Commentary on Hosea 11:1-11

The prophet envisions God as a tender, loving, intimate parent who shows mercy.

After last week’s powerful and problematic marriage metaphor from Hosea 1, this week’s oracle from the same prophetic book draws upon another familial metaphor: parent and child. The personal relationship between these two figures becomes a way to imagine God’s relationship with Israel. A two-week sermon series on Hosea, using these two metaphors, provides excellent opportunities to talk about portrayals of God in the Old Testament. Using two familial images, the metaphors highlight God’s relational qualities and reliable presence among God’s people. 

Several critical moments occur in this passage. God’s response to the situation seems to change as the passage develops. I divide the chapter into four sections, highlighting God’s movement from traditional judgment to mercy.

God’s love (verses 1, 3–4)

The passage first recounts the events immediately following the exodus event. Hosea returns to this liberating moment in the life of God’s people, when Israel was a child in need of care and instruction, in need of a parent.

God loves Israel, calls Israel, teaches Israel to walk, takes Israel into God’s arms, heals them, leads them, and feeds them. God takes care of the “newborn” Israel after their release from Egypt. God is an attentive, caring parent who nurtures a toddler and teaches them as they develop. 

We know that the prophet, Hosea, is depicted as a father in Hosea 1, but the images here are maternal too. Parents know the depth of joy felt when a toddler begins to walk for the first time. We know the joy of holding a child in our arms to express love and protection. These are tender moments of love and devotion. They express a level of intimacy within the relationship. God is not a distant parent or aloof being.

God is an attentive parent. 

The people’s response (verses 2, 7)

In verses 2 and 7, the people’s response to God’s compassion is highlighted. The people rebel. They run away from their parent. They continue to take actions that disappoint God. The prophet mentions idolatry in particular. 

Do the people not know or trust their parent God?

Are the people trying to find a new parent?

The prophet’s parent-child metaphor works here as the passage recalls children who do not always listen to their parents. The metaphor explores the power dynamics at play and the sense of powerlessness on the parent’s part to fully control their children’s actions.

God’s initial judgment (verses 5–6)

God’s preliminary response to the people’s actions is to punish and discipline. God threatens to send Israel back to Egypt and Assyria. God ponders a “hands-off” parenting technique so that larger empires will “guide” Israel. 

This divine response is what we have come to expect from the prophets. When the people disobey God, the prophets warn of God’s judgment. Their actions have consequences; their idolatry will cause them to be in bondage and ruled by other people.

God’s introspection and declaration (verses 8–9)

Something momentous happens between verses 7 and 8. 

God undergoes a change of heart, a rethinking of God’s intention to punish, a return to the intimacy of the parent-child relationship. It is a turning point in the passage. We might say there is a long pause, a deep breath, between these two verses as God moves from reaction to response.

Verse 8 provides four rhetorical questions in which God reconsiders God’s relationship with Israel. 

How can I give you up? How can I hand you over?

God’s compassion for God’s children causes God to reconsider the path of judgment. In a tender moment of care, God admits that God cannot just treat Israel like the cities of Admah and Zeboiim, which were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah. Devastation is not the pathway to a better future for Israel. 

So, God boldly decides: I will not execute my fierce anger.

Even though God could discipline, God decides against it. God declares that God does not have to engage in human activities like retribution and punishment. God is God, not a mortal. God can make a different decision. The Holy One of Israel can respond with compassion.

It is invaluable to linger over this portrait of God’s mercy as many faithful folks today understand (wrongly) the God of the Old Testament as a God of judgment and wrath. In Hosea 11, we have God turning from anger and destruction. We have a depiction of God that is actually found throughout the Old Testament. In Exodus 34:6, we read:

The LORD, the LORD,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

This same understanding of God can be found in Numbers 14:18; Psalm 103:8; and Jonah 4:2. 

God chooses compassion, just like a good parent.