We don’t know much about Hosea except what we find in his writings. The introduction to his life has God telling him to marry a prostitute. It would seem reasonable for Hosea to question whether he was hearing God’s voice or his imagination. God explained to him that some of her children would not be his to “illustrate the way My people have been untrue to Me, committing open adultery against Me by worshiping other gods.” (Verse 2).
Hosea was obedient to God and married Gomer. Very quickly, it appears, she conceived and had a son. “And the Lord said, ‘Name the child Jezreel, for in the valley of Jezreel I am about to punish King Jehu’s dynasty to avenge the murders he committed; in fact, I will put an end to Israel as an independent kingdom, breaking the power of the nation in the valley of Jezreel’.” (Verses 4-5).
Now this presents a problem for Bible readers. In 2 Kings 9, Elisha, the prophet, sent one of his young prophets (maybe a student) to anoint Jehu. The young prophet anointed Jehu with oil and then said, “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘I anoint you king of the Lord’s people, Israel. You are to destroy the family of Ahab; you will avenge the murder of my prophets and of all my other people who were killed by Jezebel. The entire family of Ahab must be wiped out – every male, no matter who’.” Jehu followed God’s requirements to the letter.
So why would God want to destroy Jehu’s lineage? Beginning in 2 Kings 10:30 it says, “Afterwards the Lord said to Jehu, ‘You have done well in following my instructions to destroy the dynasty of Ahab. Because of this I will cause your son, grandson, and your great-grandson to be the kings of Israel’.” And God fulfilled His promise; Jehoahaz, the son, ruled 17 years, Joash, the grandson, ruled 16 years, and Jeroboam II ruled 41 years. But Zachariah, the great-great-grandson reigned only 6 months before he was killed by his successor, Shallum.
Jehu had killed all of Ahab’s family including Jezebel and all those who worshiped her god, Baal. The problem was he “didn’t follow the Lord God of Israel with all his heart, for he continued to worship Jeroboam’s gold calves that had been the cause of such great sin in Israel.” (2 Kings 10:31). Though he knew God, he refused to worship Him and turn Israel back to their real God.
In verses 6-11, we are given three prophetic messages regarding Israel and one on Judah. Gomer next conceived a daughter. (1) God told Hosea to “name her Lo-ruhamah (meaning ‘No more mercy’) for I will have no more mercy upon Israel, to forgive her again. (2) But I will have mercy on the tribe of Judah. I will personally free her from her enemies without any help from her armies or her weapons.” Since there is a division in God’s eyes where Israel is cast off but Judah is still favored, this message was probably written during the reign of King Uzziah (783-742 BCE).
(3) Then Gomer had a third child, a son named “Lo-ammi (meaning ‘not Mine’), for Israel is not Mine and I am not her God.” (Verses 8-9). But with all of this there is still hope for in verses 10-11, we see a whole new picture of what the future holds. Israel will someday return to their homeland. “Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite under one leader; they will return from exile together; what a day that will be – the day when God will sow His people in the fertile soil of their own land again.”
Today it appears this prophecy has been fulfilled; at least that is what I was told many years ago. Verse 10 specifically says, “I will tell them, ‘You are My sons, children of the Living God’.” This does not seem to have happened yet. There are two reasons I think this is true. First, the church was commissioned by the risen Lord to “make disciples in all nations”, (Matt 28: 18-20), but the church has not completed that in nearly 2,000 years. The second reason is the Jews in Pilate’s hall yelled, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matt 27:25). This was the reason the Romans destroyed the nation of Judea in the seven-year tribulation of 67-73 CE, and the Jews joined the Israelites in banishment until 1948 CE.
Today the people of Israel have still rejected the Messiah; only 3 percent of the population are believers. It does not seem to me this 3rd prophecy is being fulfilled yet. I have heard preachers say that the church doesn’t need to worry about fulfilling the great commission because, after the Rapture, the Jews will be converted and there will be the greatest awakening in history. They may be right, or they may be trying to ignore the churches’ failure.