Minor Prophets: Overview of Hosea

Through the minor prophet Hosea, God said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” Hosea 4:6.Welcome to our study of the Minor Prophets, and in particular today, the book of Hosea. As we think about the book of Hosea, we're talking about a section of books known as the Minor Prophets. I want to say just a little bit about the breakdown, the categorization, of the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets. It may be just a little bit misleading in the sense that major prophets does not mean that their messages are more important, or major and minor prophets by their very nature are not less important. The only reason they're called the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets is because of the volume size of the books. For example, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel are rather large prophetic books. Then you have books like Jonah which is four chapters or Obadiah which is one. They’re smaller in size but not in the content and the power-packed messages that they contain.What is the book of Hosea all about? Israel is in a very dark time- a time when they are steeped in sin and chasing after the other nations. They’re following the idols. They're not staying true to God and as result, they're involved in spiritual adultery. That's what Hosea is all about. (The full transcript is available in the "Download Document" button above.)