Hosea was the only one of the writing prophets to come from the northern kingdom, Israel; he speaks of its king as “our” king (Hosea 7:5).

• The name Hosea means “salvation.”
• His message was primarily aimed at the northern kingdom, with occasional reference to the southern kingdom, Judah.

Hosea began his ministry when Israel, under Jeroboam II (793–753), was at the zenith of its power. Hosea then witnessed the rapid disintegration and fall of the northern kingdom, going from its peak to its end in less than 30 years:
 • Jeroboam II (793–753). A reign of great prosperity
 • Zechariah (753–752). Reigned six months; assassinated by Shallum
 • Shallum (752). Reigned one month; assassinated by Menahem
 • Menahem (752–742). Unspeakably cruel; a puppet of Assyria
 • Pekahiah (742–740). Assassinated by Pekah
 • Pekah (752–732). Assassinated by Hoshea
 • Hoshea (732–722). Fall of Samaria (721). End of northern kingdom

The kings of the southern kingdom during whose reigns he prophesied (1:1) were
 • Uzziah (792–740), a good king
 • Jotham (750–732), a good king
 • Ahaz (735–716), a very wicked king
 • Hezekiah (716–687), a good king, during whose reign Samaria fell

The Situation

• Some 200 years before Hosea's time, the Ten Tribes had seceded and set up an independent kingdom, with the golden calf as its official national god.
• During those two centuries God had sent the prophets Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, and Amos.
• Now God sent Hosea.
• Hosea faced as horrendous a mess as is found anywhere in the Bible.
• The degradation of the people was unbelievable.
• Yet Hosea labored unceasingly to make them see that God still loved them.

• Israel, God's “bride” (Ezekiel 16:8–15), had forsaken God and had given herself to the worship of other gods, which was spiritual adultery.
• Now Hosea is commanded by God to take an adulterous wife (Hosea 1:2).
• The simple, natural implication of the language is that it was an actual experience in Hosea's life, and a generally accepted interpretation is that Hosea, a prophet of God, was actually commanded by God to marry an unchaste woman, as a symbol of God's love for wayward Israel.
• (Or perhaps she was a woman who, if she was chaste at first, afterward proved unfaithful, left him, and became the paramour of a man who could better satisfy her fondness for luxury; 2:5.)
• The idolatrous worship of the land was so universally accompanied by immoral practices (4:11–14) that it was hard for a woman to be chaste, and “whoredom” was rampant.
• Some of the language applies to Hosea's family literally, some to the nation figuratively, some to both, with the literal and figurative alternating.
• Hosea's reconciliation with his wife (3:1–5).
• Hosea still loved his wife and bought her back (3:1–2), but he required her to remain for a time without conjugal privilege, as a prophetic image of Israel remaining “many days without a king ... and without sacrifice ...” before their eventual return to their God and David their king (3:3–4).

• Not only was Hosea's marriage an illustration of the thing he was preaching, but the names of his children proclaim the main messages of his life.
• Jezreel (1:4–5), his firstborn, was named after the city of Jehu's bloody brutality (2 Kings 10:1–14).
• The valley of Jezreel was the age-old battlefield on which the kingdom was about to collapse.
• By naming his child Jezreel, Hosea was saying to the king and to the nation, “The hour of retribution and punishment has come.”
• Lo-Ruhamah (Hosea 1:6), the name of the second child, meant “not loved.”
• God's mercy had come to an end for Israel, though there would be a respite for Judah (v. 7).
• Lo-Ammi (1:9), the name of the third child, meant “Not my people.”
• Hosea then repeats the two names without the “Lo” prefix—Ammi and Ruhama - (2:1), looking forward to the time when Israel would again be God's people.
• And in a play on the words, he predicts the day when other nations will be called the people of God (1:10), a verse Paul quotes to support his message that the Gospel will also be extended to include Gentiles (Romans 9:25).

• Idolatry is the source of their horrible crimes (vv. 1–3).
• Priests feed on the sins of the people (vv. 4–10).
• The young women are harlots, married women entertain other men, men visit prostitutes (vv.11-14).
• Judah (v. 15) had not sunk into idolatry as deeply as Israel and was spared for about 100 years after Israel was destroyed.
• Ephraim (v. 17), the largest and most central of the northern tribes, is used as a name for the whole northern kingdom.
• Beth Aven (v. 15) is another name for Bethel, the main center of idolatry in the northern kingdom.

• Priests, king, and people are “rebels” against God (vv. 1–3).
• Steeped in sin and proud of it; “they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.  ...but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.  (vv. 4–5).
• Illegitimate children (v. 7), that is, by men other than their husbands.  They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
• Intent on pursuing idols (v. 11), the result of King Jeroboam I's decision to create, for political reasons, a form of idolatry that would compete with the worship of God in Jerusalem (I Kings 12:26–33) when he first established the northern kingdom.

• On the third day (6:2) probably means that after a short period Israel would be restored; it is generally understood to be an intimation of Jesus the Messiah's resurrection on the third day.
• Gilead (6:8) was one of the main cities of the northern kingdom and was particularly horrible as centers of vice and violence.
• Hot as an oven; they devour their rulers (7:7; v. 4) probably refers to the period of passionate indulgence and violence in which four of their kings were assassinated in quick succession, even while Hosea was speaking.
• A cake not turned (7:8) is burnt on one side and raw on the other and therefore unfit for use.
• ...gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. (7:9) is a symptom of the approaching end.

