HOSEA 

, or, in Hebrew, Hosheʿa (mid-eighth century bce), was

a Hebrew prophet whose words are recorded in the
biblical Book of Hosea. Hosea prophesied during the reign of
Jeroboam II of the northern kingdom of Israel (787/6–747/6
bce), which was a period of economic prosperity and political
stability. There are, however, a number of allusions in the book
to either war (5:8ff.) or political anarchy (7:1ff., 10:3, 13:10–11),
which may suggest that Hosea continued to prophesy until the
fall of Samaria in 722. This fits well with the superscription's list
of the Judahite kings (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah)
during whose reigns Hosea prophesied. Hosea's prophetic
emphasis is mainly on domestic affairs, especially the cultic
situation.

Hosea's Marriage And His Prophetic Message

The information on Hosea's background is minimal. There is
information, however, about a unique personal experience in his
life, a peculiar marital episode. God had commanded Hosea to
marry a harlot, one Gomer, daughter of Diblaim (1:3), who bore
him two sons and one daughter. This marriage and its
consequences, interpreted in religio-theological terms, form the
major theme of chapters 1–3. The story of the marriage is told
twice. The first account (chap. 1) is in the third person, while the
second (chap. 3) is reported directly by Hosea. The significance
of Hosea's marriage to a harlot and the text's repetition of the
story of this marriage have been major issues in research
on Hosea. Should God's order to "go, take to yourself a wife of
harlotry and have children of harlotry" (1:2) be read literally or
only as a metaphor for the nation's religious attitude, with
Hosea the faithful husband representing God, and Gomer the
unfaithful wife representing Israel? Is a "harlot" defined as a
professional prostitute or as a sacred prostitute (cf. Amos2:7)?
There are no clear answers to these questions. One should not
ignore, however, the prophets' tendency to dramatize events
literally (e.g., Is. 20:2, Jer. 28:10, Am. 8:1–3) and therefore the
possibility that Hosea married a harlot (professional or sacred)
to symbolize the content of his message. The
root znh("harlotry") appears no fewer than nineteen times in his
prophecy, always in key passages. Hosea's personal
experience is thus the paradigm of his prophetic message that
Israel has betrayed God. The relationship between God and
Israel is like that between man and woman, husband and wife,
where Israel is the unfaithful wife and God the loving and
forgiving husband, who calls to his wife to repent and come
back to him (see 2:14ff. [Masoretic text 2:16ff.]). The names of
Hosea's three children, dictated to him by God, further express
his prophetic message. The elder son is called Jezreel because
"I will punish the House of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel" (see 1
Kgs. 19:15–17; 2 Kgs. 9–10) and "I will put an end to the
kingdom of the house of Israel" (Hos. 1:4). His daughter is
named Loʾ-ruḥamah ("not pitied"), "for I will no more have pity
on the house of Israel" (1:6), and the younger son is called Loʾ-
ʿammi ("not my people"), "for you are not my people and I am
not your God" (1:8).
No other prophet has portrayed the relationship between God
and the people of Israel in such rich images of harlotry and vivid
descriptions of the unfaithful wife. Indeed, the key words of
Hosea's message are words that connote "fidelity" (ḥesed;4:4,
6:4, 6:6), an emotional relationship with God (daʿat Elohim ; 4:1,
6:6) and repentance (shuvah; 6:1, 6:11, 7:10, 12:7).
Hosea's protestations against the unfaithful marriage also raise
questions as to the nature of the Israelite religion of this time,
because the Hebrew word for "husband," baʿal, also connotes
the chief Canaanite god. Thus, a renewed relationship of fidelity
between God and Israel will be expressed in new terms for
marital relationships: "And in that day, says the Lord, you will
call me 'my man' [ʾishi ], and no longer will you call me 'my
husband' [baʿali ]" (2:16 [MT 2:18]). Scholars call attention to
the possibility of religious syncretism that may have taken place
in Israel. Archaeological findings in Kuntillet ʿAjrud in Sinai may
indicate that a cult of Yahveh, with Baal as either an alternative
name or a co-god, existed toward the end of the ninth century
bce. Hosea may thus have been protesting against a cult of
fertility that involved sacred harlots and was practiced in his
own agricultural society. Hosea also called to renew
the beritbetween Israel and God. Many scholars
translate beritas "covenant" and reject the existence of the
concept of formal covenant between God and Israel prior to the
later appearance of the Deuteronomistic school.
Nevertheless, berit occurs in Hosea at least five times (see
especially 6:7 and 8:1) and may be understood in terms of
faithful marriage, as the context of Hosea's prophecy suggests.

