Themes of Hosea

This is a paper that I wrote some time ago. It's still relevant to the impending salvation of God to be manifested to Israel and by extention to the nations/gentiles.

Hosea - A Parable of Saving Love

The book of Hosea covers a period prior to the destruction of the northern 10 tribe kingdom, called Israel and Samaria. Ephraim, a subdivision of Israel, is mentioned frequently throughout as an example of faithlessness to God's covenant. The overriding theme, however, is that no matter how badly Israel and Ephraim act, God will continue to remain faithful to them because of his compassion and unrelenting, pleading, (even alluring) love. The story line is built on 2 kinds of family relationships, marriage and sonship.

The principal lesson in the whole of Hosea is demonstrated by the command that Yahweh gave to Hosea to marry a wife of prostitution in chapter 1. The metaphor is continued in another picture of an adulterous woman in chapter 3. The emotional import of what happens is obviously as distasteful to Yahweh as it is to the modern reader. Within the book of Hosea itself several clues are given as to how these acts are symbolic . They are figurative of the relationship of the Israelite nation to its God, its husband. The figures may appear extreme, but the lesson was too -- the issues end in life or death.

The products of Israel's illicit activities were unlawful children that God would not care for. On the contrary, he "would have no compassion on them" (Hosea 2:4), although he eventually would on the unfaithful mother-- Hosea 2:23.

The picture of sonship is described in chapter 11. God chose Israel as his son, by demonstrating his love to them by acting on their behalf. In verses 3-4, "I took them in My arms; but they did not know that I healed them....I bent down and fed them". God took Israel out of Egypt to care for them, but they didn't appreciate their good fortune . God casts Israel in the role of a faithless but still beloved son. Verse 8 "How can I give you up?..."
Corresponding to these figures are the realities of what God intended to convey. He was speaking of the land, the people and the covenant made with them at Sinai. Their possession of the land, as an independent, prospering national entity, was ultimately at stake.

That the narrative is built on figures is shown by the following considerations.
1. In Hosea 1:2,4,6 and 9 Hoeas is given instructions followed by the phrases "and I will.." or "for I will...". In each place Yahweh is acting in correspondence to the symbol, which in turn is chosen in reaction to specific indiscretions of the people.
2. In chapter 2 and 3 the imagery is directly connected by God himself becoming one of the participants of the picture, in these cases as a compassionate, forgiving husband.
3. In Hosea 12:10 we read "I have also spoken to the prophets, and I gave numerous visions; and through the prophets I gave parables." This is God's way of speaking to his people.
4. The frequent references to past history, such as their deliverance from Egypt during the great Exodus under Moses, frame the whole book in a much larger context than the perceived short term, inscrutable actions of an erratic prophet.
5. In like manner, the distant future is brought in at several places to explain how there is hope for the people, because Yahweh is faithful, even if they are not.
The basic issue of the book of Hosea is the lack of obedience of Israel in their relationship with YAHWEH, the one who picked them out of the wilderness: Hosea 9:10 "I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first {season.} {But} they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, and they became as detestable as that which they loved. " The pattern was Divine compassion in the face of infidelity.
The other basic point of the book is God's response to that lack of obedience. That has two aspects, one immediate, the other far off. In the near future from the time of this narrative, the kingdom of Samaria was to be thoroughly vanquished and humiliated by those with whom she had been illicitly involved. But in spite of this gloomy prospect, clear notes of hope are sounded. Israel will be recovered , and she will return to a covenant relationship with her husband.

It should be noted that since the 10 tribes were never fully recovered from the Assyrian dispersion (9:3, 17) , fulfillment of this prophecy is yet future. Some interpreters maintain that the return from Babylon in about 539-519 BCE ended God's promise to the kingdom of Judah. However, while 2 Kings 23:15-20 narrates some of Josiah's effort to cleanse the land, it proved to be futile in restoring the people.

Several unambiguous prophetic foregleams are given in Hosea:
1:10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and it will come about that, 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."

2:15 "Then I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt."

2:19 "And I will betroth you to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in loving kindness and in compassion,"

3:5 "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."

