Minor Prophets · Chapter 6 of 14

Hosea 6

The chapter opens with a stirring call to return: He has torn and will heal, smitten and will bind up; after two days He will revive us and on the third day raise us up. Yet God laments that Israel's goodness is fleeting as morning cloud and dew. He desires mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Instead they have broken covenant and defiled the land with violence.

What happens in Hosea 6

The people, or the prophet on their behalf, voice a summons to return to the LORD, confident that the God who tore will heal and the one who smote will bind up. They express hope that after two days He will revive them and on the third day raise them up to live in His sight, and they resolve to press on to know the LORD, whose coming is sure as the dawn and the rains. God responds with sorrow, asking what He can do with Ephraim and Judah, whose loyalty vanishes like a morning cloud and early dew.

He has hewn them by the prophets and slain them by His words. Then comes the heart of His complaint: He desired mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But like men they transgressed the covenant, dealing treacherously. Gilead is stained with blood, and priests commit murder. A harvest of judgment is set for Judah.

Hosea 6 in context

This chapter contains one of Hosea's most quoted lines, God's preference for mercy over sacrifice, a theme running through the prophets. The opening call to return may reflect shallow repentance that God finds unconvincing, given the rebuke that follows.

The reference to being raised on the third day became significant in later reflection on resurrection. Gilead and Shechem were sites notorious for violence and priestly corruption.

Main themes of Hosea 6

Hosea 6 (KJV)

1Come, 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. 2After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. 4O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. 5Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. 6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 7But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 8Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. 9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. 10I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. 11Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

Verses to carry from Hosea 6

“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.”Hosea 6:1

“Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.”Hosea 6:3

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”Hosea 6:6

Reflection

It is easy to want God's healing without wanting God, to repent with words that fade by afternoon. Hosea presses us past momentary feeling into steady pursuit: follow on to know the LORD. And hear what He most desires from you today, not more religious activity but mercy, loyal love, and a heart that knows Him.

A prayer from Hosea 6