It isn’t unusual for the accused in a trial to express regret and remorse for what they’ve done and to ask for another chance. That’s just what Israel did, but God anticipated their hypocritical subterfuge and exposed not only their duplicity but the sinful way they had treated their Lord.
The nation’s false repentance (6:1–3). When you read these words, you get the impression that the nation is sincerely repenting and seeking the Lord, but when you read what God says, you see how shallow their “confession” really was. “They do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him” (7:10). “They have spoken lies against me” (v. 13). “They return, but not to the Most High” (v. 16). What went wrong with this “confession”?
To begin with, their concern was for healing and not for cleansing. They saw their nation in difficulty and wanted God to “make things right,” but they did not come with broken hearts and surrendered wills. They wanted happiness, not holiness, a change of circumstances, but not a change in character. Many times in my own ministry I’ve met people in trouble who treated God like a celestial lifeguard who should rescue them from danger but not deliver them from their sins. They shed tears of remorse over their suffering, but not tears of repentance over their sin.
Furthermore, the people of Israel thought that the remedy would work quickly: “After two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up” (6:2). What blind optimism! They were like the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day who offered the nation superficial remedies but never got to the heart of the problem (Jer. 6:14; 8:11–16). They were like physicians putting suntan lotion on a cancerous tumor instead of calling for drastic surgery. Expecting a “quick fix” is one of the marks of an unrepentant heart that doesn’t want to pay the price for deep cleansing (Ps. 51:6–7).
There is a third evidence of their shallowness: they saw forgiveness and restoration as a “mechanical” thing that was guaranteed and not as a relational matter that involved getting right with God. To paraphrase Hosea 6:3, “If we seek Him, His blessing is sure to come just as the dawn comes each morning and the rains come each spring and winter.” This is formula religion, like getting a candy bar out of a vending machine: put in the money, push the button, and out comes the candy. The Christian life is a relationship with God, and relationships aren’t based on cut-and-dried formulas.
One more evidence of their shallowness is the fact that they depended on religious words rather than righteous deeds. When we truly repent, our words will come from broken hearts and they will cost us something. Hosea considered words to be like “spiritual sacrifices” brought to the Lord (14:2), and we must not give Him something cheap (2 Sam. 24:24). Words can reveal or conceal, depending on the honesty and humility of the sinner. We must take to heart the warning in Ecclesiastes 5:1–2.
The nation’s true condition (6:4—7:16). In a series of vivid similes and metaphors, Hosea revealed the true character of the people of Israel.
Their love for the Lord was like a morning cloud and the dew (6:4–11). Early in the morning, the dew looks like sparkling jewels, but as soon as the sun comes up, the dew is gone. Israel’s devotion to the Lord was temporary, lovely but not lasting. To give some substance to their faith, God sent them His prophets with the Word of God, which is like a penetrating sword (Eph. 6:17) and a flash of lightning (Hos. 6:5), but the people turned a deaf ear.
God doesn’t want our relationship with Him to be one of shallow, transient feelings and empty words and rituals, hearts that are enthusiastic one day and frigid the next. “For I desired mercy [loyal love], and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (v. 6). A superficial ritual can never take the place of sincere love and faithful obedience (1 Sam. 15:22–23; Amos 5:21–24; Mic. 6:6–8; Matt 9:13; 12:7).
“But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant” (Hos. 6: nasb). God promised Adam His blessings if he obeyed His commands, but Adam deliberately destroyed and plunged the human race into sin and death (Rom. 5:12–21; 1 Cor. 15:21–22). God promised Israel the blessings of the Promised Land if they would obey Him (Deut. 28), but they broke the covenant and suffered the consequences. For both Israel and Judah, God had appointed a harvest, and they would reap just what they had sown (Gal. 6:7–8).
Their lust was like an overheated oven (Hos. 7:1–7). It’s probable that the last statement in 6: should be joined with 7: to read, “When I would have returned the captivity of my people, when I would have healed Israel.” What prevented God from helping His distressed people? They wanted Him to act on their terms and not according to the condition of His holy covenant. They thought they could get away with their many sins, but God saw them all and remembered them (v. 2; contrast Heb. 10:16–17).
Their passion for sin was like a fire in an oven: bank the fire at night, and it will be ready to blaze out in the morning. The oven was so hot that the baker could ignore it all night and know it would be ready for baking his bread in the morning. The “fuel” for the fire was wine, for alcohol and sin often go together.
Hosea describes a palace celebration during which the king and his officers get drunk, and this gives the king’s enemies opportunity to overthrow him and even kill him. Remember, Israel had five kings in thirteen years, and four kings were assassinated in twenty years. From Jeroboam I, the first king of Israel, to Hoshea, the last king, there were nine different dynasties! Because the leaders were far from the Lord, the political situation was confused and corrupt.
The third simile is that of a half-baked cake (Hos. 7:8). The nomadic peoples of the East baked their bread on hot rocks. If the dough wasn’t turned, one side of the loaf would be burned and the other side uncooked. Instead of remaining separate from the nations, Israel mixed with the nations and became like them. Because of her compromising political posture, the nation was “burned” by Assyria on the one hand and left uncooked on the other.
When it comes to our relationship with the Lord, we must be thorough and not “half-baked.” His gracious work must permeate our whole being so that heart, mind, and strength are all devoted to Him.