Studying Hosea 1

Just something I was studying today…

Hosea 1

¹ The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash ^[a] king of Israel:

Hosea’s Wife and Children

² 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.” ³ So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴ 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. ⁵ In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah, ^[b] for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. ⁷ 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.”

⁸ After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. ⁹ Then the LORD said, “Call him Lo-Ammi, ^[c] for you are not my people, and I am not your God.

¹⁰ “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.’ ¹¹ 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.

Just in this chapter itself…there is sooo much information.

I see history, I see prophecy, I see hope.

I did a little research on this passage and I was blown away with all the juice I could get out of it!!

If u’re interested, go do your own research because its difficult for me to explain everything here.

I’ll just note down a few points that caught my attention:)…

Just a brief overview of the passage for better understanding…I quote from Coffman’s Commentary

This chapter details the prophecy of the doom of Israel as typically enacted in the tragic marital experience of the prophet himself. The infidelity (action of being unfaithful to the spouse)of Hosea’s wife, Gomer, portrayed the apostasy (abandonment of a religious belief) of Israel; and Hosea’s altruistic(selfless concern) and unfailing love depicted the unmerited love and favor of God which continued to be lavished upon faithless Israel. The names given through inspiration to the three children also foreshadowed (warning or indication of a future event)the ultimate rejection and destruction of the once “chosen people.” Thus, the word of the prophet took on new power and validity because, “It was a word spoken by one whose life authenticated the word.”…Regarding the reason why Gomer’s marriage to Hosea is regarded here as historical fact, rather than as an allegory or vision, see the introduction, above.

Points to note:

• The first son was Hosea’s as you can see the phrase “she conceived and bore him a son”
• The second and third child were probably not his as there were no further mentions of any belonging to Hosea (note sentence structure is different from the first)
• Who or What is Jazreel?

Quoted from the New John Gill Exposition…

…the blood of Joram the son of Ahab, and seventy other sons of his, and all his great men, kinsfolks and priests, shed by Jehu(10th king of Israel) in this place; and though this was done according to the will of God, and for which he received the kingdom, and it was continued in his family to the fourth generation; yet, in as much as this was not done by him from a pure and hearty zeal for the Lord and his worship, and with a sincere view to his glory, but in order to gain the kingdom, increase his power, and satiate his tyranny and lust; and because, though he destroyed one species of idolatry, the worship of Baal, yet he continued another, the worshipping of the calves at Dan and Bethel, and regarded not the law of the Lord, and so his successors after him; and were the means of causing many to sin, and so consequently of the ruin of many souls, whose blood would be required of them, which some take to be the meaning here; this is threatened; see (2 Kings 9:24,25) (10:1-7,11,16,28-31) . It may be observed, that God sometimes punishes the instruments he makes use of in doing his work; they either over doing it, exercising too much cruelty; and not doing it upon right principles, and with right views, as the kings of Assyria and Babylon, (Isaiah 10:5,7) (Zechariah 1:15) .

Quoting from Coffman’s…

This town gave its name to the eastern portion of the great plain between Galilee and Samaria, the western part being called Esdraelon. Megiddo, the ancient stronghold of the pre-Israelite Canaanites, from which is derived the name Har-Megiddo, or Armageddon, was also on this plain. The town of Jezreel was where Ahab and Jezebel established their summer residence, and there the shameful murder of Naboth occurred. The place was especially associated with the massacre of Ahab’s seventy sons by Jehu who replaced Ahab’s dynasty with his own. It was in Jezreel that the dogs licked the blood of Ahab and Jezebel’s body was dishonored and eaten by the dogs. What a horrible name to give an innocent little child! But God had a purpose in this. It was the signal that the atrocities of Jezreel were not forgotten and that the divine vengeance was soon to fall upon the whole nation.

The blood of Jezreel probably refers to all of the many vicious and godless crimes perpetrated there, but the particular application would seem to be to Jehu’s inhumane and ruthless murder of the house of Ahab, in which one of the kings of Judah, Ahaziah, was also slain. God, through one of his prophets, had commanded Jehu to destroy the house of Ahab; but the brutal and inhuman manner in which he did it showed that:

“He had been motivated by selfishness and an unholy aim and desire on his part. He had no concern for the will of God, but only for his own will.”^F20

Jehu promptly adopted the very sins for which God had decreed the destruction of the house of Ahab. “He took no heed to walk in the way of Jehovah, the God of Israel” (2 Kings 10:31).

• v7 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.”

This remarkable prophecy was literally fulfilled when the army of Sennacherib came up against Jerusalem and king Hezekiah in the sixth year of that monarch’s reign, only to be destroyed in a single night by a miraculous deliverance brought about by the sudden death of 185,000 of Sennacherib’s troops, as recounted in 2 Kings 18–19. [Coffman's]

I did some research on this…here are some links you can check out with regards to King Sennacherib and the mysterious death of his troops (historically proven)…

http://www.bible-history.com/sketches/ancient/sennacherib-khorsabad.html

http://www.formerthings.com/sennacherib.htm

http://near-eastern-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/sennacheribs_siege_of_jerusalem_701_bc

http://www.bible-history.com/empires/prism.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sennacherib (yes i even wiki-ed it=X)

The brief summary of it was that King Sennacherib was feared by many. The Assyrian army was strong and were known for skinning people alive (their specialty) and then nailing them on walls as a warning to anyone who wanted to rebel. Miraculously, they tried to invade Jerusalem but failed to do so.185 000 troops were somehow killed overnight. Greek historians link it to some sort of rodent plague but its unverifiable… King Sennacherib fled back to Nineveh to be murdered by his two sons (as mentioned in the Bible and in historical references)

• v10 is mentioning/ prophesying the future Gentile generation that God will receive to call His own (i.e. christians today)

In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

• The idea of Jesus Christ coming and re-uniting people is mentioned here…

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.

Quoted from Wesley’s Explanatory Notes…

…this is spiritually to be understood of the whole Israel of God. One head - Zerubbabel, who was appointed by Cyrus, yet with full approbation of the people. And so Christ is appointed by the Father, head of his church, whom believers heartily accept. Come up – Literally out of Babylon, spiritually out of captivity to sin and to Satan. Great – Good, joyous and comfortable. Of Jezreel - Israel is here called Jezreel, the seed of God. This seed is now sown in the earth, and buried under the clods; but great shall be its day, when the harvest comes. Great was the day of the church, when there were daily added to it such as should be saved.

Read on chapter 2 to see of God’s amazing grace as He chooses to restore His people after punishment… (something we don’t deserve)

When I read it… its as if the chapter was re-telling the gospel all over again. Amazing*.*! The undeserving love we’re receiving from God is written all over His Word!! God is telling us something…can we see it?