Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Return, Israel, to the Lord your God.
    Your sins have been your downfall!
Take words with you
    and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
    “Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
    that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
Assyria cannot save us;
    we will not mount warhorses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’
    to what our own hands have made,
    for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
“I will heal their waywardness
    and love them freely,
    for my anger has turned away from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon
    he will send down his roots;
    his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,
    his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
People will dwell again in his shade;
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?
    I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;
    your fruitfulness comes from me.”
Who is wise? Let them realize these things.
    Who is discerning? Let them understand.
The ways of the Lord are right;
    the righteous walk in them,
    but the rebellious stumble in them.

• Hosea 14:1-9

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Hosea 11:12-14:8 ‘Israel’s Sin and God’s Salvation’: “The prophecies in this passage intermix past and future fulfillment. Hosea begins by contrasting the nation of Israel with Jacob, the father of Israel (11:12-12:14). Whereas Jacob sought after God and His blessing, Israel sought idolatry and, for that reason, calamity came upon the land (13 1-16). However, the judgment upon Israel, which will be a judgment of destruction, will not be total (13:14), for God declares that death and Sheol will nor win, and God intends to ransom Israel from Sheol and death. When God declares that ‘compassion will be hidden from My sight’ (13: 14). He is saying that He will not change His mind about the future salvation of Israel. Therefore, it will indeed come.
“Hosea concludes with a look at Israel’s future and final salvation (14:1-8). He begins with a call to repentance (verses 1-3), which is followed by God’s promise that once Israel does repent, God will indeed respond (verses 4-5). This in turn will lead to Israel’s future fruitfulness (verses 5-8). Thus, in the messianic kingdom, Israel will be a fruit-bearing nation that will benefit the Gentiles as well. With that positive note, Hosea concludes his book by confessing his great impression of the wisdom of God, just as the apostle Paul does in Romans 11:33-36.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Hosea 14:1-4 ‘As repentance’: “Repentance is an essential way for people to show love to the Lord. Hosea spoke to Israel like parents speak to little children, telling them just what to do.
“Responsible parents commonly provide their small children with conciliatory words to say when they commit a wrong. With a vocal ‘nudge’ the proper expression is extended such as, Say you are sorry. This is what the prophet told Israel to do. This is what Israel needed to do!”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 14:1-3 ‘a call for true repentance’: “Hosea issued one final call for true repentance, characterized by both the correct words and the correct actions. Israel must know that only in acknowledging guilt and putting her faith in God alone would she be able to find her Father’s mercy.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)

Hosea 14:1 ‘summary’: “The whole book of Hosea is like a great trial wherein witnesses have appeared against the accused and the arguments and excuses of the guilty have been answered and baffled. Everything has been heard for them and much, very much, against them-and the convicted stand at the bar to hear their sentence. Behold the judge, instead of putting on the black cap to pronounce doom of death, stretches out his hands to the condemned and, in tones of pity, cries, ‘Israel, return.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Hosea 5:13, 14:3 ‘Israel’s Kings’: “Hoshea (732–722 B.C.) was the last king of northern Israel. He led a pro-Assyrian conspiracy against Israel’s king Pekah, assassinating him and seizing the throne himself (2 Kin. 15:30). At first Israel, under Hoshea, became a vassal of Assyria (Hos. 5:13; 14:3). Sometime after the death of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III in 727 B.C., Hoshea stopped paying tribute and turned to Egypt for help (2 Kin. 17:4). The prophet Hosea warns that an alliance with Egypt will be of no avail (Hos. 7:11, 16).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

Hosea 14:3 ‘ceremony over substance’: “They had been accustomed to rely either on Assyria or on Egypt. And one of the first signs of their real repentance was that they had given up their false dependencies. We, too, must give up our self-righteousness, our ceremonialism, anything and everything in which we have trusted in place of trusting in the Lord. ‘Assyria will not save us.’”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Hosea 14:4-7 ‘healing backsliding’: “’I will heal their backsliding.’ God says, ‘The people have been backsliding, slipping away from Me, but I am going to heal them. I will love them freely, for Mine anger is turned away from them.’”

• J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi

Hosea 14:4-7 ‘Israel’s restoration’: “Hosea portrayed Israel’s beautiful restoration. Although Hosea’s prophecies have boiled with warnings and threats of God’s judgment, which subsequently were fulfilled, he ended his book on a note of hope. The ultimate reunion Hosea and Gomer experienced in their marriage was a picture of Israel’s future restoration with the Lord. God’s healing and restoring love would endure forever.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Karen H. Jobes, Minor Prophets contributor)

Hosea 14:4 ‘I will, if it’s God’s will’: “Listen to the heavenly music. ‘I will.’ ‘I will.’ When God says, ‘I will,’ we can depend on him to do what he says he will. If you or I say, ‘I will,’ it must be with the disclaimer, ‘If it is God’s will, I will do so-and-so.’ But God is the almighty King whose last word is a sovereign mandate: ‘I will heal their apostasy: I will freely love them.’”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Hosea 14:7 ‘as healing’: “On rare occasions, healing is instantaneous. But this is exceptional. Healing tends to be an extended process. The Hebrews did not suddenly fall into their terrible problems. Getting stuck in the deep consequences of sin was the result of a long, gradual decline. Similarly, God says their healing would be prolonged.
“Once again, the prophet utilized the literary tool of similes. God will be like the dew that causes flowers to bloom. Israel, on the other hand, is compared to two types of trees: a cedar of Lebanon and an olive tree. The cedar of Lebanon was well-regarded and well-respected in ancient times. Solomon used cedars of Lebanon in the construction of the first temple (1 King 5:6). Note the reference to their roots. Time is required for a tree to dig to such deep depths. Olive trees are known for their longevity. They can live beyond 1000 years. Israel becoming such a tree would take many seasons of maturity.
“Often there is a period of recuperation for people to return to strength and restore their appetite for spiritual food. But, rest assured, healing docs come around.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

