◄ Hosea 12:10 ►
I spoke through the prophets and multiplied their visions; I gave parables through the prophets.
Study Bible
I spoke through the prophets
The phrase underscores the divine communication method God employed throughout Israel's history. The Hebrew root for "spoke" is דָּבַר (dabar), which implies not just speaking but authoritative declaration. Prophets served as God's mouthpieces, conveying His will and guidance. This highlights the importance of prophecy in the biblical narrative, where God chose specific individuals to deliver His messages, ensuring that His people were never without divine direction. Historically, prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel played crucial roles in guiding Israel, often calling them back to covenant faithfulness.

and multiplied their visions
The term "multiplied" suggests an abundance and variety of divine revelations. The Hebrew word רָבָה (ravah) indicates increase or abundance, emphasizing that God provided numerous visions to His prophets. Visions were a primary means by which God revealed His plans and purposes, often containing symbolic imagery that required interpretation. This abundance of visions signifies God's persistent effort to communicate with His people, offering them insight into His divine will and the future. It reflects God's patience and desire for His people to understand His heart and intentions.

I gave parables through the prophets
Parables, or מָשָׁל (mashal) in Hebrew, are short, allegorical accounts used to convey moral or spiritual lessons. This phrase highlights the use of parables as a teaching tool, providing deeper understanding through metaphor and analogy. Parables engage the listener, prompting reflection and self-examination. In the biblical context, parables were used to reveal truths to those willing to seek and understand, while concealing them from those who were hard-hearted. This method of teaching is seen prominently in the ministry of Jesus, who often spoke in parables to convey the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Through the prophets, God used parables to challenge, instruct, and call His people to repentance and faithfulness.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Hosea
A prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC, Hosea's ministry focused on calling Israel back to faithfulness to God amidst widespread idolatry and moral decay.

2. Prophets
Messengers chosen by God to convey His words and will to the people. In this context, they are the instruments through which God communicated His messages, visions, and parables.

3. Visions
Divine revelations given to the prophets, often containing symbolic imagery and messages intended to guide, warn, or instruct God's people.

4. Parables
Short, allegorical accounts used by the prophets to convey spiritual truths and moral lessons, often requiring interpretation to understand their deeper meanings.

5. Israel
The Northern Kingdom, which was often the primary audience of Hosea's prophecies, characterized by its unfaithfulness and idolatry during this period.
Teaching Points
The Role of Prophets
Prophets are vital in God's communication with His people, serving as His mouthpiece to convey His will and guidance.

Understanding Divine Communication
God uses various methods, including visions and parables, to communicate with humanity. These require discernment and spiritual insight to understand fully.

The Importance of Spiritual Discernment
Believers are called to seek understanding and wisdom to interpret God's messages, as they often come in symbolic or allegorical forms.

Faithfulness to God's Word
Just as Israel was called to heed the messages of the prophets, Christians today are urged to remain faithful to God's Word and teachings.

Continuity of God's Revelation
The use of parables and visions in both the Old and New Testaments shows the consistency of God's methods in revealing His truths across different eras.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the role of prophets in the Old Testament compare to the role of spiritual leaders today in conveying God's message?

2. In what ways can we cultivate spiritual discernment to better understand the symbolic language used in Scripture?

3. How do the visions and parables given to the prophets in the Old Testament find fulfillment or continuation in the teachings of Jesus?

4. What are some modern-day "idols" or distractions that might prevent us from fully heeding God's messages, similar to the challenges faced by Israel?

5. How can we apply the lessons from Hosea's time to ensure we remain faithful to God's Word in our personal and communal lives?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Amos 3:7
This verse emphasizes that God reveals His plans to His prophets, highlighting the role of prophets as God's chosen communicators.

Numbers 12:6
God speaks of making Himself known to prophets through visions and dreams, reinforcing the idea of divine communication through these means.

Matthew 13:34-35
Jesus' use of parables fulfills the prophetic tradition, showing continuity in God's method of revealing truths through accounts and symbols.
Sermons
Despising God's WordHosea 12:10
Everybody's SermonHosea 12:10
Everybody's SermonCharles Haddon Spurgeon Hosea 12:10
God's Method in Teaching the Great Teachers of the WorldHomilistHosea 12:10
God's Method in Teaching the Great Teachers of the WorldD. Thomas Hosea 12:10
Take Heed How You HearJeremiah Burroughs.Hosea 12:10
The Figurative and Literal in ScriptureJohn Burnet.Hosea 12:10
The Responsibility of Having the Revealed Word of GodJeremiah Burroughs.Hosea 12:10
Visions and SimilitudesJ.R. Thomson Hosea 12:10
Balances of DeceitJ. Orr Hosea 12:7-11
Three Painful ContrastsC. Jerdan Hosea 12:7-14
People
Aram, Assyrians, Hosea, Jacob
Places
Aram, Assyria, Bethel, Egypt, Gilead, Gilgal
Topics
Comparisons, Ears, Ministry, Mouths, Multiplied, Numerous, Parables, Prophets, Similes, Similitudes, Spoke, Spoken, Vision, Visions
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hosea 12:10

