Faithful God (Part Seventeen): A Blossoming Vine

Transcript

JROT 17
5/28/2023
Faithful God (Part Seventeen): A Blossoming Vine
Hosea 14:1-9
Jesse Randolph

By the grace of God, we finished the book of James this morning. Lord willing we’ll finish the book of Hosea tonight and what a journey we’ve been on. By way of review, and I’m just going to jump right into it this evening, in the first three chapters of this book, you might remember, we were immediately transported into the living room, the kitchen table of Hosea the prophet and his wayward wife, Gomer, a prostitute, and and an adulteress prostitute at that. All of what we saw in their home and in their marriage, the prostitution, the adultery, the contention, the heartache, the grief, the familial strife was a picture as we saw. It was representative of Yahweh’s own relationship with, and dealings with, His bride, the people of Israel.

In chapters 4 through 13 of this prophecy we left the immediate domestic context of the household of Hosea and Gomer and focused exclusively on Yahweh’s relationship with Israel, His original chosen people. The people He had set His love upon. The people with whom He originally covenanted. The apple of His eye. As we did so as we worked through chapters 4 through 13, we saw, from time to time that though God was steadfast and faithful in His love and His commitment to His people, His people did not reciprocate. Rather, they were totally and consistently faithless.

Just to get us all re-acquainted as we prepare to wind down our time in this book, I’m going to highlight a few select passages from chapters 4 through 13 for us each to lay our eyes on. I’m going to invite you to go back to Hosea 4 and we’re just going to do, like we did with James this morning, kind of a high-level review of what we’ve studied in this book as we prepare to wind down in chapter 14.

Turn with me if you would to Hosea 4 as we sort of set the stage leading up to the fourteenth and final chapter of this prophecy. Hosea 4:1, we have Yahweh taking on the role of prosecutor here, when He says to Israel, “Listen to the word of the Lord, oh sons of Israel for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land.” Instead, it says at the end of verse 12 of chapter 4, and I’m going to be going fast through this, that “a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God.” In Hosea 5:3, we move into the next chapter we see that “Israel has defiled itself.” In other words, they were totally given over to their sin. Their consciences were seared. Their minds were stained, and their hearts were hardened. As we move into Hosea 6, we see that Israel was called out for its feigned and insincere cries out toward Yahweh. God says to them in Hosea 6:4, “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud, and like the dew which goes away early.” In Hosea 7, Yahweh calls out Israel for its failure to return to Him, and its prideful and foolish attempts to partner with other nations. In Hosea 7:11-12, it says, “Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without sense; they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky.” In Hosea 8, Yahweh continues to call out the idolatrous practices of Israel. Look at Hosea 8:4 where it says, “With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves.” Or verse 11 where it says, “Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, they have become altars of sinning for him.” So busy was Israel constructing these altars to worship these false gods and these palaces to house their kings that they truly forgot what mattered. Meaning, their relationship to God Himself. Look at Hosea 8:14 where it says, “For Israel has forgotten his Maker.” Going back all the way back to the curses for disobedience that God pronounced upon Israel in the days of Moses, God pronounced judgment that was to come in the days of Hosea for their disobedience. Look at Hosea 9:6. It says, “For behold, they will go,” meaning, into exile. It says they will go “because of destruction; Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; thorns will be in their tents. The days of punishment have come, the days of retribution have come; let Israel know this!” Further words of the judgment, the judgment that was to befall Israel come in Hosea 10. Look at verse 2. It says, “Now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars.” Then verse 8, He says, “Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars; then they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ And to the hills, ‘Fall on us!’”

But then we see this glimmer of hope centered around God’s unfailing love and faithfulness to Israel in Hosea 11 where we see certain prophecies laid out pertaining to a future hope for Israel. Look at verse 8 of chapter 11. He says, “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel?” Or verse 10 speaking of future Israel, He says “They will walk after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; indeed, He will roar, and His sons will come trembling from the west.” But in Hosea’s present day, meaning the mid-eighth century B.C., the words of Hosea 11:12 carried the day. It says, “Ephraim surrounds Me with lies and the house of Israel with deceit; Judah is also unruly against God, even against the Holy One who is faithful.”

