Hosea - A Neo-Assyrian Prophet

The transcription is a discussion about the book of Hosea. It explains that Hosea was a minor prophet, meaning his book was small but not insignificant. The book was written during the time of the divided kingdom of Israel. It discusses the idolatry and sin of the northern tribes and how Hosea's life was an object lesson for the people. It also mentions the exile of Israel and Judah, but offers hope for restoration. The key theme is the need to acknowledge and repent before the Lord. The transcription ends by emphasizing the Lord's love and compassion for His people. I am Dewey Kalio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy, busy schedules to tune in with me today. By chance you want to contact me, you can do that at vab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are looking at the minor prophet Hosea. As I've shared before, just because it's called a minor prophet, it does not mean insignificant. It means it is a small book. It is also called a classical prophet, which means he was a prophet that has a book named after him and written about him or that he himself wrote. And these came about during the time of the divided kingdom of Israel, after Solomon had died in 931 B.C. The southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, known as Judah, almost always had a king that was a descendant of King David. The only exception to that was when Queen Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab from the northern tribes of Israel, tried to kill off all of David's descendants, but she was unsuccessful and baby Joash was hidden in the temple of the Lord until he was seven years old. Second Kings chapter 11. The northern tribes never had a descendant of David as king, so the kingship would go to whoever was the strongest to take it over next. In Hosea chapter 1 verse 1 it says, The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel. Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel is also called Jeroboam II because after the northern ten tribes broke away from Judah and the kingdom of David, Jeroboam was their first king. The problem with this first king is that he did not want his people to go down to Jerusalem to worship in the temple of the Lord, so he set up two golden calves, one in the northern part in Dan and one in the southern part in Bethel. This started the idolatry of the northern tribes. It was pretty bad during the time of Elijah who prophesied against king Ahab and wicked queen Jezebel, and they tried to kill him. But then when Elisha came around it became more syncretistic, in other words the worship of the Lord was allowed as well as the worship of idols, so they intermingled, Elisha did not seem to be persecuted like Elijah was, yet the king still did not like him because he stood for the ways of the Lord. Dr. Betz, my Old Testament professor said that the prophet Jonah which was mentioned in 2nd Kings chapter 14 verse 25 prophesied during the rise of Israel's power, Amos who preached that let justice roll down like a river and righteousness like a never failing stream preached during the golden age of Israel, and now Hosea is preaching during the decline and future destruction of Israel, this puts us at the end of 2nd Kings 14 and the exile is in chapter 17 of 2nd Kings. Hosea chapter 1 verses 2 through 3 reads, when the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, go take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty and the vilest adultery is departing from the Lord. So he married Gomer daughter of Diblam and she conceived and bore him a son. The NIV version tries to make it sound nicer, but the King James version says, go take thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land has committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. There is great debate as if the Lord actually asked Hosea to marry a prostitute or not, but I hold to the view that he did, because Hosea's life was an object lesson to the people of Israel about their sin. Dr. Betts said in Old Testament class, Hosea was allowed to feel some of the heartache that God feels for his bride Israel that was unfaithful. He also said God's messengers are not separated from the message, but many times the message is the prophet himself. In Genesis chapters 1 through 3, God created humanity and Adam and Eve were faithful for such a short time, and they sinned and disobeyed the Lord. The Lord tried again with Noah and the flood, and once again it was a short, short time, and they sinned and disobeyed the Lord. Then came the patriarchs and their stories with Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zippah with their twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel, and there was always sin and always an attempt for reconciliation. Then Moses and the commandments of the Lord, which basically said, if you will be obedient, the Lord will bless you, but if disobedient, the Lord will curse you. There were many times they were disobedient, and the Lord brought judgment, but as Dr. Brett says, wherever you see judgment from the Lord, you also need to look for His mercy. We see that over and over and over again. The Israelites got into the promised land, and things got even worse. The book of Judges is like the dark ages of Israel, so they demanded a king to rule over them because that would surely help them to obey. The strongest kingdom was with David, because he was a man after God's own heart, but even he sinned with Bathsheba and Uriah, and his kingdom was never the same again. Solomon's kingdom started strong with the building of the temple of the Lord, but was weakened by his many wives of foreign lands who served other gods, and his kingdom crumbled due to idolatry. That was when the divided kingdom happened, and there was sin and more sin. Israel was described as a woman of whoredom, because they were never faithful to the Lord. Hosea married such a woman. In chapters 1-3, we find they had children, and their names were reminders of the sins of Israel. We then learn that