Hosea: Loving God Erotically

See Tina Sherman’s extensive bibliography at, “Biblical Metaphor Annotated Bibliography.”

See Marc Zvi Brettler, God Is King: Understanding an Israelite Metaphor (JSOTSup 76; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1989). For more on biblical metaphors for God, see Andrea Weiss’ TABS essay, “The Multiple Metaphors for God in Shirat Haazinu.”

See Annette Boeckler, Gott als Vater im Alten Testament: Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur Entstehung und Entwicklung eines Gottesbildes (Gütersloh: Chr. Kaiser / Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2000).

See, e.g., Nelly Stienstra, YHWH Is the Husband of His People: Analysis of a Biblical Metaphor with Special Reference to Translation (Kampen, NL: Kok Pharos Publishing, 1993).

For a skeptical view of the attribution of the prophecies contained in Hosea to the eponymous prophet, see Christoph Levin, The Old Testament: A Brief Introduction(translated from the German by Margaret Kohl; Princeton / Oxford: Princeton University, 2005) 129-133.

In contrast to Hosea’s negative evaluation of this violent takeover, Kings takes a more positive view of Jehu’s actions (2 Kings 9-10).

A common emendation of a possibly corrupt text. See the NJPS translation as well as Carl S. Ehrlich, “The Text of Hosea 1:9,” Journal of Biblical Literature 104 (1985) 13-19.

See, e.g., Mary Joan Winn Leith, “Verse and Reverse: The Transformation of the Woman, Israel, in Hosea 1-3,” in Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel (ed. By Peggy L. Day; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989) 95-108. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the medieval commentator Abraham ibn Ezra (1089–1167) viewed the account of Hosea’s marriage as a prophetic dream or vision, since a moral God would never command a man to marry an unfaithful woman in real life.

See, e.g., Renita J. Weems, Battered Love: Marriage, Sex, and Violence in the Hebrew Prophets (Overtures to Biblical Theology; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995) 45-52.

In Pekham’s understanding, the wife in Hosea 2 is “mother earth,” who needs to be watered. See Brian Pekham, History and Prophecy: The Development of Late Judean Literary Traditions (ABRL; New York et al.: Doubleday, 1993) 202.

In Jewish liturgy, these verses are now recited when putting on tefillin (phylacteries) and are also often to be found adorning ketubbot (wedding contracts).

Hosea’s concern was different than that of modern Israeli society, where some also object to the term, and replace it with bat-zug, “partner.” Modern Israelis are concerned with the etymology of ba’al, which implies hierarchy and ownership; the ancient Israelite prophet Hosea was concerned that the term could be confused with the Canaanite deity.

Although Hosea never says explicitly that the use of ba’al for husband should be rooted out, because of the fluidity in the passage between God/prophet and Israel/wife, the wordba’al in any context seems to have become anathema for Hosea.

God’s Phallus and Other Problems for Men and Monotheism (Boston: Beacon, 1994).