Commentary - Hosea 6:1-3

Bird's-eye view

This short passage in Hosea is a magnificent, compact expression of the gospel logic that runs from Genesis to Revelation. It is a call to repentance that is grounded in the character of God. The people of Israel, having been disciplined by God for their covenant unfaithfulness, are urged to return to the very one who struck them. This is not pious masochism; it is robust faith. The same God who tears is the God who heals. The same God who strikes is the God who binds up. This is the logic of the covenant. God's judgments are never purposeless or merely punitive for His people; they are always restorative and medicinal. He wounds in order to heal.

The passage then moves to a stunningly clear prophecy of resurrection. The promise that God will revive His people after two days and raise them on the third day is a direct pointer to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because the Messiah is the true Israel, His experience becomes the pattern for His people. He was torn and struck on the cross, and on the third day He was raised up. In Him, corporate Israel is raised as well. Our return to God is therefore not just a moral reformation but a resurrection, a participation in the new life of Christ. The passage concludes by connecting this new life to a true, experiential knowledge of God, which is as certain and life-giving as the sunrise and the seasonal rains.

Outline

Context In Hosea

Hosea 6:1-3 must be read in light of the preceding chapters. The prophet Hosea has been commanded by God to marry a prostitute, Gomer, as a living parable of God's relationship with adulterous Israel. The names of their children, Jezreel (God scatters), Lo-Ruhamah (no mercy), and Lo-Ammi (not my people), are pronouncements of covenant judgment. Chapter 5 details this judgment with vivid imagery: God will be like a lion to Ephraim and Judah, tearing them to pieces (Hos 5:14). He will withdraw His presence until they acknowledge their guilt and seek His face in their affliction (Hos 5:15). The call to repentance in 6:1 is therefore the proper, hoped-for response to the divine discipline described in chapter 5. It is the people, in their affliction, finally turning their faces back toward the God they have abandoned, recognizing that their only hope for healing lies with the very one who wounded them.

Key Issues

The Grammar of Grace

There is a divine grammar that we must learn if we are to understand the Christian faith, and it is on full display here. That grammar is this: God kills in order to make alive. He brings low in order to raise up. He wounds so that He might heal. Our modern therapeutic sensibilities recoil from this. We want a God who only affirms, who only soothes, who never tears or strikes. But a God who cannot strike sin cannot save sinners. A God who cannot tear away our idols cannot heal our hearts. The pain of God's discipline is the surgeon's knife, cutting away the cancer that would otherwise kill us. The call of the gospel is not to run from the God of judgment, but to run to Him, for He is the only one who can bind up the wounds that our sin has made necessary. This is not the language of an abusive relationship; it is the language of redemptive, covenantal love. The cross is the ultimate expression of this grammar: God struck His own Son, He tore Him, so that through His wounds we might be healed.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 “Come, let us return to Yahweh. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has struck us, but He will bandage us.

The call is corporate: "Come, let us return." Repentance is not a solitary affair. When a nation sins, the nation must repent. This is a summons to covenantal solidarity. And the destination is clear: "to Yahweh." They are not to return to their idols, or to foreign alliances, or to their own self-righteous efforts. They must return to the covenant Lord they have forsaken. The reason given is the central paradox of grace. We return to Him because He has torn us. The very judgment that has laid them low is the proof that God has not abandoned them. Silence and indifference would be the true curse. The tearing and striking are evidence that God is still engaged with them as a Father is with a rebellious son. Their affliction is their hope. The faith expressed here is profound: the same hands that tore are the only hands that can heal. The one who struck is the one who will bandage the wound. There is no other physician.

2 He will make us alive after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.

This is one of the clearest Old Testament prophecies of the resurrection. The language shifts from healing to something far more radical: being made alive from a state of death. The discipline of God is so severe that it is likened to death and burial. And the restoration is nothing less than a resurrection. The timeframe given, "after two days... on the third day", is too specific to be a mere poetic expression for "a short time." It is a direct pointer to the central event of redemptive history. The Apostle Paul tells us that Christ died and rose "on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:4). This is one of those Scriptures. Christ is the true Israel, the embodiment of the nation. When He was struck down, corporate Israel was struck down in Him. When He was raised on the third day, all of His people were raised up with Him. The goal of this resurrection is not just existence, but fellowship: "That we may live before Him," or "in His sight." Resurrection restores us to the presence of God, which is the very definition of life.

3 So let us know, let us pursue to know Yahweh. His going forth is established as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the late rain watering the earth.”

The proper response to this promise of resurrection life is an eager pursuit of a deeper knowledge of God. This is not abstract, academic knowledge. The Hebrew word for "know" (yada) implies a deep, personal, intimate, and experiential relationship. Having been made alive, we are now to press on to know the one who gave us life. And this pursuit is not a shot in the dark. The promise has two beautiful similes attached to it. First, God's coming is as certain as the sunrise. "His going forth is established as the dawn." There is no doubt about it; you can set your watch by it. He will not fail to appear for His people. Second, His coming will be as refreshing and life-giving as the rain on a parched land. He mentions both the general rain and the "late rain" (or spring rain), which was crucial for ensuring a full harvest. God's presence is not just a fact to be acknowledged; it is a blessing to be received, a life-giving shower that produces fruitfulness in His people. The knowledge of God and the blessing of God are intertwined.

Application

First, we must learn to interpret our trials correctly. When God brings hardship into our lives, our families, or our nation, our first instinct must not be to look for a political or therapeutic solution. Our first move must be to ask if God is striking us, and if so, to return to Him. The world tells you to run from whatever causes you pain. The Bible tells you to run to the God who disciplines you, because His discipline is a sign of His love (Heb 12:6). He is not a cosmic bully; He is a loving Father and a skilled surgeon. The pain is purposeful.

Second, our hope is grounded in a historical event: the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day. This is not a myth or a metaphor. Because Jesus literally walked out of a tomb, our hope for new life is not wishful thinking. When you repent and believe, you are united to this risen Christ. Your old self was crucified with Him, and you have been raised to walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4). This means that no matter how dead you feel, no matter how hopeless your situation seems, resurrection power is available to you. Your life is not a cycle; it is a story that ends in resurrection.

Finally, the Christian life is a life of pursuit. "Let us pursue to know Yahweh." Salvation is not the end of the race; it is the starting gun. Having been given life, we are now to spend that life getting to know the Giver. This means steeping ourselves in His Word, gathering with His people, and seeking His face in prayer. And we do this with confidence, knowing that He is not hiding from us. His coming is as certain as tomorrow's sunrise and as welcome as rain in a drought. He wants to be known. So let us press on to know Him.