The prophet calls the people of God to turn to the Lord with a prayer for forgiveness and healing. And God's forgiveness is boundless. It is not only, "well, all right, I will not punish you anymore"; it is truly healing. The people to whom this forgiveness is granted blossoms like a lily. The Lord gives peace and joy for which we did not even dare to hope. His light illumines everything - and heals. And therefore Ephraim, having turned back, will understand how empty his heart was when he tried to serve idols. What the Lord gives cannot even be compared with anything human.

The destruction of Samaria is caused by her own sins, and the prophet's words sound like a warning; they contain no gloating. But it is bitter to hear that the blow will fall on the weakest and most defenseless: infants and pregnant women. Sadly, this is no surprise, since evil seeks to destroy everything it touches and everything near it, and the most defenseless are the first to suffer from it.

But the words about the destruction of infants can also be understood figuratively, as saying that people who have set out on the path of pagan impiety are doomed to barrenness. Not necessarily physical barrenness, but in any case no good fruit will remain from apostates.

But those who return to the Lord will be healed of the consequences of their sinful distortions. The Lord's promise that His anger will turn away and that He will receive the repentant with love sounds astonishing beside all the stern warnings just spoken. But His mercy is great. It is no accident that Hosea concludes his prophetic speech with words saying that God's wisdom cannot be grasped by human wisdom. But those who want to live righteously can walk in His ways.

In all the times, was character to certain persons, and to a whole nation to hope on strong protectors. In particular, for the Jews in the VIII c. before J.C. such protector was "Assur", the Assyrian empire, which, with all the complexities and the problems of relations, was all the same for the country and a defender, and a protector. But, as with any kind of protection, it was necessary to pay for everything. If we take, in particular Jews, then for their formal alliance, and practically vassal relations with the Assyria, they paid with a part of their sovereignty.

Such is the law of the fallen world, in which each looks above all for his own profit and is going to help nobody free of charge. But here is, to God, in His Kingdom, the laws are different. And it is not a matter here that God is absolutely altruist. For the life of the Kingdom, apparently, do not apply at all our notions of altruism and egoism, which, generally, turn out upon verification to be two sides of one coin. The fact is that the kingdom lives another life.

In our world the vital resources are limited and finite. If we want to share something, we have to abandon what we share, and it stops belonging to us. And for us, sooner or later stands absolutely the question of the compensation of the lost. Everything is different in the Kingdom. The resources of the Kingdom are infinite, and there are here no problems of lack or compensation. Furthermore: they increase every time, when we are ready to share with the neighbor what we have.

In our world, the resources disappear as we use them, and the more the people use a particular resource, the less it remains. In the Kingdom, resources as we use them increase, and more the people use in common the same resource, it becomes more. That is why every person and every people choosing God as protector and having established with Him deep and full relationships, contributes to the life of the Kingdom, enriching it. To the joy and benefit of oneself. And to the delight of the King.