Then those words set the stage for where we’ve been the last two weeks in Hosea chapters 12 and Hosea 13. Look at Hosea 12:9. He says, “But I have been the LORD your God since the land of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of the appointed festival.” Or verse 14, He says, “Ephraim has provoked to bitter anger; his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and bring back his reproach to him.” Then, these devastating words in Hosea 13:4. We saw this last time. “Yet I have been the LORD your God since the land of Egypt; and you were not to know any god except Me, for there is no savior besides Me. I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore, they forgot Me. I will be like a lion to them; like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside. I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs, and I will tear open their chests; there I will also devour them like a lioness, as a wild beast would tear them.” By this point in the prophecy of Hosea it it’s safe to say that Yahweh had had enough. He is fed up with this apostate nation. He is done with them. At least for this season. As we’re going to see later this evening, not forever, but for this season in Hosea’s day.

This catches up and brings us back to our text for this evening. The final words of Hosea’s prophecy in Hosea 14. Let’s take it in now, Hosea 14, with all of that as background. God’s Word reads, “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, ‘Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses; nor will we say again, ‘Our god,’ to the work of your hands; for in You the orphan finds mercy.’” “I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily, and he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout, and his beauty will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow will again raise grain, and they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.” “O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who answers and looks after you. I am like a luxuriant cypress; from Me comes your fruit.” “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous will walk in them. But transgressors will stumble in them.”

Our text for this evening breaks pretty naturally into three sections. In the first section in verses 1 through 3 we’re going to see a plea for repentance. In verses 4 through 8, we’re going to see a prediction of restoration and in verse 9 we’ll see a proverbial reminder. A plea for repentance, a prediction of restoration, and then a proverbial reminder.

Let’s start with the plea for repentance in verses 1-3. Now as we look here and study verse 1-3, I want you to note that these are the words of Hosea speaking. He is of course guided by the Holy Spirit. This is scripture to be sure, but this is Hosea speaking directly to Israel here. And again, he says, “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, ‘Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses; nor will we say again, ‘Our god,’ to the work of your hands; for in You the orphan finds mercy.’” Hosea begins this section of his prophecy by again beckoning Israel for the umpteenth time in this book to “return” to Yahweh. “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.” This is a passionate plea from Hosea as he’s urging the sinful people of Israel to repent. A future day is coming where Israel will return to Yahweh in a salvific sense. We see that back in Hosea 3:4-5 where it says, “For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.” But here where we are this evening, Hosea 14:1 the context is more immediate. As it is in places like Hosea 12:6 where it says, “Therefore, return to your God, observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually.” See the people as we have seen over and over now, of Hosea’s day had been warned, over and over again about their sinful state and their sinful condition and their sinful practices. About their unrepentant idolatry and their total disregard for the Lord. About the immediate exile into Assyria which awaited them. Up to this point in Hosea’s prophecy, what we’ve seen has been Israel’s ongoing refusal to return to Yahweh.

You could jot down Hosea 5:4 where it says, “their deeds will not allow them to return to their God,” so sin sick were they. Or Hosea 7:10 says “though the pride of Israel testifies against him, yet they have not returned to the LORD their God.” Not only that we see Israel consciously and repeatedly turning away from the Lord in this book. Like Hosea 11:7 where it says, “My people are bent on turning from Me.” That’s the opposite of repentance, turning away from the Lord. But as yet another example of God’s faithful and unrelenting love toward Israel Hosea here calls on them here in verse 1 of chapter 14 one last time to “return.” To “return to the LORD their God.” It was time to turn. It was time to repent. This was a loving plea from their ever-faithful God to leave their lovers. To leave their worthless idols. To leave their political allegiances and to come back to God in repentance. This takes us all the way back to that scene that we saw in Hosea 3, many, many months ago now, where Hosea had to go pick up his adulterous wife, Gomer from the house of her lover and bring her home. I tried to paint the picture back in those passages of that awkward car ride home between Hosea his adulterous wife as they drive back to their place. That’s when Hosea said to his bride, in Hosea 3:3 “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man.” A similar picture is in view here in Hosea 14:1 as Yahweh calls on His adulterous people to repent and to return to Him, fully and finally and faithfully. This is a last-ditch appeal borne out of God’s faithfulness and love toward His people to come back to Him lest they face that date with destruction, and death, and deportation at the hands of the Assyrians. The time to repent and return was now.

Note here in verse 1, the call is to return to “the LORD your God.” That’s significant because as he’s opening this summons here to his people to repent and return, note that Hosea’s focus is not first and foremost on the people themselves and their plights and their various shortcomings. Rather, the appeal is made on the basis of the nature and the character of God. “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.” He is calling on them to return to Yahweh their God. The God who had said, back in Exodus 33:19, that He would “be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” The God who had revealed Himself, in Exodus 34:6-7, as being that God who is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will…no means leave the guilty unpunished.” Israel was being called upon to return to this God. Their God. This God who had been supremely patient with them over the course of many centuries but whom they had regularly rejected and turned their backs on.

