What is Love? - Hosea Overview

We are going to be doing something a little different over the next few weeks. We are going to be studying the first half of the minor prophets, but we’re going to be doing that by looking at the books from an overview, moving quickly through them to understand their overarching message and why it is important for us to understand.

Then, when you go home and throughout the week, you should take the time to read that book for yourself. (Listening counts too!) The longest book we are looking at is only 14 chapters and can be read in a single sitting, but it is very manageable to read a couple chapters a day, praying for the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to our hearts.

So then, by Thursday when we gather at the Spence’s home for our discipleship group, we are ready to discuss and encourage one another with what we have learned from our reading that week. Even if you do not complete the reading by Thursday, still come and join us!

So, if you look in your bulletin, you’ll find a bookmark that has the date and book that we will be reading together that you can place in your bible. Use it to keep track of where we are. And if you need a Bible, let me know and I’ll be happy to give you one.

Now, this morning we are covering the book of hosea and it contains some very adult content and words so I do encourage all parents and guardians to go ahead and send the kids downstairs.

Intro

Now, please turn your Bibles to the book of Hosea.

We live in a culture that seems to be absolutely obsessed with love.

All over the place we’ll hear phrases

“Love is love”

“Love is blind”

“Love yourself”

Or “God is love” and its infinitely less true inverse “love is god”

Call something love and you require no justification. Everyone is just expected to bow down to it. We use it to excuse our sin and make us feel better about ourselves.

With all these questions out there, we have to ask ourselves, What is Love?

Intro to the Minor Prophets

We are beginning a series in the Minor Prophets, where we will be looking at a big question that each of the prophets answer.

We are going to spend six weeks looking at the first half of these writings that are so regularly neglected. When I mentioned to a church member that we were doing this, they said, “oh good! So few people teach them!”

So we’re going to buck the trend and dig into these writings because they are the word of God and they will teach, rebuke, correct and train us in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16-17).

Intro to Hosea

In Hosea, the first of the 12, we notice a couple peculiarities

1. It is longer than most minor prophets. Only Zechariah also has 14 chapters

2. Hosea was one of the earliest prophets, writing and prophesying in the 8th century BC (so 7-800 years before Jesus was born) before the Northern Kingdom of Israel (which was also often called Ephraim) fell and was taken away in captivity by the Assyrians.

3. Hosea is also unusual because it focuses on the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Hosea and Amos are the only two to do so, because they are two of the oldest minor prophets and by the time most of the other minor prophets were writing, the Northern Kingdom was no more.

Historical Context

Now, Maybe you had no idea that Israel had been divided into two kingdoms.

So, let me give you some quick context to help you see where we are in Israel’s history, we're working through the book of Judges on Sunday nights and during that time Israel was led by a series of military leaders who progressively grew worse and worse.

After that time, the Israelites began to be ruled by kings, first by Saul, then by David, then David's son Solomon.

When the time came for Solomon’s son to be crowned king, there was a rebellion and 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel, the Northern tribes, chose to follow the rival for the throne, Jeroboam (see the story in 1 Kings 12). They came to be known as the Nation of Israel, though they are also often called “Ephraim,” “Samaria” (because that was it’s capital city), and “Jacob” as well.

Only Judah and Benjamin remained faithful to the house of David and followed Solomon’s son Rehoboam. They became known as the Nation of Judah. Most of the Prophets were prophesying to this Kingdom.

Over the next couple of centuries, Israel and Judah sometimes worked together but often fought with one another and they never became one nation again.

By the time of Hosea, the nation of Israel had been declining quickly and was coming to a point where there would be no return. Jeroboam II was the most recent king in a tumultuous line of king after king and at this point Northern Israel was paying tribute to Assyria and Egypt to keep them from conquering their small nation. And even yet, Assyria kept chipping away at Israel’s borders and would in just a few years take all of the Northern Nation of Israel into exile in 722 BC (see 2 Kings 14-17)

So y’all, this is not a good time in Israel’s history and God makes it very clear why it is not a good time in the message of Hosea.

But this message is not just something that is for ancient Israel. Hosea’s message actually teaches us some very important understanding about love and what it truly is.

