Enmity in the House of God (Hosea 9:7-9‪)‬

In his Lectures on the Minor Prophets, Martin Luther commented bluntly on Hos 9:7-9: "This passage is obscure--our translators, still more obscure." (1) Other writers have said much the same. The MT appears corrupt, at least in v. 8, and the Hebrew syntax is ambiguous in several lines. (2) For these and other reasons, 9:7-9 ranks among the most difficult texts in the book of Hosea. Surprisingly, however, most modern scholars agree on the overall sense of the passage. It supposedly reflects on Hosea's rejection and persecution by Israelites. (3) Commentaries may vary on the small details of 9:7-9, but most run more or less as follows. In v. 7, Hosea begins by announcing divine punishment: "Days of punishment have come, days of requital have come. Israel shall know it." The prophet then quotes the words of Israelites who scorn him as "foolish" and "crazy." He, in turn, rebuts this slander by asserting that their "enmity" toward him simply reflects their own "iniquity." In v. 8, Hosea presents himself as a "prophet" who is "the watchman of Ephraim" on the side of God. (4) He then describes the people's mistreatment of him as a "fowler's snare on all his ways" and as "enmity in the house of his God." In v. 9, Hosea characterizes this persecution as "corrupt" behavior, and he compares it to the outrage committed against the Levite and his concubine in the "days of Gibeah" (see Judges 19-20). The prophet concludes the speech with a threat of divine punishment. (5) As for the setting of 9:7-9, the verses relate to the same occasion as 9:1-6--namely, a disputation between Hosea and an Israelite audience during the fall festival of Harvest.