Oseas 1:1

The Word of the Lord that came to Hosea.

The prophet Hosea

I. He was divinely commissioned. Holy men of old spake not of

their own wisdom or of their own will; they spake the Word of
God. In what a contemptuous light their conduct places those
who in the present day quote the sayings of the Fathers, the
Church, or Tradition, or suggest modern innovations, and
strange interpretations. We have the Word of God, and the
prompting of the Spirit; and is not that enough?

II. He had worthy ancestry. His father’s name would not have
been mentioned had it not been to honour the son. How the
father can strengthen and establish the son, or the son ruin and
crush the father!

III. He prophesied at a critical period.

1. It was a long time. Probably eighty years.

2. It was a changeable time. Various scenes. Different

characters of kings and peoples. He lived in the reigns of one
good king and four bad ones. He saw plenty and famine. He
saw one revival and much sin.

3. It was a tentative time. Upon the conduct of the Jews

depended their ultimate existence.

IV. Practical thoughts.

1. Hosea must have begun his ministry very young.

2. How very little we have of his prophesyings. His chief work

was directly relative to his age. God has preserved what was
of permanent interest.

3. How long a man of God may labour, and yet how little good
 he may accomplish. He did not prevent the Captivity. We arc
not answerable for our success, but we are for our duty. We
are not to relax our efforts because men am blind or fools.
(William Jay.)

The prophet Hosea

I. Who he was. His name means a saviour, one who brings

salvation, and many saving and savoury truths this prophet
brings to us. The Jews say that when a prophet’s father’s name
is given, the father was a prophet as well as the son. “Beeri”
means a well that has springing water in it, freely and clearly
running.

II. To where was the prophet sent? Especially to the Ten Tribes.
The Ten Tribes, rending themselves from the house of David,
separated themselves also from the true worship of God, and
horrible wickedness and all manner of abominations grew up
amongst them.

III. What was Hosea’s errand to them? To convince them of

their abominable idolatry, and those other wickednesses in
which they lived, and to denounce severe threatenings, yea,
most fearful destruction. His threatening is more severe than
any given before, Yet he, too, has a message of mercy.

IV. What was his commission? He had the “Word of Jehovah.”

Hosea did not go for the Word of the Lord, but the Word came
to him. The knowledge of a call to a work will help a man
through the difficulties of the work.

V. The time when Hosea prophesied. About the time that the
city of Rome was built. The beginning of the Olympiads. During
the reign of four kings, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. A
lengthened prophesying of nearly fourscore years. See what of
God’s mind will spring from this.

1. It pleases God sometimes that some men’s labours shall

 abide more full to posterity than others, though the labours of
those others are greater and as excellent as theirs.

2. It appears that Hosea began to prophesy very young.

3. Hosea prophesying thus long it appears he lived to grow

old in his work.

4. By Hosea s continuance m so many kings reigns, it is

evident he must have gone through a variety of conditions. He
preserved a constancy of spirit, however varied might be the
difficulties of his work.

5. God may continue a prophet a long time amongst a people,

and yet they may never be converted.

6. It is an honour to the ministers of God, who meet with

many difficulties and discouragements in their, way, yet
continue fresh and lively to the very end.

7. It pleases God many times to let His prophets see the

fulfilling of their threatenings upon the people against whom
they have denounced them. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)

Scripture, kings, and truth

I. The essence of scripture. What is the essence of the Bible? It

is here called “The Word of the Lord.” Analyse the expression.

1. It is a “Word.” A word fulfils two functions; it is a revelation

and an instrument. The Bible is the manifestation of God, it
shows His intellect and heart, and is His instrument as well;
by which He accomplishes His purpose on the human mind. By
it He is said to enlighten,—quicken,—cleanse,—conquer, etc.

2. It is a Divine Word. “The Word of the Lord.” Words are

always powerful and important according to the nature and
character of the speaker. Because the Lord is all-mighty and
 holy, His Word is all-powerful and pure.