It is vital for us to understand this as we think about the Love of God as well as understanding how to engage with a world that has lost its mind about the meaning of love.

The book of Hosea doesn’t have a clear outline, but in a general sense we can say it is divided into two sections.

Chapters 1-3 are a strange story of a strange love that God tells Hosea to pursue.

Chapters 4-14 are then God’s accusations and warnings for Israel, but also contain some promises of hope.

This book tells us a lot about love and it is important for us to really listen and understand. So let’s dig in.

I’m going to be jumping through the book, making references and sometimes reading, so have your Bibles and your ears open as we cover this important book.

Love’s Strange Story: Hosea and Gomer

In these last days of Israel, what does God have to say to his people? What is the focus of Hosea? We can link that to a single word in the third verse, “married”.

At the physical level, the book of Hosea is about a man marrying a woman.

And that man is Hosea, who we are introduced to in the very beginning of the book (who his father is and when he lived), but the most important thing to know about Hosea is that he was a prophet of God who truly heard from him and also, that he married a woman after being told to do so by God.

Now, in the charismatic Christian college I spent a little over a year in, I heard more than once people saying that God told them to marry someone else. This is not the same thing as what happened with Hosea.

Firstly, saying that God told you to marry someone is 99.99999% of the time a blasphemous and manipulative remark that is just downright untrue.

Secondly, though, these were typically young men saying this to attractive young women.

For Hosea, he truly was a proven prophet of God who boldly stood before kings to tell them messages from God, not simply a sexually charged young man.

He also was not told to marry one of the eligible beautiful young women of good standing in society.

Who does he marry? Well let’s read it from God’s Word itself. Hosea 1:1-9

Hosea 1:1–9 ESV

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in 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 whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by 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, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.” 8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

This is a strange, strange story.

Hosea marries an unfaithful wife, named Gomer, which many modern translations translates as “promiscuous,” but I appreciate the visceral, strong, really more faithful language that the ESV and the KJV use when they call her a woman of “whoredom”

Now, some of you may be feeling some offense from this word and I just want to encourage you, that yes, this is an offensive word, but it is in the Bible and maybe we need to realize that God doesn’t play around and he doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to sin. It is wildly offensive to him and deserves to be spoken about with strong language and we will continue to see this as we keep going.

Hosea then proceeds to name their children some strange names that are prophetic, representing God’s judgement on Israel.

“Jezreel” (remembering the injustice done by some of the kings of Israel), “No Mercy”, and the worst of them all “Not My People”

Now, it is interesting to note that very little is said about Hosea in all this book. In fact, the only other time that we see him clearly discussed is in Hosea 3:1-3

Hosea 3:1–3 ESV

1 And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”

Hosea’s wife went back to her old ways and may have even sold herself into temple prostitution, but God told Hosea to take her back and to continue loving this unfaithful woman.

And then, that’s it. That is everything the Bible says about this man.

But the real historical people of Hosea and Gomer are set forward as a real life example of God as the husband and Israel as the unfaithful wife. In much of the book this symbolism is seen, especially In chapter two, but then there are other times where God speaks more directly.

But overall, this book has an ominous message of a coming judgement and the many uses of the word “will” shows this to us. Let’s look at chapter one verse 4 again.

Hosea 1:4–6 (ESV)

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.

And all throughout these first couple chapters we see God’s description of Israel as his unfaithful wife and promises that his patience is about to end.

Then in the rest of the book, God promises in a multitude of ways how he is going to bring judgement on her.

To destroy, reject, forget, punish, and bring shame.

To repay them as they deserve and bring them to ruin.

To discipline, and to hide Himself from them.

To be devoured and desolated, oppressed, crushed, torn away, and carried off.

To be derided and pursued. To have their idols broken to pieces, and their strongholds destroyed with fire.

To experience hunger and thirst, to remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

To be abandoned, driven out, and no longer loved.

To be wanderers among the nations.

And this is only to chapter 10!

Where did it all change from God being the protector of Israel, to now being the aggressor toward them? What happened? And what in the world does this have to do with Love?

And here we see the great story of God and Israel, of Hosea and Gomer, of Sin and Love, of repentance and restoration, and ultimately, of Christ and you.

Love’s Challenge: Sin

We must start with the great challenge to Love: which is sin.

Throughout Hosea we see God’s charges against Israel. He says:

Hosea 9:9 (ESV)

9 They have.. corrupted themselves

Hosea 4:16 (ESV)

They are stubborn;

Hosea 11:5 (ESV)

they have refused to return to me (repent).

Hosea 8:1–3 (ESV)

1 they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. 3 and they spurned the good;

Hosea 4:6 (ESV)

they rejected knowledge, And forgot the law of God!

Hosea 8:12 (ESV)

12 They treated God’s laws as a strange [or otherworldly] thing.

And in Hosea 13:16, God makes an strong claim in saying that

Hosea 13:16 (ESV)

16 Israel has rebelled against God himself

because of their sin. All these wicked things they are doing, they are doing to God!

Sin is personal to God!

Hosea 11:7 (ESV)

7 My people are bent on turning away from me!

Have you ever thought of sin as something so personal to God? Every lie, every lustful or angry thought, every time we choose our own comfort over serving the Lord, every time we unrighteously judge someone else, it is a personal affront to our Creator!

Sin is breaking covenant (like a marriage covenant) with God!

Hosea 6:7 (ESV)

7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

There are times when our attitude toward our sin is something like “But does it really hurt anyone?” and this just shows the depths of our depravity! Sin of any sort, is a personal offense to God himself! It doesn’t matter if someone you know is hurt by it or not!

And there are many

Acts of Sin

That are explicitly stated throughout the book of Hosea

We can’t name all of them, because there’s a lot, but here are some:

Hosea 4:1–2 (ESV)

1There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; 2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

That’s just a verse and a half!

And in chapter 2 we see that people are even taking the good gifts of God and offering them as sacrifices to other idols!(2:8)

How did it get so bad?

Because they did not understand The Core of Sin

Their beliefs, their religion was all wrong!

The priests were leading the people into sinful worship for their own gain

Hosea 4:7–8 (ESV)

7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.

8 They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.

The people also mocked the prophets and considered those who were truly seeking God as insane!

Hosea 9:7 (ESV)

7 The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad,

But ultimately, their biggest issue was idolatry!

Hosea 9:10 (ESV)

they consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.

They forgot their Maker and sought after other things to bring them satisfaction!

Hosea 8:14 (ESV)

14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker

Then in Hosea 4:1 we read:

Hosea 4:1 (ESV)

1 There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;

This is their great problem, they do not know God.

And this word is often used to indicate intimate knowledge between a husband and wife. The people have forsaken their God and as such are committing great sin by taking idols as their gods.

And so what is the image that God places forward when he speaks about Israel’s idolatry through Hosea?

Hosea 1:2 (ESV)

2 … the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

Adultery

Because something must be understood as true because this is the way the Bible specifically speaks: Idolatry is Adultery.

When people chase other gods, especially after covenanting with the One True God, they are practicing a spiritual adultery.

The Appearance of Sin

Sin takes on many appearances in this book:

Sacrifices

Altars

False Priests

Idolatry

Setting up ungodly kings

Sexual immorality (temple prostitution)

Loving idols more than people (13:2) - they kiss idols and kill people!

Hosea 13:2 (ESV)

...It is said of them, “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”

The Root of Sin

With sin presenting such a great challenge to love, if we are ever to overcome this challenge we must ask “What is the root of sin?”

I think we can see quite clearly from Hosea that the root of sin is Arrogance

Hosea 10:13 (ESV)

13 you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors,

Hosea 5:5 (ESV)

5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face;

He says the exact same thing in 7:10

In 13:6 God speaks of leading a hungering Israel to good food, but once they filled their bellies they became prideful, forgetting the one who provided for them in the first place.

But you cannot easily forget God. You must work to make yourself forget.

Hosea 13:9 (ESV)

9 you are against me, against your helper.

Hosea 9:10 (ESV)

10 They consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,

and became detestable like the thing they loved.

They rejected God and abused the blessings he gave to them, and the result of their sin is becoming worthless (8:8), and a promise is given in 9:17 that “they shall be wanderers among the nations.”

