The concluding chapter of Sefer Hoshea is a chapter of comfort and repentance. After the harsh rebukes, the prophet arrives to herald Israel's healing, their future flourishing, their return to their land, and their renewed connection with Hashem. In this lesson, we will examine the closing verses, from "I will heal their backsliding" until the final verse of the book, "Who is wise, let him understand these things."
"I Will Heal Their Backsliding" - Healing Followed by Love
אֶרְפָּא מְשׁוּבָתָם אֹהֲבֵם נְדָבָה כִּי שָׁב אַפִּי מִמֶּנּוּ׃ - "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him."
Hashem says to them: this is the response. First, "I will heal their backsliding" - "their backsliding" (meshuvatam) refers to their waywardness, the conduct in which they deviated from the path of Hashem. This is like a festering wound clinging to them that requires healing, and Hashem says: I will heal this wound. And afterward, "I will love them freely" - not only will I forgive them for the past, but I will love them, and this is already a voluntary gift (nedavah), meaning something Hashem is not obligated or compelled to do. And why? "For My anger has turned away from him" - until now, there was anger and wrath over their waywardness and because they rebelled against the word of Hashem, but through their repentance, My anger will subside and I will love them.
"I Will Be Like Dew" - Ceaseless Dew and Uneradicable Roots
אֶהְיֶה כַטַּל לְיִשְׂרָאֵל יִפְרַח כַּשּׁוֹשַׁנָּה וְיַךְ שָׁרָשָׁיו כַּלְּבָנוֹן׃ - "I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the rose, and strike his roots like Lebanon."
This is the opposite of what we saw in the curse, "and his fountain shall dry up," where the tree's sources of water dry up and it withers. Here Hashem says: "I will be like the dew to Israel" - dew never ceases, and in this way, explains the Radak, Hashem's goodness will flow upon them without interruption. And when will this be? In the future to come, when they return from exile.
"He shall blossom like the rose" - and why specifically a rose? Because the People of Israel are compared to a rose: "I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys," "Like a rose among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters." Yet if one might say that while a rose blossoms, it does not remain permanent - since it lacks deep roots and is easily uprooted - the verse immediately adds, "and strike his roots like Lebanon." Just like the trees of Lebanon whose roots are vast, so too will they be planted in the ground and take firm root so that they can never be uprooted, as it is said, "And they shall no more be plucked up out of their land," and like "In days to come Jacob shall take root" - meaning they will establish roots. And regarding the phrase "and strike his roots," Radak explains that this is like the common idiom "struck roots," similar to the usage in "and strike against the slope of the Sea of Kinneret."
The Malbim offers a fascinating explanation of the phrase "he shall blossom like the rose." Natural history accounts have noted that there is a flower known as the Rose of Jericho - not what is known by that name today, which refers to a type of illness and rash, but a rose that grows in Jericho. The unique quality of this plant is that it does not take root in the soil at all; the wind carries it across vast deserts to distant places, and it is nourished solely by the dew, similar to mushrooms that thrive on moisture without deep soil roots, blossoming and growing in beauty and splendor. This serves as an allegory for the Jewish people, who were borne on the wings of the wind like this rootless rose, tossed from place to place, wandering in exile. And who sustains them? "I will be like the dew to Israel" - Hashem provides them with dew even in the lands of their exile, allowing them to flourish in grace, beauty, and splendor like this rose. And "strike his roots like Lebanon" - even though He struck its roots, which originally were rooted firmly in the Land like the cedars of Lebanon that penetrate deep into the earth, and now they have been uprooted from their place and have no fixed resting place.
"His Branches Shall Spread" - The Children, the Olive Tree, and the Fragrance
יֵלְכוּ יֹנְקוֹתָיו וִיהִי כַזַּיִת הוֹדוֹ וְרֵיחַ לוֹ כַּלְּבָנוֹן׃ - "His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon."
The verse tells us that even though its roots were struck, "his branches shall spread." As the Malbim explains, yonkotav refers to the tender shoots that grow near the roots. Often with a tree, there is the main trunk, and from near the root another shoot emerges, additional branches sprout, and these are called yonkot. Incidentally, this often presents a halachic issue regarding the counting of the years of orlah; in many places there is no proper tracking, people are unaware of this, and they harvest from these new shoots as well, even though it is a new growth distinct from the original tree that began growing later.
