Hosea had three children. It goes without saying that this was important to him as a father, but the significance of these three children for him went beyond normal, parental love. Although Isaiah also regarded his children as “signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty” (Isa 8:18), Hosea makes the births and naming of his children the beginning of the entire prophecy. He devotes more attention to their births than he does to his marriage to Gomer,
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