Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
Parallel Translations
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Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
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Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
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afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall come trembling unto the LORD and to His goodness in the end of days.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
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Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Hosea 3:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 30:9 but they will serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.
- Jeremiah 50:4-5 “In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God. They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’
- Ezekiel 34:23-24 I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd. I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.
- Isaiah 2:2 It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
- Ezekiel 37:22-25 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. They won’t defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. So they will be my people, and I will be their God. “ ‘ “My servant David will be king over them. They all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. They will dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived. They will dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, forever. David my servant will be their prince forever.
- Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
- Psalms 130:3-4 If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, therefore you are feared.
- Isaiah 55:3-4 Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.
- Ezekiel 16:63 that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
- Micah 4:1 But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.
- 1 Kings 12:16 When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So Israel departed to their tents.
- Isaiah 27:12-13 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel. It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 3:22-23 Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God. Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God.
- Ezekiel 38:16 You will come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land. It will happen in the latter days, that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I am sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.”
- Daniel 2:28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:
- Daniel 10:14 Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for many days.”
- Hosea 5:6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh; but they won’t find him. He has withdrawn himself from them.
- Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
- Amos 9:11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;
- Acts 15:16-18 ‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up that the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.’ “All of God’s works are known to him from eternity.
- Romans 11:25 For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,
- Numbers 24:14 Now, behold, I go to my people. Come, I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.”
- Deuteronomy 4:30 When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to Yahweh your God and listen to his voice.
- Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
- Ezekiel 38:8 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought out of the peoples, and they will dwell securely, all of them.
- Jeremiah 30:24 The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return until he has accomplished, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.”
- Jeremiah 33:9 This city will be to me for a name of joy, for praise, and for glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.’ ”
- Jeremiah 33:17 For Yahweh says: “David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.
- Jeremiah 31:6-10 For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise! Let’s go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.’ ” For Yahweh says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’ Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company. They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn. “Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain But it follows, Afterwards shall the children of Israel…
But it follows, Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king. Here the Prophet shows by the fruit of their chastisement, that the Israelites had no reason to murmur or clamour against God, as though he treated them with too much severity; for if he had stretched out his hand to them immediately, there would have been in them no repentance: but when thoroughly cleansed by long correction, they would then truly and sincerely confess their God. We then see that this comfort is set forth as arising from the fruit of chastisement, that the Israelites might patiently bear the temporary wrath of God. Afterwards, he says, they shall return; as though he said, “They are now led away headlong into their impiety, and they can by no means be restrained except by this long endurance of evils.”
They shall therefore return, and then will they seek Jehovah their God. The name of the only true God is set here in opposition, as before, to all Baalim. The Israelites, indeed, professed to worship God; but Baalim, we know, were at the same time in high esteem among them, who were so many gods, and had crept into the place of God, and extinguished his pure worship: hence the Prophet says not simply, They shall seek God, but they shall “seek Jehovah their God”. And there is here an implied reproof in the word אלהים“Elohehem”; for it intimates that they were drawn aside into ungodly superstitions, that they were without the true God, that no knowledge of him existed among them; though God had offered himself to them, yea, had familiarly held intercourse with them, and brought them up as it were in his bosom, as a father his own children. Hence the Prophet indirectly upbraids them for this great wickedness when he says, They shall seek their God. And who is this God? He is even Jehovah. They had hitherto formed for themselves vain gods: and though, he says, they had been deluded by their own devices, they shall now know the only true God, who from the beginning revealed himself to them even as their God. He afterwards adds a second clause respecting King David: but I cannot now finish the subject.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain This is meant of Christ’s kingdom, which was promised…
This is meant of Christ’s kingdom, which was promised unto David to be eternal, Ps. 72:17.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return,…
Hos 3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
Ver. 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return] They shall come out of the furnace more refined than ever. "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder; the groves and images shall not stand up," Isa 27:9. Then indeed hath Jacob the right fruit of his sufferings, when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones, crumbling them to crattle; when he pulls down the groves and images, those Balaam’s stumbling blocks that lay in his way to God, and now resolves to return.
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And seek the herd] From whom they had deeply revolted; to seek his face and favour, to seek his ordinances and true worship, and lastly, to seek to know and do what is well pleasing in his sight. "Their hearts shall rejoice that thus seek the Lord"; and these are true converts indeed, these are those seekers, Psa 24:6, yea, this is Jacob (as there), Israelites indeed, such as cannot be (wherever they are cast) without God in the world, without Christ, who is here called David by a patronymic {surname} (as also elsewhere), not without allusion to the apostasy of the ten tribes from the house of David, and so from the true God; which now also they shall bewail as the root of their sin and ruin, Jer 30:9 Eze 34:24 1Ki 12:26.
