Hosea 2:6-13

Friday, October 9, 2009

Read the passage here.

I'm glad I have these commentaries (see the 'Resources' header in the left column) while reading Hosea, because it is so easy to get lost in the analogy of Hosea/God and Gomer/Israel. I relied on them heavily while reading this passage.

In verse 6, the Lord says He'll block her path (NIV) or fence her in (NLT) or dump her (TM) into the thorns/thornbushes/thistles. The NIV translation gives the visual image of Israel struggling through obstacles and hardships, which is what both the Geneva Study Bible (GSB) and Wesley's Explanatory Notes (WEN) say. But them it goes on to say He will wall her in, block her path, or (rather bizarrely, I feel) lose her in a dead end alley. I get the blocking her path/wars and devastation connection - but what does walling/fencing her in symbolize? Did Israel undergo some sort of blockade during that time? That's really the only good analogy I can make.
Also, this verse highlights why I don't care much for The Message version. It says

But I'll fix her: I'll dump her in a field of thistles, then lose her in a dead-end alley.

What sense does that make?! Go dump her in a field a thistles, then go back, find her, drag her out, take her to a dead end alley, and then leave her there.
But now I'm getting distracted by translations... Moving on.

I understand that her "lovers" are Israel's idols, although WEN also says they are Israel's idolaters, which I don't understand. Then "my husband" I just assumed to be God (and WEN agrees) but the GSB says the first husband represents the truly faithful/truly converted. I can only hope that my initial understanding of what the verse means is totally acceptable, and that all the resources are doing for me at this point is making it worse.

However, I like what WEN adds to verse 8. Where the texts say she [Gomer] has not acknowledged, doesn't realize, didn't know (NIV, NLT, TM) that the Lord was providing her with all these gifts, WEN says that she hasn't considered. The word considered brings an element of thoughtlessness instead of innocence. It is the difference between being able to figure it out if you think about it and not having the capacity to figure it out. Isreal could have known the Lord was providing, but they just choose to assume it was their idols.

Again, mulitple discussions on verse 10 - the word "lewdness." My interpretation is that exposing her lewdness would be similar to being exposed in your lies - embarrassing, uncomfortable and dreadful, and applying those feelings to Israel. WEN says it is Israel's folly & wickedness being exposed, which I guess is in line with what I thought. But the GSB is way out there, saying that her lewdness is her "service, ceremonies & inventions" that Israel used to worship her idols. How does the Lord "expose" that? They already know it's going on.

In verse 12, the Lord is destroying her vines, figs, etc because she claims they are her pay from her lovers (or, as TM puts it in a very strong way, "Whoring paid for all this!"). But I am a little confused about the revoking of His benefits in verse 9, and then here as well. I thought that all of the benefits Israel got from the Lord would be revoked all at once. Why are the "vines" & "figs" seperate? What do they represent in Israel that is different from the grains and wines and oils and wool?

Lastly, the phase "decked herself" or "put on her earrings and jewels" seems to have a deeper meaning than I thought. I thought it was simply that she was dressing herself up to meet someone else. Lines from a song by ok go come to mind:

So now you're headed to your car.
You say it's dinner with your sister, sweetie.
But darling look at how you're dressed; your best; suggests
Another kind of guest.

WEN calls this putting greater honor on her idols than God, which sounds about right to me. The GSB says that this line reflects on how idolators spend a great deal of time adorning themselves on holy days as part of their religion, as if that was why Israel was drawn to it in the first place: to play dress-up. But maybe this isn't that far off. Modern idolators who worship fashion and status are playing dress up too.