Martin
J. Buss
The Prophetic Word of Hosea A Morphological Study
,,
Verlag Alfred Tope1mann Berlin 1969
-Beihcfte zm Zcitschrift fur die alttcstamentliche \Visscnschaft J lcLlllsgcgcbl'n von Cl'org Fohrer
111
To ?liillar Burrows
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Preface
The present study grew out of a seminar on Hosea led by :.Ylillar Burro,,·s. To him, as one inspiring scholarship, it is dedicated. In an earlier form, it was presented to Yale University in l[J;j8 as a Ph. D. dissertation in religion. That form ,vas microfilmed later by Dissertation Abstracts; it contains a history of form criticism, especially on the prophets, here omitted. Professors B. Davie Napier, l\larvin Pope, and (by letter) Gerhard von Rad stimulated it with helpful suggestions. The revision of the dissertation for publication was aided by a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies in 19G4fG5, as part of a more comprehensin~ study of literary analysis. It in\'Cllvecl a stay at the Center for Advanced Studies of Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Conn.; during that time Professor Brevard S. Childs at nearby Yale graciously read and commented on part of the manuscript. The research fund of Emory University has covered expenses of typing and of some traveling. The major area of revision has been in the final chapter, since the data of Hosea, inherently and in a comparative view, appeared to force or facilitate a development in the writer's theological perspective. To aid a theological discussion, the needs of the general reader have been kept in mind in the presentation, (','en though the Old Testament specialist is primaril~' addressed. I am grateful to Professor Dr. Georg Fohrer for the inclusion of the study in the Beihcfte to ZAW. My wife deser\"Cs thanks for her careful editing.
Abbreviations
AfO A]SL ANET AOT HZ CBQ C,H, DA EvTh ExpT HTR HUCA
IDE ]AOS ]BL
]ER ]NES ]POS ]QR ]TS l\:uD
LXX
MGW] MSS MT NKZ Korsk TT
as RB
RGG Rl-IPR SVT
TL TR TZ T\VKT VT \VuJ)
,\rchiv fiir Orientforscllllng American J ourn,,1 of Semitic Languages and Literatures .\ncient Ncar Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, cd, l ]:, Pritchard, 1~););)2 ,\ltorientalische Texte Zll1n ,\Iten T,'stamcnt, cd, J1. Gressmanll, l:J:?(i" Biblisch" ZeitschriIt Catholic Biblical Quarterly Codex Hanullurabi Disse;rtatioll Abstracts Evangelisehe Theologie Expository Times Harvard Theological Re;view Hebrew GnioJl College Annual I nterpreter's Dictionary of the Bible ]ournal of the American Oriental Society J oumal of Biblical Literature ] ourna] of Bible and Eeligion IOllrnal of Ncar Eastern Studies Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society Je\\'ish Quarterly Review Journal of Theological Studies ['i:erygma uncI Dogma Septuagint \lonatssehrift fiir Ceschichte u11l1 \Visse;nschaft des J udentums \Ianuscripts Masoretic Text C\eue kirchliche Zeitschrift Norsk Teologisk Tidsskrift Oudtestamentische Studien l,evlle Biblique Die' El'1igion in Geschidlte und Cegenwart Revul' d'llistoire et (!c I 'hilusophic H,'ligi"llses Supplements to Vetlls Tc:;tamentllm Theologisehe I.itcraturzcitllng Tlll:u]()gi~che H.~lIHlschau
TIH'ulogisdlC Zeitschrift Thcnlugisches \V0rterhudl ZUJ1l Neucll Testament, cd, (;, I(itte! \"etlls Tcstarnl'Il tum \Vort lind \)ienst
x: \\1, (:.-s.
AbbrT\idtions \\'iSSt·ll~ch;dtJjl.he Zeit-;I lnif:,
CVScJLsl'hafts- llnd sprach\\'isscn:-il:h~tftlich('
Heille
ZA
Zeitschrift hlr .-\ssyriologie
Z.\\\"
Zeitschrift Zeitschrift Zeitschrift Zeitschrift Zt'itschrift
ZDl\H; ZEE ZS ZTh:
Hir die altteslalll<:ntJichl' \Vissenschaft der Dcutschcn \Iorgcnliindischen Gesellschaft fur evangclische Ethik fUr Scmitistik fiir Thcolog;e und [,irche
Bibliography
The following commentaries ami studies of Hosea arc citecI only by the author's last name without title; for other monographs by the same writer, regular data are given. Brown, S. L., The Book of lIosea, 1932 Bruno, A., Das BUell der ZwoIf, 19G7 Deissler, A., Les petits prophetes, part 1 (La Sainte Bible, e'1. 1.. Pirot and A. Clam"r),
1961 Duhm, B., The Twelve Prophets, 1912 (German, 1910) Good, E. M., The Composition of Hos"a, Svensk Exegetisk .\rsbok HI (1966), 21-(j;j Gressmann, H., Die ii.lteste Geschichtsschreibung und Prophetic lsraels, 19212 (the first edition, 1910, is cited by titk for its form-critical introduction) Guthe, H., Der Prophet Hosea, in E. l(autzsch, Die Heilige Schrift des Alten Testalllents, II 1!J2i}', 1-2;) Harper, \V. E., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Amos and Hosea, H)();) Jacob, E. (with C. Eeller ancl S ..\msler), Osee, ]oel, Amos, ,\bdias, Jonas, 196;) Keil, C. F., Biblischer Conunentar iiber die zwoJf klein en T'rophetcn, 18GG Kraeling, E. G., Commentary 011 the T'rophcts, IT ] !)()(; Lindblom, ]., Hosea literarisell llntersucht, 1\J28 Lippi, ]., Die zw6lf klcinen Propheten, I 1937 Marti, K, Das Dodekapropheton. l!JO-l Mauchline, ]., Hosea, The Interpreter's Bible, VI 1%6. G;),j---7:2;) Mowinckel, S. (with S. Michelet and N. l\lessel), Det Gamle Testamentet, III: Ill' senere profeter, 1944 Nowack, W., Die kleinen Propheten, ] 922 3 Nyberg, H. S., Studien zum ]loseal>l1che, 1D;)il Procksch, 0., Die kleinen prophetislllcll Schriften vor (1<-m E"il, l~lll) Rinaldi, P. G., 1 profeti minori, II 1 !11j{) Robinson, T. H., Die zwolf ldeincn l'rupheten, I 1\I,j8 (1~1;142) RUdolph, W., Hosea, 1966 Sellin, E., Das Zwijlfprophetellbudl, HI2!)2 Smith, G. A., The Book of the TWe-h',; l'rophds, 1 1\128 Tur-Sinai. N. H., Die Heilige Schrift, 4 \'ok, \\'itll pllilologkal lkiJagc band, 1954 (d. his The Book of Jou, 1%7, il1(lex) Ward, ]ames M., Hosea, A The"I')gil'~l Commentary, l!.lIjG \\leiser, A .. Das Buch dcr z\\'olf Idcinen Propheten, 1 !J4~1 Wellhauscll, J., Die klcinen Prophctl'n, 18~83 \Volff, ll. \V., !losca, 1!1(;;,2 (page n1ll1ll,,,rs arc \'irtually the edition, 1957-(1)
Sil"lC ilS
Wll1
SchluG-
in tIll' fiht
Bibliography
XII
The follo\\ in:,; \\orks [". "">l'e than one anthor ar'" cited simply with last names connected hy hYl'l"'Il' Brown, F.; Drh-er, S. E.; nriggs. C, ] lebrew ami English Lexicon of the Old Test;), mcnt, 1 D07 (n:is,;mcJ 1!1.:.::') Falkenstein, A.; ~',,-,(Ien, \\'. von, Sumcri"chc unci :\kLrrlisdle llymnen Hnd Gebeh" 1953 Gcsenius' Hebrew Grammar, cd. E. Kautzsch (English ed., A, E. Cowley), 1~110 GlIllkel, II., Einkilung in die l'salmen, completed by J. Begrich, 19:28--33
Table of Contents pages
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VII
.....................
IX
Abbreviations.
Chapter I: Introduction. . . . . . . . .
1
I. Form Criticism and Morphological Method.
1 2
II. The Analysis of Literary Forms . . . .
Chapter II: The Data in Translation Chapter III: The Word as Literature
.
28
II. Poetry . III. Narrative. . . .
28 37 51
Chapter IV: The Word as Communication
59
I. The Size of Units and the Process of Transmission
I. Introd uction . II. The Speaker A. Threats . B. Accusations C. Positive :-'Totifs. Relations to the Cult
GO Gl (;1 G~l
III. The Addressee. . . .
Chapter V: The \Vard as Message: Terms
81
1. Introduction. .
81
II. Negati\'e Terms
83
A. General :0iegative Terms 1. Enmity . . . 2. Separation and Negation B. Terms of Threat and Destruction 1. Judicial Controversy (Rib) . . 2. >,The Day of Yah\\'eh (, and Terms for \\'301' and Destruction 3. Other Threatcning Terms. C. Terms of Accusation . . . . . . . 1. Gcneral and l\Toral Evil. . . . . :2. Sins More Specifically Against Yahwl'!l.
83
8il
]02
Table of Contents
XIV I I r. I'ositi \·e TerIlls
. . . . . .\. Expectations or lIopcs lor Ism,"].
B. }{ecogIlitinns of Yall\\('h
I V. Open or c\mbiguous Terms lor the COlI-Israel J{e]ationsbip and Its Cult V. Conclusion
Chapter VI: The \Yonl as l\Iessagl': Structure
10;) l().-)
I1n III
lU
Chapter I: Introduction
111;
1. FORN[ CRlTICISl\I A);]) l\lORl'IIOLOGIC\L METHOD
I. The FUl1ctioi\ of l'ruphcL\· in Its Context II. The ?\egati\·c Strncture II r. Tbe Positi\"(' Structure . 1V. The Structure of Eschatolog\· .\. Hosea's COl":'·]>! aal PaHeL) B. The Dynanllt'S or l'>cha1:oJogical Expcctatic)ns C. Future and End iu Illlm,,,) Lit,· and the Question of Love
Index . . . .
121; 12:) 1::::)
l:n Lh I-I)
The present work stands simultaneously within the form-critical tradition stemming from H. Gunkel and within general anthropological studies. Gunkel summarized his method succinctly by stating the following thesis: A literary type or genre is characterized by 1) its "thoughts and moods," 2) its "form-language," including vocabulary, grammatical and expressive peculiarities, and other aspects of style, and 3) a "life-situation" (S£tz im Leben) out of which it grows!. The concept of a life-situation refers not to a historical occasion, but to a structural element in a society (an "institution"). In this respect, Gunkel's approach parallels a widespread interest since about the year 1900 in structure or function rather than in history. Thus, for instance, in anthropology, functional and structural approaches were developed in addition to the older historical ones. A morphological approach, as here defined, differs somewhat from Gunkel's pattern by not limiting itself to an analysis of genres and by dealing freely with any form of verbal patterns and also with stylistic tendencies which may not be absolutely rigorous or may cut across other aspects of classification. It consciously relates the element of the sociological life-situation to a conception of human existence developed in cooperation with other disciplines - such as the social sciences, criticism (as in the humanities), systematic theology, and philosophy. It tends to take the concept of "institution" in the broad sense, now widely employed in sociology, for a structural aspect of culture which may receive varying concrete embodiments. It develops in reference to Gunkel's three aspects a fourth one, that of rationale (raison d'etre), interrelating the other three or any two of these with each other, to reach "insight" (Verstehen). These points are not altogether new, but arc deliberatelv embraceell". ·While the English term ;'form-critical" can designate such an approach, that term has a hi::;torical, ckvdopmcntal connotation (c!e1 I.
ZAW ,12 (ID2.+). ISH Also the mcthod of F. Z,,·icky. ;\[orpho)ngica] .\strOJ1otl1v, 1 D;), ([olltnn·d no" ],\' others), l'lnpl1
L'cting catc'goril's and corrl'latiuTls
between coexisting pbC'noI1h'na. Buss
Chapter I: Introduction
2
rived from the German Formgesclu'chte) which the term "morphological" can avoid. A similar employment of the term "morphology" i" current in German anthropological studies, though often with a more pronounced developmental overtone, without a clear distinction between synchronic and diachronic aspects. The diachronic dimension can never be ignored, but for the most part its conclusions must be reached by methods other than structural analysis. Previous form-critical work in Hosea has been done especially, though not exclusively, by Gressmann (UllO, 1921), Lindblom (192~), Ylowinckel (HIM), Weiser (1 U4~)), Wolff (19Gl, 19(5), Frey (190/, 19G1), Deissler (HlGl). Rudolph (HIGG), and Good (19GG)2. Most of these, however, arc organized largely in the form of a commentary rather than that of a systematic study, as is the present work; each type of organization has its peculiar advantages. Especially important for a difference in approach is the fact that not all of them are intimately related to secular disciplines. A thcological approach, however, can hardly afford such an isolation, As a possible way of dealing with expanding knowledge, one can follow the principle of applying simultaneously a number of perspectives to a relatively narrow subject matter~, as will be attempted here.
IT. TilE A'\.\LYSTS OF LITEH,\I{Y FORMS
"Literature" includes not only written matter, but all verbal expressions of human life, especiall.y as they arc intended for transmission from one generation to another. The expression "oral literature," indeed, is widely used in scholarship bearing on this topic. The value of having a single word, literature, for both oral and \\:ritten products is indicated by the bet that the two groups have esselitially' the same role and charactL'r, Functional observations about tb,' one arc true also for the otlwr, differing only in degree. Furthermon', in a culture before the invention of the printing press and the plllnomen on of widespread literacy, t"sp,'CiaJ1\' during the beginning stagt" of tIl/' use of writing and whik colll,t·ti'.·" f('cling is still fairly stron,-:, it is (lifficlllt to separate oral and \I'rittt'n j)mdllcts precisclv. \Vritt,'il works, for instance, call be nwdifi.,t1 h\ IIral tradition; frequenth' the\' r\'])]"('s('nt the crystallizatilill ,,' I)r;l! lit"r;lturc, Indeed, silent reading is a mo(krn inn'ntion: ('\'t'll [<'11<'r" \\','1, ;\t on,' time only cryst;l1:' I!
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lizations of messages, to be read aloud. Written literature was thus "oral," even when it was read. Of course, differences between oral and written transmission do exist and must be kept in mind 4 . In their general presentations of Old Testament literature, J. Hempel and O. EiLlfeldt divide literary genres into three groups: prose, short sayings, and songs 5 . A. Weiser and A. Bentzen classify some short sayings under poetry, others under prose 6 • Some inconsequences appear. Though EiBfclclt and Weiser list narratives as the main literary body in the division of prose, they then subdivide them into "poetic" and "prose" (or "historical") narratives. A functional view may supply clarity. Narration, singing, or brevity ~ separately or together ~ characterize all oral literature designed for enjoyment or transmission. Special clements arc needed to impress literature on one's memory and to lift it out of the ordinary humdrum of existence. Especially in the absence of writing ~ with its possibilitit:s of copying, seeing, and individual meditation ~ literature avails itself usually of one or both of the two main known esthetic-mnemonic aids, rhythmic music and story-form?, or else adopts brevity for succinctness. Often relative brevity also characterizes songs and narratives, while poetic features frequently appear in short sayings. The two most important features of what is known as poetry are repetitionS and vividness. Simple repetition, often with only minur variations, is very common in primitive literature; more subtle types of repetition are represented by alliteration, rhyme, and, especially for the Old Testament, parallelism. Rhythm, too, is a form of repetition, namely of a more or less regular pattern of pauses or beats. Pregnancy of expression and concreteness bring about visual images or striking formulations which enhance the liveliness of the experience and aid memory. The popularity of narratives lies largely in the fact that they portray their subject matter in terms of human life, producing easily-rememben.~dpictures related to the listener's experience. < Sec, e. g., S. Cantlz, "The Da\\Il o[ Literature," (lsiris 7 (I!Jil!I), :!'il--~)~:!; K Culln',
VT 13 (1!)G3), 113-U:J; Jan Vansin"" Ural Traditiull, l!1liG (French, 1%1).
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11. The Analysis of Literary Forms
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Chapter [: Introduction
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Another important factor in some forms of literature is the use of artificial modes of expression. It shows itself in the use of a special poetic \'ocabulary, rc-enforcing the power of tradition to keep alive archaic words for poetic use. :\lore importantly, it creates a stylization of literature. Stvlization has tremendous charm and contributes to one's abilit\· to 'foCtL,; attention on the bscntial rather than on tIl(' accidental;' it is abo itself a mnemonic aid and gives the participant a sense of identit\· with his communit\', past and present, The artificia'lity, or special char~cter, of poetical literature, including its graceful repetition and expressiveness --- in short, its art l1l'cessitates in the poet a heightening of the power of mental processes and a lowcring of inhibitions against them. This is often accomplished under the stress of emotion or through the reduction of self-consciousness (or through both) -- a fact important for the study of the prophcts9 . Not until the risc' of writing and of individualism, the latter being partly a result of the fonner, does the need for poetic featnn-s decrease. The\' never die out completely, but their importance is broken down.' Even in the Old Testament the distinction between prose and p()('tr~' is often onl\' a relatin' one. It is wisest to recogniz!' different d('grc('s of pOl'tic character. Poetn'. hl'l·\·it\·, and narratin:, then, form definite categories. not in the'sense of ~'xclusi\'e classes, but rather as se\l'ral (sometinw'simultaneous) principl(·s or fmms, applicable in various degrees. Thc'se cat('!~()rit's Cllt across the major divisions of human life cult, court (or ci\'il adrnini,;tration), and common life. In the cult, narrati\'e is representee! h\' the credo, poetry by the psalms, and short savings bv apoclictic law. In the life of the community or the nation, in~portant roks are pLl\Td h\' hero narratives or court records and b\' such clements as the \'ictor\' song and judicial law. Popular types of literature an' H'pH'';('Iltl'd l~\' an;using taks, werlding songs, allli homcsplln pro\·nbs. Th., '-Iwrt sa yi ng,.; are usually didactic; narratin's incllL
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Another element of classification, again cutting across those mentioned, is a division according to the positive or negative character of feeling, namely joy or sorrow. In religious poems one may, accordingly, distinguish between hymns and laments. This classification highlights differences in purpose; in a lament one hopes to move deity to come to one's aiel, while the hymn expresses adoration and thanksgiving. These genres, then, rdlect certain basic situations in human life, Since the essential, or inner, situation may be similar under a variety of external conditions, it is possible that a genre is used outside its ordinary or original position. The prophet can burst forth in a lament. A psalm can be sung outside the temple. "Cultic" language takes place not only at the official place of worship, though it is regularly centered there. The literary structure of human speech in its relation to God is largely constant, whatever a person's physical circumstances may be. The preci,;e nature of stylization is determined in part by accidental features due to chance de\·clopment. They receive meaning, however, as they move out of the rcalm of accident, are standardized, and make "sense" in a given structure. Standardization is a result of the power of tradition, which need not be a static one, over thought, feelings, and expressions. Not just an outward form-language is thereby affected, but the content of thought, the very nature of existence. While there are hardly universally valid symbol systems, and while borro\ved symbols often change meaning, the recognition of stylized expression in a given literary production can point to its essential meaning in human life.
Chapter 1I: The Data in Translation
7
The following translation is designed to exhibit the data and, to a degree, the conclusions for parts of the discussion which is to follow. Rhythmic structure and word-repetitions (italicized) are indicated for analysis in Chapter III. The sign at the end of a line indicates a change from divine to non-divine speech or vice versa, to be discussed in Chapter IV. Words tying oracles together are repeated in parentheses between sections. Double quotes indicate quotations or parodies; single quotes refer to proverbs or to proverbial and certain figurative expressions. It must be emphasized, however, that none of these data are sufficiently mechanical to be represented adequately in the translation.
*
Chapter II: The Data in Translation The book of Hosea presents numerous problems of text and interpretation; to cleal with these adequately requires a full-length commentary, a task which is not the purpose of the present studyl. Fortunately, the general drift of a passage is usually clear even if the details are not. Among the many individual possibilities, one often has to select almost blindly a given alternative; a different reading has in many cases an equal attractiveness. For the consonantal text only a few unsupported conjectures have been accepted; other cases seem to require conjectural emendations, but none offered so far seem acceptable. In many of the difficult cases, the ancient versions, especially the Old Greek, supplied useful variants. Attention to other Semitic languages may seem to be especially appropriate in Hosea, since it represents a non- J udean writing and may thus exhibit linguistic usages not otherwise preserved in the Old Testament. Yet of the large number of new interpretations based on a comparison with cognate languages only a handful appear at all reasonable and C\Tn fewer of these arc genuinely convincing 2 • Sometimes linguistic parallels within the Old Testament explain certain difficult readings and make emendations unneces:sary. Textual criticism is not always easily distinguished from "higher" criticism nor from tradition criticism. "Lower" (textual) criticism deals largely with mechanical errors, which, since they carry no meaning when they happen (though they may acquire a meaning later on) are best simply corrected. "Higher" criticism treats of consciously made expansions. which, since t]wv ~lrL' \yitnesses of a definite point of vicw, are best tran,;1atecl, tJlllugh indicated as secondary. Such additions arc enclo,;ed in hrack/'h. Tradition criticism attempts to ('\'aluate iactor,; which rt'pre,;{'nt a kndl'l1i'\' of the transmitting group hut are largel\' 11l1COIlSciou,; anti of '\lell ;1 ,;ubtle nature that it i,; u,;uallv impo,;,;ible to repre"ent tl1l'111 without further comment in '-ueh a translation as that which ffJllo\\s: they must simply be kept in mind at all time,;. lH'rt, e';lwcia]h' 101 t lif' material of chs. ]---:1. I
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\1ato-rial ;1\0111011>", th,r.
!J;l\\' "';lIllll,tillll'''''
1)('1'1)
r
11:11lL:1',j
,>
!lot rl'),eat,·cl I,en', \1;,
l'llltil'('
'(lrll)l;\rJ~(Jlh IJll:-.;t _~':IJ;lnl :t~;lln ... \ --;(" ~'11(L1J'\' Jlll ',I Il I Jl!.,:':--;, V, ~" \
I 11 11~11;1
:\:" "II 11", III
11
agnin:-;t
H. Hirsch-
1~3:
ISRAEL, THE WHORE
[The word of Yahweh which came to Hosea, the son of Becri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezckiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of ]oash, king of Israel.] 1. A Prostitute Wife
12
The beginning of Yahweh',; speaking through Hosea. Yahweh said to Hosea: "Go, take a wife of whoredom, and children of whoredom, For the land goes greatly whoring away from Yahweh." He went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son. And Yahweh said to him: Call his name J ezreel: For in a little while I will visit the blood of J ezreel on the house of ] elm. I will end the kingdom of the house of Israel. [And it will be in that day] I will hreak the bow of Israel in the valley of J ezreel. And she conceived again and bore a daughter. And he said to him: Call her name Not-pitied: For I will not pdy yet again the house of Israel, That I should forgive them. UJ [But the house of Judah I will pity. I will save them through Yahweh their god. I will not Sil7'e through bow :md sword and war, through horses and riders.] She weaned i\' at-pitied and cOJlcei7'cd and bore a son. And he said: Call his name Not-mY-,fJeoj>l.:: For you arc not mv people, and I am not for you, (?)
*
*
3 I
*
*
*
*
Ilarp!.:r, Hohinson, Hinaldi
''1,IIII'(l'ih'
\\lth'lllt
A. Chs.
8.9
*
*
Chapter 1 I'. The Data in Translation
Chapter II: The Data in Translation
8
(Additions to ] :) The Cnrse l<.cnrsed. [The number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, ~vhich cannot be ml'asured or counted; in the place in which it was silid to them, "Yon are not my people," it "'I1l be said to them (i. e., the\' will he c;dled), "Children of the living (;od." Th~ childrcll of .I udalt and the children of Israel will ga titer together; they \vill set for tlt\'IIlsc!ves a single he;lcl amI come LIp (to the central sanctuary or to Jerusalem) out of tlll' land. For great is tll\' day of Jezree!; say to your brothers, "J[y-people," and to your sisters, "piticd. "]
2I
~
3
*
11
12
13
(whoredom, pity)
2. Rdurn Through Chastisement
24
14
Plead with yom mother, plead! -For she is not mv wife, and I am It;t her husband - (genuine ?) That she remove her (signs of) whoredom from her face 15
and her adultery from between her breasts. Lest I strip her nahed and set her as in the day of her birth, And make her like the desert ;lI1d turn h(')" into dr~' Jand rand kill her through thirst]. !-reI' children I \\'ill not pity; for thev are children of whoredoJII. For their n{other 'iJdwred, shamefullv acted she who bore them. For sh( said, ,;/ will go after my lovers, \Vho give mc my bread and my water, my ,;pool and m\, fla. r , mv oil and my drink."
5
9
In
16
17
18
Therefore, behold, [ will hedge in her 3 way with thorns, and I will budd up h('[ wall, That she will not find her \\';1\', She will pursuc hN Im'ers, hut will not o\'\'rLI!-::" t !wm ; She will scck th('])) and not find tlll'llJ. (Tlwn) she ll'il! say, "I it ,Ill )!'I! ;lIld return to lll\' fO]'lll('r 111;111 (/7II\/'lllid); For I was ]wttt.'r off then thdn Jj()\\' ' did not know Tha t it was, I who gd \'(' }](']' 11w )!,rain and 11)(' ,,'illt' ,lIld tlw ,J('7
19
20
2J
22
-;}1('
And who multiplied silver for her and gold [which they made into Baal]. Therefore I will take back again my grain in its season and my wine in its time; And I will ;-cmove my 'I.cool and mv fla.r, which were to cover her lutkedlless. Now I willnncover her private parts before the eyes of her lovers, And no man will save her from my hand. I will bring to rest (sa belt) all her joy, Her festival, her new moon, and her sillibllth, and all her sacred gathering. And I will devastate her vines and fig trees, of whiclt she said, "these are my (harlot's) hire, which my lovers ha vc given me." I will tnrn th'em into a thicket; the beasts of the field will eat them. And I will visit upon her all the days of the Ballls, During which she sacrificed to them, put on her ring and her finery, and went after her lovers [and forgot me, says Yahweh].
Therefore, behold, I will allure her and take her into the desert, And I will speak to her heart. [I will give her from there her vineyards (?) and (make) the Valley of Achor a door of hope 4 .] She will answer me there as in the days of her youth, in the day when she came ant of the land of Egvpt. [And it will be in that day, says Yahweh,] SheS will say to me, "my husband," and will not say to me again, "my Baal." [I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they will be mentioned by name no more.] [I will make for them a covenant, in that day, with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the ground animals. I will abolish bow and s'l.mrd and war from the land, and they will dwell securely.] And I will betroth Vall to mc forever: I will uetroth you to mc in rightness and jlldgml'nt, in loving-kindnC'ss and care (pity); I will betroth vou to me in faithfulness, And you will kno\v Yahweh.
(7 1m means "to make, ' . into, ' ." (here awkward). I)
9
So, LXX; or read "you" with l\IT. but that is not euphonic',
~3 :24
25
[It will be in that day that I, says Yahweh, will answer the heavens; and they will ansm:r the earth; and the earth will answer the grain and thc- wine and the oil; and they will answer] ezreel. I will sow her for me in the land (]ezreel ~, "God soW[SJ")6; I will have pity on Not-pitied; and I will say to Not-my-people, "you are my people," and he will say, "my God. "J (lm'e, whore)
3
4
*
For this reason the land mourns, and all that dwell in it wither ~ From the beast of the field to the birds of the air, and even the fish of the sea are gathered. Let no one denounce (rib), Let no one reprove; For the people 10 are (only) like the priests who are denouncing (them)ll. (?) You (the priest) will stumble today, and the prophet will stumble with you at night. I destroy the people 12 ? (or: You destroy the people.) My j)eople are destroyed by lack of knowledge! Since you have rejected the' knowledge,' I will reject you from being priest to me. Since you have forgotten the torah of your God, I also will forget your children. According to their multitude they have sinned against me their glory I will change into ignominy l They eat the sin of mv people, and for their iniquity they lift their appetite 13 . It will be 'like people, like priest': I will visit his ways upon him and return his deecb to him.
*
;3. A Purchase on the Basis of Love
*
Yahweh said to me again, "Go, lm'e a woman loving (or, lm:ed by) a friend and adulterous, As Yahweh lores the children of 1sracl, Though they turn to other gods and lot'e raisin cakes." So I bought her for me for fifteen pieces of silver and for a homer and a lethek of barley. And I said to her: "Many days you will sit (waiting?) for me 7 and not whore and Hot be for a mans. Also I (will be for YOll." [For maJlY days the children of Israel will sit without king and without prince, without sacrifice and without pillar, without ephod and without tcraphim. Alter that, the children 01 Israel will turn and seck Yahweh their God and David their king and trembling come to Yahm'h ,md to his goodness in the after-days.]
*
9
n
*
10
11
They will eat and not be satisfied, whore and not increase (s/)read).· For they have forsaken Yahwch l l to follow whoredn/1!. (?)
(Whoredom; my people)
8. ehs.4--l.J: GO]) AND ISRAEL AT ODDS
C:-:cle I. Cult Ruin ("\Yhoredom ")
i).
(,,'horedom) 4. "Like People Like Priest"
Hear the word of Yall\\'('h, children of Israel, For YahWell has a cOJltrOi't'rsv (rib) with tho:,t' tha! di,'ell in tl)(' 11111d (c;11'th). For therc' i:, no truthfulncs,; and nl) lo\·ing-kindnc~..; and 110 kllO,,1,'dgt' of Cod in tll" lilll,! 'l11",jng, Iving, killing, ..;tcaling, aclultcl'\ .'iprt'ad 9 ; ;llld blood touches 1Jlood.
41
" \ .. 1
';
~
'l11lj,r'·!.:llat\," l,Ia("I>. 1\"dolp11 1 f"r it
:JiV"I
;l r;lf(' idil)1l1
" !"'r1I;l\'<
1(·dd.
'I)
"(" "",[ ri.,'t'.
IIwails
illll'rpfl'!
·'''ilitill.!..(''
III
•
h
'in
\Ill
• \\llll
~
Figurative and Literal
*
*
10
11
12
Perhaps 1r.l~ is an e:<panded form of C¥; d. S. Feigin, .\] SL -1:2 (1!J25). (;-1~~1i8. Otherwise translate, "your people." On liJ~ '~'''1? as "cknouncing priests." d. Nyberg and C. Brockl?1mann. Hebraische Syntax, 196G, 70 (one should trallslate' with til(' plural, however i). The sa111(' construction also occurs in Hos Il 9 and perhaps in 132 (sacrificers i). On the form 9/Pl::t. d. Feigin Ioe. cit. R. Vuilleumj'.:r-Bessarcl, La tradition cultuellc,
1960, [J-1, read,' ~~~ 'J:l~71, to be considered.
l\.\.
'1\,·,1'11,1"" I,,·,,": l.1 \\ I.illll'lo'ril 1,-/,,( hid, 1 Hc,f), -1Ii!J; C. Schedl. IV '.1 I, II~II;:~I 11111 III:: Bill lh, \l'rl, it . ' vlf j, lIut ilttl'st:ed with this meaning.
Whoredom
'\Nine and must take away the mind.' 412 My people it inquires of its wood, and its staff instructs it! For the spirit of whoredom has misled thcm, and they have whored awav from their God. 13 Upon the tops of the mountain's they sacrifice, and upon the heights they make smoke -,
1<111,1."
L'\ :!III
11
Chapter II: The Data in Translation
Chapter II: The Data in Translation
10
13
So. versions and Sl)Il1C :\ISS. is not used with an illfiniti"e hut often with Yahweh.
It ~t~
Chapter 1 [: The Data in Translation
*
For judgment is coming to you. As vou have hecome a snare in Mispah . and a net spread out on lVIt. Tabor and a pit in ShittiIll, dug deep 21 , Thus I will be a fetter to all of you 22 .
l;nder the oak and the popL1r, and the terebinth, beca\l~t' its ~hade is good. This is wh\' your dauglitcrs lc/tore :lIId your ,,,'Oil/ell commit ((dullerv! I will not \'isit upon your dillfglitcrs their icllOring and upon your i.COlllC/7 their {{dullerv. For thn' (the men thelll~dves go a~icle with whores and sacrifice with 'sacred one~: l\nd a foolish people corncs to fall with a lc1l1m~15. (?) (Whoredom)
*
14
*
n
(i.
I 1"'01(' Ephraim, and Isral'! is not hid from me. For now Ephraim has zollOred 23 , Israel is defiled. Their c1l't'(\s do not allow them to r!'turn to their God; For the spirit of whoredom is in them, and Yahweh thcv do not Imow. [And the pride of Lr:lC'l an~wers to his face. Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will slumiJIe with them,J \Vith their flocks and their herds they go to ~eek Yahweh But thn' do not find him; he llaS withdrawn from them. Toward Yahweh they have been unfaithful; (family break) for they ha \'C bornc forcign sons. Now the de~troycr21 will eat their portions.
*
Wanton Cult
You, Israel, do not becomc guiltyl6; (MT adl],;: Judah) Do not go to Gilgal, do not get up to Beth-awen, Do not swear, 'Thus lives the Lord." I~or as a rebellious calf, Israel is rebellious. Now Yahweh will lead thcm as a lamb on a broad pa~turl'! (Or: question) A companion of idol,; is Ephraimkan' him! RchclliollS U) i,:, their drinking-party17. (i) A -whorillg they whore, lovingh,18 they love tIl(' ignomin~' of shameles~m·ssI9. (i) The wind will wrap it (?) in ib wing~, (proph. perL) and t hev will 1Je ashamed of their altars 20 ! .' (1 r110redom )
415
I (;
[7
1A
1\'
Cycle II, The disorder of Politics and Society ("Kings and Princes") 8. Fraternal Strife
58 7. Spiritual Break Between Carl and Israel II
Hear this, 0 priests! and listen, 0 house of israeli, C;ive ear, house of the king I
1
n, Read :1~i C!.! with L:\.:\. )
I~,'ad CtP~1) with LX X ' " '1'1", !I,,],rl'\\' adj('~lIi()us), is attestl'd 1'!Sl.'\\ ht'n' with tht' Illc-aning' "jll\\illt-d Ilnlll
10
1fi
"0
!
1In '..;('nt II-<.
\
I
\ilri:I1]rIJl ilf lilt' stt'lll
.I
(;ltl'
k, in' Die
(I,
1111"'.;1 ;jl)fl .\rllos, l!Hi;).
l~j
111':11
till"
{"'lid
itt~~7;) {;,r~~ ~t!
13
C1J;1pt"r II: The Data in Translation
12
I\I';HI t
till"'; \\
lUI \
23
d!JIl(!i:!Jl
/i,'!
T \\'"rlq!;"1ij("'lhk,,!' :)f
p~ (\\itll
":
::1:1N
I.,
1\
1>1"1\1'1
\11 allw.;ioTl 11> I ,lZ:trIlil :11 j,p...
illn ...
21 22
'passl o nat(>ly" S( \frik~,. Studies on thl' l3()oks,,(
\\ltJI\\;tl.Jil III '-IJld
i>lil
III
n;llll\)'.!
1"1
j'
Dr;
:1H~,
()r,
"tl10cking-song,··
:~:! ((;Ilrclon's nUlnbcrs)?
Blow the horn in Giheah, the trumpet in Ramah, Raise the war crv in Bcth-awcn, "After you, ·Benjamin 2•5 !" (?) Ephraim is destined to desolation in the day of reprooL Among the tribes of Israel I announce the truth. The fJrlnces of Israel have become (MT: Judah) as boundary thieves -
*
Conjectural!\' as,;il1lilated til th,' lllnte"t and frn'h' tr~"lSbted. l~ead thliS (I~atlially with LXXI i ' React as 3nl pL'rs"n kJl1inilll'; (1. \' 0. Some ~!SS ;)l tu;t1h' 11;\\'" :1r'!3l:1 (;c, ""nline: to }]aqwr), \\hil'h is th"l1 pro!>a!>ly also prl''illp!,(b''d h\' lhl' \IT,,ions (rilth"r lh;)n
i'l3l:1) , The hil'h. (,f ;"l3l ",', Ill', 'llsll in '\111, IS, ~~ l-lT1l'al'ln:, 25
Arabic' !/f,I
On them I will pour out like water mv wrath. ~1.
*
Is There Healing -
(princes; Judah?) \\'hik There Arc Social Sins?
Crushed is Ephraim, broken in judgmC'nt ; For it has insisted on following after worthlessness. 12 T, indeed, am as a moth to Ephraim and as rottenness to the house of Israel. (!\IT: Judah) 1 a Ephraim has SLTn its malady, and Israel its wound; So Ephraim went to Assyria, and SL'nt to the Great Xing. But he is not a bit- to heill you, and cannot cure vour wound; 14 For I am as a \\'illllil;n to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the housC' of Israel. (MT: Judah) I, yes I, rend ,lIld go, I seize and no one rescnt's. 1'> I will go and retnrn to ill\' phce, l'ntil th,·\· snffer in tlwir guilt and seek I11V iace and in th"ir tlistn'ss search after me. Ii 1 "COIIl<" let us return to YahwehFor he rnil amI will It"ill us, he has stricken and will hind us up. After 1\\'0 II;: \'" he \I'ill illake us til'e again, On the tllird lh\' he \\'ill r;,isL' ll:i so th;lt \\'(' will til'C I,d,'r,' him, Let llS 1,1/0;" !d u" pnrsil" to kIlO'it', Yahweh, ;\s tIl<' d;I\\I: i" sd !Ii" COllling forth, I It- will conH' ;h a "II! 1\\1"1 t fJ no', as tIl(' spring rain \I'ait-rs the ('arth,""*
iJ
11
10
*
*
11
7
1
;11"1\
4
-* *
10. Israel -
; \\"1\'
rill" ],';lSOII I h;I\I' /11'\\1' (ilwili) ("rllllg11 tlli' !)iophdS, I hi;\" kill"d tIl,'] tltrlll::';], I II!' \\1);"-" Il[ m\' lW>llth, .\11<1 111\ jIH!gJlWJl( \'.I'W f'Jll!J likl' ligl,t, (~ (secol1d;n\':) Frl!' I (ll':""n' l,};,ill[!··kl:;d,·lt' ....''"'· (tii','I!! " j ,'J:d J; ll,;rcriflct.', tIl!' Im,I;, !"(,, qf Lud i;ill'l!'l (11,,,1 1,,;: :tI,l)fkrings. 1~lll tlll'\' hi"'( III .\
•~ t \
I -: I
,I'
I " 'I I
I '""
f
11 ~ ,.
: i , I I -.
I
I;, JI •
I I' ., \ I
When I would restore the fortunes of my people, when I would heal Israel There is rl'vcaled the iniquity of Ephraim, and the cz'ds of Samaria. For they do falsehood; The thief enters, the robber raids outside. They do not think in their hearts that I remem bel' all their evil. Now their deeds havc surrounded them thev have come before Illy face. With th"eir cvil they make thc·llil1f!, rejoice, and with their lies the princes. All of them commit adulterv, they are like a burning' 07'en .... (?) On the day of our king, they maele the jJrinces weak with the heat of willc; His hand elrew the deriders (?). For their inwarel is like an O1'CII in their ambush 29 . All night long their anger Slel'PS in the morning it burns like a fiery flame. They all become hot like an o;'e11 . and devour their rulers. All their kings han' fallen (Or: proph. perf.;) none of them call to me. (princes; baking; ; fall ?; del.'our ?)
*
\Vhat c\n I do with \oil, Epll;;li1l1 ~ wh:lt can I do \\,jlh \'Oll. l"r;111 ~ ('11'1' .Judah) Your d,';,oti"'i is like ;1, ;lIortlii1i~ ('Ill;,.!, t
*
*
*
~~Ot'~
Gilead is a city of evil-doer,.;, tracked with blood. Like ambushing robbers 27 is the band of priests; They kill on the road to Shechem, to commit villainy, In the "house of Goel"28 I have seen a horrible thing; There is the whoredom of Ephraim, ' Israel is defiled. [Also for you, Judah, a harvcst is appointed !J
*
*,
iik;' the (}('\\' t!l:tt
15
Chapter II: The Data in Translatio'l
Chapter II; The Data in Translation
14
78
Turning Elsewhere Than to Yahweh
Ephraimhe is 'blended' among th(' lli'opl('S29
Pointable as ';?n~; d. llos .1-1. Read thus, inste;d of "In the house of Israel") (lsml,1 is mentioned shortly hc'rc'after). Cf. 101581. 2~ Set' below . 29act. the Akkadian; S. Paul, VT IH (I!1t)i'), ILS,
27
28
17
Chapter II: Th" Data in Translation Chapter II: The Data in Translatinn
16
Ephraim has lwc01"lw a cake untlllned, (hahn,!!, jig/In) Strangl'rs ha \'e d'.'i'lIllrcd his strength -unknown to him, He has beCOllll' ll1oldy:JO - (?) unknown to him, [I) The prick of brad answers to its face, ] (see:mdarye) But they do not rctllln to Yahweh their Cod. and do not s('ek him for all this, Ephrililll has lWCOlllL' like a dove, [ I ~il1y and without sen"e, They call to Egypt and go to Asswi,L [~ As tlll'Y go I will spread on'r thelll my net. Like birds of the air I will bring them down, 1 I will chastis(· t Iwm when hearing of their appointrnent3 J:I \rOl' to tllt:'il1, for thev h:I\'(' wanckret! from 111(', (k,.;truction to t hl·lll. fur t hev Ila \'(' n '\'()!ted against me, r would redeelll tlwlll but thcv spc'a!;: IiI''; :tgain::;t me, 1.( They do !lot crv to IllI' out of their hearts, \\l\'.'n thl'v \I'ail upon their beds and cut themsl'!\'('s for grain and must, They 1'<'1)('1 against n1\', [,-, I trained t]Il'Ill, I strengthenet! tlll'ir arms -hut thn dl,\'j,,, nil :Igainst me, -xI'; '1'111'\' turn - nut up\l'itrd:'~; (?) th.,\, hal'"~ Ill'cuml' likl' d w:lrp,'d bow, Their pril/ces lIill lid! h\' tll!' sll'ord throllglt till' ew~il\g of tlwir tongne -This will 1)(' for dni"ion jn til,' land of Egypt, (cry; pril/ces)
Israel hZlS rejected the good the enemy will pursue him, They ma ke kings but not from me, princes, without my knowledge, Their gold and their silver they turn for themselves into graven images - to be destroyed,
*
*
* *
He has rejected your calf. Samaria! my anger is hot against them, How long can they not become clean? It is from IsrZlel; (?) a workman made it it is not God, Verily, splinters will become the calf of Samaria, 'Since they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind.' 'No grain stalk for the shoot means it makes no flour.' (Cf. ANET 420,) If it should make some strangers will sWI1!1mi' it I (swallow; killg; princes)
*
~
;.11
Tu \'Illir mouth til<' trtllll)WI, ,h;ll1 ann,)I1I\(,'r:\:1 O\','j til<' lllllhl' "f 1\1'(':[\1:'1' tlll'\' It,ll', 11IOk"TI TlI\' C,)\'I'11:1111 'Ill,] hal'l' IT\'oll<'d :Ig:lin~t 111\ Ltll', T" !!11' t1ll'\' cr\' "(111\\ (;",], II'", 1~;'::I-1. kll"" 1 j",,"
I
i
ii (
~.)~
'1'1
I)
:~' . . . , '. i :I
I
~:!. ,'.11'1';~!\-' Fill'
lit' 1,ld...:lt']"I·d 11\ ~~ \11111 i' !!'I~..( ' !1'1~ II' '1.11 lId (,
l ',' ~
t 11~1:,i
,,1d~'l;lL('ill tlll·(~il~:.'Jl)('-:ll
111'
h .11
__ : '\, "'I
I ~ I ,\ i
III
i:
i;; I \ 1'1
I' : 1"
I:I! ::'~'-, .\ 1,:
i ' t,l I I: i:.'
~I
\ I
88
Israel is swallowed - (proph, perf. ?) Now they have become ammtg the peoples (proph, perf,?) like an undesirable \'('sse!. For they haw gone to Assyria; A lonely wild ass, Ephraim has hired lovers, As they are hiring among the peoples now I will gather them, And they will rest 34 awhile (?) (proph, perf, from the burden of a king and princes!
*
10
*
n
Cycle III. Religious Chaos ("Return to Egypt") (law: 81. 12?) )''1 hlI'\'h, "I-
1 J", "1\0 Pleasure" 8 11 As Ephraim multiplied altars for sin-offerings they became to him altars for sinning, 12 Though I write to him multiples of IllY law they appear strange to him, 13 Sacrifices they 10ve 35 , (?) they sacrifice meat and C'Zlt.
*
11,1.;',\\
111'
12, Israel Lost in the Gentile Empire
~I :.!.,';
),]n;t-.:. r ' \';;t11 Uw
c\:pr(,...:,j(I!~
Jil' tr':ldir;lln<.dintvrjJfI:tatll»)l
* -
:')1')1
1\"i:f·tt'l-'
I 1 >, i !;
I
:l::
t
I
!! '1'
11
(I,
;llld
:-:(,,>
jfl!l),
34
35
Cf, G, R. Driver, JTS 39 (1938), 158 As in 418, some alternate formation tn ::l;"1l(?
.1
Buss
2
Yahweh has no picaslllc in them! N ow he will remclIIoa their i niqllity
14 (b). Trouble in God's House ]
97
(secondary here ?)
and 1'isit their sins. They will rcturn to Fr.v pt. 14
[Israel has forgotten his maker and has built palaces, And Judah has lIlultiplied fortified cities. I will send a fin' into his cities and it will de\'our his strongholds.] (Cf. 813 with U 3.
* *
4.
The days of ZJ1:sitation have come, (proph. perf.) the days of 'fulfilmcnt' have come, Israel will know it. (?) "A fool is the prophet, a madman the lllan of the spirit" Because of the r.:reatlle~s of your iniquity --a great enmitv !42 The watchman of Ephraim with (my) God, the prophet A fowler's snare is on all his ways, there is enmity in the house of his god. They have become deeply corruptecl, as in the clays of Gibeah -
!l)
14(a). Trouhle for God's House 9
1
2
6
Do not rejoice, Israel, do not exult'16 like the peoples; For you have whored awav from \'our god, you have loved hirc on every thresliinf, floor. The threshing floor and the wine press will not feed them, and the must will fail thel11 37 . They will not rcmain in the Lmd of Yahweh Ephraim \\'ill retuYJI to Egvpt [and in Assyria thc~' will cat nnclean food]. Thev will not pour out \\·ine to Yahweh, they will not bring him:JS sacrlFces; [As bread of mOlllners to th('m 39 , (?) all who cat of it will he defiled.] For their food will 1)(' for thcmselves, it will not come into the house of Yahweh. \Vha t will ~'Oll do on t he a Jlpoin ted day, on the dar of til\' ft-a~t of Yah\ych? For behold, a; the,,' will go from destruction - (?) Egypt will gatlwr them, Memphis will IllllT t )1I'1ll ! The 'desired place'~o o'r tli,·ir hooths ll wceds will inherit; (?) thorns will be in tli"ir t('lIt', (dIF\',
*
Cycle IV. Israel's Sin in History 15. (Baal-Pear and Gilgal) E~tablishl1]('nt in Palestine: A Failure
Like grapes in the wilclerness I found Israel, Like an early fig on a young tru' I saw your fathers. They came' to Baal-Pear and dedicated themselves to Shame (Baal), And thev became dete~table like their lmJe. n Ephrairr~ - like a bird their glory flies away. No birth, no pregnancy ("womb"), no conception! (Place here 16 b) 12 If they do raise children -I will berea<Je them, leaving none; Verily woe to them, (with) their offspring 43 I 13 Ephraim, as far as I can sec, 'is planted on a rock as a (or: in the) meadow44 ;' Ephraim must bring forth his children to the ~Ia vcr. 14 Give them, Yahweh . wha t will you give. ?
910
*
house)
This
Hcad tlHh \\'jth :"'\OllH' ~lS::-; (l))(l \'l'fSil >n~ Cf, S"uth-.\r"I';, ((; 1\ Pri"'r (,1'. ,il ],-),'<1 Th" ""pauder of tl)(' t"q """ms to hit\" tI"1
3_
Ci;1,?
1l11·
\'le'l,\'; rather ponr rep,'1 It I,,"
~il ,~n~ Iii" 1'n'qu('lltl\'
it
" l,'atl CP:'~7,. (with .I \1T'~ "...;ih ('I". 11Ia.~· h.I\"
lint
IlLt\
rl',ttl tlH' Hebrew.
!
