Hosea 14:1. O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God;
Bless his name that he is still thy God, however much thou mayest have backslidden, thou hast not lost thy right to claim him as thy God, for he is thine eternally by a fixed entail; and because he is still thy God, let his everlasting kindness entice thee to come back to him.»
Hosea 14:1. For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
«Thou hast lost thy comforts, thou hast become a poor despicable creature; thou hast fallen by thine iniquity, this is the eve of all the mischief; thy sin is the seed of all thy ruin; get rid of that, and thou shalt soon have thy comforts back again.»
Hosea 14:2. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him,-
See, he puts the words into your mouth; as if he felt persuaded that you would say, «Lord, I cannot pray an acceptable prayer,» he makes one for you, so that you, who have backslidden the most, and have gone the farthest astray, may have no excuse: «Turn to the Lord: say unto him,»
Hosea 14:2. Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
«Our thankfulness shall give thee such hearty praise that it shall not be like the Jew's slender sacrifice, when he offered the turtle-doves or the young pigeons, but we will give thee of our praise as hearty a sacrifice as when the devout Israelite brought the young bullock, the very best of his beasts, to be offered upon the altar of his God; so we will offer to thee the calves of our lips.»
Hosea 14:3. Asshur shall not save us;
-Backslider, hast thou been putting thy trust anywhere but in God, hoping to find comfort in the world and in sin? Then make this confession: «Asshur shall not save us;»
Hosea 14:3. We will not ride upon horses:
These were the confidence of the Egyptians, and the Israelites vainly tried to imitate their powerful and rich neighbours, so we will not put our confidence in the strength of cavalry.
Hosea 14:3. Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods:-
Happy is that man who turns aside from every idol, and trusts in God alone. It is a mark of very black backsliding when we begin to make our business, our families, our pleasures, and our bodily health the objects of such tender consideration that we virtually say to them, «Ye are our gods.»
Hosea 14:3-4. For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Everlastingly turned away through the complete and satisfactory atonement of Jesus Christ.
Hosea 14:5. I will be as the dew unto Israel:-
The dew is God's gift, and so is grace; the dew falls silently, yet copiously, and bedews both the leaf and the root sufficiently. «I will be as the dew unto Israel,» is a promise to the man of faith, the man of prayer, the man who can endure trial: «I will be as the dew unto Israel;»
Hosea 14:5. He shall grow as the lily,
It is «the daffodil» in the original, the yellow daffodil, in the East, springs up after a shower where you could not have perceived anything before; yet there is the idea of frailness in that simile, so it is balanced by the next one:-
Hosea 14:5. And cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
After you have grown upward, you must grow downward; and growing downward, though it may not be so pleasant, is quite as excellent as growing upward, so the promise to you is, «He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.»
Hosea 14:6. His branches shall spread,
This is growing sideways; so the believer spreads his branches by public profession and testimony after having become deeply rooted in the faith and having grown up in love to God, then he begins to spread his shadow over the sons of men by telling-
«To sinners round,
What a dear Saviour he has found.»
Hosea 14:6. And his beauty shall be as the olive tree,
Which largely consists in its fruitfulness. That is always the most beautiful olive which bears the most fruit; so the fruitful Christian shall have the beauty of the olive tree. Besides, the olive is an evergreen, and the Christian's beauty is of a kind that shall never fade. There is an old saying, «Beauty soon fades» but that does not mean the Christian's beauty, for that shall never fade, neither in life, nor in death, nor in eternity.
Hosea 14:6. And his smell as Lebanon.
That is, the holy influence of his life and conversation shall be as fragrant to God and men as are the perfumes exhaled by the sweet flowers upon the side of Mount Lebanon.
Hosea 14:7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return:
His children, his servants, his congregation shall be blessed by his gracious influence. As the Upas tree droppeth with deadly poison, so the tree of grace in a Christian droppeth living drops to fall on dead souls.
Hosea 14:7. They shall revive as the corn,
Which suddenly springs up in the East after rain falls,-
Hosea 14:7. And grow as the vine:
The branches shall in their turn become fruitful.
Hosea 14:7. The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
Our families and households should be so well-ordered that, not only we ourselves personally, but all in our household, should have a heavenly influence, a blessed savour upon all around us.
Hosea 14:8. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?
Let that question also go round our ranks, «What have I to do any more with idols; I, who am bought with the precious blood of Jesus; I, who am named by the name of Jesus; I, who have been baptized into the Sacred Trinity, what have I to do any more with idols?» You may make an idol of that boy or girl of yours; you may make an idol of that house or garden of yours; you may make an idol of that business or profession of yours. Do not so, I entreat you, but rather say, «What have I to do any more with idols?»
Hosea 14:8. I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree;
That is what Ephraim says, and this is what God says:-
Hosea 14:8. From me is thy fruit found.
We are never so fruitful as when we get all our fruit from God. We always shine in borrowed light, and we are always fruitful in borrowed fruitfulness.
Hosea 14:9. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right,-
Did your murmuring spirit say that they were not right? Because you have had some sore trial, did your repining spirit say that they were not right? They are certainly right, and you shall see that it is so one day: «The ways of the Lord are right,»
Hosea 14:9. And the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
Even in God's good ways, transgressors cannot stand; they fall even when they try to praise God, or to pray to him; and this is a sad proof of man's deep depravity, that even when he is engaged in the worship of God the thing which is in itself good becomes obnoxious to God by reason of the sin which is certain to be mingled with it.