Notes on Hosea 1:1

The book of Hosea is introduced with a superscription written in the third person archival or titular style. This immediately suggests that the verse was written by a hand other than Hosea’s, for, with the exception of Senator Bob Dole and Gangsta Rappers no one writes or talks about themselves in this fashion. This immediately raises another question: did Hosea write the book that bears his name?

It should be noted in regard to this question that different narrative voices are used in the text. 1:2-11 is primarily a narative written in the third person wherein the unidentified narrator tells us of God’s commands to the prophet and of his fulfillment of them. Chapter 3:1-5 on the other hand is a narration of the prophet in autobiographical form. The remainder of the book, with the exception of the last verse, shows that Hosea is speaking on behalf of God, typical of pracular speech. All of this may suggest that the book was in part written by Hosea and in part by someone else. It could also be, however, that the whole book was wirtten by someone other than Hosea. If this case, we are to understand the production of the book as similar to that of our Gospels. A charismatic, inspired teacher (though of course Jesus was more than this) acted and preached in accord with God’s will; he drew disciples around him who witnessed what he did, and heard what he said, and, in turn, were inspired to write it down. This could easily account for the differing narrative voices.

Hosea 1:1 The word of Yahweh which came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiak, kings in Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king in Israel.

The purpose of the superscription is to introduce us to the prophet and to the time period of his ministry. This is done by naming the prophet, his pedigree, and the time period of his ministry; this latter being established by the naming of the kings. The most important aspect of this, and of all the prophetic superscriptions is that they show the authority behind the prophets ministry and, by implication, the authority behind the book. This is done here by modifying a typical prophetic formula: “The word of Yahweh was unto…” (See Jer 1:4; Ezek 3:16; Zech 4:8). Everything that is said in the superscription is said in relation to “the word”.

The name Hosea means “God is salvation”, or “God delivers”. Virtually nothing is known about the prophet except for what is contained in this book. Some scholars speculate, on the basis of his father’s name Beeri, that he was from the tribe of Reuben. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that a man from the tribe of Reuben is called Beedrah in 1 Chron 5:6. It needs hardly to be said that this conclusion is pure conjecture. According to some Jewish traditions the prophet was born and died in the town of Belemoth, or Belamon, or Bethshemesh. These towns were all located in the land allotted to the tribe of Issachar after the conquest under Joshua, and so some conclude he belonged to that tribe. Other tradition place his death in Babylon but his burial in Tsepath, in upper Galilee in the Holy Land. Still others have his burial taking place in Northern Africa! But these traditions are of late origin and not considered to be reliable.

Some have conjectured that Hosea, like his fellow prophet Amos, was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah but had been sent into the Northern Kingdom of Israel to preach. Most scholars reject this for several reasons, the strongest being that his dialect and phrasings are clearly that of a Northerner.

The reason for supporting the conjecture given above is that the superscription mentions four kings of Judah and only one of Israel, this in spite of the fact that during the time period established by the named Judean kings six other kings besides Jeroboam reigned in Israel. Why are they not mentioned?

The typical answer given is that the superscription is of a later date than the actual book (i.e. the book existed a long time before the superscription was added). It is conjectured that Hosea, shortly before the fall of Israel in 722 BC, fled to Judah with some of his disciples and there the book was compiled. The prophecies in book form could be of no help to the Kingdom Israel for obvious reasons; however, the moral decay and formalism of religion which led to that kingdoms downfall was, to a lesser degree, infecting Judah, therefore, it is argued, the book was written as a warning to Judah; Israel’s fate could be their’s.

All of this is possible; and it is certain that the book was used in Judah as a source of moral teaching and warning; however, there is another possible explaination.

In chapter 1 verse 4 the prophet announces both the fall of the “house (dynasty) of Jehu”, and of the “House (kingdom) of Israel”. Once the dynasty of Jehu came to an end with the death of Jeroboam the entire kingdom’s fate was sealed. For this reason the six kings who followed are probably ignored as irrelevant. Indeed, with the death of Jeroboam, the Northern Kingdom’s final 26 years (approx.) are a time of political, economic, military and social collapse. Of the six kings who follow Jeroboam four were assassinated, and of these for wo reigned less than a year. Of the remaining two kings one was forced from the throne by pressure from Assyria, which placed a puppet ruler in his stead. This ruler would rebel against the Assyrians and this would lead to the conquest and destruction of the Israel.

THE SITUATION OF ISRAEL AT THE TIME OF HOSEA:

“In the earlier part (of Hosea’s ministry) the times are represented (in the Bible) as prosperous, just as in the days of Amos; evidences of wealth and ease are seen on every hand, and punishment is still in the future (Amos 2:5-13); a little later the situation is greatly changed; lawlessness is prevalent (Amos 4:2; 5:1; 7:1), the panic-stricken rulers are vacillating between (alliance with) Assyria and Egypt (Amos 5:13; 7:11; 12:1), political dissolution has already begun (Amos 7:9; 8:8), the powerlessness of the kings is generally recognized (Amos 10:3; 13:9), the religious and political leaders are the worst violators of the laws (4:8-11; 5:1; 9:15), conspiracies and revolutions are rife (Amos 5:13; 7:11; 10:6; 12:1), and anarchy prevails.“ (A CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY ON AMOS AND HOSEA, By William Rainey Harper, pgs cxli-cxli

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.