AUTHOR

Hosea addressed the nation of Israel when it was in a great struggle between those who worshiped the Lord only and those who advocated the worship of other gods in addition to the Lord. Hosea used many strange and harsh metaphors, writing most of his message in a powerful but sometimes obscure poetic form.

Hosea, along with the other prophets, had a message that concerned God’s plan for the ages. Though the prophets spoke about their own times and people, they prophesied of the spiritual realities of the Lord and of his kingdom. This mission to speak God’s voice into the everyday affairs of men and women required speech that would arrest the attention of a people who had become complacent.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF HOSEA

Hosea mentioned four kings of Judah and one king of Israel who reigned during his ministry (1:1). He omitted additional reigning kings of Israel, probably because he did not consider them legitimate (cp. 8:4).

Pressure from the Assyrian Empire caused much instability and violence during this period. Pro-Assyrian and anti-Assyrian parties developed within Israel, and often the king sought aid from Egypt or other nations. Of the six kings who followed Jeroboam II, only one was succeeded by his son, four were assassinated, and one was taken captive by Assyria (2Kg 15:8-31; 17:1-6).

Judah also went through a major upheaval. King Ahaz refused to help Pekah (king of Israel) after he assassinated the previous king of Israel and rebelled against Assyrian authority. Aram (Syria) allied with Israel, but when Ahaz refused to join, Israel and Aram attacked Judah (2Kg 16:5-6). This Syro-Ephraimite war may form the background for Hosea 5:8-15. Ahaz called upon Tiglath-pileser III, the king of Assyria, for help, and Tiglath-pileser subsequently conquered Damascus and took control of large portions of Israel (2Kg 16:7-9). According to an Assyrian source, he also confirmed Hoshea (not to be confused with the prophet Hosea) as the new king of Israel.

The northern kingdom of Israel collapsed when King Hoshea rebelled against Assyria and sought aid from Egypt. The new Assyrian ruler, Shalmaneser V, invaded Israel, took Hoshea captive, and laid siege to Samaria. After three years, the city finally fell (722 BC). At that time the ten northern tribes were carried captive into various parts of the Assyrian Empire, just as Hosea had predicted (see 9:3; 11:5). Based on this data, we can reliably place Hosea’s ministry between 755 and 722 BC.

THE MEANING OF HOSEA’S MESSAGE

Hosea claimed that his message was the “word of the LORD” (1:1). God’s call came in the form of a command to marry an unfaithful woman, and so the prophet’s family life became a model for God’s relationship with Israel. Like his predecessor Amos, Hosea preached to the entire people of God, both Israel and Judah, but he stressed the coming judgment against the northern tribes (Israel).

Hosea wrote in a highly emotional tone, showing the Lord, as it were, agonizing over the consequences of judgment against his beloved Israel. This literary technique was intended to seal the message of God’s everlasting love for his people in their hearts more powerfully.

At the exodus from Egypt, the Lord established a covenant with Israel. Hosea told the nation that they had broken not only the covenant but also the Lord’s heart. God had loved them from the beginning, still loved them, and would always love them; but the people had spurned his love like an adulterous woman rejecting her husband. In following after false gods they participated in various rites of drunken and sexual debaucheries. They resorted to violence and relied on foreign nations to solve their political problems.

Hosea preached a tough love. God had to judge Israel’s destructive behavior. The Assyrians would destroy Israel and send her into captivity. That disaster would set into motion a process of refinement that would result in restoration. God’s covenant love is not like Israel’s—fickle and quickly evaporating. God’s love endures forever. Someday those who are no longer God’s people will once again be called “my people,” and once again they will say of the Lord, “You are my God” (2:23).

The book of Hosea gives insight into the character of God. He is the sovereign Lord over history and has the absolute right to bring judgment against his people, but he exercises that right only after bearing with them with long-suffering mercy. Eventually sin requires drastic action, but the Lord still has plans to give his people a future.

The Lord requires that all people must worship him alone, and they must treat each other justly. Hosea shows us what it means to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Dt 6:5) as well as to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lv 19:18). Hosea’s message that God loves his people even when he has to discipline them is needed for any people who ignore their Creator and treat their fellow human beings as things that get in the way of personal pleasure.