Reading for September 4th

 Read Hosea 3.1-5. In 3.1-5: Hosea marries an adultness. The details of this account are so sketchy that it is difficult to decide whether it describes (1) Hosea's first marriage to Gomer in ch. 1, but from the first-person  rather than third -person perspective; (2) Hosea's marriage in a second woman; or (3) Hosea's remarriage to Gomer. In any case, the point of his symbolic act is clear: Israel has been an unfaithful wife but God desires her return. In verse 1: While Hosea connects raisin cakes with worship of other gods (as does Isa 16.7), they are also associated with legitimate Israelite worship (2 Sam 6.19). In verse 2: The nature of Hosea's transaction is unclear. Payment was made in ancient Israel for women slaves (Ex 21.7-11) and for wives (Ex 22.16-17), but this amount is not mentioned elsewhere, and the narrative does not identify the recipient of the payment. In verse 4: Hosea predicts a coming judgment in which Israel will lose both political and religious leadership. the ephod (Ex 28.4) and the teraphim (Judg 17.5; Zech 10.2) are both associated with priestly activity. In verse 5: the reference to David their king may indicate that Hosea looked forward to the reunification of Israel and Judah under a single king (1.11), since David had once ruled over a united kingdom (2 Sam 5; alternatively, it may represent the perspective of a later editor from the southern kingdom of Judah, over which David's descendants ruled for its entire history). Comments or Questions..