Restoration

Hosea 14:5-6.

I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

If you live in an area that tends to be dry, you know how valuable is the dew of the morning or evening. It’s refreshing, indeed life-giving. There are some succulents that thrive for months and months just on what little dew the desert produces.

God said He would be like that dew for Israel. They would unfold and blossom like the lovely lily, opening its petals in the daytime and spreading it’s wonderful scent.

Growth would be restored to Israel. Beauty, like that of the lily, would return to the land and the people. Strength would return like the mighty cedars of Lebanon. Value would be restored, like the olive trees. Delight would be restored to the people, like the fragrance of Lebanon. This fragrance can be translated as the wonderful smell of trees, plants, and abundant harvest; or as a fragrance to God in sacrifice. Abundance would be restored and that abundance would be like the wine of Lebanon.

These promises themselves must have fallen like rain after a drought on the people of Israel who survived the Assyrian army. Restoration was promised, and it would be abundant, giving life and strength and beauty where there had been desolation.