Minor Prophets · Old Testament
Hosea
c. 755–715 BC
- Section
- Minor Prophets · Old Testament
- Events span
- c. 755–715 BC
- Written
- c. 715 BC critical view: c. 8th century BC, with later editing
- Author
- Hosea son of Beeri critical view: Hosea, with later editing
God commands Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife, Gomer, as a living picture of Israel's spiritual adultery. Through Hosea's heartbreak and persistent love, God portrays his own faithful love for a people who keep straying — and his call for them to return.
Chronological placement: Prophesied in the northern kingdom's final decades (c. 755–715 BC), before Assyria destroyed it in 722 BC.
Key themes
- God's faithful love
- Israel's spiritual adultery
- Judgment and mercy
- Return to the LORD
- Steadfast love over sacrifice
Key events
- God tells Hosea to marry Gomer, an unfaithful wife, as a picture of Israel's unfaithfulness
- Their children are given symbolic names announcing judgment and then mercy
- Hosea buys back his adulterous wife, as God will one day redeem his people
- God brings charges against Israel for idolatry, injustice, and forgetting him
- "They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind" — judgment is coming
- Yet God's heart recoils within him; he loves Israel like a father and longs to heal them
- A final call to return to the LORD, who promises to love them freely and heal their backsliding
“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”