Hosea 6 commentary

HOSEA 6 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE

PEASE

Israel Unrepentant

1 Come, let us return to the Lord.He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us;he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.

BARES, "Come and let us return unto the Lord - These words depend closely on the foregoing. They are words put into their mouth by God Himself, with which or with the like, they should exhort one another to return to God. Before, when God smote them, they had gone to Assyria; now they should turn to Him, owning, not only that He who tore has the power and the will to heal them, but that He tore, in order to heal them; He smote them, in order to bind them up. This closeness of connection is expressed in the last words; literally, smite He and He will bind us up. He smiteth the putrefaction of the misdeed; He healeth the pain of the wound. Physicians do this; they cut; they smite; they heal; they arm themselves in order to strike; they carry steel, and come to cure.

They are not content to return singly or to be saved alone. Each encourageth another to repentance, as before to evil. The dry bones, scattered on the face of the earth, reunite. There is a general movement among those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, to return together to Him, who is the source of life.

CLARKE, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord -When God had purposed to abandon them, and they found that he had returned to his place - to his temple, where alone he could be successfully sought; they, feeling their weakness, and the fickleness, weariness, and unfaithfulness of their idols and allies, now resolve to return to the Lord; and, referring to what he said, Hos_5:14 : I will tear and go away; they say, he hath torn, but he will heal us; their allies had torn, but they gave them no healing. While, therefore, they acknowledge the justice of God in their punishment, they depend on his well-known mercy and compassion for restoration to life and health.

GILL, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions connect these words with the last clause of the preceding chapter, adding the word, "saying"; and so the Targum and Syriac version, "they shall say"; and very rightly as to the sense; for they are the words of those persons under the afflicting hand of God; and, being brought thereby to a sense of their sins, acknowledge them, and seek to the Lord for pardon, and encourage one another so to do; as Israel and Judah will in the latter day, when the veil shall be taken off their minds, the hardness of their heart removed, and they shall be converted, and turn to the Lord, and seek him together, weeping as they go; having both faith in Christ, and repentance towards God, by which they will return unto him; see 2Co_3:16; so all sinners sensible of their departure from God by sin, and of the evil and danger of it, repent of it, and loath it, confess and acknowledge it, depart from it, and forsake it; and return to the Lord, having some view and apprehension of him as a God, gracious and merciful in Christ; imploring the forgiveness of their sins, with some degree of faith and confidence in him; and not having only love to their own souls, and the welfare of them, but also to the souls of others, exhort and encourage them to join with them in the same acts of faith, repentance, and obedience. The Targum is,

"let us return to the worship of the Lord;''

from which they have sadly departed. The arguments or reasons follow,

for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up; the same hand that has torn will heal and that has smitten will bind up, and none else can; and therefore there is a necessity of returning to him for healing and a cure, Deu_32:39; and his tearing is in order to heal, and his smiting in order to bind up; and, as sure as he has done the one, he will do the other, and therefore there is great encouragement to apply to him; all which the Jews will be sensible of in the last day; and then the Lord, who is now tearing them in his wrath, and smiting them in his sore displeasure, both in their civil and church state, dispersing them among the nations, and has been so doing for many hundred years, will "bind up the breach of his people, and heal the stroke of their wound", Isa_30:26; and so the Lord deals with all his people, who are truly and really converted by him; he rends their heart, tears the caul of it; pricks and cuts them to the heart; smites them with the hammer of his word; wounds their consciences with a sense of sin; lets in the law into them, which works wrath, whereby they become broken and contrite; and all this in order to their turning to him that smites them, and be healed, and in love to their souls, though for the present grievous to bear: and then the great Physician heals them by his stripes and wounds; by the application of his blood; by means of his word, the Gospel of peace and pardon; by a look to him, and a touch of him by faith; by discoveries of his love, and particularly his pardoning grace and mercy, which as oil and wine he pours into the wounds made by sin, and binds them up; and which he heals universally, both with respect to persons and diseases, for which he is applied unto, and infallibly, thoroughly, and perfectly, and all freely.

HERY, "These may be taken either as the words of the prophet to the people, calling them to repentance, or as the words of the people to one another, exciting and encouraging one another to seek the Lord, and to humble themselves before him, in hopes of finding mercy with him. God had said, In their affliction they will seek me; now the prophet, and the good people his friends, would strike while the iron was hot, and set

in with the convictions their neighbours seemed to be under. Note, Those who are disposed to turn to God themselves should do all they can to excite, and engage, and encourage others to return to him. Observe,

I. What it is they engage to do: Come, and let us return to the Lord, Hos_6:1. Let us go no more to the Assyrian, nor send to king Jareb; we have had enough of that. But let us return to the Lord, return to the worship of him from our idolatries, and to our hope in him from all our confidences in the creature. Note, It is the great concern of those who have revolted from God to return to him. And those who have gone from him by consent, and in a body, drawing one another to sin, should by consent, and in a body, return to him, which will be for his glory and their mutual edification.

II. What inducements and encouragements to do this they fasten upon, to stir up one another with.

1. The experience they had had of his displeasure: Let us return to him, for he has torn, he has smitten. We have been torn, and it was he that tore us; we have been smitten, and it was he that smote us. Therefore let us return to him, because it is for our revolts from him that he has torn and smitten us in anger, and we cannot expect that he should be reconciled to us till we return to him; and for this end he has afflicted us thus, that we might be wrought upon to return to him. His hand will be stretched out still against us if the people turn not to him that smites them, Isa_9:12, Isa_9:13. Note, The consideration of the judgments of God upon us and our land, especially when they are tearing judgments, should awaken us to return to God by repentance, and prayer, and reformation.

2. The expectation they had of his favour: He that has torn will heal us, he that has smitten will bind us up, as the skilful surgeon with a tender hand binds up the broken bone or bleeding wound. Note, The same providence of God that afflicts his people relieves them, and the same Spirit of God that convinces the saints comforts them; that which is first a Spirit of bondage is afterwards a Spirit of adoption. This is an acknowledgement of the power of God (he can heal though we be ever so ill torn), and of his mercy (he will do it); nay, therefore he has torn that he may heal. Some think this points particularly to the return of the Jews out of Babylon, when they sought the Lord, and joined themselves to him, in the prospect of his gracious return to them in a way of mercy. Note, It will be of great use to us, both for our support under our afflictions and for our encouragement in our repentance, to keep up good thoughts of God and of his purposes and designs concerning us. Now this favour of God which they are here in expectation of is described in several instances: -

JAMISO, "Hos_6:1-11. The Israelites exhortation to one another to seek the Lord.

At Hos_6:4 a new discourse, complaining of them, begins; for Hos_6:1-3 evidently belong to Hos_5:15, and form the happy termination of Israels punishment: primarily, the return from Babylon; ultimately, the return from their present long dispersion. Hos_6:8 perhaps refers to the murder of Pekahiah; the discourse cannot be later than Pekahs reign, for it was under it that Gilead was carried into captivity (2Ki_15:29).

let us return in order that God who has returned to His place may return to us (Hos_5:15).

torn, and ... heal (Deu_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, Hos_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 (Psa_130:4).

CALVI, "Verse 1In the last chapter the Prophet said, that the Israelites, after having been subdued by chastisements and judgments, would again turn back from following error to seek God. But as terror drives men away from approaching God, he now adds, that the measure of afflictions would not be such as would discourage their minds and produce despair; but rather inspire them with the assurance, that God would be propitious to them: and that he might set this forth the better, he introduces them as saying, Come, let us go to the Lord: and this mode of speaking is very emphatical.

But we must know that the reason here given, why the Israelites could return safely and with sure confidence to God, is, that they would acknowledge it as his office to heal after he has smitten, and to bring a remedy for the wounds which he has inflicted. The Prophet means by these words, that God does not so punish men as to pour forth his wrath upon them for their destruction; but that he intends, on the contrary, to promote their salvation, when he is severe in punishing their sins. We must then remember, as we have before observed, that the beginning of repentance is a sense of Gods mercy; that is, when men are persuaded that God is ready to give pardon, they then begin to gather courage to repent; otherwise perverseness will ever increase in them; how much soever their sin may frighten them, they will yet never return to the Lord. And for this purpose I have elsewhere quoted that remarkable passage in Psalms 130:0, With thee is mercy, that thou mayest be feared; for it cannot be, that men will obey God with true and sincere heart, except a taste of his goodness allures them, and they can certainly determine, that they shall not return to him in vain, but that he will be ready, as we have said, to pardon them. This is the meaning of the words, when he says, Come, and let us turn to the Lord; for he has torn and he will heal us; that is, God has not inflicted on us deadly wounds; but he has smitten, that he might heal.

At the same time, something more is expressed in the Prophets words, and it is this, that God never so rigidly deals with men, but that he ever leaves room for his grace. For by the word, torn, the Prophet alludes to that heavy judgment of which he had before spoken in the person of God: the Lord then made himself to be like a cruel wild beast, I will be as a lion, I will devour, I will tear, and no one shall take away the prey which I have once seized. God wished then to show that his vengeance would be dreadful against the Israelites. ow, though God should deal very sharply with them, they were not yet to despair of pardon. However, then, we may find God to be for a time like a lion or a bear, yet, as his proper office is to heal after he has torn, to bind the wounds he has inflicted, there is no reason why we should shun his presence. We see that the design of the Prophets words was to show, that no chastisement is so severe that it ought to break down our spirits, but that we ought, by entertaining hope, to stir up ourselves to repentance. This is the drift of the passage.

It is further needful to observe, that the faithful do here, in the first place, encourage themselves, that they may afterwards lead others with them; for so the words mean. He does not say, Go, return to Jehovah; but, Come, let us return unto Jehovah We then see that each one begins with himself; and then that they mutually exhort one another; and this is what ought to be done by us: when any one sends his brethren to God, he does not consult his own good, since he ought rather to show the way. Let every one, then, learn to stimulate himself; and then, let him stretch out his hand to others, that they may follow. We are at the same time reminded that we ought to undertake the care of our brethren; for it would be a shame for any one to be content with his own salvation, and so to neglect his brethren. It is then necessary to join together these two things, To stir up ourselves to repentance, and then to try to lead others with us. Let us now proceed

COFFMA, "Verse 1The first three verses of this chapter record what, at first glance appears to be a bona fide appeal on the part of the people to God for their deliverance; but the sentiment of Hosea 6:4ff makes it impossible thus to understand it. As a sincere return to God, the appeal falls short in that there is no evidence or promise of repentance, no rejection of their false worship; and, as Hindley expressed it:

"There is no understanding or acknowledgment of guilt; on the contrary, there are signs of self-interest, and echoes of Baalism. The Lord's response is to reject their words and restate his own terms of reconciliation."[1]It is not possible to say exactly whether these first three verses are Hosea's prediction of what the people would say, an ironic reference to what they are actually saying, or just why they appear in this context; and, for that reason, some have been quick to protest that Hosea did not place them here, but that they appear as the result of some later editor's placement of them. This of course, must be rejected, because the words clearly belong exactly where they are. Even the figure of the lion tearing his prey is continued from Hosea 5:14; and the balance of the chapter (Hosea 6:4-11) has the specific function of being a rejection of the first three verses as being in any sense an adequate response from Israel sufficient to avert their punishment.

Hosea 6:1-3

"Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he receive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth."

The best explanation we have encountered regarding these three verses is that of Ward:

"The repentance here is not something that comes on this side of national disaster; it

is on the other side of it. So, the repentance that finally comes to the survivors of the nation's death is not one that will serve to heal the nation as a whole and let it live. It is one that will effect an entirely new life with Yahweh, on different terms."[2]The advantage of this interpretation of the place is that it sees the passage as a prophecy of the ultimate fulfillment of God's will long after the old Israel has fallen short and has been rejected. The veiled prophecy of the resurrection of Christ in Hosea 6:2 fits such a view perfectly, thus making this brief passage exactly the same kind of proleptic vision that is found repeatedly in the prophecy of Revelation. The omission of Israel's acknowledgment of guilt and claim of repentance would in this understanding of the place be due to abbreviation, included, but not stated.

"On the third day he will raise us up ..." This expression in Hosea 6:2 is generally viewed as the expectation of the people who supposed that their quick and easy repentance would result in their complete and immediate restoration; and this is in complete harmony with the passage as usually interpreted. However, our understanding of it as a prolepsis pointing to the "new life" that would yet rise out of the old Israel (a "new life" that could not ever come to pass except in Jesus Christ our Lord) surely allows the view that a veiled reference to Jesus' resurrection is in this. Even Calvin, and other scholars taking a different view of the passage, and applying it to apostate Israel's easy view of their return to God, stated that:

"I do not deny but that God has exhibited here a remarkable and memorable instance of what is here said in his only begotten Son."[3]E. B. Pusey was of the firm opinion that the reference to the resurrection of Christ is primary and not secondary at all:

"What else can this be than the two days in which the body Of Jesus lay in the tomb, and the third day on which he rose again?"[4]We accept wholeheartedly the comment of Butler: "In the light of Hosea 11:1 (Matthew 2:15, and other such passages), we take the position that this phrase is a prophecy of Messiah's resurrection."[5]

In accepting this view of the passage, we are not intimated by the bold declaration that: "Any direct allusion to the resurrection of Christ is proved to be untenable by the simple words and their context."[6] Many scholars, notably Hailey, accept such a statement as conclusive; but one might have said exactly the same thing about Caiaphas' remark, "It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people" (John 11:50), the remark, in context, having no reference whatever to Jesus' vicarious death for the salvation of the people; but, as the apostle John was quick to point out:

"ow this he said, not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; and not the nation only, but that he might gather together into one of the children of God that are scattered abroad (John 11:51,52)."It is thus clear that the fact of the context having no reference at all to the resurrection of Christ is incapable of refuting the interpretation of this passage which has persisted from the most ancient times. Furthermore, even if these three

verses are but the statement of the people's superficial show of a shallow and insufficient repentance, neither would that nullify the conviction that here is a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Christ.

"As the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth ..." Most of the scholars see in this a demotion of the true God, in the attitude of Israel, to a status on a parity with the idol-gods of Canaan.

"Israel's God is brought within the frame of reference of the deities of Canaan, whose activity was a function of weather and season. Rain is the peculiar provenance of Baal in Canaanite theology."[7]We are in perfect agreement, that, if these three verses are a summary of what the people in Hosea's time were saying, or even thinking, they are woefully lacking as any true manifestation of genuine repentance; but this would not apply in the event of the passage being a prolepsis having reference to the "new life" that would arise from the stock of old Israel (in the person of Christ) at a much later time historically. Our only real objection to the view of this place as the people's expression of a superficial and inadequate repentance is that it clouds what we believe to be the true view of verse 2 as a reference to the resurrection of Christ. And yet, even, such an ascription of the passage to the people of Hosea's day is not at all incompatible with what would be, in that case, an unconscious reference to the Lord's resurrection (as in the case of Caiaphas mentioned above). Either interpretation is tenable.

TRAPP, "Verse 1Hosea 6:1 Come, 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.

Ver. 1. Come, and let us return unto the Lord, &c.] So sweetly was Gods expectation answered, as likewise it was in David, Psalms 27:8. o sooner could God say "Seek ye my face," but his holy heart answered (as it were by an echo), "Thy face, Lord, will I seek." Look, what God aimeth at in his administration to his elect he will have it; he will have out the price of his Sons blood, who gave "himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity," Titus 2:14, "and that he might give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins," Acts 5:31. See the proof and practice hereof in these Jewish converts, "Come, and let us return to the Lord," &c. See how "in those days, and at that time, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten," Jeremiah 50:4-5. Judah and Israel could not agree at other times; but when they are in a weeping condition then they could; when they passed through the valley of Baca, and made it a Bochim with their penitent tears, even they could go "from strength to strength," or from company to company (one company coming this way, and another that), and not rest until "every one of them in Zion appeareth before God," Psalms 84:6-7. This was fulfilled, partly when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion out of Babylon, and those that had sown in tears reaped in joy;

those that went forth weeping and bearing precious seed came again with rejoicing and brought their sheaves with them, Psalms 126:5-6 cf. Jeremiah 29:13; partly, under their captivity and oppression by the Romans, which was the time in which Christ came and by his apostles converted thousands to the faith, so that multitudes of them were daily added to the Church, Acts 2:41; Acts 2:47 And, lastly, at that long looked for calling of the Jews; when they shall flee to Christ crucified "as the doves unto their windows," Isaiah 60:8; when they shall "bring their brethren as an offering to the Lord upon horses, in chariots, and in litters": that is, though sick, weakly, and unfit for travel, yet rather in litters than not at all; every one exciting others, and saying, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord," &c. Return "unto him, from whom the children of Israel have deeply, revolted," Isaiah 31:6. Let us not pine away in our transgressions, as these, Ezekiel 33:10, for "yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing," Ezra 10:2. We have "done all this wickedness; yet let us not turn aside from following the Lord"; for this were to add rebellion to sin, 1 Samuel 12:20, this were worse than all the rest.

