Chapter 6

1 An exhortation to repentance. 4 A complaint of their untowardness and iniquity.

1. Come. Verses 1–3 are more closely related in thought to ch. 5:15 than to the remaining verses of ch. 6.

He hath torn. God’s love for us makes His punishment of us a “strange act” (Isa. 28:21), and one that He is loath to employ. The essential purpose of His present discipline is to bring about reformation of life (see Ps 119:75; Lam. 3:31–33; Heb. 12:5–11).

He will heal. The Lord, not the Assyrian “Jareb” (see on ch. 5:13), nor any other human being (see Deut. 32:39), is the true Physician.

2. After two days. The expression “after two days … in the third day” seems to be a literary device employed to denote indefinite time (cf. 2 Kings 9:32; Amos 4:8). Hosea had predicted that the Lord would “heal” (ch. 6:1). Now he adds that the time of healing would be at an indefinite time in the future, although perhaps not far. There is no specific scriptural proof that this passage is a Messianic prediction of the resurrection of Christ, although this belief has been quite generally held.

Live in his sight To live in God’s sight is to be in full harmony and loving fellowship with Him (see Num. 6:25, 26; Ps. 11:7; 17:15; 27:8, 9; 51:11; 67:1; 119:135).

3. To know the Lord. See on ch. 4:6.

His going forth. Clearly the antecedent of “his” is “the Lord.” The passage fittingly describes the work of the coming Messiah (see PK 688).

As the morning. Appropriately, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the dawn, or the Dayspring from on high (Luke 1:78). As the morning dawn quietly and gently breaks upon the earth, dispelling the shadows of the night and arousing the world to new life and activity, so will “the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2). Christ did not come in an outward display of glory to dazzle the senses of men; He rather gave to men the very measure of light needed for their soul’s salvation.

Latter and former rain. The early rain, from the last of October to the first part of December (see on Deut. 11:14; Joel 2:23), following the dry season, allows the sowing of the seed in the autumn (the beginning of the Jewish civil and agricultural year). The latter rain in March and April, preceding and promoting the harvest, closes the winter rainy season, which peaks in January (see Vol. II, pp. 109, 110). In such expressive figurative language did Hosea assure his people of the abundant blessings of God that would revive and nourish their spiritual life.

4. What shall I do? God, having tried in various ways to persuade Israel and Judah to repent, finds His efforts unavailing, and so in sorrow asks what more He can do before He imposes chastisement (see on Isa. 5:4).

Early dew. The divine questioning was inspired by the people’s short-lived piety. The history of God’s chosen nation abundantly illustrates their fugitive, inconsistent piety. All of us need to learn this same lesson, for goodness is of little real worth unless it becomes permanent in the life, an attribute of the character.

5. Hewed them. The Hebrew refers to the hewing of stones for building purposes, an apt symbol of the fashioning of the human soul by the heavenly Sculptor into the “similitude of God” (James 3:9).

Thy judgments. The LXX and the Syriac versions read, “My judgment.” Whichever reading is adopted, the reference is clearly an allusion to divine chastisement.

6. Not sacrifice. See on ch. 5:6.

Knowledge. Mercy is religion in practice; knowledge is the guide of proper conduct. Without these two basic elements religion tends to be mere empty form, and comes under the divine disfavor (see 1 Sam. 15:22; Prov. 21:3; Isa. 1:11–17; 2 Tim. 3:1–5).

7. They like men have transgressed. Or, “like Adam they have transgressed.” In His supreme love for His children, God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to be His representative on earth, and to have dominion over it (Gen. 1:26), but our first father violated God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:6, 22–24; Isa. 59:1, 2). Like Adam, Israel and Judah had been given a dwelling place by God; like Adam, they had broken God’s covenant with them through iniquity; and like Adam, they would be driven out of the Land of Promise.

Having “treacherously” “transgressed the covenant,” Israel was no longer God’s people—a fact implied in the name Lo-ammi (see on chs. 1:9; 2:23). Israel’s treachery is illustrated in a variety of ways (see chs. 6:4; 7:8, 11, 16).

8. Gilead is a city. An unidentified city in Gilead, the land east of the Jordan between the Yarmuk and Jabbok rivers (see on Gen. 31:47). The Gileadites are pictured here as murderous in nature (see 2 Kings 15:25), and consequently it is not surprising to find that they were among the first ones of the northern kingdom carried into captivity by Assyria (2 Kings 15:29).

9. As troops of robbers. A portrayal of the fearfully wicked state of the priests of the high places (see on ch. 4:13).

By consent. Most scholars agree that the Hebrew of this phrase should be rendered, “toward Shechem.”

11. An harvest for thee. This may be used in a good sense, as a recompense, or in a bad sense, as retribution. Many scholars prefer the latter interpretation, since Judah, like Israel, went into apostasy, which would surely yield its harvest of sorrow in captivity (see 2 Chron. 36:1–21).

Ellen G. White comments

1–3PK 283

3     AA 308, 564, 579; COL 67; CS 138; CT 212, 230; DA 261; Ed 106; FE 375; GC 611; MH 32; ML 60, 109; MYP 15; PK 688; RC 55, 62, 69; TM 241; 6T 199, 416, 421; 8T 247, 318

4     PK 285

5     Ev 573, 635; EW 71; TM 464; 2T 422

5–7PK 281