Get Ready
How do you picture a typical “family?” How has your image changed over time? What do you picture as the ideal family? How much of this picture is influenced by the family you now have or the family in which you grew up? How might it change in the future?
Author
Hosea, the prophet, who identifies himself as “the son of Berea [1:1] wrote this book during the later part of his ministry. This is one of the few books in the Old Testament with universal agreement about the author. His name is a variant of “Joshua” and “Jesus,” which means “salvation” in Hebrew.
Context
Hosea also provides the historical context for his book and his ministry: “in the days of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah, and in the days of King Jereboam son of Joash of Israel” [1:1]. This places him at the end of the northern kingdom (where he lived) and just past the middle of the southern kingdom.
While Hezekiah (715-687 BCE) led a return to worshipping God in Judah, Jereboam (791-750 BCE) led Israel in worshipping a mixture of false gods that included some elements of true Jewish worship of Yahweh, in a partially-successful effort to retain the support of the kingdoms that surrounded Israel. The nation was relatively stable and peaceful during his reign; but this ended when he died. Five kings tried to rule until the Israel was defeated in 722 BCE. Hosea probably lived to see his prophecies actually happen.
Structure
The book has two major sections:
- The first part is the story of Hosea’s very unusual family situation. God’s initial command to Hosea is to marry a prostitute – as a living demonstration of Israel’s prostitution in worshipping the false fertility gods of its pagan neighbors [chapters 1-3].
- The second part of the book presents Hosea’s prophecies of God’s impending judgment against both Israel and Judah.
In spite of the harsh judgment that Hosea must convey to the Jews and their leaders, he ends his works with a plea for repentance and the assurance that God will forgive those who do return to him.
Major Themes
The primary message of Hosea is God’s impending judgment on Israel’s sin. By Hosea’s time the leaders of both Judah and Israel, with very few exceptions, had forsaken following God’s commandments (and paying any attention to his prophets), and worshipped a mixture of idols. Hosea’s prophecies – both direct and through the symbolism of his marriage and family – present a compelling picture of the nation’s sin and its inevitable consequences.
At the same time Hosea confirms God’s love and promise of forgiveness – again through his marriage and his prophecies. After his wife leaves him and returns to prostitution, he finds her at a slave market and purchases her and restores her to the family. The last two chapters of the book give a picture of God’s compassion and tenderness toward his chosen people: I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down and fed them, [11:4].
Get into the Word
1. Who wrote this book? What is significant about the author’s name? What else do we know about the author and family [see Notes]?
2. When did the prophet do his work? Where did he prophesy? What was the political situation at the time? How about the military situation? What was the religious context for this prophet? What happened a few years after the prophet’s work?
3. How is this book structured? What are the major sections of the book? What is similar about the sections? What is different? Why do you suppose the prophet used the symbolism he did?
4. What message was this prophet trying to convey? Who was his primary audience? How did his personal situation reinforce his prophetic message? How do you suppose the prophet felt about his marriage and family? How might you feel if this happened to you?
5. What else does the prophet say about Israel’s future? Why do you think he included this message in his prophesies. How does this affect your understanding of God’s character? Of his holiness? Of his compassion?
7. What names did Hosea give his children? Why do you think he chose these names? What do the names signify? Do you think the people understood God’s message in these names?
Bible Trivia
Hosea uses “Ephraim” for Israel since it was the largest of the northern tribes.
Notes . . .
A most unusual family:
God’s very first command to Hosea directs him to, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom,” [1:2]. God’s rationale for this unusual order is to symbolize the nation’s sin of forsaking the Lord and ignoring his commandments. Hosea obeys and marries “Gomer daughter of Diblaim.”
Gomer and Hosea have three children and God tells Hosea to give each one a symbolic name:
- Jezreel (God sows), a son – “for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel,” [1:4]. Jezreel was the site of a battle in which Jehu killed King Joram.
- Lo-ruhamah (Not pitied), a daughter – “for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel,” [1:6].
- Lo-ammi (Not my people), another son – “for you are not my people and I am not your God,” [1:9].
After the children were born Gomer left Hosea and returned to her life of prosti-tution. But Hosea goes after her and buys her from a slave market and restores her as his wife, just as “the Israelites shall return and seek the Lord their God,” [3:5].
Did this really happen?