• Set up kings without my consent (v. 4): God had appointed David's family to rule his people.
• The Ten Tribes had rebelled and set up a different line of kings for themselves.
• Sold herself to lovers (v. 9): Israel flirted with Assyria by paying tribute.

• Ephraim returns to Egypt  (9:3): not literally, but to Egypt-like bondage in Assyria, although after the captivity many Jews did settle in Egypt.
• The prophet is considered a fool (9:7) is either Hosea's opinion of false prophets or, more probably, the people's opinion of Hosea.
• They have sunk deep into corruption (9:9), as in the days of Gibeah, where one woman was raped all night long by a group of men (Judges 19:24–26).
• Wanderers among the nations (Hosea 9:17): the wandering began in Hosea's lifetime and has continued with relentless persistence through the centuries, for the Jews as for no other nation.
• The  calf-idol of Beth-aven  [Bethel] (10:5) shall be broken in pieces (8:6), and thorns and thistles shall grow over their altars (10:8).

• Out of Egypt (v. 1): this is quoted in  Matthew 2:15 as referring to the flight of Jesus' parents to Egypt.
• Even as the messianic nation was called out of Egypt in its childhood, so the Messiah Himself in His childhood was called out of Egypt.
• My people are determined to turn from me (11:7), but God's heart is still yearning for them with compassion (11:8–11).

• Assyria  and  Egypt (11:2): Israel's lying diplomacy, making secret agreements with both Assyria and Egypt to play them against each other, would bring disaster.
• Bethel (v. 4), the center of their abominable idolatry, was the very spot where their father Jacob had dedicated his life to God (Genesis 28:13–15).

• Guilty of Baal worship (v. 1): the addition of Baal worship to Jeroboam I's calf worship, under Ahab (1 Kings 16:30–33), brought national death.

• The Lord's wayward bride shall return to her husband and once again respond to His love, as in the days of her youth (2:14–20).

Chapters 1,2,3
Open's with wife (Gomer) and children situation.
1:2 - Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

Misc. Interesting quotes:

• 5:4
• 6:5
• 9:6
• 10:12
• 11:7
• 14:1 (the need for a NATION to be born again, not an individual soul - see John 3, I Peter 1:23 and I John 3:9.)
• 14:9
• 6:3 - Then shall we know, if we follow 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.
• Latter Rain is another device of the devil to trick folks into thinking they are doing right - becoming Holy so that when the anti-christ comes, the devil will trick them all.
• They claim the restitution of the church to it's rightful place.
• Enormous last day revival soon to come and the harvest of souls before the great terrible Day of the Lord.
• Outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh promised us in the last days and the restoration of apostolic and prophetic gifts.
• Problem?  They also claim them for today as they are the ones to 'usher' in this movement during the Tribulation.
• The Latter Rain as a 'movement' began with Pentecostal Power.
• They say, "At the Sharon Orphanage incident, God "really was manifested" there in 1948.
• They say that 1948 signals the end times.
• UN formed, Israel as a state, evangelistic and prophetic movements started.
• Oral Roberts and Billy Graham spread the world with gospel evangelism.
• "There is no latter rain theology, only the outpoured spirit in operation in the believers.
• The heresy hunters are fiercely anti-pentecostal.
• Teachings:
• belief in healing
• laying on of hands
• manifest sons of God
• emphasis on spiritual gifts, fasting, prayer and prophecy
• allegiance to the five-folds ministry of Ephesians 4:11
• teaching of Jewish feasts as types
• distrust of denominations
• a last day revival
• outpouring of God's spirit in the last days
• Joel's army
• The power of prayerful intercession will join those chosen to bring the army of the Lord into the heavenlies.
• The will be no tremendous outpouring of the latter rain in these last days until the people of God repent of their sins and recognize Babylon enough to come out of her. Hosea points to repentance, a restoration and the going forth of the Lord as the former and latter rain. This short passage may also suggest the millennial reign as being part of the Christian dispensation.
• We have seen the growth of the latter rain in the Great Awakening, Azusa Street, the evangelistic movement, Vatican II, the charismatic and Jesus movements and the outbreaks of restoration revival happening in scattered places all over the world. This is the genuine, not the counterfeit but little compared to what will happen when the mass of God's people finally turn from their apostasy, Babylon is pulled from her throne and the showers of spiritual blessings and power are poured upon all flesh without measure.
• As One Body...
• ...we prepare for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb
• ...harvest the fruit of the latter rain
• ...follow him as the Army of the Lord into His Glory
• they advertised a special link - "Help To Prepare a Holy Bride!"

• 4:1-12
• 4:13
• 5:12
• 5:15
• 6:1-3
• 7:2
• 8:5-7
• 8:14
• 9:16,17

• 7:8
• 4:17-19
• 5:3
• 5:4
• 5:9
• 5:11
• 5:14
• 11:7
• America?
• 7:1-16
• 8:1-4,5
• 12
• 13