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.
This book opens by identifying the contents as “the word of the Lord” as revealed to His prophet Hosea, the son of Beeri. The names of the kings during whose reign he prophesied identify him as a contemporary of Isaiah, Micah and Amos.
Hosea’s prophecies are primarily directed to the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. His name is basically the same as Joshua and Jesus and means salvation.
Numbers 13:16 “These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.”
The ultimate salvation of Israel is the high note of the mostly sad message the prophet declares.
Hosea 1:2 ¶ 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.
The prophet at this point tells the reader that he is about to begin his message. Considering the content of the message, I think the prophet wanted to emphasize that he was being obedient to God by taking a wife who was a known prostitute. Translators differ regarding the status of the children that would make up his family. The focus of the prophet’s message is on comparing Israel’s actions toward and relationship to God through Gomer’s actions toward and relationship to Hosea.
Guzik: “Boice rightly observes, ‘If Hosea’s story cannot be real (because ‘God could not ask a man to marry an unfaithful woman’), then neither is the story of salvation real, because that is precisely what Christ has done for us.’”
Hosea 1:3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
Hosea 1:4 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.
Hosea 1:5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.
In this section Hosea’s wife is identified as Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. I thought it was interesting to find that Gomer means “to finish or complete.” Gomer’s relationship with Hosea gives a complete picture of Israel’s relationship with God.
Gomer immediately conceived and gave Hosea a son. God instructed Hosea to name him Jezreel. The name of this child was evidently to serve as a prophecy of coming vengeance that God would take against Jehu and against the Northern Kingdom. The wording from the NIV is more easily understood: “Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.”
2Kings 9-10 tells the story of Jehu’s slaughter of King Ahaziah, Jezebel, all of Ahab’s family, and most of King Ahaziah’s family in Jezreel.
Ironside: “It was when Jehu became the instrument for the destruction of Ahab’s house, at Jezreel, that he ascended the throne, and Jeroboam II was of his dynasty. But neither Jehu nor his house had profited by the lesson of Ahab’s judgment. They had themselves walked in the ways of the nations, and followed false gods; therefore the blood of Jezreel would be avenged upon them, and they too should be cut off….Therefore this same valley of Jezreel should be the scene of their judgment; as it was some few years later, when in that very spot (called then Esdraelon) the Assyrian defeated Israel, and their captivity began.”
Hosea 1:6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
Hosea 1:7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
We are now told that Gomer gave birth to a daughter, and God told Hosea to name her Loruhamah, meaning “not pitied.” She was to picture the truth that Israel would no longer benefit from God’s mercy; she is to be taken captive. Judah, the Southern Kingdom, however, will continue to benefit from God’s mercy and protection. The prophet is clear in declaring that Judah’s salvation will be of “the LORD their God,” not due to the strength and skill of their soldiers, horses or weapons.
This was very vividly fulfilled when the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night and sent Sennacharib running.
2 Kings 19:32–36 “Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.”
Hosea 1:8 ¶ Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
Hosea 1:9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
After weaning Loruhamah, Gomer again conceived and gave birth to another son. God told Hosea to name him Loammi, which means “not my people.” This son pictured the truth that God no longer claimed a relationship with this generation of Israelites. They had broken covenant with God and shown no desire to repent. They were intent on rejecting God and directing their worship toward the false gods that allowed them to follow the desires of their flesh.
Hosea 1:10 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.
Hosea 1:11 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.
As always, the LORD offers a ray of hope for the future along with His message of coming judgment. Israel will yet grow into a great and prosperous nation. Though God has determined that He will no longer invest in His relationship with the people of Israel, the day is coming when He will once again restore them as sons.
I think it is significant that the prophet makes a point of God being a “living God” who can and does provide for His own in contrast to the false gods they have chosen to worship that are impotent on their behalf.
Verse 11 identifies the time of future blessing as one when both Judah and Israel will once again be joined as one and return to the land to serve under one King. Other prophets foretell the same, and I believe this is a reference to the time when Jesus takes the throne as King of kings in Jerusalem. I think the connection to the words of Ezekiel describe it best.
Ezekiel 37:15–17 & 21-23 “The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand….And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.”
Hosea 2:1 ¶ Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
Hosea 2:2 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;
Hosea 2:3 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.
The chapter break is very unfortunate; verse one continues in context with the last part of chapter one regarding Israel’s restoration and reunification. The names used are in direct opposition to the names of Hosea’s children. At that time Israel will once again be pitied by the LORD and will benefit from a relationship of great blessing. At that time God will once again claim Israel as His own.
Beginning with verse two, it would seem that Gomer had pushed Hosea to the limit, and he enlists the help of his children to get her to change her ways. I think it becomes obvious that God is speaking to the people and pleading with them to learn from the object lesson portrayed by Hosea’s family. He is encouraging the people to get rid of all their idolatrous, adulterous activities. If not, He is going to abandon them to suffer the consequences of their sin—just as He did the generation of people that were condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years and not allowed to enter the Promised Land. They too had clung to their idolatrous ways as exampled by the incident of the golden calf (see Exodus 32) and had refused to submit to His leadership and authority as their God and trust Him to take them into the Promised Land at Kadesh-Barnea (see Numbers 13-14). To be thirsty is to be lacking God’s provision; to die from their thirst was a reference to being taken away as a nation (as eventually happened when conquered by Assyria – 2Kings 17).
