Hosea in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
Placed first of the minor prophets in the canon (one
collective whole "the book of the prophets," Acts 7:42),
probably because of the length, vivid earnestness, and
patriotism of his prophecies, as well as their resemblance
to those of the greater prophets, Chronologically Jonah was
before him, 862 B.C., Joel about 810 B.C., Amos 790 B.C.,
Hosea 784 to 722 B.C., more or less contemporary with Isaiah
and Amos. Began prophesying in the last years of Jeroboam
II, contemporary with Uzziah; ended at the beginning of
Hezekiah's reign. The prophecies of his extant are only
those portions of his public teachings which the Holy Spirit
preserved, as designed for the benefit of the uuiversal
church. His name means salvation. Son of Beeri, of Issachar;
born in Bethshemesh.
His pictures of Israelite life, the rival factions calling
in Egypt and Assyria, mostly apply to the interreign after
Jeroboam's death and to the succeeding reigns, rather than
to his able government. In Hosea 2:8 he makes no allusion to
Jehovah's restoration of Israel's coasts under Jeroboam
among Jehovah's mercies to Israel. He mentions in the
inscription, besides the reign of Jeroboam in Israel, the
reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah, though his prophecies are addressed primarily to
Israel and only incidentally to Judah; for all the prophets
whether in Judah or Israel regarded Israel's separation from
Judah, civil as well as religious, as an apostasy from God
who promised the kingship of the theocracy to the line of
David. Hence Elijah in Israel took twelve stones to
represent Judah as well as Israel (1 Kings 18:31). Eichhorn
sees a Samaritanism in the masculine suffix of the second
person (-ak)...
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