Introduction to Hosea (Hosea 1:1)
Hosea: An Introduction
A Sermon Preached by the
Rev. Dr. S. Randall Toms, Ph.D.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Spiritual adultery is one of the most common themes in the Old Testament. God was in a covenantal relationship with Israel that he often described as a marriage. But Israel, like an unfaithful wife, had frequently betrayed God, her spiritual husband, and had turned to other lovers, the false gods of the surrounding pagan world. The prophet Jeremiah often employed the imagery of Israel being a spiritual harlot. For example, in Jeremiah 3:6-9, we read:
The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. (Jer. 3:6-9)
While the prophets frequently used this imagery of spiritual adultery, Hosea was called upon, not only to denounce this sin, but to provide a living illustration of the horrible iniquity that Israel had committed. As we will see in our study of this book, Hosea was told to take an unfaithful wife and love her. By doing so, his marriage and family life would be a picture of how God also had an unfaithful wife, Israel. Yet, despite her unfaithfulness, God still loved her and wanted her to repent and return to him and be his faithful bride.
Hosea describes what happens to the covenant people of God when they break his covenant and go after other gods, or other lovers, as these false gods are viewed in Hosea. As you know, when the people of Israel entered into a covenant with God, he promised blessings if they remained faithful to the covenant and curses if they violated its terms. The law of Moses warned the people of what would happen to them if they forsook the true and living God, followed false gods, and conformed to the ways of the world around them. As we study the book of Hosea, we will find numerous references and allusions to the law of Moses, because Hosea illustrates how the covenant curses come upon a people. One of the key books we will need to consult frequently throughout our study is Deuteronomy. We can almost imagine that as Hosea is preaching, he has a copy of Deuteronomy in front of him. All the curses that Hosea mentions that will come upon Israel are almost direct citations from Deuteronomy. Hosea merely had to choose a text from Deuteronomy and remind the people, “God said if you sinned in this way, these are the curses that would follow.” Of course, the entire history of the nation of Israel was filled with the consequences of breaking the covenant relationship. How many times since they had been delivered from Egyptian slavery had they been unfaithful, causing God to pour out his wrath upon them by causing them to be defeated by surrounding pagan nations? But the destruction and devastation prophesied by Hosea would be the most severe that the nation of Israel had ever experienced.
Though the theme of judgment upon a disobedient people dominates the book of Hosea, the central theme is that God still loves his people and longs to restore them to all the blessings of the covenant relationship. While Hosea does not offer any hope that the people of Israel will escape the deserved judgment of Almighty God, he does look forward to a time of restoration when the people of Israel will return to him and be faithful.
In Hosea 1:1, we are told that the word of the Lord came to Hosea, the son of Beeri. We don’t know anything definite about Hosea’s earlier life other than this statement. We are not even told about his call to the prophetic ministry. We have detailed accounts of the calls of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, but in Hosea, we are told that the word of the Lord came to him. His name, “Hosea,” is from the same root as the name “Joshua,” which means “salvation.” Remember that the name Jesus is simply the name Joshua, and Jesus was given this name “for he will save his people from their sins.” Perhaps we are given a glimpse here that the ultimate Hosea, Jesus himself, is the one who comes to save a rebellious, unfaithful people. Though Hosea paints a picture of Israel’s sin and judgment, his name reminds us that God still saves and will save his people if they return to him in repentance and faith.
We don’t know anything about Hosea’s father, Beeri. His name means “my wellspring,” perhaps saying that God is his wellspring or maybe that he looked upon the child, Hosea, as being his wellspring. Beeri was probably an important person in the life of Israel, for the names of the prophet’s fathers usually indicated someone well-known, making it easy for people to identify the person mentioned.
