By John McKennaBy John McKenna
The Book of Hosea is the first book of the Book of the Twelve, the so-called Minor Prophets of the Old Testament.
Hosea is given primary place among these prophets for good theological reasons. His prophecy (750-730 B.C.) is second chronologically behind Amos (about 760 B.C.), but Hosea is first because of the fundamental notions he works with to explain Israel's past as the people of God and to foretell its future.
This explanation and proclamation involves the great reversal of the Great I-AM with Israel as his people, the object of his divinely passionate attention in a world that is his creation.
The eighth century before Christ was a watershed in the history of Israel. Before this time, prophets did not write down their ministries. No books are attributed to Elijah or Elisha.
The vitality of the eighth-century prophets is bound up with the way they saw beyond Israel's punishment for breaking the covenant between Israel and God. They saw a new world coming in the latter days that is and will be the destiny of God's people with their Lord.
They wrote down their ministries as if to say: "We see that you will not obey. You have not listened, even from the beginning of our covenant with God. But the Day of the Lord will come, when you will hear, and you will be his people. Time will prove that we are the true prophets of the Lord."
Fundamental to Israel's sin history is the breaking of the covenant established by the Great I-AM of God through Moses at Mt. Sinai.
When God appeared to Moses in the incident of the burning bush, Moses asked God what his name was (Exodus 3:13, Revised Standard Version). "God said to Moses, `I am who I am.' And he said, `Say this to the people of Israel, `I am has sent me to you' " (verse 14).
Hosea 1 introduces us to the problem the Great I-AM has with his people. Hosea 1:1 is a historical introduction that places the prophecy before the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C.
Hosea 1:2-2:1 introduces us to the fundamentals of this problem. The marriage between the prophet Hosea and his wife, Gomer, a temple priestess, is to be used as a metaphor to describe the relationship between Israel and the Lord God.
The prophet embodies the Word of God whose message he must bear to his people. God is to Israel as Hosea is to Gomer.
Other metaphors are also used in the book. Hosea 11:1 will render the covenant in terms of a father-and-son relationship. The love of a father for his son may also be used to explain the nature of the covenant relationship between God and his people. But the marriage relationship is primary to the prophecy of Hosea.
The marriage produces three children. The names of these children signify the nature of the history of the covenant between God and Israel. In the Semitic world, names were vital.
The first boy born to Gomer is named Jezreel (Hosea 1:4-5). It is a play on words with the name of Israel. The end of the kingdom of Israel is prophesied to come just as surely as King Jehu once massacred the followers of the Baalim in the Valley of Jezreel (2 Kings 9-10).
Jezreel means "God will sow." Much bitter irony is inherent in this name. Jacob means "bent," and Israel means "God will straighten." Israel was once bent, and now the God of Jacob will sow his judgment with what must be straightened again. Like the Baalim of Tyre and Canaan, the Lord will remove Israel from the land.
The second child is a girl. She is named "Not-Pitied." This name belongs to the beginning of God's determined passion to struggle with his people in order that they might come to know him for who he truly is. We may refer to Exodus 34:6-7. Even after Sinai, Israel prefers a golden calf to the great I-AM of her Exodus from Egypt.
She can reject her husband. But to live without the deep compassion of God for humanity is to not know the love of God that shapes the beginning of every true marriage. It is to believe that conception belongs to something other than the Living God's care, compassion and holy love for that which has been conceived.
On the other hand, it is to be pitied to know the womb-like character of the Lord God's care for his conception of Israel. This is the Hebrew meaning of the word for pity.
The third child is a boy, who marks the completion of the accusation the prophet makes against Israel.
The boy is named "Not-My-People," the reversal of the covenant name given Israel in relation to the Lord (Hosea 1:9a). Ratification of the covenant concluded with the proclamation that Israel belonged in marriage to the Lord God (Exodus 19-24).
He declared her to be "His People." Not to be "His People" is to join other nations in their opposition to the Creator and Redeemer of the world. It is to bring down on their own heads the curses inherent in the covenant between God and the world.
The reason for naming the boy "Not-My-People" is explicit. Because you have named me, says the Lord, `"Not-I-AM," I have named you "Not-My-People." The reference must be to Exodus 3:14 and the Self-Naming God (I am Who I AM) of Israel's deliverance from Egypt.
Scholars have observed in Hosea 1:9b that the people called God "Not I-AM," using the word found in Ex. 3:14. But our Bibles still read this way: "Then the Lord said, `Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.' "
I read the Hebrew as follows: "Call his name `Lo-Ammi' (Not-My-People), because you are not my people, since I am `Not-I-AM' to you."
The point is that behind the names of God for the biblical world lies the great I-AM of the ministry of Moses at Sinai with the people of God.
The fundamental sin of Israel in covenant with her Lord is to turn the great I-AM that God is with her, into something that does not exist.
This temptation allowed Israel to marry the name of Yahweh Elohim (translated Lord God in English Bibles) to the Baalim of the Canaanite world. It is this syncretism that allowed her to break her marriage vows with the Holy One.
We should feel the finality of the divorce if we are going to appreciate the vitality of the restoration of this marriage. Only then may we understand the depths of our opposition toward the Creator and Redeemer of our lives.
Only then may we hear a real word of redemption for our lives. God and God's salvation cannot be divorced from one another, and in time Israel will know him for who he truly is.
That is the time in which Hosea sees, according to the Wisdom of God, the ultimate destiny of Israel.
We shall try to follow the way the prophecy announces both Israel's judgment and her salvation in the latter days. Israel will not be forever Jezreel. She will become "Pitied" again. She will become "My-People" again.
Because of her future I title this study "The Great Reversal of the Great I-AM of God." The prophecy sees a future for Israel as a time when God will be known for who he truly is with her, when she will be his people, and they shall enjoy majestically the fruits of their marriage to one another.
In the latter days, the purpose of the covenant relationship between the Lord God and Israel will be fulfilled among the nations. His people will possess real knowledge of God. This knowledge will be understood among the nations.
We can learn much of the Lord God when we take the time to reflect upon this great reversal of Israel's fortunes.
Bibliography
David Alan Hubbard, Hosea, Tyndale Old Testament Commentary, InterVarsity Press, 1989.
Francis I. Andersen and David N. Freedman, Hosea, Anchor Bible, Doubleday, 1980.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998