Hosea 10-12

     Among the comments made at Bible Study last night? Things haven’t changed that much!

     Also discussed was the difficulties of translation and how much language changes. There are also a few words in ancient Hebrew that no one has a clue about. Yet the grace-filled reality is the fact that God still speaks to us through these books, even if some points are a little obscure.
     Chapter 10 begins with one of the points of obscurity. It says that Israel is either a rank vine or a luxuriant one. Israel is therefore either a rank vine producing bad fruit or a luxuriant vine producing good fruit that is used for the wrong purpose. Perhaps, in the wonderful double meanings of ancient near eastern thought, levels of both images were being communicated.
     There is irony in verse 3, for the statement that Israel has no king because they haven’t acknowledged God, and still questioning what God will do for them. Hosea proceeds to say that the problem too much talk, too many oaths and treaties and lawsuits. These and false gods are what the people turn to. The punishment will be the war and loss. false images will be carred to Assyria (idols, being made with gold and or silver were taken in war as tribute, both as a way of “hah, I’ve captured your god,” and because the metals were valuable). In the end, everything Israel has built and relied upon will come to nothing. It will be like chasing the wind.
     Israel (Ephraim) is like a heifer broken in, but whoonly wants to do the easier job of threshing corn, but none of the productive owrk of harrowing and sowing. Hosea advices sowing justice and seeking the lord, but instead Israel has plowed wickedness and reaped mischief.
     What follows is a graphic description of some of the horrors of war. Because Israel has depended on military might, this will be the outcome.
     Chapter 11, however, begins with beautiful, if somewhat wistful, images of God as the parent loving the child. In old testament law, a parent could, conceivably, bring a disobedient son before the elders with a possible sentence of death for his rebelliousness. (It is hard to imagine this happening very often). But this gives greater poignancy to the statement “How can I give you up?” and “I am God and not a man.” For God’s love is not bound by human limitation.
     Hosea, in reviewing Hebrew history (in what we call chapter 12) has an unusual view of Jacob the patriarch. The gook of Genesis and tradition tends to view him more postively. Yet Jacob in Hosea’s view has acted badly. Though the chapter returns to Jacob, there seems to be some isolated sentences of prophesy that have been inserted here by the editor. The twelfth chapter concludes with the awareness that Israel pretty much deserves anything it gets.
     The alternating contrasts of threat and of God’s yearning could have a number of explanations, among them Hosea’s own journey of swinging between despair, anger and love for his wife. He clearly and desperately wants his people to pay attention, but they think everything is all right and continue relying upon earthly kings and earthly powers.
      A question that arises, then, is what do we trust today that doesn’t merit our reliance upon it? When do we turn to the parent love of God?

Hosea - 1-18-2011

General Comment on Hosea

     One scholar raises the concern that in Hosea is an inherent imagery that has implications for battered women.
     Hosea, himself in a marriage with an unfaithful woman, also portrays God in a similar relationship with Israel. Israel will be punished and finally brought back into harmonious relationship with God. The attempt to create this begins with seclusion, then punishment, physical and psychological, and finally a tender calling to return to loving relationship. The scholar notes that these are also practiced by abusive husbands (seclusion, abuse, and then intervals of kindness and generosity). “The problem arises when the metaphorical character of the biblical image is forgotten and a husband’s physical abuse of his wife becomes as justified as is God’s retribution against Israel.” (Women’s Bible Commentary, p. 195)
     Hosea used many other symbols and metaphors. For example, God is also pictured as a loving parent and Israel as a rebellious son. While he doesn’t call God a mother, neither does Hosea specify God as a father, and many of the images of caring for a young child are predominantly the arena of motherhood.
     No human metaphor is perfect. The marriage metaphor works contrary to its purpose if we allow it to create injustice. The powerful image remains of an erring people, a broken relationship, and God’s unwillingness to abandon them.


     As we continue in the book of Hosea, we recognize that themes are returned to again and again. Israel’s sin is in breaking the covenant. They have promised to be faithful to God, excluding all other deities, and they have failed to do this. Even so, they cry to God for help in hard times, yet continue doing things on their own. They worship other Gods. What can be expected accept disaster?


     Sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind is probably a proverb of the time. Its preservation in Hosea retains it as one today, although we might more common say, “what goes around comes around,’ or “we reap what we sow.”

Starting Up Again

     We are starting up again with Hosea tonight.  Look for a new posting by tomorrow!

