A verse by verse commentary of this prophecy – for both ancient times and the near future!

Background

Assyrian Period / Pre-exilic Prophet

Written to all of Israel c.753-722 thus before the fall of Israel 721-718 BC

Tiglath Pilezer was king of Assyria 746-625 BC

Hosea and Isaiah and Micah are contemporaries, prophesying to Israel and Judah.

Hosea means = Salvation help deliverance

Hosea probably from nation of Israel – they were his people/family that he was speaking to.

He pulls from rural imagery and it is a book of prophecy and poetry: passionate; prophet of love;

Themes

God’s love for a sinful and rebellious nation / Day of the Lord / repentance (for hope)
warring, duplicitous, exchanged God for idols, sexual immorality (whoredom/harlotry 16)
Ephraim mentioned 30+ times (representing the 10 northern tribes of Israel);

Some of the prophecies are:

specific for that time
dual
ongoing
for the end-time only

At the split of Israel and Judah, Jereboam very quickly began changing the religion so that he could keep people from going to Jerusalem (in Judah) to keep the feasts. It would take 200 years before it eventuated and everything would come to pass – but it did. They continued to sin and because the penalty was not immediate they did it again.

Hosea was preaching in a time of prosperity, while every thing seemed to be going well, but the reality was that they were rotting from the inside out (this was more dangerous than the threat posed by the enemies outside their borders).

It was one of the greatest economic times of Israel – only comparable to Solomon’s reign. Much of the surrounding land that had been previously lost is now reclaimed. Their population had swelled and they became rich as they traded with many nations and were at different times in bed with Assyria and Egypt. They mistook their gain in wealth for God blessing them.

From the time of Jereboam II until the captivity of the northern tribes of Israel, was about the lifespan of an individual – or a whole generation came and went. After his death things continued to seem good but in reality they were falling apart. The next four kings were assassinated which was out of the ordinary for Israel; Assyria came in and made them a vassal state twice – made the northern kingdom do their bidding (taxes etc). Of course they ended up bucking the system and Assyria had enough of it and took them out of their homeland and enslaved them. By this time Israel, even though they had a military, they could not defend themselves.

Hosea tells them to return to the God that has always loved them like a husband – or these things will happen. Of course at the time they were full of themselves and did not think any of these things could happen – exactly where we find ourselves today.

Matthew 24:34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

Chapter 1

Hosea 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to 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.

in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah… Jeroboam II’s reign spanned all these kings of Judah

2 Kings 14:23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years.
2 Kings 14:24 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin.
2 Kings 14:25 He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.
2 Kings 14:26 For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter; and whether bond or free, there was no helper for Israel.
2 Kings 14:27 And the LORD did not say that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
2 Kings 14:28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did—his might, how he made war, and how he recaptured for Israel, from Damascus and Hamath, what had belonged to Judah—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel
2 Kings 14:29 So Jeroboam rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel. Then Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

Hosea 1:2 When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD.”

Being a prophet is not an enviable job

Symbolic of Hosea’s message to Israel and how they were acting towards God.

wife of harlotry… there was an expectation that once they were married, she would quit her whoring ways

children of harlotry… the offspring that Hosea would have with her

For the land has committed great harlotry… when the Israelites came out of Egypt and entered into a marriage covenant with God, they were to stay faithful to God and His ways

James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Jeremiah 3:8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.
Jeremiah 3:9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

Exodus 24:3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has said we will do.”

Exodus 24:7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.”

Jeremiah 31:32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

Ezekiel 16:8 “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 16:9 “Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.
Ezekiel 16:10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

Ezekiel 16:15 “But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.

Ezekiel 16:28 You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.

We will see later that Israel becomes a slave to the one she is committing whoredom with.

Hosea 2:2 “Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;

They had mixed in and adopted the religious practices of the Canaanites, the Phoenicians, and the Moabites.

Hosea 1:3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

She comes out of harlotry and bears a son to Hosea

Hosea 1:4 Then the LORD said to him: “Call his name Jezreel, For in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

Call his name Jezreel “God sows or God will scatter

bloodshed of Jezreel… the place of retribution in the place symbolizing what would effectively happen in the near future:

on the house of Jehu… Jehu was used by God to seek retribution on the house of Ahab; he therefore obtained the throne through this wrongfully motivated act of bloodshed; Jereboam II was of this house and lineage; now rectification and vengeance would come upon the whole nation of Israel as a result of this (2 Kings 10).

bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel… by and through the Assyrian captivity 721-718bc; by sowing them in Assyria and later scattering them purposefully into present day NW Europe.

Hosea 1:5 It shall come to pass in that day That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

break the bow… they would become defenseless

in that day… as usual, a reference to the end-time and the Day of the Lord

Hosea 1:6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away.

Lo-Ruhamah… “she hath not obtained mercy” “not pitied”

Ezekiel 16:5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.

Hosea 1:7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, Will save them by the LORD their God, And will not save them by bow, Nor by sword or battle, By horses or horsemen.”

I will have mercy on the house of Judah… when you understand that these two nations (israel North and Judah south) are not in a very big area and they butt up to one another, you see necessity for God’s intervention. 2 Kings 19:35 shows how He intervened without Judah having to rely on the bow to defend.

2 Kings 19:32 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
2 Kings 19:33 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the LORD.
2 Kings 19:34 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
2 Kings 19:35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
2 Kings 19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.

Hosea 1:8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
Hosea 1:9 Then God said: “Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God.

KEY VERSE: Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Psalms 144:15 Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

Millennial Scriptures

Hosea 1:10 “Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ ‘[Lo-Ammi] There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’

number of the children of Israel…sand of the sea…cannot be measured or numbered…. they were not lost; God always knew where they were and kept an eye on them the whole time – He had to if He was to bring them back as He promised.

‘You are sons of the living God.’..

Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Romans 8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

They will have their first and only opportunity to receive the holy spirit and all that that portends.

And it shall come to pass [prophecy for the future] In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My pe
ple,’ ‘[Lo-Ammi] There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’ …

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
1 Peter 2:10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
1 Peter 2:12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Applies to Gentiles as well
Romans 9:23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,
Romans 9:24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Romans 9:25 As He says also in Hosea: “I WILL CALL THEM MY PEOPLE, WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, AND HER BELOVED, WHO WAS NOT BELOVED.”
Romans 9:26 “AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.”

God is working will eventually work with everyone giving them an opportunity for salvation (Hosea meaning). Jew first, then the Gentile who He will graft into His people. Ultimately, everyone will have the chance to be apart of Israel by becoming an spiritual jew through the circumcision of the heart.

[see message on Gentiles]

Hosea 1:11 Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel Shall be gathered together, And appoint for themselves one head; And they shall come up out of the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel!

Ezekiel 37:21 “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations [where they were scattered (jezreel)], wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;
Ezekiel 37:22 and I will make them
one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations [this has not happened since Israel went into captivity which Hosea is now foretelling], nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.
Ezekiel 37:23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them [they will receive God’s spirit and become converted]. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 37:24 “David My servant shall be king over them [this is the “one head” of :11], and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.
Ezekiel 37:25 Then they shall dwell in the land [Jerusalem; promised land] that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.
Ezekiel 37:26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant [the new covenant] with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.
Ezekiel 37:27 My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God [after His 2^nd coming], and they shall be My people.

Ezekiel 37:14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’ “

Hosea 2:1 Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ And to your sisters, ‘Mercy is shown.‘

KJV Hosea 2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

Goes with the end of chapter 1

Chapter 2

Hosea 2:1 Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’ [Ammi] And to your sisters, ‘Mercy [Ruhamah] is shown.‘

These are their names without the “lo” (which means “not”) on the front of them (Ammi, Ruhamah). In essence, what is being said here is that “God will plant/sow them again”; restore them (meaning of Jezreel). Hosea 1:9, 6, 4

charges… for breaking law / covenant / sin.

