Bible Commentaries
Hosea 1

Verses 1-5

VII

THE BOOK OF HOSEA PART I

Hosea 1:1-4:5

Books commended: (1) "Pulpit Commentary," (2) "Bible Commentary," (3) "Cambridge Bible," (4) Sampey’s Syllabus. Hosea, the prophet, was one of three who bore this name. The other two were Hoshea, afterward called Joshua (Numbers 13:8-16), and Hoshea, the last king of Israel. These are shortened forms of the name "Jehoshea" which means, the Lord is my help, but the short form means savior, or deliverer. Hosea, the prophet, was a son of Beeri, but we know nothing of Beeri; nor do we know where Hosea was born or buried. We know that he was a prophet of Israel and, perhaps, was a native of the Northern Kingdom, but his tribal relation is only a guess with much uncertainty. He had frequent messages for Judah as well as for Israel, and at first he praised Judah but later on he warned and threatened her.

In the title Hosea is said to have prophesied "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." Now the reign of these kings of Judah covered a period of one hundred and twelve years; so he must have lived to be quite an old man. Hosea probably commenced his prophetic work in the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam and in the early part of the reign of Uzziah, and extended it through the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and into the reign of Hezekiah, which would give us a period of fifty or sixty years for his work, say from 780 B.C. to 725 B.C., about fifty-five years. The internal evidence fully corroborates the statement of Hosea 1:1.

The period covered by his prophetic utterances was undoubtedly the darkest in the whole history of the kingdom of Israel. Political life was characterized by anarchy and misrule. The throne was occupied by men who obtained possession by the murder of their predecessors and the people were governed by military despotism. Zechariah was slain after a reign of six months; Shallum, after only one month. A dozen years later Pekahish was assassinated by Pekah, who met the same fate at the hands of Hoshea. All these were ungodly rulers, and the morals of the nation were sinking to the lowest ebb. The conditions were terrible in the extreme; luxurious living, robbery, oppression, falsehood, adultery, murder, accompanied by the most violent intolerance of any form of rebuke. The language of the prophet is influenced by the confusion about him in the nation and the disgrace of his own home. Then Israel being situated midway between Egypt and Assyria, two factions existed: one favoring alliance with Egypt; the other, with Assyria. Such were the circumstances which furnished the occasion of this prophecy.

The genuineness and canonicity of the prophecies of Hosea have never been widely called in question, nor has the book of Hosea been successfully distributed among the several authors differing in character, culture, and date, a division of labor which has played a great part in the criticism of other prophets. The book of Hosea, of a date and authenticity unquestioned, is a witness of the utmost value for previous portions of the Old Testament. A number of allusions put it beyond all reasonable doubt, that Hosea, in the eighth century before Christ, had in his hands a Hebrew literature identical with much of which we possess at this time.

In this book we find several allusions to the history of Genesis: (1) Adam’s sin in paradise and expulsion there from (Hosea 6:7) ; (2) the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Hosea 11:8) ; (3) God’s promise to Abraham (Hosea 1:10); (4) Jacob’s experience (Hos. 12:3-4:15).

In Exodus, besides general allusions to Moses, we have the following verbal references: (1) Hosea 1:11 is a reference to Exodus 1:10; (2) Hosea 2:17, to Exodus 23:13. The curse denounced in Leviticus 26:14 ff is alluded to in Hosea 7:12. The sin in the matter of Baal-peor discussed in Numbers is alluded to in Hosea 9:10.

There are several verbal citations of passages in Deuteronomy: (1) Deuteronomy 31:18, in Hosea 3:1; (2) Deuteronomy 17:8-13, in Hosea 4:4; (3) Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17, in Hosea 5:10, and in many other instances. So we can find allusions to Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, showing that all these books were in the canon of sacred Scriptures in the time of Hosea just as we have them today.

Many of the finest passages in Hosea, practically all of the promises, are treated by the radical critics as interpolations by later writers; most of the references to Judah are stricken out, and the historical allusions to great men and events in the past are also cut out. This is revolutionary criticism and completely reverses the message of Hosea. There is not a scintilla of evidence to justify such a mutilation of "this book.

To show the fallacy of the radical critic theory of the Pentateuch I take the following from Sampey’s Syllabus:

Professor James Robertson, in his able work on the Early Religion of Israel, has delivered heavy blows against the current radical theory of the origin of the Pentateuch, by emphasizing the following facts concerning Amos and Hosea, who are admitted by all parties to have lived and labored in the eighth century, B.C.:

1. These prophets had a rich vocabulary of moral and theological terms, implying a high degree of religious culture prior to their time.

