down.
Those that ought to have been a city of refuge and active intercessors for the needy were themselves the ringleaders in evil, and on every ground the most guilty of all.
Blood on the ground is more than a vivid image. God's law tied shed blood to the land itself, and to the man who shed it.
Blood was in a special way the thing that defiled the land before God. The city of refuge was never designed to turn judgment away from someone who was in His sight a killer. Where it could be shown that there was intent to kill, the image of God in which He had made man ruled out pity. God had already settled this long before: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image."… "The land cannot be cleansed of the blood shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it."
Gilead was not only a place; it was a memorial of God's past dealings with the nation. Israel kept such memorials and put them to another use.
See how God remembers every point of contact of every kind between Himself and Israel! He recalls the moments of grace on His part, and even faith on Jacob's part. This is true affection. Meanwhile Israel drifted on, unmoved and forgetful. Or they used these memorials — places like Bethel and Gilead — to tie their idolatry to what memory still held.
The verse is not an isolated complaint. Bloodshed at Gilead is one item in a long list, and other holy places appear beside it.
All was falsehood; adultery; bloodshed (Hosea 5:2; 6:8)… Corruption had spread everywhere. Even the places once made sacred by Jehovah's revelation — Bethel, Gilgal, Gilead, Mizpah, Shechem — were scenes of special vileness and wickedness.
This verse sits inside a chapter that calls the people back to God. It shows what stood in the way.
In verse 4 the Spirit expresses the lovingkindness of God towards His rebellious children, and His readiness to meet the smallest movement in their heart towards good… Jehovah their God was ready to raise them up from their ruin. But when He came in, His presence brought to light the iniquity that formed a moral barrier to this restoration… The prophecy of Hosea matters here for one reason. It gives us the moral picture of the people whom God has judged, and the condition that made the judgment unavoidable.
- Refuge. Gilead held Ramoth, a city of refuge — a city God set apart to protect life.
- Reversal. The men who should have sheltered the needy led the way in evil — and so were the most guilty of all.
- Stain. Shed blood defiles the land before God. Only the blood of the man who shed it can cleanse the land.
- Memory. Names like Bethel and Gilead recalled God's grace. Israel kept the names and tied idolatry to them.
- Verdict. God was ready to lift them out of ruin. But His coming near exposed the sin that blocked the way back, and judgment became unavoidable.
And as troops of robbers lie in wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way of Shechem; yea, they commit lewdness.
Hosea 6 opens with a call to return to the Lord. By verse 9 the prophet names what stood in the way: the men in charge of Israel's worship were lying in ambush along the road. The shock of the verse lies in who the criminals are — not bandits in the hills, but a band of priests.
The chapter is not just a list of complaints. It shows why God could no longer hold back judgment.
Jehovah their God was ready to raise them up from their ruin. But if He came in, His presence brought to light the sin that formed a moral barrier to this restoration. Then the prophet's heart overflows again in grief over their sin. The prophecy of Hosea matters for this reason: it gives us the moral picture of the people whom God has judged, and the condition of this people that made the judgment unavoidable.
Robbers wait in hiding for a lone traveller. The priests worked the same way. The men who should have sheltered the hunted became the hunters.
Nor is this the worst: for the priests banded together secretly to ambush and destroy. "And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent." Those who ought to have been a city of refuge and active intercessors for the needy were themselves the ringleaders in evil, and on every ground the most guilty of all. They "murder in the way of consent (or 'toward Shechem'): for they commit deliberate crime." This was the heart-breaking sorrow. Had it been among the nations around them, it would not be so surprising.
Three things stand out. The killing was agreed on beforehand — a settled plan, not a flare of temper. The guilt matches the position held: the higher the trust, the deeper the crime. And the line ends with one more charge; where the ESV says they "commit villainy," the older translation quoted here reads "deliberate crime."
Commentators differ on how to render the second half of the line: "in the way by consent" or "on the way to Shechem." The ESV takes the second reading. It gives the crime an extra sting, because Shechem was a place a desperate man was meant to be able to reach.
Iniquity and blood were everywhere. Even the priests lurked as a band of robbers. They murdered the travellers on the way to Shechem, one of the cities of refuge. Note the correct translation: "On the way they murder those who go to Shechem."
A city of refuge was a town where a man who had killed without meaning to could flee for safety until judges heard his case. To ambush men on that road was to cut off their one escape.
