Year of the Bible

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Commentary on the Book of Hosea, Chapter 1: 

As is typical in the prophetic books, Hosea opens by providing the setting for the prophet’s ministry. Based on the list of kings, we learn Hosea preached for a couple of decades, beginning during a time of political peace that lacked concern for the Covenant with God. God gives Hosea specific instructions about his marriage, which will represent the broken covenant between God and the people. Hosea is to marry a harlot, that is, someone who is unfaithful, for Israel is like a harlot in her faithlessness to God. The children Hosea has with this wife all receive names symbolic of how God is turning His back on the people of Israel who have turned their backs on Him. But immediately after illustrating this separation, God explains He has plans for restoration: the people will multiply, they will be known as children of God, and the northern and southern kingdoms will be reunited, restoring the Jewish nation.

The Book of Hosea, Chapter 1:

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, 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.

Hosea Marries a Harlot and Has Children

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name Not pitied, for I will no more have pity on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by bow, nor by sword, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned Not pitied, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not my people, for you are not my people and I am not your God.”

Israel’s Restoration

10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Sons of the living God.” 11 And the people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head; and they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

*Daily Lectio Divina Question:

What is the experience of your heart after meditation on this chapter and its ending? "...in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Sons of the living God.'"(vs 10) Ponder these things with the Lord a bit more and ask him what he wants to say to you.

Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc, or online.

Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this.
If you're looking for a good Catholic edition of the Bible, look no further.