It wasn’t just the nature and only the character of God here which is the basis on which Israel’s being called to repent. It’s also based on what Israel had done to put themself in the position they were now in. Look at the next part of verse 1. It says, “For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.” Now, when you see that word there, “stumbled” we might automatically think of somebody clumsily tripping over a crack in the sidewalk and then sort of recovering their balance. That’s not actually what’s being pictured here. Rather, what’s being pictured here with that word “stumbled” is someone being completely incapable of walking steadily and uprightly. Somebody who is completely staggering which is an apt picture of Israel here. They were stumbling, they were staggering because of their iniquity. They were being tripped up by their own sin, their own rebellion, their own perversity, their own crooked ways. We see similar references to this type of “stumbling” earlier in Hosea, Hosea 4:5. It says, “So you will stumble by day. Hosea 5:5 says, “the pride of Israel testifies against him, and Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also has stumbled with them.” Now, bringing it back to Hosea 14:1, they found themselves, the Israelites did, tottering on the brink of destruction and falling into utter ruin. Now, as we turn to verse 2, the plea from Hosea continues. Look at the first line of verse 2 there. This is still Hosea speaking directly to Israel and he says, “Take words with you and return to the LORD.” This right here is Hosea doubling down on his plea to his people as an act of love and compassion for his countrymen to “return to the LORD.” Though he hasn’t minced words with them in this prophecy and though we’ve sensed his frustration toward the people of Israel throughout this prophecy, Hosea here actually revealing his own godly character because what he's doing, following the example of the One who sent Him, Yahweh, he’s actually demonstrating great patience toward the people of Israel here. What I mean by that is here in verse 2, what Hosea is doing is giving counsel to the people of Israel about what they should say from their hearts to Yahweh as they come back to Him in repentance. That’s what’s meant by those first words there in verse 2 where it says, “take words with you.” He is saying to them, in effect "Here’s what you’ll want to say” when you approach Yahweh. "Say it this way” to your God. That’s exactly what we see here for the rest of verses 2 and 3 where Hosea is effectively giving Israel the script of how they are to approach Yahweh. What words to use in His presence. Let’s read the rest of verses 2 and 3 with that in mind. He says, “Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him, ‘Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses; nor will we say again, ‘our god,’ to the work of our hands; for in You the orphan finds mercy.” There’s a lot to cover in what Hosea is conveying to the people here. In verses 2 and 3 is he is giving them this script about what they are to say to Yahweh and what they would ultimately need convey to God. So, we’re going to take this thought by thought and line by line here in verses 2 and 3.

First, is the plea to “take away all iniquity.” Israel would need to see that an essential part of returning to Yahweh they would have to recognize that they were sinful people who had sinned greatly who desperately needed to the Lord to forgive them and to “take away all iniquity.” We’ll soon see they need to specifically confess to the particular sins they had been engaging in and a turning from those specific sins they had committed. That would be part of any restored relationship with God. But for now, there was this need for this comprehensive admission, this blanket recognition that they needed to be purged of all sin and iniquity. This is very similar to David’s plea for forgiveness in Psalm 51 where he gives that all-encompassing admission to and confession of his sin. Right? In Psalm 51:1 he says, “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” Then later in that Psalm, 51:7 he says, “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.” A heart of repentance. A heart of complete repentance, total repentance would have to be behind these words given here in Hosea 14 where he says, “Take away all iniquity.”

Next, Israel’s plea with Yahweh would need to include these words where it says, “And receive us graciously.” Of course, Yahweh had been gracious to Israel throughout. The fact that they hadn’t already wiped them off the face of the map or the face of the earth testified to the grace they had received. The fact that He had delayed His judgment on them as long as He had testified to His gracious ways toward them. The fact that they were still breathing His air and still experiencing the splash of His sunrays on their face and enjoying cool splashes of water all testified to the gracious nature of Yahweh toward them. The time had come for Israel to no longer be ungrateful recipients of His grace but rather praise-giving recipients of His grace. To recognize that true repentance is always coupled with the humble admission that God’s gracious nature is our only hope to be received by Him and to be looked upon with favor by Him. Hence these words, “Receive us graciously.” Consistent with Your character, God. Consistent with Your nature, God. Consistent with Your promises, God. Continue, please, they ought to be praying here, “receive us graciously.”