"His tender shoots will go" - the tender branches that sprout from near the roots will go forth and spread. And what does this mean? The Malbim explains: this refers to the children in the End of Days; they are in the category of these tender shoots. Rashi likewise cites this, and Targum explains similarly: "Sons and daughters will multiply" - sons and daughters will increase, and these are the tender shoots. This is most fitting, since the word yonekotav ("his shoots") is related to yonek, a nursing infant suckling at its mother's breast; a nursling is an infant, symbolizing children. They are the saplings that grew after the roots, after the older generation, after the ancient roots that seemed to have vanished, and suddenly a new branch sprouts here: fresh, fruitful trees.
"His beauty shall be like the olive tree" - the olive yields oil for light, and so too their fruits will shine with the light of Hashem. The olive has yet another virtue: you will never see dry olive leaves; its foliage remains fresh in both summer and winter, and so the Jewish people will enjoy continuous, enduring success at all times. Not only that, but "and his fragrance like Lebanon" - they will possess the scent of Lebanon. Lebanon represents the Beit HaMikdash, for the fragrance of Lebanon signifies holiness and purity like the Beit HaMikdash; this is Eretz Yisrael, the place of holiness and purity.
Rashi quotes the Targum: "Sons and daughters will multiply, and their splendor will be like the holy Menorah" - their distinction will be like the olive oil of the holy Menorah in the Beit HaMikdash; that will be their brilliance. "And their fragrance like the fragrance of spiced incense" - their scent will be like the fragrance of the Ketoret. "And his fragrance like Lebanon" means like the frankincense burned in the incense offering, the spice incense with its distinct, unique aroma.
They Who Dwell in His Shadow Shall Return - The Ingathering of the Exiles
יָשֻׁבוּ יֹשְׁבֵי בְצִלּוֹ יְחַיּוּ דָגָן וְיִפְרְחוּ כַגָּפֶן זִכְרוֹ כְּיֵין לְבָנוֹן׃ - They who dwell in his shadow shall return; they shall revive like grain and blossom like the vine; their renown shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Let us first read Targum Yonatan: "They shall gather from among their places of exile; they shall dwell in the shadow of their Messiah; the dead shall be revived; goodness shall multiply in the land; the memory of their goodness shall ascend and never cease; like the memorial blasts of the trumpets over the aged wine poured as a libation in the Beit HaMikdash" - just as the sound of the trumpets sounded during the wine libations in the Beit HaMikdash ascended before Hashem, so will the remembrance of Israel ascend before Him, blessed be He.
And who is spoken of here? Rashi explains: those who dwell in his shadow, in the shadow of Lebanon, which, as noted, is the Beit HaMikdash - now they are in exile, but in the future they will return. "Their renown shall be like the wine of Lebanon" - just as the Jewish people are remembered when sacrifices are offered and wine is poured as a libation, so will their remembrance ascend before Him, blessed be He.
Ibn Ezra explains differently. The plain meaning is that the verse speaks of the Jewish people, those dwelling in the shadow of Lebanon who will return. But Ibn Ezra explains that the verse refers to those who dwell in Israel's shadow. And who dwells in our shadow? The servants who were our farmers and vinedressers; they too will return. Do not think that you will have to toil on your own; rather, those who dwelt in your shadow will return with you, and they will be your farmers, vinedressers, and plowmen.
Radak explains: "They who dwell in his shadow shall return" - they will return to their Land, and dwell in the shadow of the Holy One, blessed be He. "They shall revive like grain" - they will sustain themselves through Hashem's mitzvot which they will observe, just as grain sustains man. Thus, "they shall revive grain" means "they shall revive like grain": they will have life like grain that sustains man, and so through Torah and mitzvot they will find their vitality. And if you say that grain comes to an end - one harvests it and it is gone, requiring replanting - to this the prophet says, "and blossom like the vine": their blossoming will be like a vine, from which you pick fruit and it yields again the following year, and you harvest and it yields yet again.
