Hosea

THE BOOK

OF HOSEA
The book was written by Hosea and deals with a very personal subject. In this subjective book, he draws a parallelism between his life and that of the history of Israelites. Hosea's marriage was a failure and he portrays it in this book. He talks about his life because God asked him to do so. This was because God wanted to teach a lesson to the people through his story. Hosea was a true husband and loved his wife very much. But she was wayward and run after other men. This pained Hosea very much. In comparing his life with that of Israelites, he shows how God was pained immensely by the action of the Israelites. They like his immoral wife, deserted the living God for the Gods of their neighbours. Then he goes on to state that God was angry and hurt with the people for their idol worship. Hosea compares idol worship with that of prostitution. During Hosea's time, Israelites used to mix up various religion, and in the process swayed away from their God. So in reality, this book is a warning to them from God. The relationship between God and Israelites is beautifully brought out using the metaphor of husband and wife in a marriage relationship. The tone of the book is that of lamentation and it imparts the sorrow of the writer.