Bible Commentaries
Hosea 4

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?

Verses 1-9

VIII

THE BOOK OF HOSEA PART 2

Hosea 4:1-14:9

What has previously been presented in figure and symbol in the first section of the book is now plainly and literally stated. Jehovah’s controversy with Israel is set forth in Hosea 4:1-5. Someone has called this "The Lord’s Lawsuit" in which he brings grave charges against Israel for sins of omission followed by sins of commission. The sins of omission which led to the sins of commission are that there were no truth, no goodness, and no knowledge of God in the land. These omissions led to the gravest sins of commission, viz: profanity, covenant-breaking, murder, stealing, and adultery. The evidence in this case was so strong that there was no plea of "not guilty" entered, and Jehovah proceeded at once, after making the indictment, to announce the sentence: Destruction!

This verdict of destruction was for the lack of knowledge, which emphasizes the responsibility of the opportunity to know. They had rejected knowledge and had forgotten the law of Jehovah, and as the priests were the religious leaders and instructors of the people, the sentence is heavy against them, but "like people, like priest" shows the equality of the responsibility and the judgment. There is no excuse for either. He who seeks to know the agenda, God will reveal the credenda. The sentence is again stated, thus: Rejection, forgetting her children, shame, requite them their doings, hunger and harlotry. Such a sentence hung over them like a deadly pall.

In Hosea 4:11-14 whoredom and wine are named together, not by accident but because they are companion evils, which is the universal testimony of those who practice either. Here they are said to take away the understanding, or as the Hebrew puts it, the heart. Both are literally true. That the understanding is marred and blighted by these evils is evidenced in the case of the thousands who have rendered themselves unfit for service anywhere by wasting their strength with wine and harlots. That the heart, the seat of affections, is destroyed by these evils witness the thousands of divorce cases in our courts today. By such a course the very vitals of man are burnt out and he then becomes the prey to every other evil in the catalogue. Let the youth of our country heed the warning of the prophet. Here Israel, engrossed with these sins, is pictured as going deeper and deeper in sin and degradation until they pass beyond the power of description. Notice that the Lord here holds the men responsible and pronounces a mighty invective against the modern double standard of morals. In God’s sight the transgressor is the guilty party, whether man or woman.

Though Israel has played the harlot, Judah is warned in Hosea 4:15-19 that she may not follow the example of Israel. The places of danger are pointed out and the example of Israel is used to enforce the warning. Israel is stubborn; Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone. Israel is wrapped in the winds of destruc-tion and shall soon be put to shame, therefore, take heed, Judah.

There are several notable things in the address of Hosea 5:1-7: First, the whole people – priests, Israel, and the royal house was involved in the judgment because each one was responsible for the existing conditions, their great centers of revolt against Jehovah being pointed out as Mizpeh, east of the Jordan; and Tabor, west of the Jordan. Second, the fact that Jehovah himself was the rebuker of them. God is the one undisputable judge and he will judge and he will judge them all. Though the mills of God grind slowly, Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all,

Third, God’s omniscience: "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me." So he knows us and there is nothing hid from him. Fourth, men are hindered from turning to God by their gins. Fifth, positive instruction awaits the sinner (Hosea 5:5). Sixth, sacrifices and seeking are too late after doom is pronounced. Repentance must come within the space allotted for it; otherwise, it is too late.

The cornet and trumpet in Hosea 5:8-15 signifies the alarm in view of the approaching enemy. In the preceding paragraph the prophet signified their certain destruction and now he indicates that it is at hand, again assigning the reason, that Judah had become as bold as those who remove the landmarks, and Ephraim was content to walk after man’s commandments. Then he shows by the figure of the moth and the woodworm that he is slowly consuming both Israel and Judah, but they were applying to other powers for help to hold out and that the time would come when he, like the lion, would make quick work of his judgments upon Israel and Judah; that they will not seek him till their affliction comes.

