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1. Word of the Lord came to Hosea…in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, king of Israel

a. Same timeframe as Isaiah
b. Around 750
c. Prosperity in Northern Kingdom

2. Chapter 1

a. 2 – take a wife of harlotry for the children are whoring
b. 3 – took Gomer
c. 4-5 – Jezreel is first boy – for I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel

i. The valley that Josiah was killed
ii. Ahab’s palace overlooked it at Megiddo
iii. Jehu struck down house of Ahab at Jezreel but Jehu did not walk in the way of the Lord

d. 6 – Daughter named No Mercy
e. 9 – Son named Not my People
f. 10-11 – the Lord still is faithful

3. Chapter 2

a. Plead with you mother for she is whoring
b. 7-8 – realization by the whore that things were better
c. 9 – I will take her back
d. 15 – I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope
e. 16 – you will call me ‘My Husband” and not longer will you call me ‘My Baal.”
f. 21 – I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth
g. Hosea 2:23 – And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

i. See Romans 9:25-26 and 1 Pe 2:10

4. Chapter 3 – Hosea redeems His Wife

a. Hosea buys her for 15 shekels of silver
b. Hosea 3:5 – Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.

i. Christ purchases His Bride

5. Chapter 4

a. 1 – There is no faithfulness or steadfast love and no knowledge of God in the land
b. 2 – sin abounds
c. 6 – my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge for they have rejected knowledge
d. Charges against Israel

i. No truth or mercy (v1)
ii. Lying and adultery (v2)
iii. Lack of Knowledge (v6)
iv. Idolatry (v11-19)

6. Chapter 5

a. Terrible judgment in Hosea 5:6 – they shall seek the Lord but will not find Him

i. Terrifying as the Lord withdraws Himself

7. Chapter 6-10 healing is offered

a. 6:1 – Come let us return to the Lord for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down and he will bind us up.
b. 6:2 – after two days he will revive us; and on the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him.

i. Christ

c. 6:5 – I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth and my judgement goes forth as the litght
d. 6:6 – I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice and knowledge and not sacrifice
e. The preacher/prophet wounds so that the people might be healed up
f. 7:2 – But they do not consider that I remember all their evils (they don’t listen)
g. 7:14 – they do not cry to me from the heart but they wail upon their beds (bitterness not repentance)
h. 8:7 – they shall sow the wind and reap the whirlwind
i. 8:14 – Israel has forgotten his Maker..Judah has multiplied fortified cities
j. Hosea 9:7 – The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred. Eccl 1:18 – in much wisdom is grief and he who increases in knowledge increases in sorrow
k. It’s a grief to the soul to proclaim judgment
l. Ministry brings much heartache
m. Jer 23 – my heart is broken, I’m like a drunken man because of God’s Holy words, the course of life is evil, my bones shake
n. It’s difficult to have to bring forward this message
o. Psalm 69:9 – the zeal of your house has consumed me… (Jesus)
p. This is not just an academic exercise but Hosea is bound up with the people and cares for them and that they perish for lack of knowledge
q. The love for the Church and the desire for the people to pursue righteousness can make a man seem insane or foolish.

8. Chapter 10 – Hope for those who seek the Lord in midst of judgment

a. Hosea 10:12 – Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

9. Chapter 11

a. Hosea 11:1 – When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

i. Matt 2:15 – applied to Christ

b. Hosea 11:3-4 – Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. 4 I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
c. Hosea 11:8-9 — How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. 9 I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

10. Chapter 12

a. 10 – I spoke through the prophets

11. Chapter 13

a. Hosea 13:14 – Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

i. 1 Cor 15:54-55

12. Chapter 14

a. Return O Israel
b. Hosea 14:2 – Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.

i. Hebrews 13:15

c. Ends in Hope – Hosea 14:4-7 – I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; 6 his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. 7 They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.