Hosea in the Bible. What does the Book of Hosea teach us?

Sometimes the just and judgmental God of the Old Testament seems so different from the loving, forgiving, and merciful God of the New Testament. Often the prophets spoke cuttingly to people, but when you step back to see the whole picture, you discover a God of mercy. Who was Hosea in the Bible?

Hosea in the Bible was the son of Beeri, of the tribe of Issachar. He prophesied eight hundred years before the birth of Christ when the Jews of Samaria were taken into Assyrian bondage. Hosea scolded Israel and Judah harshly for their idolatry. He proclaimed the doom of Samaria and Israel for their sins. We are left with a book of 14 chapters. He announced the end and the abolishment of the Old Testament sacrifices. He prophesied during the reign of four kings for almost 30 years. Hosea is the first prophet to present the bond between God and His people as the bond of love between man and woman.

Hosea understood something about the love of God, who wants us for Himself not because He needs us but because we desperately need Him. Imagine the prophet in the marketplace, preaching to the people, and at home, trying to win back the love of his wife. Then one day, instead of preaching, Hosea buys her and redeems her from the slave market to treat her as he saw her, his beloved wife.

What happened to Hosea in the Bible?

Short as spiritual messages, their books are equally urgent and compelling. Take Hosea, for example; his book speaks of unfaithfulness to God, presenting it as spiritual adultery. In the final analysis, all sin is terrible infidelity in our love for the Lord.

In the Bible, it is known that Hosea was “forced” by God to marry a hustler. The Lord had Hosea wed a hustler named Gomer. He accepted her as his better half. However, Gomer continued to meander into the arms of different darlings. …

So Gomer continued to undermine Hosea. She left him with the children and went out into the arms of different sweethearts, betraying him, scorning him, and submitting infidelity over and over.

Biography of Hosea and Gomer

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Biblical places from the times of Hosea

What is the Book of Hosea?

The book is named after the prophet who wrote it, Hosea. The name comes from a common linguistic root with Joshua and Jesus. Hosea (Hoshea) meant salvation and was the name initially borne by one of the twelve scouts sent to Canaan (Num. 13:8), to whom Moses added the particle, I” for Jehovah (Num. 13:18). “Hosea” means “salvation.” At the same time, Joshua and Jesus include the presence of the one who produces salvation: “Salvation comes from the Lord” or “the Lord is the Savior.”

The Book of Hosea, spelled Osee, is the first of 12 Old Testament books that bear the names of the Minor Prophets, considered as one book, The Twelve, in the Jewish ordinance. As indicated by the superscription, Hosea started his prophetic movement during the rule of Jeroboam II (c. 786-746 bc).

With Hosea, we enter the “books of the 12”. This group of prophets is also called the “minor prophets” because of the limited content of their prophecies. In no way, however, are they “small” insignificance.

Who wrote the Book of Hosea in the Holy Bible?

It is challenging to envision numerous adherents immediately seizing the opportunity to experience Hosea’s prophetic calling. Well, on the off chance that giving up one’s life to God and satisfying the desolate obligations of an Old Testament prophet wasn’t adequately hard, Hosea could hold the title of having one of the most exciting and troublesome purposes for living in all of Scripture.

According to historical accounts, the prophet Amos wrote the Book of Hosea in the Bible. By and large, Hosea would have been the more youthful contemporary of the prophet Amos and served around a similar season to Isaiah and Micah. They were working diligently to help the Southern Kingdom in Judah. As you would expect, the writer of the book of Hosea will be Hosea himself.

Taught by God to clergymen to confounded and untrustworthy individuals in a condition of moral downfall, Hosea was likewise told to wed a hustler and stay dedicated to her in marriage even while she went on in her profession. Notwithstanding, while the existence of Hosea filled in as a delineation of God’s enduring love for His kin amidst their untrustworthiness, today, there are examples to be gained from the book of Hosea that ought to challenge and empower professors in their relationship with God.

Read also: Elohim in Genesis 1:1

What is the message of the book of Hosea?

Christians live simultaneously in two kingdoms. I am a citizen of the country where I have a passport, but I am also a citizen of the Kingdom of God. So we cannot take the messages of Hosea and Amos and apply them to the country in which we live.

The book of Hosea is a call to repentance. Chapter 14 of the book is a message of love and a call to all who have turned away from the Lord. Hosea, however, is also something else. This prophecy is a warning against idolatry and turning away from God. Even the symbolic forms that claim to point to the Lord are nothing more than a trap for the soul.

Jonah and Hosea are the only prophets raised by God in the Northern Kingdom. Hosea was not a prophet raised in the school of prophets but a man raised from among the people. His father was named Beeri (Hosea 1:1), and his wife Gomer (Hosea 1:3). To their marriage, three children were born: two sons and a daughter (Hosea 1:4, 6, 9) who served as signs with a symbolic message for Israel.

Why does God call Hosea?

