Thursday 26th June Hosea 1.1-9

INTRODUCTION OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HOSEA

The name Hosea means “Salvation”. This prophet delivered the LORD’s message to the inhabitants of Israel, a land that was situated in the northern part of Judah. He started prophesying a few years after the death of Amos about 750 BC. He prophesied for 25 years before the Israelites’ were taken captive by the Assyrian king. In his prophecy, the prophet Hosea could use Ephraim instead of Israel. His prophecy to the Israelites focuses mainly on prohibition against the worship of other gods. At that time, they uses to worship the Canaanite god called Baal, which they believed that it could give human fertility and productivity in general. That’s what Hosea termed as prostitution. Hosea sums up his book exhorting the Israelites to repent and return to God. Here are the contents of the book—1.1-3: Hosea’s marriage; 4.1-14.1: The sins which God accuses the Israelites of; 14.2-10: The blessings God will bestow upon the Israelites.

Qn. 4

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea,……, “Go take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom,…(2): God commanded Hosea to take to himself a wife of whoredom. This is a picture of how the Israelites had forsaken the LORD, replacing him with gods even if it was prohibited according to the first and second commandments (Ex. 20.1-6). God wanted to teach them through the children who were to be born of the woman. The nation had been involved in idolatry by forsaking the LORD (2C). This angered the LORD so much that he had to name the second child ‘No mercy”, which meant that God could not forgive their sin (6). And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God” (9): Even as Hosea delivered the message to the people of Israel through the names of his children with the whoredom woman, yet they never repented, instead went on worshipping their other gods. This was why the third child was named “Not My People”, which meant that since God’s people had forsaken him, he also wasn’t their God any longer. Warning: Ensure that you always avoid anything that separates you from you Creator.