Reference: Hosea
American
The first of the twelve Minor Prophets, as arranged in our Bibles. He prophesied for a long time, from Uzziah to Hezekiah, about 785-725 B. C.
The BOOK OF HOSEA contains properly two parts. Ho 1-3 contains a series of symbolical actions directed against the idolatries of Israel. It is disputed whether the marriage of the prophet was a real transaction, or an allegorical vision; in all probability the latter is the correct view; but in either case it illustrates the relations of the idolatrous Israel to her covenant God. Ho 4-14 is chiefly occupied with denunciations against Israel, and especially Samaria, for the worship of idols, which prevailed there. Hosea's warnings are mingled with tender and pathetic expostulations. His style is obscure, and it is difficult to fix the periods or the divisions of his various predictions. He shows a joyful faith in the coming Redeemer, and is several times quoted in the New Testament, Mt 9:13; Ro 9:25-26; 1Pe 2:10.
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Therefore go ye and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, who were not my people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called sons of the living God.
Easton
salvation, the son of Beeri, and author of the book of prophecies bearing his name. He belonged to the kingdom of Israel. "His Israelitish origin is attested by the peculiar, rough, Aramaizing diction, pointing to the northern part of Palestine; by the intimate acquaintance he evinces with the localities of Ephraim (Ho 5:1; 6:8-9; 12:12; 14:6, etc.); by passages like Ho 1:2, where the kingdom is styled 'the land', and Ho 7:5, where the Israelitish king is designated as 'our' king." The period of his ministry (extending to some sixty years) is indicated in the superscription (Ho 1:1-2). He is the only prophet of Israel who has left any written prophecy.
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The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. The beginning of the word of the LORD with Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land shall give itself over to whoredom by departing from the LORD.
The beginning of the word of the LORD with Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land shall give itself over to whoredom by departing from the LORD.
Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ear, O house of the king because the judgment is for you, for ye have been a snare in Mizpah and a net spread over Tabor.
Gilead is a city of those that work iniquity and is polluted with blood. And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the council of priests murder in the way by common accord; for they put the abomination into effect.
In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with a wineskin; he stretched out his hand with the scorners.
But Jacob fled into the land of Aram, and Israel served for his wife, and for his wife he was a pastor.
His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
Fausets
Placed first of the minor prophets in the canon (one collective whole "the book of the prophets," Ac 7:42), probably because of the length, vivid earnestness, and patriotism of his prophecies, as well as their resemblance to those of the greater prophets, Chronologically Jonah was before him, 862 B.C., Joel about 810 B.C., Amos 790 B.C., Hosea 784 to 722 B.C., more or less contemporary with Isaiah and Amos. Began prophesying in the last years of Jeroboam II, contemporary with Uzziah; ended at the beginning of Hezekiah's reign. The prophecies of his extant are only those portions of his public teachings which the Holy Spirit preserved, as designed for the benefit of the uuiversal church. His name means salvation. Son of Beeri, of Issachar; born in Bethshemesh.
His pictures of Israelite life, the rival factions calling in Egypt and Assyria, mostly apply to the interreign after Jeroboam's death and to the succeeding reigns, rather than to his able government. In Ho 2:8 he makes no allusion to Jehovah's restoration of Israel's coasts under Jeroboam among Jehovah's mercies to Israel. He mentions in the inscription, besides the reign of Jeroboam in Israel, the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, though his prophecies are addressed primarily to Israel and only incidentally to Judah; for all the prophets whether in Judah or Israel regarded Israel's separation from Judah, civil as well as religious, as an apostasy from God who promised the kingship of the theocracy to the line of David. Hence Elijah in Israel took twelve stones to represent Judah as well as Israel (1Ki 18:31). Eichhorn sees a Samaritanism in the masculine suffix of the second person (-ak).
STYLE AND SUBJECT. Abrupt, sententious, and unperiodic, he is the more weighty and impressive. Brevity causes obscurity, the obscurity being designed by the Spirit to call forth prayerful study. Connecting particles are few. Changes of person, and anomalies of gender, number, and construction, abound. Horsley points out the excessively local and individual tone of his prophecies. He specifies Ephraim, Mizpah, Tabor, Gilgal, Bethel or Bethaven, Jezreel, Gibeah, Ramah, Gilead, Shechem, Lebanon, Arbela. Israel's sin, chastisement, and restoration are his theme. His first prophecy announces the coming overthrow of Jehu's house, fulfilled after Jeroboam's death, which the prophecy precedes, in Zachariah, Jeroboam's son, who was the fourth and last in descent from Jehu, and conspired against by Shallum after a six months' reign (2Ki 15:12).
