Hosea 6:1

The 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:

"Now 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.