Hosea: The Great Reversal of the Great I-Am, And Other Essays

By John McKenna

Dr. John McKenna shows us what the book of Hosea tells us about God. He also has essays about the Word of God, God's names and titles, the freedom of Christ, and a personal story about his last visit with Thomas F. Torrance. Since this book begins with an essay about Hosea, it also concludes with an essay about Hosea, this time by Michael Morrison on the message of Hosea chapter 11.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grace Communion International
• Release date: Mar 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301336661

John McKenna

John McKenna is a scientist and a retired medical doctor who has been practising natural medicine for 25 years. He is the bestselling author of Hard to Stomach, Natural Alternatives to Antibiotics andAlternatives to Tranquillisers.

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Hosea: The Great Reversal of the Great I-Am

And Other Essays

By John McKenna

Copyright 2013 Grace Communion International

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Table of Contents

Hosea: The Great Reversal of the Great I-Am

On the Theology of the Word of God

Comforted by the Word

God’s Names and Titles

The Freedom of the Person of Christ

The Glorious Freedom

A Visit With Tom Torrance, Master Theologian

The Message of Hosea 11

About the Author

About the Publisher

Grace Communion Seminary

Ambassador College of Christian Ministry

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Hosea: The Great Reversal of the Great I-Am

The Book of Hosea is the first book of the Book of the Twelve, the so-called Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. Hosea is given primary place among these prophets for good theological reasons. His prophecy (750-730 B.C.) is second chronologically behind Amos (about 760 B.C.), but Hosea is first because of the fundamental notions he works with to explain Israel’s past as the people of God and to foretell its future.

This explanation and proclamation involves the great reversal of the Great I-AM with Israel as his people, the object of his divinely passionate attention in a world that is his creation.

The eighth century before Christ was a watershed in the history of Israel. Before this time, prophets did not write down their ministries. No books are attributed to Elijah or Elisha.

The vitality of the eighth-century prophets is bound up with the way they saw beyond Israel’s punishment for breaking the covenant between Israel and God. They saw a new world coming in the latter days that is and will be the destiny of God’s people with their Lord.

They wrote down their ministries as if to say: We see that you will not obey. You have not listened, even from the beginning of our covenant with God. But the Day of the Lord will come, when you will hear, and you will be his people. Time will prove that we are the true prophets of the Lord.

Fundamental to Israel’s sin history is the breaking of the covenant established by the Great I-AM of God through Moses at Mt. Sinai.

When God appeared to Moses in the incident of the burning bush, Moses asked God what his name was (Exodus 3:13, Revised Standard Version). God said to Moses, `I am who I am.’ And he said, `Say this to the people of Israel, `I am has sent me to you’ (verse 14).

Hosea 1 introduces us to the problem the Great I-AM has with his people. Hosea 1:1 is a historical introduction that places the prophecy before the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C.

Hosea 1:2-2:1 introduces us to the fundamentals of this problem. The marriage between the prophet Hosea and his wife, Gomer, a temple priestess, is to be used as a metaphor to describe the relationship between Israel and the Lord God.

The prophet embodies the Word of God whose message he must bear to his people. God is to Israel as Hosea is to Gomer.

Other metaphors are also used in the book. Hosea 11:1 will render the covenant in terms of a father-and-son relationship. The love of a father for his son may also be used to explain the nature of the covenant relationship between God and his people. But the marriage relationship is primary to the prophecy of Hosea.

The marriage produces three children. The names of these children signify the nature of the history of the covenant between God and Israel. In the Semitic world, names were vital.

The first boy born to Gomer is named Jezreel (Hosea 1:4-5). It is a play on words with the name of Israel. The end of the kingdom of Israel is prophesied to come just as surely as King Jehu once massacred the followers of the Baalim in the Valley of Jezreel (2 Kings 9-10).

Jezreel means God will sow. Much bitter irony is inherent in this name. Jacob means bent, and Israel means God will straighten. Israel was once bent, and now the God of Jacob will sow his judgment with what must be straightened again. Like the Baalim of Tyre and Canaan, the Lord will remove Israel from the land.

The second child is a girl. She is named Not-Pitied. This name belongs to the beginning of God’s determined passion to struggle with his people in order that they might come to know him for who he truly is. We may refer to Exodus 34:6-7. Even after Sinai, Israel prefers a golden calf to the great I-AM of her Exodus from Egypt. She can reject her husband. But to live without the deep compassion of God for humanity is to not know the love of God that shapes the beginning of every true marriage. It is to believe that conception belongs to something other than the Living God’s care, compassion and holy love for that which has been conceived. On the other hand, it is to be pitied to know the womb-like character of the Lord God’s care for his conception of Israel. This is the Hebrew meaning of the word for pity.

The third child is a boy, who marks the completion of the accusation the prophet makes against Israel. The boy is named Not-My-People, the reversal of the covenant name given Israel in relation to the Lord (Hosea 1:9a). Ratification of the covenant concluded with the proclamation that Israel belonged in marriage to the Lord God (Exodus 19-24). He declared her to be His People. Not to be His People is to join other nations in their opposition to the Creator and Redeemer of the world. It is to bring down on their own heads the curses inherent in the covenant between God and the world.

The reason for naming the boy Not-My-People is explicit. Because you have named me, says