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Answer
The book of Hosea presents a beautiful depiction of God’s grace. The prophet’s mission involved experiencing the betrayal of an unfaithful wife, which God used as an analogy. Hosea symbolizes God, while his wife’s infidelity represents Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness through idol worship and disregarding God’s laws. Through Hosea, God pledges to stay faithful, initially disciplining His people and then graciously restoring their intimacy with Him: “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever. I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon” (Hosea 14:4-5;NLT).
Dew forms when moisture condenses as warm air meets the cool night air, appearing as tiny droplets or a fine mist covering the ground, plants, and surfaces. In ancient Israel’s dry climate, dew was crucial for successfully cultivating and harvesting plants.
God resembles dew by providing refreshment, nourishment, healing, and new life to Israel’s wayward children. Though the people were spiritually dead, God promised they would flourish like lilies again, as He would water their dry and thirsty souls. The Lord’s healing dew from heaven would nurture the new growth to be robust and healthy. The nation would be reestablished, rooting deeply in fertile soil like the majestic cedars in Lebanon, forming a solid, unshakeable foundation.
In other parts of Scripture, God is likened to dew as His teachings “fall like rain” and His words “descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants” «My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shallI distil as the dew, As the small rain upon the tender herb, And as the showers upon the grass: », (Deuteronomy 32:2). The prophet Isaiah affirms the life-giving quality of God’s Word: “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it” (Isaiah 55:10-11;NLT).
God is like the dew in that He consistently and mysteriously provides for our daily needs. When God sustained Israel in the wilderness, He nourished them with manna, the miraculous bread from heaven (Exodus 16:13-21). The historical record associates manna with dew: “When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down” «And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. », (Numbers 11:9).
In Isaiah 18:4, the Lord looked down from heaven and prepared the nations for his harvest “as quietly as the heat rises on a summer day, or as the morning dew forms during the harvest” (NLT). Just as the dew causes new life to sprout from the ground, so God will raise the dead out of the earth: “But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead” «Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. », (Isaiah 26:19).
Since dew is a source of refreshing and revitalization for plant life, it symbolizes refreshment and blessing throughout the Scriptures. In Psalm 133:1–3, King David likened the dew of Mount Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion to the blessing of God’s people dwelling together in harmony. When Isaac blessed Jacob, he prayed, “May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine” «Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, And the fatness of the earth, And plenty of corn and wine: », (Genesis 27:28). Dew is also a sign of renewal and prosperity in the Bible (Micah 5:7; Job 29:19). In wisdom literature, God’s infinite knowledge covers the whole realm of creation like dew, yet remains a mystery to humans (Job 38:28; Proverbs 3:20; Psalm 147:8; Jeremiah 14:22; Job 36:28). The king’s favor was “like dew on the grass” «The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; But his favour is as dew upon the grass. », (Proverbs 19:12).
God is like the dew, pouring out His grace and blanketing our lives with His great faithfulness. His steadfast love and tender mercies appear anew every morning, exactly like the dew « It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, Because his compassions fail not. », (Lamentations 3:22).