"lIlti, rd, r,n,,-
•
,1' S,llJn
1!ll!1 Fisdl<'J. Pi" 1'r"I,I"'(,,u ,)1,,,<11" IW('I)
intlll('lltTd 1,\'
'r;Jr:t~
*
*
3i
3'
lit' the
He will remembe; their iniq1tity and visit their sins.
36
111lJst
19
Chapter 1I: The Data in Translation
Chapter I I: The Data in Translation
18
.I "i'l, .\mos, Hosea, 190!))
>
See L. Prijs, BZ ~F 8 (1%,11, ]1)(;. lli:J (with :II. Pope). It is not clear, howl'wr, whether enmity refers to on<' or t,) both sides. 43 Partly with LXX. Read .,tv::l~ , '.a T T • Recognize (without l'onsonantal change?) a proverbial expression for unfruitful ~,onditions, here applied to Israel's situation in Palestine. The resultant pun between meadow" and "children" is better than LXX's repetition.
42
Chapter 11: The Data in 'franslaticn
Chapt<'r I I: The Data in Tratblation
20
Give them miscarrying ("bel'ea1'ing") uterus anti shriveled breasts! All their Ci'11 is in Gilgal: t l\('re (alre:ld\') I hated t helll. For the CI'd of their (keels I will drive them out of my hallS!'. I will not [m'c them again 'All their princes arc rebels.' Strickm is Ephraim; (proph. perf. I) Their root is (h'it'd up, (proph. perf. ?) fruit (jJ"ri) the", do uot produce. If they do give birth ' 1 (Place after v. I will kill the darling:.; of their icol1lh. (My) God will reject the111, for t he\' did not listen to him; And they \;ill lw wanden'rs among the peoples.
Shame will be Ephraim's lot 47 , and Israel will be ashamed of its counsels. Undone is Samaria's 'king' - (proph, perf,) like a snapped twig 011 the water. Destroyed will be the high places of A ZRJ(£Jl, the sin of Israel. Thistles and thorns will grow up on their aliars, And they will say to the mountains, "(OV('1" liS!" and to the hills, "Fall over us!"
*
I;,
*
1[;
(Gibeah
*
*I
,
,3
"hill"; king undone?)
17, (Gibeah) War Overtakes Social Badness
109
A luxuriant vine is Israel, lruit Iw product'S.
According to the };111ft/tude of his frllit he lilllltiplies altars, according to the goodness of his earth he makes good his jJl'llal's, Smooth (fabw) is their heart now the\' will suffer in their guilt. He will hreak their altars and destroy th('ir jJillars. Yes, now tllP',' will sa\', "\VI' have no /,ill.';': For Wl' did not fear \':lhwl'h -- (') and the 'hil/.!!.,' what coulel hI' do for us?" Spea king 15 words, s\v(':lring \':l1lit\', CO\Tnant makin~ ! judg!!ll'l1t grows like pois()11 \\"'I,d, Oil th" furrows of the fi,'ld For tIlt' calp6 of Hdh-awiI'JI tll(' inhahitants of S;\I));tri;1
From the days of Gibeah you, Isr;tel, have sinned, There already they stood (or: there they have remained). \ViIl not1 8 war overtake them in Gibeah? Upon the sons of badness I will come 49 (?) (proph, perf. ?) and chastise GO them. Peoples will be gathered against them when I chastise them 51 for their double iniquity,
*
(Iruit)
11" (Rethel) In the Land: The Vanih' of Constructions I
=,
II)
10
10
21
11
Ephraim was a trained calf, loving to thresh; And I laid a yokc 52 on its fair neck I made Ephraim pull Israel plows, (MT: Judah) Jacob harrows for himself, "Sow in righteousness, reap according to loving-kindness, Break fallow ground of knowledge 53 to seek Yahweh, Until he come and rain rightness on vou." You have plowed wickedness, ,,'ou will reap badness; (proph, perL)
*
12
13
Free translation. (Cf. Ez 3G 30, partly with Wolff.) Cf. S. Grill, TZ Hi (l~JGO), 134, following I\:onig, 19 Cf. LXX. Or follow Rudolph (d, J udg 631 for ~~ ,~~) ) 50 Or, "bind" ('ON a11(1 '0' form variants of onc stem in ,\ramaic, according' to G, R. Drivl,r ()p. cit 11,0; sec further Dei:isIcr, 81. for such in terchanging). hings are "bound:" 1's 14!'I ,. 51 Masoretic pointing reads "whcu they are chastised;" if this is original, the sentencc can be taken as Ilon-divinc spccch, 52 Insert ~!i ? 53 Read thus with LXX?
47
48
Chapter II: The Data in Translation
Chapte'r II: The Data in Translation
22
How can I hand you over, Ephraim, how can I deliver you up, Israel? How can I make you like Admah, how can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion becomes totally excited. 9 I will not execute the heat of my wrath, I will not wipe out Israel again. For I am God - and not man, the holy one in your midst, And I will not come in anger (?). 1 0 [After Yahweh t hey will go; like a lion he roars. For he will roar, and sons will come trembling from the west. 11 They will come like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria;-')(And I will make them dwell in their houses, says the Lord.]
You will eat tli<' fruit of falsehood. (proph. perL) 5 Since vou have trusted in your strellgth -\ il{ the multitude of your warriob, 11 \Var tumult will arise among your people. All vour fortifications will be destroyed, ~ as Shalmall 55 destroyed Beth-Arbd. In the da v of 1i'ar wOI11~n will be dashed with their children 56. (proph. perL) 58 15 Thus will he"7 do to you, 0 "house of God ," (proph. perL) \)('cause of the e;Jilness of your C7'il. At dawn will be utterly undone (proph. perL) the king of brael.
*
*
18. Israel, the Unmindful Child
\Vhen Isracl was a child I loved him, and from Egypt I called my SOli. The mon~ I called them, 59 the more they went away from Im· . To the Baals the\: sacrifice, . allel to the idols they raise smoke! I taught Ephraim to walk, I hdd them on mv arms 60 ; And thpv did not kllo~v th:tt I healed thel11. With th~' cord of a man r led them, with band,; of love, 61 And I !wcame to them as one who raises a child to his cheek and turns to him to ked him. (?) He will relurJl to the land of E{!,yjJt, and Assvria will be his king. For they haY(' refused to turn. The sw~rd will whirl in their cities, and consume th"ir h0rs 62 . U) It will devour - becaus\' of their counsels. My people is hent on turninr; away from me. Thev call upward, (I) hut (tolallv) no om' raises them.
111
*
*
Final Collection: The Overthrow of Sacred Traditions (Egypt, Assyria) Hl. The Falsehood of
12
*
3
C1. l~gar1ti(: dr/d. "rllk, power", as repeatedly S!l~~((·stC(l. '" Ilarper ,Jaims .\rahi, ami 1';,lmvrene paral"'ls, with"ut citin~ sources, I'erhap" :-;aJalll'lIl\l "I ~roah is intendc<[; or dlt] a ~1>;t1l11an,'s,-r
;).J.
;!, 60 I))
(I 1,":-': ('f \'l'!" .... jl Ill": \\'it!) \ l I~ 11ri\'c'( op tit
62 l
'f
\all:~ 1:\
---;IT
hl']()'v
Ii IIll,
.T acob's Descendents
With falsehood Ephraim has surrounded me, and with deceit the house of Israel. It63 constantly roams in its relation to God, (?) but it is fdithful toward the 'holy oncs 64 .' Ephraim herds the wincl, . ancl pursues the east wind all day long. [Lying and destruction it multiplies.]65 They make a covenant with Assyria and carry oil to Eg}'jJt 66.
*
Yahweh has a controversy with Israel- (MT: Judah) To visit on Jacob (ya'aqoh) his ways and to return him his deeds. "In the womb he cau{;ht the heel ('aq(fb) of his brother, as an adult (' on) he fought (sarli) with deity. He fought with the angel and prevailed, he wept and besonght him.
Read N~ii for" Judah" (with Sellin) ? The present MT may praise Judah. M ,\ ccordmg' ' . , " to T, H. Gaster, JTS 3K . (lfl37), Iii;), C'l.71'~ denotes "demons" in .\ra-
63
G5
If;1 f
1
2
*
,'~ TI". ,"'pre"ion is proverhial (Gen :\:! 12 I >til :!:! ,;) " (Jr, "I," with L:-\.X, as all imperf(>,·t, -,' ( l r ,,-'u\. \I'dh I.:-\. X, "hl)lI'" "f Ism,.1 ,-
*
*
*
*
23
66
m
Chapter II: Thc Data in Translation Chapter II: The Data in Tran,]ation
24
6
In Reth-Awa'1l (Bdh-'OJl), he found him ', and there he (~od) ~pok(' to him"" Y~lhw('h, (~od of ho.;t-.;, \';Ih\\'eh i,.; hi,.; naill" - : Be directed toward vour (~od, Gin: heed to IO\'ing~kindnl'~~ and judgment, and hope in your God continually." A Canaanite trader - he uses deceitful b:tlanc('~, he loves to oppress. 69 \! Ephraim says, "Ah, I h;\\,(' b('conw rich , I have lound wl'
*
*
*
*
*
I"
*
zo..\ 1:\
*
F~dl From Y,lIm"'l, the On1\' S:lvior
\\'11<'11 Ephraim spoke, thert' \\';)~ tr,ml)lillg, (') lw \\'a~ gre,lt in hr:1<'1 (') Btlt Ill' made hilll"df !!,uilty \\'lIh B~I,t1 "nd died.
I
"~l'" 1.:\:\
"(Tlw god) II.-Ih,·' ["'lI"l l)))n . '\ltil \IT l "_ ":lll,."d "c inkrpr.·! "'jlh \"'r~i"lh C~ 'T~~ ': 1l'"1,' 1lll'
I;~I
(
/)r.
\1 I );t!\(JfHl. ('t{aritl\.'·l (ebrt.'\\· I'llilt)ltl~(~' I ~II;,'I :-):! f l'Ot h 11 :,: til(> ('xpn·:;~;on ,1p(War~ t i l 111' ,I l'r,l\l'lllia] pa.rody.
"
I
I
:1
j
t
I "" \
\\]llhl
~/ ..... "
\
1<
,':' I
lilt
Iw. ))c·r !'n,pIH'1 "'):-:"'01, l:"";;-'" II IIIHII.;.,·, j'd l'Ill'J.,lll\,t'Jlltl,
!.l!IIl .... qll Hi ......
\11111
It·J.It,·1! i l ' d
I,ll I.!) 1rdt!llll/jl
"IT
II,
.jll
'I
t
Now they add to sin and make themselves molten images, Idols out of their silver, according to their skill -the work of the artisan, all of it! "Sacrifice 74 to them !" they say; (?) men ki"s calves. 3 Theretore they will be as a morning cloud, as the dew that goes early away, Like chaff blown from the threshing floor, like smoke out of the chimney. "1 am Yahweh, your God, from thc lan'd of Egypt: A God outside of me you do not know, and (there is) no SllZ,ior beside me. I kneu,75 vou in the wilderness, in tl{e land of heat - " o As they were fed 76, they beeaine full, they beC!ll/le full anclliftcd their hearts Therefore tl1\')' forgot me. 1 will be (' (f.'lzi) to them as a wild lion, like it leopard on the way, I will leap 77; I will encounter them as a bereaved she-bear, I will tear open their breasts. Then the clogs will eat them 78, the beasts of the field will rend them. 9 He (or: it) will wipe you out, Israel - (proph. perf.) for who will be your help79? 10 \Vhere ('reM) is now your k£ng, to save you, and your princes, to defend you 80 Of which you ha\'l' said, "give me a kz"ng and princes?" 11 I give yon a king in my anger, I take him in my wrath. (' reM; quotations; guilt?, death))
*
21. Sheol (No Life From the Womb) 1312 Ephraim's iniquity is bound up; his sin i~ stOH'd. 13 'The pangs of birth have corne for him but hc is an unwise son,
-----
Read thus with LXX) Or • "fe d" (with . LXX). repeated in 0. 76 This is the meaning, !lowe\'(,r onc may read in detail. 77· • Cf. ArabIC and Aramaic (since Smith). 78 Partly with LXX. Or: "I will devour them like a lion." 79 With LXX and 1's lIS 7. 80 Emended, as by others.
74
75
25
Chapter J [: The Data in Translation
Chapter II: The Data in Translation
26
For he (Iocs not appear in time Zlt the mouth of tht' womb 8 !.' "From sheol I will ransom them, from death I will redeem them: I will be ('a:hi) your plague, 0 Death 82 , I will be your sickness, 0 Shcol, compassi;m is hid from my eyes." Though hc flourish (pr) among the recds 83 The cast wind, Yahweh's, will come, arising out of the wilderness. His fountain will become dry, his spring will dry up. He will be plundered of St the supply of all desired (i. C., tultic i) items. Sa maria will suffer in her ,f!,U ilt, [or she has bccl} di~obcdil'llt to her god. By the sword they will fall Their sucklings will be dashed, their pregnant women rent open. (iniquity?; l'llh7.nh }'ri1fr God [d. 1210 13 4J?)
He will blossom like a lily and strike (?) his roots like a poplar 86 (Or: Lebanon-trees). His shoots will go forth, He will have majcsty like all olive and fragrance like Lebanon. They will return and Ii. "., again) dwell 87 in his shadow; they will (truly) live in the Garden 88 . (I) They will flourish like a vinc 89 , whose fame i~ like the wine of Lebanon (or: Helbon 90 ). 9 vv hat does Ephralm stl11 have to do with idols 91 ? (?) I will answer and regard him. (?) (proph. perf. ?) I am like a luxuriant tre\.?, from me your fruit (peri) is found. (?) 10 [Let him who is wise understand these things, let him who is discerning know them. For straight are tlw wavs of Yahwehthe righteous walk ~in them, but the transgressors stumhle in them.]
*
14
*
15
11
1
*
*
86
87
22. Turning
142
*
(;
Io.:J "
\ I)r
*
-=.inl1hr im;l.,!..:'l' in II hill!.!-' 'J!':~ i~ I h-;u-jy ,"rI1\'I,r],j;J! ' \\'IIl''''' ',;." illlpl\'illg' al,s"1\'" (~,.'lllJll :--llllll",1\ 'I, \\orden, \'1' 3 11~j3), ~!ll,
,,,,,I
('garili, l:!j'l t\):FT 1·1!--; til thr land Ill' Lt!.;(' III n'eds \'... hich play a r01t~ 11\ l<~\'~l\j;lll dl-";' !"ipti •• I) uf d"atil .tnd I't'!ltrth . 1:--,'(' I "\ t'\\l']":-;, J ~ES is :In;)~I~, l'-,:2f.1
If IJ.d, :L, x:I
\n- tl\(''-,,' rl'f'd~ an allll .... jllll
:->,
1'lfll\1
"':J
(IT
tlill"
t~:111"L\t(
I,
f nil·1i
llf
'1)nll~ ~tHl(1
OOW' (I,-f .•
t',
_~
II I,ill~:-; 11lJ ~
Read :-t.ti?;;J, alliterating with "Lebanon?" Read with LXX t:ll?i:. in assonance with "return."
Read 1?~. In old H~brew script, band d were similar. The Garden (of God) stands for a flourishing state in Ez 28!3 318f. (cf. "Lebanon" in 313). See also, below. 89 In its literal sense, n'1t> is applied especially to 119~. V.q may be secondary and can be read as a description of agricultural growth, reading "grain" earlier with MT and emending here. 90 So, Gressmann and others. (CL Ez 2j 18.) n With LXX. 88
Turn, Iqad, to YI/h,c'eh your God, for you kl\'e stumbled in vour iniquity. Take wit h Vall words and rcillrll to Yahwd\. Say to him, "Take away all our illli]uitv; acct'jlt (liS)' kin(ll\'[<" . And Wl' shall bring- 1\'00ds of praise. Assvria shall not sa \'t' liS, . upon horses we \\ill not ride. \Ve will no longer sa\', 'Our (~orl,' to the product of our It: I tId. For in thee the orph:l1l finds ml'IC\·." (genuine?) I will Il<'al tlll·ir [urI/iII'.!. a;,iI\, - Loving them out of mV own (l,'cisioll, for In\, ang,'r 1I:1S tllYlli'd frolll tJWlll, I will he as dew to Isr;,d --
27
1. The Size of Lnits an,! the Process of Transmission
Chapter Ill: The \V ord as Literature All literature is "word," but not every spoken or written word i~ literature. As already indicated in Chapter I, one may speak of "literaturc" when the word is intended to rise above the ordinary incidental communication to express reality in an ecstatic (i. e., "outstanding") manner, usually with the intent that such expression be' preserved and remembered. It has further been pointed out that such literature regularly adopts the form of poctr.", narrative, or brevity (or of more than one of these), especially when oral transmission i~ presupposed. The book of Hosea, by these standards, is literature. Its contenb fall easily into two classes, rhythmic utterances and narratives. Thl' category of brevit\, - or of the length of sayings or complexes makes itself felt as a problem within both of these classes. 1. THE SIZE OF L~[TS AND TilE PROCESS OF TRANSMISSION
In his methodologically self-conscious study of Has
21-3,
H. \\.
\V olffl expresses an opinion widespread among form-critics that the
first question to be raised concerns the demarcation of individual llnits 2 . It is very doubtful that such a priority is necessary. In fact, the pre'sent inquiry soft-pedaled this question in its earlier stage~, treating the book largd." as though it were an amorphous mas". Nevertheless, for the sake of cOl1n:nience, one may begin with thl" topic. TIll' ddcrmination of till' original units is especially difficult in Hosea. It is not cas\, to folio\\' thl' "intuition picture" or the "inner structun· ... which, according to \Ylminckd and Wolff, respectively:>, an' the cktl'rminanh for recognizing lI11its. There is even an absenl" of proplwtic formulas like "t h1l" "a \':, thc l.ord"- \vhich ha \l' ])l'('n rcganlr-d as useful aid" for dhl'l)\'l'ring di\·isions. First, ()/1,' may ask for t)lt' )owl'r limit of possible length. Ho\\ ,mall an' the: units that can be \llldl'l'stood independently, witholit J
hTll I:!
11~1.-):!·.-);l1.
(I".
lli·l
'11>)11 i-':' -;lmilarh. F IhlLt :tll'l':l!l,
:, ~
Pi" I)n>l,
II ('lInkd. 1))1- 1'l"l,pllc'{('Il, 1:117
\1('\\11\' k,·:
Il)ld~, il,·lt,,'·.rl' dl's ,\mos. l:I:.?G. 7. ~\ll,l Ill;
l'I"(II"w, \" alld '(I,ldlti()ll, t~l~li, :1,-111
II
\\
\\',,!ffop. \.:it.
8:3.
29
the context in which they now stand? The immediate answer to such a question is that the book of Hosea is full of very small fragments, which arc by no means necessarily or even strongly tied to what precedes or follows. Jerome already commented all this, in an oftquoted sentence, "Hosea is concise and speaketh, as it were, in detached sayings"4. The pronouncements imbedded in the narrati\'e of Hos 1 (especially the main statements in v. 2.4 [? J. () and \J) exhibit the length of a short unit-paragraph equivalent to a stanza to be discussed later. They further include what may be called one-word or one-phrase oracles, namely the names "Jezreel," "Not-pitied," and "Not-mypeople". These resemble similar pregnant words or phrases appearing elsewhere in prophetic literature; even the "sibilant and gutteral sounds" which R. B. Y. Scott has noted in embryonic oracles 5 are present. Next one may ask \\'hether there are indications that the small expressions are parts of larger ones. One working hypothesis that can be set up is that individual utterances began in a full manner, i. C., mentioning Israel by name rather than opening with an expressed or unexpressed "they" without antecedent. Another possibility lies in noting the repetition of words. Such repetitions may be due to two somewhat different causes. Either the collector of the oracles arranged these in such a manner that catchword connection would aid the memory, or the prophet himself repeated within an oracle a significant word he had just uttered. A major difficulty now lies in determining whether a repetition is original in the saying or secondary as part of the arrangement, if it is not simply accidental and to be ignored. Generally, one may postulate that a tight or rich connection indicates an originally intended continuity. A superficial, mechanical bridge probably reflects a later juxtaposition. Is one justified in assuming the existence of both types of conscious verbal associations? Actually, though the existence of external connections is perhaps the better known and the more widely discussed of the tw0 6 , it is precisely the phenomenon of stylistic repetiAs translateu by E. B. Pusey. The l\!inor J'rophds, I 1888. If,. , T. H. Robinson-Fpstschrift. I9[)1". Iii!). 6 Perhaps the first to have maul' use of this p:'ilhipk is E. T\6nig'. NKZ H (18!J8). 933 (on Second Isaiah). In Husea, this phenomenon has been discussed (not all'lays convincingly) by Gressmann, l'\yberg. Lindblom. \V(·iscr. \Volff, Ruuolph, Birkeiand (Norsk '1'1' 38 [U137], 30:.?). B. W. And('r~on (Interpretation 8 [1964]. 290-3031. and, most exten,;ivcly. Coot!. To be l'l'gankd as accidental arL'o L'. g., the repetition" of "ignominy." -17.10;. ant! "spirit." 412.1(1. 4
Chapter 111: The \Yard as Literature
I. The Size of Units and the Process of Transmission
tion which has been the more firmly established through a series 01 studies. Though not all analyses in ~ the field are equally convincing (some fail to go far enough), word-repetition has been found in Isaiah, ] eremiah, and other prophets, in the Pentateuch, in the Psalms and other writings of the Old Testament, as well as in both neighboring and unrelatedliteratures7 • Some of the repetitions noted arc probably either coincidental or secondary; but the existence of deliberate original reiterations can hardly be denied. Though in practice a distinction is hard to draw, the 'division of word-repetitions into the threl' aroups of acci(kntal t primary' and secondary associations cannot bl' b ' avoided. A differentiation among these groups is made especially difficult by the fact that ancient poets could employ mechanical associations already in the primary process of production. So A. Erman states for the Egyptian: "The (poet) is improvising, and accordingly any word which he has used in the last verse leads him on purely extraneous grounds to a new idea, which he immediately expresses s." 'Whatever the explanation for their occurrence may be, a difference between external and internal associational repetitions may bl' observed. An especially clear example of the situation is presented bv Hos 101-8. External mechanical connections arc evident at the b~ginning and end of the section by the appearance of the words "fruit" and "hill" in different senses from those which these same words bear in the adjacent passages. Internal organic repetition is strong with the reiteration of "fruit." "multitude," "goodness," "altars," "pillars," "king," "Awen," and "shame."
The hypothesis of a full beginning and the criterion of catchword association support each other in the outlining and separation of sections; for non-stylistic, secondary repetitions always have between them a break marked by a strong opening, It is true, in certain cases a full grammatical beginning occurs at some point other than between external conne~tors, .but such cases are not numerous and usually there are conSIderatIOns of content that militate against makintf a separation at these points; a full expression may occur not only a~ the beginning of a section. The resulting wholes exhibit a relatively homogeneous compositional structure, which would be violated by accepting divisions elsewhere. Each unit begins and ends in a characteristic manner. Openings consist of an address or call in the second person 9 , an announcement of a rib or day of judgmentlo, or a historical reference which usually presents a lamenting or especially an ironical description of Israel's fall ll . In most cases, the opening includes an accusation l2 . The closing not~ i~ always one of disaster, either as it has already happened or as It IS expected, or else of hope. Five oracles end in a general 'Nord of judgment; four of these climactic words announce a "visitation" or "returning" of Israel's evip3. In a few cases there is no significant verbal connection between ~djacent oracles. At such points, however, there is either a major shift I~ content between groups of oracles, to be called "cycles," or a transitron to a hopeful oracle which has been assigned its place without rega~d to catchwords, in order to end a collection on a positive note. PreCIse details are given in the translation, above. . The oracles of Hos 4-11 form one large collection, subdivided mto cycles. Cycle I - comprising 4!-\1 (10) 411-14 415-l(l and 51-7 deals ;;rith t~e c~~t. The c?nstituent sections are bound together by the term whorIng; one mIght even speak of arrangement by content rather than by catchword. Cycle II - which seems to comprise the gr?ups 58-10 5 11-7 7 7 8-16 8 1-7 8 8-10 - deals ,,'ith social and political eVIls; occasional cultic references had already been included in these oracles before they were joined to each other. The recurrent use of the Words "king" and "princes" is as much a matter of content as of catchword associations; but distinctly external connections between oracles are also apparent. Cycle III - with 811-13 and91-0 (composed of two separate oracles ?) - deals with the cult and includes the motif
30
7
D. 11. Miiller, Pic l'rophett'n in ihrer urspriingliLhen Form, 1 IS!Hi (H.. Smend COIll mented in TL 21 [IS!)!.]. 22•. that this phenomenon is "allbckannt," w-ell-known); Biblische Studic!1, f) \"ols. 1!)fI-lIUOS; Pas ]oh,wnes-E\"angclium, 1!)(lD; E. Kautzscll, Die 1'oes;(' und die poctis,ht'll Hi;,lln di'S .\]ten Testaments, /(1(12, -tt,; A. Concld min, Le Li\"rc d·lsale. 1!1I1;-,. 1'"i'IlH" II.: h Hihk, 1!J3'F; Le Livre ric .1 ,'r0mie, HJ3il; .1. Zie~ler, on Isaiah. BZ n (t~l:n)],)1 J~!j, \' Cassutu, La question,' della GeneS! lfl3~, :2/I'H. 3Ii:) (rekrrjll~ also to rq)('titi"n" dnS('llz\\"l·il-(l. 1lil' ", hrift ullcl ihr" \-ercleu( schung-, 1!1,\I" :211--:2:\t-: :!Ii:!- 2/;, (f"r th,' ['cnt"t"ll,'h), ] \[uikllLurl-(, CongresV"lum,' 1%:~ (SVT, (l. \(1:\ ]0:) ('i"it' "idel\), L. J. /.id'rei'h, .IQH. :-.is ~(; (lfJ:);,(:-.Ej, 2:,!I--:2"; -lI (I~I:,I;. :,7), 1J ~ 1;],--: II \1\ 2/ II!!;-,I,) , 181--1U:2; :\. Sam", 1'5 8!1, in: ,\ ;\Itmam), Biblical ,tntl (Ithl'1 Stulhes, IUI,:2, :2H --~Ii; :\.11. H.icltlerbus, TIll' !',sa]ms, uS J:\ (I!h,:l). -l:l ,./1>, I.. \lull"U S' hi,!;,'!. E,tlldi()~ de ],ol-tica Hebrr'" [!JI;;\ ;ll)!! ;\;3;-,. :\1;;\ n~1. II. I.ul",z,'j, 1",\ US!II~ ;tIl, .\g-\'ptcn, I!JI,:\, Furth,: :-;tudil'S, il)(']udin.l4 SOlnl' \\"C~rI.;...; in J h'hn'\\.
~
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So also 1 2 3 1. Exc"ptions: [) 8 7 8 ( ?) 8 8 fJ 7 ()). The four: 49 813991215. The fifth: j 10.
31
33
I. The Size of Units and the Process of Transmission
Chapter J I [: The \Voru as Literature
32
of a return to EgVpt; it shows some external repetitions within th.· CV cle . Cycle IV iJre~enb a series of historical reviews nameh' \)'10-17 ] 0 1-8 10 \)-1;) J] I-II. The mechanical connections between th., first three of these oracles by means of the words "fruit" and "hill" have already been discussed; the final one is verbally unconnected with what precedes. Thereafter probably a new collection begins!!. It includes tIlt' oracles of 12 Ct-lf. 1:3 [-11 and 1312-14 1, each of which contains at lea"t one lFlOtation from Cll1tic tradition in its center 15 . These three oracle, are attached to each other by catchwords. They are followed b\· a section of exhortation and hope (142-IJ), with pCThaps only an accidental repetition of a preceding word. The two verses 12 If. li~k t~" collection with earlier material, probably as a secondary edltonal development.
constructed to be transmitted without reference to other such groupings; though cycles determined by content may have been memorized independently, it must have been clear that they were each a part of a larger whole. Furthermore, cycle III is quite short and has a rather weak beginning. It has some connection with the end of cycle II (8 Iff.) and possibly with cycle IV, especially if the latter should once have opened with a form of what is now 111-7, with its reference to early Israelite history. It is likely that chs. 4-11 and 12-14 form two collections which do not presuppose each other. Each ends on a relatively hopeful note, making a satisfactory conclusion possible. Furthermore, they both begin with an oracle which contains a rib, a judicial process 20 . This fact could be a coincidence; but ch. 2 opens in the same way, and the rib theme introduces a number of collections outside of Hosea.
It is clear that tl,,' book "f Hose« cont«ins a much sharper structnre in content than has uSliatly hC'cn thonght. Se)]nc investigator!; h;1\'e described the book of HOSt", as planless!6. Some prn'ions attempts at finding an urder have been problemati, neither the sequence of aCdlsation, threat, and positive emphasis (Ewald and a fe", others!7) nor a gronping of ·11' -7 7 and 78-1015 as dealing respectively with morat and political decay (~. A, Smith, followed by some) is satisfying. Nevertheless, tll., series of historical reviews beginning with 910 has often been recognized, and, esp"· dally recently, a new start with f) 8 '8 . Nyberg (p,18) reports that the J::!amasa, :t typical Arabic anthulogy, is arranged according to certain themes; within the themah grouping" the associative principk holds. 110sea's book cvielt'ntly falls into the san", p"tt,'rn. In length. the book, or its Iarg'er part, corn'gponds ronghly to the standard Sanscrit falaka, which is, ompos,',1 thL'oreticall)', tJlOugh not literally, of one hundn·d short poetic units \\'ith the size of Hos"a's small paragraph, supposedly created \w
Thus 2\-ii 12 heads the first chapters of that book and indeed the book as a whole, while '!'.Ii G2 introduces the complex 01 l\Ii 6-7. Is 1 forms the opening of that book or specifically of a smaller complex within it; Jer 253! is part of the introduction (or perhaps end) of the collection of oracles against foreign nations, while Jer 29 probably lay early in the scroll containing Jeremiah's poetry and in any case comes soon after the account of Jeremiah's call. In prophetic literature, only Is 3!3 and Mal 35 have an explicit rib in some other position.
a single autllOr '9 .
The question can be raised whether the cycles within chs. 4-1 I ever formed independent dements of tradition. It is hard to see wh\' groups of oracles centered around a single topic should have been 3
" \In'''L!\' I. Eichhorn (EinJ.-itul1g' in d"s\It" T,·,t"mlnt, 11 [ 1803 , 225) regank-l ,lIS, 1~:i + 11 and 12 - I·f as tlnt'l' 1''' rlS of Hosea, H. Birkeland. cmphasizin" thL' pia, ,'nlt'11I of hop.. passages. f(lund in "dditiuTl a break after Hos Ii 3 (ZUlli 1\('1>r:;is, hen Traditions\\,'s,'''. 1!t:IH. lilll II"s 12 J-7, Ill\. 131. Iii H. II )6 E.I<, S .\lidlelet, :\orsk Teologi til l<ef"rmal'''l1'';JuI;Jia'et J!J17, 1l. " t" \:\\'a]d, IJie I'''''phdc'n ,l<-s .\Ill'nJ\undl'S, I 1~lj7~, lK7ff. Similarly, but alwa\..; d,,<,t:,,.,'il1," in di"iding' p"inl''. h"il : Il'ljl;, \\' '.;""a, k, DL'r I'rophet 110sca, 11',";" iI'"1 ''1'1'1'<)l'riall'I\' n'je' t,·d in 1'122, 111), JI 1'1'," I l'lIL'!l des \\'crbens Gott"
I:,
I,,,
The two parts of Hos 4-14 can easily have played somewhat different roles in tradition. Since the material of chs. 12-14 parodies cultic pronouncements, it could be used for ironic attack upon cult assertions, while chs. 4--11 have a more general application. The two parts, however, had a common history, as indicated by the fact that in both of them all references to Judah (except possibly one) are negative 21 . Those circles in the southern kingdom which preserved the tradition - perhaps northerners who had fled south -- sought to apply its critical thrust to the southern kingdom as welL In a decidedly contrasting manner, the tradition of Hos 1-3 is friendly to J udah 22 . That tradition must have passed through patriotic.ally minded circles in the south; among these it probably received its fmal form relatively late, perhaps not before the Babvlonian exile. Hos 1-3 consists of three complexes, each of whi~h has a complicated, evidently largely oral, history. Ch. 1, as will be argued below, combines two narrative strands, one of which includes at least two different interpretations of the name J ezreeL Two J udaistic additions 20 21
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C. Schedl, (;eschichte des Alten Tc'staments, IV 1(11;2, 1St Hos 415 55.10 12'1-1 6 -I. II 811 11) Jl 123. The obscure rden'nce in l~ 1 can be read positively; if so, the addition of I ~ If. (and the joining of chs. +-·-11 with ehs. 12-14) must have taken place after other Judcan references had entered. Has 1 7 2 2 3 5. Buss
3
Chapter Ill: The \Vord as Literature
34
I. The Size 01 Lnits ilnd the l'roccs.' of Transmission
-~
17 and 21-3 (in 2:J "children of Judah" precedes "children of Israel," indicating a southern origin) -- complete the section. A second complex begins in 2 ± with an extended passage in which Israel, or its land, is spoken of symbolically as a woman in the style of a legal process (rib) against an adulterous wife (2 -l-7. 10-12). Within this, two verses (v. 8f.) have been inserted which pick up earlier terms, but whose own terms are not repeated. The judicial passage is continued, either originally or secondarily. by a realistic threat against Israel (v. 13-15). Thereupon follows an announcement of discipline and renewal (v. 16-25). which can hardly represent an organic continnation of the declaration of legal process but fits in generally with its theme. This promise has been greatl:\' developed in the tradition, so that its original lines are difficult to determine; a number of deliberate verbal connections with earlier parts of the book arc apparent in the material. Ch. nrepresents an afterthought relating to one strand within ch. 1; it has itself been expanded. The three parts comprising chs. 1-3 evidently developed both independently and as a united whole, at differing stages. Hos 1-;1 was naturally placed to precede chs. 4ff., since the latter opens with the cycle centered on whoredom 23 . So far it has been taken for granted that a singIe author stands behind most of the traditions of the book; should this be a false assumption 24 , one must then speak of c1 tradition originating within related circles in the Northern Kingdom and continuing in varying wa.ys in Judah. While Hos 1~ ~l was sharply transformed in a long process of largely oral tradition, the remaining chapters appear to have been reduced to writing fairl" early, e\'('n if primarily as a guide to memory. Only thus can one explain the sllrvival of internal jaggedness within the 'individual sectinns and the relative lack of secondary growth. The pre~ence of catchword connectinl1~ does not necessarily antedate a written state, for such devices were used widely in the ordering of written collC'ctiol1~ at a time wh('11 these arrangements were still supporti\'L' in relation to a simllltaneOlls oral transmission 25 . \\'riting- (InJld 1ll' etllployed in the
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be noted that nfitten sp,'))s appear typically in the ncgati,,' form of curses 27 . In prophecy, the operation of written curses is emphasized repeatedly; indeed, the use of writing is mentioned primarily for words of woe, partly to give them added threatening power and partly to seal them for a later occasion sil~ce they are Ilot accepted by the hcarers 28 There was probably a tendency to put Ilegative pronouncements into written form, more readily than encouraging statements. Such a tendency helps to explain the survival of doom pr()phecies from pre-exilic times and specifically the relatively firm written tradition of Hosea's negative sayings, as in ehs. ol~14.
The presence of very small sense-units within the larger oracles is puzzling. H. W. Wolff has suggested that in most cases each ("kerygmatic") unit of tradition contains several small utterances ("rhetorical units") spoken at one time or at a series of related occasions, largely in back-and-forth discussion with the prophet's audience. This interpretation rests in part on the assumption that an individual utterance must be reasonably homogeneous in form, for instance in the manner in which Israel is addressed. Violent changes of grammatical forms, however, arc characteristic of prophetic style, as attested in nonIsraelite prophecies as welJ29, ancl have a content-determined rationale, as will be seen. While it has often been thought that ecstacy must produce short oracles, Lindblom's thesis that ecstatic experiences produce disconnected images and forms is more appropriate in many instanccs 3o . Gunkel noted that prophetic words are either short or fail into smaller utterances in \vhich the prophet turns hither and yon 31 , in other words, that no lengthy coherent exposition takes place. In Hosea's words, it is only the larger groups (called "oracles"), which have sufficient complexity to contain the interplay of accusation, threat, lament, and irony, and the combination "of different address styles, which comprise t"he essential structure of his prophecy. While it is possible that the originally spoken or written units were much simpler fragments (though that is dOll btful) , the present strllcNum ii ~3 Zech ;) 3 D(n 2!) J (If. ] I Chr 3421. The curses of ntn 27 1I1-211 were quite likely insnilll'd (d. v. '). \Vritten positive spells do oc','ur sonwtimcs elsen'here, in the I\ear East espcc'jally in later times (sec J. Irempel, Apoxysmata, 1$1r;1, 49f.); but in the SllT\ev of A. Derthokt, Die :\L1cht der Schrift in Gl,w!Jl'J\ und Aberglauben. 1D4!). they constitute a "ery small minoril\·. since prote/·ti,·c formulas are gencralh" turned negative}" ag-ainst ('\-il f(Jrn.'''' 28 Is 8 HI 30" ·1;;"; (; .Jer 2:"Jo B(; '(and 4,-, '): :,J ",,-,,; ·EI. 2"r Z'·/.h ;-);1 ,cn' neg-ati"" ill charadc'r. Is 81 and ItalJ:22 ,n,' llll,lc-ar in th,:ir I11<1.1"r tllrust; Jer 3[)~ is J'lIsiti\"l·. On ta],lets in the andent ",)rl,!. J. S,har!Jert. BilJli.
Chapter III: The \Vord as Literature
II. Poetry
ture represents the form in which the words were made available to the public. Most of the oracles reveal a remarkable internal unity despite their jagged style. In the translation (Chapter II), each oracle has been provided with a carefully worded heading designed to formulate its central point. Internal word repetitions help to develop most of them. The imagery of several oracles will be treated in greater detail at appropriate points below32 • In connection with the data that can best be gathered directly from the translation, a few explanatory words are in order. In some cases, there are signs of an internal development within units of tradition. Thus 4 HI was expanded by v. 10; 5 If. was probably joined somewhat secondarily with v. 3-7; 8 1-", perhaps with v. 5-7; while 109-15 and perhaps 511-77 contain three subdivisions. The parts are tied together by verbal connections that have a certain ring of artificiality; such transitions can in part be instances of poetic freedom to follow up a previous \yord. The combinations must have been made bdore the entire collection was formed, for otherwise one element of each oracle would have no verbal connections with what precedes or follows. Hos 11 1-7 may not originally have been followed by v. M., but this hopeful conclusion provided the place of the oracle in the collection 33 . In each case (except in 111-9), at least one of the parts fails to exhibit the proper form for the beginning or ending of an independent oracle, as analyzed earlier; in other words, the combinations were created -- in some cases perhaps already at the original stage of production -- to form genuine wholes out of somewhat divergent materials or thoughts. Several oracles (such as 910-17 123-15) appear to he in disorder regarding their internal sequence. Hos R 1-7 and 10 1->< refer both to royalty and to the cult, especiallv to the "calf." Several explanations for such a mixture are possible: (1) the units are complex wholes with no particular specialization; (2) Hosea had some reason to connect royalty with the calfimage3~; (:1) the "king" is an ironic rderences to the image itself. It i:-: hard to decide between these alt,·rnatiws. Imt the third possibility fits hest in ] 0 Hi. Special clifficlIlti,'s resilk in an analvsi,.; of the section [) 8-7 7 In the tl'xt ,b tran:'lllitted. its first part ('ontains rf'ferences to Jurlah;
these have been accepted as original by many commentators, as by Wellhausen and A. Alt 3fi • Several considerations, however, speak against that view. Israel is known to have trespassed the border of the south, since 58 expects a return blow by Judah within its own boundary. That Judah then invaded Israelite territory is not attested; if such an invasion did occur (presumably after the call of 5 8), that could not easily have been singled out as a special evil, since the Northern Kingdom itself had just committed a major transgression of this kind. Hos 5 8-10 is best taken as a single saying, with the point that Israel's action as a boundary thief will be punished. In Has 5 HIf., a reference to Judah is absent not only from V.11 but also from the crucial sentence of v. 13a~, in which it is said that Israel seeks help for its malady from Assyria; to retain the name Judah elsewhere in this section, one has to insert it here by textual emendation 36 . It is simpler to assume that in Has 58-64 the word Judah was substituted for Israel in several instances, as happened 1011 123. Judah is absent also from the rest of the section, which is centered as a whole around the theme that healing is made impossible by deep social sins. No major break in continuity occurs until after 77, for G7 provides a poor beginning and the material of 67-77 is based on a single catalog of evil.
36
32 SC't' tIll
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II. POETRY
. If the question \vhether the book of Hosea contains poetry or not IS to be answered in terms of feeling 37 , the answer must be in the affirmative. It is clear that the emotional tenor is high. Related to emotion is involvement, as distinguished from dispassionate discursive observation; it is a high degree of involvement which elicits a stronO' ~motion. There can be no doubt that Hosea exhibits a participatio~ III the life of the community as it faces disaster, specifically by the threat of God. Especially pronounced is his identification with the di~ine viewpoint, with God's violent opposition to Israel; but he also pOIgnantly expresses lament for the people. If there is anything that detracts from his poetry, it is the fact ~hat his emotion is not sufficiently restrained but too often empties Itself out uncontrolledly. The finest poetry probably is created when dammed-up feeling is allowed to discharge itself somewhat gradually 35
Kleine Sch1'iften, II 1953. 163-187.
36
That creates even more tedious repetition than Alt noted. Mowinckel seeks t,) case the parallels by a use in part of Joseph or Jacob; but the passage does not read badly with Israel as t~le .name. since Ephraim is twice mentioned alone (v. 11. 13). Cf. 1. A. RIchards, PnnClples of Literary Criticism, 1945. 273; Susanne Langer, Feeling and Form. 1953. 27; W. Kayser. Das sprachliche Kunstwerk. 1948, 274.
37
II
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37
Chapkr III: The \Yon] as Literature
38
39
sublime expression, as is possible under conditions of extreme concentration. But ";,mplus creati H' cnergy"38 is not held in reserve by Hosea, so that his ecstatic form is of a relatively undisciplined variet y 39,
III
Therl' \,,'as a close contll'I"tion lll'hl"l'I't1 prophecy and poetn' in tl1l' ancient ;\eal East and dse\l"hen', so that tl,e employment of lyrical forms ])\' a prophet was 1,,' IV> means external. The poet \\as \\'idelv believed to speak on the basis of inspiration'llI while prophe('\' could be brought about bv musil', as aHe,steel in I srad itself~l Even the snpernalural 1'0\\'1'1' attribukd to the prophc,til IH,rd ma,' lie compared to thl' magical implications o( a cardulk formulated poetic cOllstrul'lion, In short, though prophet and poet an' not alltomaticall\' identical, they do share an attitnc1c of rceepti"it\", erllotionality. and all L'l11phasis ull the ,,·ord itself as a pO\\Trful and cffccti\( phc!~omenon. Likl' other (orms 01 rccepti'.'ity, the\' exhibit nut inacti\'itv but al1 ullusually creati\'c ulithurstt2 .
The fact that Hosea is full of standardized phrases and forms, as ",ill be seen later, bv no means conflicts with his sense of inspiration. There is no reasOl{ why intensity of feeling should be able to find expression on h' in individualistic, no\'('1 formulations; if there i., a heavy loss of consciousness, deliberate variations are even pushed into the background. Among tIlt' dt'\'ic<'s ami objective marks of poetry, the most important is repetition. I~epetition serves the concentration of thought and the heighteninf~ of feding 43 . Examples of repetition can be' found in Hosea, for instance in th(' form of assonance, including alliteration. The boundary line between deliberate assonanu' and an accidental constellation of sounds is fluid, The more notable instances of sound repetitions in Hosea, with the exception of those to 1)(' nwntionc'd separately' below, are as follows: l'J'i i']¥ -1, 10; man\' \\'onb Iwginning with ~ ;-) IH.; the conjunction of
'9ry, () Ii; 1?7.? ~~1p~ D~/?, .~ho; ~ and:Jp
~i and n\ (j If.; '1;1~:;lO
iP.:I, 7 Ii; ;,?'~n ... :1l17 in 91i; ;'7~ ,~,~~ (?), lOG; i1~1i 1?1? i"l~l~, 1015; ,,:;>,~ "7l5 D~ (MT) and ~~ 'f, 114; four vmrds with ~ at . begi~ning of 11 8; words with ~ and p, '11 !) b; t')1.'] mi i1¥\ 12 2 : ~::lt¥~ '::l~~, 148 44 . l{ather frequently, word pairs with assonance are taken over from broader Israelitic style traditions; so 1"~'1 P'W17 (511)45; ~~¥ ... i1~~ (2G);. i1tfI0i1¢l'J PI3); .,~~~ ... ~:J~ '(43)'; i17l5 1,l;!~ (-1, 13)46; 0''11° ory''}~ (913)47. Rhyme appears rather elaborately in the quotation laid upon Israel's lips in 2 7 18 , as well as in a proverbial jingle (i'\ 7). Other cases of rhyme are a more or less accidental by-product of the repetition of identical endings or suffixes. as in 5 Sf. (with ending a) and rather frequently in 9 I-I) (v. 1 an, 3 ayirn, 4 and I) am, (j em, saw); more of these can be recognized if Hosea's Hebrew was accented on the ultima (-1, 7 am, 78 a). Sometimes, though not strikingly often, a single root appears twice in a single phrase 49 . The expression n':J~ :l~W ("restoration of fortune," 611) is a standard prophetic term. Allied to assonance are the frequent plays on words evident in the book. The names" Jacob" and" Israel" revcal a traditional relation to the. roots 'qb, "hold_ a heel," and srh, "struggle," in the (quoted?) saymg of Hos 12 HOD. "Ephraim" is joined with 1hi, "fruit" (91G 149), with the verb pr', "to be fruitful, flourish" (1315, an abnormal form of prh to accentuate the association), with the noun pcera:', "wild ass" (8 I)), and (consciously?) with rp', "to heal" (513 113). Folk 78;
44
;j~
III
Culk·r. Crcatl\"t' j{digioll:-' Litl·Lllllrt'. 1~,,)11, :.!. D. 11 La\\Tt'ilr"l', \\"ith "ilnilarh' ~11'at -':'I.'.\.lI,-t! it't'ling:. is a!:-;II :-\liid to hase fad ell tl l!('\-"]r'i"! di:-itiplill('(l art l!< I'. B!ackl1lllr, L;ttlg-lI;q~l' ;1'-. l ;(':-;tun.. , l~I;)~J ~,~8. 3(0). \ (;11ill;1.llllH\ l'ropht'c\" and l)i\ill;I'I
,) 1 b, 2,
and to the association of
lL?,
J
I.,\\\' :,:! Il~I;\ll. :\!Il.
T11!'
Ilt'll:']H!
\Pf):\\S;~\;It;I, :lSi'
J \'\piH't:-\. j ~ll.:l,
:-tl;7
ll! ~:t:'1 1!~:J 11 !\in'~':-::'~I:I ~~ ~I', 1'11..:,llth. Ii ~t(,'ln('r, "f 4:) ,\
("::l!,'!l \11·....:..
:\Ir-l/\l;l'
pn.jl;I),h
]'ll:II'dnh,
l'r"i'lk\l"
:;1..),
1'(\li,
anll
I:;··
:'11,
Ion; ].~("it'l
and, lllrth"1
;r;j I j)jl'
(llrj~;tli\IJo. \\1'\1 :,1
:l;':~
~:l"'< ,\\ith
it
fine c()lk'l'ti'~1
\\"I,·d(·rilIJllilJ~~ 111\ i:r!'!j ' iJ-111·1)r~li:-;('h('n, !!'l:;> tho llJlllll', 1.... l'i'p~'llillJ11 \\11.11 :-->,';111 111]1:,; 1Illl ;dfl,'\.ti\-{: :-;tructurl':-:
1,"'::\ II.
('i~p'.
:Jtf
with '::l~:. in
~171-n ,md 1:2 ~ (ji~ and
n3.