The allusion to Shalmaneser's expedition against Israel as past, i.e. the first inroad against Hoshea whose reign began only four years before Hezekiah's, accords with the inscription which extends his prophesying to the reign of Hezekiah (2Ki 17:1,3; 18:9). He declares throughout that a return to Jehovah is the only remedy for the evils existing and impending: the calf worship at Bethel, established by Jeroboam, must be given up (Ho 8:5-6; 10:5; 13:2); unrighteousness toward men, the necessary consequence of impiety towards God, must cease, or sacrifices are worthless (Ho 4:2; 6:6, based on Samuel's original maxim, 1Sa 15:22). The Pentateuch is the foundation of his prophecies.
Here as there God's past favors to Israel are made the incentive to loving obedience (Ho 2:8; 11:1; 12:9; 13:4, compare Ex 20:2). Literal fornication and adultery follow close upon spiritual (Ho 4:12-14). Assyria, the great northern power, which Israel foolishly regards as her friend to save her from her acknowledged calamities, Hosea foresees will be her destroyer (Ho 5:13; 7:11; 8:9; 12:1; 14:3; 3:4; 10:6; 11:11). Political makeshifts to remedy moral corruption only hasten the disaster which they seek to avert; when the church leans on the world in her distress, instead of turning to God, the world the instrument of her sin is made the instrument of her punishment.
Hosea is driven by the nation's evils, present and in prospect, to cling the more closely to God. Amidst his rugged abruptness soft and exquisite touches occur, where God's lovingkindness, balmy as the morning sun and genial as the rain, stands in contrast to Israel's goodness, evanescent as the cloud and the early dew (Ho 6:3-4; compare also Ho 13:3; 14:5-7).
DIVISIONS. There are two leading ones: Hosea 1-3; Hosea 4-14. Hosea 1; Hosea 2; and Hosea 3 form three separate cantos or parts, for Hosea 1-3 are more prose than poetry. Probably Hosea himself under the Spirit combined his scattered prophecies into one collection. Hosea 4-14, are an expansion of Hosea 3. On his marriage to Gomer, Henderson thinks that there is no hint of its being in vision, and that she fell into lewdness after her union with Hosea, thus fitly symbolizing Israel who lapsed into spiritual whoredom after the marriage contract with God on Sinai. (See GOMER.) But an act revolting to a pure mind would hardly be ordained by God save in vision, which serves all the purposes of a vivid and as it were acted prophecy. So the command to Ezekiel (Ho 4:4-15).
Moreover it would require years for the birth of three children, which would weaken the force of the symbol. In order effectively to teach others Hosea must experimentally realize it himself (Ho 12:10). Gomer, daughter of Diblaim, was probably one associated with the lascivious rites of the prevalent idolatries. Hosea's union in vision with such an one in spite of his natural repugnance would vividly impress the people with God's amazing love in uniting Himself to so polluted a nation. Hosea's taking her back after adultery (Hosea 3), at the price of a slave, marks Israel's extreme degradation and Jehovah's unchangeable love yet about to restore her. The truth expressed by prophetic act in vision was Israel's idolatry (spiritual impurity, "a wife of whoredoms") before her call in Egypt and in Ur of the Chaldees (Jos 24:14) as well as after it.
So also the Saviour took out of an unholy world the church, that He might unite her in holiness to Himself. No more remarkable prophecy exists of Israel's anomalous and extraordinary state for thousands of years, and of her future restoration, than Ho 3:4-5; "Israel shall abide many days without a king (which they so craved for originally), without a sacrifice (which their law requires as essential to their religion), without an image ... ephod ... teraphim (which they were in Hosea's days so mad after). Afterward shall Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king ... in the latter days." But first must come her spiritual probation in the wilderness of trial (Ho 2:14) and her return to the Egypt of affliction (Ho 8:13; 9:3), not literal "Egypt" (Ho 11:5).
