Hosea 1–6; 10–14; Joel: Lesson 146

Hosea

The Love and Mercy of the Lord

In the book of Hosea, the Lord used the marriage of Hosea and Gomer as a symbol to teach Israel about His unfailing covenantal love. Like Israel, at times we might stray from the Lord and our covenants with Him. Even still, Jesus Christ remains faithful and loves us. This lesson can help students understand the Lord’s unfailing love and mercy for them.

Student preparation: Invite students to think about what experiences have helped them feel the Lord’s love and mercy

Possible Learning Activities

Remembering Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ

To begin class, prepare students to connect in a relevant way with the story of Hosea and Gomer. One way to do that is through a scenario like the following.

Camille and Hannah have been good friends for a year. In that time, they have grown close and supported each other through hard times. Hannah shared some things she is struggling with. Camille promised not to share those things with other people. However, a few days ago, Hannah found out that Camille told some of their other friends about Hannah’s struggles.

• If you were Hannah, what thoughts and feelings might you have?

• Why might it be hard to forgive Camille?

Consider explaining that this is one example of how we might feel betrayed or hurt when someone breaks a promise. While we might respond to these situations in unhelpful ways, the Lord responds differently.

The book of Hosea teaches about a marriage relationship. In the scriptures, the Lord often uses marriage as a symbol for our covenant relationship with Him. President Russell M. Nelson taught that our covenants create “a covenant relationship in which [we and the Lord] are bound to be loyal and faithful to each other” (“The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, Oct. 2022, 6).

Sometimes, God’s children are unfaithful to the Lord and stray from their covenants with Him. As you study the book of Hosea today, look for how the Lord feels about and responds to His covenant people even when they stray from Him.

Hosea and Gomer

To help students understand the story of Hosea and Gomer, display or summarize the following paragraph.

See the Additional Resources section of this lesson in Gospel Library for more information about God’s commandment for Hosea to marry Gomer.

Hosea was a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, prophesying around the same time as Isaiah. The Lord commanded Hosea to marry Gomer, in spite of the fact that she had been an adulteress and a harlot. Hosea and Gomer had three children together (see Hosea 1:2–8).

You might want to explain that Hosea speaks for the Lord about Gomer, who represents the people of Israel. Consider making two columns on the board. Label one Hosea represents the Lord and the other Gomer represents Israel.

Read Hosea 2:5, looking for what Hosea said Gomer had done. “Their mother” refers to Gomer.

• How might Gomer’s actions represent the people of Israel?

  You might explain that Gomer’s unfaithfulness in her covenant marriage with Hosea represented Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness in their covenant relationship with God. If helpful, students could read 2 Kings 17:14–16, looking for how Israel had broken their covenants with the Lord.

  To help students relate the scriptures to themselves, you could ask a question like the following. List student responses on the board underneath Gomer represents Israel.

• How do people in our time sometimes stray from the Lord and their covenants with Him?

Students might share things like being too busy for the Lord, using technology inappropriately, treating others poorly, putting other things before the Lord, or more serious sins. Students could reflect on this list or other things as they ponder the following prompt.

Reflect on ways you might be tempted to break your covenants or ways you might be straying from your covenants with the Lord.

To help students understand the Lord’s love and mercy for them, you could use the handout “Understanding the Lord’s Love and Mercy.” Students could work on their own to encourage quiet, prayerful pondering, or they could work in groups with an assigned group leader to guide their discussion. As students work, walk around the room and answer students’ questions as needed.

Learning about the Lord

Invite students to share the statements of truth they wrote on their handouts. They could share out loud or write their statements on the board underneath Hosea represents the Lord. They might write truths like the following:

• Jesus Christ is full of love and mercy, even when I stray from Him.

• Jesus Christ invites His covenant people to repent and keep their covenants.

As students share, you could ask follow-up questions to help students make clear connections with the scriptures: “What part of the story helped you learn that about Him?” or “How did you see that truth about Him illustrated through Hosea?”

Before asking the following question, you might refer students to the list on the board of ways we sometimes stray from the Lord and our covenants with Him.

• How can what you’re learning about the Lord help youth who feel discouraged or ashamed because they have strayed from the Lord?

  Before asking the next question, it might be wise to counsel students not to share anything too personal, such as previous sins. You could also share an experience from your own life.

• In what ways have you seen the Lord demonstrate His love and mercy in your life or the life of someone you know?

Demonstrate understanding

When students have a chance to explain or reflect on what they have learned, it can invite the Holy Ghost to teach them further. One way for them to do this is the following short writing activity.

Choose one of the following.