\Volff seeS assonances in
after ~~~), Adelitional exH, Lubsczyk op cit.. -!1 and
liW
ct. Dtn 28:13, as pointed out by P, Savdon (Bibliea 3G [1%.")J, :;!l4). For parallels to the last four examples, sec T. GAbor, Del' hebraische Urrhythmus. 1929, 5, G. 8, (He also adcls the pair, i1"P¥ ... t')~, 1311). Earlier, J, Ley, Dc allIteratione, ]8fl!), ;,-- 7. 47 Cf. Is 123 and Tel' Ii 2>? 45
46
Probably read ~J::l~!;I; but that (orm spoils a small rhnne in :2 11. Tn :2 ll" for that matter, a C('rtain rlwnw-cadc'nu' appl'ars in the \rurd~ ;'~,b:;l ... ;l'l¥~, 4" l-Io', 0) ..., doubled ," , Ii. Itl'cken_.8 4 1',IJ 11 ]11 {15 O'~, . , appears twil(' ·12; "fl, in 1015, dori, Ubl'1' I'aranomasil' in d"n Sl'lIlitisclH'1I Sprachen, ] !)I)~j, finds "s\'ntadi" ,011. nections bl't\H_'Cn t\,·:n O[ rnore ru()t-rL~Iatl.'d \\"ords" to be rc:lati\'ch: l'olllInon ttl Hebrew (\iii . 4S
71.:"
1 \llld('lll\l1:~ l·!l ,j: I
Ill"
I 11l'l" dh' ';Pl'.I' Illi. II"
11;1'1""
-":'11lIi1.111\
:'"",
I_
7.\ ~
::1\7, !'Llt',.
I:'-"h,·!
87
amples by 1. Casano\\icz, J iiI. I:; (18!liJ), 10;")-1(,7; Rudolph 21 f. are less than convincing,
.\
>\"oj,
'"
S. I\:aatz, \Vortspil'!. Assonanz und ;\otarikon bei Hosea, Jeschurun 11 (192-1). 424--437. suggests further cases of assonance among which the following arc probably the b:'st: 0~19 i\?,.f 18; 1~~ ~'l:\ii1, f)j 1; l;i/?izj j;;JtP. H) 5; 17W'1 Otl~"m. 10 13; 1~7~ 'W?, Til 11; l'i~izj t:JW~r, H I, Harper (cl"xii)' points to ~01l1;(is i;, 83b (0),
:3:1
i~j
Ill".!
;ll;,i
rJ1"I'.l
J
kr(];'j
Illl' :--:'pirit of 11l'brr'\\
50
Similarly alrl'aely in the these older tradi tions.
J
passages Cen :!:) 2t~ 3~
2\\;
no aCl'usation is in\',,!\'<:d i1l
r 40
41
Chapter III: The Word as Literature
II. Poetry
etymology had already explained Ephraim in the light of the root prk, "to be fruitful"51. The place-names of Gilead and Gilgal together receive an ironical allusion from the word gdllim, "stone heaps," which builds on associations already known 52 . An allusion to Beersheba is probably implied or included in Hos 415, in a manner similar to that of Amos 55 and 814. The name of Hosea's son "Jezreel" receives varied explanations and allusions (not all of them genuine)53. Though Hosea is not highly original in the creation of literary symbols, he is effective in their variation. Terms are sometimes repeated in adjacent phrases - in an ironical tone (10 1), with the implication that the punishment meets the crime 54 , or for comparison 55 , but also simply for the sake of crescendo 56 . Such reiteration can involve anything from the negative particle 57 to the full phrase "and he does not know it" (70). Stylistic and associational word-repetitions have already been discussed in a preceding section. The most important form of repetition is rhythmical parallelism, which in Hebrew ideally means the restatement of a thought in similar terms. Often, however, the second member ("stich"58 or "colon") of a couplet (or "period") runs parallel to the first neither positively nor negatively in content hut continues the flow of meaning. The phenomenon of such "structural parallelism"59 reflects a basic "law of duality60," of which ideational parallelism is merely one form. The application of duality can be expanded by doubling the basic couplet so that a four-cola unit is created. Such it quatrain employs, in effect, a combination of internal and external parallelism, i. e., within and between periods 61 .
The prominence of the four-part stanza in Hosea has been noted by Marti, Duhm, and others62 . Pfannmiiller and Mowinckel translated Hosea in such a way as to reflect regular four-line strophes, although with considerable emendation either through omission63 or restoration 64 . Other translators have noted this organization in individual verses, sometimes independently from previous studies 65 . Many, however, have completely ignored such a structure, probably largely since no rigid scheme can be carried through the text as it stands or when following natural sense-divisions. Probably the best approach is one that allows for free variation around the general pattern of duality or repetition. A major variation of the four-cola strophe can be seen in the three-member unit, which may often be regarded as an entity of which only one half is further subdivided into two parts. Two short cola are hardly strong enough to stand by themselves, but three or four yield together a satisfying whole. Thus most of Hosea's groupings consist of two periods, one of which contains two cola, while the length of the other is variable. (As printed in Chapter II, each long or short period begins at the left-hand margin.) The principle of duality works in such a way that, in Hosea at least, there are no tricola in which three full-sized members are equally parallel to each other to form a sense unit. In independent formations of tristiches, two of the members can be grouped together, with the third balancing the others 66 . Altogether about fifty stanzaic tricola can be found in Hosea. Almost thirty of these stand either next to each other or adjacent to another weak stanza (see below), as it were for mutual support. Most of the rest appear at the beginning or end of major (or sometimes minor) poetic divisions 67 .
51
52
53 54
55 56 57 5R
59
60 61
Gen 4152. The appearance of the word para, "calf," in 4w is not specifically related to Ephraim. Gen 4B 22. in the Joseph Llessing, probably involves a play with prh (MT). para, or para!' (E. Speiser, Genesis, 1%4, 3(8). Hos 1212. Gilead is associated with the word Ii/it in Cell 3146-52 (JE); Gilgal prob·· ahly derives its name from the presenc(' of a {'irck of stones (Josh 420) and is further interpreted in the light of the verb gil. "roll" (josh b "i. Hos 141. (inclllding assonance with" Israel") :.! 2.2". Hog 4 0 115 (using two somewhat different m,·:tlllllg.'; "f ~wj. a<J:ording to a stylisti, pattern noted by C. C. Torrey, The Second lsaiah. 1!12.'I. 1!J!!--202), Has .j 5f ( ?I 10 14 12 l3L HI G. Has 2 Iq. 2lf. 23f 3144.5 G4 7>; (Ephraim) K 11 !.!:' ~ 11Hos 34 .\ 1 11" With C;. H. Gray, The Forms of Hehrew l>oc:trv 1!II,·,. lIlste>ad of "hemistich." C; 'Yollng l.'lf1 11 5'->ll, n'lI' l'<>l!try of the Old Testament. 1!l4i. :.!Hf
F. E. Peiser, Hosea, 1914; P. Ruben, AJSL 51 (1934/35), 30--45; 52 (1935/3G), 34--42 (with a discussion of 1-10S 71-7). See also the translations bv Procksch and especially Bruno. 18 So, G. Pfannmtiller, Die Propheten, 1913. 64 So, Mowinckel (1944). His view is that lacunae developed through deterioration of papyri (ZAW 45 [1927J, 42). Mowinckel arranges almost all prophetic poetry, especially before the Exile, in four-cola groups. He has championed this form in a number of studies, from Norsk 1'1' 28 (1927), 1-31, to VT 5 (195;)), 26. B5 K. Elliger, ZAW 69 (1957), 151-160; Wolfi 139. 195f. 252. 2~l() The writer noted the form while searching for the smallest possible units. 61 The same observation also holds true for JIlO,t of the tricola identified by S. :\[0winckel, Real and Apparent Tricola in Hebrew Psalm Poetry, 1957, despite his analysis, even in the cases he specifically quotes . • 7 Hos 19 212f. 16 44. 9. 14 57.11 716 97 108.13 119 123.15 131 141. Exceptions arc 71.10 (genuine?) 85 ( ?) 913 (quatrain?) 11 3 (after a long stanza) 127 (a quotation) 136. The edge position was noted by Wolff 39. 174, and, for other B2
r 43
Chapter III: The \Yard as Literature
II. Poetry
Sometimes, three cola are balanced by a single line or by a weakly divided period to form a strophe. In two such cases, the three parallel cola are very short and are intimately parallel to each other (86 104). The rest exhibit standard degrees of parallelism within the three-cola group (2 7b. 10? 15 [) 1.:!. 15 71+ 105). Stanzas with five or six cola often include quotations, from proverbial material (4 1If. 87 H 15 U 1:!f.), from sacred traditions (101:2 1213f. 13 H. 14), or from the words of those addressed (214 12 Sf. Ll :!. 10). Sometimes a fifth colon appears \vhen one of the four basic elements is long enough to contain two phrases (2 21f. :31 HI 1212 and perhaps 4:2 114). Thus Hosea was free to expand the rhythmic strncture68 , occasionallv even to three periods in a group. In a number of c~lses, two stanzas can be combined to form a double strophe, which might be resolved into a long one with five o~' six cola and a short one with two or three (4 13b. 14 5 12f. H 5f. 10 7f. 11 : 13 7-(1). Furthermore, about fifteen quatrains 69 form only a loose sense unitv whose component periods are not specifically related to each othe~-, though rhythmically they belong together and their content forms a reasonable whole. There are in evidence, however, about seventy rather closely knit quatrains, including twenty whose reconstruction is not quite certain. It is not necessarv to assume that the author was conscious either of the quatrain as s'uch or of its deviations. The rhythm, including it,; syncopations, was part of his poetic inheritance, in which the pattern o'f duality, with many possibilities of development, prevailed. Unconsciously: Hosea followed the ad\'ice of a later classical writer that thl best rhetorical style uses a mixture of formed groups with looser collections of members 70 .
elusive form, to \\hich triads, in themscln:s relatively weak and unbalanced, add
42
Credit should go to ({oilert Lo\\'th for alrea,ly recognizing the basic pattem herewith presented. In his studv on lsaiah, he notes a stanza form containing four lines, or two distiches. I n addition, Ill' recognizes triplets, usually with two synonv illOllS tnenlbcrs, and stanza'") of fi\°C' liIH'~, \\"jtll all {'xira colon at the ntiddle or ~ll tIll' ('!llpl, Silnilarl~', C. C. Torrc~' at I'l'ptcd th(, quatrain as
I )111-: t;"
it
conl1110n but not ex
] !I:,:!
cx,lInpks an' explainahle a~ f(,III)\\'s' qWltations or allusions tlLI 11 If. lH ):): s(:('oll(lar~' 1l1;ttcrial i:-; pr{)halll~- in :2;;.10.15 !),~ an,! PI"1'II;\1):-; ill "21 1·1 j In ;ultliti('ll. t,,·o l:ola {'a"h in 71:~ and 1nt contain t\V() shorl '1'11,·
r!·1~1ilininv.
\H> l\r('~('nt ill Ii ,.11'
phr:l";'·,""
';!'Il(hl,·, -:-1
1;·1
7:jf.~
I:-li. K;!~.I
10·12 !~:H
',I
lr)~"I',,, ...... I:) 1:")J:;(I'1'Hll-1-1-1,
of tht' :--;trllctllrt·S 11Ilt' lJstt'd ;1:-- ~xcl'ption::-; fornl gOIH tjl1;\1 r:lill:--, l','l')"·...,!·lltillg dtl:'-jt, tu half oj tlH' l('xt ()f 111)~(;l 71 ISfli,dl 17i~l'l '\\ ":Ii: li!I:{:!, iii l~ l~:~lln, xi] \1\, \\'i1il \"ariatiolls in (lctai! I,vII.url'..., (Ill ,il" ~;Ilrt'd 1'lll'lr~' ,,( tit" I {(·1>rl·\\S, (,Ild 111' III :\\..;.\'Ilf. for Is l-l4:"2-:-
';'1)
I )1'J'Jklrill"';
variet\,i~.
ihe doubll'-period group indeed can be widely found in Old Testament poetry 73 and is prominent in a large part of Akkadian and Egypti;m litcrature 74 and elsewhere'5. In "'ear Eastern traditions. strophes thus bnilt up do not always represent rigid sense units, and variations appear frequently, Sanscrit poetry, however, developed a rigorous form of this basic pattern, namely in strongly isolated stanzas divided into two parts, each of which is composed of one or (usually) two short padas. A continuation of the old form is preserved in the Masoretic versification, which breaks each verse into two parts, one or both of which are usually again subdivided. In fact, in many cases the delineation of units as conceived here coincides with Masoretic verse divisions.
}Iembers of periods in Hosea's poetry stand regularly in ideational parallelism, with varying degrees of preciseness in correspondence. Complete parallelism, in which each element of one member can be matched with an clement in the other member 76 , occurs almost forty times. Incomplete, even if close, synonymous parallelism (with an unmatched element) occurs somewhat more than eighty times; about ten of these instances, however, are unbalanced only by a "therefore" or some other word not easily repeated, In content, parallelism can be stated either positively or negatively; but the only instances of the negative form are to be found in 2 ]8 94 ("their food will be for themselves; it will not come into the house of Yahweh") 121 (?) and in the wisdom addition 1410. In a good number of cases, however, the second colon does not simply restate the essential point of the first, but forms what may be called directional parallelism, in which one member builds on the other. The major types belonging to such a construction are as follows: forms expressing causality or ground, regularly introduced by'"?, "for" or "since" (2 (\ 46 H 17 14 1. 2) ; sequential relations, such as the following: "They came to Baal-Pear and dedicated themselves to Shame" (H 10); '" Op. cit. 178. 73 See the analysis and history of discussion by C. [';:raft. The Strophic Structure of Hebrew Poetrv, 1838. In addition, J. \V, Rothstein, Grundziige des hebraischen Rhythmus, 1 f)(18, G·.lff., and Hebraische l'ol'sie, 1 fll-l; J. Beg-rich, TR NF 4 (1932), 89; and many individual studies, including H. Gunkel, Die Psalmen, 192(j, 'I E. g., W. F. _\lbright, JPOS 2 (1922), 70; Falkenstein-Soden, 40f. 240-247. 270-273. 381£. 388; S. Mo\VinckeI, The Psalms ill Israel's Worship, II 1HG2, 191; S. Herrmann, Die prophetischell ! Ieiiserwartungen im ,\Iton Testament, 1%:), 2G, etc. 7>
f)l1 ~t\'lv, ~ 1~). \J{ht
76
Cf. C. Budd, Chinese Poems. HJ1:!, :!2 (though this discussion is one-sided). In SyriaC', ."'rabie, primitive, and modern poetry, the same group is a popular, though by no means an exclusive, form. For Bedouin poetry, J. Smart, JSS 11 (laGG). :!02 to 21G; 12 (1%7), 2-l:j-2G7. Gray op. cit. 59.
Chaptcr III: The Word as Literature
II. Poetry
contrast, for instance in comparing Yahweh's action to Israel's response (7 13b. 15 812 112); reciprocity, with analogous mutual relations (19b 24.25); circumstantial relations, such as, "If it should make some, strangers will swallow it" (87); consequence or response (417 10 2a. 12a. 13a); an object of thought or speech (72 1310 1-13). Without close ideational synonymy or directional organization there exists what may be called loose parallelism, wherein two related concepts are juxtapo~ed (so, 47 63a 7 2b 85 9 15b 103b 125 14 8. !J). This pattern, together \vith "directional parallelism," is often classed as "synthetic;" but this use of the term is different from that of R. Lowth, who included incomplete synonymous parallelism but expected a correspondence in construction in the two parts of the synthetic form 77 . In addition, many periods are divided into parts, one of which cannot grammatically stand by itself. Several typical constructions emerge. One part can be introduced by ("to"), designating an aim when related to a verb, or a reference point when attached to a noun; . '" ('" 111, " " W h en ") ; 1.'-I. . f ("as' '), k rna 'll1g a companson 0 f some sor t ; "t ("from") ; or l;!¥ ("because of," "on"). Temporal designations using the word "day" (59 75 99 109.14), direct objects (14.6 210), and subordinate characterizations (214 1011 14 8) also appear. Sometimes no clear internal division is at all apparent, except for a rhythmic caesura in a long clause (84 b 1015 b 1~ 15 [end] ). On the whole, such constructions may be considered a little-developed form of directional parallelIsm. \Vhen a period contains only such intraclausal parallelism as was discussed in the last paragraph, it may be considered to be weakly divided. A tristich or the conjunction of two weakly divided periods may be considered to form a weak stanza. Such stanzas as a rule stand at the beginning or end of a passage (4] and see above for triplets) or in pairs with two weakly formed quatrains (59f. 78f.) or two triplets (61f. 75f. SSf. 13 916f.) or one of each kind (411HSa GOf. 910 10111210L). Rows of three triplets occur three times (2 sf. 11 5-7 145-7). Synonymy between periods is looser than between cola on thl' average; no very neat patterns arc discernible. Relations between stanzas are even more tenuous, if present at all. Parallelism occurs also within cola, though not frequentlv (4 III 71clL To compare Hosea's poetry to that of other prophets would require a more thoroughgoing analysis than can here be attempted. The ratio of complete to incomplete para]]cli,,;m appears to approximate that found in Lamentations hy C, n. (;ra\' and in Amos by
L. Newman, while the phenomena of intraclausal relations bear similarity to those discussed by W. Popper in a study of Is 1-35 78 • Like parallelism, meter or rhythm is a form of repetition. K. Budde has pointed out that ancient poetry is characterized by the breaking of speech into small units 79 . The regularity of the recurrence of a break and, in some poetic traditions, of the recurrence of still smaller units called "feet" constitutes a repetitive feature. The concept of a foot, however, is probably not appropriate to Hebrew literature, unless one identifies it with a unit composed of a strong word or of a phrase including such a word. A single colon can contain from two to four, or exceptionally one or five, such units, without following a discernible rule 80 . Each unit naturally contains one relatively heavy accent; in this sense and in this sense only it is possible to speak of an accentual rhythm 8l •
44
7
77 Tn lin" with II,.. (,n·,·k "paralkl1slll of form" dis, llsS"d 1>1' F :-Iordcn, Die ,\ntik<' !\unstprosa I!l:\K, filii S,,' J.owth. Isaiah. 177Hz, xxi, 1RH,jllJ,, vJi
45
A strict emphasis on accents is misleading for se\'cral rcasons. To bcgin with, regularity of distances between acccnts (howevcr onc locates thcse) is no greatt'r in poetrv than in prose 82 , thongh meter should be a distinguishing feature of thE' former if it is at all rclevant. Sccondly. the number of accentual cmphascs in a single stich is highly irregular, at least in Hosca; it is thus hard to see what is gained by connting accents. Thirdly, it is still unclcar which syllables bore a major stress in ancicnt Hebrew 83 or morc spccifically in Hcbrew poetic language; the present Masoretic acccntuation, if pronounced with apprcciablc emphasis, is anything but euphonic, Fourthly, accent is not as phoncmically important an elemcnt in Hebrcw as one
Gray op, cit. (14; L. l'\ewman and \Vm. Poppcr. Studies in Biblical Parallelism, 1!H8-192B (University of California Publications, Semitic Philology, 1), 137-1G5, 440-455, 79 K. Budde. Geschichte der althcbriiischcn Litcratur, l!lOG, 2G. Earlicr, L Nordhcimer. A Critical Grammar of the lIebrew Language, II 1841, 32180 One unit only: 7 S 86aa 9 B all of them unccrtain in structurL', Fivc units: 211 (if lalicli is counted); ] 214 (prose i). 81 Fur older jcwish thcories of word or thought units, see j, Saalschiitz, Von dcr Form der behr;iisl'hcn Poesie. 182:), 1U5--1l3; E. Konig, Einkitung in das Alte Tcstament, 18!lR, 'Jifl. Similarly, Gray, E, Isaacs (,\jSL B:) [1!1l8!I~1], 41), A, Bruno (sincc 1H3il), T, H, T{obinson, S, Segert in part (Acta Orientalia 21 [1~J53], 481-542), H. Kosmala (VI' 14 [HJG4]. 425), 82 That E. Sievcrs found meter in Gcnesis and Samuel illustratcs the wcakness of his theury, which has also I'L'en critiLized uy colleagues in literature as ignoring tbe Semantic component in rhythm, 83 A different accent is attested bv Samaritan prununciation, often in Bahylonian punctuation, and perhaps hy some ancic'nt transcriptions and QUTIlran material, etc. Cf. R. Meyer. TL 77 (1 !jf)l)) , 722-721;; 1'. Eahle, The Cairo (;cniz
47
Chapter III: The \Vonl as Literature
II. Poetry
might expect for its employment in a metrical system 84 ; for instance, pausal and contextual forms of a given word call carrv the accent on different svJ1abks ,,"ithoul a change in meaning. It is indeed likely that Hebrew was prononneed withont considerable stress Oil any syllable but (at a later time') with a light touch on the enel of the word, as in French s,. It is possible, howc',"er, that at least in poetry a slronge,.. recessive accent (as in pausal forms) was employed; this would probably yield a more pleasing rhythm than doc's the l\[asoretic accentuationS". In other words, the accentual system developed by H. Ewald, E. Meier, ]. Ley. and E. Sievers on the basis of patterns in Germanic poetry 87 is no more adequate to represent Hebrew poetry than were syllabic analyses suggested by the Greco-Latin systems, which influenced subsequent Syriac and .\rabic versifications. The nature of ancient ;";ear Eastern rhythm (including that of Cgaritic) is still very obscure. although it is known that Indo-Iranian literature employed syllabic meters or morae. Early poetry, however, like much of modern production, usually does not employ numerically ordered rhythms. In the book of Hosea, no regular numerical pattern appears, whether based on accent. syllables, or morae'"'
drawn not merely to the content but to the presentation itself. (Formalists have appropriately spoken of the role of the self-valuable word in poetry 90,) Accordingly, in poetic speech, words are not passed over lightly, but they are each savored and, as it were, inspected for their own value. One aspect of such a word-consciousness is exhibited in violations of normal word order within a sentence, In Israelite poetry such violations are not strictly speaking a form of "license;" for, on the one hand, Hebrew lacks rigorous rules that could be broken and, on the other, Hebrew poetry rarely employs such devices as rhyme which might require a transposition for external reasons (as in Hos 87). The transpositions are, rather, effective means of high-lighting the expression itself; they are a part of that "organized violence"91 which constitutes poetry. In chs, 4-] 4 of Hosea, about half of all the sentences with enough words to make a transposition possible deviate from standard or ordinary word order 92 , The individual deviations arc not necessarily inappropriate in a prose context, for nonstandard forms may be used especially for the sake of emphasis, The presence, however, of a significantly large percentage of such forms lends a peculiar aura to the style, while individually the deviations, with their special character, keep up a hammering rhythm which hinders a fluid reading. Hos 1-3 exhibit a somewhat different style, Ch. 1 is almost entirely standard in word order, reflecting prose manner. Ch. 3 follows the same pattern, except for the emphatic temporal phrase "many days" (v. 3. ±). In ch. 2 only one-fourth of the sentences deviate from the norm, a pattern relatively low for poetic style; there is no significant difference between verses accepted as genuine in the present study and those not so accepted, The complex of Hos 1-3 probably passed through a lengthy phase of oral tradition, in which the material of ch. 2 ,,yas welded together into a relatively smooth unit. In any case - however the fact is to be explained --- Hos 2 exhibits a more
46
Probably more significant than the accent as such for Hebrew poetry is what Slavic Formalists have designated the "interverbal pause," the division between worcls 89 . These di.visions would naturallv group the material into units of words or phrases. The question tha:t can be asked is how pronounced these pauses are. Though it is true that one would not ordinarily take a breath between words in the middle of a colon, it is also clear that poetic material must be read more deliberately than prose and that individual words stand out in almost staccato fashion, while prose sentences read as a flowing whole. Now it is a characteristic of poetic discourse that words, as words, are more important than the~' are in ordinary speech, that attention is "' E. g .. I{. \\'cllck and .\. \\'arn'lI. The Theor\" of Literature. ]!15G (Harvest Book). Uil ", l'ltima accent ,,"as explained 11\' F I 'ul'lorili". I'b,.,- den riickwcichcnden .\ceent lS!J{, tilif., as <~rising frOlll lat k (d' tl\CTlltlial l'nlpha"i~ In (·ontext. On light acccntllCltion in mOilern llebre\\': \ Id .. b,bn. \11;\\·.! CJ~ II!'!:)), c)41 Fluetuatiom; in lH';l\,ill('SS (If stress ar(' postulated b~' .\ \lllr1111H"II, \latcrials fur a Xon-\Iasnrcti, II<-l>r,·,," (;r;l1n11lar III: .\ (;r;1111111ar of th, :'"milrilitJl lJiillett of I !r-hrc\\'. 1 1!)I'l. :t!l (;lrg'llil1g' ;tho frlr (llH'llultilll;ltt' :-,tn's:-:. -l~ll ~f, ~ill1i;arl~', ~a;lJ-.;( lJillz oJ>
":"'(' \\ (·"hi>. F
l\()ni,~. ])j,.
", Tl1('
h('~l
111('d:-'.1In·
(lllhtJ])dli1
lit
:!ll(i. Cf
C
:1111\
1)1'
I~JlI~
llHII"(\.('
Illa\"
\()\n'l..:.
(.r
,I :Illintin'/ 1"''''
1]-': d I II)~I' !I;lI,lll{ (' i;!
llftl'!'ll]1 l~I'i"
~i"
\'
!')'i
11
Th(· I~()f)k of Jl1dg'es, 1!':)():?
j.-j;i
8').
11;';
Il\.' pro\"ltkd ],\" t1l! ~. Ih-jllgllll)
pr'll111lh jillll'i) li\·1){l1])('!-i/t·d f.lf l-I:t:-,~i(-;\!
,",'I
HI1JTw\'
\ ('riti,'ism "f :"'''(''ms of 1I<-1,rt\\ \I'tl(' !l(}l'sic' dt's aU"il Tt·:~tal'lC'nt:--;. j!l(17, 1!
~I
1<11
i
.! 1)1.
111,1)!"1'\\-' \)\'
,",{·Il'- :'l'd \
IiI,
I
!!lI i ;,. 1;[>. 78
(i\Jn1jll.~
l~LJ.~
(If
/7\, witn
l~t·r.~~1r~;-';~('T iliHl
1')'';('''; ill!l
1·\'itl"ll\I\·
i \..'
"kttl'fS,"
L;~·
!I\)
hallle-,
rigid
tLl
:--)11'..
11
SI']ll'ma,
,",'I(~lld;lrd Ill' ,l\'.'r.i'-~'· ;"·-1:111
1:'11"111.di....;111
l~f~l:)
:::!
11~1
\,,,",,1".
"1"1/1
,
,·I~;l(I\'ll)('l1t
l,d
t;~~...:
Ibid. 157, Ibid. lS~J (from R. ] akobson). Irregularities help to create "frustrated anticipatiun" (J akobson); ibid. 184. "" Standard worc! order for \"erbal sentences: verb-subjett-any other material. For l'(lminal sentences: subject first. The following words arc ignored: (]) particles such as I;? 1;?-~~, 1~? C~, 1~. "Itt, :1).0, negatives. intcrrogati",'s; (~) certain temporal ad,"erbs. especiCllly :1~~ and l~ (Brockelmann op. cit. § 1~1 k). The combinatie,n of or ~ with a suffix can rl'i(ularl)' follow the ",'rb imnwdiatelv (;";yiJerg. ZD"I'; 8:2 rl!J:38]. 3:27£.). ,\':c'urding to P . .lotion, C;mmmaire ell' I'Hl'brell hiblique, ,:117. § look. ,"erbal sentl'nn's \\'ithout conjundion (in,.Jndillg have as normal pro,,· order: snbj('Ct-"objcd; if St). this rnle is IlltJrc ofte'll "iniat",! thall not in lIosc·". with the resnlt that statist;,:s uf dC"jCltion tn !H' pres<:ntt't! below are not affeeted IllClteri;-t!Iy.
90 91
7
I)
Chapter I [I: The \Vord as Literature
]1. Poetry
coherent style than do chs. 4~14, as has already been observed by other investigators 93 ; one of them (Y. Kaufmann) has concluded partly on that account that Has 1~3 stems from another author. The percentage of word order deviations in chs. 4--14 easily matches and perhaps surpasses that of typical poetic style; yet it does not equal the extreme violation of normal order to be observed in proverbial literature. In the latter, nonstandard order is the rule rather than the exception, perhaps because of the compactness of the sayings. A more precise analysis must await the development of a thoroughgoing analysis of the relation of style to word order, which has not so far been attempted, though a look at randomly chosen material seems to indicate its possible usdulness 94 . It is conceivable that word transpositions ~ together with the operation of other factors ~ create a minor break within a colon, perhaps at the point at \vhich the abnormal order becomes especially apparent. Such an intracolon break seems particularly characteristic of proverbial literature. Caesuras arc marked in at least one late Mesopotamian text 95 , so that it is tempting to look for internal breaks elsewhere. Yet most of Old Testament poetry such as that of Hosea reads evenly through a stich without any special grouping of units within it. :\Iasoretic accentuation, indeed, did not develop its very detailed marking of subdivisions below the middle of the verse until post-Talmudic times and then most likely under the influence of outside systems 96 . The law of duality probably did not originally apply' to a level bela\\' that of the colon, which in most Hebrew poetry is too short for a pronounCl'd break, for convenient intonational phrases are generally at least the equi\'alent of two feet in length 97 . As
a matter of fact, an excessive operation of duality is wearying, so that one can welcome a different pattern within the colon. Beside word order, other syntactical peculiarities can be pointed out which set off poetic speech from prose, if not inherently then at least by the frequency with which they are used 98 . To examine these would require a full-scale treatment which cannot be attempted here. It is, however, clear that poetry moves in an expressive world of its own; few of the phrases to be found in Hosea could easily be mistaken for prose even if presented individually without parallelism, though this fact is due largely to lexical properties, i. e.. to the choice of words and symbols. On the borderline between poetry and prose lie the words of Yahweh appearing within the narratives of chs. 1 and 3. Though they can be treated as poetry, their tone runs on a high even level with virtually equal emphasis on each stressed item and with little internal division. Such a monotony of intonation creates an effect of solemnity. In Hos 3, G. Fahrer has found "Kurzverse," i. e., a series of coia without parallelism99 ; the chapter docs indeed contain an elevated form of speech, embodying a proclamation. The two major forms of providing emphasis and expressing emotionality in Hebrew are repetition (with several varieties) and changes in word order. These have been discussed. In addition, a heightening of feeling can be brought about by other means, such as the use of figurative expressions lOo (including both metaphors and similes IOI ), drastic concreteness l02 , and questions l03 or commands l04 , all of which are illustrated in Hosea. Furthermore, poetry is usually
48
93
C. Toy. JBL 3:.' (lm:l). /~); I\aufmanll op. cit ;-H;!J (above, p. 34).
9~
C. c\thrc<:ht, ZA \\' 7 (1807). :.'{.'i :.':.'~; I) (188S), :.'~!)-:.'i;:), disCllSSCS the word order of nominal sentences ill prOSt· an,1 prophetic b,j(,ks; PS8.1ms, Job, Lamentations, pft)\'erbs Ztlld Song of SI))01l10n art" ('x(!lHkd. Though not all d~ta arc complett', (,Ill: lllight judge that, \\-ithin the Ilooks ~li:i'l1S:--t'd, dt'viatiuIlS frorn the nlain rult a1l10unt to ~;) ]Jer cent; an itnperf('. t ,IH'\'1.;. indil,tt<,s tlltlt. within these data, prOSt' pa....:.sagl·s c.,hi1>it ab(lllt :!() pl'r c('nt and pUI..'ti(" -->(" tifl1b al)(lut :)0 per cent deviatioll lIPt a \'tTY lal'g"c (lifh·ren(I'. :\()Tllinal -';('lllt'lll t' stylt· l)f l/(ls -1--.,-,] 4 i~J close to ~1{1
l\Olbt:lndanI. Til" order (lr \'('rl>;tI s"n1t'l\' '" \t Itith also are the mol', frcqlH'n1 t\·pl' .... j:-: prol>a1>1\· IHUl'!t IllOf{' :-;ignijjl'a,n1 hut !l(l large-scale data al" axai!aldl' f(lT" it J n J 10:-> ·l ·-1 f, d('~,.. (arati\·v \'l'rLal ~/'llt"lll c:-:. an: ,~)r) per cent nUll-
98
100
pCI' '{'Ill
st;1I1lLud, ln1jll'lilti\'(.'s
(/;') H.
:l1l(1 <jut":,tions an' llalundh'
\It,j,,~ll(T, lIlt.' 11;d)~·kl(li:-;l·h-a.~~~Tisdl('J,itt'ratul'
1!1:.'~'. I;';t; illrtltl'r,
1/6.\ Id'·!'''!'II .. i''','lslt :\IlIsi" !l';"
l;. 111»)-';[
il!'/
dl'l",
Jl,d filld
I
;!C""IlJ',C"; ill
Jl\l!\-~'
l~':lj.
r,'g'llLtr :l:>
E. \\l'Il\t'1" . 11'1;, (II :;!)';.
111(" ~l'\!.'1l
""\
lL:Lk ll)l"l'r
I
iJl)lllHJl1
(:-';yri~1 III
\ 1·1'-)1.:..1II1-.;t, 1~1:{:!. :!P:!)
II"-'.I,;t...,, ,Ll. 1\'I,il,tll\" Ill; Illlk 1'11[" "1\ (lr ~1'\'1'1l ,\llill~Jt.:-; (ig-lloring half ..
;l!tllfJugh t.llt,\, appt',l!'
III
1])('1('r:--: \\1111 eight or
l"l?lZl
Hos 25. g. 12 4lfi. 19 511.12-15 / 4-g. 111. 89 9 g-IO. 16 101. 4. 7. 11-13 111-4.101. 133.7.15 14 f.-g. On their emotionality, Eichhorn (Jp. cit. IIf G, as earlier Longinus, On the Sublime. XV.
Meta.phors: 5 If. 7 ~ 8 ~ 10 1. 11 111. Similes: 4 133. 7f. 14 6-9 (i. e., with +,). 10~ E. g., 413914 108 14 I. '
S~Tiill
S\'I];lllll'~
111
and i1f~~ ;'1.?':~ (10 7). A compound subj"ct is followed by a singular verb in 92 108 (8.S rarely. according to Gesenius-Kautzsch. § 125d). TR NF 20 (195:.'), 2G4f. (following E. Balla).
101
103 ill
\'owels and final :\Iasoretic HI\\C)S not supported by the consonantal text), making a consistent fourfold accentuation (as seen by some) and especially the presence of an ordered cae,ura unlikely. On intonational phrases, see J. Mukarovsky, Archives ncerlandaises de phonctique experimentalc 8--9 (1933), If)3-·l(i5. . Two :xtreme cases of grammatical peculiarities (related to word order) are:
;,~?o/ ~n¥1~ (G g)
99
1110n·
104
49
III [) g, 14
74.
c1. 111. !) 10
114. 10f.
Hos 85 95 109 118 1310 14 \1. The ironical 41(; b may be a question. (H. ~Iitchell in: Harper-Festschrift. I l!lUS, 11.'}·-129, notes the omission ot the interrogative particle in Hebrew irony.) Hos 12.4. G. 9 23f. 41. 10.15.17 51.8 81 !lJ 1012 127 142f. Buss
4
T Chapl.l'f 111: Tit" \VurL! as Literature'
ill. Narrative
marked by peculiarities in \"ocabulary, which raise its level out of the ordinary -- including archaisms. rare words (especially for purposes of parallelisms)105, terms used in a figurati\"(~ sense 106 , and generalh' more elaborate phraseologv 107 , In these features, howe\"cr. there arises the problem of the boundary between poetic devices and prophetic tradition. Since poetry and prophecy are closely allied, an absolute division cannot be made, As will be seen below, many of the figures used by the prophet arc neither chosen arbitrarily nor new to him. Little can thus be said on the basis of images used in the writing either about the personal background of the author or about his richness of imagination; for instance, not the roaring of lions in the Jordan jungle, but a standardized stylization of enemy descriptions is responsi hle for references to a lion. A few of the images may be original, but Hosea's main contribution is in the free use he makes of existing figures. Poetic concreteness (though often associated with vagueness in specific predictive content) and the use of questions and commands have long been recognized as features of prophetic speech 108 . The poetic organization of Hebre\y pl'l!phecy has close parallels in other seer traditions. Ancient Delphic oracle style has been described as including vagueness, pictorial images (especially with animal metaphors), and sharp assonance and alliteration deriwd from primiti\'e poetry, together with sarcasm, brusque address, and sharp fluctuations in grammar 109 , H. :\1. and~. I":. Chad\\'ick describe Polynesian political prophecy as "highly elusi\"e. rhetorical, and exclamatory," with rapid changes in content and address form and dominated by "metaphors and veiled sayings Ilo ." The absence of the phra,;e "tlllh Cn b(· origin;tP12. The formula evidently belongs to the manner of th,' letter or oral message, orcli-· narilv gin'Jl in prose.
Ill. ;\;Al{RATlVE
50
10e
E. ". 11.;;"1;\ ("ftCll). 1J'TPPV and 11'1~V E. g .. ~W~ \ ~., ;l" I~~. 10)'. .
!t'7
L
IOj
i-(.,
,:, 1\
C'ti~~ '~if': (~")
(>\llIk,,! III. 1/.~.llJllidt, lJi'·l.:r"l.kli 1""1'11l"111
1°' E ".
lK:l 1'-"1, !\III,ddi ,~.'I .~!I 1110 Il. Park< .111.1 I' \\'''1'111''11. II", Jkll'll;. (Ira, I" 110 Tbl.' l;l'()\\til ]11
l-;(llLl
11~
Cf
"11
1"1
'.!I,
'It
(,j
I.J1Yl"oltur(·
,.....
> \\};Il \11.)
I~'
If I l~q!1 :~tjlf
I'll;'" IIi,:, !\\\'~:z (H':!i
II 1:1:"j, "'II
i, 111!lj\i!!"illl!
,,,. al"l, t!:r' \hy~siniall GaiLl'
51
Beside poctry, the book of Hosea contains narrative material. \Vithin prophetic stories, a distinction has been made between "biog~aphical" an:l "au.tobiographical" narrativell:l. These two types dIffer overt~y 111 theIr usc of the third or first person, respectivelv, when refcrnng to the prophet ~ provided that the grammatical for;n is employed in an ordinary manner. The essential difference between the t\~·o types, however, is provided by their situation and function. That. IS, .a ~tory car: have i~s Sitz im Leben either in the circle of prophetic cl1sClples or 111 the bfe of the prophet himself. If ~ story has a place in the life of the prophet, it is part of that prophet s hterature or word. Prophetic first-person narration covers a rathe: .large fic:ld. One type of such narrative is that of the report of a V1SlOn, \\'h.1Ch usually includes an audition. Another, a very common, type IS the report of a simple audition, especiallv with a command to bring a certain message. Still another is the acc~unt of a sYrr:bolic act, which usually includes the report of an audition and may m some cases describe a merely visionary' experience. Unfortunately, prophetic autobiographical narrative has not yet been studied systematically with a survey of its entire field rather than of single aspects. Thes? ~utobi?graphies focus on the prophetic message or, in part. on the dinne ongin of that message. Unlike Nehemiah's memoirs, they do not glorify an activity but stand in the service of the divine word. Glorifi::ation of.a prophet (or of the god whom he serves) belongs to the functlOn of thIrd-person accounts, the prophetic "legends", Fo.r an anal~7sis ~f the sto.ries in Hosea l14 , it is wise to begin with eh. 3, smce the sltuatlOn here IS relativcly clear. This chapter is a pro~hetic "ser~~n':' namely one leading to a message of hope after conSIderable clIsClplme. vVhat matters fundamentally is not the situation of the prophet, but rather the relation of Yahweh to Israel. As a narrative of the prophet's life, ch. :3 leaves much to be d.esired. Some important elements of story-telling are lacking, espeClally all descriptions of time and place l15 . These elements are generallv absent ~rom prophetic narrative sermons, whether they report vision;, symbolIc acts, or simple conversations between Yahweh and the
113 S o ' 11" . 114 > espell;, \', 1. H,l{"jllllsun (lAW 42 [1~)24J> 211:1 -:Z21, and L'lsewlwre). For survey~ (If 0pmlOll". S"C Harper 208-21fi; H. H. r{owlev. \!cn of God. 1!"H.i:l, 115 66-97; G. Fohrer,. Die symbolischcll Handlungen der Proph;tell. 1~53, E. Robertson c0nslllers three' elements to be "necessary" fur ;, story: "something must be done. bv someone. and in some place" - S0 that there is activit\· witl~ a "setting" (TIll' Old Testaml>nt Problcm, 1(j!',(). 210), .
T
111. Narrative
Chapter 11 I: The ,Vord as Literature
52
53
prophet, while they are usually present in prophetic "legends1l6.~' The absence of setting is, of course, only apparent, since the real settlllg of the sermon stories is in Israel's life with God. Ch. ;3 begins with the words, "Anel the Lord said to me," a phrase which often occurs in first-person narratiw's to introduce a word of Yahweh to the prophet. There is no reason to believe that such words were literally private; in most cases they arc obviously told by Yahweh with the intent that others hear of this conversation. This seems to be the purpose in Hos ;3. God's words in Hos ;3 1 begin with a command. Such an opening is very common in prophetic oracles, even in such as do not present a narrative sermon. From :\1ari prophecy to Jeremiah and still later, a saying often begins with the report of a command by God to the prophet before the message itself is given ll7 ; that this report was presented in public speech seems to be clearly implied in several places in which a prophetic word is quoted 1l8 . Commands are particularly important in symbolic narratives, just as questions are prominent in
literally can hardly be determined on a stylistic basis, just as it is difficult to decide on that basis whether genuine visions lie behind visionary accounts. Actually, to the prophet's mind, there may not have been a sharp distinction between ecstatic experience and what the modern mind considers reality. Moreover, first-person form is often used in Near Eastern fictional narratives121 . In the last analysis, it does not matter greatly whether the actions were executed literally or not. Human life operates essentially on the level of symbolic stru~ hIres. Its physical, "literal," aspects are, in themselves, incidental and, if seen in isolation, subhuman. Thus, leaving the question open, one can say, with R. G. Moulton, that there is here, whether "in reality or in a parable," an "emblem prophecy122." Yet, a few critical observations may be made, which at least raise doubts about a literal interpretation. The fact that the author reports his own symbolic action speaks against its actuality rather than for it. For self-reported actions commonly exhibit a tendency toward nonhistoricity, as in the following cases.
VlSlOns.
Altogcthl'r unhistoriul! are the events of J er 2515-2" (action with a cup of wrath); Ez ~ B-B.3 (the cating of a scroll); Zech 11 4-17 (a shepherd allegory), Elements of significant foresight are involved in Is H 1-4 (the birth of a male child): Jer 32,,-15 (thl' coming of an uncle); cll. 3:) (the action of thc Rechabites); Ez 2415-24 (the wife's death): though none of these events are very unusual and some are easihanticipated. thl' prophet stresses in his presentation miraculous or unobservable aspects 1e 3. The actuality of the rest of the self-reported events is debated, hut one may make the following' tentative judgments. J er 131-11 (a waist-cloth in the Euphrates), if genuine, is a visionary experience; Jer 1H 1-12 (a potter's vessel) is an interpreted e,'ent, analogous to the class involving foresight; the muteness of Ez 32Gf. and 33211. was either voluTltary (thus not literal) or else interpreted in hindsight; a possible original form of the very difficult Ez 121-1" (an exile's flight) remains as a potentially straightforward symbolic action, but its problem cannot hcre be discussed, In summary, it i, clear that several of the self-reports arc completely unhistorical, while others involve tendentious elements lU
Next, in Hos :3, the interpretation of the action commanded is given in the form of a comparison of the deed with Yahweh's relationships to Israel. Thereupon follows a report of the prophet's action, couched in mysterious terms which supply a high degree of concreteness characteristic also of other reports of symbolic actions. The action includes a word to the woman bought by the prophet, which apparently points to an enforced seclusion for the time being. The ending of the chapter is related to the future situation of the peoplE'. The chapter plainh' contains allegorical motifs, which arc generally strong in sermonic narratives, especially in visions and symbolic reports 1l9 . The connection of such stories with dreams, which also bear sym bolic character, has been noted rqH'atedly120. In how far the svmlx;!ic acts which are reported autobiographically were carried out J Hi
Tlll' prt'SL'rlCT of ti me refercncTs in bit 'g'ftl ph It''''' thc.if
11l>st'lllC
in first-person narrati\'(':-)
ILlS
()f
11l'1."!1
.J l'f('lniah - - l"ontrasting \\'itll I1lltt'd
:!II 117
C;",
,L!rl"lIh', j Ibm,l, \las Erk"llnen (;pt!,',
]wi ,kll C;,
by H SLhn1idt op. cit.
ilriltpr<Jplll'tL,tl, 1fj~,1, 11'1
Fpr j"f<'miah, 1l \\'ildlH'rf(er, .Iah\\'(,\\'()rt 11lld pr<Jpll"jj-;, II,' l{c,k, If'L~, -lflff, S,'[' J.indLIlll)l, ]li,,' lItnarisd),' (,attung' (kr pf< 'pllt,tI" I,,'n J.iU'l
Illr \Lni JCI ,1;, < J.:,
lUI (;ullkt']
Jell
in
121
G, Misch, .\ History of .\utobiography in ,\ntiquitv, 1 1 fir)!, 4Gff,
122 The l.iterarv Study of the DibiC', 18~'~J, B7:J. :)(J3, ~-l ~I
I i Is :!\ (; (;('g't'nwart,
1\1J1111r dt'f
Sdli, hI'" 1"",jL"";!,, I~IIII, :1:',\ \1 Sisl,'l, \1( ,\\ ,I ~,'" 11~1:\I\ I:!:' I !l:,,\ 12:,
For a truly concrete and public action, no account of one's deed is necessary, at least in its original situation; only the report of a divine command, which is a non-public event, needs to accompany the action in order to legitimize and interpret it.
l!tlll), ,•.q. l,rt'SSlll;\nn
DiC' iilteste l~l'~ 121
1:';,
van dcn Born, Proktie IITcttenlaacl, Ifl-l7, classes t]Jese and some other, as natural events sV111bolicalh' explainl'd. Similarly" (~roL'nI11an, Bet Karatkr van de sylllbplischc llancleling'cn dcr Ollll, testamentisdle Profeten, 19-1~. Even verbal expressions not only marvelous acts - can oe "signs" in Israel (s<:(' C. l~eller, Das \Vort UTIl. ID-lG, 3G),
123.\,
-\'11
F )':ilrli, I, ,1<:1
'1I
,\lte'n Testament,
T rII. Narrative
Chapter Ill: Th,' Wonl as Literature
54
I{eporh of the e'eeclltiull of the ad i(ln arc thlls appropri"tl'1v absent fro~n the following prophetic words: Jer 1/i )-\. (denial of fami!\' life, mourlllng, and festIVIties):
l~J 1-2a. 10-11 (breaking of a flasl{). which is probably a first-person sermon later incorp"rated into a third-person kgcud highhghting' the prophet's subse'lu,'nt suffering; Jer:27 21L I,arfling;t ~'oke) and:.!H II (Hanani,,],'s action), two flrst-persoll words incorpurated intu a leg",,,1 which cdc!'raleS J',remi,th's encounter wllh Hanamah: J er 4',38-1:\ (slunes in Tah pcuhes). sun'i ving as a thircl-person report; Ez ·11 ~ 1'; . (thc symbolization of a siege); :) (actions with hair); I:.! I'; -20 (trembling); :.! L 1 H 2 (slghmg) ; 1;-22 (a swurd); n-2" (marking of crossroads); :241-!± la pot with meat); :r; 15~2S (t"'I) sticks); Zech I; \)-13 (a crowning' cerenhlllv·). [n all of these cases, the prophetIC word l acconlpanies an at least potentially observable action which is not itself narrated ".,. Is :20 a.r, (nal{cd v"alking) forms ;t special case in that it allude's to a (literal ?) threeF'ar at'tion already accomplished. Stridly third-person 3.('(·oI1l1h; rio include reports :tbout the symbolic action -
as in 1 l'::ings lD
l\l'~l ~~
11
and j[ J\ing,; 1314-19 -
hut not witl:in the words qnote,l from the prophcl himself.
