Hosea
5:1-4 The opening of this section suggests that it may have been delivered in the capital of Israel, where leaders and people would hear. The priests are still in focus (as in ch. 4) but Hosea also brings in the king and royal family, and the people generally. There are several places named Mizpah in the OT. This one was probably where Samuel went on his circuits to settle legal cases (1 Sa. 7:16) and where, in Hosea’s time at least, there would probably have been a religious shrine. Tabor is a mountain in the north of Israel. It was there that Deborah and Barak won a great victory over Jabin and Sisera (Jdg. 4:6, 12–16). We do not know the nature of the sins at these places, but it must have been something that would trap the people in sinful habits, so that they cannot return to their God (4).[1]
5:7a Israel’s faithless dealings with the Lord resulted in her giving birth to illegitimate children. This metaphor looks back to the prostitution that 5:3 mentions. It also implies that the apostasy of Israelite culture and their leaders had given rise to a generation that could more accurately be called children of Baal than children of Yahweh. They were “not my people” but Baal’s. The term “illegitimate” is literally “foreign,” which can refer to sexual liaison outside of marriage or, as in the English, another nation or culture. Hosea employs both senses. They were the children of apostasy/adultery, and they were the children of foreign gods.[2]
5:7b The line “Now their New Moon festivals will devour them and their fields” has mystified interpreters. The term “new moon” is often taken to refer to new moon sacrifices to other gods, so that the point is that they will waste their resources on sacrifices to other gods. The problem with this is that the new moon specifically consumes real estate (“their fields”) and not livestock. It is difficult to see how animal sacrifices could accomplish this. The LXX suggests emending the text; it asserts that a “red blight” would devour their property. It is not clear, however, how such a corruption could have occurred in the text. Another possibility is that the word “new moon” should be translated (with minor emendation to ḥādāš) as “someone else.” This would play on the fact that their children were “foreigners” (v. 7a), and imply that the punishment would fit the crime: they consorted with outsiders, and outsiders would take their property.
The unemended text, however, yields good sense. “New moon” connotes religious festivals, as in Isa 1:13: “New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies.” This looks back to the corruption of the religious leadership and the fact that the shrines had become snares (5:1–2). By metonymy new moon could be taken to mean that the religious practices of Israel would be their downfall. This still does not explain, however, how new moons consume the property. The solution appears to be that a new moon is literally a time that the moon is invisible and the night is black. The prophets spoke of the moon going dark as a sign of the day of Yahweh (e.g., Joel 2:10; 3:15). The new moon therefore represents eschatological darkness, a darkness that would envelop the land. There could also be a pun based on the assonance between ḥōdeš (“new moon”) and ḥādāš (“someone else”) as described above. In Hosea’s usage the eschatological darkness of the new moon is primary, the cultic significance is secondary, and the wordplay on “someone else” is (if present at all) tertiary.[3]
5:8 The language of this quatrain is exceedingly brief and elliptical. The “trumpet” was the ram’s horn, or shofar, and the “horn” is a metal trumpet of some kind. These instruments had various uses (e.g., to call the people into sacred assemblies, Num 10:1–10), including use as military signals. The three towns mentioned here, Gibeah, Ramah, and Bethel (= Beth Aven), are all located in Benjamin more or less in a line directly north of Jerusalem. The sequence, from the southernmost (Gibeah) to the northernmost (Bethel), could indicate that a military expedition from Judah was moving northward to take control of these cities. We must be careful about such conjectures, however, because we do not know if the alarm to be sounded in these cities is one of defensive or offensive warfare. The line “Lead on, O Benjamin” (lit., “Behind you, Benjamin”) might be a traditional battle cry for mounting an attack157 and perhaps reflects the fact that Benjamin had a tradition of military leadership. It is possible that Hosea used the battle cry “Behind you, Benjamin” because all three towns are in Benjamin. The reverse is equally possible, that he mentions these specific three towns because this war cry calls upon Benjamin. If there is a war in view here, we do not know if Ephraim and Judah are fighting each other over Benjamite territory or if they are allied in resisting outside enemies. A military interpretation of this passage only implies there was some kind of conflict in the territory between Judah and Ephraim. It is possible that Hosea may have simply chosen this area as the locus of his prophecy because it had associations with both Israel and Judah, and both were destined for destruction. But we do not really know that battles are behind this text at all. It is possible that the blowing of the horn and the raising of shouts are not war cries at all but are liturgical shouts of the fertility cults.159 It seems more likely that these are military alarms, but either way, Hosea’s call for trumpet blasts and shouts is sarcastic. Whether they are battle alarms or calls to sacred assemblies at the shrines, they are futile. Neither the gods of the shrines nor their own arms will save them.[4]
6:1let us return to the Lord. Now the prophet includes himself in his imagining of humble submission to the Almighty’s discipline. The OT prophets did not separate themselves from the plight of their people (Isa. 6:5; 53:4–6).