3. It is a Divine Word concerning men. The prophecy came to

Hosea in relation to Israel. The Bible is a Word to man.

4. It is a Divine Word concerning man coming through men.

In the Bible God speaks to man through man. This gives the
charm of an imperishable humanity to the Bible.

II. The mortality of kings. Several kings are here mentioned

who appeared and passed away during the ministry of Hosea.
Uzziah was the eleventh king of Judah. His example was holy,
and his reign peaceful and prosperous. Ahaz was a son of
Jotham: at the age of twenty he succeeded his royal sire. He
gave himself up to idolatry, and sacrificed even his own children
to the gods of the heathen. Hezekiah, the son and successor of
Ahaz, was a man of distinguished virtue and religion, animated
by true piety and patriotism. Jeroboam was the son of Joash,
and great grandson of Jehu, and followed the former Jeroboam,
the man who made Israel to sin, and, like him, sank into the
lowest idolatry and corruption. Some of these kings had come
and gone during the ministry of Hosea;—kings die, etc.

1. This fact is a blessing. When we think of such kings as

those of which Ahaz and Jeroboam were types, we thank God
for death, and rejoice in the “king of terrors,” who comes to
strike the despots down.

2. This fact is a lesson. What does the death of kings teach?

(1) The rigorous impartiality of death. Death is no respecter

of persons, it treats the pauper and the prince alike.

(2) The utter powerlessness of wealth.

(3) The sad hollowness of worldly glory. Death strips

sovereigns of all their pageantry and reduces them.to
common dust.

III. The perpetuity of truth. Although these kings successively

appeared and passed away, the ministry of Hosea kept on.

1. The “Word of the Lord” is adapted to all generations. It is

congruous with all intellects, it chimes in with all hearts, it
provides for the common wants of all.

2. The “Word of the Lord” is necessary for all generations.

(Homilist.)

Trouble a teacher

A wonderful book is this prophecy of Hosea (B.C. 800-725). The

man himself at once attracts our sympathy and regard by his
personal sufferings. There is no teacher of Divine truth to be
compared for one moment for excellence so deep and great as
trouble. Hosea had an infinite sorrow at home; therefore he was
so great and tender a teacher of Divine truth. He read
everything through his tears; hence the enlargement, the
colour, the variety, the striking beauty of his visions. When the
sorrow is home grief it assumes a tenderer quality. Hosea had
children, but they had evil names; their very names were
millstones round the prophet’s neck. If one of them had a name
historically and ideally beautiful, it was to be used for the
expression of judgment and vengeance. As for the others, one
represented the vanished mercy of God, and the other
represented the alienation of the people from God, and the
alienation of God from the people. Only sorrow should read
some parts of the Bible, because only sorrow could have written
them. You cannot properly sing a man’s music until you know
the man himself. Hosea will have a tone of his own; he will talk
like nobody else; he will be an eccentric, peculiar individual; he
will begin when he pleases, and he will take a circuit marked out
for him by an invisible guide; but now and again he will come
down to the road we travel, and will present us with flowers and
fruits, and will say little sweet sentences to us that shall be as
angels, covered with light, and tremulous with music. The
sorrow of Hosea was symbolic. All sorrow is meant to be
symbolic. Whoso has sorrow is meant to be a teacher. You have
no right to the exclusive use of your own sorrow. Sorrow should
only be silent for a time; by and by it should find all its words,
refine, enlarge, and dignify them, and pass them on as
messages, bright as Gospels. But for his own sorrow, he never
could have understood God’s grief. Again and again God asks us
to look at Him through ourselves. Happy they who come up out
of household trouble, public disappointment, and social criticism,
and loss and desolation, to pray larger prayers, and offer to
those who are outside a larger hospitality of love and rest. If
sorrow makes us narrower in thought and purpose, then sorrow
has failed to convey God’s meaning to the soul. (Joseph Parker,
D. D.)