New Testament references: Ho 11:1 = Mt 2:15; Ho 6:6 = Mt 9:13; 12:7; Ho 1:10; 2 = Ro 9:25-26; Ho 13:14 = 1Co 15:55; Ho 1:9-10; 2:23 = 1Pe 2:10; Ho 10:8 = Lu 23:30; Re 6:16; Ho 6:2 = 1Co 15:4; Ho 14:2 = Heb 13:15. The later prophets also stamp with their inspired sanction Hosea's prophecies, which they quote. Compare Ho 1:11 with Isa 11:12-13; Ho 4:3 with Zep 1:3; Ho 4:6 with Isa 5:13; Ho 7:10 with Isa 9:12-13; Ho 10:12 with Jer 4:3. (See OSHEA.)
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I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery.
Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in perfection and in truth and put away from among you the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, and serve ye the LORD.
And Samuel said, Does the LORD have as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in hearing the voice of the LORD? Behold, to hear is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name;
This was the word of the LORD which he spoke unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass.
In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hosea, the son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and Hosea became his slave and gave him presents.
And in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it.
Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge; their glory died of hunger, and their multitude dried up of thirst.
the Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. But the people did not turn unto him that smote them, neither did they seek the LORD of the hosts.
And he shall raise up a banner, as an example for the Gentiles and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
For thus has the LORD said to every man of Judah and of Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. With all this, the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
With all this, the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be congregated together, and they shall raise up for themselves one head, and they shall rise up from the land: for the day of Jezreel is great.
For she did not recognize that I gave her the wheat and the wine and the oil and multiplied unto them the silver and the gold, with which they made Baal.
For she did not recognize that I gave her the wheat and the wine and the oil and multiplied unto them the silver and the gold, with which they made Baal.
Therefore, behold, I will induce her and bring her into the wilderness and speak unto her heart.
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon Loruhamah, , and I will say to Loammi, , Thou art my people; and he shall say, Thou art my God.
For the sons of Israel shall abide many days without king and without Lord and without sacrifice and without image, and without ephod and without teraphim;
For the sons of Israel shall abide many days without king and without Lord and without sacrifice and without image, and without ephod and without teraphim; afterward the sons of Israel shall return, and they shall seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the end of the days.
By swearing and lying and murdering and stealing and committing adultery, they prevailed, and blood touches blood. Therefore the earth shall mourn, and every one that dwells therein shall be cut off, with the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven; and even the fishes of the sea shall be caught. read more. Certainly man does not contend with nor reprehend man; for thy people are as those that resist the priest. Therefore thou shalt fall in the day, and the prophet shall also fall with thee by night, and I will cut off thy mother. My people were cut off because they lacked wisdom; because thou hast rejected wisdom, I will cast thee out of the priesthood; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy sons.
My people were cut off because they lacked wisdom; because thou hast rejected wisdom, I will cast thee out of the priesthood; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy sons. According to their greatness, so did they sin against me; therefore I will change their honour into shame. read more. They eat up the sin of my people, and in their iniquity they raise up their soul. The people shall become like the priest; and I will visit his ways upon him, and they shall reward him according to his doings. For they shall eat and not be satisfied; they shall commit whoredom and shall not increase because they have quit showing hospitality unto the LORD. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. My people ask counsel of their wooden idol, and their stick declares unto them; for the spirit of whoredoms has caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring under their gods.
My people ask counsel of their wooden idol, and their stick declares unto them; for the spirit of whoredoms has caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring under their gods. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, that had good shade; therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law shall commit adultery.
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, that had good shade; therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law shall commit adultery. I will not visit upon your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery: for they offer with whores, and they sacrifice with cult prostitutes; therefore the people without understanding shall fall.
I will not visit upon your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery: for they offer with whores, and they sacrifice with cult prostitutes; therefore the people without understanding shall fall. Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah be guilty; and do not come unto Gilgal, neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD lives,
And Ephraim shall see his sickness and Judah his wound; then Ephraim shall go to the Assyrian and shall send to King Jareb; yet he shall not be able to heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
After two days he shall give us life: in the third day he will resurrect us, and we shall live in his sight. And we shall know and follow on in knowing the LORD; his going forth is prepared as the dawn; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. read more. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? Your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away.
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
And the pride of Israel shall testify to his face, and they have not returned to the LORD their God, nor have they sought him with all this. Ephraim also was like a deceived dove, without understanding; they shall call to Egypt, they shall go to Assyria.
