Hoshe’a 2 | “I Will Betroth You to Me Forever”

The chapter opens with three optimistic verses that reverse the names of the children at the time of redemption — “Unloved” becomes “Loved”, and so forth. Yet immediately after this hopeful beginning, the text plunges back into the tense relationship between the husband and the wife. The husband declares: “Berate your mother, for she is not my wife, nor I her husband. Let her remove her prostitute's rouge from her face” (2:4). In his eyes, after her betrayal, she is no longer his wife. What led her to this betrayal? The following verses describe that she pursued the material prosperity given by her lovers. However, she failed to realize that these blessings actually came from her husband: “But she did not care to know that it was I who furnished her with grain, wine, and oil” (2:10). The absurdity and betrayal are twofold — not only does she fail to recognize the source of her prosperity, but she even uses the very gifts he provided for her illegitimate deeds: “I who lavished silver upon her and gold which they used for Baal” (2:10).

After presenting the problem, the chapter outlines an intriguing process of correction. First, the husband blocks her path to her lovers (2:8), prompting her to consider returning to her first husband. Then, he strips away the abundance he had provided (2:11). The issue of prosperity appears frequently in Sefer Devarim as one of the greatest spiritual dangers. Moshe repeatedly warns against the risks of “Yeshurun grew fat, and kicked” (Devarim 32:15) or the illusion of “My power, the strength of my own hand, have brought me this great wealth” (Devarim 8:17), which leads to forgetting God.

It seems that our chapter revisits precisely this concern. In the next stage, something remarkable happens — after removing her prosperity, God takes Israel back into the wilderness: “Behold, now I will coax her, I will lead her back to the open desert, and I will speak to her heart” (2:16). The nation returns to its beginnings, before prosperity led them astray from their faithfulness to God. The verses present a renewal of the original entry into the land: “She will return to Me in song as in the first days of her youth, as on the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt” (2:17). But this time, the process will be rectified: “Then and there I will give her vineyards to her, and the Valley of the Scourge will be a doorway to hope” (2:17). The initial entry into the land, marred by the sin of Achan (from whom the Valley of Scourge is named), is now reenacted in a purified form. In a sense, the prophet is saying, “Let’s press the restart button”, and reenter the land. These are the betrothals mentioned in the chapter: We already know from Yirmiyahu that Israel’s time in the wilderness is likened to the kindness of their youth. Here, we return to a renewed and corrected betrothal, “I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in kindness and compassion” (2:22).

Additional Insight: Who Is Chapter 2 Addressed To, and the Punishment of the House of Yehu

The chapter repeatedly emphasizes the sin of Baal worship. This is puzzling because ever since Yehu eradicated Baal worship, it had ceased to exist in Israel. Rav Yoel Bin-Nun suggests that this is no coincidence: the prophecy in our chapter against Baal worship is actually an earlier prophecy originally directed at the House of Achav. Now, Hoshea repurposes it against the House of Yehu. Why?

Yehu was appointed king by Elisha the prophet with a singular mission: to reform the kingdom of Israel and restore them to God’s service. Yehu successfully eliminated Baal worship but continued the sins of Yerovam son of Nevat — worship of the golden calves in Beit El and Dan. The prophecy in our chapter is telling Yehu: You have failed in your mission. While you removed Baal worship, you did not bring about the spiritual restoration Israel needed. In this sense, your eradication of Baal worship is meaningless — the rebuke against Baal worship applies to you as well.

Understanding this also clarifies the verse in Chapter 1: “I will punish the house of Yehu for the blood of Yizre'el” (1:4). Yesterday, we asked — why should Yehu be punished for this? After all, he destroyed Achav’s dynasty at God’s command and according to Eliyahu’s prophecy: “When he arrived in Shomron, he struck down all those who were left to Achav in Shomron until he had wiped him out, fulfilling the word that the Lord had pronounced to Eliyahu” (Melakhim II 10:17).

It seems that the prophecy in our chapter is making a clear statement about Yehu’s actions: since his deeds ultimately failed to achieve their intended goal — bringing Israel back to God — their moral justification collapses. As a result, in retrospect, Yehu’s killing of Achav’s house is no longer seen as fulfilling a divine command but rather as unjustified bloodshed. Since he did not carry out his mission for the right purpose, his violent rise to power now becomes a stain on his legacy.