Hosea

God told Hosea to marry a woman of ill-repute. This was a symbol of God's relationship with his sinful people.

Hosea 1:2-3
"The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son"

Jezreel was the name of a valley in Israel where much blood had been spilt. Hosea's son, like his wife, was also a symbol. He represented God's judgement which would soon be sown upon Israel.

Hosea 1:4-5
"And the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel"

Lo-ruhamah means 'not pitied.'

Hosea 1:6
"And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away"

God was showing that he had rejected the sinful nation of Israel.

Hosea 1:8-9
"Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God"

Hosea's wife left him and her children in order to be with her lovers.

Hosea 2:5
"For their mother hath played the harlot:
she that conceived them hath done shamefully:
for she said, I will go after my lovers,
that give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink."

Gomer's betrayal was symbolic of Israel's abandoning God

Hosea 3:1-2
"Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer* of barley, and an half homer of barley."

Just as Hosea paid a large sum to get his wife back, God would give anything for His people to come back to Him.

*A homer was a dry measure equivalent to 211.4 litres

Hosea 8:7-8
"For they have sown the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind:
it hath no stalk:
the bud shall yield no meal:
if so be it yield,
the strangers shall swallow it up.
Israel is swallowed up:
now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure."

Hosea is saying that the Israelites will have to pay the consequences for their sins

The Northern Kingdom is to be conquered by the Assyrians and some people are to flee to Egypt, but one day they shall return.

Hosea 11:11
"They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt,
and as a dove out of the land of Assyria:
and I will place them in their houses, saith the Lord"

Because of their sin and their idolatry the people must be punished.

Hosea 13:2-3
"And now they sin more and more,
and have made them molten images of their silver,
and idols according to their own understanding,
all of it the work of the craftsmen:
they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud,
and as the early dew that passeth away,
as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor,
and as the smoke out of the chimney"

A wonderful country is described, where the people shall return and they will prosper.

Hosea 14:4-7
"I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely:
for mine anger is turned away from him.
I will be as the dew unto Israel:
he shall grow as the lily,
and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
His branches shall spread,
and his beauty shall be as the olive tree,
and his smell as Lebanon.
They that dwell under his shadow shall return;
they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine:
the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon."