Minor Prophets

The books of the Minor Prophets were written during a 300-year period of time (~720-430 BC). It is commonly thought that within 100 years after Malachi (the last of them) was written, they were compiled together. They were canonized and immediately seen as being equal to the three Major Prophets.

The prophets spoke of the same God that we encounter today and spoke of the same needs that we have today. To give you a little background, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah were all written during the Assyrian oppression, around 720 BC. They were the first ones. Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah were written toward the end of the oppression. Then Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were written between 520-430 BC.

Setting

The times that Hosea lived in were both good and bad. A lot of parties were going on. There was political stability in the land. Festivals and a lot of religious services were held. However, the people didn’t care much for the common man. They also did not pray to our God much. God held a lot of displeasure toward the people for that reason. The wealthy got wealthy based on oppression of the poor. They were not trying to keep up all of the spiritual rituals that were passed down from their fathers.

Kings during Hosea

Hosea prophesies for approximately 40 years. He was the only one of the Minor Prophets who was from the Northern Kingdom. He did most of his ministry to the people before the fall of the Northern Kingdom, but he wrote the Book of Hosea in Judah after the fall. There were six kings who reigned in the Northern Kingdom during his lifetime. Four of them were killed by their successors so the people didn’t have a lot of respect for the person who was placed on the throne. One of the other two kings was killed in battle. So only one king was enthroned following the natural death of the previous king.

Outline

The Book of Hosea can be broken down into two parts. Chapters 1-3 talk about Hosea and his wife, Gomer. In that section, we’ll see a unique pattern of judgment followed by hope. The second section contains Hosea’s message to the people of Israel. Most of it is in oracles where he chastises Israel. Chapter 14, however, ends Hosea with a glimmer of hope. He talks about what can happen if the people do repent and turn back to God.

Hosea 1:2-5

When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel."

"Jezreel" means "God scatters." The beginning of this line actually began when the house of Jehu took over the kingship through a massacre. It was not a God-appointed line. They killed them at Jezreel.

Hosea 1:6-7

Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them--not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God."

"Lo-Ruhamah" means "the reversal of love." So the Lord is showing through these names essentially what He’s planning to do to the Nation of Israel.

Hosea 1:8-9

After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.

"Lo-Ammi" means "a break of contract." Remember that the Lord had made a covenant with the people. He’s saying that He’s breaking the contract. But in reality, the people have already done that by worshipping Baal and other gods. They didn’t keep the covenant with the Lord, so the Lord is essentially pronouncing judgment on them. The contract is now null and void.

Although he starts this chapter with doom and gloom, he ends it with some very positive, prophetic remarks.

Hosea 1:10-11

"Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, `You are not my people,' they will be called `sons of the living God.' The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

He’s already telling them, "Today is a bad day. Today is the day of judgment. However, you will soon be able to come back together again as one nation under one leader and you will still be my chosen people." Even in a statement of judgment, he’s giving them hope that there is a positive future. However, this has yet to happen, even today. The two countries have not come back together under one leader.

Skip over to 1^st Peter 2:9. I want you to see that there are a couple of writers in the New Testament who refer back to Hosea and use some of these statements to profess about Gentiles.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Peter is talking about the Gentiles here. He took this straight from Hosea where Hosea was talking about "You are not my people now but later you will be." Peter uses these lines. Hold that thought from Peter because I am going to come back to it.

Hosea 2:23

I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called `Not my loved one. ' I will say to those called `Not my people, ' `You are my people'; and they will say, `You are my God.'"

That’s a renewal of the covenant. Notice that it’s not one way but both ways. Not only are the people saying, "You are my God," but God will reiterate that they are His people. One last skip—go to Romans 9:24. I think this is important for us.

Romans 9:24-26

even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As he says in Hosea: "I will call them `my people' who are not my people; and I will call her `my loved one' who is not my loved one," and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, `You are not my people,' they will be called `sons of the living God.'"

This ties the Old Testament and New Testament together. Christ gave the Lord’s Word, spoken by Hosea, new meaning. Hosea was talking strictly to the people of Israel. But Christ gave those same words to the Gentiles. We too get passage into Heaven through Him and the New Covenant.

Chapter 2 of Hosea starts out with Hosea putting his adulterous wife into isolation, just as God was going to place the Israelites into isolation. Both had been hurt. Both had felt they had been cheated upon. The Israelites were breaking God’s 1^st commandment—to have no god before me. However, both God and Hosea still had love for their adulterous ones.

Hosea 2:14

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.

Let’s go back to 1^st Peter 3:15...it’s a great verse.

1 Peter 3:15-16

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

What the Lord is saying there (both in Hosea and Peter) is that not only have we been hurt, but we must be able to give our testimony with gentleness and respect. We must go back and treat them as we would want to be treated. Hosea was going to speak tenderly to her. Whenever we’re giving our testimony about the Lord, we must do it with respect for the ones we’re giving it to. People don’t care about you until they think you care about them and they certainly won’t care about what it is you have to say. You must treat them with respect and set apart Christ as holy.

Hosea 2:19-20

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.

