Rebbetzin Chava Kuperman
Let us now turn to the Book of the 12 Minor Prophets itself. It opens with the Book of the Prophet Hosea.
According to tradition, he belonged to the tribe of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. Thus, in the Book of the 12 Prophets, Reuben's descendant Hosea is also given the role of the firstborn.
Hosea's father, Beeri, was the leader of the tribe of Reuben on the eve of the Jews' exile from Israel.
We have a tradition that Beeri was also a prophet (otherwise his name would not have been mentioned). He delivered many prophecies, but they were relevant to the time in which he lived, so most of his prophecies were not recorded, except for two that were included as quotations in the Book of Isaiah.
The Book of Hosea begins with information about who Hosea is and who his father is, followed by an indication of the period to which Hosea's prophecy belongs. It mentions the names of the kings of Judah and Israel who reigned toward the end of the Kingdom of Israel's existence, before its conquest by Assyria (Ashur) and the exile of the Jews to the east.
It should be noted that not all prophets mention kings. Hosea, however, mentions the kings who were his contemporaries, whether the prophecy concerns Israel or Judah (four kings rule in Judah, while during the same period one king, Jeroboam the Second, rules in Israel).
Here I would like to make another digression to speak specifically about Jeroboam the Second.
Unlike his ancestor, Jeroboam the First, who became famous for splitting the kingdom in two, Jeroboam the Second was a good and just ruler.
This is attested to by the prophet Amos, who at one point delivered a very grim prophecy: "Israel will be laid waste because there are false prophets within it."
Amos's "well-wishers" came to the king with a demand: "Kill him; he is sowing confusion among your subjects!" But after hearing them out, Jeroboam the Second refused: "If that is what the prophet says, then that is what the Almighty told him."
Not every king deserves to have his name mentioned in a prophecy.
King Jeroboam the Second is the only one mentioned by two prophets, Hosea and Amos. This undoubtedly reflects well on him.
So the time in which Hosea lives is a critical one: exile is looming. The Almighty wants the people to mend their ways, and then the exile will not happen. As always in difficult times, G-d sends the people four prophets: Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, and Micah.
The question always arises: which prophet came earlier, and which later? The chronological order of their appearance is exactly as listed above. How do we know that Hosea was first? From the text with which his book begins: "At first, the Almighty spoke with Hosea..."
But why does the prophecy begin this way?
The first person to realize that a mistake can and should be put right was Reuben. (When he interfered in his father's personal life, even with the best of intentions, he made a serious mistake. It needed to be put right.)
In Judaism, Reuben symbolizes mending one's ways, just as Judah does.
The final chapter of the Book of the Prophet Hosea speaks of the Almighty asking the Jewish people to mend their ways (chapter 14, verse 2): "Return, O Israel, to the L-rd your G-d, for you have stumbled in your sin." We read this passage on the Shabbat before Yom Kippur.
Just as Reuben was the first to begin mending his ways, his descendant Hosea was the first to call on the Jews to mend theirs.
We have already spoken of prophets who defended the honor of the Father (the Almighty), and of prophets who stood up for the son (the Jewish people). There were also prophets who fought for both.
Jonah, as we saw earlier, cared deeply about the Jewish people, almost going so far as to oppose the Almighty. (A father is very pleased when someone stands up for his son, even if they oppose the father himself in doing so.)
Hosea was someone who stood up for the Almighty. The Almighty tells him: the Jews are sinning, they have become corrupt and uncontrollable. Instead of reminding G-d, "But they are Your children," Hosea said, "Just replace them with another nation!" (There is an opinion that in doing so, he wanted to save the Jews by trying to avert their punishment.) Then the Almighty commanded Hosea to find the most unfaithful woman, marry her, have children with her, and learn a thorough and bitter lesson from living with her. (It is noteworthy that Hosea gave his children (at the Almighty's instruction) symbolic names. He named his daughter "Inconsolable" and his son "Not My People.") When the Almighty told him, "Now divorce her!" Hosea cried out, "But she is my wife!"... — "But she is unfaithful!" — "I have children with her!"...
"Then why do you suggest that I replace the Jewish people with another nation because the Jews are unfaithful? Do the same with your wife!"
The Almighty taught the prophet Jonah to have compassion for other nations (through the example of the castor bean plant beneath which he fell asleep, sheltered from the sun when it was tall and green. But while Jonah slept, the castor bean plant withered. "Jonah, did you feel great pain when you woke up?" "I was in pain to the point of death!" "You did not grow it, yet you feel pain. How, then, can I not have compassion for the people of Nineveh?")
G-d teaches the prophet Hosea to have compassion for the Jews. Both prophets receive difficult lessons.
To conclude our discussion of the prophet Hosea, let us add that the second part of his book is read as the haftarah for Parashat Bamidbar. Chapter 12 of the Book of Hosea is read as the haftarah for Parashat Vayetzei.
All of Hosea's prophecies are extremely grim: he spoke about how wrongly the people were behaving and the terrible punishments that would follow.
Most often, he calls the Jews "Ephraim," because the greater part of his prophecies concerns Jews living in the northern territory of the kingdom that split in two. There are ten tribes there, with the tribe of Ephraim dominant (while in the south two tribes remained, with the tribe of Judah dominant).
to be continued