Lesson 148:
Hosea
---What do you think it means to arrive at a
point of no return?
---Read the
following statement by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First
Presidency concerning the point of no return:
“[Airplane]
flights over huge oceans, crossing extensive deserts, and connecting continents
need careful planning to ensure a safe arrival at the planned destination. Some
of these nonstop flights can last up to 14 hours and cover almost 9,000 miles.
“There is an
important decision point during such long flights commonly known as the point
of safe return. Up to this point the aircraft has enough fuel to turn around
and return safely to the airport of departure. Having passed the point of safe
return, the captain has lost this option and has to continue on. That is why
this point is often referred to as the point of no return. …
“… Satan
wants us to think that when we have sinned we have gone past a ‘point of no
return’—that it is too late to change our course” (“Point
of Safe Return,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2007, 99).
---What are some dangers of thinking that
when we have sinned we have gone past a point of no return?
---As we
study the book of Hosea, look for principles that can help us turn to the Lord
when we have sinned.
---Hosea was
a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel who prophesied before the
Israelites were carried away captive by the Assyrians. At that time the
Northern Kingdom of Israel had formed alliances with other nations, and many
Israelites were practicing idolatry, including rituals that violated God’s law
of chastity. The book of Hosea begins with the Lord giving Hosea an unusual
command.
---What did the Lord command Hosea to do?
---The Lord
used this marriage to teach the Israelites about His covenant relationship with
them.
---Hosea and
Gomer had three children. The names of the children represented the
consequences that the Israelites would suffer because of their sins. Through
Hosea, the Lord also explained the consequences that would come upon Gomer
because of her actions.
---What had Gomer done?
---What feelings might Hosea have had after
learning about Gomer’s actions?
---Remember
the marriage between Hosea and Gomer symbolized the covenant relationship
between Jesus Christ and the Israelites, who had turned away from the Lord.
---How can this story help us understand how
the Lord might feel when we break our covenants by sinning?
---Hosea
used symbolic language to describe the consequences Israel would suffer for
breaking their covenant with God.
---Read Hosea
2:6–8 aloud and look for what the Lord said He
would do because of Israel’s unfaithfulness.
---What did the Lord say He would do because
His people had been unfaithful to Him?
(the phrases
“hedge up thy way” and “make a wall” [Hosea 2:6] refer to Israel being separated
from their false gods when they were carried away by the Assyrians.)
---What other consequences would come to
Israel as a result of their unfaithfulness.
---What can we learn from these verses about
what will happen if we violate our covenants with the Lord?
If we
violate our covenants with the Lord, we will __________________________________________________.
---In what ways might the consequences that
the Israelites would suffer be a blessing to them?
---Scan the
following verses Hosea 2:14–15, 17,
19–20, 23 looking for
what the Lord would eventually do for Israel.
---What did the Lord say He would eventually
do for Israel?
---the word
allure and the phrase “speak comfortably unto her” in verse 14 mean that the Lord was going to
invite Israel to return to Him. The word betroth in verse 19 refers to a binding commitment
to be married. In this case, it is used as a symbol to show the Lord’s desire
to reestablish His covenant with Israel and thereby bind His people to Him.
---What do these actions teach you about the
Lord?
---What did the Lord command Hosea to do for
Gomer?
---If Gomer
would forsake her sins and remain faithful to her marriage covenant with Hosea,
then Hosea would continue to love and care for Gomer as her husband in spite of
her previous sins. Hosea did for Gomer what the Lord does for all of His
covenant people who turn to Him through repentance.
If we will
repent and remain faithful to the covenants we have made with the Lord, then He
will _____________________ ____________________________________________________________________________.
---Read
aloud the following statement by President Henry B. Eyring of the First
Presidency and listen for what he learned about the Lord as he taught a
seminary class about the book of Hosea.
“I had a new
feeling about what it means to make a covenant with the Lord. All my life I had
heard explanations of covenants as being like a contract, an agreement where
one person agrees to do something and the other agrees to do something else in
return.
“For more
reasons than I can explain, during those days teaching Hosea, I felt something
new, something more powerful. This was not a story about a business deal
between partners. … This was a love story. This was a story of a marriage
covenant bound by love, by steadfast love. What I felt then, and it has
increased over the years, was that the Lord, with whom I am blessed to have
made covenants, loves me, and you … with a steadfastness about which I
continually marvel and which I want with all my heart to emulate” (“Covenants
and Sacrifice” [address given at the Church Educational
System symposium on the Old Testament, Aug. 15, 1995], 2; si.lds.org).
---Why is the Lord willing to receive us
again when we have broken our covenants with Him?
---How can the principles taught in Hosea
help those who feel they have sinned so much that they cannot return to the
Lord?
Thought
questions to ask yourself:
When have I experienced the Lord’s mercy and
His love for me?
How have I felt the Lord inviting me to
return to Him when I have sinned and been unfaithful to Him?
Ponder the
answers to these questions and act on any promptings you may receive to repent
of your sins.
