Hosea 14:5

I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

I will be as the dew unto Israel - "the dew," which falls copiously in the East, supplying the place of the more frequent rains in other regions. God will not be "as the early dew that goeth away," but constant (Hosea 6:3; ; ).

He shall grow as the lily. No plant is more productive than the lily, one root often producing 50 bulbs (Pliny, 'Natural History,' 21: 5). The common lily is white, consisting of six leaves, opening like bells. The royal lily grows to the height of three or four feet; alludes to the beauty of its flowers.

And cast forth his roots as Lebanon - i:e., as the trees of Lebanon (especially the cedars), which cast down their roots as deeply as is their height upwards; so that they are immovable (Jerome). (.) Spiritual growth consists most in the growth of the root, which is out of sight.