Political and Social Context (Book of Hosea)

Political Context – who were the kings in Northern and Southern Kingdom
After having three kings (King Saul, King David, and King Solomon), on 8th century BC, God’s
chosen people were divided into two kingdom – Israel in North and Judea in South. The division
of united kingdom of Israel was clearly mentioned by the LORD to Solomon in 1 Kings 11:11,
Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept
my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you
and will give it to your servant.”
There has been manifestation of various events prior to the actual division of united Israel. For
instance, it was mentioned that northern people were unhappy because of the unequal
concentration of resources that are being provided heavily to south where Jerusalem is located.
(Pawson 1999)
That even after the installation of Rehoboam being the successor of his father King Solomon,
northern people asked him to lighten the hard service order to them by then King Solomon in
exchange of serving Rehoboam’s kingship (1 Kings 12:3-4). But instead of giving them a favorable
response, Rehoboam responded and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your
yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” (1 Kings
12:14) Civil war erupted in the kingdom of Israel and northern people rebelled against the southern
people. Thus, bringing the kingdom into two divisions.
It was in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (the kings of Judah) and in the days of
King Jeroboam II of Israel, the son of Joash, when Hosea started receiving the word of the LORD
and prophesied to the northern kingdom or Israel. According to Pawson, Hosea’s focus was more
upon the Israel rather than Judah.
Israel under King Jeroboam II and Judah under King Uzziah are said to have rivaled the golden
age of David and Solomon in terms of prosperity and peace. (Vangemeren) The two kingdoms
have experienced a great time of prosperity where trade with Egypt and Assyria flourished.
(Comhaire 2016) This so-called prosperity was mentioned in Hosea 2:5…I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. Unfortunately,
the prosperity they’ve experienced was adulterously attributed to other gods and not to the LORD.
Given the flourishing trade and commerce that was happening to both kingdoms, in a paper written
by Izabela Jaruzelska, she clearly pointed out coup d’état as the first phenomenon from the political
sphere censured by Hosea, which was right away mentioned in the first passages of the book. In
Hosea 7:7 it says, “…All their kings have fallen, and none of them calls upon me.”, Izabela
Jaruzelska said that the words ‘all their kings fall’ suggest that Hosea refers not only to a single
coup d’état but to a series of coup d’état as narrated in the Bible. This is also how Comhaire
perceived the political outlook, describing it to be “regicidal and ruling via means of killing the
previous king”.
Social Context – what were their situation, attitude of the people
David Pawson in his book Unlocking the Bible clearly illustrates the condition of the society
during the time that Hosea prophesied God’s message to Israelites.
The northern kingdom was considerably peaceful, which was brought about by Jonah’s visit to
Nineveh and brought Assyrians to repentance that in effect withheld the threat of its invasion to
Israel for some time.
Israel’s economy during the reign of King Jeroboam II has really benefitted on the Europe-Arabia
trade that resulted remarkable prosperity for the kingdom and produced a number of wealthy
merchants and bankers.
Such economic prosperity has increased north kingdom’s (Israel) standard of living as well as
dividing its society not only between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ but also the arising of new
aristocracy, which termed by Pawson as the ‘the get rich quick’ boys. Social disparity was pretty
much obvious that amidst the house problem, the rich people have their second homes while many
people or the poor sector didn’t even have one at all.
The social structure of Israel then during the time of Hosea, according to VanGemeren, encouraged
power, greed, self-indulgence, corruption of justice, luxurious living among the upper classes, and
the decay of social unity. While the aristocracy imitated royalty and adopted a lavish lifestyle,
there was no demonstrated sense of responsibility being given to the poor who were even reduced
to the level of slaves. Thus, bringing a wider gap between the rich and the poor. That while
politicians and merchants living standards were improving, the workers and farmers were suffering
poverty, hunger, and oppression.
Israel’s moral aspect didn’t escape from the negative impact of the social structure brought about
by the prosperity. As a result, there was no justice in the courts without bring the judges. To make
more money, they’ve even hastily done the trading into seven-days-a-week. Avarice led to
injustice and affluence led to permissiveness. Alcohol consumption sharply increased, and
promiscuity was normally tolerated.

REFERENCES:
Pawson, David (1999) Unlocking the Bible a Unique Overview of the Whole Bible, Collins
VanGemeren, Willem A. Interpreting the Prophetic Word An Introduction to the Prophetic
Literature of the Old Testament, Zondervan
Comhaire, Jean-Michel (2016) The Prophet Hosea and the Context He Worked In,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339593224_The_Prophet_Hosea_and_the_Context_He
_Worked_In
Jaruzelska, Izabela The King and Officials According to Hosea, https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/
bitstream/10593/7634/1/01_Izabela_Jaruzelska_The%20King%20and%20Officials%20Accordin
g%20to%20Hosea_13-20.pdf