Kevin McMahon

May 19, 2000

Dr. Mark Cohen

The Book of Hosea

The Biblical book of Hosea is one of the prophetical books of the Old Testament. The writer makes it appear as though he is writing prior to the fall of Israel. Modern historians, though, believe that although Hosea may have been started before the fall of Israel, it was not completed until after the invasion of Shalmanesser V.

The time of the book of Hosea was a very tumultuous period for Judah, Israel, and the surrounding areas. Assyria had taken over much of the area and was laying its heavy and burdensome tribute requirements out. Egypt was playing the role of the antagonist, trying to get smaller weaker countries to do its work by opposing Assyria. The northern kingdom had seen the house of Jehu, which ruled for almost 100 years, fall and be succeeded by four short lived and fast forgot kings.

According to Hosea, Israel’s troubles stem from having gone astray. They committed adultery against the Lord by worshipping other gods. Verse 1:2 “…the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.” The theme of adultery comes up repeatedly in this book. It does not mean that the people were merely loose in their sexual practices, although that certainly was part of the problem, they were betraying God.

There appears to have been much idol worship during this period. Verse 10:12 “…they consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood.” Verse 4:17 “Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.” Hosea constantly refers to the city of Beth El as Beth Aven. This is found first in verse 4:15 “Do not go up to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven.” Beth El was the city where Jereboam set up the golden calves in the temple. Beth El means “house of God” whereas Hosea’s term Beth Aven means “House of Wickedness”. Verse 8:5 “Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria!” The golden calf had apparently become a religious icon that everyone would recognize.

Baal was one foreign god that was being worshipped in Israel. The Israelites were making many sacrifices to the god, Baal. They were even spending "lavish" amounts of money in the worship of Baal. Verse 2:8 supports this idea, "She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold - which they used for Baal." Also verse 2:17 "I will remove the name of the Baals from her lips."

Israel, though, was not the only country who had idol problems. Verse 5:5 “the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them.” Just prior in 4:5 “Though you commit adultery, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty.” This leads to the belief that although both north and south were, to some extent, worshiping idols, the north was far more entrenched in it than the south. This is a somewhat dubious claim due to Hosea's purpose. He had seen Israel fall and Judah remain standing. He wanted to explain why Israel fell and still keep Judah off the same path. Therefore, we know that there was idol worship in the south but to what extent compared to the north, we do not know.

The people of Israel were performing many of the rituals that Josiah and Hezekiah will later attempt to outlaw. They regularly performed religious ceremonies outside of the temple. They utilized the high places around cities and on mountains. Verse 4:13 “They sacrifice on mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills.” This must not have been an isolated practice to be mentioned in the Bible in this way. It must have been a regular everyday occurrence. There was a high number of these altars around the country, verse 8:11 “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning.” Many of the altars across the countryside were not built for Yahweh and had sacred stones representing other gods there. Verse 10:1 “As his fruit increased, he built more altars: as his land prospered he adorned his sacred stones.

There are several clues to what is happening politically in this area throughout the book of Hosea. It is clear that Israel and Judah were acting very independent of each other. Throughout the book, Judah is mentioned only a few times while Israel/Ephraim/Samaria are mentioned over and over again. If this book was during one of the periods of closer relations between the two, it is likely that Judah would have been given a more equal amount of time in the book.

According to Miller and Hayes we can also figure out the size of the northern kingdom. At one point in history the size of the Israel was relatively close to the size of Judea but during the time of Hosea it was not. Due to the ongoing military troubles in the area Israel had shrunk to a very tiny size. In the first three chapters, Hosea refers to the north as Israel and never Ephraim, but after the third chapter he refers to the much smaller kingdom as Ephraim or Samaria and less frequently as Israel. This reflects the smaller size of the northern kingdom near its last days.

Israel was confused as to whom it should stay loyal. It had dealings with both Assyria and Egypt. Verse 5:13 “then Ephraim turned to Assyria, and sent to the great king for help.” The Bible makes it sound as though the kings were being played by the rulers of the grander kingdoms. Verse 7:11 “Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless-now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria.” The kings during Hosea’s time were apparently very bad at foreign policy. They outwardly seemed very inconsistent in their policies, one minute on friendly terms, the next rebelling. It made the whole country look bad. Hosea was not the only one who did not understand Israel’s policies. Verse 7:16 “Their leaders will fall by the sword because of their insolent words. For this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.” Apparently, the Egyptians think it is funny that they are toying with Israel do its dirty work. Hosea was writing during the time of the last kings of Israel so he would have seen Israel’s alliance with Egypt to be its downfall.

