Category: <span>Hosea</span>

Hosea preached to Israel during an era of sharp spiritual and national decline. Despite the rampant idolatry in the land during the early days of Jeroboam II, Israel enjoyed a measure of God’s kindness, resulting in national prosperity and military prowess (2 Kgs 14:23-29). God’s kindness would not be out of step with justice and holiness; in time the Lord handed Israel over to Assyria (2 Kings 17). Yet, Hosea concluded his message with exalted words of hope. Although the Lord would discipline His people, He promised restoration. The Lord’s final word to the penitent is always one of hope.

Hosea indicted Israel for their deceptive ways (Hos 12:1-13:6). Even though God had spoken to His people through the prophets, God’s people did not respond faithfully to Him but made alliances with Assyria and Egypt (Hos 12:1; Deut 7:2; 17:16). Israel’s deceitful behavior matched that of their forefather, Jacob, who “in the womb grasped his brother’s heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God” (Hos 12:3). Israel’s merchants used false scales for their own gain (Hos 12:7-8; Lev 19:36). And Israel persisted in idolatry in spite of God’s demonstrations of powerful love for Israel ever since the exodus (Hos 13:4-6).

As a result of their idolatrous, deceptive behavior God announced a plan of destruction for the nation (Hos 13:7-16). “Compassion is hidden from My eyes,” the Lord said (Hos 13:14). Hosea announced that restoration could thus be enjoyed only through thorough repentance, a return to covenant faithfulness (Hos 14:1-9). The prophet cried out, “Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled in your sin. Take words of repentance with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, ‘Forgive all our sin and accept what is good, so that we may repay You with praise from our lips’” (Hos 14:1-2).

In Hosea 12-14, the prophet announced that the Lord would both judge and restore Israel. Hosea emphasized that the latter would come only after the nation was destroyed in the exile. In fact, words of hope do not begin until Hos 14:4. Thus the phrase, “I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. Death, where are your barbs? Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes” (Hos 13:14), was in Hosea’s mind pejorative. Israel would die, experience the barbs of death, the sting of Sheol, and only then be ransomed.

Paul understood Hosea’s prophecy as part of the storyline of Scripture, pointing forward to the days of fulfillment in Christ when God would finally deal with the sin of His people. Paul employed Hosea’s phrase in 1 Cor 15:55 in his doxological statement about the believer’s future hope in the resurrection. Naturalism had begun to have an influence in the Corinthian church. Some proposed that there is no such thing as resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:12). The Corinthians thought that the human condition could not continue into the afterlife, no power could re-animate a corpse that had come to an end on earth. Paul went on to note that such a position would have to deny the resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor 15:13).

But since Christ was raised from the dead, Paul took the opportunity through the remainder of 1 Corinthians 15 to articulate the relationship between Jesus’ bodily resurrection and the bodily resurrection of all who believe in Jesus. Paul noted that Jesus’ resurrection defeated death itself. In 1 Cor 15:23, Paul described Jesus’ resurrection as the kind of resurrection that all believers will experience at the final judgement. Near the end of his argument in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul stated that human corruptible flesh will put on incorruptibility and mortal human bodies will be made immortal. Then Paul turned to Hos 13:14, writing, “O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor 15:55-57).

Hosea was a pre-exilic prophet, charged with the difficult task of convincing an unfaithful people that they would be destroyed if they continued in their harlotry against the Lord their maker. The Lord required Hosea to demonstrate His relationship with Israel, commanding the prophet to marry an unfaithful wife. Yet Hosea’s prophecies resounded with hope—not because he thought Israel and Judah would soon shape up and live according to the law of Moses, but because he understood the Lord’s covenant mercy.

