Hosea
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Hosea
Hosea is one of the most autobiographical of the prophetic books in that the opening account of Hosea's own marriage and family formed a vital part of his unique message. God's word of grace and His call to repent are dramatically portrayed and punctuated in the book by Hosea's scorned but constant love for his wife Gomer and by the odd names of his three children. On the other hand, apart from this information about his immediate family, hardly anything is known about Hosea.
According to the first verse, Hosea's prophetic career spanned at least forty years. It began sometime during the reign of Jeroboam II, who ruled Israel, the Northern Kingdom, as co-regent with his father Jehoash from 793 to 782 b.c., then independently to 753 b.c. Hosea's ministry ended sometime during the reign of Hezekiah, who ruled Judah from 716 to 686 b.c. His divinely commissioned marriage to the prostitute Gomer, which brought Hosea such heartache, may have been the beginning of his long career. But rather than ministering in spite of personal sorrow, his troublesome marriage was the foundation stone of his ministry.
Although the Southern Kingdom of Judah is not neglected in Hosea's prophecy (e.g., 1:7,11; 6:11; 12:2), his messages are primarily directed to Israel, often referred to as "Ephraim" (see 5:2,12-14; 6:4; 7:1), or represented by the royal city, Samaria (7:1; 8:5,6; 10:5,7; 13:16). Hosea apparently lived and worked in or around Samaria, probably moving to Jerusalem at least by the time Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 722 b.c.
The reign of Jeroboam II, the Northern Kingdom's greatest ruler by worldly standards, was a time of general affluence, military might, and national stability. There was a bull market, the future looked bright, and the mood of the country was high and optimistic, at least for the upper class (Hos. 12:8; Amos 3:15; 6:4-6). Syria was a constant problem to Israel, but Adad-nirari III of Assyria had brought them relief with an expedition against Damascus in 805 b.c. Then after Adad-nirari's death in 783, Israel and Judah expanded during a time of Assyrian weakness (the time of Jonah). But after Jeroboam's death in 753, Israel sank into near anarchy, going through six kings in about thirty years, four of whom were assassinated (Zechariah, Shallum, Pekahiah, and Pekah). Since Assyria also regained power during this time, Israel was doomed. Of course, the real reason Israel crumbled was God's determination to judge them for their sins, as Hosea and Amos make clear. Most of Hosea's messages probably were delivered during these last thirty years of Israel's nationhood.
Message and Purpose. Indictment: According to Hosea, Israel's sins were in four areas. First, they were violating basic covenant requirements of faithfulness, kindness, and the knowledge of God, thereby rejecting God's law. They had become self-satisfied and proud and had forgotten God's grace. They even spoke lies, insolence, and evil against Him. Second, they were engaging in idolatry and harlotry, that is, cult prostitution. Third, they were trusting in human devices (kings, princes, warriors, and foreign covenants) rather than in God.
Finally, they were guilty of injustice and violence, including murder, theft, lying, and oppression of the defenseless.
Instruction: Through Hosea the Lord told Israel to stop their promiscuity, idolatry, and all their iniquity and to return to Him in humility and to faithfulness to the law of the covenant.
Judgment: Hosea informed Israel that their present distress was because the Lord had abandoned them and that further chastisement would result, including foreign domination, exile, destruction, desolation, and death.
Hope: Hosea reminded Israel of the Lord's grace and love in making them a people and in blessing them in the past with His attentive and patient care and His abundant provisions. He was their only hope, and His ways were right. The Lord also assured them that in response to their repentance and faith He would again have compassion on them and redeem them; He would remove unrighteousness, restore the covenant, bringing righteousness and the knowledge of God; and He would rebuild and beautify Israel in the land.
Structure. The first three chapters establish a parallel between the Lord and Hosea. Both are loving husbands of unfaithful wives. Hosea's three children, whose names were messages to Israel, serve as an overture to the second main division of the book, which presents its accusations and call to repent in groups of three (see Garrett's commentary). Just as chapter 1, a third-person account of Hosea's family, is balanced by chapter 3, a first-person account, so the final main division of the book alternates between first-person announcements of God's message and third-person reports from the prophet. The messages in this last division deal with falsehood (8:1-10:15), a rebellious son (11:1-13:6), and a final call to repent (14:1-8); and they end with a final postscript (14:9).
- Divine Love (1:1-3:5)
- Accusations and Call to Repent (4:1-7:16)
- Antiphonal Proclamations (8:1-14:9)
God's Message (1:1-2:23)
Hosea's prophetic ministry began with perplexing instructions from God to find a wife among the promiscuous girls of Israel (of which there were apparently many; see 4:14). This is no parable or vision but actual instructions regarding a literal marriage that would give Hosea God's perspective on Israel. Hosea, like the Lord, would have a wayward wife and a broken heart. Gomer bore Hosea three children whose names made them divine judgment oracles. They would bear the shame of their mother's behavior and at the same time represent the shameful behavior and divine condemnation of the children of Israel. Hence they were called "children of unfaithfulness."
Jehu had carried out God's judgment (2 Kgs. 9:7) by putting the last of Omri's dynasty to the sword at Jezreel (2 Kgs. 9:24-10:11), for which God commended him (2 Kgs. 10:30). Hosea's first child, Jezreel, was a message that Jehu's dynasty, which had been just as wicked as Omri's, likewise would suffer annihilation at Jezreel (a better understanding of the Hebrew of 1:4 than the NIV translation). Zechariah, Jehu's last royal descendant, was assassinated by Shallum in 752 b.c., probably at Ibleam in Jezreel (2 Kgs. 15:10).
Hosea's second child, a daughter, would carry the pathetic name meaning "Not Loved" because by her continual unfaithfulness Israel had forfeited God's love. Israel's hope, however, would be in the assurance that "I will certainly forgive them" (1:6; wrongly translated in NIV).
ARTICLE: Symbolic Actions by the Prophets
The prophetic word became a living word for the prophets. Often God called them to do something beyond preaching. He led them to picture the message in their own lives. They had to live out the meaning and results of God's word to His people. Their actions thus symbolized for the people what God was about to do to and for Israel.
In calling the prophets to symbolic actions, God gave them no easy task. The word had to come alive in their family. For Isaiah the birth and naming of children became acts preaching to the people. He called one son A Remnant Shall Return and another Speedy Is the Spoil, Quick the Plunder (Isa. 7:3; 8:3).
These strange names made people think as they watched the prophet walk down the street carrying his children. Was Remnant a sign of disaster in war or a hope for new growth in the future? Did Return refer to the aftermath of battle or to spiritual return and repentance? Who was fast to spoil and plunder whom? God's people had to listen to the prophet preach to determine the meaning, but the children's names made them curious enough to listen.
Isaiah gave yet another symbolic name to a more mysterious child— Immanuel, God with Us (7:14; 8:8,10). This certainly called the audience to attention when Isaiah announced the birth of yet another child of significance (9:6). Jerusalem's citizens knew the prophet was doing more than acting crazy when he wandered the city's streets minus his clothing for three years pointing to God's actions against Israel's enemies to the south (Isa. 20).
Hosea had an even more difficult family task. He had to endure a broken heart and broken marriage along with public indignity and disgrace (Hos. 1:1-9; 2:2-9). God called him to marry a prostitute and then name her children Jezreel (the site of a battle), Not Pitied (or Without a Mother's Love, indicating the withdrawal of God's love and forgiveness from Israel), and Not My People (or Illegitimate, indicating Israel no longer had a guarantee of God's election and protection).
Later, God used the names to indicate His renewed covenant with His people (1:10-2:1; 2:14-3:5). Israel had to pay attention to Hosea, if only to hear the latest gossip about his family. As they listened, they learned the nature of God's deep, undying love for His people, a love going beyond all human love, even Hosea's (11:8-11). They also found the ups and downs of their relationship to God described in family terms.
Jeremiah had to abstain from the duties and joys of family life to preach God's word and show the imminent danger God's people faced (Jer. 16:2). In contrast, Ezekiel suffered having to bury his wife without public mourning (Ezek. 24:15-27), symbolizing how Israel would have to react at the news their temple was destroyed.
Prophetic symbolism thus reached deep into the prophets' personal relationships. It gave them creative ways to show people God's will without saying a word, though often the prophets did explain the meaning of their actions.
The potter shaping and reshaping a pot on his wheel showed Jeremiah and Israel how God could change course and directions with Israel (Jer. 18). Breaking the potter's beautiful jar showed how God could destroy His people (Jer. 19). Jeremiah had to wear an oxen's yoke around Jerusalem and summon foreign ambassadors to call them to submit to Nebuchadnezzar. He even had to command his own king of Judah to wear Nebuchadnezzar's yoke (Jer. 27). Such action brought quick response.
An opposing prophet broke Jeremiah's yoke (28:10-11). False prophets used symbolic actions too. Still, the faithful prophet followed God's calling and continued acting out God's word (see Jer. 32; 43:8-9).
Of all prophets, Ezekiel is most known for his symbolic acts. The first chapters of Ezekiel read almost like modern science fiction at its most bizarre extreme. Ezekiel ate a scroll (3:2). He was tied with ropes and became unable to talk (3:24-27). He drew a map of Jerusalem on a tablet and enacted a military siege against his drawing (4:1-4). He lay down on his left side for 390 days and then on his right side for 40 days (4:4-7). He was called to cook food with human excrement for fuel but allowed to use cow dung when he complained (4:12-15). He cut off his hair and beard and then divided the hair into three parts for separate actions (5:1-4). He packed his bags and left the city by digging a hole in the city wall (12:3-8). He trembled and shuddered as he ate food with the people (12:18).
