Hosea's Characteristics

Thoughts about the main character in the Bible's most risqué book

Note: Originally written for a class, some ideas are not original to me and quotations are tied to footnotes in the original, much longer paper. I’ve included my bibliography at the bottom!

Throughout the book of Hosea, we are giving maddeningly few details about Hosea’s personal life, and even fewer about Gomer’s. Though many biblical translations call her a prostitute, the Hebrew word used does not necessarily denote prostitution but only that she may have been promiscuous or “the sort of person who might become promiscuous.” Though the woman of Hosea 3:1 is not named and thus there is speculation on whether it was really Gomer who God commanded Hosea to love, it seems reasonable to assume that it was Gomer because of what Hosea tells us at the verse’s beginning: “[T]he Lord said to me again (emphasis mine).” Hosea has married Gomer, had three children with her, and is now being asked to love even though she has a lover and is an adulteress.