And Radak notes that this is how it will be in the Future to Come, for Chazal said that wheat will bear fruit like a tree, and Eretz Yisrael will yield ready-baked loaves, as things will already be complete and perfected, yielding steadily without the need to sow afresh each time. And if you ask, is it not written that "there is nothing new under the sun"? The answer lies in the Tree of Knowledge, which according to one opinion was wheat, yet Scripture calls it a tree! Thus, wheat was originally a tree, and so you should not wonder if in the Future to Come wheat returns to being a tree that yields its fruit year after year, with no need to replant and sow anew every year.
"Their renown like the wine of Lebanon" - what does zikhro ("his remembrance / renown") mean? Radak says: its fragrance. And what is the connection between fragrance and remembrance? It is like the azkarah, the fistful of frankincense placed upon the meal offering, which gives off a sweet fragrance. Thus, zikhro, its fragrant memorial, will be like the wine of Lebanon. And what is the wine of Lebanon? Radak writes: "I saw in the book of Asaf HaRofeh" - an ancient medical work, after whom the hospital is named - who wrote: "The wine of Lebanon, the wine of Chermon, the wine of Carmel, the wine of the mountains of Israel and Jerusalem, the wine of the mountains of Samaria, and the wine of the mountains of Kaphtor in Egypt: these wines surpass all other types of wine in fragrance, taste, and even medicinal healing." Thus he enumerates the finest wines, and the prophet says that its remembrance will have a fragrance like this superior wine, the wine of Lebanon.
Nowadays we hardly have wine with such prominent aroma. Connoisseurs, of course, swirl wine in a glass and bring it to their nose to appreciate its aroma, but ordinary wine has very little scent. In their day, wine had a very powerful fragrance, and based on its scent they knew its quality, excellence, and grade. They had a hollow reed or straw that they would insert into the barrel, sniff, and inspect the scent of the wine, and from that they knew its condition, how well it had aged, and whether it was ready to drink. Thus, the prophet says they will have a distinctive fragrance like the bouquet of the wine of Lebanon.
The Malbim explains: this refers to the exiles who will return; those who desire to dwell in the shade of the Lebanon will return. There is a prophecy here that many of the exiles will return to live in the Land of Israel and establish their dwelling in the Holy Land in the shade of the Lebanon. "They will revive like grain" - they will have grain there for the bread of their households, unlike the exile where there was famine and because of which we were exiled; rather, simply put: the Land of Israel will yield its fruit. "And blossom like the vine" - just as the vine blossoms and spreads far and wide, so too will they multiply and be fruitful there and yield crop fruit, and this truly describes our reality today.
And regarding the phrase "its scent like the wine of Lebanon," the Malbim offers a novel insight: even those who do not return to sit in the shade of Lebanon and remain living in the lands of their dispersion - always "their remembrance will be like the wine of Lebanon"; when they remember Lebanon, they will remember it as one remembers the wine of Lebanon. For when a person recalls something good, that matter never fades from his memory. In this way, they will always remember "this good mountain and Lebanon," which is the Beis HaMikdash. And why is it called Lebanon? Because it whitens (malbin) the sins of Israel, or because it was built from the cedars of Lebanon. In any case, they will always remember the Beis HaMikdash, always set Jerusalem above their highest joy, and always yearn to return to it. In simple terms: not only those who come here will be connected to the Beis HaMikdash, but even those who remain in the lands of the diaspora - the memory of the Beis HaMikdash will always be in their thoughts.
אֶפְרַיִם מַה לִּי עוֹד לָעֲצַבִּים - The Verdant Cypress
אֶפְרַיִם מַה לִּי עוֹד לָעֲצַבִּים אֲנִי עָנִיתִי וַאֲשׁוּרֶנּוּ אֲנִי כִּבְרוֹשׁ רַעֲנָן מִמֶּנִּי פֶּרְיְךָ נִמְצָא׃ - Ephraim [shall say], "What more have I to do with idols?" I have answered him and observed him; I am like a verdant cypress; from Me is your fruit found.
