1. A Look at the Book

• Date: @ 750 B.C. during the latter part of Jeroboam II

• The Man:

1. Name: Hosea = "Salvation", "deliverance", and "help". Same as Israel's leader before God changed it. -- Numbers 13:8,16
2. Home: Generally viewed as being a native of Israel
3. Occupation: Unknown; Some believe him to be a Levite due to his recognition of the importance of the priesthood and his condemnation of the priesthood for their contribution to the moral decline of the people.
4. Family Life:

1. Ordered to take for himself a wife of whoredoms -- 1:2
2. Gomer bare him 2 children -- 1:3, 6
3. Gomer bare someone else's child -- 1:8-9

1. 2 Kings 14:23 - 18:8 -- 2 Chronicles 26:1 - 29:11
2. During the time of Jeroboam II, who had restored the borders of Israel to their greatest point since the days of Solomon
3. Prophecy against Israel (i.e., "Ephraim" 37 times) for her

1. spiritual unfaithfulness (i.e., whoredom, adultery)

1. calf worship of Jeroboam -- 1 Kings 12:26-33
2. baal worship of Ahab & Jezebel -- 1 Kings 16:29-33
3. other forms of idolatry -- Hosea 4:17; 13:2
4. lip-service to true religion -- 2:11; 7:8 (Matthew 15:7-9)

1. social ungodliness:

1. 4:1-2, 11-13
2. 6:9

• Key Word: "return" - found 15 times in the book
• Key Verses:

1. 1:10-11; 2:14-23 the coming of the Messiah & sonship of the Gentiles
2. 4:1 -- the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants
3. 4:6 -- "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
4. 11:7-9 -- "My people are bent to backsliding from me."
5. 13:9 -- "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself."

2. Great Lessons from the Book:

• God loves his children even when they err. -- 1:2

• Life with God is Best. -- 1:7

• The basis of destruction -- lack of knowledge

1. They did not know God -- 4:1

1. They did not know God's Word -- 4:6

• Man's tendency to forget the nature of God

1. Malachi 3:6 "I am the Lord and I change not" (cf Hebrews 13:8)
2. 2 Peter 3:1-14

• Man's tendency to pursue forbidden fellowship

1. Ephesians 5:10-11
2. 1 John 2:15-17
3. 2 John 9-11

• Problem of rejoicing in error

1. Isaiah 5:20 -- "Woe unto them that call evil good"
2. Romans 1:32

• God will bring judgment upon the evil doer

1. Ecclesiastes 11:9-10
2. Hebrews 2:2; 11:28-31

• Proverbs 13:15 -- "Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of the transgressor is hard."

1. Israel's Unfaithfulness Pictured: chapters 1 - 3
2. Israel's Sins Proclaimed: chapters 4 - 7
3. Israel's Judgment Pronounced: chapters 8 - 10
4. Israel's Restoration Promised: chapters 11 - 14