In his commentary on Hosea, Hans Walter Wolff renders Hos 11:9 as follows:
I will not
execute
my burning anger,
I will not again
destroy Ephraim.
For I am God
and not a man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not become enraged. (Hans Walter Wolff, Hosea [Hermeneia—A Critical
and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974], 193)
In a textual note for “enraged,”
we read the following:
z
“Excitement” עיר (II), also in Jer 15:8; on the grammatical construction, cf. 1
Sam 25:26 (בוא ברמים = “to be guilty of blood,” i.e., murder). Or, is the word
a truncated form of עָבְרָה (cf. 13:11; 5:10)? אבואבעיר has been considered an incorrectly
spelled dittography of אֲבָעַה: “I will not burn down desolate” (lastly,
McKenzie, “Divine Passion,” or as אבוא לְבָעַר (Weiser); אבוא מַבְעִיר is also
worthy of consideration; cf. 7.4. G (εις πολιν) V (civitatem) and S
translate with the “city.” (Ibid.)
In his exegesis of the verse, he writes that:
After
the three bicola in v 8, which radiate the excitement of an impassioned outburst,
the final, divine resolve is presented in two long lines in v 9a. Each line
begins with a decisive “not” (לא) to indicate Yahweh’s change of heart. The לא
is echoed in both the following tersely formulated motive clauses by a twofold ולא.
Yahweh’s burning anger is expressly mentioned in 8.5. It is not to rule over Israel’s
history. To understand this sentence, it should be kept in mind how Hosea had
proclaimed Yahweh’s judgment during recent years, and perhaps especially that,
because of the election traditions, he had expected a liberation from the
pronounced disaster even earlier. Now he can declare a new word from his God,
at least among those who, like him, think of Israel in terms of Yahweh’s entire
history of his people: “I will not again destroy.” What does אשׁוב mean? Had
Yahweh once before brought about Israel’s destruction? Certainly not in the
sense of vv 8f. What had befallen Israel up to this time was the consequence of
Israel’s own intentional actions, the harvest of what had been sown (4:9; 8:7;
10:13). Also in the historical retrospect contained in the accusation, the
recent political troubles were not presented as the result of Yahweh’s wrath,
but as the consequences of Israel’s refusal to return (vv 5f). Israel’s situation
would be totally different if Yahweh were to destroy with the heat of his wrath
rather than to draw with cords of love. Therefore the verbum relativum שׁוב
cannot indicate a second destructive action. שׁוב denotes, however, not only the
repetition of an action, but also the restoration of previous conditions, or
the nullification of a deed. Thus in 2:11 Hosea says Yahweh will take back the
land’s produce which he has given Israel. Likewise, v 11 refers to returning to
destruction of those whom he had called out of Egypt, the place of destruction
(9:6), whom he had since led continually with his love. This Yahweh had done,
although his love had to be expressed in the form of disciplinary measures in
response to all Israel’s disappointing actions. Hence v 9a demonstrates that
Yahweh’s original will to love his people remains dominant.
The
motive clause states that God proves himself to be God and the Holy One in
Israel in that he, unlike men, is independent of his partner’s actions.
Remaining completely sovereign over his own actions, he is not compelled to react.
The Holy One is the totally Other, who is “Lord of His own will, who does not
execute the fierceness of his anger. . . . in His decision he is independent
and free. Holy means superior, almighty.” It is important to note that the
concept of Yahweh’s holiness, appearing only once in Hosea, provides the
foundation not for his judging will but for his saving will, to which he had
committed himself from the very beginning of Israel’s saving history. Similarly,
it is not until the prophecy of Deutero-Isaiah the uniqueness of Yahweh’s
saving restoration of his despondent people is said to be founded upon his
holiness (Is 40:25ff). However, the closing sentence in v 9bγ may have read, for the fifth time
after vv 8bα, β, 9aα and β
it emphasizes that Yahweh will not execute his fierce anger, nor will he come to
destroy Israel. (Ibid., 201-2)
Further Reading:
D. Charles Pyle on Hosea 11:9 (cf. Numbers 23:19)
Francis I. Andersen and David Noel Freedman on Hosea 6:4; 11:8, 9
