Gomer and Hosea

Last week was a good time to take a little break.  We're starting a new big section today.  Here's the next two verses of Hosea 2:

4. Accuse your mother!  Accuse [her]!
    For she is not my wife,
    And I am not her hubsand.
Let her turn her promiscuity away from her face
    And her adultery from between her breasts.
5. Or else I will strip her naked
    And I will make her as on the day of her birth.
And I will set her as in the desert,
    And I will make her like a land of drought,
    And I will kill her with thirst.

In verse 3, we were reminded of the opening of Hosea, where he was called to name his children "Not my people" and "Not loved."  And then his children were renamed "My people" and "Loved."  As we begin this new section, it would seem that Hosea is now speaking directly to those children about their mother.

The language of accusation that he uses is, at least according to one commentator (Hans Walter Wolff), legal language.  Hosea's wife, Gomer, is being put on trial for her promiscuity.  Or rather, Israel is being put on trial for its promiscuity.  Or maybe both?

We need to stop for a moment and consider the metaphor that Hosea is using.  The nation of Israel has turned to other gods.  And in order to illustrate God's proclamation against Israel for doing so, Hosea is instructed to take a wife who has, and will, "turn to" other men.  Fine, so long as this remains a visual metaphor--the prophet not just speaking but living out his prophecy.  This is in the same realm as Ezekiel building a model city and "playing" war with it, or Jeremiah smashing pottery.

But then they begin to have children, and the children receive horrible names.  Imagine what it might be like to literally grow up with a name like "Not Loved."  What would that child's life be like?  How would other children, or other adults, treat her?  Enacting this prophecy on real children seems a bit terrible.  And this is done at the command of God?  No wonder some commentators (particularly those from the 18th and 19th centuries) insist that Hosea could not have actually done all this in real life.

And here, in chapter 2, it gets worse.  Hosea proclaims judgment against Israel in the language of a lawsuit.  Is he really putting his wife on trial, taking her before the city gates where the elders gathered to preside over legal matters?  He married her knowing that she was a "wife of promiscuity" from the start.  Does he now intend to hold this against her, just for the sake of the prophetic word?  And does he really intend to strip her naked here in the streets?  Or somehow to deny her anything to drink until she dies of thirst?  Will the prophet really carry these things out against his wife, Gomer, in order to proclaim the word of the Lord?  And if so, could God really be as cruel as to instruct these things?

The obvious answer is no.  Unfortunately, the obvious answer is also not always the correct one.  There is a strong precedent for prophets literally enacting their prophetic message.  We of course do not know that Hosea did, in fact, sue Gomer for divorce in this way.  But we also cannot say with surety that he did not.

In fact, the punishment is appropriate, in ancient Near Eastern parlance, for the crime.  When a marriage dissolves, the man is no longer legally responsible for clothing the woman; publicly stripping her was a way of symbolically showing this change of responsibility.  This really was done, if not in Israel, than at least among its neighbors.

It may soften our reading a bit by noticing that these consequences are to be carried out only if Gomer/Israel does not turn away from her promiscuity and adultery.  But only a bit.

Of course, we cannot read this in isolation, either.  In our consideration of whether Hosea is a prophet of doom or of hope, this passage is a clear vote in the doom category.  But there have been, and will be, other passages that speak of good news instead.  Hosea will threaten divorce, but the threat will not be carried out.

Even so, we are stuck with a theological problem if we consider the possibility that a loving God is instructing his prophet to enact such a violent response upon his wife.  We'll find, again and again in our reading, that the words of the prophets are often hard to bear.  How much more so, then, if we can envision the prophet Hosea dragging his wife to court, stripping her naked, and sending her out to die of thirst?

The problem of evil actions is a big one in Christianity.  Some say that evil is the product of sin, and others that sin is the product of evil.  Some modern Christians proclaim that there is no such thing as evil, not really.  But this is myopic and foolish.  And we all react differently to the evil we see in ourselves.  Do we pretend it isn't there?  Become captivated by it and let it grow and flourish?  Pursue forgiveness and changed lifeways?  Other possibilities abound.

My go-to passage at times like this comes at the end of the book of Genesis, when Joseph turns to his brothers and tells them that, "What you intended for evil, God intended for good."  God can take even the evil that we work and turn it into goodness.  God can take even the evil that Hosea works and use it to proclaim his message to the people of Israel.

I find it helpful to think of this story as the playing out of a broken family.  Hosea is not, perhaps, a good or kind person.  He has a wife and children, but doesn't manage to be a particularly good father or husband.  Gomer, desperate for someone's love, seeks it out elsewhere.  And Hosea finds out.  In a fit of rage, he makes her infidelity public, and even weaves it into his prophetic word.  And God speaks to Hosea directly as he's dragging his wife to court.  "You want to make this public?" God asks.  "All right.  It will be remembered for generations to come."  God uses the prophet's evil to speak words of judgement to Israel.  And then, when the prophecy comes to a conclusion, God forces Hosea to return to his wife, to take her up and love her again.

Still maybe not so good for Gomer.  And not necessarily the way things really went in ancient Israel.  But it's still a faithful reading of this part of Hosea.  I'm sure there are other possible readings, too.

Next week, more of Hosea's lawsuit against his wife.  For now, here are some questions for thought:

1) What do you think about the problem of evil?  Where does it come from?  How should we respond to it?  How does God fit into it?

2) God seems to command Hosea to do some cruel things to his wife and children.  How does that make you feel?  What does that make you think?

3) Is there another or better way to read the story of Gomer and Hosea?