Hosea

Hosea

The Man

What we know about Hosea is limited to this book. He was the son of Beeri. Some have suggested that Beeri is the same person described in 1 Chronicles 5:6. There he was described as the leader of the tribe of Reuben. We can only speculate. What we do know is that Hosea was a prophet of God who was called to do a very difficult work. He was to preach to the Northern kingdom of Israel during a time of apostasy. In order to illustrate to the people the seriousness of their sin, God commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute. In the book Hosea represents God, his wife represents Israel and their children represent the people of Israel. Hosea was not alone in obeying God in an unusual way. Other prophets were commanded to do things that were uncommon to illustrate a point. Ezekiel was commanded not to cry at the death of his wife (Ezekiel 24:16). Jeremiah was commanded not to marry (Jer. 16:1-4). Abraham, the great patriarch, was commanded to offer up his son as a sacrifice (Gen. 22:2).

The name “Hosea” means “salvation”. He not only preached judgment to the people of Israel. He also preached salvation. Just as Hosea remained faithful to his covenant with his wife, God would remain faithful to His covenant with Israel (1:10). In this book we see a man who was completely committed to God. Through heartbreak and sorrow he would learn the heart of God. He would experience the pain that the unfaithfulness of Israel caused God.

The Setting

Hosea’s ministry extended for a substantial period of time. He preached during the reigns of four Kings of Judah and seven kings of Israel. Only one king of Israel is mentioned in 1:1. This is interesting because Hosea preached to the Northern kingdom of Israel. However Israel endured a time of serious unrest after the reign of Jeroboam II. It was a time of brutality. Jeroboam II reigned for forty-one years (2 Kings 14:23), after that kings came and went very quickly in Israel.

* Zechariah reigned for six months (2 Kings 15:8).

* Shallum reigned for one month (2 Kings 15:13).

* Menahem reigned ten years (2 Kings 15:17).

* Pekahiah reigned two years (2 Kings 15:23).

* Pekah reigned twenty years (2 Kings 15:27).

* Hoshea reigned nine years (2 Kings 17:1).

Israel had almost twice the amount of kings during Hosea’s ministry as Judah did. Many of the kings were killed by their own people who conspired against them to take the throne (Zechariah, Shallum, Pekahiah, & Pekah). Jeroboam is only mentioned probably because his sin represented the sin of the following kings. As well, the brevity of their reign and the way many of them attained the throne could have caused them to be perceived as less legitimate rulers. The time in which Hosea preached was a time of political unrest in Israel.

During Jeroboam II reign the nation experienced economic prosperity that trickled down to the remaining kings (2 Kings 14:25-28). Instead of giving God glory, the nation turned to idolatry (2 Kings 14:24, 15:9, 18, 24, 28, 17:2). The great sin of Jeroboam I, repeated by subsequent kings of Israel, was that he encouraged the nation to engage in idolatry (1 Kings 12:27-33). Their idolatry led to a lack of trust in the One True God of Israel. They began trusting in alliances with pagan nations for security. Israel made an alliance with Syria in an attempt to overthrow their sister nation of Judah (2 Kings 16:5). Judah then made an alliance with Assyria. The king of Judah, Ahaz, paid the Assyrian ruler with gold that he took from the temple (2 Kings 16:7-8). Later, Hoshea, king of Israel made an alliance with Egypt to be delivered from the oppression of the king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:3-4). The plan backfired and the Assyrian king retaliated by taking the entire nation of Israel into captivity (2 Kings 17:6). These were the years that the prophet Hosea lived and observed. He recognized the idolatry, instability and coming fall of the nation. His warning would be for the nation to return to God.

