Turning A Minor Prophet Hosea 1:1-2:1 / Hosea 2:13-3:1
“HOSEA WHO?”
We've just begun a series in which we're going from A to Z through ten of the twelve Minor Prophets. When you open your Bible to this section, the final section in the Old Testament, you'll find there first, the prophet Hosea. Personally, I didn't know he was lost! You said we find him there...
Never mind!
For some of us, our first reaction may well be: Hosea Who? He's mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. Oh wait, I remember him. He's the one who inspired our national anthem, right? Hosea can you see..! Apparently, Hosea was a bit near-sighted. He probably wore glasses, too. I like him already!
Oh wait! No, this is Hosea the prophet. Well, if you're not familiar with him, you're in good company. Fact is, not even biblical scholars know much about him. Our information about him is limited mostly to the opening verse, where we're told that he was the son of...Beeri? Ale or Lager?
Hosea, and his stout father Beeri, were from the northern Kingdom of Israel. Hosea is the only prophet to hail from there. We're told “The word of the Lord came to Hosea during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (the southern kgdm), and Jeroboam of Israel.” (Hosea 1:1)
That means that Hosea had a mighty long tenure. His prophetic ministry ran from 785-725 BC. As Amos was wrapping up his ministry, Hosea was just getting started. I can imagine the two of them giving each other a high five, and Amos telling him: “They're all yours! Good luck to ya!”
Hosea lived in the tragic final days of the northern kingdom, during which six kings reigned within 25 years. Four were murdered by their successors, one was captured in battle in a coup e'tat, leaving just one to be succeeded by his son. It was a season of political turmoil, to say the least!
The book is fourteen chapters long, among the longest of the minor prophets. Hosea foretells judgment for Israel's idolatry, skillfully using all kinds of literary devices from alliteration to wordplay, from allegory to symbolism, from metaphors to even tongue-twisters to grab his audience's attention and compel them to listen in earnest to the message God has given him to relay.
In his book God is depicted as husband, lion, leopard, bear, dew, rain and a moth while Israel is pictured as a wife, a sick person, grapes, an olive tree, green fruit, an oven, morning mist, smoke,a woman in childbirth and a stubborn cow, among others. Much of his play on words and tongue twisters are lost in translation from the original Hebrew to English. A classic tongue-twister is that of 4:16:
'The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. Ephraim is joined to idols, leave him be!'
(Hosea 4:16-17)
In Hebrew it reads: sorerah sarar yisra'el, a tongue twister intended to make the reader slow down and ponder the words' double meaning. The consonants of Israel's other name, Ephraim, are:
'-p-r-y-m, which is likened to a stubborn heifer, (p-r-y). The two sentences twist the tongue into knots.
It brought to mind Ginger's recent text: “Pastor Pieper preached a peck of passionate preaches. If Pastor Pieper preached a peck of passionate preaches, how many passionate preaches did Pastor Pieper preach?” Priceless! But as hard as that text was to say, Hosea's tongue-twister is harder still!
Hosea is a two book, prophetic work of literary genious. Book One, (ch 1-3), presents Hosea's marriage to his wife, Gomer, as a sizzling symbol of the covenant relationship between God & his people Israel.
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Book Two, (chapters 4-14), foretells God's judgment for Israel's idolatry, presents an urgent call for her to repent as well as repeated messages of hope for her reconciliation with God and redemption.
It's power and significance is underscored by repeated references to it in the New Testament. Whereas Hosea repeatedly made connections between Israel's circumstances in his day to her biblical past, specifically in God calling Israel out of slavery in Egypt, Matthew, applies it also to Jesus, thereby suggesting Jesus' childhood return to Israel from Egypt was part of a much bigger picture & promise. Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1 to make his point: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
(Hosea 11:1 / Matthew 2:15)
Both Peter and the Paul also quote Hosea to affirm not only how God spoke through the prophet in the past but how his words are fulfilled in a larger context through the global impact of Jesus, of how the good news Jesus embodies is also for the Gentiles. “I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one.” (Hosea 2:23/Romans 9:25)
This verse echoes back to the book's opening verses where Hosea, as instructed by God, marries a promiscuous woman by the name of Gomer, who has three children whose names are symbolic for the waywardness of God's people, Israel. Their son is named, Jezreel, because it was there that King Jehu murdered Israel's rightful king and was responsible for a bloody massacre. Jezreel means, “God scatters”, and points to God's judgment on the reigning dyasty which was established at Jezreel.
Gomer also gives birth to two children, of whom Hosea was not the biological father. Each are given symbolic names: Lo-Ruhman, (which means 'not loved') and Lo-Ammi, (which means 'not my people'). (Hosea 1:6,9) The verse Peter and Paul quote is the verse in which Hosea prophesies God's promise that the judgment coming on Israel will one day be resended and redeemed in an amazing way. Peter and Paul identify that amazing way being God coming to us in Jesus to redeem our sinful past!
Hosea's name itself holds deep meaning. It means “salvation”, as Hosea not only foretells the coming judgment on Israel but also how salvation will ultimately come to all peoples. Even today our names hold meaning. Karen means pure of heart, Amy means beloved, Claudia means gift of God, Arianna meeans holy, Fred means peaceful ruler, Robert/Bob means bright one, Ed means wealthy guardian – show me the money Ed – and Don means prince. That explains why I'm so charming!
