When was Hosea written?

Hosea (his name meaning “to save, salvation”) is the first of the so-called Minor Prophets. These twelve prophets are comprised in one single book in the Hebrew Bible and are called “the Twelve”.

Except for the name of his father Beeri (Hos. 1:1) we do not know anything about the background of this prophet. The reigns of the kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah, and of Jeroboam II of Israel lasted from around 793 to 697 BC, which are around 100 years (chap. 1:1). The researchers' speculations on Hosea’s time of service therefore vary between 25 and 70 years! Hosea worked in the northern 10 tribes kingdom but his messages also partially concerned the southern kingdom of Judah. As we have to think that Hosea’s service came to an end with the extermination of the northern kingdom in 722/721 BC (which he himself predicted) it probably lasted 30 to 50 years. Hosea therefore must have been a contemporary of Isaiah, Micah and Amos.

THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL commenced when Jeroboam was made king, to whom it was promised that his house should be established if he followed the Lord. He, on the contrary, to prevent the people going to Jerusalem, immediately set up the golden calves at Dan and at Bethel. The kingdom was given up to idolatry, and a series of judgements followed. Baasha murdered Jeroboam's son and successor; and his own son and successor was slain by Zimri; Zimri was killed by Omri, and after a civil war of four years with Tibni, Omri became king and reigned with his successors forty-five years, ending with Jehoram the son of Ahab. He and the survivors of the house of Ahab were slain by Jehu directly or indirectly, and Jehu began the 5th dynasty, B.C. 884. He and his successors reigned, with varying judgements upon them, for a hundred and twelve years. Zachariah was the last, being the fourth successor of Jehu, as God had said, 2 Kings 15:12: he reigned only six months and was murdered by Shallum. During another fifty years the kingdom was spared: but there was no repentance. About B.C. 740 the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan were carried into captivity, and Israel became tributary to Assyria. Hoshea murdered Pekah, and after nine years of anarchy succeeded to the throne. He revolted against Assyria, trusting to Egypt; but Samaria was taken, and Israel carried into captivity. Thus ended the kingdom of Israel, B.C. 721. From about B.C. 784 to 725 Hosea was God's prophet in Israel. He solemnly pleaded with them, protesting against their evil ways, and was ever ready to help them to turn to God, though his efforts were, alas, in vain. 2 Kings 17:13-18; Hosea 13:16; Hosea 14:1-9.

The first verse of the book determines the period of Hosea. He prophesied while Uzziah was reigning in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel, as well as during the time when Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings over Judah. His whole prophetic ministry covers probably over seventy years, so that he must have reached a very old age. His prophecy is directed almost exclusively to the house of Israel, which had degenerated in a short time and Hosea lived during these awful years. Jeroboam II was almost the last king who ruled by the appointment of the Lord. After him kings made their way to the tottering throne of Israel by murdering their predecessors. Shallum slew Zechariah; Menahem slew Shallum; Pekah killed the son of Menahem; Hosea killed Pekak. All was anarchy in Israel.

The prophet Hosea prophesied during the same period of time as Isaiah; but he is more occupied with the existing condition of the people, and especially of Israel, although he often speaks of Judah likewise. His prophecy is more simple in its character than that of Isaiah. His style on the contrary, is extremely energetic, and full of abrupt transitions. The reign of that king of Israel, which is given as a date to the prophecy, was outwardly a moment of prosperity to that portion of the land. The prophecy itself will inform us of its moral condition. The patience of God bore long with the rebellion of His people taking pity on their affliction (see 2 Kings 17), even as long as this patience could be a testimony to the real character of the God who exercised it, and did not deny holiness and righteousness, nor give a sanction to sin, so that it was still possible to bless the people, without sacrificing all true testimony (even in the eyes of the heathen) to what God is — in a word, "until there was no remedy."

Jeroboam reigned during a period which commenced some years before the reigns of Uzziah, etc., kings of Judah. Uzziah began his reign fourteen years before the end of Jeroboam's reign. He reigned fifty-two years; Jotham reigned sixteen years; Ahaz, sixteen years; Hezekiah, twenty-nine years. So that Hosea prophesied over fifty years, and perhaps longer; being a witness, during those long years, to Israel's rebellion against Jehovah, his heart grieved and broken by the iniquity of a people whom he loved, and whose happiness, as being the people of Jehovah, he had at heart.

