What happens when children disappoint a parent? Are there always, or mostly, paths to repair? How is this different between a married couple?
There is a not so subtle theological revolution introduced by Hosea in these chapters, under layers of an allegorical and problematic love and/or marriage story between a man and a woman, both with limited choices, and yet, with possible agency.
The prophet of whom we really know nothing but name is instructed by God in these first chapters to marry a woman who is polyamorous, and possibly a professional sex-worker. On some level he’s compelled (isn’t that what prophets do?) and chooses to obey, and on some level of autonomy we can only assume - so does she.
In the first two chapters they have three children together.
In today’s third and final chapter of this saga, he is instructed to either go back to her or to approach another woman, it’s not clear. the scholars debate whether this chapter refers to Gomer or not. But one aspect of this story is named right away as allegory - this is really about the people Israel and how they do or do not love God.
Prof. Carl S. Ehrlich's illuminating essay explores why who these women are may matter:
“Are Gomer and the unnamed women of chapter 3 one and the same, or are they different women? To what extent are these two narratives factual and to what extent allegorical?
In other words, scholars have been obsessed with the chicken or egg question of whether it was Hosea’s unhappy relationships with women that gave rise to his influential metaphor of the dysfunctional sexual relationship between God and Israel, or whether his relationships arose out of a need to illustrate in a concrete manner his insights into the divine/human relationship… In spite of the restorative redemption that comes at the end of the chapter, the violence of the punishment visited upon the wife/Israel has been a source of consternation for modern feminist biblical interpreters, who decry the matter-of-fact depiction of the husband’s excessively violent chastisement of his wife in archetypal biblical literature.”
What’s new here is the feeling and verb that Hosea is instructed to pursue this woman with - love. No such love was specified in the previous two chapters.
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֵלַ֗י ע֚וֹד לֵ֣ךְ אֱֽהַב־אִשָּׁ֔ה אֲהֻ֥בַת רֵ֖עַ וּמְנָאָ֑פֶת כְּאַהֲבַ֤ת יְהֹוָה֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְהֵ֗ם פֹּנִים֙ אֶל־אֱלֹהִ֣ים אֲחֵרִ֔ים וְאֹהֲבֵ֖י אֲשִׁישֵׁ֥י עֲנָבִֽים׃
YHWH said to me further, “Go, love a woman who, while befriended by a companion, consorts with others, just as YHWH befriends the Israelites, but they turn to other gods and love their cups of the grape.”
Hosea 3:1
The reason YHWH wants Hosea to make public displays of this complicated relationship is to model the type of topsy-turvy ties between Israel and their God.
Considering the turbulent times that define Hosea’s 8th Century BCE history, the people’s promiscuous actions are less about worshiping idols and more about cultural assimilation, societal immorality and increasing injustice. They turn away from the old way and from YHWH, but there’s still a story there.
Maybe even a love story, still, between the partners, and there’s still the path to patch things up.
This is the radical shift that Hosea suggests - this is one of the first, if twisted, allegorical attempts to depict the relationship between YHWH and the people of Israel not as father and children - but as a married couple. We’ve read similar suggestions by Jeremiah and Isaiah - but Hosea preceded them historically, and thus is the first to suggest this model. The parental role has often been the defining trope of allegorical references by previous generations. Hosea challenges that.
What happens when children disappoint a parent? Are there always, or mostly, paths to repair? How is this different between a married couple?
As the Kingdom of Israel slowly disintegrated during Hosea’s lifetime, and the religious life shifted with it, he’s trying out another model of theological relations - possibly a model that might lead to a split deeper than those possible by parents and children -- a divorce.
But even that’s fixable - Hosea suggests. In this chapter he illustrates the long time of separation between the two partners, with some level of deprivation of the connection, which will lead from true yearning to a deeper reconnect and repair of the rift.
There’s lots to explore here, esp. with modern, feminist, queer and non heterodox perspectives. Hosea will also come back to this theme again and again, exploring the limits of communal or national Teshuva- Repentance, and the various ways we each hide and seek our connections to the sacred, erotic and all forms of love.
In this interesting blog titled God Vs. the Patriarchy, a thoughtful reflection looks at this story from a similar, progressive Christian perspective:
“I see Gomer as a necessary metaphorical stop on our journey to a redemptive God...In a nutshell, I think it was a theologically murky time when these prophets were writing – not much different than today, in that respect. They were trying to figure out their relationship, indeed, humankind’s relationship, with God.
..We can find metaphorical aspects of a loving God in any loving and intimate relationship. I think we see an early, and therefore a little wonky, attempt at creating a metaphor for a loving relationship between God and humanity in Hosea’s marriage to Gomer. Hosea was burdened by the biases of his time, which again, at their base aren’t all that different than many biases we may encounter today: sexism, xenophobia, probably a rigid belief that his truth was the only truth in God. As such, his marriage to Gomer, real or visionary, comes across to the modern reader as unequal, controlling, and quite frankly unenviable, especially if you’re on the Gomer side of it. But there is strong possibility here, and that is why I think Hosea chose the metaphor of marriage as a metaphor for Israel’s, and our, relationship with God.”
Hosea, a man of God, will continue his religious revolution in the next chapters, exploring the societal ills he’s confronting, and the ways with which love can hopefully help heal and repair a nation, and maybe even his own marriage.
Hope and healing, repair to all, everywhere.
Image: Hosea and Gomer, Bible Illustration, circa 1373 CE
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