After the exile Zechariah prepared a crown to symbolize God's messiah (Zech. 6:9-15).
The prophets' actions raised many questions for the people. They wondered about the prophets' mental states. They wondered if the prophets were magicians whose power ensured the acts would come true in the real world. They looked to other prophets to cast doubt on the power of the symbolic acts. They even stopped to wonder if God were actually speaking through the prophets and calling them to a faith in a new way of interpreting Yahweh's way with His people.
The prophets themselves knew God had commanded the acts, no matter what suspicions and questions such acts raised for their audiences. The prophets knew they as humans had no power and no magic to give meaning and actual power to the acts. Rather, the prophets depended on God to take the acts, fulfill the message of the acts, and call the people to account for their response to the acts.
Symbolic acts were a vital method for God to speak to His people in warning and hope. In this way He wooed them to return to Him and avoid the judgment their actions had made inevitable.
Hosea's third child, whose name meant "Not-My-People," declared that Israel had utterly broken their covenant with the Lord (see Exod. 6:7; Lev. 26:12). Hope is given here, however, by alluding to the Abrahamic covenant ("like the sand on the seashore"; see Gen. 22:17). Thus eternal promise is placed profoundly beside final judgment, reconcilable only because "the living God" can bring life out of death. This is affirmed by the name "Jezreel," which symbolized not only judgment but also life, in that the name means "God plants" (see also Ezek. 36:9-11). The theme of 1:11, that the division between Israel and Judah was superficial and temporary, would be repeated later (Ezek. 37:18-25; see also Hos. 3:5).
Hosea 2 is a continuation of the "Lo-Ammi" oracle. The children, representing the common people of Israel, are urged to reject their mother, representing Israel's leadership. The leaders had led the people to trust and seek Baal rather than the Lord. After announcing their punishment of depravation (vv. 6-13), Hosea assures them that the Lord would eventually redeem and restore them (vv. 14-23).
Hosea's Testimony (3:1-5)
Even though Gomer, like Israel, had joined herself to another lover and so committed adultery, Hosea was told to take her back. Like Hosea, God would show love to His "wife" even though she had forfeited her right to that love by having relationships with others. Why Hosea had to buy her is unstated. She perhaps had found it necessary to sell herself to someone as a personal slave. As Hosea and Gomer would refrain from conjugal relations for a period after she returned, so there would be a period during which Israel would be without ruler or worship. This probationary period would begin with the fall of Samaria and would be a time when the Lord would wait for the people of Israel to seek Him (see 5:15). It would end "in the last days" when Israel would seek their messianic king in repentance and faith (Isa. 11:1-10; Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15-16; Matt. 1:1; 21:9; Rom. 11:23). It is apparently the same time that believing Israel will be reunited (1:11).
Threefold Indictment (4:1-14)
The primary indictment section in 4:1-5:15 begins with a summary of the charges. The Lord accuses Israel in 4:1 of having (1) no faithfulness, truth, or integrity (basing one's life on the principle of truth rather than on expediency), (2) no love, compassion, or kindness, and (3) no knowledge of God. In personal relationships they were characterized by lying, cruelty, and greed. Their understanding of God was perverse, their relationship with Him nonexistent. As a result they were violating the Ten Commandments and suffering the consequences. The common people and women are identified as guilty, but especially are the priests. Those who mislead God's people invite special punishment.
Threefold Warning (4:15-5:15)
This section is divided into three bywords of instruction (exhortation) in 4:15; 5:1; and 5:8 mainly directed against Israel. But Judah was also warned that they were in danger of following them in apostasy and punishment. Because of Israel's adulterous idolatry, arrogance, and stubbornness, they were warned that God would blow them away like a whirlwind, eat away at them like a moth or rot, and tear them to pieces like a lion. Hosea refers to the major worship center at Bethel, "house of God," as Beth Aven, "house of wickedness" (4:15; 5:8; 10:5).
Call to Repent (6:1-7:16)
An exhortation to repent in 6:1-3 is accompanied by the assurance that all God's punishments would be reversed, even death. After a short time in exile, Israel would be resurrected. The New Testament views as messianic fulfillment certain events in Israel's history which Jesus paralleled or completed.
The Lord was to Israel like a father whose heart is broken by a rebellious child. Hosea 6:6, quoted by Jesus in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7, does not reject sacrifice but rather acts of worship not accompanied by faithfulness and love and not based on the knowledge of God (see 4:1). This section describes a nation full of all kinds of violence and immorality. The king and national leadership neglected the nation and devoted themselves to debauchery and striving for power. As a result, the nation was decaying around them and being assimilated and swallowed up by the surrounding nations. A remedy for the crisis was sought everywhere but in the Lord.
