HOSEA
Author:
Hosea, the son of Beeri. His name means “salvation” or “save”. All we know about him is what is written in this book. Neither he nor his ministry is mentioned anywhere else in the Old Testament.
Date:
The kings mentioned in the first verse reigned 740-700 BC. Hosea and Isaiah prophesied at the same time. See Isa 1:1.
Theme:
The people of Israel had forsaken the true God and had fallen into false worship and idolatry. As a result their personal lives and their national life as a whole had become corrupt. Hosea (and God speaking through Hosea) urged them to repent and turn back to the God they had deserted. He set forth the long-suffering love of God, and depicted Israel as an adulterous wife. Though the behavior of His people brought great grief to God, He did not cease to love them, or to call them back to Himself. The prophet shows that eventually Israel would turn back to God.
Contents:
Hosea’s wife and children 1:1-11
The unfaithfulness of the nation Israel 2:1-13
The promise that Israel would be restored
to their former state of well-being 2:14-23
Hosea brings back the wife who had proved
unfaithful 3:1-5
God’s charges against Israel 4:1-19
Warnings and exhortations to the king, to the
priests, and to the people 5:1-15
A call to repentance 6:1-3
Further charges against Israel 6:4-11
Rebellion, adultery, and drunkenness 7:1-16
The judgment on the people of Israel 8:1—10:15
Reaping the whirlwind 8:1-14
Captivity and exile 9:1-17
Disgrace 10:1-15
God’s love toward sinful Israel 11:1-11
Israel’s guilt, the goodness God had shown to
them in the past 11:12—12:14
Israel’s unfaithfulness, God’s anger on them 13:1-16
A call to repentance, the promise of blessing 14:1-9