Hosea

Hosea contains possibly the most difficult Hebrew in the Bible (although many scholars would give that distinction to Job). Hosea is frequently elliptical, at times apparently ungrammatical, and often contains passing allusions to historical incidents and other texts of the Bible that are almost bewildering. Its logic is sometimes paradoxical. It also contains a fairly high number of obscure or rare words, the meanings of which scholars must struggle to recover.11 The difficulty of the Hebrew of Hosea naturally makes it inviting territory for those who wish to invade it with an arsenal of techniques for emendation.12 Critical scholars of a previous generation believed that the text had been severely corrupted13 and were sublimely confident in their ability to recover the text, but few scholars today feel free to rearrange, delete, and modify Hosea at will.14 For the

1:10

22:17, blessing on Abraham

2:18

1:20–25, creation of wild animals

4:3

1:20–25, creation of wild animals

6:7

3:6, sin of Adam

6:9

34:1–31, destruction of Shechem

9:6

47:29, burial in Egypt

9:14

49:25, blessings of the breasts and of the womb

11:8

14:2 (and Gen 19), destruction of cities of the plain

12:2–5

25:19–35:15, story of Jacob

12:12–13

30:25–31:16, Jacob’s sheep

13:15

41:2, 18, Pharaoh’s dream

the exodus are at 7:13; 8:4–6; 9:10; 10:9–10; 11:1–4; 12:9–10; 13:4–6. Examples of allusions to other biblical texts could easily be multiplied. For example, Hos 2:9–10 alludes to the curses of Deuteronomy 28; and Hos 4:2 all but cites the Decalogue. Hosea 9:9 looks back to the bizarre history of Judges 19–21. Most significantly, the foundational metaphor of Hosea, Israel as an adulterous wife, is founded upon the Pentateuchal depiction of apostasy as whoredom.24

that Israel’s love is like a morning mist: it quickly disappears in the heat of the day (6:4). He can portray Ephraim as a senseless bird fluttering between Egypt and Assyria in search of a place of safety and wandering far from God (7:11). He can also describe Ephraim as a diseased, dried-up plant that bears no good fruit (9:16), a metaphor that condemns the Baal cult for failure to provide fertility in terms of both good harvests and strong children. Sometimes Hosea’s imagery turns on a Hebrew wordplay.25

In chap. 1 the accounts of the births of the three children become progressively longer. The account of first child, Jezreel, simply contains a mention of his birth and naming with an explanation of how his name represents the future punishment of Israel (1:3b–5). The story of the birth of Lo-Ruhamah includes the account of her birth, naming, and an explanation of how her name represents Israel’s doom; but it adds a reversal, a promise that God would one day restore Israel to its honored place (1:6–7). The account of Lo-Ammi’s birth is still longer. It includes all that was in Lo-Ruhamah’s birth account (birth, naming, significance of name as a sign of judgment, and reversal; 1:8–11), but it presses on to give a much more complete account of how Hosea’s family represents Israel. The first reversal in the Lo-Ammi text (1:10–11) is answered by a second, more detailed statement of restoration and reversal of judgment in 2:14–23. Between these two reversals stand a warning of punishment (2:2–4) and a prediction of a new exile as a redemptive punishment (2:6–13); 2:1 and 5 are transitional verses. Thus the Lo-Ammi oracle leads into a chiasmus:

A Restoration (1:10–11)

B Punishment (2:2–4)

B′ Punishment (2:6–13)

A′ Restoration (2:14–23).

This leads to the conclusion that chap. 2 is not an interruption but is the completion of the Lo-Ammi oracle. Drawing together all the symbolism of Hosea’s family, it asserts that the adulterous nation can be made faithful again and that Lo-Ammi, “not my people,” can again be made into the people of God. Chapter 3 then returns to Hosea’s domestic life to demonstrate in a living parable how Israel can be restored.

That is, to be true children of God they would have to abandon Mother Israel, for she is not his wife, and her children are Lo-Ammi, “Not-my-people.” But this they cannot do. She has too well instructed them in her ways, and they belong to Baal. What shall Yahweh do with a people who can neither repent, nor even understand the need for it, nor recognize that Baal is a lie, nor divorce themselves from their mother and her ways? He must strip Mother Israel of all she has. That is, the institutions of Israel must die. The shrines must burn, the crops must fail, the kings and army must perish, the priests and princes must fall into disgrace, and Mother Israel and her children must once again wander in the wilderness. When this happens, at last, they will see both the truth and the lies for what they are and return to Yahweh, Husband and Father.