Hosea 1

Hosea 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Hosea. It contains the superscription to the whole book and the account of the prophet's marriage to Gomer and the birth of their three children. In the Christian ordering of the Old Testament, Hosea is the first of the twelve Minor Prophets, so this chapter also opens the Minor Prophets as a whole. In the Hebrew text, verses 10–11 are numbered as Hosea 2:1–2.

Outline

• Verse 1 Superscription. The word of the LORD comes to Hosea son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.
• Verses 2–3 The LORD commands Hosea to take "a wife of whoredoms." Hosea marries Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim.
• Verses 4–5 The first son is named Jezreel. The LORD declares that He will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and bring the kingdom of Israel to an end.
• Verses 6–7 A daughter is named Lo-ruhamah ("not having obtained mercy"). Yet the LORD says He will save Judah, not by bow or sword, but by the LORD their God.
• Verses 8–9 The second son is named Lo-ammi ("not my people").
• Verses 10–11 The children of Israel will become as numerous as the sand of the sea and will be called "the sons of the living God." Judah and Israel will be gathered together and appoint themselves one head (leader), and "great shall be the day of Jezreel."

Key Verses

• Hosea 1:2 "Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms" — the starting point of the whole book, which uses the prophet's marriage as a sign of the relationship between God and Israel.
• Hosea 1:9 "For ye are not my people" — through a child's name, it declares that the "my people" relationship of the Sinai covenant has been broken.
• Hosea 1:10 "Ye are the sons of the living God" — a promise of restoration after judgment, quoted in the New Testament.

People and Places

• Hosea: The son of Beeri, a prophet who ministered in the northern kingdom of Israel.
• Gomer: The daughter of Diblaim and the wife of Hosea.
• Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi: The three children born to Gomer, whose names themselves carry the prophetic message. Jezreel means "God sows" and is also the name of the valley where Jehu overthrew the house of Ahab.
• Uzziah and Hezekiah: Kings of Judah named in the superscription along with Jotham and Ahaz.
• Jeroboam: The son of Joash, commonly called Jeroboam II. He succeeded Joash and led the northern kingdom during a period of prosperity.
• Jehu: The king of northern Israel who swept away the house of Ahab and founded a new dynasty (2 Kings 9–10).

Interpretive Considerations

• Gomer's "whoredom": Interpretations differ. Some hold that Gomer was already promiscuous before the marriage; others hold that the description looks back on unfaithfulness that arose after the marriage. Many interpreters read the account as a literal marriage, but a long-standing alternative reads it as a description of a vision or a symbolic act. The text does not describe Gomer's past in detail.
• The children's father: The Hebrew text states only of the first son that Gomer bore him "to him" (that is, to Hosea). For this reason, some interpreters hold that the second and third children were not Hosea's.
• Judgment on the house of Jehu: 2 Kings 10:30 commends Jehu's purge, whereas this chapter cites it as grounds for judgment. Some interpreters resolve the tension by seeing the problem as Jehu's excessive violence; others see the judgment as also addressing the sins later committed by his dynasty. Jehu's dynasty ended with the assassination of Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam (2 Kings 15:8–12).
• Connections to the New Testament: In Romans 9, Paul quotes Hosea 2:23 and 1:10 and applies them to God's calling of the Gentiles. The same language appears in 1 Peter 2:10. "The sand of the sea" recalls the promise of the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 22:17). There is also a tradition of reading the "one head" of verse 11, together with Hosea 3:5, as referring to a Davidic king or the Messiah.

In Korean Churches

Together with Hosea 3, the story of Hosea and Gomer is frequently preached as a text that displays God's enduring love for a faithless people.