Friday, May 12, 2023

Hans Walter Wolff on Hosea 11:9

 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

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