Israel’s Return, Full Repentance, and Millennial Blessing
Hosea 14
Hosea 14
Repentance and Restoration (14:1-8)
CHAPTER 14
1 O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. v.1 the heart of God is reaching out to them, and the turn to the Lord (conversion).
v.1 Conversion.
2 Take with you words, and turn to Jehovah; say unto him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips. v.2 the Lord will give them the very words to speak when they repent and ask for restoration. This is what they should have said in Exodus 19… they should have rested on the soverign grace of God.
3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Thou art our God; because in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. v.3 they wont depend on the external resources that they had turned to when the were away from the Lord. That behavior is a thing of the past.
vv.2-3 Repentance.
4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him. 5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6 His shoots shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7 They shall return and sit under his shadow; they shall revive as corn, and blossom as the vine: the renown thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? (I answer him, and I will observe him.) I am like a green fir-tree. — From me is thy fruit found.
vv.4-8 Restoration to Communion.
v.8 we see another beautiful example of communion in this verse:
- Ephraim says: What have I to do any more with idols?
- the Lord says: I answer him, and I will observe him.
- Ephraim says: I am like a green fir-tree
- The Lord says: From me is thy fruit found.
Conclusion and Warning (14:9)
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? intelligent, and he shall know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.
v.9 Conclusion and Warning