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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But go and learn what that means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
As he says 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, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children 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 by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto you a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry: for the land has committed great harlotry, departing from the LORD.
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto you a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry: for the land has committed great harlotry, departing from the LORD.
Hear you this, O priests; and hearken, you house of Israel; and give you ear, O house of the king; for judgment is for you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is defiled with blood. And as bands of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scoffers.
And Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his fragrance 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 your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, and in Egypt; and serve you the LORD.
And Samuel said, has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey 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 your name:
This was the word of the LORD which he spoke unto Jehu, saying, Your 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 began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.
Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turn not unto him that strikes them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, 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 harass Ephraim.
For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the children 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, you are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, you are the sons of the living God.
Yet the number of the children 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, you are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, you are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
For she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
For she did not know that I gave her grain, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
And I will sow her for myself in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them who were not my people, you are my people; and they shall say, you are my God.
For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break all restraint, and bloodshed touches bloodshed. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells in it shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fish of the sea also shall be taken away. read more. Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for your people are as they that strive with the priest. Therefore shall you fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with you in the night, and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. read more. They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their deeds. For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit harlotry, and shall not increase: because they have ceased to obey the LORD. Harlotry and wine and new wine take away the heart. My people ask counsel of their idols of wood, and their staff advises unto them: for the spirit of harlotry has caused them to err, and they have played the harlot against their God.
My people ask counsel of their idols of wood, and their staff advises unto them: for the spirit of harlotry has caused them to err, and they have played the harlot against their God. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because its shadow is good: therefore your daughters shall commit harlotry, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because its shadow is good: therefore your daughters shall commit harlotry, and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for the men themselves are gone apart with harlots, and they sacrifice with prostitutes: therefore the people that do not understand shall fall.
I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for the men themselves are gone apart with harlots, and they sacrifice with prostitutes: therefore the people that do not understand shall fall. Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not unto Gilgal, neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear, As the LORD lives.
When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; 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 you? O Judah, what shall I do unto you? for your goodness 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 testifies to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this. Ephraim also is like a silly dove without sense: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
Your calf, O Samaria, has cast you off; my anger is kindled against them: how long will it be before they attain to innocence? For from Israel is even this: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey alone by itself: Ephraim has hired lovers.
They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of my offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepts them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and punish their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
They shall not dwell in the LORD'S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for its people shall mourn over it, and its idolatrous priests shall wail over it, for its glory has departed from it. It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he comes and rains righteousness upon you.
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
When Israel was a child, then 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 return.
They shall come trembling as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, says the LORD.
Ephraim feeds on wind, and follows after the east wind: he daily increases lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
And I that am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt will yet make you to dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and gave symbols, by the witness of the prophets.
And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. read more. Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no god but me: for there is no savior besides me.
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be your plagues; O grave, I will be your destruction: pity shall be hid from my eyes.
Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we offer the sacrifices of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, you are our gods: for in you the fatherless finds mercy.
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his fragrance as Lebanon. read more. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and grow as the vine: their scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, says the LORD.
And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
But go and learn what that means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.
Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.
Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O you house of Israel, have you offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
As he says 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, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children 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 your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Who in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on 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 has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut 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 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 you to hear my words. read more. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he worked a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray you, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto you a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry: for the land has committed great harlotry, departing from the LORD.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for you 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 does it bear, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
And they raised over him 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 aside there, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat himself down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodge. And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening, who was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites. read more. And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, where do you go? and from where do you come? And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from there am I: and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receives me into his house. Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for your handmaid, and for the young man who is with your servants: there is no lack of any thing. And the old man said, Peace be with you; however let all your needs lie upon me; only lodge not in the street. So he brought him into his house, and gave fodder unto the donkeys: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into your house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this folly. Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble you them, and do with them what seems good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to dawn, they let her go.
And when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and adorned her head, and looked out at 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 there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. 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 trod her under foot. And when he had come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. Therefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the territory of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as refuse upon the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.
Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not unto Gilgal, neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear, As the LORD lives.
Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned in the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
As he says 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, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Who in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: who 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 Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him down, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.