Hosea And Earlier Tradition

Hosea is opposed to fundamental institutions of his society. He
criticizes the priests (4:4–10) as well as the political leaders and
even the monarchs of his kingdom.
Where now is your king, to save you;
where are all your princes, to defend you—
those of whom you said, "Give me a king and
princes"?

I have given you kings in my anger,

and I have taken them away in my wrath. (13:10–
11, RSV)
He is the only prophet to anchor his reservations about kings in
ancient antimonarchical traditions (see 1 Sm. 8:5ff.). Hosea's
disappointment in the kings of Israel may also mirror the
political situation that followed the death of Jeroboam II.
Jeroboam's son Zechariah ruled for six months and was
assassinated by Shallum, who governed for just one month and
was killed by Menahem (2 Kgs. 15:8ff.). Two other Israelite
kings were also assassinated before the fall of the kingdom, for
a total of four out of six kings murdered within approximately
twenty-five years.
Hosea does not see himself as an innovator. He speaks for and
identifies himself with the long prophetic tradition that started
with Moses (12:13 [MT 12:14]; see also 6:5, 9:7, 12:10 [MT
12:11]). He has no illusions about the effect of his address, as
he points out in 9:7: "The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit
is mad." But he does not withdraw, regarding himself as "the
watchman of Ephraim" (9:8), following prophetic tradition (cf.
3:17ff.). (In Hosea this tribe's name is often used for the entire
northern kingdom.) He is familiar with traditions about the
patriarch Jacob—his birth (Hos. 12:3 [MT 12:4]), his struggle
with the angel (12:4 [12:5]), his devotion to his beloved wife
Rachel, and his flight from the land of Aram (12:12 [12:13]). He
refers to the period of the Exodus (2:15 [2:17], 11:1, 13:4); to
Moses, the prophet who brought Israel up from Egypt (12:13
[12:14]); and to Israel's unfaithful behavior in the desert at
Baʿal-peʿor (9:10; see Nm. 25:1–18), when God punished the
people by means of a plague for committing cultic-sexual sins.
Hosea even refers to a certain version of the Decalogue (4:2;
cf. Jer. 7:9). But he also emphasizes God's care of the Israelite
people in the desert (13:5). Thus he shows that Israel's
relationship with God has a long history, yet the people have
ignored the ancient traditions that demonstrate God's devotion
and commitment. For him, fulfillment of the moral
commandments is the ultimate condition for the survival of the
land and its people (4:3), for this constitutes faithfulness to this
relationship with God.

Language, Structure, And Authorship

Hosea's identification with the prophetic tradition as well as
certain linguistic affinities with Deuteronomy suggest that his
ideas and language influenced the Deuteronomic ideology and
terminology. It may be that after the fall of Samaria, either
Hosea himself or his disciples moved to Jerusalem, where his
speeches were collected and preserved. Hosea's portrayal of
God and Israel as husband and wife is also reflected in the
prophecy of Jeremiah (cf. Jer. 2:17ff., 3:1ff.), who was very
familiar with the style of the Deuteronomist.
Hosea was a great poet, a master of language; his verses in
11:8–9 are among the most moving lines in the prophetic
literature. His language is a mixture of prose and poetry. His
verses are longer than is typical and often break the
symmetrical pattern of parallelism, enabling the isolation and
emphasis of a specific idea through the device of climax.
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud, like
the dew that goes early away.

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,

I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God, rather than burnt
offerings. (6:4–6, RSV)

No other prophet employs so many figures of speech,

especially simile, as Hosea. He may use a series of similes to
create a single long poetic image, as in developing the figure of
the oven in 7:4ff. He refers to God as a lion (5:14), a leopard
(13:7), and a bear (13:8), images that illustrate his effort to
attract his audience's attention in an unconventional way and to
deliver his message as effectively as possible.
Hosea 's language is complicated, however, and every study of
the book struggles with the difficulties of the text. The language,
especially beginning with chapter 4, is very often puzzling.
Perhaps the text has been poorly transmitted, or, as some
scholars suggest, perhaps Hosea speaks in a northern dialect,
which may sound odd to the modern reader of the Hebrew
Bible, who is used to the Judahite style.