Thy calf, O Samaria, has cast thee off; my anger has been kindled against them until they could no longer be absolved. For it is of Israel; and a workman made it who is not God: because the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass thinking only of himself; Ephraim has hired lovers.
In the sacrifices of my gifts they sacrificed flesh and ate; but the LORD does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
They shall not remain in the land of the LORD; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt and to Assyria where they shall eat unclean food.
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn because of the calf, and the religious persons thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, which shall be made to vanish away. It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to King Jareb: Ephraim shall be ashamed, and Israel shall be confused at his own counsel.
And the altars of Aven shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel: the thorn and the thistle shall grow upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
Sow yourselves unto righteousness, reap yourselves unto mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is the time to seek the LORD until he comes and teaches you righteousness.
When Israel was a boy, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.
When Israel was a boy, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.
He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king because they refused to be converted.
As a bird they shall move speedily out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.
Ephraim feeds on wind and follows after the east wind; he daily increases lies and desolation because they made a covenant with the Assyrians, and the oil is carried into Egypt.
But I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt; I will yet make thee to dwell in tents as in the days of the solemn feast. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the hand of the prophets.
And now they sin more and more, and of their silver they have made molten images according to their own intelligence, idols, all of it the work of the craftsmen; they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as the morning mist and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor and as the smoke out of the chimney. read more. Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt; therefore thou shalt know no God other than me, nor any other saviour but me.
I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death; O death, I will be thy end; O Sheol, I will be thy destruction. Repentance shall be hid from my eyes.
Take with you words, and be converted unto the LORD; say unto him, Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods, for in thee the fatherless finds mercy.
I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall flourish as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. read more. Those that shall sit under his shadow shall return; they shall be given life as the wheat, and they shall flourish as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
I will destroy the men and the beasts; I will destroy the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the wicked shall stumble; and I will cut off men from upon the face of the earth, saith the LORD.
and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Therefore go ye and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
But if ye knew what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not condemn the innocent.
Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.
Then God withdrew and gave them up to worship the host of the heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, who were not my people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called sons of the living God.
and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures
O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory?
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips confessing his name.
Ye who in the time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, who in the time past had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
and said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that is seated upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb;
Hastings
The name of the prophet Hosea, though distinguished by the English translators, is identical with that of the last king of Israel and with the original name of Joshua; in these cases it appears in the English Version as Hoshea. Hosea, the son of Beeri, is the only prophet, among those whose writings have survived, who was himself a native of the Northern Kingdom. The main subject of the prophecy of Amos is the Northern Kingdom, but Amos himself was a native of the South; so also were Isaiah and Micah, and these two prophets, though they included the Northern Kingdom in their denunciations, devoted themselves mainly to Judah.
Hosea's prophetic career extended from shortly before the fall of the house of Jerohoam ii. (c. b.c. 746) to shortly before the outbreak of the Syro-Ephraimitish war in b.c. 735
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Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD speaks, I have nourished and brought up sons, and they have rebelled against me.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of the hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.
The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. read more. Then I went down to the potter's house; and, behold, he wrought a work upon a wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was broken in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
The beginning of the word of the LORD with Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land shall give itself over to whoredom by departing from the LORD.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will never again have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them.
Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Morish
Hose'a
Nothing is related of the ancestors of the prophet Hosea. (whose name is identical with Hoshea) except that he was the son of Beeri. He prophesied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam king of Israel. He is especially occupied with the moral condition of the people, principally of Israel, and the judgements that would follow. Israel is treated as in rebellion from the commencement. The prophecy divides itself thus: Hosea 1- Hosea 3 give God's purposes respecting Israel; and in Hosea 4
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and that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt and burning, that it is not sown, nor shall it produce anything, nor shall any grass grow therein, like in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and in his wrath;
And they raised over them a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
And they turned in there, to enter and to lodge in Gibeah; and entering in, they sat down in the plaza of the city, for no one took them into their house to pass the night. And, behold, an old man, who in the evening came from working in the field, who was also of Mount Ephraim, sojourned in Gibeah, but the men of the place were sons of Jemini. read more. And the old man lifted up his eyes and saw the traveller in the plaza of the city and said unto him, Where dost thou go and where hast thou come from? And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehem of Judah toward the side of Mount Ephraim, where I am from, and I went to Bethlehem of Judah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD, and no one has received me in their house even though we have straw and fodder for our asses, and there is bread and wine also for me and for thy handmaid and for the young man who is with thy slave; we have no lack of any thing. And the old man said, Peace be with thee; let all thy needs be upon me; only do not pass the night in the plaza. So he brought him into his house and gave fodder unto the asses, and they washed their feet, and ate and drank. Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, that men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about and beat at the doors and spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thy house that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them and said unto them, No, my brethren, I pray you, do not do this evil, seeing that this man has entered into my house; do not commit this folly. Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine; I will bring them out now, humble them, and do with them what seems good unto you, but unto this man do not commit this vile folly. But the men would not hearken unto him, so the man took his concubine and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her and abused her all night until the morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go.
