Hosea: the Author of the Material - Research Paper Example

Hosea: the Author of the Material Part I The information about the author of the material Hosea is the author of the material and he is regarded as one of the Minor Prophets in the bible. Hosea lived during the eighth century B.C. He is the first prophet in the bible to express the divine relationship between God and the people of Israel through marriage. He is also the only prophet in the Bible to be married to an adulterous woman. Hosea started his ministration towards the end of the golden age of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Judah. He was more like a prophet sent to the Northern Kingdom of Israel to let them know the consequences of their sins of idolatry (The IVP Women's Bible Commentary, 438-439). The historical setting in which the book was written The book was written during a time of turmoil in Israel. It was written during the dark period in the history of Israel. Hosea wrote this book when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was in a period of decline and ultimately fell in the eighth century B.C. It was written at a period when the Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel both became a vassal state under the Assyrian Empire (HarperCollins Bible Commentary, 636-637). Like any other book of the bible, Hosea was written as a result of divine revelation and inspiration from God. Israel had turned their hearts away from God and Hosea was about the story of how God sought to redeem the people of Israel back to himself. The book was written at a time when the Israelites were worshipping idols, such as Baal, the Canaanite god and worshipping the calves of Jeroboam II. The message of the Individual passage Each verse of the third chapter of Hosea had unique messages. The first verse explains the steadfast love of God for the people of Israel, despite their continual worship of idols. “Yahweh commands Hosea to love an adulterous woman, that is, to make a deep emotional investment that will leave him intensely vulnerable.” (The IVP Women's Bible Commentary, 438). God instructed Hosea to go and marry an adulterous woman that was married and loved by her husband. The passage was trying to show the adulterous nature of the children of Israel as they turned their hearts away from God and worshipped other gods. The first verse exposes the hypocrisy of the Israelites to the world as they looked pious to their contemporaries, but they were actually sinners. The Collegeville commentary refers to Hosea as the faithful spouse and calls Gomer the adulterous sinner, the people that are the source of target in this passage and are compared to the unfaithful harlot are the religious and civil leaders of Israel (McDarby, 113). God used the example of the relationship that existed between Hosea and his wife, Gomer to expose the sins of the Israelites. The fact that God told Hosea to go and show love to his wife despite the fact that she had committed adultery meant that God would always show love to the people of Israel in spite of their idolatry ways (Miller, 231-233). This verse teaches us that God’s love for his people is unending and he would always draw the hearts of his people close to him (HarperCollins Bible Commentary, 635-638). The second verse shows Christians that God had to pay a price in order to redeem the sinners back to him. The fact that Hosea bought Gomer for a particular price meant that God also paid the price in order to draw the people of Israel back to him. Gomer like the people of Israel had already become a slave to sin and Hosea had to deliver her from her sinful ways and this had to be done with a price. God was just trying to show Hosea that in order to deliver the people of Israel from their sins, it had to done with a price. God knew that if he wanted to redeem the people of Israel, it would have to be done with a price. This was the message he was trying to pass across to Hosea and the passage makes readers know that sinners are like slaves that must be bought with a price in order to be saved. The third verse was the instruction of Hosea to Gomer as he told her that she should abide by him for many days. This passage reminds Christians that God wants them to abide with him for the rest of their lives. The message of this passage is clear and it is in the fact that God does not want the redeemed people to go back to their sinful ways of worshipping idols as Hosea also instructed his wife not to play the harlot again. Hosea told his wife that she should not have another man. The passage is trying to explain to Christians that God does not want them to have any other god before him. Hosea finally told his wife that if she is faithful to him, he would also be faithful to her and this also reminds Christians of the faithfulness of God towards his children (Tushingham, 152-156). The fourth verse also has an underlying message behind it. The passage is the warning given to the children of Israel by God himself on their punishment for refusing to serve him. This verse warns Israel of the severe punishment they would face for their disobedience to God. Though, God is actually trying to correct the Israelites from their sinful ways, but the fact remains that they would have to face the consequences of their sins. God used this verse to tell the Israelites that they would be without a legal Jewish government for some time. The Israelites would be without spiritual guidance as God is trying to tell them that the same way they have rejected him, he has also rejected them (Collegeville Biblical Commentary, 113). The concluding verse of the passage talks about how the Israelites would try to trace their steps back to God. The message that this passage tried to preach was in the fact that sinners would ultimately repent of their sins and would attempt to repent and get back to God. God is ever willingly to accept the sinners with open hands. “When Israel turns to Yahweh in true repentance they will find him full of goodness and forgiveness.” (The IVP women's Bible commentary 438). The passage reads that the Israelites would return and seek the Lord their God and this means that God had always been the God of Israelites, but in sinning they have turned their hearts away from him. The passage lets backsliding Christians know that the only way to get to God is to tremble at his feet and repent completely of their sins. How the individual passage fit into the overall message of the entire biblical book from which it comes The message of the individual passage fit into the overall message of the entire bible. The first verse justifies the decision of God to send Jesus Christ of Nazareth into the