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teaching notes : hosea
Intro / Background
Who is this guy?
nobody knows...
maybe from ephriam/israel (northern kingdom) as he references northern geography (e.g. 4:15, 5:1, 6:8)

When was this written?
v1 "during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jereboam the son of Joash, king of Israel"
if you were thinking somewhere around 750 BC, you get a pat on the head.
 
contemporaries :
Amos (760 BC, Northern Kingdom)
Isaiah (Uzziah - Hezekiah, Southern Kingdom)
Micah (Jotham - Hezekiah, Southern Kingdom)

Common Pattern To All Prophets (Don't forget)
* Warning of impending judgment because of the nations sinfulness
* Description of the sin
* Description of the coming judgment
* A call for repentance
* A promise of future deliverance

Book Outline
1:1-3:5 Hosea And Gomer
1:1 Introduction
1:2-1:11 God tells Hosea to marry a 'wife of harlotry' (as a picture of God and Israel).
1:2 God tells Hosea to take a 'wife of harlotry'
1:3-1:11 Hosea And Gomer Have Kids
1:3-5 Jezreel, a boy (means something like 'scatter' or 'sow')
1:6,7 Lo-ruhamah, a girl (means 'she has not obtained compassion')
1:8-11 Lo-ammi, a boy (means 'not my people')
This is the section everyone thinks about when they think about Hosea...
 
Some argue that these Gomer's last two kids aren't Hosea's, as they aren't stated to be his, and she is stated to be a 'wife of harlotry'.
 
Is Hosea allowed to marry an adulterous wife?
Leviticus 20:10 commands that an adulterous person be stoned; Doesn't that mean that Hosea should stone Gomer, not marry her?
- It's possible that Gomer was called adulterous on the idea that she would become so...
- Maybe she's not adulterous by the time Hosea knows her? (she moved to Israel from Vegas or something)
- Maybe there's something we don't understand here...
2:1-2:23 God Speaks Of Israel's Harlotry (Gomer Runs Away?)
2:1 - 2:5 The Adulteress' sin
2:6 - 2:13 The Adulteress will be punished
2:14 - 2:23 The Adulteress will be restored and won back
this is usually understood to refer to Gomer as well as to Israel, because Hosea is busy buying her (is it her?) back in chapter 3, but there isn't anything that explicity states the accusations that are against Israel in 2 to also apply to Gomer. In fact, the whole thing is God to Israel, but it's possible that in the same way that the Gomer/Hosea story applies to Israel/God in Hosea, it is possible that the Israel/God story of chapter 2 shows what is happening in the Gomer/Hosea narrative.
 
Important Verses
2:19,20 "and I will betroth you to me forever, yes i will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion. and i will betroth you to me in faithfulness, then you will know the Lord";
3:1 - 3:5 Hosea Buys Gomer (?)
Hosea buys Gomer as commanded by God (the command includes the comparison to Israel, "as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other Gods...")
 
Having purchased Gomer, Hosea tells her that she will 'not have a man' for many days; this abstinence is to show that the sons of Israel will 'remain for many days without king', foretelling the coming judgement. However, 'afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God'...
 
This is an amazing picture of redemption to an undeserving recipient. (Rom 3:23,24 - Redemption is the purchase of a slave's freedom).
 
Important Verses
3:5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.
4:1 - 14:9 Hosea's Call To Repentance
4:1 - 6:3 Cycle One (Sin, Judgement, Restoration)
4:1 - 4:19 God lays out Israel's Sin
4:1 - 4:3 Israel's sins (social evils)
4:4 - 4:10 God will punish Israel
4:11 - 4:14 Israel's harlotry/idolatry
4:15 - 4:19 Summary of Israel's state
 
God's case against Israel: No faithfulness (4:1), no kindness (4:1), no knowledge of God (4:1, 6), they have forgotten God's law (4:6), and idolatry/harlotry (4:12). 4:2 also mentions "swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery."
 
4:4 "Yet let no one find fault, and let none offer reproof; for your people are like those who contend with the priest"
Is this verse telling the Israelites not to blame others but to accept their guilt? Or is this a statement that doing so would be useless because Israel wouldn't listen (they would even 'contend with the priest')?

Important Verses
4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
5:1 - 5:15 God predicts Israel's Judgement
Note that Judah is mentioned in this section; in 5:5 they are condemned with Israel, and in 5:12,13 they are included in the judgement.
 
5:12 mentions a 'King Jareb' in Assyria that Ephraim appealed to; Jareb may merely mean 'great' (the NIV translates this as 'great king').
 
Important Verses
4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
6:1 - 6:3 Appeal to return to the Lord
The final stage in the cycle (restoration) is not discussed fully at this point; 'restoration' at this point is restricted to the call to Israel
 
Note : Who is the speaker here? ("Come, let us return to the Lord")
- brooke likes the option that Hosea is speaking to the Israelites on behalf of God but as himself. She likes this view because Hosea is the author of the book, so an appeal by him makes sense.
- taylor thinks that this may be Israel speaking collectively (figuratively); taylor argues that Israel does speak collectively in the book (8:2, 10:8), and an appeal by Israel better fits the restoration section.
6:4 - 11:12 Cycle Two (Sin, Judgement, Restoration)
6:4 - 7:16 God lays out Israel's Sin
Judah is included - 6:4, 6:11
 
6:7 - man or adam?
some translations say adam, some say man. (see the NET bible comment)

 
6:11 - is this good or bad?
brooke things that it is bad...taylor says it's a restoration idea...

 
7:11 - caught between egypt and assyria, done in by assyria
predicting who will be the one to judge them...
israel was trapped between the powers of egypt and assyria

 
Important Verses
6:6 "for I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offeringso"
7:14 "and they do not cry to me from their heart when they wail on their beds; for the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves, they turn away from me"
8:1 - 10:15 God predicts Israel's Judgement at the hands of Assyria
transition in 8:1
matches pattern of calling out as in 5:1

 
8:9 mentions assyria, 9:3 has assyria and egypt again.
 
9:9 and 10:9 reference the sin in gibeah
see judges 19

 
10:8 referenced in the nt
"then they will say to the mountains "cover us" and to the hills, "fall on us"
see luke 23:30

 
10:14 'as shalman destroyed beth-arbel on the day of battle'
seems to reference a battle that we don't know about.
10:15 bethel
"thus it will be done to you at bethel because of your great wickedness."
Important Verses
8:11, 12 "Since Ephriam has multiplied altars for sin, they have become altars of sinning for him. though I wrote for him ten thousand precpets of My law, they are regarded as a strange thing."
10:12 "sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the lord until he comes to rain righteousness on you."
11:1 - 11:12 God's desire for restoration
(a great chapter)
 
11:5,8,9 - god's great compassion
 
12:1 - 14:9 Cycle Three (Sin, Judgement, Restoration)
12:1 - 12:14 God looks over Israel's history and unfaithfulness
12:2 - judah referenced
this raises the question of whether judah is used for the southern kingdom or of the north here.

 
12:4 - bethel referenced
where jacob met god... gen 28:10-22

 
13:1 - 13:16 God will devour them because of their sin
13:3 might be the transition...
 
13:7,8 - image of destruction by wild animals
 
13:14 referenced by paul in 1 cor 15:55
reference is wierd though - is it positive in hosea?

 
Important Verses
13:16 "samaria will be held guilty, for she has rebelled against her God. they will fall by the sword, their little ones will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open."
14:1 - 14:9 God promises to love them, heal them, root them
read it and weep...