And Jehu came to Jezreel, and when Jezebel heard of it, she painted her face and tired her head and looked out of a window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? read more. And he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? And two or three eunuchs looked at him. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses; and he trode her under foot. And he entered in, and after he ate and drank, he said, Go, see now this cursed woman and bury her; for after all she is a king's daughter. But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. And they returned and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his slave Elijah, the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel so that no one shall be able to say, This is Jezebel.
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah be guilty; and do not come unto Gilgal, neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD lives,
Ephraim is given over to idols; leave him.
But they have transposed the covenant as of men: there they have rebelled against me.
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah; there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the sons of iniquity did not overtake them.
and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even in those that did not sin after the manner of the rebellion of Adam, who is a figure of him that was to come.
As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, who were not my people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called sons of the living God.
Ye who in the time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, who in the time past had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Smith
Hose'a
(salvation), son of Beeri, and first of the minor prophets. Probably the life, or rather the prophetic career, of Hosea extended from B.C. 784 to 723, a period of fifty-nine years. The prophecies of Hosea were delivered in the kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam II was on the throne, and Israel was at the height of its earthly splendor. Nothing is known of the prophet's life excepting what may be gained from his book.
Watsons
HOSEA, son of Beeri, the first of the minor prophets. He is generally considered as a native and inhabitant of the kingdom of Israel, and is supposed to have begun to prophesy about B.C. 800. He exercised his office sixty years; but it is not known at what periods his different prophecies now remaining were delivered. Most of them are directed against the people of Israel, whom he reproves and threatens for their idolatry and wickedness, and exhorts to repentance, with the greatest earnestness, as the only means of averting the evils impending over their country. The principal predictions contained in this book, are the captivity and dispersion of the kingdom of Israel; the deliverance of Judah from Sennacherib; the present state of the Jews; their future restoration, and union with the Gentiles in the kingdom of the Messiah; the call of our Saviour out of Egypt, and his resurrection on the third day. The style of Hosea is peculiarly obscure; it is sententious, concise, and abrupt; the transitions of persons are sudden; and the connexive and adversative particles are frequently omitted. The prophecies are in one continued series, without any distinction as to the times when they were delivered, or the different subjects to which they relate. They are not so clear and detailed, as the predictions of those prophets who lived in succeeding ages. When, however, we have surmounted these difficulties, we shall see abundant reason to admire the force and energy with which this prophet writes, and the boldness of the figures and similitudes which he uses.
2. HOSEA, or HOSHEA, son of Elah, was the last king of Israel. Having conspired against Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, he killed him, A.M. 3265; B.C. 739. However, the elders of the land seem to have taken the government into their hands; for Hoshea was not in possession of the kingdom till nine years after, 2Ki 15:30; 17:1. Hoshea did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not equal to the kings of Israel who preceded him; that is, say the Jewish doctors, he did not restrain his subjects from going to Jerusalem to worship, if they would; whereas, the kings of Israel, his predecessors, had forbidden it, and had placed guards on the road to prevent it. Salmaneser, king of Assyria, being informed that Hoshea meditated a revolt, and had concerted measures with So, king of Egypt, to shake off the Assyrian yoke, marched against him, and besieged Samaria. After a siege of three years, in the ninth year of Hoshea's reign, the city was taken, and was reduced to a heap of ruins, A.M. 3282. The king of Assyria removed the Israelites of the ten tribes to countries beyond the Euphrates, and thus terminated the kingdom of the ten tribes.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Hosea, the son of Elah, made a conspiracy against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and smote him and slew him and reigned in his stead, in the year twenty of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.
In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hosea, the son of Elah, began to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.