Explain It Like I'm…

Hosea's family teaches about a promise

Long ago, the Lord had a prophet named Hosea. Hosea married a woman named Gomer. Gomer did not keep her promises to Hosea, and she went away.

The Lord asked Hosea to go get Gomer and bring her home. Hosea paid fifteen pieces of silver and some barley to bring her back (Hosea 3:2). He loved her even though she had gone away.

The Lord used Hosea's family to teach His people, the Israelites. The Israelites had made a covenant with the Lord. A covenant is a promise that you and the Lord both keep. It is a little like the promise a husband and wife make to love each other. The Israelites broke their promise because they started to worship false gods.

The Lord says, "I will love them freely"

Was the Lord done with Israel? No. He told them He would bring them back, the way Hosea brought Gomer back. He said, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (Hosea 14:4). That means the Lord gives His love as a gift. He wants His children to come home to Him.

The Lord also said, "There is no saviour beside me" (Hosea 13:4). Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is the one who can help us when we do wrong and choose to change.

Joel teaches about the Holy Ghost

Another prophet named Joel lived when bugs called locusts ate all the food in the fields. Joel told the people to turn to the Lord with their whole hearts.

Joel also shared a promise. The Lord said, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:28). Think about pouring a full cup of water. It is much more than one little drip! The Lord wants to give the Holy Ghost to sons and daughters, young and old. The Holy Ghost can guide you and help you feel close to Jesus.

A rhyme to say together

Hosea's family shows the way: The Lord loves me every day. When I choose wrong, I can come back, And Jesus helps me stay on track.

What you can do

You can keep your promises to Heavenly Father. You can pray, say sorry when you make a mistake, and listen for the Holy Ghost. It is always a good time to seek the Lord (Hosea 10:12).

Question to ask your child: How does Heavenly Father show that He still loves us, even when we make mistakes?

The setting: a kingdom about to fall

Hosea preached in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during its last decades before Assyria destroyed it in 722 BC. Under King Jeroboam II the nation got rich, and as it got rich it built more altars to false gods (Hosea 10:1). Many Israelites mixed the worship of the Lord with worship of Baal, a Canaanite storm god people thought brought rain and good harvests. They thanked Baal for gifts the Lord had given them (Hosea 2:8).

Hosea's marriage as a picture of the covenant (Hosea 1–3)

The Lord asked Hosea to marry Gomer, who was unfaithful to him. Then the Lord told Hosea to love her again "according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel" (Hosea 3:1). Hosea bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and some barley.

The Lord used this marriage so Israel could see their covenant clearly. A covenant with God involves loyalty and love from both sides, the same way a marriage does. Worshipping Baal was like cheating on a spouse. Because the Lord still loved Israel, He promised a new start: "I will betroth thee unto me for ever... in lovingkindness, and in mercies" (Hosea 2:19). To betroth means to promise to marry.

This connects to your life. You made a covenant at baptism, and you renew it each week at the sacrament. Some weeks you feel close to the Lord; other weeks your attention goes to friends, your phone, or whatever everyone else is into. Israel's problem was divided loyalty, and the Lord's answer was to invite them back, not to give up on them.

"I will love them freely" (Hosea 14)

At the end of the book, Hosea gives Israel the words to pray: "Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously" (Hosea 14:2). The Lord answers, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (Hosea 14:4). Backsliding means slipping back into old wrong habits. Freely means His love is a gift you don't earn.

Hosea also records the Lord saying, "There is no saviour beside me" (Hosea 13:4), and "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death" (Hosea 13:14). Jesus Christ is that Savior. If you've ever wondered whether you've messed up too many times, the Book of Mormon answers: "As often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me" (Mosiah 26:30).

Real on the inside (Hosea 6; Joel 2)

Israel kept offering sacrifices while they broke more important commandments. The Lord said their goodness was "as the early dew," gone by mid-morning (Hosea 6:4). Then He said, "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6). Jesus later quoted that verse when people criticized Him for eating with sinners (Matthew 9:10–13).

Joel said the same thing a different way. In his day, people tore their clothes to show sorrow. The Lord told them, "Rend your heart, and not your garments" (Joel 2:13). It's possible to go to church, sit through seminary, and post the right things while your heart is somewhere else. The Lord wants the inside to match the outside.

