Hosea— God’s Love for His People
09.14.22
Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. (Hosea 4:1)
We have now looked at each of the Major Prophets. They are referred to as such because of their length. No less important, but much shorter in length, are the Minor Prophets. Hosea is the first of these in the biblical order.
The only things we are told about Hosea’s background is the name of His father, and that he was a citizen of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
God called Hosea to live his message, not just preach it. He prophesied to Israel with a broken heart. He is to Israel what Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, was to Judah.
The name Hosea is akin to both Joshua and Jesus, which both mean ‘Jehovah is salvation.’ Hosea simply means ‘salvation.’ As God’s messenger, Hosea offered salvation to the nation if they would turn from idolatry and return to the Lord.
Hosea employed much highly figurative language in his efforts to express the evil conditions in Israel. They are in turn: a back-sliding heifer, an unturned cake, a silly dove, a deceitful bow, and deceitful balances.
Hosea is not the first of the Minor Prophets chronologically for he prophesied after Amos. The same kings were reigning during each of their ministries: Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel. The time is about 785 BC, and the ministry of Hosea stretched over several decades.
He lived in and spoke to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The nation was living in idolatry and committing spiritual adultery against Jehovah.
The theme of the book is God’s love for His people despite their back-sliding ways. This is presented clearly (11:1), When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. The book was written to demonstrate the steadfast and unfailing love of God for Israel. This is graphically pictured through Hosea’s marital experiences. God is compassionate and longs for His wayward wife to return. Hosea learns to understand this through the heartbreak of his own marriage tragedy.
When Hosea married Gomer, she was not a harlot. However, she soon left him to have adulterous affairs with other men. The first child mentioned in the text was Hosea’s, but the other two were not. Even after all of her waywardness, at God’s command, Hosea took Gomer back and loved her as before. As Paul would later write: Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound!
Hosea is a type of Christ, as his wife Gomer is a type of Israel. The love of Christ for His own drove Him to Calvary to pay for our sins. As the songwriter wrote: “Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God shouldest die for me!” The message is still true. God will never cast out anyone who comes to Him through His Son by faith.
On a national level, it is once again made clear that inward corruption in a nation is more dangerous to its existence than external enemies. Like Israel of old, our nation could use a good spiritual awakening.