As a college and seminary student, the Old Testament, precisely because it spoke in such earthy tones about salvation, played a pivotal role in shaping my theological vision. And it was Amos, Hosea and Jeremiah who were most influential in forming my Christian life.
When I took "Old Testament Theology" with Dr Biddle, now Professor of Old Testament at Baptist Seminary in Richmond, that I encountered how to read these texts with depth and how to form a Christian theological vision with them.
And I was shocked with what I read. Nothing like Luther's polarizing "law" vs. "gospel". Instead, these prophets spoke words of judgment and loving-kindness from God.
I think the OT is a little used resource, at least in a close reading of the texts themselves, because these texts are often made to serve theological purposes they were never designed to. Particularly when it comes to describing the nature of God, which seems to me to be the foundational issue.
What drew me to the Prophets is their vision of salvation. They have so very little to say a lot about life after death and so very little about heaven or hell. In the Old Treatment there's a recurrent rhythm that after the worst of God’s punishments there will be restoration. Punishment is never the last world. Restoration is always the last word.
Hosea is particularly important in shaping that vision. In that way, Hosea is far more Christological than merely predicting Jesus. Because its vision of God's restoration serves as the very foundation of the Incarnation itself. "In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself."
After the first three chapters of Hosea, where the extended metaphor of Hosea and Gomer is recounted, we find three of Hosea's sermons. Scholars believe that each sermon was given in response to various military and political events in Judah and Israel.
Each sermon shares a similar structure, roughly as follows:
Part 1: Accusations of SinA running motif in each sermon, carrying over from the Hosea/Gomer saga, is that each sermon uses the language of a divorce proceeding. That is, Hosea is formally articulating God's warrant for divorce from Israel.
Sermon 1 (4.1-19), Sermon 2 (6.7-7.16; 10.1-15), Sermon 3 (11.12-13.3)
Part 2: God's Punishment
Sermon 1 (5.1-14), Sermon 2 (8.1-9.17), Sermon 3 (13.4-16)
Part 3: Message of Hope/Reconciliation
Sermon 1 (5.15-6.6), Sermon 2 (11.1-11), Sermon 3 (14.1-9)
The main metaphor in Part 1 of each sermon is whoredom. Israel has gone lustfully after other "lovers" (the Canaanite gods).
Given Israel's unfaithfulness in Part 1, Hosea goes on to describe in Part 2 how God will punish Israel. These descriptions are some of the most shocking in all of Scripture.
But, miraculously (and I'll come back to this word in a moment), after the harshness of the Part 2 declarations of punishment we see songs of love break out in Part 3. It is difficult to overstate the shock of this transition. The change from punishment to love seems inexplicable, unpredictable, spontaneous, and, thus, utterly mysterious.
So what's going on here? Why this deep and miraculous transition from judgment to love?
I think the key to Hosea is 11.9: "For I am God and not human".
Specifically, it appears to me that the link between Parts 1 (Sin) and Parts 2 (Punishment) is logical, like cause and effect. Given the "marital agreement" between God and Israel, God's responses (as harsh as they are) are predictable, even expected, given Israel's unfaithfulness.
What is unpredictable and inexplicable and, thus, miraculous, is the transition from Parts 2 (Punishment) to Parts 3 (Love). The songs of love, tenderness, forgiveness, and reconciliation come from out of nowhere. Further, they are God's unsolicited acts. Israel isn't doing anything to get this response. We see this pattern enacted in chapter 3 where God tells Hosea to "go love a woman who has another lover". That is, God initiates the act of love and reconciliation. It is an act of unpredictable and spontaneous grace.
And, interestingly to me at least, 11.9 locates that miraculous love in the very character of God. This, Hosea demands -- this! -- is Israel's God. The movement from Part 1 (Sin) to Part 2 (Punishment) is human. The movement from Part 2 (Punishment) to Part 3 (Love) is divine. God acts in loving spontaneity because God is "God and not human".
This brings me to my Christological reading of Hosea.
While the punishment of God may be described with apocalyptic savagery, in the end God's love will be the Final Word. And this final word will be spontaneous, inexplicable, unpredictable, and mysterious. All we have, as humans, are the logical links between crime and punishment. We don't have the words to articulate the Final Word of grace.
That Final Word is the word of the cross and resurrection. That Final Word is the "grace upon grace" Word that God has spoken in Jesus Christ.