Yahweh's divorce in Hosea 2 — Who is that woman?

Schmitt, John J.

doi:10.1080/09018329508585061

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Among others, Schmitt (1995), Keefe (2001:199), Kelle (2005:82-94), and Kató (2019:54-58) argue that the adulterous wife is in fact Israel's capital city, Samaria. This fits into the general picture of the prophecy, in which an addressed female entity generally stands for capital cities (cf.…”

Section: Hoseamentioning

confidence: 99%

Rain, dew, flourishing plants as images of monolatry and righteousness: The weather imagery and its meaning in Hosea

Kató

2021

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Weather imagery plays a major role in Hosea. Hosea 2 recalls the image of an unfaithful wife; Hosea 4:2–3 describes the withering of the land; in 6:3; 10:12; 14:6, the several types of precipitation draw attention to the utterance of YHWH or the requested righteousness; in 9:10.13.16; 10:1; 13:5; 14:6.8, Israel is symbolised by different plants that blossom and wither, depending on their relation to Yhwh. In all of these instances, weather phenomena contribute to these images. In this article, I try to catalogue and evaluate the metaphors and concepts to look at how meteorological images convey theological and historical messages, and vice versa how historical events or sociological procedures demonstrate their consequences in nature, especially in the weather. It seems that weather imagery is used to describe the consequences of idolatry, injustice and false politics. These cause drought and famine in a concrete sense, but the withering of Israel figuratively, the last word of the book is a call for repentance that could ensure Israel’s well-being once again. With these metaphors, Hosea explicitly delivers a plea for monolatry and righteousness, as well as for equality, in an implicit way. These pieces of evidence can provide a basis for further interpretation from the hermeneutical perspective of the notion called ‘interconnectedness’.Contribution: This article analyses the weather imagery of the Book of Hosea and contributes to a better understanding of the use of these metaphors in prophetic discourses.

show abstract

Section: Hoseamentioning

confidence: 99%

Rain, dew, flourishing plants as images of monolatry and righteousness: The weather imagery and its meaning in Hosea

Kató

2021

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Often assuming that Hosea was the first to employ the metaphor of marriage for Yahweh and Israel, which was then developed by later prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, several of these studies discuss the influences from which Hosea drew his metaphor, and the precise ways in which it was developed in subsequent texts (e.g., Stienstra 1993;abma 1999;Baumann 2003). additionally, a number of more specific studies focus on one or more of Hosea's particular metaphors, especially the wife/mother, fornication, adultery, and lovers in chapter 2 (see Bucher 1988;Schmitt 1989;Bird 1989;ackerman 2002).…”

Section: The Metaphors Of Hosea 1-3mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others have pointed to more mythological traditions, such as a purported Baalistic practice of sacred marriage, in which a god has a cultically enacted sexual union with the earth envisioned as a mother goddess to ensure fertility (Wolff 1974: xxvi;cf. abma 1999: 15), and an understanding of capital cities, or goddesses associated with them, as consorts or wives of their patron gods (Schmitt 1989;Kelle 2005;cf. day 2000a;2000b).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kelle's monograph (2005) presents a comprehensive interpretation of Hosea 2 from this perspective. Citing the lack of evidence for widespread Baal worship in eighth-century Israel, some of these works (e.g., Schmitt 1989) examine the wife/mother image in Hosea 2 against its ancient Near Eastern background as a metaphor for the capital city of Samaria, and thus for the political leaders who rule there. Others observe the prevalent use of 'lovers' as a metaphor for allies in ancient Near Eastern political treaties and biblical texts (see ackerman 2002; Yee 2003: 104;Kelle 2005: 112-22), as well as the use of 'fornication' as a metaphorical vehicle for political and commercial alliances (e.g., day 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Hosea 1—3 in Twentieth-Century Scholarship

Kelle

2009

Currents in Biblical Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout the twentieth century, critical scholarship on the book of Hosea has focused overwhelmingly on the marriage metaphor in Hosea 1—3. Scholars often saw these chapters as establishing the primary interpretive issues for the message of the prophet and the book as a whole, although a lack of consensus concerning even the most basic exegetical issues remains. Newer studies have rightly pushed beyond this isolation of Hosea 1—3. This article surveys the major trends of the modern interpretation of these chapters, with particular attention to the second half of the twentieth century. From the early 1900s to the 1980s, critical works focused primarily on the biographical reconstruction of the prophet and his family life, as well as related historical and form-critical concerns. From the 1930s forward, such study was particularly concerned to read Hosea 1—3 against the background of a purported sexualized Baal cult in eighth-century Israel. Beginning in the 1980s, feminist-critical readings of Hosea 1—3 came to occupy a prominent position. In subsequent years, these concerns have been complemented by an emerging emphasis on metaphor theory, as well as newer kinds of literary, book-oriented, and socio-historical analyses. A follow-up article will treat recent scholarship on Hosea 4—14.

show abstract

Gender Correctness and Biblical Metaphors: The Case of God's Relation to Israel

Schmitt

1996

Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The marital imagery in the Bible has often been understood as a direct reference to the marriage of God and Israel. Close analysis of the biblical texts involved shows the inexactness of this analysis. The wife of God is always a city. Cities, especially capital cities, receive many different feminine roles, while Israel, the people, receives only masculine roles. Neither Testament allows for the traditional misunderstanding. Precision in reading leads to a more balanced interpretation in which biblical marital imagery is not the central metaphor of the Bible.

show abstract

Yahweh's divorce in Hosea 2 — Who is that woman?

Cited by 3 publications

References 5 publications

Rain, dew, flourishing plants as images of monolatry and righteousness: The weather imagery and its meaning in Hosea

Rain, dew, flourishing plants as images of monolatry and righteousness: The weather imagery and its meaning in Hosea

Hosea 1—3 in Twentieth-Century Scholarship

Gender Correctness and Biblical Metaphors: The Case of God's Relation to Israel

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About