Oséias 3

Oséias 3

Morris - The "many days" thus prophesied have continued now for almost 2000 years. The children of Israel have been without a king and a prince ever since Nebuchadnezzar deposed and blinded King Zedekiah, after slaying his sons before his eyes (2 Kings 25:7). As far as is known, the children of Israel also abandoned their pagan images and teraphim when the Babylonians took them into captivity about 590 B.C. Furthermore, they have been without sacrifices and priestly ephods ever since the Romans destroyed the temple in A.D. 70. Hosea 3:5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days. NET Hosea 3:5 Afterward, the Israelites will turn and seek the LORD their God and their Davidic king. Then they will submit to the LORD in fear and receive his blessings in the future. LXE Hosea 3:5 And afterward shall the children of Israel return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall be amazed at the Lord and at his goodness in the latter days. NLT Hosea 3:5 But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the LORD their God and to David's descendant, their king. In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the LORD and of his goodness. KJV Hosea 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. ESV Hosea 3:5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days. CSB Hosea 3:5 Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days. NIV Hosea 3:5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days. NAB Hosea 3:5 Then the people of Israel shall turn back and seek the LORD, their God, and David, their king; They shall come trembling to the LORD and to his bounty, in the last days. NKJ Hosea 3:5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days. NJB Hosea 3:5 but after that, the Israel- ites will return and again seek Yahweh their God and David their king, and turn trembling to Yahweh for his bounty in the final days. GWN Hosea 3:5 After that, the Israelites will turn and look to the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD for his blessings in the last days. NRS Hosea 3:5 Afterward the Israelites shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; they shall come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days. YLT Hosea 3:5 Afterwards turned back have the sons of Israel, and sought Jehovah their God, and David their king, and have hastened unto Jehovah, and unto His goodness, in the latter end of the days. and seek the LORD their God: Ho 5:6,15 Isa 27:12,13 Jer 3:22,23 31:6-10 50:4,5 and David their king: 1Ki 12:16 Isa 55:3,4 Jer 30:9 Jer 33:17 Eze 34:23,24 Ezek 37:22-25 Am 9:11 Ac 15:16-18 they will come trembling to the LORD: Ps 130:3,4 Jer 33:9 Eze 16:63 Ro 2:4 to His goodness in the last days: Nu 24:14 De 4:30 Isa 2:2 Jer 30:24 Eze 38:8,16 Da 2:28 10:14 Mic 4:1 Ro 11:25 Afterward - This time phrase should always cause you to pause and ask the simple question "To what time is the writer referring?" This will usually force you to examine the context to answer the question. The sons of Israel will return - Again and again God has called out for Israel to return but she has refused (Neh 1:9, Hos 11:5, Joel 2:12+, Zech 1:3, Mal 3:7+). Of course there has always been a remnant of Israel who heeded God's call to return to Him and by grace through faith in Messiah they did return. There are reports in our day (2019) that increasing numbers of Jewish people are hearing God's call to return and they are heeding His call and are returning to Him! Hallelujah! Thank You Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel! So as implied in the preceding paragraph Hosea's prophecy is a description of Israel repenting and returning with a whole heart to God. Any what will be the impetus for their return? It is not within themselves. Israel in her own, natural (fleshly, fallen) strength has no desire and no power to return to Jehovah. And yet Hosea says the sons of Israel will return. Hosea does not explain how this return will be spiritually energized so we have to look at other passages. Isaiah prophesies that will return because God wipes out her transgressions and redeems her (Isa 44:22). Jeremiah adds that she will return because God gives her a heart to know God (Jer 24:7), to know her Messiah and her Redeemer, Jesus Christ, which of course is a description of the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31-37+ “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make (cut) a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, (NOTICE THE NEW COVENANT IS NOT INITIALLY PROMISED TO THE CHURCH BUT TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL) 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke (MOSAIC COVENANT), although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. 33“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” 35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36 “If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the LORD, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever.” 37 Thus says the LORD, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the LORD. (See commentary) Related Resources: Covenant: Abrahamic versus Mosaic Covenant: New Covenant in the Old Testament Covenant: Why the New is Better Covenant: Abrahamic vs Old vs New Passages on return to Me... Nehemiah 1:9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ Isaiah 44:22 “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” Jeremiah 3:7 “I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Jeremiah 3:10 “Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 4:1 “If you will return, O Israel,” declares the LORD, “Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver, Jeremiah 24:7 ‘I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. Hosea 11:5 They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria–he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me. Joel 2:12+ “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; Zechariah 1:3 “Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the LORD of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:7+ “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ And seek the LORD their God And David their king - In my humble opinion (and I realize that this goes against most of the comments by the experts), if one reads this text literally, it is a clear reference to the man David, who will be resurrected at the end of this age (along with men like Daniel the prophet, etc - Da 12:13+, Jer 30:9+) and he will live and reign in the 1000 year millennial kingdom ruled by the Messiah, the King of kings. Notice in Ezek 37:25 the phrase "Jacob My servant" clearly is a reference to the literal Jacob which would support the next phrase "David My servant" also being a reference to the literal David. I am not sure why there is such "resistance" to letting the Biblical text say what it clearly, literally says. This interpretation in no way would take away from the honor and esteem that alone goes to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. In English AND is a coordinating conjunction expressing two elements to be taken together OR in addition to each other. If this text is