An Introduction to Hosea

Scripture Reading

Hosea 1 NIV84

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel: 2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.” 6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the Lord their God.” 8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God. 10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

Introduction

I’m going to be starting to preach through the books in the Bible that are collectively known as the minor prophets. As we begin today / this evening, we’ll be starting on the the first of these minor prophets, that is Hosea.

These books of prophecy in the Old Testament are called the minor prophets not because they are of lesser significance or importance, but rather because of the shorter length of the prophecies contained when compared with the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel).

In terms of these minor prophets, Hosea is one of the longer books in the minor prophets.

It is a difficult book, in the sense that there are many strong words brought by God against His people through this prophet. The task of Hosea was no small task. What he was asked to do as a prophet in order to convey God’s message to Israel was shocking, and even in our own minds, is one that may battle to even comprehend.

But that said, Hosea is a book that demonstrates the deep faithfulness and the great love and compassion of God. No matter how bad the situation, no matter how far God’s people had gone in rejecting God, He demonstrated steadfast love and faithfulness, so far beyond what we could even imagine. His love is certainly demonstrated in this book as most profound.

We will learn through our study in the book of Hosea just how great is the love of God that He has for His people.

And so, as we begin here in our study, I would like to just ask you to think through in your mind, when was the last time you thought to yourself, “God doesn’t love me.” or “It’s impossible for God to love me given what I’ve just done.”

When last did you feel that you have to work hard, to live better, to be a better person, in order to earn back God’s love?

Now if you’re solidly grounded in the faith, you know in you mind, in your reasoning, in your intellect, that you should not be thinking such thoughts.

We know 1 John 4:10, which says...

1 John 4:10 NIV84

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

And verse 19 of that same passage, which says...

1 John 4:19 NIV84

19 We love because he first loved us.

But we so often have these doubts in our minds about God’s love for us, particularly when we go through times of difficulty, when our faith seems weak, when we are struggling with questions. And we wonder if God truly loves us, or if he could possibly love us.

By our own worldly manner thinking, according sinful thought patterns, it would indeed seem impossible for God to love such people as us. The Scriptures clearly teach us that man is utterly sinful, and God is completely holy.

In our own fallible way of reasoning,

God’s love for us is because of our imperfection. This is what Hosea came to convey. He was called to demonstrate in a very practical way the extent of the profound sinfulness of the people of God, and yet the profound, unmerited love of God for that people.

Perfect love for imperfect people.

Redeeming love from God.

1. The Speaker

As we begin, we need to remember who it is that is speaking here. This is not a story or some personal anecdote made up by Hosea himself.

The very first phrase in this book is: “The word of the LORD...”

Whenever we find this phrase “the word of” in the Scriptures, we need to recognise that it goes beyond mere words spoken. When this phrase “the word” is used, it speaks of a word given with authority. In this case the word that is given is not simply from a man, a prophet, but rather it is the word of the LORD - Yahweh.

God spoke through Hosea the prophet, because of an urgent message that needed to be conveyed to His wandering people who were in a serious place of danger. God does not give the silent treatment. Rather, He speaks in order to tell His people in no uncertain terms that what they are doing is wrong, and it is nothing less than spiritual adultery.

And this is a message that is recorded for us in the Word of God so that we as the people of God today may take that Word that was given through the prophet Hosea, and be reminded even today as the church of the holiness of God, of His great love for His people, and how He has pursued even us by His own great love. The words from our God should humble us, and they should lead us to flee unrighteousness, and to run to Him and take refuge in Him.

2. The Mouthpiece

We see secondly the mouthpiece of God. It is God who speaks, but as he speaks to His people, He does so by making use of a prophet by the name of Hosea.

In our text this morning, we see that the word of the Lord came to Hosea was the son of Beeri.

When we consider the prophets of Scripture, perhaps we are led to think of them as great men of God who were used because of their great boldness. But this is seldom the case with the people that God used.

The prophets were generally men that were weak, and not of high standing. God made use of people just like us to bring His word to His people. These prophets lived with all of the frailty and weaknesses that we as people struggle with today.

I’m reminded of the book of James, where he writes in James 5:17 that “Elijah was a man just like us.”

And so Hosea was a prophet that himself was a man just like us. He was not without his own frailty and weakness. He was a man that was called by God to a difficult assignment. He was called by God even to marry a harlot, to take for himself a wife that would betray him. His wife would run to other men. She would have no care for her husband. She would indulge in adulterous relationships that were despicable. But Hosea, this man just like us, with emotions and weaknesses like us, was told to go and love her, despite her harlotry. He was called to love his wife. And he loved her, even though she didn’t deserve that love.

As a prophet of God, Hosea would suffer the scorn and ridicule of those to whom he prophesied. He would also be despised by the people. He would be rejected. But he would carry out this beautiful task of calling the people of God to turn to Him, and he would preach a message of God’s great love, despite the hatred.

We must then consider the name Hosea itself. Remember that in the Scriptures, names have particular meanings and the people in Scripture would live up to their names. Names were significant. The fact is that the name Hosea means God Redeems. It is similar to the name Joshua, or even Jesus. Hosea, even through his name, would be a reminder that the God we serve is a God who redeems.

