Verse 12
"Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you."
We believe that Mauchline was correct in his opinion that:
"This verse is not to be interpreted as an appeal by Hosea to his contemporaries to turn from evil, but as the instructions that were given to Ephraim in the early days ... The instructions to Ephraim were not obeyed (as proved by Hosea 10:13)."[19]
"For it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you ..." Full agreement is felt with Butler who cautioned against the efforts of some commentators to construe this passage as a denial that "men must do righteous deeds in order to be pleasing to God." Such commentators write that:
"It is not a man-made righteousness, but the righteousness which the Lord is ready to grant abundantly as a gift of his grace to all that seek him and his righteousness ... prepared for you without any merit on your part, and sent by the Lord as freely, graciously, and abundantly as the rain from heaven."[20]
Such views, of course, are false. If God's grace is like the rain which falls on the just and unjust alike, then God's saving or condemning any person is altogether capricious. Now to be sure, no man can merit salvation; but, make no mistake about it, the Holy Scriptures teach that, "My little children, let no man lead you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous" (1 John 3:7). "Faith in God through Christ can be efficacious only if it issues forth in an obedient life of righteous deeds."[21]
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