Hosea (TOTC) by David Allan Hubbard

Author:David Allan Hubbard [Hubbard, David Allan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783592593
Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press
Published: 2009-09-17T16:00:00+00:00

No wonder that God has to keep turning up the volume of his judgment, a judgment implied in for (or ‘in’) all this, until it reaches an intensity that captures Israel’s attention. Only after the judgment has reached the terrifying magnitude of destruction of the entire kingdom and the exile of its people will the seeking and the returning take place (3:5; 11:10; 14:1–2).

viii. Judgment simile of the senseless dove (7:11–12). Though the figure changes, from culinary language to that of ornithology and hunting, the message remains the same: Ephraim’s stupidity in banking on foreign relations for security and stability. The ambivalence that sent them flitting from Mesopotamia to the Nile in search of an ally could only be called ‘scatter-brained’, whether from fear, gullibility (the Heb. pth, translated silly, means readily seduced; cf. on 2:14) or both (for foolish of heart, see Deut. 11:16). Without sense is literally ‘without heart’, i.e. without power and judgment to make sound choices, readily influenced by irrational factors (cf. on heart at 4:11). Their calling to Egypt stands in contrast to their failure to call on God (v. 7), while their journeying (going) to Assyria has prevented them from returning to him (v. 10). Wolff (p. 127) argues for the Syro-Ephraimite setting for these verses and dates their message at 733 BC (see Additional note on ‘Possible historical backgrounds’, p. 127).

The picture of inedible food (vv. 8–9), suggested a judgment that was a matter of cause and effect: stupid conduct brought dire results (cf. Gal. 6:7). In verse 12, however, Yahweh, speaking personally as in verse 7, threatens his direct intervention. If Ephraim will be the dove, Yahweh will be the crafty hunter. If Ephraim will make treaty with the nations, so declares the Lord, ‘I will chastise them according to the report of their treaties’ (see Andersen’s translations, p. 461).

The last line of verse 12 probably gives the literal explanation of the hunting metaphor, though its precise meaning is puzzling. Many commentators (with Wolff, p. 107) emend the last word to ‘their evils’ (Heb. rā‘ātām for MT ‘adātām) and read the verb as chastise or ‘discipline’ (Heb. ysr; cf. 5:2). This understanding makes the line convey a general threat, picks up the word evils that was predominant earlier (vv. 1, 2, 3), and repeats the emphasis on judgment as discipline from 5:2. Andersen’s interpretation (p. 471) features the treaty-making context suggested by 5:13 and 7:11. Reading ‘their covenant’ for MT’s ‘their congregation’ (Heb. ‘ēdûtām from ‘wd for ‘adātām from y‘d), he stresses that Ephraim’s rebellion against God took the specific form of treaty-making with the nations, a crime directly condemned in 12:1, where Hosea returned to the theme that dominates 7:8–16.

ix. Double divine complaint of rebellion (7:13–16). Verses 13 and 15 bear the marks of divine complaints and are part of a sequence of complaints begun at 4:16, reaching a climax at 11:8–9 (cf. on 6:4–5; 6:11b–7:2). They make clear that training, strengthening and rescuing were what God had in mind, while wandering, lying (v.

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