The Prophecies of Hosea

“If there is anything which especially affronts God, it must surely be the sight of men and women (whom he has created) bowing in worship to sticks and stones (which he has also created and which, therefore, have no intrinsic power).  This is especially true because God has repeatedly and patiently demonstrated his concern, love, and protection to each generation of this nation to whom he has specially chosen to reveal himself.

In an effort to draw Israel away from her spiritual lovers and to show her the danger of her infidelity, God calls upon the prophet Hosea to bring his message and warnings.

God calls upon Hosea to marry a woman whom God knows will be unfaithful to Hosea and bear children of her unfaithfulness.  Even the children’s names pronounce God’s prophecy.

Hosea’s prophecies against Israel, to which he sometimes refers as Ephraim, begin with a reference to his own disastrous marriage and the anger and anguish which he himself feels.  No message has more impact than one growing out of the messenger’s own experience.  Perhaps that accounts for the power of Hosea’s prophecies.”

Read: Hosea 1, 2 & 3

All quotations taken from The Daily Bible.