Shechem was not the only place to suffer this reversal. The sites God had made sacred by revealing Himself there became the scenes of the worst evil.
All was falsehood, adultery and bloodshed. Secret or open robbery paid for their excess and luxury. There was oppression, false dealing, twisting of justice and grinding of the poor. Adultery became a sacred act of worship and religion. The people, the king and the priests were all steeped in debauchery. Corruption had spread everywhere. Even the places once made sacred by Jehovah's revelation — Bethel, Gilgal, Gilead, Mizpah, Shechem — were special scenes of vileness and wickedness. Rebuke was useless. They deliberately rejected the knowledge of Jehovah, and they hated correction.
The same men who did this were careful about their sacrifices. That care bought them nothing.
Both Ephraim and Judah had badly corrupted themselves. Yet at the same time they seem to have been very exact in keeping their sacrificial ceremonies, as if attention to outward forms could win them God's favour… That is, character and state — the character and state produced by knowing Jehovah as a God of mercy — were worth more before God than outward observances. Those observances were worthless unless they were the sign of a spiritual condition.
The charge is severe, but it is not God's last word to this people. Gaebelein reads the chapter's closing line about turning the captivity as pointing far beyond any return from Babylon.
The final sentence of this chapter is, "When I return the captivity of My people." This is a prophecy. It does not speak of the return from Babylon, but of that other great restoration which is still to come.
- Refuge — Shechem was a city of refuge, a place of safety for the hunted. The priests struck on the very road that led there.
- Refuge betrayed — the priests should have been "a city of refuge and active intercessors for the needy." Instead they led the evil, and so carried the deepest guilt.
- Refuge planned against — this was not sudden violence. The priests banded together in secret and killed "by consent," a deliberate crime.
- Refuge in ritual fails — careful sacrifices could not cover the crime. Outward forms are worthless unless they express a real state of heart.
- Refuge restored — the same chapter names the barrier to restoration, then ends with the promise of a return still ahead.
In the house of Israel have I seen a horrible thing the whoredom of Ephraim is there; Israel is defiled.
God Himself speaks here as the witness. What He sees is not among the nations but inside His own people's home. Two questions follow. What was so appalling? And why does the same sin weigh more when God's own people commit it?
The verse follows a description of Gilead and of priests who ambushed travellers. One commentator follows that trail to its end. The shock lies in where the evil was found.
The region of Gilead, across the Jordan, is named next... "Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity, and is polluted with blood." Nor is that the worst. The priests banded together in secret to ambush and destroy... These men should have been a city of refuge, active in pleading for the needy. Instead they were the ringleaders in evil, and on every ground the most guilty of all... This was the heart-breaking sorrow. Had it been among the other nations, it would not have been so surprising. But "In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim's whoredom is there; Israel is defiled."
"Ephraim's whoredom" sounds like a picture of idol worship. One writer shows it was more than a picture, then points to the chapter's closing promise.
The horrible thing was that Israel was steeped in whoredoms. They were not only adulterers in spirit. Following the idol worship, they lived in literal harlotry and lewdness... But look at the final sentence of this chapter: "When I return the captivity of My people." This is not a prophecy about the return from Babylon. It is about that other great restoration which is still to come.
Why was the defilement so complete? The rot had reached their worship, their leaders, and the places that once carried God's name.
They made adultery a sacred act of worship and religion. The people, the king and the priests were all steeped in debauchery. Corruption had spread everywhere. Even the places once made sacred through Jehovah's revelation were special scenes of vileness and wickedness. These places included Bethel, Gilgal, Gilead, Mizpah and Shechem. Protest was useless. They rejected the knowledge of Jehovah on purpose, and they hated correction.
The exposure here is not God losing patience. One writer traces it back to God's readiness to heal.
In verse 4 the Spirit expresses God's lovingkindness towards His rebellious children. He is ready to meet the smallest movement of their heart towards good... In the heart and mind of God it was not a question of outward forms; the moral relationship with God had failed... Jehovah their God was ready to raise them up from their ruin. But if He came in, His presence brought to light the iniquity that formed a moral barrier to this restoration.
Kelly weighs Israel's guilt against everyone else's. Knowing God better does not soften the charge; it raises it.
How much more guilty were those who knew far better! They stood in national relationship with God as His own special, favoured people. They even had the tent of the testimony among them, a witness for Him and against their ways... No corruption is as terrible as that of God's people. So His discipline matches it: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (Amos 3:2).
