Holier Than Thou

Who wrote the books of the Bible and when?

Book of Hosea, about the life and prophecies of Hosea son of Beeri, was written around the eighth century (750-715) B.C. by Hosea the prophet. Hosea, a close contemporary of Amos, Isaiah, and Micah, lived in Israel prior to the Assyrian destruction in 722 B.C., during the reign of King Jeroboam. He married a prostitute as a symbol of Israel's unfaithfullness and, just as God still loved Israel, so Hosea continues to love his adulterous wife. The Book of Hosea includes:

Hosea's marriage to an aduterous wife and their unfaithful children as symbols of unfaithful Israel and its rebellious cities
Prophecy of the unification of Israel and Judah
Hosea ordered to love his unfaithful wife as God loved Israel
Judgment and punishment on an unrepentive Israel
God's love for, and anger against, Israel
Israel's repentance

"Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. Otherwise I will strip her naked and make her as bare as on the day she was born. I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst. I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery." (Hosea 2:1-4)