The Book of Hosea is divided into two major parts: chapters 1–3

and 4–14. The first part includes three literary genres: biography
(chap. 1), autobiography (chap. 3), and prophetic speech (chap.
2). There have been discussions concerning the chronological
order of these chapters, with some scholars suggesting that
chapter 3 precedes chapter 1, so that the biography (chap. 1),
which develops the theme of the marriage, elaborates Hosea's
personal account. Others, who attempt to preserve the present
order, point to the words "Go again, love a woman" (3:1), which
may indicate that chapter 3 refers to a second marriage and not
to Gomer.

Chapters 4–14 are a compilation of poetic orations, and

determining each prophetic speech unit is sometimes difficult. In
light of the stylistic differences and the personal approach of
chapters 1–3, it has been suggested that two different books
composed by two prophets were combined. However, the
intense imagery of harlotry, the motif of repentance, and the
return of the wife to her husband dominate the second part of
the book as well and thus suggest that the entire book is
Hosea's composition.
In contrast to many other prophetic books, most of the material
in Hosea has been assigned by scholars to Hosea himself or to
his close disciples, except verses such as 1:7 and 3:5, which
may reflect a redaction in terms of a Judahite salvation
eschatology. The various historical allusions (which are not
always readily obvious), such as the Syro-Ephraimite war
(5:8ff.), and 13:9–16, which may refer to a military occupation
toward the end of the existence of the northern kingdom, may
suggest that the book was edited into chronological order.

Bibliography
Andersen, Francis I., and David Noel Freedman. Hosea. Anchor
Bible, vol. 24. Garden City, N.Y., 1980.
Mays, James Luther. Hosea: A Commentary. Philadelphia,
1969.
Ward, James M. Hosea: A Theological Commentary. New York,
1966.
Wolff, Hans Walter. Hosea. Edited by Paul D. Hanson and
translated by Gary Stansell. Philadelphia, 1974.

New Sources
Macintosh, Andrew Alexander. A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on Hosea. Edinburgh, 1997.
Mondini, Umberto. Introduction to the Minor Prophets. Rome,
2000.
Nwaoru, Emmanuel O. Imagery in the Prophecy of Hosea.
Wiesbaden, 1999.
Oestreich, Bernhard. Metaphors and Similes for Yahweh in
Hosea, 14:2–9 (1–8): A Study of Hoseanic Pictorial Language.
Frankfurt am Main and New York, 1998.
Teornkvist, Rut. The Use and Abuse of Female Sexual Imagery
in the Book of Hosea: A Feminist Critical Approach to Hos 1 –3.
Uppsala, 1998.
Yehoshua Gitay (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Encyclopedia of Religion Gitay, Yehoshua