Paragraph Hosea 6:1-3 is the exhortation of the Israelites to one another at the time of their affliction mentioned in the last verse of the preceding chapter and should be introduced by the word, "saying," as indicated in the margin of Hosea 5:15. The expressions, "He hath torn" and "he hath smitten," evidently refer to the preceding verses which describe Jehovah’s dealing with Israel and Judah as a lion. This exhortation represents them after their affliction, saying to one another, "Come, and let us return unto Jehovah," etc. The "two days" and the "third day" are expressions representing short periods, not literal or typical days. They are then represented as pursuing knowledge which is the opposite to their present condition in their lack of knowledge. Now they are perishing for the lack of knowledge but then they will flourish as land flourishes in the time of the latter rain. There is a primary fulfilment of this prophecy in the return after the captivity but the larger fulfilment will be at their final return and conversion at which commences the revival destined to sweep the world into the kingdom of God. As Peter says, it will be "the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).

A paraphrase of Hosea 6:4-11 shows its interpretation and application, thus: “O Ephraim, O Judah, I am perplexed as to what remedy next to apply to you; your goodness is so shallow and transitory that my judgments have to be repeated from time to time. I desire goodness, i.e., works of charity, the right attitude of life, and the proper condition of the heart, rather than sacrifice. But instead of this you have, like Adam in the garden of Eden, transgressed my covenant and have dealt treacherously against me, as in the case of the Gileadites and the case of the murderous priests in the way to Shechem, and oh, the horribleness of your crimes! and, O Judah, there is a harvest for you, too."

In the charges against Israel in Hosea 7:1-16 the prophet gives the true state of affairs, viz: that the divine desire to heal was frustrated by the discovery of pollution, and by their persistent ignoring of God; that the pollution of the nation was manifest in the king, the princes, and the judges; that Ephraim was mixing among the people and had widespread influence, over the ten tribes, yet he was as a cake not turned; that he was an utter failure, being developed on one side, and on the other destroyed by burning; that he was unconscious of his wasting strength and ignored the plain testimony of the Pride of Israel; that as a silly dove, he was indicating fear and cowardice. Then the prophet concludes the statement of the case by a declaration of the utter folly of the people whom God was scourging toward redemption, to which they responded by howling, assembling, and rebelling.

Now we take up Hosea 8. From the statement of the case the prophet turned, in Hosea 8:1-14, to the pronouncement of judgment by the figure of the trumpet lifted to the mouth, uttering five blasts, in each of which the sin of the people was set forth as revealing the reason for judgment. The first blast declared the coming of judgment under the figure of an eagle, because of transgression and trespass. The second blast emphasized Israel’s sin of rebellion, in that they had set up kings and princes without authority of Jehovah. The third dealt with Israel’s idolatry, announcing that Jehovah had cast off the calf of Samaria. The fourth denounced Israel’s alliances and declared that her hire among the nations had issued in her diminishing. The fifth drew attention to the altars of sin and announced the coming judgment.

These judgments in detail are given in Hosea 9. Its first note was that of the death of joy. Israel could not find her joy like other peoples. Having known Jehovah, everything to which she turned in turning from him, failed to satisfy. How true is this of the individual backslider! The unsatisfied heart is constantly crying out, Where is the blessedness I knew, When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and his word?

The second note was that of actual exile to which she must pass: back to the slavery of Egypt and Assyria and away from the offerings and feasts of the Lord. The third was that of the cessation of prophecy. The means of testing themselves would be corrupted. The fourth declared the retributive justice of fornication. The prophet traced the growth of this pollution from its beginning at Baal-peor, and clearly set forth the inevitable deterioration of the impure people. The fifth and last was that of the final casting out of the people by God so that they should become wanderers among the nations.

In Hosea 10 we have the prophet’s recapitulation and appeal. This closes the section. The whole case is stated under the figure of the vine. Israel was a vine of God’s planting which had turned its fruitfulness to evil account and was therefore doomed to his judgment. The result of this judgment would be the lament of the people that they had no king who was able to deliver them, and chastisement would inevitably follow. The last paragraph is an earnest and passionate appeal to return to loyalty.

