Superscription (1:1): In a sense, chapters 1 through 3 in Hosea’s book serve as a summary of his entire message. Centered around the “sign” of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, they prepare for and condense all that follows after in the story of God’s poignant love affair with the people of Israel in the eighth century BC. Perhaps they originally circulated in Judean circles independently of chapters 4–14. But whoever placed them in their present position intended to help us understand the oracles of chapters 4–14 in their proper context by first having us read chapters 1–3.

1:1 The superscription now functions as the title for the entire book of Hosea, although in its original form, which did not include the names of Judean kings, it probably was the heading for only the collection of chapters 1–…