Gospel Doctrine OT c34: Hosea

Gospel Doctrine OT c34 – Hosea

What are the following an example of?

It’s been a hard day’s night and I’ve been working like a dog (Beattles)

And I’m hungry like a wolf (Duran Duran)

Ogres are like onions. (Shrek)

Life is like a box of chocolates. (Forrest Gump)

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Shakespeare)

O, my luve’s like a red, red rose. (Robert Burns)

Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. (Isaiah 1:18)

How oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings. (3 Nephi 10:4)

What is a similie? A simile is a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid. (OxfordDictionary)

??Why does the Lord use similes and metaphors? The manual says comparing a complicated or unfamiliar idea with one that is simpler or more familiar makes it (1.) more understandable to the people who are being taught. Comparisons also help (2.) provide a lot of detail in just a few words.

Hosea used similitudes in his record in the bible.

History: “Hosea lived during one of the most prosperous eras of ancient Israel’s history and was a contemporary of the prophet Amos. But as his book reveals, his society was deeply marred by depravity and evil. His written record exhibits an extraordinary measure of tenderness and compassion which is combined with a stern resolve against wickedness and, particularly corruption in high places.”  (S. Kent Brown)

Hosea uses a similitude we see frequently in the scriptures, which is marriage; the Lord as the bridegroom or husband and his covenant people as the bride or wife.

From the manual: “Using the similitude of a faithful husband and an adulterous wife, Hosea describes the relationship between the Lord and Israel.”

Read Hosea 1:2-3 

FIRST: What does comparing our relationship with the Lord- to marriage, teach us about the level of commitment and devotion the Lord expects from us?

If we are instructed to liken the scriptures to ourselves, the Lord is the husband which makes us a wife of whoredoms. It feels uncomfortable to place us there but we must continue with the similitude or comparison. To get rid of the “w” word, we need to know what it is.

?? Reading v.2 again, what is a great whoredom committed? “departing from the Lord.”

?? What things may divert us from our dedication to following the Savior?

?? What else did the ‘wife’ do in chapter 2?

Read Hosea 2:5.

?? How do we give credit to false gods for the blessings we receive?

Hosea 2: 8,13  “For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.” “And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.”

What is the Lord’s response to the behavior of the ‘wife’?

Read Hosea 2:6-7

“After later abandoning Hosea, Gomer recognized her mistakes and wanted to return; but by then – one must infer – she had become a slave. The Lord directed Hosea to buy her back, a course which he pursued willingly, for he still loved her despite all. The prophet next disciplined Gomer by severely restricting her movements and associations with others before restoring her fully to her former status.” (S. Kent Brown)

Read Hosea 2:14-16

Bring her to the wilderness

Speak comfortably with her

Valley of Achor (Trouble) for a door of hope

As in the days of her youth

Though shalt call me Ishi (husband)

And shalt call me no more Baali (master)

??What does it mean to you that you as the ‘wife’ will call the Lord no more ‘master’ but will call him ‘husband’?

VIDEO

“Genuine repentance changes entirely our relationship with the Savior. We are no longer slaves to the merciless mastery of Justice; we are married to the mercies of God.” (Breck England, Meridian Magazine)

“Just as the landfill requires dedicated work and attention, laboriously applying layer after layer of fill to reclaim the low-lying ground, our lives also require the same vigilance, continually applying layer after layer of the healing gift of repentance.” (Elder Shayne M. Bowen, Gen. Conf. Oct 2006)

“The Atonement of Jesus Christ is available to each of us. His Atonement is infinite. It applies toe veryone, even you. It can clean, reclaim, and sanctify even you. That is what infinite means—total, complete, all, forever. President Boyd K. Packer has taught: ‘There is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness. That is the promise of the atonement of Christ’ (‘The Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness,’ Ensign, Nov. 1995)” (Elder Shayne M. Bowen, Gen. Conf. Oct 2006)

Hosea 13:910; Hosea 14:4 Ultimately God loves us!

Just like the harlot wife thinks all her blessings come from her lovers. Hosea 2:8-13

Another similitude – Hosea 11:1, 3-4  As a father to a child. But they knew not that I healed them.

Hosea 13:5-6  According to their pasture, so were they filled. They have forgotten me.

“On such a view, this sorrowful episode deepened Hosea’s appreciation for the Lord’s frustration at Israel’s infidelity and apostasy, thus fashioning the prophet into an apt spokesman for the messages of divine disappointment and stern warning. In addition, this representation of Hosea’s marital troubles fits a wider pattern perceptible in the Lord’s dealings with his agents: he leads them through experiences that make them effective messengers for their time and place.” (S. Kent Brown)

“The Hebrew text of Hosea’s book unfortunately, is very corrupted, making some passages difficult to grasp. Even so, it is certain that the key for comprehending all of Hosea’s words lies in chapters 1 through 3, the report of his marriage to a harlot.” (S, Kent Brown)

** S. Kent Brown, “Studies in Scripture – vol. 4 1Kings to Malachi,” edited by Kent P. Jackson

EXTRA QUOTES:

“The joyful news for anyone who desires to be rid of the consequences of poor choices is that the Lord sees weaknesses differently than He does rebellion. Whereas the Lord warns that unrepented rebellion will bring punishment, when the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy.”

(Elder Richard G. Scott, Gen. Conf. Oct 2013)

“Throughout your life there may be times when you have gone places you never should have gone and done things you never should have don.e If you will turn away from sin, you will be able one day to know the peace that comes from following the pathway of complete repentance.

“No matter what our transgressions have been, no matter how much our actions may have hurt others, that guilt can all be wiped out. To me, perhaps the most beautiful phrase in all scripture is when the Lord said, ‘Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more’ (D&C 58:42).

“That is the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Atonement: to take anyone who comes, anyone who will join, and put them through an experience so that at the end of their life, they can go through the veil having repented of their sins and having been washed clean through the blood of Christ (see Revelation 1:5).”

(Pres. Boyd K. Packer, Gen Conf. Oct 2012)