Bible Commentaries
Hosea

STUDY NOTES ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

THE BOOK OF HOSEA

January 2013 Edition

All Scripture quotations in English are taken from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Some words have been emphasized by the author of this commentary using bold or italics.

All Old Testament Scripture quotations in the Hebrew text are taken from Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: With Westminster Hebrew Morphology, electronic ed., Stuttgart; Glenside PA: German Bible Society, Westminster Seminary, 1996, c1925, morphology c1991, in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004.

All New Testament Scripture quotations in the Greek text are taken from Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition (with Morphology), eds. Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, M. Robinson, and Allen Wikgren, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (United Bible Societies), c1966, 1993, 2006, in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004.

All Hebrew and Greek text for word studies are taken from James Strong in The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, c1996, 1997, in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004.

The Crucifixion image on the book cover was created by the author’s daughter Victoria Everett in 2012.

© Gary H. Everett, 1981-2013

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form without prior permission of the author.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart,

and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures supports the view of the verbal, plenary inspiration of the biblical text of the Holy Scriptures, meaning that every word originally written down by the authors in the sixty-six books of the Holy Canon were God-breathed when recorded by men, and that the Scriptures are therefore inerrant and infallible. Any view less than this contradicts the testimony of the Holy Scriptures themselves. For this reason, the Holy Scriptures contain both divine attributes and human attributes. While textual criticism engages with the variant readings of the biblical text, acknowledging its human attributes, faith in His Word acknowledges its divine attributes. These views demand the adherence of mankind to the supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures above all else. The Holy Scriptures can only be properly interpreted by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, an aspect of biblical scholarship that is denied by liberal views, causing much misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

The Message of the Book of Hosea - The book of Hosea reveals to us the deepest, most sacrificial type of love to be found in the heart of God, which is His love for a fallen human race. It is easy for us to understand how a mother has such passion and love for her child, because we have felt such love as humans. We know that her love is unconditional, enduring under all situations without requiring anything on the part of her child. Even if this child never returned her love, but rather, brought evil upon his mother, she would still give her life for him despite his rejection. The Lord makes a reference to such love in Isaiah 49:15.

Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”

We can easily understand how a man and a woman fall in love and marry, because we have felt this type of love in our human relationships. Every person will eventually feel this type of love. The Lord uses the Song of Solomon to describe this love for one’s lover.

Song of Solomon 1:2, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.”

How do we as Christians understand God’s love for a fallen, wicked humanity; for this is the love that took Jesus Christ to Calvary to suffer and die for a people who hated and despised Him? This is the quality of love described John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This is the love that God caused Hosea the prophet to experience so that he could tell his own people about the love that Jehovah God has for this backslidden people. This one-sided love story is the theme of the book of Hosea. God used a failed love story in the life of Hosea to teach him God’s unconditional love for this world. In our lives today, God still uses such failures in human relationships to teach us how to love the human race. He takes our hurts and pains from situations like that of Hosea to teach us how to love this sinful world.

One of the deepest pains and sorrows that someone can experience in life is not only the death of a love one, but also the loss of a broken dating relationship or the divorce from a marriage. In death, there is something final about the separation, something that allows us to close that door and accept the loss. However, this is not the case in a broken relationship or a divorce, for such wounds sometimes never heal. Many people can look back and remember those years of their youth when passions were strong, but wisdom was lacking. Many people have felt the pain of a broken relationship and found themselves abandoned despite the love that continues within their hearts the rest of their lives. They often ask themselves why they had to go through such pain. The Lord gave me the answer one morning as I awoke. He revealed to me that He had made my deepest pains and turned them into my greatest gains. For example, I was raised in church and saved at the age of seven. However, without strong parental guidance, I found myself during my college years bound with emotional ties with non-Christian friends. I will never forget that rainy night in 1979 when I left these unhealthy relationships, drove away from my college campus, and made the five-hour drive home. Under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I rededicated my live to Jesus and returned to my home church and to my Christian family. However, it was not without emotional pain. As a child of God with His love within me, I felt that unconditional love for those unsaved souls whom I had befriended before coming to know Christ.