5:15 "I will go away {and} return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek me. "

6:1 "Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn {us,} but He will heal us; He has wounded {us,} but He will bandage us. "

6:11 "Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of My people. "

11:9 "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. "

12:9 "But I {have been} the LORD your God since the land of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of the appointed festival. "

14:1 "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
14:4 I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them."

Hosea is also cited in several pivotal texts in the New Testament. These build on the long term optimism of Hosea's prophecies, sometime adding a positive note where Hosea is still pessimistic. Some of these are prophecies that recall the original setting with a future positive outcome. In all Hosea was of Israel, his words belong to Israel, the covenant people of God.

The list of quotes comes from Quotations in the New Testament, Robert Bratcher, United Bible Societies, 1987.

Hosea 1:6,9 1 Peter 2:10 (A) Identifying those who are chosen, 1:1, as being the people of God, those who have received mercy. In the case of Peter's epistle this may have been referring to Jews who believed in the Messiah.

Hosea 2:23 Rom. 9:25 Identifying those who are called, vs. 24, as being 'the people of God', those who are 'beloved' of God. Hosea clearly means Israel, Paul is being inclusive of gentiles in his use of the text without specifically changing the original meaning.

Hosea 2:1 (1:10) Rom, 9:26 Those that 'were not my people', have become 'sons of the the living God.' This provides the basis for Paul's claim that gentiles (from the nations) could become sons of God as well as those of Israel. They do not replace Israel, but are added to the Sinai covenant community through the Abrahamic promse.

Hosea 1:10a Rom. 9:27-28 Along with Isa 10:22-23, the number of Israel is as the sand of the sea. In Hosea, the unquoted portion of the verse continues as "the Children of the Living God.". Paul here describes inclusion of the Jewish remnant with those Gentiles called to righteousness by faith, vs 30.

Hosea 2:1, 23 1 Peter 2:10 (A) Peter addresses those in Christ inclusively, as does Hosea.

Hosea 6:5 Eph. 6:17 (A) The sword of the spirit, the word of God, corresponding to Hosea's phrase, " slain them with the words of My mouth". An allegorical use of the sword.

Hosea 6:6 Matt. 9:13; 12:7 "I desire compassion, not sacrifice", so Jesus calls those who are sinners (and know it) , not the righteous. Anyone in covenant relationship with God could be included in this phrase. To Israel it speaks to Torah, from Jesus we hear the same application to his Jewish audience.

Hosea 10:8 Luke 23:30 (A); The last prophesy of Jesus ministry refers to the daughters of Jerusalem and her children, who "say to the mountains, fall on us...:. As in Hosea's time, the people of Israel were facing impending disaster again at the hands of Rome.

Hosea 10:8 Rev. 6:16 (A) The mountains will be called upon to hide the kings of the earth from Him who sits on the throne and the Lamb, during the day of wrath. Happens twice.

Hosea 11:1 Matt. 2:15 God calls his son from Egypt, originally Israel, by analogy Jesus follows this same path. In modern times Israel has again been called out of all of the captivity of worldwide Egypt.

13:14 1 Cor. 15:55 The challenge of death is overcome. It loses its power.
God overcomes death - sheol / hades - through Jesus Christ.
In Hosea 13, we find our final topic of consideration, the ransoming figure of deliverance.
"Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight (13:14)." The original answer to this was no, but through the power of resurrection God has enabled an answer to this awful question.

As stated in the narrative of Hosea, the statements are phrased as challenging questions to Ephraim. The implication at the time of Hosea's prophecy was that God would not rescue/ransom the nation from its punishments. But Hosea 14:1-2 identifies the rescue that will come when it reaches the point of repentance. In prophetic terms, we have yet to see natural Israel take that step. In Hosea 14:4-6 we read "I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. His shoots will sprout, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like {the cedars of} Lebanon." The ransoming work is held in abeyance until repentance is reached by Israel, as we read in Hosea 6:1-3, "come let us return.." The marriage state or covenant will be restored with the same people who were delivered over to the terrible wrath of Yahweh for a time".