Hosea – La Vista Church of Christ

Misapplying the Exaltation of Israel

Jeffrey Hamilton — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 03:32:42 +0000

by Terry Wane Benton

The “blessing” of Israel (Genesis12:3) as God’s favored nation was conditional on the nation of Israel obeying God (Deuteronomy 27:11- 28:2). He clearly told them that if they did not obey God, they would be cursed and destroyed, and no longer be “My people” (Hosea 1:9). But God held out a way for the number who would be “My people” to be innumerable (Hosea 1:10-11). These are the people who made Jesus their “one head.” So, the true Israel would not include unbelieving Jews. If they did not make Jesus their head, they were “cut off” from being the true Israel. So, the unbelieving people occupying the modern land of Israel are not the people we are to “bless” as God’s people. They are the remains of people that God cut off when they rejected Jesus.

The true Israel was represented by the 120 we see gathered in the upper room in Acts 1, and the 3,000 who joined in believing in Jesus and made Jesus their “one head” in Acts 2. This is the church, the true remnant of the true Israel that is “blessed” by God and should be “blessed” by all nations. Romans 11:20 says, “because of unbelief they were broken off.” They were the natural vine, and because of unbelief, they were “broken off” and Gentile believers were “grafted in.” So, believing Gentiles are grafted in with the believing Israel of Acts 2, which was the true Israel. The unbelieving Jews are not God’s favored nation. They are “broken off” from the blessings of God’s vine.

People have misapplied verses about the modern nation of Israel. The political move in 1948 to return them to their homeland was not a sign that God was “blessing” them, unless you are willing to believe that the holocaust was God showing his “curses” on them. Same people. Did God change His mind in 1948? No! If God was blessing them in 1948, why did He not allow them to rebuild the temple? Why does the Muslim “Dome of the Rock” still occupy the temple location? No! There is no program in the future to rebuild the physical temple in Jerusalem, and there is no program God has for the physical nation of Israel.

What modern false teachers do is take verses out of context and misapply them. Sometimes they take passages that refer to the return from Babylonian Captivity and apply them to our future, misusing the verses that were fulfilled in Ezra and Nehemiah’s day of the regathering of Israel in their time, and applying them to a future time for us. Sometimes they take verses that refer to the gathering of the spiritual nation in Christ and apply them to the future, making them about gathering the earthly Israel in earthly Jerusalem. 1948 was not God fulfilling promises to gather Israel back into that land. There is no prophecy about that that needed to be fulfilled. The unbelieving Jews are still “cut off.” The only “nation” God has is His spiritual nation, the church (I Peter 2:5,8). The cut-off Jews may be “grafted back in” to God’s vine by repenting toward God and being baptized into Christ (Romans 11:23; 6:3-6; Galatians 3:26-28). The church of Christ is the true Israel of God. It is a “spiritual nation” with a “heavenly Jerusalem” and a “spiritual temple” (Ephesians 2:19ff; I Peter 2:5,8-9) with a spiritual priesthood and spiritual sacrifices. Israel in the flesh is cut off. They are not God’s people. Yet all Jews and Gentiles who have gathered together in Christ make up the true Israel of God. This is the only “exalted” people of God on earth today.

God’s program for earthly Israel was to bring Christ into the world to bless all families of the earth. When that was completed and Jesus finished His work for remission of sins, it comes down to being a wise and obedient believer or being an unwise and disobedient unbeliever. God’s people are gathered in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3; 2:4-7; Hebrews 12:18-28). Earthly Israel has no prophetic role to fulfill. They are not the people of God! Don’t let politics fool you! The scriptures reveal their rejection of Jesus and God, as well as God’s rejection of them. At Jesus' death, God tore the temple veil from top to bottom, showing that He was out of there and unassociated with those people (Matthew 27:50-51). They can reconcile with God in Christ and rejoin the true Israel of God, but they are not God’s people just by virtue of any physical heritage.

Do not be deceived! They are misapplying the verses, confusing the earthly Israel that rejects Jesus as the Son of God, and failing to see the spiritual Israel that does indeed obey Jesus as their one head. If you enter into Jesus’ covenant, making Him the one head, you are part of the true Israel of God.

Out of Egypt I Have Called My Son

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 21:59:46 +0000

by Terry Wane Benton

There are different kinds of prophecies. Some are direct and some are indirect. Some are in the form of typology, and therefore, when Jesus fulfills them, it is not always obvious how it is a shadow, and then Jesus fills in the form. I want to observe some things about how Matthew sees Jesus as ”fulfilling” Hosea 11:1, even though it does not appear to be a direct prophecy about Jesus. So, Matthew 2:15 is where Matthew speaks of Jesus fulfilling the statement of Hosea 11:1: “Out of Egypt I have called My Son.”

