The Book Of Hosea

THE BOOK OF HOSEA

 PURPOSE - To illustrate God’s love to His sinful people.
 AUTHOR – Hosea, son of Beeri (Hosea’s name mean salvation)
 ORIGINAL AUDIENCE – People of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.
 DATE WRITTEN – Approximately 715 BC, Recording events from 753-715 BC
 SETTING – Hosea begun his ministry during the end of the prosperous but morally
declining reign of Jeroboam II. The upper classes is doing well with themselves but they
were oppressing the poor. He prophesied shortly after the fall of Samaria in 722 BC. He
refers the Northern Kingdom Ephraim because it is the first of the twelve tribes to
backslide.
 KEY VERSE – 3:1
 KEY PEOPLE – Gomer, HOSEA, their children.
 About The Author
 Hosea revealed a little about his background
 His name means salvation
 He follows the command of God to marry a harlot who
bore Hosea 3 children ( 2 sons and a daughter)
 God used the names of Hosea’s children along with his
wife’s unfaithfulness to send specific messages to the
people of Israel.
 Where are we?
 The prophet identified the kings that ruled during his prophetic ministry
 The first four – Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah -- reigned over
Southern Kingdom 790-686 BC – While Jeroboam II ruled the Northern
Kingdom of Israel 783-753 BC.
 This indicates that Hosea lived in the middle to late 8 th century (755-715
BC), making him a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah and Micah.
 Hosea directed the early portion of his prophetic warning to Jeroboam
II, a descendant of Jehu whose son, Zechariah, would soon come to
ruin.. ( Hosea 1:4)
 Why Hosea is important?
 Hosea linked his message closely to his personal life.
 Hosea’s prophetic word flowed out of the life of his family.
 The cycle of repentance, redemption, restoration evident in Hosea’s
prophecy and even in his marriage.
 The sequence plays itself out of the lives of real people, reminding us that
the Scripture are far from a mere collection of abstract statement with no
relation to real life.
 They work their way into our day to day existence, commenting on issues
that impact all our actions and relationships.
 THE TRUTH ABOUT MARRIAGE
 It was instituted by God.
 It is a union created and blessed by God.
 It is more than just a legal contract signed by the parties involve or social arrangement.
 Marriage is a spiritual bond that reflects God’s love for His people.
 Through marriage, a husband and wife become one flesh, symbolizing their commitment to
each other and to God.
 Marriage is important in Christian Faith because it reflects the relationship of Christ and the
Church.
 Marriage is a Sacred Covenant between two individuals and God.
 Marriage is the platform for ministry.
HOSEA 1-3

 A grieving husband and a grievous wife. (Hosea vs. Gomer)

- Hosea’s wife name is Gomer. She was a harlot before marriage and an
adulteress after marriage.
 Hosea’s attempt to save his marriage
- He barred her from the market of the world.
- Bought her out of the market of the world.
 Hosea’s children
- Jezreel then eldest means “to be scattered” predicted 2 future event.
 Two Future Events:
- The setting aside of the dynasty of the Northern King Jehu.
- The Assyrian Invasion
 The Grieving Husband and His grievous wife. (God vs. Ephraim)
A. Ephraim was denounced
- Because of her ignorance - 4:6
- Because of her idolatry – 4:12/13/ 17
- Because of her immorality – 5:3
B. Ephraim desired: In spite of her wickedness, God still loved her.
- 6:4
 Sexual Immorality
12
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do
anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body,
13

however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
15
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ
and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
16
Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The
two will become one flesh.”[b] 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. [c]
18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins
sexually, sins against their own body.
19
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received
from God? You are not your own;
20
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
THE UGLY OF
ADULTERY
THE UGLY
TRUTH ABOUT
ADULTERY
What does the Bible say About Flirting?

 What does flirting means?

