Hosea 1-3

I have been studying Hosea.  Hosea is the story of the Prodigal Wife.  I will be updating as I learn.

Hosea  

1 The Lord gave this message to Hosea son of Beeri during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash^[a] was king of Israel.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

² When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute,^[b] so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”³ So Hosea married Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she became pregnant and gave Hosea a son. ⁴ And the Lord said, “Name the child Jezreel, for I am about to punish King Jehu’s dynasty to avenge the murders he committed at Jezreel. In fact, I will bring an end to Israel’s independence. ⁵ I will break its military power in the Jezreel Valley.” ⁶ Soon Gomer became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to Hosea, “Name your daughter Lo-ruhamah—‘Not loved’—for I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them. ⁷ But I will show love to the people of Judah. I will free them from their enemies—not with weapons and armies or horses and charioteers, but by my power as the Lord their God.” ⁸ After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she again became pregnant and gave birth to a second son. ⁹ And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi—‘Not my people’—for Israel is not my people, and I am not their God. ^10 [c]“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ ¹¹ Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together. They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel^[d]—when God will again plant his people in his land.

2 ^[a]“In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’

Charges against an Unfaithful Wife

² “But now bring charges against Israel—your mother—   for she is no longer my wife,  and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to remove the prostitute’s makeup from her face and the clothing that exposes her breasts. ³ Otherwise, I will strip her as naked
    as she was on the day she was born. I will leave her to die of thirst, as in a dry and barren wilderness.
⁴ And I will not love her children,   for they were conceived in prostitution. ⁵ Their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful way. She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers  and sell myself to them for food and water, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil and drinks.’⁶ “For this reason I will fence her in with thornbushes.  I will block her path with a wall to make her lose her way. ⁷ When she runs after her lovers,    she won’t be able to catch them. She will search for them but not find them.
Then she will think,  ‘I might as well return to my husband, for I was better off with him than I am now.’
⁸ She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her everything she has—   the grain, the new wine, the olive oil;
I even gave her silver and gold.    But she gave all my gifts to Baal. ⁹ “But now I will take back the ripened grain and new wine. I generously provided each harvest season. I will take away the wool and linen clothing    I gave her to cover her nakedness. ¹⁰ I will strip her naked in public, while all her lovers look on. No one will be able  to rescue her from my hands. ¹¹ I will put an end to her annual festivals,
    her new moon celebrations, and her Sabbath days— all her appointed festivals.
¹² I will destroy her grapevines and fig trees,  things she claims her lovers gave her. I will let them grow into tangled thickets, where only wild animals will eat the fruit. ¹³ I will punish her for all those times she burned incense to her images of Baal,  when she put on her earrings and jewels   and went out to look for her lovers but forgot all about me,”  says the Lord.

The Lord’s Love for Unfaithful Israel

¹⁴ “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there.
¹⁵ I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble^[b] into a gateway of hope.
She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.
¹⁶ When that day comes,” says the Lord,“you will call me ‘my husband’  instead of ‘my master.’^[c]
17 O Israel, I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips, and you will never mention them again.
¹⁸ On that day I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the animals that scurry along the ground  so they will not harm you. I will remove all weapons of war from the land,
    all swords and bows, so you can live unafraid  in peace and safety. ¹⁹ I will make you my wife forever,
    showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. ²⁰ I will be faithful to you and make you mine,  and you will finally know me as the Lord. ²¹ “In that day, I will answer,” says the Lord.“I will answer the sky as it pleads for clouds.
    And the sky will answer the earth with rain.
²² Then the earth will answer the thirsty cries of the grain, the grapevines, and the olive trees. And they in turn will answer,  ‘Jezreel’—‘God plants!’  ²³ At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself. I will show love  to those I called ‘Not loved.’^[d] And to those I called ‘Not my people,’^[e] I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’ And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’”

Hosea’s Wife Is Redeemed

3 Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she^[a] commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.^[b]” ² So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver^[c] and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine.^{[d] 3} Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me.^[e]”⁴ This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests,^[f] or even idols! ⁵ But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king.^[g] In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.

Hosea

Book Overview:

 Ch.’s 1-3 Adulterous wife yet a faithful husband

Ch.’s 4-14 Adulterous nation yet a faithful God.

Main Theme: God’s faithful love toward His unfaithful people.

 Story in a nut shell: Hosea married a woman who bore him 3 kids, & then deserted him & became a prostitute. - He finally buys her back from the slave market. - This was a sermon to the nation of Israel, for committing “spiritual adultery”.  It is the prodigal wife.  God loves us so much that even when we’ve betrayed His love, He comes looking for us. He buys us back, takes us home, cleans us up and keeps loving us.

 1The state of Israel - Israel was split into 2 kingdoms. The Northern Kingdom was called Israel and its capital was Samaria (Ephraim in N. Kingdom) .    Southern Kingdom was Judah and its capital was Jerusalem).  Israel ‘s 1^st king was Jeroboam who set us shrines to worship calves at Bethel and Dan (1 King 12: 25-31.  Israel took pride in its wealth. Spiritually and morally Israel was a wreck. The country’s leaders were corrupt, and crime soared. Israel was Prospering outwardly, but decaying inwardly.

God’s judgment was about to fall. How did the Bible describe the People of Israel in Hosea 4:1? 