Come, let us return unto the Lord] By our sins we have run from him; by repentance let us return unto him. See for this the note on Zechariah 1:2. If the wicked have their Come, Proverbs 1:11, Isaiah 56:12, should not the saints have theirs? as Isaiah 2:3, Zechariah 2:6. Should not Andrew call Philip, and Philip

athaniel, as one link in a chain doth another, &c. True grace is communicative, charity is no churl; the saints like not to go to heaven alone.

For he hath torn] Rapuit, not cepit, as the Vulgate, by a foul mistake of capio for rapio in the Hebrew Lexicons. Here these converts confess that their affliction neither came "forth of the dust," Job 5:6, nor without their desert; they acknowledge God to be the lion that tore them, Hosea 5:14, and not without cause; for that they had wickedly departed from him. This is one property of true repentance, still to justify God, and to say, as Mauritius the emperor did (after David) when he saw his wife and children slain by the traitor Phocas, &c., "Righteous art thou, O Lord, in all thy ways, and just in all thy proceedings," Psalms 119:137. Another property of it is to bring a man to God with some assurance of healing.

He will heal us] For he is "Jehovah the physician," Exodus 15:26. ow omnipotenti medico nullus insanabilis occurrit morbus, saith Isidore, to an Almighty physician no disease can be incurable. Ephraim went to the Assyrian upon sight of his disease; but he could not heal him, Hosea 5:13. But God both can and will. Here he is compared both to a physician, he will heal; and to a surgeon, he will bind up. That which the poets fable concerning Telephus spear is here only verified: Una eademque manus vulnus opemque ferat, the same holy hand that tear us must cure us; and the sound persuasion of his readiness to do it for us will soonest of anything bring us into his presence: Initium poenitentiae est sensus clementiae Dei. The beginnig of repentance is the feeling of the mercy of God. Judas confesseth his

wound, and despaireth of the cure. But Peter is confirmed by the love of Christ to weep bitterly, and believe. A stroke from guilt broke Judas heart into despair; but a look from Christ broke Peters heart into tears, There is no mention of Israels lamenting after the Lord while he was gone; but when he was returned, and settled in Kirjathjearim, then they poured forth water, 1 Samuel 7:6, then they gather about him and will do anything that he commandeth them. "Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith," Hebrews 10:22.

Deiecit ut relevet; premit ut solatia praestet,

Enecat, ut possit vivificare Deus.

BESO, "Verse 1Hosea 6:1. Come, let us return, &c. Bishop Horsley considers the prophet as speaking here in his own person, to the end of the 3d verse, and taking occasion, from the intimation of pardon to the penitent, given in the conclusion of the preceding chapter, to address his countrymen in words of mild, pathetic persuasion, and to exhort them to return to the worship and service of God. But many other commentators rather think these are to be considered as the words of the repenting and returning Jews and Israelites in their exile, who, it is said, in the last clause of the foregoing chapter, would in their affliction seek God, which they are here represented as encouraging one another to do, saying, Come, &c. ot only the LXX., but, according to Houbigant, the Arabic, Syriac, and Chaldee, supply the word saying, before this verse. Whether they did this as interpreters, which, says Archbishop ewcome, is my opinion, or whether they read in their copy of the Hebrew text, , (saying,) is uncertain. Let us return unto the Lord, &c. He it is who hath brought us into this estate under which we groan; and he is able, if he think fit, to deliver us from it in a short time: nothing is difficult to him. Full of mercy as he is, he will not permit us to continue long in captivity and oppression, wherein we are buried like the dead in the tomb. He hath torn, and he will heal us, &c. The same God that punisheth us can only remove his judgments, and show us mercy. The expression, He hath torn, relates to what was said Hosea 5:14 .

SIMEO, "THE CHARACTERISTIC MARKS OF TRUE PEITECE

Hosea 6:1. Come, 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.

THE spiritual dereliction which the people of God have at times experienced, has ever been considered as the most afflictive of all chastisements: but it has also been the most salutary, and most effectual. The benefits arising from it were strongly exemplified in the Israelites, who after having long withstood the united efforts of all the prophets, were on a sudden constrained by it to turn to God with unfeigned contrition.

The words before us are the expressions of that repentance which was excited in the Israelites by Gods departure from them, and by his grace that accompanied the

affliction [ote: Hosea 5:15.]: and they suggest to us a proper occasion to consider,

I. The characteristic marks of true penitence

It will always be attended with,

1. A sense of our departure from God

[Unregenerate men live without God in the world; and yet the thought of their being at a distance from God never enters into their minds. But as soon as the grace of repentance is given to them, they see that they have been like sheep going astray, every one to his own way, and that they can never find happiness but in returning to the shepherd and bishop of their souls.]

2. An acknowledgment of affliction as a just chastisement for sin

[The impenitent heart murmurs and rebels under the Divine chastisements: the penitent hears the rod and him that appointed it. He blesses God for the troubles that have brought him to reflection [ote: Psalms 16:7; Psalms 119:67.]; and while he smarts under the wounds that have been inflicted on him, he regards them as the merciful tokens of parental love [ote: Psalms 119:75.].]

3. A determination to return to God

[When a man is once thoroughly awakened to a sense of his lost condition, he can no longer be contented with a formal round of duties. He reads, hears, prays in a very different way from that in which he was wont to do. What shall I do to be saved? is the one thought that occupies his mind; and he is resolved through grace to sacrifice every thing that would obstruct the salvation of his soul. To hear of Christ, to seek him, to believe on him, and to receive out of his fulness, these are from henceforth his chief desire, his supreme delight [ote: Song of Solomon 5:6; Song of Solomon 5:8.].]

4. A desire that others should return to him also

[As all the other marks, so this especially was manifested by the repenting Israelites. This is peculiarly insisted on as characteristic of the great work that shall be accomplished in the latter day [ote: Isaiah 2:3.]. This has distinguished the Church of God in all ages [ote: Song of Solomon 1:4. Draw me, and we, &c.]. The penitent knows how awful the state of all around him is, and how much he has contributed by his influence and example to destroy them; and therefore, though he expects nothing but hatred for his good-will, he feels it incumbent on him to labour for their salvation; and, if it were possible, he would instruct, convert, and save the whole world [ote: Zechariah 8:21. John 1:41; John 1:45.].]

To promote an increase of such repentance amongst us, we shall proceed to state,

II. The grounds on which a penitent may take encouragement to return to God

Whatever grounds of despondency we may feel within ourselves, we may take encouragement,

1. From a general view of Gods readiness to heal us

[God has not left himself without witness even among the heathen world; but has shewn, by his goodness to the evil and unthankful, that he is ever ready to exercise mercy. But to us who have his revealed will, he has left no possibility of doubt: for if he spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? The invitations and promises with which his word is filled, are a further evidence to us, that he is willing to receive every returning prodigal, and that he will in no wise cast out any who come unto him. On this ground the whole world may adopt the words of the text, and say, Come, let us return unto the Lord.]

2. From that particular discovery of it which we have in the wounds he has inflicted on us

[The Israelites seemed to lay a peculiar stress on this, and to infer, from the very strokes of his rod, his willingness to heal and bind them up. They even felt an assurance that his return to them would be both speedy and effectual [ote: The text, with ver. 2.]. Thus as soon as any person is brought to acknowledge the hand of God in his afflictions, he will improve them in this very way. Whether his troubles be of a temporal or spiritual nature, he will adore God for not leaving him in a secure and thoughtless state, and for awakening him by any means to a sense of his guilt and danger. He will begin immediately to argue as Manoahs wife; Would the Lord have shewn me this mercy, if he had intended to destroy me [ote: Judges 13:23.]? Does a father correct his child because he has no love to him? Are not the very expressions of his anger to be viewed as tokens of his love [ote: Hebrews 12:6.], and as an earnest of his returning favour to me as soon as I shall have implored his forgiveness?

Let those then who feel the burthen of their sins, remember, that it is God who has given them to see their iniquities; and that the heavier their burthen is, the more abundant encouragement they have to cast it on the Lord [ote: Matthew 11:28.].]

Application

1. To those who have deserted God

[Let us only reflect on the months and years that we have past without any affectionate remembrance of God, or any earnest application to Christ as our Mediator and Advocate; and we shall not need many words to convince us, that we are included in this number. But let us consider whom we have forsaken; even

God, the fountain of living waters; and, with all our labour in pursuit of happiness, we have only hewed out for ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water [ote: Jeremiah 2:13.]. Let our past experience suffice to shew us the vanity and folly of our ways: and let us return unto him from whom we have deeply revolted. But let us beware lest we heal our wounds slightly. Christ is the brazen Serpent to which all must look: He is the good Samaritan who alone can help us, and who has submitted to be himself wounded for our transgressions, that he might heal us by his stripes.]

