Let me tell you a little bit about your Bible, okay? Your Bible is kind of, especially the Old Testament, is broken up into, think of these three numbers, 17, 5, and 17. You have 17 at the very beginning that's very, very historical, okay? Then you have 5 that's very experiential, and then you've got 17 that's prophetic. So you have the prophetic book starting with Isaiah running all the way through Malachi. 17 books, got it? You've got 17 books starting with Genesis running all the way through what? Is it Ezra, the last one? No, Esther, which is historical, shows you start from Genesis, going all the way through to Esther, and then you start the book of Psalms, Proverbs, Psalm 5. Ecclesiastes, I don't know, I'm missing one there. Those are the experiential books. They're right there in the middle. Now, in the 17 historical books, you've got the five major books at the very beginning. Remember what they are? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Those are the five major historical books at the beginning. After that, you've got what's called nine pre-exile history books. In other words, before the exile, before they get taken off into captivity, and then you've got three books that are post-exile, in history, okay? Like Ezra, you know, Nehemiah, Esther. Now, when you get to the prophets, it's laid out the same way. It's kind of neat. You have five major prophets. The books of the major prophets, what are they? Can you remember? Isaiah, Jeremiah, not Ezekiel yet, Lamentations. Then you got Ezekiel. And then you got Daniel. Those are the five major books that kind of correspond to the five major books over here in the history section. You have five major books in the prophet section. And then you have nine. You have five. Get this right. Yeah, you've got nine. prophetic works that are pre-exile, and then you got three that are post-exile. Just like you got nine and three over here, you've got nine and three over here. The three post-exile, which means after the exile, the prophets are what? Can you remember? The two Z's? Zephaniah? I mean, the Zachariah, you've got Haggai, and you got what? Malachi. Now at the end, they're coming in after the people come back from Babylon, from being conquered. Just like over here you have the three books in the history section of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. It has to do with post. So it's kind of neat the way the Bible has balanced itself when you see how the books are laid out in the history section, how the books are laid out in the prophetic section. So according to this little handout you've got here, if you'll notice in the chronological groupings of Old Testament prophets, You've got these three groups, prophets of the northern kingdom, which is called Israel. It's also going to be called Ephraim in the book of Hosea when we read through the first chapter this morning. You have prophets to the southern kingdom. And then you have prophets during and after the exile, which is like at the very bottom, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Ezekiel and Daniel especially are prophets during the exile. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi are after the exile, so when people get back to the land. Ezekiel and Daniel deal with the people while they're in the land of Babylon. Does this make sense? And you see the timeline on the right of that. So as you can see, like, for example, Isaiah. Isaiah, although he's a prophet to Judah, which would be the southern kingdom, right? That's Judah and where the city of Jerusalem is. Nevertheless, he'll say things about the northern kingdom, you see. Because he's during that time. So what we want to do in our reading so that we understand the chronological aspects of it is that we're going to read through Hosea and if we tackle another minor prophet, what we probably will do is deal with the prophets of the northern kingdom. Which will be, we'll read through Hosea, Jonah, and Amos, and then we'll come back and we'll go into the book of Psalms again. So we kind of get a flavoring, so that we kind of get the same context of dealing with the northern kingdom of Israel. Remember, Israel was broken up into 12 tribes, remember? And then after Solomon, because Solomon had so many wives and idolatry, God says, I'm taking the kingdom. I'm splitting the kingdom. I'm taking the kingdom from you. I'm tearing it from you. His son Rehoboam was king over two of those tribes, Judah. I think it's Benjamin right there with Jerusalem. But ten went to Jeroboam, the usurper. And from Jeroboam comes the lineage of kings. You can see it here on the bottom of your sheet here. You see, here's Judah on the left, here's Israel on the right. And you can see in sometimes in italics on to the right of like, for example, in Judah, it says Rehoboam and it says Shemei, 2 Chronicles 12. What this is referring to here is the prophets in relation to the kings. In other words, these are prophets during this time that are relating to these kings that you see that come from the line of Judah all the way down to Zedekiah, who's the last king before he gets carted off to Babylon. to, on the right side, Israel, Jeroboam, all the way down to Hosea, who gets carted off by the Assyrians, because Israel was conquered by the Assyrians. Israel, the ten-tribe nation, you understand? Not Israel in Jacob's time, which means the twelve tribes, okay? So, we're using Israel interchangeably, and sometimes when you read, for example, you might read in the book of Hosea, he mentions Israel. He's not mentioning the twelve tribes. He's mentioning the ten. That's part of that new country now called Israel. It's also called