CHAPTER 14 Nov. 17 
Repentance and Blessing 
Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen because of your sin. 2Take words with you, and return to Yahweh.  Tell him, Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good: so we offer our lips like bulls. 3Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods!’; for in You the fatherless finds mercy.  4I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for My anger is turned away from him. 5I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon. 6His branches will spread, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon. 7Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon. 8Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I will answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; from Me you will acquire fruit. 9Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; but the rebellious will stumble in them.

Commentary

14:3 Hosea’s prophecy ends with God protesting His eternal love for Israel, and a description of them in the Kingdom, when they will have ‘returned’ to Him. Remember that the God / Israel relationship was a reflection of the Hosea / Gomer situation. I take this final, majestic section to be a reflection of Hosea’s fantasy, his day dream, that one day Gomer would return to him and blossom as a person. For fantasies are all a part of true love. “From Me you will acquire fruit” (14:8) is perhaps his fantasy that somehow, this worn out woman with dry breasts and a miscarrying womb (9:14) would somehow one day still bear him children of their own, and that in him “the fatherless” [a reference to Gomer’s illegitimate children] would find mercy in being accepted into the family (14:3). Hosea died with his dream unfulfilled. We are left with the question as to whether this similar loving intention of God for Israel will in fact be fulfilled, or whether it was what was potentially possible for Israel; or whether His fantasy for them will be fulfilled through a new Israel. If the latter, and we are that new Israel, then we can imagine what passionate joy the Father finds in our bumbling attempts to respond to Him and be His loyal and faithful wife. Whatever, the simple fact is that it all reflects an amazing grace, an ineffable love… and this God is our God, and Hosea who reflected all this is truly a pattern for ourselves in daily life. The very existence of such passionate love for us, love beyond reason, carries with it an inevitable warning as to our responsibilities.