Book of Hosea Chapter 5 Vs. 15

 Punishment Coming for Israel and Judah

I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. Hos. 5:15

I will go... Tenderness blends with judgment, and insulted love bleeds and hopes. The image of the lion is dropped. Jehovah speaks of His own place, Heaven. He will cause all manifestations of His regard for them to cease till they suffer punishment, and seek my face, and, like the prodigal in the flush of a new morning, will arise and go unto the Father.

till they acknowledge... Till they confess and humble themselves for their sins. Their offence, and seek my face, God said He would return to His place till both houses of Israel would acknowledge their sins and seek Him (Zec. 12:10-13:1; Rom. 11:25-29).

and seek my... Me their God, my mercy, and my law; their Sovereign as well as Savior.

in their affliction... In deep distresses they will, at least some will, seek me diligently, as indeed they did at the end of Judah’s seventy years’ captivity.

This speaks of the time being extended for their captivity. The lion tears at its victim and then carries it away. The lion then goes to his den and rests. This is also, what this is speaking of here. God will allow all of these terrible things to happen to them.

they will seek...He will not intervene and stop it, as He has in the past. It is such a shame that they have to be in such destitute condition, before they reach out to God. The captivity is to cause them to repent and turn back to God. God will not seek them, they must seek Him. Because of the great affliction, they will seek God sooner than they would, had they not suffered so greatly.

REPENTANCE FALLS

Seeing that their leaders are so helpless, and feeling their wounds, the people may themselves turn to God for healing, but that will be with a repentance so shallow as also to be futile. They have no conviction of sin, nor appreciation of how deeply their evils have eaten.

This too facile repentance is expressed in a prayer which the Christian Church has paraphrased into one of its most beautiful hymns of conversion. Yet the introduction to this prayer, and its own easy assurance of how soon God will heal the wounds He has made, as well as the impatience with which God receives it, oblige us to take the prayer in another sense than the hymn which has been derived from it. It offers but one more symptom of the optimism of this light-hearted people, whom no discipline and no judgment can impress with the reality of their incurable decay. They said of themselves, The bricks are fallen, let us build with stones, and now they say just as easily and airily of their God, He hath torn only that He may heal: we are fallen, but He will raise us up again in a day or two. At first it is still God who speaks.

I am going My way, I am returning to My own place, until they feel their guilt and seek My face. When trouble comes upon them, they will soon enough seek Me, saying:-

Come and let us return to Jehovah;

For He hath rent, that He may heal us,

And hath wounded, that He may bind us up.

He will bring us to life in a couple of days;

On the third day He will raise us up again,

That we may live in His presence.

Let us know, let us follow up to know, Jehovah:

As soon as we seek Him, we shall find Him

And He shall come to us like the winter-rain,

Like the spring-rain, pouring on the land!

But how is this fair prayer received by God? With incredulity, with impatience. What can I make of thee, Ephraim? what can I make of thee, Judah? since your love is like the morning cloud and like the dew so early gone. Their shallow hearts need deepening. Have they not been deepened enough? Wherefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgment goeth forth like the lightning. For real love have I desired, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

Israel’s Restoration Envisioned

The ultimate purpose of the Lord’s judgment on His people was to restore them (cf. Hos. 2:5-7). Having received the just punishment for their sins, God’s people would turn to Him in repentance. The Hebrew word rendered they admit their guilt should be translated they bear [their] punishment (cf. its use in Hos. 10:2; 13:16). God would not hear their prayers. He would go back to His place like a lion returning to its lair (cf. Hos. 5:14) till the nation underwent its punishment. In contrast with their earlier hypocritical quest for the Lord through sacrificial ritual (cf. Hos. 5:6), the people will genuinely and earnestly seek Him.