The Book of Hosea - Analysed and Explained in Summary - Volumes 1, 2, and 3 of "The Analysed Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
To the best of our knowledge we are of the understanding that this book, taken from Volumes 1, 2, & 3 of the "Analysed Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan published in 1907, and freely available elsewhere on the internet is in the public domain.
HOSEA - SPIRITUAL ADULTERY
PART A: THE TRAINING OF THE PROPHET - Hosea 1:1-3:5
A1. His domestic Life and National Conscience - Hos. 1:1-2:1
- Title Page - 1:1
- The Word of the Lord at first - 1:2
- The Marriage - 1:3
- The domestic Life and the National Conscience - 1:4-1:9
- The Vision of Hope - 1:10-2:1
A2. His Home Tragedy a Revelation - Hos. 2:2-2:23
- The Charge. Hosea and Jehovah - 2:2-2:5
- The Severity of Love. Jehovah only - 2:6-2:13
- The Tenderness of Love. Jehovah only - 2:14-2:23
A2. His Dealing with Gomer, A Command and a Revelation - Hos. 3:1-3:5
- The Instruction of Jehovah - 3:1
- Hosea's Obedience - 3:2-3:3
- The National Interpretation - 3:4-3:5
Part B: THE TEACHING OF THE PROPHET - Hosea 4:1-14:9
B1. Pollution and its Cause - Hos. 4:1-6:3
- The General Charge - 4:1-4:3
- The Cause declared and Results described - 4:4-4:19
- Special Message to Priests, People and King - 5:1-5:15
- The Plaintive Plea of the Prophets - 6:1-6:3
B2. Pollution and its Punishment - Hos. 6:4-10:15
- The Case Stated - 6:4-7:16
- The Judgement Pronounced - 8:1-9:17
- Recapitulation and Appeal - 10:1-10:15
B3. The Love of Jehovah - Hos. 11:1-14:9
- The Message of Jehovah with Prophetic Interpolations - 11:1-13:16
- The final Call of the Prophet, with the Promise of Jehovah - 14:1-14:8
B4. Epilogue - Hos. 14:9
Introduction
Hosea dated his prophesying by giving the names of four kings of Judah and one of Israel. This reveals a remarkable length of prophetic utterance. His voice was heard in reigns which covered no less a period than one hundred and twenty-eight years. The probability is that he exercised his ministry between sixty and seventy years. The period covered was undoubtedly the darkest in the whole history of the kingdom of Israel. Political life was characterized by anarchy and misrule. The throne was occupied by men who obtained possession by the murder of their predecessors, and the people were governed by military despotism. Foreign alliances involved the nation in inextricable confusion. These alliances, moreover, resulted in the introduction of the corrupting influences of Syrian and Phcenician idolatry. The conditions were terrible in the extreme; luxurious living, robbery, oppression, falsehood, adultery, murder, accompanied by the most violent intolerance of any form of rebuke.
In the first part of the book we have an account of the preparation of Hosea for the delivery of his messages, and in the second part a condensed epitome of his prophetic utterances. The prophecy falls into two divisions - The training of the Prophet (1-3); the Teaching of the Prophet (4-14).
A. The Training of the Prophet - Hosea 1:1-3:5
In the account of the training of the prophet for his work there are three distinctly marked movements - his domestic life and national conscience; his home tragedy, a revelation; and his dealing with Gomer, a command and a revelation.
The statement, "When the Lord spake at the first," is a declaration made by Hosea long after the event. Looking back, he understood that the impulse which resulted in heart agony was also part of the Divine method of teaching him. There is no reason to believe that Gomer was outwardly impure in the days when Hosea married her. In the picture of the domestic life which follows, the supreme matter is its revelation of Hosea's national conscience. There were born to him three children, and in the naming of them he revealed his conviction concerning the condition of his people. While this was a dark outlook indeed, yet the section ends with words which show that the prophet's faith was unshaken in the final fulfilment of the first Divine purposes, in spite of all contradictory appearances.
No details of the unfaithfulness of Gomer are given; but in the second movement the prophet is seen nursing his own agony, and by that process learning the true nature of the sin of his people as God knew and felt it. All that Hosea said concerning Gomer was also the language of Jehovah concerning Israel. As she had violated her covenant with him, so had Israel with Jehovah. In the latter part of the section the prophet speaks for Jehovah only, the tragedy in his own life being the background of illustration. The Divine attitude was that of the severity of love, which determined upon stern measures in order ultimately to win again the sinning and wandering people.
Hosea was taught the truth of the tenderness of the Divine heart by the command of Jehovah to love, and find, and restore his sinful and wandering bride. Through his obedience he entered into fellowship with the amazing tenderness of God, and was thereby prepared for the delivery of the messages which followed.
The method of his training for work may thus be summarized. Out of his communion with God in the days of prosperity he was able to see the true condition of his people. He was conscious that on account of their sin, the judgment of Jehovah threatened them; that on account of their obstinacy, mercy was not obtained; and that the issue of all could only be that they should be a people cast out from their place, power, and privilege.
Out of his own heart agony he learned the true nature of the sin of his people. They were playing the harlot, spending God's gifts in lewd traffic with other lovers.
Out of that personal suffering he came to an understanding of how God suffered over the sin of His people, because of His undying love.
Out of God's love, Hosea's new care for Gomer was born; and in the method God ordained for him with her, he discovered God's method with Israel.
Out of these processes of pain there came a full confidence in the ultimate victory of love.
Thus equipped he delivered his messages, and through them all there sounded these deepest notes of sin, of love, of judgment.
B. The Teachings of the Prophet - Hosea 4:1-14:9
In any attempt to analyse and tabulate the teaching contained in this second division of the book, it must be remembered that the prophetic utterances cannot be treated as verbatim reports. As they here appear, they are rather the gathering up of the notes or leading ideas of a long period of preaching. In our analysis the method is that of indicating, not the periods at which the messages were delivered, but rather their subject-matter.
They fall into three distinct cycles, dealing with pollution and its cause; pollution and its punishment; and the love of Jehovah.
In dealing with pollution and its cause the prophet first preferred a general charge against the nation. Israel was summoned to attend and hear the word of the Lord because He had a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. The charge made was that of the absence of truth and mercy and knowledge of God, and the consequent widespread existence of all kinds of evil. The result was to be seen in the mourning land, the languishing people, and the fact that man's dominion over nature was lost.
The prophet next declared the cause of the sin and more carefully described the results. The cause was that of the pollution of the priests. Priest and prophet stumbled, and the people were destroyed for lack of knowledge. As the priests multiplied they sinned, and their glory was changed to shame. The result was the pollution of the people. Following the example of the priests, had issued in lack of understanding. The prophet declared that God would not punish for the smaller offence of physical harlotry, but for the more terrible outrage of spiritual adultery which lay behind it. In this connection he counselled Judah to take warning by the terrible example of Israel. Having thus declared the cause of pollution, the prophet's next message was specially addressed to priest, people, and king. First to the priests and the king as leaders and responsible, though the people were included as having followed the false lead. The message affirmed the Divine knowledge of the condition of affairs, and announced the inevitable judgment which must follow. A threefold method of judgment was indicated. First that of the moth and rottenness, which is slow destruction; secondly, that of the young lion, which is strong devouring judgment; and finally, that of withdrawal, which is the most terrible of all. The section closes with the plaintive plea of the prophet which constituted his appeal in consequence of the judgment threatened. In its local application it was a call to return to Jehovah, based upon the certainty of the Divine pity, and a declaration of the equal certainty of prosperity if there were such a return to Him. The appeal is full of beauty, and has in it Messianic values, for all that the prophet declared only finds its fulfilment in the Christ, by way of His first and second advents.
Passing to pollution and its punishment, the prophetic word first stated the case as it existed between Jehovah and His people. The Divine attitude toward the people was affirmed to be that of perplexity. In the presence of the shallowness of their goodness, Jehovah had adopted different methods in His desire for their welfare. The human response had been that of persistent transgression and treachery, the proofs of which were to be found in Gilead and Shechem. The true state of affairs was that of the Divine desire to heal, frustrated by the discovery of pollution, and by their persistent ignoring of God. The pollution of the nation was manifest in the king, the princes, and the judges. The prophet described Ephraim as mixing among the people, with reference to the widespread influence of that tribe; as a cake not turned, indicating utter failure, being undeveloped on one side, and on the other destroyed by burning; as a silly dove, indicating fear and cowardice. The statement of the case was concluded by a declaration of the utter folly of the people whom God was scourging toward redemption. They responded by howling, assembling, and rebelling.
From this statement of the case the prophet turned to the pronouncement of judgment. This he did first by the figure of the trumpet lifted to the mouth, uttering five blasts, in each of which the sin of the people was set forth as revealing the reason of judgment. The first blast declared the coming of judgment under the figure of an eagle, because of transgression and trespass. The second emphasized Israel's sin of rebellion, in that they had set up kings and princes without the authority of Jehovah. The third dealt with Israel's idolatry, announcing that Jehovah had cast off the calf of Samaria. The fourth denounced Israel's alliances, and declared that her hire among the nations had issued in her diminishing. The fifth drew attention to the altars of sin, and announced the coming judgment.
The judgment is then described in detail. Its first note was that of the death of joy; Israel could not find her joy like other peoples; having known Jehovah, all to which she turned in turning from Him, failed to satisfy. The second note was that of the actual exile to which she must pass ; back to the slavery of Egypt and Assyria, away from the offerings and feasts of the Lord. The third was that of the cessation of prophecy ; the means of testing themselves would be corrupted. The fourth declared the nemesis of fornication; the prophet traced the growth of this pollution from its beginnings at Baal-peor, and clearly set forth the inevitable deterioration of the impure people. The fifth and last was that of the final casting out of the people by God, so that they should become wanderers among the nations. This section closes with the prophet's recapitulation and appeal. The whole case is stated under the figure of the vine. Israel was a vine of God's planting which had turned its fruitfulness to evil account, and was therefore doomed to His judgment. The result of this judgment would be the lament of the people that they had no king who was able to save them, and chastisement would inevitably follow. The last word was that of earnest and passionate appeal to return to loyalty.
The third cycle of the prophecy sets forth the love which Jehovah had for His people, notwithstanding their sin. This section contains a declaration of this attitude of Jehovah towards His sinning people, and is for the most part the speech of Jehovah Himself. He sums up, and in so doing declares His sense of the awfulness of the sin, pronouncing His righteous judgment thereupon. Yet throughout the movement the dominant notes are those of His love, and the ultimate victory of that love over sin, and consequently over judgment. Thrice in the course of this great message of Jehovah to the people, the prophet interpolates words of his own. In studying the section it is necessary to take the words of Jehovah in sequence, and then the interpolations of the prophet in sequence also. This division will easily be made by examination of the text.
The message of Jehovah falls into three clearly marked movements which deal respectively with the present in the light of past love; the present in the light of present love; the present in the light of future love.
In the first, Jehovah reminded the people of all His past love for them in words full of tenderness, setting their present condition in its light, and crying, "How shall I give thee up?" His own inquiry was answered by the determined declaration of the ultimate triumph of love, and the restoration of the people.
In the second, Jehovah set the present sin in the light of His present love. The sin of Ephraim and its pride and impertinence were distinctly stated, and yet over all, love would triumph. Jehovah declared Himself to be the God Who had delivered from Egypt, and Who would be true to the messages of prophets, to the visions of seers, to the similitudes of the ministry of the prophets.
Finally he set the present condition of Israel in the light of His future love. Sin abounded, and therefore judgment was absolutely unavoidable. Nevertheless, the almighty strength of love must overcome at last.
Turning from this main line of the Divine message, we must examine the prophet's interpolations. These set forth the history of Israel indicating their relation to Jehovah, and pronounce judgment. They form a remarkable obligato accompaniment in a minor key to the majestic love song of Jehovah, and constitute a contrasting introduction to the final message of the prophet.
The first of them reveals the prophet's sense of Jehovah's controversy with Judah, and His just dealings with Jacob. The second was reminiscent of Jacob's history, and made a deduction and an appeal. The third traced the progress of Israel to death, beginning with the flight to the field of Aram, through the exodus from Egypt and preservation to the present, in which Ephraim was exalted in Israel, offended in Baal, and died, The last declared the doom. It was indeed the last word of man, the pronouncement of awful judgment, and constituted the plea of "guilty," to which the answer of Jehovah, as revealed in His message, was that of the victory of love.
The cycle closes with a final call of the prophet, with the promise of Jehovah. The call was to the people to return, because they had fallen by iniquity. It suggested the method as being that of bringing the words of penitence, and forsaking all false gods. To this Jehovah answered in a message full of hope for the people, declaring that He would restore, renew, and ultimately reinstate.