BBB Bible Series: Hosea Trivia Quiz

Answer: Israel

Israel, the Northern Kingdom of the Jews. Judah was the Southern Kingdom. While Hosea occasionally compares Judah's faithfulness favourably to that of Israel, Judah is also not guiltless.

Answer: The relationship of God to Israel

As Hosea was a husband to Gomer, and cherished her,
so God was a husband to Israel, and cherished her.
As Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea,
so Israel had been unfaithful to God.

Answer: No mercy

This is not the eternally loving God so popular in modern Christianity.
Consider Hosea 13:16 -
"Samaria is held guilty, For she has rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child ripped open."
This is God betrayed, angry and hurt; God out for vengeance.
Hosea was the final warning, the last chance prophet for Israel to mend their (spiritually) adulterous ways.

Answer: Not my people

It is an angry God who names a child 'Not my people', for the sake of delivering a warning. Nonetheless, Hosea also contains promises of redemption and reconciliation as well as the predominant warnings, threats and promises of punishment for sin.

Answer: Assyrians

In Hosea 11:5 the prophet specifically identifies Assyria as ruling over Israel; this in spite of the fact that during his ministry Israel was making friendly overtures toward Assyria, and promising to pay tribute. Assyria conquered Israel as prophesied, the fall of the city of Samaria in 722 B.C. bringing to an end the existence of the Northern Kingdom.

In little more than a generation later, Judah would follow when Babylon conquered Jerusalem.

Answer: He bought her

"So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley." (Hosea 3:2) I am inclined to believe that the woman referred to is Gomer, who had left Hosea and moved in with a lover. This is a matter of some debate, but does not impact on the answer to the question as asked. If this is in fact Gomer, then this action illustrates God repeatedly taking Israel back, even after she has been unfaithful to Him by committing idolatry.

Answer: mercy, sacrifice, the knowledge of God

This is one of many places in the Old Testament where an understanding of God can be observed penetrating the understanding of God's spokesmen more deeply than the simple observance of the Law and the offering of sacrifices.

Answer: Assyria and Egypt

The verse refers to 'Ephraim', but this still means 'Israel' in the sense of the Northern Kingdom. Historically, the king Hoshea first tried to appease Assyria by paying tribute to Shalmaneser. Later, Hoshea rebelled against Assyrian dominance, stopped paying the tribute, and tried to recruit Egypt to join Israel in resisting Assyria. This history is recorded briefly in 2 Kings 17:1-6.

P.S. If the similarity between 'Hoshea' and 'Hosea' interests you, Hoshea the king was the son of Elah; while Hosea the prophet was the son of Beeri.

Answer: fatherless

The thought here strongly echoes that in Psalm 10:14b:
"The helpless commits himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless."
(cf. also Psalm 68:5)
'The fatherless' have no one to look out for them and protect them; nor do they have any strength of their own upon which they can rely. In this context, this last is the key point which Israel must come to recognise if their repentance is to be genuine.

Answer: 60

Hosea's prophecies can be dated with reasonable confidence from 784 to 723 B.C., which is a period of 59 years; the prophet himself lived on into the reign of Hezekiah of Judah (728-686 B.C.)