By Chuck Durham
Synopsis: Not only were the prophets forth tellers and fore tellers, they bore extraordinary burdens in fulfilling their duty to God. Hosea came to know God’s heartache at Israel’s apostasy.
There are two discernable features of the book of Hosea. The first is judgment. Hosea is the prophet of the decline and fall of the northern kingdom (Israel). He is also the only prophet from Israel to write to Israel. The second feature of the book is Love. Hosea tells a unique love story in the Old Testament. It is the story of Hosea’s love for his unfaithful wife (Gomer) that parallels God’s love for His adulterous wife, Israel. The book vividly illustrates the long-suffering lovingkindness and fidelity of the God of Heaven. “The prophecy of Hosea comes first in the biblical order of the Minor Prophets. Rightly so. It is not the first of the twelve either to be written or spoken, but it is first in regard to its message, being what I have called ‘the second greatest story in the Bible’” (Boice, 1:13).
Hosea’s name means “salvation or deliverance.” It was Joshua’s name (Hoshea) before Moses changed it to “Jehovah saves” (Num. 13:8, 16). It is generally believed that Hosea was a citizen of the northern kingdom because of his reference to the ruler in Samaria as “our king” (7:5). Judah is mentioned only incidentally, whereas the focus of the book is on Israel. He must have occupied some position of distinction, though it is not revealed in the book. Some have assumed that he may have been a priest because of his high regard for the priestly responsibility to provide instruction in God’s word to the people and their dereliction of duty regarding this sacred obligation.
Hosea is usually dated 750-725 BC because of the kings listed in his book. He prophesied shortly after Amos, and he was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah and Micah, who both prophesied to Judah. The fall of Israel is predicted, but had not happened at the time the book is compiled (cf. 9:17; 10:6).
For the governing kings and politics of the time, read 2 Kings 14-17 and 2 Chronicles 26-29. Jeroboam II was a powerful king (793-753 BC), who expanded the borders of the northern kingdom to its extent under David’s and Solomon’s empire. It was a period of great economic prosperity. However, following his reign, there was a series of assassinations, with only one king of Israel’s final six kings dying a natural death. The last king, Hoshea, rebelled against Assyria and was arrested and deported. Samaria was besieged for three years, finally falling in 722 BC. Homer Hailey writes: “These were trying years of political conniving and intrigue, of anarchy and rebellion, of treachery and murder. God was completely left out of the people’s thinking” (The Minor Prophets, 130).
The religion and moral life of the nation was one of total apostasy from God. Baalism ruled the day. The degrading effect upon family life of the immoral rituals of Baal worship with “sacred” prostitutes would have been incalculable (4:11-13). The people built many high places (4:4-9) where these immoral rituals occurred (8:11; 10:1). The priests failed miserably in their duty to instruct the people in the word of God. They were greedy only for corrupt gain (4:4-9; 5:1; 6:9). The consequent decline in moral values is seen in the list of crimes Hosea records—murder, drunkenness, dishonesty in business, adultery, thievery, etc.
God wouldn’t command a prophet to marry an unchaste woman (cf. Lev. 21:7, 14). Hosea’s ministry would have been shattered. People then would look at him like they look at a preacher today who is caught in adultery. The objection to this is that the book of Hosea is presented in a straight-forward, narrative-type fashion that gives no indication that Hosea’s marriage was symbolic rather than literal and factual.
Some have suggested that she could have been a Baal prostitute. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states: “. . .the most natural reading of 1:2 is that Hosea actually was told to marry a woman known as a prostitute. . . the whole point lies in the repulsiveness of the act, just as Israel’s harlotry was repulsive to Yahweh” (s.v., “Hosea”). The objection to this is that God wouldn’t command Hosea to do something inherently wrong. The answer to this objection is that God commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice to God. God could have allowed that scenario to play through to the end (cf. Heb. 11:17-19).
The symbolism means unfaithfulness to God and His covenant with Israel. The Bible does use the idea of “adultery” to symbolize “spiritual unfaithfulness to God” (Ezek. 16; Jas. 4:4). Leon Wood rightly objects to this viewpoint: “One has to wonder, however, if the difficulty of seeing God as commanding a marriage to a woman ethically unchaste is any greater than the difficulty of seeing Him as commanding marriage to a woman religiously unchaste” (The Prophets of Israel, 279). (See 2 Cor. 6:14-18.)
This view seems to best fit the text. It shows the important parallel between Hosea’s life and God’s relationship with His people (cf. 1:2, 6, 7, 9; 2:1-13). God had taken Israel in a “pure” condition (Jer. 2:2-3), but she gradually became unfaithful to Him. Hosea’s life played out this same soap opera experience. Homer Hailey writes: “. . .a daughter of the age, one brought up under the influence of idolatry and in whose character would have been planted the seeds of immorality” (128).
The threat of divine retribution was intended to arouse the conscience of Israel. Hosea’s preaching was to “storm the will, prick the conscience and move the hearer to repentance.”The principal significance of Hosea as a prophet is that he sounded a final call to Israel for repentance. . . the people would have to heed him or else the crushing punishment would fall” (Wood, 282).
Can we ever truly enter the silent sanctuary of another’s mind? Hosea lets us. Through the portal of his deep agony and abiding love for Gomer, we glimpse the tears of God. We see the Man of Sorrows, One who was acquainted with grief for the sins of His people. Grief for the hardness of their hearts, but always the grief of unfailing love. If we look closely at Hosea, we see the tears that fell to the ground around the feet of hardened soldiers, impenitent priests and elders (Matt. 27:41); the lost sheep of the house of Israel. We see the heart and soul of God! The greatest story ever told is of the cross of Jesus. The second greatest story is the love of Hosea for his unfaithful wife. Hosea came to know what God felt and experienced in His centuries-long struggle with His adulterous people. Hosea points us to the cross of Jesus and screams at us: “God loves like this!” “‘Come back,’ he pleads, ‘Come back; if you only know how God loves you, you would come back’” (Robinson, 26).
The holiness of God must judge sin, but that is not the end of the story. There is coming mercy, but it will not detract from the judgment that must fall. Nevertheless, God is a God of hope. Hosea closes by looking beyond impending judgment to a day of mercy, forgiveness and restoration.
How is the book divided? Chapters 1-3 tell the story of the messenger and Chapters 4-14 tell his message. The first section is a spiritual autobiography mixed with preaching and prophecy. The second section is a series of warnings and promises from the heart of the prophet who has been allowed to share the innermost heart of God—“. . .wrung from a heart which through the anguish of outraged human love has won its way into the secret of the love divine” (Robinson, 22).
Ball, E. “Hosea,” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised. Edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979-1988.
Boice, James Montgomery. The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary, Hosea-Jonah. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1983.
Hailey, Homer. A Commentary on the Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1972.
Robinson, George L. The Twelve Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1983.
Wood, Leon. The Prophets of Israel. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1979.
