The Book of Hosea is the first of the Minor Prophets to appear in the Old Testament. It follows the Book of Daniel in the canon, but the events of Hosea occur years before Daniel comes onto the scene of history. Set during the middle to late part of the eight century, Hosea lived during the era of the Divided Kingdom and prophesied to a people who had turned away from following the Living God. His message was one of redemption and restoration to a rebellious people and the lessons we can learn from Hosea are as pertinent now as ever before.
The major themes of Hosea are revealed in the first two chapters and then repeated throughout the rest of the book. What are those themes? They are God’s rejection, redemption, and restoration of Israel, His people. All throughout Hosea, it is clear that God rejects Israel’s sin and rebellion against Him. But over and over, God presents Himself as Israel’s redeemer, despite their rebellion against Him. Ultimately, God promises to restore Israel and to one day bring about a glorious moment for His people, when He would establish the Kingdom, forever. Hosea is a book that illustrates a terrible reality in Israel during the life of Hosea and is a call to God’s people to repent and return to Him.
The Book of Hosea features a man named Hosea . . . and this is a point that should not be glossed over. Keep in mind that Hosea was a real human being–a man with hopes and dreams and plans–who submitted himself to God’s will for his life and did exactly what God asked him do, much of which could not have been easy. Hosea the Prophet was tasked by God to live out the message God had for His people, to illustrate with his life–his marriage and his children, especially–what God wanted His people to know. The request God made of Hosea was a dramatic one . . . and it might be better understood as a command. Hosea 1:2-2 is stunning:
“When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: ‘Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry, and children of harlotry. For the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.”
God’s request of Hosea was that he, to illustrate the way in which God felt about Israel, marry a prostitute. A harlot. A woman who was not committed to anyone in particular, a woman willing to give the most intimate part of her life to someone she did not know or care about or want a relationship with. Hosea was commanded to marry and to be intimate with someone who was impure and accustomed to providing “love” to only those who gave her what she wanted in return: money. Hosea was requested, by God, to marry someone who would represent God’s “wife”, Israel, accurately. Israel was, according to God’s view, a spiritual harlot.
Put yourself in Hosea’s shoes for just a moment. What must it have been like for him to be required by God to marry a prostitute? Think of the shame that Hosea would have had to bear: his friends, his family, the community at large, asking why, oh why, would Hosea choose to love her? Which should make us stop and ask the question: Why would God choose to love Israel? How about this one: Why would God choose to love us? The idea that Israel would turn its back on God–the one true God–is inconceivable, really, until you realize that we are Israel, too. Whether we want to admit it, we have more in common with Israel than we’d like to think. If we are not careful, we too can turn away from God and enter into spiritual adultery, a grave sin in the eyes of our God.
In order to understand how serious God takes His people turning away from Him, we need to understand reality in Israel during the time of Hosea. What was so bad that God accused His people of the worst possible betrayal, adultery? Reality in Israel was this: God’s people had not just turned away from Him, they had rebelled against Him in every way they possible could. God’s people worshipped false gods and idols . . . they had even offered their children up as sacrifices to false gods. As Hosea 1:2 puts it, they had departed from the Lord. The idea is that God’s people had turned their backs on Him and were living in complete and utter rebellion against Him. Hosea 2:13 says it plainly:
“I will punish her for the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot, says the Lord.”
Israel is depicted as despicable, chasing after false gods, “lovers” for who she was willing to dress herself up for and pursue with abandon. But the true God, the God who saved Israel, was forgotten. How is that possible? How did Israel turn away from God in such a horrific way? Hosea 4:1-2 states the situation clearly:
“Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: ‘There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed.'” Then again in Hosea 4:11-14, God’s indictment rings out:
“Harlotry, wine, and new wine, enslave the heart. My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, and their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, and they have played the harlot against their God. They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, and burn incense on the hills. Under oaks, poplars and terebinths, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, and your brides commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when the commit harlotry, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go apart with harlots and offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot.”
What was going on in Israel during this time? Israel’s “turning away” from God is extreme. Is is nothing other than unmitigated rebellion. It is a rejection of God and a pursuit of sin. We see that Israel has turned away from God to false gods, idols made of wood, to asking a wooden walking stick for guidance. And the sexual deviancy is untold. Israel is living so completely in rebellion against God that it is hard to imagine God not simply giving up on them and turning them over to complete destruction. And remember this: we are talking about God’s people. The ones who had the God’s word, who had experienced God’s presence, who had been saved from slavery. Yes, that was long before the times of Hosea, but that God’s people had rebelled against Him so thoroughly seems to indicate that those who had come before and knew of God’s greatness had not told their children and raised up generations who loved Him. This rebellion had been building for a long time and now, at its apex, God was ready to bring disaster on His people for their sin.
Try to put yourself in God’s shoes for a moment (like we tried to put ourselves in Hosea’s shoes): God’s special people, whom He has loved with an everlasting love, to whom He gave the promises and HIs word, to whom He had revealed Himself and shown Himself to be mighty and powerful and faithful . . . now, in full sight of the world, were turning to idols made of wood. Turning aside to practices that He had never authorized. Living in such a way that made a mockery of Him.