tender pleas for repentance. Nor does it lack excellent figures of speech.—4:16; 5:13, 14; 6:3, 4; 7:4-8, 11, 12; 8:7; 9:10; 10:1, 7, 11-13; 11:3, 4; 13:3, 7, 8, 15; 14:5-7.

CANONICITY

The book of Hosea stands first in the order of the so-called “Minor Prophets” in common English Bibles, as well as in the ancient Hebrew and Septuagint texts. Jerome specified that one of the divisions of the Jews’ sacred books was The Book of the Twelve Prophets, which evidently included the book of Hosea to fill out the number twelve. Melito of the second century C.E. left a catalogue including these books, as did Origen and others.

HARMONY WITH OTHER BIBLE BOOKS

This book harmonizes with thoughts expressed elsewhere in the Bible. (For instance, compare Hosea 6:1 with Deuteronomy 32:39; Hosea 13:6 with Deuteronomy 8:11-14; 32:15, 18.) The book of Hosea refers to occurrences recorded in other parts of the Scriptures, such as incidents involving Jacob (Hos. 12:2-4, 12; Gen. 25:26; 32:24-29; 29:18-28; 31:38-41), Israel’s exodus from Egypt (Hos. 2:15; 11:1; 12:13), her unfaithfulness in connection with Baal of Peor (Hos. 9:10; Num. chap. 25) and the nation’s request for a human king.—Hos. 13:10, 11; 1 Sam. 8:4, 5, 19-22.

USE IN THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES

Twice Jesus Christ quoted from Hosea 6:6, using the words “I want mercy, and not sacrifice.” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7) He referred to Hosea 10:8 when pronouncing judgment on Jerusalem (Luke 23:30), and this statement was used at Revelation 6:16. Paul and Peter both made use of Hosea 1:10 and 2:23. (Rom. 9:25, 26; 1 Pet. 2:10) Paul quoted Hosea 13:14 (LXX) when discussing the resurrection, in asking: “Death where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55) Compare also Hosea 14:2 with Hebrews 13:15.

It has been said regarding the book of Hosea: “Few O.T. [Old Testament] books (aside from Isaiah and Psalms) are quoted as often in the N.T. [New Testament]; more than 30 direct and indirect quotations from Hosea are contained in the Gospels and Epistles.”—Harper’s Bible Dictionary, 7th ed., 1961, p. 269.

FULFILLED PROPHECIES

The prophetic words of Hosea 13:16 concerning Samaria’s fall were fulfilled. Hosea’s prophecy also showed that Israel would be deserted by her lovers among the nations. (Hos. 8:7-10) Indeed, they were of no assistance when Samaria was destroyed and inhabitants of Israel became Assyrian captives in 740 B.C.E.—2 Ki. 17:3-6.

Hosea’s prophecy foretold that God would send a fire into the cities of Judah. (Hos. 8:14) In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Assyrian King Sennacherib “came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and proceeded to seize them.” (2 Ki. 18:13) However, Hosea also prophesied that Jehovah would save Judah. (Hos. 1:7) This occurred when God frustrated Sennacherib’s planned attack on Jerusalem, Jehovah’s angel destroying 185,000 men of the Assyrian army in one night. (2 Ki. 19:34, 35) But a much more disastrous “fire” came when Jerusalem and the cities of Judah were destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 607 B.C.E.—2 Chron. 36:19; Jer. 34:6, 7.

Nonetheless, in keeping with inspired restoration prophecies found in the book of Hosea, a remnant of the people of Judah and Israel was gathered together and emerged from the land of captivity, Babylonia, in 537 B.C.E. (Hos. 1:10, 11; 2:14-23; 3:5; 11:8-11; 13:14; 14:1-8; Ezra 3:1-3) Paul used Hosea 1:10 and 2:23 to emphasize God’s undeserved kindness as expressed toward “vessels of mercy,” and Peter also employed these texts. These apostolic applications show that the prophecies also pertain to God’s merciful gathering of a spiritual remnant.—Rom. 9:22-26; 1 Pet. 2:10.

Messianic prophecy is also found in the book of Hosea. Matthew applied the words of Hosea 11:1 (“out of Egypt I called my son”) to the child Jesus, who was taken into Egypt but was later brought back to Palestine.—Matt. 2:14, 15.