Next come these words, at the end of verse 2 where it says, “That we may present the fruit of our lips.” Now this isn’t describing paying lip service. The people aren’t being pictured as presenting their lips themselves, rather, they are described as presenting the “fruit” of their “lips.” The “fruit” being their repentant hearts. That fits squarely with what is being described here in verses 1 through 3. There’s this confession of sin. This confession of iniquity as they recognize that they have “stumbled” in their ways and stumbled in their sin and then there’s this acknowledgment of their need for the ongoing grace of God in their lives, “receive us graciously.” Now, there is this commitment to “present the fruit of our lips.” Meaning to bring to God their own repentant hearts. The very hearts God has always required of His people. Hearts that are turned to Him. Hearts that are completely devoted to Him. Hearts that allow no room for competing sources of devotion and worship. In Israel’s day God was always after the heart of His people. In Hosea 6:6, we saw this many months ago, He said “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” The call is no different today in our current church age. The author of Hebrews puts it this way, in Hebrews 13:15 speaking of Christ, the better sacrifice. It says, “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”

Back to our text, Hosea 14. We’re still in the context of Hosea instructing the people what they needed to say to Yahweh as they came to Him in repentance. As he counseled them to “Take words with” them. Now, here’s the next thing he says to say to Yahweh, in verse 3. They are to say to Him, “Assyria will not save us.” A continual theme of this prophecy as we have seen as we have worked through the previous thirteen chapters of this book is that rather than trust in Yahweh and His protection and His provision, Israel was continually and repeatedly and flagrantly trusting in kings and the princes of other nations.

David had long ago declared, back in Psalm 20:7 that “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.” But in Hosea’s day, many centuries later, this triumphant refrain of David had all but been forgotten. The people had trusted in protection and wealth and political allegiances and the chariots and the horses of these surrounding nations. Nations like Assyria and Egypt who are the two nations that Hosea has in view here in verse 3.

Well, no more. If they were to return to the Lord as Hosea here is calling them to do there would be no more partnering with Assyria and Egypt. There would be no relying on the military might and political savvy of other nations. There would be no more trusting in chariots and horses. There would instead be a need to recognize that the alliances they had forged and the armies they were trusting in were not only empty and futile and vain, but they were also an abominable affront to Yahweh, their God; and so no more. Repentance, real repentance, true repentance would require Israel to forsake its pattern of seeking refuge in Assyrian soldiers and Egyptian horses and anything that was not God Himself.

But we know from working our way through Hosea’s prophecy that it wasn’t just the allegiances to foreign nations and armies that Yahweh drew the ire of God and in which Yahweh found detestable. It was also Israel’s worship of the various false gods of the land. A major source of Israel’s apostasy, as we’ve seen was its worship of false idols. I’ll just give you a few reminder passages here about the nature and how detestable this was of Israel’s worship of false gods at this time. Hosea 4:12 says, “My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God.” Or Hosea 8:11 says, “Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, they have become altars of sinning for him.” Hosea 13:2 says, “And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves molten images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen.” Bringing it back to our passage, Hosea 14:3 if there was to be a true turning to Yahweh, meaning, if there was to be true repentance, it would have to be marked by Israel’s turning from its idolatrous worship practices which we see in the language here in verse 3 where it says, “we will not ride on horses” and here’s the pertinent part, “Nor will we say again, ‘our god,’ to the work of our hands.” No more silver, no more gold, no more wood. No more altars, no more calves, golden calves. Only pure and uncompromised and unadulterated worship of the one true God. Hosea adds one more ingredient to this plea that Israel is to make to Yahweh. It’s at the end of verse 3 as she comes to Him in repentance. Look at the last line there. It says, “For in You the orphan finds mercy.” Here we see an appeal to what the ground of God’s pardoning will one day be and accepting of His people. This constituent aspect of God’s character. His tender loving care toward the fatherless and widows which is an attribute of God by the way that transcends Testaments. Deuteronomy 10:18 says, “He,” meaning God, “executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.” We’ve seen in James, James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress. Similar to the account of the prodigal son in Luke 15, the prodigal nation of Hosea’s day had cut themselves off from their Father. They had done so through their own sinful proclivities and choices. They had really all but orphaned themselves. Now, they are told by Hosea to make an appeal to Yahweh as orphans on the basis of His great mercy. “For in You the orphan finds mercy.” Hosea here is pointing out the only pathway that would lead them home as present-day orphans repenting and returning would be to appeal to Yahweh’s character as the one who provides mercy. Then they would find pardon. Then they would find restoration, notwithstanding the depths of their depravity and the stench of their sin. He loved them. We saw that back in Hosea 11. God had declared, Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a youth, I loved him.” Or verse 3, “Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms.” Verse 4 “I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; and I bent down and fed them.” Or verse 8, “My heart is turned over within Me,” this is God speaking, “all My compassions are kindled.” He loved them. He stood ready to forgive them if they would only repent and turn their hearts toward Him. Arrogant and stubborn as they had been and arrogant and as stubborn, they were, Israel’s only hope was to repent. To return. “Return, O Israel,” verse 1, “to the LORD your God.”

We’ve seen a plea for repentance. Next, we’re going to see, in verses 4-8, a prediction of restoration. I’ll read this section again as a whole then we’ll work through it line by line. It says, “I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily, and he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout, and his beauty will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow will again raise grain, and they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.” “O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who answers and looks after you. I am like a luxuriant cypress; from Me comes your fruit.” This section presents really quite the contrast with what we’ve just seen. In verses 1-3 it’s Hosea speaking. As we’ve just seen he is in this act of kindness and compassion toward Israel describing to the people Israel what they need to say to Yahweh as they plea with Him and as they come to Him in repentance if they are to come back to Him.

Now, in verses 4-8 it’s Yahweh speaking directly. Yahweh is the one being quoted here and what He’s saying in these verses is that when, when His people offer Him their genuine, heartfelt, authentic repentance that see in verses 1-3, He will fully accept their plea of repentance. Which will lead to a future season of flourishing for this once wayward people. It starts with those words, in verse 4, “I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them.” Those words are loaded with significance. He says first, “I will heal their apostasy.” That could also be rendered “I will heal their faithlessness.” If they were to turn to Him in true repentance. If they were to confess their sins. If they were to forsake their old ways and align their hearts with His they would be “healed.” That’s a spiritual type of healing that’s being referred to here. Similar to what Isaiah would say in Isaiah 59:2 where he says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that He does not hear.” The chasm that separated the people of Hosea’s day and their God would be bridged. This chronic case of spiritual defection would be cured. This season of apostasy would go away. They would be healed if only they would “return” to Him.

Next, they are given this assurance by Yahweh where He says, if they would only repent and return to Him, “I will love them freely.” This picture of faithful, covenant-keeping love. We could even say, this picture of marital love takes us all the way back to the earliest chapters of this prophecy where in the context of his own marriage to his prostituting, adulterous wife Gomer, Hosea himself demonstrated this type of love to a most undeserving object. We saw that first when Hosea initially took Gomer to be his wife. He did so, you might remember in immediate response to God’s command in Hosea 1:2, when He said “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.” We saw Hosea again demonstrate this type of love when he again followed God’s command to retrieve Gomer from the house of her lover after she committed adultery. That was Hosea 3:1 where God to Hosea says, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel.” Now, Israel would herself, as we see here, be the recipient of this type of love from Yahweh Himself as He pledges here, “I will love them freely.” That is, there is a day coming on which Yahweh will express not only His patience toward Israel and will not only extend His mercy toward Israel and will not only withhold His judgment from Israel. But He will “love them freely.” That love He will show them is tied directly into what He says next in verse 4, “For My anger has turned away from them.”

Now, this is where there can be some confusion if we don’t read carefully and consider the entire context of the entirety of Hosea’s prophecy. On the one hand we’ve seen statement after statement in this prophecy about the anger that the Lord was harboring toward Israel. Hosea 5:10, He says “The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary; on them I will pour out My wrath like water.” Hosea 8:5, “He has rejected your calf, O Samaria, saying, ‘My anger burns against them!’” Hosea 13:11, He says, “I gave you a king in My anger and took him away in My wrath.” In other words, there have been unambiguous forewarnings given throughout Hosea’s prophecy about the reality of God’s anger toward Israel and the intensity of the wrath He was storing toward Israel. We’ve also seen as we’ve studied Hosea that Assyria was coming. This nation is from the north. This band of God-appointed invaders who were on their way to wreak havoc upon Israel to destroy the Israelites to take who remained into captivity. So, in what sense, then as we look here at Hosea 14:4 is Yahweh’s anger “turned away from them”? Well, there’s only one sense that makes any sense. Which is that this is yet another example of prophetic foretelling from Hosea. See, Hosea is not presenting here what Yahweh is saying to in Hosea’s day present-day Israel. He’s not saying I’ve turned my anger away from Israel in your day Hosea. Hosea is not presenting God as a schizophrenic “god” who in one moment is angry toward Israel and sending them off into exile but in the snap of the finger saying well now, “My anger has turned away from them.” That’s not what’s being pictured here. Rather, what is being portrayed here in verses 4 through 8 is a a future season of blessing for Israel when she, does in fact repent and “Return to the LORD.” That day clearly has not come. That day didn’t arrive in Hosea’s time. That day didn’t arrive in the 400 silent years between Malachi and John the Baptist. That day didn’t arrive during Jesus’ earthly ministry. And that day hasn’t arrived in the nearly 2,000 years since our Lord’s ascension to the right hand of the Father. So, what can we deduce from these truths? What can we glean? Well, we can glean that these words, verse 4, “My anger has turned away from them,” represent something Yahweh will say to Israel on a future day. At a future time to a truly repentant Israel when they acknowledge their sin before Yahweh and turn from their hard-hearted and stiff-necked ways, in the future.

