Hosea part 1

we gave an overview of the generality of the minor prophets last week; now we dive into the individual books; don’t want this to be sermons but more of teaching

Hosea; northern kingdom of Israel as opposed to southern kingdom of Judah

Split happened because of disunity; the origin of it was because they forsaken them; God let Jeroboam take 10 of the 12 tribes and split off because of rebellion caused by impending taxes by Rehoboam; Jeroboam split and made up Israel(northern); Rehoboam stayed with 2 remaining tribes that composed Judah(southern)

in 722 AD, Assyria came and decimated Israel; Hosea is prophesying about this happening; so this is prior to that

first event points to central idea of the book - God tells Hosea to marry Gomer; Gomer is a prostitute; she was unfaithful but Hosea still chose her; picture of God’s relationship to Israel

entire books deals with Israel’s relationship to God

Breakdown into 3 major sections; try to cover as much as I can.

Prophetic Marriage and Relationship (1-3)

There are several key verses in this section to point to Israels relationship with God. To start off with, God uses Hosea to show his life as a relationship between God and his people.

Hosea 1:2 “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.””

Think of the life of Hosea as a parable. It is a story that is teaching a lesson. The lesson is about who the people are loving. When you read these first couple of chapters in Hosea, you see that the people of Israel had turned their back on God. They had moved from a worship devoted to God alone, to worshiping multiples gods. You see the name Baal used. Baal was the Canaanite god of storms or of fertility. But Hosea also seems to use it in a general sense of any false gods that are being worshiped.

Why would this be a problem? Why would God care if people were worshiping other gods? Scripture tells us that God is a jealous God. But also, these were the people that God set aside as His people. He rescued them from the captivity of the Egyptians, he sustained them in the wilderness, he ensured victory over much more powerful armies in their conquest of the land. And now, they have adopted idol worship from native people that were not part of the family of God. They have become spiritual adulterers.

Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, which was a real marriage, was also a picture of the relationship of Israel to God. He chose them, like Hosea chose Gomer. He used them to build his family, like Hosea did with Gomer. And they turned their back on him like Gomer did with Hosea.

But then in chapter 3, we see Hosea go and buy back his wife. In this moment, he is a type of Christ. He paid the payment to get his wife out of whoredom. Jesus pays the ransom on the cross to rescue his people from sin. The people of God, though, have turned their back on him. What did they deserve because of this? Punishment. Should this punishment last forever? God would be just if he did that, but as the story continues, we see God’s mercy.

See, in chapter 2, Hosea spoke these words on behalf of God.

Hosea 2:19–20 “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.”

I think we can all agree that they have not earned God’s mercy and love, but he still gives it to us. We need to understand that we, as sinners who are saved by grace, we play the part of Gomer in this. We have rebelled, we have turned away from God, yet he still chose us and paid our ransom.

God’s love is shown through Hosea to Gomer. But it is also shown in the names of the children. We are told that God tells him what to name the children. Jezreel, the name of a massacre that aroused God’s anger towards Israel. Lo-Ruhamah which means no mercy or not loved. And Lo-Ammi which means not my people.

God gives us these names but then shows what it means to be forgiven. Hosea 2:23 “23 and I will sow her for myself in the land. And 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.’ ”” So we see the prophecy of redemption. But the story does not end here, we see several

Sin and Judgement (4-10)

We see Hosea go on quite a rant against Israel in the next several chapters. He calls them out on their sin. What is their major sin? False worship. They were worshipping things other than God. Hosea even tells them that they think they are doing good and do not need God.

Hosea 10:1–2 “1 Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars. 2 Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.”

But because of this mentality, he is going to destroy them. Because of adultery, worshipping things besides God, God is going to destroy them. But it wasn’t just a mentality issue. They were breaking specific commands that they were given.

Hosea 4:1–2 “1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There 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.”

Everything comes down to 1 thing, sin. Sin is their issue. The sin of false worship. The sin of disobedience. The sin of pride. So sin is the problem. Sin also brings judgment. So what should they do?

Hosea 6:1–2 “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.”

Repentance is the solution. The call to repent is not original to Jesus. The prophets spent years calling the people of Israel and Judah to repent and turn to the Lord. The same call is upon us today. The prophets prophesied to nations and people groups to repent, namely the people who God had set apart as his people.

Today, we call individuals to repent. There are instances where groups of people and churches need to be called to repentance. But we need to understand, especially in America, that our nation has not been set apart as “God’s people”. That was unique to the people of Israel, not America. So we should try to protect ourselves from this mindset. Yes, we must call people to repentance, but our nation should not be compared the the nation of Israel.

But lets use our imaginations a little bit. If we, as a group of Christians, need to repent of something, what would it be? Maybe think of our church, or the american church, or the global church.

Restoration and Repentance (11-14)

Repentance offers recovery. And recovery can then lead to restoration. In the case of the Israelites, and for us, if there is genuine repentance, then we can be restored back to God. Why do we need restoration? Because of sin and the separation that it has caused us. The same offer that Israel was offered and rejected is offered to us as well.

Hosea 13:14 “14 I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.”

God loves his people so much, that he offered grace to them. Turn from your wicked ways, stop worshiping false idols, stop breaking my law, turn to me and I will forgive you and restore you. If we have done this, we are children of God. But, the people of Israel did not do this. And what did God do to them? He let their land be destroyed.

Although he had every right to do the same thing as he did with the flood, he still showed them mercy. He let them live.

Hosea 11:8–11 “8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. 9 I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. 10 They shall go after the Lord; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west; 11 they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.”

And if you struggle to believe Hosea’s message of hope, remember it is Jesus who secures the restoration this book foretells. Jesus is the son that Israel never was. He would perfectly keep God’s covenant like Israel never did. He was the true Israelite. And though all of us have committed spiritual adultery against God, Jesus never did. He was always faithful. So it is through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we are reconciled to God.

I want to take some time and open for some discussion questions.

How does Hosea’s personal experience with his wife show God’s love for his people?

Do you see any parallels today to this story of Israels unfaithfulness?

I want us to break up into groups and pray for our church to continue to worship God and God alone and to keep our eyes focused on what he wants from us as we work for him.