Hosea's teaching has its
roots in the events of the Exodus, leading to the covenant relationship
established between God and Israel at Sinai. This relationship is seen as a
personal, loving relationship distinguished by loyalty, loving-kindness,
justice, mercy and knowledge of God's goodness. Hosea 13:4-5 says, 'The LORD
says, "I am the Lord your God, who led you out of Egypt. You have no God
but me. I alone am your saviour. I took care of you in the dry desert
land." , Chapters 11 : I and 2: I5b also refer to God's loving care of
Israel as he brought her out of Egypt and led her through the desert.
Hosea illustrates this
relationship between God and Israel in two ways. He compares it with the
relationship between husband and wife in a marriage, and with the relationship
between a loving father and child. Hosea's message cannot be separated from his
personal experience of his marriage and his fatherly relationship with his
children, both of which brought him deep pain because his great love for his
wife and children was spurned by them. Through his own experience he came to
understand how Israel seemed to God. His experiences mirrored God's experiences
with Israel. Israel had rejected God's love like an unfaithful wife or an
unfeeling son. 'When the LORD first spoke to Israel through Hosea, he said to
Hosea, "Go and get married; your wife will be unfaithful, and her children
will be just like her. In the same way, my people have left me and become
unfaithful". (Hosea 1:2). The Lord says, "When Israel was a child, I
loved him and called him out of Egypt as my son. But the more I called to him,
the more he turned away from me" '(11: 1-2).
Hosea 8: 1-3 says, 'My
people have broken the covenant I made with them and have rebelled against my
teaching. Even though they call me their God and claim that they are my people
and that they know me, they have rejected what is good.'
Hosea 6: 4-6 says, 'But the
LORD says, "Israel and Judah, what am I going to do with you? Your love
for me disappears as quickly as morning mist; it is like dew which vanishes
early in the day. That is why I sent my prophets to you with my message of
judgement and destruction. What I want from you is plain and clear: I want your
constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know
me than bum offerings to me" '. The Hebrew word for which the English
translation in the passage is 'constant love', is hesed. Hesed has the idea of strong, steadfast, faithful love. This kind of love
has an inner stability and is not mere emotional feeling although intensity of
emotion is part of it. 'Covenant love', pledged to endure, is hesed.