- Flirting means according to the Online Oxford Dictionary Behave as though sexually
attracted to someone but playfully rather than with serious intentions.
- “The fun of flirting is that you are never sure what it means,” by modern day author.
- Flirtation is a gesture of sexual availability. Learning when and where to
appropriately signal sexual availability is at the heart of ancient concerns faced by the
earliest church leaders.
- Flirting is not to be confused with sexual consent or sexual immediacy; it’s merely a
sign of sexual availability (as in: single and looking).
 What does the Bible say About Flirting?
 The act of flirting can be as simple as a comment or facial expression
or jokes that are half meant to signal your attraction to a member of
the opposite sex. It could be a batting of eyelashes, passing of a
folded note or the use of a pick-up line.
 To flirt is to tantalize another with your attention and tease with future
possibility.
 What does the Bible say About Flirting?
 Flirtation is one of the weirdest, most enchanting and most delicate gift God has
given us.
 Gen. 26:8 Isaac and Rebekah were caught laughing together can be considered as
flirting or might be apart of it.
 Flirting seems to be a primal phenomenon in human relationships and sexuality.
But with the rise of digital technology, flirting also becomes more blunt, more
convenient, and often more misleading and confusing.
 Sadly, the beauty of flirtatious play in marriage contrasts the ugliness of selfish
flirting among those who are not sexually available.
 The flirtations of a married man with a woman not his wife is contrary to his
covenant promise, and his flirtation is destructive or vice versa. It makes signals
where intentions do not (or should not) follow. It can also become manipulative, a
vain giving of temporary attention in order to lead another along a forbidden path
into sexual sin.
What does the Bible say About Flirting?
 For some reason, the digital age tempts us to say things we would
never have the opportunity to say otherwise.
 The Marriage Metaphor in the Book of Hosea

 The book of Hosea contains a very detailed picture of

marriage specifically orchestrated by God, a template,
placed within our reach, that shows how God would act
if God were in a human marriage.
 God tells Hosea how to mirror the divine marriage in
Hosea’s human marriage.
 Flirting with God
Matthew 15:7-9
New International Version
7
You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about
you:
8
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’ [a]”
 Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for their empty
worship and tradition-based doctrines.
 This verse of scripture with its corresponding witnesses
correlate with some of the happenings in our local church
today. We say “I love you Lord” but do we really mean it?
 Joshua 24:14–15 (AMP): Now, therefore, [reverently] fear
the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the
gods which your fathers served on the other side of the
[Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it
seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves
this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your
fathers served on the other side of the River or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my
house, we will serve the Lord.
 Flirting with God
 God has emotions.
 When He loves, He gives His life.
 We ought to surrender in all humility.
 Don’t tell Him you love Him only to lust after the benefits
of being with Him.
 We are not spiritual harlot, we are CHRISTIAN! Serving
and worshipping God takes being deliberate.
 Confusion About Understanding the Metaphor
of Marriage in the Book of Hosea
 Gender Roles
 Sexist assumption
 The book of Hosea promotes verbal abused to women
 Addressing These Wrong Perspective
 The emotional realities seen in Hosea’s words are not gender specifics. –The feelings that Hosea
expresses are common to all people, male or female. The experience of being betrayed, abandoned,
and hurt by the person one trust and loves most is an experience that is common to ‘all humanity.
 The metaphor deviates from that of husband and wife to metaphors that are not gender specifics.
(Hos. 11:1-3) In regard as an issue of power, God is portrayed not as an Israel’s master or king, but as
Israel’s spouse. The language in chapter 2 is not a language of a powerful leader who has been
deserted by a follower nor by the dominating ruler. Rather it is a language of someone who is deeply
in love and is betrayed by his partner, the one person who is never supposed to leave him.
 “Our deepest wounds are expressed as anger” – When we invest our hearts and souls in another
person and that betrays our trust, passionate anger that masks deep pain is the natural reaction.
The Marriage Metaphor
Divine Marriage
Deep and passionate love
Israel’s unfaithfulness breaks the
heart of the living God
They can understand the depth of
Yahweh’s pain at their idolatry
Human Marriage
Deep and passionate love
Marital unfaithfulness breaks the
heart of one’s spouse
The people of Israel know the
deep pain of love betrayed from
their own intimate relationship
 Israel and our Idolatry

 Many Christian fall into sinning deliberately because

of Idolatry therefore it can be considered as the main
cause why we sin against God.
 When we lose our focus to God, what do you think
will happen? Satan has a full access in our lives.
 Then we failed to realize that our greatest idols in our
lives is ourselves.
OVERVIEW CHART