An Introduction to Hosea
Genre
Hosea is book of prophecy and narrative prose and is included in the 12 Minor Prophets. The narrative material is limited to the first three chapters, while chapters 4-14 is a collection of prophetic oracles. These prophetic oracles may have originally been spoken aurally or they might have been written pronouncements, the text does not indicate either way. Hosea’s form of prophetic oracles is very poetic in nature and thus does not follow all of the standard conventions of grammar and syntax. Part of appreciating this poetry is to recognize the use of metaphors and figurative speech. Certain statements must not be taken in an overly literal fashion, such as God being compared to a moth and dry rot 5:12; rather Hosea was crafting a haunting and beautiful message to communicate the truth that God had called him to proclaim.
Hosea, being a prophet, served as God’s mouthpiece to the nation. Like other prophets, he revealed truth about God’s nature and person, God’s view of human situations and sin, and God’s promises for redemption and judgment.
Authorship
Hosea 1:1 declares that the “word of the Lord came to Hosea, son of Beeri.” When this is taken a face-value, then one is to believe that Hosea is the originator of this collection of prophecies which bear his name (even if there were later stages of editing). Unfortunately, not much is known about Hosea, except that he was a prophet of Yahweh. The text does say that he lived “in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel” (1:1). This would place him in the 8th century BC. Hosea apparently had a long prophetic ministry and one estimate is that he was active from 750-715 BC.[1]
Critical scholarship rejects the idea that the Hosea was himself the author of the book which bears his name. This is based on the assumption that the book was written in the Northern Kingdom and wouldn’t contain any references to Judah (which Hosea does); this leads critical scholars to insist on later redactions which inserted Judah. This seems to be an unnecessary conclusion, as Hosea certainly could have referred to Judah as well as Israel; it is quite likely that Judah was still important to those in the Northern Kingdom and there may have even been some Judeans near Hosea during his ministry. Another possibility is that Hosea could have times of ministry in Judah, and granted his long ministry this seems possible. Yet if some of the later references to Judah were indeed added to the text, this would not impugn the canonical authority of the text.[2] God was active in every part of the inspiration process, the aural prophetic proclamation, the writing down of the prophecy and the possible updated and editing of the text. An exegete one must deal with the text before him, and not get lost in speculative redactionary hypotheses
Audience
It uncertain whether Hosea’s audience was the northern kingdom of Israel[3] or a mix of both the northern and the southern kingdom;[4] Hosea did not tell us. While most of Hosea’s prophecies are directed toward the northern kingdom, he also addresses priests (4:4-5), royalty (5:1), Samaria and Bethel (8:5 and 10:15), and Judah (6:4, 6:11), yet we do not know whether these people and places were ever addressed by Hosea in their presence, or simply rhetorically in his writings.[5]
The audience existed in a time of expansion and prosperity for Israel. There was no pressure being exerted on Israel’s northern borders (2 Kings 14:25). This prosperity and peace did not lead the people to deeper devotion to Yahweh but instead to godlessness, religious syncretism[6] and unfaithfulness to Yahweh. After Jeroboam died the political situation of Israel deteriorated rapidly. Israel had six kings in 30 years, four of which were assassinated and the fifth which was deposed (2 Kings 15; Hosea 7:7; 8:4; 10:3; 13:9-11, 2 Kings 17:4-5). This led to the threat of aggression from Assyria. It was during this time of spiritual rebellion and governmental upheaval that Hosea addressed his audience.[7]
It is quite likely that Hosea’s message of repentance met with both “resentment and ridicule” as “orthodox Yahwism had become a small minority religion in Israel by Hosea’s time.” This is observed from the historical books and the prophets and it can be argued that Israel held a “cosmopolitan, latitudinarian attitude religiously” and practiced “polytheist syncretism, not monotheistic Yahwism.”[8] Stuart goes on to argue that many centuries had passed since the establishment of the Mosaic covenant which led to a high level of ignorance concerning the law of Yahweh.[9]
Rhetorical Strategy of Hosea
Hosea’s message is one of God’s judgment and love. This is most clearly visible in chapters 1-3 in which Israel is compared to an unfaithful prostitute wife, yet God goes after her and loves her. This message is recapitulated and expressed in different ways in chapters 4-14, but it is extremely difficult to try and discern a purpose statement for chapters 4-14 (Longman calls this section along with Job to be one of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible.)[10] The challenge of the “apparent incoherence” [11] of chapters 4-14 is summarized by Stuart:
“…the editorial arranging of Hosea’s oracles, whether done by Hosea himself or someone else, is either so skillful or so nonchalant (it is technically impossible to tell which) as to result in a relative absence of sharp delineations between pericopes. In fact, deciding where one passage in Hosea leaves off and another begins has been a major consideration for every commentator and critic. The results have hardly been uniform.” –Hosea, p. 8.
While the arrangement of chapters 4-14 is incredibly difficult to understand, there are several reoccurring themes including: covenant, marriage (analogy between God and man), judgment and salvation. Stuart argues that these themes surface and in three distinct categories: indictment, judgment and blessing (with repentance). Often times an indictment will be followed by judgment, and a judgment will be followed by a blessing.[12] Statistically, Stuart argues that 2/3rd’s of the oracles are indictments and evidence of guilt, 1/4th are judgments and the rest (1/10th) are blessings.[13]
It seems that a purpose statement of the book could be: Hosea compares Israel to an unfaithful prostitute wife and calls her to repentance; this is done through prophetic oracles which testify of the evidence of the people’s sins (indictment), God’s just punishment for sin (judgment) and of God’s gracious promise for renewal and mercy (blessing and Israel’s repentance).
Within Hosea’s rhetorical strategy, it is evident that he used whatever literary resources were available to him to proclaim Yahweh’s message as vividly as he could. His use of metaphors pierce the hearers’ imagination, his use ANE concepts and terminology make his message relevant and his use of known OT Scriptures add to the sobriety and authority of his message. These elements work together as Hosea calls a rebellious people to repent and turn back to God.
[1] Tremper Longmann III and Raymond B. Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament (2d ed.; 1994; repr., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 399.
[2] Logman, 400.
[3] Longman believes this to be the case, p. 400.
[4] Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah (ed. John D. W. Watts; WBC 31; Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1987), 12.
[5] Stuart, Hosea 12.
[6] There is recent archaeological evidence which “points to Israelites’ syncretism, thereby engaging in worship of Yahweh, but also worship of Canaanite religion, such as worship of Baal and Asherah.” J. Glenn Taylor, Hosea (ed. John H. Walton; Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary 5; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 10.
[7]Longman, 401.
[8] Stuart, Hosea 10.
[9]Ibid. 10.
[10] Longman, 397.
[11] Francis I. Anderson and David Noel Freedman, Hosea: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 24; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980), 69.
[12] Stuart, 18-19.
[13] Ibid. 19.
