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of Ahab, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel (2 Kings

10:30).

Yahweh’s affirmation of Jehu’s massacres has caused considerable discussion by

commentators, especially since Yahweh condemns these massacres as reported by the

prophet Hosea (1:4). For a discussion and rejection of modern interpretations which

maintain that the prophet Hosea repudiates what prophet Elijah and his disciples affirm,

see Andersen and Freedman:176-182.

A casual reader of the biblical editor’s comment in 2 Kings may conclude that

Yahweh gives unqualified approval to Jehu’s massacres. Butone who knows the

tradition of retribution as stated in the Decalogue may on second thought be impressed by

Yahweh’s subtle limitation:your sons of the fourth generation. Yahweh religion is not

simplistic. The editor who reports Yahweh’s approval of Jehu’s blood bath also intimates

an end to retribution against apostate Israel, as stated already in the Decalogue (policy

law of the Sinai covenant):... I am Yahweh your God, a zealous God, punishing children

for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject

me ....

Four generations later (Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, JeroboamII), the eighth century

prophet Hosea announces that now the time of Ahab’s retribution is over, andthe time of

Jehu’s retribution has come. Yahweh says to the prophet, I will punish the house of Jehu

for the blood of Jezreel(Hos. 1:4). It is time again for capital punishment, this time for

Jehu who, though he had done all that was in Yahweh’s heart,had nevertheless by that

act rejected Yahweh. Hosea intimates that Jehu, in his act of violence does not know

Yahweh, and in the fourth generation when the time of retribution for Ahab’s apostasy is

over, the time of retribution for Jehu’sdynasty has come. The dynasty will suffer divine

punishment for the blood of Jezreel (Hos. 4:1-2; cf. Isa. 45:4-5 of Cyrus).

At the end of this four generation period of retribution, the prophet Hosea discerns

that new winds are blowing. Hosea 1—3 forms the first segment of his book. As with the

Moses and Elijah narratives which tell of their Sinai/Horeb experiences, this segment also

has an envelope structure. Hosea’s individual experience with Yahweh dominates

chapters 1 and 3;Israel’s communal experience with Yahweh, the central point of the

segment, dominates chapter 2 (Hebrew; Eng. 1:10-2:23).

How Hosea’s Family Experience Illustrates Israel’s Broken Covenant, Hosea 1:2-9

Hosea 1, a biography likely written by Hosea’s disciple, tells how Yahweh

appeared to Hosea four times over a period of several years. In Yahweh’s first word to

Hosea, the prophet is told to have a dysfunctional family: take for yourself a wife of

whoredom and have children of whoredom. This astonishingdemand is to illustrate to

Hosea and Israel the dysfunctional relationship between Yahweh and the land: for the

land commits great whoredom by forsaking Yahweh(Hos. 1:2, NRSV; cf. 1 Kings 19:10,

14; Exod. 20:5 where different Hebrew vocabularies are used to express the same point).

Yahweh’s second word to Hosea, the naming of his first son,connects with

Jehu’s blood bath: Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of

Jehu

for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel (Hos.

1:4; cf. 2 Kings 9:14-26; 30-37; 10:1-11). The name of Hosea’s son is to signify to the

Israelites not only Yahweh’s retribution on Jehu’s dynasty, but also an end to the

kingdom of Israel: Yahweh will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel .

Yahweh’s third word to Hosea names the prophet’s only daughter: Name her Lo-

ruhamah (Not Pitied) for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them.

But it is different with the kingdom of Judah; here again, God will act as promised in

Sinai’s policy law, the Decalogue: ... showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation

of those who love me and keep my commandments (Exod. 20:6;cf. 19:5). Salvation will

happen in Judah according to the central concept of Yahweh war: I will save them by

Yahweh their God; I will not save them bybow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses , or

by horsemen(Hos. 1:7;cf. Exod. 14:13-14).

Yahweh’s fourth word to Hosea names his second son: Name him Lo-ammi (Not

My People), for you are not my people and I am not your God (Hos. 1:8). The name of

Hosea’s first child signals Yahweh’s future retribution for the blood bath of Jezreel; the

name of his second child signals the withdrawal of Yahweh’s compassion; the name of

his third child signals that Israel has annulled the eternal covenant. For Hosea, retribution

has to do not merely with external punishment, the end of one’s existence, but with the

end of personal covenant relationship, an end which Israel has initiated.

Reversal of Names: Not Retribution and Death but Forgiveness and Life,Hosea 2

But can Israel annul Yahweh’s eternal covenant? The second chapter of Hosea

(Hebrew, 2:1-25; English, 1:10-2:23), the center of the envelope, begins and ends with

the reversal and reinterpretation ofthe children’s’ names: Jezreel, God Sows; Lo-

Ruhamah,Pitied; Lo-ammi, My People (1;10-2:1; 2:21-23; cf. 1 Pet. 2:10), thus forming

an envelope for the chapter: the chapter is about this reversal of names. Also, the status of

the harlot wife is changed to one of freedom with her spouse: as a Baalist, she once called

divinity, Baali(“my lord,” cf. 1 Peter 3:6, still the term used of the husband in modern

Hebrew); now she is to call Yahweh, ishi (“my Man,” as used in modern German).

Instead of destruction and repudiation as a people, harlot Israel will be given new dignity.

How is this reversal to happen? Israel’s change of character is not easy, even for

Warrior Yahweh, because this warrior must win the will of the enemy. This entire chapter

may be Yahweh’s soliloquy on how this change might be effected (cf. Andersen,

Freedman:220). This effort to effect change begins with the first paragraph of our English

Bibles, chapter 2:1-5. The children’s lives at stake, they are exhorted, Pleadwith your