Did Matthew Misuse a Verse from Hosea?

Critics tend to view things superficially and claim that Matthew is misusing Hosea 11:1, when the context is directly about Israel and God's deliverance from Egypt. The critic argues that New Testament writers attempted to “retrofit” Jesus onto Old Testament scriptures in dishonest ways. I want to challenge that argument. I am convinced that some critics do not wish to acknowledge the various ways Jesus fulfills both direct and indirect prophecies.

Hosea 11 Is About Two Sons, Each Called Out of Egypt

God called Israel out of Egypt because inside Israel was a greater Son destined to bless “all families of the earth” (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:18). If Israel fails, the “seed” inside Israel still has to succeed because God’s promise must succeed. So, there was Israel, and there was the coming “seed” of Judah embedded in that national son. One son fails in doing the will of God, but God won’t totally eliminate Israel because there is a successful Son that also comes out of Egypt.

The Failed Son

Israel is the son that “sacrificed to the Baals” (Hosea 11:2). They were a disappointment to God because, despite all the good things He did for them, they refused to repent and were bent on backsliding (Hosea 11:3-7). This is obviously not directly about Jesus. He did not need to repent and was never inclined to backslide from God.

God Does Not Want to Totally Destroy

How could God totally give them up when the blessing of the world was still embedded in them? He could not do to them as he had done to Admah and Zeboiim. God’s heart churned with sympathy for the world. If He totally destroyed all of Israel, how could the promised Messiah come and give a chance of salvation to those not so hardened in sin?

Hosea 11 Holds Out Hope in Judah

Even though the main part of Israel, Ephraim, encompassed God with lies and deceit, coming to the temple with hearts far from God, there was still hope in Judah, the tribe designated to bring us the Messiah (Hosea 11:12). So, Jesus is prophetically embedded in Judah. Judah was part of the Israel that God called out of Egypt. Why call the nation of Israel out of Egypt when you know they are going to fail to serve You? Because You know that the hope of the whole world is among the called out of Egypt, in that seed that would be called “Jesus” (savior). So, God was also thinking of the successful son, Jesus. He wasn’t thinking only of the failed son, Israel, but the embedded successful Son, Jesus.

But One More Comparison Needs Recognition

“By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt” (Hosea 12:13). Moses, the type, brought the first son out of Egypt. But God had in mind bringing them out of Egypt in order to fulfill His promise to bring in Jesus, the real (antitype), who leads us all out of the antitype bondage, sin. Jesus could not remain in Egypt to fulfill His mission. The whole purpose of bringing out the son, Israel, was so that the Son, Jesus, could come into Mariah, Jerusalem, to be offered as the lamb of God (Genesis 22). He was called out of Egypt. He was not called to stay in Egypt to keep from dying. So, Jesus is the fulfillment of Hosea 11, the whole reason Israel was brought out of Egypt. What some meant for evil, God meant for good.

Jesus Had Also to Be Called Out of Egypt

Because God would not fail in “blessing all families of the earth” (Genesis 12, 22), the mission of Jesus was not to stay in Egypt for safety, but to come out of Egypt in due time to fulfill the great promises of God. Even further into the book of Hosea, God’s promise was revealed to heal the problem of backsliding Israel. Jesus was the healer of hearts and souls. Because God promised “I will heal their backsliding” (Hosea 14:4), Jesus had to come out of Egypt yet again. Matthew was not misusing Hosea 11:1. He was reminding us that the context was not just about immediate backsliding Israel, but about the Son who would come out of that son to heal and bless all families of the earth. God would not leave Him in Egypt this second time when the first time He was embedded in the reasons for bringing those stiff-necked people out of Egypt. It fulfills Hosea 11-14 to bring Jesus out of Egypt to be the Lamb of God who would die in Jerusalem for the sins of the whole world. Matthew knew this prophecy had to be fulfilled in Jesus, God’s Son, who was successful.

I hope you can see the wisdom in the use of Hosea 11:1. It was not a phony “retrofit” by Matthew, but an amazing eisegesis that brings out the whole of what is in this text. It is absolutely marvelous and amazing!

A Father Rejected, But Who Still Loves

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 15:49:55 +0000

by Steven Harper

Consider the sad description of Israel’s unfaithfulness, as recorded by Hosea.

