The prophet Hosea lived during a time in the life of Israel when the people were worshiping after their own desires, specifically mixing worship of Jehovah God with Baal worship, the god of fertility. It’s as if they wanted to “cover the bases” and make sure they got their blessings from all possible sources. The problem is that based on the nature of God, if He is not the only one on the throne of our hearts, He is not there at all. That’s the message of Hosea to his people. Hosea’s life reflected a living lesson as his wife was a prostitute and was guilty of adultery. God’s people, Israel, is pictured as God’s wife and their idolatry was spiritual adultery.
So, in chapter 5, Hosea calls on the leaders, priests and royalty, to listen to him and stop the foolishness of their ways (5:1-2). They were following the “spirit of harlotry” and consequently did not know the Lord (5:4). Because Israel had turned their backs on the “thus says the Lord,” God had also turned His back on them (5:6). God was going to punish Israel (5:9), specifically through the Assyrian invasion that would happen in 722 B. C. God would flood His wrath over them as He had in the days of Noah (5:10). The problem was that Israel, like so many in the church today, are content with getting their approval from man rather than from God (5:11).
Israel sought consolation in Assyria, rather than in God (5:13) just like people today seek their consolation from men (“pastors,” “scholars,” “theologians”) instead of the biblical text. Through Assyria, God would tear apart the nation of Israel, like a lion (5:14). God would leave Israel alone until they came to their senses, repented, and returned to the law of God (5:15).
So, God, through Hosea, calls on Israel to repent and return to Him (6:1). If they did, God would raise them up, as if from the dead (6:2). It appears perhaps that Paul applies this verse in 1 Cor. 15:4 in a literal way to the resurrection of Christ. To solution to the problem of sin is to know the Lord (6:3).
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Israel’s loyalty is as fleeting and as ephemeral as the morning cloud and dew (6:4). The word translated “loyalty” in the NASV is the word frequently translated “lovingkindness” (hesed). This loyalty is in stark contrast to God’s loyalty which is truly dedicated but God is truly dedicated to His covenant because it is only through God’s dedication to His covenant that man will / could be saved from their sins since Jesus is at the heart of God’s covenant. Yet, we will only be saved through our loyalty to that same covenant.
God delights in such loyalty (6:6) for it is comparable to, used synonymously with, “knowledge of God.” This specific verse is quoted by Jesus in Matt. 9:13 and 12:7. Israel had broken, gone beyond, the covenant God gave through Moses (6:7). They will pay the price as will Judah if they don’t learn the lesson(s) of the northern nation of Israel (6:11). But, God promises Judah will “return” after their exile.
Paul Holland
