Hosea Chapter 1

Hosea


How do we Know that Hosea heard from the Lord? (1:1)

The book starts out in Chapter 1 verse 1 “The word of the Lord that came to Hosea”. That makes it real easy to see that Hosea is sharing with us the word as it was given to him from God. Also as stated in verse 2 it states “When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea”

Who was Hosea?(1:1),(7:5)

We know that Hosea was the son of Beeri, we also know that he lived in the Northern Kingdom called Israel .It should be noted that the land of Israel was divided into Northern and Southern. The southern part was called Judah and the Northern called Israel at times it was also referred as Ephraim. We also know that the name Hosea means “Salvation”. What other names mean Salvation? Jesus and Josuha.
If you read Isaiah 8:18 it states - Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! [We] [are] for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion. This to can be said about Hosea.
Hosea preached about the unfailing Love of God. It was said he was the first prophet of grace, Israel’s earliest evangelist.

Did Hosea have any comtempories?(Hsa 1:1, IS 1:1, Mic 1:1)

The word of the LORD that came to 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. Hsa 1:1

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Is 1”1

The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Mic 1:1

We can see that the contemporizes at the time were Hosea, Isaiah and Micah. Hosea focused on the northern kingdom called Israel which was founded by Jeroboam Son of Nebat. Isaiah and Micah focused on the southern kingdom called Judah.


What was the Timeframe the book is discussing?(1:1)

We are able to make a determination as to the timeframes by looking at verse 1. This verse lists the kings of the southern kingdom which were Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. The Northern Kingdom it mentioned "Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel".
According to Halley’sKings of Israel, The Northern KingdomJeroboam II (790-749). A reign of great properityZechariah (748) Reigned 6 months. Was killed by ShallumShallum (748) Reigned 1 month, Was killed by MenahemMenahem (748 – 738) Unspeakably Cruel. Was a puppet of AssyriaPekahiah (738 -736) Was killed by PekahPekah (748 – 730). Was killed by Hoshea. Galilee captivity (734)Hoshea (730 – 721) Fall of Samaria (721) End of Kingdom
It is to be noted that Hosea did not mention the last 6 kings of the Northern Kingdom but it may be assumed that it may have had to do with either the legitimacy of the Davidic dynasty in Judah or just because the reigns of these other kings were short lived and characterized by treachery and assassination. This may be why they were not mentioned in the opening verses of Hosea. Jeroboam II was the last prominent king of Israel.
Based on all the above notes the timeframe is open to discussion but I am using a safe bet as described in Halley’s Bible workbook and go with 760 – 720 BC.

Just for further reference the Southern Kings were as follows:
Uzziah (787 – 735) A good king
Jotham (749 – 734) A good king
Ahaz (741 – 726) Very wicked. Galilee Captivity (734)
Hezekiah (726-697) A good king. Fall of Samaria (721)

Why was Israel divided into 2 parts?(1:1), (1Kings 11:29-39)

I think to understand why Israel was divided into 2 parts we need to read the following from 1st Kings:

1Ki 11:29 Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two [were] alone in the field.

1Ki 11:30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that [was] on him, and tore it [into] twelve pieces.

1Ki 11:31 And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you

1Ki 11:32 (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),

1Ki 11:33 because they have [fn] forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do [what is] right in My eyes and [keep] My statutes and My judgments, as [did] his father David.

1Ki 11:34 However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.

1Ki 11:35 But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you--ten tribes.

1Ki 11:36 And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there.

1Ki 11:37 So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel.

1Ki 11:38 Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do [what is] right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.

1Ki 11:39 And I will afflict the descendants of David because of this, but not forever.' "

What was happening around Hosea’s time? (2ch 26)

There was great outward prosperity under Uzziah’s reign. There were:
Successful WarsBuilding ProjectsMultiple FortificationsAgriculture
All the kings that followed Uzziah also prospered but probably not to the extent of Uzziah. Jeroboam II gained land back which can be found in 2Ki 14:25 and 1Ki 11:24.
Regardless people were in a great moral and spiritual decline. The Abrahamic Covenant is being defiled, this is the bond that God made to Abraham, but this also needed to be upheld by the people of Israel.
Gen 12:1-3: Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."


Who is Gomer and why did God command Hosea to marry her?(1:2)

We see that Gomer is the child of Diblaim. The scripture is not clear on the issue if she was a harlot prior to marrying Hosea. The commentaries and notes I read have gone both ways but I feel it doesn’t matter. In verse 2 Hosea is told one way or the other that his wife will be or is a harlot, other words are also used to describe her based on the version of Bible you are using. The one thing that can be gather here is that God is letting Hosea feel His pain. Just as Israel has given herself over to other idols and god, Hosea wife will be doing the same thing. Since Hosea will be giving the prophecy to Israel they will see in his life the exact things God is going to punish them for.
What children are mentioned and what do there names mean?(1:3-4),(1:6),(1:8-9)

Hosea’s first child was a boy named Zezreel which means to scatter.The second child was a girl called Lo-ruhamah which means "no mercy" or "no pity."The third child was a boy and his name was Lo-ammi which means “Not mine”

Why was the name Zezreel chosen by God?(1:4-5)