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS

I. Israel’s adultery and restoration; the parallel (1:1–3:5)

A. Hosea’s wife and the children she bears (1:1-9)

1. God commands Hosea to take ‘a wife an children of fornication, because Israel turns from following Jehovah’ (1:2)

2. Hosea complies, taking Gomer as his wife (1:3)

a. She bears him a son, Jezreel (1:3-5)

b. She gives birth to a daughter, named Loruhamah, for Jehovah will not show mercy to Israel, though He will to Judah (1:6, 7)

c. Gomer bears a son, named Lo-ammi “because you men are not my people” (1:8, 9)

B. Restoration foretold; Israel and Judah to be “collected together into a unity” (1:10–2:1)

C. Jehovah will punish Israel for fornication and withdraw blessings that were misused in Baal worship (2:2-13)

D. Restoration of Israel to Jehovah as husband and God (2:14-23)

1. She will be engaged to Him in righteousness, justice, loving-kindness, mercies and faithfulness (2:14-20)

2. Blessings will be restored, and in harmony with the meaning of Jezreel, ‘God will sow Israel like seed and show her mercy’ (2:21-23)

E. Like Hosea’s redeemed adulterous wife, ‘Israel will come back and look for Jehovah and for David their king’ (3:1-5)

II. Prophetic judgments against Ephraim (Israel) and Judah for unfaithfulness to Jehovah (4:1–13:16)

A. God will hold an accounting with Israel and Judah for their wrongdoing (4:1–5:15)

1. Violence prevails in Israel and knowledge of God is rejected by the people, resulting in divine rejection (4:1-8)

2. Jehovah will hold an accounting for their idolatry and harlotry (4:9-19)

3. Leaders and people have not acknowledged Jehovah; Ephraim and Judah will experience God’s judgment (5:1-15)

B. The people are urged to return to Jehovah; they seek worldly alliances and receive divine retribution (6:1–8:14)

1. Plea is made to return to Jehovah for healing (6:1-3)

2. Their loving-kindness is fleeting, whereas Jehovah delights in loving-kindness, not sacrifice, “knowledge of God rather than in whole burnt offerings” (6:4-6)

3. They have overstepped His covenant and practiced wickedness (6:7–7:7)

4. Ephraim has gone to Egypt and Assyria for help, rather than to Jehovah, and He will discipline them for their error (7:8-16)

5. They have sown wind and will reap a stormwind; Israel must be swallowed down and Judah’s cities will be burned (8:1-14)

C. Ephraim’s sinfulness will result in rejection by God, “and they will become fugitives among the nations” (9:1-17)

D. Israel, “a degenerating vine,” will suffer ruin (10:1-15)

E. Jehovah’s love for Israel (11:1-11)

1. God has loved Israel from his childhood 11:1-4)

2. Exile to Assyria foretold for unfaithfulness, but there will also be restoration (11:5-11)

F. Ephraim’s wickedness and its consequences (11:12–13:16)

1. Ephraim practices lying and deception; turns to Assyria and Egypt (11:12–12:1)

2. Ephraim’s faithful forefather Jacob an example that should cause Ephraim to return to God (12:2-14)

3. Ephraim practiced idolatry and forgot Jehovah, who will bring ruin, but will also redeem them from death and Sheol (13:1-14)

4. “The wind of Jehovah” will come and Samaria will fall (13:15, 16)

III. Return to Jehovah and its results (14:1-9)

A. Israel urged to come back to Jehovah with ‘bulls of lips,’ acknowledging that Assyria will not save them, and abandoning idolatry (14:1-3)

B. Jehovah will heal their unfaithfulness, show them love and grant them his blessing (14:4-8)

C. Jehovah’s ways are upright; righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them (14:9)

See the book “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pp. 143-145.

HOSHAIAH

(Ho·shaiʹah) [Jehovah has saved].

1. Father of Jezaniah or Azariah, who was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah. (Jer. 42:1, 2; 43:2) In the Septuagint the name Azariah appears instead of Jezaniah at Jeremiah 42:1.

2. Apparently a prince of Judah who participated in the procession arranged by Nehemiah at the inauguration of the wall of Jerusalem.—Neh. 12:31, 32.

HOSHAMA

(Hoshʹa·ma) [Jehovah has heard].

One of the seven sons born to King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) while in Babylonian exile.—1 Chron. 3:17, 18.

HOSHEA

(Ho·sheʹa) [salvation; deliverance].

1. One of the twelve sent by Moses to spy out the Land of Promise in 1512 B.C.E.; son of Nun of the tribe of Ephraim. Moses, however, preferred to call him Jehoshua, meaning “Jehovah is salvation.” (Num. 13:8, 16) In Greek the Septuagint has the name reading I·e·sousʹ (“Jesus”). As Moses’ successor he was generally called by the shortened Hebrew form “Joshua.”—Josh. 1:1.

2. The tribal prince of Ephraim during David’s reign; son of Azaziah.—1 Chron. 27:20, 22.

3. The Hebrew spelling of Hosea, Jehovah’s prophet, who lived in the eighth century B.C.E. during the reigns of Judah’s kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.—Hos. 1:1; see HOSEA.

