Hosea 4:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This is why the wise Paul speaks of himself and those illuminated by faith, stating, ‘We are not of the night nor of darkness, but are children of light and of the day’ (1 Thess. 5:5). He continues by saying that my people were likened to those lacking knowledge, despite being bestowed with the guidance of the law. They were called to recognize the one true God, affirmed by miracles, and lacked nothing that could enlighten the ignorant, fostering righteous understanding among the wise. However, since he declares, ‘you have rejected knowledge’, which is Christ, through whom and in whom the Father becomes known, you have ultimately lost the right to serve as a priest and to offer sacrifices as an unclean person. Furthermore, as you have forgotten divine laws, failed to grasp the spiritual significance of the Mosaic commandments, and have not received Christ’s teachings with a humble and open heart, I will also, in a sense, be inclined to forget your children, meaning I will no longer remember them to bestow mercy and care upon them. Those whom God desires to remember are rewarded with His compassion. Alternatively, Israel forsook God and rejected understanding when they began to worship idols.

It is customary for the divinely inspired Scripture to compare the lost flock to the night. Listen to the Lord of all addressing the Jews when Jerusalem returned to idolatry: ‘I will liken the night to your mother: my people shall be likened as those who have no understanding’ (Hosea 4:5-6). Isn’t it evident that he refers to those who have no knowledge of the true and essential Godhead as night? Thus, the adversary of all loathed the times and days of his downfall, while we are delivered. Those who detest these times shall share in his fate, which is enduring punishment.

There, they performed their duties according to their order and requested rightful offerings from the people. It is likely, then, that the phrase, "I will deny you, so you shall not reverence," pertains to Somnan, the high priest from the house of Judah. Concerning this wicked individual, as Isaiah proclaimed, the Lord states, “I will strip you of your glory and cast you from your position” (Isaiah 22:19).

The reference to mother and children does not imply a distinction between them; the Lord speaks to the Jewish nation, saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to you! How often have I desired to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing" (Matthew 23:37). The Lord does not imply that Jerusalem and its people are separate entities, for He does not address mere rubble, timber, or stones devoid of life. In a similar manner, the collective population of the Jewish people is referred to as the mother, while the sons represent individual members of the populace or those dispersed across towns and villages. Thus, amidst the nighttime of captivity and suffering, and enveloped by constraint and misfortune, Israel is delivered to desolation, and her people endure perpetual silence; this is due to their failure to honor the law of God and their neglect of His commandments, resulting in a fitting recompense. They have rejected the divine law, which entails a perpetual loss of the priesthood, turning instead to golden calves in Dan and Bethel. By forgetting the law of God, indulging themselves in heathen idols, the Lord will forget their children and cast them into everlasting bondage; for "if anyone does not recognize this, he will not be recognized" (1 Cor. 14:38), and we read in the Psalms, "They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk in darkness" (Ps. 81:5). The messages directed towards the ten tribes can also apply to those heretics who have abandoned the kingdom of David and Jerusalem, namely, Christ and the Church. As a result, they are enveloped in perpetual darkness, lacking knowledge of God and facing rejection from the Lord, being barred from the priesthood before Him, and their offspring are forgotten because they have become estranged from Him.

Consequently, they are justly regarded as enveloped in darkness, resembling the night. The Prophet designates the synagogue as the mother, with the people as her children. This is echoed in the words of Isaiah: What is the book of the dismissal of your mother (Isaiah 50:1)? Thus, it is proclaimed, Because you have forsaken your wisdom, I will also forsake you, so that you may not serve Me: and because you have neglected the law of your God, I will also disregard your offspring. He then elaborates more explicitly on His grace and their unresponsiveness: