Introduction to Hosea

Hosea (ho-zay-uh). the name means “Yahweh has saved,” or “Yahweh is salvation.” Variants of the name include Hoshea, the name of the last ruler of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 15:30); Joshua, whose name was originally Hoshea (Numbers 13:16), which in Greek is spelled Iesus and in English as Jesus.

Hosea (Greek spelling: Osee) the prophet, with whom we are concerned here, lived in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BC. The superscription of the book that bears his name identifies him as “the son of Beeri,” about whom we know nothing. The date of the prophet’s birth and death are unknown; however, from information contained in the superscription, and from details within the book itself, we can date his ministry between the final years of Jeroboam II’s reign (ended circa 742 BC) and the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC.

Important Introductory Readings:

The law of the king (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). The kings over God’s people were supposed to obey certain laws. These included not making military and economic alliances with foreign kings. Such alliances involved swearing oaths to the foreigner’s gods and were usually sealed by a marriage.

The rise and fall of Solomon (1 Kings 1-11). At the very least, chapter 9:1-9 and chapter 11 should be read and compared to Deut 17:14-20 which was linked to above.

The political division of the kingdom (1 Kings 12:1-25). Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, decides to continue his late father’s policies with disastrous results. Ten tribes rebel against the tribe of Judah (to which David and his descendants belonged) thus bringing into existence the new kingdom which retained the name Israel. The tribe of Judah, along with the tribe of Benjamin, remained under the authority of the Davidic kings and become known as the Kingdom of Judah. The text implies that Rehoboam could have avoided the division of the kingdom by taking a different course than he did in fact take.

The religious rebellion of Jeroboam I (1 Kings 12:26-13:34). Though God willed the political division of the kingdom, he still expected the people of the new Northern Kingdom of Israel to offer sacrifice in the temple at Jerusalem in accordance with the law given to Moses (Deut 12:1-14). Jeroboam I, the first king of the new state , apparently feared that if his subjects continued to go to Jerusalem (the capital of Judah) to worship, they would be tempted to reunite with the south, so he decided to erect two sanctuaries in his own kingdom where the people could offer sacrifice. Worse still, he had two golden altars manufactured in the shape of bulls; this was reminiscent of the Egyptian god Apsis and the golden calf of the Exodus. Recall that Jeroboam I had been in exile in Egypt which is where he probably got the idea for the bull altars (1 Kings 11:49).

Useful Background Reading:

The Jewish Encyclopedia. (Useful but dated)

The Catholic Encyclopedia. (also dated but useful)

Old Testament Prophets. A good on-line introductory audio series by Father Mitch Pacwa. For background on Hosea listen to shows # 1; 16; 22-25. Requires Real Player in order to be listened to. Real Player can be downloaded and used for free here.

Reading the Old Testament. A good, non-technical, Protestant introduction. Click on the headings “Assyrian period” and “Hosea.” You may also wish to read “Amos”. He was an earlier prophet to the northern kingdom and it seems likely that his ministry and Hosea’s overlapped by at least a few years.

A good map which allows you to situate the extent of the Assyrian empire on a map of the Middle-East of today can be found here.

Here is a map showing the extent of David’s kingdom at the time of his death.

Here is a map of the Divided Kingdoms of Israel and Judah circa 830 BC. This would place the details on the map in relation to Hosea’s ministry circa 750-725 BC. Although both kingdoms lost territory after the division they had, by Hosea’s day, gained virtually all of it back. In other words, combine the land area of the two kingdoms and it is almost exactly the same as in the days of David.