Now we see this period of repentance, this future day of returning, this future day where they realize, the Israelites, those of that time and the gravity of their sin and their apostasy described at the end of the Tribulation period that’s coming upon the earth. We see this period pictured in Zechariah 12. I’ll pick it up in verse 10 and read it for you. It says, “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plan of Megiddo. The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.” Then Zechariah 13:1, “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.” See there will be repentance at the end of the period of Tribulation which will usher in the second coming of Christ and His millennial, that thousand-year reign here on earth. It will be during this period, during the Millennium that Yahweh will heal Israel’s apostasy. It will be during this period, the Millennium that Israel will experience Yahweh’s loving them “freely.” It will be during this period, the Millennium where Yahweh’s anger toward Israel will be abated. It will be turned away from them. It will be during this period, the Millennium, that the various blessings that will accompany God’s forgiving love toward Israel will be showered upon this once apostate people. Those millennial blessings are what we see listed in the rest of this section from verse 5 down on. In fact, let’s pick it up in verse 5 with that framework in view. When His anger is now turned away from them look what happens. He says, “I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily, and he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout, and his beauty will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow will again raise grain, and they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.”

Let’s take these descriptions one-by-one. First, Yahweh says “I will be like the dew to Israel.” Earlier in this prophecy, the lack of loyalty demonstrated by Israel was portrayed as quickly evaporating dew. Hosea 6:4 says, “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud, and the dew which goes away early.” But here in Hosea 14:5 He says, God says, “I will be like the dew to Israel.” He would lavishly blanket His people with His own refreshing and life-giving presence and provision which would lead to the productivity which is described in the rest of the passage. As we’re going to see the imagery here is progressive, meaning it’s stacking upon itself as we go from dew to a root to a blossom to a sprout to a tree to the satisfying and aromatic fragrance that tree will give off.

In Hosea’s day, back in the eighth century B.C. the people of Israel faced judgment and wrath and destruction and captivity but that wasn’t and isn’t this people’s final end. A future time of repentance for Israel is still coming. A future time of reconciliation and restoration. A day on which, Paul describes in Romans 11:26, as “all Israel” being “saved.” A time in which, through God’s gracious provision to his people, “like the dew” Israel will flourish and blossom in the way she was always intended to as she becomes this blessing to the nations that God promised Abram she would become, all the way back in Genesis 12.

Well, the dew would only be the beginning. As we work through the rest of verses 5 through
verse 7 we’re going to see the nature and the extent of those gracious, future blessings that Yahweh will provide to Israel. After saying “I will be like the dew to Israel,” He next says “He will blossom like the lily, and he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout, and his beauty will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow will again raise grain, and they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.” First, the Lord says He will make Israel “blossom like the lily.” Now note the contrast. Just look back over it. Hosea 13:15 which pictures Israel back in Hosea’s day as being on the eve of captivity by the Assyrians and here it says, Hosea 13:15 “Though he flourishes among the reeds, an east wind will come, the wind of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; and his fountain will come dry and his spring will be dried up.” In other words, in Hosea’s present-day, Israel is being presented here as being dried out and wilting and being blown away. But a future day is coming for Israel. A future day is coming for Israel in which she on account of receiving the “dew” of Yahweh will “blossom like the lily.”

Not only that, it says at the end of verse 5, “And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon.” No longer threatened by the east wind of Assyria. No longer tossed to and from by competing sources of devotion and worship. No longer in captivity or exiled. No longer, as in our day, tossed around like a political football. Israel instead will take her final and permanent possession of her land. The land God promised to this nation all the way back in the days of Abraham. All that is wrapped into those words in verse 5, “And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon.”

Next, in verse 6, we see a picture of Israel thriving and maturing and proliferating when it says, “His shoots will sprout.” No longer that helpless stick on the water, Israel will grow up to be stately and established. Firm and immovable with roots that reach deep down into the soil which God first and irrevocably promised Abraham. Shoots which extend out into the world as Israel becomes this source of light and hope and blessing that she was always designed to be.

