Hosea’s Wife and Family as Symbols

Hosea 1–2

Biblical Period

Chapter 1

¹The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah, and in the reign of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel.

²When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, get yourself a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom; for the land will stray from following the Lord.” ³So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim. She conceived and bore him a son, ⁴and the Lord instructed him, “Name him Jezreel; for, I will soon punish the House of Jehu for the bloody deeds at Jezreel and put an end to the monarchy of the House of Israel. ⁵In that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶She conceived again and bore a daughter; and He said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah;^a for I will no longer accept the House of Israel or pardon them. (⁷But I will accept the House of Judah. And I will give them victory through the Lord their God; I will not give them victory with bow and sword and battle, by horses and riders.)”

⁸After weaning Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. ⁹Then He said, “Name him Lo-ammi;^b for you^c are not My people, and I will not be your [God].”

Chapter 2

¹The number of the people of Israel shall be like that of the sands of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted; and instead of being told, “You are Not-My-People,” they shall be called Children-of-the-Living-God. ²The people of Judah and the people of Israel shall assemble together and appoint one head over them; and they shall rise from the ground—for marvelous shall be ^d-the day of Jezreel!^-d

³Oh, call^e your brothers “My People,”

And your sisters “Lovingly Accepted!”

⁴Rebuke your mother, rebuke her—

For she is not My wife

And I am not her husband—

And let her put away her harlotry from her face

And her adultery from between her breasts.

⁵Else will I strip her naked

And leave her as on the day she was born:

And I will make her like a wilderness,

Render her like desert land,

And let her die of thirst.

⁶I will also disown her children;

For they are now a harlot’s brood,

⁷In that their mother has played the harlot,

She that conceived them has acted shamelessly—

Because she thought,

“I will go after my lovers,

Who supply my bread and my water,

My wool and my linen,

My oil and my drink.”

⁸Assuredly,

I will hedge up her^f roads with thorns

And raise walls against her,

And she shall not find her paths.

⁹Pursue her lovers as she will,

She shall not overtake them;

And seek them as she may,

She shall never find them.

Then she will say,

“I will go and return

To my first husband,

For then I fared better than now.”

¹⁰And she did not consider this:

It was I who bestowed on her

The new grain and wine and oil;

I who lavished silver on her

And gold—which they used for Baal.

¹¹Assuredly,

I will take back My new grain in its time

And My new wine in its season,

And I will snatch away My wool and My linen

That serve to cover her nakedness.

¹²Now will I uncover her shame

In the very sight of her lovers,

And none shall save her from Me.

¹³And I will end all her rejoicing:

Her festivals, new moons, and sabbaths—

All her festive seasons.

¹⁴I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,

Which she thinks are a fee

She received from her lovers;

I will turn them into brushwood,

And beasts of the field shall devour them.

¹⁵Thus will I punish her

For the days of the Baalim,

On which she brought them offerings;

When, decked with earrings and jewels,

She would go after her lovers,

Forgetting Me

—declares the Lord.

¹⁶Assuredly,

I will speak coaxingly to her

And lead her through the wilderness^g

And speak to her tenderly.

¹⁷I will give her her vineyards from there,

And the Valley of Achor^h as a ^i-plowland of hope.^-i

There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,

When she came up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁸And in that day

—declares the Lord—

You will call [Me] Ishi,^j

And no more will you call Me Baali.^j

¹⁹For I will remove the names of the Baalim from her mouth,

And they shall nevermore be mentioned by name.

²⁰In that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; I will also banish bow, sword, and war from the land. Thus I will let them lie down in safety.

²¹And I will espouse you forever:

I will espouse you ^k-with righteousness and justice,

And with goodness and mercy,

²²And I will espouse you with faithfulness;^-k

Then you shall be devoted to the Lord.

²³In that day,

I will respond

—declares the Lord—

I will respond to the sky,

And it shall respond to the earth;

²⁴And the earth shall respond

With new grain and wine and oil,

And they shall respond to Jezreel.^l

²⁵I will sow her in the land as My own;

And take Lo-ruhamah back in favor;

And I will say to Lo-ammi, “You are My people,”

And he will respond, “[You are] my God.”

Notes

I.e., “Not-accepted”; cf. 2:3, 6, and 25.

I.e., “Not-My-People.”

I.e., you and your fellow countrymen.

I.e., the day when the name Jezreel will convey a promise (2:23–25) instead of a threat (1:4–5).

The Lord addresses Hosea and his fellow North Israelites; see 1:9. The mother is the nation; her children the individual North Israelites.

Vv. 8–9 would read well after v. 15.

I.e., her ravaged land (see vv. 5, 10–11, 14).

A desolate region.

Connecting pethah with pittah “to plow” (see Isa. 28:24).

Both Ishi and Baali mean “my husband,” but the latter also means “my Baal.”

As the bride-price which the bridegroom will pay, He will confer these qualities on her, so that she will never offend again.

I.e., “God sows.” The names of Hosea’s children (1:3–8) are applied here to Israel.

Credits

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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About Hosea

The book of Hosea is set in the eighth century BCE, when the Northern Kingdom of Israel reached its height and was then destroyed by Assyria in 722–720. The prophet chastised Israel, particularly the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim), for its religious and social offenses, including debauchery and worship of idols, and warned that God would destroy the kingdom because of these offenses. The imagery is graphic, and the metaphor of God the husband and Israel the unfaithful wife dominates chapters 1–3. Symbolic names make the message even clearer. The prophet reported that he was instructed to marry a prostitute, which he did, thereby playing out in his own life (if this is actual and not merely rhetorical) his message that Israel had prostituted itself with other gods. While most of the book envisions the punishment of destruction and exile, it also calls for repentance and ends with hope for the future. The book falls into two sections: chapters 1–3 and 4–14, which possibly derive from different periods.

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Hosea’s Wife and Family as Symbols

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Notes

Credits

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