Marriage And Divorce In Hosea's The Hebrew Scriptures
458 Words2 Pages
Hoseaâs use of the marriage metaphor in relation to the nature of YHWH and Israelâs relationship was ingenious in the sense that it gives us a special insight into the divine-human relations. However it raises some serious problems for those concerned with the texts that may be interpreted as excusing violence against women. In the case of the Hebrew Scriptures, the image of the husband physically retaliating against his wife is almost unavoidable, and his right to do so unquestionable, to the extent that divine retribution is based on the notion that the deity has the right to punish the people. The first task of the prophet is to capture the imagination of their audience, in order to persuade the gravity of oneâs message to their listeners. Hosea convinced Israel of her urgent need to repent by using a plethora of beautiful and poetic images to capture the nature of YHWHâs affection and claims upon Israel and to portray the depth of Israelâs separation from YHWH. In the past, scholars have been preoccupied with the historical questions that such an alleged marriage proposes (e.g. the laws regarding marriage and divorce, the nature of Canaanite fertility cults and their saturation into Hebrew religious practices, the fascinating account of Hosea and Gomer's apparent stormy marriage). It was not until recently that scholars have begun to take note of the abnormal literary nature and