The Dangerous Side of Hosea’s Marriage Metaphor

Despite the power of Hosea’s message and the effectiveness of his marriage metaphor in portraying God’s anguish over the unfaithfulness of the people, his metaphor presents a serious problem to modern readers: The husband who expresses anguish nonetheless uses his power to punish the unfaithful wife.¹

Hosea 2 tells us that the divine husband will restrict his wife’s movements: “I will hedge up her way with thorns; and I will build a wall against her” (Hosea 2:6). He will control her financially: “I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees” (2:12). He will withhold food and drink: “I will ... make her like a wilderness, and turn her into a parched land, and kill her with thirst” (2:3); I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season” (2:9). He will “strip her naked and expose her as in the day she was born” (2:3), he will “punish her” (2:13) and he will have “no pity” on her children (2:4).

Hosea’s metaphorical description of Israel-Gomer’s punishment fits the pattern of abusive domestic situations all too well: physical restriction, deprivation of basic necessities, humiliation and threats.