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to carved images” (Hosea 11:1-2). After hearing their cries under bondage, He delivered them, and how did they thank Him? By following false gods!

“I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them” (Hosea 11:3). He was with them when they were immature and powerless, drawing them closer to Him with love, but they seemed not to know it was He who did all this.

But He would not ignore their unfaithfulness. “He shall not return to the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to repent. And the sword shall slash in his cities, devour his districts, and consume them, because of their own counsels. My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him” (Hosea 11:5-7). No, they would not go back into Egyptian bondage, but the Assyrians would rule over them; this was all because they refused to repent.

They were guilty of lying to God (Hosea 11:12; 12:1), deceitful scales and oppression (Hosea 12:7), and claimed they had no sin (Hosea 12:8). Despite all this, God still loved them!

His plea: “O Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity; take words with you, and return to the LORD” (Hosea 14:1-2).

His promise: “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him” (Hosea 14:4).

Friends and brethren, that same God is willing to still offer His forgiveness and healing to those who have stubbornly rejected Him over and over. The only requirement is to sincerely and fully turn back to the Lord. He awaits your return.

Hosea: A Leader Who Made an Astounding Sacrifice!

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 21:52:07 +0000

by Max Dawson

One of the things I have learned about leadership is that sometimes, the best leaders are those who were reluctant to be leaders. Witness the case of Moses (Exodus 3:7-4:17). I have known men who were reluctant to serve as an overseer of the church, as a deacon, or even as a Bible class teacher; their reluctance was due to the gravity of the work. They were hesitant because they knew the work was such that, if not done well, they might do more harm than good to the kingdom.

I wonder if Hosea was a reluctant leader. There is no doubt that God chose him to bring a message to the people of Israel (Hosea 1:1). In the opening chapters of his book, Hosea appears to have no reluctance. If there was any reluctance, it does not appear in the text. But why would there be any reluctance? It would be because of what God directed Hosea to do! He was told to take a wife of harlotry, so he went and took Gomer as his wife (Hosea 1:2-3).

How it must have grieved Hosea to marry a woman who would not be faithful to him! He watched her drift from their marriage time and again. When Hosea was told to speak to the Israelites about their spiritual condition, he could do so with pain and passion in his heart, for he knew firsthand what it was like to have an unfaithful wife. He knew firsthand how God must have felt about His unfaithful wife, Israel!

Few leaders have been called upon to sacrifice more than Hosea. God told him to marry this woman, a woman who was destined to bring him lonely nights and endless heartaches. Where was Hosea's chance at personal happiness and contentment in life? How he must have agonized over Gomer—just as God agonized over faithless Israel.

Indeed, Hosea sacrificed so much in serving God and in being a leader in Israel. While his role as a leader was certainly unique, don't miss the point: Leadership is about sacrifice! Sometimes, people think leadership is about being looked up to and respected and about perks and privileges! Where were Hosea's perks and privileges? Who would look up to and respect such a man? Only those godly and devout Israelites who truly understood Hosea's role could look up to and respect him. They could appreciate his sacrifice.

An important lesson can be drawn from Hosea: Being a leader in God's kingdom is not about perks and privileges. It is not about gaining rights but more about giving them up! While God may not require leaders today to do as Hosea did, he does require leaders to sacrifice! For those men who lead God's flock as shepherds, God requires that they put time, energy, heart (and sometimes even money) into their work. Sacrifice.

Sacrifice. You can't serve God's people without it.

The Word of Hosea

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 02:06:00 +0000

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018Fall1TheWordOfHosea.mp3

by Wesley Key

The Minor Prophets

Lessons in the Minor Prophets

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 02:00:00 +0000

by Wesley Key

2018 Fall Meeting Series

Was Gomer the same woman mentioned in Hosea 3?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 03:00:00 +0000

Question:

Was Gomer the same wife of Hosea mentioned in Hosea 3 or did Hosea take another wife?

Also is Romans 9:25 quoting Hosea 2:23?

Answer:

To keep what happens in Hosea clear, we have to follow both the story of Hosea and the illustration God makes using Hosea's life.

"When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD"" (Hosea 1:2).

God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute because this is the way Israel has been treating God. Israel is in a covenant relationship with God, yet their entire history involves them worshiping idols. Hosea's marriage is going to be rough because it will be hard for a prostitute to give up her past ways. Notice that Hosea is to offer a prostitute a way out of harlotry, but she did not seek Hosea. She has no motive to make a radical break from the past beyond the gift Hosea is offering her. This is the same as Israel. God offers a covenant to Israel that they didn't ask for or desire. There should be a motive from gratefulness to be faithful to God, but it wasn't enough for Israel.