The Spirit poured out (Joel 2:28–29)

After locusts wiped out Judah's crops, Joel looked ahead: "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (Joel 2:28). Peter said this started at Pentecost (Acts 2), and Moroni told Joseph Smith it was about to be fulfilled (Joseph Smith, History 1:41). That includes you.

Elder David A. Bednar taught, "We seem to believe that the Holy Ghost is dramatic and big and sudden, when it's still and small and incremental over time" (Feb. 7, 2020). You don't have to be perfect; if you're doing your best and honoring your covenants, you can count on His guidance.

Scripture Mastery Moment

Joel 2:28: "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Memorize it because the Lord names young people specifically as people who receive His Spirit.

This week

Pick one moment each day, maybe before school or before bed, to ask the Lord where your heart has drifted, and notice the small promptings that follow.

Hosea and Joel both spoke to covenant people who had drifted. Hosea preached to the Northern Kingdom before Assyria destroyed it in 722 BC; Joel called Judah to repent after a locust plague. Both prophets told the people that the Lord had not stopped loving them.

Hosea's marriage teaches about the covenant (Hosea 1–3)

The Lord asked Hosea to marry Gomer, who was unfaithful to him. Their children received names of judgment: Lo-ruhamah ("not pitied") and Lo-ammi ("not my people").

Israel had gone after Baal, the Canaanite storm god, and credited him with the grain, wine, and oil the Lord had given (Hosea 2:8). So the Lord spoke as a betrayed husband. Yet He promised, "I will betroth thee unto me for ever... in lovingkindness, and in mercies" (Hosea 2:19), and He reversed the children's names to "my people" and "pitied" (Hosea 2:23).

Then He told Hosea to bring Gomer home, loving her "according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel" (Hosea 3:1). Hosea paid fifteen pieces of silver and some barley to redeem her.

💬 How is making a covenant with the Lord like entering a marriage? What does it look like to show Him loyalty?

The Lord heals backsliding (Hosea 11; 13–14)

Hosea 11 recalls how the Lord taught Israel to walk as a child and drew them "with bands of love" (Hosea 11:4). When they turned away, He cried, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?" (Hosea 11:8).

The Lord also declared, "There is no saviour beside me" (Hosea 13:4), and promised, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death" (Hosea 13:14). Jesus Christ, the Lord Jehovah, is that Savior.

In Hosea 14, the Lord gives Israel words to pray: "Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously" (Hosea 14:2). He answers, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (Hosea 14:4). His love is a gift, so Israel can return without first earning it. He then promises Israel will grow like the lily, the olive, and the cedars of Lebanon.

💬 What does "love them freely" mean to you? How have you felt the Lord's invitation to return?

Devotion felt on the inside (Hosea 6; Joel 2:12–13)

Israel kept offering sacrifices while breaking weightier commandments. Their goodness vanished "as the early dew" (Hosea 6:4). The Lord said, "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6). The Savior later quoted this verse in Matthew 9:10–13 and 12:1–8.

Joel made the same point. Tearing one's clothes was an outward sign of grief, but the Lord asked, "Rend your heart, and not your garments: and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful" (Joel 2:13). After His Atonement, the Savior asked for "a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (3 Nephi 9:20).

Lehi hoped Laman would be "like unto this river, continually running" in righteousness (1 Nephi 2:9). A river keeps flowing, while dew is gone by noon.

💬 Where might our worship become routine on the outside? What helps it stay steady on the inside?

The Spirit poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28–32)

Joel promised, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (Joel 2:28). Peter saw this begin at Pentecost (Acts 2:16–21), and Moroni told Joseph Smith it would soon be fulfilled (Joseph Smith, History 1:41).

President Russell M. Nelson taught, "In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost" (Apr. 2018, "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives").

Elder David A. Bednar added that "the Holy Ghost is... still and small and incremental over time," and that if we do our best and honor our covenants, "we can count on the Holy Ghost guiding us" (Feb. 7, 2020).

💬 What did the people in Mosiah 4:1–3 or Helaman 6:34–36 do to receive the Spirit?

Returning to Jesus Christ

Hosea and Joel both point to Jesus Christ. He is the only Savior, He heals backsliding, He redeems from death, and He sends His Spirit to guide covenant people today. This week, look for one area where your heart has drifted and bring it to Him in prayer.