As Christians, we sometimes think that we are not supposed to suffer pain and sorrow if we are serving the Lord. This particular morning the Lord brought me back in a dream to my pain by showed me these old relationships. In this dream, as I felt this renewed pain and sorrow and love breaking my heart, the Lord revealed to me why He had allowed this event to happen in my life. It was because He wanted me to feel His pain and His love for a lost and dying world. It was not enough to believe that God loved the world. He wanted me to experience what He felt. He wanted me understand why I was still carrying this emotion, and that it had not gone away. He seemed to say to me, “I have placed that pain within you, so that when you feel it, you will understand my love for a lost and dying world.” He revealed to me that as I carry this pain, I would then be able to love others the way He loves others. In other words, God allowed my heart to break so that I would understand how His heart breaks for a lost and dying world. When I awoke, I could only pray in my weakness and rededicate my life to Him as His servant to love a fallen, wicked world. I asked the Lord to help me to love the world as He loves them. He had made my deepest pain my greatest gain.

In his book Heaven: Close Encounters of the God Kind Jesse Duplantis describes in his visit to heaven how tears filled the eyes of Jesus Christ as He said that the worst day of His life is yet to come. It was not the day He suffered on Calvary, but it will be the day of the Great White Throne Judgment when He will turn His back on those who rejected Him and send them forever into eternal damnation. This will be the most difficult day of His life. [1] Oh, how He loves you and me. God truly loves His children; but the book of Hosea is about a broader love. It reveals His all-encompassing love for humanity as well as His children. Many people have felt this love because of a broken relationship, a pain that brings sorrow upon remembrance. They have not been able to find a healing from such heartbreak, and they do not understand why they carry this love. This particular type of sorrow is best expressed by Paul in his letter to the church at Rome when he says, “I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” (Romans 9:2-3)

[1] Jesse Duplantis, Heaven Close Endounters of the God Kind (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Harrison House, 1996), 125-7.

Hosea is a book that takes us through a sorrow that is all too familiar to many people, which is the lifelong heartbreak of a failed relationship. If we will listen to its message, we will learn how to carry our hidden sorrows and pains, stored and hidden deep within our hearts so no one can see it, and use this pain to help a lost and dying world. This is done by learning to love people the way God loves humanity, with all of its faults and sins.

Introductory Material - The introduction to the book of Hosea will deal with its historical setting, literary style, and theological framework. [2] These three aspects of introductory material will serve as an important foundation for understanding God’s message to us today from this divinely inspired book of the Holy Scriptures.

[2] Someone may associate these three categories with Hermann Gunkel’s well-known three-fold approach to form criticism when categorizing the genre found within the book of Psalms: (1) “a common setting in life,” (2) “thoughts and mood,” (3) “literary forms.” In addition, the Word Biblical Commentary uses “Form/Structure/Setting” preceding each commentary section. Although such similarities were not intentional, but rather coincidental, the author was aware of them and found encouragement from them when assigning the three-fold scheme of historical setting, literary style, and theological framework to his introductory material. See Hermann Gunkel, The Psalms: A Form-Critical Introduction, trans. Thomas M. Horner, in Biblical Series, vol. 19, ed. John Reumann (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1967), 10; see also Word Biblical Commentary, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas, Texas: Word Incorporated, 1989-2007).

HISTORICAL SETTING

“We dare not divorce our study from understanding the historical setting of every passage of Scripture

if we are going to come to grips with the truth and message of the Bible.”

(J. Hampton Keathley) [3]

[3] J. Hampton Keathley, III, “Introduction and Historical Setting for Elijah,” (Bible.org) [on-line]; accessed 23 May 2012; available from http://bible.org/seriespage/introduction-and-historical-setting-elijah; Internet.

Each book of the Holy Scriptures is cloaked within a unique historical setting. An examination of this setting is useful in the interpretation of the book because it provides the context of the passage of Scripture under examination. The section on the historical setting of the book of Hosea will provide a discussion on its title, historical background, authorship, date and place of writing, recipients, and occasion. This discussion supports the Jewish tradition that Hosea was the author of the book of Hosea, with him and others recording his prophecies during his public ministry.

I. The Title

Paul the apostle was familiar with the title of the book of Hosea (Romans 9:25).

Romans 9:25, “As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.”

The Hebrew Bible entitles this book ( הושע ) “Hosea,” which can be found in the standard work Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. [4] The Latin Vulgate calls it “Prophetia Osee” (The Prophecy of Hosea). [5] John Gill tells us that the book of Hosea was called “the Prophecy of Hosea the Prophet” in the Syriac version, [6]

[4] Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, eds. A. Alt, O. Eißfelt, P. Kahle, and R. Kittle (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelstiftung, c1967-77).

[5] Biblia Sacra Juxta Vulgatam Clementinam, ed. electronica (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2005), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004).

[6] John Gill, Hosea, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Introduction to Hosea.

II. Historical Background

A. The Prophetic and Historical Times of Hosea the Prophet - The opening verse of the book of Hosea tells us that this prophet’s ministry extended through the reign of four kings of Judah, Uzziah (792-740), Jotham (747-731), Ahaz (731-715), and Hezekiah (715-686), who reigned from 792 to 686 B.C., and under one king of Israel named Jeroboam II, who ruled from 793 to 753 B.C., about forty years. These four kings of Judah reigned a total period of about 107 years. Practically speaking, Hosea could have ministers from the close of Uzziah’s reign (740) to the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign (715), which covered around 25 years.

As a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah, Hosea is considered to be one of the earliest of the Minor Prophets to minister to God’s chosen people. His prophecies are primarily directed against the northern kingdom, while Isaiah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah.

This is the first book in the collection of the twelve Minor Prophets. The book of Hosea was probably arranged first in this group because of size and not because of content. Scholars say that the books of the twelve Minor Prophets could have easily fit onto a single ancient scroll.

Hosea began his ministry at the end of an era of renewed prosperity for the northern kingdom of Israel. King Jeroboam (793 to 753) has delivered the northern kingdom from the oppression of neighbouring countries, restoring much of its ancient boundaries (2 Kings 14:23-27).

2 Kings 14:23-27, “In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel , which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher. For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash .”

At the same time, King Uzziah (792-740) was restoring the southern kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 26:1-15).

2 Chronicles 26:1-2, “Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah , after that the king slept with his fathers.”

In the midst of rising prosperity and security under these two Jewish kings, idolatry marred the land of Israel with sin (Hosea 10:1), corrupting the northern kingdom (Hosea 4:1-2).

Hosea 10:1, “Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images .”

Hosea 4:1-2, “Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land . By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.”

Shrines and festivals became activities of immorality:

Hosea 2:11, “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.”

Jeroboam I had established calves and shrines during his earlier reign over Israel, of which Israel now indulged in:

Hosea 2:8, “For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.”

Hosea 2:13, “And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.”

Hosea 4:13, “They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.”

Hosea 8:5-6, “Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.”

Hosea 8:11, “Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.”

Hosea 13:2, “And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.”

As a result, this became a nation lifted up with pride and arrogance:

Hosea 5:5, “And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.”

Hosea 7:10, “And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.”

Hosea 13:6, “According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.”

Although the Assyrian empire was not a dominating force in the first half of the eighty century B.C., this rising empire soon became a threatening force to Israel under Tiglath-Pileser III (745 727 B.C.) as its shadow fell upon the northern kingdom. In response, Israel began to court this much stronger empire in an attempt to win its favour (Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 8:9).

Hosea 5:13, “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.”