Hosea is a book rich in meaningful names, tongue-twisters and lasting significance, but as the book begins I couldn't help but feel sorry for Hosea. What a tough call, to marry someone you know up front is not going to be faithful. Her full name was probably Gomer Liar. If I'd been Hosea my response would've been akin to that of Sir Robin at the bridge of eternal peril. After being told how he'll be asked three questions, and those who answer wrong will be cast into the gorge of pain and peril, Sir Robin nervously looks around and replies: “I know. How about if Sir Launcelot goes?”
Maybe that was Hosea's first impulse when told to marry Gomer. “I know. How about if you pick Amos. He's more experienced. He's faced rejection countless times. Let's send him!” But of course that's not how Hosea responds. “He married Gomer and she bore him a son, Jezreel.” (Hosea 1:3)
It's clear from his book that Hosea didn't want people's pity – he sought their clarity and repentance. He makes it clear that God is punishing them in order to win them back, like a loving parent does when their child repeatedly, willfully disobeys, or like a betrayed husband buying his wife back, which is exactly what Hosea does in chapter three.
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There's an emotional element to his message. They felt Hosea's pain knew, intuitively, how their idolatry made God feel. Hosea declares: He is your lover and you have loved others! “'You burned incense to foreign gods and went after other lovers, but me you forgot', God declares.”
(Hosea 2:13)
The pain of having an unfaithful partner is surely one of the most agonizing human experiences. It's the ultimate betrayal, yet this is how we are described when we reject the love of God for cheap and fleeting substitutes. Imagine going out to eat at the Ajax Cafe and seeing me having a romantic dinner with another woman. Curious, you ask me what I'm doing. “Oh, I'm on a date!” I reply.
“What? Well what about Claudia?” you ask.
“What about her? I love her too. I've taken her out plenty of times.” How would you feel about that? How would Claudia feel about that? I can assure you she wouldn't greet me at the door with a warm smile and say, “Hi Sweetheart. Did you have a good time on your date tonight?”
Newsflash: that's not happening – nor should it! Hosea reveals God's heart for you. God's not keen on sharing you with other lovers. What other lovers you ask? I don't worship a golden calf or little statues. No, our idols look a bit different than they did in Hosea's day, but they're no less enticing.
A biggy these days is pleasure and entertainment. Pay attention to where you spend the most money, your time or energy. What would you miss most if it suddenly disappeared from your life?
Kyle Idlemann tells of a time in which he complied with his daughter's desire for a pet. He had three conditions: 1) It had to be silent, 2) it couldn't shed hair, 3) and it had to cost less than $5.
They settled for a goldfish, and she named it, Nemo. They couldn't take it for a walk or teach it to play fetch so they took it swimming. They went to a swimming pool and put Nemo in a glass jar full of water and set it beside the pool. They thought they'd connect by swimming near Nemo. Apparently, Nemo thought so too because just like in the movie, he leaped out of the jar into the pool. Soon he was having the time of his life, swimming in the deep end, zig-zagging away from their hands: 'come here!'
In the end, Nemo wound up belly up. I feel Nemo's pain. The jar seemed so restrictive and freedom looked so fun and enticing. At first, it must've felt great, but what looked like pleasure was actually poison. This is how the gods of pleasure work. They offer fun and freedom but in time it turns out to be toxic. The gods of pleasure are dangerously distracting in how they hinder our pursuing God.
Hosea reveals a compelling picture of the heart of God – he'll stop at nothing in pursuit of you!
Poet Francis Thompson referred to God once as the Hound of Heaven, describing how his love is more jealous, more zealous, then our stubborn resistance, like a hound on the trail of a fox. Francis was a Christian who led a troubled life. He had health problems, financial problems and addiction prob-lems. He struggled to let go of the false gods that had lured him into the proverbial pool.
As he looked at his life, he kept expecting to find that God had turned his face away in disgust. After all, Francis had made such a mess of things, yet somehow he experienced God in fast pursuit - never giving up on him. It's one of the things that sets Christianity apart from all other religions - nowhere else do we find God in hot pursuit of wounded, wounding, problem-plagued people.
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This reckless, tireless unconditional love of God is perhaps best summed up in Hosea when God tells him: “Go, show your love to your wife again, even though she's commited adultery with another lover. Love her as the Lord loves His people, though they turn to other gods and love their raison cakes.” (Hosea 3:1) Raison cakes were sweet-tasting, pleasure filled gifts to idols. Hosea was urged to love on his unfaithful wife as a witness to the way God recklessly loves we restless ones, even though we are so inclined to make sweet tasting pleasures our priority over our relationship with Him.
The Old Testament is a story of the self-destructive rebellion of God's people. Hosea points not only to this rebellion's consequences but to the promise that God aims to win us back. Jesus reveals just how far God is willing to go to win you back. He's the hound of heaven, who “shows (His) love to the unloveable ones and says to those called, 'Not my people', 'You are my people!' That's our God!”
(Hosea 2:23)