2. To those who are deserted by God

[God does find it necessary sometimes to withdraw the light of his countenance from his people. But, whatever he may have done on some particular occasions, we are sure that in general he does not forsake us till after we have forsaken him. Hence, when the Israelites were deserted by him, they did not say, Let us pray that he will return to us; but, Let us return unto him: for they were well assured that, as the alienation had begun on their part, so it would be terminated as soon as ever they should humble themselves in a becoming manner. Let those then who are under the hidings of Gods face, inquire, what has occasioned his departure from them: and let them put away the accursed thing, and turn to him with their whole hearts. Let them rest assured, that there is balm in Gilead; and that, if they come to God in the name of Christ, their backslidings shall be healed, and their happiness restored [ote: Hosea 14:4. Lamentations 3:31-32. Psalms 97:11; Psalms 147:3.]. [ote: If this were the subject of a Fast Sermon, the application might be comprised in the following observations: 1. The calamities of the nation are manifest tokens of Gods displeasure, and calls to repentance.2, All the efforts of our rulers to heal our wounds will be in vain, if we do not repent.3. A general turning unto God would bring us speedy and effectual relief.]]

PETT, "Verse 1Come, and let us return to YHWH, for he has torn, and he will heal us, he has smitten, and he will bind us up.The carcass torn by the Lion and smitten and diseased (Hosea 5:13-14), is called on itself to return (a favourite word of Hosea, see Hosea 3:5; Hosea 7:10; Hosea 14:1-2) to YHWH in repentance and hope, with a view to their being healed and bound up and revived and raised up. ote the inner chiasm, torn -- heal -- smitten --bound up. It is the smitten who are healed and the torn who are bound up. The picture is of Gods estranged people once more seeking His face and praying for full restoration. It occurred to some extent after the Babylonian exile (which had followed all the preceding exiles), and it occurred especially under the ministry of John the Baptist, and of course of Jesus Christ when a new Israel growing out of the old would be established (Matthew 2:15; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 21:41; John 15:1-6).

Verses 1-3The Eventual Return Of Israel To YHWH Is Depicted In Terms Of A Restoration To Health And Resurrection And The Blessing Of Rain Upon The Earth (Hosea 6:1-

3).

The idea of Israel torn by a lion (Hosea 5:14) and smitten by a wasting disease (Hosea 5:13) would have lain heavy on Hoseas heart, but as ever he does not see it as the end. For he knows that God must fulfil His promises to His people as so clearly described in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-29. Thus he recognises that at some future time, once the smiting is over, Israel must be restored. But he knows that it can only happen if they turn and seek God with all their hearts (Hosea 5:15). And it can only happen once His judgments have been worked out.

Here then he makes a call for that restoration in response to his words in Hosea 5:15 c, as he visualises Israel as awakening and calling on each other to return to YHWH Who will then heal them and bind them up. This return is pictured in terms of the arousing of a dead man within the traditional three day period during which his spirit remains in his body. It is a precursor to such passages as Isaiah 26:19 and Ezekiel 37:1-14. The two days and third day are not necessarily to be seen as indicating a literal three day period (except as regards the three day period for the dead) but in order to draw out the idea of Israel as being aroused from the dead. We may also see it as suggesting that on the first day they will repent and turn to YHWH, on the second day He will revive their hearts, and on the third day He will cause them to rise up and live before Him. It is a picture of genuine spiritual restoration occurring in three stages, based on the thought of a literal raising from the dead of a corpse.

And this raising from the dead will result in their truly knowing YHWH once again, and following on to know Him even more. For though they may at present be going through the dark night of unbelief, Hosea considers that the coming of light in their spiritual morning is as sure as the coming each day of the morning itself. And then God will again visit them, coming to them as the initial rains, and then as the latter rain which waters the earth (after the seed has been sown). This picture of God coming as the rain will be taken up and expanded on by Isaiah (Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 44:1-5; Isaiah 55:10-13) and by John the Baptist. The Spirit will fall on His people from above and they will be made alive by the Spirit.

The initial fulfilment took place after the Babylonian exile when the remnants of the people gathered back to the land, joining those who had bravely remained there in the face of all the difficulties, followed no doubt by the arrival of many more as the news reached different areas of the successful re-establishment of Israel in the land. And we certainly know of revivals under Haggai and Zechariah, and then under Ezra and ehemiah. The people of God were back in the land in repentance and faith, and were enjoying the working of the Holy Spirit (Haggai 2:4-5; Zechariah 4:6). This would eventually result in the establishment of an independent kingdom which prospered and grew in readiness for the coming of Christ.

The second greater fulfilment may be seen in the coming of the King Himself, preceded by His herald. On the first day the preaching of John the Baptist called the people to return to the Lord. On the second day the people were revived under

the ministry of Jesus as large numbers in Israel turned to their Messiah. And on the third day, after that crucial third day of the resurrection, His people were raised up and seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), and commenced living their lives in the very presence of God. They had been transferred out of the tyranny of darkness into the kingdom of Gods beloved Son, as those who had been forgiven and redeemed (Colossians 1:13-14). Thereby Israel had been renewed and reborn as the kingdom of the Messiah, as sure as morning followed night, and as certainly and as fruitfully as after the coming of the rain in preparation for harvest.

Analysis of Hosea 6:1-3.

a Come, and let us return to YHWH (Hosea 6:1 a).b For he has torn, and he will heal us, he has smitten, and he will bind us up (Hosea 6:1 b).c After two days will he revive us (Hosea 6:2 a).b On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him (Hosea 6:2 b).a And let us know, let us follow on to know YHWH. His going forth is sure as the morning, and he will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth (Hosea 6:3).

ote that in a they are to come, and return to YHWH, expressed in terms of let us return, and in the parallel they will know him, and follow on to know Him, expressed in terms of let us know, and this will be as sure as morning follows night and the rains come in their seasons. In b they will be healed and bound up, and in the parallel they will be raised up and live before Him. Centrally in c it is YHWH Who will revive them.

UKOW AUTHOR, "Many Christians know about Hosea 6:1-6. These verses are full of hope. The first three verses are like a song. Hosea has told Israel that God is going to leave them for a long time (5:15). But here, he tells them that God will bring them health. God needed to punish them. But he now chooses to change his direction. God does not say how he will bring them health. Israels hope is on Gods *covenant. Hosea knows that God will not completely leave Israel. God may bring Israel health in the future. But Israel knows that this future time will come.The two or three days (verse 2) mean a time that God has decided on. He has fixed a time. It will be like a dead person coming back to life. There is a promise that God will help his people. But Israel must try to know God. God is a person that Israel can be certain of. We can be sure that the sun will come up every day. We can be sure that it will rain. In the same way, it will always be possible to know God. Deuteronomy 32:2 says that the way that God teaches is like rain. He rules the weather too and we can learn from him. God is like a parent who has a child. But the child does not obey.In verse 4, there is a change in who is speaking. In the first three verses of this chapter, it is the *priests who are speaking. They say that they want to go back to God. But they do not say that they have done anything wrong. They just want God to be good to them. So, God asks them what he should do (verse 4). He asks questions like this in 11:8-9. He has tried everything. When the people of Israel were rich, they forgot him. When they were poor, they turned to other gods. They do not

want to follow Gods *covenant completely (verse 4). God does not enjoy punishing his people.The words (verse 5) are the *covenants. In Deuteronomy 33:9 the word and the *covenant mean the same thing. In the same way, cut in pieces means Gods *curses. It means, too, that God needed to kill some of the *Israelites.God does not say that he wants to forget the system of *sacrifices (verse 6). The people thought that *worship meant *sacrifices. They thought that they had to make these *sacrifices often. But God knows that the people are not really thinking about him when they offer *sacrifices. God wanted much more than this. He wanted them to be loyal. (The *Hebrew word is hesed). This is not the same as *mercy! They were breaking Gods *covenant when they were not loyal to each other. He wanted them to know God. But the people wanted to do the least that they could do. Their *sacrifices were too easy. In Matthew 9:13, Jesus asked the *Pharisees to learn what this verse meant. The *Pharisees made the same mistake that the *Israelites had made 750 years before.In verse 7, the word *covenant appears for only the second time in the book of Hosea. We cannot be certain what the name Adam means. It might mean a city. It might mean that Israel has looked on the *covenant as if it was dirt. (The *Hebrew word for dirt is adam.)Gilead (verse 8) might be the city of Ramoth-Gilead. It is possible that Hosea was thinking of murders that had happened at Gilead. We do not know about these murders. Perhaps he was thinking of 2 Kings 15:25. This was when Pekah and 50 men of Gilead killed Pekahiah.Shechem (verse 9) was an important city. We do not know the event that Hosea was thinking of. Perhaps *priests were killing people there. Perhaps the *priests were killing other *priests. The meaning, however, is that the *priests were guilty of murder because they led people away from God.Verse 10 is very like 5:3b. Israels *prostitution is clear for everyone to see. But verse 11a finishes with a warning. There is a harvest for Judah. God will bring his *judgement."