Hosea
Views 2,180,457Updated Aug 27 2020

Hosea
Hosea (active 750-722 B.C.) was a prophet of the kingdom
of Israel. He called on Israel to repent its sins of apostasy
and warned of the judgment to come from God. His
writings form the first of the Old Testament books of the
Minor Prophets.
Hosea was the son of Beeri and apparently belonged to the
upper classes. Judging from his elegant style, he was highly
cultured. Hosea married Gomer, daughter of Diblaim, who bore
him two sons, the older of whom he called Yezreel, meaning
"God sows." This name may have been intended to signify the
replanting of Israel back on its own soil after it had been
dispersed in exile. The second son was called Lo Ami, meaning
"not my people, " to indicate God's rejection of Israel as His
people because of its faithlessness. Hosea's daughter by
Gomer was metaphorically named Lo-ruhamah, meaning "the
unpitied one." Since Gomer after her marriage became an
unfaithful "wife of harlotry, " it is possible that Lo-ruhamah and
perhaps her brothers were illegitimate children. Scholars have
speculated whether the prophet's tragic marital experience was
real or merely an allegory to stress the infidelity of Israel.
The prophet recalled God's affection for Israel, from the days of
its infancy, when He taught it how to walk and led it through the
perils of the desert to the Promised Land. But Israel's goodness
is as evanescent "as a morning cloud and the dew that early
passeth away"; it must therefore suffer dire punishment and
divine wrath. Because it "sows the wind, it shall reap the
whirlwind." Hosea, however, does not leave his people without
hope; he conceives the God of Israel in the loftiest terms as a
God of Love. Israel will yet repent and return to its God.
Hosea's times were confused. Economically a great change
had taken place in the reign of Jeroboam II (785-745 B.C.). The
cities had grown in wealth and fostered a small class of rich
landowners, merchants, and creditors. However, the vast
majority of the urban population was made up of poor artisans,
craftsmen, and laborers who were frequently exploited or even
enslaved by the rich. In the country indigent farmers were often
compelled to sell their holdings to the rich and migrate to the
cities. The upper classes were favored by the rulers and judges;
they readily adopted the ways of their neighbors and worshiped
their heathen gods in place of the God of Israel, who
"demanded mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God
rather than burnt offerings." For this reason Hosea denounced
idolatry as the "spirit of harlotry, " which leads to moral
degeneration, sin, and corruption.
Politically, too, the times were turbulent. Tiglathpileser III
threatened the Northern kingdom as well as other nations.
Internally, vast dynastic changes were taking place, despite the
external danger. In 2 decades, six kings—four of them regicides
—ascended the throne of Israel. In this state of political chaos
the rulers of Israel and Judea made alliances, at times with
Assyria and at other times with its powerful rival, Egypt. Hosea
ridicules the diplomacy of princes who do not know which way
to turn and describes Ephraim "as a silly dove, without
understanding." He saw the alliances as useless, for Ephraim
must be punished for his vices and moral degeneracy; his sins
shall be purged in exile. In 722 B.C. the Northern Kingdom of
Israel came to an end and passed out of history.
The Book of Hosea consists of two sections. The first 3
chapters may be autobiographical. The subsequent 11 chapters
deal with the religious and social collapse that called for God's
punishment of His people. The book concludes with a plea to
the people to return to God, who in His abiding love will be
reconciled with them. The people that were "not loved" (Lo-
ruhamah) would be loved once again, and "not my people" (Lo-
ami) would be reunited with their God again, in a new spiritual
betrothal.
Further Reading
The Book of Hosea has been annotated and commented upon
in such works as Abraham Cohen, ed., The Twelve Prophets:
Hebrew Text, English Translation and Commentary (1948), and
George A. Buttrick, ed., The Interpreter's Bible (12 vols., 1951-
1957). The chapter on Hosea in Abraham J. Heschel, The
Prophets(1962), provides an understanding of the prophet and
his times. □
Encyclopedia of World Biography

Hosea
Views 3,319,098Updated Sep 14 2020

Hosea. First of the twelve books known as the

minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old
Testament. Hosea was almost certainly produced in the
Northern Kingdom of Israel and, after the destruction of Israel in
721, subject to redaction in Judah.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions JOHN BOWKER

Hosea
Views 1,771,720Updated Aug 24 2020

Hosea (Osee) (8th century BC) Old Testament prophet. The

Book of Hosea uses the adultery of his wife as an allegory of
the unfaithfulness of Israel to God.
World Encyclopedia

Hosea
Views 2,074,042Updated Aug 28 2020

Hosea a Hebrew minor prophet of the 8th century BC; a book of

the Bible containing his prophecies.
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES

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Introduction to Hosea: Historical Context

Abstract
The Book of Hosea portrays the dangers of the observance of religious ceremony
without genuine devotion and commitment to the Lord. When this is true it all too
easily leads to compromise, selfish ambition, and lack of integrity in one’s personal
activities and dealings. If this becomes characteristic of society at large, dishonesty
and corruption become endemic. When these characterize an entire nation, that nation
is in imminent danger of God’s judgment.

Such was the situation in which God’s prophet Hosea ministered. Nevertheless,
Hosea’s message was more than solemn warnings. It contained a note of hope: with
sincere repentance and asking God’s forgiveness, accompanied by renewed
commitment to the Lord, God’s people may find forgiveness and restoration to God’s
favor and blessings.

Introduction to Hosea

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
SETTING
The opening words of Hosea’s prophecy place his ministry in the context of the eighth
century B.C. The recording of four eighth century kings of Judah provides
information as to the length of Hosea’s prophetic ministry, while the mention of just
one Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam II, indicates something of the prophet’s particular
focus. This becomes apparent when we note that names for the Northern Kingdom
such as Ephraim, Israel, and Jacob occur some seven dozen times, while that of Judah
a mere fifteen times and that always in connection with one or more of the names for
the Northern Kingdom.

