Project 119: Hosea 6:1-10
| Project 119
“Honest Repentance”
Repentance is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the Bible. Most people associate it purely with remorse. We realize we have sinned against God and we are saddened by it. While sadness certainly ought to accompany any realization of sin, God’s desire is that once we recognize the error of our ways, we reverse course and begin to go in His direction. That reversal from a way opposed to God to one turned toward Him is what true repentance always entails.
Notice how Hosea calls for such reversal in the opening verse (Hosea 6:1). Hosea’s confidence is in God’s mercy to heal sinners who desire a better way than the one their sins have given them. In the Old Testament there is a close connection between “healing” and “salvation.” The Hebrew word pictures an enlarged space in one’s life where God’s purposes hold sway. Such openness to God’s way results in a new knowledge of God, which is always a more experiential knowledge than an intellectual one. Only then will God’s people enjoy a stronger relationship with God—one that ensures lasting blessing.
Hosea’s concern, however, was that Israel’s repentance was a fleeting one (Hosea 6:4). Their sacrificial practices, which were many, only muddled the matter of the heart religion that God desired. The people had assumed that once they had offered sacrifice for their sins they could then do as they pleased. God, on the other hand, was looking for something more—a life that gave expression to His expectations of justice and righteousness. Anything less would only add to Israel’s guilt.
Hosea’s words remind us of the importance of giving tangible evidence to our verbal commitment. We must never substitute religious practice for heart change. Once we realize where our faith has veered off course, we do well to turn from that way of living to one that honors God in both word and deed so that His favor may abide with us forever.
Hosea 6:1-10 (ESV):
Israel and Judah Are Unrepentant
1 “Come, let us return to the LORD;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”
4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes early away.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;
there they dealt faithlessly with me.
8 Gilead is a city of evildoers,
tracked with blood.
9 As robbers lie in wait for a man,
so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to Shechem;
they commit villainy.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
Ephraim’s whoredom is there; Israel is defiled.