While we don’t know much about Hosea’s personal life before he became a prophet, we do know a great deal about the time in which he ministered. We are told that he was a prophet in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, who were kings of Judah, and that he also prophesied in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.” Remember that Israel had been divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Now, let me give you just a little information here to save you from some confusion. God called the northern kingdom by various names. Sometimes you will see the northern kingdom referred to as Israel, sometimes as Ephraim, and sometimes as Samaria, but all three refer to the northern kingdom that split away after the death of Solomon. Because of its location, the northern kingdom had more contact with the surrounding nations. It could be said that they were more cosmopolitan than Judah in the south. This contact with surrounding nations may help to explain why they adopted the sinful ways of the world earlier than Judah. Though Israel and Judah would both be destroyed because they disobey God, Israel degenerated fastest and incurred the wrath of God earliest. God told Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, who ministered in the south, that no one would listen to them. Since Israel was in a far worse condition than Judah at the time of Isaiah, we can assume that Hosea preached to an even more hostile audience.
Now, I’m going to describe in some detail the history of Israel and Judah during Hosea’s time, so that you can get a picture of the political and spiritual turmoil during the time Hosea exercised his prophetic ministry. Bear with me while I briefly explain the historical situation.
It is interesting that, since Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom, he mentions only one northern king, yet four southern kings. You would have thought that he would have mentioned more of the kings of Israel since his ministry was primarily to them. From the reign of Uzziah to the reign of Hezekiah in Judah in the south, Israel had seven kings in the north. These seven kings in the north were Jeroboam II, who began his reign in 793 B. C. and reigned 41 years; Zechariah, 6 months; Shallum, 1 month; Menahem, 10 years; Pekahiah, 2 years; Pekah, 20 years; and Hoshea, 9 years. Since Jeroboam II came to power in 793 B. C. and reigned until around 753 B. C., Hosea may have been born sometime during his reign. On the other hand, in the southern kingdom, Uzziah came to the throne in 810 B. C. Hezekiah, the last king of Judah mentioned by Hosea, began his reign in Judah in 716 B. C. As far as the span of Hosea’s ministry is concerned, we could say that he probably prophesied starting at the latter ends of the reigns of Uzziah in the south and Jeroboam II in the north, and continued his ministry through the early years of the reign of Hezekiah after Israel had fallen and been taken into captivity. Therefore, some scholars think that Hosea began his prophetic ministry somewhere around 760 B. C. As such, Hosea is one of the oldest prophetic works in the Old Testament. The book of Amos, which may have been written around 765-760, is probably the oldest prophetic book. Since Samaria fell in 722 B. C. and Hezekiah began his reign in 716 B. C., we can see that Hosea’s ministry may have lasted around 50 years, but some scholars believe a 35-year ministry is more likely. Since Hosea is one of the oldest prophetic books, as we go through it, we will examine quotations from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel that seem to indicate they were familiar with Hosea. It could be that Hosea’s words found a more receptive audience in Judah than they did in Israel, and those in the South probably preserved his writings. Some scholars have speculated that Hosea may have gone to Judah after the fall of Samaria, and perhaps his writings became well-known because he spent his last days there. Hosea 1:7 seems to indicate that Judah had not degenerated to the degree that Israel had at the beginning of Hosea’s public ministry: “But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.” Nevertheless, by the time we reach Hosea 5, we see prophecies that Judah will also be destroyed for her disobedience to God.
As you can see, these were very turbulent times in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Though only one king of Israel is mentioned in Hosea 1:1, Jeroboam II, Hosea ministered during the reign of seven kings, and four of them died by assassination. He ministered when the threat of great empires caused constant fear to the people of Israel. One of the most terrifying powers ever known in the ancient world during this time was Assyria, and Israel lived in fear that this increasingly powerful force would conquer them. At the beginning of Jeroboam II's reign, Assyria was a relatively weak empire, while Israel, as a nation, was quite strong. By the end of Hosea’s ministry, Assyria had become a great world empire, and Israel had come to nothing. Israel, to one degree or another, experienced invasions of Assyria into their territory at least six times. Can you imagine how horrible it would be to live with the fear that you could at any moment lose everything you had or even your life? Thus, Hosea’s ministry saw Israel at the height of its prosperity and, finally, its complete decimation.
