The
book of Hosea
is a book of
the
Bible Old_Testament and
Jewish Tanakh,
written by
Hosea.
This book stands first in order among the "
Minor_prophets." This was the longest of the prophetic books written before the Captivity.
Hosea prophesied in a dark and melancholy period of
Israel's history, the period of Israel's decline and fall. Their sins had brought upon them great national disasters. Their various sins (homicide, fornication, perjury, theft, idolatry, impiety and others) are mentioned and criticized. He was a contemporary of Isaiah.
The book may be divided into two parts, the first containing chapters 1-3, and symbolically representing the idolatry of Israel under imagery borrowed from the matrimonial relation. The figures of marriage and adultery are common in the Old Testament writings to represent the spiritual relations between
God and the people of Israel. Here we see the apostasy of Israel and their punishment, with their future repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.
The second part, containing 4-14, is a summary of Hosea's discourses, filled with denunciations, threatenings, exhortations, promises, and revelations of mercy.
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Copyright (c) 2004
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