Hosea 6 Study Notes: Shallow Repentance and True Mercy
The people urge one another to come back to the LORD, expecting healing and revival. The LORD answers that their loyalty vanishes like morning fog and that He wants mercy and knowing Him more than offerings. He charges Israel with covenant breaking and violence, even by priests, and appoints a harvest for Judah too.
General
In 6:1-3, whose words call for turning back to the LORD who has torn and will heal?
Answer: The people of Israel and Judah, urging one another
In 6:1-3 the people themselves speak, using the words us and we: they urge one another to come back to the LORD. They admit that it was He who tore and wounded them, and they expect Him to heal and bandage them, for the LORD both wounds and heals (Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 30:26). They hope that after a brief time, two days and then a third, He will revive them, and they say His coming is as sure as sunrise and as refreshing as spring rain. These words answer the LORD's statement in 5:15 that He would wait for them to seek Him. Many Christians have also seen in the third day a picture of Christ's third-day resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:4), though no New Testament writer quotes this verse. The LORD's answer in 6:4 shows that this return was shallow.
- Hosea 6:1-3 (BSB)“Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence. So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.”The people urge one another to return, confident that the LORD who wounded them will heal and revive them.
- Deuteronomy 32:39 (BSB)“See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”In Moses' song the LORD declares that He both wounds and heals, the truth the people confess in 6:1.
- Isaiah 30:26 (BSB)“The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.”Isaiah pictures the LORD binding up and healing the wounds He Himself inflicted, the hope voiced in 6:1.
- 1 Corinthians 15:4 (BSB)“that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”Paul states that Christ was raised the third day, which many Christians have connected with the third day of 6:2.
Theological
Who speaks the words of return in 6:1-3?
Answer: The people of Israel and Judah, urging one another
The first-person plural of 6:1-3 marks these as the people's own words, a penitential song answering the LORD's withdrawal in 5:15. They rightly confess that the LORD who tore will heal and bind up, as Moses' song affirms (Deuteronomy 32:39) and Isaiah echoes (Isaiah 30:26), and they anticipate swift revival after two days and restoration by the third, with the LORD's appearing as certain as dawn and as life-giving as the spring rains. Many Christians have seen in the third day a foreshadowing of Christ's third-day resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:4), though the New Testament does not cite this text. The divine reply in 6:4 exposes the confession as superficial.
- Hosea 6:1-3 (BSB)“Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His presence. So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.”The people urge one another to return, confident that the LORD who wounded them will heal and revive them.
- Deuteronomy 32:39 (BSB)“See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.”In Moses' song the LORD declares that He both wounds and heals, the truth the people confess in 6:1.
- Isaiah 30:26 (BSB)“The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.”Isaiah pictures the LORD binding up and healing the wounds He Himself inflicted, the hope voiced in 6:1.
- 1 Corinthians 15:4 (BSB)“that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”Paul states that Christ was raised the third day, which many Christians have connected with the third day of 6:2.
General
In Matthew 9:13, Jesus quotes 6:6 in answer to which complaint from the Pharisees?
Answer: That He dined with sinners and tax collectors
Jesus used Hosea 6:6 twice in Matthew. When the Pharisees questioned His disciples about why He ate with sinners and tax collectors at Matthew's house, Jesus said that the sick, not the healthy, need a doctor, and told them to go and learn the meaning of God's desire for mercy over sacrifice, since He came to call sinners (Matthew 9:10-13). Later, when the Pharisees condemned His disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath, He said that if they had understood this verse they would never have judged guiltless men (Matthew 12:1-2, 7). In both scenes Jesus shows that God's heart is merciful toward sinners, and that religious duty without mercy misses what God wants.
- Hosea 6:6 (BSB)“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”The verse Jesus quotes, stating God's desire for mercy over sacrifice.
- Matthew 9:10-13 (BSB)“Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 when the Pharisees object to His eating with sinners, and adds that He came to call sinners.
- Matthew 12:1-2 (BSB)“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.””The setting of Jesus' second use of the verse: the Pharisees accuse His hungry disciples over picking grain on the Sabbath.
