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God gets really angry with the people of Israel

A SCEPTICAL BIBLE READING OF THE BOOK OF HOSEA 1 and 2

Chapter One

Hosea was the first of twelve authors identified as Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. His prophecy comes towards the end of the reign of Jeroboam, ruler of Israel.

God commands Hosea, described in the third person, and not the unidentified author of the work, (or at least its opening two chapters) to go to Israel and marry a prostitute. He is to spawn more prostitutes to this whore. God has really surpassed himself this time hasn’t he? There is a clear unsubtle metaphor here for all of the Israeli people now being prostitutes in God’s eyes, as they love other people, gods and worldly pleasures more than they love him. Here is God in his greatest rage of jealousy.

An alternative reading of this is that Hosea came to despise his wife, regard her as a whore and make the association with his country from there, in effect the opposite view from the macrocosmic one he presents. His tone is deeply embittered throughout his book.

Hosea duly obliges without asking why or offering an ounce of resistance to God’s will, and marries Gomer; they have a son who God insists on naming as Jezeel. The boy will die but God tells his parents that those responsible will be avenged. Yes, that reads right. God knows a son will die and tells the parents, even though he has the power to prevent the death anyway. Imagine your reaction if told this about your own newborn child. Hosea just seems to accept the situation.

Hosea and Gomer will also have a daughter, named by God as Loruhamah, who will lead God to lose all respect and mercy for Israel itself one day. The people of Judah will be ok though because God will look after them. God spells out that no army, weapons, or military strategy will save them. It will only be some act of direct intervention by God on their behalf that will help them.

Gomer will then have a third child, the boy Loammi, who God tells them he will disown and show no interest in whatsoever, as he is not of the chosen people. The reason for this is that he is not a son of Hosea’s. The child is illegitimate and therefore God doesn’t care about him one jot (charming).

Chapter Two

God now turns his vitriolic hatred on other Israeli families, and tells Hosea to warn the nation itself that he will strip the country naked and cast it out into a wilderness, cold and naked and unprotected. This suffering and isolation, exile and abandonment will go on for generations.

God is angry that Israel thanks others than God for food, clothing, etc, suggesting trade with friendly (but pagan) neighbour states who God disapproves of, as the other countries won’t have faith in him as Israel is expected to. Israel, in taking support from others is not being isolationist and independent. God wants to remind Israel that all its wealth, bread, gold, fine wines and silks, etc are his gifts, not gifts from other benefactors.

Some of the Israelis, or all of them, have been giving tribute for their good fortune to Baal, a rival god. There were actually several deities called Baal, which was an honorific title, and some priests and political leaders had the title too, which is equivalent to Lord, or even to God. The main Baal worshippers referred to in the Old Testament were the Canaanites. In Hosea, the Israelites are being threatened with the consequences of trading with Canaan, or importing their peoples and cultural influences into Israel. God is being extremely racist.

As God subjects Israel to privations and poverties, she will naturally turn to her neighbours for assistance, but God plans to cut off diplomatic channels, and ensure Israel gets no international aid. In other words, Israel will become a pariah and her friends will grow to mistrust her. Only when Israel realises that no one else will help her will she turn again to God who will then offer help to his errant child and chosen ones.

The parallels with the fate of modern 20^th & 21^st century Israel are fascinating. The major monotheistic faiths all set great importance on the region, creating political frictions that are largely inspired by and help to be seen fulfilling aspects of prophesies like these.

Everything Israel got from her trade with those outside of God’s love will be taken from Israel, described now as a fallen woman rather than as a man as she was in Genesis where Jacob was seen as the physical incarnation of Israel.

God will restore his status with Israel. He will even change his name from Yahweh (God) to Ishi. (He never does, so this prediction seems to evaporate to nothing).

God surmises that the Israelis will no longer think of him as ‘Baali’ (verse 16), which might well mean God thinks of the Israelis seeing him as just one more minor deity among many. He plans to show them his Ishi nature – that he is considerably more powerful than his rival gods.

There is a fascinating theological conflict tucked away here. The other gods seem to actually exist. If so, God is not omnipotent, but in effect at war and in competition with the rival deities. Monotheistic religion teaches that there is only one God, but the Bible calls on its believers, even in the 10 commandments to worship only Yahweh. If the other gods, rather than just the religions, priests and idols associated with them are really out there, then the notion of God’s omnipotency is rendered null and void.

God asserts that his declaration of renewed love with Israel when she comes back to loving him, will move the rest of the World to love him too, so finally we will all be saved.

The text of Hosea online - http://www.gospelhall.org/bible/bible.php?passage=Hosea+1

Arthur Chappell

Shetoldme – Website summaries portal – many reviews of my pages - http://shetoldme.com/referral/7368b651

God gets really angry with the people of Israel

A SCEPTICAL BIBLE READING OF THE BOOK OF HOSEA 1 and 2

Chapter One

Hosea was the first of twelve authors identified as Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. His prophecy comes towards the end of the reign of Jeroboam, ruler of Israel.

An alternative reading of this is that Hosea came to despise his wife, regard her as a whore and make the association with his country from there, in effect the opposite view from the macrocosmic one he presents. His tone is deeply embittered throughout his book.

Chapter Two

God now turns his vitriolic hatred on other Israeli families, and tells Hosea to warn the nation itself that he will strip the country naked and cast it out into a wilderness, cold and naked and unprotected. This suffering and isolation, exile and abandonment will go on for generations.

The parallels with the fate of modern 20th & 21st century Israel are fascinating. The major monotheistic faiths all set great importance on the region, creating political frictions that are largely inspired by and help to be seen fulfilling aspects of prophesies like these.

Everything Israel got from her trade with those outside of God’s love will be taken from Israel, described now as a fallen woman rather than as a man as she was in Genesis where Jacob was seen as the physical incarnation of Israel.

God will restore his status with Israel. He will even change his name from Yahweh (God) to Ishi. (He never does, so this prediction seems to evaporate to nothing).

God surmises that the Israelis will no longer think of him as ‘Baali’ (verse 16), which might well mean God thinks of the Israelis seeing him as just one more minor deity among many. He plans to show them his Ishi nature – that he is considerably more powerful than his rival gods.

God asserts that his declaration of renewed love with Israel when she comes back to loving him, will move the rest of the World to love him too, so finally we will all be saved.

The text of Hosea online - http://www.gospelhall.org/bible/bible.php?passage=Hosea+1

The parallels with the fate of modern 20^th & 21^st century Israel are fascinating. The major monotheistic faiths all set great importance on the region, creating political frictions that are largely inspired by and help to be seen fulfilling aspects of prophesies like these.