Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
The book of Hosea is a love story. Hosea is an example of forgiveness and being willing to help those who have sinned feel hope in their lives. His example teaches us that all of us can return to the Lord. God has promised to pour out His Spirit to all in the last days (see Joel 2:28-32). I love that promise and have seen how that has happened in our day.
Elder Ronald E. Poelman: “…John was a thoughtful, kind young man, affectionate, with a frank and open manner. He sincerely tried to obey the Lord’s commandments and found honest contentment in the joys of family life.
“Gayle, his wife, was young, attractive, high-spirited, but inclined toward more worldly interests and activities. The society in which they lived was, in general, one of affluence and materialism. People seemed preoccupied with temporal gain, social status, entertainment, and self-gratification. Religious leaders were concerned about the apparent breakdown in family life and moral standards."
"In the early years of their marriage, John and Gayle were blessed with children, first a boy and then a girl; but Gayle seemed uninterested in her domestic responsibilities. She longed for glamour and excitement in her life and was frequently away from home at parties and entertainments, not always with her husband. In her vanity, Gayle encouraged and responded to the attentions of other men until eventually she was unfaithful to her marriage vows.
"Throughout, John encouraged Gayle to appreciate the joys of family life and experience the rewards of observing the laws of God. He was patient and kind, but to no avail. Shortly after the birth of a third child, a son, Gayle deserted her husband and children and joined her worldly friends in a life of self-indulgence and immorality. John, thus rejected, was humiliated and brokenhearted."
"Soon, however, the glamour and excitement that had attracted Gayle turned to ashes. Her so-called friends tired of her and abandoned her. Then each successive step was downward, her life becoming more and more degraded. Eventually she recognized her mistakes and realized what she had lost, but could see no way back. Certainly John could not possibly love her still. She felt completely unworthy of his love and undeserving of her home and family."
"Then one day, passing through the streets, John recognized Gayle. Surely he would have been justified in turning away, but he didn’t. As he observed the effect of her recent life, all too evident, a feeling of compassion came over him—a desire to reach out to her. Learning that Gayle had incurred substantial debts, John repaid them and then took her home.
"Soon John realized, at first with amazement, that he still loved Gayle. Out of his love for her and her willingness to change and begin anew, there grew in John’s heart a feeling of merciful forgiveness, a desire to help Gayle overcome her past and to accept her again fully as his wife.
“Through his personal experience there arose in John another profound awareness, a realization of the nature of God’s love for us, his children. Though we disregard his counsel, break his commandments, and reject him, when we recognize our mistakes and desire to repent, he wants us to seek him out and he will accept us. (Elder Ronald E. Poelman, “God’s Love for Us Transcends Our Transgressions,” Ensign, May 1982, 27, 28).
“John had been prepared, through his personal experiences, for a divine mission. Though I have taken some literary license in telling the story, it is the account, perhaps allegorical, of Hosea, prophet of the Old Testament, and his wife, Gomer.”(Elder Ronald E. Poelman, “God’s Love for Us Transcends Our Transgressions,” Ensign, May 1982, 27, 28).
Hosea
"What does a story about an unfaithful wife and a forgiving husband have to do with Christ?"
President Henry B. Eyring: "I had a new feeling about what it means to make a covenant with the Lord. All my life I had heard explanations of covenants as being like a contract, an agreement where one person agrees to do something and the other agrees to do something else in return.
"For more reasons than I can explain, during those days teaching Hosea, I felt something new, something more powerful. This was not a story about a business deal between partners. ... This was a love story. This was a story of a marriage covenant bound by love, by steadfast love. What I felt then, and it has increased over the years, was that the Lord, with whom I am blessed to have made covenants, loves me, and you ... with a steadfastness about which I continually marvel and which I want with all my heart to emulate" ("Covenants and Sacrifice" [address given at the Church Educational System symposium on the Old Testament, Aug. 15, 1995], 2)
Four stages of locus growth.
These are the four stages of locus growth. It could be translated as follows: "That which the cutting locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten. And that which the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten. And that which the young locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.“
“In Joel 2:25 the stages of locus growth are enumerated in the reverse order, where the restoration of the devastations caused by them is promised.” (see Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown Bible Commentary)
The revelations of Joel begin by observing the destruction that has taken place and includes a promise of a restoration of the devastations that have taken place. They “are clearly addressed to a people facing "the day of the Lord.” (Ellis T. Rasmussen, A Latter-day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament, 638 - 639.)