- Matthew 12:7 (BSB)“If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”Jesus tells the Pharisees that understanding Hosea 6:6 would have kept them from condemning the guiltless.
Theological
In Matthew 9:13, what objection of the Pharisees does Jesus answer by citing 6:6?
Answer: That He dined with sinners and tax collectors
Jesus twice cites Hosea 6:6 in Matthew. At Matthew's house, when the Pharisees ask His disciples why He eats with sinners and tax collectors, He answers that the sick need a physician and sends them to learn the meaning of God's desire for mercy over sacrifice, for His calling was to sinners, not to the righteous (Matthew 9:10-13). When they later condemn His disciples for plucking grain on the Sabbath, He says that grasping this verse would have kept them from condemning the guiltless (Matthew 12:1-2, 7). Jesus thus reads Hosea's priority of mercy as fulfilled in His own mission of grace to sinners.
- Hosea 6:6 (BSB)“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”The verse Jesus quotes, stating God's desire for mercy over sacrifice.
- Matthew 9:10-13 (BSB)“Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 when the Pharisees object to His eating with sinners, and adds that He came to call sinners.
- Matthew 12:1-2 (BSB)“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.””The setting of Jesus' second use of the verse: the Pharisees accuse His hungry disciples over picking grain on the Sabbath.
- Matthew 12:7 (BSB)“If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”Jesus tells the Pharisees that understanding Hosea 6:6 would have kept them from condemning the guiltless.
General
What does 6:7 say the people did, like Adam?
Answer: They broke the covenant and were faithless
In 6:7 the LORD says His people, like Adam, broke the covenant and were unfaithful to Him there. A covenant is a binding relationship God sets up, with promises and commands. Readers take Adam here either as the first man, who broke God's command in the garden (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:6), or as a town named Adam by the Jordan River (Joshua 3:16), which would fit the word there in the same verse. Either way the charge is the one Hosea makes plainly in 8:1: Israel had broken His covenant and defied His law.
- Hosea 6:7 (BSB)“But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.”The LORD says that His people, like Adam, have broken the covenant and been unfaithful to Him there.
- Genesis 2:16-17 (BSB)“And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.””God's command to the first man in the garden, the command Adam broke if the verse refers to him.
- Genesis 3:6 (BSB)“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.”Adam's eating of the forbidden fruit, the transgression in view on the first-man reading of 6:7.
- Joshua 3:16 (BSB)“the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.”A town named Adam by the Jordan, the place some readers see in 6:7.
- Hosea 8:1 (BSB)“Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.”Hosea elsewhere states plainly that Israel has broken God's covenant and defied His law.
Theological
What does 6:7 charge the people with having done, like Adam?
Answer: They broke the covenant and were faithless
Verse 6 sets out God's desire for mercy and for His people to know Him; verse 7 states the breach: like Adam they transgressed the covenant and dealt faithlessly with God there. Readers take Adam either as the first man, who broke the command given in Eden (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:6), or as the town of Adam by the Jordan (Joshua 3:16), which would suit the word there in the same verse. One historic Reformed reading sees here an allusion to a covenant God made with Adam in the garden, often called the covenant of works. On any reading the indictment matches 8:1: Israel has broken His covenant and defied His law.
- Hosea 6:7 (BSB)“But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.”The LORD says that His people, like Adam, have broken the covenant and been unfaithful to Him there.
- Genesis 2:16-17 (BSB)“And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.””God's command to the first man in the garden, the command Adam broke if the verse refers to him.
- Genesis 3:6 (BSB)“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.”Adam's eating of the forbidden fruit, the transgression in view on the first-man reading of 6:7.
- Joshua 3:16 (BSB)“the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.”A town named Adam by the Jordan, the place some readers see in 6:7.
- Hosea 8:1 (BSB)“Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.”Hosea elsewhere states plainly that Israel has broken God's covenant and defied His law.
General
How does the LORD describe the loyalty of Ephraim and Judah in 6:4?
