Hosea - Love That Never Dies
Rev Chris Knepp

Hosea - Love That Never Dies

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Hosea - Love That Never Dies  - The Text

                           Hosea:
                Love That Never Dies

Minor Prophets with Major Messages: Amos, Hosea, and Micah

Historical Context

• United kingdom of Israel divided into Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Judah (Southern Kingdom) upon death of Solomon in 930 B.C. Northern Kingdom conquered by Assyrian Empire in 722 B.C. Southern Kingdom fell to Babylonian Empire in 586 B.C.
• Our prophets, contemporaries of Isaiah, warned that breaking covenant with God would bring punishment – and it did!

•       Amos: Prophesied c. 755 or 760 B.C.

•       Hosea: Prophesied c. 755-715 B.C.

•       Micah: Prophesied c. 750-687 B.C.

Hosea: God’s Faithfulness to His Unfaithful People

Historical Context

•       Opening verse - ”The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel.”

•       Jeroboam of Israel’s last year was 753 B.C.; Hezekiah of Judah’s last year was 687 B.C. Hosea’s ministry probably not all 66 years; 35 years more likely (latter half of 8th century). No mention of fall of Israel to Assyria in 722 B.C.

•       “When Hosea began his ministry, Israel was enjoying a temporary period of political and economic prosperity under Jeroboam II. However, the nation began to crumble after Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 B.C.) strengthened Assyria…. Four [of Israel’s last six kings] were murdered and a fifth was carried captive to Assyria. Confusion and decline characterized the last years of the northern kingdom, and her people refused to heed Hosea’s warning of imminent judgment.” Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa, Talk Thru the Old Testament

Hosea: God’s Faithfulness to His Unfaithful People

Structure:

Chapters 1-3: Hosea’s marriage, Israel’s unfaithfulness

Chapters 4-7: Sins of the people, priests and leaders

Chapters 8-11: Apostate worship

Chapters 12-14: Past failure, future repentance and restoration

Message: “Hosea presents two profound and enduring pictures of God’s love for sinners. One is the deserted husband who continues to love his wife and pays the financial and emotional cost of redeeming her and restoring the relationship (Hos. 1-3). The other is the parent who loves and refuses to give up on a delinquent child (Hos. 11:1-11).” Ernest Lucas, “Prophets,” IVP Introduction to the Bible

                Hosea 1-3: Hosea’s Marriage -
         an enacted parable of Israel’s Unfaithfulness

1:2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel [likely referring to Ahab’s murder of Naboth to seize his vineyard in Jezreel], and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter [suggests Hosea is not the father]. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

            Hosea 1-3: Hosea’s Marriage -
     legal proceedings against the wayward wife

2 “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

2 “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
    for she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
    and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
3 Otherwise I will strip her naked
    and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
    turn her into a parched land,
    and slay her with thirst.

Hosea 1-3: Hosea’s Marriage
legal proceedings against the wayward wife

2:4 I will not show my love to her children,
    because they are the children of adultery.
5 Their mother has been unfaithful
    and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
    who give me my food and my water,
    my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
    for then I was better off than now.’
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
    which they used for Baal.

6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
    for then I was better off than now.’
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
    which they used for Baal.

Hosea 1-3: Hosea’s Marriage -
legal proceedings against the wayward wife

2:9 “Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,
    and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
    intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
    before the eyes of her lovers;
    no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
    her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
    her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
    which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
    and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
    she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
    and went after her lovers,
    but me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.

Some questions about “adultery”

•       How is the relationship between God and his people depicted in these chapters from Hosea?

•       What do these chapters from Hosea teach us about ourselves?

•       What do these chapters from Hosea teach us about God?

•       What are the ways in which we might become unfaithful? What are we to do? What will God do?

               Hosea 4-7 (more legal proceedings:                                  Sins of the People, Priests and Leaders)

4 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
    because the Lord has a charge to bring
    against you who live in the land:
“There is no faithfulness, no love,
    no acknowledgment of God in the land.
2 There is only cursing, lying and murder,
    stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,
    and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Because of this the land dries up,
    and all who live in it waste away;
the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the fish in the sea are swept away.

Hosea Chapters 4-7 (Sins of the People, Priests and Leaders)

4 “But let no one bring a charge,
    let no one accuse another,
for your people are like those
    who bring charges against a priest.
5 You stumble day and night,
    and the prophets stumble with you.
So I will destroy your mother—
6     my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

“Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
    I also will ignore your children.

Hosea 4-7 (Sins of the People, Priests and Leaders)

7 The more priests there were,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.
8 They feed on the sins of my people
    and relish their wickedness.
9 And it will be: Like people, like priests.
    I will punish both of them for their ways
    and repay them for their deeds.

Hosea 8-11 (reaping the whirlwind: Apostate Worship)

8 “Put the trumpet to your lips!
    An eagle is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant
    and rebelled against my law.
2 Israel cries out to me,
    ‘Our God, we acknowledge you!’
3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
    an enemy will pursue him.
4 They set up kings without my consent;
    they choose princes without my approval.
With their silver and gold
    they make idols for themselves
    to their own destruction.
5 Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
6     They are from Israel!
This calf—a metalworker has made it;
    it is not God.
It will be broken in pieces,
    that calf of Samaria.

                             Hosea 12-14                                                 (Past Failure, Future Repentance and Restoration)

14 Return, Israel, to the Lord your God.
    Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with you
    and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
    “Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
    that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria cannot save us;
    we will not mount warhorses.
We will never again say ‘Our gods’
    to what our own hands have made,
    for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

4 “I will heal their waywardness
    and love them freely,
    for my anger has turned away from them.

Some questions about sin, its consequences, and the remedy

•       What are the sins of the people as Hosea sees them? How are we doing today?

•       What does it mean that God’s “people are destroyed from lack of knowledge”? Do we “lack knowledge”?

•       What is the problem with Israel’s priests and leaders? Might it still be a problem?

•       What are the signs of apostate worship? In Hosea’s day? In our day?

•       What are we to do? How will God respond?

Christ in Hosea

11 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 But the more they were called,
    the more they went away from me.

Matthew 2:13-15, The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Christ and Hosea

4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim?
    What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears.
5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
    I killed you with the words of my mouth -
    then my judgments go forth like the sun.
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
    and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Matthew 9:10-13

10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”