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HOSEA
Lesson #01
INTRODUCTION
· AnImportant General Perspective
o Thelocation of the book of Hosea is the first among the small books of the Minor Prophets inthe final part of the Old Testament.
§ Thesebooks are called Minor Prophets because generally they are small books. However, Hosea isa larger book than that of Daniel which is a book of the Major Prophets.
§ Allthe Minor Prophets, including Hosea, were very nationalistic and patriotic to the nationof Israel. They were all very concerned about the future of their nation that was fallingfurther and further away from God and deeper and deeper into idolatry. This was a nationin decline.
o TheMinor Prophets including Hosea lived in a period of Law where man lived by the Law ofMoses and the Ten Commandments.
§ Therefore,through the Minor Prophets is the concept of good works.
· ReadDeu 28:1-4
· ReadDeu 28:15-16
o Godpromised that if the people were obedient to follow the God, Jehovah, and keep Hiscommandments, God would bless them, but if they did not, they would be cursed.
§ Therefore,the covenant that God made with Moses was a conditional covenant that depended on theresponse of the people. It is because of the failure of the people of Israel to liveaccording to the covenant with Moses, that the prophets were so concerned about theirnations future.
§ Todaywe live in a period of grace. We are not under the covenant that God made with Moses. Weare under the New Covenant in Heb 8:10-13.
· Thispassage in scripture tells us that the old covenant has passed away.
· Withthe first coming of Jesus Christ we have forgiveness of sins through the shed blood ofChrist.
· Withthe New Covenant we have the indwelling Holy Spirit who is our guide and teacher.
o Therole of a prophet in Old Testament times was a very special calling to preach the Word ofGod that called people to repentance, and at times to prophesy of future events.
§ Godexpected the prophets to live their messages, not just speak them. Therefore, we often seethat the prophets acted out dramatically certain aspects of their messages to gain theattention of the people. Sometimes these dramatizations were embarrassing, crude,degrading, difficult, and extremely painful.
§ Thecalling of a prophet was not easy. These men endured public and private ridicule, hatred,beatings, and most often death at the hands of their own people. (Mat 23:34)
· HistoricalBackground:
o Hosealived in the time period of the divided kingdom.
§ Thenation of Israel had 3 kings that reigned 40 years each.
· Saul(40 years)
· David(40 years)
· Solomon(40 years)
§ WhenSolomon died a civil war erupted concerning who would rule Israel. As a result, thekingdom of Israel divided into two kingdoms:
· =1=The Southern Kingdom often called Judah in which the city of Jerusalem was located.
· =2=The Northern Kingdom, sometimes called Israel, and sometimes called Ephraim.
o Bothof these kingdoms had their own series of kings. The kings of the Northern Kingdom weremore corrupt and evil than those of the Southern Kingdom. However, even the kings of theSouthern Kingdom were not shining examples of righteousness with a few exceptions.
§ Theevil nature of all these kings explains why there were so many prophets in both theNorthern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. God was concerned about His people. With thatlove, the prophets announced warning after warning of impending judgment.
o Hoseawas a prophet to the Northern Kingdom.
§ Helived under the reign of Jeroboam II, a king of the Northern Kingdom. (Hos 1:1)
· HoseasContemporaries
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· Southern Kingdom Kings |
· Southern Kingdom Prophets |
· Northern Kingdom Prophets |
· Northern Kingdom Kings |
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· Uzziah |
· Micah |
· Amos |
· Jeroboam |
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· Jotham |
· Isaiah |
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· Ahaz |
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· Hezekiah |
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o TheNorthern Kingdom broke away from the Southern Kingdom of Judah in rebellion against God.Therefore, from its beginning, the Northern Kingdom demonstrated the consequences of thatrebellion with evil kings, unbelief, idolatry, and self-determination. However, there wereperiods of prosperity, military success, peace, and materialism.
