Open Collections

Ottobre, Morganne

Database of Religious History (DRH)

The book of Hosea is one of the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, and the first book of the Minor Prophets as listed in the Masoretic text and the Septuagint. The book of Hosea featured prominently in the Qumran community, as three manuscripts of Hosea were found at Qumran (4Q78-79, 4Q82) as well as fragments of a “Pesher Hosea” (4Q166-167). The book contains 14 chapters, the first of which offer a narrative account of the prophet Hosea followed by poetic oracles and sayings attributed to him. Hosea was a northern prophet who, according to the superscription in 1:1, operated in the Northern Kingdom around the time leading up to its fall in 722 BCE. Although much of the book focuses on the 8th century Northern Kingdom, the book also includes references to Judah that likely reflect a later historical period. References to the nation of Judah and allusions to its fall in 586 BCE lead scholars to conclude that the book of Hosea was likely composed over a long period of time, beginning with the 8th century prophetic sayings, and continuing into the 6th century and beyond, as those words became reinterpreted for a primarily Judean exilic and post exilic audience. In reception history, the book of Hosea is most well-known for its coinage of the “marriage metaphor.” In the opening chapter of the book, Yahweh commands Hosea to take Gomer, a woman of zonah, often translated “whoredom,” as his wife. This troubled marriage is meant to reflect the fracturing relationship between Yahweh, the husband, and his wife, Israel. While the marriage metaphor is only loosely operative in the chapters following Hosea 1-3, later biblical authors such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Paul of the New Testament take up and expand the metaphor in their later writings (Jeremiah 1-3, Ezekiel 16 and 23, Romans 9). Moreover, Jewish and Christian commentators later interpreted the relationship of the couple in the Song of Songs in light of the marriage metaphor, leading them to liken the young couple to Yahweh and Israel, or Christ and the church. In recent scholarship, the marriage metaphor has been addressed by feminist scholars who point out the issues, theologically, politically, and socially, with the way the marriage metaphor depicts woman as a stand-in for sin, infidelity, and impurity. The disturbing imagery and implications of this metaphor serve the rhetorical efforts of the prophet, who sought to emphasize the fractured nature of Israel’s relationship with its god, Yahweh.

Other

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0438223

Non UBC

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/