2. They displayed literary skill such as would argue for a high development of the Hebrew language and literature before their time.

3. Both of these prophets, as well as Micah and Isaiah, far from regarding themselves as pathfinders in thought and practice, speak of their work as a return to the law of God given in former times. They plainly regard themselves as reformers, not innovators. These three lines of argument unite in favoring a date for the Pentateuch much earlier than that assigned by Wellhausen and his school.

Hosea, of all the prophets, is the most difficult to translate and interpret. His style is marked by obscure brevity; his mind was so aflame with the fiery message which he brought that he did not stop to weigh words for the sake of clearness. Jerome says, "Hosea is concise, and speaks in detached sentences." The prophet felt too deeply to express himself calmly. Amos 1-3 is in prose; the rest of the book is rhythmical, but almost destitute of parallelism, a general characteristic of Hebrew poetry. The first three chapters are symbolical and strikingly graphic; the rest is literal, that "he may run who reads," i.e., "run through it in reading."

This book naturally divides itself into two parts: a shorter one (Hosea 1-3), and a longer one (Hosea 4-14), as follows:

ANALYSIS HOSEA – SPIRITUAL ADULTERY

I. The preparation of the prophet (Hosea 1-3)

1. His domestic relations and the symbolical import (Hosea 1:2-2:1)

(1) His orders, his marriage, and his family (Hosea 1:2-9)

(2) His vision of hope (Hosea 1:10-2:1)

2. His domestic tragedy, a revelation (Hosea 2:2-23)

(1) The charge explained (Hosea 2:2-7)

(2) The severity of love (Hosea 2:8-13)

(3) The tenderness of love (Hosea 2:14-20)

(4) The promise of enlargement (Hosea 2:21-23)

3. His reclamation of Gomer and its revelation (Hosea 3:1-5)

(1) His orders (Hosea 3:1)

(2) His obedience (Hosea 3:2-3)

(3) His vision of future Israel (Hosea 3:4-5)

II. The preaching of the prophet (Hosea 4:1-14:8)

NOTE: Of all the parts of the Bible, this, perhaps, is the hardest to analyze. Sampey says, "These chapters defy logical analysis," and Bishop Lowth calls them "scattered leaves of a sibyl’s book." This section consists of detached selections from Hosea’s prophecies, without regard to logical order. They are perhaps more chronological than logical. There have been several attempts to analyze these chapters but all alike seem to have been baffled with the difficulty of the task. The author ventures, as a kind of analysis to guide us in our study of this section, the following selected outline:

1. Pollution and pursuit (Hosea 4:1-6:3)

2. Pollution and punishment (Hosea 6:4-10:15)

3. Pollution and pity (Hosea 10:1-14:8)

On the three main views of the marriage of Hosea I take the following from Sampey’s Syllabus:

1. That the whole is an allegory or parable. This is the view of Calvin, who objects to an actual marriage of the prophet with an unchaste woman on the ground that it would discredit him with the very people whom he wished to influence. He says: "It would have then exposed the prophet to the scorn of all if he had entered a brothel and taken to himself a harlot." Calvin insists that the expression "wife of whoredom" could mean nothing less than a common prostitute. He replies to the argument that this was an exceptional case by saying that it seems inconsistent with reason that the Lord should thus gratuitously render his prophet contemptible. He thinks the expression, "Children of wantoness," also militates against the literal view. Calvin seems to think that the woman referred to in the third chapter was different from the one named in the first, but that we are not to imagine a real occurrence in either case. Calvin’s interpretation, in detail, of the language of Hosea seems to be greatly weakened by his theory of the imaginary character of the marriage.

2. Some think that Hosea actually married a woman who was leading an unchaste life; that she bore three children to him and then lapsed into her old life once more, sinking into a condition of slavery from which she was bought by Hosea and restored to his home, though not at first to the full intimacy of married life. This view, it must be confessed, would seem the most natural to a plain reader. The chief objection is moral. How could the Holy God direct a pure-minded prophet to form such an unnatural union? Some authorities think that Hosea’s language, in describing his marriage has been colored by his later experiences; and that he has interpreted God’s command to him to marry in darker words by reason of the experiences which followed the union. However that may be, it seems exceedingly difficult to believe that God would direct His prophet to marry a woman already living in unchastity.

3. Others hold that Hosea was directed to marry a woman given to idolatry, an idolatry which was often associated with licentiousness, although his bride was not an actually unchaste woman at first, but only a spiritual adulteress. She bore to the prophet three children, to whom symbolical names were given. Later on, idolatry brought forth its natural fruitage, and Hosea’s wife became an actual adulteress. Whether she then deserted Hosea, or whether he divorced her, we are not told. Now Hosea could understand why Jehovah was grieved with unfaithful Israel to the point of casting her off. The unspeakable love and compassion of God for His unfaithful spouse prepared Hosea in some measure to obey the divine command to recover his own unfaithful wife and restore her to his home.