K&D 1-3, "To this threat the prophet appends in the concluding strophe, both the command to return to the Lord, and the promise that the Lord will raise His smitten nation up again, and quicken them anew with His grace. The separation of these three verses from the preceding one, by the division of the chapters, is at variance with the close connection in the actual contents, which is so perfectly obvious in the allusion made in the words of Hos_6:1, Come, and let us return, to those of Hos_5:15, I will

go, and return, and in (Hos_6:1) to the similar words in Hos_5:13 and Hos_5:14. Hos_6:1. Come, and let us return to Jehovah: for He has torn in pieces, and will heal us; He has smitten, and will bind us up. Hos_6:2. He will quicken us after two days; on the third He will raise us up, that we may live before Him. The majority of

commentators, following the example of the Chald. and Septuagint, in which ,

, is interpolated before , have taken the first three verses as an appeal to return to the Lord, addressed by the Israelites in exile to one another. But it would be more simple, and more in harmony with the general style of Hosea, which is characterized by rapid transitions, to take the words as a call addressed by the prophet in the name of the exile. The promise in v. 3 especially is far more suitable to a summons

of this kind, than to an appeal addressed by the people to one another. As the endurance of punishment impels to seek the Lord (Hos_5:15), so the motive to return to the Lord is founded upon the knowledge of the fact that the Lord can, and will, heal the wounds

which He inflicts. The preterite traph, as compared with the future 'etrph in Hos_5:14,

presupposes that the punishment has already begun. The following is also a preterite with the Vav consec. omitted. The Assyrian cannot heal (Hos_5:13); but the Lord, who manifested Himself as Israel's physician in the time of Moses (Exo_15:26), and promised His people healing in the future also (Deu_32:39), surely can. The allusion in

the word to this passage of Deuteronomy, is placed beyond all doubt by Hos_6:2. The words, He revives after two days, etc., are merely a special application of the general declaration, I kill, and make alive (Deu_32:39), to the particular case in hand. What the Lord there promises to all His people, He will also fulfil upon the ten tribes of Israel. By the definition after two days, and on the third day, the speedy and certain revival of Israel is set before them. Two and three days are very short periods of time; and the linking together of two numbers following one upon the other, expresses the certainty of what is to take place within this space of time, just as in the so-called numerical sayings in Amo_1:3; Job_5:19; Pro_6:16; Pro_30:15, Pro_30:18, in which the

last and greater number expresses the highest or utmost that is generally met with. , to raise the dead (Job_14:12; Psa_88:11; Isa_26:14, Isa_26:19). That we may live before Him: i.e., under His sheltering protection and grace (cf. Gen_17:18). The earlier Jewish and Christian expositors have taken the numbers, after two days, and on the third day, chronologically. The Rabbins consequently suppose the prophecy to refer either to the three captivities, the Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Roman, which has not ended yet; or to the three periods of the temple of Solomon, of that of Zerubbabel, and of the one to be erected by the Messiah. Many of the fathers, on the other hand, and many of the early Lutheran commentators, have found in them a prediction of the death of Christ and His resurrection on the third day. Compare, for example, Calovii Bibl. illustr. ad h. l., where this allusion is defended by a long series of undeniably weak arguments, and where a fierce attack is made, not only upon Calvin, who understood these words as referring to the liberation of Israel from captivity, and the restoration of the church after two days, i.e., in a very short time; but also upon Grotius, who found, in addition to the immediate historical allusion to the Israelites, whom God would soon liberate from their death-like misery after their conversion, a foretype, in consequence of a special divine indication, of the time within which Christ would recover His life, and the church its hope. But any direct allusion in the hope here uttered to the death and resurrection of Christ, is proved to be untenable by the simple words and their context. The words primarily hold out nothing more than the quickening of Israel out of its death-like state of rejection from the face of God, and that in a very short period after its conversion to the Lord. This restoration to life cannot indeed be understood as referring to the return of the exiles to their earthly fatherland; or, at all events, it cannot be restricted to this. It does not occur till after the conversion of Israel to the Lord its God, on the ground of faith in the redemption effected through the atoning death of Christ, and His resurrection from the grave; so that the words of the prophet may be applied to this great fact in the history of salvation, but without its being either directly or indirectly predicted. Even the resurrection of the dead is not predicted, but simply the spiritual and moral restoration of Israel to life, which no doubt has for its necessary complement the reawakening of the physically dead. And, in this sense, our passage may be reckoned among the prophetic utterances which contain the germ of the hope of a life after death, as in Isa_26:19-21, and in the vision of Ezekiel in Eze_37:1-14.

That it did not refer to this in its primary sense, and so far as its historical fulfilment was concerned, is evident from the following verse. Hos_6:3. Let us therefore know, hunt after the knowledge of Jehovah. His rising is fixed like the morning dawn, that He

may come to us like the rain, and moisten the earth like the latter rain.

corresponds to in Hos_6:1. The object to is also , and is merely

strengthened by the addition of 00. The knowledge of Jehovah, which they would hunt after, i.e., strive zealously to obtain, is a practical knowledge, consisting in the fulfilment of the divine commandments, and in growth in the love of God with all the heart. This knowledge produces fruit. The Lord will rise upon Israel like the morning

dawn, and come down upon it like fertilizing rain. , His (i.e., Jehovah's) rising, is to

be explained from the figure of the dawn (for applied to the rising of the sun, see Gen_19:23 and Psa_19:7). The dawn is mentioned instead of the sun, as the herald of the dawning day of salvation (compare Isa_58:8 and Isa_60:2). This salvation which dawns when the Lord appears, is represented in the last clause as a shower of rain that

fertilizes the land. is hardly a kal participle, but rather the imperfect hiphil in the sense of sprinkling. In Deu_11:14 (cf. Deu_28:12 and Lev_26:4-5), the rain, or the early and latter rain, is mentioned among the blessings which the Lord will bestow upon His people, when they serve Him with all the heart and soul. This promise the Lord will so fulfil in the case of His newly quickened nation, that He Himself will refresh it like a fertilizing rain. This will take place through the Messiah, as Psa_72:6 and 2Sa_23:4clearly show.

SBC, "I. These words declare that the motive of every Divine judgment, within the limits of this life, is mercy: the end of every affliction, however crushing, is the restoration of a sinner to the peace and the love of God. Within the limits of this life, I say. Thus far our vision stretches. We see but dimly what may lie beyond. Here at any rate the one constant, patient aim of God, by every means of influence which He wields, is to bring men unto Himself.

II. It is important for us to remember what some schools of Christian thought have strangely forgottenthat Gods righteousness is not a righteousness which would be satisfied equally by the conversion or by the punishment of a sinner. Gods righteousness, Gods justice, Gods holiness, yearn for the restoration of the sinner to righteousness, quite as much as His holiness and His mercy and His love.

III. There is absolutely nothing on earth irreparable while we can repent and turn unto the Lord, "for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up." There is absolutely nothing in the experience of the sinner, the sufferer, which God cannot transmute into joy. Turn to Him, and as in a healthy frame when wounded, the repairing power begins its work at once. No cloud can long remain on the life which He wills to vindicate. No calamity can long oppress the spirit which He wills to draw to the shield of His strength, and to rest on the bosom of His love.

J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 269.

BI, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord.

The characteristic marks of true penitence

These words are the expressions of that penitence which was excited in the Israelites by Gods departure from them, and by His grace that accompanied the affliction.

I. The characteristic marks of true penitence. It will always be attended by

1. A sense of our departure from God. With unregenerate men the thought of being at a distance from God never distresses. As soon as the grace of repentance is given, men see that they are as sheep gone astray.

2. An acknowledgment of affliction as a just chastisement for sin. The impenitent heart murmurs and rebels under the Divine chastisements: the penitent hears the rod, and Him that appointed it.

3. A determination to return to God. When a man is once thoroughly awakened to a sense of his lost condition, he can no longer be contented with a formal round of duties. To hear of Christ, to seek Him, are from henceforth his chief desire, his supreme delight.

4. A desire that others should return to Him also. This is insisted on as characteristic of the great work that shall be accomplished in the latter day (Isa_2:3). The penitent feels it incumbent on him to labour for the salvation of others.