Hosea 6-11 has four movements. First, the prophet called Israel to repent and urged them to know the Lord by acting in accord with the Mosaic law (Hos 6:1-7:2). Hosea then condemned Israel for their lack of reliance on the Lord (Hos 7:3-8:14). Israel’s leaders made alliances with foreign nations like Egypt and Assyria, with the result that they resembled, “a silly, senseless dove” (Hos 7:11). In Hosea’s logic, when God’s people went to Assyria for help it was as if they had already been scattered from the Promised Land (Hos 8:8-9). Third, Hosea predicted Israel’s demise (Hos 9:1-10:15). Most likely the people reacted to Hosea’s prophecy with a fair bit of hostility—after all, they were self-sufficient in the land. Hosea recognized that “Israel is a lush vine; it yields fruit for itself” (Hos 10:1). Israel’s independence displayed the nation’s spiritual obduracy. Forth, Hosea exhorted Israel to know the love of the Lord (Hos 11:1-12). Even though Israel deserved nothing of God’s covenant favor, Hosea encouraged his audience saying, “It is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain” (Hos 10:12). Hosea announced that the Lord’s compassion had been stirred, saying, “I will not vent the full fury of My anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One among you; I will not come in rage” (Hos 11:8b-9).

Phrases from Hosea 6-11 provide a conceptual grid for the storyline of Scripture.

(1) Matthew noted that Hos 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son,” was fulfilled when Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt for protection from Herod the Great. God had sent Israel to Egypt during a severe famine in Canaan (Genesis 46) and ultimately rescued them from Pharaoh’s oppressive hand (Exodus 4-15). And God sent the baby Jesus and family to Egypt to protect them from the massacre of the baby boys in Bethlehem. The phrase, “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Matt 2:15), pointed ultimately to the Messiah. Matthew employed the words of Hosea to show that the time of fulfillment had dawned.

(2) Jesus quoted Hos 6:6 to justify His mercy toward sinners and His disciples. In Hos 6:6 the prophet recorded the Lord’s lament, “I desire loyalty and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Israel observed the temple obligations while simultaneously engaging in idolatry—and the Lord saw right through Israel’s hypocrisy. After Jesus called Matthew the tax collector to follow Him, the new disciple invited Jesus to a meal where many of Matthew’s former associates had gathered (Matt 9:9-13//Mark 2:13-17//Luke 5:27-32). When the Pharisees saw Jesus freely associating with those that they would call unclean, they asked Jesus’ disciples what gave Jesus the right to set aside the Mosaic code. Jesus replied that just as those who are physically ill need a doctor to come to them and help them in their state of sickness, so too the spiritually sick like tax collectors and sinners needed Jesus to come near to them. Jesus justified His benevolence toward the unclean by casting His ministry as an expression of Hos 6:6. The God who sent Jesus wanted His emissaries to be more concerned for acts of mercy than empty cultic sacrifices. Not for the righteous but for sinners God sent His Son. And when the Pharisees saw Jesus’ disciples picking grain and eating it on the Sabbath, they were outraged (Matt 12:1-8//Mark 2:23-28//Luke 6:1-5). Jesus countered that He was acting in accord with Hosea’s prophecy; God wanted His people to show mercy to those in need. Jesus replied to the Pharisees in light of Hos 6:6 but also in light of His status as the Son of God. According to the Pharisees, priests serving in the temple were exempt from adhering to the Sabbath commands. Jesus argued that in light of the fact that He Himself was greater than the temple, His disciples were worthy of the freedom the priests enjoyed when they served there. “Something greater than the temple is here!” Jesus exclaimed.

(3) In Luke 23:30, Jesus quoted Hos 10:8 as He was being led to the cross. In Hosea 10, the prophet confronted Israel because, though God prospered the nation with abundant harvests, they gave glory to the idols of Samaria. Hosea prophesied that the Lord would remove the source of Israel’s idolatry, destroying Samaria. Those who worshipped idols would ask the mountains to fall on them and hills to cover them from God’s wrath (Hos 10:8). After the Roman soldiers leading Jesus to Golgotha commandeered Simon the Cyrenian to carry Jesus’ cross, Jesus spoke to the crowd gathered around Him lamenting what was unfolding before their eyes. Jesus warned the women in the crowd saying that if He were treated so harshly, they should expect the same. Jesus quoted Hos 10:8 and prophesied that the day would come when the residents of Jerusalem would ask the mountains and hills to fall upon them in hopes of being protected from God’s wrath.