I think it’s time for a little history lesson but first lets look at Hosea 1:4-5
(4)Then the LORD said to him: "Call his name Jezreel, For in a little [while] I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. (5) It shall come to pass in that day That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel." Chuck Smith said it best and here is his commentary on it:
“Now, this is a reference to a historic period when Jehu became the king of Israel. Now the king listed here, Jeroboam was a descendant of Jehu. When Jehu became the king of Israel he took it by force, and there were about seventy sons of this wicked king Ahab. And so Jehu sent a message to the elders of this city and he said, "Pick out one of the sons of Ahab and let him gather together an army and come out and face me." Well, the men of the city said, "That Jehu is tough. There are two kings that weren't able to stand before him. How can we stand before him?" And so they sent a message back to Jehu and they said, "Look, we don't want to fight with you. We're willing to come to terms. What do you want?" And Jehu said, "If you're willing to come to terms, bring me the heads of the seventy sons of Ahab and lay them before me." The bloody slaughter of all of Ahab's sons. And so they brought them and they laid them in the valley of Jezreel. That's why he named his son Jezreel, as a memorial or to remember this atrocious act of Jehu in obliterating all of the descendents of Ahab.
Now, when he did this, the Lord then declared through the prophet that he was going to bring judgment upon Jehu, but he had... because he had been zealous for God, he also took the prophets of Baal and wiped them all out that Ahab had gathered together. He slaughtered all of these prophets. He said, "Let me show you my zeal for the Lord," and he killed all the prophets of Baal and all. And the Lord said, "I will allow him to reign." That is, for four generations. So Jeroboam was the forth generation. Jeroboam, at his death, his son Zachariah became the king of Israel, but he reigned only a very short time before he was assassinated. So, the writing of Hosea is shortly before the death of Jeroboam, the ascension of Zachariah, who was assassinated.
So God is saying, "I'm about ready. Name your son Jezreel. Remind them of that atrocity that was committed in the valley of Jezreel, the heads of these seventy sons of Ahab in a pile there. And now I'm about to avenge this bloody act, so name your son Jezreel." So it called into remembrance that judgment that God had declared would come upon the house of Jehu in the fourth generation and it was about to transpire. So that is the reason for naming the son Jezreel.
Were all the children conceived by Gomer, Hosea’s??

We know from Verse 3 that she bore Hosea a son. Since it said bore him a son it was understood to be his. The question arises with both Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi, neither verse stated that they were bore of Hosea. Now we also have to remember that at times in the Bible things may not be a clearly spelt out as we would like it. Things are written for the time and because something is not explicitly stated we should not make assumptions. We know from verse 2 that he was to take children of Harlotry but there is no clear statement about these children. We do know that they were born during the marriage of Hosea and Gomer.

Why was the name Lo-ruhamah used?(1:6)

We know that the name means Never knew a fathers pity. We also see that God stated in verse 6 that He was not going to have any more mercy on Israel. God was totally upset with Israel’s abandonment of the Lord’s way. The Mosaic covenant was being destroyed by the people of Israel and their idolatry and worship to false gods. God will be bringing severe judgment against Israel by allowing the Assyrian kings to destroy it.

Why did God want to show mercy to Judah?

For the sake of David., lets look at
2 Kings 19: 34 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ "

How did God save Judah against the Assyrians?(Isaiah 37)

Again I refer to Chuck Smith’s notes (Thank you Pastor Chuck)
Now the Assyrians who destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel came against the Southern Kingdom of Judah during the reign of Hezekiah. And Isaiah came to Hezekiah and said, "Look, you're not going to have to fight in this battle. The battle is the Lord's and the Lord is going to destroy the Assyrians from before you." And the Assyrians had encompassed the city and there was a real shortage of food and a famine. And, of course, this was the typical manner of siege in those days. They would cut off the supplies of the city rather than trying to assault the walls and have the heavy loss of life in trying to batter the walls down. They would just encircle the city and cut off all their supplies and starve them out.
And so they had sent messages to Hezekiah to capitulate and all, and the Lord just told him, "Just stand still. Just, you know, watch My salvation." And one morning when they awakened and looked over the wall, they saw the Assyrian army totally wiped out. An angel of the Lord had passed through the army of the Assyrians that night and had killed 185,000 in one evening. And those that did remain fled back to Assyria. And so, as the Lord here prophesied by Hosea, "Now I won't have any more mercy on Israel, but I will have mercy on Judah. And I'm going to save them," saith the Lord, "but not with a bow, nor by a sword, not in a battle." God saved them by the angel of the Lord passing through the Assyrian army and destroying them. So, not by their fighting, not with bows or within the swords or by battle or horses or horsemen, but by the hand of the Lord Judah was saved because of God's mercy.


What else did God tell us? (1:10-12)

Here I see an all loving God! No matter how many times we turn from God He is always there to take us back if we repent and return to Him. His promise of the growth of the children of Israel. He will put together Israel and Judah to form a single nation. And who would be the head of the land at that time? That would be Jesus, because we know at the second coming Jesus will rule over all of us. We see this same promise of multiplying the children of Israel as given to Abraham in Gen 22:17 which states:
“blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which [is] on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.”


When we continue the next time we are going to see
Chapter 2
God’ Unfaithful People God’s Mercy on His People
Chapter 3
Israel will return to GOD
Chapter 4
God’s charge against Israel The idolatry of Israel
Chapter 5
Impending Judgment on Israel and Judah