Hosea 1

Week 2, Sunday: Restoration through judgment
Undoubtedly, this was the hardest part of his message for Hosea to fathom. How could Israel and Judah ever be united into one people? And whom could they ever find to agree on as their head? And how would going through the judgment implied by the term “Jezreel” ever make this possible? What would be so glorious about that?

Read Hosea 1

Meditate on Hosea 1.11
1. A day of gathering together is foreseen as part of the restoration God is bringing to His people. How unlikely must this have seemed to Hosea and those to whom he prophesied? Why?

2. The two tribes, united into one new people, would appoint for themselves one head. This promise reaches back to that unfolding of His covenant which God made with David. Meditate on 2 Samuel 7.4-17. How can you see that God is connecting His future promise with this ancient covenant? What do we learn from this about God’s covenant and the promises it contains (cf. Heb. 13.20)?

3. What do you make of the promise, “they shall come up out of the land”? Does this suggest a larger “boundary” for God’s covenant people and promises in the days to come?  

4. This uniting of Israel, recovering the Davidic King, and enlarging the boundaries of the covenant people will come about through a kind of day of “Jezreel.” Like the judgment that would fall on Israel, ending her covenant privileges, a coming judgment would graft her back in. Do you think Hosea understood this perfectly (cf. 1 Pet. 1.10-12)? To what was he pointing?

5. In a very real sense, the restoration of all things is coming, when all the people of God will be united under one head and the fullness of God’s covenant will be finally revealed. This, too, shall happen through a season of “Jezreel” all its own (cf. Rev. 19-21). Should this coming restoration be part of the message we proclaim, even though we cannot fully understand it?

Summary
Hosea 1 ends on a very positive note, and this must have come as a great sigh of relief and hope for Hosea. Summarize God’s preparation of Hosea for his ministry. How did He prepare him? For what kind of ministry was Hosea being prepared? And was his ministry to have merely immediate effects, or did it have a long-term dimension as well?

Closing Prayer
“I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”
Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Psalm 2.7-12

T. M. Moore

Each week’s studies in our Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For all available studies in Hosea, click here.

A primary theme of the book of Hosea is Israel’s failure to keep covenant with the Lord. God’s covenant is a central theme and provides the organizing motif for all of Scripture. Learn more about God’s covenant by ordering a copy of T. M.’s book, I Will Be Your God, from our online store (click here).

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.