§ Kingsof the Northern Kingdom:
§ Jeroboam1 (975-954 BC)
· Thecivil break in the nation of Israel occurred when Jeroboam I (931-910 BC) rebelled againstthe rule of Rehoboam, the king of Judah. Jeroboams rebellion took ten of the twelvetribes of Israel into rebellion against God and against the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
· Inthis rebellion, Jeroboam built new temples at Bethel and Dan to prevent his people fromRETURN ing to Jerusalem to worship. He established images of the golden calf in thosetemples and that firmly established idolatry as a legitimate form of worship.
§ Baasha(953-930 BC)
§ Zimri(929 BC 7 days)
§ Elah(930 — 929 BC)
§ Tibni(929 925 BC)
§ Omri(929 918 BC)
§ Ahab(918 — 897 BC) and Jezebel
· Themarriage of King Ahab with Jezebel, a high priestess of the pagan religion for the worshipof Baal, introduced the worship of Baal intoIsrael.
· Theworship of Baal included religious prostitution, fertility rites, and a proliferation ofreligious temples in high places. These religious garden temples were knownfor prostitution where male prostitutes were dedicated to the goddess Astoreth and womenprostitutes dedicated to the god Baal. (1Kin 14:23-24)
§ Ahaziah(898 — 897 BC)
§ Joram(897 — 886 BC)
§ Jehu(886-857 BC)
§ Jehoahaz(857 — 840 BC)
§ Jehoash(840 — 825 BC)
§ JeroboamII (825 — 784 BC)
· Thiswas one of those periods of prosperity, military success, peace, and materialism. Toexpress that prosperity, it was a period of new construction of new temples and new citiesthroughout the Northern Kingdom.
· Onthe surface everything looked good for the future of this kingdom.
o However,as it often happens, prosperity brought a new low in the religious life of the people thatfell further away from God. There was also a decline in the moral and social life of thepeople.
§ Governmentand business corruption prevailed in the perversion of justice.
§ Robbery,bribery, and exploitation of the poor and of the widows and orphans excelled.
§ Publicdrunkenness and public prostitution were epidemic.
§ Kingsafter Jeroboam II
· Themoral degradation of the nation resulted in political anarchy and a series of powerstruggles and assassinations.
o Zechariah(773 BC), assassinatedby Shallum after 6 months.
o Shallum(772 BC),assassinated by Menahem after 1 month.
o Menahem(771 — 761 BC) reigned10 years during which Israel (the Northern Kingdom) was invaded by Assyria and became avassal state.
o Pekahiah (Menahems son) reigned two years(761-759 BC) and was assassinated by Pekah.
o Pekah(759 — 739 BC),assassinated by Hoshea (this is not the prophetHosea)
o Hoshea(730 — 721 BC) (thisis not the prophet Hosea)
§ Thefall of the Northern Kingdom (721 — 722 BC) (2Kin17:5-6)
· Whenthe Northern Kingdom stopped paying tribute to Assyria, Assyria attacked. After a threeyear siege, the Northern Kingdom finally fell in defeat.
· Assyriadeported 27,900 Jews to the city of Babylon and repopulated the land of the NorthernKingdom of Israel with Gentile slaves.
· TheAuthor:
o Hoseawas the author and the subject of this book. In other words, he writes about his own lifeexperience.
o Whowas Hosea and where does he fit in Israels history?
§ Hoseawas a young man from an intellectual family of high education. He was from the culturedclass.
· AncientJewish tradition says he was from the tribe of Issachar, but there is no proof of it.
§ Thename, Hosea, means = Salvation. His surname, Ben-beeri, means = Son of a well. In otherwords, the name of this prophet tells us that Salvation is the water of eternal life thatcomes from Gods well.
· Thisis the same name as Joshua and Isaiah in the Old Testament as deviations of the same rootword.
· Thisis the same name as Jesus in the New Testament.
· Themeaning of the name of this prophet tells us something about his life message.
o Godcalled Hosea to preach repentance and reconciliation with God which results in salvation.
