Hosea 6

6. mercy--put for piety in general, of which mercy or charity is a branch.
not sacrifice--that is, "rather than sacrifice." So "not" is merely comparative ( Exodus 16:8 , Joel 2:13 , John 6:27 , 1 Timothy 2:14 ). As God Himself instituted sacrifices, it cannot mean that He desired them not absolutely, but that even in the Old Testament, He valued moral obedience as the only end for which positive ordinances, such as sacrifices, were instituted--as of more importance than a mere external ritual obedience ( 1 Samuel 15:22 , Psalms 50:8 Psalms 50:9 , 51:16 , Isaiah 1:11 Isaiah 1:12 , Micah 6:6-8 , Matthew 9:13 , 12:7 ).
knowledge of God--experimental and practical, not merely theoretical ( Hosea 6:3 , Jeremiah 22:16 , 1 John 2:3 1 John 2:4 ). "Mercy" refers to the second table of the law, our duty to our fellow man; "the knowledge of God" to the first table, our duty to God, including inward spiritual worship. The second table is put first, not as superior in dignity, for it is secondary, but in the order of our understanding.

7. like men--the common sort of men ( Psalms 82:7 ). Not as Margin, "like Adam," Job 31:33 . For the expression "covenant" is not found elsewhere applied to Adam's relation to God; though the thing seems implied ( Romans 5:12-19 ). Israel "transgressed the covenant" of God as lightly as men break everyday compacts with their fellow men.
there--in the northern kingdom, Israel.

8. Gilead . . . city--probably Ramoth-gilead, metropolis of the hilly region beyond Jordan, south of the Jabbok, known as "Gilead" ( 1 Kings 4:13 ; compare Genesis 31:21-25 ).
work iniquity--( Hosea 12:11 ).
polluted with blood--"marked with blood-traces" [MAURER]. Referring to Gilead's complicity in the regicidal conspiracy of Pekah against Pekahiah ( 2 Kings 15:25 ). Jordan more cities of refuge, in proportion to the extent of territory, than on this side of Jordan ( Numbers 35:14 , Deuteronomy 4:41-43 , Joshua 20:8 ). Ramoth-gilead was one.

9. company--"association" or guild of priests.
murder by consent--literally, "with one shoulder" (compare Zephaniah 3:9 , Margin). The image is from oxen putting their shoulders together to pull the same yoke [RIVETUS]. MAURER translates, "in the way towards Shechem." It was a city of refuge between Ebal and Gerizim; on Mount Ephraim ( Joshua 20:7 , 21:21 ), long the civil capital of Ephraim, as Shiloh was the religious capital; now called Naploos; for a time the residence of Jeroboam ( 1 Kings 12:25 ). The priests there became so corrupted that they waylaid and murdered persons fleeing to the asylum for refuge [HENDERSON]; the sanctity of the place enhanced the guilt of the priests who abused their priestly privileges, and the right of asylum to perpetrate murders themselves, or to screen those committed by others [MAURER].
commit lewdness--deliberate crime, presumptuous wickedness, from an Arabic root, "to form a deliberate purpose."

10. horrible thing--( Jeremiah 5:30 , 18:13 , 23:14 ).
whoredom--idolatry.

11. an harvest--namely, of judgments (as in Jeremiah 51:33 , Joel 3:13 , Revelation 14:15 ). Called a "harvest" because it is the fruit of the seed which Judah herself had sown ( Hosea 8:7 , 10:12 , Job 4:8 , Proverbs 22:8 ). Judah, under Ahaz, lost a hundred twenty thousand "slain in one day (by Israel under Pekah), because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers."
when I returned the captivity of my people--when I, by Oded My prophet, caused two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters, of Judah to be restored from captivity by Israel ( 2 Chronicles 28:6-15 ). This prophecy was delivered under Pekah [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU]. MAURER explains, When Israel shall have been exiled for its sins, and has been subsequently restored by Me, thou, Judah, also shalt be exiled for thine. But as Judah's punishment was not at the time when God restored Israel, LUDOVICUS DE DIEU'S'S explanation must be taken. GROTIUS translates, "When I shall have returned to make captive (that is, when I shall have again made captive) My people." The first captivity of Israel under Tiglath-pileser was followed by a second under Shalmaneser. Then came the siege of Jerusalem, and the capture of the fenced cities of Judah, by Sennacherib, the forerunner of other attacks, ending in Judah's captivity. But the Hebrew is elsewhere used of restoration, not renewed punishment ( Deuteronomy 30:3 , Psalms 14:7 ).