And David their king] Called by Daniel, Messiah the Prince, Dan 9:25; and by Peter, Christ the Lord, Act 2:36. See Luk 1:32. Some think he is here called the goodness of God.
They shall fear the Lord and his goodness] Which also is his glory, Exo 33:19. The Hebrew is, they shall fear to the Lord ( pavebunt ad Dominum); trepidabunt, that is, trembling they shall make haste to him (as frightened doves do to their columbaries, see Hos 11:11); they shall kiss the Son with a kiss of homage, and with reverential fear submit to his kingdom.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Afterward; after these long and sore troubles have broken…
Afterward; after these long and sore troubles have broken their hearts and opened their eyes.
Return; repent; it is not a promise of return into their own country.
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Seek the Lord their God, to know his way, and to live under his protection and blessing, to worship him, and they shall pray to him, depend on him, consult with him, with ardency and earnestness of desire.
David their king; not son of Jesse, who was long since dead; nor Zerubbabel; but Messiah, who is elsewhere called David, Psa 132:10; Jer 30:9; Eze 34:24; 37:24,25, which see; and Amo 9:11. Shall fear the Lord; with reverence shall pray, depend on, and consult their God, and worship his Son the Messiah, whom the Father sent out of his infinite goodness and kindness towards us.
And his goodness; God and his goodness, i.e. the good and gracious God, such to us in Christ; God in Christ and with Christ shall be worshipped. In the latter days; in the days of the Messiah, in gospel times, and perhaps the last of these latter days.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Afterward shall the children of Israel return,.... The ten…
Afterward shall the children of Israel return,.... The ten tribes of Israel, and also the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which are included in the name of Israel, as Aben Ezra interprets it; and these are joined together in parallel places; see Jer 30:3 for though they did not go into captivity together, yet their return and conversion will be at the same time; and they are all spoken of under the name of Israel by the Apostle Paul, when he foretells their conversion and salvation, Rom 11:26. The "return" of them, here prophesied of, does not barely mean their return to their own land, which will be at this time; see Jer 30:3, but their return to the Lord by repentance; when they shall repent of, and turn from, their sinful course of life, and particularly of their unbelief and rejection of the true Messiah, and embrace him; and of their traditions and false ways of worship, which they shall discard; and of their own righteousness they shall now renounce; and shall turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in him for righteousness, life, and salvation:
and seek the Lord their God, and David their King; these may be considered either as two distinct persons, Jehovah the Father, and the Messiah, as in Eze 34:23 and so the Targum,
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"and seek the worship of the Lord their God, and obey Messiah the Son of David their King;''
who will be both equally sought after, and unto, by them; and which is a proof of the divinity of the Messiah, and of his equality with God his Father; as well as points out the right way in which Jehovah is to be sought, namely, with Christ, or in him, in whom he is a God gracious and merciful; and to seek and know both the one and the other is eternal life, Joh 17:3 or else all this is to be understood of the Messiah, rendering the words, "and seek the Lord their God, even David their King" as also Jer 30:9, may be rendered; and so these are all epithets, titles, and characters of him: he is Jehovah, the everlasting I AM; the true God, and eternal life; Immanuel, God with us; God in our nature, manifest in the flesh; the Son of David, and his antitype, often called David in Scripture. Psa 89:3, King of kings, King of the saints, of his church, and will be owned as such by the Jews at the time of their conversion, though they have rejected him; but now they will receive him, and be subject to him; they will seek to him for salvation, for the pardon of their sins, for righteousness, for rest, for food, for protection and safety, and to serve and obey him: and this seeking will not be out of curiosity, or in a carnal way, or for selfish ends; nor hypocritically; but with their whole hearts, and diligently, and in earnest. Not only the Targum interprets this of Messiah the Son of David, but Aben Ezra on the place says, this is the Messiah; and it is applied to him, and his times, by other Jewish writers, both ancient and modern. In an ancient book (h) of theirs, speaking of David, it is said, the holy blessed God is well pleased with him in this world, and in the world to come; in this world, as it is written, "and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake", Kg2 20:6, and in the world to come, as it is written,
