| Hosea
BOOK
: Hosea
Description
:
Based on his painful family life, prophecies about unfaithful Israel
& faithful God
Author:
probably Hosea but maybe
another.
Date
written : uncertain but
possibly after 722BC
Chapters
:14
Brief
Synopsis:
•
Hosea speaks mostly to the ten northern
tribes, mainly in the period of Jeroboam II (“during
the reigns
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah , and during the
reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel )
•
Hosea takes a wife who proves unfaithful
but has sons with significant names (Ch.1)
•
This is taken as a picture of the Lord
and Israel. (Ch.2)
•
Hosea is then told to take back his wife
(Ch.3)
•
Prophecies follow, mostly about Israel
's unfaithfulness.
Ch.1-3
.The Unfaithful Wife and the Faithful Husband
Ch.1
.The Children as Signs
Ch.2
.The Unfaithful Wife & the Lord's judgment and restoration of
Israel
Ch.3
.The Faithful Husband
Ch.4-14
The Unfaithful Nation and the Faithful God
Ch.4-6
Israel 's Unfaithfulness
Ch.4.The
general charge, the cause declared and the results described
Ch.5
A special message to the people and leaders
Ch.6:3
A sorrowful plea
Ch.6-10
Israel 's Punishment
Ch.6-7
The case stated
Ch.8-9
The judgment pronounced
Ch.10
Summary and appeal
Ch.11-14
The Lord's Faithful Love
11:1-11
The Lord's fatherly love
Ch.11-13
Israel's punishment for unfaithfulness
Ch.14
Israel 's restoration after repentance (ch. 14)
Canon
and order of the Minor Prophets
In
the traditional Jewish canon the books that follow and we call ‘the minor
prophets' are arranged in what was thought to be their chronological order:
(1)
the books that came from the period of Assyrian power - Hosea
, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
(2)
those written about the time of the decline of Assyria - Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah and
(3)
those dating from the post-exile era (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).
On
the other hand, their order in the Septuagint (the earliest Greek translation
of the OT) is: Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (the order of the first six was
probably determined by length, except for Jonah, which is placed last
among them because of its different character).
Key
Verses :
The
scope of Hosea's ministry
1:1
Th e
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
Hosea's
marriage would picture God and Israel
1:2,3
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." So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived
and bore him a son.
The
Lord speaks of Israel as an unfaithful woman – yet with hope
2:2,13-15
Rebuke
your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness
from between her breasts….. I
will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked
herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she
forgot," declares the LORD. "Therefore I am now going to allure
her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There
I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor
a door of hope.
Hosea
to restore his wife as the Lord desires to restore Israel
3:1
The
LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though
she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves
the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin
cakes."
Israel
(Ephraim,
another name for Israel ) condemned [36 times ‘Ephraim' used]
4:1,16,17
Hear
the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge
to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness,
no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. The
Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the LORD
pasture them like lambs in a meadow? Ephraim is joined to idols; leave
him alone!
Priests,
people and leaders, all guilty
5:1
Hear
this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites! Listen, O royal house!
Reality
of relationship, not ritual required
6:6
I
desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt
offerings.
Samaria,
the heart of Israel, the northern kingdom, living on borrowed time
10:5
The
people who live in Samaria fear for the calf-idol of Beth Aven. Its
people will mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests, those
who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into
exile. It will be carried to Assyria as
tribute for the great king. Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be
ashamed of its wooden idols. Samaria and its king will float away like
a twig on the surface of the waters.
Concluding
Comments
•
The early chapters are moving, with Hosea
being called to use his family life as a picture of the Lord and His
relationship with Israel.
•
Beyond that the book is in many ways a
depressing picture of the hopelessness of the northern kingdom (although
Judah does get mentioned as well) that is given over to idolatry which
was institutionalised from the outset (see 1 Kings 12:26-29). No king
had the courage to change this and so the days of Israel (the northern
kingdom) and Samaria were numbered and Samaria fell in 722BC and the
people exiled.
•
If we can see past the impending judgment
because of the stubbornness of Israel, see the Lord's heart that desires
to restore the people, if only they will be restored. Sadly they wouldn't!
But remember the Lord's word through Ezekiel, “I
take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD.
Repent and live!” (Ezek 18:32)
Destruction only comes with the willfulness of sinful men, not with
the desire of God!
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