II. The grounds on which a penitent may take encouragement to return to God.

1. From a general view of Gods readiness to heal us.

2. From that particular discovery of it which we have in the wounds He has inflicted on us.

Apply

1. To those who have deserted God.

2. To those who are deserted by God. (Skeletons of Sermons.)

Mans highest social action

The prophet calls on those who had been smitten, or sent into exile, to put away all confidence in an arm of flesh, to renounce all idolatries.

I. That society is away from God. Not locally, of course: for the Great Spirit is with all and in all, but morally. Society is away from Him in its thoughts; away from Him in its sympathies; away from Him in its pursuits.

II. That estrangement from God is the source of all its trials. Because the prodigal left his fathers home he got reduced to the utmost infamy and wretchedness. Moral separation from God is ruin. Cut the branch from the root and it withers; the river from its source, and it dries up; the planet from the sun, and it rushes into ruin. Nothing will remove the evils under which society is groaning but a return unto God. Legislation, commerce, science, literature, art, none of these will help it much so long as it continues away from Him.

III. That return to him is a possible work. (Homilist.)

Luxury and ease

I. The fact of backsliding. Had there been no wandering from the Lord, there would have been no need of a return to Him. From passages in the histories of Solomon and David, as shewing how luxury and ease conduce to backsliding. Solomon would be now caned a child of God. He did start well. But the history of Solomon shows us that no amount of experience is in itself a safeguard. Whether young or old in the faith, we need the preserving grace of God from moment to moment. In Solomons case the affinity with Pharaoh, and marriage with his daughter, are like the first links in a long chain of backsliding. Is it not often the case that believers, even when apparently walking in the fear of the Lord, may be cherishing some secret sin or indulgence, which, like a seed concealed in the earth, finally germinates and blossoms forth into open backsliding! Solomon fell through self-indulgence. And the Christian who is self-indulgent, who makes the means entrusted to him by God minister to his love of luxury and desire for worldly pomp, is on the high road to idolatry. God did not leave Solomon undisturbed in his idolatry and self-indulgence. The record of Davids fall is given in 2Sa_11:1-27. Idleness is the parent of vice. Lurking lusts, encouraged by the quiet, creep out of their hiding-places, hold converse with the heart, and seek to drag him into all manner of sin. David fell before temptation, and set himself to commit further sin, in the hope of covering that already committed. This is almost invariably the case with the backslider.

II. Gods dealings with the backslider. He hath tornHe hath smitten. It is in mercy, and not in wrath, that God deals with His backsliding children. Punishment has for its object, the vindication of the authority of God as the moral Ruler. It is judicial as well as remedial. But its chief purpose is the backsliders restoration.

III. A glimmer of faith on the part of the backslider. He will heal usHe will bind us up. In the heart of the backslider there lies hidden the germ of a God-given faith, like seeds in a mummy case.

IV. The goodly resolve. Come, and let us return unto the Lord. Some seek to heal their backslidings without dealing with God Himself. How are we to return? Through Jesus, the once crucified, the now risen and exalted One. (W. P. Lockhart.)

Signs of true penitence

I. Wherever there is true repentance, there will be a returning unto the Lord.

1. A true penitent will be sensible, not only of straying from God, which hath made a distance between God and him, but that his straying hath begotten an averseness, and turned his back upon God, so that he needs to return.

2. A penitent will have a deep sense, that all other courses he has essayed in his straying from God, are but vanity.

II. The ordinary forerunner of a time of mercy, is the Lords stirring up His people to seek Him. Here they are excited, and excite one another to this duty. Come, and let us return, and this is their temper in a time of love. (George Hutcheson.)

For He hath torn, and He will heal us.

He hath torn, and He will heal us

The philosophy of the Divine judgments is here most explicitly expounded. The motive of every Divine judgment, within the limits of this life, is mercy. We see but dimly what

may lie beyond this life. Here, at any rate, the one constant patient aim of God, by every means of influence which He wields, is to bring men unto Himself. It is important to remember, what some schools of Christian thought have strangely forgotten, that Gods righteousness is not a righteousness which would be satisfied equally by the conversion, or by the punishment of a sinner. We cannot abstract the righteousness from the living person who is also the Father of that sinner; and who loves him with such tenderness that He is capable of even an infinite sacrifice, that that child may not die but live. Gods righteousness, Gods justice, Gods holiness, yearn for the restoration of the sinner to righteousness, quite as much as His mercy and His love. And through life they are spending all their arts and efforts to take him captive, and to bring him home. It is beginning to be fully recognised, in the physical sphere, that judgments are but rich blessings in disguise. There are indeed some dark passages of Scripture history which seem to contradict this principle: e.g., Pharaoh of the hardened heart. This cannot be fully explained, but it makes this terrible suggestionwhat must be the doom of a heart that is hardened even against the Divine love? There is a growing hardness where the will is in it. The blow that is sent in mercy, if it fails to open the hearts sealed portals, strikes down. The heart hardened against God, hardens itself further. And this is His law, and part of the solemn conditions of our life. But there,, is nothing on earth irreparable while we can repent and turn unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He win heal us. There is absolutely nothing in the experience of the sinner, the sufferer, which God cannot transmute into joy. No calamity can long oppress the spirit which He wills to draw to the shield of His strength, and to rest on the bosom of His love. Or is the sorrow a remembrance of sin? With the word of forgiveness, the bitterness of the sorrow passes. God can forgive the iniquity of the sill IS it temptation? Believe that temptation is Gods benignant ordinance for the trial and assay of spirits. God has not left you untroubled. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)

Gods time for mercy

1. When Gods time of mercy is come, He puts a mighty spirit of seeking into men.

2. A joint turning to God is very honourable to god. Come, and let us return.

3. Times of mercy are times of union.

4. True penitent hearts seek to get others to join with them.

5. In times of the greatest sufferings a truly penitent heart retains good thoughts of God.

6. a penitent heart is not a discouraged heart.

7. A repenting heart is not a discouraged, but a sustained heart. But we must not falsely encourage ourselves. Our hope is in God. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)

He hath smitten, and He will bind us up.

Hope for a bleeding Church

The text may be considered as the language of a Church.

I. Smarting under recent chastisements.

1. Shew the sufferings of such a Church.

2. These sufferings are to be received as from the hand of God.

3. And regarded as chastisements of God for the sins of the Church.

II. Hoping for a speedy revival. That hope rests on the following grounds.

1. On the mingled exercises of mercy and judgment which characterise Gods government of His Church.

2. On the regard which God has to the honour of His name, and the success of His cause in the earth.

3. On the ground of the mediatorial prerogatives of the Son of God.

4. On the promised power and grace of the Holy Spirit.

III. Resolving upon immediate reformation. Let us give up the language of complaint and mutual recrimination, and substitute for it the voice of prayer. (T. Vasey.)

Hope in Gods mercy

The reason here given, why the Israelites could return safely and with sure confidence to God is, that they would acknowledge it as His office to heal after He has smitten, and to bring a remedy for the wounds which He has inflicted. The prophet means that God does not so punish men as to pour forth His wrath on them for their destruction; but that He intends, on the contrary, to promote their salvation, when He is severe in punishing their sins. The beginning of repentance is a sense of Gods mercy; when men are persuaded that God is ready to give pardon, they then begin to gather courage to repent; otherwise perverseness will ever increase in them. (John Calvin.)

2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.

BARES, "After two days will He revive us (or quicken us, give us life,) in the third day He will raise us up - The Resurrection of Christ, and our resurrection in Him and in His Resurrection, could not be more plainly foretold. The prophet expressly mentions two days, after which life should be given, and a third day, on which the resurrection should take place. What else can this be than the two days in

which the Body of Christ lay in the tomb, and the third day, on which He rose again, as the Resurrection and the life Joh_11:25, the first fruits of them that slept 1Co_15:20, the source and earnest and pledge of our resurrection and of life eternal? The Apostle, in speaking of our resurrection in Christ, uses these self-same words of the prophet; God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us - hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Eph_2:4-6.

The Apostle, like the prophet, speaks of that which took place in Christ our Head, as having already taken place in us, His members. : If we unhesitatingly believe in our heart, says a father, what we profess with our mouth, we were crucified in Christ, we died, we were buried, we also were raised again on that very third day. Whence the Apostle saith, If ye rose again with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Col_3:1. As Christ died for us, so He also rose for us. Our old man was nailed to the wood, in the flesh of our Head, and the new man was formed in that same Head, rising glorious from the tomb. What Christ, our Head, did, He did, not for Himself, but for His redeemed, that the benefits of His Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, might redound to all. life did it for them; they partook of what He did.

