Hosea: Faithful Husband, Faithful Prophet
Written for Principles of Biblical Theology, Dr. Joshua Madden, September 25, 2019
Hosea is a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel, who began his ministry about the mid-eighth century B.C. His period of activity coincides with the “last turbulent years of the northern kingdom.”[1] He was a native of Israel, is “the only Israelite prophet whose words have survived in a canonical book”[2] and is the only prophet who “represents the thinking of a purely northern prophet.”[3] Jeroboam II reigned when Hosea was growing up; it was a prosperous era, but also an era “marred by idolatry, immorality, injustice, and oppression of the poor.”[4]
Hosea is a relatively short book. The first three chapters tell of his marriage; the remaining eleven chapters focus on Israel, first on its many sins, next, how it will be punished and must repent, and finally, how God will restore it. Hosea’s personal life and marriage parallels God’s relationship with Israel. Hosea is a faithful husband to a faithless wife; God is faithful to his unfaithful people. Hosea’s faithfulness to his wife and his obedience to God not only mirror how God is to his people, but also show us what God expects of us.
Hosea’s marriage is also his call to prophesy. God tells him to take a harlot as his wife, and have children with her. Hosea obeys, without question, and marries Gomer. Hosea and Gomer have three children, all of whom are named as God commands. The firstborn son is Jezre’el, their daughter Not Pitied, and their second son Not My People.[5] All of these names are symbolic of and to the people of Israel. They would have recognized Jezre’el, which means “God will sow” as meaning the strategic valley in northern Israel where Jehu brought the dynasty of Omri to an end through bloodshed.[6] Not Pitied’s name is symbolic of God’s statement that He will no longer pity Israel, and Not My People symbolizes God’s decision to abandon Israel, “for you are not my people, and I am not ‘I am’ for you.”[7]
The marriage of Hosea and Gomer proceeds through the first three chapters in ways perhaps to be expected, if one marries a harlot. Gomer is unfaithful. Hosea entreats his children to plead with her, referring to his two youngest children as “My People” and “She Has Obtained Pity”.[8] As his children may gain these new names by turning their mother from sin, so can the Israelites regain God’s favor by turning from sin. Hosea’s plea to his children, for them to plead with Gomer to “put away her harlotry from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts”[9] is also the plea of God to Israel to repent and return from their infidelity to Him. This is clear by the change of voice in Hosea, which begins with Hosea’s plea to his children (and to Gomer), and changes to the Lord speaking, not just to Gomer, but to all of Israel, saying “I will espouse you in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.”[10] Gomer does return to Hosea, who ransoms her, and tells her she must wait many days, without resorting to other men, before they can be together. Just as Gomer must wait to be fully rejoined with Hosea, so Israel must repent and await redemption.[11]
Hosea has been called to ministry. His first task is to enter a marriage in which he will take on the position of betrayed spouse. In telling the story of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, Hosea stands for God, Gomer stands for Israel, and their children stand for the people of Israel. Just as Hosea’s three children plead with Gomer to turn away from sin and turn back to their father, Hosea calls the people to turn away from sin, to plead with their leaders to likewise turn away from sin, and to turn back to God. Just as Hosea remained faithful to Gomer, always willing to take her back if she would repent and sin no more, so will God remain faithful and take His people back, if they repent and return to him. Hosea’s marriage shows him as a man willing to be faithful, even if it causes him heartbreak. Likewise, God is faithful to His people, even though they often cause him heartbreak. “The Book of Hosea still speaks of God’s tender love for us and of God’s readiness to forgive our sins.”[12] “[Hosea’s] vocation is not only to proclaim the message of God’s love but to image it in his own life.”[13] Hosea speaks of how gifts are being given in sacrifice to Baal.[14] Gomer giving to her lovers, and sacrificing to Baal, that which she received from Hosea, parallels the people giving in sacrifice to Baal that which they receive from the Lord, since both land and its goods are gifts to them from God. The people have forgotten what they owe to God, and take from Him to worship Baal. God accuses them: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge.…”[15] God will call His judgment down on them: “I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress they seek me, saying, Come, let us return to the Lord; … that he may heal us; … that we may live before him.”[16] There is a specific reference to idolatry: “A workman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samar’ia shall be broken to pieces.”[17] Hosea is direct in stating, over and over, that the people have incurred the wrath of God by their actions. The people must return, must repent. Idolatrous Israel, just like adulterous Gomer, must return, must repent their sins, must turn away from what they have been doing and return to the Lord. Just as Hosea yearns for and takes Gomer back, God yearns for and repeatedly takes Israel back, each time they are unfaithful. Israel is described as unfaithful to God as a harlot is to her husband. Unfaithfulness is their normal behavior, not aberrance. Yet, no matter how unfaithful they are, God still loves them, still seeks to bring them back. But if they do not turn from sin, God will treat them in accordance with their sin. “Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt, The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.”[18] They will face the wrath of God. “I will come against the wayward people to chastise them; and nations shall be gathered against them when they are chastised for their double iniquity.”[19] God promises compassion, of a sort, in that He will not destroy them, but shall instead return them to slavery. “They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their kingdom because they have refused to return to me.”[20] Hosea pleas for repentance: “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.”[21] If the people return, the Lord promises “I will heal their faithlessness; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.”[22]
Hosea ends with one last plea: “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.”[23] But Israel is not moved to repentance.
