Hosea and his family a portrait of grace

Hosea and his family a portrait of grace

The book of Hosea

An unusual start…

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself

a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great

whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

An unusual start…

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a

wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great

whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” Hosea 1:2

Background• Manasseh was king, perhaps worse of the kings of

Israel

• Jeremiah was born around then

• Josiah would re-‘discover’ the Bible in his reign after

• and Hosea would start his ‘love of another kind’ unexpected and long ministry… perhaps the longest of the ministries of the ‘major’ and ‘minor’ prophets

Background

• Hosea means salvation

• It’s similar to Joshua who Moses renamed Yehoshua (God saves)

the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have

children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking

the Lord. Hosea 1

So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him

a son.

And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish

the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will

put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow

of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

Hosea 1:3-5

Hosea’s first child was Jezreelreferring back to when Jehu over punished

violently and with injustice. God will recompense

She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have

mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by

horsemen.” Hosea 1: 6-7

Hosea’s second child was no pity

When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your

God.” Hosea 1:8:9

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not

my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” And the children of Judah and the children of Israel

shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land,

for great shall be the day of Jezreel. Hosea 1:10-11

and third child was not mine

And Gomer was put on auctionand the bidding was low but

more money than Hosea had and he had to add some money plus barley to buy back Gomer

“So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.” Hosea 2

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.15 And there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.Hosea 2:14

“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’

A tender husband, not a masterHosea 2:16

And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;

and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’” Hosea 2

Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

A strange reversal?

.. even us whom He called, not from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed He says in Hosea:

“Those who were not my people I will call My people and her who was not beloved I will call

beloved. And in the very place it was said to them, ‘ you are not My people.’ there they shall be called

‘the sons of the living God.”Romans 9:24-46

A hope for the future and a figure in the type of David

Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

A need for now

Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; Hosea 4:1,2

  Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away. Hosea 4:3

With the story of Hosea’s family set before the readers, Hosea moves on

• the sin of Israel causes even the land to mourn, the birds, fish and animals to die.

Affairs of home move on to affairs of the nation

Hosea, like Churchill says war is at the doorstep and describes battle

cries from several places within walking distance

of Jerusalem

Like Adam, the covenant was transgressed

The princes get sick with wine The King mocks

The priests lay in wait like robbers for people

Hosea paints a picture of Israel,like a lump of dough

mixed in with the nations

Israel was like a luxurious vine yet….

…yet they turned to idols on every side

Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me.

They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.

They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind

It is as if the clouds are filled with rain that never comes

Yet God stretches out His everlasting arms

Israel grasped at the heel

a look back

Looking back in the past, Jacob encounters God but struggles with issues of sanctification, even idols

used by his favorite wife

• Like Jacob, the nation of Israel encountered God at points in his life but struggled with sanctification

• Hosea recounts turning points in Jacob’s life, Jacob renamed Israel

The striped, speckled or not sheep deals. A lesson on cheating and being cheated

and problems dealings with his uncle

Other issues in the past: Jacob wrestles God for a blessing

yet struggles with issues with deception with others

In the womb he took his brother by the heel,    and in his manhood he strove with God.He strove with the angel and prevailed;     he wept and sought his favor.He met God at Bethel,    and there God spoke with us—the Lord, the God of hosts,     the Lord is his memorial name:“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice,     and wait continually for your God.” Hosea 12:3-6

Hosea 12:6

‘Hold fast to love and justice’ Hosea 12:6

Just as Jacob grabbed his brother’s heel and wrestled with an angel ( perhaps God?) until Jacob was blessed by Him.

When Israel was a child I loved him andOut of Egypt I called My son

Hosea 11:1

Out of Egypt I called My son

Why go back to the time in Egypt

• Jesus will be portended by Israel in some ways, coming out of Egypt

• Unlike Israel, now displaying faithfulness, Jesus will display true and full sonship of God

• But God will redeem and restore unfaithful Israel

They shall go after the LORD; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from

the west; Hosea 11:10

11 they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.

Hosea 11:11

My people refuse to listen

They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; even their altars will be like heaps of rocks on the furrows of a field. Hosea 12:11

“It is said of those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”  Hosea 13:2

God makes a future promise about the consequence of sin, the sting and bite of death

and the grave

I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes. Hosea 13:14

The promise will be met much later and will be left until the death resurrection of Jesus

to be answered more fully

.. then shall come to pass the sayingDeath is swallowed up in victory

Death where is your victoryO Death, where is your string

1 Cor 15:34b - 35

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,    for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Take with you words     and return to the Lord;

Hosea 14:1-2

Encouragement followed by invitation:

…. say to him,     “Take away all iniquity;

accept what is good,    and we will pay with bulls    the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us;

    we will not ride on horses;and we will say no more, ‘Our God’,    to the work of our hands.In you the orphan finds mercy.”

Hosea 14:2-3

I will heal their apostasy;     I will love them freely,     for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel;     he shall blossom like the lily;     he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out;     his beauty shall be like the olive,     and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;     they shall flourish like the corn; they shall blossom like the vine;     their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Hosea 14:4-7

O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?     It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress;     from me comes your fruit

Hosea 14:8

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;    whoever is discerning, let him know them;for the ways of the Lord are right,    and the upright walk in them,    but transgressors stumble in them.

Hosea 14:9

Hosea is

the 10th most

quoted Old

Testament book by the New

Testament