Hosea the prophet
During Hosea's time, there was political, economical, social and religious strife in the country of Israel. Hosea lived in the tragic final days of the northern kingdom of Israel. During this time there were six kings within twenty-five years; four were murdered, one was captured in battle and only one was succeeded on the throne by his son. The nation was rife with economic abuses that separated the rich and the poor. "Israel was so impressed with material advances that it failed to take account the eternal verities of the Covenant upon which Israel's existence was predicated. Judgment, righteousness, brotherhood, and even God were forgotten in the light of diplomatic expediencies (Layman's 8-9)." There was a war with Judah and heavy tribute to Assdyria depleted economic resources. The richer class intensified and along the way they exploited peasants to pay for their debts (New, 200). People were resorting to fraud and cheating. The religion of Israel was rooted in the strong heritage of the Canaanite religion. Yahweh was the primary God but there were also other Gods being worshipped, such as Veneration of the Canaanite deities El, Baal, and perhaps even the goddess Asherah (New 201). The woman's bible Commentary po
Newsom, Carol A. & Ringe, Sharon H. The Women's Bible Commentary. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1992 Hosea makes his name on the list by being one of the only writing prophets who actually had his abode in Israel. Sources indicate that Hosea lived around 747 B.C.E.W.X Y.Z. At this time King Jeroboam had just died. This lead to a toggle of the Kings supremacy with a upshot of bedlam, disorder, pandemonium, madness, violence, perplexity, upheaval, and murder. Wholly affected by all this is Hosea personal life. His family, social status, and occupation where all the sum of the catalyst transformation of the government. If we where neighbors I we would most likely have to many things to do and burn in the day to have the time to talk to one another. I would probably be busy throwing rocks and Hosea preaching about Gods heartbrokenness at the sin and ruin of his people. These conditions are very similar to the ones we are experiencing in our own day. We face economic problems and just in the past ten or so years there has been a dramatic increase in the gap between rich and poor. The rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer. There is a focus on one religion here in the Untied In Hosea 1: 1-3 the analogy of the Hosea/Gomer relationship and the God/Israel relationship is made known. This brings us to realize the first theme that Hosea has to offer and he begins to emphasize this theme after his own struggling. This theme is that God feels about Isearl as Hosea's relationship to his slut wife, Gomer. God is a God of long suffering, patience, and love. As I read Hosea I saw theme come up over and over as Hosea suffered, endured and loved Gomer and his family no matter what they did to hurt him. Hosea 3:1 states, "The lord said to me, 'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Loved Israelites, though they turn to other gods.'" It must have been so hard and taken so much love to forgive his wife and learned to be with her again after all she had done to him. That theme is advantageous, especially to remind us that God is a God of love. Perhaps Hillary Clinton c
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Approximate Word count = 1467
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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