For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband… God gave them a bill of divorcement Isaiah 50:1; Jeremiah 3:6-8, 31:32

mother… equals nation and its leaders.

put away her harlotries … her adulteries… Yet she still needs to change, for the future New Covenant; Harlotries are spiritual whoredoms.

Hosea 2:3 Lest I strip her naked And expose her, as in the day she was born, And make her like a wilderness, And set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst.

God will take away all the blessings that came with obedience and impose the curses of Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26.

Hosea 2:4 “I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry.

children of harlotry… this is the opposite of being a son of God, it is the byproduct of the nation of Israel leaving God and His ways and going after foreign gods. This is what happens when the Israel forsakes its relationship with God and has an illicit one with other nations – they perpetuate the sinning from generation to generation.

Hosea 2:5 For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.’

their mother… they are then the children of harlotry.

She who conceived… Through Christ’s marriage to His people He offered them a relationship, but they forsook it and had an illicit affair (lovers…) with other nations and their gods.

Who give me… Israel focuses on foreigners to get what she needs, but they turn their back on her Lamentations 1:2

Hosea 2:6 “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, And wall her in, So that she cannot find her paths.

Hosea 2:7 She will chase her lovers, But not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, For then it was better for me than now.’

There will be a futility in chasing after these foreign lovers. When she realizes this, then she decides to begrudgingly return to her husband – her second choice. How do you think that makes Him feel?

Hosea 2:8 For she did not know That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, And multiplied her silver and gold— Which they prepared for Baal.

In Hosea 2:5 Israel attributed all of this to her other lovers, the other nations that she was getting this from.

They were warned about this:

Deuteronomy 8:10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.
Deuteronomy 8:11 “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,
Deuteronomy 8:12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them;
Deuteronomy 8:13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;
Deuteronomy 8:14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Deuteronomy 8:15 who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock;
Deuteronomy 8:16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end—
Deuteronomy 8:17 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
Deuteronomy 8:18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
Deuteronomy 8:19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.
Deuteronomy 8:20 As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.

Which is exactly what God says will happen to them… and it did:

Hosea 2:9 “Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time And My new wine in its season, And will take back My wool and My linen, Given to cover her nakedness.

Isaiah 10:5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Hosea 2:10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
Hosea 2:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons, Her Sabbaths— All her appointed feasts.

There should be no caps for “Her” – this is the NKJV translators thinking that it refers to a foreign god (ie possibly Astarte/Ishtar)

her… is Israel, the spiritual harlot and this is the definition of that – changing God’s law commandments instructions.

Deuteronomy 8:11 “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,

1 Kings 12:32 Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made.
1 Kings 12:33 So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

Hosea 2:12 “And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Of which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’ So I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them.

wages… ie the payment for her as a prostitute.

So I will… God will take all that away from them.

Hosea 2:13 I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers; But Me she forgot,” says the LORD.

But Me she forgot… Once again her attitude towards her husband is less than desirable – He was 2^nd best and now He is forgotten.

Jeremiah 2:32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

Hosea 2:14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.

I will allure her… Speaking in future tense here, He says that He will not give up on her and attract her back to Himself eventually.

Hosea 2:15 I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

Valley of Achor… reference to the story of Achen in Joshua 7; it is synonymous for that which caused trouble has now become a blessing.

Joshua 6:18 And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
Joshua 6:19 But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.”

[fill in the rest of the story of Achan]

Joshua 7:25 And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
Joshua 7:26 Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.

It was a place where there was sorrow for cause, but it would later be turned into joy for the Israelites as they entered into the promised land. The symbolism here is the same.

Hosea 2:16 “And it shall be, in that day,” Says the LORD, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’

in that day… a reference to the future and the Day of the Lord, God’s time. This is also confirmation of the end-time nature of this section.

My Master / My Lord… Baali which comes form Baal which means master. Because of the practice of syncretism, the blending of religions, Baal and God’s name which is also Lord became conflated and confused; mistakenly worshiping the wrong god in place of the true one is still going on today and of course God is not pleased with it still.

Nature of the relationship of spiritual Israel to Christ:

Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
Isaiah 54:6 For the LORD has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused,” Says your God.
Isaiah 54:7 “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you.
Isaiah 54:8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the LORD, your Redeemer.

Jeremiah 3:14 “Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

Ephesians 5:32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Revelation 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”

We will be like God – who else would the Son marry – only someone after His kind. This is one of the great mysteries of the world.

Hosea 2:17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more.

Exodus 23:13 “And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Points to a time when our language will not be corrupted with words and phrases from false religion

Zephaniah 3:9 “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the LORD, To serve Him with one accord.

Hosea 2:18 In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.

a covenant for them With… Peace will reign on earth; A time when animal nature and human nature will be changed:

Isaiah 11:6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
Isaiah 11:7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isaiah 11:8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
Isaiah 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 2:2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.
Isaiah 2:3 Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 2:4 He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.

Hosea 2:19 “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;

The fact that it is forever also shows that this is the end-time, after the return of Christ, when He begins His reign as King of kings in power and authority.

Hosea 2:20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.

1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Matthew 1:24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,
Matthew 1:25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.

John uses the same word that is translated “know” above:

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

John 17:25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.

This conveys an intimacy that we are to have with God in a spiritual way.

Hosea 2:21 “It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer [what the people ask],” says the LORD; “I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth.

Rain in due season from the first heaven that will nurture the earth and allow it to produce

Leviticus 26:3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
Leviticus 26:4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

Hosea 2:22 The earth shall answer With grain [this is the result], With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel.

Jezreel … Meaning “God sows”

Hosea 2:23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ “

KJV Hosea 2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

In the end they are no longer Lo-ammi or Lo-ruhamah or Jezreel that just scatters

Ezekiel 34:23-31

Chapter 3

In a sense this chapter is the complete history of Israel

Hosea 3:1 Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.“

The life of Hosea is a parallel carried out by the children of Israel

Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.

God still loves Israel through thick and thin

Hosea 3:2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.

Why did He have to buy her back → because she was in the slave market. Their captivity will be a rough time, some of them will not even be wanted as slaves and presumably killed.

Half the price for a slave, 15 shekels plus 15 ephah of the cheapest grain.

Hosea 3:3 And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”

A time of testing. She won’t play the harlot and He won’t be with her either until she proves herself and regains His trust and goes through a time of repentance.

Hosea 3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.

This is the interpretation of the previous verse:

In captivity they will not be afforded many things; they will not get to rule themselves; they will not get to worship or practice their religion or seek answers from false religion

KJV: Judges 17:5 And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

This has happened and in and of itself is a poof of Bible.

Hosea 3:5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.

Israel shall return … to the promised land finally after the return of Christ; they have not been there since they first went into captivity

After the captivity AND the return of Christ, David (who is actually dead at the time this is written) will be set up as ruler

From last week: Ezekiel 37:24 “David My servant shall be king over them [this is the “one head” of 1:11], and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.

Chapter 4

Chapters 1-3 are about Hosea’s life as it parallels Israel – now his message to them.

Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.

inhabitants of the land… he is addressing all the people (he will become more specific later)

no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land … this is why there is a problem

Amos 3:10 For they do not know to do right,’ Says the LORD, ‘Who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.’ “

charge… connotation of a lawsuit against them; God begins listing the sins against them

Hosea 4:2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed.

Breaking the 10 commandments – 5 of them are listed here

Hosea 4:3 Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

Because you have broken the laws there will be a recompense on you.

Even the fish… We can imagine the animals that we have accessing to disappearing, but EVEN the fish of the sea will be taken away.

Ultimately this will happen in the end-time:

Revelation 16:3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.

Hosea 4:4 “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are like those who contend with the priest.

Deuteronomy 17:12 Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel.