Key Takeaways

• The Lord compares His covenant to a marriage that calls for loyalty and love.
• When we break covenants, He invites us back and loves us freely (Hosea 14:4).
• Jesus Christ is the only Savior and redeems us from sin and death (Hosea 13:4, 14).
• The Lord wants mercy and changed hearts more than outward forms (Hosea 6:6; Joel 2:13).
• The Spirit is being poured out in the latter days, often in quiet, steady ways (Joel 2:28).

Historical setting

Hosea, son of Beeri, prophesied in the Northern Kingdom from the reign of Jeroboam II (about 782–753 BC) until shortly before Samaria fell. Jeroboam II brought prosperity while Assyria was weak. The Samaria ostraca, more than 100 pottery receipts for fine oil and aged wine sent to the royal palace, show wealth flowing to the elite. That background explains Ephraim's boast, "I am become rich" (Hosea 12:8), and Hosea's charge that greater prosperity produced more altars (Hosea 10:1).

After Jeroboam II died, six kings ruled in about thirty years, and four were assassinated (2 Kings 15). Israel bounced between Assyria and Egypt for protection (Hosea 12:1). Sargon II's inscriptions record the end: "Samaria I besieged, I captured; 27,290 of its inhabitants I carried away."

Hosea uses "Ephraim," the largest northern tribe, for the whole kingdom. He also renames Bethel ("house of God"), where Jeroboam I had set up a golden calf, as Beth-aven, "house of wickedness" or "house of nothing" (Hosea 4:15; 10:5).

Covenant as marriage (Hosea 1–3)

Israel blended worship of the Lord with Baal, the storm god credited with rain and harvest. Jars from Kuntillet ʿAjrud read, "I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah," the kind of mixed worship Hosea condemned. So when the Lord says, "I gave her corn, and wine, and oil" (Hosea 2:8), He reclaims the gifts Israel had attributed to Baal.

The Lord commanded Hosea to marry Gomer and later to redeem her for fifteen pieces of silver and some barley (Hosea 3:1–2). Because a marriage involves exclusive loyalty, the comparison shows idolatry as covenant betrayal. Because Hosea buys Gomer back, it also shows what the Lord intends: redemption.

The children's names, Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah ("not pitied"), and Lo-ammi ("not my people"), announce judgment. Yet the Lord reverses them: "Ye are the sons of the living God" (Hosea 1:10; see 2:23). He leads Israel into the wilderness and makes "the valley of Achor for a door of hope" (Hosea 2:15), promising, "I will betroth thee unto me for ever... in lovingkindness, and in mercies" (Hosea 2:19).

Hesed: loyal love that keeps covenant

The Hebrew idea behind "lovingkindness" is hesed, loyal love that keeps a covenant even after the other party has broken it. Hosea 11 shows that love as a parent's: the Lord taught Israel to walk and drew them "with bands of love" (Hosea 11:4). His anguished question, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?" (Hosea 11:8), leads to a promise to bring them home from Egypt and Assyria.

Even His withdrawal serves that love. He leaves "till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face" (Hosea 5:15), so judgment is meant to bring them back. Hosea 14 completes the pattern: Israel prays, "Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously" (14:2), and the Lord answers, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (14:4). "Freely" marks His love as a gift Israel has not earned.

The Book of Mormon repeats this: "As often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me" (Mosiah 26:30).

Jesus Christ as the only Savior

Hosea's name comes from the Hebrew root for salvation, shared with Joshua and Jesus. The Lord declares, "There is no saviour beside me" (Hosea 13:4), and promises, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death" (13:14). Paul draws on this language in 1 Corinthians 15:55 when celebrating Christ's Resurrection. Hosea 3:5 also foresees Israel seeking "David their king" in the latter days, a promise pointing to the Messiah.

Latter-day Saints understand the Lord Jehovah of Hosea to be Jesus Christ, so the one who heals Israel's backsliding is the same Redeemer who atoned for us.

Inward devotion (Hosea 6:4–6; Joel 2:12–13)

Israel kept its sacrifices while "there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land" (Hosea 4:1). Their goodness was "as a morning cloud, and as the early dew" (6:4). The Lord said, "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" (6:6). Jesus quoted this verse twice, when He ate with sinners and when His disciples plucked grain on the Sabbath (Matthew 9:10–13; 12:1–8). Both times He used it to show that the law serves mercy.

