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1. Inscription. 2–9. Symbolic action to represent Israel. 10–11. Comforting Promises to Israel. Os.1:1. The word of the Lord, which came to Hoshea the son of Bener in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. The inscription of the book, speaking about the personality of the prophet and the time of his activity. Os.1:2. The beginning of the word of the Lord to Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea: Go, take yourself a harlot wife and children of harlotry; for this land commits great fornication, having departed from the Lord. “The beginning of the word of the Lord to Hosea”: an inscription believed to refer to the first three chapters of the book. Hosea. – From the second half of Art. On the 2nd the description of the symbolic action begins. In this symbolic action (cf. also note to Mr. III) the prophet depicts Jehovah, the harlot Gomer - the people of Israel, the children of the harlot - the generation of Israel contemporary to the prophet. The criminal life of Gomer is an image of the idolatrous life of Israel, the symbolic names of her children are a prediction of the future fate of the people of Israel. – Hosea receives a command from the Lord to take “a harlot wife (escheth senunim) and children of fornication” (jaldej senunim) to express that the land of Israel is greatly committing fornication. The expression (akach ischsich) “to take a wife” means in biblical language to get married (cf. Gen. 4.19, 6.2, 19.14, 25.1). Thus, the prophet is not simply commanded to take a woman into the house - (for example, for the purpose of correcting her) or to enter into carnal relations with her, namely, to enter into legal marriage with her. The woman whom the prophet is commanded to take is called escheth senunim, a woman of fornication, that is, completely given over to fornication. Although the word sanun, fornication, is used in the Bible, and in particular by the prophet Hosea, often in a figurative sense, denoting idolatry (cf. Hos 2.2, 6, 7, 3.1, 4.2, 8, 11–15), in the verse in question, as is clear from the context, the prophet speaks of fornication in the proper sense. Many commentators (Hitzig, Gengstenberg, Goonaker) believe that the woman is called a harlot not in relation to her past, but because of her future infidelity to the prophet. “And the children of fornication”, vejaldej senunim, in glory. (from the Vulgate) “and give birth (fac) to children of fornication.” What children of fornication are we talking about? The image of the prophet’s expression (go, take him) seems to indicate that the children of fornication are the premarital children of Gomer, different from those named below (Jezreel, Loruhama, Loammi). The Prophet, thus, receives a command to take these children, that is, probably to recognize them as his own, to adopt them. But according to the majority of exegetes (Efrem the Syrian, Blessed Theodoret, Gengstenberg, Novak) in Art. The 2nd refers to the future children of the prophet, whose names are named further in Hos. 1: 3, 6, 8 and who were born after Gomer married the prophet. They are called children of fornication either because they were the fruit of Gomer's adultery, or because of their own moral depravity. Thus, the characterization of Gomer and the children in v. 2 is done on the basis of a foreshadowing of their future life. “For this land commits great fornication, having departed from the Lord.” The prophet means only the land of the ten-tribe kingdom, since according to Hos. 1:7 it is precisely this land that will face punishment for fornication. By the latter the prophet means idolatry. Os.1:3. And he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son. Exegetes, who consider the symbolic action of Hosea to be only an allegory, try to find an allegorical meaning in those mentioned in Art. 3 names - Gomer, Divlaim. The name “Gomer” (Gomer) is derived from the root gamar, taking the latter either in the meaning to finish, to complete (Ps 56.3, 8) or in the meaning to end, to cease (Ps 7.10, 11.2, 76.9). Hence the blessing. Jerome translates Gomer with the word τετελεσμένη complete, “the most perfect daughter of voluptuousness”; also Keil, Gengstenberg, Scholz; others convey the word - “perfection” (Hitzig), “destruction” “destruction” (Gesenius, Hoffmann). The name Divlaim according to the interpretation of the blessed one. Jerome, means παλαθας (παλάθη – marshmallow), according to others (Gesenius, Hoffmann) “fig cake”, “fig”. The variety of interpretations shows that it is difficult to find in the name Gomer an allegorical meaning that corresponds to the meaning of Gomer in the prophet’s narrative. From this they conclude that this is not a name invented by the prophet, but a purely historical one (Ewald, Novak, Brodovich, Yavorsky). – Some authors want to understand the word “Divlaim” in the sense of the geographical name of the place of origin of Gomer, considering, at the same time, Gomer to be a Moabite (cf. Num 33.46; Jer 33.22). But it’s easier to see this name as the name of a person. “And she conceived and gave birth to a son”: the image of the expression (cf. Isaiah 8.3: “and I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth”), not without reason, commentators believe, gives the idea that Jezreel and the subsequent children of Gomer were not the children of the prophet. Hos.1:4. And the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will exact the blood of Jezreel from the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. The prophet, by command of God, gives the first son the symbolic name Jezreel. This name should serve as a sign that the Lord will “seek the blood of Jezreel from the house of Jehu” and put an end to the kingdom of Israel. Jezreel (now the village of Zerin) is a city and valley in the tribe of Issachar (Joshua 19.18). In Jezreel there was the palace of Ahab (1 Kings 21.1) and the residence of the king, so that the city, along with Samaria, was temporarily the capital of the ten-tribe kingdom. The valley adjacent to it was called the valley of Echdrilon (Jude 1.8), the valley of Megiddo (2 Chronicles 35:22) and the great valley (1 Mac 12.49). As for the meaning of the name Jezreel, it can be interpreted in two ways: God will scatter and God will sow. In the accusatory part of the speech, Hosea uses the name Jezreel in the first meaning, in the consoling part (Hosea 2.23) - in the second. “The blood of Jezreel from the house of Jehu” - the prophet, no doubt, refers to the event described in 2 Kings 9.21, 10.30, namely the destruction of the house of Ahab by Jehu, anointed king of Israel. For the shedding of the innocent blood of Naboth (1 Kings 21.1-16), for the beating of the prophets of God by Jezebel and, in general, for extreme wickedness, the house of Ahab, by the verdict of God, was subject to extermination. The executor of this sentence was Jehu, who killed Ahab's son King Jehoram in Jezreel (2 Kings 9.21-26), Ahab's wife Jezebel and his seventy sons, all his nobles and priests (2 Kings 9.30 - 10:11). For the execution of the sentence over the house of Ahab, Jehu, according to the testimony of the writer Prince. Kings, received the promise that his sons until the 4th generation would sit on the throne of Israel (2 Kings 10.30). But the destruction of the house of Ahab was only a means to combat the idolatry and wickedness that were spreading in the ten-tribe kingdom under the auspices of Ahab. The “Blood of Jezreel” had the ultimate goal of restoring the trampled religion of Jehovah in its pure form, which was what Jehu was supposed to accomplish. But Jehu did not live up to his calling. He did not lag behind the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that is, from serving the golden calves (2 Kings 10.29), which had such a disastrous effect by the time of Hosea (Hosea 4.13–14, 8.11, 10.1, etc.) on the religious life of the people. This cult was also patronized by Jehu's successors. Thus the bloodshed of Jezreel not only lost its value, but became a guilt that lay upon the house of Jehu and demanded vengeance. According to the word of the prophet, the Lord will soon (“a little while longer”) will exact the blood of Jezreel from the house of Jehu, that is, he will overthrow the dynasty of Jehu, and then he will put an end to the house of Israel, that is, he will completely destroy the royal power in the ten-tribe kingdom. The overthrow of the house of Jehu took place shortly after the death of Jeroboam in the fact of the murder of Zechariah by Shallum in the sixth month of the latter's reign. But this was also the beginning of the end, that is, of the anarchy that settled in the ten-tribe kingdom and ended 50 years later with its conquest. In our glory. text according to Greek. instead of words from the house of Jehu it is read “in the house of Judah.” This reading is erroneous; it is refuted by both ancient translations and context. Instead of the words: “I will put an end to the kingdom” in glory. “I will rest”, καταπαύσω due to the letters. translation of the LXXth heb. vehischbathi (from sehabath). Hos.1:5. and it shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. “And it will happen on that day,” that is, on the day of punishment for the house of Israel. I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. The bow is an image of military power (cf. Gen. 10.24; 2 Sam. 1.4; Jer. 1.35). The prophet, therefore, speaks of the defeat of the Israeli army in the war, in the battle of the Jezreel Valley, preceding the fall of the kingdom. The story of the conquest of the ten-tribe kingdom