Another key player during this period was Syria. The kingdom of Israel was just below Syria geographically. The relationship between Israel, Syria, and Assyria is one of the most critical subjects in both Isaiah and Hosea. To really understand the background of Hosea, we need to examine what was happening during the reigns of these kings, especially those of the kings of Israel.
Jeroboam II was the last king of the dynasty that began with Jehu, the man who came to power by overthrowing Ahab and Jezebel. Thus, Jehu’s dynasty was the longest in the northern kingdom, lasting from 842 B. C. to 753 B. C. Though Jehu had done a great service by ridding Israel of Ahab and Jezebel, Jehu and his descendants did not seek the Lord with all their hearts, nor did they turn away entirely from the idolatry begun by Jeroboam I.
A summary of the reign of Jeroboam II is found in II Kings 14:23-29, where we are told that he reigned 41 years, but “he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,” and we find that he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam I, who led Israel into sin. Though this second Jeroboam was evil and caused the people to engage in idolatrous practices, God still used him to protect the people of Israel during this time when they were threatened by foreign invasion. He kept them safe from Assyria, and Israel was more prosperous during the reign of Jeroboam II than under any other king. History often teaches us that though a ruler may make a people prosperous, he may, at the same time, be a very evil man. Such was the case of Jeroboam II. The greatest king of the northern kingdom, who led them into a period of great prosperity, was an idolater who caused the people of Israel to continue in the sin of idolatry. We often think that if we are living in times of financial prosperity and relative political stability, then we must be in the right relationship with God. The history of Israel during this period shows that though God may bless a sinful people in some outward ways, he is merely showing mercy to a nation that deserves to be destroyed. For the sake of his covenant that he had made with Israel, he preserved them. However, they were idolatrous, and delivered them from destruction through the ingenuity of a very evil man, Jeroboam II.
We are told that Jeroboam II was guilty of the sins of the first Jeroboam. Remember that after Solomon, the people in the northern tribes followed Jeroboam I, while the people in the south followed Rehoboam. The primary sin of Jeroboam I was that of idolatry, for he made two golden calves and encouraged the people of Israel to offer sacrifices to them. He encouraged this false worship to retain his position of power, for he feared that if the people went to the temple in Jerusalem to worship, they might recognize the authority of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who reigned in the south. To prevent people from going there to worship, he established an alternative religion, with an alternative place of worship and an alternative priesthood. Throughout the history of the kings of Israel, it is often said that they continued in the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. So, Jeroboam II was guilty of continuing the worship of the calves that Jeroboam I had begun. Hosea and Amos both castigate the people for their sins of idolatry and for failing to care for the poor during their significant period of prosperity under Jeroboam II.
After the death of Jeroboam II, the northern kingdom never achieved anything close to the political stability that it had enjoyed under him. Most of Hosea's prophecies were probably delivered during the turbulent years after the death of Jeroboam II.
Though Jeroboam II is the only king of Israel mentioned in the first verse of Hosea, I’m going to discuss the kings that followed him who reigned during the reigns of the kings of Judah that Hosea does mention, so even though Hosea doesn’t mention the other kings of Israel after Jeroboam II, he did exercise his ministry during the reigns of these other kings of Israel that I will briefly describe for you.
The next king of Israel was Zachariah, son of Jeroboam II, whose reign lasted only six months. His reign is summarized in II Kings 15:8-12, and again, we find that “he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,” and continued the practices of the first Jeroboam. Shallum, the son of Jabesh, assassinated Zachariah. Zachariah was another wicked king of Israel who continued the sin of idolatry begun by Jeroboam I. His assassination was a fulfillment of a prophecy made to Jehu that his sons would reign in Israel unto the fourth generation. When Shallum killed Zachariah, that was the end of Jehu’s dynasty.
Shallum assassinated Zachariah, but his reign lasted only one month because Menahem assassinated him. As you can see, these were very bloody times in the history of Israel, replete with conspiracies and assassinations that contributed increasingly to the political instability of the nation.
Menahem was another wicked king, who seems to have been an evil, brutal ruler, described as ripping up women who were with child. In II Kings 15:16-21, we are told that Menahem paid Pul, the Assyrian leader, a thousand talents in tribute to keep the mighty Assyrian king from invading Israel. This “Pul” mentioned here is probably Tiglath Pileser III, who reigned from 745-727 B. C. It is thought that Pul was the name the ruler of Babylon called him, while Tiglath Pileser was the name by which he was called in Assyria. During his reign, he conquered Northern Syria and Babylon. He was one of the most outstanding military leaders in history and conquered most of the world as he knew it. The kings of Syria paid him tribute, as Menahem, king of Israel, would. The fact that Israel could raise one thousand talents of silver shows how wealthy Israel was even at this time.
Menahem was succeeded by his son, Pekahiah, and reigned for only two years. His reign is described in II Kings 15:23-25, and we are told once again that he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. He reigned only two years, because one of his captains, Pekah, conspired against him, gathered a force composed of 50 Gileadites and killed him in the palace of the king’s house.
Now, this Pekah may be one of the most important figures for us to study as far as the book of Hosea is concerned, because it is probable that most of Hosea was written during the reign of Pekah, and what he did as king has great significance for Hosea’s prophetic work. His reign is summarized in II Kings 15:27-31, where we learn that he reigned 20 years, but he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. But it was during Pekah’s reign that Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, invaded the region of Naphtali and Galilee in northern Israel and carried many people into captivity. It was during the reign of Pekah that Israel formed an alliance with Rezin, king of Syria, and they united to attack the southern kingdom of Judah, then ruled by Ahaz. This conflict is sometimes referred to as the “Syro-Ephraimite war” (734-732 B. C. ). An account of this war is given to us in II Chronicles 28:1-8, where we see that Ahaz, like the kings of Israel, did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, for he made images of Baalim, burned idolatrous incense, and practiced child sacrifice. Ahaz also suffered under Pekah, who killed 120,000 of the people of Judah and carried away 200,000 people, women, sons, and daughters, and their own brethren into captivity in the northern kingdom. As a result of the losses that Ahaz suffered from this Syro-Ephraimite alliance, he appealed to Tiglath Pileser III for help, who in fact did assist Ahaz and conquered much of the northern kingdom, taking many of the people away captive. Ahaz was rebuked by the prophet Isaiah for forming an alliance with Assyria, telling Ahaz to trust in the Lord rather than in a pagan king. As we have seen, Ahaz ran afoul of the Lord and Isaiah for entering into that alliance with Assyria. The despicable acts of the reign of Ahaz are described for us in detail in II Chronicles. 28:19-26, where we learn that Ahaz sacrificed to the gods of Syria because it seemed that the Syrian gods helped their people, so why shouldn’t he try to get the aid of these gods himself? Ahaz also gathered together the holy vessels used in the temple and cut them in pieces and made idolatrous altars everywhere in Jerusalem.
One of the most terrible things that Ahaz did was to take the treasures of the temple and form them into instruments to be used in the worship of false gods. We can be sure that Hosea must have known about these terrible things that were happening in Judah, especially the details concerning his alliance with the king of Assyria.
After all of these conspiracies and alliances, Pekah becomes a vassal of the king of Assyria. In 732 B. C., Hoshea assassinated Pekah and assumed the throne. Again, Hoshea did evil in the sight of the Lord, but the Scripture says that he didn’t do as much evil as some of the other kings of Israel had done. In 727 B. C., Shalmaneser V became the ruler of Assyria. During his reign, Hoshea decided to appeal to So, the king of Egypt, for help, hoping to stop paying tribute to Shalmaneser. Needless to say, Shalmaneser was none too happy about that betrayal, and he began a three-year siege of Samaria, or what was left of the northern kingdom. Finally, in 722 B. C., Samaria fell to Assyria, then ruled by Sargon II, and that was the end of the northern kingdom.
Now, quickly let me describe the political situation in the southern kingdom of Judah, which was more stable than what we have just witnessed in the north. Looking at the four kings mentioned by Hosea in the first verse of chapter 1, we see that Uzziah reigned for 52 years (810-757 B. C.). Jotham reigned for 16 years (757-32). He was succeeded by Ahaz, who also reigned for 16 years (732-716), and was succeeded by Hezekiah, who reigned for 29 years (716—687). Hosea witnessed at least part of Uzziah's reign. Uzziah was a good king, though he did not finish his reign as well as he started: We are told in II Chronicles 26:4-5, “And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper” (II Chron. 26:4-5). But the Scripture says that there came a time when he became proud and dared to offer incense in the temple, a task that was reserved only for the priests. Because of this sin, God struck him with leprosy, and he was cut off from the house of the Lord until the day he died, because a leper was ritually unclean (II Chron. 26:16-21).
The Scripture tells us that Jotham was a good king, but like many of the kings of Judah, he strayed in some areas of his life. Nevertheless, the Scripture describes him in a favorable light, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord as Uzziah had done. He is described as one who prepared his ways before the Lord his God (II Chronicles 27:1-2, 6).
The last king of Judah mentioned by Hosea is Hezekiah. Hezekiah, though not without his faults, was considered a good king: “Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done” (II Chron. 29:1-2). Hezekiah did displease the Lord by showing the king of Babylon’s son all the treasures in the house of the Lord, but, all in all, he was a good king. He led a spiritual reformation and restored the worship of God in a way that had been missing for many years.
This brief historical summary gives us a glimpse into what was happening in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. As you can see, this would have been a challenging time to have been called to a prophetic ministry. The nation in which you are called to minister is prosperous, but at the same time, given over to idolatry, and it is on the verge of being overthrown by foreign powers. It is easy to conclude that this period in which Hosea ministered was the most tempestuous and unstable in the history of the people of Israel. Over about 30 years, Israel had known six kings, some of whom had risen to power through assassination. Not only was it a time of significant political turbulence, but it was also a period of unbelievable spiritual apostasy as the people of Israel turned away from the true and living God to worship pagan deities.
I believe that we can learn a great deal by comparing our present situation in the United States with what Hosea was seeing in Israel. Like Hosea, most of us began our lives in a time of prosperity in this country. Though some of us lived through times when the threat of military defeat at the hands of the Nazis or the Communists caused great anxiety, we survived. Actually, our country, like Israel, expanded its influence during and after war. Now we face a time of political insecurity, with the threat of terrorism and even nuclear war being looked upon as a possibility once again. Like Israel, we face times of economic instability: though the people were prosperous during the reign of Jeroboam II, after his death, the country never recovered economically, having to pay higher and higher taxes to keep foreign powers such as Assyria at bay. Like Hosea, we see our nation given to idolatry, and the moral standards based on Scripture that used to be accepted have now been totally disregarded.
There is so much we can learn from this book because we find the covenant people of God, the Church, facing some of the same challenges now. I don’t apply this book of Hosea to the United States, although certainly our nation is guilty of some of the sins mentioned here, and our condition as a nation is very similar to that of Israel. But the United States is not the bride of Christ. The Church is the bride of Christ, and sadly, she has been unfaithful to her husband. The New Testament presents the Church as being in a relationship with Jesus Christ, like a marriage, just as Israel was in a marriage relationship with God. St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:25-27: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Is it possible that the Church, the covenant people of God, can become guilty of spiritual adultery? In II Cor. 1:1, Paul addresses those people as the “church of God at Corinth.” It was an authentic and genuine church, yet he expresses fear that this church may not remain faithful: “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (II Cor. 12:2-3). Paul desires to present the church as a chaste virgin to Christ, but admits that he fears that they might become unfaithful to their betrothed husband by listening to the teaching of false apostles.