they shall seek the Lord their God, and David their King, &c.; David was King in this world, and David shall be King in the time to come. And in both Talmuds the words are applied to the Messiah; in one of them (i), after quoting this text, it is added, the Rabbins say this is the King Messiah; if of the living, David is his name; if of the dead, David is his name. And in the other (k), it is said, when Jerusalem is built, David comes; that is, the Son of David, the Messiah; which is proved by this passage, "afterwards the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King"; that is, as the gloss interprets it, after they shall return to the house of the sanctuary, or the temple: so Abarbinel, both in his commentary upon this place, and elsewhere (l), as he interprets the "one head" in Hos 1:11, of Messiah ben Ephraim, whom he, with the rest of his tribe, feign shall perish in war; so he observes, that then Israel shall seek David their King, the rod out of the root of Jesse, whom the Lord shall choose, and cause to reign over them. And another of their later writers (m) interprets the passage of the Messiah, and produces it to prove against the Christians that he should come in the end of days, or in the latter days; as it is plain and certain that our Jesus, the true Messiah, came at the end of the Jewish world, in the last days of their civil and church state; see Heb 1:1,
and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter day; not man, but the Lord; not his wrath and vengeance, but his goodness; not with a servile, but with a godly filial fear; a fear influenced by the blessings of goodness they shall now be partakers of, particularly pardoning grace and mercy, Psa 130:3, they shall fear the Lord, who is good, and goodness itself, and Christ, in whom the goodness of God is displayed, and who is prevented with the blessings of goodness for his people: it may be rendered, they "shall fear", or "come fearing to the Lord, and his goodness" (n), being sensible of their sin, danger, and misery; they shall flee to the Lord as to their city of refuge, and to the blessings of his goodness they see their need of; and this they shall do in haste, as Aben Ezra interprets it, comparing it with Hos 11:11. The Septuagint version is, "they shall be amazed at the Lord, and his good things"; the Syriac version, "they shall know the Lord, and his goodness": the Arabic version, they shall confess the Lord, and his benefits; the Targum,
"they shall give themselves to the service of the Lord, and his goodness shall be multiplied, which shall come to them in the end of days;''
or, as Aben Ezra, in the end of the prophecy of the prophets, in future time, in the times of the Messiah; which, as Kimchi serves, are always meant by the last days; and here it signifies the latter day of the last days, or of the Gospel dispensation.
(h) Zohar in Exod. fol. 93. 3. (i) T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 5. 1. (k) T. Bab Megillah, fol. 18. 1. (l) Mashmiah Jeshuah, fol. 55. 4. (m) R. Isaac Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. p. 44. (n) "pavebunt ad Dominum", Montanus; "providi accedent ad Jehovam, et ad bonitatem ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius; "et cum timore venient ad Jehovam, et ad bonum ejus", Schmidt; so Ben Melech interprets it, "they shall fear, and be afraid of him, flow to him, and to his goodness"; and which, he says, Saadiah explains of his glory, agreeably to Exod. xxxiii. 19.
Next: Hosea Chapter 4
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Return - Repent. And David - The Messiah who…
Return - Repent. And David - The Messiah who is the son of David. And his goodness - God and his goodness; that is, the good and gracious God. God in Christ and with Christ shall be worshipped. The latter days - In the days of the Messiah, in gospel-times.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return]…
Verse 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return] Shall repent of their iniquities, and seek the Lord; lay aside their mock worship, and serve the true God in spirit and in truth.