Answer: Like a fog at dawn that soon disappears
The LORD answers the people's words with a question: what is He to do with Ephraim and Judah? Their loyalty fades as fast as fog at sunrise or early dew that quickly vanishes (6:4). Their return to God in 6:1-3 sounded good but did not last. Jeremiah describes the same thing in Judah, a return made only in pretense and not wholeheartedly (Jeremiah 3:10), and Jesus speaks of people who receive the word gladly but have no root and soon fall away (Matthew 13:20-21). For this reason God has cut them down by His prophets, striking them with the words He spoke (6:5).
- Hosea 6:4 (BSB)“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.”The LORD answers the people's words by saying their loyalty vanishes like morning mist and dew.
- Hosea 6:5 (BSB)“Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.”Because of this, the LORD has struck them through the prophets and the words He spoke.
- Jeremiah 3:10 (BSB)“Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.”Jeremiah describes Judah returning to God in pretense rather than wholeheartedly, the same short-lived turning.
- Matthew 13:20-21 (BSB)“The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.”Jesus describes hearers who receive the word gladly but have no root and soon fall away, like loyalty that vanishes like the early dew.
Theological
To what does God liken the loyalty of Ephraim and Judah in 6:4?
Answer: Like a fog at dawn that soon disappears
The divine answer to 6:1-3 is a pair of questions: what is God to do with Ephraim and Judah, whose loyalty evaporates like a mist at dawn and the early dew (6:4)? Their profession of return is fleeting, like Judah's turning in pretense rather than with the whole heart (Jeremiah 3:10) and like the rootless hearers in Jesus' parable who receive the word gladly and soon fall away (Matthew 13:20-21). Therefore the LORD has hewn them through the prophets, and His spoken word itself has been the instrument of judgment (6:5).
- Hosea 6:4 (BSB)“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.”The LORD answers the people's words by saying their loyalty vanishes like morning mist and dew.
- Hosea 6:5 (BSB)“Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.”Because of this, the LORD has struck them through the prophets and the words He spoke.
- Jeremiah 3:10 (BSB)“Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.”Jeremiah describes Judah returning to God in pretense rather than wholeheartedly, the same short-lived turning.
- Matthew 13:20-21 (BSB)“The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.”Jesus describes hearers who receive the word gladly but have no root and soon fall away, like loyalty that vanishes like the early dew.
General
According to 6:6, what does God desire rather than sacrifices and burnt offerings?
Answer: Mercy and a true knowing of Him
In 6:6 God says what He truly wants from His people: mercy and knowing Him, more than sacrifices and burnt offerings. God had commanded sacrifices, but offerings without a faithful heart meant nothing to Him. Samuel told Saul that obeying the LORD matters more than offerings (1 Samuel 15:22), and Micah says the LORD requires justice, mercy, and a humble walk with God (Micah 6:8). In the Gospels a scribe tells Jesus that loving God and neighbor outweighs every offering (Mark 12:33). Israel's worship was full of ritual but empty of the faithful love and knowledge of God that ritual was meant to express.
- Hosea 6:6 (BSB)“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”The LORD states that He wants mercy and knowledge of Himself more than sacrifices and burnt offerings.
- 1 Samuel 15:22 (BSB)“But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.”Samuel tells Saul that the LORD values obedience above offerings, the same priority God sets in 6:6.
- Micah 6:8 (BSB)“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”Micah sums up what the LORD requires as justice, mercy, and humble walking with God.
- Mark 12:33 (BSB)“and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.””A scribe answering Jesus ranks wholehearted love for God and neighbor above every offering, the priority of 6:6.
Theological
What does God say in 6:6 that He desires above sacrifice and burnt offering?
Answer: Mercy and a true knowing of Him
Verse 6 states the LORD's priority: mercy, faithful love lived out toward God and neighbor, together with truly knowing God, in preference to sacrifice and burnt offering. The comparison does not abolish the sacrifices God Himself commanded but condemns ritual divorced from covenant faithfulness. Samuel set the same order before Saul, obedience over offerings (1 Samuel 15:22), Micah summarized the LORD's requirement as justice, mercy, and humble walking with God (Micah 6:8), and the scribe who answered Jesus wisely ranked love of God and neighbor above all offerings (Mark 12:33).
- Hosea 6:6 (BSB)“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”The LORD states that He wants mercy and knowledge of Himself more than sacrifices and burnt offerings.
