I am reading this book right now, and find myself highly confused.. the way it is written makes it hard to comprehend what's going on. Who's saying what, who is here who is there.. it seems midway through the book the writing style changes from narrative to dialogue. I understand the jist of it.. But need help fully understanding what I'm reading!
Have you tried a good scholastic commentary?
Here's one:
A critical and exegetical commentary on Amos and Hosea : Harper, William Rainey, 1856-1906 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
Hosea begins on p. 201.
There's also the classic series by Keil and Delitzsh:
Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Hosea: Hosea index
I'm afraid my expertise with Hosea is rather limited at the moment, so I may not be able to help much. I'm focusing on Isaiah currently. After Isaiah, I plan to move on to Amos and Hosea. But I'll leave you with my thoughts on Hosea thus far:
Hosea was a northern prophet. The superscription, however, shows an emphasis on Judah in the south - so the text was probably compiled in Judah.
Hosea was a younger contemporary of Amos.
General Outline:
- chapters 1-3 – marriage to a promiscuous woman
- chapters 4-14 – political and religious affairs of northern kingdom
Hosea envisions the Wilderness Period not just as punishment, but a time of courtship in which YHWH wooed Israel – so by forcefully removing Israel from the land, this will be an opportunity for Israel to renew her vows to YHWH.
The text is mainly concerned with idolatry and social justice.
4-14 concerns breaking the law, covenant, worshipping at high places, and it even references the exodus.
It talks about prophets as those who have shaped Israel's history.
It condemns the bloodshed of Jezreel that was instigated by Elisha.
It says the priests have forgotten what is important and defrauded the people.
It says adulterous women should not be punished because the men are guilty too.
Hosea is concerned with the “knowledge of god” - knowing god's righteousness and following it.
Hosea seems to know about the stories of Jacob in Genesis.
I know from a preliminary translation of the first two chapters that the text is messy - often switching from a statement of judgment to a statement of restoration. So what is first stated is then negated by what comes next.
This verse stood out the most to me in chapter 1:
“Name him 'Not My People'
because you [are] not my people
and to you, I Will Not Be.”
--Hosea 1:8
That is fascinating because the name of YHWH as revealed in Exodus 3:14 is
אהיה אשׁר אהיה (I Will Be Who I Will Be) or simply
אהיה (I Will Be). Here, the deity revokes his name
לא־אהיה (I Will Not Be) in parallelism with the revoking of Israel's name.
Of course, this idea is then negated right after:
"But the number of Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which is countless and immeasurable. Then instead of them being told “not my people [are] you,” they will be spoken of as children of the living El!"
--Hosea 2:1
A scary verse from chapter 2:
"Therefore, I am about to hedge your 'way' with thorns and enclose her 'enclosure' so that her paths are lost to her."
--Hosea 2:8
This is speaking euphemistically of YHWH conducting genital mutilation on his "wife" - lacing up her "entrance" with thorns so that she, the harlot, can no longer copulate with her lovers.
Warning: Hosea is not family-friendly reading.
