HOSEA, one of the twelve minor Hebrew prophets. We possess no particulars respecting the place of his birth, or his history; but it appears probable that he was a native of Samaria, since his prophecies relate principally to the ten tribes. We learn from the inscription of the book that he was the eon of Beeri and that he lived "in the days of Uzzlah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezeklah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the eon of Joash, king of Israel." The reign of Jeroboam 11. lasted from ts.c. 823 to 783; and that of Ilesekiah began lac. 726. It is therefore evident, if this inscription is correct, that Hosea could only have entered upon his prophetical duties in the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam ; which supposition is also rendered probable by the tenor of his prophecies, which describe the kingdom of Israel as in a weak and divided state, and obliged to seek assistance from foreign powers; whereas in the book of Kings (xiv. 25.23) the aff.dra of the kingdom of Israel are repre sented as in a very prosperous condition during the reign of Jero. beam IL But the prophecies of Hosea are quite in accordance with the period of anarchy and foreign invasion which followed the death of Jeroboam IL (2 Kings, xv. xvi.) It is therefore probable that tho prophecies of Hosea extended over a period of about sixty years (e.e. 784.724); and that he was contemporary with Isaiah, Micah, and Amos.
The principal object of the prophecies of Hosea is to reprove the people of Israel on account of their sins; and to denounce the divine jedgmente which awaited them if they continued disobedient. The book may be divided into two parts ; in the first of which, the prophet, under the supposed infidelity of his wife, represents the spiritual infidelity of the children of Israel, and foretells the judgment of God against them, and at the same time promisee that God would at some fnture period receive them again into his favour (c. is In the second part, this symbolical representation is dropped; and the prophet foretells in express language that the country would be devastated by the Egyptians and Assyrians, and that the people would be carried away into captivity; and he concludes with an exhortation to repentance, and a promise that God "would heal their backslidings, would love them freely, and would turn his anger away from them."
(c. iv.-xiv.) " The style of Hosea," Bishop Lowth remarks, "exhibits the appear ance of very remote antiquity : it is pointed, energetic, and concise.
It bears a distioguished mark of poetical composition, in that pristine brevity and condensation which is observable in the sentences, and which later writers have in some measure neglected. This peculiarity has not escaped the observation of Jerome, who remarks that this prophet is altogether laconic and sententious. e Prmf.' in mu. 'Proph.') But this very circumstance, which anciently was supposed to impart uncommon force and elegance, in the present state of Hebrew litera ture is productive of so much obscurity, that although the general subject of this writer is sufficiently obvious, he is the moat difficult and perplexed of all the prophets." (' Prmlect.' xxi.) Compare also Bishop Horaley's'remarks on the style of Hosea, in the preface to his translation of this prophet. (p.
The canonical authority of the prophecies of Hosea has never been disputed. They are frequently quoted in the New Testament ; compare Hos. vi. 6, with Math ix.13,xii. 7; Hos. x. 8, with Luke xxiii. 30 ; Hoe. xi. I, with Matt. ii. 15 ; Hoe. i. 10, iL 23, with Rom. ix. 25, 26, and 1 Peter ii. 10; Hos. xiv. 2, with Hcbr. xiii. 15.
(The Introductions of Eichhoro, Jahn, De Wette, Augusti, and Horne ; Pococke, Commentary on the Prophecy of Hosea, Oxf., 1635; Kuinoel, Ilosece Oracula, Ilebraice et Latine, Leip., 1792; Horsley, Hosea, translated from the Hebrew, with notes explanatory and critical, London, 1801, 1804; Stuck, lloseas Propheta, Leip., 1823, a useful work.)