Our God is forever. Our God is a righteous God, a loving God, a just God, and a God of compassion. They show all of those characteristics that we’d like to have in the people who are around us. The Lord is telling you that He is the perfect one. He won’t ever leave us.

After the isolation, Hosea went to get his wife back in chapter 3. The Lord had told him that he needed to get her back. The important thing here is what he actually paid for.

Hosea 3:2

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.

The cost, back then, for a female slave was 30 shekels. Gomer has become a slave. Hosea gave 15 shekels and then everything else was in barley and other things that he had. Hosea was not a man of means. One of the things this tells you is that he probably gave everything he had to get her back. You can see the similarities with what the Lord is eventually going to do. He is essentially going to give everything He has to get the people back.

Hosea 4:15a

"Though you commit adultery, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty.

Remember that Israel had no good kings and worshipped other gods. This is the charge to Judah to not follow the ways of Israel.

Later on, we get the first sense of timing.

Hosea 5:3

I know all about Ephraim; Israel is not hidden from me. Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution; Israel is corrupt.

Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians in 733 BC with one exception: Ephraim. Ephraim wasn’t overtaken until 12 years later. This dates Hosea for us. Hosea was trying to get Ephraim to change and go the way of Judah (who currently had good kings). Otherwise they would follow the same plight as the Israelites. Hosea then chastises Ephraim for turning to Egypt and Assyria for help instead of God. He suggests that they do what he did with his wife—repent and return to the Lord. Neither Egypt nor Assyria was going to be able to protect Ephraim forever. At this time, they were trying to send over wages in order to buy their protection. He was telling them that they could do that all they wanted to but that it wasn’t going to work anyway. It was only through the Lord that they would get their true protection.

Hosea 6:1a

"Come, let us return to the LORD.

But the people wouldn’t. So Hosea went on to say…

Hosea 6:5-6

Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Here, the Lord is upset. He’s saying that His prophets’ words can cut the people to pieces. They speak ill of the people and bring much power with them. The people weren’t listening. They would have burnt offerings but the burnt offerings didn’t mean anything because the people didn’t really mean it. It was just a ritual that they did with no meaning behind it. If you don’t give true mercy to your fellow man and to the Lord, then asking for forgiveness later on won’t bring around true forgiveness.

The people of Israel and today are always given the opportunity to genuinely repent and turn to the Lord but He was grieved by their unwillingness to repent. With so much love shown to Hosea, he was appalled by the Israelites and people today who continue to compromise their worship to God. "As long as I show up for church on Sunday, everything’s ok. It doesn’t matter what I do the other six days of the week." He’s telling us that our walk has to be genuine and sincere. If it’s not then those around us are going to see right through it. The Lord knows. We all make mistakes but we can repent and ask for forgiveness. It has to be a true repentance. But Israel was rejecting God and wasn’t turning around.

Hosea 8:8

Israel is swallowed up; now she is among the nations like a worthless thing.

God pronounces His judgment. God had set Israel apart as His special people and His special country. Now He’s pronouncing judgment—that Israel would be swallowed up by its neighbors. He’s saying Israel will no longer be different from countries around it. They will no longer be His chosen one.

Hosea 10:12

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.

He’s saying here that we must change because we do reap what we sow. He’s telling them to break up the unplowed ground or go a different route because the way they have been going isn’t going to work. No matter what happens, we’re always going to reap what we sow. They must go a different route in order to get God’s full grace.

Chapter 11 shows God’s love for Israel and ultimately, us.

Hosea 11:8a

"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim?

Those were the two cities that were in the plains that were destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah when God passed judgment on them.

Hosea 11:8b-9a

My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man

This is the part of the chapter where God is essentially arguing with Himself. He knows that He has to pass judgment. He has a child who is going the wrong way but He’s having a hard time passing judgment because He loves his people so much. He’s hoping and begging that they would change and turn around. In the end, He’s saying, "I won’t devastate you because I am better than man. I am God." Normally, after being told "No" repeatedly, humans would give up and say, "I’ve done all I can do and if you’re going to go that route, then you’re on your own." Even in the end, here, God is saying, "You’re not on your own because I am better than man." Man would have probably given up by now. God knows that His discipline has more redemptive qualities than punitive qualities. He’s always trying to turn us around rather than strictly punish us for making wrong decisions. He wants us to turn around and come back to Him.

Hosea finishes with a positive response. He calls for us to be repentant one more time and reminds the people that God will still receive them and forgive them. While He will forgive them, He requires that they repent and become faithful to Him. He then uses analogies to show what God’s grace will be like if they give true repentance. In spite of the constant sin by the people, Hosea believed that God’s grace and love would win out and the people of Israel would repent and experience God’s fruitfulness.

Hosea 14:9

Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

This is Hosea’s summary for the readers. The point isn’t that the wise will choose to follow the Lord but that following the Lord is the way to true wisdom. Following the Lord is not a matter of the mind but a matter of the heart because it is through faith that we follow the Lord. Nothing we can read or be taught will make us make that decision. It’s only through faith in the Lord that we will do that. The ways and the commandments of the Lord are right. There are always two ways to go down the road. We must always make our own decision on which way to go. Whichever path you choose, the Lord will be with you. He will never leave your side.