A latter-day revelation indicates that one of his prophecies "was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be" (JS-H 1:41; Joel 2:28-32). That being true, the series of destructive forces to be unleashed according to Joel's first chapter, as well as the wars of the second chapter, and the final judgment in the third, must all pertain to the last days. (Ellis T. Rasmussen, A Latter-day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament, 638 - 639.)
Joseph Fielding Smith: In Joel chapter 2 “… we have a great, terrible army, marching with unbroken ranks and crushing everything before it, finding the garden like Eden before them, leaving the wilderness behind, causing mourning, causing suffering; and so the prophet raises the warning voice, and that voice is to us, . . . that we might turn unto the Lord and rend our hearts. . . . And then . . . the Lord says that He will take that great army in hand, that He also has an army. His army is terrible, just as terrible as the other army, and He will take things in hand. When I say the other army, the Lord's army, do not get an idea He is thinking about England or the United States. He is not. He is not thinking about any earthly army. The Lord's army is not an earthly army, but He has a terrible army; and when that army marches, it will put an end to other armies, no matter how terrible they may be; and so He says in these closing words I have read to you that He would do this thing. He would drive this terrible northern army into the wilderness, barren and desolate, with his face towards the east sea and his hinder part towards the utmost sea. He would do that, and then He would bless His people—having references, of course, to Israel. (Signs of the Time, 160-61).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "This promise, as pertaining to the last days, was made by Joel and renewed by Moroni when he appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith on Sept. 21, 1823. (Joel 2:28-32; Jos. Smith 2:41.) It has reference, not to the Holy Ghost, but to the pouring out of the Spirit of Christ, the spirit or light which enlighteneth every man born into the world. Those who hearken to this spirit and are led by its strivings come to the knowledge of the truth, accept the gospel, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (D. & C. 84:44-48)." (Mormon Doctrine, p.716)
President Joseph Fielding Smith discussed the great discoveries and inventions of our modern age and then states, "I do not believe for one moment that these discoveries have come by chance, or that they have come because of superior intelligence possessed by men today over those who lived in ages that are past. They have come and are coming because the time is ripe, because the Lord has willed it and because he has poured out his Spirit on all flesh." (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:183)
President Gordon B. Hinckley: “The era in which we live is the fulness of times spoken of in the scriptures, when God has brought together all of the elements of previous dispensations. From the day that He and His Beloved Son manifested themselves to the boy Joseph, there has been a tremendous cascade of enlightenment poured out upon the world. The hearts of men have turned to their fathers in fulfillment of the words of Malachi. The vision of Joel has been fulfilled wherein he declared: (Joel 2:28–32 is quoted).
“There has been more of scientific discovery during these years than during all of the previous history of mankind. Transportation, communication, medicine, public hygiene, the unlocking of the atom, the miracle of the computer, with all of its ramifications, have blossomed forth, particularly in our own era. During my own lifetime, I have witnessed miracle after wondrous miracle come to pass. We take it for granted.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2001/10/living-in-the-fulness-of-times)
“Everyone, in this sense, who is not a Jew is a Gentile, a concept that will enable us, in due course, to set forth what is meant by the fulness of the Gentiles.” (Bruce R. McConkie The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, p.221-222)
Teaching Thoughts:
Elder Ronald E. Poelman: “…John was a thoughtful, kind young man, affectionate, with a frank and open manner. He sincerely tried to obey the Lord’s commandments and found honest contentment in the joys of family life.
“Gayle, his wife, was young, attractive, high-spirited, but inclined toward more worldly interests and activities. The society in which they lived was, in general, one of affluence and materialism. People seemed preoccupied with temporal gain, social status, entertainment, and self-gratification. Religious leaders were concerned about the apparent breakdown in family life and moral standards."
"In the early years of their marriage, John and Gayle were blessed with children, first a boy and then a girl; but Gayle seemed uninterested in her domestic responsibilities. She longed for glamour and excitement in her life and was frequently away from home at parties and entertainments, not always with her husband. In her vanity, Gayle encouraged and responded to the attentions of other men until eventually she was unfaithful to her marriage vows.
"Throughout, John encouraged Gayle to appreciate the joys of family life and experience the rewards of observing the laws of God. He was patient and kind, but to no avail. Shortly after the birth of a third child, a son, Gayle deserted her husband and children and joined her worldly friends in a life of self-indulgence and immorality. John, thus rejected, was humiliated and brokenhearted."
