Hosea 6

A call to repentance

“Come, and let us return

to the LORD;

for he has torn us,

but he will heal us. He has struck us,

but he will bind up our wounds.

2 After two days he will revive us;

on the third day he will raise us up,

and we will live in his sight.

3 Then we will know the LORD,

if we press on to know him.

His coming is as certain as the morning,

and he will come to us like the rain,

like the latter and former

rain to the earth”.

6:1-3 These words seem to indicate the repentance and faith that would come to Israel and Judah sometime after God tore them to pieces and withdrew from them (Hos 5:14-15). Hosea is putting these words into the mouths of a future generation of people. They could not have spoken these words at the time Hosea was writing because God had not yet torn them to pieces. But eventually that nation would understand that God had torn them in justice and would heal them in mercy, that He tore them just so they would turn to Him for mercy.⚜

Further charges against Israel

4 “O Ephraim, what shall

I do with you?

O Judah, what shall I do

with you?

For your goodness is like a

morning cloud,

and it goes away like

the early dew.

5 Therefore I have cut them down

by the prophets,

I have slain them by the words

of my mouth.

And judgments on you are like

light going forth.

6:5 God pronounced judgment on them through His prophets, and once pronounced its coming was absolutely certain. The words of His mouth were spoken through His prophets and they signified destruction for the people. Compare Jer 23:29.⚜

6 For I delight in mercy,

and not sacrifice,

and the knowledge of God

more than burnt offerings.

6:6 Here is the reason why God punished His people. They were content with the outer forms of their religion and rejected its heart. Compare Ps 50:7-23; Isa 1:11-17; Matt 23:23-24. See also Matt 9:13 and Matt 12:7 where Jesus quoted these words.⚜

7 But like men they have transgressed

the covenant.

There they have dealt treacherously

against me.

8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,

and is defiled with blood.

9 And as bands of robbers lie

in wait for a man,

so the company of priests

commit murder on the

way to Shechem;

they commit shameful deeds.

10 I have seen a horrible thing

in the house of Israel.

There is the prostitution of Ephraim,

Israel is defiled.

11 Also, O Judah,

there is a harvest appointed for you,

when I bring back my people from captivity.