Hosea

I was studying/meditating in Hosea and decided I wanted to make a post about it. What a fantastic, but drastic book.

The book it self can be divided in two parts: 1-3 and 4-14. 1-3 can really be noticed having a 2 part story and a 3 part oracle from Yahweh. The story is found in 1:3-9 and 3:1-5 while the oracle's are 1)1:10-2:1, 2)2:10-12, 3)2:14-23. The book as a whole is about the prophet Hosea marrying a prostitute named Gomer as a comparison to Yahweh's relationship with Israel and the church. There are a few highlights that I would like to mention.

Story Part 1
1:4 - Hosea is told to name his son Jezreel. Jezebel was the one who made Jezreel famous. (Try and follow this history, it's important). God ordained the destruction of Jezebel and ordained it to happen by Jehu in the Valley of Jezreel. The problem is that Jehu enjoyed destroying Jezebel. So in Hosea, the Hebrew word Jezreel actually means, "God Sows," but because of Jehu and the blood he shed it was likely that the Jezreel was misunderstood to mean, "Blood Flows.' Imagine naming a child, Bloody. That could be equivalent to someone naming their child Columbine today. This is the severity of the prophet Hosea. Imagine the effect that had on his family.

1:6 & 8 - These veres mention his other two children who are illegitiment. The girl in v. 6 is named not loved, and is likely illegitiment. Then in v. 8 his other son is named not my people. With this being His name it is almost like the Lord undoing all of the Torah History which says, "I will be your God and you will be my people." They have been spending years trying to establish this, then the Lord says, 'you are no longer my people.'

Story Part 2
In sum, this is the Lord telling Hosea to go and buy back Gomer. She has been unfaithful, but the Lord says, "Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites," (3:1). Wow. What a crazy challenge.

The 3 Part Oracle (I'm not going to mention all 3 parts).
Basically this is the Lord saying that He is going to have mercy on His people. God has been separated from His people. Part 3 concludes in 2:12-23 by talking about the re-marriage of god and His people. He is going to take her to the vineyard (a place of Romance) and be with her again. Not only that, but the once illegitimate children will be re-adopted! So it is like a baby shower and a wedding all at once!

Part 2 - Hosea 4-14
This section goes into more detail about the Israel forsaking the Lord, then concludes with the Lord returning to His people. Here are a few highlights:

4:6 - The knowledge that He is talking about here is knowledge about God. The problem is that the children are illegitimate rather than being children of a covenantal marriage. So the knowledge is more specifically knowledge about Covenantal intimacy, which would produce children of covenant.

11:8 - This could be one of the most powerful verses. The Lord says,

"How can I give you up Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? How can I treat you like that Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; all my compassion is aroused."

We often think that the Old Testament only emphasizes judgement and wrath, but this shows Grace! This is one of the deepest revelations of Gods heart. The word recoil is a strong word in this context. What is it like for the Lords heart to recoil? Its almost like he's having a heart attack! This is the passions of God.


I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. In sum, we must see the faithfulness of the Lord. We are always unfaithful, but He is always faithful and will never leave us. Even if we run to other lovers 1 million times a day, He is faithful to us. He will come and buy us back, no matter the cost. He wants us, His heart recoils and his compassion is aroused for us. He longs just to be with us.