The Word of Yahweh Came to Hosea – Hosea 1:1

Hosea’s prophecy is, in part, done with his own life situation.  God uses Hosea’s marriage and children as an illustration, an unhappy one at that, of how He will deal with Israel.  It highlighted the painful relationship God had with Israel, and yet the hope of a restored relationship.  God uses our lives as illustrations, giving us our message of reconciliation to the world.

The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.  (Hosea 1:1 ESV)

Hosea prophesied during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of the southern half of Israel’s divided kingdom.  After Solomon, his son Rehoboam saw the division of the kingdom along tribal lines, the tribe of Judah staying with the family line of David who was from their tribe, the other tribes setting up their own kings from various tribes.  Concurrently, Hosea prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam, the king of the northern half of Israel’s divided kingdom, also known as Israel (or at times as Ephraim, the largest tribe of the tribes outside of Judah).

The northern kingdom immediately became idolatrous, setting up two places of worship to rival Jerusalem, both of which used a golden bull as an object of worship.  They feared their people would still go to Jerusalem for festivals and worship.  They established their own priesthood to do sacrifices, and though they may have initially worshiped the bull as an image of Yahweh, the true God, they eventually were captivated by worship of Baal, the fertility god.  A common form of this worship included the men having sex with temple prostitutes as a way of getting Baal to “have sex” with his consort, the earth goddess, so that the earth would become pregnant with crops and productive animals, all essential of course to prosperity.

From God’s perspective this was committing spiritual adultery by forsaking Him as their husband and taking another husband, Baal.  This violation of covenant with Him led to warnings from the prophets of God’s coming judgment.  And in fact, in Hosea’s day, God sent the kingdom of Assyria to conquer and send into exile the inhabitants of Israel.  The southern kingdom, Judah, only barely escaped this same judgment as Hezekiah their king led the nation in spiritual revival.

This is the environment in which God called Hosea to give witness to Him.  It was not an easy task.