Jereboam rejected the holy days when Israel split off from Judah

1 Kings 13:33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

1 Kings 12:33 So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

2 Chronicles 11:13 And from all their territories the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel took their stand with him.
2 Chronicles 11:14 For the Levites left their common-lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the LORD.
2 Chronicles 11:15 Then he appointed for himself priests for the high places, for the demons, and the calf idols which he had made.
2 Chronicles 11:16 And after the Levites left, those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the LORD God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 11:17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

Hosea 4:5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; And I will destroy your mother.

KJV: Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.

prophet also shall stumble … they will become false prophets; they pretend to stand for God, but tell the people things that are commensurate with their lack of understanding…just like so many do today.

Because they turned away from God Israel would not return to the land of Israel for over 2500 years

mother… Mother equals nation and its leaders.

Hosea 2:2 “Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;

and He did:

Isaiah 50:1 Thus says the LORD: “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, Whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

My people… everyone including the priests and prophets

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge… one of the most significant themes of this book and the history of the Israelites as a whole nation.

knowledge… of God; Bible; Hosea 4:1-2 ..there is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.

it is the rejection of this and the commandments of God

Proverbs 28:9 One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

priest… (people or specifically the priests)

Exodus 19:6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Revelation 5:10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

Hosea 4:7 “The more they increased, [the children] The more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. [God will eventually stop this cycle of perpetuation].
Hosea 4:8 They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity.

One of the things that the priests got to do, was have a portion of certain sacrifices to eat (Leviticus 6-7). The priests were more focused on getting the food for themselves than telling the people not to sin. A conflict of interests so to speak.

Hosea 4:9 And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.

like people, like priest… Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed

Isaiah 9:13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, Nor do they seek the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah 9:14 Therefore the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel, Palm branch and bulrush in one day.
Isaiah 9:15 The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
Isaiah 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, And those who are led by them are destroyed.

Next 5 verses hearken back to the spiritual harlotry that Israel is committing

Hosea 4:10 For they shall eat, but not have enough; They shall commit harlotry, but not increase; Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.

Blessings and cursings, this theme is throughout the Bible

For they shall eat, but not have enough…

Micah 6:14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied; Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them; And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.

Haggai 1:6 “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

They shall commit harlotry, but not increase… (a moratorium was put on the blessings because of disobedience)

Hosea 1:10 “Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’

Promise to Abraham

Genesis 13:16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.

Repeated it Jacob

Genesis 32:12 For You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ “

Hosea 4:11 “Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart.

To me the implication is that they cannot wait for the wine to go all the way through its fermenting process and have to drink it before it is fully mature.

They have become addicted to these things and more

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

Hosea 4:12 My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have played the harlot against their God.

ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them… divination; idolatry

spirit of harlotry… this is also addressed in the first two chapters where Hosea a type of Christ marries a woman of harlotry

Hosea 1:6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away.

Hosea 1:9 Then God said: “Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God.

They went after foreign gods and forsook the one and true God and lost knowledge of Him and His ways. What is the result of this → Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge

Hosea 4:13 They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, And burn incense on the hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, And your brides commit adultery.

sacrifices on the mountaintops… high places (“closer to heaven”)

Jeremiah 2:19 Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing That you have forsaken the LORD your God, And the fear of Me is not in you,” Says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jeremiah 2:20 “For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ When on every high hill and under every green tree You lay down, playing the harlot.

Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths…

2 Chronicles 31:1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the sacred pillars in pieces, cut down the wooden images, and threw down the high places and the altars—from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh—until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.

2 Chronicles 31:1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

Groves…From H833; asherah (or Astarte or Ashtoreth) a Phoenician goddess; also an image of the same: – grove.

Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, And your brides commit adultery…. while the men are away doing things that they should not be doing the women then take the same liberty. Notice the next verse:

Hosea 4:14 “I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, Nor your brides when they commit adultery; For the men themselves go apart with harlots, And offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot. Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.

ritual harlot… one of the things that used happen in order to get men to come and offer sacrifices was the implementation of temple prostitutes.

Therefore people who do not understand… this would be inclusive of everyone

will be trampled… fall; fall from grace as some say today, meaning a fall from a position of favor into sin.

Hosea 4:15 “Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the LORD lives’—

Let not Judah offend… Israel went into captivity way before Judah. A warning to Judah not to follow Israels ways, but eventually Judah had to go into captivity as well

Gilgal… was a place of worship/sacrifices

Beth Aven – house of vanity or iniquity is the literal translation. This appears to be a sarcastic reference to Bethel which means “house of God”

Hosea 10:8 Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, Shall be destroyed. The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars; They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Hosea 10:5 The inhabitants of Samaria fear Because of the calf of Beth Aven. For its people mourn for it, And its priests shriek for it— Because its glory has departed from it.

Hosea 4:16 “For Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the LORD will let them forage Like a lamb in open country.

KJV Hosea 4:16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding [rebellious and unrestrained] heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

In a warning to Judah, Jeremiah has the following to say:

Jeremiah 3:6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.

let them forage Like a lamb in open country…. this is not a good thing, a single lamb in a large pasture is not safe – so will Israel be like this in Assyria

Hosea 4:17 “Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone.

Ephraim representative of the 10 tribes of Israel

Genesis 48:14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Jeremiah 31:9 They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.

Often used to differentiate from Israel meaning all of the 12 tribes. Ephraim can also represent the United Kingdom and Commonwealth

joined to idols…

Ezekiel 20:16 because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
Ezekiel 20:17 Nevertheless My eye spared them from destruction. I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
Ezekiel 20:18 “But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols.
Ezekiel 20:19 I am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them;
Ezekiel 20:20 hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.’

Hosea 4:18 Their drink is rebellion, They commit harlotry continually. Her rulers dearly love dishonor.

He continues making a case for why they are going to be punished.

Hosea 4:19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings, And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

The wind has wrapped her up in its wings… seems to be an allusion to Assyria coming like the wind and taking over Israel quickly

they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices…. After all they did for their gods, they were not saved by them from the one true God, because idols of sticks and stones can never help.

Chapter 5

Hosea 5:1 “Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For yours is the judgment, Because you have been a snare to Mizpah And a net spread on Tabor.

To the priests (religious leaders), people and civil authorities (addresses them all)

snare to Mizpah And a net spread on Tabor… Mizpah was in the south of the northern kingdom and Tabor the far north; high places of pagan worship from East to West; snare and net have the connotation of being hunted by the leadership; so this paints a very dire picture for the house of Israel and their day to day walk as they tried to navigate the traps laid for them.

How important are the leaders – they can lead toward or away from God. Leaders lead by example, inspiration, service, following God, pointing the way

Hosea 5:2 The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter, Though I rebuke them all.

They are abusing God’s people

Hosea 5:3 I know Ephraim, And Israel is not hidden from Me; For now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry; Israel is defiled.

Hosea 4:17 is the first mention of Ephraim

Ephraim can be representative of the northern tribes so as not to confuse the divided nation which has 10 tribes with the all the Israelites (like Jacob can refer to)

Genesis 48:16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
Genesis 48:17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
Genesis 48:18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
Genesis 48:19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
Genesis 48:20 So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

So now after 4 chapters of mentioning Israel, Hosea begins to speak to Ephraim as well – here in the context of speaking to the leaders.

Hosea 5:4 “They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the LORD.

spirit of harlotry… this has been the recurring theme (Hosea 4:12)

they do not know the LORD…. Hosea 4:6; 1 John 2:3-4

Hosea 5:5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also stumbles with them.

Therefore Israel and Ephraim… He is distinguishing between Israel and Ephraim

Ezekiel 23 Oholah and Oholibah

Hosea 5:6 “With their flocks and herds They shall go to seek the LORD, But they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.

Their sacrifices now will not be enough. They search out God after the fact and it is too late.

