Scripture Text (NRSV)
Hosea 1:2-10
1:2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea,
"Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of
whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."
1:3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived
and bore him a son.
1:4 And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for in a little while
I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will
put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
1:5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of
Jezreel."
1:6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to
him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house
of Israel or forgive them.
1:7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them
by the LORD their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by
war, or by horses, or by horsemen."
1:8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
1:9 Then the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people
and I am not your God."
1:10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of
the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place
where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said
to them, "Children of the living God."
Comments:
Hosea's marriage to a faithless wife symbolizes Israel's faithless
disregard of the covenant. Even the names of Hosea's children--Jezreel
(where Isreal's idolatrous kings had been killed), Lo-ruhamah ("she is
not pities"), and Lo-ammi ("not my people")--announce the nation's
coming doom, countered by the proclamation that sinful Israel remains
a child of the living God.
I used to not like my name. I sure am glad, though, that I wasn't naed
"I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel," or "you are not
my people and I am not your God."
Hebrew scholars? Can you enlighten me.
Sally in GA
God is the had-it spouse with a cheating partner.
The prophecy of Hosea is an exposition of one word of the Lord found
in his book: "I have been the LORD your God ever since the land of
Egypt; you know no God but me and besides me there is no savior"
(13.4). Hosea's task as prophet was to apply that word to the life of
his people in a time when its meaning had been virtually lost.
The book opens with an account of God's commission to Hosea to marry
and beget children to bear names that are signs of the Lord's response
to Israel's unfaithfulness. [1.2] The symbolic meaning of 'whoredom'
is clear from the text. It is a metaphor for Israel's involvement with
the religion of the culture area and its sexual rites to ensure the
fertility of the land. What the term means about the character and
identity of Hosea's wife is unclear. The children are to be 'children
of whoredom,' but the following account says they are children of
Hosea and his wife. Perhaps for wife and children the term means
simply that they belong to a people who are religiously promiscuous.
[1.3] The name 'Gomer daughter of Diblaim' says nothing about her
identity as a wife of whoredom. Her role is simply to be the mother of
the children who bear the symbolic names. [1.4-5] In this context 'Jezreel'
refers to a plain in the central section of Israel and to a city on
its perimeter associated with the bloody violence of the power
politics practiced by the kings of Israel to gain throne and wealth.
See 1 Kings 21.2; 2 Kings 9-10. The Jeroboam who was king during
Hosea's early career was a descendent of the 'house of Jehu.' [1.5]
'Break the bow' is an idiom for the destruction of a state's military
power; Israel's defeat by Assyria in 722 B.C.E. is anticipated. [1.6]
The verb in the name 'Lo-ruhamah' means to feel and act bonded to a
child or kin or a needy person. [1.7] A contrast between Judah's
escape from Assyria and the fate of Israel; see 2 Kings 19.35-37.
[1.9] The name 'Lo-ammi,' "Not my people," negates the basic relation
between Israel and its God, the covenant that the Lord established
with Israel at Sinai (Ex 19-24). [1.10] The promise that Israel's
population would be as numerous as 'the sand of the sea' renews the
Lord's promise to the ancestors, Abraham and Jacob (Gen 22.17; 32.12).
Joseph Blenkinsopp writes:
These children are given names of progressively sinsiter connotation.
Jezreel, punningly close to Israel, refers back to the bloody coup of
Jehu in the city of that name (2 Kings 9-10) and forward to the
extermination of the dynasty (2 Kings 15.10). The name of the second,
a daughter Lo-Ruhama (Not-Pitied), meant that the time for mercy and
forgiveness, and therefore for prophetic intercession, had run out. We
are reminded of the point between the second and third vision of Amos
when the intercessory voice falls silent: "I will no longer pass by
them" (Am 7.8). "I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel" (Hos
1.6). The third child's name, Lo Ammi (Not-My-People), marks the end
of the special relationship established, as the tradition tells it,
long ago in the wilderness: "You are not my people, and I am not your
I AM" (Hos 1.9; cf. Ex 3.14). Here, too, we are reminded of the
verdict pronounced by Amos after the fifth and last vision that
negates the special relationship based not on the theophany of the
burning thornbush, as in Hosea, but on the exodus (Am 9.7-8). A final
note promises reunification of north and south under a Davidic ruler (Hos
1.10-2.1).
God gets to tell his side of the covenant story and it is a tragic
story.
What does it mean to be in covenant with a bunch of people who are
hopelessly faithless like us human beings?
The Hosea story is enough to make any of us weep.
Storyteller
Ralph Milton, in this week's edition of Aha!, provides a brief
conversation between the proverbial street-corner vendor of potions
and a would-be customer. I'm thinking of expanding on that, taking
part of the sermon with me portraying the street vendor and someone
planted in the congregation as the customer. I'll hold up bottles,
representing the things we may chase after instead of remaining loyal
to God. One bottle, for example, might be materialism; I can list its
virtues and try to "sell" it to the person in the pew, whom I've
provided with a script. Not exactly what Milton did, but the same
principle. MTSOfan
What's in a name? You've heard that expression before, I'll bet. Well,
My sermon title for this week is "J Lo and Me." Of course the younger
set will identify with J-Lo as Jennifer Lopez. I thought I would
concentrate on the significance of name-calling and how that can
impact the way a person relates to others and to God. I guess I'm
sensitive to names since my name is Gaither Emmanuel.
Nice approach, Gaither! MTSOfan
I plan to begin by saying i get asked often how my spouse and I met.
Tell a couple of love stories from some of the members of the
congregation (permission secured and headsup in place!) Then remind
the congregation of some of Hollywood's loved love stories. On to
God's love story with God's covenant people: Us.
Then I will mess around a bit with metaphors that bespeak (is that a
real word!???!!! cant believe i typed that!) of God's love story.
Creator-Creature seems too cold and removed to us. We love
Father-Child perhaps because it gets us off the hook as naive yet
lovable children. Today's metaphor is heavy. God talks about our
relationship as a marriage. And God's love story is tragic.
.... still weaving.
Storyteller
How would you have responded to such a call to ministry/prophecy: "Go,
take to yourself a wife of whoredome, and have a few children"! Would
you have answered as Hosea "So he went and took .... and she conceived
....."!
This go from bad to worse, yet Hosea holds on, like the persistent one
in the parable; he holds on as God holds on, and behold the situation
is transfigured: The ones who are "not my people" have become "The
Children of the living God." The persistent prayer is answered and
Israel is restored to the covenant. "Your kingdom come, your will be
don, on earth as in heaven!" Hosea has whole sight, he sees into the
mystery, he looks into heaven, and it is that vision that keeps him
focused when his life with Gomer got really bad, as Yahweh's
relationship with Israel.
tom in ga
tom in ga
i really liked that connection you made with persistency. The friend
who hangs for dear life to his source of help for the sake of another
friend. And the lover who holds for dear life for the sake of love.
Thank you!
I would like to push that idea of Hosea buying back his wife ...
buying back what belongs to him and is rightfully his ... with the
image of God "buying us back" at Calvary.
Also ... check out the Colossians reading in the Message translation.
Very very cool!
Storyteller
