Hosea

About Hosea

Hosea's own broken marriage becomes a living picture of God's relationship with Israel: the prophet loves and reclaims an unfaithful wife, just as God keeps loving an unfaithful people. The book names Israel's idolatry bluntly, yet its deepest note is the ache of a God who cannot let His people go. In the Bible's story, Hosea reveals that behind the covenant stands not a cold contract but a wounded, pursuing love.

Written by

The book presents the words of Hosea son of Beeri, a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel, and there is little serious dispute about that.

When

Hosea preached from roughly 755 to 715 BC, in the troubled final decades before Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom in 722 BC.

Themes

• God's pursuing love
• Spiritual unfaithfulness
• Mercy over sacrifice
• Judgment that aims at healing
• Coming home to God

Key verses

• Hosea 6:6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
• Hosea 11:1When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
• Hosea 14:4¶ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.