- Seen. God speaks as eyewitness of what happens in His own house. The horror is not the size of the sin but its place. The same sin among other nations would not have been so surprising.
- Sacred. The places God once marked out by His own revelation had become scenes of vileness. Holy ground gives no cover to sinful living.
- Steeped. Ephraim's whoredom was not only spiritual. Following the idol worship, they lived in literal immorality and made adultery itself an act of worship.
- Shepherds. The priests should have been a refuge for the needy and should have pleaded for them. Instead they led the way in evil. Leadership does not dilute guilt; it concentrates it.
- Still loved. God was ready to lift them out of their ruin. His coming near is what exposed the barrier. The same chapter that names the horror ends pointing to a restoration still ahead.
Also, for thee, Judah, is a harvest appointed, when I shall turn again the captivity of my people.
Hosea 6 opens with a call to return to the LORD and closes with a harvest set for Judah. That harvest sits beside a promise — God restoring His people — and commentators read it in two very different ways.
Most of Hosea's rebukes fall on Ephraim, the northern kingdom. This closing line turns south to Judah. Judah's worship still looked sound, but the heart behind it was not.
The prophecy presents Ephraim as having forsaken God altogether, sunk in wickedness and facing coming judgment. It presents Judah as still faithful on the outside, though unfaithful at heart too (see Hosea 6:11; 8:14; 11:12). Judgment would fall on them both.
That pairing runs through the whole book, and it does not end with judgment.
In Hosea we have the judgment of Israel, and also that of Judah, and their restoration together in the last days.
One reading takes the harvest as judgment Judah still has coming. Older translations render "restore the fortunes of my people" as "turn the captivity of my people," and the writers quoted here use that older wording.
Judah, too, would get a harvest. But the last sentence of this chapter, "When I return the captivity of My people," is a prophecy. It is not about the return from Babylon. It is about that other great restoration which is still to come. Seen in this light the whole verse is prophetic. "For you also, Judah, a harvest waits, when I shall turn the captivity of My people." When God restores His people in the covenant mercies He promised, then judgment will visit Judah, as it will at the end of this age.
Commentators differ on whether this harvest means sorrow or gladness. They agree on one point: the restoration here is not the return of exiles from Babylon. The argument turns on a title — God says my people.
The chapter closes with the assurance of sovereign mercy from Him who must judge sin according to the holiness of His nature… No one can honestly apply this to the return from the captivity in Babylon. Notice something striking. The prophets after the captivity never speak of the Jews who returned as "my people." They use that name only in predictions of future blessedness under their Messiah, reigning in glory and power over the earth… But those who returned were never called "my people." It waits for another and very different day, when the Jews will look on Him whom they pierced. That day waits for the real fulfilment of Psalm 126:1, 5, when the harvest of joy will come after many long sorrows.
This verse ends a chapter that opened with an invitation. The chapter shows God willing, and shows what stood in the way.
In verse 4 the Spirit expresses the lovingkindness of God towards His rebellious children. He is ready to meet the smallest movement in their heart towards good… But they had broken the covenant, as Adam did in the garden of Eden. Their enjoyment of the blessings God had heaped on them depended on that covenant. They had acted treacherously towards Him. The LORD their God was ready to raise them up from their ruin. But if He came in, His presence brought the sin to light. That sin was the moral barrier to this restoration.
The verses just before show what that light exposed. Priests who should have protected the people were leading them into evil.
These men should have been a place of refuge, pleading for the needy. Instead they were the ringleaders in evil, and on every count the most guilty of all… This was the heart-breaking sorrow. Had it been among the nations, it would not be so surprising.
- Appeal. The chapter shows God ready "to meet the smallest movement in their heart towards good." The harvest word ends an invitation; it does not replace one.
- Barrier. The people themselves held up their restoration. God was ready to raise them from ruin, but His presence exposed the sin in the way.
- Reach. Judah cannot stand aside while Hosea charges Ephraim. Judah looked faithful but was "unfaithful at heart too," so judgment falls on both.
- Harvest. Commentators differ on the crop. One reads a judgment on Judah "at the end of this age"; another reads "the harvest of joy" that follows "many long sorrows."
- Restoration. "My people" settles the timing. No prophet gave that name to the exiles who came back from Babylon. So this waits for the day when the Jews "look on Him whom they pierced," and God restores Israel and Judah together.