     1466   vision
     1469   visions
     5438   parables
     7773   prophets, role

Library
Everybody's Sermon
Now it struck me that God is every day preaching to us by similitudes. When Christ was on earth he preached in parables, and, though he is in heaven now, he is preaching in parables to-day. Providence is God's sermon. The things which we see about us are God's thoughts and God's words to us; and if we were but wise there is not a step that we take, which me should not find to be full of mighty instruction. O ye sons of men! God warns you every day by his own word; he speaks to you by the lips of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

The Pilgrim's Progress
FROM THIS WORLD TO THAT WHICH IS TO COME. THE SECOND PART. DELIVERED UNDER THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM. WHEREIN IS SET FORTH THE MANNER OF THE SETTING OUT OF CHRISTIAN'S WIFE AND CHILDREN, THEIR DANGEROUS JOURNEY, AND SAFE ARRIVAL AT THE DESIRED COUNTRY. By JOHN BUNYAN. 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Nathaniel Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, near the Church, 1684. THE AUTHOR'S WAY OF SENDING FORTH HIS SECOND PART OF THE PILGRIM. Go now, my little book, to every …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Holy War,
MADE BY SHADDAI UPON DIABOLUS, FOR THE REGAINING OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD; OR, THE LOSING AND TAKING AGAIN OF THE TOWN OF MANSOUL. THE AUTHOR OF 'THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms in the Poultry; and Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Bunyan's account of the Holy War is indeed an extraordinary book, manifesting a degree of genius, research, and spiritual …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Twofold Wrestle --God's with Jacob and Jacob's with God
'And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Gen. xxxi. 11
Of no less importance and significance is the passage Gen. xxxi. 11 seq. According to ver. 11, the Angel of God, [Hebrew: mlaK halhiM] appears toJacob in a dream. In ver. 13, the same person calls himself the God of Bethel, with reference to the event recorded in chap. xxviii. 11-22. It cannot be supposed that in chap xxviii. the mediation of a common angel took place, who, however, had not been expressly mentioned; for Jehovah is there contrasted with the angels. In ver. 12, we read: "And behold …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Unity of the Divine Essence in Three Persons Taught, in Scripture, from the Foundation of the World.
1. Scripture, in teaching that the essence of God is immense and spiritual, refutes not only idolaters and the foolish wisdom of the world, but also the Manichees and Anthropomorphites. These latter briefly refuted. 2. In this one essence are three persons, yet so that neither is there a triple God, nor is the simple essence of God divided. Meaning of the word Person in this discussion. Three hypostases in God, or the essence of God. 3. Objection of those who, in this discussion, reject the use of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

The Wonderful.
Isaiah ix:6. HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

"But if we Walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have Fellowship one with Another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His
1 John i. 7.--"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Art is the imitation of nature, and true religion is a divine art, that consists in the imitation of God himself, the author of nature. Therefore it is a more high and transcendent thing, of a sublimer nature than all the arts and sciences among men. Those reach but to some resemblance of the wisdom of God, expressed in his works, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not steal.' Exod 20: 15. AS the holiness of God sets him against uncleanness, in the command Thou shalt not commit adultery;' so the justice of God sets him against rapine and robbery, in the command, Thou shalt not steal.' The thing forbidden in this commandment, is meddling with another man's property. The civil lawyers define furtum, stealth or theft to be the laying hands unjustly on that which is another's;' the invading another's right. I. The causes of theft. [1] The internal causes …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.' Exod 20: 17. THIS commandment forbids covetousness in general, Thou shalt not covet;' and in particular, Thy neighbour's house, thy neighbour's wife, &c. I. It forbids covetousness in general. Thou shalt not covet.' It is lawful to use the world, yea, and to desire so much of it as may keep us from the temptation …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

There is a Blessedness in Reversion
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Matthew 5:3 Having done with the occasion, I come now to the sermon itself. Blessed are the poor in spirit'. Christ does not begin his Sermon on the Mount as the Law was delivered on the mount, with commands and threatenings, the trumpet sounding, the fire flaming, the earth quaking, and the hearts of the Israelites too for fear; but our Saviour (whose lips dropped as the honeycomb') begins with promises and blessings. So sweet and ravishing was the doctrine of this …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Prayer
But I give myself unto prayer.' Psa 109: 4. I shall not here expatiate upon prayer, as it will be considered more fully in the Lord's prayer. It is one thing to pray, and another thing to be given to prayer: he who prays frequently, is said to be given to prayer; as he who often distributes alms, is said to be given to charity. Prayer is a glorious ordinance, it is the soul's trading with heaven. God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. What is prayer? It is an offering …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Hosea
The book of Hosea divides naturally into two parts: i.-iii. and iv.-xiv., the former relatively clear and connected, the latter unusually disjointed and obscure. The difference is so unmistakable that i.-iii. have usually been assigned to the period before the death of Jeroboam II, and iv.-xiv. to the anarchic period which succeeded. Certainly Hosea's prophetic career began before the end of Jeroboam's reign, as he predicts the fall of the reigning dynasty, i. 4, which practically ended with Jeroboam's …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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