Background
The only information on his life emerges in the early part of the book, in which he is commanded to marry a harlot to symbolize Israel’s unfaithfulness to the God.
The only information on his life emerges in the early part of the book, in which he is commanded to marry a harlot to symbolize Israel’s unfaithfulness to the God.
He there-upon married Gomer and fathered three children. She was unfaithful and the prophet divorces her, but later they were reconciled and remarried.
It is not clear whether the story of the Hosea-Gomer relationship actually happened or was intended to convey symbolically the relations between God and Israel. As such, the symbolism would suggest that even though Israel’s love is deflected to the pagan god Baal this defection is only temporary. God continues to love Israel and will reaccept her when Israel returns, as she surely must.
God is seen as being angered by Israel’s sins, which include both ethical misbehavior and exaggerated reliance on the cult and on military strength. Immoral acts are not mitigated but are compounded by recourse to ritual deeds in the belief that these will serve as expiation even without a change of heart. In particular, God is infuriated by Israel’s apostasy — worship of other gods and acceptance of other religious rites, such as idol worship and adoption of divination. Even the country’s foreign alliances are a form of rejection of their reliance on the true God.
Significantly, however the door of mercy is not closed and the call for repentance brings a message of hope, for Hosea’s concept of divine forgiveness is a significant innovation in the Israelite conception of the Divine.
Quotes from others about the person
The relationship between God and Israel conceived by Hosea in terms of marital love, desertion, and the hope of a new betrothal, calls not only for right action, but also for a feeling for each other on the part of those involved. It implies not only legal obligations, but also inner attitudes. In the light of his own complete emotional solidarity with God, Hosea seems to have seized upon the idea of sympathy as the essential religious requirement.
A. J. Heschel