And David their king] Or as the Targum, "They shall obey the Messiah, the Son of David, their King;" and thus look believingly upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn. And then shall their long spiritual darkness and dismal captivity have an end; but not before. The Messiah, as David, is promised in Jer 30:9; Eze 24:23; Eze 37:22; Eze 37:24-25, (where see the notes,) and in this place of Hosea. Some think that the family of David is intended; but if we go to the rigour of the letter, the house of Israel was scarcely ever perfectly submissive to David. And we know that after the death of Solomon they never acknowledged the house of David till they were all carried away captive; and certainly never since. And to say that Zerubbabel is here meant, is not supportable, as the very short and imperfect obedience of the Jews to Zerubbabel can never comport with the high terms of this and similar prophecies. We are obliged, therefore, from the evidence of these prophecies, from the evidence of the above facts, from the evidence of the rabbins themselves, and from the evidence of the New Testament, to consider these texts as applying solely to JESUS CHRIST, the promised MESSIAH, who has been a light to lighten the Gentiles, and will yet be the glory of his people Israel. There is a strange propensity in some men to deny these evidences of Christianity, while they profess to believe its doctrines.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Hos 3:5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return…
Hos 3:5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return — When they have lived a long time in this state, without any country or government of their own, without any temple or place of worship, and without the liberty and proper means for offering sacrifices; they shall be touched with a true remorse for their former errors, and weary of this forlorn and desolate condition, shall bethink themselves of Jehovah the true God, and shall seek unto him by prayer and supplication. And shall seek David their king — That is, the son of David, the Messiah, often called David by the prophets, as being not only descended from David, but the person in whom all the promises made to David were to receive their full and final accomplishment: see the margin. So the Chaldee paraphrase expounds this and the parallel texts. David was also a type of the Messiah, and therefore the latter is called by the name of David. Thus John the Baptist is called Elias, Mal 4:5, because he was to resemble him, and to succeed him in his office of reproving the people, and calling them to repentance. The expression cannot be literally understood here, David himself having been dead long before the uttering of this prophecy. And shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days — That is, they shall reverence the Lord, stand in awe of him, and fear to offend him, and shall put their trust in and be grateful for his goodness, manifested in their redemption, their illumination by the gospel, their conversion to God, and their restoration to their own land; and hence they shall yield an entire obedience to him, shall worship and serve him in spirit and in truth, and live to his glory. And this will come to pass in the latter days, or times, of the world: see notes on Isa 2:2; Dan 2:44.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Afterward shall the children of Israel return - Elsewhere…
Afterward shall the children of Israel return - Elsewhere it is said more fully, “return to the Lord.” It expresses more than “turning” or even conversion to God. It is not conversion only, but reversion too, a turning “back from” the unbelief and sins, for which they had left God, and a return to Him whom they had forsaken.
And shall seek the Lord - This word, “seek,” expresses in Hebrew, from its intensive form, a diligent search; as used with regard to God, it signifies a religious search. It is not such seeking as our Lord speaks of, “Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled” Joh 6:26, or, “many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able” Luk 13:24, but that earnest seeking, to which He has promised, “Seek and ye shall find.” Before, she had diligently sought her false gods. Now, in the end she shall as diligently seek God and His grace, as she had heretofore sought her idols and her sins.
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And David their King - David himself, after the flesh, this could not be. For he had long since been gathered to his fathers; nor was he to return to this earth. “David” then must be “the Son of David,” the same, of whom God says, “I will set up One Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David, and He shall be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David a Prince among them” Eze 34:23-24. The same was to be a “witness, leader, commander to the people Isa 55:4; He who was to be “raised up to David Jer 23:5-6, a righteous Branch,” and who was to “be called the Lord our Righteousness; David’s Lord” Psa 110:1, as well as “David’s Son.” Whence the older Jews, of every school, Talmudic, mystical, Biblical, grammatical, explained this prophecy, of Christ. Thus their received paraphrase is: “Afterward the children of Israel shall repent, or turn by repentance, and shall seek the service of the Lord their God, and shall obey Messiah the Son of David, their King” .
And shall fear the Lord - Literally, “shall fear toward the Lord and toward His goodness.” It is not then a servile fear, not even, as elsewhere, a fear, which makes them shrink back from His awful Majesty. It is a fear, the most opposed to this; a fear, whereby “they shall flee to Him for help, from all that is to be feared;” a reverent holy awe, which should even impel them to Him; a fear of losing Him, which should make them hasten to Him. : “They shall fear, and wonder exceedingly, astonied at the greatness of God’s dealing, or of their own joy.” Yet they should “hasten tremblingly,” as bearing in memory their past unfathfulness and ill deserts, and fearing to approach, but for the greater fear on turning away. Nor do they hasten with this reverent awe and awful joy to God only, but “to His Goodness also.” His Goodness draws them, and to it they betake themselves, away from all cause of fear, their sins, themselves, the Evil one. Yet even His Goodness is a source of awe. “His Goodness!” How much it contains. All whereby God is good in Himself, all whereby he is good to us. That whereby he is essentially good, or rather Goodness; that whereby He is good to us, as His creatures, its yet more as His sinfill, ungrateful, redeemed creatures, re-born to bear the Image of His Son. So then His Goodness overflows into beneficence, and condescension, and graciousness and mercy and forgiving love, and joy in imparting Himself, and complacence in the creatures which he has formed, and re-formed, redeemed and sanctified for His glory. Well may His creatures “tremble toward” it, with admiring wonder that all this can be made their’s!
This was to take place “in the latter days.” These words, which are adopted in the New Testament, where Apostles say, “in the last days, in these last days” Act 2:17; Heb 1:2, mean this, the last dispensation of God, in contrast with all which went before, the times of the Gospel . The prophecy has all along been fulfilled during this period to those, whether of the ten or of the two tribes, who have been converted to Christ, since God ended their temple-worship. It is fulfilled in every soul from among them, who now is “converted and lives.” There will be a more full fulfillment, of which Paul speaks, when the eyes of all Israel shall be opened to the deceivableness of the last antichrist; and Enoch and Elias, the two witnesses Rev 11:3, shall have come to prepare our Lord’s second Coming, and shall have keen slain, and, by God’s converting grace, “all Israel shall be saved” Rom 11:26.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain David, their king. That is, Christ, who is of…
David, their king. That is, Christ, who is of the house of David. (Challoner) --- After the captivity, the Jews submitted to Zorobabel. Yet this only foreshewed a more sincere conversion to Jesus Christ. In fact, the house of David never regained the throne, (Calmet) and it is not clear that Zorobabel had any authority over the people. (Haydock) --- Christ is the literal object of this prediction. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Afterward--after the long period ("many days," Hos 3:4) has…
Afterward--after the long period ("many days," Hos 3:4) has elapsed.
return--from their idols to "their God," from whom they had wandered.
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David their king--Israel had forsaken the worship of Jehovah at the same time that they forsook their allegiance to David's line. Their repentance towards God is therefore to be accompanied by their return to the latter. So Judah and Israel shall be one, and under "one head," as is also foretold (Hos 1:11). That representative and antitype of David is Messiah. "David" means "the beloved." Compare as to Messiah, Mat 3:17; Eph 1:6. Messiah is called David (Isa 55:3-4; Jer 30:9; Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:24-25).
fear the Lord and his goodness--that is, tremblingly flee to the Lord, to escape from the wrath to come; and to His goodness," as manifested in Messiah, which attracts them to Him (Jer 31:12). The "fear" is not that which "hath torment" (Jo1 4:18), but reverence inspired by His goodness realized in the soul (Psa 130:4).
the latter days--those of Messiah [KIMCHI].
Next: Hosea Chapter 4
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. The judgment will bring the people to their…
5. The judgment will bring the people to their senses and prepare them for intimate fellowship with Jehovah.
Afterward — After the judgment has exercised its salutary effect.
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Return, and seek — Not necessarily from exile. The construction is the same as that in Hos_2:9, where R.V. renders “take back”; here equivalent to seek again — Cured from apostasy, they will return from following the Baalim and seek Jehovah. Him, and him alone, will they recognize as their God.
David their king — See Introduction, p. 34.
Shall fear [“come with fear unto”] Jehovah — The same verb is translated “shall thrill,” that is, with joyous emotion, in Isa_60:5 (compare Jer_33:9; Hos_11:11); that seems to be the thought here: they will approach Jehovah trembling with joyful anticipation, though a sense of fear is not absent when they think of their former sinfulness.
His goodness — As manifested in the restoration of the gifts withdrawn, in his readiness to forgive, and in the pouring out of countless blessings in which the Messianic age abounds (Hos_2:21-22; Amo_9:11 ff.; Jer_31:11-13, etc.).
In the latter days — See on Mic_4:1.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. return] i.e. from their evil courses of disobedience…
5. return] i.e. from their evil courses of disobedience to their God and to the legitimate royal house.
David their king] There is a great body of authority for regarding this as an expression for the Messiah. So the Targum took it, so Aben Ezra, and other Jewish writers cited by Pococke. The interpretation rests on the undoubted fact that in Jer_30:9; Eze_34:23-24; Eze_37:24-25 ‘David’ means the ideal king of the future who should prove as it were a second David. In all these passages however there is something in the context to determine the reference to a person, and all these passages belong to a later period in the development of the Messianic revelation. The analogy of Amo_9:11 suggests that what is in Hosea’s mind is, not the person of the king, but the dynasty. In short, ‘David’ = the representative of David. Precisely so Rehoboam is still ‘David’ in 1Ki_12:16, and the high priest ‘Aaron’ in Psa_133:2. Hosea does not sanction the usurping dynasties (see on Hos_1:11).