Rashi explains: Ephraim will say, "What more have I to do with idols?" - why do I still need to pursue idols, which are avodah zarah? That is, Ephraim will repent. "I have answered him and observed him (ashurenu)" - Hashem says: "ashurenu" means I will gaze upon him, as in "gaze (shuru) and see," or "look (shur) to the right," for shur is an expression of gazing (and even a wall is called a shur, because one would ascend the wall in order to look out). I will see his affliction. "And I am like a verdant cypress" - I bend down to take him by the hand, just as a supple, verdant cypress bends toward the ground and one can bend it and grasp its branches. In simple words, Hashem says: I will be accessible to them. For when a cypress grows tall and distant, it has no contact or connection with those below; but when it is young and verdant, the branches bend downward. "From Me is your fruit found" - all your goodness will come from Me.
The Radak explains similarly: Ephraim will say, "What more have I to do with idols?" For when I served them, I went into exile, suffered troubles, and faced hardships; and now that I serve Hashem, I will have only good, as we saw in the previous verse. And Hashem says, "I have answered him and observed him," and I will be like a cypress to you, in the sense of "I dwell in high and holy places, yet also with the crushed and lowly in spirit" - even one who is crushed and lowly in spirit, I will assist him. And if you might say, but a cypress does not produce fruit, and is that not a deficiency? He immediately says, "From Me is your fruit found": with Me it will not be entirely like a cypress, for while I bend down toward you, you will also find fruit from Me.
The Malbim explains that the verse mentions "Ephraim" specifically because it was primarily Ephraim who served idols and made the golden calves. And then he will recognize that there is no substance to idolatry. "I have answered him and observed him" - I will answer their prayers and watch over them from afar. And what will I answer them? "I am like a verdant cypress" - I am like a cypress whose branches are numerous and widespread, and whose leaves are always fresh, so that whoever sits beneath it is always sheltered in shade. There are trees that shed their leaves in winter and one cannot sit beneath them, but I will be a shield and a buckler for you always. Thus, according to Rashi and the Radak, the significance of a "verdant cypress" is that its branches bend down, meaning "I will incline toward you," whereas according to the Malbim, it means that the branches of the cypress are ever-fresh, and you will always have someone to take shelter under - whoever takes refuge in Me will find shelter from all the vicissitudes of time at all moments. "And from Me is your fruit found" - from Me you will have fruit, both physical and spiritual, for Hashem is like the fruit of the Tree of Life.
מִי חָכָם וְיָבֵן אֵלֶּה - The Concluding Verse of the Book
מִי חָכָם וְיָבֵן אֵלֶּה נָבוֹן וְיֵדָעֵם כִּי יְשָׁרִים דַּרְכֵי יְהֹוָה וְצַדִּקִים יֵלְכוּ בָם וּפֹשְׁעִים יִכָּשְׁלוּ בָם׃ - Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of Hashem are straight; the righteous shall walk in them, but transgressors shall stumble in them.
Who among them is wise and will reflect to take to heart all that I have rebuked you? A difficulty arises here: if the ways of Hashem are straight, why do transgressors stumble in them? Rashi explains that the meaning is that transgressors stumble by virtue of failing to walk in them. If Hashem commands a mitzvah and you perform it - fortunate are you, "the righteous shall walk in them"; whereas the wicked person fails to perform that very same mitzvah - "and transgressors shall stumble in them." That very same mitzvah brought you merit and brought him a stumbling block. This is the simple understanding: transgressors stumble in them because they do not fulfill the mitzvah commanded by Hashem.
The Radak explains that this is the verse that seals Sefer Hoshea, and as Hoshea completes his prophecy, he says, "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things" - and what are "these things"? All the prophecies across all fourteen chapters he prophesied up to this point. "For the ways of Hashem are straight" - there were those who used to say, "The way of the Lord is not fair," as brought in Yechezkel, and Hashem replies to them: Is My way not fair? It is your ways that are not fair! They claimed that the way of Hashem, as it were, is not just, and the prophet tells them: Know that if you return in sincere teshuvah, Hashem will not remember against you any of the abominations you committed.