The Book

The book of Hosea is the first of what Bible students call the Minor Prophets. There are twelve books beginning with Hosea and ending with Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. This section is called the Minor Prophets because overall they are much shorter than the prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The book is vivid in its description of Israel’s sin. It commonly equates the sin of Israel with harlotry (1:2, 2:2, 5, 7, 10, and 13). What distinguishes Hosea from any other prophetic book is the measure God had Hosea go to in order to illustrate the point to the nation. God commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute so that he would be a living sermon for them to observe. This makes studying the book all the more interesting. As we study the book we find ourselves burdened for Hosea and for the Lord. Unfaithfulness to God is seen as a tremendous sin as we study the book. It compels us to take our relationship with God more serious than we take our commitment to our spouse. It encourages us to love and be faithful to the great God we have covenanted with through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hosea 1 1-9

v.1 Hosea is introduced as the author of the book. We know him simply as “the son of Beeri”. The time of his ministry is revealed by naming one king of Israel (Jeroboam) and four Kings of Judah. We have mentioned the reason for this in the introduction. The dates of Hosea’s ministry would have been from around 750 BC to the end of the eighth century BC or possibly the early part of the seventh century BC. Hosea had an extensive ministry and he was faithful to the end.

v.2 “The beginning” means that this is the initial call of Hosea to the prophetic ministry. The first thing God called Hosea to do would be a very difficult thing for him to do. There is no doubt that Hosea was a young man at this time. As most young men Hosea probably had great aspirations to marry a beautiful woman and raise a family. God interrupted Hosea’s life however, with a unique call to a unique ministry. He commanded Hosea to go and find a “wife of whoredoms”. He is not told which woman to marry, but the type of woman he is to marry. He is to seek out a sexually immoral woman and marry her. Some have suggested that the phrase “and children of whoredom” implies that he was to find a woman who already had illegitimate children. However, the phrase could also allude to the type of children he would have with this woman. They would emulate their mothers’ whoredom by being immoral themselves.

The reason for this strange command is given. “For the land hath committed great whoredom”. Hosea’s marriage was to illustrate the unfaithfulness of Israel toward their God. We could ask “Is God commanding Hosea to do something that is sinful?” Certainly Hosea’s actions are not to be emulated as virtuous acts by us (2 Cor. 6:14-ff). The book does not sanction missionary dating! Gomer was certainly not the type of woman a godly man would like to marry. Yet she was single and therefore not off limits to Hosea.

We cannot miss the symbolism God is trying to convey. He wants the people to know how serious their sin is. He is going to use extreme measures to do that. Unfortunately for Hosea, being God’s man in this instance will bring him more heartbreak than he could ever have imagined.

v.3 We are not sure how or where he found Gomer. She is described simply as “the daughter of Diblaim”. We should remember that every prostitute is someone’s daughter. No doubt her parents felt great heartache about her immoral behavior as well. The marriage was real. Regardless of his knowledge of Gomer’s immorality he took her as a real wife. The marriage was consummated and the two conceived their first child. There was no ram in the bush for Hosea. God had him go through this ordeal. Hosea’s heartache and God’s unusual illustration to the people of Israel is about to begin.

v.4 God told Hosea the name he was to give his first born son. “Jezreel” means “God sows”. It is used as a name for one other man in the Bible (1 Chr. 4:3). The name is known better as a town located between Samaria and Galilee. This town witnessed many significant battles and much bloodshed. Naboth had a vineyard in this town that was stolen by wicked king Ahab. Naboth was framed by Jezebel and subsequently stoned for blasphemy (1 Kings 21:1-ff). Jehu killed Joram, Jezebel, and the rest of Ahab’s household in Jezreel (2 Kings 9:24, 37, 10:11). Gideon fought his famous battle in Jezreel (Judges 6:33). The name “Jezreel” would be significant to the Israelite. He would connect it with war and bloodshed. Interestingly the meaning of the name “God sows” gives hope. This will be the theme of much of the book. Disaster will come but God will also bring restoration (1:10).

