In the last blog (Hosea, part one), we noted that the Talmud calls Hosea the greatest navi of his generation (remember, “navi” is the Hebrew word for prophet). That is quite high praise, especially when we remember that Hosea lived at the same time as prophets like Isaiah, Amos, Micah, and Joel. Needless to say, Hosea is a big deal! And honestly, it’s almost “criminal” that we’re only spending two blogs looking at this remarkable book! But our goal in this series is to highlight major themes in each of the books of the Trei Asar (the 12 minor prophets), as well as the common themes that run through these prophets.
Before we proceed, I want to emphasize, again, how timeless the message of the Trei Asar really is. As I write this in the summer of 2026, our world is in desperate need of humble, authentic, godly leaders who are not afraid to say hard things. And of deep concern to Rabbi Jason and our entire team at Fusion Global is the rise in antisemitism and Israel hatred. Well, the 12 minor prophets leave no place for such things – especially from those who proclaim allegiance to the God of Israel and are followers of the Messiah Yeshua. Okay, now, we’re ready to dig back into Hoshea HaNavi (Hosea the Prophet).
As we saw previously, Hosea lived during a period of great prosperity in the northern kingdom of Israel…at least for those who were able to obtain it. And it appears that people frequently attained that prosperity through corruption. In other words, the fundamental values needed for a society to flourish, namely Mishpat (justice) and chesed (mercy), were not exactly widespread values in the northern kingdom!
Hosea gives us a pretty rough picture of the situation:
“Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy.” (Hosea 6:8–9)
That is a description of a society filled with evil. And let’s not miss something particularly troubling: the corruption had spread to the religious leaders as well. Now, if we look at the big picture in Israel at this point, we can safely conclude that the people of Israel thought they understood how to fulfill their religious obligations. The thinking was likely something like this:
“We’ve had the Torah for a while now. And we know how to sacrifice. And we know our worship schedule. We also know the rhythms we are supposed to follow with Shabbat and the holidays. So…we got this relationship with God thing under control!”
Now, to be clear…all of those things were practices commanded by God. Thus, by definition, they are good things to do. And from what we can tell, there were plenty of Israelites who were faithful in doing these God-ordained things. But apparently, a significant number were observing these practices while neglecting the aspects of Torah that mattered most to HaShem. And that brings us to one of the most important statements in Hosea:
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
This is one of Hosea’s revolutionary ideas. It’s the kind of thinking that made him great. But it is also an idea that can easily be misunderstood.
What did the prophet mean that God doesn’t desire sacrifice…or burnt offerings? Is this a denigration of the Holy Temple and the sacrificial system that God ordained Himself?
Many interpreters would answer yes. But I don’t think that’s what Hosea means at all.
His game-changing point is this: It’s not enough to bring sacrifices. You must also have chesed, which means “steadfast love.” And while the first half of Hosea 6:6 gets most of the attention, there is an important second half: God desires…“the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
That’s an interesting phrase.
In my mind, “knowledge of God” and “burnt offerings” naturally go together in the Torah. God commanded Israel to bring offerings! In other words, you have to know something about God to offer a burnt offering in the first place! So why would Hosea place these ideas in tension with each other in this text?
Well, I don’t think this is an “either/or” statement. Clearly, HaShem repeatedly calls for sacrifices and burnt offerings in the Torah. Sacrifices are a key component of biblical worship. And keep in mind that only some of the Biblical sacrifices have to do with sin or transgression. The bottom line here is that it’s a misreading of the prophet to conclude that Hosea intended to undermine the sacrifices and Temple worship.
So what was Hosea’s point? Well, I think Hosea is expressing an idea that gets to the heart of the Torah, and that’s this: Faithfulness to God means prioritizing the ethics of the Torah over its rituals.
Now, please hear me clearly on this: the ritual components of Torah are very important! But one of Hosea’s big ideas is that we demonstrate faithfulness to God, first and foremost, through chesed toward one another and through acts of lovingkindness. In other words, as a good navi does, Hosea is drawing out the ethics of Torah that must govern the way we carry out our acts of worship to HaShem.
