Readings: 1 Chronicles 5, Acts 12

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

The book of Hosea is a very interesting book.  His name means "salvation" in Hebrew, literally, "the Lord has delivered or rescued us".  Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 31: Hosea-Jonah. Overall the main theme of the book is focused upon the salvation of Israel.  To start with, Hosea is ordered to take a prostitute as a wife, who is unfaithful to him.  The parallels are drawn between Israel and the prostitute, judgments are made on Israel following the same illustration, and through the process we are taught very important aspects of our own salvation.  God may have been addressing the Jews in the book, but the concepts are timeless.   

Most of the prophecies in the book are more immediate in nature, as compared to Isaiah where his prophecies were both immediate and long term looking forward to the Millennium.  Hosea prophesies as a result of Israel walking away from God to false idols, and the fulfillment of the covenant established in the first five books of the Bible, along with its warnings, Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 4, 30.  As a matter of contrast, the curses are immediate, and the blessings are looking to the future.

Hosea 1:1

The word of the Lord which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Hosea covered a broad timeframe, covering the kings of 2 Chronicles 26:1-32:33, and 2 Kings 13:13, 14:23-29.  One interesting point here is that Hosea was around the same time that Isaiah was around.  According to the introduction, he was around for a little while after Hezekiah's death. 

"The word of the Lord" gives the indication that Hosea was a message directly from God, in short, his life was entirely a message from God to the Jews.  It is not indicated who his audience was, or who was listening to him.  Another name of interest, Hosea was the son of Beeri, whose name meant "my wellspring", link the two names together, the Holy Spirit is our wellspring, who supplies us with everlasting water.  Jesus is our salvation.  In the following verses, powerful messages are given just the names of his kids.

Hosea 1:2

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord."

One thing to take note of in these verses is that God told Hosea to take a wife of harlotry.  There are two views on this, first, the view that she was an actual harlot: Notice also tht the word "have" is in italics, meaning that it was added for our understanding, and was not in the original language.  Taking out "have" gives the idea that the kids she was to bear were kids who were conceived on a whore’s bed.  Remember, birth control did not exist at that time.  In other words, we don't have any indication that the children were Hosea's actual children; it seems they were children who were born out of infidelity. 

The second way of looking at it is that Gomer was not a prostitute to start with.  God told Hosea to take a wife that would prove to be unfaithful in the long run.  So she started out sexually pure, but was involved in all of the temple worship, idolarty and false religion that all the other Jews were involved in.  In essence she was a normal, typical jewish woman of her time, she was corrupt and spiritually shallow.  In the way things play out in the rest of the book, she turns to prostitution, just as the Lord said she would.  In reality, according to the original languages this view is probably more accurate.  However, it goes against the traditional view of her being a harlot from the beginning.

This could be a picture of Christ in His redemption of mankind, although He is allegorically married to Israel, not all of Israel's offspring are pure.  This could also lend to the allegory of Israel and the Gentiles mixing to bring forth new children.   

Hosea 1:3-5

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4And the Lord said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5"And it will come about on that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

Hosea did as the Lord commanded him, he married an unfaithful woman.  It was not long afterward that she was pregnant.  I could not find the meaning of Diblaim.  It is interesting though that Gomer's name meant "Yahweh has completed our family."  Word Biblical Commentary.    His first son was Jezreel, which meant "to sow, or God has planted."  This could carry two messages, first of hope that God will return to complete the harvest.  The second could be a warning, that God had sown, and Israel had turned away His work.  Jezreel was also a literal place of that time, where God sent Jehu to clean house, he slaughtered the king, all of his sons, and Jezebel.  Then he used deception to draw in and slaughter all the followers of Baal, destroying all of their altars.  But he did not change himself, and the corruption eventually became his downfall, he allowed Israel to sin and the Lord turned against him. 2 Kings 9:1-10:36.  Another interesting use of this word is that it is the name of the valley that holds the "plain of Megiddo", Zech 12:11, Rev 16:16.  The breaking of the bow indicates that they would lose military strength.  During the time of Hosea's lifetime, Israel went from a super power to a servant nation.

Hosea 1:6-8

Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them. 7"But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen." 8When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

Lo-ruhamah, the name meant "she has not obtained compassion" NASB footnote.  Israel had walked from God and He was not protecting them any longer.  The exception came during Hezekiah's reign when God wiped out 185,000 Assyrians.  Judah was so battle weary that they could not lift a finger in defense.  It is interesting that God delivered them because on man stood in the gap.  2 Kings 19:32-36.

Hosea 1:7-9

"But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen." 8When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. 9And the Lord said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God."

Lo-ammi, the name meant "not my people", NASB footnote.  It was a contrast to the current situation of Israel.  They had walked so far away from God that they failed to recognize Him as their God.  He allowed them to have their way, allowing them to follow their own paths.  As they had abandoned the covenant relationship with God, they brought on themselves the curses for not following the law of God.

Hosea 1:10-11

Yet the number of the sons of Israel

Will be like the sand of the sea,

Which cannot be measured or numbered;

And it will come about that, in the place

Where it is said to them, "You are not My people,"

It will be said to them, "You are the sons of the living God."

11And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together,

And they will appoint for themselves one leader,

And they will go up from the land,

For great will be the day of Jezreel.

A promise follows, God will eventually restore Israel, they will still be recognized as His sons.  He looks briefly into the future and is able to prophesy about the re-joining of Israel, the tribes joining under one leader, Ezekiel 37:22.

I skimmed over a lot today, focusing mainly upon the names.  There is a lot of stuff that I missed, please feel free to write in with your opinions.

Father, as we consider Your word today, let each one of us realize that Your word is living and active in our lives.  That Your standards are to be our goals, and that Your strength will enable us to change our ways.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Note: All scriptures are from the New American Standard Bible.