The modern Church today is, in many of its branches, a harlot, given to idolatry — a harlot who has traded the truth of God for popularity, prestige, and money. We have formed alliances with the world, actually becoming like the world, to preserve ourselves from extinction, just as Ahaz was willing to form an alliance with pagans to protect his people, rather than depending on God. God tells us not to create such alliances, but we feel that we must use the methods of the world to attract people to the church, or else we will cease to exist.
One of the subjects to which we will give a great deal of time in this study is Baalism. The children of Israel always had difficulty staying away from the worship of Baal, because it offered prosperity and unbridled sexual license. During the time of Hosea, Israel took elements of Baal worship, combined them with the worship of God, and still believed they were worshiping the true and living God. In the same way, the Church today has taken elements from so many different religions, especially Eastern mysticism, and combined them with the worship of God. Of course, the supreme lord and god in the United States is sex. The Church has combined unbridled sexual license with the worship of God. The Church’s teaching on sexuality today is nothing other than combining Baalism with the Holy Scriptures. We continue to sing the hymns, read the Scriptures, and administer the sacraments, but all in combination with the worship of Baal, the worship of sex and material prosperity. The people of Israel had done what the church has always been tempted to do: assimilate and absorb our culture into the worship of God. The Church was placed into the world to transform our culture, but instead, our culture has transformed the Church to such a degree that there is no difference between the Church and our culture. Of course, Christians always use various aspects of our culture in our worship of God. Who can doubt that the culture of sixteenth-century England influenced our worship of God in the Anglican Church? All churches reflect the impact of the culture in which we live. Still, we must be careful not to allow cultural beliefs and practices to corrupt the worship of God and distort Scriptural teaching about how God is to be worshiped and obeyed. We cannot dismiss the Scriptural teaching on sexual morality simply because our culture has abandoned it, and we must certainly refuse to twist Scripture to accommodate our current sexual practices. Though our culture may enjoy certain kinds of music or forms of communication, we must ensure that these cultural practices are not antithetical to the worship of God. Over the past 50 years, the church has completely given in to the world to make itself “culturally relevant.” This is spiritual prostitution.
In many branches, the Church is a harlot who must be punished, and she is being punished, by the way. Christianity is being dominated by the foolish, by the irreverent, by the silly, by the immoral, so that it has become the laughingstock of the world. She is a painted harlot who will compromise any belief, adopt any practice, to be prosperous. But as Hosea demonstrates in his relationship with Gomer, God still loves his church and wants to restore her to covenant faithfulness. Ultimately, the Church will be presented to the Lord as a spotless bride, but the work of sanctification and purification takes a long time
What we learn from books like Hosea is that the people of God can become guilty of spiritual adultery, and God will punish them. Still, we believe that he will not utterly forsake his Church. He will continue his sanctifying work until we find the Church, the bride of Christ, as pure as she will be found in those descriptions in the book of Revelation: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Rev. 19:7-8). So, there will come a day when the Bride will be ready in all her purity. History is an excellent, purifying agent of the body of Christ. Still, until that time, unfortunately, there may be ups and downs, revivals and declensions, but ultimately, the bride will be prepared for her husband. We have to remember that in the book of Hosea, it is not the pagan nations that are guilty of spiritual adultery—it is God’s own people, his covenant people, his bride that is guilty of spiritual adultery. Yet, he pleads with her to repent and be restored to fellowship with him.
As we look at the church in her deplorable condition at this hour, we can hear the promise that God made to his people if they would repent and turn to him. In Hosea 2:19-20, the Lord promises: “And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.[20] I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.” Despite our unfaithfulness, God still invites us to return to him and renew the vows of our betrothal. This is the message of hope that we can derive from our study of the book of Hosea. Amen.