Hosea’s Community
Hosea’s message is closely bound up with his personal life. The overall picture is clear, the details are not. What is clear is that Hosea married a wife, Gomer. Whether she was a prostitute at the time of his marriage or an unfaithful wife who became one later is not clear and scholarly opinion differs, but what is also clear is that Hosea remained faithful to her and loved her throughout. Some have suggested this was because Hosea believed he ought to treat her as Yahweh treated Israel; others suggest that his personal experience was what led him to a new appreciation of Yahweh’s love for his people, but there is no need to make a choice. Better to live with a fluidity of thought and imagination as Hosea encountered both experiences simultaneously.
Because this is the most human and readily understood part of the book there is always a danger of not getting much further than chapter 3, thinking we understand Hosea and even convincing ourselves that we know what Hosea is all about: a loving God with no illusions about the faithlessness of his partner, constantly hurt by her behaviour and frequently angered by her attitudes, yet loving her so much for her own sake that he can never cast her off. It is not a bad summary and an important message we all need to hear, but chapters 1-3 are not necessarily the best place to begin studying the book for two reasons.
First, it runs the risk of interpreting the whole book in relation to his marriage, overlooking other aspects of what he has to say. His prophecy, for example, is to the community rather than individuals and therefore it is a limitation to begin with the personal. Read 2 Kings 14:23-18:12 for the wider background and avoid getting stuck in any one form of prostitution. Second, his marriage needs to be seen in the light of his message, not vice versa.
That is why we begin with chapter 4, but it is not an easy book, the Hebrew text is not very clear, and the variations in translation can be worrying, so it is best to go for the overall message and avoid getting bogged down in detail.