 Hosea: His name = Salvation.   He’s the only prophet to come from the Northern kingdom.  Not mentioned anywhere else in scripture.

OUTLINE OF HOSEA   (Hosea means savior/ one who brings salvation)
 I.  The Prodigal Wife, Hosea 1:1-3:5 
   A.  Her Unfaithfulness, Hosea 1:1-11 
   B.  Her Punishment, Hosea 2:1-13 
   C.  Her Restoration and Israel's, Hosea 2:14-23 
   D.  Her Redemption, Hosea 3:1-5 
II.  The Prodigal People, Hosea 4:1-14:9 
   A.  The Message of Judgment, Hosea 4:1-10:15 
      1.  The indictment, Hosea 4:1-19 
      2.  The verdict, Hosea 5:1-15 
      3.  The plea of Israel, Hosea 6:1-3 
      4.  The reply of the Lord, Hosea 6:4-11 
      5.  The crimes of Israel, Hosea 7:1-16 
      6.  The prophecy of judgment, Hosea 8:1-10:15 
    B.  The Message of Restoration, Hosea 11:1-14:9 
      1.  God's love for the prodigal people, Hosea 11:1-11 
      2.  God's chastisement of the prodigal people, Hosea 11:12-13:16 
      3.  God's restoration of the prodigal people, Hosea 14:1-9 

Read Hosea Chapter 1  out loud as a group.

Hosea 1:3 says Gomer’s father’s name: What was it?     Diblaim. It means “ a double portion of raisin cakes” which were an aphrodisiac/ so like extra strength Viagra. Gomer’s name means “felled up with idolatry or fully ripened wickedness).

Why did God tell Hosea to marry a woman like her?  Read Hosea 1: 2. (The land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord. Their marriage was to serve as a living picture of God’s relationship with Israel.

Who did God say Israel was?  Read Deuteronomy 7: 6-8    The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ⁸ But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹  

God chose them… just because.  He set His love on them not because of who they were or what they did..but just because He chose to. Hosea didn’t love Gomer because of who she was or what she did, but because she chose to love her. Gomer is a picture of Israel and gomer is a picture of you and me.   We too are chosen and loved.

Why did they go for false gods when they were loved by the true God?  Why do you thing Gomer went for lovers even after she had the love of Hosea and identify as his bride.  Read Hosea 13:6. What is God saying about His people that may help you answer those questions.  When I fed them, they were satisfied, when they were satisfied, they became proud then they forgot me.           Do you think it is easier to forget God when He has blessed you with a life that is good and easy?    Read Hosea 11:7 to see what it says about the reason for Israel’s and Gomer’s unfaithfulness?    My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.

Names of children: Jezreel – (2:22).  God scatters!,. Lo-Ruhamah! (No-Mercy), Lo-Ammi! (Not-my-people),

6) will became a door of hope!(a valley of hope)

Explain God’s vision for his people in 2:14-23 as stated in Hosea’s poetic language. 2.2.1. Woo her, give her hope, have her singing, be her husband, betroth her, & provide for her.

 2.2.2. Q: What did he expect her to change? Fidelity to the marriage; to be intimate with Him, forsake all other gods, to be faithful to Him, & Love Him.

 2.2.3. Q: What indications do we have that God would take steps to bring this about? (He says “I will” 15 x’s in this section!!!) 2.3. Q: What else would Hosea have to “give up” to get her back? (ask) 2.3.1. Pride, resentment, unforgiveness, grudges, & self-righteousness!

 2.4. Note the word love appears in some form 5 times in this 1 verse. 2.4.1. This is the Muzak(mew-zak)tone for the whole book of Hosea.

Hosea buys her back

3 important words in the NT: 2.7.4. Agorazo – “to buy in the market”. 2.7.4.1. 1 Cor. 6:20 “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” 2.7.4.2. Rev.5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,”

 2.7.5. Exagorazo [ex=out of] - “to buy out of the market” {so as not to be sold again} 2.7.5.1. Gal.3:13 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” 2.7.5.2. Gal.4:5 “to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” 

3

2.7.6. Lutroo – “to set free”. (to release on receipt of ransom/Vines) 2.7.6.1. Tit.2:14 “who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” 2.7.6.2. 1 Pet.1:18,19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

 2.7.7. Hosea paid half in money, & half in grain? Q: Why didn’t he pay for it all in cash? I believe it was because he couldn’t pay it all in cash. It’s my speculation that he is giving his all to purchase her back.

Hosea bids for Gomer! 2.8.1. The 1st bidder calls out, “12 pieces of silver!”…Hosea bids 13.  “14 pieces of silver!”…Hosea bids 15.  “15 pieces of silver & a bushel of barley!”…Hosea bids 15 & 1 & ½ bushels.  Seeing no more bids the auctioneer yells, “sold to Hosea for 15 pieces of silver & 1 & ½ bushels.”

 2.8.2. And so Hosea took her off the streets, clothed her, led her back home, & back to his heart!

 2.8.3. I guess you could say, “Hosea(which means Salv.) caught her(being unfaithful), sought her(vs.1), bought her(vs.2), & taught her(vs.3)”

 2.9. God bids for helpless sinful slaves! 2.9.1. God steps into the market place of sin & buys us out of sin’s bondage by the death of Christ.

 2.9.2. We are Gomer. Standing on the auction block of sin. The world bids fame, wealth, prestige, influence, power…all of which are the world’s currency