Though the situation is far from perfectly clear, one ~a\" conclude that the presence of an autobiographical report of the actIOn engenders suspicion rather than confidence, In tl.l~ case of Hos :3, ?ne can argl:e that the marital relationship is suff1clently non-pubhc, so that It needs to be narrated. But that consideration shows only that an actual execution is a possibility, not that it is necessary or even likeh' on the basis of the self-report. The presC'nce of concrete details, especially in v. 2: is no argument for actuality, for that phenomenon can be evaluated ,,?th at l~ast. ~qual justice as a deliberate stylistic clevice 126 or as makln¥ a slgmflcant point. In the context of the narrative, the purchase pnce undersc?res a permanent relationship -- even if as with a "kept" \'ioman - Sll1ce the price is too high for a temporary liaison 127 ; its point. appears to be the incisiveness of the divine activity. The woman here IS not a harlot, but C'vidC'ntly one sol,l because of unfaithfulness to her husband. r ho\\"('Vt'f. that EZl~kid'~ syrnboli ' actiong were actual1~· rried ou t. The non-svmholic ("'c'nts of Ez ,'1---11, in['luding l'elatiah's deatll in 11 H, lllo,t lik,,!v' constitllt,' a visionary "'epl·r,,'n,·e.\uol'lling to \\. Ir\\·in ('1'11[· 1'1'01>1['11] III Ezcki;'r, l~tt:l) and H ClIthrii'.lr, !-:zeki..l :?1, Z.\\\' 71 (Hili:2). :?KII. F.zI.ki!.]'~; dc:-\criptirl11s of s~'nlho1i(' action wen' 1)1'iginally in tn-lef poetic {onn; did tl,,'v' ac,Omp"'1\' som,' gestures) Fohrcr (l':ze,l\i[·I. 1'';,,-,. ;1111 thinks tbat Ez"l,i,1
The purchase form is not a regular marriage contract but is that of an acquisition of a concubine or slave woman, which yielded the man greater power 128 , Ch. 1 of Hosea is more complicated in structure. Certain features of a legend or report are present; but others arc absent, and contrar\! indications can be seen. -' "Biographical" character appears most obviously in the use of the third person for Hosea 129 . There is no evidence, however, of the usual interest of a legend in the person of a hero, who in prophetic stories ordinarily appears as an able prognosticator or determiner of the future 130 , as a miracle workerl~H, or as a sufferer 132 , with an ultimate emphasis on divine action through or in him. On the other hand, "autobiographical," or sermonic, features are present. To begin with, the structure of Hos 1 is very similar to that of the autobiographical Is 81-4, which may be called a namingsermon. They share the following items: God gives a command, a woman "conceives and bears" a child, and God "says: Call its name ... , for ... ;" an effort is made in both to provide for realism. Even assuming that the chapter is a report by someone other than the prophet, it is likely that Hosea presented one or more naming-sermons, either in an oral or a written form, which then became the basis of the report as it has survived. In other words, some first-person message form undoubtedly lies behind the present text. A sermonic feature of Hos 1 appears in the fact that the story contains both accusation (v. 2) and threat, which are to some extent pointed toward each other. The three threatening names with their
128
l·!~l It is far fnJtll certain. (';1
at ka~t ""j;trl,·t\" til l"'dorm lh,' a<'lions of ,h ·1. "hik Inl'in speak,.; of "palltl)· nlllllt''''' :--./}q~I,\\l1at i'h(jrn~ctly. ;-;iOl,'(' that word inrll' ,Ill·....; :-:ilt'nt action Tn l'itlH'r ,a';"
)=.;7
SO, P,
129
130
~"
131 ].
.\ I\l·~!}i.·r, HH :-)~ (l~~:2B'I, :~(,lJ r "
\1:1"11 :';(l
Ilr{)~tltllfl':--
l;dlrh\lCh 1'0, .\}lld.::!· lIIld Chrisl.'llftlTlI
~('nl!1()r;lr~' ,d I ,,\, 1111 i,
hil!' 11)1
I, '.1
'j
M. Schorr. Urkunden des altbabylonischen Zivil- und Prozel3rechts, 1~J13. 4. points out the purchase form, which lacks a provision for a divorce. in the acquisition of a concubine in Babylonia; for purchase of a slave woman in Ug-arit. cf. A. Rainey, Orientalia 34 (19G5). IH. Has 32 thus docs not support a vicw of Hebrew marria~e as a purchase (rejected also by M. Burrows, The Basis of Israelite Marriage, 1938, 138). Sirnil3.rly. l\:raeling-. That Hosea himself used the third person, as has been supposecl by Gressmann, Guthe, A. Allwohn (Die Ehe des Prophetc-n Hosea, 192G, 14f.), and Fahrer (Studien zu l' alttestamentlichen Prophetic, 1 :)G7. ] 04) is theoretic all y possible, but not lil<e]y, as the discussion will show. Cf. ]. ~Icinh()ld, Die ]esajaerzJhltlngc,n, ]esaja 3(; -.3!j, 1898; O. PIOgt'r, Die 1'1'0phctengeschichten ekr S3.mucl- uud j'::iJnigsbiicher, 1!)37, :)3. Hempd, Worte del' l'ropheten, 1949. G:,_·GS. 81. Miracles are a legitimating
tl"'1r Ilt"rel! .. hara, tn is impaired. Z('\h ti i" al';Il pr,'l
11h'n11I»)1 rd \\lt 11 ('<-;<-;!:-:'
L~:)
55
:'~ l~H)I)', -;K,
\\0111;111) ;IH' di:-;tillgui:..;}wd
1!II, 1. 11111
al..,o
kll
dll
l
;1'111
\\'(!rld (ll. f-JC'rtt'r,
\Llni',lL~\', o\\'ll/.'rship,
ill \:-;1;\.111
(:\
('(lll!SUJ),
'l.Il<\
~\ I-Iist()r~
132
sign of charismatic leaders in Shamanism. Islam and "messianic" groups, as well as in olcler times. I)n Yahweh as ultimate author, G. Quell in; nudolf-Festschrift, 1961, 2GG. See Am 7 Has H 8 Mi 37; O. Steck, Israel und clas gc\\'altsame Gcschick del' Propheten, 19(;7. 243-:250; etc.
Ill. Narrative
Chapter lIT: The \Yord as Literature
56
explanations can bp understood, if Iwcessary, by themselves without standing in the narrative context; even the accusation can be conceived of as standing alone. Yet in the present context the accusation of harlotry provides the background for the threats, especially for those aiven in the names "Not-pitied" and "Not-my-people 133 ." It is indeed b . likely that the chapter contains an extended message in which marnage and children are combined, and not simply four separate announcen1Cnts 134 . The most independent clement in the story is the name J ezreel. It has no direct relationship to the reproach of v. 2, but rather carries an accusation in itself. It is much more enigmatic than the other two names and is surrounded by a circle of different explanations. It is likely that the chapter combines two traditions. One concerns the naming of a son ]czreel. This name is ambiguous; like the names of Isaiah's two sons, it can be interpreted either positively or negatively as hope or judgment for the people. Though awkward, it can be used, perhaps only on occasion, as the actual call-name of a boy, partly because of its potentially positive meaning. When questionecl about the name, the prophet can tell a naming-sermon which would bring his interpretation. The other tradition revolves around the second and third children, together with a reference to their harlotrous mother. I n this part of the storv, the names are unambiguously negative and hardly the actual call-names of two children. The supposition that the last t~vo names formed originally a unit independent of the first name is strengthened by the stylistic anomaly that the process of weaning is mentioned only between these two children. The two traditions differ in point. "Jez~cel" is directed toward the life of politics; the mother and the other t\vo children indict religious harlot ry 135. The name Dihlaim ma\, hc!ong tn the second story, indicating harlotry in some form 1 :16 , TIl\' name "Gomer" (hetter, "Gamar") can belong'to either one; it is probahlv ,t simple personal name 137 . The second storv doc" not state that tht' childn'll \\'cre Hosea's. It is likely. thou"h not'certain that it intend" to sa\' that the \voman remained a M . I
prostitute1 38 . Certainly this is the literal meaning, since harlotry rather than adultery is described. But reconstruction is made difficult by the fact that Hos 1, as it now stands, is a secondary structure. If the story is not literally true, the somewhat curious mixture of prostitution and adultery in the accusations of chs. 1~3 forms an inessential problem. If one seeks a biographical reconstruction, one may accept ] ezred as a real son of Hosea, born of Gomer or perhaps of a woman whose name is not preserved; his name received more than one interpretation. The rest is most easily, though not with certainty, seen as an ecstatic naming-sermon (or sermons), in the same style as an ordinary, historical one 139 . No one would have been misled about the character of ]ezreel's mother; for Israelites were polygamous. Asiatic shamans, indeed, commonly spoke about a celestial or underworld marriage paralleling their earthly one 140 . The two naming-sermons of ch. 1 were combined at some time by a hand other than that of the prophet, who himself would have smoothed out the narrative more coherently. It is probably at this point that a change from the first person to the third person took place. Such a change of persons is comparable to a similar process in some other cases in which a prophetic word has become incorporated into an expanded account by a prophetic disciple. A final observation can be made. Hos ;_11 begins with the words, "And the Lord said to me again l4l ," thus implying a previous narrative. The phenomenon of a second command with a second act occurs also in other symbolic stories. In each case, the second scene constitutes a contrast to the earlier one, specifically the reversal of a preceding 138
•
la:l ":\()t-1l1~"P('()plt-" can ilh lude all aCl-us;ui()n, it~ f()f!l' hl~n', h\)\\"cvcr, sccn1S tl) 1)( 139
til'( br;lti\"l' and thus tllfc'at('ninl( ]a.t .\g;\ill~t
1""
""rl1fl
~l
I) (; \L,,' (11)1. :,;, "1!1:·~1;~. :!~!I\ p"ints Ill' a r
111;1\ (,I.d
."(J\\' ')
tl",\ til" ";1nl(' .I,·zrecl ("God
SOI\''':'
\'(-1 til dC"';lgnate sw II ;\-.:
Ilild (If I",d \\'fluld spud tilt.' pqint (If till' HI l':,,,,q,fc', lJlllt,,,;,,; Il')~l"t OJl!T hl'ld a
frl)!iI \\\11'
I:Uj "'['\\!).ll;
11111
:--."1
h
11!
ldllT
!, III
\'it'\\
140
n'l'oil,·<1
,1l";1''';'' t1l
ILIIIl~'
(\\
1;:iIJI1lg',tl'tllt'[
1,\\\' ;-):) [JH}:-)', (.\\ 141
1'11.1\>1\)11
1:17,\-': c.n '---;llll,llil:111 "',,lr'lId
~,
Dill
i:--; appl'llprLt1(, for a pn)~lltlli" I lilitl
1\/ \.: J.' 1 I ~ l'lli";'i
(f
.1:\( . .11
171;
(;''It!!)l1
I ~;lri111
'!1'\.1\ll)!)k
l!H;;"').
3Hn:
S, {lnd
57
It is not clear whether Bab\'lonian marriages with hierodu!cs were consummated or how often their offspring \\'as destroyed; cf. C. II. § 144 (partly against (~. Drin'r and ]. Miles, Babylonian Laws, I 1%:!, 3CI;f. 371If.). Ee\'ersing the theory of Tushingham (j);ES 12 [1\Ji'J3], 1[)7). the storr mar intellll that the children were Hosea's legally, though not actually. Thus Hos 12 can stand as it is (against Rudolph 47). The father's naming would ex,'cute an adoption (Driver and Miles 01'. cit. 333; H. Hoffner, ]NES :27 [19Ii8], :201); but d. bdow, 1'1'. 88, 111. An alternative explanation might in\'ol\'e relationships with three women; perhaps these were not all to be consullunated, so that Hosea's sexuality may ha\'e rested in vicarious phantasy more than in execution, l'\'ell then. Also a proleptic interpretation of J 2 is pussi1.Jle, un the basis uf pn'phctk style alol1L'. M. Eliade, Shamanism, 19G4, 7;)--81. ·Ut (\\ith litcraturl'). On spiritnal journe\'s (unreal events) of seers in Asia (inclnding :If,'sopotamia ?), Europe, and Afric", 'C'" N. 1\:. Chadwick, Puetry and l'rupl1l'cy, 1~14:!, !.iO-lllli \Vhen the term "T;~ carries the meaning of "again." it fullows the verb to whkh it belongs (as in 1 Ii): so, rightl,', R. Gordis, Bee\ :2ii (1(1.,4), 2!! Preceding the verb it means "still," "besick,," etc.
1 58
Chapter III: The \Yord as Literature
outlook142. The first person pronoun in 3 Iff. shows t?at the original author of this section still had a\'ailable to him the first-person fo:m of the story concerning the marriage with a harlot. That probably mdicates a relatively carly date, though this fact does not pr~ve a co~ mon authorship with the first; a disciple may b~ responsIble for It. Later moclifications of the story arc likely, Its baSIC pattern, ho~vever, fits closelv the inner structure of the relatively hopefully onented portions ~f Hosea, cspeciall~r in ch. 2. . ,'. '. While historical detatls may be uncertam, the Sy mbolJc .~tructUI.t of the narratives, with the interest to which they are Ol:lented, I~ relatively clear. They express the same content as the poe~lc ?racles, but in a different mode. In their dramatic nature, t~e stones mv?h:c the person of the prophet, ('\'en if only in imagi~atlOn, so ~~lat It I~ possible to speak with Abraha:n .Hesche! of ~ sy~path! of thl prophet with God113 , though thIS IS hardly their major pomt. 142 Ts 85 Jer 133 (the contrast is explained in v. lor.) Zech 1115 (where a contrast
1-< is intended).
to an earlier gootl-slll'pherd figure Cv .. IU
The Prophets 55. 307-323.
Chapter IV: The \YIord as Communication I. l);TRODUCTIO:,\
Prophetic word, unlike possibly some other literature, functions as a word from one person to another l . It is not merely a means to give expression to joy or sorrow on a certain occasion but seeks to establish a bridge between the originator ancl the recipient, that is, to communicate. Accordingly, prophetic utterances, including Hosea's, can begin with such calls as "Hear the word of Yahweh" or "Hear this" (Has 41 [) 1), just as a royal messenger begins his speech with "Hear the words of the Great King"2. H. W. Wolff has argued that doubled or tripled formulations of this phrase moved from early songs and wisdom to law instruction and from there to prophecy3; such a reconstruction appears to be too artificial and certainly more than can be proved. The usages listed, however, do represent several notable specializations of the opening-formula. The phrase appears in Hos 4 1 and 51, introducing a legal procedure. As a mantic formula, a two-fold call occurs already in Num 2318; in prophecy the call appears as a rule in non-divine speech. Now it is true that in the book of Hosea the use of the second person is very limited, so that it has been repeatedly supposed that many of the oracles were not spoken in public 4 • Such a supposition may' 1
For analyses of presentational types. sec N. Frye, AIl;ltomy of Criticism, 1957, "\'. Kayser op. cit. B3;,)-3-t8 (aboze, p. 37). Is 31; 13. J. Lindblom points out that "Hear this" is a typil'al opening for public speedws (Hpsea G\J. with reference to an earlier stucl)' of his in the Buhl-Fesbchrift. 2-tG-:?~)O;
2
1 !)2~)). 3
Pp. 8:2. 12:?f., with uscflllIistings of occurrences. Ih role' in wisdom had been noticecl b\· Gunkel (GlInkeI---Begrich il!)IJ).
4
Lindblom (HB) will accept only 91-n as spoken in jlnLlic. Sellin recognizes 24JI. 5 1-7 9 1-f, - ancl perhaps also 5 ,~-(; f, I-t ~,n - as public oral words, otherwis" assuming all immediate writing or perhaps a sj',';dIe,ilisch('n Propheten. 1H:.n, lUI, regarding 110, ~J JO-l-t 1 as Illonologu('s (,f rdkc·tiun. togdhcr with -t 11,]\1 :? 1"'~:' 8 4-Jll, Lippi Ul. for H0sea frum ~) 10 pn). and \\'cis,·r (3). Wolff thinks of l'ri\ate instrudioll in the eir' Ie' of disciplcs as the plaL:e of most utterances after fj 10. ,11-\ n
1 I
Chapter I V: The \\'onl as Communication
60
indeed be correct; nevertheless, it is clear that the words were put into a form in which they were designed to become known, for tlw book of Hosea is hardly a diary which happened to be discovered contrary to the intention of the prophet, To some students, Hosea's messages have appeared stylistically as "monologues 5 ." Yet the third-person style should not keep one from recognizing the true intent of the words. Style is a precarious basis on which to rest reconstructions of the precise physical circumstances of an individual saying, since it indicates only the functional place of the word. The use of the second person docs not prove an actual face-to-face encounter, nor does the usc of the third person deny it. The style of Hosea's words reflects a situation deeper than the physical setting, namely a confrontation of Israel by God, i. e., by the ultimate reality on which its life depends. Thus the message transcends a mere communication betwecn prophet and audience.
A. Threats
First, attention may be paid to the speaker, the source of the \vord. Like most prophets, Hosea uses the divine "I", presenting God as speaking in the first person. On occasion, however, God is mentioned in the third persall; in these passages presumably the prophet is the speak CT. :\Iany statements, or cvrn groups of such, do not rder to Goel at all, so that it is hard to tell whether God or the prophet is thought to be the source. In these, the determination of the speaker can perhaps -- but not with certainh' -- br made through an attempt to feel oneself into the words anel tn judge whether thr\' emanate from Yahweh or from a human being, .\n ell-mrnt of 'empathy has played a role in the dcn'lopIlll'nt of the anah'sis that is to follow, but the discussion of the problem will naturally emphasize more observable data upon which a clear decision must I1I'cc'ssarily be based. TIll' most important que"tion confronting the student is whether then· is a eli ffen'nct' in content lH't \\'tTn di \'llll' words ancl prophetic wont,;, that is to sav, whether the chan!!.c· in "tvle is significant ill l1ll'aning or not, Accordingly, a useful proo'dnrl' is to mark the saying" for grammatical style, for subject matter, anI] lor fecling - in linl' with <;11nk('I's emphasis on form, content, ,l,llrl mood -- and to notl' {l,rnill,
t
'11H'
ph('t~'ll,
Z.\\\' 7:) -.:.t \'11-.1
I.
l~(l"'. :"....... I
1~1I;1
i
"I)' (1l1
lll1;.,lIkt ....
:{,"II"
;l.~;lill
lsr'lvl,
1,"'~(1. ,-1\
1:-;~"". 11:,
1·:.I;,dl:l
l'rqpIH·t,", of
lsra,·iltls, Ill' 111,<1 Jlidis' I,,· C;,'s, Iii, ill,
IlllS('d,:-; \\'dd:--.
IlLlIH"
JJHll1()l()~\j(':-:'
SI1l1jliJrJ~'
Ill" 11()"';"il
. In threatening statements it is striking that words in which the dIvine" I" is prominent are far less specific than other words in the d.escription of the evil that is to come. Divine words are full of figurat~ve speech and generalized terms, many of which will appear below (1~ Chapter V) as technical expressions. Divine words also tend to be hIghly threatening in emotion. Figurat£ve speech is central in Has 2; Yahweh addresses Israel personified as a woman, threatening to strip her naked or to bar her ways (25.8.12). Later on, Yahweh declares himself to be a lion, leopard, or she-bear coming to rend and devour Israel (014 137f.). Or he can speak of himself as a "moth" and as "rottenness" (:J 12). He threatens to t~row a ~let. (7 e) and to be himself a "fetter" (5 :l). . A threatemng emutzon IS expressed by the words for wrath which m Ho:sea invariably appear on Yahweh's lips. ".My wrath" is 'poured out (D 10 13 Il), God says; "my anger is hot against them" (85 6), To put It another way, God "hates" Israel, and "will not love them again" 15). ~ndecd, ~e will not forgive or have mercy (Ill 26). No ~ompassIOn eXIsts for hIS enemies (1314 7 ). He throws a "woe to them" m Israel's face (713 912) - "no one can rescue" from his ferocious attack (2 12 5 14). Yahwe.h's .threat is delivered, then, in highly personal terms. One fOl:n~ of cl,lvme Judgment, indeed, consists simply in saying that Israel's cnl IS bemg recognized. Israel's sin is "revealed" and has come before (~oel's eyes (7 IL). Gael "knows" Ephraim; it is "not hid" from him ~D 3). He "remembers" their evil (72). The expression "not-my-people" IS already a threat (19), The response of Yahweh to Israel's sin is to "cast them out of my house" (9 Vi), to reject them as they have rejected him (46). :~nnouncements of punishment are held in a general tone; even the occasIOnal concrete descriptions are relatively stylized. Yahweh will "visit" or "return" Israel's sin (14 215 49) and "chastise" (or "bind") them (7121010). Yahweh threatens shame (47), bereavement (912. 16),
(?
\\'vllhaust'!l
j)llt'Lhafl lh:r 1']1l
tllll!)!JI(lg'!H:'"-'
JII
61
any corrcJations that might appear. The results may be treated separately for each type of subject matter; for content is often the best organizer of forms. In connection with such data, the life-situation of the forms will be discussed.
II. THE SI'EAKEE
;) ~(), ;llr"at!\"
11. The Speaker
:-\.
Bratsi()tl~)
prvsunlably as
;1
6 7
Cf. 11 !l 14 5 (negated in promises) and 13 II. ott) is best translated as "compassion," since the repentance involved is said to be "hid" from God's eyes. an expression rather inappropriate for "wrath."
11. The Speaker
Chapter 1": II,,' \\'onl as Comlllunicatiun
liZ
the gathering of peoples against Israd or its own being "gathered" (8 10 10 10). Devastation of the land and an end to festivals are announced, however, in fairly concrete terms in ch. 2 (v. 5. 11-15). Threats are somewhat less frequcnt outside of divine speech. \Vhen they do occur in the prophet's O'Wll words 8 , they arc often quit" specific about what will happen. Thus, the altars will be broken d()wn~'. the calf of Samaria will be carried away or become splinters 'o , ,;acrifices will cease l l , and the holy places will lie deserted'~. The king of Israd "'ill disappear, and princes will fall l3 , Exile and a rdurn to Egypt is announcccp'l. Prophetic threats feature descriptioils or visualizations of lutur,' en'nts. "They will be ashamed of their altars lfi ." They will not find (;od, and all their riches will "not be fOlll1d 16 . " Israel itself will disappear l7 , Terrifying descriptions of the horrors of war and \'ivi(l pictures of the devastation of the land to be expected are given ill crass detaip8. Hunger will rule l9 . How strongly the prophet lives in the future in his mind's eye is rdlectc(l in his repeated usc of tlll' "prophetic perfect ," \\'herein the perfect - and perhaps the imperfect consccuti\'l' _.- instead of indicating the past is used for future ev('nts~O In many cases, indeed, it is difficult to determine whether the present or the future is meant, especially sincc the Hebrew imperfect is ambiguous~'. The prophet is fond of the adverh "now," though it also appears on the lips of Yahweh 22 . The prophet's descriptions of Israel's predicament toda,- and catastrophe tomorrow often carn- a tone of lament. In picture after ~
For reasons that \vill
1)('1..'0111(':
l
lear, all
SClltCJ}tT"';
in which Yah\\,("b (loes: not
appt';ll
in thc first person will be f('ganll'd as the prophet's I)\\'n. "Hos l{J2, ,0. So abo l~ 12? 111 I los Hhf. 86. 11 Fins il~, !j~. 12 I los !J i' I (I 6, 13 lIo,; :; 1 i If' SIll 1CJ 3 71'). I;; (\IT\. 'In Yah\\, II" Ii)", ] J\" " I'(',onda[\') . (T',.. )~ah\\('JJ,\\'(,rd", 7 i llnd l~ 11) n·f"f to til(' past! 1\ Tn Eg\'pt. I !r")-.; R la H R t, 11;) E\:i!("lll g';'IH'LI: :1 l:- Tc) _\~,,\'ri;: ~I~; (not gl_'!l,!ii~' ~ ~:,
16
1i (J:-; -1 II os ~)
1', I
I;
1:2
I!;
J 1t)~
-t
J I)
It\\'j((':i
I~
()~(lJ1T('11,('"
22
~,
j ,I ()~
Particular attcntion may bc drawn to 4Hb 'lll iSf.I1.1G 8, !)11,13.lt' 117, Sec below, p. 123, for the "futility curse." 24 Hos 58. Hos 8 I also bclongs in this eontcxt, if it does not repn'sent an address of Yah,,'ch to the prophet. 25 Hos 8 1 ( ?) 9". 26 Hos 4 I 123. So, probably, also ~I I. 23
r,
/.')
I.;
1·11.
r-- ;
:':0lllh-tl~,:'t\\-I,t'.lf()[1(.rt'P0I:H~)7;\:)r; ... !t\\I('
" E
?ic~u~e he d~'aws the lines of Israel's futilit y 2:l . •\s already noted, lI1dlvldual umb often begin on a lamenting tone. On one occasion, the prophet, true to his role of intercessor, breaks through with his emotion to ask God to prevcnt the birth of children so that thn' may not be killed (914). Often it is hard to tell whether the lament is real or only the prophet's style for presenting a threat. For instance, in the e~ clamation just quoted Hosea may merely intend to sa\' that childlessness will appear merciful in cOI~parisOl~ with what els,: \yill happen; m that case, the plea is an ironical intercession. Yet the prophet's fello\\'suffering is everywhere evident. . The element of warning is strong in prophetic speech, usually mtertwined with visualization. "The days of visitation have come" (07). The exclamation "Blow the trumpet in Gibeah!" is stylistically typical of prophecy, reflecting \\'ar ca11s 24 . After all, the prophet is the "watchman" of Israe125, a role not unrelated to the tradition of Holy \Var. Allied to warning arc the repeated announcements of judicial prosecution 26 . The prophet is probably speaking in the declaration, "among the tribes of Israel I announce the truth" (50), which is comparable to the watchman's conclusion in Is 2110, "what I have heard from the Lord of hosts ... I announce [with the same grammatical form of a different verb] to yoU."27 It is characteristic of the prophet's own words that the future of Israel grows out of the present almost automatically. Hosea, in other words, points out the direction of Israel's life. This is even expressed as though it were a conscious and deliberate choice 28 . Prophetic words arc, in general, considerably more rational in character than are Yahweh's own declarations, in \~'hich his personal opposition and destruction are emphasized.
27
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This form is rclated to, but different from, the "BckriifLigungsfi>rmd" (\'un l{abcnau, WZ lini\'. Halle. G.-s.;') [1955I'll)], (ji8) "I, Yahweh. hit\·" spoken" (or its thirdperson form, d, Lindblom, Ho:;,'". is); for a divinc' declaration need not stn'ss that it speaks thl' truth. It is I:losc' to the" Legitil11ic,rtlngsfl,rll1cl" of '''l'r ",,,rds (D. vettcr, Unt,'rsudlllngen Zlllll Scherspruch jill .\ltell Testalllent, Diss. 11 c'idell)(':'CO; , 1f1G8, 2:2Gf.), ",hich is continuc'c! in l'r"phdic !look" (including r<.'ports of inllCl' struggle, as in Jer 1'11). Also clse\\'1Jc're oracles end in " prolL'siation of truth (D. Jennes, The Life of till' Copper Eskimos, l!.I~:2, ~II). Hns 5 11 8 ~ 122 (cli',c'\lsscc! bl'low, p. 121): d. ;-) ~
65
Chaptt'r IY. The \Vord as Communication
II. The Speaker
The distinction between divine and prophetic speech is strong enough so that there is very little overlapping in significant terminology. In Yahweh's threats, there occur words signifying emotion: :1'1?~ (510), 'ltt (85), ::I:1N (for Yahweh's: D15), on, (1 l\), mit' (D 15), probably '~~ (1 n 4 l\. S. I:! Ii II). 'iN (7 13 ~) 12); some general or figurative verbs of negative action: 'O'-'ON (7 I:! 1010), ~::;J (21lf. 5H). W,) (915), n:ltV (.fii), hiph. of l1::1W (I .. 213), ~Wc (:25), liit' (28), ,,), (28), a good number of figurative nouns and associated figuratiw verbs: ';;Ji~ (:J 2), 1'10/1 (712), '1];; (f> 1.. U 7), "p:p (f> u), '7,?~ (137), ::1'7 (1:) K), ::IPT1 and W¥ (;-) I:!), (1;37), W)C (13 8), 'l'~ (f> u), ~'P (U s, but literally in the prophet's word 14 1), and, finally, the personal word '~~ ((> 15 7:!). To be found exclusively in prophetic speech are some description..; of disaster: )~? (716), liNo/ (10 u). ::I"'J}J (71G 11 G 141), :1~~ (11 (\), w~~ (91G I;) 1;-.); :10W (1:3 1;,). C'::J.?tf (H Ii), ,~W (10 8), ~::I' (414 ?), WtJ (4 19 10 G), :1~tp (f) 9), 'l'~ (10:!), ~Cl (7 7 ? 1Ii 14 1), ~W~ (4;, 5 5 14:]. I II - not all genuine), (10:!, d.'fl.i below), ::I'W (to Egypt: 813 na 11 5), I'1nw (1:3 9), and the following terms describing Yahweh's action: 0" (f> 9 D 5. 7)29, ::I" (4 I 123), n:l' (4 .. 5 II), C?~ (D 7). Some notable words appearing in both types of contexts are: 'pc, "visit" (Yahweh: 14 :2 15 49.14; Prophet: 81399 123), OWN, "suffer in guilt" (Yahweh: :J 15; Prophet: 4 I;' 102 131 14 1), 'W, "destruction" (Yahweh: 713, in a curse; Prophd: DG 1014 12:1), :1,), "uncover" (Yahweh: 21:1 (1) or "depart" (Prophet: 105), ':ll, "remember" (Yahweh: 72; Prophet: 8 13 9 \1), ON~, "reject" (Yahweh: 4 G; Prophet: (17), :1~', "und(j', (Yahweh: 45f.; Prophet: 107.15), ::I'tPij (Yahweh: 4 0; Prophet: 12 3. 1;,), also the HTV common np~. Admittedly, the substantin' distinction between the two types can be upheld only if one credits to di\'ine speech no more than tho,,(' sayings in which the divine ''['' explicitly occurs. But two argumenh point in favor of assigning doubtful cases to prophetic speech. First. the prophet is the actual speaker; "di\'inc speech" is merely a term for thuse words in which an "1" other than the prophet's becomes stylistically prominent. The burden of proof lies on the side of an assignnwnt to Yahwch. Secondly, and mort· important, in content and "\'i,ll-nth' in f(·I'Jin;.;. grammaticalh' neutral stateml'l1ts are closer, as the ab()~'l' anah'sis has shown, to ~'karh' nOlHli\'inc statemrnts than to c!earh' cli\:inc ones. Thus they should Ill' grouped with the former.
The opmlOn has been advanced by some that Hosea contains almost entirely divine speech30 . Behind such a view there usually lies the assumption that within a given unit only Yahweh or the prophet can be speaking; thus a single instance of divine "I" in a passage leads to an assignment of the whole to God 31 . One of the results of this assumption was the breaking up of prophetic writings into small units 32 . Yet in Hosea one cannot lead a single style consistently through every unit, however one may divide the book. Lindblom rightly recognized and championed the changeableness of grammatical style within prophetic speech, though he appears to have assumed that the alternation of spraker was arbitrary. Rather than being predominantly composed of divine speech, the book of Hosea reveals itself as prophetic word with divine style appearing occasionally, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of the "quotations" of divine speech noted by H. \Vildberger within Jeremiah's own words 33 . Such an analysis of Hosea with succinct divine speech has been anticipated by Paul Riessler, who did not, however, pay attention to the significance of content in association with the form 34 . As a result of the conclusions reached here, it is no longer necessary to exclude the book of Hosea from the generalization that there is a distinction between divine and human word in prophecy 35. Their close relationship within a single order, however, indicates that prophetic speech and divine word are not separable genres existing independently but that they are factors of style, perhaps even not necessarily rigid ones.
64
,'w
,'W
29
'1'11<' phr"",· "11,,· lin", coml"" app"ars 1Jl ,·>,'kl," ,im,l"r!\' \\Ilhlll the third-person :-;t~'1l: of J);{/( 1,;:,luiOIi..,· :t:-, desl rilwd 11\' 1\ \'oJ) !\a.!Jt'nau, Ill' \'1)1\ H.ad-Festschrift, 1%1, jl'(
The nature of the variations in Hosca agree c10scly with those noted in other contexts. E. Balla lists as characteristics of the "oracle of disaster" the following: (1) the prophet himsl>1f speaks; (2) the prophet speaks of the future as though it has So, Sellin 17 (with considerable emending of the text); H. Hertzberg, Prophet und Gott, 1923, 107; Lindblom 138f. More extensive prophetic speech has been accepted by F. Giesebrecht, Die Berufsbegabung der alttestamentlichen Propheten, 1897, '12f.. with better recognition of the changeableness of speaker. Fairly frequent divine speech is assumed by Deissler (G3. 77. 80L BO). 31 So also \Volff passim. His designation of Yahweh~sayings is very similar to that of Giesebrecht, bu t he sees them as separable rhetoric'al entitje~. 32 So, for instance, L. E(ihler, Amos, 1:117, who assigns each Slll;\11 piece to either the prophd or God. 33 Op. cit (e. g.. 81). 3~ 1'. Riessler at one' time regarded individu;\[ sentenct's of divine specdl as the "Grundstock" of Hosea (Die kleinen I'ropheten. 1911); later, his translation (Die Hei!ige Schrift des alten und neuen Bundes, 1901)') marks numerous very short quotations of divine speech, though a little more generously than the present study does. 35 Wolff excludes Host'a and Habakkuk (Z.\ \\' f,2 [l~JI-!J. (); Das Zitat im Prophetensprueh. 1937, 107).
30
Buss
5
Chapter IV: The \Yord as Communication
II. The Speaker
already happened, using the perfect; (3) a "demonic-enigmatic tone;" and (4) all abrupt, jumpy style 36 , To generalize for prophetic literature, non-divine style is more detailed and more extended 37 than the divine. It is more visionary38 and emploYe more frequently the "prophetic perfect" (though the latter phenomenon is admittedk somewhat uncertain)3•. its feeling is more on tlll' side of the people, as reflected in the laments and dirges widely used in prophecy ..\s in the \york of ancient seers, i\
ence of VISIOns belong to different aspects of prophecy and are not to be grouped together as a single form of ecstacy in any specialized sense.
66
is inclined to be rational and to analyze the inhn('nt drift of events· o
The two styles of divine and human speech reflect two different structures which may have been originally separate. They probably belong to the God-possessed nab£' ("prophet"), on the one hand, and to the objective "seer" who serves human need, on the other 41 . Another possibility is that the role of the priest or cult prophet lies behind one style, while the indepeudent prophet (not necessarih a reform prophet) stands in the background of the other 42 . The h\'o possibilities are probably closely allied, since the nabi' was evident I!" closely related to the regular cult, while the seer could operate pnvatelv 43 . If a distinction is made, it can be noted that a pronounced "ecst~tjc" style - abrupt, poetic, and visionary44 - belongs not tn the nabi' -words but to the structure of the human seer-words. That means then that a formal identification with Yahweh and an experi"" Droh- und Scheltworte 48f (He does not find this in .\mos.) "' U. E. Elliger, Das Buch der zwiilf kleinen Propheten, II 1950, 12 (in a comment on the book of Nahum). "" So, also, \\'ildbcrger op. cit. 1:!1, for Jeremiah. 39 ,\In'a(l\' h. Eeil (:'vIanllal of Historico-Critical Introduction. I ISG!). 2(5) stated thaI "till' prophets in the Spirit behold the futurc as if it \"ere present." Similarl\·. G. llYhnii, Studier iiver stilen i de gallllllaltl'stal11cntliga profetbiickerna, 1929, ,U ,\ . .Je'psen, ~abi, l~ill 1:!~', speaks of the "pl'rfel t of simllltancity," with whi,], mav bc compared the perfe"t of ,,,,elution (;esenius --Kalltzsch § 106m); in a'cOl'dancc with this llsa~l' (d. \Vestcrmann, EvTh 24 [1:31,4], 3Gil), the perfcct is also occasionally found in diyitH' speedl at the beginning- of the "oracle of ans\ver.· namely at Is 4110.11 43 J 4~J '. That th,~ prophdic perfe(·t is found above all in non-di,-inc, and especially in \'islonary, spe,.,,'h ran 1H' gathered fro In an cxanlinati()); of listin~c 1,\' S. Driver, .\ Treatis,' on the \ 'sc' lif '1'11151"; in llebrc\\', 1881, 22-~1 and
,n
n,',·,.·r di\'inC' fortn (1'. \'<'It('r 01' ,it :!llil IH'j()\\', l' 1:!3-I:!;-) IJ Cf. \1 .1;'<1ro\\ JllI.:!X (1!lII~',. ,',i;, Il",.t/;,,·,.:: "p ,\1 u :\lo\\in,'kt'] 1)~;l1n)(il~~tiJ(I;('n Ill. l~I:!:), !.;~ !H'l illl 1')'1';)':;')\(' \ll'\\'pIJlnt is, \"TI)n~J:-. impl,,',1 \'\' t, l'I]\,r, !'".I'!'·IlJsofth,' lkJ,n'l\ \1'1'1,,'] "",;\), I~j:)t;, J:-\:-l-·I:Fl. ·n ~l). II .11)1'11-:,., l'r1ip!tI-: !Jlld St.'lltT III I"'L\I') 1~1:!7 \~ ill (~rl"" I" ~t'0 ,\.1Ic:-\I:J)(·'
.0 St't'
67
The duality of the two structllres appears to be world-wide and not merely tht, result of an accidcntal combination within Palestine. l\Iesopotarnian religion kne\\ both the possessed m({t/11U and the seer baru, the latter employing omcns and relating himself to Shamash, the god of justice. The oracle of Delphi combincd Dionysiac intoxication with that Apollonic rationality which included a moral emphasis and the observation of signs· 5 . It has been suggested that the ecstacy of both the ma&bu and the Delphic Pythia, as well as of Canaanite prophecy, derive specifically from a Dionysiac rcligion centered in Asia Minor· 6 ; though such a development may perhaps have occurred as a factor in Near Eastern history, similar forms of possession have been observed in Arabia· 7 and in wide-spread shamanistic traditions48 . An important root of the form of divine speech lies in the operation of the regular cult. especially in the word of a priest or priestess as represented by the oracles of lshtar of Arbela.
Whatever the precise historical or genetic considerations may be, a functional complementarity exists between the two forms, even if not developed in an identical manner in different cultures. They both appear in Hosea, as also in other Israelite prophets, so that this prophet combines within himself "Dionysiac" abandon and "Apollonian" rationality49. These two aspects are probably not to be understood in narrowly psychological terms 50 , but represent two symbolic stmchIres embodying dual dimensions of human life. Divine speech gives adequate expression to the element of receptivity toward the Other, and human speech to that of man's activity and comprehension. ·F, The combination of ecstacy and rational observation of the future was noted by
:G
47
,8
I'lato, Phaedrus. 244 (somewhat differently in Timaeus, 72, with the rational prophet interpreting the othcr, in line with the role of the Greek "cxegete," for which see A. Bouchc-Leclerq, Histoire de la divination, II 1879, 215). G. lIiilscher, Die Propheten. 1914; \V. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity, ] 940, 233; G. l'fannmiiller, Tod, ] enseits und Unsterblichkeit, 1 H[,il, 24 (on Delphi); A. Neher, L'cssence du prophdisme, 1~5[J, 2~J -32. E. g., A. lIaldar, Associations of Cult Prophets Among the Semites, l~-L-" 18()f. H.. de ""elwsky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet, 1!j[,G, ;-Ji~: the spirit speaks through an uncons,>ious shaman, with wortIs that need to be intnpreted. A. Jensen, Myth and Cult, I~)I)'J, 223: deities address the assemblage through th,· Vent;zue!an shaman.
.D Similarly
1'". Bt;hl, Ed l'rufdi:;IllC', :\'ieu\\c TJ)(',kJgi:;che Studi0n IG (I !)?':-l) , US f "'ith i'ietz,che's distinction in mind.
50
:"ok\\'()rthy, tllOUgh n'lt fully adequate, is T. Andrae's distillt1il'\l between il,u(l'ti .. ,.. ('x111h>d lind \'isilJn~tr}'-11~:pnt)tjl' inspiratillJ1 (:'.!o!I;tlluncd, j!I:~:), .!,Sf.~.
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VII.8n). .,'
II. The Speaker
Chapter IV: The Word as Communication
68
B. Accusalions It is more difficult to make a distinction between human and divine word in accusation than in threat. The terminology used by the two styles overlaps, no matter what principle one uses in separating the two. Continuity of mood, indeed, often speaks agamst too rigid a boundary around divine word; in many cases, one may want to bl' more liberal in assigning accusations to Yahweh than has been done in the course of the translation above. Nevertheless, a certain tendency appears. On those occasions in which the divine "I" is prominent, accusation often has a highly pers()}lal tone. The people, or the l?rie.c;ts, are ac.cused of having sinne(~ against Yalnveh (-17), and of havlllg broken hiS covenant (81). The) are said to have rebelled against him (713L) and against his "knowledge" and law (-1 6 8 1), to have acted treachc:rous,l.r .( G7), or t~; ha v~ departed from him (112.7). They haw made kll1gs wlthou.t.me (84), they have forgotten God (21;; 1:3 6) or his law (46 812), faIlmg to call to him (77.14). They do no~ disce~n his l~~~~ng .(113): Ind~ed, Go~: complains that "the\' speak hes agalllst me, dev.lse eVil agamst me, and "surround me" like enemies (7 13.1;', 121). It IS natural, of coursc, that accusations il1\'olving the divinl' ''I'' are highly personal; yet it is significant both that similar statements appear less often with Yahwch in the third person S1 and that the personal references appear as frequently as they do, . , . A further tendencv can be seen in that prophetic accusatlOn IS on the average more c01/c'rele than is divine reproach, especiallJ,' i~ Yahweh's ''\"orcls are taken with a narrow construction, though It IS possible that this difference should not be stressed. Divine first-person accllsations, when not personal, tend to be generaL They speak of Israel's "evil" or of their "deeds" or "ways5~." In one instance, Yahweh uses the svmbols "snare", "net," and "pit," without specifving the transgn's~ion53, The most specific di\'ine accusations a~e t~at thc priests "eat the sin of my people," if this refns to the E'XplOltatlOn of sinoffnings (-+ ~). aml that "mv Jwoplc" inquin' of wood a~d st.a:f (-+ J::) :hs\lming that "mv peopk" is sait! h\' '\'ah\';eh. SpeclfJc transgressions, lib' murder (including "hlo()([")51. cur"ing or pel'j ury55.
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C~tlt
"Exhortations," or appeals, in prophecy can either come from the prophet himself or be cast as divine speech. So also in Hosea. The protecti'ue calls of -115 and 14 2 arc non-divine. In two general demands (1012 127), a curious stylistic phenomenon occurs. Judging from the introduction of the preceding verse, a divine word might be indicated; but the exhortation mentions Yahweh in the third person. These two belong to parenesis, or cultic wisdom, for which the word ,r.ltV (as in 127) and promises of blessing are typical67 . An authoritative instrllctioll is given as it divine word in Has 66. Parenesis and instruction reflect levitical and priestly tora. Hos 11 10 2. ~ 1:! '3. (But sec also I:.! 1.) Hos G911 l:.!s. 5' Eos 42. 1If. H. ]" 7 H. 5<1 lIos 41Of.17 K-l.11 ~)10 Hi]. S l:.!12132f. 6n Hos 510 13.5. 7 ~J 9 10 9. 61 lIos ;"> 13 78.11 S n 1013 (in a sense) 122. Yahweh, however. threatens to end !:;rael's going l'lsewhere. if the beginnings of 7 12 810 are his word. 50
5'
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various kinds of falsehood 56 , oppression and robbery57, adultery and drink 58 , sacrifice and idolatry59, political and social strife 60 , international activit y 61, as well as opposition to the prophet himself 62 , are not, as a rule, mentioned directly by Yahweh in a first-person statement. Though some of these specific evils are described in close connection with a divine threat, they rarely outside of chs. 1-3 form an integral part of its phrasing, though they do sometimes form an integral part of the prophet's own worc1 63 . In addition to these and some generally worded accusations, the prophet presents the term :m, "whoring" (outside of chs. 1-3)64, and proverbial expressions65 , Since the evidences of evil are open for all to see, no special revelation is required. In a similarly human manner, in Egypt, the "Eloquent Peasant" and Ipu-\Ver denounced the evil they saw in the land 66 , Nevertheless, in Hosea divine words have a part in the pointing out of evil. It is doubtful that either the human or the supernatural element can be assigned temporal priority in Hosea's consciousness. The elements undoubtedly form a structured whole.
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~3 Hos t) r, 102. Ii. , I:.! Jr,. But see note 61. u Hos 4 11f. J" 5 3f. r; 10 ~'1. Note also the mixture of style in 12 31 6', lios 87 llJ5 (;) 11113. ~G ANET 41J1-411l. 441--444. 6' K Lohfink, Das lIauptgebot, 1963, !JO-97; J. Malfroy, VT 15 (1[J1j5), 53.
70
Chapt",. I V: The \Vo,.d as Communication
References to history are typically phrased in the form of divine speech, especially when God's goodness is recited 68 . After all, according to a widespread outlook, not only the future, but also the past, can be the subject of divine revclation 69 . !'I10re specifically, these pronouncements reflect sacred traditions of a priestly type, as will be developed more fully below (Chapter VI). Hope passages in Hosea evidence both divine and prophetic speech. Most of the words with non-divine style are secondary (21-3 34f. 11IUf., conceivably 148, but probably not 14 6f., which might however also be considered a part of divine speech). From the point of vic\\" of content, the latter, especially the secondary ones, arc fairly concrete in their announcements. The basic hope sayings tend to rest in a personal promise of God to Israel, just as the cultic "oracle of answer" typically comes from Yahweh. The non-divine style reflects the tradition of the seer or singer. In addition, it represents a somewhat artificial situation, in which a revered prophet of the past (Hosea) is believed to speak to the later situation. The presence of these positive sayings raises once more the question of a cultic situation. In Hosea, as in other prophets, there is clearly a combination of two approaches, the confrontation with Godin his angcr, claim, and lo\"(' - and the elucidation of the position and direction of Israel throngh human thinking surrendered to, and inspired by, God. It appears that the second approach should not simply be called one of "dispuk'o." as though the prophet Wl'n~ bv nature an enemy of the people: the prophet, often, is "pastor" to his people'l, or intercessor for them bdore God, acting as a homo religiosus· 2 • The confrontation with God fulfills a nory important function in Israel, as for any group of men. Ewry s(il'in\' has its religion by which is relates itself to the source of itc; ;'XiSU'IIC(' amI to the authority over its life -- in other words, to thilt wind} ddillo,s its life and determines its prospect. The exercis<' of thi, !,·1:Jt:unship is called "cult," \\'hatenT its form may hr·. [n l:--J',l\'!, tl1h cult c('nters around divine speech. to which hlllllan word can lw rl'lated as acknowledgement, req1ll':-'t, ducidatiol1 .• 11' own insight. Thl' delllents of divine speech noted in Host'a Cl' within instruction. rdcn'nces to history, anel declarations of I'r l l nlis,' stand fairl\' clOSt' to the official tradition of 6~ 11(1" IfIll 6"
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III. The Addressee
71
Israel in style and often in content. The symbolic structure of divine threats probably points toward a ritual background of these also, but they have been given a new and unexpected turn in their radical direction against Israel.
III. THF .\DJlRESSEE
I t is the people 01 brad who are confronted by the prophetic word oj Hosea. whatever mav have been the exact nature of his actua.l audience. Two main styl~s, however, are used to designate these recipients. namely direct address in the second person and indirect address or reference in the third. The issue to be discussed, then, is not the identity of the addressee but the manner in which he is designated or in which he appears. The use of the third person for Israel is by far the most common form in Hosea. The second person is used especially for promise and exhortation, while indirect address is the almost exclusive form of threats and reproaches (with exceptions confined to certain relatively well-defined special cases to be discussed), In addition, there are quotations of words in which Israelites speak in the first person. Direct address in exhortation and instntction (415 66 1012 127 l-± 2f.) is not surprising. Indirect speech for such a purpose is rather awkward and is represented in the book of Hosea only by the wisdomstyle conclusion (1410). Both direct and indirect address appear in the promises of the book of Hosea, but the indirect style tends to be associated with sayings that are not genuine. All of the non-divine hope sayings, most of which are secondary, have the form of indirect reference. But also those third-person l)romises that are laid on the lips of Yahweh are frequently suspect. The indirectly phrased 2 20. 23-25 are prose - even if rhythmicaland therefore hardly genuine. Indeed, V.20 breaks the flow of the passage; in content it is reminiscent of later descriptions of paradise. Thus the phrase "to dwell securely" is almost a cliche in certain postexilic promises, although, it is true, it already appears earlier 73 • The theme of fertility in V.23f. has a good parallel in later descriptions, though, of course, ideal conditions of nature are an old theme 74 . \',25 (like v. 1-3) is based on a combination of the two elements making up the tradition of symbolic action in Hosea and thus is presumably secondary, In the long oral history of the whole complex of Has 1--3.
If;(''"'lll])
SeE' Dtn 3312. 2S; and lielow, Chapter V.
