Hosea 14 Study Notes

14:1-3 This final invitation to repent (6:1-3) even gives a “sinner’s prayer.”

14:4 A believing remnant will experience restoration and blessing. God’s promise to heal their apostasy, as Duane Garrett noted, “implies that apostasy is more than an act of the will, but is also a kind of mental derangement . . . that God himself must cure.”

14:5-7 The first three lines of v. 7 are literally “those who live in his shade will return/they will sustain like grain/and blossom like the vine.” God promised to restore life and beauty to Israel as to a dead, abandoned garden. Israel would again be a blessing to the nations as it was originally intended to be (Gn 12:1-3; Is 2:2-4), signified by the fragrant olive tree furnishing not only food, fuel, and medicine but also shade (Lk 13:18-19). His renown is literally “his memory,” probably referring to God’s remembrance of Israel that will prompt him to restore them by his grace (Gn 8:21). Lebanon is referred to three times in vv. 5-7 but nowhere else in the book. The reason may be that flourishing Lebanon had been the origin of Israel’s Baal cult (1Kg 16:31-33).

14:8 By idols God means the “topic” of idols. Him refers to the nation of Israel. The Lord had answered them and was now watching over them to see what they would do. The reference to the flourishing pine tree means that the Lord is the source of all they had been looking to fertility gods for.

14:9 Hosea concluded by exhorting readers to persevere in the study of his prophecy, so as to understand and recognize the things he had communicated.