Covenant Unfaithfulness in God’s and Hosea’s Family (1:1–3:5): The superscription in 1:1 verifies that Hosea received a divine revelation from God in the reign of Jeroboam II and during the reign of several Judean kings, basically from about 755 to 725 BC. Hosea records no dramatic call like Isaiah or Jeremiah (Isaiah 6; Jeremiah 1); his ministry simply begins when the Lord speaks to him concerning marrying Gomer (1:1–2). This paragraph can be divided into two parts. In the first part, Hosea marries Gomer, then Gomer’s three children are given symbolic names. In the second part, God explains how the negative implications of the children’s names will be reversed at some point in the future.

First, God instructs Hosea to marry the promiscuous Israelite woman Gomer (1:2–9). Although people tod…