James And Hosea Essay

Improved Essays
At first glance, an individual may question what similarities exist between an Old Testament prophet and a New Testament church leader. The obvious answer would be their faith in God. However, what else should one consider? The span of time, the culture, and the language are all different. Further, what is relevant for today’s critical reader? With careful exegesis of passages in James and Hosea, an individual’s understanding of them will affect how they apply it in their own life. Brief Exegesis of James 2:8-11 The Epistle plainly states in verse one the author is James, “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (NIV) and most likely the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55). Continuing on, the same verse affirms the ‘twelve tribes scattered …show more content…
Written prior to 721 BC, scholars question if Hosea authored his own book (Arnold & Beyer, 2015). With this prosperity came religious tribulation. However, this pre-exilic prophet’s message stressed great disdain for the Israelites ritualistic practices that distanced themselves from the God of Israel (De Andrado, 2016) as well as warning the nation that their enemy was Assyria (Arnold & Beyer). The Israelites turned away from God, rather choosing idolatry and the worship of Baal. Metaphors abound in Hosea, and in particular, this passage depicts Israel as a ‘child’ and ‘son’ in verse one. Ephraim replaces Israel in verse three as the ‘son’. The distinction of relationships is a common theme as seen in Hosea 1 and 2 between Hosea and his wife Gomer symbolically representing God’s relationship with Israel. In order to interpret the focal passage, understanding the major themes in the book is critical. These include “spiritual adultery, knowledge of God, and God’s frustrated love” (Arnold & Beyer, 2015, p. 431). De Andrado expands on this by stating, “For Hosea, keeping Torah, with its range of moral and ritual prescriptions, is paramount for preserving Israel’s covenant with God” (2016, p. 54). Evident as one reads Hosea 11:1-3, God’s disappointment in the Israelites stems from their disregard of honoring the covenant and their gradual forgetfulness of who God

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Sacred Scripture Analysis

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages

    For centuries, countless men and women have turned to the Bible to encounter the Lord God, and to understand better the reality of life on earth and in heaven. From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, people have searched for God's truth, counsel, and words of comfort and strength. Each of the biblical books contained in Sacred Scripture speak to us in various ways. In particular, the prophetic books in the Old Testament echo God's word in a uniquely powerful and vivid manner. Among them, the book of the prophet Isaiah holds a preeminent position in Sacred Scripture, and in the hearts of many biblical scholars and lovers of Scripture.…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    In his book How to Read the Jewish Bible, Marc Brettler (2005) introduces the reader to the Bible employing the methods modern biblical scholars use to understand the Hebrew scriptures. How successfully he does this depends not only on the content of his book, but also on the intended audience. In order to ascertain how well Brettler accomplished the intended goals of the book, one must first decipher what the goals of the work are. In the preface to the paperback edition of the book Brettler asserts that he wishes to introduce the Jewish Bible to a wider audience than is normally brought into the circle of biblical scholars (Brettler, 2005, vii).…

    • 1779 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church is a book written by Thomas Johnson. Johnson wrote this book to challenge taking the Luke-Acts Christianity into contemporary Christianity. The challenge is that the church would have an ear to hear its prophetic calling. The overall purpose of the book is to offer a scriptural foundation for the ministry of the church so that it is grounded and coherent in the ministry of Jesus. Johnson argues that Luke and Acts, presents Jesus and the apostles in terms of prophecy.…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Paul’s Letter to the Galatians plays a pivotal role in shaping theological understanding as we know it. It has provoked us to rethink about our relationship with God, and to reconsider who really is this God we serve? In this case, Galatians holds such great reverence among Christians in answering these overarching questions, because of Paul’s skillful ability to challenge authority and condemn the Galatians for following under “the desires of the flesh,” rather than living by “the Spirit” (5.16). In order for us to understand the significance of Galatians and its role in shaping our interpretation of these questions, we must first cultivate a deeper understanding of the context behind Paul’s letter within the interest of the contemporary reader.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Rebels Rebellion

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Israelite rebels in their thirst for power mistrusted and loss confidence in their leaders. They had forgotten the good works of the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt, and despite the many challenges in the wilderness, he had continued to provide for them. As we see in today’s world, it is easy for one to not put their full confidence in leaders as no true…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hosea Research Paper