The first two of the ten commandments are a positive instruction to follow God alone, and a negative instruction to never make idols. And the Israelites had ignored both of these. Though they chose to reject God and chase other gods, they thought they were okay because they simply added those gods to their worship.

But would you be okay with your spouse sleeping with other people so long as they still came home to sleep in bed beside you at night? No! That’s worse than outright rejection!

And if you are here this morning and not a Christian thinking that (if God exists) you are somehow good with him because you think you are a good person, I don’t think you understand how serious your sin is. You may be morally upright in your own eyes, but God knows your every thought.

Would you really be completely unashamed and consider yourself morally upright if every thought you ever had was blasted on a megaphone for all to hear? Every thought about your family? Or friends? Or about people you find attractive? Or people you find reprehensible?

I hope you are honest enough with yourself to recognize that even if you are so warped as to believe you would still be righteous, there would be few others in the world who would agree with you. You are just as bad as these Israelites when you compare yourself to the righteousness of God, which is exactly what Jesus tells us we must do in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)

But God made the way for us to be redeemed to him through Christ! You can be set free from your idolatry and sin through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross! Turn and believe in him alone for your salvation and come know true love!

And if you are inside the church every time the doors open, don’t think you’re able to just check out. Hear this quote from Baptist pastor Mark Dever.

As we read through Hosea and encounter these unfaithful, wrong-loving, prostituting people, we must realize that Hosea’s condemnation does not apply so much to all the non-Christians “out there.” No, what he says applies to us—God’s people in the church!

We do not want to be a self-righteous, conservative evangelical church that tut-tuts over the problems of our country as the country “goes down the tubes.” That would be a good tune for us to whistle on our way to hell, unconcerned about our own sins.

No, Hosea means for God’s people to examine themselves and their own sin. Staring into the picture Hosea paints of the Israelites, can you not see the lines of your own double-facedness and the wandering paths of your own heart? Outwardly associating ourselves with God’s people does not deliver us from sin. - Mark Dever

“Outwardly associating ourselves with God’s people does not deliver us from sin.”

So how can we be delivered? How can we recover the love we lost?

Sin presents a great challenge to love, especially because of the holiness of God. God’s perfect love and holiness makes it impossible for him to just be okay with sin. So, it sounds like we have no hope of ever recovering the lost love, right?

But Hosea provides us with the key to finding the recovery of love. It is through repentance.

Love’s Recovery: Repentance

From chapter 2 we already see God pleading that Israel would turn away from its adultery and turn back to him.

Hosea 6:1–3 (ESV)

1 “Come, let us return to the Lord;

for he has torn us, that he may heal us;

he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

2 After two days he will revive us;

on the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live before him.

3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;

his going out is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

as the spring rains that water the earth.”

In chapter 8 Hosea critiques the pretend repentance of the Israelites and then in Hosea 10:12 we see Hosea call them to

Hosea 10:12 (ESV)

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;

reap steadfast love;

break up your fallow ground,

for it is the time to seek the Lord,

that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Then in chapter 12 we see him tell the Israelites to

Hosea 12:6 (ESV)

6 “by the help of your God, return,

hold fast to love and justice,

and wait continually for your God.”

In chapter 14 we read:

Hosea 14:1–2 (ESV)

1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

2 Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept what is good,

and we will pay with bulls

the vows of our lips.

Love can be recovered through repentance.

SO turn and repent! It’s not too late!

And though Israel did not listen to that call for repentance and Assyria conquered them not very many years later taking them into exile, you can still respond in repentance and be recovered. My friends, please see the destruction of your sin! See how it degrades you and others! And don’t delay because you think your sin is great! The mercy of God is greater than any sin you can commit! Turn to Christ and trust in him alone!

And this message of repentance is not just for those who would not identify as Christians.

Sometimes we evangelicals can have a mindset on prayer that a single prayer of repentance is all there is to being a Christian, but then we miss what the Bible has to say about our ongoing fight with sin. This is why we have a prayer of confession every week. This is why we take time to pray and prepare before receiving The Lord’s Supper. The New Testament teaches us to continually examine our hearts for sin! Not because we doubt God’s grace is on us - we are sure and comforted that it is! But we should be uncertain about our hearts and the fruit they produce in us! Our hearts require continual examination!

