Hosea 5:15
15. return to my place—that is, withdraw My favor.
till they acknowledge their offence—The Hebrew is, "till they suffer the penalty of their guilt." Probably "accepting the punishment of their guilt" (compare Zec 11:5) is included in the idea, as English Version translates. Compare Le 26:40, 41; Jer 29:12, 13; Eze 6:9; 20:43; 36:31. seek my face—that is, seek My favor (Pr 29:26, Margin). in . . . affliction . . . seek me early—that is, diligently; rising up before dawn to seek Me (Ps 119:147; compare Ps 78:34).Hosea 6:1
CHAPTER 6
Ho 6:1-11. THE ISRAELITES' EXHORTATION TO ONE ANOTHER TO SEEK THE LORD.
At Ho 6:4 a new discourse, complaining of them, begins; for Ho 6:1-3 evidently belong to Ho 5:15, and form the happy termination of Israel's punishment: primarily, the return from Babylon; ultimately, the return from their present long dispersion. Ho 6:8 perhaps refers to the murder of Pekahiah; the discourse cannot be later than Pekah's reign, for it was under it that Gilead was carried into captivity (2Ki 15:29).
1. let us return—in order that God who has "returned to His place" may return to us (Ho 5:15).
torn, and . . . heal— (De 32:39; Jer 30:17). They ascribe their punishment not to fortune, or man, but to God, and acknowledge that none (not the Assyrian, as they once vainly thought, Ho 5:13) but God can heal their wound. They are at the same time persuaded of the mercy of God, which persuasion is the starting-point of true repentance, and without which men would not seek, but hate and flee from God. Though our wound be severe, it is not past hope of recovery; there is room for grace, and a hope of pardon. He hath smitten us, but not so badly that He cannot heal us (Ps 130:4).Zechariah 12:10-14
10. Future conversion of the Jews is to flow from an extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Jer 31:9, 31-34; Eze 39:29).
spirit of grace . . . supplications—"spirit" is here not the spirit produced, but THE HOLY SPIRIT producing a "gracious" disposition, and inclination for "supplications." CALVIN explains "spirit of grace" as the grace of God itself (whereby He "pours" out His bowels of mercy), "conjoined with the sense of it in man's heart." The "spirit of supplications" is the mercury whose rise or fall is an unerring test of the state of the Church [MOORE]. In Hebrew, "grace" and "supplications" are kindred terms; translate, therefore, "gracious supplications." The plural implies suppliant prayers "without ceasing." Herein not merely external help against the foe, as before, but internal grace is promised subsequently. look upon me—with profoundly earnest regard, as the Messiah whom they so long denied. pierced—implying Messiah's humanity: as "I will pour . . . spirit" implies His divinity. look . . . mourn—True repentance arises from the sight by faith of the crucified Saviour. It is the tear that drops from the eye of faith looking on Him. Terror only produces remorse. The true penitent weeps over his sins in love to Him who in love has suffered for them. me . . . him—The change of person is due to Jehovah-Messiah speaking in His own person first, then the prophet speaking of Him. The Jews, to avoid the conclusion that He whom they have "pierced" is Jehovah-Messiah, who says, "I will pour out . . . spirit," altered "me" into "him," and represent the "pierced" one to be Messiah Ben (son of) Joseph, who was to suffer in the battle with Cog, before Messiah Ben David should come to reign. But Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic oppose this; and the ancient Jews interpreted it of Messiah. Ps 22:16 also refers to His being "pierced." So Joh 19:37; Re 1:7. The actual piercing of His side was the culminating point of all their insulting treatment of Him. The act of the Roman soldier who pierced Him was their act (Mt 27:25), and is so accounted here in Zechariah. The Hebrew word is always used of a literal piercing (so Zec 13:3); not of a metaphorical piercing, "insulted," as MAURER and other Rationalists (from the Septuagint) represent. as one mourneth for . . . son— (Jer 6:26; Am 8:10). A proverbial phrase peculiarly forcible among the Jews, who felt childlessness as a curse and dishonor. Applied with peculiar propriety to mourning for Messiah, "the first-born among many brethren" (Ro 8:29).11. As in Zec 12:10 the bitterness of their mourning is illustrated by a private case of mourning, so in this verse by a public one, the greatest recorded in Jewish history, that for the violent death in battle with Pharaoh-necho of the good King Josiah, whose reign had been the only gleam of brightness for the period from Hezekiah to the downfall of the state; lamentations were written by Jeremiah for the occasion (2Ki 23:29, 30; 2Ch 35:22-27).
Hadad-rimmon—a place or city in the great plain of Esdraelon, the battlefield of many a conflict, near Megiddo; called so from the Syrian idol Rimmon. Hadad also was the name of the sun, a chief god of the Syrians [MACROBIUS, Saturnalia, 1.23].12-14. A universal and an individual mourning at once.
David . . . Nathan—representing the highest and lowest of the royal order. Nathan, not the prophet, but a younger son of David (2Sa 5:14; Lu 3:31). apart—Retirement and seclusion are needful for deep personal religion. wives apart—Jewish females worship separately from the males (Ex 15:1, 20).13. Levi . . . Shimei—the highest and lowest of the priestly order (Nu 3:18, 21). Their example and that of the royal order would of course influence the rest.
14. All . . . that remain—after the fiery ordeal, in which two-thirds fall (Zec 13:8, 9).