False Hopes (8:1-10:15)
Israel had arrogantly sought success and security through (1) idolatry and (2) military and political power (probably what is intended by the "double sin" mentioned in the summary passage in 10:10). All their efforts would produce the opposite of what they desired. According to 8:7, they were like farmers trying to plant in the wind; the seed is blown away. Whatever seed that grew would be blown away by a storm, which meant that foreigners would come and take it. Israel's idols, temples, and fortresses would be destroyed, and military alliances would drain them dry, enslave them, and carry them away. For their wickedness and rebellion in trusting in the fertility cult of Baal, the Lord would reject them and make the land and people barren.
Rather than a productive vine (Isa. 5; John 15) Israel had become a destructive (not "spreading"; 10:1) vine serving only itself. They had turned the Lord's blessings into gifts for the calf-idols of Baal, while continuing to pay lip service to the Lord's worship. The resultant devastation would be so terrible that many would cry out for the mountains to bury them and the places of their idolatry (10:8; see Deut. 12:2; Luke 23:30). Allusions to Gibeah in 9:9 and 10:9 (see also 5:8) are to the civil war begun by a Levite's concubine being raped, murdered, and cut into pieces (Judg. 19-21). Like Samaria, Gibeah was a hill with a fortress; it served as Saul's capital during his kingship but was later deserted. So it represents both depravity and militarism and may have figuratively referred to Samaria.
Near the end of the section is an exhortation in 10:12 to "sow ... righteousness," "reap ... unfailing love," and "seek the Lord." This verse alludes to the threefold charge against Israel in 4:1 and summarizes a life that pleases God.
Israel's Rebellion (11:1-13:16)
Again the Lord grieves as a loving father abandoned by his son (see 6:4), and again Israel is told they will be delivered over to Assyria, who will oppress them as Egypt did (11:5; see 7:16; 8:13; 9:3,6; 10:6). Yet the Lord refuses to annihilate Israel. He promises a new exodus for a believing remnant. Like Hosea 6:2, 11:1 is understood in the New Testament as a messianic prophecy in that Jesus, God's Son, like Israel, was also brought out of Egypt in the context of hatred (Matt. 2:15; see Exod. 4:22). Whereas Israel was freed from Egypt and became slaves to sin, Jesus practiced perfect righteousness so that He could die as their substitutionary atoning sacrifice.
According to Hosea, dependence on foreign alliances meant trusting in deceit and violence and amounted to playing with fire. Again he exhorts a threefold repentance. He also rebukes Israel by pointing out that although their namesake Jacob (whose name God changed to Israel) had been a faithless, self-cen-tered conniver, he met God (at Bethel) and was converted. He became a recipient of grace. They, on the other hand, met Baal at Bethel (Beth Aven) and became recipients of spiritual death.
The contemporary idea of an indulgent, tolerant God is contradicted by the remarkable picture given in 13:7-8 of God being like a lion, a leopard, or a bear, tearing, ripping open, and devouring. Yet, as in 6:1-2, although Israel was presently dead in sin, 13:14 declares that the Lord is able to bring life out of death. As Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55 declares from this verse, God's power extends to personal, bodily resurrection, not just national renewal.
Final Call to Repent (14:1-9)
The book concludes with the prophet's final invitation to repent (even giving a "sinner's prayer"), the Lord's assurance of restoration and blessing for a believing remnant, and Hosea's exhortation to persevere in the study of his prophecy in humble faith.
Theological and Ethical Significance. Nothing can quench God's love for His people. Like a marriage partner, God is deeply involved in their lives and is pained by their rebellion and unfaithfulness. God demands love and loyalty from His own. Often God's people then and now have failed to demonstrate wholehearted love for Him. But God stands ready to forgive and restore those who turn to Him in repentance. In buying Gomer's freedom, Hosea pointed ahead to God's love perfectly expressed in Christ, who bought the freedom of His bride, the church, with His own life.
Questions for Reflection
- In what ways are today's believers unfaithful to God?
- How has God demonstrated His persistent love for us?
- What demands does God's love place upon us?
- Why is marriage such a good picture of the human relationship to God?
Sources for Additional Study
Cohen, G. G. and H. R. Vandermey. Hosea/Amos. Chicago: Moody, 1981.
Garrett, D. A. Hosea, Joel. New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1997.
Hubbard, D. A. Hosea: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1989.
Kidner, D. The Message of Hosea: Love to the Loveless. The Bible Speaks Today. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1981.
Smith, B. K. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Layman's Bible Book Commentary. Vol. 13. Nashville: Broadman, 1982.
Wood, L. "Hosea." Vol. 7. Expositor's Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985.