HOSEA THE PROPHET

 HOSEA'S WORK WAS DONE SOON AFTER THAT OF AMOS. AMOS WAS A CITIZEN OF JUDAH AND CROSSED THE BORDER INTO THE NORTHERN KINGDOM TO DELIVER HIS ORACLES IN THE VICINITY OF THE ROYAL SHRINE AT BETHEL.HOSEA ALSO DIRECTED HIS MESSAGE AGAINST ISRAEL, BUT WAS HIMSELF A CITIZEN OF THAT REALM. HE IS THE ONLY NORTHERN PROPHET WHOSE WRITINGS HAVE COME DOWN TO US. HIS NAME MEANS "SALVATION" OR "DELIVERANCE." THOUGH IT IS A HAZARDOUS TASK TO TRY TO  RECONSTRUCT HOSEA'S PERSONALITY THROUGH HIS WRITINGS, ORACLES REVEAL A SENSITIVE EMOTIONAL INDIVIDUAL WHO COULD FEEL AND EXPRESS EVERYTHING FROM BURNING ANGER TO TENDER YEARNING. HIS MESSAGE PIVOTS AROUND HIS MARRIAGE TO GOMER AND THE LORD'S LOVE AFFAIR.WITH ISRAEL.THE PAIN AND GRIEF HIS MARRIAGE CAUSED HIM EQUIPPED HIM BETTER TO UNDERSTAND THE HURT ADULTEROUS ISRAEL WAS INFLICTING ON THE LORD. THE POLITICAL SCENE IN ISRAEL OF HOSEA'S DAY WERE VERY  .DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF AMOS' DAY. AMOS SPOKE TO ISRAEL AT A TIME WHEN POLITICAL CONDITIONS WERE STABLE AND PEACE PREVAILED, WHEN ISRAEL WAS ENJOYING PROSPERITY SUCH AS SHE HAD NEVER KNOWN BEFORE--- ROTTING IN THAT PROSPERITY. HOSEA DID HIS WORK WHEN ASSYRIA WAS SINKING HER CLAWS INTO ISRAEL FROM WITHOUT, AND WHEN POLITICAL ANARCHY WAS RAVAGING HER WITHIN. JEROBOAM DIED IN 746 B.C. IN 735 B.C. TIGLATH- PILESER III SEIZED THE ASSYRIAN THRONE. IMMEDIATELY HE SHOOK. A LETHARGIC ASSYRIA AND SET THE NATION'S MILITARY MACHINE ON THE MARCH. TO TRANSLATE INTO REALITY A DREAM ASSYRIAN KINGS HAD LONG CHERISHED: TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE WHOLE FERTILE CRESCENT, THE BREADBASKET OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST THIS MEANT DANGER FOR ISRAEL AND EGYPT. IT CREATED FEAR IN THOSE WHO HEARD ABOUT IT. ASSYRIA'S MODE OF DEALING WITH CONQUERED PEOPLE SHE DESTROYED ANY VESTIGES OF NATIONALISM AND GAVE RISE TO SOCIAL ANARCHY. AMOS LASHED OUT AT SOCIAL INJUSTICES. HOSEA'S CENTRAL THRUST WAS DIFFERENT. HE PROBED THE VERY HEART OF THE CONDITION THAT PLAGUING ISRAEL. SHE WAS SICK UNTO DEATH WITH.UNFAITHFULNESS. EVEN SO, HOSEA SOUNDS A NOT OF  HOPE--- NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT HE SEES IN ISRAEL, BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT HE SEES IN GOD'S HEART. GOD'S LOVE FOR UNDESERVING PEOPLE. WE ARE GOING TO FOLLOW AND ATTEMPT TO ORGANIZE THE MATERIALS TO GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROPHETS MESSAGE. WE START OUT WITH HOSEA'S MARRIAGE WITH GOMER AND IT TAKES UP THREE CHAPTERS OF HOSEA TO TELL US ALL WE KNOW ABOUT THE PROPHET'S LIFE. THEY CENTER ON THE PROPHET'S MARRIAGE WHICH SERVES AS A SYMBOL OF GOD'S UNFAILING LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE. A MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP INVOLVES A UNION OF WILLS, WITH EACH PARTY UNDERTAKING TO SERVE THE OTHER. THOUGH THE LORD REMAINED TRUE TO HIS COVENANT PROMISES TO HIS PEOPLE, ISRAEL WAS CONSISTENTLY GUILTY OF FORGETFULNESS AND GROSS WICKEDNESS. THE INTERPRETATION OF HOSEA 1-3 POSES NUMEROUS PROBLEMS. DO THESE CHAPTERS REPORT A REAL MARRIAGE EVENT, OR ARE THEY ALLEGORICAL FICTION? IF THEY ARE MERELY THE LATTER, WE WOULD EXPECT THE NAME GOMER AND THE SEXES OF THE CHILDREN TO HAVE SPECIAL MEANING, BUT THEY DO NOT. THE INTENSITY