The essential thing we find out about Hosea almost immediately is called by God to wed a lady named Gomer, who Scripture says was either a hustler before they got hitched or would turn into a woman like that eventually later on (Hosea 1:2).

The prophet Hosea was called by God to pastor the Northern Kingdom of Israel from around 755 B.C. to 710 B.C., a service that endured during the rule of Israel’s last seven lords, paving the way to the Assyrian attack and obliteration of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C.

Sadly for Hosea, she would likewise go on in that calling and later leave Hosea out and out, becoming oppressed by one of her numerous darlings. Hosea would ultimately, in any case, repurchase her as his lady of the hour, mirroring the reclaiming idea of God’s affection for Israel, His lady of the hour, who He would likewise attempt to repurchase (Hosea 3).

Key Verse related to Hosea

“The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of tramp and children of it: for the land hath committed great sins, departing from the Lord.”

Hosea 1:2 KJV

Hosea in the Bible

How does Hosea point to Jesus?

Hosea is a prophet whose short book is in the Old Testament Bible. God advised Hosea to accomplish something odd and hard to wed a hustler. Hosea then, at that point, married Gomer the hustler, and she took off and kept on undermining herself ordinarily. Each time, Hosea would bring Gomer back since he adored her.

According to biblical records, Hosea point to Jesus through the connection between this: Jesus kicked the bucket for all humankind while humankind was living in transgression (bad behavior). He didn’t trust that society would quit erring (humanity couldn’t cease erring). However, He came and kicked the bucket for all humankind disregarding his wrongdoing and for his transgression. He passed on so society could know God and go to Heaven. Jesus is the Savior for humanity, as Hosea was a “hero” for Gomer.

Besides, humankind wanders off and fouls up things. However, Jesus excuses and connects with humanity in many ways. He generally acknowledges back the delinquent, the individual who has fouled up, on the off chance that the individual will return to Him eagerly.

How does the story of Hosea and Gomer end?

Public Israel’s set of experiences has been warming up lately, as we surely understand. What’s more, the Light of Israel is going out to the countries and even to unimaginable lengths. The historical backdrop of God’s contract Congregation for this period has not yet reached its tremendous and heavenly end. Heavenly history, (or as our German companions say, Heils geschicte (salvation history), is ahead yet. The cauldron of the end time will see the refining and the regathering of the two places of Israel. This will happen at the fulfillment of this age.

The tale of Hosea in the Bible and Gomer was a sad and unfortunate story as it started, and the end of it is found in a biblical divorce. Indeed, Gomer would withdraw from Hosea, as Israel had withdrawn from God. She would stray and permit herself to be attracted to her typical sweethearts. However, her eventual defenders would all deceive her. They were fakers. What’s more, they mishandled her when they were done involving Gomer for their pleasure. Her dissipating into the countries would take her not even close to home. She strayed among the mountains and into a universe of wrongdoing.

Gomer wound up in a disseminated life of amnesia and hopelessness. Her otherworldly life, alongside her recollections of home, would blur from her as she floated off into the fog. Her actual personality would get away from her into an ocean of carelessness. Gomer’s lodgings were shaky and dangerous as she meandered among the barbarian/goyim.

Primary Takeaways

Luckily, this was not the finish of the story. Gomer would come to a period of self-acknowledgment. She would be hated by all the greatest and worst of her darlings. At long last, in the wake of going into a long-term agreement with a specific peacemaker, she would come to a definitive emergency in her life. He would end up being a monster. This would be her last indulgence.
Gomer would run into some bad luck and go into a time of Great Tribulation. She would get herself an untouchable from the countries.
Moses forecasted that God’s contract individuals would ultimately come into adversity. Isaiah saw the Lord in His lofty position, high and lifted. He was given a lot of similar messages.

Conclusion

Hosea in the Bible submits to God’s will. How could he do otherwise, he who rebuked the people for rejecting God and His will? But little did Hosea know that his experience would be the most powerful message to the people who listened to him. After he marries her and they have a child together, Gomera becomes unfaithful, and two children are born of illegitimate relationships. Hosea raises them as his children. Gomera then turns her back on Hosea and lives openly with other men. Here his story reaches its climax.

God tells him to redeem her. Hosea pays for 15 pieces of silver and some barley. Her price hints at the stage his wife had reached. It was little more than half the price of an enslaved person. This price tells us not how much Hosea valued her but how despised she had become.

Thank you for giving us your time, and we wish you a blessed day! If you want to test everything you just read about Hosea, play a trivia game about Hosea and his life. All the best!

Quizlet about Hosea

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Bibliography

Macintosh, A. (1997). Hosea in the Bible. A&C Black.
Dearman, J. A. (2010). The book of Hosea (Vol. 29). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
King, P. J. (1988). Amos, Hosea, Micah: an archaeological commentary. Westminster John Knox Press.
Lim, B. H., & Castelo, D. (2015). Hosea. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
Garrett, D. A., & Ferris, P. (1997). Hosea, Joel: An exegetical and theological exposition of holy scripture (Vol. 19). B&H Publishing Group.