Hosea preached in Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kgs 14:23-29), while Uzziah (2 Kgs 15:1-7), Jotham (2 Kgs 15:32-38), Ahaz (2 Kings 16), and Hezekiah (2 Kings 18-20) ruled in Judah. Hosea thus witnessed the political, social, and, economic demise—and deportation—of Israel, and the near end of Judah. Both Israel and Judah had adopted pagan idolatry and worship of Baal from the surrounded nations. On the plains of Moab, Moses looked to Canaan and predicted that Israel would enter the land but be deported for her idolatry (Deut 31:24-30). Hosea recorded God’s case against His people.

Hosea’s message was that God’s people had committed adultery by foregoing their covenant with Him and turning instead to Baal. Both Jeremiah (Jer 3:6-10) and Ezekiel (ch. 16) would indict the people on similar grounds. Israel’s adultery grieved God’s heart—and the Lord commanded Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife so that Hosea’s marriage with Gomer would testify to the Lord’s relationship with Israel.

In Romans 9-11, Paul employed phrases from Hosea 1-3 to explain salvation history. Paul’s repeated use of the early chapters of Hosea suggests that Paul identified with Hosea’s argument that God would punish Israel for her sin but demonstrate mercy to a remnant for His name’s sake. One of the most difficult tasks before the apostle was to explain why so many Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ, but the Jews—the very people of the Messiah by race—had by and large rejected Him. Paul’s use of Hosea in Romans 9-11 underscores Scripture as a storyline that finds its fulfillment in Christ for both Jews and Gentiles.

(1) In Rom 9:25-26, Paul combined Hos 2:23 and 1:10 to provide a scriptural basis for God’s call upon Gentiles. In Hos 2:14-23, the prophet declared that God would restore Israel to Himself and reverse her destitute state. Israel would call the Lord, and not Baal, her husband (Hos 2:16). No longer would Israel play the harlot but because of the Lord’s righteousness, justice, love, and compassion, she would be known as His bride (Hos 2:19-20). Those whom the Lord had cast off and from whom He had withheld compassion would receive His compassion and again be called His people (Hos 2:23). Hosea’s statement in Hos 2:23 reflects what the prophet wrote in Hos 1:10, “In the place where they were told: You are not My people, they will be called: sons of the living God.” In both Hos 2:23 and 1:10, the prophet had in mind the Lord’s mercy upon Israel as the Lord restored the nation to Himself. In Paul’s day, many Jews considered the Gentiles cast-offs in salvation history; God had chosen Israel to be His people. Paul used Hosea’s prophecy to substantiate God’s call of non-Jews to salvation in Christ. “What if God,” Paul wrote, “desiring to display His wrath and make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction?” (Rom 9:22). Paul emphasized that the prophecy of Hosea that he was citing in Rom 9:25-26 was God’s word, writing, “As He also says in Hosea: I will call ‘Not-My-People,’ ‘My-People,’ and she who is ‘Unloved,’ ‘Beloved.’ And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God” (Rom 9:22-26). In Paul’s mind, God’s mercy to Israel in Hosea’s day was being expressed to both Jews and Gentiles in Christ.

(2) In Rom 11:23, Paul described the possibility of Israel being awakened to God just as Hosea prophesied in Hos 3:5. The prophet noted that Israel would, for a time, be devoid of king, prince, sacrifice, or idols. In exile, they would have nothing. “Afterwards,” Hosea proclaimed, “the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days” (Hos 3:5). In Romans 9-11, Paul described God’s righteousness toward both Gentiles and Jews. Concerning the latter, Paul wrote in Rom 11:23 that if they would believe upon Christ, they would be restored to God and His church consisting of Jews and Gentiles. “For God has imprisoned all in disobedience, so that He may have mercy on all,” Paul concluded (Rom 11:32).