Hosea

2. HOSEA

Title.

This is taken from the name of the writer, which means “salvation” or “deliverance”. He is described as the son of Beeri and was a prophet of the Northern Kingdom. He could be described as the John of the O.T. He was in a very real sense “the prophet of the sorrowful heart”.

Date.

The reigns of the kings named in 1. 1 cover over one hundred years. From the death of Jeroboam II in 792 b.c. until the accession of Hezekiah in 722 b.c., some 70 years may well have been spanned by Hosea’s ministry. His was the longest prophetic ministry of all. His contemporaries were Amos, Isaiah, and Micah and perhaps Jonah.

Setting.

His ministry is directed mainly to his own people Israel in the Northern Kingdom. This was probably the darkest period in Israel’s history. The first verse of the prophecy indicates the true setting: four of the kings mentioned belonged to Judah, and only one to Israel. The historical background of Hosea’s ministry is contained in 2 Kings 14-20.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS

Read 2 Kings 14. 23-27; 15-17. Jeroboam II was a brilliant and victorious man, yet wicked in the extreme and in spite of the apparent external prosperity of his kingdom, there was internal moral corruption. After his death his son Zachariah came to the thone, only to be murdered within six months, 2 Kings 15. 8-10. The murderer, Shallum, reigned one month and was in turn murdered, 2 Kings 15. 10-15. Later another king, Pekahiah who reigned two years was assassinated by Pekah, who in turn was slain by Hoshea after two years. These conditions are referred to in Hosea 4.2; 5.10-11; 7.3-7; 8. 8; 10. 7. They sought help from Assyria and Egypt instead of from Jehovah, 2 Kings 16. 7-9; Hos. 5.13; 7.11; 12. 1.

SOCIAL CONDITIONS

were even worse. Moral degeneracy, caused by the introduction of idolatrous customs and rites, was everywhere manifest. The land was full of idolatry and harlotry, Hos. 1. 2; 2. 4, 5; with Amos. 2. 7-8; 5. 7-12; 6. 4-6. The rulers and the priests were as corrupt as the common people.

RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS

were detestable and vile. The worship of the gods of the heathen nations with whom they had formed alliances was rampant and culminated in their dispersal in 719 b.c. In Hosea, Israel is referred to under the designation either of Samaria or Ephraim. The former was the capital city, and had been since the beginning of Omri’s dynasty, hence its use to designate the nation, 1 Kings 16. 24-27; Isa. 7. 9. Study the references to Ephraim in this book. Here is a nation morally rotten, politically doomed and spiritually adulterous, Hos. 6. 7-10; 13. 1-2. To bring home to the nation her sin, God caused the prophet to enact a living representation of Israel’s failure and shame, 1-3. The children born to Hosea received symbolic names setting forth God’s thoughts regarding His people. He would “scatter them”, “have no mercy”, and treat them as “not my people” ending in their being disowned.

Spiritual Application

Read this book with 2 Timothy 3 and Revelation 2-3, for the pattern is still with us. God will judge sin in His people, 1 Pet. 4.17, yet when there is repentance and confession there is a reversal of judgment and the enjoyment of divine love; see Hos. 14. Messianic references are 1. 11; 2. 15-23; 3. 5; 11. 10-11; 14. 4-8; and Hosea in his willing obedience, forgiving love, unswerving fidelity, and yearnings for the nation all portray our blessed Lord.

An Analysis

1. Israel’s insincerity illustrated, chs. 1-3.
2. Their Ungodliness, ch. 1. a. The Proposal, 1-2; b. The Partnership, 4-5; c. The Product, 6-9; d. The Promise, 10-11.
3. Their Unfaithfulness, ch. 2. a. The Sorrow of Love, 1-5; b. The Severity of Love, 6-13; c. The Shelter of Love, 14-17; d. The Sympathy of Love, 18-23.
4. Their Unworthiness, ch. 3. a. Personal Instruction, 1; b. Humble Submission, 2-3; c. National Interpretation, 4-5-

Suggestions for Study

EVANGELICAL OUTLOOK

1. “Sin” in chapters 4 and 5. How Defiling, Degrading, Devouring, Deadly and Destroying.
2. Love. It Seeks, Serves, Survives, is Sympathetic. It Sustains, Suffers and Sacrifices, 2. 14 to 3. 5.
3. N.T. Anticipation. The necessity of the knowledge of God, 4. 1-6; of repentance, 6. 15 14. 1-2; and the love of God, 3. 1; 11. 1-4.

Note: Love, Lovers - 14 times in the book; Return - 14 times; Know, Knowledge - 18 times; Mercy - 10 times; Iniquity - 11 times; Whore, Whoredom - 19 times; Ephraim -over 30 references.

HOMILETICAL MATERIAL

This book gives some rich matter.

1. A lovely picture of the ways of God in love, 11. 1-4.
2. The 59 “I wills” are a revealing study. Consider for example the “I will” of visitation, 1. 4; 2. 11; 7. 12; of devastation, 1. 5; 2. 12, 18; 8. 14; of consolation, 1. 7; 10. 11; of rejection, 1. 6, 9; 2. 4; of prevention, 2. 6; of correction, 2. 7; of retribution, 2. 13; 4. 9; 13. 7-9; of affection, 2. 14, 19; 14. 4; of recompense, 2. 15; of attention, 2. 21; of restoration, 2. 23; 14. 4; of destruction, 4. 5; 5. 14-15; and of redemption, 13. 14.
3. The Valley of Achor, Josh. 7. 2, 4; Isa. 65. 10; Hos. 2. 15.

PRACTICAL AND PROPHETICAL

Hosea the man: his Troubles, Trials, Tenderness, Training, Teaching, and Triumph. These illustrate Israel’s life of departure from God, God’s method in restoration and His attitude to them in spite of backsliding. The “Day of the Lord” will finalise all for the nation of Israel.

To be followed by “Joel”.