 OF HOSEA'S DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE POINTS TO EXPERIENCE RATHER THAN ALLEGORY. ON THE SURFACE, HOSEA 1-3 SPEAKS OF MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN, DIVORCE, AND REMARRIAGE.  DOES CH.3 DESCRIBED HOSEA'S MARRIAGE TO GOMER (A PARALLEL TO CH1?), OR DOES IT REFER TO AN ENTIRELY NEW MARRIAGE?  THE FORMER SEEMS LIKELY. DOES CHAPTER 2 REFER TO HOSEA DIVORCING GOMER, OR IS IT TALKING ABOUT THE LORD'S RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL? WHY REFER TO GOMER AS A "HARLOT" (1:2) IF THE REAL CONCERN IS HER "ADULTERY?" THOUGH "ADULTERY" CAN REFER TO UNCHASTITY OR UNFAITHFULNESS, IT CAN ALSO BE USED TO DEPICT ISRAEL'S CONDUCT IN RELATION TO GOD; SEE ALSO 3:1. FOR THAT MATTER, GOMER MIGHT WELL HAVE BEEN INVOLVED HERSELF IN THE SEXUAL RITES AT THE BAAL SHRINES;  SHE MIGHT EVEN HAVE BEEN A SACRED PROSTITUTE IN ONE OF THEM.DID HOSEA KNOW SHE WAS A HARLOT BEFORE HE MARRIED HER, OR DID HE FIND OUT THIS ONLY AFTER MARRIAGE?  ARGUMENTS RAGE BACK AND FORTH ABOUT THIS QUESTION. IN SUPPORT OF THE FORMER IS THE NOTION THAT SUCH AN ACTION WOULD HAVE BEEN IN KEEPING WITH THE SHOCKING REALISM OF MANY OF THE PROPHETS' SYMBOLIC ACTIONS ( ISAIAH 20; EZEKIEL 5.) A COMMONLY HELD VIEW IS THE FOLLOWING. HOSEA MARRIED THE PROSTITUTE GOMER. SHE BORE HIM THREE CHILDREN, AT LEAST TWO OF WHOM WERE NOT FATHERED BY HOSEA, AND THEN DESERTED HIM. BUT HOSEA SOUGHT HER OUT AND BROUGHT HER BACK AND RESTORED  HER TO HIMSELF. AS HOSEA'S LOVE COULD NOT LET GOMER GO, SO GOD'S LOVE COULD NOT LET ISRAEL GO FROM HIM. HOSEA'S PERSONAL LIFE REFLECTS GOD'S EXPERIENCE AND WAYS WITH HIS OWN PEOPLE. GOMER BORE THREE CHILDREN, THE FIRST OF WHOM GOD NAMED "JEZREEL," 1:4. THE WORD MEANS LITERALLY "GOD SOWS." JEZREEL WAS THE NAME OF THE LOCALITY IN WHICH JEHU ASSASSINATED JEHORAM OF ISRAEL AND AHAZIAH OF JUDAH, 2 KINGS 9. THE NAME WAS A SIGN THAT IN "A LITTLE WHILE" THE LORD WOULD VENT HIS WRATH ON THE HOUSE OF JEHU ( JEROBOAM II WAS THE FOURTH MEMBER OF THE DYNASTY) FOR THE HORRIBLE CRIMES IT HAD PERPETRATED IN ISRAEL.
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE SECOND AND THIRD WERE NOT HOSEA'S; THE TEXT SAYS, " "BORE A DAUGHTER,SON,"-- NOT BORE HIM A  DAUGHTER, SON," 1:6:8,9. THE SECOND CHILD WAS GIVEN THE NAME "NOT" PITIED."  TO STATE THAT THE LORD WAS DEVOID OF PITY FOR ISRAEL. (NOTE: THE HEBREW STEM FOR" PITY" CARRIES OVERTONES OF PARENTAL LOVE")-- HENCE, "  THE THIRD CHILD, A SON WAS NAMED  "NOT MY PEOPLE" TO DECLARE THAT THE LORD'S COVENANT BOND WITH ISRAEL WAS BROKEN. ISRAEL WAS NO LONGER THE PEOPLE OF GOD! THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE
OF THOUGHT RUNS THROUGH HOSEA 1:1-8: ISRAEL'S IDOLATRY (1;2b) AND A SPECIFIC SIN (1:4). HAVE RESULTED IN THE LOSS OF GOD'S MERCY (1:6), BROUGHT AN END TO THE COVENANT TO AN END (1:9).