Hosea 14, God’s Prophet of Love

The next twelve books we will introduce (Hosea through Malachi) are referred to as “Minor Prophets.”  They are Minor in size but certainly not in message.  They deal with the same major issues we have found prevalent in the Major Prophets.  In fact, Jeremiah, a “major prophet,” even quoted one of the minor prophets (cf. Jer. 26:18).

The Minor Prophets were exceedingly nationalistic, but they were not isolationists.  There were to be no godless alliances with other nations, but they were warned of an isolationism from God.  They were extremely patriotic, and denounced political and moral corruption.  This has given rise to the modern emphasis on the social message of the prophets. (Briefing the Bible, by J. Vernon McGee, p49.)

Here is a list of our verse-by-verse studies of these 12 books:

•   28 Hosea 2017 9/6-29

•   29 Joel 2017 10/2-6

•   30 Amos 2017 10/9-25

•   31 Obadiah 2017 10/26-27

•   32 Jonah 2017 10/30-11/3

•   33 Micah 2017 11/6-17

•   34 Nahum 2017 11/20-24

•   35 Habakkuk 2017 11/27-30

•   36 Zephaniah 2017 12/1-8

•   37 Haggai 2017 12/11-15

•   38 Zechariah 2017 11/18-2018 1/16

•   39 Malachi 2018 1/17-23

Hosea

Hosea prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah in Judah and Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom.  He probably was contemporary with Jonah and Amos in the North and Isaiah and Micah in the South.

He was the last of the prophets to Israel and probably saw the great Assyrian invasion and the captivity of the Ten Northern Tribes (721 BC).  Hence, he lived in the darkest times of the Northern Kingdom.  He has been called the “Jeremiah of the Northern Kingdom.”  Hosea has been referred to as the saddest book of Holy Scripture.  It is, in effect, the lamentations of Jehovah over His unfaithful people.  To make the prophet’s preaching more vivid God taught him the major lesson of the book by means of a heart-breaking personal experience.

His message was principally to Israel (i.e. the Ten Tribes).  The name Ephraim occurs in this book over 35 times, and the name Israel with equal frequency, while Judah is not mentioned more than 14 times, and Jerusalem is never mentioned.

“Hosea” means Savior, similar to the name Joshua.  We know very little about the prophet.  He was from the NK, and seems to have been fairly well educated.  He is often called “The Prophet of Love.”  He had a long ministry, 72 years in length.

His central message from God is that even sin against the love of God will not bring God to deny His love (cf. Hos. 14:4).  God abides faithful!  A simple outline sees Ch. 1-3 as the personal experience and Ch. 4-14 as the national message.