Hosea 5:7 They have dealt treacherously with the LORD, For they have begotten pagan children. Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.

dealt treacherously with the LORD… they acted deceitfully by playing the harlot even though they were in a marriage covenant with Him

Jeremiah 31:32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

What is the result of the illicit affair / the spiritual harlotry:

begotten pagan children… no longer do they know the ways of God, but they are born into an apostate family (ie do not know the holy days, but keep the pagan days)

new moon…

Zechariah 11:8 I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

Changes his focus to Judah now:

Hosea 5:8 “Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, The trumpet in Ramah! Cry aloud at Beth Aven, ‘Look behind you, O Benjamin!’

Blow the ram’s horn … Battle cry to Judah, you’re next; this was a warning to them (Ezekiel 34)

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.

Gibeah…Ramah… Significant northern border towns of Judah.

Cry aloud at Beth Aven… The name for Bethel (house of God) because of their sins it is being called house of vanity and iniquity and is just to the north of Judah/Benjamin.

Benjamin… close in proximity to Judah

Hosea 5:9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.

There is no doubt that this is going to happen. It should be a warning to Judah – us and the rest of the world!

Hosea 5:10 “The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out my wrath on them like water.

remove a landmark… dishonest leaders within the nation of Judah as well.

Deuteronomy 19:14 “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

them… talking about the judgment that will come on both of them (Israel and Judah). In ancient times their captivities were approximately 130 years apart and were not concurrent.

The next verses are talked about like they are happening together and at the same time. This prophecy is mostly for the future which chapter 6 makes clearer:

Hosea 5:11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, Because he willingly walked by human precept.

The reason that Ephraim finds itself in this state is because they:

walked by human precept…. Did was right in their own eyes; they did not follow Gods ways.

Hosea 5:12 Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth, And to the house of Judah like rottenness.

like a moth… like rottenness… Eats away slowly but surely, little by little, and before they know it, destruction is the result.

Isaiah 1:2 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;
Isaiah 1:3 The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.”
Isaiah 1:4 Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.
Isaiah 1:5 Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.
Isaiah 1:6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment.

Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound.

While Hosea preached, Israel began paying tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 15:19-20) and Ahaz of Judah sought assistance from Assyria (16:5-9) and neither one were saved by Assyria.

King Jareb… since this is futuristic and we know that Assyria is the king of the North, we see that this is then a reference to the Beast power.

Since we know that Ephraim is the UK and Assyria is Germany we know that the relationship between these two powers will be broken. Eventually, though, the UK will find themselves in difficult times and reach out to the German led power for help, but they will come to their aid.

[Brexit in Prophecy] [Germany in Prophecy].

Hosea 5:14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.

like a lion… Israel will be like scattered sheep;

like a young lion… less ferocity

Because these events happen at the same time it indicates a future fulfillment.

Hosea 5:15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

Till they acknowledge their offense … God is going to do what it takes for however long it takes.

Then they will seek My face… Punishment brings about repentance. This is what God wants:

Chapter 6

Verses:1-3 of this chapter are a follow on from Hosea 5:15 and expresses their repentance “in that day” that is to come:

Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

let us return to the LORD… return/turn: shûb: repent

He has torn… He has stricken… God punished them for a purpose

He will heal us…He will bind us up…. God will also restore and forgive them

They sought refuge in the wrong place

Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound.

Chapter 7

Hosea 7:1 “When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside.

Narrowing down from Israel to Ephraim to Samaria. Samaria was the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel and was emblematic the leadership of the nation. Samaria was built by King Omri and he remained steeped in idolatry all the way through it’s destruction some 30 years before the 10 tribes went into captivity in Assyria. Israel never lived correctly to an acceptable level in God’s eyes.

Hosea 7:2 They do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness; Now their own deeds have surrounded them; They are before My face.

God is still calling out the leadership here. All the lying, stealing etc they were doing is ultimately against God and they had dismissed that. They forgot that their sins would find them out and the transgressions were piling up pretty heftily.

Hosea 7:3 They make a king glad with their wickedness, And princes with their lies.

The king is happy that they are sinning because this means that they were not condemning him for his sins if they were doing the same thing or were just as bad.

We also see here that He speaking specifically to the rulers.

Hosea 7:4 “They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker— He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened.

Burning in their lust and fervent in an illicit way, they were waiting for the opportunity to take advantage.

Hosea 7:5 In the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers.

day of our king… birthday or coronation

inflamed with wine … so the king could not make a good judgment

Hosea 7:6 They prepare their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait; Their baker sleeps all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

It seethes overnight and they are hot and bothered by morning.

Hosea 7:7 They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me.

Jeroboam Il: Son of Jehoash 793–753 B.C. A long, prosperous, but idolatrous reign
Zechariah: Son of Jeroboam II 753–0752 Assassinated
Shallum: Killed Zechariah 752 Assassinated
Menahem: Killed Shallum 752–742 Extremely brutal
Pekahiah: Son of Menahem 742–740 Assassinated by Pekah
Pekah: Overthrew Pekahiah 752–732 the northern part of Israel was taken into captivity (734 B.C.)
Hoshea: Overthrew Pekah; 732–722 The last king of Israel; Samaria fell in 721 B.C. by Assyrians under Sargon II.

Hosea 7:8 “Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned.

He looks to make alliances with others and is influenced by them. In the process he adopts their ways and leaves God’s behind. So he becomes: Burnt on one side and undone raw and doughy; this cake which is like a pancake, is useless and no good for its purpose

Hosea 7:9 Aliens have devoured his strength, But he does not know it; Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, Yet he does not know it.

Aliens… the strangers and foreigners that they have mixed with

The mixing of the people (Hosea 7:8) have them pitting themselves against you and using up your resources (blessings) and you are unaware of this fact. You grow weak and feeble like an old man without realizing your predicament.

Hosea 7:10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, But they do not return to the LORD their God, Nor seek Him for all this.

Pride goes before the fall; and they still do not rely on God and turn to Him.

Hosea 7:11 “Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense— They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria.

Key verse:

a silly dove, without sense … flitting around trying to fix things and solve its problems. Instead of seeking God they look to men for help. The place to get help should be obvious, but it is not to them.

Hosea 7:12 Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them According to what their congregation has heard.

According to what their congregation has heard… The law and covenants based on them that they said they would keep; all the prophecies by the prophets that warned them time and time again. All of the words of God written out for them. In other words they are without excuse.

Hosea 7:13 “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them, Because they have transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them, Yet they have spoken lies against Me.

Though I redeemed them … God wanted to rescue them and He tried to spare them.

Hosea 7:14 They did not cry out to Me with their heart When they wailed upon their beds. “They assemble together for grain and new wine, They rebel against Me;

They did not beseech God with a repentant heart for the wrong that they had done, but because they did not like the punishment.

They assemble together for grain and new wine… they go to their ungodly religious rituals seeking help and sustenance instead of calling out to God as He had instructed them:

Jeremiah 29:12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

Hosea 7:15 Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me;

God was the true source of their strength and they failed to recognize that.

Hosea 7:16 They return, but not to the Most High; They are like a treacherous bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword For the cursings of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

treacherous bow… misses the mark (like the definition of sin)

princes fall by the sword… leadership will fall with the nation, they will not escape.

This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt… when you see Egypt alone it can refer to sin symbolically, but when you actually see the “land of Egypt” it is typically referring to the place. So what we have here is referring to a time in the future:

Isaiah 11:11 It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
Isaiah 11:12 He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.

Chapter 8

In this chapter God through Hosea gives five reasons for the impending punishment of Israel. They broke the law many times as recorded here in this chapter, so there is a judgment and condemnation that comes with that.

1. Transgressing against Covenant and Breaking God’s Law

Hosea 8:1 “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the LORD, Because they have transgressed My covenant And rebelled against My law.

Set the trumpet to your mouth…

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.

