Hosea 6:1

Let - To hinder or obstruct.

Come, and let us return unto the Lord - When God had purposed to abandon them, and they found that he had returned to his place - to his temple, where alone he could be successfully sought; they, feeling their weakness, and the fickleness, weariness, and unfaithfulness of their idols and allies, now resolve to "return to the Lord;" and, referring to what he said, Hosea 5:14 : "I will tear and go away;" they say, he "hath torn, but he will heal us;" their allies had torn, but they gave them no healing. While, therefore, they acknowledge the justice of God in their punishment, they depend on his well-known mercy and compassion for restoration to life and health.

Come and let us return unto the Lord - These words depend closely on the foregoing. They are words put into their mouth by God Himself, with which or with the like, they should exhort one another to return to God. Before, when God smote them, they had gone to Assyria; now they should turn to Him, owning, not only that He who "tore" has the power and the will to "heal" them, but that He tore, "in order to" heal them; He smote them, "in order to" bind them up. This closeness of connection is expressed in the last words; literally, "smite He and He will bind us up." "He smiteth the putrefaction of the misdeed; He healeth the pain of the wound. Physicians do this; they cut; they smite; they heal; they arm themselves in order to strike; they carry steel, and come to cure."

They are not content to return singly or to be saved alone. Each encourageth another to repentance, as before to evil. The dry bones, scattered on the face of the earth, reunite. There is a general movement among those "who sat in darkness and the shadow of death," to return together to Him, who is the source of life.

6:1 Come - The prophet here brings them in, exhorting one another.He hath torn - We now see his hand in all we suffer.