Joel's crisis made the same point visible. Locusts and drought ended the grain and drink offerings at the temple (Joel 1:9), so Joel called for sackcloth, a fast, and a solemn assembly (1:14). Then he went further: "Rend your heart, and not your garments" (2:13). After the Savior's sacrifice ended animal offerings, He asked for "a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (3 Nephi 9:20). Lehi's hope that Laman would be "like unto this river, continually running" (1 Nephi 2:9) gives the opposite image of vanishing dew.

The Spirit poured out (Joel 2:28–32)

When Judah repents, the Lord promises to restore "the years that the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:25) and then to "pour out my spirit upon all flesh" (2:28). The promise crosses every line: sons and daughters, old and young, servants and handmaids.

Peter declared at Pentecost that this was beginning (Acts 2:16–21). In 1823 Moroni quoted Joel 2 to Joseph Smith and said it "was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be" (see Joseph Smith, History 1:41). The Restoration is part of that fulfillment.

President Russell M. Nelson warned, "In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost" (Apr. 2018). Elder David A. Bednar explained how that influence usually comes: "We seem to believe that the Holy Ghost is dramatic and big and sudden, when it's still and small and incremental over time" (Feb. 7, 2020). He also taught that if we do our best and honor our covenants, "we can count on the Holy Ghost guiding us."

For study this week

Read Hosea 14 and Joel 2:12–32 side by side, and list what the Lord promises to those who return. Then compare Mosiah 4:1–3 and Doctrine and Covenants 19:37–41 to see what people did to receive His Spirit.

Historical horizon: prosperity, instability, and syncretism

Hosea's ministry spans Jeroboam II's prosperous reign (about 782–753 BC) to the eve of Samaria's fall in 722 BC. The material record supports the prophetic charge. The Samaria ostraca (about 780–750 BC), receipts for fine oil and aged wine sent to the capital, document concentrated wealth; Hosea links that wealth to multiplied altars (Hosea 10:1) and to Ephraim's boast, "I am become rich, I have found me out substance" (12:8). A Megiddo seal reading "Belonging to Shema, servant of Jeroboam" places the royal administration in view.

The succession crisis that followed (six kings in about thirty years, four assassinated; 2 Kings 15) drove a foreign policy of alternating dependence. Tiglath-pileser III's annals record tribute from "Menahem of Samaria" and claim that Assyria "placed Hoshea as king." Hosea names the strategy: Ephraim "feedeth on wind," making covenants with Assyria and carrying oil to Egypt (12:1). Turning to Assyria for healing (5:13) is a political act with covenantal meaning, because it trusts another savior.

Religious syncretism completes the picture. The Kuntillet ʿAjrud inscription, "I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah," attests the blended worship Hosea condemns at hilltop shrines under oaks and terebinths (4:13). The renaming of Bethel as Beth-aven (4:15; 10:5) turns the site of Jacob's encounter with God, later the seat of Jeroboam I's calf (1 Kings 12:28–29), into a "house of nothing."

The marriage metaphor and the reversal of names (Hosea 1–3)

Because Baal was credited with rain, grain, wine, and oil, the Lord's assertion "I gave her corn, and wine, and oil" (Hosea 2:8) is a claim of sovereignty over fertility itself. The marriage metaphor frames idolatry as adultery, so the covenant's exclusivity becomes its moral center.

The prophetic sign-acts move in two stages. First, the children's names enact judgment: Jezreel recalls Jehu's bloodshed, Lo-ruhamah means "not pitied," Lo-ammi "not my people." Second, the Lord reverses each name (1:10–2:1; 2:23). The reversal is grounded in a new betrothal "in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies... in faithfulness" (2:19–20). The valley of Achor, associated with Israel's earlier transgression, becomes "a door of hope" (2:15), so the place of judgment becomes the threshold of return.

Hosea 3 enacts redemption in the economic register of the ancient world: Gomer is bought back for fifteen pieces of silver and barley. Hosea loves her "according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel" (3:1), so the prophet's household becomes a type of the divine Redeemer. The chapter then extends the type across history: many days without king or sacrifice, followed by a latter-day return to "David their king" (3:4–5), a messianic horizon.

