Hosea 13:5
5. I did know thee—did acknowledge thee as Mine, and so took care of thee (Ps 144:3; Am 3:2). As I knew thee as Mine, so thou shouldest know no God but Me (Ho 13:4).
in . . . land of . . . drought— (De 8:15).Hosea 13:9-10
9. thou . . . in me—in contrast.
hast destroyed thyself—that is, thy destruction is of thyself (Pr 6:32; 8:36). in me is thine help—literally, "in thine help" (compare De 33:26). Hadst thou rested thy hope in Me, I would have been always ready at hand for thy help [GROTIUS].10. I will be thy king; where—rather, as the Margin and the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, "Where now is thy king?" [MAURER]. English Version is, however, favored both by the Hebrew, by the antithesis between Israel's self-chosen and perishing kings, and God, Israel's abiding King (compare Ho 3:4, 5).
where . . . Give me a king—Where now is the king whom ye substituted in My stead? Neither Saul, whom the whole nation begged for, not contented with Me their true king (1Sa 8:5, 7, 19, 20; 10:19), nor Jeroboam, whom subsequently the ten tribes chose instead of the line of David My anointed, can save thee now. They had expected from their kings what is the prerogative of God alone, namely, the power of saving them. judges—including all civil authorities under the king (compare Am 2:3).Hosea 14:4-5
4. God's gracious reply to their self-condemning prayer.
backsliding—apostasy: not merely occasional backslidings. God can heal the most desperate sinfulness [CALVIN]. freely—with a gratuitous, unmerited, and abundant love (Eze 16:60-63). So as to the spiritual Israel (Joh 15:16; Ro 3:24; 5:8; 1Jo 4:10).5. as the dew—which falls copiously in the East, taking the place of the more frequent rains in other regions. God will not be "as the early dew that goeth away," but constant (Ho 6:3, 4; Job 29:19; Pr 19:12).
the lily—No plant is more productive than the lily, one root often producing fifty bulbs [PLINY, Natural History, 21.5]. The common lily is white, consisting of six leaves opening like bells. The royal lily grows to the height of three or four feet; Mt 6:29 alludes to the beauty of its flowers. roots as Lebanon—that is, as the trees of Lebanon (especially the cedars), which cast down their roots as deeply as is their height upwards; so that they are immovable [JEROME], (Isa 10:34). Spiritual growth consists most in the growth of the root which is out of sight.Hosea 14:8
8. Ephraim shall say —being brought to penitence by God's goodness, and confessing and abhorring his past madness.
I have heard . . . and observed him—I Jehovah have answered and regarded him with favor; the opposite of God's "hiding His face from" one (De 31:17). It is the experience of God's favor, in contrast to God's wrath heretofore, that leads Ephraim to abhor his past idolatry. Jehovah heard and answered: whereas the idols, as Ephraim now sees, could not hear, much less answer. I am . . . a green fir—or cypress; ever green, winter and summer alike; the leaves not falling off in winter. From me is thy fruit found—"From Me," as the root. Thou needest go no farther than Me for the supply of all thy wants; not merely the protection implied by the shadow of the cypress, but that which the cypress has not, namely, fruit, all spiritual and temporal blessings. It may be also implied, that whatever spiritual graces Ephraim seeks for or may have, are not of themselves, but of God (Ps 1:3; Joh 15:4, 5, 8; Jas 1:17). God's promises to us are more our security for mortifying sin than our promises to God (Isa 27:9).