HOSEA. A Hebrew prophet whose re• corded ministry was slightly later than that of Amos, the first ((writing Hosea was evidently, like Elijah, a citizen of the northern kingdom, to whom the king of Samaria was sour King,)) while Amos came from his home in Judah to preach in Israel. The first three chapters of the book of Hosea have as their historical background the closing years of the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II, which ended about 740 B.C. Chapters iv-xiv carry us into the first years of the period of anarchy that fol lowed Jeroboam's death. The second part of the heading of the book— in the reign of Jeroboam the son of Joash— probably belonged to the original title of chapters i-iii, •while the first part of the heading naming a ,series of Judean kings may have been added by a later editor in the southern kingdom, who knew that Hosea's ministry continued after the death, of Jeroboam. Hosea's personal life was a tragedy.; his wife, whom he loved with deep devotion, proved to be a wanton who left him for her lovers. At last, deserted of these, she fell into slavery and then her husband bought her back to protect her. Though he could not receive her now into the fellowship of a wife, he him self would marry no other. Out of ,such bitter experience as this, Hosea learned the, great lesson of Divine love which he was the first to frame in human speech.
As a literary whole, the book • is clearly divided into two main sections, • corresponding to the two different periods of Hosea's ministry. (1) Chapters i-iii, Hosea's love and Goitier's faithlessness, an allegory of Jehovah and Israel, his faithless wife. Chapters iv-xiv, a series of discourses on Israel's guilt and pun ishment, with glimpses of Jehovah's unchang. ing love and readiness to restore after purifi cation.
The great question of debate: in connection with this book has been the true character of chapters i-iii; do these reflect Hosea's actual experiences or are they pure allegory? The great difficulty in the way of literal interpre tation has been that Hosea seems• to say that he received Divine command to marry a woman who was a profligate. When it is recognized that the Hebrew prophets are wont to interpret God's guidance in the light of later experience and, in their vivid mode of speech, to style this guidance through experience as the command of God, the• difficulty disappears. •The succes sion of names given Gomer's children accords with the view that it was slowly through the years that the conviction of his wife's character was forced upon Hosea's mind. This interpre tation fits too, with the thought of the' latter part of the book that Jehovah had betrothed Israel to himself as a pure bride and that' afterward she proved untrue. The prevalent view to-day is accordingly that Hosea married one whom he supposed to be ure. To his first child he gave the name Jezreel as a prediction that Jehu's bloody work tn the valley of Jezreel must be avenged upon his dynasty. As time went on and other chil dren were born, he came to know that his wife was indifferent to him and sought other lovers. The names of the later children contain sug gestion of their mother's faithlessness. In his own bitter sorrow, Hosea came to see and'un derstand something of the sorrow of Jehovah'S heart for a people blind to his loving care, who turned away unto other gods.
In the second 'part of the book, this blindness, ignorance of God, is the explanation of the complete 'dissolution of society that followed so quickly upon Jeroboam's death. The king's son reigned but six months and was then struck down by an assassin; a month later the 'mur derer met a similar fate. Drunkenness and an debauchery characterized the upstart monarchs who in their political weakness turned now to Egypt and now to Assyria• for support. In the
land there was not truth nor knowledge of God; naught but swearing, lying, killing, steal ing and adultery. Again and again the prophet returns to the root of the nation's troubles, that they know not Jehovah; their sacrifices are not acceptable because they have forgotten their Maker. In Hosea's time, the licentious symbels and rites of Canaanite Baal worship were still.mingled with the worship of Jehovah, whose distinctive character was not understood. Through all that is hopeless • in the second sec tion of the book there runs also the deep cur rent of conviction that Jehovah's lOve is t/(17 changeable and that he cannot giVe up his people to irreparable doom, despite their sensual blindness. The prophet's thought swings be tween hope and doom as he contemplates now the brutishness of the people and now the un changing heart of God. His experience of life has been too deep to permit him to fall intd the 'childish error of supposing' that the Divine love cart obliterate sin and its effects where there iS no answering 'love and penitence. He knows that there must be long and desolate expiation before there can be any future of hope for his nation. 'Hosea's ethical teaching corresponds with his conception of God. With him kindness is Jehovah's supreme demand for man's conduct toward man; but again he does not fall into the error of supposing that a sentimental kind ness can supersede the claims of justice. .' As poet: and 'preather, Hosea combines deepest insight with compelling emotion and a picturesqueness of speech that has rarely been surpassed in any•age or nation. The influence of the rounded' hills and broader, more fertile valleys of Samaria are felt in his pages,' in contrast to the rugged wilderness reflected the words of Amos. The luxuriant vine • that putteth -forth his fruit, the morning cloud and the dew that •oeth early away are in pleasing contrast with the fierce and bloody pictures of man's deeds, and: yet even, these gentler awe% of nature are made, in the prophet's speech, tell ing means of presenting man's weak and wanton ways. In his intense emotion, the prophet iden tifies himself now with God and now with the people in a way that gives dramatic power to his words. Although the opening chapters re flect actual experiences of Hosea and Gomer, they picture also God and Israel in such a manner as to give the elements of a true alle gory. Later in the book (chapter xi) the char acters change from husband and wife to cherish ing father and wayward son; here Hosea gives us the first clear presentation of God as the loving father, but it is the father of the nation, not of the individual. The full revelation of the relation of God to the individual must wait deep and terrible experiences of national failure.
Bibliography.— Batten, L. W., The He brew Prophet' (London 1905) ; Buttenweiser, M., The Prophets of Israel' (New York 1914) ; Cornill, C. H., 'Introduction to the Canonical Books of the Old Testament' (Lon don 1909) ; Creelman, H., 'Introduction to the Old Testament> (New York 1917) ; Driver, S. R.,