Major Profit From the Minor Prophets: Hosea 1

Hosea 1:1–11 (NASB)

1 The word of the Lord which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 “On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” 6 Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. 7 “But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.” 8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.” 10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.” 11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel.

The Context & Calling of Hosea (v. 1-2)

1 The word of the Lord which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”

The Northern Kingdom of Israel’s Fall (722 BC):

The first six books of the Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah) are from the time leading up to and surrounding the Northern Kingdom of Israel’s fall to the Assyrian Empire. They cover about a 100 year period of time in the 8th Century BC. Isaiah also prophesied during this time period.

Hosea, Amos, Jonah and Joel were prophets of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the only minor prophets that were. All the others were prophets of Judah or the fully restored kingdom after the exile.

Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom during its final years of existence. God appointed Hosea to expose Israel’s widespread corruption and apostasy and call the Israelites to repent and return to God. In a unique form of symbolism, the Lord used Hosea’s family to illustrate the enduring covenant and redeeming love God has for the nation of Israel.

During the reigns of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel

Psalm 106:39–43 (NASB)

39 Thus they became unclean in their practices, And played the harlot in their deeds. 40 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people And He abhorred His inheritance. 41 Then He gave them into the hand of the nations, And those who hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were subdued under their power. 43 Many times He would deliver them; They, however, were rebellious in their counsel, And so sank down in their iniquity.

Leviticus 17:7 (ESV)

7 So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.

Judges 2:17 (NASB)

17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do as their fathers.

The First Child: “Jezreel” (v. 3-5)

3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 “On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

Jezreel means is to Hebrew words put together. One mans sow and the other means almighty. Together, they mean “The Almighty sows” or “God sows”. But when you consider how they sowed, they scattered the seed. So the more literal meaning is “The Almighty will scatter”.

Be Amazed (1. The Children: God Is Gracious (Hosea 1:1–2:1))

Jezreel was a city in the tribe of Isaachar, near Mt. Gilboa, and is associated with the drastic judgment that Jehu executed on the family of Ahab (1 Kings 21:21–24, Jezebel will be eaten by dogs in the valley of Jezreel; and 2 Kings 9:5–10, Jehu anointed king and told to go and destroy Ahab and his whole family.). So zealous was Jehu to purge the land of Ahab’s evil descendants that he killed far more people than the Lord commanded, including King Ahaziah of Judah and forty-two of his relatives 2 Kings 9:22-37 and 2 Kings 10:1-31

Through the birth of Hosea’s son, God announced that He would avenge the innocent blood shed by Jehu and put an end to Jehu’s dynasty in Israel. This was finally fulfilled in 752 B.C. when Zechariah was assassinated, the great-great-grandson of Jehu and the last of his dynasty to reign. God also announced that the whole kingdom of Israel would come to an end with the defeat of her army, which occurred in 724.

2 Kings 15:8–12 (NASB)

8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months. 9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. 10 Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him before the people and killed him, and reigned in his place. 11 Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 12 This is the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” And so it was.

The Second Child: “Lo-ruhamah” (v. 6-7)

6 Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them. 7 “But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.”

Lo-ruhamah means “she has not recieved pity” or “she has not recieved mercy”. The simple for is just, “no mercy.

Lo-ruhamah, the name of Hosea’s second child, a daughter, has a lovely ring in Hebrew. The root of the word, Ruhamah, describes God’s tender mercy and compassion. However, the negative prefix, Lo-, reverses the meaning and signals the withdrawal of God’s love, mercy, and compassion from Israel.

Be Amazed (1. The Children: God Is Gracious (Hosea 1:1–2:1))

The second child was a daughter named Lo-ruhamah (Hosea 1:6–7), which means “unpitied” or “not loved.” God had loved His people and proved it in many ways, but now He would withdraw that love and no longer show them mercy. The expression of God’s love is certainly unconditional, but our enjoyment of that love is conditional and depends on our faith and obedience. (Deut. 7:6–12) God would allow the Assyrians to swallow up the Northern Kingdom, but He would protect the Southern Kingdom of Judah (Isa. 36–37; 2 Kings 19).

Deuteronomy 7:6–12 (NASB)

6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. 11 “Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them. 12 “Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers.

(v. 7)

Isaiah 37:36–37 (NASB)

36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh.

The Third Child: “Lo-ammi” (v. 8-9)

8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.” go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel.

Lo-ammi means “not my people.” By God’s command, the prophetic name was given to the little boy to signify that the Lord was rejecting the people of Israel in their sinful state. God gives the reason for the name: “Because these people are not mine, and I am not their God”

The name of Hosea’s last child, Lo-ammi, conveys the most severe message of judgment. The Lord’s statement, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:7), lies at the heart of God’s covenant with Israel.

More than any other expression, it defines Israel’s identity (Leviticus 26:12; 2 Samuel 7:24; Jeremiah 30:22; Ezekiel 36:28).

Jeremiah 30:22 (NASB)

22 ‘You shall be My people, And I will be your God.’ ”

The devastating message in Lo-ammi’s name (“not my people”) was that Israel had utterly broken its covenant with the Lord, and the Lord disowned them. Because of Israel’s rebellion, the nation would be treated as any other pagan nation. Within a few years of Hosea’s prophecy, the Assyrians destroyed Israel and took most of its inhabitants captive.

Be Amazed (1. The Children: God Is Gracious (Hosea 1:1–2:1))

Lo-ammi (Hosea 1:8–9) was the third child, a son, and his name means “not My people.” Not only would God remove His mercy from His people, but He would also renounce the covenant He had made with them. It was like a man divorcing his wife and turning his back on her, or like a father rejecting his own son…

The Changed Names (v. 10-11)

10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.” 11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel.

Genesis 22:17 (NASB)

17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

Be Amazed (1. The Children: God Is Gracious (Hosea 1:1–2:1))

The new names (Hosea 1:10–2:1). Here is where the grace of God comes in, for God will one day change these names. “Not my people” will become “My people,”.

Instead of “Jezreel” being a place of slaughter and judgment, it will be a place of sowing where God will joyfully sow His people in their own land and cause them to prosper.

Today, the Jews are sown throughout the Gentile world, but one day God will plant them in their own land and restore to them their glory. As God promised to Abraham, Israel will become like the sand on the seashore. (Gen. 22:17).

When will these gracious promises be fulfilled for the Jews? When they recognize their Messiah at His return, trust Him, and experience His cleansing (Zech. 12:10–13:1). Then they will enter into their kingdom, and the promises of the prophets will be fulfilled (Isa. 11–12; 32; 35; Jer. 30–31; Ezek. 37; Amos 9:11–15).

Isaiah 11:1–10 (NASB)

1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. 10 Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.

Jeremiah 23:3–8 (NASB)

3 “Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 “I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord. 5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’ 7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”