In many ways, Hosea’s emphasis is a preview of the teaching emphasis of Yeshua. And this should be no surprise. Yeshua was many things, including a prophet. We see some Hosea-like thinking in his words in Matthew 23:23:
“You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”
This is a critically important verse. And it’s one that Rabbi Jason references a lot as well. There’s a good reason for this. Matthew 23:23 is one of the most brilliant pieces of “Torah teaching” in the gospels, and it gets to the heart of how Yeshua, as the Messiah, elucidated the Torah. Very importantly, though, I want you to notice what Yeshua does not say. He doesn’t dismiss the “smaller” or “lesser” commandments in the Torah. In fact, he explicitly says, “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”
So what’s Yeshua’s point? His point is that when it comes to the responsibilities God gives us in His Word, there are priorities. All commandments from God are important. But not all commandments carry the same weight. In other words, there are priorities within the Torah itself. First and foremost come “justice, mercy, and faithfulness”: mishpat, chesed, and emunah. Those concepts carry the most weight as we consider what it means to walk faithfully before God and love others. In this sense, Yeshua and Hosea are saying something very similar. The most important things are justice, faithfulness, love, righteousness, and mercy…and yes, be faithful to the lesser things also (like tithing mint, dill, and cumin). Truly, keeping this in order is critical.
Before we wrap this up, I’m going to highlight another massive theme in Hosea and one that is found throughout the prophets: teshuvah.
“Teshuvah” is a Hebrew word that means “to turn” or “to return.” We often translate “teshuvah” into English as “repentance.” That works…but it doesn’t quite capture the sense and impact of the Hebrew word. “Teshuvah” in the prophets functions somewhat like a promise that goes like this:
“You can change your ways! You can come back home! And God welcomes a return to Him with open arms.”
That’s the essence of “teshuvah.” And it might be the most important concept in the Trei Asar.
Can you see how relevant the “minor” prophets are today? So many people today think God has given up on them and they can’t return to Him. That’s not the message of the Trei Asar. If we have breath, it’s not too late to return to our Heavenly Father!
The final chapter of Hosea gives us a beautiful picture of God’s call for Israel to do teshuvah and, importantly, God’s response when Israel returns:
“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity…Take words with yourselves and return to the Lord…I will remedy their backsliding; I will love them freely.” (Hosea 14:2-5)
The opening words of Hosea 14 have a stunningly simple beauty: Shuvah Yisrael: “Return, Israel.” But notice how Israel is told to return: “Take words with yourselves and return to the Lord.” The prophet then uses the language of bulls and “the offering of our lips.” It is a famously challenging phrase, but I think it takes us right back to Hosea 6:6. Again, the idea is not “either/or.” Hosea isn’t calling for the elimination of sacrifices. Sacrifices, priesthood, and the Temple are fundamental to the biblical economy of God’s Kingdom. So what’s the point of this exhortation? The prophet is telling Israel that they must first come to HaShem with words of teshuvah. They cannot secure or express repentance simply by bringing bulls. Again, it’s about priorities. The kind of teshuvah that will usher in God’s Kingdom is not simply bringing sacrifices. It is actually doing teshuvah. It means turning around and returning to God. Does this sound familiar? It should, as Yeshua taught: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
For both Yeshua and Hosea, teshuvah is connected to incredible blessing and restoration. Both of them emphasized that if our “religion” is keeping us from showing love and mercy to other people, then we may not be walking things out in the right way. And in particular, Hosea reminds us that God cares about how we worship, but He also cares deeply about how our worship shapes the way we live. Mishpat, chesed, and emunah cannot become secondary matters!
And something else comes through strongly in Hosea: the power of teshuvah!
One of the fundamental themes running through the prophets is that teshuvah (returning to God) is the chief catalyst that will ultimately lead toward the fullness of God’s Kingdom on earth.
Hosea began by showing us that God remains faithful even when His people wander. And he ends this powerful book by calling those wandering people home. Again, be encouraged. With God, there is always a way to come back home!