God’s command to Hosea is unique in the Bible. Plus it seems to go against the fifth and seventh commandments – to honor one’s father and mother and to not commit adultery. The family was sacred to the Jews, as well as the rest of the ancient nations. Some critics insist the story is only an allegory and did not really happen, others suggest that either Gomer became a prostitute only after the marriage or Hosea did not realize she was a prostitute. But Hosea’s language is direct, not poetic: God told him to marry a prostitute so he did. Further, the image certainly fits with Israel’s history of unfaithfully ignoring God and his laws and worshipping other gods.
39: God accuses Israel — Hosea 4:1-19
Get Ready
How do you picture a typical “family?” How has your image changed over time? What do you picture as the ideal family? How much of this picture is influenced by the family you now have or the family in which you grew up? How might it change in the future?
The Word
4Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel; for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land.
2 Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adulte
ry break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish;
together with the wild animals and the birds of the air,even the fish of the sea are perishing.
4 Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O priest.
5 You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night, and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; they changed their glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways, and repay them for their deeds.
10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply;
because they have forsaken the Lord to devote themselves to 11 whoredom.
Wine and new wine take away the understanding.
12 My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles.
For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have played the whore, forsaking their God.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and make offerings upon the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with whores, and sacrifice with temple prostitutes;
thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.
15 Though you play the whore, O Israel, do not let Judah become guilty.
Do not enter into Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear, “As the Lord lives.”
16 Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols —let him alone.
18 When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies; they love lewdness more than their glory.
19 A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their altars. NRSV
Get into the Word
1. How does the prophet begin his message? What is his subject? Who is his audience? How does he describe the people’s actions regarding God? What is the result of this situation?
2. Who all is included in God’s charge? Why are the priests included? What will happen to them? To the people? How will God respond to them? How does Hosea describe their sins? Why are their actions so serious [see Notes]?
3. What are the sins of the people? Why does Hosea call it “playing the whore?” What will be the result of these practices? Why will the women not be punished for their sexual misdeeds?
4. Why does he refer to mountains, hills and trees [see Notes]? Why would people consult “a piece of wood?” What is the significance of Gilgal and Beethoven? Who is Ephraim [see Notes]?
Get Personal
Hosea’s prophecy charges the people because they are not acting like people who follow
Notes . . .
4:1. Indictment — a legal charge that a person broke the law, also translated “rebuke.”
4:2. There is . . . — Hosea lays out the sins of the people: instead of knowing and following God the Israelites were regularly and consistently violating at least five of the Ten Commandments. “Swearing” here means calling for God to curse someone, which is “making wrongful use of the name of the Lord,”
[Ex 20:7].
4:3. The land mourns — the sin was so widespread it affected the land itself, which God said would happen: I will break your proud glory, and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like copper. Your strength shall be spent to no purpose: your land shall not yield its produce, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit, [Lev 26:19-20].
4:4. Contend . . . accuse — God is prohibiting the people from trying to shift the blame.
O priest — even the priests were sinning, and they would be punished as the rest of the people [check 4:9-10].
4:5. Stumble — continue to sin.
Prophets — Hosea refers to the advisors who are loyal only to the king and themselves; God had ordered the priests to teach the law to the people [Deut 31:9-13].
4:6. Reject — God will reject the self-seeking religious leaders, Malachi also
prophesied about corrupt priests: you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you have not kept my ways but have shown partiality in your instruction, [Mal 2:8-9, also check Jer 23:11 and Mic 3:11].
4:8. Feed on the sin — priests actually got a portion of the sin offerings of the people [Lev 7:7-10].
4:10. Play the whore — Israelites were participating in pagan fertility rites, hoping for good crops and increased herds of livestock.
4:12. Piece of wood — many idols were little more than a carved image.
4:13. Top of mountains . . . under oak — pagan worship sites were often on hills or under large trees [check Deut 12:2-4 for God’s directive about such shrines].
4:15. Beth-aven — “house of wickedness,” actually Bethel, where Jacob dreamt about God’s “ladder,” [Gen 28:10-19; also check Amos 5:5 for the town’s future]. Gilgal was another pagan worship site.
4:17. Ephraim — one of Jacob’s sons and the largest tribe in the northern kingdom – Hosea uses “Ephraim” to mean all of the kingdom.
Memory Verse
For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them, [Hosea 14:9].
Next Lesson
Joel 2: The army of locusts.
