Hosea, son of Beeri, is the first of twelve minor prophets at the end of the old testament. We have already covered the old testament history of Israel from the time when God made promises to Abraham and his descendants, right up to their rebellion and exile and finally, their return back from exile. The minor prophets cover some of these periods again. Hosea, a contemporary of Isaiah, was actually a very significant prophet and it appears that he prophesied the downfall of Israel even before Isaiah did.

Early in his ministry, Isaiah had that wonderful revelation of the Lord, high and lifted up, and he received it on the day that king Uzziah died. Hosea heard the word of the Lord, firstly, “in the days of king Uzziah” and so by the time of Isaiahs’ vision his ministry had already started. Like Isaiah he continued to prophesy until the days of the great king Hezekiah (1v1). That was the time when the northern kingdom was destroyed and its people resettled by the Assyrians.

MARRY AN UNFAITHFUL LOVER
Hosea is remembered, mainly, for what God asked him to do in verse 2: to marry a prostitute as a symbolic act to highlight how the whole nation had forsaken the Lord and gone after other lovers. Their children all had significant names:

JEZREEL PUNISHMENT
They bore a son called Jezreel (v3). Jezreel was the place where Jehu had killed everyone from Ahab’s wicked kingly line (2 Kings 10) and Jehu’s generations had been in power ever since. It was right for Jehu to destroy Ahab’s family but, sadly, he did not then turn away from the wicked calf worship of that dynasty. God this time was (v4) going to put an end to the kingdom of Jehu, the house of Israel, in the very same place, the valley of Jezreel.

NOT PITIED
Their second child, a daughter, Lo-ruhamah (v6) had a name which meant “not pitied” because God was no longer to have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them (v6). Students of the chronicles of the kings will remember how the people kept reverting to evil ways but, inevitably, God would take pity on them and keep forgiving them. The distinction is made here between Israel and the house of Judah who we know were not exiled until 150 years later and would be saved but not “by bow or sword..” (v7). This was fulfilled when king Sennacherib destroyed Israel and marched on to besiege Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s reign. All seemed lost until an angel killed 185,000 of his soldiers with a wasting disease and the king returned, unsuccessfully, to Assyria ” (2 Kings 19).

NOT MY PEOPLE
Gomer also bore a son called Lo-ammi (v9) meaning “not my people” for said the Lord “you are not my people and I am not your God”. This is a terrible thing when someone continues to reject God until eventually He says enough, now is the time to go our separate ways.

RESTORATION UNDER NEW COVENANT
Yet despite these declarations, chapter one concludes with prophecy of a future when the people of Israel would be as numerous as the sand of the sea (v10) and in the same place where they were called “not my people” it would be said to them “children of the living God”. The children’s new names (2v1) would then be Ammi (my people) and Ruhamah (pitied and forgiven). 1 Peter 2v10 repeats these words to describe God’s people after the time of Jesus.

FRUITLESSNESS WITHOUT GOD
In chapter 2 God lays the case against his previous lover Israel who had gone after other lovers, like Baal (v13). The people thought it was their new lovers who fulfilled their needs (v5) and did not know that it was God who gave them everything they had (v8), including the silver and gold they used to make their idols. All God was going to do was take away the fruitfulness that He had given to them because they had forgotten it’s source. The same principle applies today; God wants us to have a relationship with Him and to receive, thankfully, gifts lavished upon us but if we do not come to Him we will never enjoy them.

GOD COMES TO OUR ACHOR (THE PLACE OF OUR TROUBLE)
Did God give up on them? no not at all, for He had a plan for her future (v14), to bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. In the place of trouble (Achor-remember Achan-Joshua 7) he would offer a door of hope (v15). How often do we have to sink down to the place of trouble before we are ready to listen to  the tender words of the Lord speaking to us? God’s ultimate plan is for us, His people, to call Him “my husband” (v16), not “my Baal”, and He will take us as his wife for ever (v19).

SOMETIMES GOD MAY SEEM FAR AWAY
The Lord spoke to Hosea again and he was asked to love and marry an adulteress who already had a lover (3v1). This was a sign that God still loved His people; even when they turned away to other god-lovers. This time Hosea should not develop a close relationship with her; just as there would be a time when God did not seem to be very close to His people. This we know to be the time of their exile when God would seem absent for “many days” (v4) until eventually, they turned back to the Lord (v5).

