4 “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; 6 his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. 7 People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine—Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. 8 Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me.”
In the previous passage, Hosea gave us a model to express our repentance, and now we discover the result. Here we see the love and care that God will shower upon us if we let him. It may surprise us to see how little we have to do to receive God’s love. It is not something that we earn. Verse four tells us God’s first response to our change of heart: “I will heal their waywardness.” God does not expect us to work on our own, making ourselves better until we will be acceptable to him. Instead, he will take charge of making us better people once we have made that choice. He understands better than we do our faults and the problems we face.
When we repent, we do not suddenly become perfect people but continue to struggle with temptation and sin. What changes is that we recognize our faults and ask God to heal them. To quote Paula Gooder: “The problem between Israel and God was not so much what they did, but that they would not allow God to heal the sin that was ruining their lives.” They wanted to be in control and not let God take control.
In this passage we see what God can do once the relationship between us is repaired. It’s a beautiful poem that echoes the Song of Songs at times. God will be like the dew that provides the moisture that Israel, compared to a flower, needs to bloom. But, thanks to God, the new Israel will combine the beauty of flowers with the sturdiness of cedar trees, the beauty of the olive, and the usefulness of grain and the vine. Note the mention of Lebanon which had much more flourishing growth than other countries in the area. In other words, the people of God will flourish unlike any other people. God’s grace will make them more bountiful than even Lebanon. All of this sounds very much like a garden and we are meant to think of the garden of Eden. Obviously, humans cannot yet return to the garden but, by allowing God into our lives, we can begin to share in aspects of humanity before the fall, before we cut ourselves off from God.
In the last verse here, God compares himself to an evergreen tree. He is unchanging and ever faithful. If we turn to him, his faithfulness will flow into us. His strength and virtue are great enough for all of us. This passage clearly shows how little God expects us to do to bring about our salvation. He is more than ready to do the work if we are ready to receive his offer. He knows we cannot stop sinning and become perfect alone and for that reason, he paid the price for our sin himself.
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