world to deliver sinners from their reproach. This passage is just like other passages of the Bible where the Israelites would stray from God and worship other gods. The passage is just like other parts of the bible, where God made attempts to redeem the sinners back to him. The coming of the Messiah and his eventual death on the cross of Calvary is an example of the demonstration of the love of God towards his children (Romans 5). The Israelites have always committed spiritual adultery and have worshipped other gods, thus disobeying the commandments in the twentieth chapter of the book of Exodus that warns against the worship of other gods. The second verse of this passage is also relevant to the other parts of the bible. The fifteen shekels of silver, homer and eleven bushels that Hosea used to buy his wife could also be likened to the thirty pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot sold Jesus for. The payment made by Hosea in order to redeem his wife from her adulterous ways is just an example of the number of ways that God had paid the price in order to redeem people in the bible from their sinful ways. God had to slay some animals and use their skins to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed him and ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price when he died for our sins on the cross of Calvary. The third verse is significant to the relationship between Christ and the Church in the bible. There were several instances in the bible where God warned the Israelites to obey him and have no other God before him. Looking at the physical significance of this verse, slaves that were bought with a price in the bible had to serve their master. Joseph and other slaves before and after him were bought with a price and they had to serve their masters diligently. A spiritual dimension to this verse is when God told Paul the Apostle to remind the people of the church of Corinth that they were bought with a price and as a result they should honor and glorify God in their spirit, soul and body (1 Corinthians 6:20). The fourth verse also fits into the other passage of the bible. There were different situations in the bible where the Israelites were without kings or leaders and were taken into captivity. When the Israelites were taken to Babylon, they were made to worship the idols of Nebuchadnezzar and banned from worshipping the one and only true God. The last verse like any other verse in this passage is also relevant to the overall message of the bible from where it comes. God has always promised the people of Israel that they would return to him and that their redemption would be guaranteed through their genuine repentance. He spoke of this redemption in the book of Isaiah with the promise of the coming Messiah. Apostle Paul also talks about the return of the people of Israel to God (Romans 11: 20-21). Part 2 The message applies to our modern day world in so many ways. These days, people have turned their hearts away from God and gone back to the old ways of worshipping idols. The idols that people worship nowadays are not necessarily the idols that were in the days of Hosea. It does not mean that people have been bowing their heads to idols and offering sacrifices at the shrine of the gods. People have now craved after other insignificant things, they have strayed their hearts away from the creator. The bible reckons that the love of money is the root of all evil. People now love money more than their God and even the modern day prophets have neglected the sermon of salvation and have focused more on preaching about wealth and prosperity. These modern day Christians are just like the hypocritical leaders of Israel during the days of Hosea and they have forgotten the word of God in the book of Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 that says that they should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto it. Just like Hosea, there are actually several prophets that have been sent by God to warn his people of the essence of the kingdom of God and to draw their heart back to him. Nowadays, people have disliked the true religion of the worship of God and have created another doctrine for themselves. Modern day Christians have gone after the things of the flesh and have neglected the things of the spirit. Christians of today love objects and ephemeral things than their God, though they claim to serve God, but the fact remains that their hearts are not with God. Christians have now been serving Mammon and they also claim they are serving the true God. But the truth is that one cannot serve God and Mammon (Luke 6:16). The example of the adulterous woman that was cited by Hosea is similar to the sinful nature of humans of our modern age. Things have now turned from bad to worse as it is no more the case of a woman committing adultery as people are now bisexual. The most painful thing is that gays and lesbians move around freely without any serious condemnation for their illicit acts. There was even the case of the Anglican Church that ordained a gay bishop and this is just comparable to the situation in the book of Hosea where the religious leaders of Israel were regarded as hypocrites. The Anglican Church that ordained the gay bishop still claims that they have done it in accordance with the teachings in the bible. However, there are still lots of church that have kicked against this devilish act and God have used these people to draw their hearts back to him. Corruption has eaten deep into our society and people now take pleasure in committing sins. Just like the last verse of the passage that talks about the Israelites trembling at the feet of God, some Christians are trying to retrace their steps back to God. The Israelites in the book of Hosea traced their steps to God when they are in time of need and it seemed that God is the only one they could turn to. People of this age usually turn to God for the salvation of their soul and this is usually done when they are in need. Work Cited Kroeger, Catherine Clark & Evans, Mary. The IVP women's Bible commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002. Print Mays, James., Gaventa, Beverly & Levenson, Jon. HarperCollins Bible Commentary. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000. Print McDarby, Nancy. The Collegeville Bible Handbook. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1997 Miller, Stephen. Users Guide to the Bible. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007. Print Tushingham, Douglas. “A Reconsideration of Hosea, Chapters 1-3”.Journal of Near Eastern Studies 12. 3 (1953): 150-159. From < http:// www.jstor.org/stable/542697>. Accessed: 27/10/2010. Read More