Hosea 14

Repentance to Bring Blessing

1 Return, Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall!
2 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.[a]
3 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.”
4 “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.
5 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;
6 his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
7 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.
8 Ephraim, what more have I[b] to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me.”
9 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 Commentary

Chapter 14

An exhortation to repentance. (1-3) Blessings promised, showing the rich comforts of the gospel. (4-8) The just and the wicked. (9)

Verses 1-3 Israel is exhorted to return unto Jehovah, from their sins and idols, by faith in his mercy, and grace through the promised Redeemer, and by diligently attending on his worship and service. Take away iniquity; lift it off as a burden we are ready to sink under, or as the stumbling-block we have often fallen over. Take it all away by a free and full forgiveness, for we cannot strike any of it off. Receive our prayer graciously. They do not say what good they seek, but refer it to God. It is not good of the world's showing, but good of God's giving. They were to consider their sins, their wants, and the remedy; and they were to take, not sacrifices, but words stating the desires of their hearts, and with them to address the Lord. The whole forms a clear description of the nature and tendency of a sinner's conversion to God through Jesus Christ. As we draw near to God by the prayer of faith, we should first beseech him to teach us what to ask. We must be earnest with him to take away all iniquity.

Verses 4-8 Israel seeks God's face, and they shall not seek it in vain. His anger is turned from them. Whom God loves, he loves freely; not because they deserve it, but of his own good pleasure. God will be to them all they need. The graces of the Spirit are the hidden manna, hidden in the dew; the grace thus freely bestowed on them shall not be in vain. They shall grow upward, and be more flourishing; shall grow as the lily. The lily, when come to its height, is a lovely flower, ( matthew 6:28 matthew 6:29 ) . They shall grow downward, and be more firm. With the flower of the lily shall be the strong root of the cedar of Lebanon. Spiritual growth consists most in the growth of the root, which is out of sight. They shall also spread as the vine, whose branches extend very widely. When believers abound in good works, then their branches spread. They shall be acceptable both to God and man. Holiness is the beauty of a soul. The church is compared to the vine and the olive, which bring forth useful fruits. God's promises pertain to those only that attend on his ordinances; not such as flee to this shadow only for shelter in a hot gleam, but all who dwell under it. When a man is brought to God, all who dwell under his shadow fare the better. The sanctifying fruits shall appear in his life. Thus believers grow up into the experience and fruitfulness of the gospel. Ephraim shall say, God will put it into his heart to say it, What have I to do any more with idols! God's promises to us are more our security and our strength for mortifying sin, than our promises to God. See the power of Divine grace. God will work such a change in him, that he shall loathe the idols as much as ever he loved them. See the benefit of sanctified afflictions. Ephraim smarted for his idolatry, and this is the fruit, even the taking away his sin, ( Isaiah 27:9 ) . See the nature of repentance; it is a firm and fixed resolution to have no more to do with sin. The Lord meets penitents with mercy, as the father of the prodigal met his returning son. God will be to all true converts both a delight and a defence; they shall sit under his shadow with delight. And as the root of a tree; From me is thy fruit found: from Him we receive grace and strength to enable us to do our duty.

Verse 9 Who profit by the truths the prophet delivered? Such as set themselves to understand and know these things. The ways of God's providence towards us are right; all is well done. Christ is a Foundation Stone to some, to others a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence. That which was ordained to life, becomes, through their abuse of it, death to them. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay. But those transgressors certainly have the most dangerous, fatal falls, who fall in the ways of God, who split on the Rock of Ages, and suck poison out of the Balm of Gilead. Let sinners in Zion fear this. May we learn to walk in the right ways of God, as his righteous servants, and may none of us be disobedient and unbelieving, and stumble at the word.

Cross References 31

  • 1. S Isaiah 19:22; S Jeremiah 3:12
  • 2. S Hosea 4:8
  • 3. S Hosea 5:5; S Hosea 9:7
  • 4. S Exodus 34:9
  • 5. Psalms 51:16-17; Micah 7:18-19
  • 6. Hebrews 13:15
  • 7. S Hosea 5:13
  • 8. Psalms 33:17; S Isaiah 31:1; Micah 5:10
  • 9. Hosea 8:6
  • 10. ver 28; Hosea 13:2
  • 11. Psalms 10:14; Psalms 68:5; Jeremiah 49:11
  • 12. S Isaiah 30:26; S Hosea 6:1
  • 13. S Jeremiah 2:19
  • 14. S Isaiah 55:1; Jeremiah 31:20; Zephaniah 3:17
  • 15. S Job 13:16
  • 16. S Genesis 27:28; S Isaiah 18:4
  • 17. S Song of Songs 2:1
  • 18. Isaiah 35:2
  • 19. Job 29:19
  • 20. Psalms 52:8; S Jeremiah 11:16
  • 21. S Psalms 92:12; S Song of Songs 4:11
  • 22. Psalms 91:1-4
  • 23. S Genesis 40:10
  • 24. S Hosea 2:22
  • 25. S Ezekiel 17:23
  • 26. S ver 3
  • 27. S Isaiah 37:24
  • 28. S Psalms 107:43
  • 29. S Proverbs 10:29; S Isaiah 1:28; Daniel 12:10
  • 30. Psalms 111:7-8; Zephaniah 3:5; Acts 13:10
  • 31. Isaiah 26:7

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or "offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls"
  • [b]. Or Hebrew; Septuagint "What more has Ephraim"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 14

This chapter concludes the book, with gracious promises to repenting sinners, to returning backsliders. It begins with an exhortation to Israel to return to the Lord, seeing he was their God, and they had fallen by sin from prosperity into adversity, temporal and spiritual, Ho 14:1; and they are directed what to say to the Lord, upon their return to him, both by way of petition, and of promise and of resolution how to behave for the future, encouraged by his grace and mercy, Ho 14:2,3; and they are told what the Lord, by way of answer, would say to them, Ho 14:4; and what he would be to them; and what blessings of grace he would bestow on them; and in what flourishing and fruitful circumstances they should be, Ho 14:5-8; and the chapter ends with a character of such that attend to and understand those things; and with a recommendation of the ways of the Lord, which are differently regarded by men, Ho 14:9.

Hosea 14 Commentaries

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