"The righteous shall walk in them" - everyone will recognize and know that all His ways are justice, and if they see a righteous person who suffers (tzaddik v'ra lo) and a wicked person who prospers (rasha v'tov lo), they will have no questions. People who serve Hashem will recognize that everything is truth. Why, then, does a righteous person suffer? It is very possible that in his heart he is not truly righteous; and it is very possible that he has some minor sin for which the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts retribution from him here in this world, or chastises him for his benefit in order to grant him reward in the World to Come. And as for the wicked person who prospers - one knows that it is very possible the wicked person performed some minor mitzvah, and Hashem pays him here in order to destroy him from the World to Come, as Moshe Rabbeinu says, "and pays His enemies to their face, to destroy them."
"And transgressors stumble in them" - when the transgressor sees such a reality of apparent disorder, a tzaddik who suffers and a rasha who prospers, he stumbles over it and concludes that there is no Creator of the world, or that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not govern His world with justice, Heaven forbid. Thus, this entire reality leads him to stumbling and to heresy against Hashem.
Another Explanation: Teshuvah Requires Guidance
The Radak cites another explanation in the name of his father, a wonderful and very true explanation: When transgressors return to the way of Hashem, there is a difference between them and the righteous. The tzaddik has habit on his side and has clung to Hashem from his youth; whereas the wicked person has wandered until now along corrupted paths, and now that he returns in teshuvah, he needs a "GPS." If he lacks this - woe to him, he loses his way. If he returns in teshuvah without guidance, without a rav to direct him, without a paved path, he will most likely stumble. And this is "and transgressors stumble in them" - on the very same paths in which the righteous walk straight, for the tzaddik has guidance, tradition, and received transmission by which he walks, and the path is paved and straight for him, whereas the transgressors will stumble in them.
This is why you often see people who become ba'alei teshuvah and later leave the fold. What happened? "Transgressors stumble in them": because the transgressor was unaccustomed to this path and did not appoint a rav to guide him on the straight way, he stumbled. But if one returns in teshuvah with a whole heart and out of a pure heart, and they guide him on the proper path, without a doubt he too will attain the status of a tzaddik and will not stumble in it, but rather his path will be straight and paved.
The Malbim: Chochmah, Binah, and Da'at
The Malbim explains, based on principles elaborated upon at length in Sefer Mishlei, that there is a difference between chochmah (wisdom) and da'at (knowledge). Chochmah must be received from a prophet, from Hashem. Chochmah is something for which there are no rational proofs: there are no logical proofs for the way of Hashem and the way of morality. You argue one thing, and someone says, "No, I see it differently"; you claim this is moral, and someone else claims that doing the opposite is more moral. Look at all the debates today between right and left, where each side claims morality is on its side. We have no way to attain chochmah except through Hashem, through a prophet who guides us as to what is the authentic tradition and the correct way.
Binah (understanding), by contrast, is deducing one thing from another: one contemplates and from that understands further matters, probes deeply, and draws conclusions. A person can reach conclusions through contemplation even regarding matters in which he has no direct tradition from his teachers, and this is called intellectual deduction, or in modern terms, logical inference. Because a person possesses first principles, he learns one thing from another and reaches conclusions even about things he never explicitly studied. But take note: regarding a subject where a person has no premises, where he has no starting points, how can he deduce one thing from another? In order to deduce one thing from another, one must first possess a foundational premise, and from it deduce other things. But if you have not received the fundamentals, how will you draw conclusions from them regarding further matters?
Therefore, says the Malbim, matters that human intellect has no access to at all - such as understanding the conduct of Hashem, divine providence (hashgachah), and all matters of the Divine - cannot be attained by human reason alone. Rather, one needs premises received through the ways of chochmah, and then one can perceive and understand one thing from another and delve into them. And this is "Whoever is wise, let him understand these things": the principles of chochmah have no empirical proofs, and how can you reach binah if you do not possess chochmah? You must have chochmah, which is what is received from the mouth of a sage and a prophet, and only then can one "understand these things." But if you lack chochmah and lack the foundations, what will you contemplate? You have no basis.
