HOS-01 An Introduction to Hosea - Background

Have you ever known someone who just won’t listen to wise counsel? They foolishly reject what others say and, as a result, they stumble again and again. In many ways, this is what happened during the ministry of the prophet Hosea. Hosea brought God’s word to his people over several decades. And even though his prophecies proved to be true every step along the way, God’s people suffered time and again because they refused to listen to him. Still, Hosea didn’t give up. Toward the end of his life, the Holy Spirit led Hosea to create a collection of his prophecies that we now call the book of Hosea. He designed his book to give God’s people wisdom for the challenges they faced in their day. And as a divinely inspired book, the book of Hosea also imparts wisdom to God’s people in every age, including our own.

This is the first lesson in our series on The Prophetic Wisdom of Hosea, and we’ve entitled it, “An Introduction to Hosea.” In this lesson, we’ll explore a number of introductory issues related to Hosea’s ministry and the book that now bears his name.

Our introduction to Hosea will divide into two main parts. We’ll look first at the background of the prophet Hosea and his book. Then we’ll introduce an overview of the basic content and structure of the book. Let’s begin by exploring several dimensions of the background of Hosea.

Hosea’s prophecies were inspired by the Holy Spirit, so they have unquestionable authority over God’s people throughout history. But his prophecies first addressed ancient Israelites and the circumstances that they faced. As we’ll see in this lesson, Hosea’s ministry spanned several decades. So, the more we understand the background of Hosea’s developing circumstances, the better we’ll be able to grasp and apply his prophecies to our own day.

Before we approach these matters, we need to distinguish two interconnected historical settings, two “worlds” as it were. The first setting, which we’ll call “that world,” covers the decades of Hosea’s prophetic ministry in which he received and delivered revelations from God. But the second historical setting, which we’ll call “their world,” takes place later in Hosea’s life. In this second setting, Hosea selected and wrote down some of his prophecies to impact the lives of those who first received his book.