Hoshea

Hoshea Fourteen: Wisdom

Posted on by Samantha

“Who is wise and will understand these, discerning and will know them; for the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them, and the rebellious shall stumble on them (Hosea 14:10).” This is the last verse in the book of Hosea, which has by far been the smallest book thus far. He’s been an interesting narrator, focusing mainly on Israel and Ephraim and their transgressions. I’ve enjoyed many of the issues and imagery invoked here, and for this final verse, I’m choosing to focus on the idea of wisdom requiring discernment. You can be smart and not wise, because to be wise is to be compelled to look beneath the surface, to continue to search for truth. If wisdom can be found through God, as the latter part of the verse indicates, then it requires constantly delving the depths of this conceptual path that we’re all supposed to be on, and finding the truth within. New book up tomorrow!

Hoshea Thirteen: History

Posted on by Samantha

God is still admonishing the tribe of Ephraim for behaving in idolatrous ways. “And I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt, and gods besides Me you should not know, and there is no savior but Me (Hosea 13:4).” One of the things I notice when I put on my educator hat is that in order to be compelling in the present, God had to invoke the past. I think that there are a lot of occasions when the best argument that we can use is that of history, of learning from past examples and regurgitating the emotions that they bring up. In this case, God wants the people to remember who He is and what He did for them so as to modify their current misbehavior. Of course, it’s only when there’s an appropriate level of respect for the past that it can have the desired impact – score for history education!

Hoshea Twelve: Jacob

Posted on by Samantha

In  this chapter, there’s a flashback to the story of Jacob, from way back in Bereshit. “In the womb, he seized his brother’s heel, and with his strength he strove with an angel. He strove with an angel and prevailed; he wept and beseeched him; In Bethel he shall find Him, and there He shall speak with us (Hosea 12:4-5).” It’s interesting to me that these are the moments that are highlighted – his prenatal self and the moment when he struggled with God’s messenger. Both of these were pivotal, transformative moments. One was the start of his tumultuous relationship with his brother, which set the tone for all of his relationships. The other was when he truly became chosen, and was renamed, and his life became larger than life, so to speak. I believe that in life, each of us naturally has these pivotal moments, but we don’t always recognize them for what they are in the moment. It’s only looking back when we see the days and the people that changed our lives forever.

Hoshea Eleven: God’s Call

Posted on by Samantha

“They shall follow the Lord, He shall roar like a lion; for He shall roar, and the children shall hasten from the west (Hosea 11:10).” What this verse brings to mind for me is the people coming to answer God’s call. They are scattered, wayward, and far from God both physically and spiritually. But then He calls to them, and they come running. What must it be like to hear God’s call? I imagine it’s compelling to the point of impossible to ignore. I do fundamentally believe that God calls all of us in come capacity throughout our lives. It might be through nature, dreams, the words and actions of other human beings. It might be with our chosen profession, the relationships that we foster, or how we spend our ‘spare’ time. Regardless, we each have our own call, and it’s up to us to run to answer it.

Hoshea Ten: Students

Posted on by Samantha

“Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap according to loving-kindness, plow yourselves a plowing, and it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and instructs you in righteousness (Hosea 10:12).” I’m thinking about this verse through my lens as a Jewish educator. So much of the work that we do is planting theoretical seeds in our learners. It’s very rare that we get to go through a whole process of planting, growing, sowing, and reaping with one set of learners. There’s a certain understanding that with each year, each semester, each stage of life, someone else builds another layer onto the foundation that you began to lay, just as you’re building on someone else’s work with each new cohort. Personally, I regularly tell people that if my students complete their time with me and feel satisfied, I feel like I failed. I want to sow the seeds, but for them to be so inspired and intrigued that they continue on their individual journeys of growth before the reaping occurs.

Hoshea Nine: Secret Book of Kings

Posted on by Samantha

This chapter continues the trend of Hosea, and God, railing against Israel and Ephraim, the components of the tribe that eventually get cut off from Judah and lost to history. “My God shall reject them because they did not obey Him, and they shall be wandering among the nations (Hosea 9:17).” I recently read a very interesting novel called The Secret Book of Kings, which essentially retells the story of the prophets through the lens of the people of Ephraim. What I found to be the most interesting is that while many of us take these texts at face value, and many others take the time to read deeply into their layers, how many of us think about alternative points of view within them? I would never be able to have read creatively enough to consider the perspective of Israel versus Judah. What other stories are missing from the text?

Hoshea Eight: Assimilation

Posted on by Samantha

“Israel has been swallowed; now they are among the nations as a useless utensil (Hosea 8:8).” What I find interesting about this verse is the fact that it actually never came true for the Jewish people. Despite all of the years of exile and diaspora, displacements and nomadic circumstances, we never fully assimilated and got absorbed into the larger cultures that we lived within. Likewise, the Jewish people never became useless. In every country and nation that we’ve lived in, we have contributed to the betterment and ongoing development of the society. Full assimilation never came, and it’s a good thing. Many minority cultures have been fully wiped out due to historical circumstances, and I don’t believe that it’s an accident that the Jewish people never succumbed to that fate.

Hoshea Seven: Being Close to God

Posted on by Samantha

“Woe is to them for they have wandered away from Me; plunder to them for they have rebelled against Me. I would redeem them, but they spoke lies about Me (Hosea 7:13).” What does it mean to stray from God? Is it something that we do physically, by not going to synagogue or breaking tangible laws like kashrut and Shabbat? Is it separating ourselves from the community and not living up to our obligations as members of God’s people? Or is it an internal experience, of doubt and distance? The one thing that I truly believe is that moving away from God does not manifest in anger or intentional abandonment of faith and ritual. When one is angry and actively distancing, it’s still a relationship. Only when a state of indifference is reached is one truly removed from a relationship with God and with religion as a whole.

Hoshea Six: Self-Actualization

Posted on by Samantha

“For I desire loving-kindness, and not sacrifices, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).” I love this verse. It says to me that God wants devotion and learning, not gestures of grandeur. This seems to imply that it’s the internal, quiet actions that resonate with Him, rather than crusades and loud protests. There definitely is a time and place for loud demonstrations, but it’s usually about some kind of external reward, rather than self-actualization. That’s the harder work, and it must be done quietly and internally. I hope that’s what God wants of us, because it’s immeasurably more real than a packaged external demonstration.

Hoshea Four: Knowledge

Posted on by Samantha

At this point, the relationship between God and the people is not good. There seems to be an atmosphere of chaos and lawlessness within the land, which we now know is the precursor to yet another period of punishment. “My people were silenced for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being a priest to me; seeing that you have forgotten the Torah of your God, I, too, will forget your children (Hosea 4:6).” What does it meant to be silenced for a lack of knowledge? In some ways, I feel like that doesn’t happen enough today. Whether or not people have knowledge on a particular topic, they seem to feel qualified and for some reason compelled to speak on it. There’s a maturity to admitting a lack of knowledge on a topic. But it’s also sad when people are so far removed from a truth or a subject that they reject it entirely. It makes me think of people who choose to fully assimilate, and in doing so deny their children and future generations knowledge of their heritage. The knowledge that is lost when wisdom isn’t passed on can sometimes never be recovered. What’s the wisdom that each of us needs to share with those around us?