§ Hoseaministered during the reigns of seven kings in the Northern Kingdom from Jeroboam II tothe final king, Hoshea. (2Chr 26-32)
· Wedo not know the exact date of the beginning of Hoseas ministry. It may have beenabout 785 BC. and continued until the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 721 BC, which was during the reign of King Hezekiah in theSouthern Kingdom.
o Therefore,Hosea ministered somewhere between 50 and 65 years. This was a long enough period of timeto see his prophecies fulfilled. His audience ridiculed his youth when he was young andhis old age when he was older.
· TheStyle of Literature:
o Thebook of Hosea is a real-life allegory. What is an allegory?
§ Anallegory is a story on the surface that has an underlying, deeper meaning.
· Thatdoes not mean that the story is not true as some indicate. Because we consider that theBible is factual, we can believe that this is a true story.
§ Thebook of Hosea is about the tragic life of this prophet.
· Godcalled this man to live his tragedy publicly so as to present to his people, and to us, aunique message from God.
o Thisbook is inspired by God and is quoted in the New Testament. (Mat 2:15 Mat 9:13 Mat 12:7Rom 9:25-26 1Pet 2:10)
· TheTheme of the Book of Hosea:
o Thisallegory is the story of a broken home and a wayward wife.
§ InGods economy the home is the most important unit in a nation. It is the buildingblock of society and the foundation of a nation. The home holds a nation together.
· Intodays society, our youth are not taught the importance of the home. Even amongChristians, the divorce rate is as high as it is among non-Christians.
· However,in Gods view, the nation, society, and the family are all linked together to form astrong bond both spiritually and physically.
o Thehome is where the next generation is nurtured.
o Thehome is where we live and learn the important lessons of life.
· Becauseof the importance of the home in Gods plan, He has protected it by establishingcertain rules that govern the function of the home and family.
o Marriage:
§ Godestablished the practice of marriage in society to protect the home. (Mat 19:6)
· Marriagerequires commitment.
· Marriagerequires unconditional love.
§ Godconsidered marriage of such high importance that He commanded the death penalty foradultery (Lev 20:10 Deu 22:20-21) in this period of the Mosaic Law.
o Thetheme of the book is Falling Away From God: A Nation in Decline.
§ However,Hosea also prophetically saw the restoration of the nation of Israel after Godsjudgment for sin as promised in Deuteronomy. (Deu 30:1-10)
· Outlineof the Book of Hosea:
o PersonalLife: The Prophet and His Unfaithful Wife (1-3)
§ Themarriage of Hosea and Gomer (1)
§ Theunfaithful wife (2)
§ Godscommand to faithfulness (3)
o NationalLife: The Lord and Unfaithful Israel (4-14)
§ Theharlotry of Israel (4-5)
§ Prophesiedrestoration after payment for sin. (6)
§ Theway of escape from judgment through a God that loves His people (7-12)
§ Prophesy:Ephraim will turn to God in the last days (13-14)
o Thereare 5 cycles of judgment and salvation in Hoseas prophecies:
§ =1=Judgment 1:2-9 Salvation 1:10-2:1
§ =2=Judgment 2:2-13 Salvation 2:14-3:5
§ =3=Judgment 4:1-5:14 Salvation 5:15-6:3
§ =4=Judgment 6:4-11:7 Salvation 11:8-11
§ =5=Judgment 11:12-13:16 Salvation14:1-9
· Sourcesof the Material for Our Study:
o Throughthe Bible Commentary Series: Hosea and Joel by J. Vernon McGee
o MatthewHenrys Commentaryby Matthew Henry
o ANation in Decline,articles by David Levy
o TheBible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testamentby John F. Walvoord and Roy Zuck
o WhenCritics Askby Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe
o Chronologyof the Old Testamentby Floyd Nolen Jones
o Misc.notes
HOMEWORK
HOSEA 1
Thisis a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher for correction.
· Preparationfor Hos 1
o ReadHos 1:1-11
§ Whydo you think God told Hosea to break the Law of Moses by marrying a prostitute? (Lev 21:7)
§ WhatNew Testament story does this bring to your mind?
· MemoryVerse: Job 4:8