6:2After two days he will revive us shows that even after this fierce slaying (v. 1) they are not beyond the Lord’s healing. Healing is a picture of a complete metamorphosis: a rising from the dead on the third day. The Septuagint’s Greek translation for on the third day he will raise us up is part of what lay behind Jesus’ and the NT writers’ statements that Jesus’ resurrection “on the third day” was according to the Scriptures (Luke 24:46; 1 Cor. 15:4; cf. also Jonah in Matt. 12:40). Hosea was not writing about the Messiah directly, however, but about the people of Israel. The NT use of this idea depends on seeing a parallel between Israel’s resurrection on the third day in this verse, and Jesus as the Messiah representing and embodying his people. The potential of Israel’s third-day resurrection is to be ultimately realized in the resurrection of the One who acted in Israel’s stead (cf. Matt. 3:13–15). This picture of Israel’s death and resurrection thus sets the pattern for what eventually will be accomplished in and through Christ.[5]
Hosea 6:4-7God’s response to Hosea’s invitation begins with a lament of disappointment. It is not that he does not know what to do; it is that he does not really want to do what he has to do. Somewhat like frustrated parents who are at their wits end on how to raise a deviant son, God wonders what he can do to bring about a real change in his people’s hearts. The internal struggle suggests that he loves Israel and Judah dearly and does not want to punish them. But when they do not respond appropriately, what can he do? He has warned them, chastened them to wake them up, and promised hope if they repent. What more can he do?
God’s dissatisfaction with the devotion of his people is based on the fleeting nature of their covenant love for him (6:4b). Like dew, it disappears as quickly as a vapor. Commitments mean nothing; their consistency never lasts; they are positive one day and negative the next. They say they will seek God and worship him, but soon they are inquiring of Baal and depending on military power instead of on God. They do not seem to know what loyalty means. Because God’s people do not consistently maintain their covenant relationship with him, he has sent prophets like Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and others to declare in no uncertain terms what punishments God will send (6:5). These prophets declared God’s intention to slay them for their sins if they did not love God with all their hearts.
These people know what they should do because God’s “justice went forth as a light” (not niv, “my judgments flashed like lightning upon you”).7 D. Stuart suggests that God’s justice “functions like (sun)light, appearing daily and exposing what had been hidden,” so that the darkness of their ways are known to him. In spite of this, all they can do is to mechanically bring their sacrificial gifts at their syncretistic temples to appease God (Hos. 6:6). What God wants is their “consistent covenant devotion” (not “mercy,” as in niv). They need to know God by having a living relationship with him. Their worship at their temples does not satisfy the Lord because he wants them to love him, fear him, worship only him, serve him, and obey him (Deut. 10:12). Going through the religious motions will not cut it with God.[6]
Hosea 7:4–7 The word “oven” (Hb. tannur), repeated three times in these verses (vv. 4, 6, 7), can designate either a fixed or portable structure. This oven is made of earthenware and is used especially for bread. The comparisons of adulterers with an oven are both progressive and overlapping. In v. 4, the heated oven represents a quiet passion that does not go out even though the baker ceases to stir the fire. In v. 6, the oven is a suppressed passion, like anger smoldering, that unexpectedly and violently erupts; it blazes like a flaming fire. In v. 7 the oven depicts a consuming passion that will devour … rulers and all their kings. Many relate this to the political intrigue that marked Ephraim’s final hours. Four of the last six kings of Israel were assassinated. None of them calls upon God (v. 7). Here is a close association between an unquenchable zeal for political control and unbridled lust.[7]
7:11–12Ephraim is like a dove. The dove, usually noted for admirable qualities (cf. 11:11), here is described as fickle. This probably refers to Israel’s oscillating between Egypt and Assyria. It describes the subterfuge of making secret alliances with two opposing powers at the same time as a guarantee of security. I will bring them down like birds of the heavens. Pronouncements of judgment include 7:12, 13, 16.[8]
7:16Egypt here is a symbolic name for all foreign powers, and is intended as a metaphorical reference to Israel’s bondage in Egypt prior to the exodus, rather than a literal reference to a new deportation to Egypt. Like other historical references in Hosea, this name bemoans the reversal of Israel’s fortunes. The humiliation and degradation of being taken into captivity is depicted on numerous reliefs from the ancient Near East (cf. Joel 2:17).[9]
Hosea 8:1-14
The theme of destruction in 8:1–3 is implicit in Hosea’s charge to sound the trumpet to warn the people about an approaching military threat (cf. 5:8). This war will produce the circling “vulture” (better than the niv “eagle”),1 who will devour the carcasses of the dead. The vulture’s flight over “the house of the Lord” is a metaphorical way of describing God’s judgment on the nation as a whole (see 9:8, 15 for a similar usage) rather than a prediction of death at a temple.