Ephraim. You'll find that in chapter 4, verse 17 in the book of Hosea. Oh, Ephraim. He's talking about the northern kingdom here. He's not just talking about all of Israel, south and north. He's just talking about the north, because he's addressing the north. He's a prophet to the north. Also, if you'll notice, bottom right of your page, you'll see how Hosea fits in with this whole idea of Jonah and Amos. Jonah goes, for example, when we read Jonah, you'll see how he's a prophet. He goes to Nineveh. Why is Nineveh so important? Well, Nineveh is the capital of what? The Assyrians. It's the Assyrians that are going to come and conquer the whole northern kingdom of those ten tribes and take them all off into captivity. So it becomes a, you can see maybe a little bit why Jonah wants to not go to Nineveh. This is their arch enemy. We'll read through Amos and see what Amos says about the people living in the northern kingdom. And then, of course, we'll read through Hosea. And here's the kings that are reigning during this time. Jonah might prophesy during the time of Joash and then you have Amos here during this little period of Joash and Jeroboam II. What you've got is Hosea in the latter part of the reign of Israel. So the latter half basically of the 8th century, 750 BC running all the way down to 700. Remember in BC you kind of go backwards in the numbers, you don't go up. you go backwards, so you go from 750 to 700 because you're getting closer to zero as a general rule. Anything about the handout that maybe I don't quite understand? I'm trying to give you a big picture here. I think, not sure, but I think this is the The number of years they reigned, the kings. So, for example, the bottom where you have Jeholakim, he reigns three months, he didn't really get a number for years. So they had to put three months. They can't put three there because you think three years. But yet Zedekiah reigns for 11 years. This gives you a timeline on this. Addressing the Northern Kingdom, Amos is pretty straightforward. When you read through Amos, Amos is pretty much going to tell you how the cattle choose to cut, but Hosea's approach is entirely different than Amos's approach. Hosea takes, what you're going to see, is takes more of a relational approach between Yahweh and the Israelites, the Northern Kingdom. It's a heartbroken God with an unfaithful wife. Whereas Amos doesn't take that approach at all. He comes almost like a lawyer prosecuting a lawsuit. Okay, so it's a whole different angle, but yet it's the same basic sin approach from two different ways. And Jonah's got a message altogether totally different concerning, as you well know, concerning the city of Nineveh. I'm trying to think if there's anything else about Hosea to give you as a backdrop. The book divides nicely at chapter 3 and between chapter 3 and 4. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 set up the big metaphor of Hosea is going to marry a prostitute. And from there, his entire life is going to be one big metaphor to the people of Israel of how Hosea represents God and his wife, his prostitute, represents Israel. And then what you get from chapter 4 on through chapter 14 is the admonitions and the rebukes and things of this sort that is meant to be drawn from chapters 1, 2, and 3. Does that make sense? See how this is kind of laid out a little bit? OK, we're going to read from Hosea, starting in verse 1. It says, The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Biri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So he's giving you the time reference and the person reference, king reference. over there in the southern kingdom, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel." Now, it's interesting, he says, Jeroboam, the son of Joash. If you notice, Joash on your sheet to the right is in the middle. Son of Jeroboam II, during the son of Joash. Now, he has to say Jeroboam, the son of Joash, or you would think Jeroboam, the first king of Israel, understand? It's not that Jeroboam, it's the second Jeroboam, okay? That's why he makes that distinction there. Now he says in verse 2, When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom, and have children of whoredom. For the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Dibliam, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while 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, and on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." Remember, Israel here is those ten tribes. Verse six, she conceived again and bore a daughter, and the Lord said to him, Call her name No-Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by sword, by bow, or by sword, or by horse, by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen. When she had weaned no mercy, she conceived and bore son. And the Lord said, Call his name, not my people, for you are not my people, and I am not your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the stand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, it shall be said to them, children of the living God and the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and they shall appoint for themselves one head." There's the prophecy, Jack, you were talking about. And they shall go up from the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel. All right, let's see if we can kind of decipher some of what Hosea is trying to say here in this first chapter. First of all, what's Jezreel? Call his name Jezreel. For a little while, I will punish the house of Jehu." Who's the house of Jehu? For the blood of Jezreel. Now, if you'll notice in your maps, in your little handout, bottom right, here's Israel. One of