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By Root 1312 0

in the opening verse God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. He does as he is told, although his wife, Gomer, is later called an adulteress, rather than a prostitute. In modern terms, Hosea was the prophet of “unconditional love.” No matter what Gomer did, Hosea loved her and always took her back. Once, he was even forced to purchase her—although from whom is unclear—with a payment of silver, barley, and wine. (Some writers contend that Hosea actually purchased a second wife, and there has been considerable disagreement over this interpretation.)

An unfaithful wife provides Hosea with his prophetic metaphor. He compares the relationship of a man married to an adulteress to that between God and Israel. Hosea, the betrayed husband, is like God. His wife runs around with other men, just as the people of Israel sin with other gods. She will be punished severely, but each time she will be forgiven and even bought back because her husband’s love will always turn away his anger.

Hosea’s statement that God preferred “mercy,” or righteous behavior, to empty shows of piety (“sacrifice”) was a key theme in the teachings of Jesus as well.

BIBLICAL VOICES

I will heal their disloyalty;

I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned

from them

I will be like the dew to Israel. (Hos. 14:4-5)

On the whole, Hosea is a curious book. The God who has inveighed so heavily against adultery, ordering adulterous wives to be stoned to death in the Mosaic Laws, now discusses forgiving the adulterous wife.

Talk about mixed messages.

• isaiah

Be your sins like crimson,

They can turn snow-white;

Be they red as dyed wool,

They can become like fleece. (Isa. 1:18 JPS)

Every year at Christmas and Easter, concert halls, cathedrals, and churches overflow with the sound of people cranking out Handel’s Messiah. Written in just eighteen days in 1742, Handel’s masterpiece is filled with glorious music and words. Audiences still rise in honor of the “Hallelujah Chorus.” But Handel had help. George Gershwin had Ira. Rogers had Hammerstein. And Elton John has Bernie Taupin. Handel and his librettist had Isaiah.

“For unto us a child is born.” “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” “Every valley shall be exalted.” “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness.” “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” “All we like sheep have gone astray.” All of these and more come from the book of Isaiah (through the King James Version).

The longest prophetic book in Hebrew scripture, Isaiah has had a remarkable impact on our language. Besides providing Handel with great lyrics, Isaiah gave us:

“White as snow” (or “Snow-white” according to the Jewish Publication Society)

“Swords into plowshares/spears into pruning hooks”

“Neither shall they learn war any more”

“The people that walked in darkness”

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid…and a little child shall lead them”

“They shall mount up with wings as eagles”

“Be of good courage”

“They shall see eye to eye”

“A lamb to the slaughter”

The use of so many of Isaiah’s phrases in crafting Jesus’ life into the Messiah isn’t surprise. Perhaps more than any other book of Hebrew prophecy, Isaiah has played a central role for Christians and has even been called “The Fifth Gospel” because so many of the book’s prophecies seem to have been fulfilled in the life of Jesus. This points to an essential difference between Jews and Christians when it comes to reading the Bible. For Jews, Isaiah spoke to his times, as well as a messianic future to come. For Christians, Isaiah’s prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus.

PLOT SUMMARY: ISAIAH

What is known of Isaiah can basically only by drawn from the book itself, including the fact that Isaiah didn’t write all of the book bearing his name. Born into an aristocratic family in Jerusalem, around 740 BCE, Isaiah was an adviser to four kings of Judah, the southern kingdom—Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. According to tradition, Isaiah was martyred between 701 and 690 BCE. His prophetic career was set against