Hosea (760-720 B.C.) "hoshea" (deliverer)
Israel's continued unfaithfulness is dramatically illustrated in brokenhearted Hosea's relationship with his unfaithful wife:
Hosea 8:14
"For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and has built temples; Judah also has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his palaces."
God's love is also illustrated in Hosea's willingness to buy back his wife after her harlotry had led her to be sold at the slave block.
Hosea 11:7-8, 14:4
My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him. "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? . . . My heart churns within Me; my sympathy is stirred. . . "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him."
In the years leading up to the fall of Samaria, Hosea warned that the people would become slaves in Assyria because they had forgotten God. They had even turned to Assyria and Egypt for help. God would later restore them but after some measure of discipline.
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