Background on Hosea

AUTHOR

Verse 1 of chapter 1 identifies these as “the words of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri…” Since these were the oracles given to Hosea, it makes most sense to assume that he is also the one who wrote them down for us. Nothing more is known about Hosea than what we find in the book itself.

THEME

Yahweh displays His anger and compassion toward His idolatrous people and calls them to return to Him.

BACKGROUND

1:1 lists the kings during whose reigns Hosea prophesied. Four Judean kings are listed (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah). One Israelite king is listed: Jeroboam the son of Joash (also known as Jeroboam II).

While Judah, the southern kingdom, is addressed, the primary audience of the book is the northern kingdom of Israel, which no longer submitted to the line of Davidic kings.

The time of Hosea’s ministry was rather prosperous, but the threat of Assyria was continuously growing. Throughout the book, the LORD rebukes Israel’s hopes of buying off the Assyrians with tributes and treaties. Indeed, Israel’s desolation after Assyria sacked Samaria in 722 BC sets a perpetually tragic tone to the book.

Just as God declares in the first two chapters, we as readers know that God’s warnings were not empty threats.

PURPOSE

Israel broke their covenant with Yahweh. Whenever He spoke to them from Mount Sinai after liberating them from their slavery in Egypt, He commanded them not to have other gods nor to worship with any kind of image. Israel did both. They worshiped false gods like Baal and Asherah, but they also worshiped Yahweh through golden calves that Jeroboam I erected in Dan and Bethel. They had broken God’s law and His covenant with them.

There are two main sections of the book: chapters 1-3 and 4-14.

The first three chapters give us the frame for understanding the remainder of the book. They compare Israel’s idolatry to marital adultery, which is displayed through Hosea’s own marriage to Gomer, a wife of whoredom. Even though the marriage of Hosea and Gomer only appears in chapters 1 and 3, it sets the tone and image for the whole book.

Chapter 2 is perhaps the most important chapter for interpreting the book. This is where the LORD reveals His overall plan for Israel, even beyond the coming judgment that He will inflict upon them through the Assyrians.

Chapters 4-14 are a series of oracles given to Israel through Hosea. These chapters can also be divided into two sections. 4:1-11:11 is essentially Yahweh’s legal case against Israel for breaking their covenant. A distinctive feature of these chapters is the vivid metaphors and similes that are used to describe Israel. This section concludes with a moving display of God’s heart for Israel in 11:1-11.

The final chapters make Yahweh’s final appeal to His people. Indeed, chapter 14, which was anticipated by 6:1-3, gives us the great message of the book: return to the LORD. All of Hosea is one great call for repentance.

Indeed, the final verse of the book is the charge for all who study its words:

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the LORD are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.