Hosea 12:10, commentary and pictures

God spoke through the ministry of prophets by multiplying visions and using similitudes, that is symbolic comparisons, illustrations, pictures and figures to make His messages known. By this ministry He guided Israel and made the prophet His mouthpiece, so that the words spoken and the messages given are divine in origin and not merely the product of human thought or insight. Prophetic communication was not rare in ancient times, for God gave Israel many prophets and was ever ready to instruct them in this way when they followed Him, and this instruction made them glad and made Him near to them, while the withholding of visions and prophets brought mourning. He repeatedly tried by these visions and illustrative comparisons to turn Israel back to Himself and to warn of the consequences of disobedience. These revelations do not add to or take away from the word already given, but expose the ways in which people are being led astray, clarify truths already received, and make clearer the light concerning the promised Messiah and His glory, for God reveals things to come in figures, parables and comparisons, often showing the same future events again and again by different visions or symbols that must all be combined and considered together to be understood.

Means and Historical Setting

God spoke through the ministry of prophets by multiplying visions and using similitudes to communicate His messages. Those similitudes were symbolic comparisons, illustrations, pictures, figures, likenesses and symbols by which counsel and great truths were revealed and set forth. The messages were given repeatedly through the prophets, not once only. Farther down in earth's history, instead of angels appearing visibly to men, God instructed His people in this other way. Those instructed in dreams and visions of the night were called prophets.

Prophetic communication of this kind was not rare in ancient times. God gave Israel a great number of prophets and multiplied and increased visions through them for instruction. He was ever ready to instruct His people in this way when they followed Him. Through this prophetic ministry God guided Israel and made the prophet His mouthpiece. The prophets' words and the origin of their messages were divine, not merely the result of their own thought or insight.

The verse stands in Hosea 12-14, the closing section of the prophecy of Hosea. Hosea's name means salvation, and he was the last of the great prophets of the northern kingdom. The first three chapters were written about 748, and chapters 4-14 about 734. That closing message strongly predicts the coming captivity of the tribes and warns against alliance with Egypt. It exposes the sad moral degeneration and decay of the nation and the gross iniquity of priests and princes, and uses Hosea's own painful and pathetic personal history to symbolize Jehovah's separation from His people. It closes with remonstrance and tender exhortation, with rich promises of blessing from God as the result of repentance.

Purpose and Prophetic Interpretation

God repeatedly tried by speaking through prophets, by giving many visions, and by using illustrative comparisons through their ministry to turn Israel back to Himself and to warn of the consequences of disobedience. From the man sent to Jeroboam at Bethel through Elijah, Elisha, Amos, and Hosea, those consequences were repeatedly set before the people. God gave Israel a great number of prophets and increased visions through them to instruct His people, and He was ever ready to instruct them in this way when they followed Him. That instruction made Israel glad and made God near to them in all they called upon Him for, while the withholding of visions and prophets brought mourning, with no signs, no prophet, and none knowing how long.

These revelations through multiplied visions and symbolic comparisons did not add to or take away from the word already given. They exposed ways people were being led astray in the circumstances of their time, clarified truths they had already received, and made clearer the light concerning the promised Messiah and His glory. God reveals things to come by visions, in figures, parables, and comparisons. The same future events are often revealed again and again by different visions or in different figures, parables, and symbols, so to understand them all must be combined in one and considered together.

God has spoken through prophets by giving more than one vision and by using similitudes, that is symbols, to bring light through their ministry. Daniel is a prophetic book that makes extensive use of such symbols to set forth great truths. This includes the dream in which a symbolic image revealed future kingdoms.