Hosea ~ “Salvation”

Authorship and Audience

Likely written by Hosea (see 1:1). Written to Israel (the Northern Kingdom) shortly after they had separated from Judah.

Date and Context

This book was written shortly after Israel (the Northern Kingdom) had split from Judah and followed Jeroboam (vs. 1). This would have taken place around the early 900s BC.

Theme(s)

• God’s Love in Judgement. One of the principal, theological themes of Hosea is God’s love in judgement. This is demonstrated by Hosea himself in marrying a prostitute and calling Israel to repent and return throughout the book (see the outline below). Put another way, this book answers the question: “If God loves us, how can he judge us?”. We will see that God has used and will use judgement as a way to bring His people back to Himself.

Outline

0. Introduction [1:1]

I. Hosea as an Example of God’s Love [1:2 - 3]

II. Israel’s Corrupted Love [4 - 7:1a]

A. God’s case against corrupt Israel [4]

• Note the legal language used in this section

B. The extent of corruption [5:1 - 5:7]

C. God’s response to the corruption [5:8 - 5:15]

D. Call to repentance and restoration [6 - 7:1a]

III. Israel’s Misplaced Love [7:1b - 11:11]

A. Description of how Israel has misplaced their love [7:1b - 7:16]

B. God will judge [8]

C. Description of coming judgement [9 - 10]

D. God’s compassion and love [11:1 - 11:11]

IV. The History of God’s Love and Faithfulness to Israel [11:12 - 14]

A. Two examples of God’s love to Israel and Israel's unfaithfulness [11:12 - 13:8]

B. Israel’s foolish opposition [13:9 - 13:11]

C. God’s verdict [13:12 - 13:16]

D. Call to repent and promise of God’s love [14:1 - 14:8]

E. Exhortation to the wise [14:9]

Observations/Notes

• The names of Hosea’s children are important. There are a lot of word-plays that deal with the names of Hosea’s children (especially in the early sections of the book).