Monday, February 22, 2010

The Book of Hosea

The Biblical book of Hosea is kind of like falling into a pit and then seeing a sunny garden at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

The prophet Hosea speaks of betrayal, of God's sorrow and anger, of defeat, of exile, of evil in religion and government, of human sacrifice, of punishment and of slaughter - even slaughter of pregnant women and young children. In this book there is ghastly real-world pain and suffering; it is not an old-time cowboy movie where the women and children come through safely. But on a deeper level, it is about God's love, specifically for his chosen people, Israel, even though it is a love answered by contempt and rebellion leading to suffering. But finally, and happily, it ends with God rescuing and renewing Israel.

Love, rebellion, falling into the pit of destruction, and then - far down the tunnel - restoration and renewal.

Although the book deals primarily with Israel during the depraved days before its first exile, it is also a picture of the sweep of human history, from our near and loving association with God in Eden, to our plunge into sin and suffering, to our redemption through Christ, and finally - and yet to come - to the renewal of all things.

Again, love, rebellion, destruction, restoration and renewal. An echo of Hosea's story.

Part One of the book (chapters 1 to 3) is a graphic and poetic in-the-flesh illustration painfully lived out in front of Israel by the prophet Hosea and his family. Hosea (representing God) was told to marry Gomer, an unfaithful woman (representing Israel), and by her he had children... or did he? But despite Gomer's unfaithfulness Hosea loved Gomer and payed a price to redeem her, just as God would pay a price through Christ to redeem Israel.

What is fascinating about this first section is that Hosea almost seems to be using the outline of soon-coming events (Israel's defeat, exile and, later, restoration) as a lens to look at a very similar disaster and restoration that will occur in the distant future, in the last days.

In Part Two (the rest of the book) Hosea gets down in gritty detail to the here-and-now, to the sin of the nation and its looming disaster. This part of Hosea is - until another glimpse of golden days at the end of the book - far from being poetic: it is blunt, detailed, and painful, hammering at the same themes, for clearly God did not want any griping from the people about their not being properly warned. They were warned, and in ways that should have made their hair stand on end. (I suspect this section may have been taken from a series of Hosea's sermons, which I would guesstimate are roughly chapters 4, 5-7, 8:1-8:14, 9:1-9:9, 9:10-10:15, 11:1-11:11, 12-14.)

Okay, with that intro, let me focus on just a few topics from Hosea (there are lots more and I'd encourage you to read the book):

The Last Days

First, I'd like to defend my contention that Hosea is thinking of the distant future - as well as near future - in chapters 1-3.

The reason I think this is because, on the one hand, the passage seems to promise more than happened around the time of Israel's first exile, and on the other, because the events it mentions seem to dovetail with the last days. For example, God says that he would make a pact with the beasts and birds (2:18), and "Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land (2:18)," and that God would marry Israel "forever" (2:19), and that the Israelites will "seek the Lord their God and David their king" (3:5).

But as far as I can tell there was nothing different about the animals of Israel after the first restoration, and I know that war in Israel did not cease when Israel returned from its first exile, though that fits with the millenium, and I don't see any evidence that Israel has a "forever" wife-like relationship with God at this point, though that sounds a lot like "the bride of Christ" in the New Testament, and I don't think the people of Israel sought "David their king" since David was long dead even in Hosea's time, though in the last days the people of Israel will seek Jesus, the Son of David who sits on the throne of David (Lk 1:32). And - at the risk of being obvious - in 3:5 Hosea specifically says that at least some of these events would take place in "the last days."

Prophesy of Christ

I find Hosea's use of the name "Jezreel" quite interesting I think perhaps Jezreel is a hint or prophesy of Christ. There are a few things that suggest this, and other things that seem in accord with that conclusion. First, in the stage-play of his life, Hosea plays God, and Jezreel, like Jesus, is his first-born son (1:3 says Gomer bore "him" a son, suggesting that this child, at least, was really Hosea's son, and not the son of an adulterous lover). Further, it appears from 2:22 that during the last days it is Jezreel who calls out for and receives blessing for Israel. Jezreel certainly seems to be symbolic since he lives not only during the time of Hosea, but also during the restoration and the millenium.

Also, Jezreel (named after a slaughter in the town of Jezreel committed by one of King Jeroboam's ancestors) is a living rebuke of sin, as was Jesus. Jezreel was also a reminder of judgement ("Jezreel" means "God scatters"). But he is also God's planter (his name also means "God plants"), just as Jesus planted the good seed (Matthew 13:37). And he is apparently, like Jesus, Israel's leader at its ultimate restoration, which will be a "great" day for Jezreel (1:11).


Poetic Form

It seems that a big part of chapters 1-3 follows a pattern of Jewish poetry that goes from outer to inner and then back from inner to outer. Here's what that looks like in Hosea 1-3:

Gomer's fall and punishment
  Israel's fall and punishment
  Israel's redemption
Gomer's redemption

I don't know that there is a big lesson to be learned from this, but it may be helpful in understanding the structure of this part of the book.


God's Rejection and His Love

One thing that fascinates me about Hosea is the comparison of God's love for Israel to the faithful love of a humiliated and heartbroken husband for his ungrateful, contemptuous and adulterous wife.

In the book God reminds Israel of the things He has done for her, how he helped her and blessed her and provided good things, like a loving husband for his beautiful bride, only to have her take the things He gave her and (my analogy) spit in His face, intentionally and consistently ignoring Him, prostituting herself to others and shunning him; setting up idols, worshiping them, intentionally confusing them with the true God and treating God as some odd and unwelcome stranger.