Hosea 14:8-9 ‘Ephraim shall say’: “Verse 8 is one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible. This is a victory song. ‘Ephraim shall say’—this is future. God is finally going to win. Love is going to win the victory here. God has said to Ephraim, ‘Oh, Ephraim, how shall I give you up?’ And He said, ‘Ephraim—let him alone because he has turned to idols.’ Now God says, ‘But there is a day coming when Ephraim will see that he’s made a great blunder and mistake, and he will turn back to Me. He is going to say, ‘I don’t have anything more to do with idols.’”
“I cannot help but believe in the midst of this tragedy of sin, this drama of human life which is being enacted down here in this world today, that God is going to come out the victor. I believe that there are going to be more people saved than there will be lost. That was Spurgeon’s belief also; he said that many times. You and I have our noses pressed against the present hour. We look around at the world today, and all we see is the little flock the Lord Jesus talked about—that is, the church, the people whom He is calling out of this world. But there are many whom He has saved in the past. For example, at one time He saved the entire population of Nineveh (although a hundred years later they reverted to sin, and He judged them). There have been other great revival movements in the past also, but the greatest turning to God is to take place in the future. That will occur, of all times, during the Great Tribulation Period. The Millennium is also going to be a period of salvation, by the way. God is going to win, my friend. Love will triumph. Our God today is riding victoriously in His own chariot—He is the sovereign God. God pity the man who gets under those chariot wheels! I don’t know about you, but I want to go along with God I’m hitchhiking a ride with Him today. That is the reason it is so urgent that we know His Word—to find out how to stay in His will in this difficult day in which we are living.”

• J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol III, Proverbs to Malachi

Hosea 14:8 ‘from doubt to faith’: “The movement from doubt to faith, conversely, is usually sudden, often explosive. A man or woman is converted to Christ by a sudden, violent encounter with God and spiritual things. This person’s conversion becomes an enlightening, a sudden inward illumination that shows the certainties of the spiritual life as sharply as a midnight landscape when illumined by a flash of lightning. After long and painful searching of the heart, after what may be an agony of wrestling with the angel, the morning breaks suddenly as it broke on Jacob. There is no doubt about it now. The heart can say, “What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him.”

• A. W. Tozer, Paths to Power

Hosea 14:9 ‘as wisdom’: “Hosea closed his prophecy with an appeal to those folks who were wise and discerning. Such individuals understand a situation and respond properly. In the end, people in Hosea’s day (and in our day) arc called to recognize the two choices before them and choose prudently:
“rebel against the Lord and stumble, or return to the Lord and walk securely in His ways.
“The wise choice is the loving choice.”

• Jay McCluskey, A Long Walk with the Minor Prophets

My Thoughts

Hosea tells Ephraim that repentance is all that is necessary.

The Lord says come with words.

My first response was “What words?”  But God follows this with the definition of true repentance.  We ask forgiveness.  We ask God to honor that request of forgiveness.  We identify the sin in our life.  But remember there is the sacrifice in Mosaic Law that speaks of the unknown sin, that sin we did and were not conscious of it.  And then we say that we will never again do it.

That last sentence is only a desire to not do it, unless God gives us the power to resist that temptation.

Sometimes, it is not the temptation itself that is hard to resist but I just saw a panel discussion and one of the pastors talked about following breadcrumbs that lead to a temptation.  If we had seen the temptation first, we might avoid the sin, but after we have travelled down a dark path for a while, we have this defeatist view that I have gone this far. I might as well…

Learn what your breadcrumbs are.  Don’t chase an innocent breadcrumb if you know from experience what is in the alley.

And learn a little math lesson.  I have even heard pastors say that repentance is turning a 360-degree turn.  No!  Three hundred sixty degrees is an entire spin, and you are facing the same way again.  A 180-degree turn puts you in the opposite direction.  I am an engineer and mathematical inaccuracies irritate me, especially if I make them, but I also took flying lessons at one time.  If you do not understand the 360 degrees of a compass, you are going to get lost quickly.  I like what another pastor said.  Jesus is following you.  Turn from your sin and fall into His arms.  That is what repentance is.  But remember that for it to be true repentance, don’t back toward the sin.  Stay with your eyes fixed upon Jesus.

With repentance as the first step, God will work in your life to heal you.  Hosea uses several plants as examples: lily, cedar, olive tree, vine, and juniper.  An interesting note is that the Woman’s Study Bible identifies this lily as an iris yellow flag that grows along streams and waterways.  But if God heals these plants, He can heal us.

And the last verse speaks of wisdom.  Rev. McCluskey said it well.  “The wise choice is the loving choice.”

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Hosea 14 1. What condition and promise does true repentance involve (see 1Jn 1:9; Lk 15:11-24)?
“2. How has God’s anger toward your sin been turned away (see Eph 2:3-5)? Can the consequences of sin always be avoided? However, what can we look forward to if we walk in covenant faithfulness with him (vv.5-8)?
“3. How are you wiser, now that you have completed your study of Hosea?
“4. Has your health, your job, or a broken relationship ever been ‘restored’ to you? How did it happen? How did you feel?
“5. What restoration project can you and your group take on, with the compassion of Hosea for Gomer?

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Hosea 14 has one set of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.