1:1 עֻזִּיָהp(Uzziah: 52 years; 808/807—757/756 BC); יוֹתָם (Jotham: 16 years; 756—741/740 BC); אָחָז (Ahaz: 16 years; 741/740—725/724 BC); יְחִזְקִיָּה, (Hezekiah: 29 years; 726/725—697 BC); יָרָבְעָם (Jereboam: 834/833—793/792 BC). The maximum time span is 819—697, or 123 years. The minimum time span is 792-725, or 68 years. So the word of Yahweh came to Hosea for at least 68 years, but no more than 122.
1:2 first spoke; This would be between late 819 and early 792 BC— probably nearer the later date. In any case, at the beginning period of Uzziah's reign and the end period of Jeroboam II. Judah was entering into a long period of prosperity at this point in time, and Israel was enjoying peak prosperity.
1:2 bore him a son; a legitimate son of Hosea and Gomer.
1:4 bloodshed of יִזְרְעֶאל (Jezreel); Jehu was ordered to slay everyone from the house of Ahab, king of Israel . Also the king of Judah, Ahaziah was the grandson of Ahab via his daughter Athaliah. So Jehu slew him also. However, in 2nd Kings 10:13-14, we learn that Jehu also slew the brothers of Ahaziah. These were half-brothers, sons of Jehoram, king of Judah, but not sons of Athaliah, and not grandsons of Ahab. Jehu had gone beyond the divine mandate to judge the house of Ahab. He committed murder. Now, Yahweh had promised Jehu that his sons would sit on the throne of Israel to the 4th generation. The sucession is Jehu, 1. son Jehoahaz, 2 grandson, Jehoash, 3. great grandson Jeroboam II, 4. Zechariah. The prophecy of the destruction of the kingdom of Israel was given at the end of Jeroboam II's reign. Israel 's prosperity lasted a bit longer. For some reason they did not set Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam II on the throne right away. Perhaps this son was afraid and refused to be crowned the 4th king lest the prophecy come true? There was an interregnum then from 792—770 BC. Then Zechariah was made king, perhaps no longer fearing the prophecy. His reign lasted only six months. He was assassinated, and then his assasin was asssasinated. In less than ten years, Israel was paying tribute to Assyria (2Kings 15:20).
1:6 a daughter; illegitimate.
1:8 a son; illegitimate.
5:14 lifting up: or "carry away"; root: נשא. The word means "lift up" or "carry away", and in this prophetic text has double sense. Yahweh carries away Judah and Ephraim into exile during the time of His absence, but also he "lifts up" Himself as the Son of the Almighty on the tree.
5:14 I, I am tearing: אני אני אטרף. The prophetic text is saying here a double meaning. Yahweh says that he will rend himself, and Ephraim and Judah. The Son of the Almighty, Yahweh Yeshua, was crucified on the cross. It says, "I, I am tearing" in the Hebrew text. It is intentionally ambiguous here in order to hide the Messiah in the text.
5:14 none to deliver: There is none who can deliver Israel or Judah from the chastisement of Yahweh, and no one delivered Yeshua off of the cross, since it was His will to make him a sin offering for our transgressions.
5:15 I will go away: recall that Yeshua ascended back heaven after his death and resurrection. For the past two thousand years Yahweh has exiled Israel and Judah (until 1948), and left them on their own as the good news spreads to the nations.
5:15 seek me early at deep dawn: This phrase is from the Hebrew root שחר used in chapter 6. It is related to "black", and refers to the earliest dawn, or the first hint of red far in the east while everything else is still wrapped in the "black" of night. In John 20:1, the women seek Yeshua in the grave while it is still dark, or at the earliest dawn. The text also has an eschatological sense. Israel and Judah will seek Yahweh at the earliest dawn of the third day (Millennial Kingdom of Messiah), while it is still night before the day breaks.
5:15 in the distress of them: again, there is a double sense to this text. The women visited the tomb in a state of mourning, and so also Peter and John, which turned to joy when they made their discovery. Also Israel and Judah will turn to Yahweh before the day of Yahweh in their distress. The time of Jacob's trouble will come and men will earnestly seek Him.
6:2 after two days; in the third day: מימים ביום השלישי. The one phrase explains the other. "After two days" means "in the third day", and secures the Hebrew idiom that "after n days" is the same as "in the (n+1)th day" counted inclusively. The sense of "after" is literally expressed by the Hebrew preposition מ, which means "out of". The sense is extensive, "out from two days", which equates to the third day.
This text has multiple levels of meaning, like other verses in this passage. It refers both to Messiah's resurrection and to his eschatological resurrection of Judah and Ephraim to national restoration. The plain chronology the text refers to Messiahs' resurrection with the holy ones mentioned in Matthew 27:52-53. This is one reason the text says "us". Another reason it says "us" is due to the resurrection of Israel in the end of days. "Us" refers to the seed of Abraham. In the chronology of the resurrection, the third day is counted on a sunrise basis (from Friday sunrise to Saturday sunrise), and the resurrection is just before dawn on Saturday, which is the weekly Sabbath. This is shown on the resurrection chart along the bottom of the chart.
It is very important to note that "after two days" is reckoned with respect to the tearing in Hosea 6:1 and 5:14. Days are being measured from the tearing, i.e. one day after it, and two days after it, which is the third day. This is proof enough that "the third day" is counted inclusively from Wednesday in the year of the crucifixion, and not exclusively as might be argued by some who hold to the Sabbath afternoon resurrection. This is not the only prophetic passage to count inclusively. Genesis 40:13 says "within three days" in the type of the resurrection. At the same time the type of Yeshua's death is also contained "within three days" in Genesis 40:19. This later antitype is connected in Mark 14:1.
The eschatological chronology understands "two days" to mean two thousand years, and the third day is the "day of YHWH" which is when the kingdom of the Almighty will be established for a thousand years on earth, as the preliminary to the Ages of the ages. Thus two thousand years measure the time that Yahweh is gone away from Israel and Judah, and is returned to His own place awaiting their repentance. Yeshua ascended back to the Father in the year of His resurrection, AD 34. Two thousand years later will be in AD 2034, at time which "coincidentally" marks the beginning of the seventh Sabbatical year, followed by the Jubilee year.
6:3 at dawn; The Hebrew preposition is כּ. When used with time, i.e. "dawn" it may have the sense of "b. of time, about, at, whether of the past or of the future" (BDB Lexicon, pg. 454). This is another one of those double sense passages. Messiah is hidden in the passage as Yahweh whose coming forth from the grave is fixed at the dawn. At the same time the sense of "like the dawn" should not be rejected. His coming is fixed, i.e. pre-ordained and certain, as the regularity of the coming of the dawn. This simile is also valid. He will rise up to deliver Israel according to the schedule he has predetermined, at the "dawn" of the "day of Yahweh".