H
A. De Guglielmo. CBQ l(l
{1951j,
am.
assimilations to later expressions of hope took place; the phrase "in that day," at least in 220 and 23, probably belongs to such a development. Two or three further third-person words reflect growth in the tradition. Hos 217 a is at least out of place and is an awkward sentence. Probably, either v. Ii-! or V. HI is secondary; most likely the latter, since it is extremely similar in wording to the probably late Ex 23 13b and to Zech 13:L A characteristic of the indirect sayings is a desire to picture concretely a situation of \"eHare, going beyond the merely metaphorical. Thus the formal observation can be made that all of those verses concretely describing the future rather than promising it in a personal fashion arc cast in the form of indirect address; such an observation can be harmonized even with a developmental analysis, since later traditionists undoubtecUy had a weaker personal but stronger applied interest than the original proclamation did. If it is true that all or most indirect promises in Hosea are secondary, one can compare with this circumstance the fact that in Jeremiah many indirect promises are similarly not genuir1('~5. l\Iost likely genuirw is the progression 215. 17b. 18 (?). 21f. 76 . The first verses in this sequence continue the indirect form of the preceding threat describing a chastising and cleansing action of Yahweh. At the point of his solemn declaration of betrothal in v. 21f. (or already beginning in v. 18 ?), Yahweh shifts into direct address. The exclamation of Yahweh in Has 11 M. uses for the most part direct spet:ch; Israel, however, is mentioned in v. \) to unclerline Yahweh's unwillingness to annihilate the nation he has created". Has 14 5-0 presents a conditional promise as an incentin' to turn in the form of indirect address, except for the final expression, "From me your fruit is found." A final decision on the historical issue" concerning the genuineness of matrrial must await the eX('cution of a complete survey of Old Testament hope statements. For the pn·"cnt discussion it is sufficient to point out that promises in the book of Hosea have their center in direct speech, the form employed in the assnrances by priest or singer in "acred rites, Both the cllltie "oracle of ~lJ)s\\'n," as reconstructed by Begrich 78 , and the majority of the unconditional promises given in ", S". ;C'.' "nling to th" analv,is of \\'ildbel"!,("r \"1'. 'It :j~ ';'):. whose surnman, hU\\'t..'\"('t", taiL-- tn note that. it is particularly the 111<1I1"l'( t !)I()m/'~(\ which afl~ se'~Ul)d arv, \\ Illl,' indi,.,', t t hr...ats an' usuallv K<'nuin ... 76 Similarl\- :\ \1" kilm. I 'roph", v and Es' hatoJog\ J!\:!1i l:{!1 S Herrmann (,p. ,it
11.1. Ii
Ill. The Addressee
Chapter I V. The \Vonl as Communication
72
This j..;, tIl,
"Z.\\\· :,:.:
l:lt'dllilll-!: (J! ";Lg'
)'I:q, ,"'I
II:.'
'
(\\'itll !.
II ,tllil illrl";H!\' :\1<11'11 !
73
psalms 79 , as well as most oracles of promise recorded in the area of the Fertile Crescent 80 , employ second-person speech. The use of the third per:,on has its place primarily in descriptive "portrayals of salvation" whIch C. \Vestermann has attributed to the form of the seer 81, occasionally in what \Yestermann calls "announcements of salvation S2 ," as well as partially in the description of "external consequences of divine action" noted by K. von H.abenau in Ezekiel83 . In addition, the third person is characteristic of conditional promises in the psalms84 . It is not necessary to suppose that the same usage will hold true for all Ol~ Testament promises, but these data are enough to present analopes to the tradition of Hosea. Two short passages of a special character, 12 lOr. and 13.\-;)a, address Israel similarly in the second person. These statements are characterized by a tone and cadence which seem to place them within the cultic tradition of the actualization of a sacred past. The first is most naturally read as a call to the assembled populace at the feast of Tabern~cles, an invitation - and promise - to experience the days of me~tlIlg betwe.en yahweh and the people. It is not necessary that the Israehtes dwelt 1Il hteral tents on such an occasion in order to have them regard their dwellings (such as huts) ceremonially as extensions o.f th? e~rlier situa~io~85. The placement of ,ii in the prepositive positl~n lIldlcates contlIlUlty and extension rather than repetition, appropnate for a sense of unity with the primordial past. Prophetic rev:lation is promised for the occasion. The second passage (13 -1-5a) IS clearly part of, or related to, a traditional recital. As soon as an accusation follows upon this, the style of address changes to an indirect form.
79
So: 1's 28f. GS23f. (no pronoun in \'.23) 1101.4 1321lf. But the third person occurs in the generalized triumph word of GOS-l0 (= 108,-10), in the word to Nathan (?) about David quoted by 1's 8920-3><. (1's 85 ]0-]4 and 121l 51. arc not divine word" against the comparison by Wolff 302.) ,
so So, by BaaJ-Shamaim, Ishtar, Enid, Atum-He (AOT 444; M, ]astrow, Die I~eligion Babyloniens und Assyriens, II 1912, 152-172; ANET 44!)-451; Falkenstein-Soden, 292-294; Haldar 01'. cit. GG; etc.). SI In B. Anderson (cd.), The Old Te"tament and Christian Faith, 19G:3, 209. S2 SO, Is 4117-20 49 U-12 (EvTh 24 [1%41, :365 f.): these are conditioned by need (d. in And(:rson 01'. cit. 2(7). sa Von Rad-Festschrift 74. Ez 34 2~ 3G 3~ 3, 25, S4 1's 126 (for the poor) !')1123 8115-17 (ernend\'d at end) ~JI 14-](;. (But the condition,l! divine promise of Is !')8 J3f. employs the s\'cond person.) Also, in effect, 1's 13:2 12, On Hos 14 5-9, see also below, p. 128. 85 Sec H. Kraus, Worship in Israel, 18G5, 61. 132. for theories. ]. Pedersen thought of the passover season (ZA \V 52 [1934J, 17;:'). If the fall festival is intended. the present passage in Hosea attests its historieization as alrl'ady aceornplisherl.
Chapter IY' The \Vonl as Communication
74
111. The Addressee
To a certain extent, these cultic statements may be actual. ~u.ota tions on which the prophet desires to comment. Quoted ~r artI!IClally created statements on the hps 01 Israel can also be f~und, 111 whIch the addressee is thus represented as speaking in the fIrst person. Th:se include a statement of opposition to the prophet (97) and an expressIon of over-confidence (12 H). A pilgrim songS6 (tlI-3) and a p~ayer of penitence (142-ol) are suggested by Hosea to the people for ~heIr words in turning to Yahweh. Yahweh's address to Israel, "Where IS now y~ur king, to save yon, and all your. princes, to. jud~:, (de,fend) yo~, of whIch you have said, 'Give me a kmg and.pnnces ,,(~31~), . take: up the request, "give us a king that he may Judge us, tlan:ITIltted 111 I Sam 8 (), as well as the theme of I Sam 1027 1113 that Saul had brought ld . "salvation," even through his enemies had doubted that he The difficult Jacob-passages in ch. 12 give the impressIOn. of being actual quotations, perhaps slightl~' modified: V. ~f. sound hk~ a proud, almost bragging, saying87 • V. f, .IS clearly hturgIcal, probab!~ designed to connect Yahweh-Sebaoth w.Ith the t?wn or god Bethe~ . It is hest to recognize in v. Gf. the reflectIOn of a n~ual form, accorc~111g to which the deitv speaks to Jacob (and thus to hIs dcscen~e~ts), 111 a piece of cultic \;'isdom which may antedate Is~aelit~ relIgIon_. The juxtaposition in v. 13 of Jacob. who herds for a WIfe. Wlt~ Mose~: \\"h~ shepherds Israel out of Egypt, sounds .h.ke a popular relIgIOUS J1l1gk. Husea dOt'S not reject the sacred tradItIOn as sllch. but the context makes it clear that he cannot "hare his countrymen's exuberant en th llsiasm.
co:r
Parocl\" _
\)oth Self irH·~l.lUH1
II\J1t)l_ent .--
was to bl'COll1e one of the Inajor. fonns
of humor of later Judaijlfl'". Th'j jn~t"nccs just discll'Sed slww that already in Old Testament til11(,~ J,Delit,·, "nld usc sacn'ri('s
1n 1)1'1'''11. -;1;
it n·("ci\"('d 90 .
c i 111Y~,(lis •Isral·j 1',· ,,])oken of in the thin 1 . , . 'll . ' ll,'ll\' '" tht, emphatic pronoun "t11("\" i', lIsed ckrisi\'ely and
In
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1~1117
~.13 !llfl132, also ell-1. Similarh-. I~ 121>:;]0 ]r'r:;" P" 10i;l.~. So probahly then Ps 1,210 G,') 10 !1411 1207 (against J. Patton, Canaanite P,u.dlel" in thl' Book of PSitlms, 1\144, 37).
"' ll"c"31 G7 , . 8 •.
lH-n1!"\)C(', as frccllll'ntly l'w)11
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f 1..;, ~ 3.
1"11"1.1'" ,d' IC ' " t"r i~ lib,'" in "j .. " (,f a \','rl"Li ,i'lliLirit'· "ith t;cn .:1229. See ah' :-;, harl,,"! ";"ii",nital in :-;.'W·m '.111<1 Fl1lill. [ 1~1:,.''. :!II~I. with lltcrature. Th, , I'" f l"nlll-I' I"'n ';-1" (I' » 1'r"1>,, 1>1\' \\"ill1 '''' indirect rdatiollsl1l\' He.thel
ominoush· 91 • Direct address, however, occurs under certain definable conditi{,ns. First, it is used for rhetorical commands. "Hear the word of Yah\\ch" (41), "Hear this ... " (51), "Do not rejoice, Israel ... " (9J), "Plead with your motherl" (2ol); calls of alarm (us 81) are a special form of command. Secondly, the second person is used in ironical or perturbed questions: "What will you do in the dav of the fcast?" (H 5), "Where is y'our king ... ?" (1310), and, "What shall I do with you?" (G ol)92, Thirdly, a statement of reasoning app~ars in such a form: "He is not able to heal you" (513). Further, in three passages direct address occurs with sayings of a peculiar structure, which begin with a subordinate clause introduced by a causal ki ("because" or "since"). {n these three, the threat given is expressed in terms which imply an appropriate consequence or reversal of the situation described by the accusation: "since you have rejected "', I will reject ... " and "since you have forgotten "', I will forget ... " (4 G); "since you have trusted in your (military) might ... , war tumult will arise ... " (10 13b-H); "since vou have become a snare .. " I will become a fetter ( ?) to you" (5 1). (rhe same construction probahly appears in the proverb of 87:1, in the third person: "since they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind," and perhaps in 416.) A prepositiw causal kl is extremely tmusua193, occurring elsewhere, as far as can be determined, only in the following cases: Gen 3 1·1. 17, curses on Adam and the serpent; J udg 1113, a quasi-legal form; Is 2R 15, against brazen words (and perhaps Is 94 1710 ); Hab 2 R. emphasizing appropriate reversal; and, probably, N um H) 31 in cultic law. Second-person address is employed in all of these cases, except in the last-listed, which has a general application. The only other cases of direct address, besides words immediatelv preceding or following the structure just mentioned (4:; 1015), a1'-e represented by 1 9, probably influenced by a legal forrrmia of disavowal; 9 7, a direct answer to a statement by the people; and 13 \1, evidently reflecting Dtn 3238. since the pattern of Dtn 32 10-18. ;l7-3~J dominates Hos 131-11.
· tUCIISII I 11111'; III/I
l\i'c.(~lt~\~lJ)k('I-Ht.giit.'h
80
75
"
i~\ll1tt:--
,
tll.'ln
.. ' .'~'
(\S~~,~~ld..tl.on
d'r'~Ir"'Ph;lJ)tltlt" l~l")f, flO)
\vitl
9~ I'"r ;)roplletic questions and imper"ti,'cs, Hylmo 01'. cit. 47--·;-,3 (above, p. 1;/;) Un the othcnl'i~c wide usage of Iii: ].l\Iuill>nburg-, l1UC.\ 3:! (I:)GI) , 18;",--H;iI.
93
\Volff relies on the theory of it "deictic" hi to explain the nsage in Hos R 7 If) 13b, .\s in ()ther cases (!lO. IO:? 114. 1,;). :?3G etc.). probably too imprecisely at bl.st for 1010. The meaning of "as" appear:,; in Hos 8101. Possibly related but ambiguous arC' instances listed by R Frank('na, Vriezen-Festschrift, I~)G6, !jf), ~)8. . 9± So, R. 13. Y. Scott or. cit. 180, \\"ho also lists Is 309.15 (sl'e above, p. 29, n. 5).
Chapter TV: The \\'ord as Communication
76
Il1. The ,\ddressee
The question must now be asked, why the third person is usC'd as often as it is in threat and accusation. Several reasons suggest themselves. The most obvious interpretation, a physical one, is that the peoplE' are literally absent, the words lwing either written with hardly anyone present or else being orally addressed to a small group of disciples95. In the delin:ry of extremely harsh threats and reproaches such a situation would not be surprising, for the audience would dwindle or become hostile. Another explanation, a semipsychological one, can be based on the theory that the prophet reports what Yahweh has said to him about the nation 96 , perhaps as a speech within the divine council97 . A third type of interpretation is that the form has a stylistic rationale in a dependence on legal processes or on the style of oracles against foreign nations. The two possibilities within the third type are not mutually cxclusin', for the conceptual systems of legal procedure and of concern with enemy nations interpenetrated each other; for instance, Israelites commonly thought of enemies as opponents in a law suit, and vice vcrsa 98 . Though these hypotheses are not always mutually exclusin', they must be examined in turn. The physical and psychological explanations suggested suffer from the fact that the indirect style is not uniform but is broken by instances of direct speech, which would the:1 have to be explained, perhaps stylistically. To theorit:e that the change in persons is due to the prophet's turning from one audience to another does not fit well with the observation made that stylistic variations fall into describable patterns, These patterns of variations indeed run through the entire book, or at least through chs. 4--14, so that it is not appropriate to suppose a situation for the final chapters different from that of the carlin ones.
99 or" • unsettled, is brought lx' fore a <:ourt, the opponent is ty icall\" , , \~ h at , ' " If the nb, at C u,sed In the thlnl person, though the defense I' I" " ' p , "', ' , " t a l s onLe more to altercatmg forms f ~), d,lrcL t speech lOO The Judgment Issned by the proper authority is cast, when ossibiL, III dIrect address; but it emplu\'s th I', . P , k' I' ', ' e t lIrd-pL rson form when cIrcumstances mol ( t l,tt the logiCal style, for inst.ance when the ddendent is absentlOl Ul formulas accompanying execution, three are recorded I'n the ()I-' T t t an " , ' I' ' u es amen L,<pr~ "e( III the second persoll; their central point is that the execution is the: appropnate consequence of the guilty person's actions, Thus Josh' " at the stoning' "\VI ' I'd' I' u" says to Achan ," ' ~ 1.1 c, ) au Jnng trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on YOU toda.l (Josh (25), Samuel declares to Agag .. I " ' "\' ,tziN:;' , . as 1e IS abo lIt to lay a sword to him: . son( .: '_,_ ) ,) " our sword has childles.~,. - so s'h a [I Jour . am _ made women , mot 1lCr be chllclIess g \\ umLn (I Sam 1;) 33), Dand addresses the killer of Saul, as he is being hcwn down, I a d Cl I't"lOn, m connectIOn , "tl "gl\'1l1g the confessed deed as rcason (Tl "S'lln 116) , n \\ ' murderers (l t[ 1.;; u,mmands of execution, David "secks" Ish-ba"I's ,,,. bl 00 d f rom IliS , .am ~II) and Solo mOll declares that Yahweh will bring back Joal'" "I 'I ' hI' I . 1 (' I ' S u (JOe on , l':a' III t le thIrd person, since J oab is absent) and tells Shimei "Y ]' all the e"il " t'd ',. " ' ou ,now", ~ au (I " " "0 the Lord wIiI bnng back your evil upon "our own h''",d'' ( 1 t \.In''s·J 32f , H) , TI,"· 'IS ordered I", t.he !'hrase "!-Ial1g J ' b' -, te ueat·11 a f Haman It' ,1" (E' h ~ ) , , J ' '" lIn on t tat '"t 110, 1. L, on the g-al1ows he had prepared for lI!orclecai, underlinin" the appropna,tl'r1L~ss of the sentcncc 102 , b o.
(~) argul1H'n1s and testl1Hon~' hefore an ass('lnblcd ((lllrt, (:1) tIll: ju(lgnH:'nt or sentcllCl',
11111uding fl,rlllllias a((o:npanying ('xcculi(lll. TIlt, pre" (.:-;:-, ollt~idt' of a court l~ iJ.. rill, Ihl.l;l!t~. ,'\.('1 tlted in tIll.' ~('("(lnd pcTSP)l. with '-11 I ll:.-i\),~ fl11t·~tl()n:-; introd\l!~(,cl b~· "\\ h"'" \j:\
i kisskr (~Ill) C'xplains th~ frt.'qUt'l)l dl;t.Ug\·s in f()nn a",
llltl'rJllltioll<.\
bct\\'t.'l'll addrl':"::-->-
_
It is,now pos~iblc to test t~e style of.the prophet's sayings against ~,hese ,l,e?al forms.. The accuslllg questIOn introduced by "why" or f what IS abs,cn~ from !1.os ea, !hough it occurs within the controversy orms of othel 1?lOp~ets, lllcludlllg those of pre-Israelite Mari 103 . Thirclperson accusatr~ms III Hosea hardly reflect legal style, since there is n~ forum to Whl:h t~ey arc referred, for even a human king dispenses ~~lth th~ court sltt.latIOn for .his own cases l04 . The style of the declaraIOn of Judgment IS too van able to provide a firm analogy; if a legal 99
The possibility of kg-al stde, (hampioned b\' Wolff, rcquic\'s cardul analy,;;,;, especially since it is difficnlt to ,,'\'alll at<' , For kg-al pro,'csscs conkl emplm' both dire,t ano indircct spcech, each as a rul,' ha."ing- ih o"n sph,'n' of operation, Onc m,,,t disting'llish thn't' pl1ase,,: (1) c()ntr(l\"(~>rsy in (lin"I't Lcmfrontation with an opponent
Part 1\' \\'ith ' "II l'Joec I,er, R e d donnen des Rechtslebens im Alten Testament 1nG4 ' 3 2lJ-' +,, " ~8-I,1 ' It sho " lId e 1 no t'd ' , e tI1at t I le term' rzb refers espe,'ially to "prdc"al"
(better , extnleD'al") c~on t roversIes, 'I , 'b t lOugh a rib can then also be brouO'ht t" ' court for lwlp, DO" 100 Ibid, • 1-111. 101 Ibid 1')0) FiO fa's 'I t 0 d"Istl11gUlsh , between general declarations applying- to anyone , ',---',' ':~o (~mlTI1t~ a, certal11 e\'il" which arc stated in the third person, and sp,:cific ] gmcnts, ,\Inch may use eIther the second p~rson (1 S"lTI 14 H')') I" I" R') 7) the thl I tl I --" s (~ or " n" 1C atter when determining a punishment in absenti" (Gen 38"4 Num 1,) 35 II ~"m 125[ I I\:ings ,) 2 ) . I I ' - • 102 T S' ,).) , , ' all( \\ lel1 otherWIse convenil-nt (I l{ings 327), , , 'I11 it lllfferent , h, am __ 11,-1- anc! ' , I hl11gs -') "3-0S - -' 1) r'mg do, re,lson way, '\Ul11 1;, 3;:'[ (t e only rt'1l1alIll11'" MTOunt of a ." ' . , ' _ D • n exeLutIon!) I" ,loSt'h' "ssoriat"d with tl . V form of 10 31 S 'I 1°3 ' " lC I 103. ' " ' ,e,' ,l sO p, ~ and 1\, I\odt, \'T 12 (1%:!) , ::lUr;-~H;, ' , , \\ .<.:stermann GlundfIs .'115 l\ll 1,3 J"r 2 5'' les~ " preciscl" ) III I,, 1-0, 11 :.11. Se<.: C, onllen prophetischC'r Reck ' 1 ''H;I)., 111') ' ' 'T V\' _ , - - Ill"~,,\, :'Ilalamat, Con"'ress Volume 1<)1;;', (S\ , 0,1) ')1:.>' th ttl' " D fro 'Eo T , - " ," liS IS part of (Sumerian) controversy styk can be SC't'n m , estit, Dlbbla e Oriente 8 (1%1;) 11'1 . ' 104 .\ " ' J, • S pOInted out by H Boecker, EvTh :,W on(;I)), +08, T'
lllg- tht, a, t:lallH',LJ't:r;-; and a :-,pl.'a.l\illg' Pi" Isravl III g'l'lll.'ral !,r,
~().
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it 1;7. f"r shortCj' ur;ll It.'s
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ill\
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77
-.
Ill. The Addresscc
Chapter IV: The \Vonl as Communication
78
framework is assumed, a sentencing in absentia can provide the background of indirect speech. Probably the closes~ p~i~t of co~t~ct ~r:pea~s in the execution formula, whICh reveals slgmhcant slmllantles, III address form and intent, with the appropriate-consequence form in Hosea, though not so close as to produce an identity. The legal execution formulas do not open with kl or with some other word for "because," as does Hosea's appropriate-consequence form. In this respect, the latter is closer to that prophetic form which opens with ytt'tlll, "because," and continues with laken, "therefore," a form which may have grown out of the one employed by Hosea IO :;. The peculiar usc of ki, however. may have been conditioned by ib employment for "if" in juridical and priestly laws. As in the legal forms, the main sentence following the kl clause is not introduced bv lahen but simply by 1 (literally, "and") or not by any introductor\ particle at all 106 . Whether the fact that Akkadian s~tmma is used both for the legal "if" and for the mantic "if" in prognostication can illustrate a possible intermingling between law and prophecy is hard to say; Mesopotamian prognostication, however, was a powerful forc\' toward the development of a tht'or~' of moral retribution, including an emphasis on ren'rsals for pride10~. :\lore directly relevant is the fact already noted (p. 75) that th,' appropriate-consequence form with causal hi occurs in God's curse.; on Adam and the serpcnt and probably in the general judgment of Num 10 31 for a person who deliberately opposes Yahweh, "Becaus,' he has despised the woHl of Yahweh .. " that person shall 1)(: utterh' Cl1t off; his iniquity (shall he) upon him." A similar structure with "because" appears also in a :\lesopotamian incantation l08 . One can conclude that the form lwlongs to sacral I a.\\' , with its curses. Num U",- rrl)h,l~)l:' {)ll]\, in I S,lln BO ~2 (a kg-al sit:1 at.ion ?). laRf'11 (HllSi(k (d thn'ats or prortllS(':-; t<'ltd:--:- t i l [eprescnt a response 1,1
Ill;) yri't'ln h'-18 a sCl:ular nonpropilt'li\
F(Jrnlg't'sc'lIi,,']111' lnl'l,
tinH'S
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:\m ~) II lJ;L3
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ill I:..:, :;K 1", 111 71'" l\rall:-" 1.\ L~ lll'i "J{V I ';llh
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and I) (\:\1111 ~'ll:!l. Is;tiah U~{'S :'/(ii;i J.:.1 tt),(l·tlll·r (is :-~ 1,;
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._
]E) 31, just quoted, spoke of a person's "despising" (i1T:J) the word of Yahweh. Some word for "despising" (usually the more common ON~) occurs at least sixteen times in the Old Testament as ground for judgment in quite similar formulations, including the one in Hos 46 with ki Io9 . It is clear that the declaration of sentence follows a very definitely formed tradition in sacral pronouncements. Prophetic circl~s were undoubtedly the primary guardians of such announcements of judgment. Wolff has linked exhortations with proposals for bringing a controversy to conclusion llo . \Volff himself, however, has listed in addition three other possible roots for the exhortation l l l . In Hosea, there is not sufficient reason to specify a legal background for them, except perhaps for the indirect form in Hos 24. The major exhortations are probably either quotations attributed to an older situation (1012 [with Sellin] 127) or constitute a standard prophetic call to turn
(142f.).
To sum up, Hosea hardly had a direct relation to secular judicial forms, as has repeatedly been supposed for him or for other prophets. Rather, the prophetic tradition in which he lived already had some contact with legal structures, more or less cultic in nature, for instance in the form of curses or condemnation proceedings. Closer still is the relation of Hosea's style to the form of oracles against foreign nations, especially to those that appear in the book of Jeremiah. Jer 4G-51 is largely cast in third-person form; exceptions to this rule fall into the following classes: imperatives 112 , questions 1l3 , a duel-formula114, exclamations sounding like warnings 1l5 , and a series of threats announcing the downfall of the proud or selfconfident 116 . The similarity between these instances of direct addresses with those in Hosea is very strong. The last-named class may be compared with the reversal structure described. In fact, one example in that group reads thus: "Since you have trusted in your works ... , you also will be taken" (Jer 487), closely resembling Hos 101M., although employing ytt' an instead of hi for its introducing particle. '00
~!J 1 ;), :-::.)'11.:'
pn.\fi'=.~'d /a!itll. a :-:.till lni'\rPI~I: ... Irtl! lllfl:?
{~ii'I-'ll'
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i:> S ()
llO
111
(aftl-r
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\.,
112
;'l/kr,1 dl>l'~ appl'Y
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,
,,(',(;;\(1,:
79
113 114 115 116
Elsewhcrf': Lcv :2(; 15, 43 NUl1l 1120 (Moses to Israel) I Sam 1523, 2r, (Samuel tu Saul) IT Sam 1210, H C~athan to Da\'id) .\m :2 4 Is 524 8 r, 3012 Ez 56 20 1G, 21, So, tor lIos 2l ·115 85 (emended). ZA\\' 7G Il!)G4). 5G, adding pricsti\' tnni, \\'isdom, and it call f(,r lam,'nt. ]er 4(;11, Hb, l~ 18r,. Pi. 2" ,W3. f', 11,30 _. ~,s addres,,"'s to the endang-ered nation, (Tlwsc and other" ••re rlts,ussed, not cntir"i\' \' 1\,1'''''1), Die .\1Iffordcrungen ZUI' Flucht und zum Kampf. UH;:2.) ]er 47548 H, 2i -1(1;.12 .Icr [)()~I :,lz:;. Sf'\, J', Il1nn]!('fl. ZAW 51 ([Q33!, 1Iil--W8. j cr -1-S -l;~ :iU 42, .ler 482. i ·1!).l (with Cjllcstio"., 101 [,'12' (! J [,[13i.
Chaph'r IV: The \Vonl as Communication
80
Rather similar phenomena can be observed in other foreign oracles, though stylistic traditions can vary. Some re.veal.a tendency to express reproaches, including the accu.sation of pnde, 111 the sec~nd person; this tendency, when not detcrmmed by t~e form of an accu~1I1g question (as in Nah 1 0). is allied to the declaratIOn of an appro'pna~e consequence. Thus the long second-person s~retch of accusatIOn I~ Ob 10-16 ends on the note. "as you have done, It shall be done to you (v. IS, and similarly v. Hi). The use of direct speech i.n reproach may well be connected with the use of the second person 111 statements of reasoning, which arc allied to accusation in function. Sometim.es. however not only threats but also accusations employ the tlurd pt'rson (~. g., Is 1(6). In neighboring countries, divine threats.against enemies were ordinarily expressed in indirect speech, sometImes as part of an oracle of pr~mise directed to a .certain. king ll 7. , Hosea's words arc earlier than IsraelIte fort'Ign ora.cles conslderecl. Yet it is not likdv that the latter a.rc based on Hosea. in form and content. Rather, ~me must assume that their style traditions reacht's far back, rt'presenting one of the forms of hope pr~phe~y. I n oracles against foreign nations, the use of the third person. IS qUl~e natural, since those cursed are far away. More generally, 111 cultIc action the faithful community is presumed present, so that exhortation, direction, and promise are addres~ed to it by the pri~;t .or CUI,: The enemy is absent; e\'en the 1I1ternal enemy, the WIcked, l)ronhet. t : . 118 is supposedly outside. excluded from the covenant commul1lty . The tradition of cursing- enemies and evil powers, whether human or demonic, is old. The shattering fact in Host'a is that the object of such a curse is the whok nation of Israel, treated as an enemy of Yahweh. \[7
S. Strong, The Babylonian an,l Oriental !{"cord Ij (Hi!I:?/9:1), 1-9; Jastrow. Die Religion, II F)~J. Ill7. IiI; S. Llngdoll, Tamm\1z and Ishtar, 1~114, 147 (etc.); F. Bcihl, Opera ~linora. l!);):{. ill; ,\=-,)o:T 'i~K (,'"., r;;tion texts). The second person. liowl'\'('!-, is used
01'. ,it. 1,"
~
(in
l'onnl't.'tion \\'ith
all
;u (l;:..:.ill.~ qlH':-;ti(ln) in a :\lari word (~Ialanlat
1.-»).
Cf. (;. \un Ead in: Ikrthukt-F,',;(sthfJit, !!I;)(I. 41K -~:\7, and further '.1. B\1s,,,
, Ill\ :";2
II
%1),
:;~l.
Chapter V: The Word as Message: Terms 1.
l~TI{O])l:CTION"
Communication is meaningless apart from its content. Content ihelf can be viewed under two aspects - the individual motifs as building blocks and the structured whole. The individual elements may be called "terms"; they arc separable entities. but fulfill a function within the larger whole. A proper recognition of terms involves simultaneous attention to language, mood, and life-situation. The following exposition is an attempt to scratch the surface of the problem of symbolic analysis. It will deal especially with words which occur more than once in the book of Hosea and will compare them with similar occurrences elsewhere. An exploratory form of organization will be used in order to be able to group similar materials together. Since comparisons with material outside Hosea will be made, one issue needs to be raised, at least in the form of a problem. To what extent arc later writings directly or indirectly dependent on Hosea? It seems to be possible, on the basis of vocabulary and thought, to show that there is a stream of tradition which includes Hosea, Deuteronomy, the Asaph psalms, the Deuteronomistic historians, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. After the Exile, the influence of this school is very broad, fused with other currents. Within this tradition there can easily have existed direct knowledge, on the part of anyone representatin" of earlier writings. Yet similarities that exist between two members can abo be due to the tradition rather than to literary dependence of one 011 the other. Between Jeremiah and Hosea, for instance, K. Gross hac; found numerous connections 1 . These, however, reside often in such subtle similarities of style that his conclusion that Jeremiah studied Hosea to acquire them is anything but convincing. It is more reasonable to regard Jeremiah as part of the same tradition to which Hosea belonged, though an occasional direct allusion is po::;sible. Again, the interrelationship brtween Hosra and Deuteronomy is complicated. The opinion has been gaining ground - though admittedly not without contrary views - that Deuteronomic antecedents in the Northern Kingdom lie behind Hosea. presumably largely in an ul1\vritten form. 1
Die literarische Verwandtschaft Jeremias mit Hosea, 1930.
Chapter V: The \Vorcl as :\Icssage: Terms
82
IT. Negative Terms
If one asks in what kinds of circles the tradition was current, the possibility suggests itself that groups ar.e in.volved whic~ ~nclude both priestly and prophetic elements. JeremIah IS known dehmt(:ly to have been of priestly descent. That Hosea belonged to a pnestly family has long been suggested, th~)Ugh ~hat is h~rdly thaI~ a speculation. Hosea speaks of emmtv eXIstmg agamst hIm. III ~hc house of his God" (D ti), probably revealing a personal connectIOn wIth the sanctuary, even though its precise nature is not clear. The :!\sa~)h psalms reflect the work of cultic singers. I:'or De~ter?nomy and EzekIel a combination of priestly and prophetrc motrfs IS well known. In addition to prophetic and priestly elements, ho:vever, many of these works - excluding perhaps Jeremiah and especIally Ezeklel.-. re\'.eal a wisdom background. One may hypothesize that the dlstmctron between priest, prophet. and wise man was less .sharp in .the N o.rt~~rn Kingdom than it was in Judah ""here a defimte ~u~ctIO~al dIVISIOn is attested (Jer 1818)2, but one may also have to dlstmgmsh between priestly and royal types of \visdom. In any cas~, Hosea pres.upposes a complex tora tradition, related to Shechem, whIch pr~bably mvolves the still somewhat vaguely known levitical stream leadmg to the b~ok of Deuteronomy; this movement seems to have included a pervasIve element of moral wisdom, developed within the orbit of Yahweh religion. It was centered in the figure of Moses and in par~ expressed itself in covenant terms 3 . The whole movement, up to EzekIel, shall be called here the "levitic-deuteronomic tradition." A central document reflecting the northern tradition is Dtn 32, to which repeated reference will be made 4 . Though it~ date c0r:-tinues to be a heavilv debated issue, a considerable amount of ItS matenal can be reconstructed as belonging to the Northern Kingdom on the basis. of what is presupposed by Hosea. Its patt(:rn contin~ecl to playa major role in Samaritan religion until modern tlmes 5 . Its mfluence on Jud~an writings can be seen in Is], though not yet i.n an.y other (earlier) genuine words of that prophet6 , and pnhaps m :\11 12.. . Canaanite religious forms undoubtedlv created tensIOns ~n the Northern Kingdom, especially during the Omri (l\·nasty. It IS not
:nor:?
2 I lifkrl"ntly. \Volff :JllL 3 SeC' :\1. BllS';, Jnr. 8:! (1~h;;\), ;~8~ ,\:I~; VT ]I; (l!Ji:I,:, ;,11:). H,latcc! to it arc th<:
"co\"C'llant
I
sllit" and prob:\hl\' also Pro\" 1. which
SiL\fl"
.t
;
of negati",'s ("'f' indcx). . SC(' l'spe, ialh till I"in hymn for the dax of atuIWlll<'ll\ 1\ \kn;, ])er :\Il's,ms oller
6
'Lt<:I, ,kr ~;1I1J:
;·)f. JU,
1;),1'"
:!llf
I )('1111'f()11Illlll.IITll
TIl(' ~all);lJ"itat1 E:-;l Ilatc.dllg"\', J~I;{:l. 7~1
likely, however, that the official cult consciously deviated from exclusive Yahweh worship during the time of Hosea, though ostraca s~ow that many names given in the eighth century were compounded WIth Baal (probably as an epithet for YahwehF. It is thus perhaps somewhat too one-sided to see Hosea as a member of an opposition group which had to nurture Yahwistic faith outside of the official cult . ' but divisions and hostilities undoubtedly existed 8 .
IT. NEGATIVE TERMS
A. General Negative Terms Several groups of negative motifs transcend a distinction between accnsation and threat and may be treated first. The most prominent of these groups involves the theme of enmity. 1. Emnity
Hosea once exclaims, "Israel has rejected the good - the enemy will pursue him" (83). The enemy! One can hear a cry of anguish fro~ the lips of Israel. Enemies are a prominent feature in psalms of lament. There they appear to be a stylization for all the evils that threaten man, often identified with (invisible) accusers 9 . That the enemy "pursues" (~,.,) is standard terminologylo. ~ In the socio-political realm, from a certain ideological perspective, "stranger" and "enemy" are virtually synonymous terms. Hosea accordingly speaks of the "strangers" that devour Israel's strength (79 87), in words related to a similar usage clsewhere l l .
7
\V. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, 1942, lIJOf.; Y. Kaufmann op. cit. 138.
8
Wolff designated Hosea's circle as a "prophetic-Levitic community of opposition" (TL 81 [HJ56], 85-(4).
9
G. \Videngren similarly regards enemies as mythical repr"sl'ntations covering different types of evil (Radin-Festschrift, 1960, 480£.). For mythical accusers in Egypt and later Judaism, see G. Roeder, Urkunden zur Religion des alten Agypten, 1923, 46 ff.; C. Sehedl, Biblica 43 (l962), 170.
10
Dtn 307 II Sam 2413 Am I l l , often in laments. Enemies arc sometimes simply called "pursuers" (Gunkel-Degrieh 196; ANET 384). Pestilence, fever, and drought (Dtn 2822). curses (Dtn 2845), "blood" (Ez 3;"j G), and "evil," i. c., misfortune (Prov 1321), can "pursue."
11
Especially close arc Prov ,j 10 Is 17. See, further, P. Humbert, Opuscules d'un hebraisant, 1958, 112-115; L. Snijders, OS 10 (1954), 1-154.
111ll('11 of its phraseolog\'
with Hos,,<\ Tht, lllaj(J[ sirnilaritlc,s with Host.:a lie in v.
~;) :~7-:~\f. and in thL'
und
!ll.;,;tla,
USf'
18R(P, :~Bl;
83
6*
11. Negative Terms
84
Psalms of lament often describe enemIes as laying traps; also in u other contexts evil is symbolized by this figure of speech . In G n., H 13 Yahweh accuses the Israelites of ha\'ing become a "snare ," a "net ," and a"piP5," .Hosea describes the Israelites as seeking to snare him. the prophet (9 ti), Yahweh threatens to be a trapping iron himself (as in Is 1) 14), or to throw his net o\'er IsraeP6, It is indeed common, not only in the Old Testament but also elsewhere, to picture deity a,; coming' with a net 17 ; it occurs in a threat against a foreign city 1)\ a :\Iari prophet1 8 , Another symbolic presentation of enmity speaks of wild animals, especially the lion, for \vhich Hebrewhassevcral different words. In two passages, Hosea has Yahweh announce himself as destructi \'e animals: onCl' as a moth and a lion (i') 1:!-15) and then as a lion, leopard, and bear (L\ 7f.). The leopard or the bear arc often mentioned together with the 19 lion in Old Testament literature, for the sake of parallelism . In typical language, a lion "rends" (~i~) and a bear "encounters" (tV~o) its object in a hostile fashion~o. "Lion" is a favorite expression for the cnemy in psalm language and proph ecy 2l. Just as a \lesopotamian or Egyptian king or deity can
1" 1. SdlCfte!owitz, Das ::;chlingcn- ntHl :\clzlIlotiv im Cbuben und Brauch dcr V6Ik,'r
1!)!~; :\1. Eliadc. Images ct S\·mboks. I!);):;, eh. TI[; E. 1\:""s, Ag\'ptcn, 1il:33, :;Ii, J. Zand,'" op. cit. ~~I;- ~:\l; \\'. \\\I("l1llcr. The i\lealling o[ "Fishers of "len"', 1!)1)~
1~
,:) - 1:31. n~ ,an mean anything threal<'niag. Joll IS (I :;:; lOPS (,il23 Is ~.+ 17f. J "r 4S 4'\: The verb nno is 11s('d si",il:lrl\- ill Is ·t:! ~~. as \\ell as tlw familv tVP'/tVP] (I [os!) s; l"\'P.'":1.. Cf., in addition to 1'0001ms. EI I!l, .Ioh IF:~ Prov :;!)5. Outside 1[os('a. l:l'":1.t::t,
15
Mi 72 Hab 115-17 EI :3:! 'J. T1DW. Cf. psalms antI Ez !!J
13
1 ,
I'ro"
~I;2'.
Fnrtlwr sVllonyms (i1Q'W,
i11~:::;7:1·
be described as a roaring lion going out for battlc 22 , so also an Israelite ki~g2:J and, esp?cially, ,Yah\~eh hin~self~4, The lion, in fact, has long been employed 111 the. ~ear East (as 111 many other areas) as a pervasive symbol for destructIve and hostile forces 25 . The stylization of the enemy as a lion is so strong that Yahweh can even 'accuse Israel of be111g "a lion" toward him (]er 12 8). The lion image has a certain, though subtle, connection with sexuality, expressing - generally negatively - the strongly emotional struggle between life and death 26 . In such a way, it relates closely to Hosea's message. But it is clear that Hosea did not create the lio~1 sym?ol; rC):resentations of lions, indeed, were prominent in the Samaria of hIS day~i, , A characteristic expression connected with the picture of a lion ~: th~~ phrase "there is, none to deliver." Indeed, the entire phrase I WIll rel~d, and there IS none to deliver" of Hos 5 14 also appears in the Asaphlte Ps 50 ~~. It occurs elsewhere in slightly varying forms 28 , In Dtn 3230, the phrase occurs again in a context which also has other simila~ities with Hos b 13--G ~29, evidently reflecting a liturgical form on wlu:h J:Iosea depends, In Ncar Eastern religion generally, divine power IS VIewed as irresistible in its wrath 30 .
22
o
.3
24
1Ios' ;'J ~ , 12. Th" won] iQ,b. ;I~. SI'('nh to \,,' ,,,nne"~ led \lith the root iCN-"O' "(0 bind," which may' appear ill '12 til III. II is )tl'1 possible thelt the' motif 01 "llindill.~·) fl'flel't:"l thl> ritual <'f(,tt('rin~" ill" dl'1l1111l;1 el1 ,'lllic:-; by a :\lesnpot'lll1ial ' ...;,oncfl'f, as alsu in tiH· Christian text (lisctl:":'~l'li ill ~ Luringl'r, "l)as ?'\etz Salonlfh,'
26
l
ZS Ii (1~1:!:-:1, ,Ij 17
I111I I~:-:
I!J!I. :\IHI:31~
Fl. 1:! l:~ 1,~" :\:! 3 I.am I [;1. :\1. \;arbridg', "'1"d;," III Hibli"t! anl\ Semili<- S"ll' 1,,>li"111. !!I~;I. 11:'1: E. \'an Bun'll, SYlllbob (If tl\l' {;",b in "!"'-;"]Hltamian Art. 1!1\:, 111 J-". lI"r"t, Ill\' z\I'olf kkilwn l'rophdt'l\ 1!1:\~ I"~ \~ET 11'" etc.; Falken q(.ill .. ~(,d('ll 1\\7 1;1;2. ~:)o. ;~;)3, .\ Falkl'n~1.,.. lI1 :-:-1l1111'l'i-.;( 11(' l;i)ttcrHl'dl_'r, [ 1~1;)~1 ~II; \1 1!lIill \ I ,I; .\l.(aiIlSl his oWIl 1"'(>\-,1,·: H \l<-i"ll<'I "1' 'll ~I; (ab"\'e, p. '+1';)
J9
"1
2IJ
t'),tj
I'
" "''', IlIl,
11\
j __ 111'!"IL" (,jl~'!l \l:,c·d ill d lig-lIl .. l t i \ , :->l'ih'
i1~!~ lfl II
i'!;l:p "I'd
~'~7
,til,' LII1<"1 1\1'" ,tll\
'\',tl~\\l,l, ,tnt! ll"':';l~(' ill
"hell 'III
fill"
1)1"1\\ '.!:--.
,I,,,
dangl'f
1.-,
l'''t,,11.1 "",dl. 1'''1'
(II" ',\11
,ljW,
,f
Falkenstein-Sockn 107. 12G. 131; ANET 381. 384; H. Grapow, Die bildlichen Ausclriickc des Agyptischen, l~):;t 70-,2; U. Schweitzer, Lowe und Sphinx im alten Agypten, 1!J±S, 18--21. 51; A. Falkenstein op. cit. I 110. 120. 1231.; II 7G. Prov H1I2 :;02 ~815. For officials: Ez 2225 Zeph :33. For a nation or tribe: Dtll B3 ~o 1\1i 57 Ez l~) 1-9. Is BI + :3813 Jer :;538 4919 Lam 310 Job 1016. 1-le is often described as "roaring"' (Hos 1110 Am 12 Job 374, etc.). texts, carvings, etc. See J\f. \Vitzcl, Der Drachenka,mpfer Ninib, lil20, 147. I dJ. 1 illf. 2U; E. Van Burell, The Fauna of Ancient Mesopotamia as Represented III "Art, l!)il~), 3-7; II. Bonnet, Reallexikon der agyptischen Religion~geschichte, lil;):;, ,l~8f.; E. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the l~reeo-Roman Period Vll 1958, 37-8G; B. Goff, Symbols of Prehistoric Mesopotamia, lUG:3, Gilf.; etc. ' One of Its major connectwns (though not to be exaggerated) is with 1shtar; d, Hempel, Apoxysmata, 18f. Some overt association with fertility appears in Egypt; d. G~,odenough op. cit, V11 49 f. 77 f. See further the data and theory of A. Moortgat. 1ammuz, 1il·ln; also, H. J. Kantor, J~ES 21 (lnc~). !J:3--1l7, with an image of naked women Ol\ ]jon heads. J. and G, Crowfo()t, Early Ivories from Samaria, 19i\b, 22-25; A. Parrot, Samaria, 1il,,)8, G7. i7f.
25 S~ ~in
T1'1jlP~) occur outside' lOf H"sea. 16
85
27
28
P s ~(3 ."1"1
I ' s.J
2~. \\ ..Ithont
the verb "to rend," but in connection with a wile! . animal: Dan 8ol. 7. Further, of Yahweh: Dtn 3~39 Is 4313 Job 10 •. 29 Including the douhle ''1'' as in Hos 5 Iol. (See also Hos IB 4.) 30 A:Haldar,. Studies ill the Book of ~ahum, 1il47. 104f.; \V. Lambert, Babylonian \\lsdoJ11 Lltcmturc. l!JGO, 201 (d. 188), in connection with a lion figure. ;) 7
87
ChaplC'r Y: The \\'onl ;lS Message: Terms
II. Negative Terms
The word "moth" appears in the Old Testament only as a ~echnical expression for destructin: enmity 31. According to Ps 39 12, for mstance, God consumes "like a moth," as in Hos f) 12. Israel's evil is enmity, so much so that Yahweh can accuse the people in these words, "They devise l'\il agains.t me" (7.15) ;" tlllS follows a phraseology typically employed to descnbed en~mlCs3" ~nd closely parallels a prophecy accusing Nineveh of plottmg agal~st Yah\;eh (N ah Ill). Like enemies in the psalms, Israel "speaks ~les against me" (7 13; cf. Ps 57 58l) and "has surrou~ded me," usmg "falsehood" as its weaponry' (121)3:':. Yahweh, for IllS p~rt, also ~cts as an enen1\'. as is explicitly stated c1sewhere 31 . In Hosea s symbohsm it is quite ~lcar that God and the people arc enemies.
that Israel has forgotten its maker, resembles Dtn 32 18 and Is 5113. The forgetting of God by man is a theme characteristic particularly of the levitic-deuteronomic tradition and of psalms allied to it 38 . Separation in a family situation may express itself in divorce. It has been suggested that a divorce formula lies behind the phrase, "She is not my wife and I am not her husband" (Hos 24)39. The matter, hO\vever, is more complicated. If Yahweh were divorcing Israel in an ordinary fashion, he would be required to bestow on her a proper financial settlement and explicitly renounce all future claim on her. As a matter of fact, Hos 2 4ff. is designed to elaborate the opposite of this situation. It justifies and announces Yahweh's withdrawal of support, to which a marriage contract ordinarily obligates a husband unless the woman commits adultery, \vith the specific aim of motivating Israel's return. Rather than instituting divorce, Yahweh is making public the fact that no proper marriage exists and engages in a judicial procedure designed to win her through discipline. The formula quoted has no precise parallel in Israelite, Jewish, or Near Eastern divorce terminology, but is rather a negated marriage formula, intended here primarily as an accusation. Near Eastern divorce documents use the positively worded formula, "I divorce (repUdiate, hate, etc.) you (or, her)," together with an appropriate renunciation and settlement 4o . The typical marriage formula states that "You are (or, she is) my wife," occasionally with the addition, "I am her husband," or similarly41. A negated form of the marriage formula occurs in an Old Sumerian law and in Old Babylonian marriage contracts 42 , which provide generally as follows. If a man says to his wife, "you are not my wife," he must forfeit a sum; and if a wife says to her husband, "you are not my husband," she is to be thrown into a river, cast from a tower, or stripped naked. It is clear especially in the
86
2. Separation and Negation Hos 4, li has Yalnveh say to the priest, "Since you have rejected the 'knowledge,' I will reject you from being priest to me." Numerous parallels speak of a rejection of God and his word by man or of a rejection of man by God35. . Psalms of lament complam that Yahweh forgets, fOlsakes, dn,es out, and casts off the one who is praying 36 . Each of these words occurs in Hosea for either man's or God's action, or for both (46.10 8~. 5.14 915 ];j .Hi). The statement that Israel lifted uP. its heart when It \vas satisfied and thus forgot God its Savi(~r ~13 4-li) lS close~~ parallel:d ~y Dtn f' I1-lli and other passages 37 . The simllar word of Hos 014 (genume . ), T
31 .-\
_.
_.
_.
,
_
moth is ,dso H1entiullc'd in the Ar.llnaic curse reported by J. Fitzmycr, J AOS 1'1 18:'J. The translation "pus" does not have adequate support in Arabic.
(1 ~)(;1).
besides iglloring the symbolism.
