Dict: smith - HOSEA

smith:

HOSEA - H>@ - (salvation), son of Beeri, and first of the minor prophets. Probably the life, or rather the prophetic career, of Hosea extended from B.C. 784 to 723, a period of fifty-nine years. The prophecies of Hosea were delivered in the kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam II was on the throne, and Israel was at the height of its earthly splendor. Nothing is known of the prophet’s life excepting what may be gained from his book.

HOSEA, PROPHECIES OF - H>@ - This book consists of fourteen chapters. It is easy to recognize two great divisions in the book:

(1) ch. 1 to 3;

(2) ch. 4 to end. The subdivision of these several parts is a work of greater difficulty
The first division should probably be subdivided into three separate poems, each originating in a distinct aim, and each after its own fashion attempting to express the idolatry of Israel by imagery borrowed from the matrimonial relation. Attempts have been made to subdivide the second part of the book. These divisions are made either according to reigns of contemporary kings or according to the subject-matter of the poem. The prophecies were probably collected by Hosea himself toward the end of his career. Of his style Eichhorn says, "His discourse is like a garland woven of a multiplicity of flowers; images are woven upon images, metaphor strung upon metaphor. Like a bee he flies from one flower-bed to another, that he may suck his honey from the most varied pieces....Often he is prone to approach to allegory; often he sinks down in obscurity."