2019, July 28 ~Hosea 1:2-10 and Colossians 2:6-19

Hosea 1:2-10

After Solomon died in 928 BCE, the Kingdom of Israel split into two parts, the North (called Israel with 10 tribes) and the South (called Judea with two tribes). Each Kingdom had its own king.

The reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel (788-747 BCE) was very prosperous, but a time of great inequality between rich and poor in which large landowners gained control of the lands of small farmers.

Hosea is one of the 12 “minor” prophets whose works are shorter than the three “major” prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel). He was a contemporary of Amos. His prophesying (speaking for YHWH) began towards the end of the reign of King Jeroboam II and continued until Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. He severely criticized the political, social and religious life in the Northern Kingdom. He was the first of the prophets whose speeches were collected and edited as literary documents.

Hosea used powerful images of his own family to describe the covenant relationship between YHWH and Israel. He described Israel as an unfaithful wife (v.2) and his wife’s children were given symbolic names – “God sows” (v.4), “Not pitied” (v.6) and “Not my people” (v.9).

The name “Jezreel” (God sows) is the name of an actual place in Israel. The Jezreel Valley is one of the most fertile parts of Israel (even today). It was the place where Jeroboam’s predecessors (the House of Jehu) staged a bloody coup against Ahab in 842 BCE. (Ironically, according to 2 Kings 9-10, the coup by Jehu was directed by YHWH through the prophet Elisha.)

Hosea said that YHWH (“LORD” in all capital letters in the NRSV) had pity on Judea (v.7). This pity would not last, however, and Judea would be conquered by the Babylonians in 597 BCE.

Colossians 2:6-19

Colossae was a town in what is now western Turkey. A Jesus Follower community was founded there by Paul’s associate, Epaphras (1:7). The letter is short (three chapters) and expressed concern about apocalyptic and mystical practices that were inconsistent with Paul’s disciples’ understanding of what it meant to be a Jesus Follower.

Scholars debate whether this letter was written by Paul or by his disciples in the decade after Paul’s death in 63 CE. It lacks many terms used in Paul’s authentic letters and its style is more liturgical than Paul’s other letters.

Today’s reading is the core of the Letter to the Colossians – that Jesus the Christ was the living embodiment of God (v.9) and that the fullness of one’s humanity comes by “living one’s life in [Jesus the Christ]” (v.6).

The author warned against “philosophy” (v. 8) – which in the 1st Century meant secular ethics. He denied the importance of physical circumcision (which remained a point of controversy between Jewish Jesus Followers and Gentile Jesus Followers during much of the 1st Century). He spoke of Baptism as “spiritual circumcision” (v.11).

He also diminished the religious importance of “food and drink” (v.16) – a reference to the fact that Gentile Jesus Followers did not obey Kosher dietary laws – and “festivals, moons and sabbaths” (v.16), an admonition made necessary by the fact that many Jewish Festivals continued to be observed by Jesus Followers, at least until the Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.