In no other way, could our participation of Christ be foretold. It was not the prophets object here, nor was it so direct a comfort to Israel, to speak of Christs Resurrection in itself. He took a nearer way to their hearts. He told them, all we who turn to the Lord, putting our whole trust in Him, and committing ourselves wholly to Him, to be healed of our wounds and to have our griefs bound up, shall receive life from Him, shall be raised up by Him. They could not understand then, how He would do this. The after two days and, in the third day, remained a mystery, to be explained by the event. But the promise itself was not the less distinct, nor the less full of hope, nor did it less fulfill all cravings for life eternal and the sight of God, because they did not understand, how shall these things be. Faith is unconcerned about the how. Faith believes what God says, because He says it, and leaves Him to fulfill it, how He wills and knows. The words of the promise which faith had to believe, were plain. The life of which the prophet spoke, could only be life from death, whether of the body or the soul or both. For God is said to give life, only in contrast with such death. Whence the Jews too have ever looked and do look, that this should be fulfilled in the Christ, though they know not that it has been fulfilled in Him. They too explain it ; He will quicken us in the days of consolation which shall come; in the day of the quickening of the dead; he will raise us up, and we shall live before Him.

In shadow, the prophecy was never fulfilled to Israel at all. The ten tribes were never restored; they never, as a whole, received any favor from God, after He gave them up to captivity. And unto the two tribes, (of whom, apart from the ten, no mention is made here) what a mere shadow was the restoration from Babylon, that it should be spoken of as the gift of life or of resurrection, whereby we should live before Him! The strictest explanation is the truest. The two days and the third day have nothing in history to correspond with them, except that in which they were fulfilled, when Christ, rising on the third day from the grave, raised with Him the whole human race .

And we shall live in His sight - Literally, before His Face. In the face, we see the will, and mind, the love, the pleasure or displeasure of a human being whom we love. In the holy or loving face of man, there may be read fresh depths of devotion or of love. The face is turned away in sorrowful displeasure; it is turned full upon the face it loves. Hence, it is so very expressive an image of the relation of the soul to God, and the Psalmists so often pray, Lord lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us; make Thy

Face to shine upon Thy servant; God bless us, and cause His Face to shine upon us; cast me not away from Thy presence or Face; look Thou upon me and be merciful unto me; look upon the Face of thine anointed; how long wilt Thou hide Thy Face from me? hide not Thy Face from Thy servant (Psa_4:6; Psa_31:16 (from Num_6:25); Psa_67:1; Psa_80:7; Psa_119:135; Psa_51:11; Psa_119:132; Psa_84:9; Psa_13:1; Psa_69:17, etc.); or they profess, Thy Face, Lord, will I seek (Psa_27:8; see Psa_24:6; Psa_105:4); or they declare that the bliss of eternity is in the Face of God Psa_11:7; Psa_16:11; Psa_17:15.

God had just said, that He would withdraw His presence, until they should seek His Face; now He says, they should live before His Face. To Abraham He had said, Walk before Me Gen_17:1, literally, before My Face, and be thou perfect. Bliss from the Creator, and duty from the creature, answer to one another. We live in His sight, in the way of duty, when we refer ourselves and our whole being, our courses of action, our thoughts, our love, to Him, remembering that we are ever in His presence, and ever seeking to please Him. We live in His sight, in the bliss of His presence, when we enjoy the sense of His favor, and know that His Eye rests on us in love, that He cares for us, guides us, guards us; and have some sweetness in contemplating Him. Much more fully shall we live in His sight, when, in Him, we shall be partakers of His Eternal Life and Bliss, and shall behold Him face to face, and see Him as He is, and the sight of Him shall be our bliss, and in His light we shall see light Psa_36:9.

CLARKE, "After two days will he revive - Such is his power that in two or three days he can restore us. He can realize all our hopes, and give us the strongest token for good.

In the third day he will raise us up - In so short a time can he give us complete deliverance. These words are supposed to refer to the death and resurrection of our Lord; and it is thought that the apostle refers to them, 1Co_15:4 : Christ rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures; and this is the only place in the Scriptures, i.e., of the Old Testament, where his resurrection on the third day seems to be hinted at. The

original, yekimenu, has been translated, he will raise him up. Then they who trusted in him could believe that they should be quickened together with him.

And we shall live in his sight - His resurrection being a proof of theirs.

GILL, "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up,.... The Jews, in their present state, are as dead men, both in a civil and spiritual sense, and their conversion and restoration will be as life from the dead; they are like persons buried, and, when they are restored, they will be raised out of their graves, both of sin and misery; see Rom_11:15; the time of which is here fixed, after two days, and on the third; which Jarchi interprets of the two temples that have been destroyed, and of the third temple to be built, which the Jews expect, but in vain, and when they hope for good times: Kimchi explains it of their three captivities, in Egypt, Babylon, and the present one, and so Ben Melech, from which they hope to be raised, and live comfortably; which sense is much better than the former: and with it may be compared Vitringa's (s) notion of the text, that the first day was between Israel's coming out of Egypt and the Babylonish captivity; the second day between that and the times of Antiochus, which was the third night; then the third day followed, which is the times of the Messiah: but the Targum comes nearer the truth, which paraphrases the words thus,

"he will quicken us in the days of consolation which are to come, and in the day of the resurrection of the dead he will raise us up;''

where by days of consolation are meant the days of the Messiah, with which the Jews generally connect the resurrection of the dead; and if we understand them of the last days of the Messiah, it is not much amiss; for the words respect the quickening and raising up of the Jews in the latter day, the times of Christ's spiritual coming and reign: and these two and three days may be expressive of a long and short time, as interpreters differently explain them; of a long time, as the third day is a long time for a man to lie dead, when there can be little or no hope of his reviving, Luk_24:21; or of a short time, for which two or three days is a common phrase; and both true in this case: it is a long time Israel and Judah have been in captivity, and there may seem little hope of their restoration; but it will be a short time with the Lord, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years: and this I take to be the sense of the words, that after the second Millennium, or the Lord's two days, and at the beginning of the third, will be the time of their conversion and restoration, reckoning from the last destruction of them by the Romans; for not till then were Israel and Judah wholly in a state of death: many of Israel were mixed among those of Judah before the Babylonish captivity, and many returned with them from it; but, when destroyed by the Romans, there was an end of their civil and church state; which will both be revived on a better foundation at this period of time: but if this conjecture is not agreeable (for I only propose it as such), the sense may be taken thus, that in a short time after the repentance of Israel, and their conversion to the Lord, they will be brought into a very comfortable and happy state and condition, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual;

and we shall live in his sight; comfortably, in a civil sense, in their own land, and in the possession of all their privileges and liberties; and in a spiritual sense, by faith on Jesus Christ, whom they shall now embrace, and in the enjoyment of the Gospel and Gospel ordinances; and the prophet represents the penitents and faithful among them as believing and hoping for these things. This may be applied to the case of sensible sinners, who, as they are in their natural state dead in sin, and dead in law, so they see themselves to be such when awakened; and yet entertain a secret hope that sooner or later they shall be revived and refreshed, and raised up to a more comfortable state, and live in the presence of God, and the enjoyment of his favour. The ancient fathers generally understood these words of Christ, who was buried on the sixth day, lay in the grave the whole seventh day, and after these two days, on the third, rose again from the dead; and to this passage the apostle is thought to have respect, 1Co_15:3; and also of the resurrection of his people in and with him, and by virtue of his: and true it is that Christ rose from the dead on the third day, and all his redeemed ones were quickened and raised up together with him as their head and representative, Eph_2:5; and his in virtue of his being quickened that they are regenerated and quickened, and made alive, in a spiritual sense; he is the author of their spiritual life, and their life itself; see 1Pe_1:3; and not only in virtue of his resurrection is their spiritual resurrection from the death of sin to a life of grace, but even their corporeal resurrection at the last day; and as, in consequence of their spiritual resurrection, they live in the sight of God a life of grace and holiness by faith in Christ, and in a comfortable view and enjoyment of the divine favour; so they shall live eternally in the presence of God, where are fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore: but the first sense is best, and most agreeable to the context and scope of it.

