Hosea 6 KJV
A Call to Repentance
Hosea Chapter 6: A Call to Repentance
The 'third day' resurrection motif in verse 2, where God revives and raises up after two days, was linked by early Christian interpreters to Christ's resurrection, providing a typological bridge between Hosea's call to repentance and New Testament soteriology.
1ome, 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.
2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
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.
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.
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 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.
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.
10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.
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Did You Know?
The 'third day' resurrection motif in verse 2, where God revives and raises up after two days, was linked by early Christian interpreters to Christ's resurrection, providing a typological bridge between Hosea's call to repentance and New Testament soteriology.
Verse 6's declaration that God desires mercy and knowledge of God rather than sacrifice is quoted verbatim by Jesus in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7, reframing the prophetic critique as a direct indictment of first-century Pharisaic priorities.
The phrase 'they like men have transgressed the covenant' in verse 7 renders the Hebrew 'like Adam,' deliberately evoking the primal covenant breach in Eden and positioning Israel's infidelity as a recapitulation of humanity's original rebellion.
Verses 8-9 locate treachery and murder specifically in Gilead and Shechem, priestly and covenantal centers, thereby exposing the religious elite themselves as agents of violence and inverting the expected role of sanctuaries as places of refuge.
The fleeting dew and morning cloud imagery of verse 4 is drawn from Canaanite fertility motifs, subverted here to depict Israel's superficial repentance as no more lasting than the dew that evaporates under Baal's supposed domain, reinforcing Hosea's polemic against syncretism.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain let us return โ in order that God who has "returned to His place" may return to us (Ho 5:15). torn, and... heal โ (De 32:39; Jer 30:17). They ascribe their punishment not to fortunโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Hosea 6 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: The israelites' exhortation to one another to seek the Lord.
- 1
- let us return โ in order that God who has "returned to His place" may return to us (Ho 5:15). torn, and... heal โ (De 32:39; Jer 30:17). They ascribe their punishment not to fortune, or man, but to God, and acknowledge that none (not the Assyrian, as they once vainly thought, Ho 5:13) but God can heal their wound. They are at the same time persuaded of the mercy of God, which persuasion is the starting-point of true repentance, and without which men would not seek, but hate and flee from God. Though our wound be severe, it is not past hope of recovery; there is room for grace, and a hope of pardon. He hath smitten us, but not so badly that He cannot heal us (Ps 130:4).
- 2
- Primarily, in type, Israel's national revival, in a short period ("two or three" being used to denote a few days, Isa 17:6; Lu 13:32, 33); antitypically the language is so framed as to refer in its full accuracy only to Messiah, the ideal Israel (Isa 49:3; compare Mt 2:15, with Ho 11:1), raised on the third day (Joh 2:19; 1Co 15:4; compare Isa 53:10). "He shall prolong His days." Compare the similar use of Israel's political resurrection as the type of the general resurrection of which "Christ is the first-fruits" (Isa 26:19; Eze 37:1-14; Da 12:2). live in his sight โ enjoy His favour and the light of His countenance shining on us, as of old; in contrast to Ho 5:6, 15, "Withdrawn Himself from them."
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