"All of life is business with God…" John Calvin
Originally posted December 7, 2019, at Women of Purpose. How can I summarize this study of the book of Hosea? We spent 12 weeks mining the treasures of this book, and I still feel like there’s so much that we didn’t tap, so much still just out of reach. We know that God is love. … Continue reading Hosea Summary and Conclusion
Originally posted November 22, 2019, at Women of Purpose. Oh, sisters, how refreshing it is to come at last to the final chapter of our study. Not because it means that our time is drawing to a close, no, but because we see in chapter 14 of Hosea a model of true, mindful, heartfelt repentance … Continue reading Final Appeal
Originally posted November 18, 2019, at Women of Purpose. This week our study covered chapter 13 of Hosea, and it is a grim picture of how very far Israel has run from the Lord and the terrible consequences which will therefore follow. These are the portions of the Old Testament that nobody likes to read. … Continue reading Rejection of Hope
Originally posted at Women of Purpose, November 9, 2019. This week as we cover Hosea 11:12-12:14 we find a fascinating parallel. According to Hosea, the life of the nation of Israel follows the pattern of the life of their patriarch, Jacob. Because these parallels from Jacob’s life show up in our passage, we spent quite … Continue reading Misplaced Dependence
Originally posted October 20, 2019, at Women of Purpose. The first nine verses of Hosea chapter 9 are hard to read. The prophet Hosea marches into a festal celebration where the people of Israel are enjoying (apparently) the Feast of Tabernacles—or rather, their version of the feast which had merged with the pagan harvest rituals … Continue reading No Worship in a Foreign Land
Originally posted October 5, 2019, at Women of Purpose. This week’s passage not only covered a lot of ground, but it was not easy ground to walk through. I have promised myself and you that I will keep these summaries brief, and so I can’t touch on everything we discussed. But in this lesson we … Continue reading Transgressors of the Covenant
Originally posted September 27, 2019, on Women of Purpose. In last week’s lesson we saw that God was calling Israel to court, as it were, leveling against them a lawsuit for their unfaithfulness. His chief accusation in chapter 4 was against the priests who had neglected their positions as the teachers and preachers of God’s … Continue reading Punishment Coming
Originally posted at Women of Purpose, September 19, 2019. This week in our study we covered chapter 4 of the book of Hosea. In this chapter we turn from the marriage of Hosea and Gomer which was the topic of chapters 1-3, and we now focus specifically on God’s judgement against Israel: his accusation against … Continue reading Legal Proceedings
Originally posted September 13, 2019, at Women of Purpose. This week we dove straight into Hosea. Just like diving into a cold pool on a hot summer day, it was both shocking and refreshing. Hosea was instructed by God to marry a “wife of whoredom” to illustrate to Israel (and Judah) in shocking fashion the … Continue reading Hosea’s Family
