Hosea 5:15

I will go and return to my place,....

I will go and return to My place - As the wild beast, when he has taken his prey, returns to his covert, so God, when He had fulfilled His will, would, for the time, withdraw all tokens of his presence. God, who is wholly everywhere, is said to dwell “there,” relatively to us, where he manifests Himself, as of old, in the tabernacle, the temple, Zion, Jerusalem. He is said to “go and return,” when He withdraws all tokens of His presence, His help, care, and providence.

return to my place--that is, withdraw My favor. till they acknowledge their offence--The Hebrew is, "till they suffer the penalty of their guilt." Probably "accepting the punishment of their guilt" (compare Zec 11:5) is included in the idea, as English Version translates.

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THE Lord does not always tell us what He will do. "Verily You are a God that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior." He has told us that "it is the glory of God to conceal a thing" and our Lord Jesus has said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own power." When He does make known to us what He is about to do, it is not to gratify our curiosity but to direct our conduct.

THE Lord does not always tell us what He will do. "Verily You are a God that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior." He has told us that "it is the glory of God to conceal a thing" and our Lord Jesus has said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own power." When He does make known to us what He is about to do, it is not to gratify our curiosity but to direct our conduct. In this case the Lord speaks aloud concerning His intentions. He had grown weary with chastening His people and, therefore, He was about to withdraw Himself from them and leave them alone, as a man leaves a hopeless work, or as a judge leaves the bench and gives the prisoner over to condemnation He says, "I will go and return to My place," as if His waiting time was over and He would no longer remain in their midst to be provoked by their obstinacy. This withdrawal would occasion the non-acceptance of their prayers and offerings, even as He had said in a former verse, "They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them." This He tells them in order that they may be led to implore Him to remain with them. Or that if He is already gone, they may, by hearty confession of their sin and an immediate seeking of His face, prevail upon Him once more to visit them in His Grace. If God is about to go, then all is going, even hope itself is. The Divine departure is the worst of calamities and, therefore, it is but right that those who are threatened with such a judgment should put their thoughts together, consider their ways and use the best means to hold Him by the skirts before He has departed, or to bring Him back again before He has effectually closed the door between Him and them.

I will go and return to my place - I will abandon them till they acknowledge their offenses. This had the wished-for effect, as we shall see in the following chapter; for they repented and turned to God, and he had mercy upon them. These two verses are considered as instances of the true sublime.