Unlike the prophets of the exile period [who we have recently read], Hosea does not deride Israel's enemies. Hosea is a prophet who seeks to reform Israel from the inside, so that it is a more just society. As the community is not in exile, the focus is entirely on the reform of the nation.
Hosea and Ezekiel
We can see interesting parallels between the prophets Hosea and Ezekiel, two of the great prophets of the Jewish people. Hosea is from the north, and anticipates Israel's demise. Ezekiel, who appears years later and witnessed the fall of Judah, is concerned mainly with the southern kingdom. However, their function as sign reveals an interesting typology. Like Hosea, Ezekiel acts as a sign to God's people through his relationship with his wife.
In Ezekiel's case, the prophet's wife dies and Ezekiel is forbidden from mourning, in anticipation of the coming exile, which will happen so quickly that it will not be mourned. In this sign, Ezekiel represents the Israelites and his wife represents Israel.
Hosea, on the other hand, is instructed to marry an unfaithful woman:
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord."The sign here is Gomer's (his wife's) promiscuity with men, which reflects Israel's insatiable turning to other gods and fertility cults. In this sign, Gomer represents Israel, and the jealous husband Hosea represents God.
God is not angry with the false gods that the Israelites pray to, but rather the Israelites themselves, who have turned away from him after establishing a binding covenant not unlike marriage. Though an exclusive contractual agreement, this is not the western marriage of equality that we enjoy today, but one in which the female party is explicitly the property of the male. To imagine Hosea's distress and anger is to imagine (though clearly not to understand) God's reaction toward his people Israel.
A rose by any other name
Hosea's children all have symbolic names, which point to important parts of Hosea's prophecy.
The current order is hopelessly corrupt, and can only be saved by radical change. This is made apparent in the naming of Hosea's only legitimate child, Jezreel, is named after the plane where Jehu slaughtered the house of Ahab. The implication is that the same fate that Jehu brought upon the old order (which itself was rife with apostasy) will be dealt to the current monarchy, which has decayed through its own apostasy. The preceding dynasty of Ahab was no better than the current on. The prophet that anoints Jehu king of Israel tells him,
"Thus says the Lord the God of Israel...You shall strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. For the Whole house of Ahab shall perish; I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel."But whereas in the past the Lord was content with simply wiping out the old order, presently a more radical change is needed. Israel will be harshly punished for its actions, and kings will never again reign in Israel or Judah.
(2 Kings 9.6-8)
Hosea's other two children are illegitimate, the product of Gomer's whoring. They serve as symbols of God's opinion of his people: Lo-ruhamah ("not pitied") and Lo-ammi ("I am not yours"). The signs stand for themselves.
Hosea's See-Saw
It is remarkable how quickly messages of rejection turn to messages of acceptance in Hosea. No sooner does God give the name for these children, than the tone completely shifts to one of deliverance. The effect is almost dizzying:
...Then the Lord said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God." yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, [in fulfillment of the Genesis covenant] which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."Remarkably, the image of Jezreel is upended here into a positive symbol, a common theme throughout Hosea. Frequently throughout its fourteen chapters we find that negative images are later expressed in a positive light:
"...and they shall take possession of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel."In this new world order, the Lord addresses the two children with their names minus the negative "Lo": Ammi and Ruhamah, meaning "my people" and "pitied." But as soon as their new names are uttered, the mother is rejected, and Israel's wrongdoing is again revealed.
(Hosea 1.11)
Reaping and Sowing
An unfaithful wife is not the only image used to express Israel's unfaithfulness toward God. Images of agriculture are also used. Some are negative, and others positive, so that the positive images correct the negative:
For they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind
(Hosea 8.7)
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground;
(Hosea 10.12)
You have plowed wickedness,
you have reaped injustice,
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
(Hosea 10.13)
The text ends on a positive note, a plea for repentance followed by an assurance of forgiveness:
I will heal their disloyalty;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
(Hosea 14.4)
O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your faithfulness comes from me.
Those who are wise understand these things;
those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.
(Hosea 14.8-9)
