Jensens survey of the old testament adam 241

1. Name. The name Hosea (Heb., Hoshea)
means “salvation.” It is interesting to
observe that the names Joshua (Num 13:16)
and Jesus (Matt 1:21) are derived from the
same Hebrew root as Hosea.
2. Family and home. Hosea’s father was
named Beeri (1:1). We do not know what
Beeri’s occupation was. He may have been a
middle-class merchant, or a farmer or
cattleman. Hosea used many illustrations of
agricultural settings when he wrote, which
suggests that the prophet lived close to the
soil in his young life (cf. 4:16; 6:4; 10:12).
His home may have been in a town of
Ephraim or Manasseh (see Map X), though
this also is only speculation.
3. Ministry. Hosea probably had no formal
training in a school of the prophets, but his
writings show him to be a very
knowledgeable man. We do not know


precisely when God originally called him to
be a prophet. The messages recorded in the
book were given to him probably between
754 and 714 B.C. Chart 102 shows who his
contemporaries were. Note the following:
a) During Hosea’s ministry seven kings
reigned over Israel, while four kings reigned
on Judah’s throne.13
b) In a sense Hosea was a successor to the

prophet Amos. Recall that Amos was a
native of Judah. This makes Hosea the only
writing prophet of Israel to Israel. As one
writer has said, “His book is the prophetic
voice wrung from the bosom of the kingdom
itself.”14
c) Hosea was ministering at the time the
Assyrian invaders conquered Israel (722
B.C.).15 Refer to Chart 102 and note that
Jeremiah was ministering to Judah when the
Babylonian Captivity began (586 B.C.). Hosea


and Jeremiah both preached the same kind
of message; both were “weeping prophets.”
d) Isaiah and Micah were prophets of Judah,
while Hosea was prophesying to Israel. (As
is shown later, a few of Hosea’s messages
were directed to the Southern Kingdom.)
Hosea was one of the tenderest of the
prophets in his contacts with Israel. He has
been called “the prophet of the broken
heart.” His divine commission was to plead
with the people of Israel to return to God.
They did not respond, and so captivity came
(read 2 Kings 17). Although his message
went unheeded, he did not fail as a prophet.
He was obedient to God who called him,
delivering God’s message to the people.
B. THE BOOK OF HOSEA

1. Date. The messages of the book of
Hosea, delivered sometime between 754 and
714 B.C., were probably compiled by Hosea


into one book toward the end of that period.
Gleason Archer suggests 725 B.C. as a
possible date.16 If that is so, Hosea
completed the book before the Assyrian
Captivity (722 B.C.). That judgment was
foretold in the book; it was not reported as
having already taken place.