Some things in Hosea 10 need special explanation: First, note the expression here, "They will say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us." This furnishes the analogue for the final destruction of the world and the judgment as given in Luke 23:30 and Revelation 6:16. Here the expression is used to indicate the horrors of the capture and destruction of the kingdom of Israel, the sufferings and distress of which are a foreshadowing of the great tribulation at the end of the world.

Second, the reference to Gibeah in Hosea 10:9 needs a little explanation. This sin of Gibeah is the sin of the shameful outrage which with its consequences is recorded in Judges 19-20. That sin became proverbial, overtopping, as it did, all the ordinary iniquities, by its shameless atrocity and heinousness. By a long-continued course of sin, even from ancient days, Ephraim had been preparing for a fearful doom.

The third reference is to Shalman who destroyed Betharbel (Hosea 10:14). There are several theories about this incident. Some think that "Shalman" is a short form of "Shalmaneser," that Shalmaneser IV, who in the invasion which is mentioned (2 Kings 17:3) fought a battle in the valley of Jezreel, in which he broke the power of Samaria in fulfilment of Hosea 1:5 and about the same time stormed the neighboring town of Arbela, but who this "Shalman" was and what place was "Betharbel" are only matters of uncertain conjecture. All that is positively known is that the sack of Betharbel had made upon the minds of the Israelites an impression similar to that which in the seventeenth century was made far and wide by the sack of Madgeburg.

According to our brief outline the title of section Hosea 11:1-14:8 is "Pollution and Pity." This third cycle of the prophecy sets forth the pity which Jehovah has for his sinning people, and contains a declaration of Jehovah’s attitude toward Israel notwithstanding her sin. Chapters 11-13 are for the most part the speech of Jehovah himself. He sums up, and in so doing declares his sense of the awfulness of their sin, pronouncing his righteous judgment thereupon. Yet throughout the movement the dominant notes are those of pity and love, and the ultimate victory of that love over sin, and consequently over judgment. Three times in the course of this great message of Jehovah to his people (Hosea 11:1-13:16), the prophet interpolates words of his own.

This message of Jehovah falls into three clearly marked elements which deal: (1) with the present in the light of past love (Hosea 11:1-11); (2) with the present in the light of present love (Hosea 12:7-11) ; (3) with the present in the light of future love (Hosea 13:4-14).

The prophet’s interpolations set forth the history of Israel indicating their relation to Jehovah, and pronounce judgment. They form a remarkable obligate accompaniment, in a minor key, to the majestic love song of Jehovah, and constitute a contrasting introduction to the final message of the prophet. The first of them reveals the prophet’s sense of Jehovah’s controversy with Judah, his just dealings with Jacob, and, reminiscent of Jacob’s history, he makes a deduction and an appeal (Hosea 11:12-13:6). The second traces the progress of Israel to death (Hosea 12:12-13:3). The third declares their doom (Hosea 13:15-16).

Then in general, Jehovah’s message in Hosea 11:1-11 is as follows:

In this first movement, Jehovah reminded the people of his past love for them in words full of tenderness, setting out their present condition in its light, and crying, "How shall I give thee up?" Which inquiry was answered by the determined declaration of the ultimate triumph of love, and the restoration of the people.

There are two incidents of Israel’s history cited in this first part of Jehovah’s message. The first incident cited is the calling of Israel out of Egypt, which is quoted in Matthew 2:15 and applied to our Lord Jesus Christ as a fulfilment of this prophecy. Hosea clearly refers to the calling of Israel out of Egypt, the nation being elsewhere spoken of as God’s son (Exodus 4:22; Jeremiah 3:9). But there is evident typical relation between Israel and the Messiah.

As Israel in the childhood of the nation was called out of Egypt, so Jesus. We may even find resemblance in minute details; his temptation of forty days in the desert, resembles Israel’s temptation of forty years in the desert, which itself corresponded to the forty days spent by the spies (Numbers 14:34). Thus we see how Hosea’s historical statement concerning Israel may have been also a prediction concerning the Messiah, as the Evangelist declares it was. It is not necessary to suppose that this was present to the prophet’s consciousness. Exalted by inspiration, a prophet may well have said things having deeper meanings than he was distinctly aware of, and which only a later inspiration, coming when the occasion arose, could fully unfold – BROADUS on Matthew 2:15.

