Hosea
3
Hosea Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He exercised this office for about seventy years. He was a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah, who prophesied to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He prophesied during the darkest period of Israel’s history, as she sped down the steep decline of sin, into judgement and Assyrian captivity. The political life of the nation in his day, was characterized by anarchy and misrule. The throne was occupied by men who obtained possession by the murder of their predecessors. The people were cruelly oppressed by these despots. The nation was deeply entangled in foreign alliances and through them had been led in idolatry. This book describes the sins of the nation - luxurious living, robbery, oppression, falsehood, adultery and murder - and they refused to be corrected. Into this appalling scene, God sent Hosea. Prior to his ministry, God had sent Elijah, Elisha, Jonah and Amos. Hosea is one of the “minor prophets”. There are twelve books in the Old Testament, called the “minor prophets”. Again, they are minor, only in regards to their length, and not the importance of their content. These prophets called the people to repentance. All through their writings, you will read of them pleading with the people to “return”. The minor prophets reveal the attitude of God toward His sinning children. There is an insight into the heart of God found in these books, that is found in no other place. They describe in vivid language how God feels when His people go after “other gods”. Thus, these books contain an appeal to the backslider, and explain God’s attitude and reaction toward them. Hosea came to the people with a message, not a sermon. He came with a message made more real because of the personal heartbreak of his own home. Through his experience, he was better able to understand God’s feelings toward the “unfaithfulness” of His people. Here is the story. Hosea married a woman named Gomer, by the direct commandment of God. Three children were born to them. Their names - Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi - were given by God, and their meaning portrayed the gradual declension of Israel. Gomer played Hosea false, and became a public prostitute. After some time, when she had fallen to the utmost depths of degradation and shame, and no one cared for her any longer, she was placed in the slave market to be sold. God commanded Hosea to go to the slave market and buy her back. That story is told in chapters 1-3. Gomer is a type of Israel (1:2), and God is her “husband”. Isa. 54:5 - “For thy maker is thine husband; the Lord of Hosts is His Name...” Jer. 3:14 - “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married to you...” Israel, at this time, was playing the harlot. Chapter two describes Israel as giving herself to other gods. As Hosea’s children
Transcript of Hosea
Hosea
Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He exercised this office for about seventy years. He was a contemporary of Isaiah and Micah, who prophesied to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He prophesied during the darkest period of Israel’s history, as she sped down the steep decline of sin, into judgement and Assyrian captivity. The political life of the nation in his day, was characterized by anarchy and misrule. The throne was occupied by men who obtained possession by the murder of their predecessors. The people were cruelly oppressed by these despots. The nation was deeply entangled in foreign alliances and through them had been led in idolatry. This book describes the sins of the nation - luxurious living, robbery, oppression, falsehood, adultery and murder - and they refused to be corrected. Into this appalling scene, God sent Hosea. Prior to his ministry, God had sent Elijah, Elisha, Jonah and Amos.
Hosea is one of the “minor prophets”. There are twelve books in the Old Testament, called the “minor prophets”. Again, they are minor, only in regards to their length, and not the importance of their content. These prophets called the people to repentance. All through their writings, you will read of them pleading with the people to “return”. The minor prophets reveal the attitude of God toward His sinning children. There is an insight into the heart of God found in these books, that is found in no other place. They describe in vivid language how God feels when His people go after “other gods”. Thus, these books contain an appeal to the backslider, and explain God’s attitude and reaction toward them.
Hosea came to the people with a message, not a sermon. He came with a message made more real because of the personal heartbreak of his own home. Through his experience, he was better able to understand God’s feelings toward the “unfaithfulness” of His people. Here is the story. Hosea married a woman named Gomer, by the direct commandment of God. Three children were born to them. Their names - Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi - were given by God, and their meaning portrayed the gradual declension of Israel. Gomer played Hosea false, and became a public prostitute. After some time, when she had fallen to the utmost depths of degradation and shame, and no one cared for her any longer, she was placed in the slave market to be sold. God commanded Hosea to go to the slave market and buy her back. That story is told in chapters 1-3.
Gomer is a type of Israel (1:2), and God is her “husband”. Isa. 54:5 - “For thy maker is thine husband; the Lord of Hosts is His Name...” Jer. 3:14 - “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married to you...” Israel, at this time, was playing the harlot. Chapter two describes Israel as giving herself to other gods. As Hosea’s children were born, they were named by God, and reflected the conditions of Israel. Jezreel means “coming judgement”; Lo-ruhamah speaks of a people not obtaining mercy. Lo-ammi means “a people that are rejected”. This was God’s way of warning Israel of the consequences of their spiritual adultery.
Several phrases in this book describe Israel’s conditions:
1. “Joined to Idols” - 4:17 - Joined (or married) to idols. These people were worshipping Baal. They had taken the things that God had blessed them with, and were offering them to Baal.
2. “A backsliding heifer” - 4:16 - Deliberately and intentionally, they stubbornly refused to mend their ways. They were, as another prophet describes it, “bent on backsliding”.
3. “Mixed among the people” - 7:8 - They were no longer a separate people, as they had been called to be.
The Bible warns us about evil associates. All of Israel’s history is a sad story of failure to obey God, and be a distinct people. Moses and Joshua in their farewell addresses warned them of the consequences of “mixing with the people”, but their warnings went unheeded. Hosea said, “strangers have devoured thy strength” (7:9).
4. “A cake not turned” - 7:8 - Halfheartedness is something that God despises. (See Rev. 3:15-16).
5. “Gray hairs, and not aware of it” - 7:9 - Deterioration (which was evident to others, but not to themselves). They did not realize how far they had fallen. Judgement was almost upon them,
and they did not know it. They had gradually declined. No one backslides “overnight”. It is a progressive movement away from God. It often can be obvious to all others, while we,
ourselves, are unaware.
This book not only reveals Israel’s condition, but it describes God’s attitude toward them and their sin.
1. God was broken-hearted. God is married to a backslider. God felt as Hosea felt. God said, “What can I do? (6:3)” “How shall I deliver thee up (11:8)?” “I wanted so much to bless you!” “I want your love. I don’t want your offerings, I want YOU!” All of this reveals the loving heart of god. God said, “I love you, even if you do not love me, I still love you.”
2. God said He would judge them - (5:12-15). God said He would afflict them to cause them to return, and if they still refused, He would leave them. He would then continue to send affliction until they would return. God judges that He might save! This text is a reminder of the Holiness of God, and that sin breaks our fellowship with Him. However, God would leave the door open for their return.
The concluding chapter in this book, contains God’s final words, pleading with the people to return and promising His richest blessing upon them, if they would. The message and pleas of God through Hosea were ignored, and in a few short years, the nation of Israel was no more.
