Hosea 11.1-11: Ephraim Is Walking!

The baby is walking! The first steps of any child are both amazing and precious. There are a number of starts and stops, timid beginnings, interrupted progress. Then, finally, a child lets go of what has steadied them - often the hand of an adult - and careens into the big, wide world. But adults who have loaned hands and fingers to steady a child never really let go. They remember how it was for the child to depend on them. God knows how that feels: It was I who taught Ephraim to walk. (Hosea 11:1-11)

Pablo Picasso. First Steps. 1943. Oil on Canvas. Yale University Art Gallery.

In Picasso's painting here, the mother stands behind the child, holding the child's hands and allowing the child the full view of the world out front. The child is staring with wide-open eyes at the world, while the mother has eyes only for the child. Dressed in light-colored clothing, the child visually advances in the painting while the mother, dressed in neutrals that are much the same value as the background, recedes. This child, created in the context of World War II (1943), is setting out into an uncertain world.

God continues to love Ephraim/Israel as we all know and love the children who at one point depended on us. The child may not need an adult's hand, but the adult's heart remains connected to the child. How can I give you up, Ephraim?

God also understands how it feels when the child walks off...wanders off. Wanders to the point that Hosea is called to bring God's child back to God. Because God can't let go of this child who learned to walk by holding the divine hand. 

For the return of doves to their home (Hosea 11:11), click here.
For thoughts on Luke 12:13-21, click here.

Hosea 1.2-10: Picturing the Relationship

[Note: The extra post this week is an effort to work ahead on blog posts in order to be more helpful for folks who are worship planning several weeks in advance. There are two posts today, and I'll try to get one more posted this week so there is a three-week lead time on posts. Hosea 1 is the RCL text for July 28, 2019.]

The story of Hosea and Gomer. Is it a romance? A cautionary tale? A tragedy? Is Gomer abused by Hosea (and God...see Hosea 2)? Is she an excellent stand-in for Israel as sinners? We know she is voiceless in the text. But so is Hosea. God is the one who speaks and directs in this text (Hosea 1:2-10).

Artists have historically seemed to revel in the opportunity to paint Biblical texts that read as...salacious. Joseph and Potiphar's wife. Delilah's treachery and betrayal of Samson. David and Bathsheba. Is the point of these texts that they can be R-rated?

This week specifically, how should we picture the relationship between Hosea and Gomer? Here are four options. Each offers a very different approach. Which best captures your understanding of the relationship defined in this week's text? Or in what way does one (or all) fall short of how you see this relationship?

Top: Hosea and Gomer. Bible Historiale. Den Haag, MMW, 10 B 23 426r.

Second: Barry Moser. Hosea and Gomer.  
Third: Marriage of Hosea and the Prostitute. Bible of St. Andre-aux-bois. 12th century. Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France Bottom: Cody F. Miller. Hosea and Gomer.

For thoughts on Luke 11:1-13, click here.