The second incident in the history of God’s people cited is the destruction of Adman, Zeboim, Sodom, and Gomorrah, all of which are mentioned in Deuteronomy 29:23 as destroyed by Jehovah for their wickedness. The warning is a powerful one to Ephraim, or Israel, who are here threatened with destruction.

The prophet’s message in his first interpolation (Hosea 11:12-12:6) is a lesson from the history of Jacob showing Israel’s relation to him. The prophet here goes back to the earliest history of Jacob showing God’s dealing with him from his conception to his settlement at Bethel, where God gave him the promise of a multitude of descendants. This bit of history includes the struggle between him and Esau before birth, and his wrestling with the angel.

In Hosea 12:7-11 Jehovah sets out their present sin in the light of his present love. The sin of Ephraim and its pride and impertinence are distinctly stated and yet over all, love triumphs. Jehovah declared himself to be the God who delivered them from Egypt, and who would be true to the message of the prophets, to the visions of the seers and to the similitudes of the ministry of the prophets. There is an allusion in verse 7 to Jacob’s deception of Isaac, which characteristic seems to have been handed down to his posterity, as here indicated.

In the prophets second interpolation (Hosea 12:12-13:3) he traces the progress of Israel to death, beginning at the flight to the field of Aram, through the exodus from Egypt and the preservation to the present, in which Ephraim was exalted in Israel, offended in Baal and died. Their certain doom is here announced.

Then follows Jehovah’s message in Hosea 13:4-14 in which he sets forth the present condition of Israel in the light of his future love. Sin abounds, and therefore judgment is absolutely unavoidable. Nevertheless, the mighty strength of love must overcome at last.

There are several things in the passage worthy of special note. First, the allusions here to Jehovah’s dealings with them from Egypt to their destination in Canaan, their exaltation and his destruction of them. Second, the allusion to their history under kings, beginning with Saul, whom he gave them in his anger and whom he took away in his wrath. The statement may apply to the long line of kings of the Northern Kingdom, but it fits the case of Saul more especially and throws light on the problem of Saul’s mission as king of Israel. Third, the promise of their restoration under the figure of a resurrection (Hosea 13:14), which is quoted and applied to the final resurrection by Paul (1 Corinthians 15:55) and which shows the typical import of this passage. It is like a flash of light in the darkest hour of despair.

Dr. Pusey on this passage has well said:

God by his prophets mingles promises of mercy in the midst of his threats of punishment. His mercy overflows the bounds of the occasion upon which he makes it known. He had sentenced Ephraim to temporal destruction. This was unchangeable. He points to that which turns all temporal loss into gain, that eternal redemption. The words are the fullest which could have been chosen. The word rendered "ransom" signifies rescued them by the payment of a price; the word rendered "redeem" relates to one who, as the nearest of kin, had the right to acquire anything as his own by paying the price. Both words in their exactest sense, describe what Jesus did, buying us with a price . . . and becoming our near kinsman by his incarnation. . . . The words refuse to be tied down to temporal deliverance. A little longer continuance in Canaan is not a redemption from the power of the grave; nor was Ephraim so delivered.

The expression, "repentance shall be hid from mine eyes," means that God will never turn from his purpose to be merciful to Israel.

In the prophet’s last interpolation (Hosea 13:15-16) he goes back to the death sentence showing the complete destruction of Ephraim and Samaria by the Eastern power, Assyria. The reference to Ephraim’s fruitfulness goes back to the promise of Jacob to Joseph, "He shall be a fruitful bough," though Ephraim had turned this fruitfulness to evil and thus is brought to desolation.

Hosea 14 gives us the final call of the prophet with the promise of Jehovah. The call was to the people to return because they had fallen by iniquity. It suggests the method of returning, as being that of bringing words of penitence, and forsaking all false gods. To this Jehovah answered in a message full of hope for the people, declaring that he would restore, renew, and ultimately reinstate them. There is no question but that this final word of prophecy has a reference to the return from the exile but that this return does not exhaust the meaning of this prophecy is also very evident. The larger fulfilment is to be spiritual and finds its expression in the final conversion of the Jews as voiced by Peter: "Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).

