Overview of the Prophet Hosea

The prophet Hosea’s ministry began some 170 years after, the once mighty Davidic Kingdom, had divided into the two kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judah in the south{[(|fnote_stt|)]}the kingdom divvied in 931 B.C.{[(|fnote_end|)]}. Hosea began his ministry toward the end of the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel (793-753 B. C.), and while Uzziah (792-740 B. C.) was king of Judah. He continued his ministry through the reigns of Jotham{[(|fnote_stt|)]}Thiele dated his coregency with Uzziah starting in 751/750 BCE and his sole reign from 740/39 to 736/735 BCE, at which time he was deposed by the pro-Assyrian faction in favor of his son Ahaz. {[(|fnote_end|)]} and Ahaz (729-715 B.C.; see 2Kin. 18:1). He completed his ministry in the days of King Hezekiah (729-686 B. C.){[(|fnote_stt|)]} Hezekiah evidently reigned for 14 years (729-715 B.C) as co-regent with his father Ahaz so his total reign can be said to be from 729 to 686 or from 715 to 686.{[(|fnote_end|)]}. The total years of Hosea’s ministry were perhaps 40 to 45 years from around 760 BC to shortly after 715 BC, the year Hezekiah began to reign.

Hosea began his ministry during the end of the prosperous but morally declining reign of Jeroboam II of Israel. The upper classes were doing well, but they were oppressing the poor. He prophesied until shortly after the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C. The book records events that took place about 753-715 B.C.{[(|fnote_end|)]}Life Application Study Bible (LASB). Hosea. (Electronic Version){[(|fnote_stt|)]}

The prophet lived in the northern kingdom of Israel about 200 years after Solomon’s kingdom was divided in 931 B.C. (1Kin.12). He was called, as all true prophets are, to speak on God’s behalf to the people of Israel{[(|fnote_stt|)]}Hosea also referred to Israel as “Ephraim” and “Jacob”{[(|fnote_end|)]} during the reign of one of Israel’s worst kings, Jeroboam II. This king led the nation into chaos from which it never recovered. In the year 722 B.C.E., the big bad Assyrian empire would swoop in to destroy Israel (2Kin.14-17)and Hosea had seen it all coming.

Though Hosea is the first minor prophet in the arrangement in our Bibles, he was not the first minor prophet to write a book of Scripture. Obadiah and Joel may have written about eighty years earlier than Hosea. Also, Jonah wrote about twenty years before Hosea. RBP

The book may be divided into two parts, the first containing Hos. 1 – 3, and symbolically representing the idolatry of Israel under imagery borrowed from the matrimonial relation. The figures of marriage and adultery are common in the Old Testament writings to represent the spiritual relations between Jehovah and the people of Israel. Here we see the apostasy of Israel and their punishment, with their future repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.

The second part, containing Hos. 4 – 14, is a summary of Hosea’s discourses, filled with denunciations, threatenings, exhortations, promises, and revelations of mercy.

The central section of the book is a collection of various short messages that Hosea preached over the years. The messages are not in chronological order, but all are connected with Israel’s moral corruption. Corrupt religion produces a corrupt nation, whether in its everyday life (4:1-5:7), its foreign policy (5:8-14), its loyalty to God (5:15-6:6) or its concern for justice (6:7-7:7). The nation has rebelled against God by making alliances with foreign nations (7:8-16) and by giving itself to Baal worship (8:1-14).

Hosea lived in the northern kingdom of Israel about 200 years after it broke off from southern Judah(1Kgs.12). He was called to speak on God’s behalf to the people of Israel (who he also called “Ephraim” or “Jacob”) during the reign of one of Israel’s worst kings, Jeroboam II. This king led the nation into chaos from which it never recovered. In the year 722 B.C.E., the big bad Assyrian empire would swoop in to destroy Israel (2Kgs.14-17)and Hosea had seen it all coming.

The book is a collection of some twenty-five years worth of his preaching and writing, almost all of which is in the form of poetry. The book has been designed to have three main sections, consisting of chapters 1-3, 4-11 and 12-14).

 

https://bibleproject.com/guides/book-of-hosea/

God had promised that the family of Jehu should sit on the throne to the fourth generation. Jehu and four generations of his descendants (Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, and Zechariah) ruled from approximately 814-753 BCE; Jehu’s dynasty ended when Shallum assassinated Zechariah in 753 BCE. The whole history of Israel afterward is little more than that of the murder of one family by another, such as is spoken of in the later chapters of Hosea; and Israel, i. e., the ten tribes, were finally carried captive, fifty years after the death of Zechariah, Jeroboam’s son. Barnes

It refers to both a city and a valley in Galilee (Valley of Armageddon).Utley

was the site of the slaughter of Ahab’s house (the one whose wife popularized fertility worship in Israel) Utley

Throughout history Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley have been Ground Zero for battles that determined the very course of civilization. It is no wonder that the author of Revelation believed Armageddon, the penultimate battle between good and evil, would also take place in this region! https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2001/cli258001

It refers to both a city and a valley in Galilee (Valley of Armageddon).Utley

Quotations from Hosea are found in Mat_2:15; Mat_9:15; Mat_12:7; Rom_9:25, Rom_9:26. There are, in addition, various allusions to it in other places (Luk_23:30; Rev_6:16, compare Hos_10:8; Rom_9:25, Rom_9:26; 1Pe_2:10, compare Hos_1:10, etc.).