"Hosea": means "salvation" or "deliverance"; also "savior" or "deliverer". Adding the prefix "Yah", implying the name of "Yahweh", the name becomes "Joshua". The original form of the name is closely related to "Hosanna" or "save now".
The ministry of Hosea was mainly in the second half of the 8th century BCE, from the reign of Jeroboam to the reign of Hoshea, which may coincide with the first of Hezekiah, covering about 69 years, or even probably to ninety as in the Jewish literature, so he began to prophesy at the age of 24 or 25 years, an age fit to marry, as appears by the prophecy. In all probability he could have lived to see the Israel carried captive by Tiglath-Pileser III, or the entire destruction of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, which he prophesied. Jeroboam king of Israel is mentioned last, though prior to these kings of Judah; because Hosea's prophecy is chiefly against Israel, and began in his reign, when they were in a flourishing condition. It appears that Isaiah, Amos, and Micah, were contemporary with him, as well as Lycurgus the lawgiver of the Lacedemonians, and Hesiod the Greek poet. In his time, Rome began to be built.
"In the days of Uzziah": Hosea, although a prophet of Israel, marks his prophecy by the names of the kings of Judah, because the kingdom of Judah was the kingdom of the theocracy, the line of David to which the promises of God were made. As Elisha, to whose office he succeeded, turned away from Jehoram, saying, "get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother," and owned Jehoshaphat king of Judah only, Hosea expresses that the kingdom of Judah alone was legitimate. He adds the name of Jeroboam, partly as the last king of Israel whom, by virtue of His promise to Jehu, God helped; partly to show that God never left Israel unwarned. Jeroboam I was warned first by the prophet, who by his own untimely death, as well as in his prophecy, was a witness to the strictness of God's judgments, and then by Ahijah ; Baasha by Jehu, son of Hanani 1 Kings 16; Ahab, by Elijah and Micaiah son of Imla; Ahaziah by Elijah 2 Kings 1; Jehoram by Elisha who exercised his office until the days of Joash.
"Jeroboam": this is Jeroboam II, who died in the fifteenth year of Uzziah's forty-one years' reign. From his time forth all Israel's kings worshipped false gods: Zachariah, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, Hoshea. As Israel was most flourishing externally under Jeroboam II, who recovered the possessions seized on by Syria, Hosea's prophecy of its downfall at that time was the more striking as it could not have been foreseen by mere human sagacity. Jonah the prophet had promised success to Jeroboam II from God, not for the king's merit, but from God's mercy to Israel; so the coast of Israel was restored by Jeroboam II from the entering of Hamath to the sea of the plain.
The children of Hosea's marriage with Gomer (1:2–9)
This part records the account of Hosea marrying Gomer and having three children 'bearing sign-names of judgement for Israel'.
Verse 2
"A wife of whoredoms": this description of Hosea's wife is considered proleptic, describing her future behavior.
Verse 3
"Gomer the daughter of Diblaim": The fact that both names don't have apparent symbolic significance gives a support that these people exist in history and the account of Hosea's marriage is not just allegorical or visionary.
Verse 4
"Jezreel": the name of Hosea's first child, the only one explicitly stated to be his child, is based on the city of Jezreel, where Jehu killed all living members of Omri's dynasty in c. 842 BCE, which is located in the modern city Zer'in.
Verse [|6]
"Lo-ruhamah": the name of the second child, a daughter, means 'not pitied'.
Verse [|8]
Verse 9
"Loammi" : the name of the third child, means 'not my people'.
Oracle of Salvation: The Reversal of Judgement (1:10-2:1)
These three verses reverse the negative meanings of the children's names and apply them to the nation of Israel. The Masoretic Text numbers the verses as 2:1-3.
Verse 10
"Cannot be measured nor numbered": The promise of numerous progeny echoes the promises given to the patriarchs.
"Ye are not my people": translated from the Hebrew: lo-ammi, is to be reversed as "ye are the sons of the living God".
Verse 11
Because Yahweh is one, then His people must also be one, so the schism of north and south shall be healed.
