The Bible Series Hosea
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Minor Prophets...
Minor Prophets...
The minor prophets begin with our look at Hosea this morning. The 5 Major Prophets are through, we proceed on to the 12 Minor Prophets. Much shorter in length, no less powerful and important for us to understand.
Minor prophets total are 67 chapters, Isaiah is 66
The Minor prophets tend to focus on one focused message
Hosea is no different… his message is very clear…
Hosea... exposes the sins of Israel and contrasts them to God’s holiness. The nation must be judged for its sins but it will be restored in the future because of the love and faithfulness of God.
Hosea has a 35 year ministry to Israel, the Northern Israel Kingdom.
This northern kingdom rejected God and prostituted herself with other gods
There is no king who lead the northern kingdom according to the Lord
They would fornicate themselves with other nations, putting their trust in alliances over the Lord
God uses Hosea to share His passionate plea with Northern Israel and He ask Hosea to illustrate this through a particular command to marry a woman of harlotry…
Hosea’s Marriage
Hosea’s Marriage
Holman states: “Hosea’s tragic marriage to Gomer—who left the prophet and became a slave, only to be bought back by her own husband—is one of the great love stories (but hardly a romance) in Scripture.”
Hosea’s marriage experiences and the names of his children were at the Lord’s command. Look with me as this book opens with God’s command and an outline of the book and God’s message pictured in this marriage… Hosea 1:1-11
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. 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.” So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And 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. “On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” 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 would ever forgive them. “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.” When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.” Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And 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.” And 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.
The covenant
Hosea here enters into the covenant relationship of marriage with Gomer… KNOWING what will come!
God, calling Israel out of Egypt, enters into a covenant relationship with her… KNOWING what will come
Both show a loyal love in the the midst of unfaithfulness… EVEN extreme fornication and adultery
The Children
Gomer bore three children AND God is the One who gives their names as a message to Israel!
Jezreel (God Sows, a son);
Lo-ruhamah (No Compassion, a daughter);
Finally Lo-ammi (Not My People, a son).
The last two children may have been fathered by one of Gomer’s lovers; if so, it makes Hosea’s personal story that much more poignant.
The Adultery
Chapter 2 gives a graphic picture of the chasing after lovers, seeking and never finding fulfillment
All along not realizing it was her husband who loved her, brought fulfillment, LAVISHED her with blessings
YET… all the lavish gifts, blessings were used to fornicate with other lovers
The gifts were soiled in adultery with other lovers as a loving husband observes and grieves
She chased her lovers and FORGOT her first love, her husband
The Redemption / Debt Paid
She will run, face consequences of her choice and actions… but there will be a redemption Hosea 2:19-23
“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord. “It will come about in that day that I will respond,” declares the Lord. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth, And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil, And they will respond to Jezreel. “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’ ”
We find his wife, a slave, burdened and low by a debt she could not repay in her adulterous lifestyle. We see one brought low.
God instructs Hosea to purchase her back… Hosea 3:1-5
Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. Then I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you.” For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.
The price is high, but paid in full by the husband who loves her! The husband who has been loyal in his love all along!
It is this backdrop that we now hear the MESSAGE of HOSEA… I can only imagine the passion and heart that Hosea conveys the Lord’s message to His people having a sense of what the Lord is feeling concerning Israel’s fornication and adulterous activity with God…
Hosea’s Message
Hosea’s Message
Spiritual Adultery
Hosea 4:1-6:3
God comes across very direct and harsh in His words to her YET… He closes with consultation and even future Hope
Hosea 4:1-2 ; 6 gives a brief picture…
Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
ILLUSTRATE with bed… inviting God to watch, standing by, calling Him our God while we make passionate love and fornicate ourselves with others… but we are still married, still one, still have your name… and we are called to REPENT
Refusal to Repent
Hosea 6:4-8:14
There is a pleading on God’s part knowing what will come…
You see God’s heart in Hosea 6:6
For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Judgement from God
Hosea 9:1-10:15
We see in God’s passionate judgment that it is still tempered with His heart of tenderness to Israel… Look at Hosea 11:7-9
So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled. I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, And I will not come in wrath.
In His righteous anger He demonstrates He is God!!!
God’s Redemption
God’s Redemption
Forthtelling… the immediate message
I love you, repent of your adultery and fortification with other gods
Foretelling… the coming future (near & far)
Assyria will come and destroy (your allies)
I will redeem you back to myself (Loyal Love)
When Christ returns He will redeem Israel to Himself…
Hosea 14:4 is a beautiful passage
I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from them.
Retelling… God’s overall message of Himself through scripture
We see the beautiful character of God… On e of justice, holiness, and judgement…
Extending His love, grace and mercy to mankind
Redemption Remembered
Redemption Remembered
God would demonstrate to the world… all mankind, through the promise to Adam & Eve and the seed of Abraham, the line of David, would come the promised Messiah Jesus the Christ!
We are sinners… He never sinned
John 3:16 states
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For our debt of sin… He would pay with His blood, His bodily death Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Once again Jesus God in flesh gives us a picture…
the bread and the cup
What love and passion
That He would pay our debt even in our sin