Hosea 14 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application
Hosea 14 Bible Study
HOSEA CHAPTER REVIEW:
Hosea 1 – God told Hosea to marry a wife of whoredom as a picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness to Him. Hosea married Gomer, and together they had 3 children together. Their names were “Jezreel,” “No Mercy,” and “Not My People.” Though Israel had acted very wickedly, God promised them hope for a positive future, but judgement was coming first.
Hosea 2 – Hosea’s wife returned to her sins and committed adultery, just as Israel had turned its back on God repeatedly. God warned Israel to repent or suffer severe consequences. Israel didn’t realize all of its blessings came from God and God could take them all away. God would punish Israel, but Hosea foretold a day when God would restore His wife (Israel) to Himself by grace.
Hosea 3 – God told Hosea to buy his wife back after she was unfaithful to him. This was a picture of God’s grace to Israel after their unfaithfulness. Israel’s immediate future was going to be spend enduring the consequences of their sins, but God promised He would show them grace in the “latter days” when they were reunited under “David their king.”
Hosea 4 – Hosea described the sorry sinful state of the people of Israel. They were decaying as a nation because they lacked knowledge of the law of God. The priests were piranhas that fed on the sins of the people. Hosea described their unfaithfulness to God as whoredom and adultery.
Hosea 5 – This chapter continues listing the sins of the people of Israel and includes the unfortunate prophecy that Judah would fall into the same sins. God was tearing down the power of Israel and Judah little by little. He would eventually pour out His wrath on them and withdraw from them for a time, leading them to repentance.
Hosea 6 – God was frustrated with the sacrifices of the people. Though they made sacrifices, they made them without truly loving God in their hearts. It was just an empty ritual, and God informed them of its meaninglessness. Judah and Israel’s love for God was like the morning dew. It would reappear for a short time only to quickly vanish away.
Hosea 7 – Israel looked to Egypt and Assyria for help, but no ally, no matter how strong, could save them because God was their enemy. God compared them to “silly doves” that He would catch in His net and destroy. God didn’t want that to be Israel’s fate, He wanted to redeem them, but they refused to repent of their rebellion against Him.
Hosea 8 – Israel forgot the God the Maker and put their trust in things they made (kingdoms, fortifications, idols, etc.). God was going to give them over to the consequences of their choices. He described Assyria as a vulture, flying overhead and waiting for its prey.
Hosea 9 – God had a bad taste in His mouth when it came to the nation of Israel. It hadn’t always been that way, in fact God had once looked at Israel the way a wanderer in the wilderness looks at a ripe cluster of grapes. But because of their sins, God was going to strip the people and their children of their national identity.
Hosea 10 – Israel was a flourishing vine that God cultivated, but the more God blessed them, the more they multiplied their idols. They sowed sin into their fields and would harvest poison. Hosea encouraged them to break up their fallow ground and sow works of righteousness.
Hosea 11 – God pictured Israel as a child He raised. He taught them to walk, cared for them when they were sick, and helped them grow strong. But Israel turned their back on God. In the second half of the chapter, God described His affection for Israel and pointed towards a day when some of His people would return to Him.
Hosea 12 – God encouraged Judah to be like their father Jacob in his faith. God’s people were always blessed when they devoted themselves to Him, when they had faith like Jacob and listened to God’s prophets, like Moses. It was therefore perplexing why they put their faith in idols and ignored the true prophets.
Hosea 13 – Israel threw away the honor God gave them at the feet of idols. God’s patience had run out, and He was going to attack them with the fierceness of a leopard, a lion, and a bear. Near the end of the chapter, God announced a better day for Israel in the future, a day on which death would be defeated and its power taken away.
TIMELINE:
The first verse of the book informs the reader that Hosea lived during the reigns of Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah, and the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel.
Uzziah’s (Azariah’s) reign began around 815 B.C.
Hezekiah’s reign ended sometimes around 695 B.C.
Jeroboam II reigned ended in the mid-700s B.C.
This puts Hosea’s prophetic work squarely in the 700s B.C. The text indicates he did most of his teaching prior to 721 B.C. That was the year God punished Israel by bringing the Assyrians against them and exiling them from the Promised Land.
OUTLINE:
REPENTANCE LEADING TO RESTORATION (14:1-9):
Hosea 14 is a call for repentance, and Hosea draws the book to a close summarizing the general principle of everything he prophesied, that those who try to walk with God will receive His mercy and blessing but those who walk without Him will be humbled by His justice and wrath.
Hosea called Israel to repent, and he puts forward the picture of a repentant nation and described how God would respond to their change of heart. It’s a positive picture that concludes a mostly negative book.
Israel comes to God asking Him to take away their guilt and recommitting themselves to Him.
They confessed that Assyria and their other allies weren’t going to save them, they were not their savior, only God could give them the mercy they needed.
In response to their repentant plea, God is pictured welcoming them back and forgiving them.
God says, “I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for My anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon” (14:4-6).
God invited them to find their protection in Him, and flourish in His care.
God would be to them an “evergreen cypress” and they would have no need of anything.
“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 upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them” (14:9).
APPLICATION:
The picture of Israel’s restoration is an invitation to you.
If you are wise, you’ll walk with the Lord.
If you’re foolish, you’ll walk with Israel, apart from God.
But if you’ve been foolish, and you’re ready to start walking in wisdom, God will heal you, love you freely, cause you to blossom, and take you into His care.
He doesn’t do those things begrudgingly, it is His great joy to do them.
Even after spending 13 chapters describing the the horrible sins of Israel, Hosea knew this was how God would welcome Israel back if they repented.
God has not changed, and His mercy remains the same! God waits to welcome you and bless you!
