“Hosea is not an easy book. It begins with a prophet receiving a command to marry a prostitute and promptly describes the births of his three children, each of whom is given a bizarre but significant name. From here the book swiftly plunges into a maze of warnings, microsermons, poems, and laments, and through them all it swiftly and evasively alludes to biblical texts and incidents, mixes metaphors, and changes topics, seemingly at random. … But though Hosea is a difficult book, it is also a great book. It is like a tree whose roots go down deep into the Torah and whose branches bear the fruit of a discourse that became the grammar of biblical prophecy. … It also is a book that jolts the reader; it refuses to be domesticated and made conventional. It does comfort the afflicted, but it most surely afflicts the comfortable. It is as startling in its presentation of sin as it is surprising in its stubborn certainty of grace. It is as blunt as it is enigmatic. It is a book to be experienced, and the experience is with God” (Garrett, Hosea, Joel, The New American Commentary, 21–22).
To guide us through this often neglected slice of Scripture we welcome Todd Murray to the podcast. Todd has laboured in pastoral ministry for almost forty years and currently serves as Pastor of Family Ministries at Grace Immanuel Bible Church in Jupiter, Florida. He has composed and recorded several collections of worship songs as well as authored a handful of books including co-authoring a commentary on Hosea which will, no doubt, help us in our conversation today.
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Todd Murray has laboured in pastoral ministry for almost forty years and currently serves as Pastor of Family Ministries at Grace Immanuel Bible Church in Jupiter, Florida. He has composed and recorded several collections of worship songs as well as authored a handful of books. In addition to training and shepherding families, Todd teaches Biblical Counselling and Music and Worship courses at The Expositors Seminary. He and his wife Tandy have been married since 1982 and have been blessed with five children and six grandchildren.
Josiah has served the Oakridge Bible Chapel family as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children—Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.