the kings of Israel was Jehu. And so, you can see the reference that Hosea is prophesying during the reign of Jeroboam II. Saying something about Jehu. The house of Jehu. The house of Jehu. If the sons come from Jehu, Jehovah has, Joash, even Jeroboam II. He says, 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. What's the blood of Jezreel? What's he talking about here? But that's a location of probably a massacre of some sort, because it took the blood out, and perhaps that king was responsible. In the valley, if you took a concordance and looked up Jezreel, you would find that there was an episode that took place in the book of Judges in the valley of Jezreel. In fact, he's going to talk about it further down. He talks about the blood of Jezreel, and then he talks about this valley of Jezreel in verse 5. So it's a place, but then he says for the blood of Jezreel, is he talking about the blood that took place in the valley? Could be. But in old, as a Jew would think in terms of what the Valley of Jezreel represented, this is the place where Gideon slew the Midianites. It was in the Valley of Jezreel. That's one of them. Another place where Jezreel has an emphasis is where, I think it's part of the, yeah, it's up here where in the Israel's kings under Ahab. Remember who Ahab was married to? Jezebel. This is where she died. was at Jezreel. And so, I don't know how all this fits together, what he's talking about in specific here, about the blood of Jezreel. It could be a spot where kings before murders took place, things of that sort. But undoubtedly, whatever this place is, although it might be a place back in the book of Judges where Gideon had a triumph, it seemed to have come upon disrepute in its name. Kind of like what people did when they found out Christ came from Nazareth. Remember? Can any good thing come out of that? I mean, you have this stigma, you know, about, we have it about certain parishes in our state. Where you're from? Oh, any good thing about that parish or that? You know, you can have that kind of a stigma. Well, here, you had some actual sins committed, crimes committed, judgments from God enacted. And so it takes on a flavor among the Jewish people saying, you know, go by that place. You always look at it and say, that's where God's judgment fell. That's where, you know, the nation took a turn for the worse. So you have spots like that. Now, what you also have in this first chapter is you see a progression of the children of Hosea. What do you see in that progression? She bears him a son, she bears him a daughter, she bears him a son. Now, what happens? When she bears him a son, we're specifically told in. Specifically, she says in verse four, the Lord said to him, I'm reading from the New American Standard, and that's where my notes are. Name him Jezreel for yet a little while and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel." And notice he says, verse 3, "...and she conceived and bore him a son." This one was legit. This was his son. But the other two are suspect. They're not your children. There's somebody else who's the father of these children. And so that's why they take on the names, just like with Israel and Jehovah, they take on the names, no mercy. Not my people. Because in reality, this was not my kid. You see? Why should I have mercy on this daughter here? It's not mine. Why should I have mercy on this son? You see? And so, when you see this progression from the child that is his to the two later children that aren't his, it also is to mirror, especially the names he gives to the children, because those names would be reflected in his relatives and things knowing these names. Why in the world are you going to call her No Mercy? Here's why I'm calling her No Mercy. The child's not mine, and neither is your allegiance to the Lord. And he's going to have no mercy on you. In fact, he's going to get to the point where you're not my people. And so what hearsay, and this is true with prophets many times, they did things in a symbolic way. Isaiah prophesied in Egypt naked for two years. Now, he didn't do that for some sort of streaking. When he would go along, he would go along bound, chained, locked in a type of slavery equipment of being brought into exile to show people, this is what the Lord is going to do to you. Get it? Can you see it? You see what it looks like? This is you. This is going to be you next year, next five years. this is what you can look forward to because you're disobeying everything about me you can look at this is going to be you so that's a it's a tv show i mean it's a vivid capture of wow that's you know and they would do that many times what ezekiel would dig a hole in the wall crawl through it with his luggage and things of this sort what in the world are you doing well this is what's going to take place so they would do enactments um And they would wear certain things, especially even with children. In fact, I don't think this is the first time God has done something with the prophets with children. I'm not mistaken. Isaiah does the same thing with the prophetic announcements in chapter seven. In chapter eight, where he talks about the children, remember, he talks about before this child is weaned, this kingdom will be completely undone. So there's a children reference, even in Isaiah chapter seven with those things. Anyway, kind of give you some little backdrops on how these names are playing out here. What's so significant about the Valley of Jezreel again? Because he's going to use this to turn it. Now I'm going to read you some notes here. It says, Many suppose that the blood of Jezreel refers to the shedding of blood of the