"Soon, however, the glamour and excitement that had attracted Gayle turned to ashes. Her so-called friends tired of her and abandoned her. Then each successive step was downward, her life becoming more and more degraded. Eventually she recognized her mistakes and realized what she had lost, but could see no way back. Certainly John could not possibly love her still. She felt completely unworthy of his love and undeserving of her home and family."
"Then one day, passing through the streets, John recognized Gayle. Surely he would have been justified in turning away, but he didn’t. As he observed the effect of her recent life, all too evident, a feeling of compassion came over him—a desire to reach out to her. Learning that Gayle had incurred substantial debts, John repaid them and then took her home.
"Soon John realized, at first with amazement, that he still loved Gayle. Out of his love for her and her willingness to change and begin anew, there grew in John’s heart a feeling of merciful forgiveness, a desire to help Gayle overcome her past and to accept her again fully as his wife.
“Through his personal experience there arose in John another profound awareness, a realization of the nature of God’s love for us, his children. Though we disregard his counsel, break his commandments, and reject him, when we recognize our mistakes and desire to repent, he wants us to seek him out and he will accept us. (Elder Ronald E. Poelman, “God’s Love for Us Transcends Our Transgressions,” Ensign, May 1982, 27, 28).
“John had been prepared, through his personal experiences, for a divine mission. Though I have taken some literary license in telling the story, it is the account, perhaps allegorical, of Hosea, prophet of the Old Testament, and his wife, Gomer.”(Elder Ronald E. Poelman, “God’s Love for Us Transcends Our Transgressions,” Ensign, May 1982, 27, 28).
Hosea
- Hosea was given a divine injunction by God to take a woman to wife (Hosea 1:2).
- According to God's command, Hosea married Gomer (Hosea 1:2).
- Hosea's wife, Gomer, was a harlot (Hosea 1:2).
- Israel (the bride) is unfaithful to Christ (the Bridegroom) as a harlot is unfaithful (Jeremiah 3:6-8; Ezekiel 16).
- After marrying Hosea and having children by him, Gomer decided to leave him and return to her former life of immorality (Hosea 2).
- Hosea was pained at the sins of his bride and pleaded for her return (Hosea 2).
- Hosea and Gomer had three children whom the Lord commanded be named Jezreel (meaning "God will disperse or scatter"), Loruhamah (meaning "not having obtained mercy"), and Loammi (meaning "not my people").
- Gomer suffered for her infidelity (Hosea 2:2-13).
- Gomer came back to Hosea, and he accepted her again as his wife (Hosea 3:1-3).
"What does a story about an unfaithful wife and a forgiving husband have to do with Christ?"
- By divine injunction from the Father, Christ has entered into a covenant relationship with Israel (Hosea 1:2; Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:14; Mormon 5:14).
- Christ has entered into a covenant with Israel that is frequently described in terms of a marriage relationship (Hosea 1:3).
- Christ is pained at Israel's apostate actions and pleads that she repent and return to him (Helaman 13:11; 3 Nephi 9:13; 10:6).
- Because of wickedness, idolatry and apostasy, the covenant people have often been dispersed or scattered, lost God's mercy, and been stripped of their status as God's "covenant people.”
- Destruction, bondage, and suffering are the promises given to those who forsake the Lord for other gods (Hosea 4).
- Israel repeatedly apostatizes and then comes back, but Christ is ever waiting to accept her as his bride (Hoses 3:4-5).
- The metaphor of the unfaithful bride as a symbol of covenant people in a state of apostasy is a common image in scripture.
President Henry B. Eyring: "I had a new feeling about what it means to make a covenant with the Lord. All my life I had heard explanations of covenants as being like a contract, an agreement where one person agrees to do something and the other agrees to do something else in return.
"For more reasons than I can explain, during those days teaching Hosea, I felt something new, something more powerful. This was not a story about a business deal between partners. ... This was a love story. This was a story of a marriage covenant bound by love, by steadfast love. What I felt then, and it has increased over the years, was that the Lord, with whom I am blessed to have made covenants, loves me, and you ... with a steadfastness about which I continually marvel and which I want with all my heart to emulate" ("Covenants and Sacrifice" [address given at the Church Educational System symposium on the Old Testament, Aug. 15, 1995], 2)
Four stages of locus growth.
- Gnawing locust. It has just emerged from the egg in spring, and without wings.