The mention of the Southern Kingdom kings from Uzziah to Hezekiah assures us that
Hosea’s ministry lasted through a great portion of the period. For Uzziah reigned
some 52 years (c. 792-740 B.C.), while the reigns of the three successors lasted
throughout the rest of the eighth century B.C. Jeroboam II of the Northern Kingdom
likewise enjoyed a long reign (c. 792-752 B.C.), but the six unmentioned kings who
succeeded him often vied with each other for power throughout a period of growing
political friction and weakness, which culminated in the fall of the Northern Kingdom
to Assyria in 722 B.C.1 Since Hosea does not mention this event and because the
prophet’s focus is on the reign of Jeroboam II, a date for Hosea’s prophecies from c.
760-725 B.C. (shortly after the beginning of the independent reign of Hezekiah in
Judah in 729 B.C.) would appear to be reasonable. 2
This was an era of dramatic change for the twin kingdoms of Israel and Judah as well
as for the surrounding nations of the ancient Near East. Externally, after the death of
the powerful Assyrian king Adad-nirai III (783 B.C.), who claimed to have extended
Assyrian influence as far as the Mediterranean Sea, Assyria was ruled by a series of
weak kings who were unable to do much more than preserve the Assyrian homeland
(783-745 B.C.). Therefore, Assyrian domination in the west waned. For Israel and
Judah it was an era of unparalleled prosperity for both kingdoms, economically and
politically. Together they could claim much the same territorial dimensions as in the
days of Solomon before them. As for Jeroboam, Kaiser remarks, “In less than twenty-
five years Jeroboam II was able to take a nation that was just about ready to die and
turn it into one of the great powers of his day.” 3 This included Israelite thrusts into
Transjordan and a possible joint Israelite-Judahite campaign into Syria (2 Kings
14:25, 28).4
During Uzziah’s long 52-year reign the Southern Kingdom enjoyed economic
prosperity and political power. Uzziah (or Azariah) improved Judah’s military
strength, which included the fortifying of Jerusalem (2 Chr. 26:11-15) and launching
successful campaigns against his neighbors to the west, east, and south (2 Chr. 26:6-
8).
Unfortunately, this high water mark of prosperity for the twin kingdoms would not
long endure. In the north, with the death of Jeroboam II in 752 B.C. kings of lesser
ability, who often vied with one another for local, if not national, supremacy, ruled the
kingdom. Jeroboam’s son Zechariah reigned only six months before being
assassinated by Shallum, who in turned reigned but one month before being killed by
Menahem. The latter’s ten year reign (752-742 B.C.) was characterized by spiritual
weakness and renewed subservience to the rising power of Assyria.