.,
3~ 1's 354 H" 1403 Gen ;)0211 Jer 41'2 Zech 711J 817 Neh G2. For Yahweh: Jer 21>" :~Ii 3. Similar phras('s are fOtllH[ ill l's n 12 3:> 2/J 31;;, ;,23. ::3 For the correct usage of
3'
::1::10, e. g., l's 22
13
10!) :1, In Has 7 2 the evil deeds simi\arl\
"surround" Israel. See abo p. 102. Jer 3[111 (with a l'ontc"t strong-ly reminiscellt ()[ flus ;,J:I) I.e" 21;·101. Lam 2! Is G310 inclirectk elst,where (e. g- .• Is }; 14 Job 1:\ ~1: Cf S. Mowim'kcl, Psalm('" . 'II , 1")"')' 001) "',(1_'>')'), :-. t lit j ten ; --, :)'-).. -' - ..... - .I'' Volz , )):" I "nH,ni" he in .Jalnl'l', 1~J2.j. I. \. \Yl'l:-'t'r, l)lP IJrnpht·tie des A1l10S. IH~~!, 1:), II l'rt·dfl!u':-;()ll, Jahwc als J,riegl_T
38
39
40
Die jUdische Ehescheidung, II 1912, 1-!--40; C. Gordon, ZA 43 (lU3G). 1G2; E. Neufeld, Ancient Hebrew l\brriage Laws, 1~144. IHOf.; ,\. Falkenstein, Neusumerische Gericht~urknnden, I 1 ~';)I), 10. [: 1'. l'estIllan, l\Iarriag'e and Matrimonial Property in ,\ncient Egypt, 1~'I;l. rib-I:!. TIl<' only exception is a meclie\'
lHI:,
3',
lIel,r,'" O~1;). ~Ial1 rejl".ts (;od (~Ulll 11 2() .IE I Solll) 87 10 1~)). ~hl\ reje"!' (;"d', I""j II, :)21 Jl'1' f;I" Am ~<\). word (I Sam 1',2k ,·t, I J1\dgmL'l~t, (1-,,\' 2(j,:: I \ll1;)~11~:11111;),?~11;~ t.te.). ;11)(i SI;t11111''''; III h.illg·~ J, );-" etl ). {.lll n')!.'1 t:-- Ill
Jer 3C 3'
~:;'7 ~ '.2',1 1·11\l ;)1 ;~'; :'t~'11 "!t\ P:-:. ;1:~li "(H:/.1 1',7 :--:~I:~i.l)
Jl 1~.:2 iltn Ii I~ :;:: I', I' \\llh"\lt til" 1\,,,ti( "f ("lllll',' I's I'II;::I I, ,. I" TIll.' C!l11'h~'I' i~ ()ttl'll I ' l l ' \ ( H l l ' ',r "lllC.'ir·· (;"d will.' i:-> flll"g'c111"1l (Il,)..;, 1:~ 11)111 Sl\l Judg :):
(;t1nl\~·I-HI'\.!ri~
1
~;lIJI
1~ 'I
.11'1'
:~ ~I
,,1,
'.
Ps 4421 5022 787.]] 1032 1 OG 13. 21 and often in 1's 119. (These are clergy psalms or late.) So, in an unhappy phraseology, C. T"uhl, ZA \V 52 (1934). 102·-109, while his analysis is not actually incorrect. Hos 29 may imply a divorce, but is not an original part of the chapter. So in Sumerian. Akkadian. ~nzi, Aramaic, Egyptian. and Jewish forms: L. Blan,
H
42
A, "an Selms, Die Formule "Yy is lIl~- . . . ; ek is jon ... ", Hervormde Teo!ogil'<e Studies ]4 (1%9), 130-1.10; W. Edgerton, ~otes on Egyptian Marriage. 1a31, 1. 1'sp('(;ally, l\I. Sell..,rr up. lit.
11.
Chapter V: The \Vonl as :\ll's,age: Terms
88
latter case that the negative expression is not itself a legal divorce form but a prelegal or extralegal expression of repudiation, indicating a desire for separation or a refusal to comply with the relationship, an expression which can lead to judicial action. In Hammurabi's code (§§ 142f.) a repudiation by the wife in the form, "you may not have me," leads to a legal process ending either in a divorce, if the husband has unjustly disparaged her, or in a punishment for the woman. 'Marriage contracts in the Near East (especially in Egypt) specificll that the husband furnish his wife with certain, sometimes carefully stipulated, amounts of food, clothing and personal supplics 43 . Yahweh announces that he will withdraw these marital provisions, especially since the land has improperly credited her lovers with having given them to her as hire; he will apply the sanction of nakedness, appropriate for unfaithful wives44 • (But the promise of 2 16-:l:l holds out gifts after "speaking kindly" to the woman, in order to avoid divorce 45 .) The children become involved in the proceeding since their status and welfare are threatE'l1ed; Yahweh takes them to be illegitimate offspring (2 (j), so that any eviction and non-support that is meted out to her applies to them, too. It is thus in their interest to settle the matter. Somewhat sharper divorce terminology is used elsewhere. Among the Hebrew words for divorce is tthl, "to drive out;" a common term for the sexual or personal revulsion leading to a separation is ~1jz;, "to hate46." These two words occur together in Hos 9 15. The passage Hos 910-17 is indeed generally pervaded with sexual terminology, including rderences to birth and conception; the verb O~~ in its final announcement (v. 17) can denote the rejection of a, wife, as in Is 54 n. Allied to divorce is disinheritance or the reversal of an adoption. Old Sumerian and Babylonian legal text,: present formulas for repudiation "vou are not mv son" or "\'OU an' not mv father," which are pl1nish~ble, except fo~ serious cause after an elal;oratc legal proces,;47, The "not" of these formulas has probably influenced or colored the fatdul names "~ot-mv-peopl('''and ":\ot-Pitied," and the declaration, "\'OU an' not my people and (thus~) I will not be fur you" (10), Tlll's(' usages of the word "not," hO\\'evcr, belong, to a special tr~tdition of nl'gati\'(' expression, Dtn :L~, to which Hosea is related, speaks ot' Israel as "not his children" (v, OJ), "!lot wise" (v. 6, simil~1.rly
41 I,
II", ]ewisil \larriage Contra't,
1\1::" ~,:)I
' I )llfl', HZ ::3
B. Terms
I~
,\I1'ead\ J 1;1;111 "I' ,;1 I II' ::1 ~7'I.I);:I\·itll)jl \d,\P\\(ltlllll,t1tb;d.\,lcotli . . . ,IH'tlH,·,I\f,1~1:2~,\';lJ1....:.1·1111~{)JL,'it.1Blff.; (_' i I
~ ~
11 i.-': t
8()
0/
Threat and Destruction
1. Judicial Controversy (rib) "Hear the word of Yahweh, children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with those that dwell upon the earth" (Hos 41). With these words Hosea opens an oracle. In Hos 123, again he announces that "Yall\,,-eh has a controversy with Israel." No elaboration of the detaIls of the controversy are given; the style appears to be a technical one known to the audience. In 41-3, in fact, Hosea seems to reflect the words of his contemporaries. That passage contains a number of elements not found elsewhere in Hosea's oracles - the expression "word of Ya~weh," a form~l catalogue of sins in v. :), and the description of the suffer~ng of nature m. v. 3. In v. 4, Hosea appears to reject a judicial speakmg by the culhc leadership on the ground that it itself is no ?etter than the people and is indeed responsible for the conditions III the land (4. 4-S). Hos 4 ~ -3 evidently represents a pattern of cultic word current III Hosea's hme, which is also reflected in :VIi 752 . I~ is one.o~ the fundamental convictions of Near Eastern, including IsraelIte, relIgIOn that suffering is due to divine wrath, presumably
(1935;%),
1~,;) 1~", 1-: I.,)( ld.', k.'ns, Ag\'pl isdle Eh','\'"rt 1';1,[(',' 1!ILII (', (;"1',["" !,\\\:,j (1!1:1Iil, ~jj ::1'11: H, <:ordh "I' ,II ::"1 I,d"",,',!,, 0,), Sc',' .1 ,)(1[( 1(1:, «lid Ii I'at"i, 1:'WlIh', J,o,,' ,end til,: liil,l, 1(11;11, III~)
Terms
v: 28): "children which are not faithful" (v. :lO), serving what is "not(.Jod (v. 17, :l1!, so that God will provoke them with a "not-people" (:,. :l1),~8: In a smlllar style, the goddess Inanna refuses her temple and Clty,: My hous~ you are not (any longer) , , ,. :VIy city you arc not. , .. I" wJl~, not (agam) (h~ell there ... "49. The words 1'~ ("no") and ~I;l ( not ). occur often m Hosea for threats and accusations and for a lamentmg note that ,Israel is not wise (4 H 7 11 1;3 13) and docs not know what IS happemng to it (210 72. n); the laments are comparable to the wisdom aspect of Dtn :l2 50 . . The sharpest form of negativity lies in the fact that its sins have so fIrmly s?parate~ Israel from Yahweh that they will not let it truly return (04); a ntual search for him will come to naught, since Yahweh has "pulled off" (rl;ln, 56). This search is related to a theme of vain love seeking in Cant 3 If. 56 (d. Hos 2 n) and perhaps to a cultic theme of a departed God 5l .
48
43 l. Elb1' ill
~egati\'e
49 50
The rcpcateu lise of "not" "as in brge , !)art recognizell 1,\· (). E'C>f ,1,., cI( It,] )as Liec! Moses, 1958, if. ' Falkenstein-Soden ISH. ,1-
The phrase O~O }:7 occurs only in Bos 1:3 J.~ and Dtn ,3:2 ,j; for ~ ~ 1'~, d. til,· 51 somewhat softer ~? '1;i!1. common in Pro\-crbs, and 1:~ ~~ in Prov 1, HI. s. H. G.C\lay. ,\]SL 48 (1931/:-3::1. 7i. sa; E. Jacob, RH!'R 4'3 (10G3), :25,')f. - B . Reich • HTR l'0 (1'l(j-) )" I • .., ,,'y"I. - ..,,h,-I, regards thiS, .. h~ptC'r as basiealh' NorthIsraelite. S<,c especially v. I-C, 9.15 for comparison with Hos ,11'30 fl 1:210" etc.
Chapter V: The \Vonl as ;\lessage: Terms
II. Negative Terms
for some SIl1 howeyer superficially it might be viewed. A common pattern for fast days, then, was to express penitence through various rites and to offer sacrifices. Sin-offerings - undoubtedly old in SyriaPalestine53 - had a particular connection with the priests, who deriyed a large part of their support from them either in the form of money or in the form of meat from animal sin-offerings, which were eaten b,,' the priests rather than by the laymen54. The priests thus had a Yested interest in pointing out sinfulness, thereby encouraging sacrifices. Hosea accuses them of "lifting their appetite" toward Israc:1's guilt, i. c., of deriying satisfaction from Israel's sin (48). They have interest, Hosea says, not in preventing evil but in profiting from it. They have rejected the tora of instruction (40) in favor of an apparatus of expiation. The priest did not necessarily engage in denunciatory speech himself; a cult prophet - or an", accusing prophet, who would thus earn. at least proYisionally, the approval of the priest - can properly be the one to speak those words. The Hittite king :.\clursilis prays in a confession during a plague that the gods would reyeal the offending sin through prophet, priest, or vision 55 . Already in primitive society, an ecstatic prophet could ha\"(: a part in a regular ritual in order to lay bare eyils from which the hearers would then purge themsclves 56 . In Has ~ 1-3, the phrase "word of Cod" may hint at prophetic speech. The (cult-)prophet is indeed mentioned together with the priest in the threat that follows (4 ;;). The description of natural disaster in Has 43 has numerous parallels. "'Yfourning" and "withering" arc hvo terms which often appear together, both in laments and in annonncemcnts'7. The words indicate clearly a condition of drought. as it is sometimes expressly stated58; each of them is etymologically connected with a stem that means both "to dry up" and "to mourn," a dualih' finding ritual expression in the Tammuz cult,9. The disaster strikes "all that dwell upon the earth (or,
in the land)," including the beasts, the birds, and the fishes, according to a description typical of similar contexts 60 . The phrase "people as priest" (4 \)) seems to be part of a description of universal catastrophe 61 , though now ironically used by Hosea as a threat. The condition of chaos thus described is a result of the fearful appearance and wrath of God, as evident in many Old Testament passages 62 as well as in Tammuz liturgies63 , Mesopot"amian liturgies in calamity include powerful descriptions of the fearful "v,rord" (d. Hos 4 1). causing the earth to shudder and devastating field and herd 64 . A counterpart to Yahweh's controversy is a "contending" (or "arguing") by the people with Yahweh in their distress. Such complaints (and the general theme of a rib) are a common phenomenon of Israelite and :Mesopotamian religious literature, in both individual and communal form. Elaborating the style of individual laments, Job engages in a controversy (rib) \vith GOd 65 . In Jer 22\), God refers to Israel's contending (rib), evidently in response to a collective lament. Hos 44 can refer to such a human contention, though the context speaks against it. According to Hos 82, Israel "cries"66 to God, basing its appeal on the fact that Yahweh is its God: ":.\cly God, we, Israel, know thee!" The singular possessive pronoun in this address should not be emended, since the phrase "my God" is typical of Near Eastern laments and prayers 67 , including Israelite prayers of a collectivity mediated through a leader 68 . In fact, the expression "my God" becomes a stereotyped term for Yahweh, like the better-known "(my) Lord" ('n~), particularly on the lips of a professional such as a prophet like Hosea 69 • The exclamation of 82 probably was presented by a cultic
90
60
;,(f:.!f.; rL Dussatld. Lt.'s (Jrig-jw':"; c<111anl'·(·llnl''-' dll ;.;acrificL'" israelite, In21. tt,~ts:.?;). ~I.
l"g;u-itic
J\in~s
11
51 \Icln,_'V:
1~ 17
1.1'\'
\1I,'r,,!>,' "1,,'ar" I "ra"]'" gllilt
,,' \:-;' rei
;W)
l;)f. :!If.
(I.",
\!r·:tt
:"lll11 ;) 7f
\\'h('r,'· ,In That "in
I
I {I '( \
I
~().
J
:;~
1:.'1.11
tI\l"'('-':'
I h!ddl"
1~q,,,,,
El. 22 7 Cf.; prit':-it~
:.';)]11
(lall\\'\\\"I, I"
:l~/',
,1,'1'
1-; l!i, :.'·\~,7, '?:IN ,-j", , !'" (threats), ,\m I ~
l'lIl\!I'
I~,
\II\~'
~,,~~ i·L~I·\\·h\'n·: Jr-r 1.-)~) (l:!n:l'Jll 1, \";1]1 t·1 1~I'lll'r;d)
(gl..'nvfill)
,-):1
,;
;,!lii
"j S('l':-'1. H\I''', .1nl, :;:.> (I!l!ili, ;l:.>1. :,7 l.al11('lIt" , I,'r 1·12 J,wl 1111,12 Lalll:2- I, :;"','
:l'\
],1'\"
llll~)
1~I:\~j
dfl)Il~Itt'
:.!Ilf
>1 Idlt"
III
,qntilllH':';' ;\:'
an inq)(lrt;\J11 111\'\)1!\ in Ldr'r .JudaisH) (]\, l\\t:li
Am 95
Jer 114 G 12
720 2530 Zeph 1 2f. (with the verb t'JDN as in Has 43)
6e E. g., Am 12 8 R 9:) Nah 1 4. 63 lialdar, Stu,lies in the Book of Nahum. 104. 01'. cit. 111 f.; 0, Grether, Name und \Vort Gottes im Alten Testament, i934,1-1.0-14:3 65Joh fl3 102 (for Yahweh) 1;36 402. Even the verb n:l' can be used for human arguing with God (Job 1i3 3,15).
S, Langdon
66 j'37T: IIns 714 82. The word is common as a synonym for "howl" (c. g., fs 1431) ;'nd, especially, as an expression for calling t() Cod in trouble (c. g .. Judg 10 H). 6? For Babylonian and other tra,litions: W, Rauclissin, Eyrios, III 19:.'9.561 ff.; the term e"l'n becomes "l'rst:urt" (;,1;(;). For Egvpti
ClI111<el-Degrich 122: p, de Doer, De Voorbl'de in het Ouele Test
a
:!1~~tJ
1111' HII\lI.; ,·f ~;tflllJ)l. -'::1.
3
Po :n II Joel I 2. J[ Is 241. 5 2G 21, etc. H CL Is 242 Joel I Drr. (in late attestations),
M
£)3 .\~ET
fins!!.
91
:lIl!!
.\
1\~I!q hlld,
Jeh.'l Stndif.'~
6)
Chapter V: The \Vonl as !\lcssage: Terms
11. C\egative Terms
liturgist representing a chiding plea to God on the basis of Israel',; acquaintance with him. Similarlv, in their "distress" (a co.mmon tl111e for turning to GucPO) the ISlaehte~ arc eXlwcted to seek (Jod, accordinu to Has :) 15, and to usc \\'ords that include once more a reference to "knowinu" God (li 3) as a technical tl'rm for a good relationship. Clos~h' related to "controversy" is the term "judgment," which appears m~)re than onc(:'1. One element of juclicial process is the recognition of a trespass. Yahweh declares that he "knows" Ephraim; Israel is "not hid" from him (Hos:J 3). Similar statements occur elsevyhere. n Thus Yah\ych "\\'ill remember their guilt and visit their sins (Hos S]3 90). "H.emembering" -- better, "havin~ in mind" or "tak.ing account of" - is threatened also in Has 7:J, be1l1g OftL~J1 a tcchmcal cultic or forensic term 73 . Thus Ps (+:.':) cries out, "Arise, God, plead your causc, remember the reproaches of the impious against thee'" The threat of "visitation" is brought in Hos 40 and 123, connected with the announcement of a controversy, a" well as in 1 -1- 21;'. Threats of a visiting frequently appear a" part of a form with. two par<~IIcJ parts 7 .1 , as just cited. .\ "returning" of Israel's sin appears 111 parallelism both with visitation (4 \1 123) and with the synonym "leaving" (12 1;'). The returning of deeds expresses an intimate tie between offense and punishment7 5 . The term "to be guilty" or "to snffcr in guilt" (ClV~) belongs to cultic law 7H . Hosea cmplov,; it fur the state of the offense (41 0) 1:\ 1) and especially for tlw n:snltant calamity (;-)]5 10:) HI).
:2. "The Day oj Yall'l£'cll" and Terms jor Tt'ar and Destruction
92
\Vithout suifix tht'
A large complex of motifs is represented by "the dav of Yahweh," designating a terrifying appearance of Yah\~eh in vi~tory over his enemies". The Babylonian fire god had a similar "day," as is revealed in the prayer of a sick man: I call to you as to Sllamash the judge, Judge my case, render my decision [cf. 1'5351. 23 lID 15+ O,-ercome the sorn'rer and the witch. De\our my enemies, tear my wicked [i. e., hostile] ones, :'11,1\' your fearful day O\'ertakc' them".
It is typical of prophetic announcements that the "day" is declared to be near, to have "corne 79 ." Hosea accordinrrlv announces b "The days of visitation have corne, the davs of 'fulfillment' have come" (n , ). "Yet a little while" (1 +) is a ch;racteristic expression in warnings of the punishment of evil80 . -.J
The phrase "the dav of visitation" is a YeTV common one in proph ccy 81, and "the tim(~ of (judicial) 'fulfillment';' is also mentioned twice outside of Hosea8~. The "day of reproof" announced in Hos 59 is similarly predicted else\vhere 83 . The semi-technicaI8'1 term "in that day" introduces Hos 2]s and :!3 (probably not genuine). Even the phra,;e "many days" (3 3f.) is not chosen arbitrarily, as it appears also on the i\Toabitc stone and in Ez ;JS s and Is 24 :.':J, in each case as a cle,;ignation for a time of disaster. 77
I n the Llld Testamcnt, as else\vhere in tlie Xear East, the "day" is described as one of darkness and horror. The opposite view is based on a misunderstanding of .\rn 5 j,'-20, wherein ,\mos reminds the hearcTs of the character of the clay; d. ZL'ph 115 Joel 22, etc. Sec, L. Cerny, The Day of Yahweh and Some Eclevant l'rublcms, H)·JB, passim (e'peciallv .\ppenclix J). A. Haldar, Studies in the Dook o( ;\ahum, 110, refers to the dark "day" of Tammuz.
78
:'ILtqJu 1, 107-121; similarly, If, 114----121. (:\Ientiolled by G. Holscher, Die Crspninge clcr jiidischen Eschatologie, 192;'), 13, but not bv M. Weiss, IH;C\ 37 ~l~jGGJ, :!D-GU.)
nCCllr~ in I losea. only in i'ornpol1t1(l phrases and as a gen-
tLTlll
eral designation of "(kit\" n'pC<',,'ntt'd I,,· an angel: 4] 6 (\ 12 ~
'" '~; d. l's If' 7J
7 1(17 II, ct< o;illltl"r1v :1l~ G 5 10 ·t. Ci. '\Ial ::\5 alllt 1';\r"II"I, \\ it h "/11 in the Psalms and elsewhere (Clink,,), ZS :! [1!1:!:1/:!11, I:-,:!)
Hos :-,
1. 11
'" Yahweh "kl1o\\':" Is 2~']5 Jer :!~'~:(1":\11 \Ill :,]~ .\,,], 1111 l j
.1 t'T 11;
Sin, arc "not hid'"
I J~ l;~ It', I J\.ing-~ 171~ Ez :?l ~ . . . f. :!~t Iti Ps j'~,,, 1(1:1 \~ 1:-)1 j, et, Un till' \\'qrcl, ~t't' ~(ht)ttnlff, "C/"d('n).\yn" illl .\ltcll I )1"1'.'111 lind 11"n :\ltvn Tl~stalnL'nt. l!H)-l I -;-
7J :"U111 ;-) ];) n(l\\"
\\'
and C ])ri\("
7l
H\'!l1l'lnhITing and
I;(lr;..(·tlilll~ 111 tIlt, ()ld
1~Il):! 1,1I1:1])1;lri/,'<\ in Il\ :!:I I !II;;I" :!liil7) ~~(), IIi)" ~(., k 1:\ q~1 1'2:1 Is t:~ 'f :!(i:,?l .'IeI' \}s .l..:,q:Li 1.:11)) .1~'2
(I:~ :!li~1 alldl,aln ,t1:!
,;',j
lld\!
~ .... Illl>
1],rllTI/\\·(,d
71;
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1:1,,,,<\" "r ""pro;l"" III;..:'"'
:!
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:
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80
:p
in H", 121.-,
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;li
think that the evil day is lar away") Is 81 (i\Iahershalal-hashbaz). This group of ex pressions is basically threatening. ]f it served originally as a cry in battles (G. von l
1'rl l111 11l)~C'a.·')
para\ll'l;
sh'rJl ;t/lpl':lr .... jn ]l():-; 7) : 701 E, g:, ill ,l'w \1 . . :lll1h ()Ilt-n tlli:--
Iso
Dtn 3:!30 Is l.'lG Ez 303 Joel 11" 21 4u Ob 15 Zeph 17.u. ~~: Is130 Ez 72. G1. 12 2130. 3el 398 Joel 2 l\rn 82 :\Ii 7 ~ Lam 41'. Cf. Am G 3 ("you who
'":lhR-:
It·~t:L~ncnt, Dj~:-:. l"nion,
11111<)\'('1":1-..;
lordin~ to Pro\'
,
I, 1025 Jer 5133 Hag 2 (a
81
n~orc
G
Ps 37
1<.1.
Hopefully: Is 2917. Tn Jon 3l: "Yet forty days"
specific short t1lne).
;'1K9 ci' or similarly; sec W oJt( 201 and also Is 2421.
8~ C1l;l~ ci':
Cf. Is 34" Dtn 32:):; (probabh·).
cr.
83
;'O;;l1h C1-: Is 37 3.
81
See S. ?>Iowinckel, Korsk 1'1' .')9 (1!);j8), 52.
Ps 14D
7.
-
95
Chapter V: The \Vonl as Message: Terms
II. Negative Terms
\Var is an important element in the religious tradition of Israel and one with which prophecy is closely connected 85 ; for all ancient war was basically "holy" (even though kings could also employ "wisdom"). Hosea, just like Amos, expects a "day of war 86 ." Yahweh, the God of "hosts," speaks (12 G). Trumpet sound is to be raised, according to an alarm typical of prophetic war songs and descriptions of enemies 87 . By the "sword," the Israelites will "fa1l88 ;" it will "devour (them)89." Yahweh's threatening sword can be either his own, or one which he "sends90 ;" in Hosea it is the latter. In the probably secondary 8 ]4, Yahweh threatens to send into the cities "devouring" fire, a standard form of divine weaponry,91. One of the few instances in which divine speech seems to include a specific threat is the announcement that peoples will be "gathered" against Israel (Hos 1010). Though more concrete than most other sayings on the lips of Yahweh, this word is nevertheless a highly stylized one. The gathering of peoples is a standard motif in announcements of Yahweh's victory9~. The enemies assemble themselves in attack, only to be defeated; or else Yahweh himself gathers them, whether for the destruction of Isracl93 or for their own judgment 94 . This variable use of the image makes possible also the following declaration: "Now I will gather them [the Israelites]!" (Hos 810), as similarly in Ez 22 ]9. The day of Yahweh is typically described in terms of devastation. Is 139 describes it in terms of Yahweh's wrath, "to turn the earth into desolation (;,~~7)." Hosea cries out, "Ephraim is destined to desolation (;'~~7) in the da). of reproof" (59). The phrase ;'~W7 is
heavily used in Jeremiah, especially in its prose sections and foreign oracles, and in other prophetic writings 95 . "Destruction" ('iV) is another term used to characterize the fearful D ay96 and is employed repeatedly by Hosea 97 . So awful is the catastrophe that, as Hosea says (10 s), "they will say to the mountains, 'Cover us,' and to the hil1s, 'Fall over us,''' in a manner reminiscent of Is 2 10-21, with its theme of hiding at Yahweh's day against everything exalted. A very strong word is "wiping out" (nnw), which frequently appears in a negative construction denoting something to be avoided 98 . The story of the total devastation of Sodom and Gomorra - or, as in Hos 11 Sf., where that word is used, of Admah and Zeboiim - seems to have been a favorite of prophetic circles 99 , whose professional interest is probably reflected in the account of Abraham's intercession. In Has 11 Sf., Yahweh expresses hesitancy about such a destruction, but in 13 \) no help is in sight to prevent a wiping out. The war, destruction, and "day" themes are by no means independent of the controversy structure, as the examples cited have shown. Indeed, ancient men thought of war in terms of a controversy between the kings involved or between their deities 1oo . The judicial form may have been especially appropriate for 'vvars with unfaithful vassals 101 , but it is not limited to such.
94
Max \Veber, Ancient Judaism, 1~'52, 30--117; J, Pedersen, Israel, III-IV 194il 125-127, ~6 Hos 10 14 ,\m 1 H. c\lready \\'. Smith. Thl' Prophets of Ismcl. 1882. il!ri, pointed out that in Arabic "day" frequentlv means "da\' of battle." "\Var" is mentioned fmther in Hos 109.14 (negative'" in 172 2(1) '7 Hos ;)" K I; Lindblom 7i\; Horst op. ('it Hil 1(;. Fur the u'e of the trumpet in war. see H. Seidel, \\7 Fni,·. Leipzig, G.-s." (1:(,1;/,)71, ,",i"!J--5H!J It is assoiated with thl' lion and trap figures in Amos::l ;1., " £los 7 1/\ H 1. ct, );um 113 Is 325 Ps78 rot, d' 89 11051111 Cf. Dtn 3212 Is 1 20 Jer 4() 10, etc; J, Sl"inl>i'rg I ler \lensch in der Bilckr sprache li: 1'. \lillcr. C]lO:!'j n:II;:, :::>li ::1>1 85
~~ CreSSri)tlIlll, I Il'r
\ll"·';"';L\.:-;
IH~H. ~q
93
.J er :21i I.",
91
leph ;l, ''It-N;,, "' II", Iii
II
~l!t
III:!
11:~f \'1
11~ Ifli
1",,1 ·1 ~
!l"::li' '"
ill II,,, "'
II"
3. Other Threatening Terms Hosea uses several synonyms to designate God's anger (as discussed in Chapter IV). The terms are exceedingly common in the Old Testament and the emphasis on divine wrath is widespread enough in Near Eastern literature that no proof needs to be given for Hosea's connection herein with tradition. Standardized terminology determines even details of phrasing, such as the expression "I will pour out ... my wrath" (510) and the idiom "the heat of my wrath" (11 Q). Even
95 96 97
In Joel and Zephaniah also ;'/t/t'P7, Is 13 6 Joel 115 (both ~1~~ ,w:p·). Has 713 96 10 It 122. .
In pleas: titles of Ps 57 58 5D 75 Is 6:) 8, ctc. In assurances: Gen 1828 II Kings 819, etc. (On the stem, M. Pope, JEL 83 [1%4J, 2\)9-270.) 99 Dtn 2D 22 Am 411 Is 19 1319 J er 4!) 18 50.u Zeph 29 (largely with Fahrer, Studien, 156f.). 100 R. Press, ZAW f)l (1933), :2;32-:234; for Hittitc wat, A. Goctze, Iraq :2 f) (191;;1), 126f.; J. W. Jones, The La\\' and Legal Theory of the Greeks, 1:);)1), 249. s,,(' abovc, p. 76. 101 See W. Moran and J. Harvey (separatelv). Biblica -l3 (1962), 103. 180ff. 318. 98
Chapter \': The \Vonl as ;\Iessage: Terms
II. Negative Terms
2 Yahweh ,s "hating" has l)arallels outside Hosea10 . "\Voe to them" (713 \11:]) reflects a standard curse form. ", . " .. , Among the results to be expected from d1vme ,ltta~k IS Shd~lt. A typical construction illtIO(~ucc,s with l~ ("fr~m") theob),ect 0; \vlUC~l a person will be ashamed. 1 he Item thus deSIgnated IS usual.l) something in which he had trusted or dclighted 103 , bU~ can also SImply his "wickedness104 ." According to Hosea, Israel WIll be ashamed of I~S "altars" (419) and of its "counsels" (100). "Ignominy" (47. IS) h a synonym for dishonor. The motif of a substituti~n of ".sh~mc for glo~'y," ~s expressed in 47, reappears in Hab 2 Iti. 10 put It mother words there is "stumbling"105 and "falling106 ." A rather ?bscure passage ('117) seems to say, "no one raises them," with whIch one may compare ] er 50 32 :
~hat .there .will be "no ~~n" (C'J~1;1). The last-mentioned phrase is IdentIcal WIth, or very SImIlar to, the expressions "no man" and "no inhabitant" in the book of Jeremiah 111 . The horrors of war are pictured by saying, in highly standardized phraseology, that children will be dashed in pieces and pregnant women ripped- open112. Other specific threats include the destruction of altars the downfall of the ,king, a drying of the land, and an exile. These ~redictions, too, contam symbolic or traditional motifs. The destruction of altars is announced also by Amos and Ezekiel. The statement, "Undone will be the king of S.amaria, like a snapped twig on the water" (107), not only uses the WIdespread phrase "undone"113 but may also allude to flooding water which figures as a means of destruction in the Old Testament as in its neighboring religions 1l4 . The "wilderness" (216) has.to some ext~'nt the connotation of the netherworld 115 . The strong116, drymg "east wmd" of 1315 is a destructive image; it is called "the wind (or spirit) of Yahweh," a concept which may carry some mythological meaning ll7 . The threat of exile at the hand of a conqueror is current in Near Eastern words 118 . The threat that Israel is to return to Egypt (813 93 11 5) has a symbolic meaning. Dtn 2868 lists as a consequence of disobedience thi~: "The Lord will make you return to Egypt in ships, on the way whIch I had told you you would not see again," presupposing a promise now lost. Earlier in the book a direction had forbidden a ruler to "return the people to Egypt," since God had promised - or commanded - that Israel never go on that way again (Dtn 1716). A command along these lines may have had its roots in a reaction against Solomon's international practice; more certainly, the directive or promise has some connection with the persistent theme of wilderness stories that the murmuring people desire to return to Egypt 119 . Some
96
?t'
The proud one will stumble and fall, and 110 on(' will raise him up.
Hos 1;3 3 employs the images of chaff (yb) blo:vn away by the wind and of vanishing smoke Olf~), both applied typIcally to the fate of the wicked or of Yahweh's enemies. The same verse adds the (~OU?le picture of a disappearing morning cloud and of an. early-vamshll~g dew, probably metaphors created by the l:rophe~. hImself an~ USl d also in ~ll1other context (Ii~) to illustrate the mstablhty of Israel s love. Concrete threats announce hunger, infertility, and the death ,:f children. The sentence, "they \\'ill eat but not be satisfi.ed," as It appears in Hosea and several other placesl~\ is a ::ariatlO~. of the standard positive phrase, "to eat and be satIsfIed10B . In~ertIhty and Jack of progeny -_. as threatenl·d for the people seemmgly saf~'ly settled in Palcstin,' (!J II. [(I) is a t\'pical cl('me~lt of cur~:s gl:ard~~~ treaties and inscriptions known from :\lesopotanll~ and ASia 1\Imor . Bereavement will be caused by Yah\\'eh him~dfllo, mdeed so thoroughly
111
11>2
1111, (II:, IHI1 l~, (12' .I,·r I:!, \[al 1:: !'\
lll~\ WI
il
He
I', :,,,, 11:, '\1, (in a,ldition to a hating of
1-.; I 2\1 ~Il.~\ JI'r :2 ;~Ii ~R .1 ('r ~:2 2"2 Ez :~Ij :~~ ( ) I
10:)
Ill,,",
-l;) ;);) 1-~
IOfi
Ill,"';
i,; ilH's;ck:-:.
107 HI)"'; -.llil 1.('\'
11"')fkll
l(l
2.
ltl
l:t
\Ii "
II).
(as often l'f:.;(·\dH'n'l
n-(('),('I1\'(':-;
~1)21; 1~ ~J
1),-)«(,)'>11<>)])\'
1\1
to fallinf! h~'
\li () J.t Ha.~ 11'"
Ehc·\\·h,·ro:·
:-;\\()rd llll'nti()l1t'/l earlier).
tIll'
1<\1\11
].-,!l
Iii!)
"I)
Cf, Xah 1
115
Pedersen, Israel, I-II 463; .\. Ibldar, The Notion of the Desc'ft, 10;10, 110r. U. l'ngewitter, Die landwirtschaftlichen Dilder und Metaphern in den poetischcn Biiehern des Alten Testaments, 188:), 24
117
._.
lIirs,h. \i'l :!'II]!!1",:\ 7:: 1'. ]'cns!tam, Z.\\\ ,.J L11,('S IT )1«1:C:lll. Stu,lii Bib1i<'i Fran· 1 j" ill'l l.tI"l \11111111, t:111!tI;~!li:\' 1111 ]:):l Z\\\· 'iii l1!lq , :!1!IJ). III'~ ~t \'2 )1, ~llllll;lT'l\ )1,'1' 1;,-: HITI-;t\'('ll)('!lt tllj"l)ll,~h .... llllll· \Ig'l'nr~y other than Yotll\\'l'h 1'"'.\ ]IJdL(1l'l"1I1 III 1.('\ :!Il:!:! I ~;tln 1.-):lH 1':z ;·117 l,~ J . ., ']!Ii;:;'
Cl~1;1: ]er ,503. C'J~ 1'~1;1: ]er 3310.12. :l~h;' l'~~: ]er 3310 4G19 489 5129.37Has 1014 14 J. Cf. II Kings 812 1516 Am 113 Is 1316 Nah 310 Ps 1379. U. Has 1015 (other forms of ;,~,: ·151.) Is 65 151 (Moab) ]er 475 (Ashkelon) Ob 5 (Edam) Zeph Ill.
114
116
\';u'ia,tiIITh in \'H'abulary also appear :!II ",'ll !)c, .10 1" :2211 [[ Chr ~nl"
1':--, :.!:227 j[~~~1 '"'' II 1'.''''"1 \[11:-: ,I!I:\:!:. iff. II
111l
113
dl·('d~).
97
118
,till in laler .1,mL,ni"" '.
119
B (Haldar. Studies, lOG); and Langdon op. cit. 1:): also, O. h::ciser, Die mythische Bedeutung des Meeres, 106:2'.
So, Cressmann, Dcr l'rsprung d~r iSlllc-litisch·jlidisl·l1t'n EschatoJogic, 1905, 22 Cf. Ex 1421? C. H., end; Fensham op. cit. H,S; D. ~kCarth\'. Treat\· and Covenant, 1063, 1:2:2. So, Hos 93 (probabl v secondary), 17. . ,
Ex 163173 Num Ii 5.2014 3f.' ~O ~ (s(JUrce attributions are difficult, but probably several strata are involved.). For Dtn J 40. see N. Lohfink, BibJiea 41 (ISCO), lIf). Another version app<'ars in Ex 131, (El. and sec also Ex 1411 f. Buss
7
Chapter Y: The Word as Message: Terms
98
11. NC'gative Terms
form of this tradition is most likely presupposed by H~sea, though in theory he can also have devised the sym.bolism of return mdependently. Egypt stands for the chaos out of WhICh Israel was o~ce saved. Sheol appears as a negative image in Hos 13 14, WhICh can only ?e read as a declaration of victory over it. The announcement, "I wIll redeem them from the hand of SheoI" is virtually identical with the \vord of confidence expressed in Ps 49 16. But this hope is rejected by Hosea (1315). . A group of statements view disaster as the natural outc.ome ot Israel's life. Israel is eating the "fruit of falsehood" (1013), Just as, according to Is 310, the righteous are to "eat the fruit of their deeds." Hosea declares Israel to be a "warped bow" (7 Iii, d. Ps 7857) or an "undesirable vessel" (tl R, d. Jer 2228 483S). They are caught l1l "vanit y 120." C. Terms
0/
Accusation
1. General and Moral Ec'il Descriptions of evil in Hosea arc quite generalized. A number (:f terms simply accuse Israel of doing wr~ng. The bro.a,~e.st wor.d I~ "cyil l2l ." The phrase "because of the eVIl of your eVIl IS parball.) paralleled in the book of J er~miah by t?e shor~er "bec~u,~e of t?en: evip22." Typical is the expressIOn "the eVil of theIr deeds 1"3. The \er) term "deeds" has ordinarily a bad connotation, as does often the word "wavs I24 ." "Badness" is committed and will be reaped by IsraeP2~: "\Vi~kedness" has been "plmved I26 ." "Villany" is done; "evil-doers fill a cit y 127. Israel acts "corruptl y I28." 120
N}W
12'
tI,e O!
122
t:l:ln:ll., n:ll.,
123
12"
(Ho< 1:3
12)
is elscwhcre parallel t() (nlnt or to fal",hood (S. Porllbcan, Sin in
']!:I~'
110' 1()
t:l~~~7~~-:Il~:" ~;()'s !) \0,.
\5
Cf. IeI' 7
12
F"nns of this stem appear. e. " .. 2[) 11 I\ings :31 15 and in Ps 5i1 I".
andH :\
The SiUnt· phrase
fl<'
Il!'<
II)
I )\n :28211 Is 111; Jer
4 ~ :3l 12
:!:') 2. :i~ :!.-t j :.?I~ 3 4422 Ps 2M.t ~~:Il~. Ilus 4n [q 72!I 1,1:23, so ll~ll,di\' ill th, 111.1 I',·,;tolm,·nt·l"r!. in a pUl,.Ilti:tll\~ had S('n~'e' 110s 4: 9 1 ~ 3; a. lar:.~(·l~· tl\()ll.~ll not \ un~istl'ntly negative connotatioll ,onlinlle~ to d,'\'(']op in JerC'miah (b.. tlt )'1""" and pOl'tf\'\, Ezekiel. and ~()n1C' lltht-)" Ltl('r
All these terms, as well as some others to be discussed, are especially common in the lcvitic-deuteronomic tradition and occur not infrequently in the Psalms, in Job, and in the moralistic strain of Proverbs. Within the psalms, the watching-song Ps 5 contains an especially large number of such expressions; but the terminology is scattered throughout the Psalter. Hosea of "sinning'''129 or of committinlYb Israel is accused by , "iniquit y I30." Both of these terms, it may be noted, appear often in requests for remission of sin l3I , but are ordinarily too weak to describe adequately the doings of enemies 132 • Specifically, a "greatness of iniquity" is seen l33 . Another group of words denotes falsehood, for which the Hebrew language has many synonyms. "Wrongness," "deceit," "falsehood," "lying" -- all have about the same meaning; their different nuances elsewhere are overshadowed by their symbolic stylization131 . They are used in the Psalms to describe enemies whose existence or activity is wrong, from the point of view of the speaker. Falsehood forms not a special type of evil among others, but rather represents the very character of wickedness. It violates what the Egyptians called ma'at, "truth, order, right1 35 ." The same pattern appears in Vedic and Zoroastrian terminology and throughout the Semitic language area 136. The concept of falsehood leads naturally to a consideration of specific moral evils. Hosea accuses Israel of using "deceitful balances," following a standard idiom 137 • This he calls "oppression," a common concept in prohibitions 138 . The saying Hos 12 Sf., in which these terms
12"
'~",,,(,f 1",<111,""
1'1.
,1'1::
132
133
l"
i'··
713 13,
13G
II ",un ;1:11710 PsR'I~::
'.II~ :\l~" :;:!', I,; 1 j. Judg:.'
'I'
9ti~ :Ii: Hos H 7 Ps 5 11 Lun 1 7;.
.1"1'
1322 30 J4f. Ez :2818. Similar strMtures can bc found in
13~ l{<Jot
12'
:
The noun "sinners," however, occurs in the wisdom-stylc contl,,,ts of Ps 1 25 :211 ~)1 10!; SOIl'C' prayer~ ask that the "iniqliity" of cnc11lic-; not be fnrgi\'en (Knierim 01'. cit. :3:3:\).
I ChI' J 7 I'
:IIlP'!.· II,,, Iii 1:\ (1 J'r", ·11~ ,e'ri7f!'. II .., ,:, PI:.' 'I;>~t I;, '2' nntZ.'. II", II, ,', i!l I·.' :;:!7 I',. III :.:;:: J'In .]
Hoot N~n: Hos 47f. 811 10 n.
!301i~: Hos 4g 55 718]3 fll.n 12913]2142f. J:lL Cf. K I\niC'rim, Die Hauptbcgriffe fiir Siinde im Altcn Testament, 1%5.
lit<:ratllTI.',
I::, IIlh ]11 .. rri;~~1 l:llj"J7;~)
99
137 13s
tdn:l: llns -4" 7:\ III (i] 12 1:3 2. Abo, t:lf~ p~n 1"~.
j
il~I~: llus I:2! '
"p.tf:
Hos 71
E. g.. A~ET 378; H. Scll mid,
:It;>:
Hos
W""'11 lind Cesc'hichtc del' Weisheit. H)liG, 159. "Truth" in Vedic' rcliglUn' ria: in Zun"'lstr;anis'll: IIsh/! (opposite: dr/u;). The V,.i,' S,'nonym,1. ll('~ \\'ahren HlId dl's (:'11"11 ill d"l! "emiti:,c'I",1t Spr'''.1Jen, 187:? <;"!!I,_ \\"}lat too linlitl,et ill pcrspl'("tivl' is '.j l\Jllpknstt-i.Tl, 1)]L' Liige nach denl .\1tVi) ']\';-:tl1111Cllt, IfHd, though ntht..'fwist' lht-j\"l for ltlf.';j11in~~ jJ~"1~ '~T.~~: H0, .1:2 ' .\11l 8" I'n)\' ] I I ~rl ":' prj';: H(:s 1:3 ,; W. [
7-
101
Chapter V: The \Vord as Message: Terms
II. Negative Terms
occur, threatens loss of gain thus gotten, in a manner resembling the following declaration of a prayer to Shamash:
thc evil words of enemies in Ps 107 5913 (d. Hos 104). That "all are adulterers" (Has (4) is harclly correct literally, but is said also in Jcr 9 1 and reflects the style tradition that "all" are evi]l46. . T~ere is an obviously close connection between the sin-register J~st discussed and several membcrs of the moral decalog, so that a dIrcct dependence has been suspccted. Thc lists cited, however are n:orc similar.t~ each other than they are to thc decalog and have'conslder~blc affIl1lty to Near Eastern descriptions of evil, especially in negative confession or incantations for cleansing, as well as to those of oth:r cu~ture areas 147 . The function of such a list was probably that of des:gnatmg the chara::ter of the "wicked," as happens explicitly in Ps nO 1[\. Thc decalog IS clearly based in part upon such a tradition of ~egati:e moral description, just as apodictic law in general had roots ll? a wlsd~m background 148 ; the tradition itsclf, however, might contmue to 11ve on its own. \Vhether or not the decalog was alreadv in existence in his timc, Hosea quotes more broadly from what may be called a catalog of vices 149 . In addition to these indirect connections with the decalo a the proh~bitions of idolatry and of the worship of other gods (as refl~cted a.lso m Ps 81) appear in Hosea. Absent is any rderence to the positively w~rded commands to k~ep the Sabbath and honor the parents; perh~ps mdeed th: oral or wntten antecedent of thc decalog is to be seen m a double 11st of cultic and moral evils, each with four or five elements 150 . In a very broad sense, then, Hosca stands within what was or came to be the decalogic tradition 151 . Not specifically denounced by Hosea are a lack of concern for the poor and the weak and such evils as bribery -- violations castigated sharply by Amos, Isaiah, and Micah 152 . Sincc these three prophets
100
\Vhoever gin's money for (kccit and does violence -what ad\'antage has he ? \Vh'!l'\'cr takes the balance and acts villainously, \Vhoever changes the weights of the bag ._lowers the entire gain. lIe throws away the profit. and ruins his POSS('ssionI 39 .
"Deceit" occurs elsewhere in connection with bloodshed, violence, or other sorts of troub1e-making 140 . Similarly, "wrongnl:'ss" (tzjn:l) is connected with robbery and oppression lH . An important figure for evil, both in the Old Testament and clse\vhere, is that of the falsehood of a close associate 142 . In Has 75-7 this takes the form of intrigue against the ruler; the persons who engage in such activity are callt:'d "deriders," or "scorners," a term typical of wisdom contexts. The destructin' man "lies in wait" (Has 7 G) on one and all, even to kiU 14 :l. Another proverbial form of villainous evil is the moving of boundary marks, which in Has 5 10 is applied to the relation between Judah and Israel. The sin-catalogue of 42, probably a quotation by Hospa, lists ::ursing, lying, killing, stealing, and adultery. A similar pattern appears III Has n H-~7 G. Here are listed murder (Ii fif., with the standardized image of a "bloody town"l41), robbery (f> \) 71), theft (71), adultery (74), intrigue (7',L). Jer !l 1-7 and Ps ;-)011;-21, in a related manner list as general descriptions of wickedness: falsehood, stealing o~ oppression, adllltcr)', and secrC't machinations against associates 145 ; Job ~-! I:H 7 mentions murdern,.;. thi .. n~s, adulterers, and housediggers (?) as friends of darkness. "Cursing" (i1~l\) is a designation for
146
147
1'011, ,wing Falkensll'in- C;oden ~~·I; of .\:\ ET ';~,,, no Il'ph 1 \11):-; ;-)7 :l-'1u :~Kla .-.;)211)1"11\ 1'2;,1' l't,
13"
141 ';"I,:~ 1 11"
Ln' ;->21:'. !~III C;", .. f"nll"r. \\·"III,.;J \", 1 II \Ii 7,-,f La,,, 12 .\\1·:1
S", 1'-; :>.->2If 1~1.-)
:3:,
:!'t~.
11:,111~1
Ii) I>.n .\i]'],·an pro\'crh: E. 1.'''-' Il , I\";ln,,,,,,,,
q:"
Lamh'Tt 01'. Lit. \m1111 Folklon', IG:ll,
148
lGG5, 4G, the llegati\'e form in apodictic law represents "das Eiise, :i'ichtige, Gcmeinschaftszerstorende oder -gefahrdende." Among other studies, see R Kilian,
:3:-3-1 F,a1111'I,·-; from olh"r "ultur,'s lould he gl\','n l', 1"" I'r"v :!11:, Lam -II\). For "1,10,,<1.' 1'1'''' 1 II \1, ~ 2. 141 C'~lt1 '"1'~ :\;\1>:; I h :!:!2 :!i<; !I It 1-; 11 ill :!:!, \1,:( ,,, 11!"!,\),lj>l\' 1111 111ft!! \I!t of
BZ NF 7 (lfJG3), 18G-202.
1<3 ::l'"1K
1:J'i'
7 n i~,
(1I11l!'1 ll'd
,'tlr!\(l(l~' -':'llffi.\.
a:~
,:1
,..;" (t
III
-.:,"
(1"11
L.'.)II''''' 'ol
\\itll
'i
til
till'
i:l.,~:r
I (;\r1')('1"
I:~ 1 \
111
J
I ..
