Hosea 14:1

This chapter elaborates the theme that appeared momentarily in Hosea 13:14, applies primarily to the godly and faithful remnant of the Northern kingdom which remained after the execution of the terminal penalties pronounced in the preceding chapters, and sets forth the glories of the New Israel to be achieved in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, that being the only way that even the righteous remnant could share in the marvelous promises of this chapter. This chapter is Messianic. It is the New Covenant that shines in every line of it. The forgiveness of sins (Hosea 14:2), indicated by "take away all iniquity" is an exclusive feature of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-35). "The offering of our lips" (Hosea 14:2) which was prophesied to replace animal sacrifice, was another feature of the New Covenant. The extravagant metaphors regarding the blessings to follow the "return" (Hosea 14:1) also were to be fulfilled, not by any literal restoration of the old Israel, but by the glorious spiritual blessings of the New. That there were indeed a few of the Ten Tribes who remained faithful to God is certain; because the prophetess Anna (Luke 2:36) was of the tribe of Asher. Therefore, it was altogether proper for God to have spoken this message through Hosea to any part of his true Israel that remained after the vast majority had been destroyed. Those who heeded the message, of course, had their sins passed over (Romans 3:25) by the Father until Christ came; but their forgiveness was achieved, like all other sins, in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is merely superstition that regards this chapter as a promise of a restoration of the old Israel in any racial or national sense. The divorce that Hosea pronounced against Gomer was final; and God's rejection of national Israel and its monarchy was just as final. There is no indication in Hosea 1-3 that Gomer ever repented; and neither has the state of Israel, or racial Israel, shown the slightest inclination toward repentance. Even the faithful and discerning Homer Hailey seems to have missed this in his comment that, "Gomer could only sit by the hearth of the home she had wrecked, and there, in the depth of her conscience-stricken memory of what might have been, come to repentance."[1] The truth is, there is not the slightest evidence in the word of God that any repentant thought ever entered Gomer's mind. There was a marriage afterward, of course, (Hosea 3), but it was not to Israel, but to Jezreel, the New Israel. Gomer had no part in it, nor can racial, national Israel ever be expected to have any part whatever in the Bride of Christ, the New Israel, except in the personal and individual sense of a righteous remnant, many of whom, it is to be hoped, obey the gospel of Christ and are saved like anyone else.

This chapter corresponds exactly to the new marriage of Hosea 3; and, in both of them, the Messianic kingdom of Christ is the object of the prophecy. Hindley seems to have received some impression of this, for he titled the chapter, "The Gospel of Grace," extolling the beauty of the New Ephraim."[2]

A failure to discern the Messianic thrust of this chapter has led to efforts of some scholars to reject the chapter. "Many interpreters have denied the authenticity of this chapter because it appears to be out of line with the predictions of irrevocable doom set forth in the preceding chapters."[3] The utter lack of any internal or external evidence whatever that would support such denials has frustrated them. The chapter is clearly authentic. The chapter is not really surprising; for even the doctrine of the new birth was suggested in Hosea 13:13, and the promises of the resurrection in Hosea 13:14 were clearly received by Paul as New Covenant doctrine (1 Corinthians 15:55). Failing in all efforts to deny the chapter as authentic, some have resorted to the device of applying it to some earlier period of Hosea's ministry when repentance of the Northern kingdom might have been possible. McKeating, for example, said, "It may come from an earlier part of his ministry."[4] No such explanation is adequate. Viewing the whole chapter as a prophecy of the New Israel during the reign of Christ explains everything and accounts for its placement here as the climax of the entire prophecy.

Hosea 14:1

"O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity."

God's undying love for mankind underlies this plea for the return of the fallen people. Since the chapter is definitely Messianic and prophetic of the New Israel to be identified with the kingdom of Christ, how should the word "return" be understood? It is a word that implies the restoration of a lost and broken fellowship; and it is appropriate here in its primary application to the few faithful in the apostate Israel who would indeed heed the summons, continue to wait for the kingdom of God, and in the times of Christ become the solid nucleus of the New Israel. The apostles themselves, as well as persons such as Nathaniel and Anna, were among the old Israel who heeded the invitation and indeed returned to God in the higher and nobler relationship to the Father as the Bride of Christ. In the large implications of the word "return," it included the Gentiles who had long been in the darkness of paganism; but they too "returned" to God, for they also had "fallen by their iniquity," as evident from Romans 1.

"Thou hast fallen ..." is translated "stumbled" in some versions, leaving the impression from the way the word is used in current English that only a momentary slip, a near-mishap, occurred; but as Keating pointed out, "To stumble in the Bible means to `come to utter disaster.'"[5] "These verses (Hosea 14:1-3) appeal for repentance."[6] Therefore, the Messianic kingdom is projected by this. The great mark of the emergence of the gospel age lay in this very thing. The Great Herald, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, cried, "Repent ye for the kingdom of God is at hand" (Matthew 3); the first sermon Jesus ever preached was, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14); and the first sermon of the gospel age found the apostle Peter commanding the people in the name of Christ to "Repent and be baptized, etc." (Acts 2:38). Thus, the very outset of this chapter is a signal that the New Israel is the one in focus here. Myers also agreed that Hosea 14:1 in this place is "a simple and unqualified demand for repentance."[7]

Mays interpreted the demand for repentance in this verse as an appeal addressed to "the corporate Israel."[8] However, such a view must be considered inaccurate. Nations of people as corporate units are not the objects of God's commands which are invariably addressed "to all men," to "every one of you," to "every creature," and to "whomsoever." The "seed of Abraham" who were the heirs of the promise of God were never in any sense the corporate Israel, the secular state, or the earthly domain of any of their monarchs; they were the people of like mind and faith with Abraham. The Pharisees claimed to be the "sons of Abraham"; but in reality, they were the sons of the devil, as Jesus said (John 8). Those who are looking for and expecting the secular nation of Israel to be converted and turn to God are looking for something that is absolutely impossible, or at least something that is nowhere promised in God's Word. Of that apostate nation, Christ through Paul declared that "they are hardened, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Romans 11:25); and the last nineteen centuries have verified the truth of what the Scriptures say. Some go beyond what is written and project a "return of Israel" (meaning the hardened secular portion of it) at some point during the end times; but the weakness of that projection lies in the impossibility of showing that there will be any "end times" at a point in the future beyond the period of "the fullness of the Gentiles," which may very well be, as many believe, another expression denoting the end of the gospel age and the end of the world.