Hosea 7:11, “Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.”

Hosea 8:9, “For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.”

With Israel’s loyalty turned from the living God of Israel towards a pagan empire, God sent Hosea into northern Israel to call His people to repentance from its idolatry and adultery.

III. Authorship

A. Internal Evidence

B. External Evidence - If we look outside of biblical literature for clues to authorship and into other ancient Jewish literature from which much Jewish tradition is found, the Babylonian Talmud says that the men of the great assembly wrote Ezekiel, the Twelve Prophets, Daniel, and the Book of Esther.

“And who wrote all the books? Moses wrote his book and a portion of Bil’am [Numbers, xxii.], and Job. Jehoshua wrote his book and the last eight verses of the Pentateuch beginning: “And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died.” Samuel wrote his book, Judges, and Ruth. David wrote Psalms, with the assistance of ten elders, viz.: Adam the First, Malachi Zedek, Abraham, Moses, Hyman, Jeduthun, Asaph, and the three sons of Korach. Jeremiah wrote his book, Kings, and Lamentations. King Hezekiah and his company wrote Isaiah, Proverbs, Songs, and Ecclesiastes. The men of the great assembly wrote Ezekiel, the Twelve Prophets, Daniel, and the Book of Esther. Ezra wrote his book, and Chronicles the order of all generations down to himself. [This may be a support to Rabh’s theory, as to which, R. Jehudah said in his name, that Ezra had not ascended from Babylon to Palestine until he wrote his genealogy.] And who finished Ezra’s book? Nehemiah ben Chachalyah.” ( Babylonian Talmud, Tract Baba Bathra (Last Gate), 1.Mishna 5) [7]

[7] Michael L. Rodkinson, New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, vol. 13 (New York: New Talmud Publishing Company, 1902), 45.

IV. Date

Hosea dates his prophecies during the reigns of four kings of Judah (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah), and one king of northern Israel (Jeroboam). Some scholars place the period of Uzziah to Hezekiah at 792 to 686 B.C., which covers about one hundred and seven (107) years, while Jeroboam II ruled the northern kingdom around 786 to 746 B.C., about forty years. Douglas Stuart believes that the order of placement of the twelve Minor Prophets was largely influenced by the date of writing and subject matter. The earliest prophets are placed first and the later prophets are placed last. Therefore, he dates Hosea as one of the earliest of the Minor Prophets (ca 760-722 B.C.), but acknowledges that there is no general “consensus” as to its date of writing. [8]

[8] Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, in Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 31, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Inc., 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on “General Introduction,” and “Introduction to Hosea: Assumptions about Dates.”

V. Recipients

“Perhaps the most important issue in interpretation is the issue of genre.

If we misunderstand the genre of a text, the rest of our analysis will be askew.”

(Thomas Schreiner) [9]

[9] Thomas R. Schreiner, Interpreting the Pauline Epistles, second edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, c1990, 2011), 11.

Within the historical setting of the kingdom of Israel, the author of the book of Hosea chose to write using the literary style of the ancient prophetic literature. Thus, the book of Hosea is assigned to the literary genre called “prophecy.” Included in the genre of prophecy are the three books of the Old Testament major prophets and twelve minor prophets.

A. Quotes in the New Testament - Hosea is quoted seven times in the New Testament:

1. Hosea 1:10, “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.”

Romans 9:26, “And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.”

2. Hosea 2:23, “And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.”

Romans 9:25, “As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.”

3. Hosea 6:6, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Matthew 9:13, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

4. Hosea 6:6, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Matthew 12:7, “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.”

5. Hosea 10:8, “The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.”

Luke 23:30, “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.”

6. Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”

Matthew 2:15, “And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”

7. Hosea 13:14, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.”

1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

“Scholarly excellence requires a proper theological framework.”

(Andreas Kösenberger) [10]

[10] Andreas J. Kösenberger, Excellence: The Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011), 161.

