@Ho 14:1-9. GOD'S PROMISE OF BLESSING, ON THEIR REPENTANCE: THEIR ABANDONMENT OF IDOLATRY FORETOLD: THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE, THE JUST SHALL WALK IN GOD'S WAYS, BUT THE TRANSGRESSOR SHALL FALL THEREIN.
1. fallen by thine iniquity--(@Ho 5:5 13:9).
2. Take with you words--instead of sacrifices, namely, the
words of penitence here put in your mouths by God. "Words," in Hebrew,
mean "realities," there being the same term for "words" and
"things"; so God implies, He will not accept empty professions (@Ps 78:36 Isa 29:13).
He does not ask costly sacrifices, but words of heartfelt penitence.
receive us graciously--literally "(for) good."
calves of our lips--.that is, instead of sacrifices of calves,
which we cannot offer to Thee in exile, we present the praises of our lips. Thus
the exile, wherein the temple service ceased, prepared the way for the gospel time when
the types of the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament being realized in Christ's perfect
sacrifice once for all, "the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the
fruit of our lips" (@Heb
13:14) takes their place in the New Testament.
3. Three besetting sins of Israel are here renounced, trust
in Assyria, application to Egypt for its cavalry (forbidden, @De 17:16; compare @Ho
7:11 11:5 12:1 2Ki 17:4 Ps 33:17 Isa 30:2,16 31:1), and idolatry.
fatherless--descriptive of the destitute state of
Israel, when severed from God, their true Father. We shall henceforth trust in none but
Thee, the only Father of the fatherless, and Helper of the destitute (@Ps 10:14 68:5); our
nation has experienced Thee such in our helpless state in Egypt, and now in a like state
again our only hope is Thy goodness.
4. God's gracious reply to their self-condemning prayer.
backsliding--apostasy: not merely occasional
backslidings. God can heal the most desperate sinfulness [CALVIN].
freely--with a gratuitous, unmerited, and abundant love (@Eze 16:60-63). So as to
the spiritual Israel (@Joh 15:16
Ro 3:24 5:8 1Jo 4:10).
5. as the dew--which falls copiously in the East, taking
the place of the more frequent rains in other regions. God will not be "as the early
dew that goeth away," but constant (@Ho 6:3,4 Job
29:19 Pr 19:12).
the lily--No plant is more productive than the lily, one root
often producing fifty bulbs [PLINY, Natural History, 21.5].
The common lily is white, consisting of six leaves opening like bells. The royal lily
grows to the height of three or four feet; @Mt 6:29 alludes to the beauty
of its flowers.
roots as Lebanon--that is, as the trees of Lebanon (especially
the cedars), which cast down their roots as deeply as is their height upwards; so that
they are immovable [JEROME], (@Isa 10:34). Spiritual growth
consists most in the growth of the root which is out of sight.
6. branches--shoots, or suckers.
beauty . . . as the olive--which never loses its
verdure. One plant is not enough to express the graces of God's elect people. The lily
depicts its lovely growth; but as it wants duration and firmness, the deeply rooted cedars
of Lebanon are added; these, however, are fruitless, therefore the fruitful,
peace-bearing, fragrant, ever green olive is added.
smell as Lebanon--which exhaled from it the fragrance of
odoriferous trees and flowers. So Israel's name shall be in good savor with all (@Ge 27:27 So 4:11).
7. They that used to dwell under Israel's shadow
(but who shall have been forced to leave it), shall return, that is, be restored (@Eze 35:9). Others take "His
shadow" to mean Jehovah's (compare @Ps 17:8 91:1 Isa 4:6),
which @Ho 14:1,2 ("return
unto the Lord," &c.) favor. But the "his" in @Ho 14:6 refers to Israel, and
therefore must refer to the same here.
revive as . . . corn--As the corn long buried in the
earth springs up, with an abundant produce, so shall they revive from their calamities,
with a great increase of offspring (compare @Joh 12:24).
scent thereof--that is, Israel's fame. Compare @Ho 14:6, "His smell as
Lebanon"; @So 1:3:
"Thy name is as ointment poured forth." The Septuagint favors the Margin,
"memorial."
as the wine of Lebanon--which was most celebrated for its
aroma, flavor, and medicinal restorative properties.
8. Ephraim shall say--being brought to penitence by
God's goodness, and confessing and abhorring his past madness.
I have heard . . . and observed him--I Jehovah have answered
and regarded him with favor; the opposite of God's "hiding His face
from" one (@De 31:17).
It is the experience of God's favor, in contrast to God's wrath heretofore, that leads
Ephraim to abhor his past idolatry. Jehovah heard and answered: whereas the idols,
as Ephraim now sees, could not hear, much less answer.
I am . . . a green fir--or cypress; ever green,
winter and summer alike; the leaves not falling off in winter.
From me is thy fruit found--"From Me," as the root.
Thou needest go no farther than Me for the supply of all thy wants; not merely the protection
implied by the shadow of the cypress, but that which the cypress has not, namely, fruit,
all spiritual and temporal blessings. It may be also implied, that whatever spiritual
graces Ephraim seeks for or may have, are not of themselves, but of God (@Ps 1:3 Joh
15:4,5,8 Jas 1:17). God's promises to us are more our security for mortifying sin than
our promises to God (@Isa 27:9).
9. EPILOGUE, summing up the whole
previous teaching. Here alone Hosea uses the term "righteous," so rare were such
characters in his day. There is enough of saving truth clear in God's Word to guide those
humbly seeking salvation, and enough of difficulties to confound those who curiously seek
them out, rather than practically seek salvation.
fall--stumble and are offended at difficulties opposed to
their prejudices and lusts, or above their self-wise understanding (compare @Pr
10:29 Mic 2:7 Mt 11:19 Lu 2:34 Joh 7:17 1Pe 2:7,8). To him who sincerely seeks the agenda,
God will make plain the credenda. Christ is the foundation-stone to some: a stone
of stumbling and rock of offense to others. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay. But
their fall is the most fatal who fall in the ways of God, split on the Rock of ages, and
suck poison out of the Balm of Gilead.