Hosea 14:5-7 I will be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.… Here is a continuation of Jehovah's answer to Ephraim's prayer, especially to the second part of it. "Receive us graciously," or, "Receive good gifts, both temporal and spiritual. Ephraim shall once more realise what his name signifies, even fruitfulness, not only in earthly things, but in every good word and work. The outpourings of all these blessings spring from the dew of God's mercy, and from no other source. How infinitely more abundant is God's grant than Israel's request. God answers our petitions more than we think or ask. The reasons are two. 1. God knows our wants far better than we do. We, in spiritual things, resemble children in temporal things. 2. God answers prayer consistently with His majesty. Man answers his fellow-man, like the treacherous echo, only by halves. "As the dew." Ephraim, on account of backsliding, was cursed with barrenness and bleakness; but the gift of dew shall restore his blessings. Dew embraces several significations, comfort, refreshment, encouragement, fecundity, and suchlike. Dew, in a spiritual point of view, means Christ. What dew is to the earth, that is God's grace to the soul. We are naturally heart-hardened, and therefore barren, as regards the fruit of righteousness; but the dew of God's grace disposes our hearts, by softening them, in the first place, for the purpose of receiving the seed of the Word; and, in the second place, to make that seed fruitful. Many are the reasons why the grace of God should be likened to dew. 1. Because none can give it but Jehovah-Jesus. 2. Because it is the fruit of a serene, clear, and tranquil heaven. The grace of God is not given to a soul which is scorched or frozen, but it is granted to such an one as looks peacefully and steadily towards heaven for it. 3. Because it is abundant and immeasurable. 4. Because it is silent, and falls imperceptibly. 5. Because it is of a gentle and benign nature, and therefore sinks — though slow yet sure — deeply into the earth. So is the Spirit of God. 6. Because it is of a quickening nature. It causes the earth to bring forth her increase. When the Sun of Righteousness melts the moral frost from man's heart, and the Spirit breathes upon the parched soul, it is then that both heart and soul open to the reception of Christ. (Moses Margoliouth, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. |
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