Week 1 – Prophet Hosea, Husband Hosea
Day 1: Hosea Introduced
“Hosea put it well:
I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
I'll call the unloved and make them beloved.
In the place where they yelled out, "You're nobody!"
they're calling you "God's living children." Romans 9:25 The Message
Hosea comes upon the scene in 770 BC. This is a time of material prosperity for God’s people. King Jeroboam has extended the kingdom. He has led them to experience military victory and safety from their enemies (2 Kings 14:23-27). For the first time since Solomon was king over a unified kingdom, Israel’s borders have been reclaimed and all seems to be smooth sailing. Were you to look in on them they appear successful and religious. But God has never been into appearances and He knows that the spiritual bankruptcy of the people has not changed with their material prosperity. He knows that captivity is just around the corner if they reject His call. And when God’s people forget Him He is always faithful to send His Word, to tell them the truth and call them to return to Him. These are the themes of the book of Hosea: man’s bent toward and God’s intolerance of idolatry and God’s great and wide redeeming love. Only God could find a solution to the problems we create. Only God loves us enough to even try. Enter the first two characters of our story: Hosea and his wife, Gomer. Their story is told in the first three chapters of the book of Hosea.
Read Hosea 1:1-2 and Romans 9:25. These are the places where Hosea is mentioned by name. Can you find the meaning of Hosea’s name? It isn’t in the text, but might be in your footnotes.
“The name “Hosea” comes from the same verb as “Joshua” and “Jesus” meaning to save or deliver.”[1]
How important is the meaning of this name as you consider Hosea’s surroundings?
Hosea was a real man who married a real woman in obedience to God’s call. He was a prophet, which must rank at the top of the list for difficult jobs. The prophet Isaiah walked around naked and barefoot for three years (Is. 20:3-5), and Ezekiel ate food cooked with manure (Ez. 4). Seriously, I don’t think many young Israelites were hanging out at the “prophet booth” on career fair day. The prophet didn’t often get the privilege of leading the people through the joyous recitations of the pleasant parts of the Scriptures. Instead, he got the harrowing task of telling them the truth about their lifestyles and the condition of their lives inside out. Correcting cranky, rebellious, spoiled, religious people who don’t like to be bossed – this was Hosea’s job. His marriage was not easy, it was the “tragedy of a good marriage that began well and went bad.”[2] And, it is also part of our story with God. God is serious and creative about getting the attention of His people. He knows that we are moved by a love story. He created us that way and uses romance to draw us to Him still. He called Hosea to a difficult marriage to illustrate His own love relationship with His people. That fact is stated emphatically in the book of Hosea. Here, in Hosea 1, is one of my favorite images of Hosea. I imagine Hosea’s heart swelling and his throat tightening as he is filled with longing to share God’s Words with the people. I’m sure the burden of their denial of God was something that already caused him great pain. He is listening carefully with a holy desperation to hear God’s voice and he does. See him hearing God’s call for the first time.
Read Hosea 1:2 and summarize God’s call to Hosea. It would be helpful to read it in two or three versions.
God calls him to a marriage that will break his heart and risk his unborn children. Do you imagine he thought he’d misheard? I wonder if he would rather have been called to walk around naked or eat poop. Some of you have endured the splintering pain of an affair in your marriage. What if God had allowed you to see that path before you walked through it? Would you have chosen it knowing only that through the pain there would be redemption and God’s glory?
Have you ever asked God for a glimpse like this? Why do we do this?
Read Hosea’s reaction and note it:
Nothing fancy, no bargaining or counter-offers, just obedience. Do you see why this is one of my favorite pictures of him in the book? He trusted God with great courage knowing the obstacles ahead would be insurmountable without Him. He was willing for the sake of God’s Words.
Perhaps you’ve heard parts of these prophetic books (much of what is between Psalms and Matthew) used to accuse God of being harsh and unloving. How can a loving God say such things? How can He do such things? Have you ever dealt with questions like that, what were they?
When Christians can’t answer these questions we tend to pick out the warm fuzzy verses and ignore the rest. As I guide you through Hosea, I have no fancy credentials to give you here. I have no plans to wow you with my intellect in these verses. I just wrote the word poop, for heaven’s sake! I am a pastor’s wife, a momma, and a Bible Teacher. If you leave this study and don’t feel that Hosea was written for you, if you don’t walk away convinced that God’s love is greater than anything else you have loved back, if you don’t walk away from this study more confident in God’s Word with chains falling as you walk into your future, then this effort is a failure in my eyes. I love God’s Word and believe that ALL of it is for ALL of us. No smarty-pants efforts here, just real attachment to God and His Word.
Jamy Fisher is a wife and mother who has served alongside her husband, a pastor, for seventeen years. One of her greatest joys in life is seeing women grow in their own ability to study the Bible. Jamy lives and ministers in Oklahoma. Visit her online at jamyfisher.blogspot.com.