Hosea 14:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have a gracious invitation to sinners to repent, in Hosea 14:1. It is directed to Israel, God’s professing people, and they are called to return. Conversion must be preached even to those inside the church, not only to people outside it. Since Israel belonged to God in name and had been bound to him by duty, gratitude, and blessing, their rebellion was even more serious, and their return was all the more necessary.

Israel is first shown what led to repentance: “You have fallen by your iniquity.” Some read this as, “You have stumbled.” Their idols were the traps that brought them down. They had fallen away from God into sin, fallen away from what is good, and fallen under guilt and curse. Sin is a fall, and anyone who has fallen by sin must rise again through repentance.

They are also shown what repentance must do: “Return to the Lord your God.” They must return to the Lord, whom they depend on, and to their God, with whom they are in covenant, that is, a binding relationship of promise. The great concern of those who have turned away from God is to return to him and do their first works again. They must return to the Lord, all the way home to him, not merely glance toward him or take a few steps in his direction. The old Jewish saying based on this was true enough: repentance is great, because it brings people all the way to the throne of glory.

God also gives needed instructions on how to repent. First, they must think carefully about what to say when they come to him: “Take words with you.” They are told to bring not sacrifices and offerings, but prayers of sorrow and pleading, the fruit of the lips. Yet these words must come from the heart, or they are only empty sound. The heart should guide the tongue, and good words come from good thoughts and good feelings. When we come to God, we should think about what we have to say, because if we come without an errand, we are likely to leave without an answer (Ezra 9:10). We should also take words from Scripture, and from the Spirit of grace and prayer, who teaches us to cry, “Abba, Father,” and prays within us.

They must also think about what to do. They must not only take words, but turn to the Lord, inwardly in their hearts and outwardly in their lives. God himself kindly puts words into their mouths, teaching them what to say. We may rightly hope to succeed with God when he has already prepared our prayer for us and his own Spirit has shaped it. We will surely succeed if our hearts truly agree with the words he gives.

These are praying words. Two requests are made here. First, they must ask to be cleared of guilt: “Take away all iniquity.” They were suffering because of sin, under the weight of trouble, but they are taught to pray, not as Pharaoh did, “Take away this death,” but, “Take away this sin.” When we are in distress, we should care more about forgiveness than about relief. We should ask God to lift away iniquity like a burden we cannot carry or a stumbling block we keep falling over. We ask him to remove it fully, so it will not rise up against us in shame and judgment. He alone can forgive it completely, and when we pray against sin, we must pray against all of it, not just some.

Second, they must ask to be received as pleasing in God’s sight: “Receive us graciously.” They ask for his favor and love, and for him to accept both them and what they do. They ask him to accept their prayer kindly and to be pleased with the good he enables them to do. The words can also mean, “Give good.” That fits well with the prayer for forgiveness, because until iniquity is taken away, we cannot rightly expect any good from God. Once the barrier of sin is removed, God can freely give what he has promised and what our need requires. They do not name the good they want, but leave it to God. It is not the world’s kind of good, but God’s gift. They ask for the good that will make them good and keep them from turning back to sin.

These are also promising words. God does not give them to move him, as if he needed persuading, but to move the people and bind them to obedience. Prayers for pardon and acceptance should always be joined to sincere promises of new obedience. They are to promise two things: thanksgiving and changed living.

First, they promise thanksgiving: “So we will render the calves of our lips.” The fruit of the lips is a way of speaking about praise, and the writer of Hebrews uses this same phrase for the sacrifice of praise to God, giving thanks to his name (Hebrews 13:15). Praise and thanksgiving are our spiritual sacrifice, and when they come from an honest heart, they please the Lord better than an ox or bullock (Psalm 69:30, Psalm 69:32). The more we feel our pardon and God’s acceptance, the more our hearts should overflow with praise. Those who are received graciously may, and should, offer the calves of their lips, poor gifts compared with cattle from the stall, yet more acceptable if they are sincere.

Second, they promise a better life. Their words are not meant to stay words only, but to become real reform. In turning back to God, we must make a covenant against sin. We cannot expect God to forgive what we will not forsake. We must also be specific in our promises and resolutions, as we should be specific in confession, because deceit hides in vague language. Most of all, we must guard against the sins that have most often trapped us, the ones that have most easily overcome us. We must keep ourselves from our own iniquity, and so strengthen ourselves against it (Psalm 18:23).

The sin they confess here is giving to another the glory that belongs to God alone. By naming it, they admit they have been guilty of it and promise never to do it again. First, they will not trust in created things when trust should be placed in God alone.

They say, “Assyria will not save us.” Assyria was a powerful nation, and Israel had often tried to lean on it for help (Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 8:9). Now they reject that old habit. They will not make deals with Assyria, court its favor, or depend on it for rescue. Since they have a God who is fully able to help, they no longer want to owe their safety to the Assyrians.

They also say, “We will not ride on horses.” That means they will not rely on military strength or make alliances with Egypt, from which they had gotten horses before (Deuteronomy 17:16; Isaiah 30:16; Isaiah 31:1, Isaiah 31:3). When enemies come, they will trust God to defend them, not their cavalry. Or, if the picture is one of quick escape, they will not race from one human help to another looking for relief. Instead, they will take the direct and only sure path, turning to God for help (Isaiah 20:5).

True repentance turns us away from trusting in human power. It brings us to rely on God alone for every good thing we need. It teaches us not to lean on an arm of flesh.

Second, they will not give to creatures the worship that belongs only to God. “We will not say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’” They must promise to leave idols behind. It is foolish to pray to something made by human hands as if it were God. We must also guard our hearts against making money, success, or even religious duties into our confidence, because that is a kind of idolatry too.

The words, “For in you the fatherless find mercy,” give them a prayerful plea. We do not come to God because we deserve his help. We come because he is merciful. This also states a great truth: God has a special care for fatherless children (Psalm 68:4, Psalm 68:5). He says so in his law (Exodus 22:22), and he shows it in his care and protection (Psalm 27:10).

It is God’s own way to help the helpless. Mercy belongs to him, and helpless people are the right ones to receive it. They find mercy in him, and they must look for it there. As the promise says, seek, and you will find. This line gives both a reason to ask and courage to believe.

They also plead the misery of their condition. They are like orphans, without help of their own. Those who most feel their need and weakness are the ones who may hope to find help in God. That awareness is a good first step toward comfort. If they cannot yet speak to God boldly as Father, they can still come as fatherless people and ask him to look on them with pity.

They also appeal to God’s usual kindness toward people in that condition. With him, the fatherless do not only maybe find mercy, they do find it. They will find it there. That is strong encouragement for faith and hope when we turn back to God, because it is his glory to be a Father to the fatherless and a helper of the helpless.