Hosea, Oshea, Osee, Hoshea

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1. The son of Beeri and first of the so-called Minor Prophets (Hosea 1:1).

Hosea

His name means: “Yahweh Has Delivered”

His work: Hosea was a prophet in Israel. Like other prophets, his charge was to call the people to repentance. However, he was also called to show them by his own life what it felt like to be a forgotten and yet merciful God. His character: In obedience Hosea was willing to abandon his own dreams and marry a harlot. His love foreshadowed Christ’s love for the church. His sorrow: His unrepentant and unfaithful wife left him with their three children and a deep, aching hurt. His triumph: Because of his selflessness and his willingness to forgive, his wife Gomer was restored. Key Scriptures:Hosea 1-3

A Look at the Man

Telling stories is often the most powerful way to communicate truth, and speaking in parables was Jesus’ method of choice. But sometimes in the Bible, God asked people not only to tell stories but to live them, to be the parable. This was the lot of Hosea.

The thought of falling in love with a prostitute is repugnant to any man. The thought of marrying her is even more revolting. But this is precisely what God ordered Hosea to do.

How can I love a woman who has “loved” so many? he must have wondered. How can I make a covenant with someone whose conduct deserves condemnation, not forgiveness?

But regardless of his questions, Hosea did exactly as the Lord told him. Hosea married a common harlot, a woman who knew nothing of virtue or faithfulness. As a learned man, Hosea knew that he could not reply to the Almighty’s directive, “You don’t know what you’re asking me to do.” He knew full well that God knew exactly what he was doing. As a prophet, Hosea had been called to preach repentance to God’s people. He had tried to fill his message with the passion of the sovereign God, whose provision, love, and mercy had been scoffed at or ignored. These Jews were even worshiping other gods. The chosen people were playing the harlot.

Now, with this assignment, Hosea would come to understand what this felt like. His love would be poured out to a woman who by the laws of the time deserved nothing less than a public execution for her blatant transgressions. But God took Hosea and made him the fool-the lover of the undeserving, the keeper of the vows, and the redeemer of the repeat offender. And though the people could not see God, they saw in the life of this man a compelling example of divine love-bold and just, yet relentlessly merciful.

Reflect On:Hosea 3:1ÔÇô3Praise God: For his love for you. Offer Thanks: For God's relentless pursuit of his unfaithful and wayward children. Confess: Your own sinfulness and your spirit of judgment rather than compassion for others. Ask God: To fill you with Hosea's kind of willingness to serve and his mercy and love.

The Man with a Sorrowful Heart

Little is known of Hosea's history beyond what we find in his writings. He has been called the first prophet of Grace and Israel's earliest evangelist. He was a native of the Northern Kingdom, the iniquities and idolatries of which weighed heavily on his heart. He bore the same name as that of the last king of Israel (2 Kings 15:30). In Jewish tradition, he is identified with Beerah of Reuben (1 Chron. 5:6). Christian tradition, however, relates him to the Hosea of the tribe of Isaachar.

The home tragedy overtaking him earned him the title of "The Prophet of a Sorrowful Heart." Through the wrongs he suffered he came to realize the sins committed by Israel against God, and the long history of unfaithfulness to Him. The accounts of Hosea's marriage, the birth of his children and his wife's unfaithfulness and restoration make sad reading. Hosea was called to express God's message and to manifest His character.

Gomer, his wife, was immoral; hence the word of the Lord came to him amid much personal anguish; his home life was destroyed. Society was corrupt and God's law spurned, and Hosea came to see in his own suffering a reflection of what the sorrow of God must be, when Israel proved utterly unfaithful.

Three children were born to Hosea and Gomer:

I. Jezreel, recalling the deed of blood (2 Kings 10), and by it a knell was rung in the ears of Jeroboam. The name of this child was an omen of coming judgment.

II. Lo-ruhamah, meaning, "one who never knew a father's love." This expressive name pointed to a time when, no more pitied by Jehovah, Israel would be given over to her enemies.

III. Lo-ammi, signifying "one not belonging to me." Israel had turned from a father's love and deserved not to belong to God. Thus this third child's name prophesied the driving out of the children of Israel from their land to exile.

Gomer, the erring wife, is received back (Hos. 3:1, 2), the price of her redemption being paid by Hosea. So the prophet was not only God's messenger of grace-he reflected God's character and foreshadowed ultimate redemption through the Messiah and Israel's reestablishment as a nation.

The four lessons we learn from the broken heart and the Book of Hosea have been fully expounded by Dr. Stuart Holden:

Anguish quickens apprehension.

Iniquity inspires moral indignation.

Suffering begets sympathy.

The divine character sanctifies human conduct.

2. Joshua's earlier name-changed by Moses (Num. 13:8, 16). Deuteronomy 32:44 gives Hoshea.

3. The son of Azaziah and prince of Ephraim in David's reign (1 Chron. 27:20).

4. A son of Elah, the last king of the Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 15:30).

5. A chief under Nehemiah who with others signed the covenant (Neh. 10:23).

Hosea is called Osee in the New Testament copy from the LXX.