Next, we get these incredible pictures, in verse 6 of the beauty and splendor that Israel will one day possess as she gives off this fragrance to the world. It says, “And his beauty will be like the olive tree and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.” Both our senses of sight and of smell are being appealed to here. First, with this reference to Israel’s “beauty” being compared to the “olive tree.” That word “beauty” can also be translated “splendor” or “majesty.” It’s a word that’s used in other places in the New Testament for the greatness of kings, even Yahweh Himself. That word for “olive tree” is also highly significant because at this time in Israel’s history the olive tree was more than just a food source. It was used for anointing; the oil, the olive oil, was used to light lamps. The symbolism here in referring to Israel as an “olive tree” is rich. The idea here is that Israel will one day be a source of great blessing. To borrow from the words of Jeremiah 11:16, she will one day be that “green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form.’” Not only that though it says here at the end of verse 6, “And his fragrance will be like the cedars of Lebanon.” The cedars of Lebanon were known for being particularly aromatic and sweet-smelling. We see a reference to that scent in Song of Solomon 4:11 which says, “Your lips, my bride, drip honey; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.” These are beautiful figures. Picturesque figures, lovely figures, images of what Israel will one day become when she truly repents and seeks and receives forgiveness from her eternally faithful and covenant-keeping God.

Now from Hosea’s vantage point as he’s writing this out and receiving this prophecy Israel was still on the verge of exile and still about to become barren and desolate from this coming east wind, the Assyrians. From our vantage point it was through Israel’s apostasy and stiff-necked nature that we Gentiles, we goiim, have been grafted into God’s family through the hope and the promise of the gospel. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that the truths laid out here in Hosea 14 about God’s promises to Israel, these promises will one day be fulfilled. God’s goodness to Israel as we see pictured here in verses 4-7 will not only restore her, but make her beautiful, and fruitful, and deep-rooted, and fragrant to all the world.

In verse 7, the scene shifts yet again. This time ever so slightly from Israel as a nation to Israel as a people. The people who will one day dwell under the shade of this restored nation in its future season of blessing. Look at verse 7. It says, “Those who live in his shadow will again raise grain, and they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.” What this is saying is that those who live in restored Israel during this time of national, millennial blessing will reap great benefits from doing so. Just as the nation here is portrayed as “blossoming” in this restored and blessed stage of its history, the people who make up this nation will “blossom.” In this blessed and protected state of existence, it says they “will again raise grain.” That could also be translated they will “flourish as a garden.” The point is that this once “luxuriant vine” to borrow from Hosea 10:1 will be “luxuriant” again. She will blossom. She will flourish. She will thrive as she was always designed to do. As this “luxuriant vine,” this blossoming vine, the nation will produce the best wine which we see alluded to at the end of verse 7. “His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.” This is yet another picture of Israel’s coming prosperity and future blessing. A day is coming to Israel, that day, being again that future millennial reign of Christ here on earth in which God-given dew will be on the ground and Israel will blossom like the lily with deep roots in the land that was originally promised Abraham with shoots sprouting and beauty exuding and fragrance wafting and grain sprouting and the choicest wine flowing. In that day Israel, which should have been a blessing to her neighbors from their earliest entrance into the Promised Land will at last fulfill the destiny for which God initially chose her. To be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. Not the byword she had become during Hosea’s day.

With that, Yahweh brings things right back into Hosea’s immediate context, eighth century B.C. Israel with this probing question, in verse 8, “O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?” With this question God expresses both love and anguish. He’s just taken us forward in history to this future period of Israel’s flourishing for Israel in the future millennial reign of Christ. But now in verse 8 we’re whiplashed back to the eighth century B.C. once again and the immediate context is still this idol-littered land and this wicked and stiff-necked people and this apostate nation and one last time here Yahweh expresses his disgust and exasperation with them. “O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?” It’s as though He’s saying, the sense is here, “I’m done with you.” “Yes, there will be a future remnant of Israel who will experience the glorious blessings I just mentioned.” “Dew and blossoming and fragrance and blessing.” “But as for you, sitting here in front of Me today, eighth century B.C., you’re done.” “Your fate is sealed.”