The message was to be as clear and incisive as the sound of a shofar.

Jeremiah 6:17 Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

eagle… symbol of power and speed referring to the ferocity of the attack on Northern Kingdom of Israel; Assyria being modern-day Germany it is interesting that it the national animal or emblem of Germany.

covenant…law…. the covenant is an agreement based on the existing law.

Hosea 8:2 Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’

‘My God, we know You!’… Just because the Israelites say this, does not mean it’s true

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
Matthew 7:23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Hosea 8:3 Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him.

Israel has rejected the good…

Deuteronomy 28:1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.

Instead they have chosen to be disobedient (this is what He is judging on):

Deuteronomy 28:15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

The enemy will pursue him…. Here is the result:

Deuteronomy 28:25 “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.

2. They Left God out of the Process

Specifically in regards to the leadership. They set up kings and princes without God’s direction (ie Saul, Trump, Biden)

Hosea 8:4 “They set up kings, but not by Me; They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold They made idols for themselves— That they might be cut off.

Hosea 7:7 They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me.

Jeroboam Il: Son of Jehoash 793–753 B.C. A long, prosperous, but idolatrous reign
Zechariah: Son of Jeroboam II 753–0752 Assassinated
Shallum: Killed Zechariah 752 Assassinated
Menahem: Killed Shallum 752–742 Extremely brutal
Pekahiah: Son of Menahem 742–740 Assassinated by Pekah
Pekah: Overthrew Pekahiah 752–732 the northern part of Israel was taken into captivity (734 B.C.)
Hoshea: Overthrew Pekah; 732–722 The last king of Israel; Samaria fell in 721 B.C. by Assyrians under Sargon II.

Although this verse has been fulfilled, if it is dual we could see similar things happen again in the future.

They did what was right in their own eyes and the people more or less went along with them, so they are to blame as well.

Isaiah 9:8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob, And it has fallen on Israel.
Isaiah 9:9 All the people will know— Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria— Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
Isaiah 9:10 “The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.”
Isaiah 9:11 Therefore the LORD shall set up The adversaries of Rezin against him, And spur his enemies on,
Isaiah 9:12 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.
Isaiah 9:13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, Nor do they seek the LORD of hosts.
Isaiah 9:14 Therefore the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel, Palm branch and bulrush in one day.
Isaiah 9:15 The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
Isaiah 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, And those who are led by them are destroyed.
Isaiah 9:17 Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, And every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.

3. Idolatry

Hosea 8:5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria! My anger is aroused against them— How long until they attain to innocence?

How long until they attain to innocence…. how long until they recognize their guilt and repent?

Hosea 8:6 For from Israel is even this: A workman made it, and it is not God; But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

Deuteronomy 4:15 “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
Deuteronomy 4:16 lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,
Deuteronomy 4:17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,
Deuteronomy 4:18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth.
Deuteronomy 4:19 And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.

Deuteronomy 4:23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.
Deuteronomy 4:24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:25 “When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the LORD your God to provoke Him to anger,
Deuteronomy 4:26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
Deuteronomy 4:27 And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. [He has scattered Israel in the past and will do so again in the future for these same reasons (Isaiah 11:11-12)].
Deuteronomy 4:28 And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
Deuteronomy 4:29 [GOOD NEWS] But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 4:30 When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice
Deuteronomy 4:31 (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you [completely that is], nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. [God is faithful to keep His unconditional promises, even though they were breaking the covenant].

Hosea 8:7 “They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; It shall never produce meal. If it should produce, Aliens would swallow it up.

They
sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind… like seeds planted in the ground become a crop – because they sow futility, they will reap manifold curses. The whirlwind/tornado is used as a symbol of judgment from God

Jeremiah 23:19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.

Aliens would swallow it up… the things that you do produce will be taken from you.

Hosea 7:9 Aliens [the strangers and foreigners that they have mixed with] have devoured his strength….

They are using up your resources (blessings)

Deuteronomy 28:43 “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
Deuteronomy 28:44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
Deuteronomy 28:45 “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.

This leads us back to:

Hosea 8:8 Israel is swallowed up; Now they are among the Gentiles Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.

The next step in where their sins will lead them. The foreigners that they relied upon and trusted will eventually consume them completely.

4. Reliance on Man (not God)

Hosea 8:9 For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey alone by itself; Ephraim has hired lovers.

For they have gone up to Assyria … Ephraim has hired lovers….

2 Kings 15:19 Pul king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his control.

This will happen again in the future:

Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound.

King Jareb… since this is in the future and we know that Assyria is the king of the North, we see that this is then a reference to the Beast power.

Like a wild donkey alone by itself… you are meandering and going wherever you please

Hosea 8:10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations, Now I will gather them; And they shall sorrow a little, Because of the burden of the king of princes.

Yes, though they have hired among the nations… see Hosea 8:9

Now I will gather them; And they shall sorrow a little… during the Great Tribulation;

Hosea 6:2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.

Because of the burden of the king of princes…. see Hosea 8:9 Pul king of Assyria in the past and in the future it will be the beast power.

5. False Worship

Hosea 8:11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin, They have become for him altars for sinning.

Whether Godly ones used for wrong or pagans ones

Deuteronomy 12:1 “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.
Deuteronomy 12:2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
Deuteronomy 12:3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place.
Deuteronomy 12:4 You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things.
Deuteronomy 12:5 “But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.
Deuteronomy 12:6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

We quoted this before and have talked at length about Israel going off the track immediately after the split into a Northern and Southern kingdom. (see notes on Hosea 4:4)

1 Kings 12:32 Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made.
1 Kings 12:33 So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

Hosea 8:12 I have written for him the great things of My law, But they were considered a strange thing.

great things of My law… most believe that the law is just the opposite and a burden!

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Hosea 8:13 For the sacrifices of My offerings they sacrifice flesh and eat it, But the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt.

Now He will remember… instead of forgive and forget

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Jeremiah 7:22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
Jeremiah 7:23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’
Jeremiah 7:24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
Jeremiah 7:25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
Jeremiah 7:26 Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
Jeremiah 7:27 “Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
Jeremiah 7:28 “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

Psalms 51:16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

They shall return to Egypt…. (see notes on Hosea 7:16 …the land of Egypt.) but here it is referring to captivity and as we know it would be in Assyrians enslaving them at that time as well as in the future.

Hosea 8:14 “For Israel has forgotten his Maker, And has built temples; Judah also has multiplied fortified cities; But I will send fire upon his cities, And it shall devour his palaces.”

For Israel has forgotten his Maker … They have forgotten all the promises and covenants and help and blessings and have exchanged their God for things that are not God.

Judah also has multiplied fortified cities… Judah has begun to rely on herself for protection. As a nation they could see the impending attack from Assyria and so this is another warning (Hosea 6:11) to them as well that they should look to God and not rely on their own strength and judgments. But as we know neither remembered God as they should.

Chapter 9

Serious Times Ahead

Hosea 9:1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples… They were enjoying the blessings without acknowledging where they came from. You should have known better and because of this your joy will be short lived. So in effect they should not be as happy as they are because it will end prematurely.

played the harlot… the recurring theme of them of leaving the marital covenant that they made with God as their husband and instead they played the prostitute with the surrounding nations and their religions that were full of idolatry.

You have made love for hire on every threshing floor…. involving themselves in pagan ceremonies that had to do with harvest rituals and etc did not bring them the value that they thought it would.

Jeremiah 2:11 Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit.

Hosea 9:2 The threshing floor and the winepress Shall not feed them, And the new wine shall fail in her.

There is only one true God who can bless them in their day to day needs.

Exile from the Land

Hosea 9:3 They shall not dwell in the LORD’s land, But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

They shall not dwell in the LORD’s land… This was the promised land that God had delivered to them. He had removed the heathen in the land and gave it to the Israelites. Now He was going to do the same to them for steeping themselves in the same paganism.

return to Egypt… Going back into captivity;

King of the North will do this:

Daniel 11:42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
Daniel 11:43 He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels.

