The Book of Hosea discussed

Hosea was one of twelve minor profits whose book is in the Tanakh. These twelve prophets were named minor prophets because their writings are brief. The profit Hosea wrote in a beautiful flowing poetic prose during a 25-year span from 775 to 725 B.C.

The theme of the book is that G-d sends Hosea to Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II to communicate G-d's despair over their idol worship and reliance on outside nations. 

The book starts as they Lord comes to Hosea during the reigns of the kings of the Northern Region, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and Jeroboam one of Israel’s worst kings. By then, the nation had slid into chaos.

God commands Hosea to marry Gomer, who commits adultery. She bears three children, one of which is Hosea’s but it is unclear if the other two children were his. Gomers then tells Hosea ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’ Gomer then leaves Hosea to go to her lovers. As I mentioned, she commits adultery.

Through delicately woven symbolic prose, Hosea compares Israel’s turning to false G-ds by worshipping idols to a wife who turns to her adulterous ways.

The Lord then tells Hosea to commit to Gomer, and the Lord will do the same to the Israelites. Through beautifully words, we hear ‘There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.’

Marial reconciliation and G-d’s reconciliation with his people is interlaced. “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.’

The Lord said to Hosea, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods.”

Hosea does as they Lord commanded. He ‘bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.’ Then Hosea said to Gomer “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

In a parallel realm, ‘the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.  Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.’

Hosea pronounces G-d’s indictments on the Israelites for worshiping idol and their reliance on other nations.

Hosea then issues a warning for the people of Israel. “Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.”

Israel had abandoned the Lord as they worshipped idols and made alliances with other nations. The Lord pronounced judgement on the Israelites and called for Israel’s repentance, and the book ends with the prospect for a future of reconciliation between the Lord and Israel.

God’s love saves the Israelites, as He forgets that they turned away from Him. G-d as always, is faithful in his love for his people.

The Book of Hosea ends with the verses: The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.