I recently gave three lectures on the OT prophet Hosea at OVU’s Inman Biblical Preaching Seminar. Over the next little while, I will publish them here in case you are interested in a little more in-depth Bible study. The following is the first half of Lecture #1. I would enjoy to hear your comments!
A Broken Nation and a Broken Marriage
Robert Chisholm, in his excellent work Interpreting the Minor Prophets, begins with the following prefatory comments: “After going through the looking glass, Alice discovered a non-sensical poem called “Jabberwocky.” Having read it, she declared, ‘It seems very pretty, but its rather hard to understand! Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas – only I don’t exactly know what they are!’ Many have responded in a similar way to the strange and puzzling words of the Old Testament prophets. For example, Martin Luther said the prophets ‘have a queer way of talking, like people who instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next so that you cannot make head or tail of them to see that they are getting at.’
“Later on in the story Alice met a character by the name of Humpty Dumpty, who claimed he could interpret “Jabberwocky” for her. He boasted, ‘I can explain all the poems that ever were invented – and a good many that haven’t been invented just yet.’ Despite his self-professed skills and confidence, even Humpty Dumpty would find the Old Testament prophets more than his match. Because of barriers of language, culture, time, and geography, the Old Testament prophetic literature continues to defy and frustrate interpreters. However, because it is the inspired Word of God, we must strive…to understand its message.”
I think Chisholm is right in his statement of the problem, but maybe a little too pessimistic. I am sure that we can do better than Humpty Dumpty, and Alice, and even Martin Luther – maybe especially him. As preacher we are charged with presenting these texts to our hearers – ALL of these texts. Even the Minor Prophets! And not just our favorite passages or proof-texts – but the whole counsel of God. In Hosea, that would mean more than just the story of his strange marital situation, or a couple of other favorite verses.
Hosea, of course, kicks off the collection of books most often called by Christians “The Minor Prophets” – minor only in the sense of length – not importance, of course – no matter how we have treated them down through the years. They may indeed have become “minor” because of our neglect – but certainly not because of their content or inherent importance. Jewish interpreters refer to this section of Scripture as the “Book of the Twelve” and really consider them a single book in their counting of the Hebrew Bible. Ask a Jewish scholar how many books there are in the Hebrew Bible and you will not get the answer “39” that we have learned so well through the years. One of the reasons is that Hosea through Malachi is considered by them a unity – the Book of the Twelve.
Part of our interpretation problem when we come to Hosea relates to our relative lack of familiarity with Old Testament history, particularly the history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC. We know the Southern Kingdom of Judah much better, and the time of David and Solomon and so forth – but when we begin to mention names like Jeroboam II and Shallum and Menahem our eyes begin to glaze over and we struggle with the details. And so now, in a true effort to thrill your soul and inspire your spirit, I want to spend some time setting the historical background of the book of Hosea in his time and place. Hosea is the only writing prophet who lived and worked in the North during this time period. Amos, you might remember, prophesied in the North, but was from the South – a source of no little consternation to the powers that be in Israel at that time – Amos chapter 7.
So, allow me a few minutes to take you through a brief historical survey of the life and times of preachers of old like Amos and Hosea. Hosea considered his historical setting important, and you see in chapter 1:1 – “The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel.” Right off we see 5 kings mentioned by the prophet – four from Judah, and one from Israel. One might ask why a Northern prophet like Hosea would set his prophecy more so by Southern kings than Northern kings. Two things I think come into play here – and they really relate to all of the message of Hosea so I want to mention them here at the start.
First, Hosea knows that North Israel is literally knocking on death’s door. She will soon be utterly destroyed. The words recorded in this book may have been spoken in the North, but they will only be read in the South. Israel will soon no longer exist as a nation. Thus he dates himself more so by Southern kings.
Secondly, when one mentions Jeroboam II, the lone Northern king listed in Hosea 1:1, he is naming the last important king of that nation. In fact, this Jeroboam was one of the greatest, most successful kings Israel ever had – either North or South – politically speaking. One might well argue that Jeroboam II, from a pure political and economic standpoint, was the greatest king ever in the history of Israel and Judah.