The woman Hosea married was Gomer (Hosea 1:3). They had a son named Jezreel, after the valley of Jezreel, Israel's breadbasket. God declared that Israel's army would be broken there (Hosea 1:5). It was a vineyard in Jezreel that Ahab coveted that lead to his death. His son Joram died in Jezreel (II Kings 9:15). Ahab's wife died in Jezreel (I Kings 21:23; II Kings 9:30-33). The rest of Ahab's seventy sons were killed and their heads sent to Jezreel (II Kings 10:6-7). "So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his close acquaintances and his priests, until he left him none remaining" (II Kings 10:11). God is saying that Jehu had gone too far and that the slaughter he caused would be avenged with the destruction and captivity of Israel by the Assyrians.

The daughter was Lo-Ruhamh, meaning "not having obtained mercy." God declared that the northern Kingdom of Israel had done nothing to have mercy from God and would not receive it (Hosea 1:6-7).

The third child was named Lo-Ammi, meaning "not my people." God is going to reject Israel as his people, but not permanently (Hosea 1:9-10).

In the future, in Jezreel, God would again call Israel his people and give them mercy -- the reversal of the three children's names (Hosea 1:11-2:1).

But in the meantime, God is divorcing Israel for her harlotries (Hosea 2:2). Though it is not said here, it can be assumed that Hosea's wife had committed adultery and he divorced her, just as God divorced Israel. In other words, Hosea is representing God and Gomer is representing Israel. There are some implications that the second and third children were not Hosea's. "I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of harlotry. For their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink'" (Hosea 2:4-5). Israel (Gomer) thought she did not need God (Hosea) and that she could survive on her own. God prevented Israel from succeeding. "She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now'" (Hosea 2:7). But God (Hosea) will refuse to support her until she truly realizes how much she needs God (her husband) (Hoses 2:8-13).

But this isn't the end. God plans to lure Israel back to him. Once she realizes how much she needs God she will be truly committed to Him (Hoses 2:14-23). Notice in Hosea 2:22-23 the names of the three children are given again.

"As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved" " (Romans 9:25) is a quote of "Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!'" (Hosea 2:23). It is not a word-for-word quote. It keeps the sense of what Hosea recorded but rewords it to fit better with how Paul was making his argument. In today's terminology, it would be called a dynamic equivalent translation of the original Hebrew. Paul inverted two clauses to put more emphasis on the saving of the Gentiles.

The next verse in Romans, "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God" (Romans 9:26) is based on "Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There it shall be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God'" (Hosea 1:10).

We return to the story of Hosea in chapter 3. "Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans" " (Hosea 3:1). This is still the story of God restoring Israel to Himself. So the woman is Gomer. She is no longer deserving to be called Hosea's wife, but Hosea is to show love for this woman, just as God continues to show love for faithless Israel.

We can surmise that Gomer thought she could go back to prostitution and support herself. But it didn't work. She was sold off into slavery for her debts, and Hosea had to buy her back (Hosea 3:2). Hosea insisted that there would be a trial period before he would accept her back into his bed. "And I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man - so, too, will I be toward you" " (Hosea 3:3). This represented the period of time Israel went without a king (Hosea 3:4). But afterward, they would turn back to God (Hosea 3:5). By this, after the long wait, Gomer would give her full heart to her husband who did so much to save her from herself.

The parallels work between God's dealing with Israel and Hosea's dealings with Gomer. When God rejected Israel and sent them off into captivity under Assyria, He did not find a new nation to enter into His covenant. He restored Israel after the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, we can assert that it is Gomer that Hosea brought back in Hosea 3.

Was Hosea’s wife a harlot and were some of her children not his?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:15:00 +0000

Question:

I would like to have your input about Hosea marrying a harlot. Some scholars seem to think that she was not really a harlot when she married Hosea but had the mindset of the people of that day and time which was idolatry. Because of that mindset, a while after marrying Hosea, she became a harlot.

Since the Bible teaches us to prove all things (I Thessalonians 5:21), and I am unable to do that (unless I'm missing something). I am not willing to teach it.

The Bible says she was a harlot, right?

A preacher I heard said that the first child she had was by Hosea (Hosea 1:4).