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and shall fear the Lord and his goodness] Rather, and shall come eagerly to Jehovah and to his goodness (or, ‘to His good things’). ‘Come eagerly to’ is literally, ‘tremble to’, but the idea is not that they will tremble at their own unworthiness, but rather ‘trement præ gaudio’ (as the same verb means in Isa_60:8). Comp. the similar expression in Hos_11:10, where however the idea of speech is included. The parallel passage in Jer_31:10 proves that the revived love of the Israelites for Jehovah will have ‘cast out fear’.
in the latter days] Rather, in the days to come (lit., ‘in the sequel of the days’); see on Mic_4:1. Hosea does not mean to say that this will be the last αἰὼν in the course of history; but only that after Israel’s captivity, nothing will arise to break the harmony between Jehovah and his people.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) David their king.—Meaning the predicted representative of the…
(5) David their king.—Meaning the predicted representative of the Davidic dynasty. Thus Rehoboam and his house are spoken of as “David” (1Ki_12:16). The phrase “latter days” is used indefinitely of the distant future, the horizon of the seer’s gaze. It occurs in Gen_49:1 (Authorised version, “last days”). We can only see the fulfilment of this anticipation in the Messianic reign. (Comp. Eze_34:23; Eze_37:24.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek…
Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord theft God, and David their king. The note of time in the beginning of ver. 5 is explained by Rashi to signify "after the days of the Captivity;" and by Kimchi as follows: "This will take place at the end of the days, near the time of salvation, when the children of Israel shall return in repentance." Though not comprehended in the symbolic representation that precedes, this statement is necessary to complete it. The future of Israel is the burden of this promise; the blessedness of that future is its brightness. It comprises three items the reversal of their previous career, their loving return to the Lord their God, and their cordial reception of David their king. Contemporaneous with their sorrow for the sins of the past was their serious seeking of the Lord their God and submission to David their king. Their revolt from the Davidic dynasty in the days of Rehoboam was immediately followed by the idolatry of the calves which Jeroboam set up at Dan and Bethel. The reversal of this course is symptomatic of their complete recovery. The patriarch David was long dead and buried, and his sepulcher was in Palestine at the time when the prophet wrote; one, therefore, in the Davidic line, a descendant from, and dynastic representative of, the patriarch must be meant. That this was Messiah there can be no reasonable doubt; parallel passages in the other prophets prove this; for example: "I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them". (Eze_34:23, Eze_34:25; comp. also Eze_37:24) Again in Jeremiah (Jer_30:9) we read to the same purpose, "They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them." We can by no means concur with those who refer this promise to Zerubbabel as a later occupant of the Davidic throne; and just as little with those who, like Wunsche, hold that the prophet has no particular period and no particular person in view, but presents the prospect of a happy and blissful future when Israel would return to the pure worship of Jehovah and enjoy his gracious protection, and when the national prosperity would equal or even far surpass that under the glorious reign of David himself. The best Jewish authorities are quoted in favor of the same; thus Rabbi Tanchum says, "He (the prophet) understands the son of David, occupying his place, from his lineage, walking in his way, by whom his name shall endure and his kingdom be preserved." The Chaldee Targum translates in the same sense: They shall seek the worship of Jehovah their God, and obey Messiah, the Son of David, their king." So Aben Ezra says that "David their king is this Messiah, Like "My servant David shall be their prince forever"." (Eze_37:25) The well-known idiom of one idea expressed by two verbs, so that the rendering of the clause would be "They shall again seek the Lord their God, and David their king," if applied here, as undoubtedly it might, would weaken the sense, and so be unsuitable to the context. And shall fear (literally, come with trembling to) the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. The comment of Kimchi on the first part of this clause is as follows: "They shall tremble and be afraid of him when they return to him, and shall with repentance wait for the goodness of redemption on which they have trusted." A somewhat different meaning is assigned to the words by Aben Ezra: "They shall return in haste, when the end (i.e. the time of redemption) comes to their own land with hasty course suddenly." His goodness is taken by some in a concrete sense, as signifying the blessings which he bestows and the good gifts which he imparts; and by others in the abstract, as the Divine goodness or majesty, to which Israel resorts for the pardon of sin and the gracious acceptance of their petitions and answer of their prayers.
Returning to God.
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This is another instance of the remarkable conjunction of threat and promise. It seems as if the prophet no sooner uttered a word of denunciation, a prediction of wrath, than he followed it up with a prospect of reconciliation and an assurance of blessing.
I THE OCCASION OF THIS RETURN. There is no note of exact time; but the reference is to "the latter days," to a period described as afterward." Comparing this language with the context, we infer that this return to God should follow upon departure from God, and upon a bitter experience of the evil consequences of such forsaking. How often, as in the case of Israel, is it necessary that the sinner should learn that "the way of transgressors is hard"! Surely chastening, which is designed to produce a juster estimate of sin and a sincere desire for deliverance, is not to be resented, but rather received with humility, that it may lead to contrition, repentance, and amendment.