read literally, it implies two distinct entities, the LORD and David. It does not say "the LORD their God and the (greater) son of David their king." While I have not done an exhaustive study of this issue, I am not aware of any passage in the Bible that refers to Jesus Christ as "David." Take special note of the first verse of the most "Jewish" of the Gospels, the Gospel of Matthew which says "The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham." (Mt 1:1) Below are all the NT uses of the phrase Son of David. Note the prevalence of this Name in the "Jewish" Gospel of Matthew, for the Jews were looking for "the Son of David" which was a Name they used for the Messiah. And notice that even at His (so called) "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem the Jews who were looking for a conquering king, hailed Jesus as the "Son of David" for they thought He had come to defeat the Roman rule. Notice they did not refer to Jesus as "David the king." And again notice how Jesus Himself alludes to His identity as the son of David in Mt 22:42-45) Matt. 1:1; Matt. 1:20; Matt. 9:27; Matt. 12:23; Matt. 15:22; Matt. 20:30; Matt. 20:31; Matt. 21:9; Matt. 21:15; Matt. 22:42; Mk. 10:47; Mk. 10:48; Mk. 12:35; Lk. 3:31; Lk. 18:38; Lk. 18:39 Below are passages that mention David in the position of king in passages that refer to the Messianic Kingdom: Jeremiah 30:9+ ‘But they shall serve the LORD their God AND David their king, whom I will raise up for them. Ezekiel 34:23 “Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. 24 “And I, the LORD, will be their God, AND My servant David will be prince among them; I the LORD have spoken. Ezekiel 37:24+ “My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. 25 “They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. Hosea 3:5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God AND David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days. Isaiah 55:3-4 “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David. 4 “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, A leader and commander for the peoples. Now before you write me, in the interest of full disclosure, there is a passage that would at least potentially support the interpretation that Jesus is David. Luke records... He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Lk 1:32-33+) One could say from this passage since Jesus will receive the "throne of His father David" then David could not be king. And I will agree this passage would support those who say all of the Old Testament passages of the LORD and David refer to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot argue against that logic, but again when one compares Scripture with Scripture, the bulk of passages when interpreted literally would favor a literal David ruling under the King of kings. And in support of this interpretation, to reiterate, not one passage in the Bible calls Jesus "David." Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel are all writing to Jewish readers who apparently would have been familiar with the Messianic title "Son of David," and yet not one of these prophets uses that phrase in passages that mention David as future king. Related Resource: Discussion of Identity of David in Jeremiah 30:9 Another discussion of "Who is David about whom Jeremiah prophesies?" And they will come trembling to the LORD - This verse leaves off "David their king," which indirectly supports the premise that Hosea is referring to two distinct individuals, the first being the Messiah, the King of kings, to Whom the redeemed nation of Israel would rightly approach with trembling. The second individual would be David the king, to whom the redeemed Jews would not come trembling for he is but a man (even if resurrected and glorified! E.g., cf John in Rev 19:10+ and Rev 22:8+ in contrast with Rev 1:17+ and Josh 5:15). And to His goodness - The goodness of Jehovah. Ps 119:68 You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes. Related Resource: Good, goodness of God In the last days - This critical time phrase begs the question "When are the last days?" We could look at other Biblical uses of this time phrase (see resource below), but the context in this case is very instructive. Clearly, Hosea says these are days when Israel returns to the LORD and seeks the LORD. These prophetic descriptions do not describe Israel today but await a future fulfillment when Messiah returns to defeat all his foes and set up His earthly kingdom, where even "amillennial" believers will be found! Related Resource: In depth discussion of the Last Days. John Walvoord summarizes (below) the interpretation of the identity of David in passages like Hosea 3:5... A third solution of the problem is more simple and seemingly in keeping with the prophetic references throughout Scripture, namely, that by David is meant the resurrected David who shares with Christ as prince some of the governmental duties of the millennial kingdom. It should be clear from many Scriptures that the reign of Christ is shared with others. As Newell has written: “David is not the son of David. Christ, as Son of David, will be King; and David, His father after the flesh, will be prince, during the Millennium” (William R. Newell, The Revelation, p. 323). In the light of many prophecies which promise saints the privilege of reigning with Christ, it would seem most logical that David the king raised from the dead should be given a place of prominence in the Davidic kingdom of the millennial reign of Christ. As indicated in Revelation 19:16, Christ is “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” This would certainly imply other rulers (cf. Isa. 32:1; Ezek. 45:8–9; Matt. 19:28; Luke 19:12–27). Dwight Pentecost on the identity of David in the Millennium (see full discussion below) A third interpretation is the literal interpretation, which holds that David means the historical David, who comes into regency by resurrection at the second advent of Christ. Newell represents this view when he says: We must not confuse in our minds this situation. We must believe the plain words of God. David is not the Son of David. Christ, as Son of David, will be King; and David, His father after the flesh, will be prince, during the Millennium. (William R. Newell, The Revelation, p. 323) There are several considerations which support this interpretation. (1) It is most consistent with the literal principle of interpretation. (2) David alone could sit as regent in the millennium without violating the prophecies concerning David’s reign. (3). Resurrected saints are to have positions of responsibility in the millennium as a reward (Mt. 19:28; Lk 19:12-27). David might well be appointed to this responsibility since he was “a man after God’s own heart.” It would be concluded that in the government of the millennium David will be appointed a regent over Palestine and will rule over that land as prince, ministering under the authority of Jesus Christ, the King. The prince thus might lead in worship, offer memorial sacrifices, divide the land allotted to him among his faithful seed without violating his position by resurrection. David