But because she was unfaithful to Hosea she had two more children but they were not by him! Instead, they were by different men" (Hosea 1:6, 8-9).

Is there any scriptural evidence that supports the following?

In time past Gomer was a prostitute but had changed before marrying Hosea.
After marrying Hosea she had three children. Only one was Hosea's child.
She no longer wanted to be married to him so she left him and the children and went back to her former way of life.

This preacher said that the ideas above are because of the name of the children.

Jezreel means God will scatter. It is generally accepted that this child is from Hosea. Notice Hosea 1:3 says that she "bare him a son."
Lo-ruhamah means not loved, which implies that he is not sure that this is his child.
Lo-ammi means not my people, which says this child is not mine.

He went on to say, notice the progression of the three: mine, not sure, not mine. She has gone back to her former ways.

Hosea seems to offer a graphic example of the relationship between Israel and God. Away in Egypt, brought back with Moses, went back to idolatry over and over again.

Answer:

I've looked through various commentators to see where the ideas were coming from. It does appear that there are several commentators who have a hard time with the idea of a prophet marrying a loose woman. I believe it comes from a mix-up with the rules for the high priests: "And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot-these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife" (Leviticus 21:13-14). Some mistakenly believe this rule applied to all priests and prophets. In the same vein, they cannot imagine God asking a prophet to do something unclean, such as marrying a woman who had been sleeping around; yet, they forget that God has asked Ezekiel to purposely cook and eat unclean bread in order to make a strong point (Ezekiel 4:9-17). In other words, it isn't a difficulty with what was actually said, but in believing that God would actually request such a thing.

"When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD"" (Hosea 1:2).

The word translated "harlotry" is the Hebrew word zanuwn. It means to commit fornication. It is the word used of a prostitute -- someone who is paid for sexual acts -- but it isn't limited to such. Anyone who had been sleeping around would be described by this word.

The Hebrew doesn't indicate a time as to when she was committing fornication (past, present or future). The most natural reading is this was in her past. Why would God want Hosea to marry such a woman? He wanted to illustrate the unfaithfulness of Israel through Hosea's life. Nothing says that she gave up her fornication before she married Hosea. It is likely that God was counting on her continuing her sinful behavior. It is much the same as Jesus selecting Judas to be one of his apostles. Likely Jesus knew that Judas was a thief in the past and counted on him continuing his behavior.

The phrase "children of harlotry" can either mean that Hosea was to take in the children she already had because of her harlotry or that he was to accept the fact that his children would have the stigma of having a mother who was known to sleep around. It would not be unexpected that marrying a woman known to commit fornication, people would wonder how many of the children would actually be Hosea's.

What should be noted is that despite the life of trouble God just assigned to him, Hosea did as the Lord asked, without complaint.

It is true that the first child is specifically mentioned as being Hosea's and the second and third children are not. It makes for an interesting discussion, but it isn't a point that can be said with absolute certainty. Still, it does seem to indicate that Gomer was not being faithful to her husband. This is further supported by the charges against Gomer (representing Israel). "I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of harlotry. For their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink'" (Hosea 2:4-5).

How could “out of Egypt I have called my Son” be about Jesus?

Jeffrey Hamilton — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:56:00 +0000

Question:

About the "from Egypt I called my son" prophecy: Was God applying the same thing to Jesus and to Ephraim?

Answer:

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son” (Hosea 11:1).

Egypt was a nation given over to idolatry. Hence, when Israel left Egypt they also left a land of sin and sinful practices. Israel was also serving as slaves to the Egyptians, so leaving Egypt was also freedom from slavery (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). When Israel heeded God’s call, they became His children (Exodus 4:22-23). Yet, they did not remain faithful as Hosea 11:2 points out: "But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images" (Hosea 11:2). So in a real sense, they never really left Egypt. Physically they walked out, but spiritually they were still involved in the sins of Egypt.

Matthew points out that this particular statement has a dual meaning. That is not unusual in prophecy. For example, Psalms 22 can be seen as David's cry of despair and faith over his persecutions, but we also know it had a double meaning that more significantly was a discussion of the death of the Messiah. "Out of Egypt I called My son" had a hidden but more literal meaning than might be realized at first. This type of prophecy is called a type and antitype (tupos and antitupos in the Greek) (Romans 5:14; Hebrews 8:5; 9:24; I Peter 3:21). In modern literature, it is called "foreshadowing." The same love that God showed for Israel to lead them out of sin was shown to Jesus when God saved him from an early death but did not leave him in a foreign land.