Book of a prophet who married a prostitute to show God’s relationship to faithless Israel. |
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God was faithful even when the people where not |
Hosea prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel in the eight century BC. He was a contemporary of Amos.
God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute to dramatize how Israel has become faithless by worshiping other gods. Their children are named “Jezreel” (which was a battlefield), “Not Pitied,” and “Not my people” to show how God will judge Israel. Yet there is hope that God will restore the people, so that “Jezreel” will become a sown field and the other children will be called “Pitied” and “My People” (Hos 1-3). Oracles of judgment and hope appear throughout the remainder of the book.
Hos 1 – Hosea’s marriage and children