Hosea 6:1

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. At a new discourse, complaining of them, begins; because Hosea 6:1 evidently belongs to Hos. 6:15 of Hosea 5:1, and forms the happy termination of Israel's punishment: primarily, the return from Babylon; ultimately, the return from their present long dispersion. The eighth verse perhaps refers to the murder of Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, by Pekah, the son of Remaliah, who conspired against him, being a captain of his. The discourse cannot be later than Pekah's reign, because it was under it that Gilead was carried into captivity ...

In the last chapter the Prophet said, that the Israelites, after having been subdued by chastisements and judgments, would again turn back from following error to seek God. But as terror drives men away from approaching God, he now adds, that the measure of afflictions would not be such as would discourage their minds and produce despair; but rather inspire them with the assurance, that God would be propitious to them: and that he might set this forth the better, he introduces them as saying, _Come, let us go to the Lord: _and this mode of speaking is very emphatical. But we must know that the reason here given, why the Israelites could return safely and with sure confidence to God, is, that they would acknowledge it as his office to heal after he has smitten, and to bring a remedy for the wounds which he has inflicted. The Prophet means by these words, that God does not so punish men as...

1-3 Those who have gone from God by consent, and in a body, drawing one another to sin, should, by consent and in a body, return to him, which will be for his glory, and their good. It will be of great use for support under afflictions, and to encourage our repentance, to keep up good thoughts of God, and of his purposes and designs concerning us. Deliverance out of trouble should be to them as life from the dead. God will revive them: the assurance of this should engage them to return to him. But this seems to have a further reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let us admire the wisdom and goodness of God, that when the prophet foretold the deliverance of the church out of her troubles, he should point out our salvation by Christ; and now these words are fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ, it confirms our faith, that this is He that should come and we are to look for no...

CHAPTER VI _The prophet earnestly exhorts to repentance_, 1-3. _God is then introduced as very tenderly and pathetically_ _remonstrating against the backslidings of Ephraim and Judah,_ 4-11. NOTES ON CHAP. VI Verse Hosea 6:1. _COME, AND LET US RETURN UNTO THE LORD_] When God had purposed to abandon them, and they found that he had _returned to_ _his place_ - to his temple, where alone he could be successfully sought; they, feeling their weakness, and the fickleness, weariness, and unfaithfulness of their idols and allies, now resolve to "return to the Lord;" and, referring to what he said,...

COME AND LET US RETURN UNTO THE LORD - These words depend closely on the foregoing. They are words put into their mouth by God Himself, with which or with the like, they should exhort one another to return to God. Before, when God smote them, they had gone to Assyria; now they should turn to Him, owning, not only that He who “tore” has the power and the will to “heal” them, but that He tore, “in order to” heal them; He smote them, “in order to” bind them up. This closeness of connection is expressed in the last words; literally, “smite He and He will bind us up.” “He smiteth the putrefaction of the misdeed; He healeth the pain of the wound. Physicians do this; they cut; they smite; they heal; they arm themselves in order to strike; they carry steel, and come to cure.” They are not content to return singly or to be saved alone. Each encourageth another to repentance, as before to evil. Th...

EXPOSITION HOSEA 6:1 These three verses have, by the division into chapters, been violently and improperly torn from the preceding chapter, to which they naturally belong. Their connection with the foregoing sentiments is indicated by the ancient versions—Chaldee and Septuagint, the LXX; for example, inserting λέγοντες, as if the reading had been לֵאסֹר: This (1) represents the Israelites exhorting one another in that good time which the prophet encourages them to expect. But (2) it may be regarded as the prophet's own exhortation to the exiles; their affliction urging them to seek the Lord, and their encouragement consisting in the knowledge of his ability and willingness to heal the wounds which his own hand had inflicted....

COME, AND LET US RETURN UNTO THE LORD,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions connect these words with the last clause of the preceding chapter, adding the word, "saying"; and so the Targum and Syriac version, "they shall say"; and very rightly as to the sense; for they are the words of those persons under the afflicting hand of God; and, being brought thereby to a sense of their sins, acknowledge them, and seek to the Lord for pardon, and encourage one another so to do; as Israel and Judah will in the latter day, when the veil shall be taken off their minds, the hardness of their heart removed, and they shall be converted, and turn to the Lord, and seek him together, weeping as they go; having both faith in Christ, and repentance towards God, by which they will return unto him; see 2 Corinthians 3:16; so all sinners sensible of their departure from God by sin, and of the evil and

CHAPTER 5:1-6:3 The Message to the Priests, the People, and the Royal House Judgment, Affliction and the Future Return _ 1. The message of rebuke (Hosea 5:1) _ 2. The judgment announced (Hosea 5:8) 3. The future return and the blessing (Hosea 6:1) Hosea 5:1. The first verse shows who is addressed: the priests, the house of Israel and the house of the King. Judgment was in store for them, for Mizpah and Tabor, the places of hallowed memory, had been turned by their idolatrous worship into a snare. An old and interesting tradition among the Jews states that at Mizpah the apostates waited for those Israelites who

HOSEA 5:15 TO HOSEA 6:3. ISRAEL'S CONFESSION AND PENITENCE. Yahweh, speaking in His own person, declares that He will return to His place (_i.e._ to heaven; _cf._ Micah 1:3), there to await Israel's penitence (Hosea 5:15). When trouble comes they will eagerly seek Him. Then follows (Hosea 6:1) a light-hearted confession of sin by the people, coupled with expressions of assurance that their God will forgive and help them. Many scholars regard this section as an addition by a later hand, intended to mitigate the unrelieved gloom of what precedes. But nothing in the style or lan

LET US RETURN. These are the words of Israel in. yet future day, as already symbolized by the return of Gomer (Hosea 3:2; Hosea 3:3), and foretold in Hosea 3:5. See the Structure, p. 1213). This is the acknowledgment referred to in Hosea 5:15. Deu 82:39. THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. HE WILL HEAL US. Compare Jeremiah 30:17....