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Topic:
The Book Of Hosea -- A Brief Overview
The book of Hosea stands first in order among the "Minor
Prophets." "The probable cause of the location of Hosea may be
the thoroughly national character of his oracles, their length, their
earnest tone, and vivid representations." This was the longest of
the prophetic books written before the Captivity. Hosea prophesied in a
dark and melancholy period of Israel's history, the period of Israel's
decline and fall. Their sins had brought upon them great national
disasters. "Their homicides and fornication, their perjury and
theft, their idolatry and impiety, are censured and satirized with a
faithful severity." He was a contemporary of Isaiah. The book may
be divided into two parts, the first containing chapters 1-3, and
symbolically representing the idolatry of Israel under imagery borrowed
from the matrimonial relation. The figures of marriage and adultery are
common in the Old Testament writings to represent the spiritual
relations between Jehovah and the people of Israel. Here we see the
apostasy of Israel and their punishment, with their future repentance,
forgiveness, and restoration. The second part, containing 4-14, is a
summary of Hosea's discourses, filled with denunciations, threatenings,
exhortations, promises, and revelations of mercy. Quotations from Hosea
are found in Matt. 2:15; 9:15; 12:7; Rom. 9:25, 26. There are, in
addition, various allusions to it in other places (Luke 23:30; Rev.
6:16, comp. Hos. 10:8; Rom. 9:25, 26; 1 Pet. 2:10, comp. Hos. 1:10,
etc.). As regards the style of this writer, it has been said that
"each verse forms a whole for itself, like one heavy toll in a
funeral knell." "Inversions (7:8; 9:11, 13; 12: 8), anacolutha
(9:6; 12:8, etc.), ellipses (9:4; 13:9, etc.), paranomasias, and plays
upon words, are very characteristic of Hosea (8:7; 9:15; 10:5; 11:5;
12:11)."
From: Easton's Bible Dictionary. Fair Use. Presented for educational
purposes only.
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