- Swarming locust. At the end of spring, still in their first skin.
- Licking locust. After casting off their old skin, they get small wings, which enable them to leap the better, but not to fly. Being unable to go away till their wings are matured, they devour all before them, grass, shrubs, and bark of trees:
- Consuming locust. The most destructive and is often three inches long, and the two antenna, each an inch long. The two hinder of its six feet are larger than the rest, adapting it for leaping.
These are the four stages of locus growth. It could be translated as follows: "That which the cutting locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten. And that which the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten. And that which the young locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.“
“In Joel 2:25 the stages of locus growth are enumerated in the reverse order, where the restoration of the devastations caused by them is promised.” (see Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown Bible Commentary)
The revelations of Joel begin by observing the destruction that has taken place and includes a promise of a restoration of the devastations that have taken place. They “are clearly addressed to a people facing "the day of the Lord.” (Ellis T. Rasmussen, A Latter-day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament, 638 - 639.)
A latter-day revelation indicates that one of his prophecies "was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be" (JS-H 1:41; Joel 2:28-32). That being true, the series of destructive forces to be unleashed according to Joel's first chapter, as well as the wars of the second chapter, and the final judgment in the third, must all pertain to the last days. (Ellis T. Rasmussen, A Latter-day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament, 638 - 639.)
Joseph Fielding Smith: In Joel chapter 2 “… we have a great, terrible army, marching with unbroken ranks and crushing everything before it, finding the garden like Eden before them, leaving the wilderness behind, causing mourning, causing suffering; and so the prophet raises the warning voice, and that voice is to us, . . . that we might turn unto the Lord and rend our hearts. . . . And then . . . the Lord says that He will take that great army in hand, that He also has an army. His army is terrible, just as terrible as the other army, and He will take things in hand. When I say the other army, the Lord's army, do not get an idea He is thinking about England or the United States. He is not. He is not thinking about any earthly army. The Lord's army is not an earthly army, but He has a terrible army; and when that army marches, it will put an end to other armies, no matter how terrible they may be; and so He says in these closing words I have read to you that He would do this thing. He would drive this terrible northern army into the wilderness, barren and desolate, with his face towards the east sea and his hinder part towards the utmost sea. He would do that, and then He would bless His people—having references, of course, to Israel. (Signs of the Time, 160-61).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "This promise, as pertaining to the last days, was made by Joel and renewed by Moroni when he appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith on Sept. 21, 1823. (Joel 2:28-32; Jos. Smith 2:41.) It has reference, not to the Holy Ghost, but to the pouring out of the Spirit of Christ, the spirit or light which enlighteneth every man born into the world. Those who hearken to this spirit and are led by its strivings come to the knowledge of the truth, accept the gospel, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (D. & C. 84:44-48)." (Mormon Doctrine, p.716)
President Joseph Fielding Smith discussed the great discoveries and inventions of our modern age and then states, "I do not believe for one moment that these discoveries have come by chance, or that they have come because of superior intelligence possessed by men today over those who lived in ages that are past. They have come and are coming because the time is ripe, because the Lord has willed it and because he has poured out his Spirit on all flesh." (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:183)
President Gordon B. Hinckley: “The era in which we live is the fulness of times spoken of in the scriptures, when God has brought together all of the elements of previous dispensations. From the day that He and His Beloved Son manifested themselves to the boy Joseph, there has been a tremendous cascade of enlightenment poured out upon the world. The hearts of men have turned to their fathers in fulfillment of the words of Malachi. The vision of Joel has been fulfilled wherein he declared: (Joel 2:28–32 is quoted).
“There has been more of scientific discovery during these years than during all of the previous history of mankind. Transportation, communication, medicine, public hygiene, the unlocking of the atom, the miracle of the computer, with all of its ramifications, have blossomed forth, particularly in our own era. During my own lifetime, I have witnessed miracle after wondrous miracle come to pass. We take it for granted.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2001/10/living-in-the-fulness-of-times)
“Everyone, in this sense, who is not a Jew is a Gentile, a concept that will enable us, in due course, to set forth what is meant by the fulness of the Gentiles.” (Bruce R. McConkie The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, p.221-222)
Teaching Thoughts:
- The effect of gospel knowledge on our lives. What gospel knowledge will I share today?
- Hosea’s example and helping those who have sinned feel that they can return to the Lord.
- How can we better have Joel’s promise of God’s Spirit being poured out in our lives (See Joel 2:28-32).