Hosea – General
Is there anything to be learned from Hosea and his wife? No.
Hosea 1:2-3 - God tells Hosea to commit adultery, saying "take ... a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms" because the land has "committed great whoredom." So Hosea did as God commanded and "took" a wife named Gomer.
Hosea 2:2-3 - Hosea tells his kids to talk to their mother, "For she is not my wife." Then God continues to rant about "whoredoms" and "adulteries from between her breasts." He threatens to "strip her naked and set her as in the day she was born."
Hosea 2:4-5 - God "will not have mercy upon her children for they are the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot."
Hosea 2:13 - God gets jealous when women wear jewellery and pursue relationships with other men.
Hosea 3:1 - God tells Hosea to "love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress."
Hosea 3:2 - In accordance with God's command, Hosea buys himself a wife for 15 pieces of silver and one and a half homers of barley.
Hosea 4:13 - If you misbehave, God will make your daughters "commit whoredom" and your wife "commit adultery."
Hosea 5:6 - God "hath withdrawn himself from them," contrary to verses that say God will help in our times of need.
Hosea 5:14 - God's going to tear up Ephraim like a lion so "in their affliction they will seek me." That's nice.
Hosea 6:2 - "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." This may be the verse referred to in Luke 18:31-33 and 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. However, Hosea 6:2 refers to the people living at the time (hence "us") and therefore cannot be fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Hosea 6:6 - "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice." It is nice to know that God desires mercy. However, look at Psalm 136:10 for an example of God's of mercy. As for sacrifice, what are the first 9 chapters of Leviticus about? Plus, God says he doesn't want animal sacrifice, contrary to other verses that say he does.
Hosea 7:8-9 - It's not clear in the KJV, but "people" and "strangers" are translated as "aliens" and "foreigners" in other versions. This would mean part of the reason for Ephraim's bloody fate is association with other races.
Hosea 7:13 - God plays the control freak again, "woeing" them with destruction.
Hosea 8:4 - God, the all-knowing, didn't know about the princes that the Israelites made.
Hosea 9:7 – “The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad”. Wow, Hosea and I finally agree on something!
Hosea 9:11-12 - God will induce miscarriages and kill the children of Ephraim.
Hosea 9:14 - In another "pro-life" passage, Hosea says: "Give them, O Lord: what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts."
Hosea 9:15 - God hates the sinner even more than the sin.
Hosea 9:16 - In answering Hosea's tender prayer, God swears he will "slay even the beloved fruit of their womb."
Hosea 10:14 - God plans on punishing Israel the same way Beth-Arbel was destroyed; including the "dashing" of mothers and children.
Hosea 11:1 - "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." Matthew 2:15 claims that the flight of Jesus' family to Egypt is a fulfilment of this verse. But Hosea 11:1 is not a prophecy at all. It is a reference to the Hebrew exodus from Egypt and has nothing to do with Jesus. Matthew tries to hide this fact by quoting only the last part of the verse ("Out of Egypt I have called my son").
Hosea 13:7-8 - God will rip humans apart and then eat them like a lion.
Hosea 13:16 - Because the Samaritans chose to worship another deity, God promises to dash their infants to pieces and their "women with child shall be ripped up."
Joel – General
Joel 2:13 - God is "merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." Really? Is this the same god who orders Saul to slaughter "both, man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" in 1 Sam.15:2-3?
Joel 2:31 - "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood." These "signs" were a lot more impressive before the causes of solar and lunar eclipses; and atmospheric influence on the colour of the moon were understood.
Joel 2:32 - "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered." But Jesus denies this in Mt.7:21. [And if you don’t he will kill you! See all the previous OT books analysed].
Joel 3:4 - God says vengeance is only okay if he's exacting it.
