Hosea Chapter Fourteen

Read Hosea 14:1-3 – A Final Call to Repentance

v.1 “¹O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.”

Even in their total degradation in sin God is still calling Israel to repent and turn from her evil ways. They are fallen just as all men fall from time to time. They are as deep in the mire of sin that men can get but they can still acknowledge their condition and come to God for His remedy, his cleansing and be restored as his children. They have been called to repentance before, by the prophet Joel:

Joel 2:13 “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.”

And by Hosea:

Hosea 13:9 “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.”

Then God tells them how they have fallen, how they are destroying themselves.

v.2 “Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.”

“TAKE WITH YOU WORDS”, words of repentance, words of prayer and supplication unto God, the “FRUIT” of their lips. The American Standard, 1901 translation renders the latter part of this verse “SO WILL WE RENDER AS BULLOCKS THE OFFERING OF OUR LIPS” that we sacrifice the fruit of our lips in prayer and praise the same consistency that the regular sacrifices were to be made in the temple under the Mosaic Covenant. The Hebrew writer reminds us today as well that:

“For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Hebrews 13:14-15

So Israel, also, was to offer the fruit of their lips continually, in praise, in honor and in prayer, just as the sacrifices were offered daily in the temple.

v.3 “Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.”

“ASSHUR SHALL NOT SAVE US;”, when pressed by the troubles that God brought upon Israel, they did not turn back to God but turned to their pagan neighbors and created political alliances:

Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.”

Asshur, another name for Assyria, did not save them but actually swallowed them up and carried them off into oblivion.

The riding upon horses refers to the ability to make war against their neighbors and learning to rely on their own abilities rather than relying on God. In order to acquire horses they would have to make alliances with Egypt, the dominate power of the secular world. Moses had warned them in his final rendering of God’s covenant with Israel:

“But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.” Deuteronomy 17:16

In order to repent Israel would have to give up their idol gods and return completely to God. They worshiped the wood, stone and metal images that they were able to create rather than the Creator that gave and sustained their lives. They were like those described by Paul in the letter to the Romans:

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” Romans 1:25

“IN THEE”, in God they would find mercy, the same kind of mercy, love and blessings that the fatherless find when they find someone that truly wants to be their father.

Read Hosea 14:4-9 – The Blessings of Repentance

v.4 “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”

Because of their backsliding, their degeneration into the sins and excesses of their pagan neighbors God unleashed his wrath against them:

Jeremiah 5:6 “Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.”

But if they will but turn away from their sin, God will end all of their trouble, trial and destruction. He will “LOVE THEM FREELY”, he will bring them under his protection, he will restore them to their place in his spiritual family, he will make them as those today who serve God:

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: ⁵Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:4-6

If they would turn away from their sin, God’s anger, the destruction that his wrath was to bring, would be turned away from them.

v.5 “⁵I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.”

If they would but repent and return to him, God would bless them with the blessings given Jacob by Isaac:

Genesis 27:28 “Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:”

His providence would not fail them, they would be blessed with the “FATNESS OF THE EARTH”; he would restore them to the position of children of a benevolent father.

They shall be as the lily, a flower that starts from a bulb that has no beauty about it at all, that grows into a tall stalk and then produces a beautiful blossom. This is the same analogy that Jesus uses to assure his disciples of God’s special providence for them as they began to spread the good news of the gospel:

Matthew 6:28-29 “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: ²⁹And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

And thus are God’s children when in harmony with Him.

He will anchor them in his love and in their land like the deep rooted cedars of Lebanon. Amos uses this same symbolism in his prophecy to describe the fruit of Israel’s repentance:

Amos 9:15 “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.”

v.6 “His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.”

If she will repent and return to God Israel will grow and prosper as a tree does when watered and nurtured by a loving, competent husbandman. When her roots run deep in the ways of God, she cannot be moved or easily uprooted. We find the same symbols in God’s blessing given Joseph, whose sons are the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh; a major portion of the Israel of Hosea’s day:

Genesis 49:22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:”

Israel’s beauty in the eyes of God will be like that of the olive tree which is always green. She will be like the Psalmist wrote:

Psalms 52:8 “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.”

Hosea also refers to the repentant Israel as having the “SMELL OF LEBANON”. Knowing that Lebanon was famous for it’s cedars it brings to mind the fresh smell of cedar wood, or that of keepsakes and precious possessions stored in a cedar chest. Indeed the offerings of incense as commanded under the Mosaic Covenant, our prayers under the New Covenant are to God as a the Psalmist describes:

Psalms 141:2 “LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE as INCENSE; and THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS as THE EVENING SACRIFICE.”

v.7 “They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.”

“THEY THAT DWELL UNDER HIS SHADOW”, the Psalmist characterizes it this way:

Psalms 91:1 “HE THAT DWELLETH IN THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH SHALL ABIDE UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY.”

What does it mean to be in the shadow of “THE ALMIGHTY?” It means to live under his blessings, his protection, to live as the children of a benevolent father who will meet our every need, both physically and spiritually.

If they would but repent and return to God they would be revived, like young corn after a refreshing rain. David describes this blessing in a psalm that most of us could probably quote:

Psalms 23:1-3 “THE LORD is MY SHEPHERD; I SHALL NOT WANT. HE MAKETH ME TO LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES: HE LEADETH ME BESIDE STILL WATERS. HE RESTORETH MY SOUL: HE LEADETH ME IN THE PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE.”

And like the corn or grain that is given nourishment and rain Israel will grow and prosper, she will bloom as a vine in season. Her fruit, her worship and service, will be prized by God. Again we see the quality of a product of Lebanon, Israel’s near neighbor to the north, being used to illustrate the satisfaction that God would have in their repentance.

v.8 “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.”

Just as the Apostle writes to the Corinthian brethren asking them this question:

I Corinthians 6:15 “And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

If Ephraim, if Israel, would but realize their true condition, just how poor, wretched, and blind they are; and then return to God, they would then ask themselves why did I ever leave God? Why did I ever break his covenant and destroy our relationship?

In prior verses God had compared Israel to a tree that he would nourish, water and prune that it may grow and flourish. Now he compares himself to a tree, a green fir-tree, which in that region were large, thick and a shelter from both sun and rain when needed. It is from God that they and we receive all of our wealth, all of our ability, and what is required to sustain us both physically and spiritually. Just as James records:

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

v.9 “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.”

Hosea ends his prophecy with a call for Israel to return to true wisdom; and what is true wisdom?

Proverbs 1:7 “THE FEAR OF THE LORD is THE BEGINNING OF KNOWLEDGE: but FOOLS DESPISE WISDOM AND INSTRUCTION.”

If Israel will turn and repent, if the world today would turn to God and repent:

“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:10

Those that know the ways of God, those that turn from worldly ways and worldly desires and pursuits understand thoroughly this truth:

“THY RIGHTEOUSNESS is AN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS; AND THY LAW is THE TRUTH.” Psalms 119:142

If she would be wake up to her wretched condition and return to God Israel would become as God would have her to be and commanded her to be:

Leviticus 18:4-5 “Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. ⁵Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.

But the “TRANSGRESSORS SHALL FALL” just as the wise man recorded:

Proverbs 10:29 “THE WAY OF THE LORD is STRENGTH TO THE UPRIGHT: BUT DESTRUCTION shall be TO THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY.”

William L. Schwegler – Sunset church of Christ, Shreveport, LA; December 14, 2008