Hosea calls the people of Israel away from reliance on diplomatic maneuvers with powerful kingdoms and calls them back to reliance on YHWH. The end of the last chapter suggested that a remnant would return to YHWH. That suggestion expands into this chapter.
Hosea 6:1-3, "Let us return"
"Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Hosea calls for a return of the people to YHWH. God will take care of them, if they acknowledge Him.
The "days" in verse 2 build, in emphatic Hebrew style, from two to three. Those days are metaphorical, indeterminate periods of time, emphasizing a belief that restoration will occur if the people simply return to YHWH.
Hosea 6:4-7, Disappearing like the morning mist
"What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Like Adam, they have broken the covenant-- they were unfaithful to me there.
The love of Israel for God is ephemeral, there one moment, gone, like mist, in the next.
Throughout the Old Testament, the sacrificial system was to represent an attitude of genuine worship. One was not to mindlessly act out the religious rituals. In the New Testament times, Messiah Jesus quotes verse 6 in Matthew 9:12-13. Similar messages, on the importance of thought and action over religious ritual are given in Psalm 51:15-17, Isaiah 1:11-17, Amos 5:21-24 and Micah 6:6-8.
The phrase "Like Adam" can be translated "like men." The Hebrew word adam need not be a personal name.
Hosea 6:8-11a, Gilead and Shechem
Gilead is a city of wicked men, stained with footprints of blood. As marauders lie in ambush for a man, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, committing shameful crimes. I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel. There Ephraim is given to prostitution and Israel is defiled.
"Also for you, Judah, a harvest is appointed.
The country of Ephraim is defiled by violence and prostitution, literally and figuratively.
Hosea 6:11b-7:1a, Restore fortunes
"Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,
whenever I would heal Israel,
the sins of Ephraim are exposed
and the crimes of Samaria revealed.
The Hebrew text makes a chapter break right after the first line of this phrase, but that line is more naturally read as the beginning of a new sentence that continues into chapter 7.
First published June 12, 2025; updated June 12, 2025
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