The third view has more to recommend it than either of the other two. Hosea’s bitter domestic sorrow became an object-lessen for himself and his people. His heart was almost broken by shame and grief, but he was thereby fitted to portray the heinousness of apostasy, on the one hand, and, on the other, Jehovah’s tenderness and compassion toward His unfaithful people.

In Hosea 1:2-9 we have set forth the condition of the people of Israel at this time and their relation to Jehovah. There are several words and phrases in it that need explanation. "When Jehovah spoke at the first" means the beginning of Hosea’s prophecies in the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II, and refers to God’s first command to him. "Gomer" means failing, or consummation and indicates the decline of Israel at that time because of her sins. "Jezreel," the name of the first-born means scattered by God and is contrasted with "Israel" which means, prince with God, i.e., "Jezreel" indicates a prophecy of Israel’s scattering which was fulfilled in the destruction of the house of Jehu in which God would avenge the awful deeds of Jehu though he did his work at the command of God, but with the spirit of vengeance and with no thought of the glory of God. The kingdom of Israel, though spared about fifty years, soon ceased, when her bow, the symbol of her strength, was broken in the valley of Jezreel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, & Israel was scattered.

Then a daughter was born to Gomer whom the prophet was instructed to call "Lo-ruhamah," which means hath not obtained mercy and as applied to Israel at this time, signifies that God had visited her in her wickedness; that Israel was pass-ing beyond the hope of mercy and pardon. Then the prophet contrasts with this condition of Israel the mercy of Jehovah to Judah which was fulfilled in the destruction of Sennacherib’s army and the extension of the life of Judah one hundred and thirty-two years beyond that of Israel. This prophecy concerning Judah was, doubtless, intended to encourage the faithful in Israel.

Then followed a third child born to the woman, whom the prophet was instructed to name "Loammi," which means not my people and indicates Jehovah’s complete rejection of Israel because of her violation of the marriage covenant. So the prophet’s children symbolized, step by step, the sad gradation of Israel’s fast-coming calamity. The name, "Jezreel," scattered of God, denotes the first blow dealt to them by divine Providence, from which it was possible for them by repentance to recover; "Loruhamah," without mercy, imparts another and heavier blow, yet not beyond all hope of recovery; but "Loammi," not my people, puts an end to hope, implying the rejection of Israel by the Almighty. The national covenant was annulled; God had cast off his people who were left hopeless and helpless, because of their sinful and ungrateful departure from the fountain of all blessing.

In Hosea 1:10-2:1 we have set forth clearly the promise of the return and conversion of the Jews. There is, perhaps, a primary fulfilment in the return under Zerubbabel and Joshua but the larger and clearer fulfilment is yet to be realized in the gathering of the Jews and their consequent conversion at which time the millennium will be introduced and the great multitudes of spiritual Israel here referred to will be converted. Then Jezreel will be reversed in its application and made to apply to the planting of Israel in her own land; and right where they are now said not to be God’s people they shall be called God’s people. Israel and Judah shall have one head, the Messiah, and not only will Jezreel be reversed in its application, but also the names of the other two children will lose their negative meaning, and, instead of Loruhamah and Loammi, there will be Ammi, my people and Ruhhamah, the beloved. Such will be the conditions of fellowship on their return. This accords with Romans 9:26-27 and other New Testament quotations.

The charge against the Israelites in Hosea 2:2-7 is their idolatries in which they have forgotten him and their obligations to him. The mother here is Israel taken collectively and is represented as a wife, unfaithful to the marriage relation. The threat of stripping her naked is in accord with the Oriental custom of dealing with the harlot, which is the method also of the Germans in dealing with an adulteress. This is described by Tacitus thus: Accisis crimibus nudatam coram propingius expellit domo maritus. Her children are the children of Israel individually who are also barred from the privileges of the covenant and there are no blessings for them. Her lovers mentioned here are her idols to which she had turned for support, for which the Lord pronounces the curse upon them, that will turn them back to himself.

The severity of Jehovah’s love for them is shown in Hosea 2:8-13. For her disregard of Jehovah’s blessings, and attributing them to Baalim, he removes them and subjects Israel to the most severe chastisements, here described as "nakedness," "shame," "mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies," the waste of the land, the visit of the days of Baalim, etc., which are expressions of the severity of his love to bring Israel to repentance. The fulfilment of these predictions we find in part in the conditions of the captivity but the author believes the reference here to the feasts and solemn assemblies to include the fulfilment of them by Christ on the cross as expressed in Colossians 2:14-17.