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages

    (esv)However, Hosea, like other religious figures at the time, wanted a punishment for those who were disloyal to God.(esv) For example, in Hosea 13:5-6, the prophet says "When things are tough, we have a tendency to depend on God, but when life is easy, we forget…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Scriptural Response Two In this paper, I will write a scriptural response to the assigned reading of the NIV Study Bible and the Wiersbe Bible Commentary. I will write my response to chapters twelve through fifty of Genesis and chapters fourteen through thirty-eight of the Wiersbe Bible Commentary. Main Characters Abram and his wife Sarai (later God renames them Abraham and Sarah)…

    • 837 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The author is diligent to give a brief summary of what is taking place in the Text and who is involved. He then highlights the major factors being discussed in the Text that focus on the fulfillment of God’s promise of the dynasty and dominion. For example in the Tamar and Judah story, their relationship produces a divine progeny through a gentile woman and the significance to the staff of Judah left behind to her, and its relationship to the future rule over the nations (90). He attempts to make a connection in each section of the Text to this theme and does a thorough job by keeping a wide-angle point of…

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Finally N.T. Wright ends his book with what can easily be deemed the most spectacular chapter (ch. 8) in this already well-rounded book. The first issue addressed in this chapter is the relationship between Jesus and Paul. In an elegant manner, N.T. Wright uses the metaphor of Jesus being a composer, while Paul is a conductor. Christ wrote the music, while Paul merely applied the music.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Proto-Gospel of James, also referred to as the Infancy Gospel of James, is one of several non-canonical Gospels written in the second century. Though the Proto-Gospel of James (“proto-” as it describes events prior to Jesus’ birth, life, and death) is considered scripture by some groups and includes characters and events discussed in the canonical Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, the narrative was not ultimately included in the canonized New Testament, as opponents of the Proto-Gospel of James argue that it verges on Mariolatry (the idolatrous worship of the Virgin Mary) for its focus not on Jesus, but the Immaculate Conception and virginity of Mary. The narrative describes Mary as a perpetual virgin; she is conceived by the Holy…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Passages From The Odyssey

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The announcement that particularly strikes me the most what Ex 2: 24 “So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” This particular passage strikes me the most because God didn’t forget his people, hearing their cries for help to set them free from bondage. God could have easily ignored their groaning, but remember his promise with those before the Israelites he took notice of them. This passage implies that God was for the poor because it was the start of his plans to bring the Israelites out of poverty in a period of prosperity. God people are of low income statuary he is the Father of the Poor, God embrace and identifies with those of economically oppression in his society.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Portrait Of Jesus Essay

    • 1345 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The stories of Jesus are represented through the four New Testament Gospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. Each Gospel emphasizes on particular principles that represent Jesus differently. Jesus is seen as the suffering Messiah in all four Gospels, but each Evangelist puts in his own intake, hence expanding on the original Markan portrait of Jesus. The writers of the Gospels give their own theological assertions, and understandings, which in effect creates a new portrait of Jesus for each Gospel. The Gospel portraits vary and represent a different and evolving view of Jesus’, stories, and traditions over time.…

    • 1345 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Defining the image of God is not an easy task. A major reason for this fact is the lack of the phrase within the Biblical text. Even though the term is not found often within Scripture, many places do point to the idea of the image without using the exact words. There is the possibility that Scripture often deals with the concept of the image of God without using those exact words, so that we surely should not a prior limit our investigation of the concept to considering only those places where the term itself is used. When one looks at these different passages and places them together a view of the image can be developed that holds true to Scripture and includes all of humankind.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Introduction to the course textbook, the author suggests that “Erikson’s life-cycle model seemed like a contemporary version of Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.” The allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress is essentially a story about a spiritual journey through life, ending with eternity spent in the Celestial City, a.k.a. “Heaven.”…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Old Testament, a theme that is widely reflected between people and God is obedience. The relationships found throughout Old Testament were based on people’s obedience towards God’s instruction; probably making it one of the most important relational aspect. According to International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, obedience is defined as, “the supreme test of faith in God and reverence for him” (Obedience). God uses many prominent people in the Old Testament who obey and listen to what he calls them to do. For this paper, I’ll be using the story of Abraham as an example of obedience and go more in details about how God used Abraham’s life because he was obedient.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays