Hosea 14:4 - Meaning and Application

This is God’s answer of peace to the prayers of returning Israel. They seek God’s face, and they will not seek in vain. God is sure to meet in mercy those who return to him in the path of duty. If we speak to God in good prayers, God will speak to us in good promises, as he answered the angel with good and comforting words (Zechariah 1:13). If we bring the earlier words with us when we come to God, we may take these words home with us and let our faith feed on them.

Do they fear God’s anger and turn back to him? He assures them that, once they submit, his anger is turned away. This is the basis for all the other blessings promised here. “I will do this and that,” he says, “for my anger is turned away.” That opens the way for every other good gift to reach them (Isaiah 12:1). Even though God is justly and greatly angry with sinners, he is not locked into anger forever. His anger can be turned away, and it will be turned away from those who turn from their sin. God will be at peace with those who are at peace with his whole will.

Do they pray that their sin will be removed? He answers, “I will heal their backsliding,” just as he promised before (Jeremiah 3:22). Backsliding, or turning away from God, is a serious sickness and wound of the soul, but it is not beyond healing. God has graciously promised that if backsliding sinners come to him as their doctor and follow his way, he will heal them. He will heal both the guilt of their backsliding by pardoning them and the inward pull toward backsliding by giving renewing grace. Their sin will not destroy them.

Do they pray that God will receive them kindly? The answer is clear: “I will love them freely.” God had hated them while they kept on in sin (Hosea 9:15), but now that they return and repent, he loves them. He does more than stop being angry. He takes pleasure in them and plans their good. He loves them freely, with a full and complete love, or with generous love that gives without holding back, or with a willing love that has no reluctance in it. He will not say, when repentance comes, “How can I take you back?” as he once said in the time of their rebellion, “How can I give you up?” Or this may mean his love is undeserved and ahead of their merit. God loves whom he loves freely, not because they earn it, but because he chooses to love them.

Do they pray that God will do them good and make them good? He answers, “I will be like the dew to Israel” (Hosea 14:5). This is a strong blessing, like Jacob’s fatherly blessing, “May God give you the dew of heaven” (Genesis 27:28). More than that, God says he himself will be to them all that they need. “I will be like the dew to Israel.” This points to spiritual blessings in heavenly things. It follows the healing of their backsliding, because pardoning mercy always goes with renewing grace. To true Israelites, God himself will be as the dew.

He will teach them, and his teaching will fall on them like dew (Deuteronomy 32:2). They will know him more and more, because he will come to them like rain (Hosea 6:3). He will refresh them with his comfort, so their souls will be like a watered garden (Isaiah 58:11). He will be to true repenters like the dew to Israel in the wilderness, dew that carried manna in it (Exodus 16:14; Numbers 11:9). The graces of the Spirit are like hidden manna, hidden in the dew. God will give them bread from heaven in abundance, as he did for Israel (John 1:16).

This grace will not be wasted. Those souls, those Israelites, on whom God falls like dew will keep growing. Since God’s grace makes the bad good, it will also keep making the good better, because true grace always grows.

They will grow upward and become more flourishing. They will grow like the lily, or, as some read it, blossom like the rose. The lily grows quickly, especially after the spring dew refreshes it. Its root seems lost in the ground all winter, but it soon rises again. In the same way, God’s grace can make new believers grow very fast. When the lily reaches its full beauty, it is lovely (Matthew 6:29), and so grace is the beauty of the soul (Ezekiel 16:14). It is the beauty of holiness that comes from the dew of the morning (Psalm 110:3).

They will also grow downward and become steadier. The lily grows fast and looks fine, but it fades quickly and is easily pulled up. So Israel is promised not only the flower of the lily, but also the root of the cedar. He will strike his roots like Lebanon, like the trees of Lebanon, which sink deep into the ground and cannot easily be uprooted (Amos 9:15). Spiritual growth is mostly the growth of the root, which is hidden. The more we depend on Christ and draw strength and life from him, the more we live by a true principle in religion, and the more settled and firm we become.

They will also grow outward. Their branches will spread in every direction (Hosea 14:6), and he will grow like the vine, whose branches reach farther than those of any other tree (Hosea 14:7). Joseph was called a fruitful bough (Genesis 49:22). When many are added to the church from outside, or when a hopeful new generation rises up, Israel’s branches spread. When believers overflow in good works and grow in knowledge of God and in every good gift, their branches can be said to spread. The inward person is renewed day by day.

They will be graceful and pleasing to both God and people. Grace is the attractive thing, and it makes those who have it truly attractive. They are compared here to trees that are pleasant to look at and pleasant to the sense of smell.

To the eye, “His beauty shall be like the olive tree,” which stays green all year. The Lord once called Israel “a green olive tree” (Jeremiah 11:16). God’s ordinances are the beauty of the church, and in them it is, and will remain, always green. Holiness is the beauty of the soul. When people believe with the heart, confess with the mouth, and support that confession with a fitting life, their beauty is like the olive tree (Psalm 52:8). It is promised to the trees of righteousness that their leaf will not wither.

To the nose, “His smell shall be like Lebanon” (Hosea 14:6), and his scent like the wine of Lebanon (Hosea 14:7). This was said of their father Jacob, “The smell of my son is like the smell of a field the Lord has blessed” (Genesis 27:27). The church is compared to a garden of spices (Song of Songs 4:12, Song of Songs 4:14), and all her garments smell of them.

True believers are acceptable to God and approved by people. God finds a sweet smell in their spiritual sacrifices (Gen. 8:21), and they are accepted by the fellowship of the brothers and sisters in faith. Grace is like the fragrance of the soul and the beauty of a good name. It makes a person like precious perfume (Ecc. 7:1). The memory of it will be like the wine of Lebanon, if we follow the margin reading. That means not only will believers have refreshing comfort now, but they will also leave behind a lasting honor after they are gone, with a rich and pleasing scent, like that wine. Flourishing churches are spoken of around the world for their faith (Rom. 1:8), and they leave a name that people remember (Psa. 45:17). The memory of flourishing saints is blessed and will remain so, just as those who through faith received a good report.

They will also be fruitful and useful. The church is compared here to the vine and the olive, both of which produce valuable fruit for the honor of God and people. Even the shadow of the church will be pleasant (Hos. 14:7). Those who live under his shadow will return, under God’s shadow, as some understand it, or under the shadow of the Messiah, as the Chaldee says. Believers live under God’s shadow (Psa. 91:1), and there they are safe and at peace.

But the meaning is more likely under the shadow of Israel, that is, under the shadow of the church. God’s promises belong to those, and only those, who stay under the church’s shadow. They must attend God’s ordinances and hold close to his people, not just run to that shelter for a short time during trouble, but remain under it. This can also be applied to individual believers. When a man is truly brought home to God, all who dwell under his shadow, children, servants, subjects, and friends, are blessed. Then it is true, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

Those who dwell under the shadow of the church will return. Their failing spirits will return, and they will be refreshed and comforted. He restores my soul (Psa. 23:3). They will revive like grain that is sown, dies first, and then rises again to bring forth much fruit (Joh. 12:24). God promises that his people will be a blessing to the world, like grain and wine. And it is a great and valuable mercy to be useful to our own generation. Comfort and honor go with that.