The Book of Hosea: Chapter 13

Israel's sins (and ours) bring upon us the judgements of God. This chapter also talks about the major roles that Jesus has played (and still is playing) in the plan of salvation. He is the redeemer of both spiritual and physical death.

Verse 2

This verse is pretty cut and dry. The people of Israel are very wicked. They are worshipping idols and trusting their own understandings, which are far from the Lord.

Verse 3

This verse compares Israel to four things that do not last very long. All of these things disappear quickly. The Lord was telling them that their spiritual attention span was the same. They started out righteous and quickly forgot the Lord. 

• Morning clouds
  
• Early dew
  
• Chaff that is driven in the whirlwind
  
• Smoke out of the chimney
  

Verses 4-6

The Lord reminded them of their bondage in Egypt and his deliverance. He also said that "according to their pasture, so were they filled". This basically means they only remembered him when they were needy. But as soon as they prospered they forgot him. This can also apply to us. A good question to ask ourselves is how grateful we are. Are our prayers just as fervent when we are prospering as they are when we are struggling?

Verse 9

The Lord points out that Israel brought these judgements upon themselves and that he alone is the only thing that can help them.

Verse 14

This is a great verse that describes that Christ will help us to overcome physical death and spiritual death. Saying that "repentance shall be hid from my eyes" is describing after the judgement, that repentance will no longer be necessary.

The Book of Hosea: Chapter 12

This chapter has a few good scriptures about how God uses his prophets and continues to speak to Israel (Ephraim) about their wickedness.

Verse 1

Saying that "Ephraim feedeth on wind" is saying that they are believing things and putting their faith in things that have no substance. Their covenant with Assyria is also mentioned along with the tribute they pay to Assyria. Israel put their faith into a powerful nation and not the Lord.

Verse 10 & 13

Verse 10 is a great verse that describes how God uses prophets. He tells us clearly that "I have spoken by the prophets...". In verse 13, he describes actual events in which he used the prophets, referring to the Exodus and generally speaking, in preserving Israel.

The Book of Hosea: Chapter 9

Hosea is prophesying that Israel will be taken into captivity because of their sins. This is the result of having forsaken the Lord. There are some pretty serious consequences listed.

Verse 1

The phrase "gone a whoring from thy God" is pretty much what it sounds like. It is more symbolism using the bride and bridegroom analogy. Jehovah, the bridegroom, is married to Israel, the bride, but Israel was not faithful to the Lord. In this symbolic sense Israel is committing adultery (idolatry). But the word "whoring" sounds much worse. This may indicate that there were several gods or goddesses Israel was willing to worship. It could also indicate how quickly Israel would jump into a situation with worshipping a new god. 

Regarding the "cornfloor", however, literally speaking, the "whoring" could also represent the following. Threshing would usually be a big event after the harvest. This process was a manual process of separating the seeds from the husk or straw. It was laborious, usually only done by men, and would sometimes take days. Men would often have prostitutes during this time.

Verse 3

The prophesy that "Ephraim shall return to Egypt" means they will return to bondage...specifically Assyria. The word 'bondage' is interchangable with Egypt here.

Verse 4

Again, saying that their offerings and sacrifices are not pleasing just means that they were not doing them the right way. In most cases, they were doing them perfectly by the letter of the law, but their hearts were not in them. It was possible for them to be perfect with the physical ordinances and offerings, but at the same time they were wicked people and their hearts and minds were not centered on Christ.

Verse 7

The prophets spoken of here, that are mad and fools, are the false prophets.

Verse 10

Comparing Israel to "grapes in the wilderness" and their fathers as "the firstripe in the fig tree" meant that at one point the Lord saw Israel as good (since the images used would be described as "good" or "choice"). They used to be righteous but now they are wicked.

Verse 11

This verse describes the lack of (or decrease of) conception, pregnancy and birth that will happen, possibly during the captivity. This is a terrible judgement for a nation that was told by the Lord that their seed shall be as the sands of the sea. Obviously they forgot the part where the blessing was predicated upon their obedience to the laws given to them by God. To us, this is a potential blessing we can also have, or like Israel, if we are not obedient we could receive the same fate.