HERY, " They promise themselves that their deliverance out of their troubles should be to them as life from the dead (Hos_6:2): After two days he will revive us (that is, in a short time, in a day or two), and the third day, when it is expected that the dead body should putrefy and corrupt, and be buried out of our sight, then will he raise us up, and we shall live in his sight, we shall see his face with comfort and it shall be reviving to us. Though he forsake for a small moment, he will gather with everlasting kindness. Note, The people of God may not only be torn and smitten, but left for dead, and may lie so a great while; but they shall not always lie so, nor shall they long lie so; God will in a little time revive them; and the assurance given them of this should engage them to return and adhere to him. But this seems to have a further reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ; and the time limited is expressed by two days and the third day, that it may be a type and figure of Christ's rising the third day, which he is said to do according to the scriptures, according to this scripture; for all the prophets testified of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Let us see and admire the wisdom and goodness of God, in ordering the prophet's words so that when he foretold the deliverance of the church out of her troubles he should at the same time point out our salvation by Christ, which other salvations were both figures and fruits of; and, though they might not be aware of this mystery in the words, yet now that they are fulfilled in the letter of them in the resurrection of Christ it is a confirmation to our faith that this is he that should come, and we are to look for no other. And it is every way suitable that a prophecy of Christ's rising should be thus expressed, He will raise us up, and we shall live, for Christ rose as the first-fruits, and we revive with him, we live through him; he rose for our justification, and all believers are said to be risen with Christ. See Isa_26:19. And it would serve for a comfort to the church then, and an assurance that God would raise them out of their low estate, for in his fulness of time he would raise his Son from the grave, who would be the life and glory of his people Israel. Note, A regard by faith to a rising Christ is a great support to a suffering Christian, and gives abundant encouragement to a repenting returning sinner; for he has said, Because I live, you shall live also.

JAMISO, "Primarily, in type, Israels national revival, in a short period (two or three being used to denote a few days, Isa_17:6; Luk_13:32, Luk_13:33); antitypically the language is so framed as to refer in its full accuracy only to Messiah, the ideal Israel (Isa_49:3; compare Mat_2:15, with Hos_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 Israels political resurrection as the type of the general resurrection of which Christ is the first-fruits (Isa_26:19; Eze_37:1-14; Dan_12:2).

live in his sight enjoy His favor and the light of His countenance shining on us, as of old; in contrast to Hos_5:6, Hos_5:15, Withdrawn Himself from them.

SBC, "So Ephraim and Judah went to the wrong person, and did not gain much by their application. The same fatal error is being perpetrated by multitudes amongst us still. The error is as ancient as Cain, and as modern as today.

I. It is pretty plain that Israel could not choose to be independent. They had not the forces at their control to enable them to defy all comers. Either the nation must lean on its God, or else it must lean on some arm of flesh, and king Jareb seemed as eligible a helper as anyone else. And neither can we be independent. Our nature is so constituted,

and our conditions of existence are so ordered, that we must needs look beyond ourselves for solace and support amidst the strange and trying vicissitudes of life.

II. It would have been no true kindness on Gods part if He had granted the Israelites prosperity when they were apostate from Him. This must have led them to feel the more satisfied with their apostasy, and the less disposed to repent. And it is no less His love to us that makes Him deal with us in a similar manner. He has to thwart us just that He may show us how little king Jareb can do for us.

III. When we draw near to God, we find a good Physician binding up our wounds. Listen to these wondrous words, and see foreshadowed in them all the glories of the Resurrection. "After two days will He revive us... and we shall live in His sight." The life hitherto cut off from us can once again flow into us; after two days in the sepulchretwo days of self-despair and sitting in darkness and the shadow of deathHe revives us, and we begin to live in His sight.

W. Hay Aitken, Mission Pulpit, No. 77.

CALVI, "Verse 2This place the Hebrew writers pervert, for they think that they are yet to be redeemed by the coming of the Messiah; and they imagine that this will be the third day: for God once drew them out of Egypt, this was their first life; then, secondly, he restored them to life when he brought them back from the Babylonish captivity; and when God shall, by the hand of the Messiah, gather them from their dispersion, this, they say, will be the third resurrection. But these are frivolous notions. ot withstanding, this place is usually referred to Christ, as declaring, that God would, after two days, and on the third, raise up his Church; for Christ, we know, did not rise privately for himself, but for his members, inasmuch as he is the first-fruits of them who shall rise. This sense does not seem then unsuitable, that is, that the Prophet here encourages the faithful to entertain hope of salvation, because God would raise up his only-begotten Son, whose resurrection would be the common life of the whole Church.

Yet this sense seems to me rather too refined. We must always mind this, that we fly not in the air. Subtle speculations please at first sight, but afterwards vanish. Let every one, then, who desires to make proficiency in the Scriptures always keep to this rule to gather from the Prophets and apostles only what is solid.

Let us now see what the Prophet meant. He here adds, I doubt not, a second source of consolation, that is, that if God should not immediately revive his people, there would be no reason for delay to cause weariness, as it is wont to do; for we see that when God suffers us to languish long, our spirits fail; and those who at first seem cheerful and courageous enough, in process of time become faint. As, then, patience is a rare virtue, Hosea here exhorts us patiently to bear delay, when the Lord does not immediately revive us. Thus then did the Israelites say, After two days will God revive us; on the third day he will raise us up to life

What did they understand by two days? Even their long affliction; as though they said, Though the Lord may not deliver us from our miseries the first day, but defer

longer our redemption, our hope ought not yet to fail; for God can raise up dead bodies from their graves no less than restore life in a moment. When Daniel meant to show that the affliction of the people would be long, he says,

After a time, times, and half time, (Daniel 7:25.)

That mode of speaking is different, but then as to sense it is the same. He says, after a time, that is, after a year; that would be tolerable: but it follows, and times, that is, many years: God afterwards shortens that period, and brings redemption at a time when least expected. Hosea mentions here two years, because God would not afflict his people for one day, but, as we have before seen, subdue them by degrees; for the perverseness of the people had so prevailed, that they could not be soon healed. As when diseases have been striking roots for a long time, they cannot be immediately cured, but there is need of slow and various remedies; and were a physician to attempt immediately to remove a disease which had taken full possession of a man, he certainly would not cure him, but take away his life: so also, when the Israelites, through their long obstinacy, had become nearly incurable, it was necessary to lead them to repentance by slow punishments. They therefore said, After two days God will revive us; and thus they confirmed themselves in the hope of salvation, though it did not immediately appear: though they long remained in darkness, and the exile was long which they had to endure, they yet did not cease to hope: Well, let the two days pass, and the Lord will revive us.

We see that a consolation is here opposed to the temptations, which take from us the hope of salvation, when God suspends his favor longer than our flesh desires. Martha said to Christ, He is now putrid, it is the fourth day. (27) She thought it absurd to remove the stone from the sepulchre, because now the body of Lazarus was putrified. But Christ in this instance designed to show his own incredible power by restoring a putrid body to life. So the faithful say here, The Lord will raise us up after two days: Though exile seems to be like the sepulchre, where putridity awaits us, yet the Lord will, by his ineffable power, overcome whatever may seem to obstruct our restoration. We now perceive, as I think, the simple and genuine sense of this passage.

But at the same time I do not deny but that God has exhibited a remarkable and a memorable instance of what is here said in his only-begotten Son. As often then as delay begets weariness in us, and when God seems to have thrown aside every care of us, let us flee to Christ; for, as it has been said, His resurrection is a mirror of our life; for we see in that how God is wont to deal with his own people: the Father did not restore life to Christ as soon as he was taken down from the cross; he was deposited in the sepulchre, and he lay there to the third day. When God then intends that we should languish for a time, let us know that we are thus represented in Christ our head, and hence let us gather materials of confidence. We have then in Christ an illustrious proof of this prophecy. But in the first place, let us lay hold on what we have said, that the faithful here obtain hope for themselves, though God extends not immediately his hand to them, but defers for a time his grace of redemption.

Then he adds, We shall live in his sight, or before him. Here again the faithful strengthen themselves, for God would favor them with his paternal countenance, after he had long turned his back on them, We shall live before his face For as long as God cares not for us, a sure destruction awaits us; but as soon as he turns his eyes to us, he inspires life by his look alone. Then the faithful promise this good to themselves that Gods face will shine again after long darkness: hence also they gather the hope of life, and at the same time withdraw themselves from all those obstacles which obscure the light of life; for while we run and wander here and there, we cannot lay hold on the life which God promises to us, as the charms of this world are so many veils, which prevent our eyes to see the paternal face of God. We must then remember that this sentence is added, that the faithful, when it pleases God to turn his back on them, may not doubt but that he will again look on them. Let us now go on

COKE, "Verse 2Hosea 6:2. After two days, &c. In the style of Scripture, captivity, oppression, servitude, are frequently represented under the name of death; and a deliverance from these evils is called a resurrection,a return to light,to life,new life, &c. We have examples of this in Ezekiel, Daniel, and many other parts of Scripture. The captives in Assyria and Babylon, burdened with the weight of their evils, encourage each other, and say, "Come, let us