Hosea is called at a very critical time for the northern kingdom. The years given for his active period vary. Harris puts him from 732 B.C. to 724 B.C.[24] Boadt says he preached from 745 B.C. to 722 B.C.[25] While we may not know exact dates, we can place him at the late history of the northern kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom was established in about 931 B.C., and lasted a bit more than 200 years. In 722 BC, Israel it falls in Assyrian captivity – just as Hosea foretold would happen if they did not repent.[26] The people failed to listen to Hosea, and they lost their land and their freedom. They failed to recognize God’s love for them as a gift that they needed to be thankful for. By taking God’s love for granted, they acted as Gomer did. Just as Gomer took the goods Hosea provided for her and gave them to other lovers, the Israelites took the gifts that God gave them, and gave them over to Baal as sacrifices. Gomer gave to her lovers that which should have been Hosea’s. The Israelites gave to Baal that which they should have given to God. Gomer repents, turns from sin, and returns to Hosea. The Israelites do not.
The marriage of Hosea and Gomer is comparable to the relationship of God and Israel. The marriage shows us the level of intimacy that God wants to have with His people. “The union, or holy land, will be so intimate that we will know and love the Lord as in a marriage covenant, in which the partners are equal.”[27] We may question if Hosea is telling a parable, or if Hosea is telling the story of his actual marriage. Did God actually direct Hosea to marry a harlot, or is Hosea using a form of parable? There is not universal agreement on that, as commentators are divided. Neither Dauphinais nor Hayes directly addresses the issue. Others do, with varying certainty. Boadt states that “It is just possible, though unlikely, that he used married love as a parable to get across the revelation he had received from Yahweh without ever having been through the great trial himself.”[28] Anderson is vague: “Hosea tells the story of an unfaithful wife…and the faithful husband who experiences the grief endured by his situation.”[29] Harris hedges, first stating “Hosea uses the metaphor of an unhappy marriage to illustrate Yahweh’s relationship with Israel,”[30] yet a few sentences later states the first part of Hosea “described Hosea’s marriage.”[31] Harris’ following comments on Hosea continue to speak of the marriage as actual, not as metaphor.[32] Lukefahr and Kodel are both straightforward, Lukefahr stating: “Hosea married Gomer, a woman who proved to be unfaithful to him,”[33] and Kodel referring to “the prophet’s autobiographical account of his marriage….”[34] Faley states that it whether the marriage was factual or symbolic, “the symbolism is clear enough.”[35] Reader’s Digest Association, a source not generally credited as scholarly, states “Ancient rabbis had no difficulty in accepting the instruction [to marry Gomer] as literally true, but medieval Jewish commentators found it deplorable…..Thomas Aquinas tried to deal with the problem of Gomer’s immoral behavior by suggesting that she was not Hosea’s wife at all but merely a concubine.”[36]
As Faley reminds us, it doesn’t actually matter if the marriage is factual or symbolic; what matters is the message the prophet delivers. Hosea shows that God wants us to know and love Him as He knows as loves us. God’s love for us is stronger than we can ever imagine.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, William A., DMin, PhD. Introduction to the Bible: Overview, Historical Context, and Cultural Perspectives. Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 2012
Boadt, Lawrence, Richard Clifford and Daniel Harrington. Reading the Old Testament, An Introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2012
Dauphinais, Michael and Matthew Levering. Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2005
Faley, Roland J., TOR: From Genesis to Apocalypse: Introducing the Bible. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2005
Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible. 3rd Edition. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1992
Hayes, John C. and Carl R. Holladay. Biblical Exegesis. 3rd Edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007
Kodell, Jerome, O.S.B. The Catholic Bible Study Handbook. Ann Arbor, MI: Charis Books, Servant Publications, 2001
Lukefahr, Oscar, CM. A Catholic Guide to the Bible. Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 1992
Who’s Who in the Bible: an Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. Pleasantville, NY: The Readers Digest Association, Inc., 1994.
[1] Stephen L. Harris, Understanding the Bible, 3rd ed. (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1992): 147.
[2] Harris, 147
[3] Lawrence E. Boadt, Richard John Clifford, and Daniel J. Harrington, Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction (New York: Paulist Press, 2012), 281
[4] Oscar Lukefahr, CM, A Catholic Guide to the Bible. (Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 1992): 103
[5] Hosea 1:1-8 (Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition)
[6] http://www.usccb.org/bible/hosea/1; footnote, accessed 9/24/19
[7] Hosea 1:9
[8] Hosea 2:1
[9] Hosea 2:2
[10] Hosea 2:20
[11] Hosea 3
[12] Lukefahr: 103
[13] Jerome Kodell, O.S.B., The Catholic Bible Study Handbook. (Ann Arbor, MI: Charis Books, Servant Publications, 2001): 130
[14] Hosea 2:8
[15] Hosea 4:6
[16] Hosea 5:15-6:2
[17] Hosea 8:5
[18] Hosea 10:2
[19] Hosea 10:10
[20] Hosea 11:5
[21] Hosea 14:1
[22] Hosea 14:4
[23] Hosea 14:9
[24] Harris: 147
[25] Boadt: 281
[26] Hosea 11:5
[27] Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering. Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible. (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2005): 132
[28] Boadt: 281
[29] William A. Anderson, DMin, PhD. Introduction to the Bible: Overview, Historical Context, and Cultural Perspectives. (Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 2012): 44
[30] Harris: 147
[31] Harris: 147
[32] Harris: 148
[33] Lukefahr: 103
[34] Kodel: 130
[35] Roland J Faley, TOR: From Genesis to Apocalypse: Introducing the Bible. (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2005): 130
[36] Who’s Who in the Bible: an Illustrated Biographical Dictionary (Pleasantville, NY: The Readers Digest Association, Inc., 1994): 157-158
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