Hosea 1-3
Hosea was a prophet in the Old Testament from the 8th century BC. His name means "Salvation of/is the LORD". Hosea lived in the Northern Kingdom (the part that doesn't have Jerusalem). He began his prophesying in 755.
Hosea 1
1 The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
Uzziah was the king of Judah from about 791 to 740. Jotham was king from 740 to 736. Ahaz was king from 736-716. Hezekiah was king from 729-687.
Jeroboam II was king of Israel (north) from 793-753. Odd that the kings of Judah are mentioned up to 687, but the last 6 kings of Israel aren't mentioned.
2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
Hosea was commanded to take a wife that was a prostitute. I can't think of too many preachers who actually follow Hosea's leadership. Most modern preachers seem to pick a woman to be their wife, who is a Sunday School teacher. Could you imagine the scandal if there was a modern man of God, on TBN, or who even had a website, and when his biography was posted, that he actually listed his wife's former occupation as hooker... well, other than Brother Benny Hinn.
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
Gomer the whore.
4 And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel.
When prophets have children, they get named something really mean. Could you imagine going to school with the name of Jezreel, which means "God sows". The valley of Jezreel is next to a place called Megiddo (the place where Armageddon will happen). It's no wonder Israel's bow will be harvested there.
Hosea got his former whore pregnant again and they had a daughter, this one name Loruhamah. Her name means "not pitied". God named her that because he was not happy with Israel for following other gods.
Then she got pregnant again.
9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
Lo-ammi means "not my people".
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
After God destroys most of them in Jezreel, that's going to be the place where He brings them back to be His.
I wonder if this was the same place that
Ezekiel raised the dead.
Hosea 2
God tells Hosea that Israel is going to cheat on God with other gods. Hosea doesn't quite understand the foreshadowing that God is doing.
2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
God is the husband. Israel is his wife (he has 2 wives, Israel and Judah). God's telling his wife to quit having sex with other men. He wants her all to himself (and her sister).
3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
God's willing to expose her for the whore she is. Of course if you remember back to
Ezekiel 23, God calls Israel bad, but he calls Judah much worse.
5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
Hosea doesn't use as colorful of language as Ezekiel did.
14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
God promises to bring Israel back.
19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
I'm not sure if he's talking expressly about the tribes of the Northern Kingdom, or of the Jews as a whole. Must be talking about the combined north and south, since the northern tribes are still gone.
Hosea 3
1 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
This seems to be a retelling of chapter 1.
2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
15 pieces of silver and 1.5 homers of barley for Gomer. She must have been on crystal meth because that seems pretty cheap to purchase a person for.
3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.
Let's see how well this works out.
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
If the promise is for David to be the king, that must mean a united north and south.
So what have we learned today?
1. Hosea follows the prophet tradition, by naming his kids the things that are going to happen; thus sentencing them to a lifetime of ridicule. You never hear much of what those children did after they got named. They sort of disappear.
2. God loves his whore, even though she continually goes off and cheats on him.
3. Hosea loves his whore, she costs 15 pieces of silver and an homer and a half of barley. I wonder if he could have just traded her for 10 gallons of beer?
YIC
V