So there is a chance that when they are in Egypt in may very well be under Assyrian rule.

shall eat unclean things in Assyria… The time setting for this is the Day of the Lord, a time still in the future. Modern day Assyria is Germany and so we know who the aggressor will be as well as where they will be taken. Also note that in the future the point is being made that Unclean Meats will be eaten (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14) showing that this aspect of the Bible was not done away with (God simply made some animals not to be eaten.

Hosea 9:4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, Nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him. It shall be like bread of mourners to them; All who eat it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their own life; It shall not come into the house of the LORD.

shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD… either because of a lack of wine or it is not allowed in Assyria or because there is no altar or temple.

bread of mourners to them… in respect to the dead

Leviticus 21:1 And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people,

Differentiates the bread of the house of God from the rest and in particular that it not be defiled

Nor shall their sacrifices be pleasing to Him… this is the overall tenor of the verse

1 Samuel 15:22 So 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 heed than the fat of rams.

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Hosea 9:5 What will you do in the appointed day, And in the day of the feast of the LORD?

They will not be able to keep the feasts (Leviticus 23) with the commanded sacrifices. The captor is rarely concerned with the wants of the prisoners, slaves or captives – much less their religious ceremonies.

Hosea 9:6 For indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; Thorns shall be in their tents.

they are gone because of destruction… we have looked at Ezekiel 5 and Amos 5 in the past and see that as little as 1/30^th of them may be left alive.

Memphis… one of Egypts largest burial grounds; also symbolized that they would die in captivity

Nettles…Thorns…. their land, home and valuables will be left to the whims of nature. They will be overgrown because of the vacancy and neglect.

Loss of Spiritual Discernment

Hosea 9:7 The days of punishment have come; The days of recompense have come. Israel knows! The prophet is a fool, The spiritual man is insane, Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.

prophet is a fool, The spiritual man is insane… they have ignored the true servants of God that have tried to warn them.

Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity…. there is a principle here that we need to understand –

Acts 5:32 And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Obedience is a theme in this chapter and in the book of Hosea and the rest of the Bible. There is a correlation between obedience and our relationship with our heavenly Father. Who wants a rebellious child that is unruly and does whatever they want without regard for anyone else?

Hosea 9:8 The watchman of Ephraim is with my God; But the prophet is a fowler’s snare in all his ways— Enmity in the house of his God.

The watchman of Ephraim is with my God… Hosea is probably referring to himself

Ezekiel 33:1 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Ezekiel 33:2 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman,
Ezekiel 33:3 when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people,
Ezekiel 33:4 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head.
Ezekiel 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life.
Ezekiel 33:6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes
ny person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
Ezekiel 33:7 “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.

Ezekiel was in Babylonian captivity after Israel went into Assyrian captivity and later were scattered never going back to promised land

Ezekiel 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.
Ezekiel 33:9 Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

the prophet is a fowler’s snare in all his ways… Enmity in the house of his God…. the sense here seems to be that the holy men that God had sent with a message are not being well received – especially when the people are being told that what they are doing is wrong.

Can you imagine this message going out today? It should be going out especially to the peoples of the US and UK. That being said, people are not going to listen while they are content and happy as described in Hosea 9:1.

Hosea 9:9 They are deeply corrupted, As in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.

deeply corrupted, As in the days of Gibeah… Judges 19-21 Gibeah in Benjamin, had certain men that wanted to have sex with the wayfaring Levite that had come into their city but was denied and instead raped his concubine. This eventually brought about the nearly complete destruction of the tribe of Benjamin …This is how bad those that Hosea was speaking to here had become.

Curse of Declining Birth Rate

Hosea 9:10 “I found Israel Like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers As the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, And separated themselves to that shame; They became an abomination like the thing they loved.

Like grapes in the wilderness… a sweet treat

firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season…

Exodus 19:4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.

They were a special to God and the apple of His eye.

But they went to Baal Peor… Moabite idol; practices centered around sex as we alluded to earlier; but what we see here is that God is pronouncing a judgment on them in response to this and their worshipping Baal and participating in the pagan fertility rituals.

Hosea 9:11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird — No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

Ephraim means doubly fruitful, so what we see here is their glory [defined/means: abundance] vacating them – here in the form of population growth by means of a declining birth rate.

fly away like a bird… fleeting

Hosea 9:12 Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!

bereave… To deprive; to strip; to make destitute

Hosea 9:13 Just as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place, So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.”
Hosea 9:14 Give them, O LORD— What will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb And dry breasts!

So even if they did have children and they lived past the first couple of years of life, which many would not, they would be lost in war

Hosea 9:15 “All their wickedness is in Gilgal, For there I hated them. Because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more. All their princes are rebellious.

All their wickedness is in Gilgal… it had been the place where Israel first camped west of the Jordan, they renewed the circumcision covenant; kept Passover there; the manna ceased since they were now in the promised land; Saul was made the first king of Israel there and school of the prophets was there – but now Israel was corrupting it and turning into a place of Baal worship

All their princes are rebellious…. spiritual and civil leaders are failing them as they turn away from God.

I will love them no more… This tantamount to divorce

Hosea 9:16 Ephraim is stricken, Their root is dried up; They shall bear no fruit. Yes, were they to bear children, I would kill the darlings of their womb.”

The root is the foundation and key for survival and without the children to propagate their tribe the end would come. This ends the section on the curses or punishments that were directly related to their disobedience and pagan practices.

Casting Out

Hosea 9:17 My God will cast them away, Because they did not obey Him; And they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Because they did not obey God… the theme of this chapter previously referred to (Hosea 9:7).

they shall be wanderers among the nations…. this is how and why they became the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.

Chapter 10

Hosea 10:1 Israel empties his vine; He brings forth fruit for himself. According to the multitude of his fruit He has increased the altars; According to the bounty of his land They have embellished his sacred pillars.

He brings forth fruit for himself… not for God or for anyone else; they did not use it for good – instead they built beautiful places of false worship. What a slap to the face of God who blessed them with it in the first place.

Hosea 10:2 Their heart is divided; Now they are held guilty. He will break down their altars; He will ruin their sacred pillars.

heart is divided… they cannot serve God and idols

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

They were being deceitful and fickle

1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.

Hosea 10:3 For now they say, “We have no king, Because we did not fear the LORD. And as for a king, what would he do for us?”

The Israelites did not fear God or serve Him. Instead they were asking impudently and somewhat defiantly, what can a human leader do on his own for us anyway – what need do we have of that?

Hosea 10:4 They have spoken words, Swearing falsely in making a covenant. Thus judgment springs up like hemlock in the furrows of the field.

Without keeping their word, written or spoken, all that follows is useless

Hosea 10:5 The inhabitants of Samaria fear Because of the calf of Beth Aven. For its people mourn for it, And its priests shriek for it— Because its glory has departed from it.

Hosea 4:15 “Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the LORD lives’—

Beth Aven – house of vanity or iniquity is the literal translation. This appears to be a sarcastic reference to Bethel which means “house of God”

Hosea 10:6 The idol also shall be carried to Assyria As a present for King Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame, And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

King Jareb will be the end-time leader of Assyria (ie the beast power); one who contends and strives;

Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound.

Hosea 10:7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off Like a twig on the water.

Showing the temporary nature of their leadership

Hosea 10:8 Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, Shall be destroyed. The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars; They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

high places… places of worship

sin of Israel… really focuses in on Beth-aven (Bethel) and the idolatry there as the core problem of Israel; they did not put God first in what they were doing.

“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”… sign of despair;

This is still referring to the beginning of the Great Tribulation, so this is not the “heavenly signs.”