Verse 12

This verse indicates that even though they've raised some or all of their children, even those raised children will be cut off from the Lord, and feel the consequences.

Verse 15

Here we see the term "revolters" again. A revolter was someone who lured their prey to a camouflaged pit or trap. Saying that Israel's princes (or leaders) are revolters is saying that their leaders are in a sense, spiritually hunting them. Hunting is basically likened unto killing. The leaders are pushing the people further towards wickedness and spiritual death.

The Book of Hosea: Chapter 8

Israel and Judah have forsaken the Lord...

Verse 3

The Lord says that "Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him". Israel declined to follow and worship the Lord, and therefore they lost his protection.

Verses 8-9

Again, Israel's stubbornness is described using a stubborn animal...a "wild ass". Israel did not want to do what the Lord wanted them to do, instead they chose their own way and followed after their own hearts.

The "lovers" described in this verse refer to Ephraim's many attempts to find friends and security through political alliances, instead of doing this through obedience to God.

Verse 13

The first part of this verse indicates that the Lord did not accept their sacrifices. The reason he didn't accept them is because they were only the shell of the sacrifice, or the physical act of completing the sacrifice. Their hearts were not in it and their spirits were not in it. This applies to the offerers and the priests.

The Lord also indicates that they will return to bondage in Egypt. Egypt is used as a general term for bondage. Assyria would be the actual nation that would be involved this time.

The Book of Hosea: Chapter 7

Further descriptions of Israel's (Ephraim's) wickednes...

Verse 2

I like how it says "their own doings have beset them about". For Ephraim and for us, many times we place our own sins as stumbling blocks in front of us.

Verse 7

This verse says "there is none among them that calleth unto me". It appears here that the entire Northern Kingdom of Ephraim (Israel) had turned against the Lord.

Verse 8

The Lord described Israel as a "cake not turned". Because Ephraim was so idolatrous due to mixing in with other heathen nations, they had not completely fulfilled the requisites for the conquest of Canaan. This would basically describe them as half-baked. We can all apply this to our own assignments and callings. We can't simply start out great and let the excitement fizzle. We have to be "finishers" as President Monson says. In Hosea's day, cakes were baked upon red-hot stones. The cakes would bake on one side and then they needed to be turned over to bake on the other side. If the baker forgot to turn the cake, one side would not be cooked and one side would be burnt. The Lord was telling Israel (Ephraim) that their lifestyles, due to the heathen rituals and idolatry, was causing their progression to be stopped and damage was being done to them. They did not obey the Lord's full commandment of ridding themselves of all heathen nations, therefore the idolatry found it's way into their midst and they would suffer spiritually because of it.

Verse 9-11

When the Lord says "they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria" he means that Ephraim was looking to worldly powers and worldly strength to deliver them. The would trust in worldly armies before they would trust in God. Hosea believed, and tried to convince others, that God would protect them if they trusted and loved him. Specifically, Ephraim had paid tribute to Egypt and Assyria, weakening their own economy.

Verse 14

The LDS Old Testament manual says that the people crying for corn and wine means that they would use these things to cope, or take away the hurt. They would not pray to God for help, but instead would use worldly means to try and cope.

Verse 16

The Lord describes Ephraim as a "deceitful bow". Stringing a bow can be dangerous and a deceitful bow is one that flies back or breaks during stringing, and hits the archer. This coincides with the "backsliding heifer" analogy. The archer is trying to do something constructive with the bow, but the bow reacts negatively and resists.

The rest of the chapter describes how Ephraim had turned from the Lord and nothing seemed to soften their hearts. Because of this the Lord said their princes would fall by the sword. Ephraim's hearts were set upon idolatry and worldliness therefore they would have no protection from the Lord.

Book of Hosea: Chapter 5

Chapter 5 continues with the Lord pointing out Israel's sins and what the consequences would be for those sins.

