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Hosea
Familiarity with the book of Hosea is usually limited to the first three chapters. In those chapters, Hosea confronts his readers with the striking analogy between his failed marriage and Israel’s relationship with God. While we are left with some profound issues of interpretation in these chapters, Hosea’s message of God’s judgment and love toward Israel is generally clear and indisputably striking. In contrast, the remaining chapters (Hos. 4-14) are among the most difficult in the entire Bible. Andersen and Freedman’s comment (66) that Hosea “competes with Job for the distinction of containing more unintelligible passages than any other book of the Hebrew Bible” certainly is true for this section of the book. These difficulties have kept many from delving into this part of the canon. We do not deny the persistent problems, but to avoid studying Hosea because of them is regrettable, for some of the most moving language about God and his relationship to his people may be found in this book. Raymond B. Dillard and Tremper Longman III - AN INTRODUCTION to the OLD TESTAMENT