David Allan Hubbard - Hosea (TOTC)

Volume 24

General Editor: Donald J. Wiseman

An Introduction and Commentary

David Allan Hubbard

Additional notes

The aim of this series of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, as it was in the companion volumes on the New Testament, is to provide the student of the Bible with a handy, up-to-date commentary on each book, with the primary emphasis on exegesis. Major critical questions are discussed in the introductions and additional notes, while undue technicalities have been avoided.

In this series individual authors are, of course, free to make their own distinct contributions and express their own point of view on all debated issues. Within the necessary limits of space they frequently draw attention to interpretations which they themselves do not hold but which represent the stated conclusions of sincere fellow Christians.

Hosea, the prophet of love in the Old Testament, was also an outspoken critic of the religious apostasy and failure of his times which rejected Gods love. The book is strongly coloured by the prophets own experience which is interpreted with sensitivity by Dr David Hubbard, a teacher and pastor, in this detailed study. This will help readers to understand the varied and rich teaching of Hosea who offers also the hope for renewal through judgment and repentance, a message relevant in our day.

In the Old Testament in particular no single English translation is adequate to reflect the original text. The version on which this commentary is based is the Revised Standard Version, but other translations are frequently referred to as well, and on occasion the author supplies his own. Where necessary, words are transliterated in order to help the reader who is unfamiliar with Hebrew to identify the precise word under discussion. It is assumed throughout that the reader will have ready access to one, or more, reliable renderings of the Bible in English.

Interest in the meaning and message of the Old Testament continues undiminished and it is hoped that this series will thus further the systematic study of the revelation of God and his will and ways as seen in these records. It is the prayer of the editor and publisher, as of the authors, that these books will help many to understand, and to respond to, the Word of God today.

D. J. Wiseman

Living with Hosea has been an awesome privilege. For years his message has been a regular part of what I have pondered, read and taught. His remarkable role in human history and divine revelation has combined with an astounding literary skill to make an irreplaceable contribution to my life. I cannot imagine myself as a human being, let alone as a believing person, without the deposit of Hoseas political, moral and spiritual insights.

Not that I fully understand his book. Anyone who spends much time with Hosea and his fellow prophets will be frustrated as well as enriched. They lived in a culture whose contours are not easy to reconstruct. They spoke a language that will always remain foreign to us. Moreover, they dealt with a vision of Gods grandeur in creation, sovereignty in history and compassion for his people, that is both massive and mysterious. But what we can grasp is infinitely worth the effort: so all-encompassing is their vision and so pertinent to human life and destiny are their words.

The work of other scholars both added to and eased my labours. The literature on Hosea produced during the past forty years (a period to which, in the main, I arbitrarily restricted myself) is voluminous. I could only scratch the surface. But it includes some of the finest biblical commentaries ever written. Writing with the works of Hans Walter Wolff, Francis Andersen and David Noel Freedman, James Mays, Edmond Jacob and Jrg Jeremias by my side has prompted not only scholarly admiration but a deeper understanding of what is meant by the communion of saints.

The present commentary has sought to balance a number of emphases in fulfilling the intent of the series. The structural and thematic unity of Hosea has been stressed, together with the variety of literary forms and stylistic techniques. The context and purpose of each passage have been examined as preparation for insights into the individual verses. The conviction that each part can be understood only in relationship to its larger setting in the flow of the prophets work has dominated the approach. Theological implications have been sketched, and contributions to the rest of Scripture have been suggested.

The Revised Standard Version has served as a basic text. Its readings are usually italicized. The other major English versions have been particularly helpful in Hosea where the Hebrew text abounds with words, forms and structures that continue to baffle scholars. As one of the baffled, I ask the indulgence of readers who feel that they have to comb through a tangle of textual and lexical discussion to catch the gist of the prophets meaning. Biblical exegesis is like the first rule of golf: we have to play the ball where it lies. We have to take the text as it is and make the best of it. In parts of Hosea, there is no simple way to do that.

The opportunity to share parts of this material in public lectures needs acknowledging, since discussion with friends and colleagues improved markedly the quality of my work. Particularly helpful were the conversations that accompanied the Day-Higginbotham Lectures at Southwestern Theological Seminary, the annual Theological Lectureship at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries, a seminar with the Academy of Homiletics, and the E. Y. Mullins Lectures at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Add to this list the names of countless students in dozens of classes whose questions and suggestions helped me see the issues more clearly.

Thanks are due to my office team, Vera Wils, Steven Pattie, Dr John McKenna, Elsie Evans and Shirley Coe who bore patiently with my compulsion to finish the book, carried faithfully the burden of its several drafts of assembly and typing, and managed gracefully to get their other work done along the way.

The dedication to my wife, Ruth, is a token of appreciation for the fact that she has lived with Hoseas work as long as I have. More than that, her steady encouragement for me to give the commentary priority, alongside my normal administrative and teaching duties, is a chief reason for its completion. Together, we offer it with the prayers that its pages will be windows into the wonders of sovereign love and human responsibilitywonders which the prophets know from their encounter with God, and which their inspired words proclaim to their generation and the generations that have followed them for nearly three millennia.