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Minor Prophets - lesson 2
Lesson 2
MINOR PROPHETS
Lesson Two
HOSEA
Prophet of Love
Hosea was a Northern Kingdom prophet who preached to his own people for half a century or more (II Kings 15 -17). It was a time of great prosperity, but the Northern Kingdom was rotting away inwardly and getting involved with foreign alliances instead of trusting God to lead and protect them. In their religious practices they kept the name of God, but took over the ritual and practices of Baal worship. The uniqueness of Hosea’s message is that he had to live it himself before he could preach it to the people, using his personal tragedy with his adulterous wife to illustrate the relationship of Israel to God. Hosea is remembered as the "prophet of love". His ministry overlapped that of Amos, Isaiah, and Micah. Hosea lived to see Israel taken captive by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.
- Who was the king of the Northern Kingdom during Hosea’s ministry?
Who were the kings of the Southern Kingdom?
- Whom did Hosea marry?
What was her occupation?
Why was Hosea to marry her?
- What were the names of their three children?
What were the meanings of their names?
- How are their names symbolic of God’s judgments of the Northern Kingdom?
- What is being prophesied in Hosea 1:10-11? (See also Romans 9:24-29.)
- From chapter 2, how was Gomer a symbol of Israel?
- What loving trait of God is displayed in chapter 3?
- Hosea applies his marital life to the nation of Israel beginning in chapter 4. What was not found in the inhabitants of the land?
What sins were present instead?
- From 4:6, what was the cause of the people’s destruction?
What would be the consequences of their rejection and forgetfulness?
- The nation tried to cover her sins with a shallow "religious revival." What is Hosea’s message when he pictures the nation’s spiritual condition in:
- In chapter 8 God’s judgment is pictured as a swift scavenger bird (8:1), a whirlwind (8:7), and a fire (8:14). Israel will reap what they have sown as any sinners will (Galatians 6:7-8). Planted seeds can multiply into a great harvest.
- Tell how David’s initial sin of lust multiplied.
- What was Israel’s initial sin?
- Apply this situation to the condition of our society today.
- From 10:12, what should be sown instead?
What will be reaped?
How do we prepare?
- Describe God’s feelings toward Israel in 10:13 – 11:12.
- Hosea dos not end on a gloomy note. In chapter 3 Hosea bought Gomer back out of slavery to live with him as his wife again. In chapter 14 forgiveness and blessings will be granted to Israel in response to repentance. How did this play out? (See II Kings 17.)
- From Isaiah 62:5 we know that Israel was in a covenant relationship with the Lord just as a husband and wife are in a covenant relationship. The church is the new bride of God’s Son (II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:21-33).
From I John 2:15-17; Revelation 2:1-7; and James 4:4, what lessons to the church are similar to Hosea and Gomer / God and Israel?
Women IN God's Service
Minor Prophets - lesson 2
Ladies Bible Class Lesson, Spring 1998
West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, Arkansas
Copyright © 1998, West-Ark Church of Christ
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