The book ends with a call to wisdom, discernment, repentance, and a willingness to walk in the ways of the Lord.

Hosea 14:9 (ESV)

9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and the upright walk in them,

but transgressors stumble in them.

Love’s Hope: Restoration

Hosea teaches us much about love: Sin challenges love. Repentance leads the way to the recovery of love, and our great hope is in the Restoration of love.

Even from the beginning of this book, God promises restoration to his people who would turn to him.

Hosea 1:10–11 (ESV)

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Chapter 2 continues with a beautiful promise of what God will do in his New Covenant.

Hosea 2:18–23 (ESV)

18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord...

23And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

And then we have the magnificent chapter 11, showing the love of God for his people as if they were his son. And how could he give them up? His compassion and care for them causes his patience to extend until restoration is made possible. Spend some time on chapter 11 this week and consider the depths of the love and compassion of God for his people.

Over and over again throughout the book, we see Hosea write of God’s love and compassion moving him to seek to restore his people to himself! And all of his promises of restoration are based in God’s own love, not what the people deserve!

But God doesn’t call Hosea to simply write about his love and compassion, Hosea must exemplify them as well! In 3:1, God tells Hosea to love his adulterous woman, just like how the Lord loves his own adulterous wife.

Just as Gomer will return, so will God’s people. They will turn to him and recognize him as their God and he will invite them into the fullness of restoration.

How could God make these promises and then allow Assyria to come and destroy his people? Because though the Old Covenant kingdom of Israel was destroyed, God’s true people were not.

God’s restoration doesn’t just end with relational restoration! In 13:14 we see a familiar verse that shows more of God’s promise for the coming New Covenant!

Hosea 13:14 (ESV)

14 I shall ransom them from the power of the Grave;

I shall redeem them from Death.

O Death, where are your plagues?

O Grave, where is your sting?

Paul quotes Hosea multiple times, including twice in Romans 9 (Rom. 9:25, 26). And the Apostle Paul understood that Hosea’s prophecy would not be fulfilled in some Middle Eastern nation-state to come, but in the church, the people of God from every nation in the world!

Restoration of love lost is promised all throughout Hosea it is the great hope he offers to his readers! He ends his message in chapter 14 with that promised hope.

And that same hope is offered to you. In Christ, God showed his great love for his people from all over the world. In Christ, you can be restored to God and his great Love.

Conclusion: This is Love

So let’s think about Hosea and Gomer one more time.

After listening to this overview, who do you think you relate to most? Hosea?

After all, it is really hard to love all those sinners out in the world isn’t it? Oh man, I’m glad God is on my side, otherwise I just would have no shot of being a good Hosea who loves all those adulterous Gomers I know.

That sounds really great on the surface, but I hope you see how ridiculous it actually is, because you are not Hosea in this story. God is Hosea!

You are Gomer.

You are the adulterous spouse, running back to your lovers, forsaking your faithful husband.

You are the idolater who is happy to mix your own ideas for worship in with your supposed worship of God.

You are the treasonous rebel whose crimes deserve death.

And You are the person who was so desperately wicked that it took the death of God’s own son to save you from what you deserve.

Please don’t somehow deceive yourself into thinking you’re the patient hero of this story. You’re the villain, the cheating spouse, the one who deserves to be divorced, humiliated, and abandoned.

But God, in his compassion for you, calls you instead to to repent and be restored to his love.

And the Apostle John gives us some direct teaching on what love is; both our love for God, and his love for us.

This is our love for God

2 John 5–6 (ESV)

5 I am not writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in love.

1 John 5:2–3 (ESV)

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Our love for God is shown in our joyful obedience to his commandments. And where we do not follow those commandments, we show we do not love him.

And our love for God is rooted first in the Love of God for us. The Apostle writes in 1 John 4:9–10

1 John 4:9–10 (ESV)

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 This is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

May we seek to continuously be in the love of God by fighting our sin together, by repenting of our sin continually, and by trusting in the power of Christ’s work on the cross to restore us to our Heavenly Father.

Let’s Pray.

PRayer of confession

Scriptural Assurance

Isaiah 12:2–3 ESV

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.