Hosea Quiz

Comprehensive

BACKGROUND NOTE: Hosea is an interesting prophet because his ministry involved more than his preaching: his marriage was to serve as an object lesson for Israel. He was instructed by God to "take a wife of harlotry." Scholars debate whether the woman he married was a prostitute when he married her, but there is no doubt that she became one. The three children born in chapter 1 were most likely Hosea's (the Hebrew has "to him" in 1:3). The object lesson for Israel was that as Hosea's wife was unfaithful to him and played the harlot with other men, so Israel was unfaithful to Yahweh and played the harlot by worshipping other gods. Hosea forgives his wife and brings her back home. This also serves as an object lesson because God promises to do the same for Israel (3:1-5).

1. Did Hosea exercise his prophetic office in Israel or Judah?

2. Name the king reigning at this time.

   Jeroboam I
   Joram
   Jehu
   Jeroboam II

3. Hosea's ministry covered more than 40 years. Name the four kings of Judah who reigned during this time.

   Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham
   Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah
   Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah
   Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim

4. What was the name of Hosea's wife?

5. The name of their first son was Jezreel. This name signified that the dynasty of which king of Israel was to come to an end?

   Ahab
   Jehu
   Zechariah
   Pekah

6. The name of his daughter meant "without compassion." There would be no mercy when judgment fell. What was her name?

7. Yahweh's chosen name for Hosea's second son meant "not my people." Israel would be rejected because of their sin. What was his name?

8. The name of Hosea's younger son, Lo-Ammi, speaks of God's judgment on Israel: "You are not my people and I am not your God" (1:9). But is this the end of the story? What is God's next statement about the name Lo-Ammi?

9. What false god did the Northern Kingdom of Israel primarily worship?

10. By God's design, Hosea's marriage was to represent God's relationship with Israel: they became a prostitute and committed adultery by abandoning their God and worshiping other gods (see 1:2; 3:1-5; 4:11-12). However, the adultery comparison was more than just symbolic. In what way?

11. The Book of Hosea is filled with similes and metaphors. For example, Yahweh likens Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) to an unturned cake (7:8). Can you give two other comparisons?

12. Israel was characterized by moral and spiritual decline, political chaos, idolatrous worship, and apostasy from Yahweh. Their judgment would be an invasion by a foreign power and subsequent exile. What foreign nation would invade Israel and bring the kingdom to an end?

    Assyria
    Syria
    Babylon
    Egypt

13. There are many quotations of Hosea in the New Testament. Which quotation is not from the book of Hosea?

    "For whosoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved" (Rom. 10:13).
    "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Matt. 2:15).
    "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (Matt. 9:13).
    "O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Cor. 15:55)

14. One of the greatest passages in the Bible that promises the restoration of Israel is found in Hosea 11:8-11. Why is it that God will not execute his "fierce anger" and destroy Ephraim?

15. In a beautiful series of similes, God says that he "will be like the dew to Israel" (14:5). As a result, what similes are used for Israel?

Quiz Posting Date: September 7, 2010

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