house of Ahab and Ahazii when Jehu usurped the throne. Could be. It says, But this proposal suffered some serious difficulties. First, the king of Israel did not come to an end with Jehu's dynasty. Israel survived for 30 more years. So he goes on down and he says, It seems unlikely that the Lord would punish someone for carrying out his command. It is better to take the phrase, House of Jehu, as parallel to House of Israel, and thus another name for Israel as a whole. By this reading, the blood of Jezreel then refers to 1 Kings 21. Ahab, who promoted Baalism as the national religion of Israel, plotted to murder Naboth, a man loyal to the Lord, in order to seize his vineyard in Jezreel. That's another reference to Jezreel. Appropriately, this verse sets the tenor of the rest of the book, the ongoing confrontation between Baal and the God of Israel. And that would make some sense, too. So this blood of Jezreel even goes all the way back to Naboth. He says, we're going to enact it. This is a parallel between what I'm going to do with Israel and what you've done to Naboth, the king taking over this guy's vineyard. But what happens in the Valley of Jezreel? He goes on, he talks about how I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel. But then what happens in the Valley of Jezreel later on? Verse 10, remember? He says for great, verse 11, he says, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. How can it be great? Great in a sense of judgment. See, when he gets to the verse 10, this is the Abrahamic promise. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. That's what he tells Abraham. So here's this prophecy. You're not my people. No mercy. And the very first thing that you might think of is, but wait, we're supposed to have children like the sand of the sea. Stars in the heaven, if you could count them. How can we not be his people? How can we not have any mercy? And God says, oh, no, I'm going to keep that promise. That promise is going to be kept. In fact, what does he say about that? He goes on, he says, and in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people. There's your Valley of Jezreel, it shall be said, children of the living God. Now, this. Is he contradicting himself here, he's naming this child, not my people, he's going to break the bow, in other words, the might, the strength of the northern kingdom, he's going to bring them to nothing. They're going to not be called as people. And then he says in that place they're going to be called his people. Is there a contradiction here? How are we to understand this? Romans chapter 9. This verse is quoted by Paul in Romans 9. This is what the Israelites could never understand about God's promises. This is the point that he tries to drive home in Romans 9, 10, 11, which we'll look at a little bit more detail in the second half today. But he says, he mentions about these vessels of mercy, the riches of God being shown on these vessels of mercy in verse 23, that were prepared beforehand for glory, who are called from Jews and not just from Jews, from Gentiles. And as he tries to make that point, he quotes from Hosea chapter one. And he says, as indeed he says in Hosea, those who are not my people, I will call my people and her who is not beloved, I will call beloved. Now, the historical reference is that child. These people, you know, this child's not loved. And now God's saying to the Israelites, to the northern kingdom, you're not loved. You're not my people. So it's very easy to think God doesn't have a people. He says, don't rush to that kind of conclusion. Don't think because you're not my people, I don't have a people. Just because you're not to be shown mercy, I'm not going to show mercy. And this is where Paul's driving home from this passage here in Hosea and says, in the very place where it was said to them, you're not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God. So what's the what's the reference to seen in the New Testament as well as the old? Is that like Paul's going to make the point? It's not Israel after the flesh who are the true Remnant it's going to be those who are called and so what he says here in this passage Which says the same thing in Romans 9 is that yeah, you are not my people But it doesn't mean I don't have one and those that I am going to call I'm going to call them My people at the very spot where it's originally said historically you can't call people This is a place where they're not my people. That's where I'm gonna call them sons of the Living God Does that make sense? So you have sons of promise and then you have sons of the flesh and And those sons of the flesh here are going to be receiving judgment, no mercy. You're not my people yet. At the same time, that very spot, you're going to find God calling people, my people, showing them mercy, showing them great love. Does that make sense? You understand any questions on that? I mean, it can be a little confusing if you don't quite understand in Hosea chapter one. Now, lastly, what does he mean in verse 7. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah. Remember, in your maps, the house of Judah is what? That's the southern kingdom, right? Rich, I might want to grab one of these and pass them to Lauren and Megan and Marilyn in the back. It's just a historical reference for the book of Hosea. What does it mean he's going to have mercy on the house of Judah? Remember, the house of Judah is the southern part with Jerusalem. What does that refer to? Oops, tell you what, why don't you give me one? I'm missing one. Huh? Oh, sorry. Got the wrong one. Got my notes from my second sermon. That's the top one. Sorry. Anybody have an extra one? We should have about 10 of them. I think I might have given my last one away. Anyway, this is when Sennacherib comes down, remember? Surrounds Jerusalem. during the time of Hezekiah. Because remember, he's prophesying during the time of Hezekiah. He says that in verse what? 1 and 2. And after the Assyrians conquer the ten tribes in the north, they go down to the south. They surround Jerusalem. What happens? You remember? Psalm 46. You still know that I am God. Don't answer, don't question, don't say anything to these people out there. Remember, was it Sennacherib comes in and puts down God and says, we're going to conquer you, you better, you know, give up and things of this sort. And what takes place? That night an angel of war comes and 185,000 of the enemy die. That's from the Assyrians that came down to try to conquer Jerusalem. And that's what he's referring to here. Not by bow, not by war, not by might. I'm going to protect Judah and I'm going to do it this way. And it comes to pass and they are dead. And of course, Sennacherib goes back. And of course, I think he's assassinated when he gets back to His homeland. But that's what this is referring to in verse 7. I'll have mercy on the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God. But he's not going to have mercy on the house of Israel, Ephraim, the northern kingdom. They're going to be taken over by Sennacherib then when they come down. And this is what he's talking about here, about the difference between Judah and Israel. So you have to understand the terms. When he talks about Israel, he's talking about the northern kingdom. When he talks about Judah, he's talking about the two tribes in the south. That has a whole different lineage, as you can see in your handout. Kings coming from Rehoboam all the way down to Zedekiah, and then the northern kingdom on the right side at the bottom. You see the kings starting from Jeroboam going all the way down to Hosea. Does that make sense? You understand what's trying to drive home here? So reading Hosea chapter one, what can we take away from this? What's he trying to drive home here? Not my people. Wow. And at the same time, he says the very place where they're called not my people there, they shall be called sons of the living God. That's a reference to the New Covenant. Where on that time and that day, they're going to be called sons of the living God. One head. See? The unification of both northern and southern kingdoms. How's that going to take place? Well, it isn't going to take place politically. They thought it was. Some guys are going to come up and they're going to unify everybody. That isn't going to be how it happens. When the son of David, Christ comes, he's not only going to unify those, he's going to unify the world. Tear down the wall between Jew and Gentile. Not just the wall between Judah and Israel. the northern and the southern kingdom. Any questions on Hosea chapter 1? We're in a different book. We're not in the book of Psalms anymore. And real quick, in closing, as I said at the beginning before, you know, others have come in, your Bible is nicely balanced between 17 books in the front, 17 books in the end, 5 books of experience in the middle, your Old Testament section. So 17, 5, and 17. And 17 historical, from Genesis all the way to Esther. And we have 17 prophetic started from Isaiah going all the way to Malachi. And even those, that 17 block is broken down into five, nine and three, just like the historical is broken down into five, nine and three. Five big ones, five big prophets. Nine pre-exile, nine pre-exile prophets. Three post-exile history books. Three, post-exile prophets. And then you have your experiential books right in the middle with psalms running through, psalm by psalm. Any questions on the book of Hosea? Anything in chapter one that you see? A big question that comes out is why would God tell a man to marry a prostitute? Knowing that the woman is committing sin. Telling a man to go marry a woman committing sin like that. Why would he do something like that? What's the moral reason for that? It's a picture. Exactly right. It's Israel, the northern kingdom, falling away from worshipping Jehovah. And if you notice on your little handout, Hosea, the bottom right, is the last of those prophets, okay? Because those three, that northern kingdom, three of the main prophets is Hosea, Amos, and who? And Jonah. And we'll be looking at those. We'll be reading through those three. And when we finish that, we might jump back to Psalms. But that's the prophets to the northern kingdom there. In the northern kingdom, it was pretty decadent. You never had a good king sit on the throne in the northern kingdom. A good king would have to be from the line of David. And even them, not all of them were good kings, you see. All of them practiced Baalism in some way, shape, form or another in the northern kingdom. And God, in His mercy, allowed this kingdom to even exist and continue. And you see the overtures through the prophets on your sheet there. of him reaching out many, many times to the Northern Kingdom for them to come back to the Lord. Not just come back to ritualism, or just come back to Jerusalem, but to come back to the Lord, to the difference in the heart. That's where the turning has to be. And this is what you're really going to find in Hosea. You find this faithfulness, unfaithfulness paradigm that's being addressed. Hosea is going to be lawyer, prosecutor, and defendant. In Amos, rather. But Hosea is going to be a faithless wife and a faithful husband. That's the paradigm. Anybody on God's hand before we go to the Lord? Okay, let's pray.