AUTHOR, Hosea, The son of Beeri # Ho 1:1
A contemporary of Isaiah and Micah.
His Message was addressed to the Northern Kingdom

ESPECIAL FITNESS FOR HIS TASK
(1) He is supposed to have been a native of the North, and was familiar with the evil conditions existing in Israel.
This gave a special weight to his message.

(2) It would appear from the narrative that he married a wife who proved to be unchaste. This statement is doubted by some scholars, but if true would have enabled him to vividly portray God’s attitude toward Israel, his adulterous spouse. # Ho 1:2-3 2:1-5
But the style of the book is highly figurative, and it may be that this account of his experience with his wife was allegorical.

SPIRITUAL MESSAGE.
Apostasy from God is Spiritual Adultery.
(a) God, the Husband # Ho 2:20 Isa 54:5
(b) Israel, the unchaste Wife # Ho 2:2

SYNOPSIS

SECTION I. Israel’s Apostasy symbolized by the experience of the prophet in his marriage, chs. 1-3 # Ho 1:1 – 3:1

SECTION II. Prophetic Discourses, chiefly descriptions of the backsliding and idolatry of the people, mingled with threatenings and exhortations, chs 4-13 # Ho 4:1 – 13:1
The formal call to repentance, and promises of future blessings ch 14 # Ho 14:1

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HIGHLY FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE used to express the evil conditions in Israel

(1) The Valley of Achor, for a door of Hope # Ho 2:15 # Jos 7:24-26
(2) “Joined to idols,” # Ho 4:17
(3) “Mixed among the people” (no longer a separated and holy nation) # Ho 7:8
(4) “A cake not turned” (dough on one side, expressing half-heartedness) # Ho 7:8
(5) “Strangers have devoured his strength” (weakened by evil associations) # Ho 7:9
(6) Grey hairs are here and there upon him” (premature old age, and unconscious deterioration)
# Ho 7:9
(7) “Israel swallowed up” (national identity lost) # Ho 8:8
(8) “A vessel wherein there is no pleasure” (a marred and useless vessel unto the Lord) # Ho 8:8
(9) “The balances of deceit” (commercial trickery in business) # Ho 12:7

CHOICE SELECTION
Penitence, and its blessings, ch 14 # Ho 14:1