Hosea - January 12

Traditions & Legends about Hosea


      Many centuries before Hosea, there lived the patriarch Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. If you recall, Jacob ended up being tricked into marrying Leah, the elder sister, when he loved Rachel, the younger. He was allowed to marry Rachel also (this was not a time when monogamy was the rule). Both of his wives, in their jealousy of each other, also gave him their slaves to bear him children, who would also be regarded as their own. Between the four women, Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter. Jacob, the older of two sons born to Rachel, was his favorite. He incurred anger when he told of a dream involving the sun, moon and eleven stars, (representing his parents and brothers) in which he was the one they all bowed down to.
     The non-biblical stories tell that during Rachel’s lifetime, Jacob had always kept her couch in his tent. After Rachel’s death, he told Reuben to put Bilhah’s couch in his tent. (Bilhah had been Rachel’s slave, whom she had given to Jacob to bear children on her behalf). Reuben was angry, feeling that his mother’s rights had been curtailed by Rachel and now even after her death was causing her annoyance. So he placed his mother’s couch in Abraham’s tent. Asher (son of Jacob with Leah’s slave) found out about it and told his brothers. The brothers were angry with Asher for being an informer, and would have nothing to do with him until Reuben himself confessed his transgressions.
     Reuben realized he had acted badly toward his father, so he fasted, put on sackcloth and repented of his misdeed. In this tradition, he was the “first” among humans to do penance and the story says that God acknowledged that he was the first and that a descendent of his, Hosea, would be the first to proclaim, “O Israel, return.”
     It was after this that the brothers determined upon killing their brother, Joseph. But, says this tradition, as the eldest, Reuben knew he’d be held responsible. Also, since his disrespect for Jacob, he had felt himself unworthy to be considered one of his sons, so was grateful to Joseph for having counted him among the sons of Jacob in the dream of the sun, moon, and stars. He tried to dissuade his brothers from murder, then proposed throwing him into a pit, for he planned to go back and rescue him. He hoped he might thus be pardoned for what he had done against Jacob. When he returned, the brothers had sold Joseph as a slave. Yet he was rewarded for his good deeds and intentions. The city of Bezer in the tribe of Reuben was the first of the cities appointed to safeguard the life of the innocent seeking help. Also God told Reuben that as he was the first to try to restore a child to his father, so his descendent, Hosea, would be the first to try to lead Israel back to his heavenly father.”
      Another tradition about Hosea is that he was the eldest of the prophets Hosea, Amos and Isaiah. That he was son of the prophet and prince, Beeri, who was carried away as a captive by Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria. Beeri’s prophecies only remain in two verses preserved by Isaiah.  (The book of Hosea does cite his father's name as Beeri).
     The story given for Hosea’s peculiar marriage says that when God spoke to Hosea about the sins of Israel, Hosea was expected to defend of excuse his people. Instead, Hosea suggested the great God of the universe should choose another people, instead of Israel. So to teach Hosea about the relationship of God’s people with God, Hosea was ordered to marry a woman with a dubious past.
     After they had been married and she had borne him several children, God asked Hosea why he had stayed married, (after all, Moses had denied himself the joys of family life after a call to prophecy.) And Hosea said he couldn’t send her away nor divorce her after she had borne him children. God answered saying that if he could act so with a wife with whom he couldn’t even be sure the children were his, how could God separate from Israel “My children,” the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Hosea asked for pardon and God said he should instead pray for the welfare of Israel.
      Hosea is said to have died at Babylon at a time when a journey to Palestine was perilous Because he wanted his remains to rest in sacred ground, he asked that when he died his bier be loaded upon a camel and to let the animal make its way as best it could, then bury his body wherever it stopped. Without a single misfortune the animal arrived at Safed where it stopped still in the Jewish cemetery of the town. So Hosea was buried there.
     One tradition says that Hosea prophesied for ninety years

Regarding the non-Biblical stories:


     While neither the bible nor scholars see Hosea as the first of the prophets (there were prophets such as Elijah, Nathan, etc. who prophesied first), and Amos may have been slightly earlier than Hosea, the dates are often approximate. Among the prophet whose writings/sayings are preserved in books bearing their names, Hosea was among the earliest. And since the earlier prophets spoke more to kings and individuals, perhaps it might be loosely said that Hosea, Amos and Isaiah were the first to prophesy to the nation as a whole.
      While the legends and traditions passed down outside the Bible may be only stories, some certainly may contain aspects of history and ruth. These stories support a sense that can be gained in studying the biblical book of Hosea—that he was also on a spiritual learning journey about God. Both the book of Hosea and the traditions tell of the unbreakable relationship of God with the people. God was unhappy with their behavior and threatened ending the relationship, yet this never happened. By inference, the message of hope that comes to all people of faith today is that the same fierce spiritual connection is sometimes challenged by human behavior, but cannot be severed. Or, as a modern voice as put it: God loves you, and there’s nothing you can do about it!”


Historical Background:
     In 734 b.c. Israel and Syria, who had previously been long-term enemies, now joined together against Assyria. They tried to force Judah (the southern Hebrew kingdom) to join them. When Judah wouldn’t do this, they attacked the country and besieged Jerusalem. Who do you go to for support against your enemy? You go to the enemy of your enemy, so decided Judah. In this case, it was the Assyrians, who were happy to get involved. All three nations, Syria, Israel and Judah lost out in the struggle. These events are described biblically in 2 Kings 16:5-9 and in Isaiah 7.
     Hosea (of Israel, the northern kingdom) and Isaiah (of Judah, the southern kingdom) both had words about the situation. Though on opposite political “sides,” they say basically the same thing – that playing with worldly powers and politics is no way to solve their nations’ problems. If, on the other hand, they were to get their relationship straight with God, then the politics would take care of themselves. For Hosea and Isaiah, Assyria wasn’t the real enemy, but God might use Assyria to teach both Israel and Judah some lessons.
     In the fifth chapter of Hosea, there is statements of judgement on the royal house and the religious leaders. The people themselves are idolaters. They have looked to other powers for help and so are facing ruin. This section concludes with a statement that God will abandon them until they learn their lesson and come looking for God. Perhaps suffering itself will bring them to their senses.
     The sixth and seventh chapters include words about the false confidence of the people who are, apparently taking this too lightly. They say words about return to God, but it is not deep-rooted. They think their evil will be ignored. Even more than rituals and words, God wants faithful love and honest relationship. The chapter goes on to outline some of the regretful history of sin and unfaithfulness. The seventh chapter, in particular contains a number of metaphors that the scholars sometimes haggle over, but the main thrust of it remains the wrong choices of the people and their leaders who are basically stewing in a broth of their own devising. And instead of turning to the one who actually can help them, they continue going to powers such as Egypt or Assyria. Even when they say they are turning to God, they don’t do it the way they should; instead they worship as if they were following Ba’al.