REC Hosea

Exploring Hosea’s historical, biblical, and cultural contexts verse by verse, pastor-theologian Richard Phillips highlights the book’s powerful gospel message: although God’s people stray and sin, God’s love is unfailing.

As are all Reformed Expository Commentaries, this book is accessible to both pastors and lay readers. Each volume in the series gives careful attention to the biblical text, is doctrinally Reformed, focuses on Christ through the lens of redemptive history, and applies the Bible to our contemporary setting.

280 pages.

View excerpt here.

“It would be scandalous if a righteous king wooed a whore to be his wife, but it is even more shocking that God would love us. Yet this is the Lord’s message to Israel through Hosea. Rick Phillips’s exposition of this marvelous book is rooted in a careful study of the text, written with wonderful clarity and simplicity, and applied with sincere compassion for sinners.”

—Joel R. Beeke, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

“The church today desperately needs orthodox resources for the study of Scripture, particularly when it comes to prophetic literature. Many commentaries overlook the message of the text, but not this present work. In it we see a commitment to understand and exposit the Word of God faithfully and practically. This commentary is a welcome addition to the study of Hosea, for both the student and the teacher of Scripture.”

—Michael McKelvey, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson 

“These consistently admirable sermon-commentaries by Rick Phillips hardly need endorsing. They speak for themselves. Filled with insights and laden with heart-searching application, this volume does exactly what it needs to do: it provides us with an accurate assessment of the prophet’s message, then and now; it nourishes the soul with a portrayal of a ‘weighty’ God; it encourages readers to pursue with vigilance and joy the road set before us. Excellent is almost too light a word for this profound accomplishment. As we read this volume, Hosea comes to life and sits beside us.”

—Derek W. H. Thomas, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina 

“Rick Phillips, once again, offers a clear, compelling, and convicting exposition of God’s Word, this time of the great eighth-century prophet Hosea, whose thundering forth of divine wrath against sin is matched with the most moving expressions of divine grace for sinners. With the sensibilities of a well-seasoned pastor, Phillips ably captures not only the prophet’s message but also the prophet’s voice.

Preachers, teachers, and students of the Word will find here a valuable resource for understanding how the book of Hosea, despite all its difficulties and obscurities, nevertheless clearly heralds the unfailing love of God and anticipates the ultimate expression of that love in the cross of Jesus Christ. Phillips’s commentary is an apt tribute to his mentor James Montgomery Boice, who once called Hosea ‘the second greatest story in the Bible.’” 

—Stephen Coleman, Associate Academic Dean, Assistant Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, Westminster Theological Seminary