Hosea 14:4-7 KJV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 14:4-7

We have here an answer of peace to the prayers of returning Israel. They seek God's face, and they shall not seek in vain. God will be sure to meet those in a way of mercy who return to him in a way of duty. If we speak to God in good prayers, God will speak to us in good promises, as he answered the angel with good words and comfortable words, Zech. 1:13. If we take with us the foregoing words in our coming to God, we may take home with us these following words for our faith to feast upon;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 14:4

I will heal their backslidings ,.... This and what follows is the Lord's answer to the above prayer; and this clause particularly is an answer to that petition, "take away all iniquity", Hosea 14:2 ; sins are diseases, natural and hereditary, nauseous and loathsome, mortal, and incurable but by the grace of God, and blood of Christ; backslidings are relapses, which are dangerous things; Christ is the only Physician, who heals all the diseases of sin, and these relapses also; he will do it,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 14:5

I will be as the dew unto Israel ,.... To spiritual Israel, to those that return to the Lord, take with them words, and pray unto him, whose backslidings are healed, and they are freely loved; otherwise it is said of apostate Israel or Ephraim, that they were "smitten, and their root dried up, and bore no fruit", Hosea 9:16 . These words, and the whole, context, respect future times, as Kimchi observes; even the conversion of Israel in the latter day, when they shall partake of all the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 14:6

His branches shall spread ,.... As the well rooted cedars in Lebanon; see Numbers 24:6 . This respects the propagation of the church of God, and the interest of Christ in the world, as in the first times of the Gospel, and will be in the latter day; when the Gospel shall be spread everywhere; churches set up in all places; the Jews converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; and these like spreading branches, and fruitful boughs, abounding in grace and good works. The Targum is,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 14:7

They that dwell under his shadow shall return ,.... Either under the shadow of Lebanon, as Japhet and Jarchi; the shadow of that mountain, or of the trees that grew upon it; or under the shadow of Israel, the church, to which young converts have recourse, and under which they sit with pleasure; or rather under the shadow of the Lord Israel was called to return unto, and now return, Hosea 14:1 ; as the Israelites will in the latter day. So the Targum, "and they shall be gathered out of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:4

I will heal their backsliding - Here is the answer of God to these prayers and resolutions. See its parts: - Ye have backslidden and fallen, and are grievously and mortally wounded by that fall; but I, who am the Author of life, and who redeem from death, will heal all these wounds and spiritual diseases. I will love them freely - נדבה nedabah , after a liberal, princely manner. I will love them so as to do them incessant good. It shall not be a love of affection merely, but shall... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:5

I will be as the dew unto Israel - On these metaphors I gladly avail myself of the elegant and just observations of Bp. Lowth. "These verses ( Hosea 14:5-7 ;) contain gracious promises of God's favor and blessings upon Israel's conversion. In the fifth verse, it is described by that refreshment which copious dews give to the grass in summer. If we consider the nature of the climate, and the necessity of dews in so hot a country, not only to refresh, but likewise to preserve life; if we... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:7

They that dwell under his shadow shall return - The Targum is curious: "They shall be gathered together from the midst of their captivity; they shall dwell under the shadow of his Christ, and the dead shall revive." They shall revive as the corn - The justness and beauty of this metaphor is not generally perceived. After the corn has been a short time above the earth, in a single spike, the blades begin to separate, and the stalk to spring out of the center. The side leaves turn back to... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:4

Verse 4 God here confirms what we have observed respecting his gratuitous reconciliation, nor is the repetition useless; for as men are disposed to entertain vain and false hopes, so nothing is more difficult than to preserve them in dependence on the one God, and to pacify their minds, so that they disturb not nor fret themselves, as experience teaches us all. For when we embrace the promises of free pardon, our flesh ever leads us to distrust, and we become harassed by various fancies. “What!... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:5

Verse 5 The Prophet now again repeats what he had said, that God, after restoring the people to favour, would be so beneficent, as to render apparent the fruit of reconciliation. Seeing that the Israelites had been afflicted, they ought to have imputed this to their own sins, they ought to have perceived by such proofs, the wrath of God. They had been so stupid as to have on the contrary imagined, that their adversities happened to them by chance. The Prophet had been much engaged in teaching... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hosea 14:4-7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 14:4

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 14:5

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 14:6

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hosea 14:7

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:4

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:5

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:7

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:4

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hosea 14:5

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