Revelation 6:15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
Revelation 6:16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
Revelation 6:17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Luke 23:28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
Luke 23:29 For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’
Luke 23:30 Then they will begin ‘TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, “FALL ON US!” AND TO THE HILLS, “COVER US!” ‘
Luke 23:31 For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”

Isaiah 2:19 They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
Isaiah 2:20 In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats,
Isaiah 2:21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

Hosea 10:9 “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.

Gibeah… (see Hosea 9:9) this reemphasizes just how bad they had become.

Hosea 10:10 When it is My desire, I will chasten them. Peoples shall be gathered against them When I bind them for their two transgressions.

two transgressions…. idolatry and Sabbath breaking

Ezekiel 20:16 because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.

bind them… see next verse

Hosea 10:11 Ephraim is a trained heifer That loves to thresh grain; But I harnessed her fair neck, I will make Ephraim pull a plow. Judah shall plow; Jacob shall break his clods.”

a trained heifer That loves to thresh grain… of course who would not like to just tread the field and eat what they want at will. But God would put a yoke on them and commit them to hard labor for their sins.

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow [no seeds in it] ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy… Mercy from God will come with obedience

For it is time to seek the LORD… implies that there are times when it will not be possible to find God or He will simply not heed your prayers.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

Hosea 10:13 You have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, Because you trusted in your own way, In the multitude of your mighty men.

Instead of Hosea 10:12 (righteousness and mercy) they do this. Therefore it will be cause and effect and they will reap what they have sown.

trusted in your own way… last verse after the atrocities at Gibeah: Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

In the multitude of your mighty men… trusted in their own power and might

Psalms 33:16 No king is saved by the multitude of an army; A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

Hosea 10:14 Therefore tumult shall arise among your people, And all your fortresses shall be plundered As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle— A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.
Hosea 10:15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, Because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel Shall be cut off utterly.

Shalman… could be Moabite king Salamanu, who invaded Gilead around 740 B.C. or:

2 Kings 17:3 Shalmaneser [compound word; three other Assyrian kings] king of Assyria came up against him [before the fall of Israel 725bc]; and Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute money.

There are definitely bad times ahead because of Israel’s failure to heed and follow God!

The first 10 chapters emphasize the disobedience of God’s people and the consequences of judgment. The last 4 chapters are focused on the love of God.

We have to understand that God is neither all wrath or all forgiving…He is always love though.

Chapter 11

God has a very deep and abiding love for His people, which is why He will restore them

Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

Exodus 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.
Exodus 4:23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ‘ ”
Exodus 4:24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him.

Dual Messianic scripture:

Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
Matthew 2:14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,
Matthew 2:15 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 I CALLED MY SON.”

Hosea 11:2 As they called them, So they went from them; They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to carved images.

The Israelites did not care about the true God, their Father, who had raised them up.

Hosea 11:3 “I taught Ephraim to walk, Taking them by their arms; But they did not know that I healed them.

Hosea 11:4 I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.

Tried to bring them back to Him in a loving manner as a caring Father would. He was not overbearing or over-lording – instead He facilitated their healing, nurturing and growth.

If they do not listen though, then these stronger measures are required.

Hosea 11:5 “He shall not return ^H7725 to the land of Egypt; But the Assyrian shall be his king, Because they refused to repent ^H7725.

He shall not return to the land of Egypt… Other translations have this as a question. There is no punctuation in Biblical Hebrew, mostly just pauses indicated by certain accents.

Better translation in today’s vernacular: Shall he not return to the land of Egypt?

Hosea 11:11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt

Isaiah 11:11 [especially in regards to the future].

land of Egypt… physical vs metaphorical

return … repent… we see the same word (shûb) translated 2 different ways; The implication is they turned to Egypt and turned away from God.

Hosea 11:6 And the sword shall slash in his cities, Devour his districts, And consume them, Because of their own counsels.

War will eventually be the consequences of their actions

Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him.

They ignore the truth being told to them and only call out to Him when they want something yet do not acknowledge Him and all that He does and has done for them.

Hosea 11:8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.

God does not want to do this – He truly loves them, but they are forcing His hand. He takes no joy in correcting them.

How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim…

Deuteronomy 29:23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’

Amos 9:8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” Says the LORD.

My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred…. it is difficult for us to imagine here the degree of tumult and angst that God went through in making this decision to do this to His beloved son. In the next verse we see that He vows not to execute judgment but rather extends mercy.

Prophetic

Hosea 11:9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror.

They will not completely be destroyed and come to an utter end because He does not act like men would in the same situation.

Hosea 11:10 “They shall walk after the LORD. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;

lion… in a good sense of the symbol; He will be an advocate for His people at that time.

Revelation 5:5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

Later we read it will be in a bad way:

Hosea 13:6 When they had pasture, they were filled; They were filled and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me.
Hosea 13:7 “So I will be to them like a lion; Like a leopard by the road I will lurk;

Bottom line is that you never want to be on God’s bad side

Then His sons shall come trembling from the west… This has to be a future captivity that they are coming out of. At no other time did they come from the west back to the land of Israel

Isaiah 49:12 Surely these shall come from afar; Look! Those from the north and the west, And these from the land of Sinim.”

Hosea 11:11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, Like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will let them dwell in their houses,” Says the LORD.

dwell in their houses… in Israel, in the land that God gave them, that they never returned to after their initial captivity.

Indictment against His People

Hosea 11:12 “Ephraim has encircled Me with lies, And the house of Israel with deceit; But Judah still walks with God, Even with the Holy One who is faithful.

Recurring refrain at the end of chapters (6:11; 8:14); it almost seems like an afterthought but God is sprinkling the book with words of caution to Judah (15 times in 14 chapters).

Chapter 12

Hosea 12:1 “Ephraim feeds on the wind, And pursues the east wind; He daily increases lies and desolation. Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians, And oil is carried to Egypt.

wind … Represents vain pursuits. There is an end to their ways – they just do not see it.

It is reminiscent to me of:

Hosea 9:1 Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians… they got in bed with them and disregarded the covenant that they had with God. They play the spiritual harlot, turning their back on Him though He was a husband to them (Jer 31:31-32)

And oil is carried to Egypt…

2 Kings 17:4-6 And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. 5 Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

They were seeking help in the wrong places.

Hosea 12:2 “The LORD also brings a charge against Judah, And will punish Jacob according to his ways; According to his deeds He will recompense him.

The LORD also brings a charge against Judah… This is what we were alluding to at the end of chapter 11. The book of Hosea is primarily to Ephraim and Israel, but God continues to admonish Judah throughout it saying, if you are not careful the same will befall you.

will punish Jacob… see next verse

According to his deeds… This is the way that God works, whether their works are good or bad.

Hosea 12:3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, And in his strength he struggled with God.

He took his brother by the heel in the womb… Jacob means supplanter; Jacob surreptitiously took the blessings from Esau by his own strength and cunning – he should not have done that. Later on though He sought the blessing from God

Hosea 12:4 Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, And there He spoke to us—

he struggled with the Angel… Genesis 32:22-32

He found Him in Bethel…

Genesis 35:10-11 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.

Hosea 12:5 That is, the LORD God of hosts. The LORD is His memorable name.

TS2009 Genesis 35:11 And Elohim said to him, “I am Ěl Shaddai.…

Psalms 135:13 Your name, O LORD, endures forever, Your fame, O LORD, throughout all generations.

Hosea 12:6 So you, by the help of your God, return; Observe mercy and justice, And wait on your God continually.

Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Hosea 12:7 “A cunning Canaanite! Deceitful scales are in his hand; He loves to oppress.

Hosea 12:8 And Ephraim said, ‘Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself; In all my labors They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’

I…my…me…. They believed and trusted in their own strangth and did not give credit to God where it belonged.

