Hosea (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Hosea Mignon R. Jacobs Hosea, by Ehud Ben Zvi. The Forms of Old Testament Literature, volume 21A/1. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2005. 321 pp. $55.00. In keeping with the form-critical model used in the Forms of the Old Testament Literature series (FOTL), Ben Zvi's volume includes discussion of the genre, setting, and intention of the book of Hosea and its individual units. The discussion is accompanied by a representation of the structure of the individual units along with extensive bibliography on each macro-unit. The clarity of the presentation seen in his volume on Micah (also in the FOTL series) is also reflected in his discussion of Hosea. Most valuable is his delineation of the intent of his task and the clarification of the method as applied to the book of Hosea. First, he clarifies that while he affirms the place of the book of Hosea in the Book of the Twelve, he also recognizes its independence as a distinct unit within that corpus. Second, Ben Zvi distinguishes between the formal and the conceptual structure of the book. Regarding formal structure, he identifies the macro-structure of Hosea as a typical prophetic book, namely: introduction (1:1), Prophetic Reading (body of the book) (1:2–14:9), and a conclusion (14:10). Ben Zvi identifies the conceptual structure of the book as a "very common metanarrative in postmonarchic Israel" (p. 8) and notes that while the book is not a narrative, the four stages of the metanarrative are reinforced in reading and rereading the book. Third, Ben Zvi's application of the form-critical method illustrates an adaptation within the method, namely, he focuses on the extant text rather than attempting to discern or reconstruct a form behind the text, and he embraces the tenets of literary criticism. Consequently, he emphasizes the reading and rereading of the text, further highlighting the role and identity of the actual reader on the reading process. In this perspective, Ben Zvi defines genre as a fluid product of the readers, readers' expectation, and the reading process that incorporates the textual markers and assign intention to the implied author of the text. According to this understanding of genre, Ben Zvi posits that the genre of the book of Hosea is "Prophetic Book" or "Authoritative, Ancient Israelite Prophetic Book," namely, one that communicated a claim for authoritativeness and was affirmed by a readership as such, and whose communicator is perceived as authoritative (p. 11). For Ben Zvi the reading and rereading of the Prophetic Book shapes and influences the readers' perspectives; therefore, he is adamant that the text is a theological rather than an historical document of the past. Accordingly, the images of the past preserved within the book are constructed by the authors in accordance with their perspectives and intent for their readers and are not necessarily consistent with social realities. Likewise, Ben Zvi proposes that [End Page 158] one of the primary intentions of the book is to socialize its readers in a way that idealizes them as the sole bearers of Yhwh's words and revelation. Ben Zvi's adaptation of the form-critical method is further evident in his understanding of setting. Regarding the intellectual setting, he proposes the literati and specifically the highly literate by and for whom the book was composed. More specifically, regarding the historical setting of the book, Ben Zvi proposes that its themes are crucial for discerning between the monarchic and postmonarchic times. Of these the exile, the unification of Israel and Judah, and the Davidic ruler are significant to the proposal that the readership of the book was situated in the postmonarchic period. Notably, for Ben Zvi this period is the most likely because it "provides the most reasonable historical background for such a text" (p. 14). Even so, Ben Zvi argues that while the readership of the book is situated in the postmonarchic period, the "world of the book" is the monarchic period. Accordingly, the readership lived out the events that the speakers/authors anticipated. The volume focuses on the formal structure or the individual units of the book of Hosea. The Superscription (1:1) orients the...