"Prudent, let him know them" - whoever possesses the rules of chochmah can contemplate, and through binah arrive at da'at. And what is da'at? Clear knowledge. Da'at is like mathematics: two plus two equals four, that is da'at - something for which there is conclusive proof. That very matter which previously was held merely by tradition - meaning, this is what was received from the sage and the prophet, something about which one had no prior direct perception - if one contemplates and delves deeply into it, one reaches absolute certainty, as if perceiving it through the senses. What one perceives with the senses is da'at: clear, absolute knowledge.
And what will he know? "For the ways of Hashem are straight." All the complaints that people lodge against Hashem's providence - that there is supposedly no order in the world, that the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper, giving the illusion of chaos and an absence of providence - whoever has a received tradition in chochmah from a prophet knows that the Holy One, blessed be He, does everything for the good, and he will then understand and know that the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, are straight. And what seems to us unjust or crooked stems from the subjects being led: people corrupted their actions, and therefore deserve a mode of governance that deals with them through retribution, so that transgressors stumble on the very same paths upon which the upright, through their good conduct, walk in righteousness. The path is straight, and you decide whether to walk upon it or veer from it. "The righteous shall walk in them" and not stumble, while "transgressors shall stumble" - should they choose to stray from the path, the moment they deviate they incur punishment and suffer a blow.
The prophet says this to counter those who complained about the exile and the afflictions with which the Holy One, blessed be He, punishes His people, making it seem as though Hashem had abandoned them and left them forsaken, as it were, at the mercy of blind circumstance. He says: "Whoever is wise" - if a person is wise and discerning, he will know that everything is under divine providence from Hashem, and the ways of Hashem are straight; the righteous person who walks uprightly receives good, while the wicked person receives punishment. And as for seeing them suffer - they strayed from the way of Hashem, deviated from proper conduct, and consequently the reality was that they were punished.
Anecdote: The Noda BiYehudah and the Printers
We have already mentioned this verse, and we will relate an interesting anecdote involving the Noda BiYehuda. It is told of him that he was among the Misnagdim, and in one of the responsa in his sefer, he took a jab at the Chassidim - as far as I know, this was regarding the proper time for Keriat Shema - writing: "For the ways of Hashem are straight; the righteous shall walk in them, and Chassidim shall stumble in them." His intention was to criticize the Chassidim for being lax regarding the proper time for Keriat Shema, such that it became a stumbling block for them.
However, the owners of the printing press were sympathetic to Chassidut. When they saw that he wrote "and Chassidim," they amended it. They said: Let us restore the verse to its original phrasing - "the righteous shall walk in them, and transgressors shall stumble in them" - at least it will not mention the Chassidim. When the sefer reached his hands and he saw that they had altered what he wrote, he remarked: Look at the difference between me and them. I took the transgressors and made them into Chassidim, while they took the Chassidim I wrote and turned them into transgressors!
In summary:
Hoshea seals his book with immense consolation: Hashem heals Israel's backsliding, loves them generously, and bestows upon them blessing like ceaseless dew. The Jewish people will blossom like a rose even in exile, and in the future will strike deep roots like Lebanon that will never be uprooted again. Its sons and daughters will proliferate like saplings, its splendor will be like the olive tree whose leaves are ever fresh, and its fragrance like the incense of the Beit HaMikdash. The exiles will return to dwell in the shadow of holiness; they will thrive like grain and blossom like the vine, and even those remaining in the diaspora will always preserve the memory of the Beit HaMikdash like the renown of the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim will recognize that idols have no substance, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, will be for him like a fresh cypress - bending toward him and sheltering him continually, and from Him his fruit is found. And in the closing verse, the prophet teaches us that one who has received wisdom from a prophet and contemplates it attains understanding and clear knowledge that the ways of Hashem are straight: the path is one, and the righteous walk in it while the transgressors stumble in it - everything depends on man's choice, on proper guidance, and on adherence to the tradition of our Rabbis. We have concluded Sefer Hoshea from the books of Trei Asar, and just as we have concluded this book, so may Hashem grant us the merit to learn and to teach, to safeguard, to perform, and to fulfill, and to serve Him with a whole heart, Amen ve-Amen.