The prophecy of Hosea is divided into two parts: the revelation of God's purposes with respect to Israel; and the remonstrances which the prophet addresses to the people in the name of Jehovah. In this latter part he frequently speaks of Israel as a whole; frequently also he distinguishes between Israel or Ephraim and Judah. But I do not see that he addresses himself directly to Ephraim (that is, to the ten tribes). He speaks of Ephraim, but not to Ephraim. Moreover, this is the general character of his prophecy — a kind of prolonged lamentation, expressing his anguish at the people's condition, while unfolding all the dealings of God towards them, except chapter 14, in which he calls Israel to such a repentance as shall take place in the last days.

This superscription gives the period of Hosea's ministry. First stands the statement that the word of the Lord came to him. Hosea means salvation; his father's name, Beeri, means "my well." Both are typical names. Critics have pointed out that Hosea was undoubtedly a resident of the northern kingdom of Israel, yet he mentions but one of the kings of Israel, Jeroboam, while four kings of Judah are given in this introduction. Inasmuch as Hosea long survived Jeroboam, the king of Israel, and the Judaic kings extend far beyond the time of the one Israelitish king, it has been alleged that the second part of the superscription does not harmonize with the first. Such is not the case. The superscription is made in this manner for some purpose. Hosea marks his Prophecy by the names of the kings of Judah, because in Judah the theocracy remained. He mentions Jeroboam (the Second), whose reign ended in the fourteenth year of Uzziah, because he was the last king of Israel through whom God acted and vouchsafed help to the rival kingdom. All the other kings of Israel who came after Jeroboam, by whom the Lord sent deliverance to the ten tribes (2 Kings 14:2 7) were therefore recognized by the prophets of God; the kings which followed were robbers and murderers, whose names the Spirit of God finds unfit to mention in the prophetic ministry of Hosea.

Hosea (deliverance). From the first verse of the book we gather that Hosea must have prophesied for a period of about sixty years. We cannot with certainty say whether the prophet resided in Samaria or Judea; probably the former, as Israel or the kingdom of the ten tribes is more especially the burden of these prophecies. But while Judah and Israel for judgment, as also for millennial blessing, are directly regarded in this book, it is to be observed that the Gentiles are entirely passed over both for judgment and blessing, save perhaps in Hosea 1:10, which study and compare with Rom. 9:24-26.

Nothing is related of the ancestors of the prophet Hosea (whose name is identical with Hoshea) except that he was the son of Beeri. He prophesied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam king of Israel. He is especially occupied with the moral condition of the people, principally of Israel, and the judgements that would follow. Israel is treated as in rebellion from the commencement.

The prophecy divides itself thus: Hosea 1- Hosea 3 give God's purposes respecting Israel; and in Hosea 4 - Hosea 14 the people are addressed: there are minor sub-divisions.

It was in the land where they were told they were no longer God’s people, and it will be in the same land it shall be said to them, “ Ye are the sons of the living God,” that is in the land of Israel. Hosea wrote over a century before Israel was deported “in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel.” Evidently this prophecy will not be fulfilled until they come into the land.

This volume deals with the prophet Hosea, and is written by Canon Cheyne, an Oxford "Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture"; and hence the book has the impress, if not the recommendation, of both Universities. It is, therefore, much used in education, and consequently numbers of our youths are being imbued with its teaching. And yet we are bold to say that it not only undermines, but also distinctly sets aside, the plenary inspiration of this portion of the Bible. The matter is so serious that we are constrained to give a few quotations in proof of our contention. In discussing and questioning the chronology of verse 1, the writer says:

"Now it may be assumed as practically certain that the former heading (or, at any rate, the chronological part of it) was the work of a scribe during the Exile, so that this late editor probably only knew in a vague way that Isaiah and Hosea were more or less contemporary."

Further on he draws the conclusion: "The reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah seem therefore to be out of the question as periods for any part of Hosea."