Bible Commentaries
Hosea 6

Verses 1-11

Hosea 6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Hosea 6:2 Comments - Jesus was buried and raised from the dead (ones) on the third day. Also, we were buried and raised with Jesus Christ, our precious Lord and Savior to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

Romans 6:4, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Hosea 6:1-2 Comments “Revive Us” - Benny Hinn gives some insightful comments into this passage. He tells us that the phrase, “after two days will He revive us” refers to the two thousand year period between the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 until the establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948. [14] As the Lord has torn them, He will also heal them. This would refer to the fact that God had scattered the nation of Israel and He will now gather them back. In the same way, He has smitten them and He will bind them up. The third day would refer to the thousand year millennium reign of Christ, when we shall live in His sight, since Jesus Christ will rule and reign on earth from Jerusalem.

[14] Benny Hinn, This is Your Day (Irving, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.

Hosea 6:3 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 “He shall come into us as the rain, as the latter and former rain” - Comments - This is a reference to a conversion experience (former rain) and the filling of the Holy Spirit (latter rain).

Hosea 6:3 Scripture References - See similar verses:

Job 29:21-23, “Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.”

Zechariah 10:1, “Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.”

James 5:7, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

Hosea 6:4 O 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.

Hosea 6:4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee” Comments - Ephraim is the name used for the Northern Kingdom. Note in Genesis 48:19 that Jacob blessed the second-born Ephraim above the first-born Manasseh. Judah is the Southern Kingdom.

Genesis 48:19, “And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.”

Hosea 6:4 “for your goodness is as the morning cloud, and as he early dew it goeth away” Comments - Their love towards God was just for a short while (Revelation 2:4).

Revelation 2:4, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love .”

Hosea 6:5 Therefore 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.

Hosea 6:5 “Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth” Comments - The Hebrew word “hew” ( חָצַב ) (H2672) literally means, “to cut, to carve,” and “to hew, split.” The Word of God is likened unto a sword (Hebrews 4:12).

Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Hosea 6:5 “and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth” Comments - Some manuscripts read “my judgments,” in the place of “thy judgments.”

NASB “judgments on you.”

NIV “My judgments flashed like lightening upon you.”

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

Hosea 6:6 Comments - What God wanted was not sacrifices for the sake of performing a ritual. Instead, God wanted the people to offer these sacrifices as a way of expressing their love and devotion to Him. These offerings were opportunities to give God thanks and praise, and they were times to ask God forgiveness for their sins. It was a time that a person could give an offering in faith to God in order to receive greater blessings from Him, while providing the needs of the priests.

God desires mercy “more than” a particular sacrifice. God tells the children of Israel the same thing through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:22-23).

Jeremiah 7:22-23, “For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.”

Frances J. Roberts writes, “Marvel not that I have said that ye must be born anew. Of the flesh, nothing that is spiritual can ever be produced. Spiritual life shall bring forth that which is spiritual; and likewise, carnal flesh shall bring forth only more carnality. This is why I said I loathed your sacrifices. It was not that I despised the ordinance in itself, but that I perceived that it was a product of the flesh an expression of self-righteousness and indifference to the claim of God upon thy heart. My ordinances are good and holy, but they are to be entered into with deep sincerity and with awareness of their true significance. To sacrifice in carelessness and ignorance is to damage thine own soul. Let thy spirit never become callous.” [15]

[15] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 15.

Hosea 6:6 Scripture References - Note similar verses:

Proverbs 1:8, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:”

Proverbs 2:5, “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”

Micah 6:6-8, “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

Zechariah 7:8-10, “And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.”

Zechariah 8:16-17, “These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.”