Verses 1-2

The priests are compared to nets and snares used for hunting, and the mountains named (Mizpah and Tabor) were famous for for hunting. A "revolter" was someone who drove an animal into a camouflaged pit to catch it. All of these scenarios describe hunter and prey situations and the Lord is putting the priests in this same category. The priests were spiritually killing their prey.

Verse 6

This is a very sad verse that shows the consequences of ignoring the Lord. If we've done something (like Israel) to cause the Lord to withdraw Himself from us, we may have a situation where we will seek Him and not find Him. Only through a mighty change of heart and true repentance would we be able to find Him again.

Verse 7

The "strange" children in this verse refer to those ungodly children born of wicked Israel. They do not know the Lord and He does not know them. Obviously He knows them but the scripture means that they arw wicked and not His people.

Verses 10-11 (Landmark example pictured above)

The princes (or rulers) of Judah were likened to "them that remove the bound". For the explanation of this phrase see Deuteronomy 27:17.  During that time in Israel, property boundaries were marked by using landmarks. These could either be natural landmarks or man made landmarks. An evil practice in the day was called removing the bound. This would be the equivalent of moving the fence that separates you and your neighbor closer to them, making your own property bigger. This was considered the same as stealing. The Lord was saying that the princes and rulers of Judah were altering the spiritual boundaries involving the worship of Himself. The rulers were condoning and encouraging the worship of baal and other false gods and goddesses, making it confusing for many to know what was right and what was wrong. Just like a moved boundary would be confusing for some to know what belongs to who. However, the Northern Kingdom of Ephraim is specifically pointed out in verse 11 because they willingly walked after these false commandments, making their punishment more severe.

Verse 13

The Lord gave the reminder that at one point Ephraim tried to pay tribute to the Assyrians (Tiglath-Pileser III) but it only worsened the problem. The Lord says "yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound". When the root of the problem is sin (sometimes we may think the problem is something else) the only person to go to is the Lord.

The Book of Hosea: Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is a series of consequences foretold by the Lord for Israel. We should understand that these are consequences brought upon Israel by themselves, just as we sin and bring upon us those consequences. The Savior will be as merciful to us all as He possibly can be, but justice will also need to be served.

Special Note: Often when Judah and Ephraim are the only two tribes mentioned, the reference is to the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim or Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). Though all of the tribes are involved they are often referred to as two groups because the line was naturally drawn this way when each tribe took sides.

Verse 3

Hosea tells Israel because of their wickedness "the land shall mourn and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish". We can also see this when we read Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy chapter 28. The Israelites were told that their wickedness would come back to haunt them in the form of spiritual and temporal hardships. This is also the case for us. It doesn't mean that bad things won't happen to good people, and vice versa, but generally speaking there is a relationship between sin and consequences. Consequences not felt in this life, whether good or bad, will be had in the next life.

Verse 8

In this verse the Lord says that the priests "eat up the sin of my people and they set their heart on their iniquity". This means that the priests delighted in the iniquities of the people and hoped they would do more sinning. They did this because in Leviticus 6:26 we see that the priests were commanded to eat the flesh of the sacrifice to wipe away the sins of the people. The priests delighted in the sin of the people because they hoped to be continually fed by the good sacrificial meat.

Verse 12

Stocks and Staffs: The Lord points out that the people ask council of the stocks and staffs. Stocks were small wooden idols used in idolatrous worship and staffs were diving rods used to see the future. They did not pray for guidance. They did not search the scriptures. They did not fast to get themselves more in tune with the spirit. Instead, they sought these other methods and other gods for counsel.

Verse 13

The sacrifices "upon the mountaintops" is describing pagan alters.

Verse 16

Hosea first calls Israel a backsliding heifer. This is easy enough to understand since it is literally like a stubborn heifer that refuses to follow when led. The heifer pulls back and digs in her feet to make pulling her difficult. Israel was doing this with the Lord by resisting His gospel and His righteousness. "A lamb in a large place" is symbolic of Israel. A lamb in a large place is unprotected and prone to predators. Israel would be left alone and also prone to conquering armies because of her transgressions.