Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 62:2 (NA 2011)
Article: God’s Love According To Hosea And Deuteronomy A Prophetic Reworking Of A Deuteronomic Concept?
Author: Carsten Vang

TynBull 62:2 (2011) p. 173

God’s Love According To Hosea And Deuteronomy
A Prophetic Reworking Of A Deuteronomic Concept?1

Carsten Vang

Summary

One of the most evident shared themes between the books of Hosea and Deuteronomy is the theme of God’s love for Israel. The usual scholarly explanation goes that Hosea fathered this notion which later was taken up in the Deuteronomy tradition. A close scrutiny of this theme in Hosea and Deuteronomy establishes that the lexical and structural agreements in the theme are considerable. However, it also reveals some major differences within the thematic parallel. The simplest solution seems to be that Hosea has reused an available Deuteronomic concept.

1. Introduction

It is a well-known fact that the books of Hosea and Deuteronomy have an especially close relationship, with many phrases, themes, and theological concepts in common. The shared wording is so comprehensive that some sort of a specific relationship between these two books seems to be implied. One of the strongest thematic parallels2 is God’s love for his people Israel. The verb אָהַב ‘to love’ and the derived noun אַהֲבָה ‘love’ with God as subject and Israel as the object for God’s love are met several times in Hosea and Deuteronomy, but

TynBull 62:2 (2011) p. 174

found only infrequently outside those two books.3 Almost two-thirds of all Old Testament occurrences with אהב denoting God’s love for his people are found in Hosea and Deuteronomy. In addition to this, Hosea and Deuteronomy also employ the same root אהב in order to describe the human side of the relationship—either the covenant obligation of love of God4 or Israel’s apostasy in the shape of loving other gods.5 According to Moshe Weinfeld, this theme of love between God and Israel is ‘the most prominent point of contact between Deuteronomy and Hosea’.6 Here the affinity is most evident. On the other hand, there is some profound dissimilarity in their use of אהב.

The question to be investigated is whether this shared theme tells us anything about the diachronic relation between Hosea and Deuteronomy. Is the thematic correspondence so comprehensive that one of the traditions might be dependent on the other? And are ...