The Word of the Lord that came to Hosea.
The prophet Hosea
I. He was divinely commissioned. Holy men of old spake not of their own wisdom or of their own will; they spake the Word of God. In what a contemptuous light their conduct places those who in the present day quote the sayings of the Fathers, the Church, or Tradition, or suggest modern innovations, and strange interpretations. We have the Word of God, and the prompting of the Spirit; and is not that enough?
II. He had worthy ancestry. His father’s name would not have been mentioned had it not been to honour the son. How the father can strengthen and establish the son, or the son ruin and crush the father!
III. He prophesied at a critical period.
1. It was a long time. Probably eighty years.
2. It was a changeable time. Various scenes. Different characters of kings and peoples. He lived in the reigns of one good king and four bad ones. He saw plenty and famine. He saw one revival and much sin.
3. It was a tentative time. Upon the conduct of the Jews depended their ultimate existence.
IV. Practical thoughts.
1. Hosea must have begun his ministry very young.
2. How very little we have of his prophesyings. His chief work was directly relative to his age. God has preserved what was of permanent interest.
3. How long a man of God may labour, and yet how little good he may accomplish. He did not prevent the Captivity. We arc not answerable for our success, but we are for our duty. We are not to relax our efforts because men am blind or fools. (William Jay.)
The prophet Hosea
I. Who he was. His name means a saviour, one who brings salvation, and many saving and savoury truths this prophet brings to us. The Jews say that when a prophet’s father’s name is given, the father was a prophet as well as the son. “Beeri” means a well that has springing water in it, freely and clearly running.
II. To where was the prophet sent? Especially to the Ten Tribes. The Ten Tribes, rending themselves from the house of David, separated themselves also from the true worship of God, and horrible wickedness and all manner of abominations grew up amongst them.
III. What was Hosea’s errand to them? To convince them of their abominable idolatry, and those other wickednesses in which they lived, and to denounce severe threatenings, yea, most fearful destruction. His threatening is more severe than any given before, Yet he, too, has a message of mercy.
IV. What was his commission? He had the “Word of Jehovah.” Hosea did not go for the Word of the Lord, but the Word came to him. The knowledge of a call to a work will help a man through the difficulties of the work.
V. The time when Hosea prophesied. About the time that the city of Rome was built. The beginning of the Olympiads. During the reign of four kings, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. A lengthened prophesying of nearly fourscore years. See what of God’s mind will spring from this.
1. It pleases God sometimes that some men’s labours shall abide more full to posterity than others, though the labours of those others are greater and as excellent as theirs.
2. It appears that Hosea began to prophesy very young.
3. Hosea prophesying thus long it appears he lived to grow old in his work.
4. By Hosea s continuance m so many kings reigns, it is evident he must have gone through a variety of conditions. He preserved a constancy of spirit, however varied might be the difficulties of his work.
5. God may continue a prophet a long time amongst a people, and yet they may never be converted.
6. It is an honour to the ministers of God, who meet with many difficulties and discouragements in their, way, yet continue fresh and lively to the very end.
7. It pleases God many times to let His prophets see the fulfilling of their threatenings upon the people against whom they have denounced them. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Scripture, kings, and truth
I. The essence of scripture. What is the essence of the Bible? It is here called “The Word of the Lord.” Analyse the expression.
1. It is a “Word.” A word fulfils two functions; it is a revelation and an instrument. The Bible is the manifestation of God, it shows His intellect and heart, and is His instrument as well; by which He accomplishes His purpose on the human mind. By it He is said to enlighten,--quicken,--cleanse,--conquer, etc.
2. It is a Divine Word. “The Word of the Lord.” Words are always powerful and important according to the nature and character of the speaker. Because the Lord is all-mighty and holy, His Word is all-powerful and pure.
3. It is a Divine Word concerning men. The prophecy came to Hosea in relation to Israel. The Bible is a Word to man.
4. It is a Divine Word concerning man coming through men. In the Bible God speaks to man through man. This gives the charm of an imperishable humanity to the Bible.
II. The mortality of kings. Several kings are here mentioned who appeared and passed away during the ministry of Hosea. Uzziah was the eleventh king of Judah. His example was holy, and his reign peaceful and prosperous. Ahaz was a son of Jotham: at the age of twenty he succeeded his royal sire. He gave himself up to idolatry, and sacrificed even his own children to the gods of the heathen. Hezekiah, the son and successor of Ahaz, was a man of distinguished virtue and religion, animated by true piety and patriotism. Jeroboam was the son of Joash, and great grandson of Jehu, and followed the former Jeroboam, the man who made Israel to sin, and, like him, sank into the lowest idolatry and corruption. Some of these kings had come and gone during the ministry of Hosea;--kings die, etc.
1. This fact is a blessing. When we think of such kings as those of which Ahaz and Jeroboam were types, we thank God for death, and rejoice in the “king of terrors,” who comes to strike the despots down.
2. This fact is a lesson. What does the death of kings teach?
(1) The rigorous impartiality of death. Death is no respecter of persons, it treats the pauper and the prince alike.
(2) The utter powerlessness of wealth.
(3) The sad hollowness of worldly glory. Death strips sovereigns of all their pageantry and reduces them.to common dust.
III. The perpetuity of truth. Although these kings successively appeared and passed away, the ministry of Hosea kept on.
1. The “Word of the Lord” is adapted to all generations. It is congruous with all intellects, it chimes in with all hearts, it provides for the common wants of all.
2. The “Word of the Lord” is necessary for all generations. (Homilist.)
Trouble a teacher
A wonderful book is this prophecy of Hosea (b.c. 800-725). The man himself at once attracts our sympathy and regard by his personal sufferings. There is no teacher of Divine truth to be compared for one moment for excellence so deep and great as trouble. Hosea had an infinite sorrow at home; therefore he was so great and tender a teacher of Divine truth. He read everything through his tears; hence the enlargement, the colour, the variety, the striking beauty of his visions. When the sorrow is home grief it assumes a tenderer quality. Hosea had children, but they had evil names; their very names were millstones round the prophet’s neck. If one of them had a name historically and ideally beautiful, it was to be used for the expression of judgment and vengeance. As for the others, one represented the vanished mercy of God, and the other represented the alienation of the people from God, and the alienation of God from the people. Only sorrow should read some parts of the Bible, because only sorrow could have written them. You cannot properly sing a man’s music until you know the man himself. Hosea will have a tone of his own; he will talk like nobody else; he will be an eccentric, peculiar individual; he will begin when he pleases, and he will take a circuit marked out for him by an invisible guide; but now and again he will come down to the road we travel, and will present us with flowers and fruits, and will say little sweet sentences to us that shall be as angels, covered with light, and tremulous with music. The sorrow of Hosea was symbolic. All sorrow is meant to be symbolic. Whoso has sorrow is meant to be a teacher. You have no right to the exclusive use of your own sorrow. Sorrow should only be silent for a time; by and by it should find all its words, refine, enlarge, and dignify them, and pass them on as messages, bright as Gospels. But for his own sorrow, he never could have understood God’s grief. Again and again God asks us to look at Him through ourselves. Happy they who come up out of household trouble, public disappointment, and social criticism, and loss and desolation, to pray larger prayers, and offer to those who are outside a larger hospitality of love and rest. If sorrow makes us narrower in thought and purpose, then sorrow has failed to convey God’s meaning to the soul. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)