By: Curtis Baker
As we continue on with our study of the Minor Prophets, I want to spend one more week with you in the book of Hosea. Last week we examined the strange command that God gave Hosea to marry a prostitute. We saw in this that Hosea’s personal experience fleshed out the experience of God with his people, as God tried to draw them back from the corrupt lovers that Israel had given herself to. Hosea’s own personal experience of marrying an unfaithful woman brought firsthand knowledge of what God experienced as his people were unfaithful to him time and time again. Just as Hosea lovingly endured the unfaithfulness and called his wife back to him, so also has God repeatedly endured the unfaithfulness of his people, only to patiently call them back. This drama takes up the first three chapters of Hosea and sets up the major themes of the book. But there is much more to Hosea than his own personal story of love and betrayal. All of this is merely a prelude to the remaining eleven chapters of the book.