his wife left and went back to her old ways, just like Israel had rejected the Lord. The Lord had commanded Hosea in chapter 3 verses 1 and 2 to go and buy his wife back. Then in verses 4-5 it says, For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days. This foretells the exile of the Israelites and even of Judah. They will be thrown out of the promised land, and their temple will be destroyed some day soon. But they will come back, and a son of David, also known as Jesus, will come and bring salvation. Hosea's name is of the same root for Joshua and Jesus, and it means the Lord saves. One of the key words in this book is to know or to acknowledge the Lord. Chapter 2 verse 8, Israel has not acknowledged that I am the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold which they used for bail. Chapter 2 verse 20, I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. In chapter 4 we have the Lord's charge against Israel. In verse 1 Dr. Betz called the key verse, Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land. There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. Then chapter 4 verse 6, My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge, because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests, because you have ignored the law of your God. I also will ignore your children. The judgment continues in chapter 5 and verse 3 says, I know all about Ephraim, Israel is not hidden from me. Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution, Israel is corrupt. Just a side note, Ephraim is one of the northern tribes who was named after one of Joseph's sons. Here it is used for another name for the northern ten tribes. Then verse 4 continues, their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, a spirit of prostitution is in their heart, they do not acknowledge the Lord. In chapter 6 verses 1 through 3 we see a call to repentance. Dr. Betz said that prophets not only foretold future events, but they were also foretellers, calling people to come forth, to repent and come back to God's covenant. These verses say, Come let us return to the Lord, He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us. He has injured us, but He will bind up our wounds. After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord, let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear, He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. Here we have hope, and what happened in the New Testament, on the third day, Jesus' resurrection. T. Hassel Bullock in his book, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books wrote, When God's people do not respond to blessing, then God resorts to the operational mode of judgment. Thus, divine judgment is a secondary mode, a kind of last resort, which God uses to speak to His people and bring them back to Himself. It is the combination of grace and judgment that produces hope, and hope is an ingredient of life that is absolutely necessary to the well-being of human existence. We cannot live without it. The writer to the Hebrews calls hope, the anchor of the soul, Hebrews chapter 6 verse 19. As chapter 8 verse 7 says, They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. In other words, their sins are catching up to them, and punishment is coming, yet the Lord still loves His children. Chapter 11 verses 1 and 2, When Israel was a child, I loved him and called him out of Egypt. I called my son, but the more I called Israel, the further they went for me. They sacrificed to the Baals, and they burned incense to images. Verse 1 is used in Matthew chapter 2 verse 15 as a reference to when God called Joseph, Mary and Jesus out of Egypt to come back to the land of Israel. This verse 1 is singular, son, yet verse 2 is plural, they. The rest of chapter 11 tells us of a day of restoration, and as Dr. Bett said, it is based on the Lord's love and compassion for His people. Yet Israel's sin is great. Chapter 13, The Lord reminds them of His constant watch care over them, yet they still disobeyed. Verse 4 reads, But I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but Me, no Savior except Me. Yet the northern ten tribes of Israel never did. And chapter 14 verse 3 gives them a clue that it is the nation of Assyria that will bring their destruction. Dr. Bett calls chapter 14 the final love song of the Lord, singing of His love for His people. The last verse, number 9 says, Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right. The righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. The book of Hosea was calling the Lord's people unto Himself, and this last verse gives a glimmer of hope that there were some who were wise, but the nation as a whole did not. Some realized, some acknowledged the Lord, some understood, some walked in the ways of the Lord. We call that a remnant. How about you? Do you acknowledge that the Lord has His hand on your life? One other thing that Dr. Bett said about Hosea was, We should not be shocked when God not only uses our voices to proclaim His message, but also our circumstances that we find ourselves in personally. God often uses them in accordance with our verbal message to proclaim who He is. Ladies, if you are a child of God, He has given you a testimony to share, and if you are in the period called the dark night of your soul, keep in mind that there are lessons to be learned in that time that cannot be learned in the time of blessings. But the Lord still loves you, and He is drawing you unto Himself. Chapter 11 verse 5, the Lord cries out, How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? From a woman in her late fifties, I give you my word that when we suffer, the Lord suffers too. Go to Him, and if He gives you a chance, share with someone what He has done for you. He is faithful, even though we have broken the covenant many times. He is waiting with open arms for you. If you have heard His voice today, please don't harden your heart. Instead, let's be women who hear, acknowledge, and obey. Until next time, and thanks so very much for listening.