God is a redeeming God, who saves his people. This is a central message of all of the Scriptures: God saves His people. The Old Testament picture is the Israelites held captive and in bondage and slavery in Egypt.

But as Hosea brings his word of God to the nation Israel, they have wandered far away from God. They have forsaken their redeemer. They have forgotten all his wondrous works for them, and they have indulged in seeking the pleasures of the world around them.

As we will work our way through Hosea, we will find that God will judge the nation of Israel. But after judgment will come redemption. The overwhelming love of God will be demonstrated by redeeming a people that are entirely unlovable and unworthy.

Thirdly...

3. The Date

In verse 1 we read that Hosea prophesied “during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel.

With this list of names of kings in both Judah (which consisted of the 2 Southern tribes of Israel) and Israel / Ephraim (the 10 Northern tribes) we are able to establish the estimated time period that Hosea prophesied during, and also what was taking place in Israel in that time.

I would encourage you to read through 2 Kings 14-17, just to get a sense of the kings and how they acted during this time of the prophetic word of Hosea.

The time period was around the middle of the 8th century BC,

During this time the Assyrians were rising to great power, and there were very few who could stop them. We find in the record of 2 Kings, that Ahaz, the king of Judah even entered into agreements with Tiglah-Pileser, the king of Assyria, and sent him gifts of silver and gold from the temple of the Lord, in order to help him and Judah against the attacks coming against them.

But Assyria was eventually going to be used by God to bring Israel into captivity.

This was a tumultuous time in the history of Israel. They had one king after the next rising to power. There were assassinations of kings. There was great political instability.

But of more importance for our study in Hosea, we must consider something more of the context.

Finally, and just briefly, note...

4. The Context

Both Judah and Israel did evil in the sight of God. However, Israel was far more entrenched in wickedness than Judah. The 10 Northern tribes did utter evil in the sight of God.

Hosea was a prophet primarily to Israel, the ten Northern tribes that were so far from God in their ways. Hosea was sent by God to call Israel back to Him in the midst of their idolatry.

The culture of the day was one of Baal worship. By the time that Hosea prophesied, Baal worship was a normal part of the Israelite life. They had forsaken God, and turned to idol worship.

Baal was an agrarian god. They believed that Baal, as the god of agriculture, was responsible for the fertility of the land, and the seed producing good crops. He was also the god that would send them the good rains for their crops to grow. And because Israel relied on agriculture, they looked to this pagan idol Baal to bring them their good crops.

We must then also understand that they believed that because Baal was the god of fertility, the best way to worship him was through human fertility.

They would thus indulge in acts of gross immorality, even in their temples. Acts of sowing and reproduction took place in the temple, which would then supposedly invoke the pagan god Baal to allow reproduction and growth to take place in the fields and lands.

This culture was grotesque. It was filled with promiscuity and immorality of the most filthy types. We cannot even begin to describe what was happening in the name of worship.

Well, in the midst of this grotesque worship of a false idol, God sends his prophet Hosea, and tells the prophet that he should marry a prostitute. This wife that he would marry, would herself join in with the pagan idolatry, and would give herself over to unfaithfulness with other men.

But God said to Hosea that he was not to divorce her or let her go. Although she was entirely unfaithful in her conduct, and although she was deserving of divorce, even death, God tells Hosea that he must go and win her back. He must show kindness and love, even to the exceedingly unlovely.

The reason that God does this is to show is profound love, patience and compassion with His people Israel. Although God says to them that they will be punished, and they will be exiled, or taken captive, He nonetheless promises them restoration, and very importantly, he promises them a King to rule them, a King from the line of David.

And so even in this prophetic book, there is the promise of a Messiah - the Saviour.

Application / Conclusion

The message is every bit as relevant today.

As we begin our study in Hosea, let me encourage you all as to some of the things that I trust will be of encouragement to us through our study of this book, and also some of the things that we can just ponder in our minds as we look towards our study.

A.1. We serve a Holy God

Firstly, we must understand that the God we serve is holy. God is a God of holiness, and will not tolerate sin. God punishes sin, and he cannot bear to look upon sin, to tolerate it.

It’s essential that we as the people of God constantly be brought to see the sinfulness of sin for what it truly is, and to see the holiness of God for what it really is. Isaiah the prophet gained a glimpse of the holiness of God, and he pronounced a curse upon Himself. God is holy, and we should give careful and due consideration to His holiness.

A.2. We Serve a Redeeming God

God is a redeeming God. Even in the book of Hosea, we will see demonstrated for us the great love that he had for His chosen people, despite their serious unfaithfulness. In fact, if we just read the descriptions of all that Israel did, we would be amazed that God, this Holy God, would be prepared to persevere with them, and to keep His promises to them.

But our God is a redeeming God. And ultimately, God’s promise to them of redemption would be fulfilled hundreds of years later through the arrival of Jesus the Messiah. Christ came to pay for the sins of rebellious people.

God is a redeeming God. He sent a great redeemer, and we will see through our study just something of the great lengths that God went to redeem His people.