NEXT WEEK'S READING - AMOS & OBADIAH
INTERPRETATIONS
“Verse 23: In the last verses of this chapter, the names of Hosea and Gomer’s
children are important. For example, verse 19 ends with a reference to mercy or compassion,
the name of their daughter (Ruhamah, 1:6). As we saw, verse 22 ends with the mention of their
first son, Jezreel, and if we remember the meaning of the first son’s name, verse 23 begins
with a mention of him. Then this verse mentions their daughter, Ruhamah, and finally,
it mentions their second son, Ammi. So if we recognize the connection of the names to
the meanings of the names, verse 23 mentions each child in order of birth and could be
translated like this:
Then I will sow her (Jezreel) unto me in the earth and I will have mercy on
She-Who-Did-Not-ReceiveMercy (Lo-Ruhamah); and I will say to
He-Who-Is-Not-My-People (Lo-Ammi), Thou art my people; and they shall say,
Thou art my God.”
Dr. James Faulconer
The Old Testament Made Harder
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=mi
“Those prophets often used literary devices to reach their readers (metaphor, simile, chiasmus, and especially typology). Hosea uses a powerful type to make his point. But his is more than a metaphor. It is a real event that serves as a type or shadow of the Lord’s relation to Israel: Hosea is called to marry an adulterous wife, and then, though she has been unfaithful and even had children by other men, he is commanded to buy her back and to love her. The point of this shocking type is that Israel (like an unfaithful wife) has gone whoring after other lovers (pagan gods), and the Lord, the husband who has entered into a covenant with her, will buy her back and love her and bring her to repentance. Some argue that Hosea did not actually marry the woman he talks about, that she is only a literary device. As with Jonah, it doesn’t matter for our purposes. Since the book of Hosea treats her as real, these notes do too.”
Dr. James Faulconer
The Old Testament Made Harder
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=mi
Some LDS scholars reject the literal union of Hosea to a wife of whoredoms because it “would be imputing to God a command inconsistent with His holy character.” Brent L. Top cautions against such reasoning, stating, “Rejecting the literal nature of this or any other scriptural episode that we find disturbing, illogical, or at odds with our own finite view of God and his dealings with man opens a Pandora’s box of issues surrounding the historicity of the scriptures” (“The Marriage of Hosea and Gomer: A Symbolic Testament of Messianic Love and Mercy,” in A Witness of Jesus Christ: The 1989 Sperry Symposium on the Old Testament, ed. Richard D. Draper [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 227).
Dr. Aaron Schade
"The Imagery of Hosea's Family and the Restoration of Israel"
COVENANTAL LOVE - HESED
"Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy. In the Hebrew language, that covenantal love is called hesed (חֶסֶד)."
President Russell M. Nelson
"The Everlasting Covenant"
March 31, 2022
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/10/04-the-everlasting-covenant?lang=eng
TO KNOW GOD
“Quite obviously since the Israelites have not appropriated these qualities and reproduced them in their lives, it demonstrates that they have no real commitment to God. Nor do they truly know him in a living, experiential knowledge of him. As [Terrence] Fretheim points out, “To know God is to be in a right relationship with him, with characteristics of love, trust, respect, and open communication.” Indeed, a firm reverential trust in God constitutes the basic foundation and fountain of true knowledge. Israel had been schooled in the knowledge of God and his standards as well as his goodness, but alas, they demonstrated no trace of them in their lives. Had they truly known him, it would have been reflected in their appropriation of God’s covenant standards for their lives. Therefore, they must face the consequences of their own actions.”
Robert Alter
Hosea: An Exegetical Commentary
https://bible.org/seriespage/2-perspectives-unfaithful-israel-hosea-41-19
“The strength of your horizontal relationships is a sign of the strength of your vertical relationship.”
Dr. Kristian Heal
Maxwell Institute Abide Podcast
https://mi.byu.edu/abide-hosea-and-joel/
“Astonishingly, to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear that the Father and the Son are giving away the secrets of the universe!”
Neal A. Maxwell, “Meek and Lowly” BYU Speeches, 1986
Elder George Q. Cannon wrote: “The spirit of the Church of God is that manifested by Moses. … The genius of the kingdom with which we are associated is to disseminate knowledge through all the ranks of the people, and to make every man a prophet and every woman a prophetess, that they may understand the plans and purposes of God. For this purpose the gospel has been sent to us, and the humblest may obtain its spirit and testimony” (Journal of Discourses, 12:46).
President Heber C. Kimball stressed the reality that this gift is found in more than the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve: “There is not a man or woman in this congregation,” he explained, “if they live their religion and have the Holy Ghost upon them, but what are prophets, every one of them. . . . I wish to God you, brethren and sisters, were all prophets and prophetesses; you may be, if you live your religion; you cannot help yourselves” (Journal of Discourses, 5:88).
“Prophets will be the last safe voices on earth.”
Sheri Dew, “Prophets Can See Around Corners,” BYU Hawaii, November 1, 2022
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