01
,11'1'
~t:- and
IIIlt .J~.K. Ii:;! I
III' 1""llt witli \\'
Till"
(all
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Gunkel-Eegrich 3G3. Add, e. g., ]er 229; ANET 40G. 443--,UJ; Hos 41l\fi 72. "The Book of the Dead," ch. 125, especially in its first part directed to the "highgod" (C. :\lay-stre, Les dCc1arations d'innocence, 1937, 13!)); Shurpu, IT. A Greek list with stealing, adultery, and falsehood: \V. Schilling, Religion und }{echt, 1957, 122. A Vedic ritual tradition characterizes enemies to be conquered as thieves, rubbers, waylayers, betrayers, plotters, and double-tungued (S. Roelhe, Delh'er 1;s From Evil, 19·Hi, 48). Ward (244) rightly compares Lev 1!J. c\ccording to E. Gerstenberger, \Vesen und Herkunft cles "apocliktischell Rechts,"
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For such Jists, see also von Rad, Gesitmmdtc Studien, ] !J58, :!81---2!lG: l\!owimkel G:!. H. Schmidt in: Gunkel-Festschrift, 1 ]923, 78--11fl, hypothesized a list cf ten negative laws; see now Richter op. cit. 89. Part 'la II y WJt .' h :' '1 oWlIlc'kel, . , Le Decalogue, 1927, fj!j; The Psalms in Israel's \Vorship, II 19G2, 7If. Am 2G-8 512 8HJ Is 123 314 523 Mi 2G-ll 31-4.11.
102
Chapter \': The \Vord
a~
:\IeoOsagl"
Terms
were Judeans, it is possible that diffen'nt traditions of social concern obtained in the two neighboring states. On the other hand, Hosea's silence may be explained by a desire to l'mphasize that even the major crimes - committed by '\,vicked" men - \\cre rampant in the nation, while till' other proph~ts (less critical in a way or else more sensitin) concerned themselves with somewhat finer points which make a claim on positive goodness. In any case, the laws of the decalog fortn a different line from that of more positin and humanitarian prescriptions 15:l; Hosea depends only on one of these, the one dealing with grosser SillS. 2. SillS J[ore ,,,,,-perl/ically Against Yahweh
Sins against Yahweh are expressed in a number of ways. To begin with, there is a group of terms meaning "re\'olt1 5t," "rebellion" (or "stubbornness")155, and "disobedience 156 ." Egyptian execration texts and other Near Eastern writings emplo\' a common terminology for "sin" and for enemies 'who "rebel l ;;7." Specifically, rebellion means the breaking of Yahweh's covenant. a motif important in the leviticdeuteronomic tradition 158 . God complains that his laws appear to be "strange" to Israel (K I:!). Israel's action toward Yah\veh is called "unfaithfulness 159 ." The nation dinds "reproach" (ii~i!), 12 L,) against Yall\n:h, as do hi~ ,'lIl'111j"S ill Ps 7'+:!:! 79 I:J. "Turning" from Yall\\'('h](;U, Israi'l "tl!l il-, ,ISI(II-" to'.\·ard otlwr gods 161 . It "goes after" these instead, in hpi,',liJ\' ]nitic-dl'llt"rorwII1ic tcrminol ogy161 a . A technical term ill Hosea for brad's apostasy is "whoredom" (prostitution). It"b,,,k~:round is puzzling. References to it outside of clls, 1 ~)11\2 "t'c'rTl to prcsuppOS\' an understanding of the concept independentl\ uf the stOI'\' of tIll' first t!Jl'l'(' chapters. In fact, the t~l41
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is taken as a misplacul Hosean;( S'IVlllg by .\. Jepsen, ZA\V ilG (HJ38), its interest in Sa maria quite likely indicates a close relationship. 16j Lc\' 1.7 20 Gf.; as a g"IH:ral tcrm for ddikll1l'nt: 1!'l29. 166 Similarly Ez 2317 Ps lOG 39, If" :\ah 34 (\' .•J paraUels I[(,S :! 12 ) [s 23 17. (0 abo Ez 11; 2., :!3 30. {ill ' I"' Especially 71] 8'JI 1:!2 I-! •. m Especially 27 15 31 -1 12f. ]H. bI 7 1{ ~ J I :1 I I" 1111. S. 8 112 1:2 12 1311711 Has 8 ~ 10 vf. ( ») 13 lOf. etc. 171 Hos 210 (seron
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early chapters may themselves presupplJse the outlook that false worship is whoredom, seemingly taking it for granted without much explanation. No certain usc of it before Hosea, however, is attested 163 . After Hosea, presumably in at least partial dependence on him, the metaphor spread very quickly. lIi 1 7 speaks of a harlot's hire in connection with idolatry, while Is l:JI calls Jerusalem a harlot for being unfaithful to Yahweh in social matters 164 . In the Asaphite Ps 1:\:!7 the verb means "to be false" to Yahweh. The Holiness Code designates false cu1tic activity, including dealings with demons and spirits, as "whoredom 16s " Harlotry thus figures partly as a cultic term; it is naturally connected with the expression "uncleanness," as it is also in Hos 53 and 6 10 166 . International intercourse is intended in some later prophecies, probably retaining the original symbolism if it should be older than Hosea 167 . The motif expresses an impersonal, cummercial promiscuity. The two main aspects of "whoredom" in Hosea arc the international activity of Isracl 168 and its false worship 169. Hosea opposed these, as well as the establishment of the kingdom 170 , as acts which did not express full allegiance to, or reliance in, Yahweh. In the realm of worship, idols come sharply under attack l7l , the "calf" is dcrided 172 , and divination is an object of head-shaking lament1 73 . Though Hosea lacks oracles against foreign nations, he regards other nations as "Gentiles," \\'hose ways should not be imitated U) I) and with whom Israel should not be allied174 . To appeal to other powers for a healing from Yahweh's blows is folly (513)! Making a covenant with other nations (122) or lightheartedly with anyone (104) reflects insincerity and instability of commitment, as does a direct breaking of a covenant with Yahweh (G 7 81). Opposition to idolatry is by no means a late creation but probably goes back to the beginning of Israel. Relevant terminology was suffiIH3
1'~:\ltV!:l: Ii,»
103
II. Negative Terms
104
Chapter
v:
The \Vord as
~Message:
Terms
ciently developed by Hosea's time so that he had the choice of at least three synonyms to designate an ido1 175 . Only one of these words ever carries a relatively neutral meaning; the irony of "hewn" or "molten" images shines through in the other two 176 . Hosea speaks repeatedly of the "making" (:1fznJ) of idols, an expression that is standard in laws against idolatry and also in other denunciation 177 • Hosea's opposition to the kingdom has affinity with, and may depend on, a broader tradition which cannot here be traced. The preference of loving-kindness and knowledge of God over sacrifice (Hos 6 6) has a counterpart in the saying by Samuel to Saul which is in some way associated with the tradition opposing royalty (I Sam 15 22f.): Behold, to listen is better than sacrifice; to hearken, than the fat of rams. Since you have rejedell the wonl of Yahweh, I also will reject you from being king [d. Has 46J.
A pre-Mosaic Egyptian instruction already declares, "The goodness of a just man is more acceptable to God than the sacrificial oxen of the unjust1 78 ." Apollo's oracle at Delphi refused - at least in theory - to give an answer to evil men and insisted that ritual cleansing is not effective for a wicked person 179 , Israelite psalmists repeatedly expressed a preference for their verbal praise over sacrifice, a theme which is followed, at least on its positive side, in Hos 143 18 °. The relation of prophecy to cultic action needs to be set into a broad context, for which only a few indications can here be given. A form-critical analysis of ritual prescriptions shows that sacrifices are as a rule not commanded but regulated in execution, often in the form of private instructions to the priests; sacrifices were generally not thought of as duties (except in the case of firstfruits) but as privi-
III. Positive Terms
leged actions with superior power. Furthermore, sacrifices, and especially images, have only a tenuous connection with a "high-god" figure; for instance, neither in the Near East nor elsewhere are images of the very supreme deity at all common. An outright opposition to sacrifices - as also to idolatry - is a feature of certain types of religious attitudes which are strongly negative in their orientation toward existing reality, whether in an otherworldly or in an eschatological manner. For sacrifice (with divine-human cooperation in bringing life out of death) is intended to heal gently, not to change radically, the present situation, so that it has a relatively undemanding and comfortable character, with little challenge for personal-moral involvement1 81 . It has been said that the prophets oppose not cult as such but only the particular cult they observe 182 . It is indeed true that they borrow technical priestly terminology to indicate nonacceptance of sacrifices in a way that would be applicable to an individual situation 183 . But, at least in Hosea, the rejection is applied to the entire situation; it means a wholesale indictment of existence.
III. POSITIVE TERMS
A. Expectations or Hopes for Israel
Repeatedly in Hosea one finds the word "to turn" in a positive sense, usually in connection with the phrase, "to Yahweh, your God" or some variant of it184 . The phrase, in fact, is a traditional one for a prophet's call in disaster 185 . In addition, like other prophets, Hosea laments the failure of Israel to turn to God even in distress 186 . 181
175
:J~¥: lIas 417 84 132 14 n. 0'7'99: Hos 11 2 :1~9~: lIos 132.
:J~~ (which simply means "image") is fairly nelltral though perhaps ironical -in r Sam 31 n and II Sam 521. l;lo~ means "t" hew:" 101, "to pour." Judg lit. ridirules. mHos:2 JO 84132144; K. Bernhardt, l;ott und Hild. 1~1:)I;, ~1:3f. The defense in Exod 32 24 rcpresenh the calf as miraculously produced. 17R E. g, .\\1''1' 417. 179 Park,' and WOfl11l'1l op. cit. I 1,)4. 37S 3i'2f Fot ll"''''I]'U"ns at Delphi and at other (;r(',·k (',I11]'les, T. van Scheff,·r. I kIIcnisl'" ill' \I"'teri<:n lInd Orakel. Hl·W, 155.171 5,',' als" th" oracles of the ('ythia tr;\l1smilt"d ill the "Greek Anthology," XIV, 71 and 74 led. W. ('at"n, V 1\118) . .'\Iso III an Illh'rnilti"na.! rela.tion, ritual recourse (an rt.'tog'nized a~ too \\"t'ak (J. lL:tr\'('y op (it lH~) 180 For detail- ~l'(' now II. 11,·rmissoll. Spral hi' ll11d Hltlls ill1 illtisra,,jitischen Kult, 1965 176
11(')
105
182 183
184
185 188
See M. Buss, JBR 32 (Hl64), 323f. On Zoroaster's opposition to sacrifice and festivals, G. \Videngren. Stand und Aufgaben der iranischen Religionsge~chichte. 1955, 60, etc. E. g., F. Hesse, ZAW 68 (1956), 12. :1:!tj: Has 813. The verb r~n belongs only indirectly to acceptance terminology, expressing an attitude to a person or process; with Has G 6, d. Ps 407 5118. See R. Rendtorff, TL 81 (1956), 342; E. Wiirthwein in: Weiser-Festschrift, 1963, 115-131; R. Rendtorff, Studien zm Geschichte des Opfers im Alten Israel, Hl67, 253-260, identifying the two words too strongly and thus blunting the rejection. "Yahweh, your god": 142; "your god": 127; "Yahweh, their God": 7 10: "their God": 54. In 61, :J~lV is followed only!Jv "to Yahweh;" in 115, it stands naked. For further analyses of the word, see W. lIolladay, The Root Subh, 1958; Fahrer, Studien, 225. Joel 213 I Kings 833.48 Is 127 Jer 312. 14.22 41 Mal 37 Joh 2223, etc. Has 54 7 JO 11 5 Am 4 r,-11 Is 912 J er 37 53 85 (the last two verses are similar to Has 115) 157, etc'. C1. C. \Vestermann, Grundformen, ]32.
III. Positive Terms
106 To "seck" Yahw"h appears to be a technical term for repentance in the situation of lamcnt1 87 . Seeking. however, also represents the wider range of every turning toward God 188. An important word in Hosea is "knowledge I89 ," already mentioned in connection with the theme of a rib. It has been suggested that "the knowledge of God" and "knowing Yahweh" carry different nuances l90 . It docs indeed appear that two some~what different motifs arc involved, namely a quality of life and an identification with Yahwch 191 . The first may well have a base broader than Israelite religion, having its root in Ncar Eastern wisdom 192 . The second has a more specifically cultic meaning; it is probably associated somehow with priestly activity, as implied in Has 46 Jer 2 Ii and Mal 27. According to some theorists, "knowledge" means private information for the priests I93 or an emphasis on divine deeds l91 . on the supposition that "knowledge" and tOYii in Eos -1 (j represent two di\'isions within priestly tradition. The term knowledge, however, is more or less parallel to tora and represents a teaching in which general ethics has fused with the more specific worship of the active Yahweh. Prophetic accusations, as in Hosea, relate themselves closely to it, continuing a critical aspect which shows itself in the fact that the term knowledge appears most frc'luently in negative constrnctions 195 . Similarly both cultic and moral is the concept of the "fear" of Yahweh; it is typical of wisdom literature, E, and Deuteronomy and is equivalent to an Akkadian term for honor paid to deityl96. In Hos 103, it appears negatively in a predicted confession of failure. The word "lO\ing-kindness" (l!a'sa;d) in Hosea is an unambiguously positive term. In thrt'e passages (41 6 (j 127) it designates good behavior, with an implied, but not clearly' stated, personal
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relation to Yahweh. All three occurrences stand in contexts suggesting a dependence on tradition. Its provenance is most likely a form of moral \\isclom, which may even go back to Canaanite religion, as suggested by general formulations without specific references to Yah\\'eh or Israel. Thus the famous passage of l\Ii 68 closely parallels Hos 127 in sa\'ing that "man" has been told what is good, n'amely "lovingkindness," "justice," and relying on "your God l97 ." A psalmist also complains, like the prophet in Hos 4 1, that there are no longer anv "loving ones" ((zasid) or any that speak "truth" among men (Ps 122). Usually, Iz{esred in a religious context means Yahweh's deed of "kindnbs." That probably is the primary denotation in the betrothal promise of Hos 221f., though this also involves human life drawn into tht· cli\'ine orbit. The joys involved in a close association with Yahweh are implied in Hos 1012. In the Psalms, the hasid are those who belong to Yahweh. The basic meaning of hms;rd is probably friendship and friendly concern 198 , thus forming both in call and pron~ ise an antithetical category to that of enmity. Loving-kindness is frequently joined with truthfulness or faithfulness (r.~~, ;'~'~,~) both as human and as divine characteristics. The combination is used for human behavior (negatively) in Hos 41, and for the divine betrothal gift in 222 199 . "Truthfulness" designates that solidity· and "normality"200 which is the opposite of the falsehood cliscnssed earlier. Joined with loving-kindness and truthfulness, as gifts in Hos 221, are "rightness" (P1~) and "judgment" (tJ~o/~). The exhortation of 10 12 calls for "righteousness" (i1~1;;) and "knowledge," with a promise of i!{['.s{rd and "rightness" from Yahweh 201 . Hos 127 parallels "judgment" with bresced as a characterization of the God-directed life ..\11 these terms are positive ones, equivalent to divine order and ordl'ring"02, which can be paralleled with ci~W (harmony or fullness of being' or ~i~ (the good), as in Ps 85 IlL Forms of ~i~ occur in Hos 8;; as something Israel rejects and in 35 and 143 as an object of hopefUl seeking, contrasted with hostility or destruction.
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::!'W In Hos 1:.' 7, means "to re"t in," '\)" (ilrected toward" (ef, Gordis, .JBL ;,2 [UJ8C3J, ];,:3--IG:.'), The indicative verI> t"rm reflects a general UOi ""It ion from wisdom to apodictic law, 1'" E, ((" II Sam It1\7;], :\Iontgomerv, JITRC\:! (I1JJ:l), IOl; G, Larue, Introduction to: :" C!u.:ck, l;k'c.1 ;n the Bible, 1f1G7. " It :-- :t<, ,'Iclcntal that one word i, uSc'd lwrc illr th.; human and another for til" tli\inl', (Sl'e F, Ascnsio, :'>llscrkorclia d verltas, 1fq~l, 81)fl,) ~",' (;, C:?ue'll, TW"T, I :233, 107
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108
Chapter V: The \Vord as :\lessage: Terms
Ill. Positive Terms
The projected song of Has (j 1-3 looks for healing and the reception of life and expects Yahweh's coming to be like that of the dawn or the rain. These motifs are familiar from other literature. Healing is sought and celebrated in psalms 203 and is promised or denied by ~xoph ets 20I . The giving of life is often requested in psalms, both 111 the Old Testamentz° 5 and in other Near Eastern literature 20G . "On the third day" (G:2) probably indicates metaphorically a resurrection, which is traditionally expected then just before the soul leaves the vicinity of the bod y 207. Three days were expected to elapse between the ritual identification of a sick person with Tammuz by means of a sacrificial kid and his recovery of health 208 , so that the motif of healing is not separate from that of resurrection, which is of course not to be taken literally here 209 . Light an'd water are two important elements in cultic mythology and expectation 210 • Dawn, or morning, is a specially impressive form of the victory of light over darkness; dawn was personified in Ugaritic literature, while the theme of morning or light in general was often associated with the assertion of justice, as in Has 65 211 . In Has 1012, Yahweh is expected to "rain righteousness." The "light" of Hos 6 ~b (perhaps as a deliberate answer to the symbolism of v. 3) means the victorious presence of rightC'ous assertion which cuts down enI. The theme of the "coming forth" of judgment, as in this verse, may belong to a larger cultic tradition 212 ; it is probably secondary in its context, however, and perhaps post-Hoseanic. In Hos 14 ~f., Yahweh then promises to "heal" Israel's turning away and to be "as dew 213 ." The result will be a sprouting like "LebI{oot N~'. 1's 63303 H 5107 201473 Jer I;) IS 1714 Lam 213. Is G103026 i)710 Jer 30 1733 G 20[, 1's 41 371208119 8;j i 1387 14:111, and often in 1's 11!!. 206 E. g., Falkenstein-Soden :{4.'l. 207 E. Freistedt, Altchristliche Totengediichtnistagt'. 1 fl;28, 03-118, etc. For general data. hihliogmphy, and other possibilities. seC Wolff J[,(I. Fuhrer. Stlldien, :327; E Cioud, JBL 85 (HH)(i), 273·:281;; S. hramcr, H\SuH. 183 (Oct. 1%\i), 31. 20" E. E1H'ling, Tpd llnd Lehen naeh den \'orstelilln.l('t'n Ilt>r Bahl')onier. 1931. 5G. 21'9 For ih n;daphorit al lISi, in pl,lities. SN' J. \\'ijng"ards. \'j' 17 (l!H)/I. :23:2-:234. Z'h E. g, .1 OberllJann, \\·ind. \Vater. an,l Light in all\" liait lnstTiption frollJ She'hem. J 1>1. ;)7 (!!I:jR), :?4~lf ~ll E. g. 7.(·ph 35 Set.- S\alen. Pie Bq;,riffc "Lit ht IJnd "I'lll.st,·mi.'. 'l!!:,l; B. ?-lcil.\· ner 01'. 'It :l/ "n Sham.-,sh; (; In }<;"I '11"'''/<>I;T I l!lli:? 3811 (;crman 3ixi S""n h\ F Sf'llin. Stlldien Zllr En tst
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1,:'..; fllc!lll:' BilJlicos ~~
109
anon, as repeatedly mentioned in the Psalms 214 • In v. 8 Israel's final state is identified "ith tIll' Garden of Eden, with real "life." Fertility objects arc at the same time love symbols, as employed in the Song of Songs; these include Lebanon (including its fragrance), the lily, wine, the flourishing \'ine, gardens, and fruit 215 . Closely related is the theme of dwelling in the lover's shadow (Has 14 sCant 23). The evidently technical term "restoration (or, change) of fortune" in Ii 11 is comparable to an Akkadian expression for the change of fortune effected at the New Year festival and became widely used in later Israelite literature for a future restoration 21G ; here in Hosea, an early Israelite usage with an intermediate meaning between these extremes is presupposed, but deliverance is declared by Yahweh to be morally impossible. :\atural peace and fertility are expected by the secondary passages of Hos 220.23, in line with wide-spread hopes. Peace, as a positive concept with the absence of strife, disturbance, and enmity, is the very epitome of a good life 21i . Has 220 ends with a favorite hope, "to dwell securelv 218 ." A messianic figure appears in 2 2 and 3 S, which are vt'r)' close in 'wording to J er :1 18 and :10 () (both prose), and similar in content to Ez :37 22. In 3;, it is not enough to delete the words "David, their king." as the parallel indicates, but some part of the verse may be genuine. The BU preme good comes in that Yahweh loves Israel even in its unfaithfulness (:1 I), leading to a new betrothal after appropriate discipline (221). The word love has, of course, a definite sexual association 219 ; in a slightly less colorful way a similar word had at this time a vogue in Egypt as a description of divine concern 220 , while an Akkadian word for love expresses attachments within international Hos 1·1 G-, ( )) 1's 12 1G 9213 104 Ill. Se,: I [os 11';-9; Wolff 30:2, and add "fruit." These terms arc especially heaped in (;:tnt ·15-;-11 (of "orth-Israelite provenance ?). The ])('loved is related to a tree or a gardcn in Egyptian (H. Grapow, Vergleiche und andere l,ildliche Ausdriicke im Agvpti,chcn, ID:2Il. 18) or to a vineyard in t:garitic (77: 211-:23). Cf. H. Wildbergn. Jesaja. 1 !lIi8, 1/;9. 216 ] n adtlitinn to other studic·s. sec S. J\luwinckel's comments. l'salmc·nstudien 1I. ,;,; lie That Com<;1h. l!J.')I'. H7; TL 87 (196:2). 31) ~17 F. Bamm~l. Vic l<eligi'Jl1c:n dn 'I'clt tlnct Fricde 'luf Erden. l~iG7; "rtiel..,s in EranosJahrhwh, l:I.-,H; J. Stamm and H. nic-tenhard, Der \Veltfri"de irn .\lten und Neuen Tc·stament.19'1f). 2U 21;
2:, I" :!Ij 5 Dtn 121<1 3;\ 12 2' Is 1430 Jer 2.'3 G 32.H (exadh' as in Hos .: 2") 33 lG EL :{-! 25. 27 Zl'lll l-! 11. Cf. I's 4 ~ (similarly causative) 1\i \1, etc. mG. Quell, T\\·NT. I l~':n. 24. 220 E. Drioton in: Pontifi,i" Istituto Bihli<:o, Urien~ .\ntiquus (.\nalecta Biblica 1:2). 1~):,9, :>,-1)8, for the p~ri()d of ca. 9;jU-GGU B. C.
"18 Lc'\'
IV. Open or Ambiguous Terms for the Cod-lsrael l{elatiunshil'
Chapter \': The \Yord as l\lessagl': Term,s
110
covenants 221 • As is well known, the term came to playa considerable role in Deuteronomic tradition. lJ. Hecognitions oj l'alza'eh
Positive sayings include statements concerning the past. Hosea speaks of Yahweh's leading Israel out of Egypt 222 and of his "finding" them in the "wilderness 223 ." It is quite possible that two different motifs about the beginning of Israel are invoh-ed, perhaps corresponding to the Exodus and Sinai traditions, respectively.There is, hO\\TVtT, no mention, and probably no knowledge, of a specific mountain on which law is given, or of a covenant concluded at such a placc2~1. Some of the statements find close parallels in oracles addressed to kings by Mesopotamian deities. Ishtar says, "When you were ~mall, I sustained yOtl 22 :;," and (in the words of one translation) calls herself "your good nurse 22G " Adad speaks to Kallassu (at Mari) as one "whom I have held on my lap 227." In the Ugaritic stan' of 1\:eret, his son is promised breast-feeding In' goddesses 228 • • Closely connected is the self-introduction formula, "I am Yahweh." It appears in Hosea twice in the form, "I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt" (1 ~ jI) 1:14). Repeatedly Yahweh is designated by an emphatic "P~9." In the Old Testament and beyond the divine "1" or "I am" appears frequently in rderence to both the past and tIll' ftl t u re~:lo. Together with the self-introduction formula comes the assertion, "A god outside of me you do not known, and there is no savior besick me" (Has L3 4). Similar declarations or ascriptions occur in I Sam 2 :2 II Sam 7:2:2 Dtn 43;,.30 :~2:HI Ps )}-\:I:2 Joel:'!:!i Is 4:)]1 4;)5.:21 G-~:1, in fairly standardized form, for instance with the word :17'T for "beside." The tendency to ascrihe all of the functions and }l,lWC']',; ~~J
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of divinity to one's own god - and indeed to call him the only one a wide-spread phenomenon 231 ; of the Creator Prajapati it is said 111 the Rigveda (X, 121) that "he is the god of gods, and none beside him." In Israel monolatry became sharply accentuated; Yahweh's incomparability was often associated with the Exodus, as in Hosea. One of the indications of the power of a deity is that it both smites and heals, kills and brings to life, as implied in the prayer of Hos 6 If. Thus I Sam 26 Dtn 32 3U Is 1922 and Job 518 make th~ same point with the accent usually on the positive activity. When l\Iarduk demonstrates that he can destroy and (re-)create, the gods acknowledge that "Marduk is king," as recited at the Babylon New Year festival (Enuma clish, IV, 18-26). Other parallels can be cited 232 , including the prayer of the Bhil in central India to their high-god, "You are the one who smites and the one who heals 2:l 3 ." ~s
IV. OPEN OR A'\lBIGUOUS TEIUrs FOR THE GOD-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP .\ND ITS CliLT
In personal terms, the God-Israel relation is presented as that of husband to wife and of father to son. Images of deity as a husband (to a goddess) or as a father (to another god, a king, or an individual) arc widespread in the Near East, though not in relation to a people 234 • The marriage figure, in an explicit positive form, is confined to Has 1-3; references to whoredom (not explicitly adultery!) in chs. 4 ft. are only an imperfect allusion to this symbol. The antiquity of the fatherson image in Israel is uncertain 235 ; it appears as the background of an accusation in Dtn 32 5f. 18. A typical word for the concern of a parent or of one member of a family for another is en', "care;" its negative "not-care," "not-pity," is a terminus technicus for the cruel and destructive attitude of enemies 236 • Hosea plays with this doubleedged word in the name "Not-Pitied" (1 G 26, se('olJdaril y re\'crsecl 1 i 23.:!S) and in the betrothal gift "care" (2 :21),
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In the first person, Osiris declares, "I am the Onl\' 011(' (Til, J)",:k of tIll' Dc"d, XVII, rJ). For surveys, ,c,' ;\f. Smith. ]BL II (nl.):?), I:3~11 ('] T.abl~sch"'gn". The Inc'omp~tr",!lility of Y"hweh in the Old Te,tanwllt. I~'(;(;. 232 EI-.\marna tablets 1G9, /---In: 231'. 31-,:~:3; a 'Ii "r\:' illscripti"l1 gll,·,,'d Iw ('. Bn'l.:kelmann, ZS 5 (1:)27), I)-·:li). "33 \Y. Koppers, Der !'nncns','h llnd seill WeltL,ild, I!Il!'I. l:?il. "3~ G. "'right. ]:\lES 1 (I:I,I:?). -1111-414; C;. (ist!,orn. Y"'hwch and Ba"l, 1fl,)il, ;):'1 ..~'I n5 Ex 422 IS il"nlk earlier than 1-Io'''a. m .\ ..h-p'cn, I\IID 7 (l()lil1. :'1;1. 231
V, Conclusion
Chapter V: The \\' orc! as Message: Terms
112
Hosea, has outlined the prophet's close 1 . . Is~aelite autumnal festival. Several studie r~ a:lOn to themes of the et s relation to historical traditions s ~. ave analyze~ the prophstrata, but also considerable (orally b~S:~~)n.g llose lelatl~n to o.lder m One final item however may be'add'd T'h epen ence 1Il detmJ243. .' ,< < e. e sent"I . 1 ence reJect you from belllg a priest to me" (4) which is known in later literatu:e =~~ oys. the" same word (1:1', pi.) The priest, expected to dis _' ea~lIlg to serve as a priest." him from his office. . pence tora, has faIled; thus God now removes
The vine, used as an image of Israel in Hos 9 10 and 101, is a traditional symbol of the nation 2:l7 . The theme that Israel is planted in the mountain range of Palestine - an expression for the divinely appointed settlement 238 - is twisted to indicate that the ground is, underneath, a rock, according to a possible reading of Hos 9 13. Another important image is that of Yahweh as a shepherd or tender of young cattle. Yahweh fed Israel in the wilderness (Hos 13 ()), in line with a prominent theme in sacred history, probably implying the image of a tending of sheep 239. He gave the nation a profitable and promising task of plowing - as a calf - in Palestine (1011). But Israel plows badly (1013); it is a "rebellious calf" (d. Dtn 3215), so that Yahweh - according to a possible interpretation - will need to take it back to sheep-status in the "broad place" (ironically) of the wilderness (411)). The: image of the shepherd is closely intertwined with that of the lover in the Song of Songs 240 . Unfortunately, Israel's shepherd turns into an attacking animal (Hos 13 if.). Bethel, the most important Northern sanctuary, was a center for cultic weeping, probably originally for a dying god. In its area, there were to be found the "Oak of Weeping," a locality Bochim ("Weeping"), and the spot Beth-aw
237
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V. CONCLUSION
Hose~ni~:~l:~~ as th~ preceding di~cus~ion goes beyond the book of
1 h 1 can gIve only tentatIve mdications Yet it has b c ear t at Hosea is deeply de endent on d'" . ecome largely standardized A fl'n lP. 1 tra ItlOn, that hIS terms are . a examp e may be' h' h . h gIven, w lC YlClds parallels to several aspects treated It· which another part has be n . IS a ymn to Shamash, from are italicized. . e quoted above; Items paralleling Hosea Spread is your wide lIet ... over him, \\'ho turned his eyes toward the wile 01 his campa Ilion. On a day not meant for him (?) '" he ... There is laid for him a horrible snare
\Vhen your weapon turns on him he finds no reSCIter, In his controversy there stands by him not even his father, At the time of the judge's word " not even his brothers speak up, \\lth a metal bird-trap . he is felled to the ground, unawares. \', hoever does something horrible his horn you drstYt'y, For him who aets cunningly. full of trickery. the ground Is cut away2H
f :.; sn"ll h, II \'Inlh of the Temple,
1~1.\1,1~1. \\"it11 rl'fl'l"l'llI.:<: to a golden \"illt' in i'knlt! ~ Tl'lliple. 238
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Probably best'. J . R'leger. DIe ' BedeutunO' der G,- h' h .. ' , Amos und Hosea 19')" I-I" <> e~c IC te fur dIe Verkiindigung des , , -v' osea IS repc:atl'dly I J ' O. Procksch, Geschichtsoetrachtung, 190:.?, 11~~;;');0 than to E (partly against Falkenstein-Soden :.?43; :\NET 388. Buss
- .
8
114
Chapter V; The \ \'ord as Message: Terms
It has been shown, specifically, that Hosea is close to the Deutero. tradition in a broad sense of that word. Hosea's dependence nomIC . ' " \\as recogmzLC1.J '.. I b r E' . D'a y·245·, on Deuteronomlc termlllology and motIfs as a result, he placed the writing into the Persia~ l?eriocL HiS procedure, however, led him inexorably to delly a prc-exlh~ da~e to any ot the prophets whose writings ;~re preserved~46, since It ~~d ~ot allow for an oral history of expressIOlIs and motIfs ?r for wntmgs nc)\\, lost. . A striking phenomenon is the similanty. between Hose~ s terms and many that arc used in the Psalms. DescnptlOns of enel~les found in the Ps~lms revolve around the images of hunters, :\'~ld ammals, and warriors 247 , and include stylizations for moral quahtles; all ot these are employed by Hosea. This is not to say that psalm usag;' IS. the direct source of the prophet's terminology; for these ~onceptuahzatlOns han: a fairly large range. Yet one can raise the questlO~ whether Hosea is violating the stylizations by pointing them in a n~w dlre~t.lOl1, nam~ly against Israe12 48 . In a sense, that is true; but even m trachtlOns outsIde of the prophets, and beyond Israel, God's enemIes ~re .not th~tlght to. be always by definition equal to the peopl~'sor ~he mdlvldual s ~nemles, so that there is at least a theoretical dlstlnctlOn between one s opponents and "the wicked." . I<.eferences to collective and individual sins are old and wIdespread in situations of difficulty; gods could be u~derstood as oPJ:osing their o\vn people in punishment for tran~gres:I?~s249. Long betore Amos and Hosea, Israelite prophets engaged m cntlC1sm. The phenomenon of "opposition prophets" in Mari dispels any doubts about the antiquit~r of a critical tradition, ('\,cn if not as profound or shaq~ a~ that of Hosea or of other Israelite prophets. Though most Neal Eastern oracles arc concerned with questions of success and advantage, a certain combination of prophecy with a moral emphasis had already taken place outside of lsrae!. especially in Mesopotamia. T~e su~-god Shamash was both the patron god of justice and the favonte deIty of
V. Conclusion
seers. In Egypt, accusing and threatening moralists played a significant role well before :\loses. The existence of various motifs presupposed or employed by Hosea shows that Israelite religion in his day already contained many of the typical elements of its faith, unless the prophet himself authored many major and minor patterns that eventually were accepted and used in varying ways. For the present study, however, such historical issues are subordinate to the literary issue of the meaning of the stylized expressions. :\lost of the images and expressions used by Hosea are not fresh creations but living symbols, even though they are often given a new direction or application. The symbols arc related to the fundamental problems of the people, revolving around the most basic fortunes of life 250 . They express directl~r the emotional concerns of human existence, both of a positive and a negative form 251 . A fundamental positive symbol is "Life" - if onE' likes, "Being." \rhen this includes a standard of evaluation to \\'hich one is subject, it becomes "righteollsness." Its opposite is death, or non-Being, disorder, or "falsehood." Emotive concerns arc inherently rc1ationa!2 52 . A strongly negative form is thus expressed in terms of enmity. Threatening evils are regularly personified as one's enemies or opponents at a la\v-suit 253 ; both physical and moral evils can be thought of as the enemies of deit y 254. For Hosea, the nation itself is evil -- at odds with its divine lord. 250 251
2'.
2"
.\JSL :!I, (1911!!/111), 105-1J:!. E ])a,' '"HI \Y. Chapin, AJSL I" (1~1(i1/1I:!), ():)--!l;\ E. >;, . H ]{ralls. Psalm(·n. 1!(,!\. 41). For ne;g"hL',nn?,
,j"LI I., \Viclengr"Il, The Accadian and H/.'lJ~l'\\· J',alms ..f Litllll'lIlatioll, 1931\, J :2:!i , ,\c abo for "ther terms, such itS "~devise> evil" (Ill!!). F"r thc stylizations applll
Der Tod 1m :\ lll'n Test"nwnt. 1!l(;7. ~4~ H. Hirkl'land, Thl' E,iJd""rs in the Book ull'sallll';,
19.'):, :!7 11I,lds that i\ similaritv bl,tween proplwt 11 t. howl'".!r. dolatC' thl: form ~1'('n to that appr"'trh in morpho]og"i"ili allal\·sl';. 249]. Hemp", j);/' :\ll'llr
Similarly. the literary critic M. Eowra, The Propheti, Element. Inii9, 18. 1'11. Bodkin, Archetypal Patterns in Poetry, 1nilS, 35, speal's appropriately of "cmotional symbolism." F. Haeussermann, \VMtempfang und SnnlJol, In32, 30-3:!, divides Old Testament symbols into those for evil, thns(; for good, and those that are ambivalent.
252
253 245
115
254
The relational character of righteousness and evil has !Jc('n emphasized by l\:. Fahlgren, $edal,:a, 1!J32; E. Achtemeier, IDE, IV 8(J-8~); [{lopfcnslein op. cit. So, often, in Mesopotamian incantations; further, Widengrcn, Psalms, 202-214; 1'II. \Vitzel, Tammuz-Liturgien, ] 835, passim; for Egyptian, Zandcc op. cit. 2] 7. 259-2G3, etc.
E. Podechard, Le Psautier, I 1949, 45; W. Lambert, .-\fO 1!1 (InGO), 117; Zandee op. cit. 217; J. Conda, nie Religionen Indiens, I 42, d'..
l. The FHnction of l'rophecy in its Context
Chapter VI: The \v' ord as 1\Icssage: Structure 1. THE FC,CTlU:\ OF l'ROPHECY T:\ iTS CU:\TEXT
Israelite culture distinguished between the priests, the prophets, and the wise. Wisdom was a strongly humanistic activity, representing what may be called the mastery relation of man. The ability to pursue wisdom was, it is true, considered to be a divine gift, but the pursuit itself laid emphasis on the exercise of intelligence. Priestly and prophetic word, on the other hand, were essentially thought of as receptive, though joined in part to reflection and obscn·ation. Priest and prophet thus present divine speech, which is absent from wisdom. The categories of priestly and prophetic speech have their roots in religious structure as such. It is an essential feature of a culture that it define the basis and thus the norm of its existence. Commonly, this is done through creation narratives and various mythological traditions. It is also an inevitable characteristic of a group that it concern itself with that which lies ahead. Two main avenues of approach for the latter are possible. Either one can attempt to insure a good prospect by means of ritual - thought to be divinely given at the origin - or one can seek to pierce the developments of future events and attempt to adjust onesdf to them by appropriate action or inaction. These two options provide a certain built-in tension between priest and prophet, but in theor~· and generally in practice their roles are complementary. At any rate, it is the prophet's pre-eminent task to see ahead so that a ~atastrophe can be avoided and good fortunes maximized. The decbrations of the future are not at all ilTC'\'ocable; for if an oracle is unfa\·orable, the person ill\·ol\·ed will simph· not proceed with his plans an(1 thus prevent the prediction from \wing fulfilled!. The proplwtic announcement docs not POSS(·"'; an ah-.;olut(· character, at least in ".() far as it j", r()oted in a changeable human situation. It only clarifies tIll' din'ction or trend ()f th;' indidrlllal TlWTl1t'nt. which one can thE"n l.itlwr ;lI'ccpt or ~w('k to change. Tlwrelw tilt' prophds arc related to the pr(l("l''''''' (If (kcision~. l
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117
The specialization ~f prophet and priest probably was not altogether mutually exclusIve. In the surviving Israelite literature as presented m the canon, however, the separation of structures is rather pronounced. There are, indeed, almost no references to the historical :'credo" in prophetic books; the few that do occur, as in Hosea, stand III the service of an accusation pointing out Israel's inadequate respon.se 3 . Hosea, more than any other prophet, does refer positively to an Ideal p~s~; perhaps he stood personally, or as a member of the northern traclItIOn, close to the priesthood. Yet even his employment of refe~ences to the i.deal past is either one of parody or one of introducmg an accusatIOn, or both. The relationship between the offices can be seen in the followin u mann~r4. While it is the task of the priest to remember and mak~ eff?c.tIve the mythical time of an ideal past (more precisely, of an Ongm), the prophet relates the individual moment of existence to the divinely given order and evaluates that moment accordingly. The prophet refers to the ordering system as one violated or fulfilled, in order to provide either guidance or curses and, sometimes, blessings. Pri?stly declarations, like all norms, have a general appli~ation; !),rOphetic speech, as evaluation, relates to a certain specific conditionS. I herefore, the con.tent of priestly knowledge needs to be given only once, to be applIcable thereafter, while prophetic word requires constantly renewed insight. The priest's "knowledge" and tora docs not rely on his own reception of new truth but harks back to a divine revelation in the past, given to a prophet such as Moses. Thus while the content of priestly speech is strongly revelatory - as in the laws of the Pentateuch - the priest himself as an individual is not a revelatory person. The new information applicable to each situation, how3
4
Hoo 11 In·. I:? 10. 14 1341. Am 29ff. 3 If. Mi f;.[ Ez 205ff. Cf. \Veslermann. Grund~ formen. 13l. The con<:ept "office" is to be understood in the broad sense applicaole to the functional concept of an "institution" (above, p. 1). It designates role, expected by. anll operative within, society. This analysis is not to be confused with what prophet and pril'st actually dicl with tradition, especially unconsciously. The past-orientation of the priest. however, naturally made him more conservatin·. Cf. Fohrer, Studien. 21~-~(j.
5
Th,' direction of tlh' prophet towanl a p"rticular situation has similarly oeen em~ phaslzed by O. Gretht'f op. cit. 111--114, A. Gunllew~g. !'.lillllllichc und schriftliche Tradition. 19f,:!. 42; \V. Beyerlin. Die !-\ulttraditionen Israels in clef Verklincligung des Propheten l\licha. 19,-):J. U7; 1\1. Newman in: ~[lliJc.lll)\]n,-Festschrift. lUG::. :I:jr.. \Vood. The I{,'Jationship of the Priests and I'rophets in· Pn,-e:-:ilic Israel. Piss· Michigan Slate Univ., 19133 (according to [),\ 24 [19()3/l;4]. 2GUl). Silllibrl v. H. R~'\"(:ntJow. Wachter tiber Israel. 1:)1;2. J~.l. supposing. however. a pers()n~1 Identlt~· bc!\\"(,,,n the law speaker and the prophet.
Chapter \'1: 'I'll<' \Yonl
118
;JS
!\lcssage: Structure
11. The negative Structure
ew:r, requires fresh inspiration" ~hllS ~h()llgh the prop~let>w,ord is expected (in theory) to be subSidiary 111 content .to thL, P11l"t s traas' a l)('rson the 11rophct IS thought more lIllportell1t thell1 the ~ d 1't'lon,. other. One way in which this shows itself is that the prophet s. name is carefully remembered -- or else in vented; anon~mous oracles mdeed would pn;w~ an embarrassment, ?iu:: without thelr s:mrce ,~hey~a~k ,a leaitimating point of reference", 1herdore, the name HO"la 10, pl~ced carefully over the book under d~scussion - probably. for the most part correctly - as the author of Its message. BlOgrap~llCal ~nd autobiographical narratives emphasize or reflect the pecuharly nDportant mIl' of a prophet'.s life. , .. _' ,', ., Priests, too, could dehver oracles, out these woe pllma11l} basl.d on mechanical means? Such means have inherent ~lrawba:ks a~d.dld not harmonize well with the personal structure ot lsraehte r~h~~o.n; they arc ridiculed in Has 4 12. The mechanical o:acle.had as posslbJl1tles onlv- a "ves" or "no" answer to a posed questIOn; It .was awkward to oJl(;rate in determining the cause of. e::~l,. since successl~'e lots would be rt'C]uired to narrow down the posslbilltIes to be consIdered.. . Like the priestly announcement, however, the prophetIc pred!c" answ er '. For hon tends to limit itself in eSSl'nee to a " yes "-or "no though the poetic descriptions of the fu.ture go o~ for som~ con.s1derable length, they arc so general and styhzed that httle IS gamed. 1.n t,he wav of c()ncrct~~ insight into future happenings Sucl: a Sp~CIflC. si g i1t, indeed, is quite unnecessary (e:'eI~ if it were l~osslble), smce l,t IS the prophet's task not to satisfy CUriOSity, b.ut to either encourage or discourage a present or contemplated aC~I:1t~r. . . " :\Iore important in the way of specIfIc mSlght. IS the. p~ophet s abilitv to pinpoint the caUSt' of evil re~uirin?,correctIOn;. tlus IS on.e o~ the most important functions of a dlVll1er 9 . I hough CUltlC accusatlOns c
,
8.
. I tf) 6 In Crccl..'C', "anonynlous" ()racle~ w(~r(' atlnlHltf'l
)
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(:\1 ~ilsson, Cults, :\Iyth,;, (lra,'!es. al1'[ !'olili,,; in .\nl i"I1l (;rw',-,·, 1!). >1 , 12·L 13 ). In the Old Testanlcnt, alnlo~t all o:-acles are placed IllHkr a nanlC', l:\Tn under Slll'll an artificial one as :\!alachi, an,l ,;uch nameS arc not archetvp:tI like :\!oses or Solomon for other traditions. , I \e" II c. g, I ,\' (., J !vlm<> (;;\Inla 1"cstamcnteh .'1. priesth' oracit' in pill' tn' form IS l;ttt.'ratllrhi~tori,t, l~J:~K, ;)!)-- l.;), but ("\'('n 1 ~;l1n 11-; (t!urd-pl'l:-;r)ll jll:-;sive?) is l}(Jt \'lTV g()O'[ ('"alllp!". :\!echanical orade,; appc"r il~ .I',sh 71"·1' 1 S;~J11 1'+3,\ .• 1[, 23 9'1:~ Eg\'Pl ian pril"sts f[(·ely us,'d a mechalllcal p"'''''1 S Th, pq!mlsts stood ~t least (1~ t:l()..;~- til tlw pn>plH·t:-\ a ... to t1lf' ",ric':"t",
"
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of sin are not very well attested in Israel, they must be assumed to have taken place, on the basis both of direct evidence elsewhere and of at least indirect indications within the Old Testament. What distinguished the great prophets of Israel from most of their contemporaries was not that they discovered evil which underlies an already present catastrophe - as in the pattern of Has 4, 1-3 - but that they saw present evil active in such a way that it culminates in doom still to come IO ; in other words, they see an operation of evil even without being required to do so by circumstances. One can now ask how, or whether, prophetic literature should be di\·ided into genrcs l l . It has been shown (in Chapter IV) that in Hosea the forms of divine and human speech can be distinguished but cannot be separated as belonging to different oracles. It is even more fruitless to make boundaries between the future and the present, for these are interrelated hoth in form and meaning, as will be seen in some detail helow. :lIore promising is a division according to the negative or positive character of a saying. Doom and hope are the two possible decisions which a prophet can render in regard to a specific situation. \Vhcther a sharp line can be drawn between the two, or whether doom and hope may belong together, is still a difficult question; after all, a prophet may make a more complicated analysis than a simple yes or no and may combine the two. In any event, however, the positive and negative structures are the two alternatives inherent in the question' of fate.
If. THE NEGATIVE STJn;CTURE
The bulk of Hosea's prophecy is taken up by accusation and threat intimately related to each other. The manner of connection between the two elements can take various forms. Very frequently the conjunction "for" (!d) introduces a reproach. Ordinarily the subordinate clause follows the main clause 12 . The re\0
So. rightly (even if an occasional exception should he found), A. Kapelrud, JBL 71 11 fJ;12) , 38.
\I
The question of whether the genre is represented bv an elementary motif or bv a larger structure is al,;o rai""d bv I~. von Rahl'nall, WZ H;dlc, G.-s. [) (1 !);l:3j5G) , G73. and is resolved hy him, to.'lltati\·,.Jy, in terJns of the fornwr. E, Scherer, l:np"r-;linli,h f"rm1Jlierte prophC"tischc' (lrak",l, ! >iss. Kirchlithe Ilochschule, B... rlin, lfJGt att~mpts lu deal with non-dlvinc indired-address prophedcs as a separate genre, ,lcri\'C'c1 from blessing" and cursing,
12
Ilos 4 I. 10. H 5 :>r. II 7 1:1 S 9 () I. 17 103 11 lIos0a, d. Wolff, Z,\ \\' ;,2 (l!J:3'+I, R.