They were not following the admonition of Hosea 12:6

A cunning Canaanite… they were sinful like the previous occupants of the land… and what happened to them? Ephraim was being just and bad and should have known better, especially with the instruction from God – and yet they did not see it or the sin that they so readily engaged in.

This will also be a problem for spiritual Israel at this same time – the End Time

Revelation 3:17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing‘—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—
Revelation 3:18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Hosea 12:9 “But I am the LORD your God, Ever since the land of Egypt; I will again make you dwell in tents, As in the days of the appointed feast.

Future Feast of Tabernacles keeping:

Zechariah 14:4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.

time it shall happen That it will be light.

Zechariah 14:9 And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be “The LORD is one,” And His name one.

Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Zechariah 14:17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain.
Zechariah 14:18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Zechariah 14:19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Hosea 12:10 I have also spoken by the prophets, And have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.”

I have also spoken by the prophets… God has always done this as a warning to the people.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

God tried to do it in a many ways and He is doing it now, but do you think that the world hears it now?

Hosea 12:11 Though Gilead has idols— Surely they are vanity— Though they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal, Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.

False worship

Hosea 12:12 Jacob fled to the country of Syria; Israel served for a spouse, And for a wife he tended sheep.

Jacob did this correctly, he persevered in the struggle with the Angel of the Lord and obtained Rachel as his wife – God is saying that you should follow your forefather

Hosea 12:13 By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, And by a prophet he was preserved.

By a prophet… Moses

Hosea 12:14 Ephraim provoked Him to anger most bitterly; Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him, And return his reproach upon him.

Ephraim… all of Israel is depicted here. Cause and effect; they reaped what they sowed.

Chapter 13

Hosea 13:1 When Ephraim spoke, [others] trembling, He exalted himself in Israel; But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.

This is a contrast of how strong Ephraim was in the beginning and then how precipitously they fell because of their sins. It is an example of cause and effect again. When they were doing what was right they were exalted and when doing what was wrong they were brought down and many died in the process.

God warned them in the blessings and cursings chapters:

Leviticus 26:14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,

Leviticus 26:17 I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.
Leviticus 26:18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Leviticus 26:19 I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.

Hosea 13:2 Now they sin more and more, And have made for themselves molded images, Idols of their silver, according to their skill; All of it is the work of craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”

Now they sin more and more … There was no end to their sins; sin after sin.

Idols of their silver… They made God in whatever image they wanted

kiss the calves… give obeisance to

Hosea 14:2 Take words with you, And return to the LORD. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.

Hosea 13:3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud And like the early dew that passes away, Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor And like smoke from a chimney.

morning cloud… early dew … chaff … smoke…. Vanity and passing like a vapor

Hosea 13:4 “Yet I am the LORD your God Ever since the land of Egypt, And you shall know no God but Me; For there is no savior besides Me.

Yet I am the LORD your God… no God but Me… 1^st commandment

Hosea 13:5 I knew you in the wilderness, In the land of great drought.
Hosea 13:6 When they had pasture, they were filled; They were filled and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me.

They forgot who gave them everything even the things that seemingly happen without him.

Deuteronomy 8:11 “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,
Deuteronomy 8:12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them;
Deuteronomy 8:13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;
Deuteronomy 8:14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

Hosea 13:7 “So I will be to them like a lion; Like a leopard by the road I will lurk;
Hosea 13:8 I will meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their rib cage [heart], And there I will devour them like a lion. The wild beast shall tear them.

I will tear open their rib cage… heart

God will not be for them, but against them.

Hosea 13:9 “O Israel, you are destroyed, But your help is from Me.

They did it to themselves – they are to blame.

Hosea 13:10 I will be your King; Where is any other, That he may save you in all your cities? And your judges to whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’?
Hosea 13:11 I gave you a king in My anger, And took him away in My wrath.

Give me a king and princes…

1 Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
1 Samuel 8:8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.
1 Samuel 8:9 Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”

Hosea 13:12 “The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; His sin is stored up.
Psalm 32:1,5; Numbers 32:23; Proverbs 28:13

Hosea 13:13 The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him. He is an unwise son, For he should not stay long where children are born.

The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him… all of a sudden the recompense for their past sins would be brought to bear on them.

Hosea 13:14 “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 [repentance???] is hidden from My eyes.”

I will ransom them… redeem them… Jeremiah 30 shows that they will not come to a complete end.

Pity… KJV:repentance

Hosea 13:15 Though he is fruitful among his brethren, An east wind shall come; The wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness. Then his spring shall become dry, And his fountain shall be dried up. He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.

east wind… mostly likely a reference to the fact that God is going to take away their blessings through Assyrian captivity.

The [east] wind of the LORD…dry…dried up…. Isaiah 40:7; Jeremiah 4:11, 18:17; Ezekiel 19:12

Hosea 13:16 Samaria is held guilty, For she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, Their infants shall be dashed in pieces, And their women with child ripped open.

Samaria… the city of rulership that is representative of the whole kingdom

Chapter 14

God wants repentance and this is what He has been working towards the whole time with the nation of Israel. In this final chapter we do not see any chastisement or warnings of the impending punishment from God but rather a picture of what God has been leading up to at the time of His return and the period following it.

Israel’s Repentance

Hosea 14:1 O Israel, return to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;

return… repentance shûb; God is saying to place your trust and reliance once again in Him.

Hosea 14:2 Take words with you, And return to the LORD. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.

Take words with you… acknowledge your sin to God and

Take away all iniquity … ask for forgiveness and then of course follow it up with the actions that match

Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips….

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

This was a foreshadow of things to come. Hosea ended his preaching at the time that they went into captivity, so obviously they did not implement these ideas until after Christ came and became the ultimate sacrifice and paved the way for these better promises. So, this verse is pointing to the future when all the Israelites will have God’s spirit working with them and in them to bring them to true repentance.

Hosea 14:3 Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

Assyria shall not save us… They will look to God as their savior and shun all others. This is one of the main reasons that they went into captivity over 2700 years ago AND why the modern Israelite nations will go into slavery again in the near future.

Nor will we say… this goes hand in hand with:

Hosea 14:2 “Take words with you, And return to the LORD. Say to Him.”

They will begin to think the right way and this is reflected in what they are saying: yes to God and no to idolatry:

the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods… they will no longer look to false gods, false religions, false philosophies and ideologies.

What God Will Do Now That They Have Repented (Millennial scriptures)

Hosea 14:4 “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him.

Backsliding: meshûbâh turning away in the wrong direction; from shûb;

This is the power of God beginning to work in them. They will stop their multitude of sins and God will stop the punishment that brought about this repentance. It has accomplished it’s work.

Hosea 14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel; He shall grow like the lily, And lengthen his roots like Lebanon.

like the dew… nourishing and fostering growth

He shall grow like the lily…

Matthew 6:28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
Matthew 6:29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

lengthen his roots like Lebanon….

Psalms 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Ephesians 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Hosea 14:4 …I will love them freely…

Hosea 14:6 His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon.

His branches shall spread… growth

His beauty shall be like an olive tree… will bear good fruit

Matthew 7:16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Matthew 7:17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Matthew 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 7:20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

fragrance like Lebanon…. cedars of Lebanon [can you imagine]

Hosea 14:7 Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall be revived like grain, And grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

dwell under his shadow… near to God

grow like a vine… we can tie this into the growth that is spoken of in the previous verse (:6)

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
John 15:2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Hosea 14:8 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’ I have heard and observed him. I am like a green cypress tree; Your fruit is found in Me.”

Ephraim… there is now a full transformation that has taken place – from being off the track and not living up to his name which means double fruit to now producing good fruit.

Your fruit is found in Me… This is a result of having God’s spirit in them.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Galatians 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Hosea 14:9 Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.

This verse is a summary: if you are to be considered wise and have understanding will follow the righteous ways of God! Very succinct way to sum up the Book of Hosea and God’s message to His people.