The book closes with a brief epilogue, which demands attention to all the prophet has written, whether for warning, or reproof, or correction in righteousness, or encouragement to piety and virtue. Like the dictates of the Word, so the dispensations of his providence are to some the savor of life, to others the savor of death. So it is added that, while the righteous walk therein, in them the wicked stumble.

In closing this chapter I will say that Hosea occupies a period of transition in developing the messianic idea from the earlier prophets to Micah and Isaiah, in whose writings abounds the messianic element:

(1) Hosea, like Amos, predicts the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, but he looks beyond it to a brighter day, when the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea in number, will be accepted of Jehovah as sons and daughters, and Judah and Israel will have one head, Christ (Hos. 1:10-2:1, et al).

(2) Hosea’s experience with an unfaithful wife is an object lesson of God’s forgiveness of Israel. Their spiritual adultery must lead them into exile but Jehovah will betroth Israel to himself in righteousness, and take the Gentiles into the same covenant (Hos. 2:2-3:5; Romans 9:25-26).

(3) Hosea 11:1 was fulfilled in the return of Joseph and Mary from Egypt with the babe, Jesus (Matthew 2:15). So Jesus the antitype of Adam, Israel, and David.

(4) Hosea 11:8-11 expresses Jehovah’s promise to restore Israel.

(5) Hosea 13:14 is a messianic promise foreshadowing the resurrection.

(6) Hosea 14:1-8 is a messianic promise of Israel’s final repentance, God’s reinstatement of them and their abundant blessings in the millennium.

I quote Dr. Sampey: In general, the earlier prophets describe clearly a terrible captivity of Jehovah’s people, to be followed by a return to their own land, where they were to enjoy the divine blessing. The everlasting love and compassion of Jehovah are repeatedly described, and the future enlargement of Israel is clearly set forth. The person of Messiah, however, is not distinctly brought before the reader. Isaiah and Micah will have much to say of the character and work of the Messaih Himself

QUESTIONS

1. What the character of this division, as contrasted with the first three chapters of Hosea?

2. What Jehovah’s controversy with Israel as set forth in Hosea 4:1-5?

3. Why the verdict of destruction, as set forth in Hosea 4:6-10?

4. What two practices are named together in Hosea 4:11-14, and what their effect upon the mind of man?

5. What warning to Judah in Hosea 4:15-19?

6. What the notable things in the address of Hosea 5:1-7?

7. What the significance and the application of the cornet and trumpet in Hosea 5:8-15?

8. What the interpretation and application of Hosea 6:1-3?

9. Paraphrase Hosea 6:4-11 so as to show its interpretation and application.

10. What the charges against Israel in Hosea 7:1-16?

11. How does the prophet pronounce judgment and what the significance in each case (Hosea 8:1-14)?

12. Describe these judgments in detail as given in Hosea 9.

13. State briefly the prophet’s recapitulation and appeal (Hosea 10:1-15).

14. What things in Hosea 10 need special explanation, and what the explanation in each case?

15. According to our brief outline what the title of section Hosea 11:1-14:8, and what in general, are its contents?

16. What the general features of the message of Jehovah?

17. What the general features of the prophet’s interpolations?

18. What, in general, is Jehovah’s message in Hosea 11:1-11?

19. What two incidents of Israel’s history cited in this first part of Jehovah’s message, and what their interpretation and application?

20. What the prophet’s message in his first interpolation (Hosea 11:12-12:6)?

21. What, in general, Jehovah’s message in Hosea 12:7-11?

22. What allusion to an incident in the life of Jacob in this passage?

23. What the substance of the prophet’s second interpolation (Hosea 12:12-13:3)?

24. What, in general, Jehovah’s message in Hosea 13:4-14?

25. What things in the passage worthy of special note?

26. What the prophet’s message in his last interpolation (Hosea 13:15-16)?

27. What the contents of Hosea 14?

28. Give a summary of the messianic predictions in the book of Hosea.