II THE PURPOSE OF THIS RETURN. Observe:
1. To whom should Israel return. To "the Lord their God," whom they had forsaken in order to worship the vain gods of the heathen, but who, nevertheless, had a claim upon them that none other had, and who never ceased to be their God. In this Israel represents mankind; whoever returns to the Lord, returns to his own, proper, rightful God. To "David their king," from whose dynasty they had revolted in the pride, self-sufficiency, and rebelliousness of their heart. David was representative of the theocracy, for he was "the Lord"s anointed," and he was an emblem of him who was David"s Son and David"s Lord. So that whoever returns to the Lord by the gospel of Jesus Christ, returns unto David, whose "sure mercies" are ratified in the Divine Savior.
2. In what spirit Israel should return. They should seek" the Lord, and should "fear" or approach with reverential devoutness the Lord and his goodness. The spirit thus described is a spirit of true earnestness, a spirit of lowly repentance, and a spirit of trembling confidence in that "goodness" upon which alone a contrite sinner can rely, and upon which he can never rely in vain. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And shall fear the Lord and His goodness in…
Hos_3:5
And shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.
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Goodness producing fear
There are three points here peculiarly worthy of our notice. The designation which is given to the Gospel dispensation--the goodness of the Lord. The first stage of its development--in the latter days. The peculiar effect which this development was to produce on the feelings and passions of men--They shall fear the Lord. The Gospel dispensation is in itself the essence, the consummation, the perfection of excellence. It deserves that appellation because it is the supreme gift, the supreme evidence, and the supreme instrument of Divine love. Goodness generally excites admiration and gratitude and obedience, but here it is said that the exhibition of goodness produces fear. In the first establishment of the Christian dispensation there was everything calculated to produce fear. The astonishing fall of the Jews. A most splendid exhibition of Divine power. Expectation that the end of the world was at hand. The general principle which we consider is--that the goodness of God in the Gospel is calculated to produce fear. Why?
I. Because this goodness throws fresh light on the terrors of sin. Fear, philosophically defined, is this, a painful sensation produced by the apprehension of imminent danger, and that danger may be the loss of present enjoyment, the fear of future disappointment, or the infliction of positive injury. But this is not the fear of our text. There is in it a holy, reverential, and even pleasing awe, produced in the mind by the sight of those visions which the goodness of God in the Gospels unfolds to the mind. When Divine light pierces the darkness of the soul, the mind sees its guilt, feels its pollution, apprehends its terrific and awful doom. I much question whether any man has ever been converted without, first of all, feeling the sensation of fear. It is impossible for any man to be impressed with the depravity of his own mind unless he is impressed with the excellence of the Gospel.
II. By the exhibition of the goodness of the Gospel we see the terrors of sin in the world. Who is the man that detects, mourns over, and attempts by Gods help to remove the sin that is in the world? Surely it is the man who has received this light. Let us be alive to the real state of things in the world.
III. The goodness of god in the gospel produces fear because it is an extraordinary act of Jehovah, and arises from absolute sovereignty. If our salvation were in our own hands why should we fear? If we had a power superior to any power hostile to our salvation, why should we fear? Or if our salvation depended upon the absolute justice of God--if God could not have been just without saving us, why should we fear? But the fact is that God saves us purely and exclusively because He wishes to do it. The very perfections of the Deity qualify Him to act as a sovereign. He acts from His own spontaneousness. God might not have exercised any sovereignty in the way of mercy. The sovereignty of God does real and positive good. But while it does this good, it leaves the sinner just where he was. There is a real exercise of the sovereignty in the salvation of man. Let us fear, then, because our responsibility is awfully augmented. Our gratitude to God ought to correspond to the character of the blessings which we have received. And our exertions for the good of others ought to correspond to the value of the blessings that we enjoy. (Caleb Morris.)
