This message is a study of what Hosea preached and prophesied rather than an exposition of the text. Read what the Bible actually says and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s truth to your heart.

Hosea: Chapters 4-14    

If we are going to understand the meaning and the passion of Hosea's message, we must see it in the light of the story of Hosea's unfaithful wife and her children. Hosea had loved his wife, with a pure, deep, love, but she was proved unfaithful, and sold herself to countless men. Hosea had pleaded and warned but things reached the point where separation was necessary. Through his experience he understood that sin is spiritual adultery and realized the suffering which sin causes to the heart of God.

  ISRAEL ’S SIN

  The Sins of the People 

They were:-

Idolatrous

Immoral

Merciless

This portion of God's Word begins with a clear statement of its divine origin

"Hear the word of the Lord," you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, and no acknowledgment of God in the land. 2 There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

7 The more the priests increased, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful.

8 They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.

9 And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.

10 "They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not increase, because they have deserted the Lord to give themselves

11 to prostitution, to old wine and new, which take away the understanding

12 of my people. They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.

13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

19 A whirlwind will sweep them away, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.

  The Sins of the Priesthood

4:4. Yet let no man contend, let no man reprove, for thy people are contenders against Me, O priest.

4:5. Thou hast stumbled today, and the prophet shall stumble with thee tonight, and I will destroy thy mother (i.e. the nation).

4:6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge (O priest), I reject thee from being priest to Me; and as thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.

"Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you Israelites! Listen, O royal house! This judgment is against you: You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor. The rebels are deep in slaughter. I will discipline all of them. When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them. They are unfaithful to the Lord; they give birth to illegitimate children. Now their New Moon festivals will devour them and their fields. Judah 's leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water. Ephraim is oppressed, trampled in judgment, intent on pursuing idols.

The Sins of the  Princes

Chapter 5:1 Hear ye this, O priests, and hearken, ye house of Israel , and give ear, O house of the king, - for on you is this sentence! - for ye have become a snare at Mizpeh, and a net spread out upon Tabor,

5:2. And the revolters are gone deep in corruption, - but I shall be the scourge of them all.

5:3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not kid from Me; for now, O Ephraim, thou hast played the harlot, and Israel is defiled.

Hosea 7:3-11 "They delight the king with their wickedness, the princes with their lies. They are all adulterers, burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises. On the day of the festival of our king the princes become inflamed with wine, and he joins hands with the mockers. Their hearts are like an oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their passion smoulders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. All of them are hot as an oven; they devour their rulers. All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me.  "Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over.  Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realise it. His hair is sprinkled with grey, but he does not notice.   Israel 's arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the Lord his God or search for him.  "Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless — now calling to Egypt , now turning to Assyria .

THE CERTAINTY OF JUDGMENT

 Chapter 8 begins, "Set the trumpet to thy mouth!" - that is, sound the alarm of impending calamity. Almost every verse, or every other verse, in the next three chapters, is a vehement expression of wrath to come. Read them through carefully. That will be more help to you than any explanation of mine.

In spite of the certainty of judgment the book concludes with an assurance of God’s unfailing love

Chapters 11 to 14, LOVE UNENDING, UNFAILING, ETERNAL

"When Israel was a child, then I loved him..."

Here is the final triumph of love, culminating in the last chapter. It is a grand and beautiful climax. Judgment is finished. Sin is forsaken. Backsliding is healed. Love reigns.

Hosea 14

Return, O Israel , to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall. Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.   Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion. I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel ; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendour will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.  Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the corn. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon .  O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from me."  Who is wise? He will realise these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.