Hosea 10:12

Sow to yourselves in righteousness - Let the seed you sow be of the best kind, and in just measure. Reap in mercy - By the blessing of God on this ploughing, sowing, and harrowing, you may expect a good crop in harvest. Break up your fallow ground - Do not be satisfied with a slight furrow; let the land that was fallowed (slightly ploughed) be broken up again with a deep furrow. For it is time to seek the Lord - This should be immediately done: the season is passing; and if you do not get the seed in the ground, the early rain will be past, and your fields will be unfruitful. Rain righteousness upon you - God will give you the early rain in due time, and in proper measure. Here are the metaphors, and the application cannot be difficult.. Here are ploughing, fallowing, sowing, harrowing, watering, reaping, threshing, and feeding on the produce of well-directed labor. All may be applied to the human heart, and the work of God upon it. Correction, contrition, conversion, receiving the grace of Christ, bringing forth fruit, etc.

Continuation of the image in Hos 10:11 (Pro 11:18). Act righteously and ye shall reap the reward; a reward not of debt, but of grace. in mercy--according to the measure of the divine "mercy," which over and above repays the goodness or "mercy" which we show to our fellow man (Luk 6:38). break . . . fallow ground--Remove your superstitions and vices, and be renewed. seek . . . Lord, fill he come--Though not answered immediately, persevere unceasingly "till He come." rain--send down as a copious shower. righteousness--the reward of righteousness, that is, salvation, temporal and spiritual (Sa1 26:23; compare Joe 2:23 ).

Saw to yourselves in righteousness,.... Not the seed of grace, which bad men have not, and cannot saw it; and which good men need not, it being sown in them already, and remaining; rather the seed of the word, which should be laid up in their hearts, dwell richly in them, and be kept and retained by them; though it is best of all to understand it of works of righteousness; as sowing to the flesh is doing the works of the flesh, or carnal and sinful acts; so sowing "unto righteousness" (g), as it may be rendered, is doing works of righteousness; living soberly and righteously; doing works according to the word of righteousness, from good principles, and with good views, with a view to the glory of God: and which will be "sowing to themselves", turn to their own account; for though such works are not profitable to God, as to merit anything at his hands; yet they are not only profitable to others, but to those that do them; for though not "for", yet "in keeping" the commands of God there is "great reward", Psa 19:11. Reap in mercy; or "according to mercy" (h) not according to the merit of works, for there is none in them; but according to the mercy of God, to which all blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternaL, are owing; and such who sow to the Spirit, or spiritual things, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting; not as the reward of debt, but of grace; not as of merit, but as owing to the mercy of Christ, Gal 6:9 Jde 1:21; break up your fallow ground; that is, of their hearts; which were like ground unopened, unbroken, not filled and manured, nor sown with seed, but overrun with weeds and thistles; and so were they, hard and impenitent, destitute of grace, and full of sin and wickedness, and stood in need of being renewed in the spirit of their minds; which this exho…

The call to repentance and reformation of life is then appended in Hos 10:12, Hos 10:13, clothed in similar figures. Hos 10:12. "Sow to yourselves for righteousness, reap according to love; plough for yourselves virgin soil: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till He come and rain righteousness upon you. Hos 10:13. Ye have ploughed wickedness, ye have reaped crime: eaten the fruit of lying: because thou hast trusted in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men." Sowing and reaping are figures used to denote their spiritual and moral conduct. לצדקה, for righteousness, is parallel to לפי חסד; i.e., sow that righteousness may be able to spring up like seed, i.e., righteousness towards your fellow-men. The fruit of this will be chesed, condescending love towards the poor and wretched. Nı̄r nı̄r, both here and in Jer 4:3 to plough virgin soil, i.e., to make land not yet cultivated arable. We have an advance in this figure: they are to give up all their previous course of conduct, and create for themselves a new sphere for their activity, i.e., commence a new course of life. ועת, and indeed it is time, equivalent to, for it is high time to give up your old sinful says and seek the Lord, till (עד) He come, i.e., till He turn His grace to you again, and cause it to rain upon you. Tsedeq, righteousness, not salvation, a meaning which the word never has, and least of all here, where tsedeq corresponds to the tsedâqâh of the first clause. God causes righteousness to rain, inasmuch as He not only gives strength to secure it, like rain for the growth of the seed (cf. Isa 44:3), but must also generate and create it in man by His Spirit (Psa 51:12). The reason for this summons is given in Hos 10:13, in another allusion to the moral conduct of Israel until now. Hitherto they have plou…

In this chapter, I. The people of Israel are charged with gross corruptions in the worship of God and are threatened with the destruction of their images and altars (Hos 10:1, Hos 10:2, Hos 10:5, Hos 10:6, Hos 10:8). II. They are charged with corruptions in the administration of the civil government and are threatened with the ruin of that (Hos 10:3, Hos 10:4, Hos 10:7). III. They are charged with imitating the sins of their fathers, and with security in their own sins, and are threatened with smarting humbling judgments (Hos 10:9-11). IV. They are earnestly invited to repent and reform, and are threatened with ruin if they did not (Hos 10:12-15).

10:12 Using metaphors from agriculture, God set forth his requirements for his people and a promise of blessing if they did what he commanded (see 6:6; 8:7). Even as Hosea announced God’s judgment, he offered Israel the chance to repent and receive God’s blessing.