---In Hosea 4–11 Hosea called upon Israel to
return to the Lord and serve Him. Hosea 12–13 records that Hosea explained
that the Lord uses prophets to guide His people. Hosea also taught that through
the Savior, all people will overcome physical death. In Hosea 13–14 we read that Hosea taught the
Israelites that their decision to be unfaithful to the Lord was the reason for
their impending destruction. However, Hosea also extended a message of hope to
them by teaching that in the last days, the Lord would heal them of their
backsliding, or apostasy, when the people of Israel return to Him.
Commentary and Background
Information
Hosea 1:2–3.
How are we to understand God’s command for Hosea to marry a harlot?
Commentators
do not agree regarding how literally to interpret the account of Hosea being
commanded by God to marry a harlot. Some ask:
“Would God
literally command one of His servants to take an immoral woman for His wife? Or
is this command to be interpreted only in a symbolic sense? Interpretations
fall into five general categories:
“1. Hosea
was actually asked by God to marry a harlot. Those scholars who maintain this
view think that such a marriage served as an object lesson to call Israel’s
attention to their carnal state. Others have felt that such an act would be
inconsistent with God, who ‘cannot look upon sin with the least degree of
allowance’ (Alma 45:16). While the Lord was not commanding
Hosea to sin, some have felt God would not use sinful behavior even in an
object lesson of this kind. Sidney B. Sperry said that this ‘would be
imputing to God a command inconsistent with His holy character. Furthermore,
for Hosea to marry a woman with a questionable past would make it impossible
for him to preach to his people and expose their sexual immoralities. They
could point the finger of scorn at him and say, “You are as guilty as we are;
don’t preach to us.”’ [The Voice of Israel’s Prophets: A Latter-day Saint
Interpretation of the Major and Minor Prophets of the Old Testament
(1952), 281.]
“2. The
whole experience came to Hosea in a dream or vision. There was neither harlot
nor marriage, but Hosea was asked to accept the burden of being prophet
(husband) to immoral Israel (Gomer). Although possible, most scholars reject
this alternative because of the intensity of Hosea’s involvement with the
imagery.
“3. Hosea
married a woman who at the time was good and faithful but later became a
faithless wife, a harlot, when she left her husband to participate in the
fertility rites of the neighboring Canaanites. In this case Hosea’s life was an
‘enacted parable,’ and the phrase ‘wife of whoredoms’ (Hosea 1:2) refers to what Gomer became. In other
words, Hosea did marry Gomer, but she was not a harlot then. Those scholars who
sustain this view explain that later in life, Hosea, looking back on his
experiences and all that he had suffered and learned through them, recorded
incidents that helped illustrate his teachings. The difficulty with this
interpretation is that the Lord commanded Hosea to take a ‘wife of whoredoms’ (v. 2). If Gomer were faithful and true at
the time of the marriage, this phrase would seem like a peculiar way to
describe her.
“4. A
variation of the interpretation in number three is that Gomer was not an actual
harlot but was a worshiper of Baal; therefore, she was guilty of spiritual
harlotry. But even so, it seems peculiar that God would ask a prophet to marry
a nonbelieving wife.
“5. Another
approach that avoids some of these difficulties is that the words present an
allegory designed to teach the spiritual consequences of Israel’s
unfaithfulness. Sperry felt that Hosea never did actually contract such a
marriage. He explains: ‘The Lord’s call to Hosea to take a harlotrous woman to
wife represents the prophet’s call to the ministry—a ministry to an apostate
and covenant-breaking people. The … children of this apparent union represent
the coming of the judgments of the Lord upon Israel, warning of which was to be
carried to the people by the prophet. The figure of the harlotrous wife and children
would, I believe, be readily understood at the time by the Hebrew people
without reflecting on Hosea’s own wife, or, if he was unmarried, on himself’ [The
Voice of Israel’s Prophets, 281]” (Old Testament Student Manual:
1 Kings–Malachi, 3rd ed. [Church Educational System manual,
2003], 104).
Hosea
1:4–11. Symbolic names of Hosea and Gomer’s children
“Biblical
names often were taken from the circumstances surrounding the child’s birth. In
Hosea’s narrative Gomer bore her husband three children: two sons and a
daughter. The names given to the children symbolize the destruction that lies
in Israel’s future as a result of her idolatrous (adulterous) ways—that is,
children (judgments) are the natural result of Israel’s harlotry
(unrighteousness)” (Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi,
3rd ed. [Church Educational System manual, 2003], 105).
Right margin
extras:
PowerPoint:
Old Testament lesson 148—Hosea
Bride and
Groom
Likening the
scriptures to ourselves means comparing them to our own lives. Encourage
students to ask, “What situations in my life are like those in this passage of
scripture?” or “How am I like the people we are studying in the scriptures?” As
students see similarities between their own experiences and the events they
study in the scriptures, they will be better able to identify doctrines and
principles and apply them in their lives.
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