Hosea 11-12 [2020]

Hosea 11RSV 1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. 2The more I called them, the more they went from Me; they kept sacrificing to the , and burning incense to idols. 3Yet it was I who taught to walk, I took them up in My arms; but they did not know that I healed them. 4I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. 5They shall return to the land of Egypt, and shall be their king, because they have refused to return to Me. 6The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them in their fortresses. 7My people are bent on turning away from Me; so they are appointed to the yoke, and none shall remove it. 8How can I give you up, O Ephraim! How can I hand you over, O Israel! How can I make you like Admah! How can I treat you like Zeboiim! My heart recoils within Me, My compassion grows warm and tender. 9I will not execute My fierce anger, Hosea 11-12 [2020]

I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come to destroy. 10They shall go after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; yea, He will roar, and His sons shall come trembling from the west; 11they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the LORD. 12 Ephraim has encompassed Me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; but is still known by God, and is faithful to the Holy One. Hosea 12RSV 1Ephraim herds the wind, and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a bargain with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt. 2The LORD has an indictment against Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways, and requite him according to his deeds. 3In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4He strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and sought his favor. He met God at , and there God spoke with him— 5the LORD the God of hosts, Hosea 11-12 [2020]

the LORD is His name: 6“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” 7A trader, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress. 8 Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich, I have gained wealth for myself”; but all his riches can never offset the guilt he has incurred. 9I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast. 10I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables. 11If there is iniquity in Gilead they shall surely come to naught; if in they sacrifice bulls, their altars also shall be like stone heaps on the furrows of the field. 12(Jacob fled to the land of Aram, there Israel did service for a wife, and for a wife he herded sheep.) 13By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet He was preserved. 14Ephraim has given bitter provocation; so his LORD will leave his bloodguilt upon him, and will turn back upon him his reproaches.

Hosea 11-12 [2020]

Contextual Particulars

The Date and the Sociopolitical Situation 1. ca. 785-745 BCE in the Northern Kingdom (Yisra’el); 2. ca. 760 BCE during the reign of Jeroboam II.

The Prophet’s Perspective: Yahwistic tribalism.

The Target Audience and their Views: the monarchical establishment of Yisra’el including the cult.

The Targeted Concerns, Issues, or Problems 1. the use of the Yisra’elite cult as tool for justifying exploitation due to syncretism or idolatry; 2. ideological contamination that led to social stratification and exploitation for the sake of economic prosperity and military security.

The Major Rhetorical Features 1. the concepts of covenant-faithfulness/covenant- unfaithfulness via the imagery of marriage/adultery; 2. the concept of covenant including torah and knowledge via anthropopathisms.

The Strategy for Survival: administrative restructuring and constitutional revision.

Hosea 11-12 [2020]

Observations 1. Hosea represents tribal interests: based on his allegiance to Yahwistic tribalism, he advises the administration about the monarchy’s compromise of Yahwistic standards. 2. He prophesies during a period of prosperity that is a prelude to attack by the Assyrians. In 722 BCE the Northern Kingdom (Yisra’el) is destroyed by the Assyrian Regime, while the Southern Kingdom (Yehudah) is vassalized. 3. The administration (monarchy) in the Northern Kingdom (Yisra’el) is either ignoring the threat of Assyria or preparing for confrontation with Assyria. Either way, the royalists or the elite (the powerful) are profiting at the expense of the poor (the powerless) by means of extraction (cf. 12:1, 7-8, 11). 4. The temple is part of the monarchy’s infrastructure that served several administrative purposes: a. collection of taxes/tributes in the form of offerings; b. regulation of the subjects by means of recording, interpreting, and adjudicating the laws of the kingdom (under the umbrella of the administration’s version of the laws of YHWH). 5. Hosea perceives the operations of the administration as in violation of the standards of YHWH: for him the administration’s version of the laws of YHWH as inconsistent with that of his sponsors (probably, the Yahwistic tribes which were more conservative and soured by the Yahwistic monarchy). 6. Though Hosea perceives the administration as threatened imminently by Assyria, he does not perceive the threat to be fatal or final. 7. In his estimation, YHWH has not given up on Yisra’el and will restore them. In his imagery, Hosea depicts YHWH agonizing like a parent over Yisra’el’s disobedience! Hosea 11-12 [2020]

8. Hosea’s Imagery a. Sources: i. the patriarchal traditions (cf. 12:3-4); ii. the exodus tradition (cf. 11:1; 12:9, 13). b. Use: to explain the constitutional violations that he perceives are responsible for the imminent crisis (cf. 12:2, 8, 14). c. Metaphors: i. the imagery of marriage: Yisra’el has been unfaithful to YHWH as husband who has agonizingly maintained the relationship (re: covenant is a relationship that can be informal as well as formal; e. g., social bonds, pacts, treaties). See chaps. 1-3. ii. the imagery of family: 1) Yisra’el and Yehudah are the children (cf. 11:1- 4) of YHWH their parent who has reared them via the torah (home-training). 2) Yehudah is regarded as faithful to YHWH, that is, just and righteous—“law-abiding” (cf. 11:12) 3) Yisra’el has disobeyed or abandoned YHWH. (cf. chap. 11). 4) The key motif pertains to directions or the way in which one walks: a) “from Me” (cf. 11:2, 3, 7) b) “refused to return to Me” (cf. 11:5 punishment: “they shall return to Egypt” or bondage) c) “return them to their homes” (cf. 11:11 salvation as an act of YHWH’s mercy or faithfulness to the covenant that Yisra’el violates). 26 May 2020 jcr