Based upon the historical setting and literary style of the book of Hosea, an examination of the purpose, thematic scheme, and literary structure to this book of the Holy Scriptures will reveal its theological framework. This introductory section will sum up its theological framework in the form of an outline, which is then used to identify smaller units or pericopes within the book of Hosea for preaching and teaching passages of Scripture while following the overriding message of the book. Following this outline allows the minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to take his followers on a spiritual journey that brings them to the same destination that the author intended his readers to reach.

VII. Purpose

Christ’s Work of Redemption The Grafting in of the Gentiles - We find in 1 Peter 2:4-10 a set of quotes from Isaiah and Hosea. 1 Peter 2:4-8 discusses how Christ Jesus was the chief cornerstone laid in Zion and rejected by the Jews. Then in 1 Peter 2:9-10 Peter refers to the grafting in of the Gentiles as a result of Jesus’ rejection by the Jews. Peter can quote from Isaiah and Hosea in the same passage because their themes are the same. The theme of Hosea supports the theme of Isaiah. While Isaiah emphasizes the redemptive work of Christ Jesus at His first Coming, Hosea emphasizes the calling of the Gentiles as a result of this redemption.

God’s Boundless Love for All Mankind - The message of Hosea is one of tenderness and love. Their sin was forsaking God’s love (Hosea 11:4). A call for repentance (Hosea 12:6, Hosea 14:1) God is going to chastise them (Hosea 13:7-8) and many others.

Hosea 11:4, “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.”

Hosea 12:6, “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.”

Hosea 14:1, “O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.”

Hosea 13:7-8, “Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.”

As long as Hosea walked amongst his people as the husband of a harlot, he revealed God’s boundless and tender love of redemption from their bondage and restoration from their backslidings.

IX. Literary Structure

BIBLOGRAPHY

COMMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Calvin, John. Hosea. In Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 1. Trans. John Owen. Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1847.

Clarke, Adam. Hosea. In Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996. In P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000.

Gill, John. Hosea. In John Gill’s Expositor. In e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005.

Metzger, Bruce M., David A. Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker, eds. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas, Texas: Word Incorporated, 1989-2007.

Stuart, Douglas. Hosea-Jonah, In Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 31. Eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker. Dallas: Word Inc., 2002. In Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004.

Wood, Leon J. Hosea. In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 7. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelien, J. D. Douglas, Dick Polcyn. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1976-1992. In Zondervan Reference Software, v. 2.8 [CD-ROM] Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Zondervan Corp., 1989-2001.

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Eds. A. Alt, O. Eißfelt, P. Kahle, and R. Kittle. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelstiftung, c1967-77.

Biblia Sacra Juxta Vulgatam Clementinam. Ed. Electronica. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2005. In Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004.

Duplantis, Jesse. Heaven Close Endounters of the God Kind. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Harrison House, 1996.

Gunkel, Hermann. The Psalms: A Form-Critical Introduction. Trans. Thomas M. Horner. In Biblical Series, vol. 19. Ed. John Reumann. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1967.

Hinn, Benny. This is Your Day (Irving, Texas). On Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California). Television program.

Keathley, III, J. Hampton. “Introduction and Historical Setting for Elijah.” (Bible.org) [on-line]. Accessed 23 May 2012. Available from http://bible.org/seriespage/introduction-and-historical-setting-elijah; Internet.

Kösenberger, Andreas J. Excellence: The Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011.

Masterman, E. W. G. “Fig, Fig-tree.” In International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Ed. James Orr. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939. In The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008.

Roberts, Frances J. Come Away My Beloved. Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973.

Rodkinson, Michael L. New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, vol. 13. New York: New Talmud Publishing Company, 1902.

Schreiner, Thomas R. Interpreting the Pauline Epistles, second edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, c1990, 2011.

Seymour, Bob. “Preaching on Relationships.” Calvary Cathedral International, Fort Worth, Texas, September 28, 1995.