4. Last king of the northern kingdom of Israel, which came to its end in 740 B.C.E.; son of Elah. He did what was bad in Jehovah’s sight, yet not to the same degree as his predecessors. (2 Ki. 17:1, 2) Hoshea had no hereditary claim to the throne, nor did he receive a special anointing from God to be king. Rather, it was by conspiracy against and murder of King Pekah that the usurper Hoshea gained the throne. Second Kings 15:30 states that Hoshea put Pekah to death and “began to reign in place of him in the twentieth year of Jotham.” Since Judean King Jotham is credited with only sixteen years (2 Ki. 15:32, 33; 2 Chron. 27:1, 8), this may refer to the twentieth year counting from the start of Jotham’s kingship, which would actually be the fourth year of the reign of Jotham’s successor Ahaz.—See JOTHAM No. 3.

It appears that Hoshea was not fully recognized as king over Israel until sometime later, however. Second Kings 17:1 states that, in the twelfth year of Ahaz, Hoshea “became king in Samaria over Israel for nine years.” So, it may be that at this point Hoshea was able to establish full control from Samaria. Possibly Assyrian backing at this point aided him, for the records of Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser (III) make the claim that he put Hoshea on the throne.—See chart of kings of Judah and Israel in CHRONOLOGY article; also the first four paragraphs under the heading “From the division of the kingdom to the desolation of Jerusalem and Judah (997 to 607 B.C.E.)” in the same article.

Shalmaneser, successor to Tiglath-pileser, compelled Hoshea to pay tribute, but it was not long before Hoshea sent messengers to So the king of Egypt appealing for assistance and subsequently withheld tribute from the Assyrians. Upon learning of this secret conspiracy, Shalmaneser put Hoshea in the house of detention and laid siege to Samaria in 742 B.C.E. Nearly three years later, in 740, the city fell, its inhabitants were carried off into exile, and the split-off ten-tribe kingdom of Israel came to its end.—2 Ki. 17:3-6.

5. One of the heads of the people whose descendant, if not himself, agreed to the Levitical proposal for a trustworthy arrangement in the time of Nehemiah.—Neh. 9:5, 38; 10:1, 14, 23.

HOSPITALITY

(Gr., phi·lo·xe·niʹa, love of strangers].

The cordial and generous reception and entertainment of guests or strangers.

IN ANCIENT TIMES

In patriarchal times, though Egyptians and others practiced hospitality, the Semites were most notable for this quality. Care for the traveler was viewed as an Integral part of living, and great was the courtesy extended the visitor, whether a stranger, friend, relative or invited guest. From the Bible accounts we learn that hospitality was customarily extended to a traveler. He was greeted by a kiss, particularly if a relative. (Gen. 29:13, 14) His feet were washed by a member of the household, usually a servant (Gen. 18:5), and his animals were fed and cared for. (Gen. 24:15-25, 29-33) He was often asked to stay for the night and sometimes even for several days. (Gen. 24:54; 19:2, 3) The visitor was considered to be under the householder’s protection during his stay. (Gen. 19:6-8; Judg. 19:22-24) On departure, he might be escorted part way on his journey.—Gen. 18:16.

The importance with which the extending of hospitality was viewed is seen in Reuel’s remarks when his daughters spoke of the “Egyptian” traveler (actually Moses) who had helped them in watering their flock. Reuel exclaimed: “But where is he? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Call him, that he may eat bread.”—Ex. 2:16-20.

In the cities

It is evident from the Bible accounts that, particularly in the cities, non-Israelites might not be always hospitable toward Israelites. (Judg. 19:11, 12) Also, in the cities hospitality was probably not offered as readily as in more isolated areas. However, a Levite man with his attendant and his concubine sat down after sunset in the public square of Gibeah, seemingly expecting to be offered a place to stay overnight. This indicates that hospitality, even in the cities, was quite common. (Judg. 19:15) In this instance, the Levite man remarked that he had provisions for his party as well as for his animals. (Judg. 19:19) He required shelter only. But the bad attitude of the Benjamites inhabiting this city made it inhospitable, as verified by what later occurred.—Judg. 19:26-28.

To servants of God

While hospitality was generally practiced, the fine hospitality depicted in the Bible accounts was undoubtedly due to the fact that, in most instances, the ones showing hospitality were servants of Jehovah. Especially marked were the hospitality and respect shown to those who were prophets or special servants of God. Abraham stood by the three angels for whom he provided a meal, while they ate. This seems to have been a token of respect for the men whom Abraham recognized to be angelic representatives of Jehovah. (Gen. 18:3, 8) And just as Abraham “ran” to prepare for his guests, Manoah showed eagerness in preparing food for the man whom he thought to be a man of God, but who was actually