Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,
says Yahweh of hosts.
Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of Glory may come in !
Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,
says Yahweh of hosts.
Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of Glory may come in !
The name Hosea is derived from the verb meaning to save, to deliver and means there means "salvation" or "deliverance." The name ofthe prophet is identical in Hebrew with Hoshea, the name of the last king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They are spelled differently in our English Bibles simply to distinguish between the two men. Hoshea matches the Hebrew more closely.
G. Campbell Morgan summarizes as follows (Hosea: The Heart and Holiness of God, pp. 8-9):
Hosea married a woman named Gomer. As the result of the marriage, three children were born to them--Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi, naming them as they were named. Then Gomer played him false, and he cast her out judicially, as she had left him in infidelity. After a while, when she had descended to the uttermost depths of degradation, having become merely a slave, the property of someone else, Hosea sought her out in her degradation, bought her at the price of a slave, and restored her to his side as his bride.
God intended that, in general, Hosea's marital history picture the relationship between himself and Israel, the Northern Kingdom. In particular, however, Hosea was enabled to speak firsthand of the broken heart that Yahweh had over unfaithful Israel. That was the focal point of the value of the object lesson: to first experience himself and then better communicate what God was experiencing. To quote Morgan again (p. 11),
The result of the tragedy in his life was that he, Hosea, came to understand the heart of God, and what God suffered when his people sinned. He was admitted, through the mystery of his own tragedy, into an apprehension of what the sin of the nation meant against the heart of God. Hosea has been described as the prophet of the broken heart. The pain and agony of the man's heart is everywhere apparent, but it had become to him an interpretation of the agony of the heart of God. In his own experience he discovered what infidelity means to love; and so, that the infidelity of Israel roused, not the wrath of God, though he was compelled by it to act in judgment, but the heart-break of God.
Only what may be deduced from the book itself is known. First, since he refers to the king of Israel as "our king" (7:5), he was probably a citizen of the Northern Kingdom. Second, according to Archer (Survey of Old Testament Introduction, p. 322), "The author's diction betrays traces of a dialect not found in Judah but suggestive of northern Israel near the Aramaic-speaking territory of Syria." Third, his family evidently had some social status, for his father's name is mentioned in the introduction of the book (1:1). Finally, Hosea must have had an agricultural background, because he uses many agrarian terms and phrases.
The reigns of Uzziah (Azariah) through Hezekiah mentioned in 1:1 cover the years 767 through 686, a total of some 80 years. Among the Northern kings, only Jereboam II is mentioned (782-753), his reign roughly coinciding with that of Uzziah in the South (767-740). Taking the end of Jereboam's reign (753) and the beginning of Hezekiah's reign (728 or 715; see next paragraph), one must conclude that Hosea's ministry spanned some 25 years, perhaps even 40 years.
There is a problem establishing the beginning of Hezekiah's reign, the last king mentioned in 1:1. Payne, for example, put it at 728, while Thiele argues for 715, based, among other things, on 2 Kgs. 18:13. The problem of dating Hezekiah's reign is still an open question in Old Testament history. Its relevance here has to do with the date of composition of the book of Hosea.
The messages in the book were delivered over many years. But for Hosea himself to have compiled them, which is generally assumed, he would have had to do so shortly after the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, for Hezekiah is mentioned in 1:1, and Hosea would by then already be quite old. If, then, Hezekiah began to reign in 728, composition would have just preceded the fall of Samaria in 722, the middle of the reign of Ahaz in the South. On the other hand, if Hezekiah began to reign in 715, composition is necessarily placed shortly after the fall of the Northern Kingdom. Since the fall of Samaria is nowhere mentioned in the book, it is more likely that composition occurred before 722. This observation, in turn, becomes an argument for dating Hezekiah's reign from 728. See Archer, SOTI, pp. 291-92, for a more detailed critique of Thiele and the 715 date, and for the case to amend 2 Kgs. 18:13 to read "twenty-fourth year."
The conclusion, therefore, is that Hosea composed the book around 725, the beginning of Hezekiah's sole rule after the death of his father Ahaz.
Archer (SOTI, p. 321): "The theme of this book is an earnest testimony against the Northern Kingdom because of its apostasy from the covenant and its widespread corruption in public and private morals. The purpose of the author is to convince his fellow countrymen that they need to repent and return in contrition to their patient and ever-loving God. Both threat and promise are presented from the standpoint of Yahweh's love to Israel as His own dear children and as his covenant wife."
Unger (Introductory Guide to the Old Testament, p. 334) sees the theme as fourfold: Israel's idolatry, wickedness, captivity, and restoration. But throughout the book, God's unchanging and enduring love for Israel is emphasized. It is the basis for the entire ministry of Hosea and is personally illustrated by the prophet's own life.
There are are points debated by scholars:
Compare 6:6-7 with Matt. 9:10-13; 12:1-8; and Mic. 6:6-8.
See 11:1-11; 14:4-9. Hosea has been called the Gospel of John of the Old Testament.
Compare 13:14 with 1 Cor. 15:20-28, 51-58. According to Hodge (Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 358), "The Apostle does not quote the prophet. He expresses an analogous idea in analogous terms."
Compare 1:10; 2:23; with Rom. 9:25-26 and 1 Pet. 2:10.
The problem is that Hosea is not referring to the Gentiles and yet Paul applies the text to them. The best solution is given by both Hodge (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, p. 240) and Godet (Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, p. 365): in Scripture, a general truth enunciated in regard to a particular class of men can be afterward applied to any other class whose character and position are found to be the same. Once the ten tribes had lapsed into idolatry, they were as the Gentiles in both character (religious apostates) and position ("not God's people"). But they, as well as the Gentiles, are to be restored. Thus Paul and Peter may apply Hosea's description to the Gentiles.
The Hebrew word loosely transliterated hesed is very important in bilblical theologyand is used a number of times in Hosea (2:19; 4:1; 6:4,6; 10:12; 12:6). It is difficult to give a single-word translation in English and carries the following ideas:
Suitable translations would include: steadfast kindness, loyalty, covenantal loyalty, devotion, grace, mercy, love, loving kindness, etc.
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