Psalms 76:1 - Meaning and Application

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of the Book of the Prophet Hosea

1. We now come to the twelve minor prophets. Some older writers counted them together as one book when listing the books of the Old Testament. They are called minor prophets, not because they are less important or less authoritative than the major prophets, but simply because their writings are shorter.

We have good reason to think these prophets preached as much as the others, but they wrote less, and less of their preaching was preserved. Many excellent prophets wrote nothing at all, and others wrote very little, yet they were still very useful in their own day. In the same way, the Christian church has had many bright and faithful servants whose writings are not known to later generations, though they were no less gifted, gracious, or useful than those who are better known.

Josephus says these twelve shorter prophetic books were gathered into one volume by the men of the great synagogue in Ezra’s time. The last three of these twelve prophets are often thought to have been members of that learned and godly group. These books are what remained of inspired writings that might otherwise have been scattered and lost. Scholars value ancient fragments, and these are fragments of prophecy, carefully preserved by God’s providence and by the care of the church, so that nothing would be lost, much like the shorter letters of Paul after his longer ones.

Sirach speaks of these twelve prophets with honor, calling them men who strengthened Jacob (Ecclesiasticus 49:10). Nine of these prophets spoke before the captivity, and the last three after the Jews returned to their own land. There is some difference in the order of these books. We place them as the ancient Hebrews did, and all agree to put Hosea first. Still, the oldest order is not a major matter, and if we try to arrange them by age, we cannot be sure in every case.

2. Here we have the prophecy of Hosea, who was the first of the writing prophets, rising up somewhat before Isaiah. The ancient writers say he was from Beth-shemesh and from the tribe of Issachar. He served as a prophet for a very long time, and the Jews said he prophesied for nearly ninety years. Jerome notes that Hosea spoke about the fall of the kingdom of the ten tribes long before it happened, then lived to see it, mourn it, and use it as a warning to the sister kingdom, Judah.

The main purpose of his prophecy is to expose sin and announce God’s judgments against a people who would not repent. His style is very brief and sharp, more so than that of other prophets. In some places it reads almost like Proverbs, with short sayings rather than connected speeches, so it might seem more like Hosea’s sayings than Hosea’s sermons. Yet a weighty proverb can sometimes do more good than a long speech.

Huet says that many parts of Jeremiah and Ezekiel seem to refer back to Hosea and even borrow from him, since he wrote before them. For example, Jeremiah 7:34, Jeremiah 16:9, Jeremiah 25:10, and Ezekiel 26:13 say the same thing as Hosea 2:11. Ezekiel 16:16 and what follows seem to come from Hosea 2:8. The promise of serving the Lord their God and David their king in Jeremiah 30:8-9 and Ezekiel 34:23 was already given in Hosea 3:5. Ezekiel 19:12 also seems to be taken from Hosea 13:15.

So one prophet confirms and strengthens another, and all of them work by one and the same Spirit.