Hesed and the pedagogy of judgment

The Hebrew idea behind "lovingkindness," hesed, denotes loyal love that maintains covenant after the other party has broken it. Hosea's structure follows that logic. Judgment is real (the Lord as lion and bear, 5:14; 13:7–8), yet it is purposive: He withdraws "till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face" (5:15). Hedging Israel's way with thorns (2:6–7) serves the same purpose, since frustrated pursuit of other lovers leads her to say, "I will go and return to my first husband."

Hosea 11 shifts from spousal to parental imagery. The Lord called His son out of Egypt, taught him to walk, and drew him "with bands of love" (11:1, 4). The divine soliloquy "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?" (11:8) presents restraint of judgment as an expression of covenant character. Hosea 12 grounds the call to return in the patriarch Jacob, who wept, made supplication, and found God at Bethel; hence, "Turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually" (12:6).

The book's resolution supplies a liturgy of repentance. Israel renounces Assyria and idols and prays, "Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously" (14:2). The Lord answers, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (14:4). The adverb "freely" marks the love as unmerited gift. The Lord then becomes "as the dew" (14:5), reversing the earlier image in which Israel's goodness evaporated like dew (6:4). The same image first described failed devotion and now describes divine faithfulness that sustains growth like the lily, olive, and cedar.

Christological center: the only Savior

Hosea's name derives from the Hebrew root for salvation shared with Joshua and Jesus. The Lord declares, "There is no saviour beside me" (13:4), and promises, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death" (13:14). Paul's resurrection hymn draws on this language (1 Corinthians 15:55). Because Latter-day Saints identify Jehovah as the premortal Jesus Christ, Hosea's Redeemer and the Redeemer of the New Testament are the same person, and the book's promises of healing and ransom find fulfillment in His Atonement and Resurrection. Mosiah 26:30 states the same covenant constancy: "As often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me."

Interior devotion: Hosea 6:6, Joel 2:13, and their reception

Hosea's indictment, "no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land" (4:1), and his diagnosis, "my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (4:6), place covenant knowledge at the center of religion. Hence the axiom of 6:6: "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Read with 6:4, the verse addresses sacrifices offered while loyalty dissipated.

Jesus' twofold citation (Matthew 9:10–13; 12:1–8) shows the verse functioning as an interpretive key to the law: table fellowship with sinners and the disciples' Sabbath conduct are justified because mercy is the law's purpose.

Joel's context gives the principle cultic concreteness. With the grain offering (minchah) and drink offering (nesek) cut off by locusts and drought (Joel 1:9), temple worship halted. Joel prescribes the standard emergency rites of sackcloth, fast, and solemn assembly (1:13–14) and then subordinates them: "Rend your heart, and not your garments" (2:13). The Restoration scriptures carry the principle past the end of animal sacrifice, since the risen Lord requires "a broken heart and a contrite spirit" (3 Nephi 9:20). Lehi's image of a river "continually running" (1 Nephi 2:9) supplies the constancy that Hosea's dew lacked.

Joel's pneumatology and its fulfillments

Joel's sequence is ordered: repentance (2:12–17), restoration of "the years that the locust hath eaten" (2:25), then "afterward" the Spirit poured "upon all flesh" (2:28). The promise removes distinctions of sex, age, and social status, naming sons and daughters, old and young, servants and handmaids (2:28–29), and joins it to deliverance for whoever calls on the Lord's name (2:32). Joel 3 sets this against the valley of Jehoshaphat ("the Lord judges"), where "the Lord will be the hope of his people" (3:16).

The fulfillment follows three stages. Peter identified Pentecost as its inauguration (Acts 2:16–21). Moroni, in 1823, told Joseph Smith that this prophecy was not yet fulfilled but soon would be (Joseph Smith, History 1:41), placing the Restoration within Joel's horizon. Modern prophets apply it to individual discipleship: President Russell M. Nelson taught that "in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost" (Apr. 2018), and Elder David A. Bednar described that influence as "still and small and incremental over time" for those honoring their covenants (Feb. 7, 2020). The "outpouring" therefore usually takes the form of steady guidance, consistent with the covenant promise of the Spirit's constant companionship (D&C 121:46).

Invitation to further study

Students may profitably trace the dew imagery from Hosea 6:4 to 14:5 and the hesed vocabulary of 2:19–20 alongside Mosiah 26:30, then compare Joel 2:28–32 with Acts 2 and Joseph Smith, History 1:41, asking how each passage describes the Lord's covenant faithfulness as the ground of Israel's return and of the Spirit's latter-day outpouring.