The monarchy at this point was fairly shaky. There had been several kings that took power by assassination only to be themselves later assassinated. Kings were changing without the approval of the priesthood. Verse 8:4 “They set up Kings without my consent; they chose princes without my approval.” Also verse 7:7 “All their kings fall, and none of them calls on me.” This is a somewhat rocky picture of the monarchy. The people were unconcerned with the monarchy; they did not seem to view this as a national problem for no one was calling on their God to help them. The kings certainly were not being loyal to God because then the writer would have to make up an excuse for their having a short reign. If they were supporting and encouraging the rampant idol worship then it would make sense to the reader that the king would have a short reign. Verse 4:18 "their rulers dearly love shameful ways."

Beyond their religious issues, society itself seemed to be coming apart at the seams. Rampant crime must have made many areas unsafe. Verse 7:1 "they practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets." Even the priesthood was not innocent in this. They had the blood of murder on their hands. Hosea even compares them to a band of marauders, which would likely have been a common sight as well. Hosea used marauders as a reference because it must have been something that everyone would be able to relate to. Verse 6:9 "As marauders like in ambush for a man, so did bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, committing shameful crimes."

Although Hosea uses adultery and prostitution as metaphors for the way the Israelites were treating God, there are some literal examples of rampant sex in Hosea. Verse 4:13 "Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery." The prostitution had gotten so bad that it reached into the temple itself. There were prostitutes in the temple performing ritual sacrifice. Verse 4:14 "because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes." This must mean that sex in the temple was part of the ritual otherwise why the specific term "shrine prostitutes."

If we read Hosea from the historical perspective and assume that there is no such thing as true prophecy we can garner additional details. We can then assume that all the things of which Hosea writes had already happened. He was simply justifying why everything had to happen. Israel did not fall because Yahweh was weak; Israel fell because Israel was not keeping faithful to Yahweh.

There were major battles that destroyed all of the fortified cities. Verse 10:14 "the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated - as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children." No one was safe from the wrath of their attackers. Men, women, and children were slaughtered. Verse 4:15 tells us that all of Israel was indeed destroyed. "When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

Much of the population had their homes destroyed in the battles. They were forced to live in camps. Verse 12:9 "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed feasts." Part of these tent living people may have remained in what was left of Gilead. Gilead was a leveled city. It was singled out as having been especially idolatrous. Verse 12:11 "Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Their altars will be like piles of stones on a plowed field."

The great golden calf from the temple was taken back to Assyria. The people were extremely upset by this. To them the calf was a symbol of their God. Their feeling that their God had abandoned them became even stronger because the calf was taken. It was as if their God had left them. Verse 10:5-6 "The people who live in Samaria fear for the calf-idol of Beth Aven. Its people mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests, those who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into exile. It will be carried to Assyria as tribute for the great king."

The golden calf was not the only thing to leave the land of Israel. Some Jews fled to Egypt while others were deported to Assyria. There they lived among the Gentiles and learned even more evil practices than those they did at home. Verse 8:8 "Israel is swallowed up; now she is among the nations like a worthless thing. For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone." The Israelites in Assyria were strangers in a strange land; they did not know how to act or what to do. They even ate with the Assyrians, forgetting their heritage of dining rules. Verse 9:3 "They will not remain in the Lord's land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria."

The most important thing to glean from the book of Hosea is the idea of a very unfaithful people. The book reinforces the fact that the early Jews were not a monotheistic people; they practiced monolatry. They had a national god in Yahweh but they did not believe that he was the only god. The religious worship of that time was very different from what we think of Judaism today. Idols, sacrifices outside the temple, and ritual sex are a far cry from modern Judaism. Hosea was trying to lead the people toward this new Judaism by blaming the old style of worship for the Assyrian conquest of Israel.

Home Outdoors Various School Projects Rat Babies Wacky Test Results Contact Kevin McMahon