Hosea – The Gospel Of Pure Grace
One of the reasons that studying the Old Testament is so beneficial is because of its ability to introduce the reader to rich, vast, and intriguing history. Yet the Bible’s history is not ordinary history, to use the old corny yet true saying; it’s ‘His Story’. This is true. Scripture is one harmonious consistent representation of the history of God’s redemptive actions in the world. The book of Hosea, if it is to be understood and appreciated, must be read in historical context. We have to understand its place and significance in God’s unfolding plan of redemption.
When Hosea ended his ministry he was probably old. Commentators generally agree that given the superscription of verse one, the dates and kings mentioned reveal a ministry that spanned several decades possibly even 50 years. What this means is that Hosea saw the times in fluidity as it ebbed and flowed from good to bad and ultimately for the Northern Kingdom to its destruction in 731 B.C. Hosea saw the Northern Kingdom (Israel) in good times and bad times. Under Jeroboam II, Israel was prosperous, their borders broad, their army strong, their enemies distracted; a perfect recipe for an economic boom. With good agriculture, trade, and a commerce driven by a thriving gold and silver industry; Israel was living high on the proverbial hog.
Yet all was not as it seemed. Not everyone was experiencing equal prosperity: wealthy land owners oppressed the poor with high rent, merchants gave themselves to deceitful scales, and the corrupt court systems made it impossible for the little guy to have a hearing at the gate (Amos 5.10-12). God would make sure that this type of luxurious living would not go on much longer.
These problems however were mere symptoms of Israel’s real problems. Their real problem was invisible or better yet, spiritual. Israel’s sin had reached an intolerable boiling point. God tells Hosea explicitly what He aims to do, “I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel” (1.4). Those must have been chilling words for any prophet of God to hear. Nevertheless it was the will of the Lord to bring it to pass. The remedy for Israel’s spiritual harlotry was exile.
But Hosea, like the rest of the prophets, was called to prophecy in such times. After the exile, there would remain a hollow and empty void of national identity. As in the time they had spent in Egypt, Israel needed to know who they were again; these were the days when hope was rare. O Palmer Robertson captures the crucial role the prophets played in these periods of redemptive history:
“The nation would be devastated, destroyed, annihilated. First the northern kingdom would be overrun by the Assyrians, carried into captivity far beyond its own bounds. But then the absolutely unthinkable would occur. The kingdom of Judah, harboring the hollowed place of God’s dwelling, would disappear from the face of the earth… Into this vacuum of apparent hopelessness the prophets were called to speak and to write… If nothing remained of the institutional activities of temple life in Jerusalem that were so perfectly designed to pass on the expectations of redemption to the generations to come, something else must arise to fire a flame of hope in the hearts of future sons and daughters. That something else would be the inspired writings, the preserved predictions not only of exile but also of restoration after devastation. If the exile itself were anticipated in the written records of the prophets, then when that awful moment came, its place in the purpose of God could be comprehended. Instead of creating an atmosphere of unbelief, the exile as anticipated by the prophets would challenge the remnant of God’s people to a faith that would see the Covenant Lord’s just, purposeful hand in it all.”
Hosea begins with the hard lessons of exilic history. Israel would learn many lessons in God’s grace as history would time and again be the school master that would direct them to see the goodness of the LORD (Hos. 3.5).
- Pastor Emilio Ramos