Hosea Chapter One
Introduction:
Hosea was the son of Bee-ri and while many scholars place him fourth in the list of
Minor Prophets, the sequence we’re using, others place him at the
beginning. He is called by these scholars
the “first of the writing prophets” (Matthew
Henry’s Commentary, p. 877). They
place him in the history of
The ancient Jewish writings record
his birthplace as Beth-she-mesh and of the tribe of Issachar,
which would make him a citizen of the northern kingdom of
Hosea was sent to the northern
kingdom of
Read Hosea 1:1-3 – God’s Call to Hosea
v.1 “The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of
Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of
Joash, king of Israel.”
Hosea dates himself. He prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II
in
I Thessalonians
The authenticity of
his prophesy and its inclusion in scripture is further guaranteed by the fact
that he is quoted by Jesus in Matthew
2:5 and Matthew 12:7, by Paul in Romans 9:25 and Peter in I
Peter 2:10 as well as other places.
v.2-3 “The beginning of
the word of the LORD by Hosea. And
the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take
unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath
committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. 3So
he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a
son.”
At the outset of his prophecy Hosea
receives some very explicit instructions from God that would probably seem
quite strange to us. He is to be God’s
spokesman, God’s prophet to bring the Word of God to a reprobate nation but God
tells him to go marry a harlot. That
doesn’t seem quite appropriate for a man of God, a
preacher of righteousness does it? But
there is a purpose for God’s instruction.
Hosea marriage relationship was to parallel the relationship between God
and his chosen people. Their seeking
after strange gods after having been chosen by God as his people is
characterized as spiritual adultery. God told Moses:
Deuteronomy 31:16 “And the LORD said
unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will
rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither
they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have
made with them.”
The same analogy is
used in the writing of James in the New Testament as well:
James 4:4 “4Ye adulterers and
adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
So Hosea takes Gomer, a woman apparently of somewhat questionable morals,
as his wife and she bears him a son.
Read Hosea 1:4-9 – Gomer’s
Children
v.4 “And the LORD said unto him, Call his name
Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and
will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.”
In addition to telling Hosea what
kind of woman he was to marry, he also gives him the names to be used for his
children. The eldest was to be called
Jezreel. The significance of this name
was that during the reign of the house of Jehu in Israel God was going avenge
the slaughter that took place in the
II Kings
The Jehu dynasty was allowed to last for only four generations.
II Kings
v.5 “5And it shall come to pass at that day, that I
will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”
It was also in the
plain of Jezreel that God would destroy much of the
II Kings 15:29 “In the days of Pekah king of Israel came
Tig-lath-pi-le-ser king of Assyria, and took I-jon, and A-bel-beth-ma-a-chah,
and Ja-no-ah, and Ke-desh, and Ha-zor, and Gil-e-ad, and Galilee, all the land
of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.”
The
v.6 “And she conceived again, and bare a daughter.
And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ru-ha-mah:
for I will no more have mercy upon the house of
The meaning given to
the name Lo-ru-ha-math is “not favored” and I guess
that would be putting it very mildly.
God gave the daughter of Hosea and Gomer the
name because he not only will no longer favor
II
Kings 17:6 “In the ninth year of Hoshea the
king of
II
Kings
v.7 “But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah,
and will save them by the LORD their
God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor
by horsemen.”
II
Kings 19:34-35 “For I will defend this city, to
save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the
angel of the LORD went out, and
smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and
when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”
v.8-9 “Now
when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. 9Then
said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.”
The
second son of Gomer, a son whom some commentators
consider to have been born as a result of her harlotry, not the child of Hosea,
is named Lo-am-mi. This name means “not
my people”.
Romans
1:24-25 “Wherefore God also gave them up
to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves: 25Who changed the truth of God into a
lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is
blessed for ever. Amen.” v.28
“And even as they did not like to retain
God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29Being filled
with all unrighteousness,…”
Read Hosea
1:10-11 –
v.10 “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall
be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall
come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”
Now
the prophesy shifts from physical
Genesis
32:12 “And thou saidst, I will surely
do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
numbered for multitude.”
By the means of
John
And while these people would begin with the
remnant of the sons of
I
Peter 2:9-10 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light: 10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
v.11 “Then shall the children of Judah and the
children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
When
the mercy of God is extended to all people then the descendants of physical
Isaiah
11:12-13 “And he shall set up an ensign
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of
This prophecy speaks of a restoration of the
relationship between Ephraim, representing the northern kingdom of
Ezekiel
34:23 “And I will set up one shepherd
over them, and he shall feed them, even
my servant David; he shall feed
them, and he shall be their shepherd.”
Under the rule of the Messiah, Jesus the
Christ, all
Colossians
And then that spiritual
Galatians
3:27-29 “For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye
are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye
Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
William L. Schwegler, Sunset