p. 11 | HOSEA by F. D. Starr

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 5, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 14.

HOSEA.

By F. D. Starr

BY F. D. STARR.

"As He saith also in Hosea, I will call them My people, which were not My people, and her beloved, which was not beloved." Rom. 9:25. This quotation is evidently from the Septuagint translation of Hosea 2:23, as it is a repetition of that verse in that version, thus furnishing another instance to show the extent to which the Septuagint was used by the New Testament writers. The book of Hosea has much to say about Ephraim, sometimes referring to the nation of Israel as a whole. Some of these statements about Ephraim should receive special notice; one is found in chapter 4, verse 17: "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone."

When the Lord speaks a sentence of this kind, it means something. This foreshows the doom of this tribe. We find the tribes continued in the new earth, as given in Rev. 7:4-8. But, as we look over the list of names, we discover that the name of Ephraim is missing. Instead of this name, the name of the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, that is, Joseph, is given. Thus the name of Ephraim is discontinued from the list of the tribes, and we see the serious manner in which this denunciation of Hosea 4:17 was carried into effect.

We discover also another change in this enumeration of the tribes in Revelation 7. The name of Dan is missing, and in its place is found that of Levi. This may be because that Dan was the first among the tribes to depart from God, and go into idolatry, as seen by the last chapters of the book of Judges. It is a fearful thing to have the Lord say of us: "Let him alone." May we heed the lesson given us on this point in the book of Hosea, and thus escape the doom of having it said of us.

We learn from Matt. 2:15 that our Lord went down into Egypt in His infancy, and was there till the death of Herod, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son." The prophet who spoke these words was Hosea, and this prediction is found in Hosea 11:1. So we see that he is one of the prophets who has foretold definitely about the life and experience of our blessed Saviour. "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you," Hosea 10:12.

This is one of the many predictions found in the Bible concerning the latter rain, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as was the case on the day of Pentecost at the time of the former rain. The effect of the rich bestowal of the Spirit is that those who receive it lead righteous lives. This is ever the work of the Spirit of God. The closing words of the book show the importance of its study: "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein." God has said the wise shall understand these things in this book. Let us study it that His promise may be fulfilled to us.