As an example, consider the popular words of one Jonah – another 8th century prophet – he of the “I would rather not take a long trip to Assyria”-sentiment. In 2 Kings 14:25, we have reference to the only words of Jonah’s preaching, outside of his 8-word sermonette spoken so reluctantly on the streets of Nineveh. Jonah had prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II that the borders of Israel would expand back to their Solomonic era extent – and they did. [Just as an aside here – think how popular this made old Jonah among his countrymen – what a patriot! What a true preacher – what a supporter of the king! And then how deeply ironic that God calls poor old Jonah to go preach and “extend the invitation” to the hated Assyrians! Oh how the mighty are fallen in Israel!]
And so when we open Hosea, one could indeed say, on the one hand, that it was the best of times. The nation was as rich and powerful as it had ever been. It seemed stable – Jeroboam reigned an incredible 40 years in the North. Things finally seemed to have settled down since the split into North and South some 17o years earlier. After the split, following the reign of Solomon, both nations struggled through a lengthy period of military and economic weakness. To tell the truth, as far as ancient Near Eastern history is concerned, Israel and Judah were never more than a small player on the big international stage – they were never a great nation – they never compared to the greatness of Egypt or Assyria or Babylon or Persia. Israel was only great in relation to her God – and all too often her relationship to her God was ignored. Without Yahweh-God, Israel was nothing more than a small, struggling nation-state.
But as we said, during the reigns of kings like Jeroboam II in the North and Uzziah in the South, there were some seeming golden times. This 40-year period in both nations were times of expansion and growth and wealth. They just happened to coincide with times of weakness of the major foreign powers in Assyria and Egypt, which would of course not last long. Both would rise again.
These are the days when the voices of Amos and Hosea were heard. Amos decrying the terrible social ills of Israel – the great divide between rich and poor – the abuse of the downtrodden by those in power. Hosea soon thereafter begins to speak out about the religious ills of Israel, her unfaithfulness to her God. Hosea, in perhaps some of the strongest language ever used by a man of God, calls Israel a “whore.” Try that on Sunday morning, you who wish to preach prophetically.
And so we believe Hosea begins to prophesy sometime during the closing years of the reign of Jeroboam II. Jeroboam will die in 746 BC, again after a prosperous 40-year reign. No doubt a national hero – the one who restored the glory days of old, at least for the rich and powerful, Amos would remind us.
After Jeroboam, 6 different kings will reign in quick succession. Zechariah succeeds Jeroboam and reigns 6 months – 6 months! - before he is assassinated by Shallum, who reigns 1 month before he is assassinated by Menahem. Menahem manages to survive 10 years and is succeeded by his son, Pekahiah, who rules 2 years before being assassinated by Pekah, who rules 20 years, before being assassinated by Hoshea, who reigns for 9 years as a complete vassal of Assyria – paying them heavy tribute – and once he rebels against this arrangement by appealing for aid from Egypt, the armies of Assyria march on Israel, lay siege to the capital city Samaria for 3 years, and finally destroy the nation in 721 BC.
So, after the great Jeroboam reigned 40 years and died, for the next 25 years there are 6 different kings, 4 of whom are assassinated by their successors, and one of which is captured by the enemy before the nation is destroyed.
That is a thumbnail sketch of the political history – and I realize that part might not preach so well – but I am also convinced one cannot preach well from Hosea without knowing it.
Now I want us to look at why this happened, according to Hosea. Now that will preach! Because Hosea sets out to tell a history of his own – not a political history, though – it is more of a sin-history. A history of unfaithfulness. We hear quite a lot in Biblical studies about “salvation history” – “Heilgeshicte” – as the great German scholars of old called it. Well, Hosea tells a sin history instead. He tells how God’s people fell – how they deconstructed themselves – indeed, how they destroyed themselves. And it is not a pretty story. It is definitely not G-rated. It is instead ugly, and dirty, and depraved, and sickening. And I will also suggest to you that it is indeed ripped from the very headlines of American Christianity in our times. More on that later.
