Does Hosea have a melodic line?

Why preach the book of Hosea?

Here, in concise form, are four strong reasons to include a sermon series on Hosea in the expository ministry of your church – apart from the obvious one of preaching the whole counsel of God.

Having previously preached only one sermon from Hosea within a series on the so-called “minor” prophets, it was rich and rewarding to preach a series of eight on the remarkable book this autumn.

1. Hosea puts sin under the microscope
2. Hosea‘s marriage is his message – a metaphor for God’s holy and triumphant love
3. Hosea’s message of repentance is urgently needed
4. Hosea’s vision is of restoration and renewal in the end

Historical and Biblical context

Hosea speaks primarily to the dying northern kingdom of Israel commencing his ministry late in the reign of Jeroboam II. After his death in 752BC Hosea continued to preach for an unknown period through the rapid succession of assassinations and coups that followed until Samaria’s disastrous fall to Sennecharib of Assyria in 722BC.

His call is unusual: where other prophets were given a vision of God, Hosea was given the instruction to marry Gomer, whom he is told will be unfaithful to him. Following the birth of their three inauspiciously-named children (“Not my people”, “No mercy” and “God scatters”) she does prove unfaithful with many lovers, a physical adultery that we are told symbolises the spiritual adultery of Israel with the gods of Canaan.

The response of Hosea is to call Gomer back to faithful marriage, following a period of imposed discipline leading to restoration. The implication for Israel is that repentance is still possible in order to avoid God’s final judgment, but that even then hardship will precede restoration.

Although Judah is rarely mentioned, she too is warned of coming judgment similar to that awaiting Israel, a prophecy fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 587BC.

Hosea draws extensively on earlier themes of the Old Testament. The faith of Jacob/Israel in Genesis (see eg Hosea 12:3-4) compares favourably with the faithlessness of Israel in the prophet’s day. The covenant warning of exile from the Promised Land, and the promise of repentance and return, from Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-32, are both affirmed in Hosea’s preaching.

Structure of the book

The fourteen chapters fall into three apparently deliberate sections – like many good sermons, an introduction, a body and a conclusion.

1-3 Marriage, faithfulness and restoration

4-11 Sin’s many forms (ignorance of God, idolatry, immorality), consequences (fruitlessness, famine, foreign invasion), and symptoms (pursuit of false hopes and false saviours in the form of assassinations, fortifications and alliances)

12-14 Conclusion: a review of Israel’s history and restatement of her hope

A proposed melodic line

A “melodic line” is a phrase in the text or arising from the text that sums up its message as a whole. Here’s my suggestion for Hosea:

Our Holy God will overcome our rejection of His love, reconciling us to Himself through retribution for sin, and renewal of heart leading to repentance.

What do you think? Feel free to add your suggestions.

The exercise of preaching Hosea is a great challenge to Christian hermeneutical work too; reading his prophecy as those not in Samaria but in Christ, how do we apply both the message of judgment and that of hope? So, finally, some thoughts on preaching (and hence, applying) Hosea as Christians:

Can we preach the gospel from Hosea?

There are five ways in which the text itself, in canonical and Biblical theological context, does not merely invite but demand Christ-centred preaching:

1. Christological application in the New Testament. Hosea 11:1 “From Egypt I called him, “my Son””, quoted by Matthew in 2:15 of his gospel as fulfilled in Christ as true Israel. Like Jacob’s descendants in Genesis and Exodus, we see Christ taking refuge, being endangered by a genocidal tyrant, called “My Son,” and brought out of Egypt. It is possible, at least, that when Paul speaks of how Christ “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”, one of the texts he had in mind was Hosea 6:2, “on the third day he will restore us.”
2. Ethical application in the teaching of the Lord Jesus. Hosea 6:6, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”, is used by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 9:13 to attack the self-righteous religiosity of the Pharisees, who question the fellowship He shares with tax-collectors and sinners. The context in Hosea 6 is of an appeal to genuine repentance by Hosea, or perhaps more likely, his mockery of fake repentance among Israel’s leaders. “Come, let us return to the Lord.” (Hosea 6:1). This context is surely in Jesus’ minds and that of his hearers when he concludes, “For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners”. Those who thought themselves righteous are fakes and sinners like Hosea’s complacent Israelites; God looks for kindness to the repentant, not religious activity that feigns repentance.
3. Ecclesiological application in the New Testament. There are two direct quotations in the New Testament of Hosea applied to the Christian church. These are of Hosea 2:23 (Eng.), “I will have mercy on “no mercy”, and I will say to “not my people”, “my people”, and of Hosea 13:14b, “where, O grave, is your destruction”. The first text is quoted in 1 Peter 2:10 and Romans 9:24 to indicate that in Christ Gentiles have been brought into the people of God and condemnation is past. The second is quoted in 1 Corinthians 15:55, transformed by Paul from morbid invitation to death into triumphant exulting over it, to demonstrate the completeness of the victory for His people of Christ’s resurrection over mortality and decay.
4. Covenantal application in the metaphor of marriage. This image is used to describe the covenant between God and His people in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), and Christ and the Church in the New. Hosea promises the indestructible love of God to His wandering people. This is most marked in the acted parable of Hosea’s marriage in chapters 1-3 which points us to the longsuffering and sacrifice of Christ in going after his impure Bride the Church, wooing her in love, and paying the ransom price (Hosea 3:1-5) to make her His own. The delighted marriage of God to His people is a familiar theme from Psalm 45 and from other prophets such as Isaiah (62:5 etc) and Jeremiah (2:2 etc). The metaphor is applied specifically however to Christ’s relation to the Church in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus is called the divine Bridegroom in John 3:29 and appears to imply this image of His relation to God’s people in the wedding at Cana (John 2) and in Matthew 9:15 (“the guests of the bridegroom do not mourn when he is with them”) and 25:1-10 (the parable of the wise and foolish virgins). Paul uses the image of Christ’s love for the Church in Ephesians 5, and it reappears explicitly in Revelation 18:23, 19:7, 21:2,9 and 22:17.
5. Eschatological application. In his resurrection the Lord Jesus justifies His people and sets the new exodus (Hosea 2:14-15) in motion, which culminates in the new creation and the gathering of His people to His presence (Hosea 2:21-23 & 11:10). The ignorance of God, idolatry of the heart and immorality of life, is replaced with love for God and harmony of creation.

Some recommended commentaries on Hosea

(roughly in order of increasing technicality)

Derek Kidner (The Bible Speaks Today) *

Peter C Craigie, in The Twelve Prophets Vol 1 (Daily Study Bible)

Michael Eaton (Focus on the Bible – old series)

Tim Chester (Focus on the Bible – new series)

Gary Smith (New International Version Application Commentary)

David Hubbard (Tyndale OTC – old series)*

Robin Routledge (Tyndale OTC – new series)

Duane Garrett (New American Commentary)

Joshua Moon (IVP Apollos)

Douglas Stuart (Word Biblical Commentary)

Francis Anderson and David Noel Freedman (Anchor) *

*especially recommended