CHAPTER 6 Nov. 9 
Unrepentant 
Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for He has torn us to pieces, and He will heal us; He has injured us, and He will bind up our wounds. 2After two days He will revive us. On the third day He will raise us up, and we will live before Him. 3Let us acknowledge Yahweh. Let us press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth. 4Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early. 5Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I slew them with the words of My mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning. 6For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to Me, there. 8Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood. 9As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem, committing shameful crimes. 10In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled. 11Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of My people.

Commentary

6:6 I desire… the knowledge of God - Israel and Gomer were “destroyed for lack of knowledge” (4:6). Yet they cried out that “My God, how we know You!” (8:2). Israel’s attitude to the Law can so easily be our attitude to the principles of the Gospel, the New Covenant, in which we stand. We can ‘know’ it all, and externally keep it… but in reality not know it at all, focusing on the external sacrifices whilst knowing nothing of the God we supposedly worship. All this was exemplified by Gomer being an observant Jewess, whilst worshipping Baal and living a shameful life.
6:10 God’s realization of Israel’s prostitution, committed as it was amidst protestations of love for God (:4), was mirrored in Hosea’s tragic and heartbreaking relationship with his prostitute wife Gomer.