Via Emmaus Bible Reading Plan: A Few Resources on Hosea

This month our Bible reading plan takes us to the Minor Prophets. To help us assemble these books and understand their message, here are a number of resources to Hosea, the first book of The Twelve. You can find more information about the Minor Prophets here.

An Outline of Hosea

Here are three outlines for Hosea, with increasing complexity.

The ESV Study Bible

Biographical: Hosea’s Family (1:1–3:5)
Prophetic: Hosea Spells out His Parable with Accusations, Warnings, and Promises (4:1–14:9)

The Bible Project

In his video (below) Tim Mackie outlines Hosea with three major sections (1:2–3:5; 4:1–11:11; 12:1–14:8), with an opening verse (1:1) and closing postscript (14:9).

Historical Introduction (1:1)
Hosea’s Marriage to Gomer (1:2–3:5)
Accusations and Warnings for Israel (4:1–11:11)
More Accusations and Warnings (12:1–14:8)
Author’s Concluding Note (14:9)

The Message of the Twelve

Fuhr and Yates provide the most full and helpful approach to the complicated book of Hosea. Identifying “six panels” in the book, Fuhr and Yates present a repeating pattern of doom, discipline, repentance, and eternal hope. As they display it graphically, the book can be outlined like this (p. 62):

Impending Doom	Intermediary Discipline	Call to Repentance	Eternal Hope
1:2–6, 8–9			1:7, 10–2:1
2:2–13			2:14–23
	3:1–4		3:5
4:1–5:14	5:15a	6:1–3	5:15b
6:4–11:7		10:12	11:8–11
11:12–13:16		14:1–3	14:4–8

Fuhr and Yates then add detail to each panel (pp. 62–84). By following their outline, we are given a helpful pathway through this complex book.

1:1: Historical Introduction

Panel 1

1:2–6, 8–9: “And I will not be your God” (Prophetic drama and symbolic names: describing God’s rejection of Israel)
1:7, 10–2:1: “They will be called: sons of the Living God” (Reversal: symbolic names describing God’s restoration of his people)

Panel 2

2:2–13: “She is not my wife and I am not her husband” (Accusation against the adulterous mother)
2:14–23: “I will take you to be my wife forever” (Reversal: A salvation oracle highlighting God’s restored relationship with Israel)

Panel 3

3:1–4: “You must live with me many days” (Prophetic drama and a prophet’s glimpses into the future)
3:5: “In the last days” (God’s eschatological restoration of Israel)

Panel 4

4:1–5:14: “No truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge of God in the land” (The legal case against Israel)
5:15: “I will depart” (Prophetic glimpse of intermediary distance)
5:15: “They will search” (Prophetic glimpse of restoration)
6:1–3: “Come, let us return” (Call to repent [now]: a glimpse ahead to the eschatological restoration [later])

Panel 5

6:4–11:7: “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind” (Musings of judgment: historical reflection and oracles of judgment)
10:12: “Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love” (A call to repentance)
11:8–11: “How can I give you up, Ephraim?” (Musings of salvation)

Panel 6

11:12–13:16: “Therefore they forgot me” (Musings of judgment: historical reflection and oracles of judgment)
14:1–3: “Israel, return to Yahweh your God” (A call to repentance)
14:4–8: “I will freely love them” (Musings on salvation)

14:9: A Wisdom Postscript