True and worthy fear
It is not a servile fear, not even, as elsewhere, a fear which makes them shrink back from His awful majesty. It is a fear most opposed to this; a fear whereby they shall flee to Him for help, from all that is to be feared; a reverent holy awe, which should even impel them to Him; a fear of losing Him, which should make them hasten to Him. They shall fear, and wonder exceedingly, astonied, at the greatness of Gods dealing, or of their now joy. Yet they should hasten tremblingly, as bearing in memory their past unfaithfulness and ill deserts, and fearing to approach but for the greater fear of turning away. Nor do they hasten with this reverent awe and awful joy to God only, but to His goodness also. His goodness draws them, and to it they betake themselves, away from all cause of fear, their sins, themselves, the evil One. Yet even His goodness is a source of awe. How much it contains! All whereby God is good in Himself, all whereby He is good to us. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Fear to the Lord
I shall speak of the fear of God here only as it concerns this place. It is introduced here to show that when this glorious Church shall be formed, when God shall call home His own people the Jews, and bring in the fulness of the Gentiles, then shall the fear of God mightily prevail upon the hearts of the people; and the greater Gods goodness shall be, the more shall the fear of God be on their hearts. It is remarkable that almost all the prophecies which speak of the glorious condition of the Church ever make mention of the fear of God that should rest then on the hearts of the people. One would rather think that there should be a reference to the joy they would have. But why fear the Lord in these times?
1. Because of the glory of Christ their King. They shall behold their King in glory that shall cause fear.
2. Because of the great works of God that shall then take place.
3. Because the holiness and purity of the worship of God and of His ordinances shall cause fear.
4. Because the holiness of the saints, appearing brightly in their very faces and conversations, shall Strike great fear. Surely when the saints shall be exalted in their holiness, when every one of them shall have their souls filled with God, it will cause abundance of fear in the hearts of all those who shall even converse with them. But the wicked shall fear too, as well as the saints. Mens hearts shall fail them for fear, shall be verified in these days, as it was in the destruction of Jerusalem. The saints shall fear the Lord and His goodness. The goodness of God which in that day they shall fear, shall be this--
(1) That ever He should regard such a wretched people as this, and pardon all their sins.
(2) Because God shall then make the difference between him that feareth God, and him that feareth Him not. Then shall God take away all the reproach of His saints. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Israels conversion
1. Albeit that Israel as a nation hath been, and yet is, rejected and lost, yet they will certainly return to God. This we should long and pray for.
2. As true repentance and conversion will appear in mens being sensible of their great distance from God, and in their seeking to make up this distance, so all this is a sweet and blessed fruit of affliction.
3. The covenant standeth still to be forthcoming for apostates, when they repent and turn to God, renouncing false ways and worship.
4. There is no right seeking of God, nor finding Him, or the comforts of the Covenant, but through Christ, whom converted Israel shall acknowledge and embrace.
5. The conversion will appear in its constancy and perseverance, and particularly in the converts entertaining a holy fear and awe of God.
6. As God is always good to His own people, whatever they may think to the contrary, so much of His goodness will be manifested in the time of that life from the dead, when all Israel shall be saved.
7. The goodness of God will not make a true convert presumptuous, but will be unto him matter of reverence and holy fear and trembling.
8. Albeit Israel be long in gathering and converting, yet we are firmly to believe that, before time end, it will certainly come to pass; for all this shall be in the latter days. (George Hutcheson.)
Fearing the Lords goodness
Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
I. There is much that men do not know.
II. One thing that men do not know is the goodness of God. Goodness is a comprehensive term. God saw creation, and pronounced it good. Goodness includes beneficence, forbearance, patience. It may be likened to a rich flowing river, or to the sun shedding light and warmth all around. But goodness is not the thing that most strikes men in God. But it should be. It may be seen everywhere.
1. Trace it in Scripture story. Life of Jacob. Tale of the wanderings. Time of captivity. Life of Jesus.
2. See it in gracious providences. Winter snows. Summer storms. Autumn harvests.
3. See it in individual experiences. If we read the story of our lives aright, we shall be able to trace everywhere upon us the good hand of our God for good. But is this mans chief thought of God? Is it not rather the Gospel which has to be declared? Is not this the surprising, melting, persuading Gospel, whose chief rays fall from Christ crucified?
III. If men did but know the goodness of God they would feel the holy fear and hear the call to repentance. Men either find a sort of excuse in persisting that God is a God of wrath and judgment, or they presume on His goodness, and say that He will take no notice of sin. Spite of this, the mightiest of all moral forces is goodness. It is mothers power. It is Christs power. It melts, draws, wins. But it is goodness not in the abstract. It is goodness brought home to us. Who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Goodness says, Repent. Is that hard? Nay, it is but the first step on the way to trust, love, and life eternal. Gods new goodness seems to freshen the sense of His lifelong goodness, and of His saving goodness, until the cords of God seem to be all about us, and it becomes evident that He is graciously leading us to Himself. (Robert Tuck, B. A.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:5 The Lord’s purpose for depriving the Israelites of…
3:5 The Lord’s purpose for depriving the Israelites of these things was to get them to return to him in reverential awe and recognize him alone as the source of all goodness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.