Reflections on Hosea 6

 Hosea 06 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Let's return to the LORD. He has torn us to shreds, but he will bandage our wounds and make us well.
   
2. In two or three days he will heal us and restore our strength that we may live with him.
   
3. Let's do our best to know the LORD. His coming is as certain as the morning sun; he will refresh us like rain renewing the earth in the springtime.
   
4. People of Israel and Judah, what can I do with you? Your love for me disappears more quickly than mist or dew at sunrise.
   
5. That's why I slaughtered you with the words of my prophets. That's why my judgments blazed like the dawning sun.
   
6. I'd rather for you to be faithful and to know me than to offer sacrifices.
   
7. At a place named Adam, you betrayed me by breaking our agreement.
   
8. Everyone in Gilead is evil; your hands are stained with the blood of victims.
   
9. You priests are like a gang of robbers in ambush. On the road to Shechem you murder and commit other horrible crimes.
   
10. I have seen a terrible thing in Israel-- you are unfaithful and unfit to worship me.
    
11. People of Judah, your time is coming too. I, the LORD, would like to make my nation prosper again

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Israel had been called to repentance. God had withdrawn from her to wait until "they recognize their guilt and seek My face; they will search for Me in their distress." (5:15) 6:1 records their eventual response. But was it current to Hosea's time period or sometime in the future, perhaps even yet future? That is the question.

Because of the overtones in Vv. 1 & 2 to Isaiah's prophesy of the Messiah and to Christ's resurrection, there is the suggestion that this is a reference to an event that has not yet occurred. If it were current to Hosea's time, it was insincere and failed to be a true repentance and therefore brouth no real restoration. Beyond that, Israel has yet to receive the forgiveness and restoration made possible by the Messiah.

The Lord sounds a bit like an exasperated parent in verse 4, "What am I going to do with you?" Mentioning both Israel (Ephraim) and Judah. Their loyalty to the Lord was as nebulous and lasting as the morning mist and dew. This had been the case throughout Israel history with the Lord and not just during Hosea's time. No wonder the Lord was so exasperated with the nation! Throughout Israel's history, the Lord had sent prophets to "cut them down," but her repentance and reform was always short-lived. What the Lord wanted was not a multitude of burnt offerings, no matter how sincerely offered. He wanted their loyalty - their hearts.

Instead of loyalty, Israel had been like her father Adam and had broken the Lord's covenant with her and betrayed Him.

The chapter concludes with further description of Israel's unfaithfulness. They were as unlike the character of God as they could be. God is not after our faithful observance of religious rituals. It is our hearts He wants. And the evidence that He has our hearts is that we want to be obedient to the character He desires of us, which is to be like Him.