The passage, Hosea 2:14-20, is in contrast with the preceding paragraph and should be translated: "Notwithstanding, I will allure, etc.," which expresses Jehovah’s kindness to Israel in her captivity, which is intended to allure her to return to him. He shows here his tender love for Israel by making her troubles valley of Achor) the door of her hope. The new relation is expressed by the word, "Ishi," which means my husband instead of "Baali," my master. These terms are appellatives and should not be translated as proper names. There is a play upon the word, "Baal," by which it is made to express their former relation to Jehovah as servant and master, because of Israel’s going after Baalim, as if to say, "If you make Baal your God, then I will be to you as Baali, i.e., master, but in this captivity I will take Baalim out of your mouth." This is one of the blessings of the captivity, viz: The permanent cure of Israel of all forms of idolatry.

Then his love finds expression in the covenant with the beasts of the field, the doing away with war and the establishing of the betrothal relation in perfect righteousness. The covenant with the beasts here seems to correspond exactly with Isaiah 11:6-9 in which there is a clear reference to the messianic age, and does not find its larger fulfilment until the millennium. May the good Lord hasten the time when No strife shall rage, nor hostile feuds Disturb these peaceful years; To plowshares men shall beat their swords, To pruning-hooks, their spears. No longer hosts, encount’ring hosts, Shall crowds of slain deplore; They hang the trumpet in the hall, And study war no more.

In Hosea 2:21-23 we have a clear and distinct promise of the conversion of the Jews and their consequent evangelization (together with Gentile Christians) of the world in the millennium. The blessings of this period are given in the terms of both the temporal and the spiritual, the temporal referring to the response of the heavens and the earth to the call of God and his people in giving blessings and the spiritual blessings are expressed in the sowing of Israel among the nations and the blessings upon them who were not God’s people. This certainly comprehends the time of the millennium in which the Jews shall play such a signal part in the evangelization of the world, as expressed in Romans 9:23.

Hosea 3 sets forth God’s command to Hosea to go and buy back Gomer, his unfaithful wife, who had been sold as a slave, the prophet’s prompt obedience and his vision of future Israel. This is an illustration of God’s great and boundless love for depraved unfaithful Israel, though like the unfaithful wife, she had forsaken Jehovah, her husband. The prophet kept her many days exercising the restraint upon her necessary to bring her to repentance. So the prophet explains that the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, etc., after which they shall return and seek Jehovah, their God, and shall have his favor upon them in the latter days.

There was a partial fulfilment of Hosea 3:4 in the period of the captivity, but surely there is a clear prophecy here of the long period of the tribulation which followed the Jewish rejection of the Messiah and which will continue until the Jews shall look on him whom they have pierced and by faith embrace him as their long looked-for Messiah. As we behold the Jew today we see him "without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim," but after many days he shall turn and seek Jehovah his God and David (Christ) his king and in the days of their ingathering will be the joy of the harvest.

QUESTIONS

1. Who was Hosea?

2. What was the date of his prophecy?

3. What was the occasion, or circumstances, of his prophecies?

4. What of the genuineness and canonicity of this book?

5. What was its relation, in general, to the sacred canon?

6. What allusions do we find in this book to the book of Genesis?

7. What allusions to the history in Exodus?

8. What allusion to Leviticus?

9. What allusion to Numbers?

10. What allusions to Deuteronomy?

11. How do the Radical Critics deal with the book of Hosea?

12. What was the relation of Amos and Hosea to recent theories of radical criticism respecting the origin of the Pentateuch, as shown by Prof. James Robertson?

13. What can you say of the character and style of this prophecy?

14. What is the outline, or analysis, of the book?

15. What are the three main views of the marriage of Hosea and which is the more commendable?

16. What is the interpretation and application of Hosea 1:2-9?

17. What was the promise of Hosea 1:10-2:1?

18. What was the charge against Israel as revealed in the domestic tragedy of Hosea 2:2-7 ?

19. How is the severity of Jehovah’s love for them shown in Hosea 2:8-13, and what the fulfilment of the predictions contained therein?

20. How does Jehovah show the tenderness of his love in Hosea 2:14-20 and what the fulfilment of its predictions?

21. What is the promise of Hosea 2:21-23 and when the ideals here set forth to be realized?

22. What is the contents of chapter III and what is revelation?

23. What is the fulfilment of the predictions of Hosea 3:4-5?