HOW FAR THEY HAD FALLEN
Chapter 4 shows us how far Israel had fallen; faithfulness and even the knowledge of God had disappeared (v1). When this happens all kinds of things break out like swearing, lying and murder, stealing , adultery and bloodshed (v2). The fruitfulness of the land, the priests and prophets were all affected (3-6) and people became involved in all kinds of abominable practice. Drunkenness, divining rods, pagan sacrifices, golden calf worship at Beth-aven, idols, adultery and sexual orgies. Ephraim was another name for the northern kingdom, Israel, as opposed to Judah, the southern kingdom. When Ephraim became aware of his sickness (5v13) he looked to Assyria for support (v13) but, of course, their “great” king could not cure her. God would wait until His people, in their distress, acknowledged their guilt and once again sought His face (v15). There are some prophetic words in chapter 6 (v2,3) which seem to foretell the appearing and then rising of Jesus on the third day. Their love sadly was like a morning cloud or morning dew which disappears early in the day (v4). Steadfast love is what God wanted (v6) and not sacrifices.

GOD’S DESIRE TO HEAL
God’s desire was to heal and restore them (7v1) but their wickedness was like a heated oven, that stayed hot and did not even need stoking (v4). Even as things went wrong, they still did not return to their God and seek Him (v10) but pursued relations with Assyria and Egypt (v11). God wanted to redeem them but they wailed away and did not know how to cry to Him from their heart (v14).

It is sad that people in Israel used words like “my God, we-Israel-know you!” (8v2) when their actions did not live up to their words. Chapter 8 prophesied Israel’s end to be swallowed up among the nations as a useless vessel (8v8) and her cities and stronghold’s destroyed. They would not remain in the Lord’s land (9v3) but would become wanderers among the nations (v17).

Israel is described as a luxuriant vine but the more his fruit increased the more he built false altars because his heart was false (10:1, 2). The calf itself would be carried into Assyria as tribute to the great king (v6). God had given them a fruitful land that only needed harvesting but to turn things around now would be tough work with much ploughing and harrowing required (v11). The old fallow ground would need to be broken up and new types of seed would need to be sown (v12). They had sown wickedness (v13) and would reap destruction but they should have sown righteousness. The Lord would send his rain if they sought him, again.

GOD HAD CALLED FOR HIS SON
In chapter 11 we see the relationship God always longed for with His people. He was like a father calling for his son but the more he called the more they went away. Ephraim did not know that God had nurtured and cared for him like a parent with their child. He had led them with “cords of human kindness, with bands of love” (v4), reached out to them, fed and healed them. God’s heart recoiled within Him (v8) at what He was allowing to happen and His compassion was growing warm and tender; one day He would return them to their homes (v11).

God had been interested in Israel from the days of Jacob (ch12) and had been the Lord their God ever since the land of Egypt (13v4). He was their Saviour and had fed them during the 40 years in the wilderness (v5); it was He, the true God, who had fed them, but sadly, when satisfied, their hearts became proud and they forgot him (v6). The people of Israel had insisted on having a king but Saul had to be taken away (v11). The east wind would come, a blast from the Lord (v15), speaking of the Assyrian army, and the land would dry up, their wealth would be stripped away and Samaria would fall by the sword (v16).

PLEA TO RETURN
The Lord meanwhile pleads for them to return to Him:
“but as for you, return to your God, hold fast to love and justice and wait continually for your God”  (12v6) “ return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity” (14v1).

They are encouraged to take words of repentance and ask the Lord to take away all their guilt (v2). The Lord wants the fruit of their lips; lips that say they don’t need to turn to other countries for help; lips that do not say “our God” to idols (v3). He wants a change in lifestyle where, for example, the orphan finds mercy. What a wonderful time that will be when God brings his healing and love. Israel will then flourish as a garden when they again live beneath his shadow (v7); they will then be fruitful and fragrant as they should be. It is their God, not idols, who will answer and look after them.

In the final verse (v9) we are encouraged to be wise and discerning to understand that the ways of the Lord are right. We can be upright and walk in them or stumble because of sin, just like Israel did.