Verse 3 is basically a word picture of exposing her to public shame.
Hosea 2:4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
Hosea 2:5 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.
Gomer = Israel, the Northern Kingdom
The children = the people of Israel
God declares that the time for mercy has passed, and the people of Israel will suffer as befitting children that have followed in the footsteps of their parents and refused to repent of their rebellion against God. Instead, they had continued in publicly pursuing and worshipping idols and crediting them for providing the blessings that were theirs because of God’s provision. They had, in fact, credited their false gods for the prosperity they were experiencing at the time.
Hosea 2:6 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
Hosea 2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
I think God is saying that He is going to take action to bring Israel to repentance. Though the action resulted in judgment, it was an act of love intended to restore her to relationship with Him. She was worshipping the gods of the heathen nations and crediting them for her blessings. God, in His wisdom, is going to have her taken captive by the heathen nations and make her acknowledge that her “gods” are not worthy of her faith. She will be made to realize that she was much better off in relationship with her “first husband” (the God of Israel).
Isaiah 54:5 “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”
Reminder—This is all being portrayed through the example of Hosea (the first husband) and his family.
The principle exampled here is just as true today. We are so hard-headed and hard-hearted that, more often than not, we do not appreciate what we have until we lose it.
Hosea 2:8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Hosea 2:9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
Hosea 2:10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
Hosea 2:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
Hosea 2:12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
Hosea 2:13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
In spite of all the miracles and evidences of God’s provision for them throughout their history as a nation, the people of Israel still did not recognize God’s blessings; instead, they credited the false gods. This reminds me of a section in Isaiah who was declaring God’s message to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Isaiah 1:2–4 “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.”
God declares that he is going to remove His hand of blessing and leave her without food and without means to make clothes. The heathen will see that God has rejected her and delivered her into their hands. Instead of desirable lover, the nations will see her as the poor adulterous woman that she is. No longer will she be able to celebrate her feast days and holidays. He is going to cause her to suffer the loss of everything that she had credited as hers as a provision of her false gods. He is going to punish her severely for her spiritual adultery.
The sad truth—Israel had forgotten her God, Almighty God, her Creator, provider and protector. I can’t help but be reminded of God’s instruction to Israel in the very beginning. If only they had heeded these instructions.
Deuteronomy 6:5–9 “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”
Deuteronomy 8:1–3 “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”
Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons….”
Hosea 2:14 ¶ Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
Hosea 2:15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
Hosea 2:16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
Hosea 2:17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
After declaring His judgment against His people, God proceeds to again provide a ray of hope for the future. He will never break His covenant with Abraham. Once again God will woo Israel and restore her as His wife and bless her abundantly.
Achor means troubled. It was in this valley that Israel was judged for the sin of Achan (see Joshua 7).
God declares He is going to change Israel from a land of trouble to a land of great hope and blessing. She will finally realize the blessings and rest that were intended for her in the Promised Land. In that future time of restoration, Israel will be a unified nation that recognizes God as her “Ishi,” her beloved husband and champion instead of master. God looks forward to the day that His people will serve Him in love and not in fear. In that day the people of Israel will no longer be deceived by false gods; in fact, they won’t even acknowledge the existence of those gods.
Guzik quoting Spurgeon on “I will allure her”: “This is a singular kind of power: ‘I will allure her;’ not, ‘I will drive her’ not even, ‘I will draw her,’ or, ‘I will drag her;’ or, ‘I will force her.’ No, ‘I will allure her.’ It is a very remarkable word, and it teaches us that the allurement of love surpasses in power all other forces.”
Hosea 2:18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
Hosea 2:19 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.
Hosea 2:20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.
God goes on to promise that the future day of restoration will include a special covenant with the animals that will cause them to dwell peacefully with man. He also promises to ensure that man will not be allowed to make war with one another. When Israel is once restored to full relationship and fellowship with the LORD, it will be forever. Again, I believe this is a reference to the Messiah’s Kingdom. In His kingdom Israel will experience righteousness, justice, kindness and mercy. Israel will be a faithful wife and experience firsthand the blessings of a cherished wife.
Again I am reminded of the words of Isaiah as he prophesied to Judah.
Isaiah 11:6–9 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
Isaiah 2:2–4 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
I am also reminded of the new covenant that will be in force during this wonderful time of restoration. Ezekiel describes it beautifully.
Ezekiel 11:17–20 “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
Hosea 2:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
Hosea 2:22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
Hosea 2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
In Messiah’s Kingdom the climate and the land will respond to their Creator and provide for abundant crops. “Jezreel” means, “God will sow”; and the land will produce in response to God’s provision.
I liked the NLT wording for verse 23: “At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself! I will show love to those I called ‘Not loved.’ And to those I called ‘Not my people,’ I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’ Then they will reply, ‘You are our God!’”