Hosea prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel in the years before Assyria destroyed it. The Lord told him to marry Gomer, a woman who would be unfaithful to him. Their marriage was a living picture of Israel breaking its covenant with God, in Hosea 1:2–3. Readers differ on whether it was a literal marriage or a prophetic parable. Either way, the message is the point. Their children’s names were heartbreaking. Lo-ruhamah means “not pitied” or “no mercy.” Lo-ammi means “not my people.” See 1:6–9. Gomer chased other lovers, thinking they gave her bread, wool and oil. She didn’t realize her husband had provided it all, in 2:5 and 2:8. That’s Israel crediting idols for blessings that came from God.
Then the story turns. The Lord promises to lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. He’ll make the valley of Achor, which means “trouble,” into “a door of hope.” That’s 2:14–15. She’ll call Him Ishi, “my husband,” and no longer Baali, “my master.” It’s a pun on the idol Baal, in 2:16. He betroths her forever “in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies,” in 2:19–20. And the children’s names are reversed: “Thou art my people,” in 2:23. In chapter 3, Hosea buys his wife back for fifteen pieces of silver and some barley, in 3:1–2. That’s what a Redeemer does. He pays to bring back someone who walked away. Hosea 14:4 sums it up: “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.”
Two passages speak straight to teens. Hosea 6:4 says Israel’s goodness is “as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” It’s real at youth conference or FSY and gone by Wednesday. Hosea 6:6 says the Lord wants mercy and knowledge of God more than sacrifice. Jesus quoted it twice, in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7. Joel 2:12–13 makes the same point with a vivid image: “rend your heart, and not your garments.” Covenants are compared to marriage because they’re relationships, not transactions. That frame will matter as your youth prepare for temple covenants and, someday, temple marriage.
Joel describes a locust plague so bad it stripped the land, in Joel 1:4. He calls the people to fast and turn to the Lord. Then he promises, “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,” in 2:25. Many youth already carry regrets. This is a promise about the Savior’s power to redeem lost time. Then Joel 2:28–29 promises the Spirit poured out on “all flesh.” That includes sons and daughters who prophesy and young men who see visions. Peter quoted it at Pentecost, in Acts 2:16–18. Moroni quoted it to Joseph Smith in 1823. He said it wasn’t fulfilled yet but soon would be, in Joseph Smith—History 1:41. Your youth are living in that fulfillment. A patriarchal blessing is one very personal way it reaches them.