1~r\I;,1:\i·\hl'()riL."til1;d
tornl /}f pnq')lll'! I'·...; 1.";\lfllL'tilllC:-i ~('I'ull(larlly ((111l n·ti/l.. dl ~ E ~, F. L. ]-:\,lll' 1'1,1, !1;lr<1. \\it, iJ· f;,ft (lla,·I, .., and \1.",1, \""''''''. 'hl' ,\z:Jndl'. U):-~i, Jl 111l1l,('J't, I ii" l\L~..;itlg' (:1' I\on'a, I~'II'; ·1:..':2, ;\11<1 111:111;11} !\I.'buclns .\n>;t
119
5
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Similarly .1'11' 'III, !-los R I. Bn'ond
Chapter V r: The \Vonl as Message: Structure
II. The negative Structure
verse order, however, is followed in a group of statements, as discussed in Chapter IV, which relate threat to human sin as an appropriate result in a special form with prepositive ld. The rcason for doom can be introduced by the prepositions "~ ("for the sake of," "because of")13 and '~~~ (literally, "from")l4, which arc felt synonymous I5 . The preposition l~ ("from")16 is closely allied, though it carries with it the connotation of a fall from a proud position. "Therefore" (laken) , typical of introductions of prophetic threats, appears only in Hos 28.11. 1(\17. In the third instance, the announcement eventually leads to a promise, but laken still fulfills the role of a transition from accusation to threat, namely that of being led into the wilderness. At other times accusation is so closely inten\!oven with threat that the two cannot be separated. Declarations such as, "Now he will remember their guilt and visit their sins I8 ," are an example. An accusation is implied in such threats as "He has rejected your calf"19 and is expressly stated in "Destroyed will be the high places of Awen, the sin of Israel" (108). On the other hand, reproaches imply divine opposition, such as, "When I would heal Israel, there is revealed the iniquity of Ephraim 20 ." The Old Testament, indeed, does not distinguish sharply between the evil deed and its evil consequence. Such an outlook has been called a "s~'nthetic view of life 2I ." Certain Hebrew words indicate both sin and punishment 22 ; occasionally it is hard to know which is meant. Typical of such an outlook is the expression, "You have stumbled in your iniquit y 23." The punishment, as already noted in part, is characteristically expressed as an appropriate consequence of a sin. "Israel has rejected the good- the enemy will pursue' him" (83). Israel's activity already carries within itself evil results. ".\ companion of idols is Ephraim leave him!" (417). Yahweh will not punish the adultery of Israel's
women since cultic prostitution is practiced by the men (4 14). Punishment is geared to the crime. Israel's love for Baalistic rituals and fertility rites leads to a destruction of no.tural growth and a cessation of all cultic activity (91-6). Trust in worldly military power is answered by defeat in war (10 13L). Generally speaking, accusations and threats both involve politics and cult. Appropriateness can be indicated by verbal connections, as in Has 46, with which may be compared the Egyptian word, "Amon knows who knows him and ignores who ignores him 2'1." \Vith bitter irony, Hosea exclaims, "He will return to the land of Egypt, . " for they have refused to (re)turn (to Yahweh)" (115), In a pun, he declares that the altars of Gilead and Gilgal will become gallim, i. e., heaps of stones (1212). An action is so closely connected with its consequence that it can be said that evil is being sought by Israel. "Ephraim . , . pursues the east wind" (122); it "has insisted on following after worthlessness" (0 u). "Their gold and their silver they turn into idols - to be destroyed" (84). In other words, Israel's direction is toward evil. That which lies ahead of the people, that toward which they move, is something that means annihilation and negation of human existence. The prophet Hosea is fulfilling his expected function. Like other soothsayers who predict the future on the basis of omens observable in the present situation, he states the prospect lying ahead of Israel on the basis of present indications. Verbal connections and puns are an important stylistic part of this structure, in Israelite as well as in Arabic prophecy25. For this reason the very pointing out of wrongdoing implies already a threat, comparable to the diagnosis of a fatal disease by a physician. When Israel is said not merely to have "sinned" after the ordinary manner of a reasonably faithful people, but to be actually an enemy of Yahweh, its doom is sealed. Even laments of the pitiable position of the nation form pronouncements of hopelessness. "A foolish people comes to fall with a whore" (414). "Crushed is Ephraim, broken in judgment" (5 Il). "All their kings have fallen" (77). Ephraim is like an unturned or moldy cake (78L). "They have become like a warped bow" (716). "Ephraim has become like a dove, silly and without sense" (711). Israel is now "like an undesirable vessel" (88). Ephraim's "root is dried up" (916); yes, he has "died" (131). Other examples of the form of lament, extremely common in Hosea, could be cited 26 . In a similar vein other Israelite
120
13 JI'" !i7, L" U
!l ',s 111
For the form ill Amos. 11\'lmii, Studin, :"sf,
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1;) Cf.. c. g .. I >tll :2~ ::0 and Jer ... 4 \\lth 110:-) ~I 1;1 16
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121
J, Baillet, Introduction a I'dude des idees morale,; dans n~g'vpte antiq lie, 1912, 11;', Guillaume op. cit, 117-1:!8. on orades of Bedouin,;; Am 8lL Jcr lllL, etc. Has 411. H flu 88 \1 ll. l3, ll~ 117, All instanc('s cited are non-divine words, The tone is lacking in eh, 2. where all negati\'l' speech is from Yahwl'h
Chapter V I; The \\"ord as Message; Structure
122
If. The negative Structure
prophets, like singers the world over, hav~ derid.ed th~,inner wea.kness of enemies. At least one of the expressIOns cIted ( an undesIrable vessel") has elsewhere been used quite dearly as a pronouncement of doom (Jer 22:.!s 4838). Threat, accusation, lament - all three form aspects of the negative structure of prophecy, intertwined in such a way that it is often difficult to disentangle them from each other. They all lead toward the conclusion that Israel's direction and outlook is bad. Indeed, accusation and threat are present in everyone of Hosea's negative oracles and lament occurs in most 27 . An essential evil castigated by Hosea is that of pride, self-sufficiency, and worldliness - in short, the failure to rely on, and to be oriented toward, Yahweh 28 . It is one of the characteristic motifs of Israelite prophecy that Yahweh destroys everything proud and lofty, that every human grandeur must fall. This motif is important in ora~lcs against foreign nations; for the boasting of an enemy marks him for di\'ine destruction 29 . Only the humble meet God's favor 30 . Punishment is thus not artificial lmt consists in the fall that follows pride. According to Hosea, the royal and cultic institutions arc to disintegrate, and Israel's self-satisfaction in Canaan is to lead to a return to Egypt or to the \\'ilderness, . Though Hosea does describe specific evils, it is not at all certam that these form the fundamental basis of his prophecy. The existence of a tradition of opposition propht,ts, as well as Hosea's own stylizations, indicate that the thr11st of denunciation and threat is more basic than the particular specification,.; drawn up against Israel. Nor can a sense of impending destrtletion by Assyria he the primary elt'ment of Hosea's prophecy, sinee it is hardh' mentioned 31 . One may say only that certain definite actions of the nation and certain threats looming on the horizon entered into the picture c\"('n though they probably did not determine it. A C(·ntral clement is plavcd bv the confrontation of Israel hv G()(l. That the awarencss of 0111'\ sinfnlness is more basic than the r~~c()gnition of certain offenscs is a fairlv general experience, cc;pecially for scnsitive persons. Thns Hosea, "thc watchman of Israel ~~ JC'fCT11iah':-, ()r~ll.k:-,. arl' :-.:imilarh IOIUpkx, as not(,(ll)\' \It.\\ilhk('l, Edcla ~l; (lf~:!(j),
:272-·:(;1 '" :';imih.rl\·. 1 ~o
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123
with God" (98), declares the future of the basic movement of Israel's life, out of his special sensitivity to existence. Joined to the personal confrontation with deity is a humanistic wisdom-like perspective, \vhich is illustrated by the use of two proverbial-style sayings: "As they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind" (87) and "You have plowed wickeclness, you \vill reap badness; you will eat the fruit of falsehood" (1013)32. One of the central concepts of wisdom is that of "future" or "consequence," 'It(zarit 33 ; it is the business of wisdom to declare the outcome or prospect of various general types of activity. That Israel is moving in a catastrophic direction is expressed in the prophet's own word, analyzed above as reHecting seer style; this style, together with its general tradition, has affinities with wisdom 31 , Yahweh's personal reaction is typically expressed in line with this as a judgment or as an enemy action in response to Israel's opposition to him, The two aspects of inherent consequence and divine action are combined in the concept of Yahweh's "visiting" or "returning" Israel's ways upon it or of "abandoning" its bloodguilt to produce death 35 . Yahweh thus empowers and seals the destructive forces set in motion. Divine action furthermore is thought of as the basis of the order of events, as in the concept of a curse. Israel operated explicitly or implicitly on the theory of a covenant, i. e., a relationship originally entered ';oluntarily, but then supported by curses. The prophets, such as Hosea, can be understood as invoking curses - to call them "covenant curses" is almost redundant - which once uttered within sacred law by divine authority come into play almost by themselves 36 • 3" 33
Similarly for sO\\'ing, plowing, and reaping: Prov :!:2 8 Job 48. For discus,;ions, with literature. see H. Wildberger, VI' 7 (lD;)7), 7:2--17; G. Buchanan. J:\'ES :2i1
(l~)(;l),
1HH--IDO. Tn wisdom, "end" denotes eithl'r thl' "result" of
'w ",if act (! ltn :1~ 20.2" J's 7317 Prov
5,t 14 12 [= Ii; 25] ~O 2t :':3 ~2 :2:)" :2U 21) or a "gc[)d prosp~<:t" :tvaiL,ble on1\· to the righteous (I's il737f. l'nn' :':3 IS 24 H. 20). as partly noted by Zimmerli. Z\ W 51 (ID3:3). 1 ~l8. 3t 1"01' such :tn affinity in Akkadi"-n literature, see also Schmid 01'. cit, l:!'i, 3; l[os:2 15 +U 81~ ~lH 123.15. ,\11 of these en,l:tn oracle, except 1~3, which begins one. "" The roll' of saiTed law in judgmc·nt is emphasized bv J I. HeH'ntlow, \'1' 10 (HJ60), :\1li-,,81!1, D. Hill"rs, Treat\'-Cur't's and the Old Tl'sl:tnwnt I'rophets. 1%,!, sho\\'s a nUlllb"r (If sinlilaritics bct\\"t't'n prophc'.. il' ;:l.111l(Junf'l'111l'nts and ;\C'a.r Eastern curses. altllough his th"sis that tile' curses "'e're transmitted specifi'ally !J)' treatil's j, \\'C·a],. The relation of prophdi,' ",ord to ',UISI'S has !Jeen noted tv J. Hempl'I, 1)"-, EtilO:_ (1<'5 Altl'n Testaments. 1~l3~, ~l.j. an,l di,,'u,serl in some detail by F. I'en1..' fonnel in the following tlH.:t1H':": I ,ad~ of pr(Jg~'T1Y and infertility.
125
Chapter VI. The \Vonl as l\Iessage: Structure
I L The nC'l-;ative Structure
It is necessary to adopt an appropriate concept of the "future." A long-standing discussion revolves around the question whether or not the prophet foresa\," the future and then grounded its occurrence in the present situation:!'. It turns out that the problem, as thus stated, is a false one. The future of which wisdom and the seer speak is always thought of as a consequence or outcome of the present. A declaration of judgment represents a consequence of, or a reaction to, a present or accomplished deed. In both cases, the future is not simply an isolated happening unconnected with what precedes. Divination- as in Mesopotamia -- observes the present state of the cosmos, in order to deduce from it a knowledge of the tendency of events38 . The future means consequence, direction, response 39 • Hosea repeatedly expresses this future with the word :1T;l~, "now," which is related to the expression :1~~!, "and now," used to express emotional decisions and judgments in response to a previous situation or disclosure'to.
reaction elicited has the character of a personal response JI which in its inner character is an appropriate response. This rational-personal structure distinguishes Israelite prophecy from primitive forms of divination and giH's it its own special attitude to the future. It is not the case that a grounding in the prcseat has b('en added to a. presentiment of the future (as though divination dealt only with the latter), but that the nature of the grounding has been transformed -- from the observation of omens to a consideration of inner culpability. \Vithin the entire Old Testament there are virtually no ungrounded announcements of doom; for even the few that do not develop all accusation explicitly usually contain one implicitly-l2. Oracles against foreign nations ha\'e an inherent grounding in the opposition of the enemy to Yahweh and his people, while more specifically pride and other misdeeds arc also attributed to th('mI3 . On the other hand, seemingly independent reproatlles assume the form of a legal proceeding or of some other style (such as that of a "woe") which contains a threat implicitly 44. Thus accusation and tltreat cannot be torn apart. In their observation of the movement of life, the Old Testament prophets are nut altogether isolated. As Demosthenes explicitly detlared, the responsibility of the t ireek political orator was to discern trends and tendenl'ies and to warn and influence his people 45 ; these same orators engaged in law suits which heavilv in\,(llverl invectives. Invectives and satire of course belong, as Aristotle pointed out, to that form of poetry which deals with the baser side of men 46 • The chief fUllction of the ancient Arabic poet was to compose satires - as curses - against enemies". Furthermore, a c('rtain sense that death is the "destiny" of man was already current in the Ncar East, evidently including Syro-Palestinian literature 46 ,
124
There are, however, many "'ays in which the tc'neleney of e",'nts can be understood. In [sraelite religion, the tt'ndencv takes on what may be called a moral form, with a heavily personal element. The sinner _. or the sinning nation .- is charged with deviations not merely in circumspection but in will; he not merely commits an external oH'rsigllt but is guilty' of au action which contains his own soul. The divin'.'
The priman' of predidion over a moral emphasis has been emphasized by \Vell· hausen, e. g., (;eschichte 11il; \V I~. Smith, The aIel Testament in the Jewish Church, 18U:.', :.'81;f.; n. Sl1W11fl. Lehrbueh der alttestamentlichen ]{eligionsgeschichte, 18!HP, 187 f.; J. Kaplan, Psychology of Prophc'cy, 1!)08, U5; Gressmann, 1910, 32:.'. :~2(i; ])uhm 1;1; C11nkel, Die l'ruphete11, 2\1; ~lowi11.-l,,·I, E,hla 2(; (1!l2Ii), :.':19; Balla, Die Ilroh- U11'! Scheltworll'. :l-l; lIc1npcl, Die a Itht'braisclw Literatnr, GG; Beyer op. cit. 3!J; \\'olff, ZAW ;1:.' (I~I;H), 7. 17; \\',IJlwrger, Jahwewort, 104-12;1. :'vI 0winckcl, however, ddint's the futllre as illclllding "what ought to 1)(', bnt is not yet" (Prophecy and Tradition :I;l). 3" A. Guillaume op. cit. 3Bf. \\'. lIowells, Th,' Ikatht"h, 1~'4H, 1i7, entitles a chapter; "Divination' The Future in the l'resellt." S"nilarh', E Kiinig, Das Bueh Jesaja, Hl:!l;, 1~ 39 Thc' futnrt' 'lS an outgrowth of the present I"" l""'n t'lllphasiz,.. cI 1,y, among others, .\ h:nen'·l1. The Prophets and l'rophec\' ill ISL,,_·I. 1K", :l;,I). W,li; G. Smith HI: I'. Volz, 1>i,· "orexilische Jall\\cprophetie uncI der l\h-ssias, 1K~j,: I,. StacIe, Biblische Tlwolol-;ie .\ltell Testamt'nts, I 1\.10;., 214, F ..\.ltTb,,, h, Ili,· l>wphctie, Hl:!O, 27. l.i4f.; J \ltI,·"r, The Lit,'n,n' Stnd,' of the "r"I'I1'h. !!12'-'. 241-\f. 2'-l2; C. J-i:ent, The t,rt!"tlt ,ltltl COIl(e-nts of th., (lId Te-stamell! 1~'21;. H~I )1/;1, :,,; \licklcm 01'. cit. 242 '1 II !\ol>insolt. 1':-"1'1 4<1 Il!I:.'S,'2\1l. 2!IS, II Ilid'I"J, 111"\ 14 (l!I:WI, 27; E. S"oll, Ihe Hel""ltl'e "l the- l'roph('ts I!144. 111 )·1, II I<",,)ey, llTR :3,'3 (IU4:l), 01.;, 1.. 1.0111-;", r", rIH' (ll,l 'I,·stallle-llt. Ih J'urm and I'11lI''''',', l!jl'-l, 112; H. I)unhrll. ):'i,1 1>1 II!II\L',II), :.'li2. h,h ... ·) '11< \1: lH II!"',],. ;\·!ti, \\. \\'iIJiams, TJll' l'r"ph,·1s. 1:",1; :'(', I \I",llt .I,·rellllah I:I:,K,2 1' \\"'st('lIn;(1I11 (,rlllltllormen. 40.\ol,l1ur lo lltill Hildil.t toOl : 1~lli.'~ Iti:--: 1!17 37
As in Arabic poetry and in a considerable portion of popular Greek literature 49 , a pronounced element of sharp irony makes itself felt in Hosea, for instance in the form of puns and parody. (E. g., "As Ephraim multiplied altars for sin-offerings - they became to him altars for sinning," 811.). Irony, indeed, is the main form of humor ,\s emphasized by J. Pliiger, Literarkritische, formgesehichtliche und stilkritische Cntersuchungen zum Deuteronomium, 1967, 213. '2 See examples of pure threats claimed by E. Balla, Die Droh- und Scheltworte des .\m05, (); K. Beyer op. cit. 30f.; A. Kapelrud, Central Ideas in Amos, ] B56. 59. Some saying'S arc probably listed incorrectly as independent by these studies. .3 Partially against C. Westermann, Grundformen, 18. 148 . H Sec Hylmii, Studier, GGff. (even assuming that those listed arc really independent). '0 Dc Corona § 246; E. Straclley, Jewish History and Politics, 1874, 3, already referred to this. On him and Pericles, W, Caspari, Die israelitischen Propheten, 1914, 150. 46 Poetics, ch. 4. Un the role of lampoons in law-suits, e. g., S. Butcher, D<;lllosthenes, 1882,129f. HE. g., R C'1icholson, .\ Literary History of the .\rabs, 1851), 73. IS Cf. Ugaritic u~lr)'t in :2 Aqht VI; 3,) for "death" (elsewhere, "destinv" or "lot"); similarly 'al/rit, Num 2310. :'>lore important is the direct testimony of various "'ell-known writings. 49 H Rose, A Handbook of Greek Literature, 1934, 344f.; Hvidberg op. cit. 151 f. (on .\rabic and Eg,'ptian). 41
Chapter VI: Tile \\(If< 1 as l\Iessage: Structure
] II. The Positive Structure
employed in the Old Test~mcl~t5~. I~ has rc~cn~l):.been sug~csted -~ probably correctly - that Its chstll1.ctIvc. qualIty IS a wIll t.o nghteonsness," with an expresslOn of the dIspanty between what IS and what onght to be 51 . Similarly, satirl: and im'ective are connected with a moral will in the work of the seventh-century Greek Archilochus 52 , arising from the form of curses in tragic mythology and from abusive invectives against evil forces in fertility rituals. Satire within a society, however, though overtly conservative -~ aiming ostensibly to protect the order that has become violated - can be recognized as anarchic and disruptive of ordinary social processes 53 . It will become apparent that a prophet like Hosea deeply shakes and opposes present H>ality; for he goes beyond practical programs of betterment (which generally avoid ironic satire) to a more absolute vision of existence. The presence of irony illustrates the complexity of Hosea's speech. His negative structure may not be subdivided into separate genres, as though the component parts were independent of each other. Rather, the ~tructure as a whole represents man and God in a relation of enmity, which is not altogether irrational54 but is the end point of the human direction. This conflict spells fundamental disruption and death, even for a sacrcel people.
It is true that many Old Testament traditions promise reward fur a faithful and good life, but almost nowhere does one fincla word to the present generation which assures it a good future 011 the basis of its having achieved moral excellence 56 • A reward structure, it is true, is by no means irrelevant to prophecy; for, in its negative form, it is presupposed by the words of threat. But it belongs to general law, as it is pronounced and observed by priest and wise man 5i . God's goodness is said to exert itself in spite of Israel's activitv... Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to othe; gods and love raisin cakes" (Hos 3 1). The question accordingly arises how positive statements arc related to negative ones. Certain positive forms, namely those declaring God's goodness in the past, form the background for accusations. Israel's sin is viewed as one of false response to God. The nation has failed to acknowledge or remember his kindness (210 7]5 11:!f. U G) and has ignored his laws (4 (\ 81:!). tora and exhortation perform a dual function. toyci is quoted in order to illustrate the divine direction violated by the people (6 (\ 101:! 127). Other words point out the road now to be taken or to be avoided (415 14 2f.). The second meaning is to a certain extent implied by the first group of sayings. Exhortations for the future are closely related to promises, often conditional, as already in Mari prophecy. Amos ([nH.) exclaimed, "Seek good and not evil, so that you may live. '" Perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph." The word "perhaps" belongs in the context of attempts to avert the \vrath of God 58 . For that which is to be done, or can be done, is not to build or earn a good future but to cast oneself on the mercy of God, seeking the substitution of a reality grounded in divine mercy for the one appropriately arising from man. 1\lan thus seeks something beyond his control or determination. "I will love them of my own free will" (Hos 145) is Yahweh's reassuring promise. The people arc encouraged to believe that his coming is "set" (ready) when there is opennl'SS to it (Has 63). The thrust of both tora and other calls indeed, is that Israel should seek and "wait for" Yahweh (127). Israel is to seek Yahweh "until he come and rain righteousness" on them (10 ]2). Negatively
126
HI THE l'(lSITJ\'E ST!{U'lTIU:
The positive form of Isradite prophecy docs not ground its prediction in human activity. The prospect presented therein is not the future arising from man but an occurrence based in God. The mowment of human life is toward doom, but the purpose of Yahweh is directed toward the good of his people. Most promises in Hosea lack any sort of grounding. One, however, gives a reason: "For I am God - and not man, the Holy One in your midst" (11 Il). Hosea's pattern reflects the situation generally prevailing in Old Testament oracles of weal. \\'hatever grounding is given lies in the di\'inl' pmpose 55 . E. g .. lJ. Lang. judaism 11 (1:1\;21. 2.t!, ·--2:) l For an
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The closest approach to such a declaratiun i,; Is (,1 i aLldressing the riKhteous within Israel (d. 5010(11). Is 33 15f.. the only definite occurrence of this structure in the prophets (sec \V"lfl. ZA \V 52 [1934J. 10) is part of a "liturg'y" and represents a cultic form ~imilar to the wisdom psalms. Bentzen incorrecth' regards pri,·,;tly oraclL's as IIllconditil'll;d (op. cit. 187) So also Ex 32 ~o Zeph 23. fn Jon 39. "Who knows ......
Chapter \" I: The \\'onl as \lcssagc: Structure
I\", The Structure of Eschatology
this means that reliance on Assyria or on "horses" (14 4) is to be given up. The work of their own hands is not to ~e ca,lled "God" (14 4). Yahweh alone can grant a good future to Israel s eXIstence. In the new situation, Israel will seek God and come trembling to his goodness (35) and will respond to hi~n personally (217-22). In. other \~ords, the exhortation calls for an attitude of dependence on \" ahweh mstead of one of self-assertion. Even ethical action can be understood in this manner (G () 1012 127). Hos U:; fr, has usually been regarded as an answer to the prayer of 14 3f. 59 , but that is probably incorrect. For the word uses thirdperson address. and it speaks of. heal,in,g Israel'? turning. as does. a similar exhortation in Jer 322. It IS a dlvme promise that \" ahweh Will effect a change of life. Hos 142-,), and 5-9 are parallel to each other one an exhortation, the other a supporting promise in part dependent on Israel's action. Somewhat analogously, the announcements of a saving process in 216 and B 1 do not presuppose penitence, thou~h the eventual salvation does; Yahweh is taking the first step to wm over Israel by taking disciplinary measures. . The two' structures of appropriate destruction and God-Willed prosperity collided seriously in Old Testament prophecy and led to sharp controversies between prophets, Hope prophets naturally concluded from a knowledge of divine intent that Israel's future was bound to be good. Nevertheless the two seemingly.opposing a~pe~ts.couldbe combined by means of at least one of two VlC'WS: Israel s.sm IS only ?f a relative sort; after judgment has run Its course, salvatIOn can ag~m operate, Or, punishment has a chastening. f~~~tiOl?; it l~~ds the ~atlOn back to its 10rd60 . The first of tlwse POSSibIlities IS deCIsively reJected by Hosea, who thus sets himself apart from the typical viewpoint of his contemporaries. With his extremely negative attitudes, .he a.lso modifies the second possibility; for the seriousness of the SItuatIOn requires not mere!y a normal disci pli ne \';hich one mi.ght ~ear repeatedly but a drastic destruction to be followed by a new SituatIOn altogether. The fact that Hosea presents sOllie promist:s should not lead one to belic\'e that he has a perspecti\'(' less harsh than that of Amos,who lacks them, On the contrary, it seems that Amos ,;till entertained a hupe - howl'n-r slim th,{t doom might be
Hosea, however, Israel's downfall is definitely scaled, so that it is appropriate for him to look beyond the impending disaster to a new order fulfilling the will of God. In other words, Hosea's words would be less drastic if they did not include a hope. The presence of the promise makes clear that - unlike that of most prophetic announcement - the content of the threats given by him is not avertable. \\'. Stinespring has correctly stated that we have in the book of Hosea "tell solid chapters of the most de\'astating denunciation in the Bible62." Precisely for this reason, ho\\'('\'er, an L'xIJectation of a nc\\' reality is appropriate. If Hosea forcsaw an inevitable doom, what was the aim of his proclamation? Is his message still related to the question of decision) It is po~siblc to argue that Hosea's word \\'as to accompany or execute judgment, that the power-laden word was to be a means in God's hand to destro)' Israel. If Israel is an enemy of Yahweh's, such an outloo:; is easily uI1lkrstood, for oracle·s against enemies are not ordinarily dc'signed to effect a change o[ attitude within the ones threatened, \\hile thi,; may be true:, Hosea Sl'es the judgment as having a disciplina1Y purpose. In order for this aim to be effective, it is necessary that the nation is persuaded to rccognii:e its downfall for what it is, namely a cli\'inc judgment. Israel's disaster has to be accepted as deserved in onl, r to make a new beginning possible: "Turn, Isracl, to Yahweh ycmr (~o
128
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IV, Tf U: STRl;CTUW: OF I':SCI L\TOI.ff~Y
A. Hosea's COlle,'ptltlll flail>'rll
The various dements anel a~pects of Hosl'a's message' combine in what ma\' be called his eschatological pcrspectin'. If the ann01l11U'l1li'nt of an immilll'nt cnd ancl of a Il('\\' 1'(']'[,'ct ag(' is a crit,'rion, Hosea phl.tir: intcru-,s~it~ll .~; nr) l(II:.~('r Cffl"I"ti"c t,) il,l\'l..' \"al1\\'t:h "p;J,,:-:'~ ()\·~·r." ()r i,~~!~(I;·!.', the sin,-: (.\nl 7b and ,1..i:J; (.f. ~li 71-- ;lll(.[ lJr'J\' l~'Jl, ~l:"; pnill!crl (lilt In' J~;l~'~'IJ'), 'c ('rce7er ()lI:lrt('r!r ;), (Fl.-Jill, ::!(}l. (,3
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9
Chapter \.,: The \\'onl as i\lc,"'ge: Structure
IV. The Structure of Eschatclogy
may have been (perhaps alongside Zoroaster) the first "eschatological" prophct 6 '1, so that his system may be of unusual general interest. But instead of adopting an a priori definition of eschatology, it is appropriate to examine the central features of Hosea's words, in order to gain an insight into the dynamics of the temporal order in which he lives. For Hosea's view, one must distinguish several major periods or spheres of events. One period is represented by the time of Israel's beginning or "origin," when Yahweh led Israel out of Egypt or found it in the wilderness 65 • This is followed, or even accompanied, by a history of sin. This history, however, leads to destruction and is to be superseded by another ideal time, a final era. The second ideal time corresponds to the first, according to the well-known principle that end time mirrors original time 66 ; it deals, namely, with the fulfillment of the basically intended order. Israel has to be returned to the wilderness, in order there to respond again in a true fashion (210. lib). Though a new Exodus is not specificallY mentioned, it is announced that the nation will be turned hack to Egypt, but fortunately not forever. Egypt represents the ultimate chaos from which Israel was rescued in being created. For purposes of a technical terminology one can speak of such a chaos as Non-being, of the ideal order as Being, and of the dC\·iation from the ideal as Existence. Being triumphs over Non-being but is modified in Existence; Existence tends again toward J\'on-being bllt is overcome at that point b~' a New Being 67 • Other possible terms for ~on-being are death or hostility; for Being, life or righteousness or love; for New Being, salvation or reconciliation. In the Old Testament. as in primitin' and other religions, true "life" is seen as coming from thl' di"ine and available only in a positive relation with deity/·8. Prcc,cnt realii\' is not equivalent to "life;" rather. it represents a structure based on lift, but tending toward death.
The time of Being, with its perfection, can bc designated as a mythological category; the time of Existence, as the realm of imperfect human historv 69 . \Vithin such a conceptualization, Being is never strictly historical. "That docs not necessarily mean that the ideal state is nOl;-worldlv if bv world one means the order of bodily reality. Israelite religi~n ha~ no opposition to the body; on the contrary, -it takes the physical order for granted. Israel sees evil within man's voluntarv actions rather than in his outside habitat. Thus Old Testament faith is not otherworldly in the sense that a presence on earth is rejected. But the rule of G~d is contrasted with the willful life of man. Precisely because Israel sees evil as resting primarily in man himself, rather than in an outside material world, its faith has to oppose human history. The events of the Origin of the covenant grapple with the deviations of the human Past, in which historical figures play the role of chaos to be overcome. While the central interest of Hosea is the sacred community of Israel, he is also dearly aware that the world already had a history before the great saving events. Thus he refers to the Jacob tradition and speaks of God's "calling" Israel out of Egypt (111) and his "finding" it in the wilderness (~) 10). He must have been at least partially conscious of a previous fall, to which God's work with Israel provided an answer, so that one can perhaps speak in his perspective of a second fall, as the divine covenant itself falls into disorder. Israel's own rebellious existence involves forgetful satisfaction with Yahweh's feeding (13 Ci), probably already in the wilderness 711 . It shows itself in false worship as soon as the edge of the cultivated lanel is reached at Baal-Pcor. Its evil is symbolically concentrated at Gilgal (H 15) - and at Adam (G 7) ? - where Israel crossed the J ordan 71 . Social corruption is archetypically represented by the atrocity at Gibea during the time of the Judges (H n 10 n). The development of cultic constructions and of royalty with self-assertion form the quintessence of willful behavior; these two may be seen together, for royalty has connections with the cult places Gibea (Saul's home), Gilgal (where Saul was made king and where he also was rejected), and Bethel (the royal sanctuary).
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133
Chapter \' [: The \Vunl as ;\lc'ssage: Structure
JV. The Structure of Eschatology
Hosea is not directly opposed to residence; in Palestine, which he probably regarded as a promised land. But Israel's existcnce there is characterized by au ironical situation. As the original opposite side of the paradox of a "fortunate fall," Israel expericnces an "unfortunate fulfilment." Divine feeding in the \\'ildenlt'ss and the realization of promises in Palestine only produce pride (/iy1Jris) and de\'iation. "A luxuriant vine [as intended] is Israel, fruit he produces, Acconling to the multitude of his fruit he multiples altars [wrongl~'J. Accunling to the goodness of his earth [a gift! J I\I~ makes good his pillars" (10 I). The woman of Hoc; ~ credits the \\TI'llg !It'rsolls \\'ith t]w gifts :;he 11a..; rcet:in;cl. This inner par:tdox is a common ()]It' in religious traditions; for the creatio!l of llIall as a ]lC'in,:'; indl'pcw,knt of (;0(1 proclllc"~; the possibility (iacked inn itability ?) 01 ri\'alry :u:tl opposition. Ho:;ea, who stzt!lcls both OIl Co(l's and on man's side, suffers aClltd\' since: he recognizes a hrri 1\1t: ]<[t. Yet thi:..; rift is abo, in a sense:, a fortnnate situation- in that it can lead to a li'lal, :;t:rpassint:;
scended 76 • Not relative guidance within the imperfect historical order but a direction toward an ultimate reality is given. The fact that the new order is conceived in earthly terms should not hide the fact that its paradisiacal form goes beyond anything known to experience and points to a divine kingdom. The question may be raised whether the promised redemption should not be interpreted literally as an absolutely final occurrence, but should be viewed as an ideological expression more or less deliberately exaggerated in content. That would be analogous to the courtstyle (Hojstil) of the Near East, according to which a king or founder of a dynasty cztn be spoken of as god or as the savior of mankind. A difference from court style, however, rests in the fact that Hosea's word is genuinely predictive, in the sense that it is not a vaticinium ex eventu which actually refers to the present even though laid on the lips of an earlier seer; its aim is not to praise the present, but to subject it to a divine victory. In any case, Hosea speaks as t'j a decisive End is to occur. It will be seen that such a perspective is intimately connected with his particular sense of life. To appreciztte that situation, a theoretical and comparative analysis of eschatological expectations is in order.
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[v. The Structure of Eschatolog\'
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toward or against oneself; in other words, there are both assertive and receptive evaluations. Assertive statements deal with what some outside reality ought to be, for one's own sake; receptive statement:-; declare what oneself ought to be, from the point of view of what i,.; more absolute than oneself, commonly called the divine 79 • Hosea's emotive terms deal clearly not with an evaluation of extrahuman powers but with an evaluation of lsrael-- of oneself, if one is identified with it and accepts the message. In essence, then, Hosea's message is characterized by an emotive concern reflexively related to man. As long as man still has a fundamentally outward concern and is largely at peace with himself as a part of the world, he can find comfort and satisfaction in rituals which pnlviele for periodic renewals and in divinatory procedures ,yhich deal primarily with a self-projective future. It should be pointed out that at this stage self-assertion is still largely innocent and merges with the receptive order, since man operates as part of the cosmos and its divine principles so . Deliberate and haughty self-assertion is a later dcn-lopment, a thisworlclly counterpart to a more transcendent faith. At any rate, in primitive and much of ancient religion ritual renewal, divination, and the integration of an individual life after death Sl form all that is necessar~' in the way of a religiou,.; direction toward the future; fears of a \yorlddestruction or hopes for a possible return of a culture-hero appear only ,.;poraclicall)· or remain quite \·aguc S2 . .:\Iofl' explit'it I11\ths of \\'orld destructioll and of world renewal ou'ur ill "IJ~it·tlf'" c~ist ill a Inorc COlllph-X stag'c. ~lIch \'i~i(ln:-; t\·pj('~L1ly inl'ludf- dt'~(riptIPtF; ot \,jok-nt social evils which art' slillilar to til(' \\'hok~"ak di.'l1tl]lt"jiltltm (If rnaJI;r {Jill TcstaI1h'nt prophets. Thu:-; Hindu thcnrit's td' til<' last c'\'il ;1gc' HI :t '~.TI1 llt-:~( ribe i1H~n as altng"C'ther full of lies, injustice, tlll'ft. adulte..T\·, I(l'" l:tll <-1:... ha\'illg- .HI cyil heart and lacking obslT\"ancc or llroper inner ath'lll j, ll, I" ntqal~.~:'. 1n SOIllC Buddhist systcnlS, a sa\"ior cOlnes at tIl<' till!t, \\ht'll 1!l,'n' h~, I" :':11 :llflLd and physlct11 dL'tC'ri~ ()ration, \\'it11 unh'c[saI enn1it y k-!, The ~"r(h. pill. ·;1 :\(1 L~ld p"cdil is fighting anlong which
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contrasting sharply with present S\'stems"'. In short, decisi\'e individual or collective eschatolog ies devclop in connection with a sense of the problematrcs of thc human situation The marc desperate and disturbed the human ordcr appears - espeCIally :harply ~elt in the more dcvelope,! religions - the strongl'r is an expcctation of an End"". A SpCl ia! tL'st case is furnished 11\' so-called "messianic movemcnts" of reCl'nt times, In prilHitin' societies threatelwd "ith i,!co]ugi"al dissolution through contact with the modern world strong hopes for a decisivc rencwa! and restoratIOn have frequently ariscn. Expectations usually invo!\'c a more or less passivc - frequently an ecstatic - ,,'aiting for an imminent di\'ine salvation. :"ot an acluevement-onentcd goal-dircctc'!ncss, but a receptive relation to the spcedv coming of a paradisiacal good, characterizes thcir attitude, \"hich can thus be properly termed an cschatological one 97 . Thcrc are indications tlwt such a "foolish" approach - from a pragmatic standpoint - is closely related to a disorder in the society's valuc system and self-conccpt"S GenerallY speaking', it appears that pure physical hardshi.p,. unaccompanicd. In' moral malaise, docs not lead to a "messianic" mo\'ement; for It IS spIrItual or cultural disorder to which such eschatological hopes n'Spo'lll. Chiliasti,: e"pcetations ha\'c f10nrished among disadvantaged and confused groups within larger societies"". Both primitive and lowcrclass movements ~re often led. bv a charismatic prophet who recci"es divine re\'elatlOns about dehveranee. Somctimes thc'se groups c"lwd to be able to hastcn the End through a moral refor· mation of thc·ir own li\'cs; th<"ir Illnst powcrful feeling, however, is one of violent opposition to an outgrollp which is to Ill.' Lkstro\'ed lOO Therein they differ from Hosea, whose ccntral point is rcpentall'-C rather than miraculous s~lf-JUstlh,'atlOn.
In hannom', however, with this radical tradition, at the beginning of which h~ stands, Hosea announc.cs an. immin~nt End, Ncarn:ss expresses the intensity of the expectatIOn; It th:", IS. co~~;la\ed Wlt~ the depth of the disorder felt III the ~rcsent sltt~atlOn . Nearneo,,, is especially appropriate for a hope \dllCh deals wlth an element felt . ,\a' "'IJI . . . 1 'I' r 'If) f . 95 See, e. g.. H. I{owley, Prophl'<'" alld I
e. g., );ilsson up. cit. U~ (abo\·e. p. 11 i)) ~7 SeC', e. g., \V. StalHier, '1'11(' ~ollth ~I.'as iil -, LUi ; i(Ji~ l~l.-d, Gif.; l{. Read, South,,'estern Journal of ,\nthropolog\' 1-1 ()l);,.'-'!. :!~:\f I'll il:ll1l0hility cansed in ;,n 0rganisP1 11~" ];!I'k (jf confiderw(' in it~ ;lhili1\" t(~ ;V",."(>lnplhh ~{\n1{·nl1ng-. ~ee O. :\In'x~('rJ If'arlliilg Tlll'(,ry and rkh:L\"ior. 1~11)11. l~'~. ~7:!. "L-)~f. _, ~'I'--. \-. Pg'(' t . .\1·,I Y, .-'I 1]'1"1)' \\' •\l1ihlnnllll \,,1.) I hili.,sllI"'; 1111'\ :-;"ti\'ismlls, J'l\>1, \, . . J .. • "-,' _. " • ~,..., 11 f. D-l. :!II:, J. c;,crkSIIl". b'n :-;i"IJ\\'o' 11,:11",1 ell ,.,;, "'11\\" Aarlle, 19(,1. ~;l'; S. Tllrllpp It d i. \Iil]ellial Dreall'S ill .\oIi"I1, !!'I;;' "'; :!I,[;- \-. Lanternari, TIll' }
IV. The Structure of Eschatology
Chapter VI: The \\'onl as :\lessage: Structure
136
to be beyond one's own control, when there is no possibility of an emotional release in the process of working toward the desired end. A spiritual malaise is not only devastating in its effect but also not easily seen as amenable to remedial efforts; for how can one change one's own human reality? At any rate, in Hosea the rapidly approaching End is closely related to the moral and spiritual evil of which he accuses the nation. It is possible that some of the less well-known "hope-prophets" of Israel expected a distant ideal age, but Hosea differed sharply from such a comfortable view. Eschatology can be described in tErms of a solution of the contradiction between what is (history) and what ought to be (the mythological order)l°2. If the disorder is slight, periodic ritual regeneration is sufficient. A deepened sense of contradiction may underlie large-scale cyclical systems or views of long-range developments in history. A catastrophic anomie, however, expresses itself in the expectation of an impending overthrow, Just as a "goal-tension" in organismic and ordinary human life expresses the difference between desire and possession, so an "eschatological tension" describes symbolically the divergence between one's historical self-definition or humiliation and an ideal state. It should be clear from earlier analysis that a severe tension is not simply the result of unfavorable external conditions, even though these may playa contributory role. Accordingly, End-expectations in Israel are not primarily the result of a political disappointment in the time of the Assyrian or Babylonian exile. They are more specifically a function of an extreme moral and religious sensitivity, connected with an overwhelming sense of the divine, evident in a prophet like Hosea, Although circumstantial factors undoubtedly contributed to the message, the word of the doom prophets rt:'presents an awakening of a more fully personal or self-conscious form of life, with a strong sense of responsibilit y lo3. Of course, even in his message, evil is seen not as lying within the prophetic speaker himself. but somewhat outside him in the community of Israel. The expectation of Hosea is related to the patient waiting and hoping which is a central theme in the literature of wisdom and IO~
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Chapter V I' 'I'll\' \"onl as Message: Structure
IV. The Structure of Eschatology
psalmod y l04. In these traditions. however,. waiting .is for divine deliverance within the present order of rcallty and IS c1osc1.y related to self-enhancement (with enemies lying on the outside); more precisely, in their structure the human and the divine projections do not fall apart, but rather lie together birh' harmoniously. But Hosea's orientation is one of on:r\"helming conflict bdween man and God. The words of a man like Hosea \vere too sharp in their denunciation, and too radical in their announcement of an End, to be accepted fulh' bv main-line Judaism which was centered in an on-going religio-l)olitical community and which placed a certain emphasis on human ethical achievementl° 5 . On the other hand, Hosea's message is not equivalent to the Christian; his announcement is one of nearness and not one of the presence of the End. He places greater demand on human turning than does the Christian, for "alvation is a promise rather than a reality to be bclie\'ed IU6.
manller of speaking, one may be able to continue to use the term "future" for both of these dimensions, in a sense continuing the original general meaning of "arrival" for French avenir and German Zukunlt, hut such a use has an archaic ring. Like the category of Beginning or Origin, the Eschaton is an ultimate structure containing infinity - especially an infinity of value, that is, a state of perfection. While the Origin contains the basic power and norm of the ultimate good, the End wrestles with the evil of Existence and overcomes it as a supreme reaction to it J07 . To be in tOllch with infinity, one must necessarily relate oneself to it receptivdylOS. The style of divine speech is a fitting symbol to embody both an imperative laid upon one and a divine victory over the self. Future-directedness seeks a continuation and enhancement of finitl' reality. It thus leads ultimately to death, as reflective thinkers in general, from Near Eastern wisdom to modern philosophy, have recognized. In Hosea's style, Israel's directionality toward destruction is appropriately expressed in non-divine speech. That same form also concretizes Hosea's hope into a semipolitical expectation (2 ]-3 ;\ H. 11 lOL), toward what may be called a social future. The phenomenon of selfhood in this regard is a complex one, for the object of an action or word is to be distinguished from its subject. Self-projection has the ego for its subject, not for its object of concern; it looks outward onto the world to be conquered rather than inward to the self to be changed. In contrast to this, eschatological salvation, which is centered in the divine, relates to a self which is questioned 100 : it secks what one can "be" rather than what one can "have llO ." A. Hesche! thus designated divine speech, because of its object, by the term "anthropopathy," i. e., feeling for man l l l . Indeed, selfhood finds a fulfillment in self-transcendence within the divine or the eternal, as
138
C. Future' alld End il! Human I.ile (/Ild the
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,,,; ~lI1\ilarh', T. Cussmann, Die Entwicklung des GerichtsgC'dankens bei den alttc'sta~ mentlidwn l'ropheten, 191[), 1. In the conceptualization of P ..\Ithaus, Die letztC'n Dinge. 19:?()3, 1'1. 20, "axiological" C'schatology plays the role of Urigin, whi!l' , teleological" eschatology is closer to Future than to End. til' .\. :\Iaslmy has properly noted that "Being~cpgniti()n" (an l'''peric'nle of creall'" fullness) is receptive anll ego~transcencling in character U ollrnal of Genetic J'S\'~ ,hology 9+ '1 !1:J~l:, +3~i)i;, Toward a PS\'chology of Be'ing, 1%2, 1+. 81); the lC'n~ trasting "])didenn·'l.ognition" is cIIJsc'i\' re]all'd to the catt'~cn' of the Future'. SimiJilrh', (l. Bnlll1')\''', Das W,'sen (kr StimIl1Ung"ll, 1 ~H32, 1,,";. \!so the Dudclha npposc'c1 sl'lf-:.-al\'atinn tlnollg-h as\'t"'t!('isnl, !ll'i! (!tor :\knschhc:it, 1!11 j.:! , :?2H. I"" .J. \Y~l('h, Dcr Erlij,ungsgc·danke unci s('in ... Ikulung, 1II:?:?, 12. 110 In th' tcrmin"log" "f H. Jonas .. \u!::ustin unc1 c1as paulinisllte J-reilwilsl'roJ,j,.1l1, I !I:-)O, i;3f. Ct. S l'reud. C;ruup Psychology, Ch. \' II (Standard Edition, X\, III I~':;,'" lOG). III TI1l' Prophets 2GR
140
Chapter VI: The \\'oed as Message: Structure
often expressed in great literaturc m . The concept of the self, it must be emphasized, is not an individualistic but rather a social one; for reflexivity is possible only in a context of reciprocity between persons; it is here even applied to the community as a whole. While Future and End can be distinguished as different movements of human life, they must in some way be related to each other. At one point, in fact, the distinction between them commonly breaks down, namely in the experience of sexuality. Abandonment in love contains an element of timelessness, even while it involves an objectlove related to biological self-projection. Such love relations form a natural focus for religious structures in which man and God are felt as reasonably harmonious, as in Canaanite Baalism. Israelite religion, with a strongly personal-moral structure containing considerable elements of guilt, did not recognize a continuing harmony between man, nature, and God. Erotic rituals are therefore condemned as harlotry, especially so hy Hosea. Israelite faith instead emphasizes divine speech \vhich embodies, in psychological terms, a father figure or Super-ego, providing both a law and a salvation to be humbly received. An overwhelming eschatology has often been skeptical of sexuality, as a possible diversion from a serious view of reality 1l3, except as the eschaton is concretized into the present. In Hosea, Future and End are related to each other ironically, for the directionality toward death leads into redemption, not automatically but hy a divine doing accepted by man. A complex approach is revealed in his extensive and varied use of sexual emotion and terminology114. A negative side of such an emotion is felt in the declaration of enmity between man and God. But positive love then triumphs mysteriously. For Hosea deity i~ likC' an ancient husband at once master and lover, so that punishment kads on to telldlT healing. Hosea's prophetic word point-.; to a rC'conciliation which incorporates, but goes beyond, a consciousness of pnsonal reality \\·ith a sense of responsibility and alienation. In dialectical terminology, it is a nt'gation of the nC'gation. It dol'S not ignore a condition of tension, but having pictured reality in th(, Illackl'St terms possible, it goes on to announce a \'ict()f~- be\"(JI1d. It ofhT-; all ecqac\' of joy ht'pmd angllish, chalJl'nging the h.-arer to a11 (1]H'lIl1i'S-; t')wanl !o\"(~.
Index
Dt
82.
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113
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Index
142 H D.... !)
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.44
4~1
Zu]etzr crschienen:
. .. 4~, , .. 41 i
labi ~ laken m's , sbb srI' 'a~ab .. ,
84 'i8. ]20 7!l. 86. 88 86 12. 102 , .. 104 !J3 'as ' , , . , , .. , , 8G fl1.9:1 'aWi (;2.124 , :H. 84 pii~l R4 , ,.,., '. : ,:,2.(~,f(K P'1d (12 f J 2:31
:3!li
pr' ,. 87--S!) ps' u
Herausgegebcn von GEORG FOHRER
..4~
Studien zur alttestamentlichen Prophetic (1949-1965). Von G. FaHRER. XII, 303 Scitcn. 1967. Ganzleinen DM 60,- (Heft 99) Jlidische Lehre und Frbmmigkeit in den paralipomena Jeremiae. Von G. OELu\:c. VUf, 77 Seiten. 1967. Ganzlcinen DM 24,- (Heft 100)
C. Index of Selected Hehrew Words 'Ll 'hb 'iiharit 'a:lohaj
2ur
.42 (I) . . .f~ 14 1 .. .41 ..
111~1
Beihefte Zeitschrift fUr die al ttestamentliche Wissenschaft
q bt~' !J·1 ra fJR rib 33f. 76f. R3. R!I. Hl-!1:195.115.]25 sn 88. !Hi Sllb 92. 97.10Cl 107. 12:\ sl;t (84) !);,!J8 skI., , ,1'7 t<',ra G(I. 1Ill;. 12,
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E]SL'CBEIS.
Etwa 416 Seircn. In V<>rbereitunc;
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Verlag Alfred Topelmann . Berlin 30
./L:LlllS \V'El.LlL\(;SE:-':
Die klcinen Propheten UbcrsdZl und erkLirt 4., unveriindcrte "\uflage. OkLn·. \'111, 222 Sciten. 1963. (;;\n/kincn Di\1 28,--
Israelitischc unJ '!
Jiidische
Geschichte
_\uil.lgc. Okc'\·. \111, 3i1 ScilCl1. 1958. C"n;Jcincn D~,l 19,80
.\i;!""':. ·':1 i.i\l ~r:11.\L11'
Konig l-Ierodes Dcr
\~.Uln 1I11J
scin \\'(;1'1::
I)il.: Gl'lli'\chc .\U"g:.dh: I~: ·:ir:c \1>:'; \ c:-f. ·~-"(;r ~'ii:-Tr:11hl'jtctc llnd hc'dcutcnd crwcitcrtc FJssung des 1S}GU irn BLllik··] q..:;t i1 :..It, .r cn,s.llt::-ll, lT5Chicl1t:llCll hd)r~iiscllcn Originals. I)ic Obcrsct7.ung ckr hdY:~;'~·~<'I..'·ll (),·;_~;I~.l~f.t~"'l.i;1~J; \\llt'JC. von JL[\O-:'\ll'.\ .\\lIR bcsorgt. (;l(;(_;-(JkLav.:~\'!,i":tJ!J ~\..·i;u,.
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