The reason for this judgment is identical to the rationale in 6:7: The people have broken their covenant relationship with God by rebelling against his instructions in the Torah (8:1b). These covenant stipulations were supposed to guide the people so that they would know the meaning of loving God with all their hearts. The Mosaic statutes revealed what the people should and should not do in various civil, political, religious, and social situations so that they could maintain their favored relationship with God. The rebellion against these instructions (the “good” thing mentioned in 8:3) is thus a willful rejection of the authority of God and a repudiation of the unique relationship that has set them apart from all the other nations of the world.
In response to the impending disasters when Assyria (the “enemy,” 8:3) attacks Israel, the people briefly call out to God for help, confessing he is their God (8:2). They claim with their lips to know God, but one cannot reject him on one day and call him “my God” on the next. Thus, God will allow their enemies to pursue and destroy them (8:3).
Verses 4–6 describe Israel’s rebellion against God in the area of politics and worship. Referring back to his earlier discussion in 7:3–7, Hosea reminds his audience that they have removed one king and appointed another without asking God for direction or identifying his chosen leader (see 2 Kings 15). They have rejected God’s sovereign control and “approval” of key decisions and have taken over his role of directing the nation.
The people have also made idols of gold and silver, particularly the golden calves at Dan and Bethel (Hos. 8:5–6; see 1 Kings 12). God’s “anger burns against them” (8:5) because these bull images were quickly confused with the Canaanite god Baal, thus syncretizing perverse pagan ideas with the pure revelation of God revealed in the Torah. God laments the impurity this has brought to the nation and yearns for the day when they will reject idols (8:5b). This hunk of metal in the form of a bull is just a man-made piece of art, not a divine being with almighty power. It is not the God of Israel. Therefore, God rejects this calf and will have it cut to pieces (8:4b, 6b).
In verses 7–10 Hosea laments because Israel’s sowing of friendly alliances with other nations will result in reaping the whirlwind of destruction. This agricultural proverb summarizes what every farmer knows: A harvest is directly related to what is planted. Since Israel will reap nothing good and the foreign Assyrians will take what little is harvested, one can assume that they have sown evil behaviors to produce these kinds of results (8:7). These comments can be understood literally of a famine or metaphorically for “Be sure your sins will find you out.” Certainly the Israelites can understand this principle, for the nation is despised like a “cup that gives no pleasure” (niv “a worthless thing”). Everything good in the cup (i.e., the nation’s resources) has been swallowed or taken by their enemies (8:8).
This has happened because the nation willingly went “to sell herself” like a prostitute (8:9–10) through her alliance with the Assyrians—possibly a reference to Hoshea’s submission to Assyria in 733 b.c. In response, God will gather the nations together against Israel and send a “mighty king” (perhaps Tiglath-Pileser III) against them.
Verses 11–14 draw a logical connection between God’s condemnation of Israel for giving unacceptable sacrifices and her rejection of God’s instructions in the Torah. According to Leviticus, sacrifices were to be a sweet-smelling aroma that pleased God (Lev. 1:9, 13, 17; 2:9, 12; 3:5, 16; 4:31) because the people’s worship and repentance brought forgiveness of sins. But in Hosea’s time the people’s “choice sacrifices” (Hos. 8:13) on the many pagan altars around the nation have brought greater sinning instead of expiation of sin and divine pleasure (8:11). This is due to the nation’s rejection of the divine instructions God gave in the laws of Moses (Hosea blamed the priests for not teaching people these laws in 4:6).
Since the people have adopted their theological understanding of sacrifices, dietary laws, the character of the divine, and appropriate social behavior from their Canaanite culture, God’s instructions in the Torah seem strange and inapplicable in their setting (8:12). Since God’s instructions do not fit in with the times, the people have rejected his covenant stipulations. They are like a spouse who has decided not to live by the marriage covenant any longer.
These actions give God few choices. He must punish the nation for her sins. The people are only pleasing themselves, not God, when they eat these sacrifices. They forget who God is, the One who originally made them into a nation (see Isa. 44:2; 51:13) and who can send them back to Egypt and nullify his redemptive acts (Hos. 8:13). The leaders of the nation love the luxury of bigger homes and the security of stronger palaces and fortifications for themselves. But they forget that God protects cities, not walls. Therefore in the near future God will demonstrate his power and destroy these proud cities and the homes in them.[10]
Hosea 9:1-9
In the midst of a joyful harvest festival, Hosea boldly stands up and adamantly admonishes his listeners. Above the noise of joyful singing and dancing he shouts, as it were: “Stop the music! Stop celebrating! The party is over!” This must have seemed like a crazy thing to say since everyone is happy and having a good time. Certainly there cannot be anything wrong with celebrating the divine blessing of a good harvest, right? God has even instructed his people to rejoice (Lev. 23:39–43; Deut. 16:13–15) at the Feast of Booths. So what’s the problem?