- 1 Samuel 15:22 (BSB)“But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.”Samuel tells Saul that the LORD values obedience above offerings, the same priority God sets in 6:6.
- Micah 6:8 (BSB)“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”Micah sums up what the LORD requires as justice, mercy, and humble walking with God.
- Mark 12:33 (BSB)“and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.””A scribe answering Jesus ranks wholehearted love for God and neighbor above every offering, the priority of 6:6.
General
True or False: In 6:9 the LORD compares a group of priests to bandits waiting to attack, who kill people along the road to Shechem.
Answer: True
This is true. Gilead is called a town full of wrongdoers, marked with bloody footprints (6:8), and in 6:9 a gang of priests is like robbers waiting in hiding, committing murder on the road to Shechem. The very men who should have taught God's law were doing violence. Jeremiah says that everyone, prophets and priests alike, practiced deceit (Jeremiah 6:13), and Ezekiel says the priests of his day did violence to God's law (Ezekiel 22:26). This fits the charge at the start of chapter 4, that bloodshed followed bloodshed in the land (4:2). The chapter closes with the LORD saying He has witnessed something dreadful in Israel, Ephraim's unfaithfulness that defiles the nation, and that a harvest has been set for Judah too, at the time He restores His people (6:10-11).
- Hosea 6:8 (BSB)“Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with footprints of blood.”Gilead is described as a town of wrongdoers marked by bloody footprints.
- Hosea 6:9 (BSB)“Like raiders who lie in ambush, so does a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.”A gang of priests is compared to robbers lying in wait, committing murder on the road to Shechem.
- Hosea 6:10-11 (BSB)“In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled. Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people from captivity.”The LORD has seen a horrible thing in Israel, Ephraim's unfaithfulness, and a harvest is set for Judah as well.
- Jeremiah 6:13 (BSB)““For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.”Jeremiah charges that prophets and priests alike practiced deceit, the same corruption of religious leaders.
- Ezekiel 22:26 (BSB)“Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”Ezekiel says priests did violence to God's law, as Hosea's priests did violence on the road.
- Hosea 4:2 (BSB)“Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.”The opening charge of the book's oracles, that bloodshed followed bloodshed, is borne out by the violence of 6:8-9.
Theological
True or False: According to 6:9, a group of priests acts like bandits in hiding and commits murder on the road to Shechem.
Answer: True
This is true. Gilead is a town of wrongdoers tracked with bloody footprints (6:8), and a gang of priests behaves like brigands in hiding, committing murder on the road to Shechem (6:9). Those entrusted with teaching God's law have become agents of violence. The same corruption of the religious leadership appears in Jeremiah's charge that prophets and priests alike practiced deceit (Jeremiah 6:13) and Ezekiel's that the priests did violence to God's law (Ezekiel 22:26). The scene bears out the indictment of 4:2, where bloodshed follows bloodshed. The chapter ends with the LORD declaring the horror He has seen in Israel, Ephraim's spiritual prostitution and Israel's defilement, and announcing that a harvest has been set for Judah as well, set at the time He restores His people (6:10-11).
- Hosea 6:8 (BSB)“Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with footprints of blood.”Gilead is described as a town of wrongdoers marked by bloody footprints.
- Hosea 6:9 (BSB)“Like raiders who lie in ambush, so does a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.”A gang of priests is compared to robbers lying in wait, committing murder on the road to Shechem.
- Hosea 6:10-11 (BSB)“In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled. Also for you, O Judah, a harvest is appointed, when I restore My people from captivity.”The LORD has seen a horrible thing in Israel, Ephraim's unfaithfulness, and a harvest is set for Judah as well.
- Jeremiah 6:13 (BSB)““For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.”Jeremiah charges that prophets and priests alike practiced deceit, the same corruption of religious leaders.
- Ezekiel 22:26 (BSB)“Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”Ezekiel says priests did violence to God's law, as Hosea's priests did violence on the road.
- Hosea 4:2 (BSB)“Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.”The opening charge of the book's oracles, that bloodshed followed bloodshed, is borne out by the violence of 6:8-9.