The reason that the child was to be named “Jezreel” was because God would soon bring judgment on the house of Jehu. The phrase “will avenge” should not be taken to mean that God was punishing Jehu’s descendants for the battles Jehu fought in Jezreel. God had commanded Jehu to do just that (2 Kings 9:7). “Will avenge” is “paqad” in the Hebrew. It means “to visit”. God would pour out His judgment on the house of Jehu in the same way He poured it out on the house of Ahab. It seemed that Jehu did not learn the lesson that God taught Ahab. Jehu soon turned to idolatry as well as his son who succeeded him as King (2 Kings 10:31, 13:1-2).

The “house of Jehu” represented the kingly line of Jehu. God would put an end to the entire lineage. This was fulfilled when his last heir to the throne, Zechariah, was killed (2 Kings 15:10). The “kingdom of the house of Israel” is the nation as a whole. This part of Hosea’s prophecy was fulfilled when Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrian empire (2 Kings 17:6). However, Hosea’s sons’ name, “God sows”, is a reminder that God would once again plant the nation by His grace. Judgment is coming but it would be followed by grace.

v.5 “The bow of Israel” is a reference to the military of the nation. Not only would the kingdom of Jehu cease, but the nation as a whole would as well. It would be impossible for the nation to continue to exist without a military. The nation of Israel was taken in two stages. Part of the nation was taken into captivity by the Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser (2 Kings 15:29) and the rest was taken later under King Hoshea (2 Kings 17:6) by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser.

v.6 Gomer had a second child. This time she had a little girl. God named this child as well. The name “Lo-ruhamah” is certainly not a flattering name. It means “not having obtained mercy”. This child represented God’s judgment on the nation. God’s patience had been exhausted. His mercy was no longer extended to them. They would now experience His wrath. The fact that the Lord would “utterly take them away” reveals that it was God’s hand, not the Assyrians, which took the people into captivity. He merely used this pagan nation to accomplish His task.

I think it is important to recognize that the birth of the second and third child of Gomer does not mention Hosea. Of the first child the text says “bare him a son” (3) of the second it says “she conceived again and bare a daughter” (6) and of the third it says “she conceived and bare a son”. I believe this implies that Hosea was not the father of these two children. The illegitimacy of Hosea’s children represented the illegitimacy of the nation of Israel. They were not truly of Israel (Romans 9:6). Israel as a nation had played the harlot. The result of her idolatry was illegitimate children who did not worship the One True God. Thus Hosea’s illegitimate children represented the illegitimate nation of Israel. These people were outside of the covenant of God and therefore obtained no mercy.

v.7 Hosea now turns his attention to Judah. Judah, as the southern kingdom, would obtain mercy. Ultimately Israel would obtain mercy as well (10) but first they would experience wrath. Judah experienced its own problems. They were taken into captivity by the Babylonians over one hundred years after Israel was (2 Kings 25:1-ff). God would ultimately deliver Judah from bondage Himself. He would not do it with military power. He would do it through the power of His Spirit. The nations of Israel and Judah had too long depended on military might. God’s judgment would bring to the point where they had to trust in Him. Then they would recognize that victory comes from the Lord.

v.8-9 Here we have the birth of Gomer’s third child. The Lord named this child “Lo-ammi”. His name means “Not my people”. The name of this child gives credibility to my suggestion that Hosea was not the biological father of these two children. The child’s name represents the broken relationship between Israel and God. Israel is no longer the people of God and the LORD is no longer their God. Israel had pledged their allegiance to idols and false gods (3:13). The broken political and religious system had brought forth children who did not worship the Lord.

It is interesting to note that Gomer weaned her daughter. She was certainly not a good wife and obviously not mother of the year material. She did however take the time to care for her child. Typically children were breast fed three or four years. Gomer was not constantly gallivanting all over the place with her immorality. She did take the time to care for her children. She met their physical needs but not their spiritual needs.

Thoughts to Consider

1. If we want to know the heart of God we should be prepared to experience sorrow and heartache.

2. Sometimes God has to remove our strength to make us strong.

3. We should never tempt God’s mercy, it can be removed as easily as it is given.

4. It is not enough to take care of our children’s physical needs, we must take great effort to bring them to the Lord.