Hosea

Hosea was a prophet. He lived in the 8th century BC. And he served the Northern Kingdom. [Note: God's people, the Jews, divided into two groups. This was after King Solomon's death. Israel was the Northern Kingdom. And they did not want King David's family to rule them. Judah was the Southern Kingdom. And they did want David's family to rule them]. Hosea served soon after the prophet Amos. This was before the armies from the land of Assyria attacked them. At that time, their enemies came into the land of Israel.

There is much emotion in Hosea's words. He was speaking to God's people. They had not been loyal to God. And Hosea's own wife had not been true to him. Their marriage had been very disappointing. She had gone away from him. And she even chose other men to love, instead of him (1:3). Hosea was very, very sad. And he bought her back. In the same way, Yahweh was sad about his people. [Note: Yahweh is the Hebrew language word for Jehovah God]. God wanted them to love him again. They belonged to him. This is because of the covenant between them.

There is a very important word in the book of Hosea. It is a Hebrew language word, ‘hesed’. It means kindness and love. It also means mercy. And it means loyal love too. (Read 2:19; 4:1; 6:6 and 10:12.) The book of Hosea teaches many things. There are a series of subjects. But each subject has the same connection. It is the idea of the covenant which the Jews had not obeyed.

The subjects are not in different chapters. They are all in several places of the book. Hosea returns to each one many times. But the main ideas are:

[Note: The ending ‘less’ at the end of a word usually means ‘without’.]

Wives who Are not Loyal

God's people were like Hosea's wife (2:5; 3:1-3; 4:15; 9:1). They had been like a prostitute. [Note: This is someone whom other people pay for sex]. God's people were serving other gods. They were forgetting their covenant with Yahweh (Jehovah God). This covenant started when God rescued them out of the land of Egypt. (Read 2:15; 11:1; 12:9, 13 and 13:4-5.)

Hosea did the same as Jeremiah. He compared the present time with the time when the Jews wandered in the desert. They seemed to love God then. They seemed to be loyal then (2:15. Compare Jeremiah 2). God was like a husband to them. He had kept his part of the covenant. But Israel had left God. Israel had chosen to love other gods (2:5-7). These gods were idols of the foreign god Baal.

The people of the Northern Kingdom were foolish. They believed that Baal was the god of their land. They thought that they had good harvests because of Baal's help. They did not recognize the truth. So God would punish them for this (2:8-13). Their successful harvests and wealth were only because of God's goodness. And the book repeats this same subject again and again. It is the subject of the wife who is not loyal. (Some examples are 4:1-3; 7:4-7; 9:1-2 and 11:1-7.)

Servants who Are of No Use

Hosea had a problem. And any other prophets who came after him had the same problem. It was this. The land had many false prophets and wicked priests. These men should have been guarding the truth. They should have been speaking out the truth. Instead, they were selfish. They wanted to be important in society. They also wanted more money (4:4-10; 6:9; 9:7-9). We saw this serious problem in our study of Jeremiah.

Kings Without God

Hosea thought that the Northern Kingdom was a terrible mistake. King Jeroboam led this group. And the effects on their relationship with God had been very bad (8:5-6; 13:2. Compare 1 Kings 12:28-30. This describes people who made animals from gold). Hosea desired something very much. He wanted the land to unite again. He wanted a king who came from David's family to rule them all (3:4-5). And he refused to accept the kings of Israel. He would not agree that God had appointed them. (Read 7:3-7; 8:4; 9:15; 10:7, 15 and 13:10.)

Friends that Cannot Help

There were great ancient routes for trade. These routes went through Israel and through Judah. And this was serious for both countries. The politics of the region around Israel and Judah always affected them. They should trust in God, but they did not. Instead, they asked their neighbours for help. They both united with foreign countries.

This became a spiritual matter. These international agreements demanded something. The countries must recognize each other's gods. Their agreement would often have a religious part to it. It could include a sacrifice. Therefore, Yahweh (Jehovah God) just became one of the many gods of that region. And the prophets hated this. It seemed to them that the people wanted to ruin their own country. They were not loyal. Their trust was not in God now. But it was God who could protect them. This subject is in 5:13-14; 7:8-16; 8:8-10; 12:1 and 14:3.

When we are in trouble, we can do the same things. We can trust in people and things for help. Or we can trust in God himself.

Worshippers Without Love

God's people did not love him. And they did not follow him now. They just pretended to be religious. So they continued all their religious ceremonies. But God hated this behaviour. (It was the same in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah.)

God only desired their love. He wanted them to be loyal to him (6:4-6). God said, ‘What can I do with you, Judah? Your love (hesed, covenant love) is like the morning mist that disappears…I desire mercy (hesed) not sacrifice’. Sometimes they offered their sacrifices to Yahweh (Jehovah God). And sometimes they offered their sacrifices to Baal, the foreign god. (Read 2:11-13; 4:13; 8:11-14 and 9:4.) God's Law was part of their covenant. But it did not matter to them and they made use of idols instead. But the covenant clearly forbade this. (Read Exodus 20:3-4; Hosea 2:8; 4:11-19; 8:4; 10:8 and 13:1-2.)

Perhaps we, too, sometimes have idols. Anything or anyone that is more important to us than God, is an idol.

Citizens who Do not Care

There is a danger for those who do not obey God. And it is a serious danger. They might stop caring about other people. Amos and Micah spoke more about social crimes than Hosea did. But Hosea knew that his society had problems too. He was very aware of them.

The covenant commands were about man's attitude to God. But they were also about man's care for other people (4:1-2. This passage almost gives the social demands of the Ten Commandments. You can read what these are in Exodus 20. There is also Hosea 7:1 and 10:4 about false witnesses; and chapters 12-13).

Someone who loves the Lord very much will not neglect the needs of other people.

He or she will do nothing that would make things difficult for other people.

In the final chapter (14), Hosea spoke to the people who were not loyal.

• He urged them to return to God. He was the one with true love for them (14:1, 4).
• They must not listen to servants who are of no use.
• They must not trust in the protection of kings without God.
• They must not trust in the aid of friends that cannot help (14:3).
• He urged the worshippers without love to leave their worship of idols.
• He urged them to go to God with sincere words (14:2, 3b, 8).