As a result, God is angry! He condemns Israel, from the leaders down to the people. God is heartbroken at His straying wife. He blocks the way to her false lovers with hedges of thorns; He speaks gently to her; he punishes Israel softly (as a slow rot damages a building), he appeals to her through the preaching of Hosea, and through Hosea's family He provides a real-live, walking-around rebuke. But the response is contempt.

And also God threatens. He will be like a lion against sheep, ripping Israel apart. But Israel responds to nothing. And finally, in the face of her contempt He will turn away his face and let the enemy destroy the kingdom and carry away those who are left into exile.

Outwardly, this is not the even-tempered god some philosophers might imagine; this is the God who is hurt, who becomes angry, who loves and hates at the same time. But deeply underlying his anger and pain is a steady love which promises that ultimately, despite its rebellion and contempt, Israel will return to Him and flourish like a well-watered plant.

To see what I mean, look at 1:9-10. At the end of 1:9 God says "...you are not my people, and I am not your God." But then, the very next word (1:10) is "Yet," meaning this isn't the end of the story. The rest of the story is this: "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore" and "they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

So God cuts off his outer love, his physical blessings, just as we might say that someone "withheld love" from from another person, meaning they did not show their love. But still, beneath His anger and rejection is God's steady and unfailing love, a love that desires the best for His beloved regardless of whatever immediate pain and suffering that may cause. And, ultimately, God will not simply restore the people of Israel to being "my people," but will go beyond that and promote them to being "sons."

This story should be both a prod and an encouragement to Christians; a prod to live faithfully in order to please God, knowing that wilful sin pains God and may bring us crushing discipline. But it should also be an encouragement, knowing that if God had mercy on an Israel that acted like an adulterous wife sneering at her husband on the way out the door to meet a lover, then - just as He promised - this merciful God will forgive our sins as well.

Jehu's Slaughter

The confusing thing about Hosea condemning the slaughter at Jezreel by the king's ancestor, Jehu, is that the killing was commanded by God. Some commentators have suggested that Jehu sinned in going beyond the immediate command. Possible, but I wonder if Hosea's condemnation is because Jehu's descendants betrayed the purpose of the killings - to replace evil with good - by becoming just as wicked as the rulers they replaced, thus turning what was intended to be deadly serious act of judicial righteousness into pointless murder that just replaced one group of thugs with another group of thugs.

Covenant With Animals

I find it interesting that in 2:18 - during what I understand to be the millenium - God will "make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air." Perhaps this is not to be taken literally, but I'm not sure why it shouldn't be. And if it is taken literally, perhaps it means that animals during the millenium will be endowed with enough intelligence to understand and abide by an agreement. And the picture of God condescending to talk to the animals and come to an agreement with them is wonderful to me.


The Environment

God seems to be saying that sin affects everything, including the environment. In 4:3 the land mourns, the people waste away, the animals, birds and fish die because of the people's sin, and this sin does not seem to be pouring toxic chemicals in the water - though perhaps it would include that - but rather faithlessness, lovelessness, ignoring God, cursing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery and bloodshed. I don't see the connection, yet somehow it appears there is a connection between sin and damage to the environment.


The Non-Bright Spot

Chapter 5 ends with God saying Israel "will earnestly seek me," then comes a marvelous passage of repentance, and you think, "Whew! We've finally turned a corner and Israel is repenting," but then the narrative plunges right back into how God is fed up with them. You might think, "Huh? What was that all about?" I think that God was simply telling Israel how he wants them to "earnestly seek" Him, and He tells them by giving them an example of what real repentance looks like.


Admah and Zeboiim

In 11:8 God says he doesn't want to treat Israel like Admah or Zeboiim. What? Who are they? I had to look them up. They are almost-forgotten towns that were destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah. So why did Hosea choose such obscure towns for his illustration? I think that was the reason; they were obscure. They were destroyed not just physically, like Sodom and Gomorrah, but almost destroyed in memory as well.


Become What You Love

God says that when the people came to Baal Peor (9:10) they gave themselves to an idol "and became as vile as the thing they loved." It occurs to me that if it is our nature to become like the things we love, we should be sure to love the right things, and especially, to love God above all else.


Lessening Yourself

In 13:3 Hosea talks about Israel offering human sacrifice and kissing idols. Perhaps those who did this realized their actions would make them obnoxious in God's eyes, but did they also think that it might also make them important, sort of men-to-be-reckoned-with saying "I'm standing up against God"? If so, this passage should disabuse them - and us - of any notion that sin makes you a big shot. Rather, it makes you less, like a morning mist or dew that cannot even stand up to a gentle sunbeam, or like chaff and smoke that disappears before something as insignificant as a cool breeze.


The Big Warning

If this crescendo warning toward the end of the book (13:16b) wouldn't cause Israel to repent, I don't know what would. Will Israel heed even a warning that their way of living would result in the death of pregnant women and young children? God warns them of this and then immediately cries out to them (14:1) to repent. And if they do not, God would (as He did) punish them, taking away even those they love the best. Did God simply turn away from Israel, as it mentions in 9:12, and no longer protect the country, or did He actively prod the Assyrians to attack? I don't know and I'm not sure it makes a difference since God says it is His doing. But it is certainly a warning to us not to despise God, and to be thankful for his blessings and do our best to follow Him. (By the way, I suspect the reason the Assyrians would kill pregnant women and children is that they would be a hinderance during the trek into exile.)

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