Hosea 6:3
Read Hosea 6:3 Using Other Translations
What does Hosea 6:3 mean?
Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the
Lord
The word "if" is not in the original text, and the passage is not
conditional, but absolute; for as persons, when converted, know
Christ, and not before, when he is revealed to them, and in them,
as the only Saviour and Redeemer, so they continue and increase
in the knowledge of him; they earnestly desire to know more of
him, and eagerly pursue those means and methods by which they
attain to a greater degree of it; for so the words are, "and we
shall know, we shall follow on to know the Lord" F20; that
grace, which has given the first measure of spiritual and
experimental knowledge of him, will influence and engage them to
seek after more. The Jews, when they are quickened, and turn to
the Lord, will know him, own and acknowledge him, as the Messiah,
the only Redeemer and Saviour; and will be so delighted with the
knowledge of him, that they will be desirous of, and seek after,
a larger measure of it; and indeed they shall all know him, from
the least to the greatest, when the covenant of grace shall be
renewed with them, manifested and applied to them. The words may
be considered as a continuation of their exhortation to one
another from ( Hosea 6:1 ) ; thus, "and
let us acknowledge, let us follow on to know him" F21; let
us own him as the true Messiah, whom we and our fathers have
rejected; and let us make use of all means to gain more knowledge
of him: or let us follow after him, to serve and obey him, which
is the practical knowledge of him; let us imitate him, and follow
him the Lamb of God, embrace his Gospel, and submit to his
ordinances. So Kimchi interprets it, "to know him"; that is, to
serve him; first know him, then serve him; his going forth
is prepared as the morning;
that is, the Lord's going forth, who is known, and followed after
to be more known; and is to be understood, not of his going forth
in the council and covenant of grace from everlasting; nor of his
incarnation in time, or of his resurrection from the dead; but of
his spiritual coming in the latter day, with the brightness of
which he will destroy antichrist; or of his going forth in the
ministration of the Gospel, to the conversion of Jews and
Gentiles, the light of which dispensation will be very great; it
will be like a morning after a long night of darkness with the
Jewish and Pagan nations; and be as grateful and delightful,
beautiful and cheerful, as the morning light; and move as swiftly
and irresistibly as that, and be alike growing and increasing:
and so the words are a reason of the increasing knowledge of the
Lord's people in those times, because he shall go forth in the
ministration of the word like the morning light, which increases
more and more till noon; and of the evidence and clearness of it,
it being like a morning without clouds; with which agrees the
note of Joseph Kimchi,
``we shall know him, and it will be as clear to us as the light of the morning without clouds:''and also of the firmness and certainty of it; for both the increasing knowledge of the saints, and the going forth of Christ in a spiritual manner, is "firm" and "sure" (which may be the sense of the word F23) as the morning; for, as sure as the night cometh, so also the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter [and] former rain
unto the earth;
in the land of Israel they had usually two rains in a year; the one in autumn, or quickly after the seed was sown; the other in the spring, when the corn was ripe, and harvest near, and which was very reviving and refreshing to the earth, and the fruits of it; and such will be the coming of Christ unto his people, in the ministration of the Gospel in the latter day, which will drop as the rain, and distil as the dew, as the small rain on the tender herb, and as showers upon the grass; and in the discoveries of his favour and love to them, and in the distribution of the blessings of his grace among them. Much the like phrases are used of the spiritual coming of Christ in the latter day, ( Psalms 72:6 ) . The Targum is,
``and we shall learn, and we shall follow on, to know the fear of the Lord, as the morning light, which darts in its going out; and blessings will come to us as a prevailing rain, and as the latter rain which waters the earth.''
F20 (hwhy ta tedl hpdrn hednw) "sciemusque, sequemur ad sciendum Dominum", Montanus; "et cognoscemus, et persequemur ad cognoscendum Jehovam", Zanchius; "sciemus persequemur", Liveleus.
F21 "Cognoscamus, [sive] agnoscamus, et persequautur scientiam Dominis", Schmidt.
F23 (Nwkn) "firmum certum notat", sic quidam in Schmidt; "firmatus ac stabilitus", Tarnovius.