• Write a message. Think about someone (it could be yourself) who might feel they have strayed too far from the Lord to be forgiven. Write an encouraging message to this person and share what you have learned about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that you think might help them.

• Write a description. How would you describe the character of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ based on what you learned or felt today?

You might share with students that we, like Gomer, can choose to accept the Lord’s loving invitation to repent and return to Him when we have strayed. Consider ending with your testimony of the Lord.

Additional Resources

Hosea 1:2–3; 2:5. Did God really command a prophet to marry a harlot?

Kerry Muhlestein, PhD and professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, stated:

Some have questioned whether Hosea’s marriage to a harlot was literal or only an allegory. Many details in the book point toward the marriage being literal, though we cannot be sure. (“Hosea 1,” The Essential Old Testament Companion: Key Insights to Your Gospel Study [2013], 476)

How is a covenant different from a contract?

President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency taught the following about his experience teaching an early morning seminary class about the book of Hosea:

I had a new feeling about what it means to make a covenant with the Lord. All my life I had heard explanations of covenants as being like a contract, an agreement where one person agrees to do something and the other agrees to do something else in return.

For more reasons than I can explain, during those days teaching Hosea, I felt something new, something more powerful. This was not a story about a business deal between partners. … This was a love story. This was a story of a marriage covenant bound by love, by steadfast love. What I felt then, and it has increased over the years, was that the Lord, with whom I am blessed to have made covenants, loves me, and you … with a steadfastness about which I continually marvel and which I want with all my heart to emulate. (“Covenants and Sacrifice” [address given at the Church Educational System Symposium on the Old Testament, Aug. 15, 1995])

Will God really forgive me when I stray from Him?

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

No matter how long we have been off the path or how far away we have wandered, the moment we decide to change, God helps us return. From God’s perspective, through sincere repentance and pressing forward with a steadfastness in Christ, once back on the path, it will be as if we were never off. (“Choose You This Day,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2018, 106)

President Emily Belle Freeman, Young Women General President, taught:

I want to live in committed covenant relationship with [God].

Perhaps you do too. Begin where you are. Don’t let your condition hinder you. Remember, pace or placement on the path are not as important as progress. Ask someone you trust who is on the covenant path to introduce you to the Savior they have come to know. Learn more of Him. Invest in the relationship by entering into covenant with Him. It doesn’t matter your age or your condition. You can walk with Him. (“Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ,” Liahona, Nov. 2023, 79)

Supplemental Learning Activities

An example of covenantal love

After completing the handout, you could invite students to watch “Enduring Love” (4:16), looking for what covenantal love might look like. You could then ask the following question:

• How can the examples of this husband and Hosea teach us about what the Lord’s covenantal love for us might look like?

Hesed: a special kind of love

To help students further understand the Lord’s covenantal love, you could share the following statement from President Russell M. Nelson:

Hesed is a unique term describing a covenant relationship in which both parties are bound to be loyal and faithful to each other. …

Hesed is a special kind of love and mercy that God feels for and extends to those who have made a covenant with Him. And we reciprocate with hesed for Him.

Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He will love them. He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities to change. He will forgive them when they repent. And should they stray, He will help them find their way back to Him. (“The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, Oct. 2022, 6)

• If someone feels like they have done too much wrong to be forgiven, what do you see in this statement that could bring them hope?

Hosea used the word hesed in Hosea 2:19; 4:1; 6:4, 6; 10:12; 12:6. The translators of the King James Version used different English words to translate hesed.

• Lovingkindness (Hosea 2:19)

• Mercy (Hosea 4:1; 6:6; 10:12; 12:6)

• Goodness (6:4)

You might invite students to read those verses and share further insights about the Lord’s covenantal love. You might also ask students to consider ways we can express our hesed for the Lord.

Hosea 2:5–8. Looking for happiness in the wrong places

To help students consider where they are looking for and seeking happiness, you could look at Gomer’s experience.

Read Hosea 2:5–8 and help students see that Hosea was already providing Gomer (verse 8) with what she left her covenants to find (verse 5).

Share the following statement from President Russell M. Nelson:

Here is the grand truth: while the world insists that power, possessions, popularity, and pleasures of the flesh bring happiness, they do not! They cannot! What they do produce is nothing but a hollow substitute for “the blessed and happy state of those [who] keep the commandments of God” [Mosiah 2:41].

The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it! However, when you yoke yourself to Jesus Christ and do the spiritual work required to overcome the world, He, and He alone, does have the power to lift you above the pull of this world. (“Overcome the World and Find Rest,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 97)

• Why is it difficult to find happiness in the things the world says will bring happiness?

• How have you found happiness as you seek Jesus Christ and strive to live His gospel?