He then makes this statement which should have been obvious to them by now. “It is I who answer and look after you.” The Lord, not the surrounding nations, was the one who had always been caring for Israel. The Lord, not their idols and images they were bowing down to was the one who had been looking after them and protecting them. It was He who had provided them with shelter. Which is why He says in verse 8, working through it here, He says “I am like a luxuriant cypress.” Like an exceedingly noble evergreen, He had been their source of shade and protection. We think of Psalm 121, Psalm 91, and as we see in the final line of verse 8, He had also been their source of provision and strength and sustenance. He says, for “From Me comes your fruit.” That wording there is similar to what He said back in Hosea 2:8 where Yahweh to Israel said, “For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil.” While I know it comes from a different context and from a different time and from a different people as I read these last words of Hosea 14:8 I can’t help but think of the words of Jesus Christ our Lord in John 15:5 when He says, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”

We’ve seen a plea for repentance. We’ve seen a prediction of restoration. Next and finally, we’re going to see, in this last verse a proverbial reminder. Look at verse 9. It says, “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them.” This is the epilogue to Hosea’s prophecy and what an important capstone thought he presents. It’s broad. It appeals to “whoever” as in, “whoever” happens to be reading and listening to this prophecy as all of us have been doing on Sunday evenings since late September. But then the funnel gets narrowed a bit as the “whoever” he mentions here is limited by those terms “wise” and “discerning.” Hosea addresses these final words in verse 9 to “Whoever is wise,” “whoever is discerning.” To those who are wise and understanding, who claim to be wise and understanding, or wise and discerning, who seek to be wise and understanding or wise and discerning, he provides a challenge. He says, “Let him understand these things.” And “let them know them.” And what “things” is he calling on the reader or the listener to “understand”? What “things” is he calling on the reader or the listener to “know”? It’s all that he’s revealed in his prophecy. What it teaches about Israel’s history and Israel’s folly and Israel’s idolatry and Israel’s waywardness and Israel’s pride and Israel’s faithlessness, and, as we’ve just seen, Israel’s future. Also, what this prophecy teaches about God. God and His character. His anger, His anguish, His patience, His mercy, His love and as we have seen over and over throughout this book, His faithfulness. At the very core of this book, the core of this prophecy as we’ve seen over 14 chapters and many months now, is that no matter how faithless Israel proved to be and, broadening that statement a bit, no matter how faithless you and I prove ourselves to be God has been, is, and ever will be, a faithful God. That’s what we need to “understand” from this book. That’s what we need to “know” from this book fundamentally.

These final words are at the end of verse 9. “For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them.” That is a proverbial maxim which represents two ways of living. It’s like Psalm 1:6 which says, “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish,” very similar to what’s being said here and note how applicable this statement is not only to the Israel of Hosea’s day but to us here today. They, like we are, were “transgressors” who continually “stumbled.” But throughout their stumbling and sinning they saw, and we see daily that the “ways of the LORD are right.” The God Hosea worshiped is the same God that we worship. That God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His standards are right. His expectations for His people are just. His Word is true; and His future plans are sure.

I’ve had a lot of people, and I mean a lot of people, ask me over the last few months, why in the world did I chose to preach Hosea on Sunday evenings. I’ve had many reasons for that, but truth be told, the final words of the prophecy are a major reason I did so. Hosea, in this final verse appeals to all readers of his prophecy, this prophecy, to be wise and to choose the Lord’s ways. To “fear God and keep His commandments,” as Solomon would put it in Ecclesiastes 12:13, for His ways are always right. The path chosen by the Israel during Hosea’s day led to death and will always lead to death no matter the generation. By contrast, choosing the path of righteousness which can only be walked on by those who have been declared righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. That path brings life. That path brings eternal life and life abundant as we serve and glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen? Thanks for hanging in there with me for 14 chapters of Hosea.

Let’s pray. God, thank you so much for Your word. Thank you for a wonderful day of worship with the people of God here at Indian Hills. Thank you for Your faithfulness to us even in helping us get through a book that can be challenging at times. It has many different interpretive issues. It has had many different angles that various commentators have taken but I do pray that from it we would take away some key thoughts. First and foremost, Your nature and character God, as that faithful covenant keeping steadfast immovable merciful loving God. The God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but also the God of Lincoln, Nebraska. God I also pray that we would see through the lens of these Israelite worshipers the sickness of sin. The depths to which our sin can take us and that we would yearn to flee from sin. To flee from apostasy. To not stumble in the ways that the people of Israel did so many years ago but rather we, by the power of Christ, by the Holy Spirit who lives in us, would strive to honor You and live for You; walk in an upright and righteous manner. God I also pray that through this study we will come away with a greater love for and appreciation for Your communication of Your word to Your people. God it’s amazing to think that we can hold in our hands this book written so many years ago to a completely different people across the globe and understand it, apply it, and simply worship You for the way You have revealed Yourself in this timeless book. Thank you for Hosea. Thank you for his faithfulness as a prophet. I pray that we will be found faithful as You are faithful. In Jesus’ name, amen.