by the Assyrians does not mention the battle on the Jezreel Plain. But in view of the fact that this plain, on the one hand, was the key to the possession of the entire country, and on the other, it represented reliable means of resistance, it is quite natural that it was on the Jezreel Plain that the Israelis last tried to stop the advance of the Assyrians. Hos.1:6. And she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and He said to him, Call her name Loruhama; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them. Instead of the words “to forgive them” (ki nasa essa lachem, so that when I forgive, I forgive them) in glory. according to the text of LXX: “by resisting, I will resist them”: it is believed that the LXX words nasa essa read nasi aschith, άντιτασσαμενος αντιταξομαι. Hos.1:7. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them in the Lord their God; I will save them neither with bow, nor with sword, nor with war, nor with horses and horsemen. Simultaneously with the punishment of Israel, God’s mercy will manifest itself to Judah, who will be saved by almighty power for his loyalty to Jehovah. The prophet, one must assume, has in mind the upcoming invasions of the Assyrians, during which Jehovah’s different attitude towards Israel and Judah was revealed: the ten-tribe kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians, and under the walls of Jerusalem the Assyrian army was exterminated by miraculous power. (Isa 36.1). "House of Judah": in Greek. glory “the sons of Judah”; LXX often Heb. beith is translated through υἰοί - sons (cf. Gen. 45.11; Joshua 17.17, 18.5), and the words banim, sons, are translated into the word οΐκος house. Not by war, that is, not by the art of war. Hos.1:8. And having nursed the Unmercied One, she conceived and gave birth to a son. Hos.1:9. And He said, Call his name Loammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your [God]. With the symbolic name Loammi, the prophet announces the rejection of Israel cf. 2 Kings 17.18: “And the Lord was greatly angry with the Israelites, and cast them away from His presence. There was no one left except one tribe of Judah." Os.1:10. But the number of the children of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and where they said to them, “You are not my people,” they will say to them, “You are the sons of the living God.” Art. 10 in euros 7 begins Chapter II; at LXX Art. 9–10 are assigned to Chapter I. We are talking about a ten-tribe kingdom. From a comparison of Art. The 10th with the previous one should conclude that, according to the prophet, the rejection of Israel will be only temporary, and therefore the promise given to the forefathers (Gen. 22.17, 32.12) about the reproduction of their offspring is not abolished by the threat. “Like the sand of the sea”: a common image in the Old Testament, expressing the idea of ​​an innumerable multitude. “And where they spoke” (in the words “and it will be, in the place in which it was spoken to them”), i.e. in Palestine, where the rejection of Israel was announced and where Israel will eventually gather from the places of dispersion. Os.1:11. And the children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and will set themselves one head, and will come out of the land of captivity; for the day of Jezreel is great! The image of the prophet’s speech is borrowed from the fact of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, when all the people gathered and God appointed one head for all the tribes of Israel - the leader and legislator Moses. The exodus from Egypt serves the prophet in v. 11 image of the future, and namely the liberation of Israel from Assyrian captivity. “They will come out of the earth,” vealah min haarez. Some interpreters understand the verb alah to mean “to go beyond”, “to go to battle.” Therefore, the whole expression is explained as a prediction of future conquests with the aim of expanding territory (Hitzig, Umbreit). But the context of speech and the use of ch. alah does not provide grounds for such an explanation of the expressions in question. “For the day of Jezreel is great,” that is, the day of the beginning of the captivity of Israel, the day when Israel will be defeated and scattered in the valley of Jezreel (cf. Hos. 1:4–5); this day is great in its consequences for the future, since it will lead to the conversion of Israel and unity with the house of Judah. Church teachers (Blesseds Jerome, Theodoret, Cyril of Alexandria), in the explanation of Art. 11 pay attention to the meaning of the word Jezreel, understanding it to mean God sows. The whole expression, according to their interpretation, means: glorious is the day when the people come out of the land of captivity and become the seed of the living God (Jezreel). You might be interested in: