Hosea 6

 

Hosea 6

6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
6:3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Hosea has some of the sweetest notes of grace scattered throughout his prophecy, and this is one of them. Moved by the Holy Spirit, he cries out this wonderful invitation.

Come, and let us return unto the LORD – return seems to be one of Hosea’s favorite words. He uses it (the Hebrew word) 22 times, it is translated 16 times return (in the KJV).

Whenever this invitation is offered it always includes the hope of acceptance. This is no exception: he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight – Do you see what I see? When did God revive us, raise us up, so that we shall live in his sight? In Christ, in his resurrection on the third day! What a picture of the grace of God!

Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD – Come let us return to the LORD and he will do all this for us. Hallelujah! This is promised to Israel, yet the grace of God is so great that He has included us Gentiles too.

6:4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
6:5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
6:7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings – O how easy, how tempting to major on the ritual and miss the real. I am so much better at ritual (going to church, serving on this committee, avoiding that crowd) than I am at the real (which is the heart of true religion: showing mercy, being kind and generous, reading the Scriptures, prayer). This is such an important truth that the Lord Jesus quoted it twice in his ministry: In response to the question, "Why does your master eat with publicans and sinners?" (Matthew 9:13) and when the Pharisees said, "Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful on the sabbath" (that is, plucking/harvesting grain on the sabbath) Matthew 12:7). Mercy is such an important virtue. As the prophet Micah said,  "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"  

But they are as a man transgressing a covenant (Septuagint) – they have dealt treacherously against me in despising and breaking my covenant.

6:8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.
6:9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

I desire mercy and what do I see? Iniquity, robbery, murder, lewdness.

6:10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
6:11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

I have seen an horrible thing in Israel, the whoredom of Ephraim.

O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee – O Judah, here is thy harvest; they who have led Israel into captivity shall lead thee also into the same. The Assyrians and Babylonians were the same kind of people; equally idolatrous, equally oppressive, equally cruel. “Some suppose this to be a promise of return from captivity. While it is true that Judah was gathered together again and brought back to their own land, the majority of the Israelites did not return, and are not now to be found.” (Adam Clarke)

In this chapter we see God’s grace, Come and let us return to the LORD, and the very essence of the covenant, I desired mercy and not sacrifice. We also see the heart of the Israelites, iniquity, robbery, murder, lewdness; whoredom, defilement, and as a result, God’s judgment on them. 

Therefore it is imperative that we heed the urgent call of the Holy Spirit:  

"Seek ye the Lord, and when ye find him, call upon him; and when he shall draw nigh to you, let the ungodly leave his ways, and the transgressor his counsels: and let him return to the Lord, and he shall find mercy; for he shall abundantly pardon your sins." (Isaiah 55:6-7 Septuagint)