In Assyria a usurper now occupied the throne as Tiglath-pileser III (2 Kings 16:6),
also called Pulu (or Pul, 2 Kings 15:19).5 His reign (745-727 B.C.) marked the
beginning of a new day in the ancient Near East, when Assyrian resurgence would
blossom into the mighty Neo-Assyrian Empire (745-612 B.C.). Tiglath-pileser’s
armies soon ravaged much of Syria, Menahem and Israel paid him a heavy tribute to
keep him for engulfing the Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 15:19-20).6
Internal squabbling compounded Israel’s difficulties in the face of Assyrian
aggression. Although Menahem ruled from Tirzah, a strong rival named Pekah ruled
in Gilead. Pekah’s strength was such that after Menahem’s death, he was able to
overthrow Pekahiah, Menahem’s son and successor, and claim sole rulership of all
Israel (740-732 B.C.). Pekah’s independent rule was faced with a growing Assyrian
menace. For Tiglath-pileser III began a second western campaign in 734 B.C. to
break-up a western anti-Assyrian coalition. Among the chief dissidents were the
Aramean king Rezin and Pekah of Israel. By 732 B.C. the Assyrian thrusts not only
brought about the surrender of Damascus but also reduced the entire west to
vassalage.7
If Israel’s position was extremely tenuous by 732 B.C., Judah was scarcely in a
stronger position. While prosperity had continued somewhat during the reign of
Azariah’s son Jotham, so that he could turn his attention to the internal needs of the
country, with the accession of Jotham’s son Ahaz Judah was also caught up in the
swift current of Assyrian expansion. Although Ahaz wisely resisted joining a western
anti-Assyrian coalition led by the Aramean king Rezin and Pekah of Israel, in order to
gain relief from their attack against him (2 Chr. 28:5-8; Isa. 7:1-6), he stripped the
temple of its gold and silver and petitioned Tiglath-pileser for help (2 Kings 16:7-
9).8 Ahaz’s request was honored and Tiglath-pileser launched the aforementioned
second western campaign, which eventually brought the surrender of Damascus. Ahaz
and Judah were also brought under Assyrian vassalage. 9
In the north, Israel remained under Assyrian vassalage. When Tiglath-pileser died in
727 B.C., however Hoshea found opportunity to forego sending tribute to
Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.) and sought help from So, King of Egypt (2 Kings
17:3-4).10 The plan backfired and soon Samaria was attacked and after a three-year
siege, the Israelite capital fell and its citizens were deported (2 Kings 17:5-6).11
Attempts to correlate Hosea’s prophecies with specific political events, however, have
proven to be elusive at best.12 Some prophecies appear to be related to the earlier part
of his ministry such as the predicted judgment of the line of Jehu (1:4). Since
Zechariah was assassinated in 752 B.C., six months into his reign, this prophecy must
have been given during the later period of Jeroboam’s reign. Likewise the charges
against Israel in the first section of the book (chs. 1-3) seem best related to the reign of
Jeroboam II. This was, as we have seen, a period marked by great economic and
political success but growing spiritual apostasy. The subsequent chapters of Hosea’s
prophecies tend to reflect the growing crises in the affairs of the Northern Kingdom
both externally with Assyria and internally during the years of hostility between bitter
political rivals vying for power in the Northern Kingdom. By the end of the book the
demise of Israel appears to be imminent. 13
AUTHORSHIP
The author identifies himself as “Hosea, son of Beeri” (1:1). Unfortunately nothing
else is known positively as to the identity of either man. A Jewish tradition suggested
that Beeri is to be equated with a Reubenite leader who was taken captive by the
Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III. Thus the genealogical record contained in 1
Chronicles 5:6 tells of a certain “Beerah, whom king Tiglath-pileser carried into exile.
Beerah was the tribal leader of Reuben.” Another Jewish tradition held that Beeri was
a prophet. Assumedly it is his prophecy that is preserved in Isaiah 8:19-
22.14 According to Laetsch an ancient Christian tradition held that he belonged to the
tribe of Issachar.15 As for Hosea himself Harrison observes that “from the reference
in Hosea 7:4ff. it has been assumed that he worked as a baker. From the various
agricultural allusions in the book it could be maintained with equal seriousness that
Hosea was a farmer. However, a peasant origin seems improbable in the light of his
knowledge of history, his grasp of political affairs, and the eloquent, well-chosen
imagery with which his style abounds.”16 Other than these hints all that we know of
Hosea comes from his prophecy. There we learn that he was married to a woman
named Gomer and had three children (ch. 1).
Hosea was God’s man for a difficult era spiritually. “Prosperity had brought an
unprecedented degree of cultural corruption. The much-sought-after political power
had opened Israel to foreign cultural influence, including the demoralizing influence
of Canaanite Baal worship (2:7, 17; 11:2) with its fertility cults and bacchanalian
orgies (4:10-13).”17 Hosea was a man of deep spiritual conviction who throughout his
long ministry became progressively concerned both for the Lord’s person and
testimony as well as his troubled people. Hosea’s heartfelt concern over Israel’s
spiritual complacency, religious syncretism, and critical position in relation to the
major powers of the ancient Near East may be felt in the advancing flow of his
messages. As Pusey remarks, “Corruption had spread throughout the whole land; even
the places once sacred through God’s revelation or other mercies to their forefathers,
Bethel Gilgal, Gilead, Mizpah, Shechem were especial scenes of corruption or of sin.
Every holy memory was effaced by present corruption. Could things be worse?
“18Nevertheless, he remained faithful to God and his calling through it all. The exact
time of his death is unknown, although it seems likely that he did not live to see the
fall of Samaria and the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C.
A Jewish legend states that Hosea died in Babylon and that his body was buried at
Safed, northwest of the Sea of Galilee, on the highest point in that region. According
to another tradition he was a native of Gilead and was buried there. To this day the
grave of Nebi Osha is shown near es-Salt, Ramoth-Gilead, south of the Jabbok
River.19