From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John

Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture

Jane Austen
(A Biography)

Solomon Among the Postmoderns

The Baptized Body

1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary

The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter

A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons

Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature

Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen

The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism

A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel

Against Christianity

From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution

Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy

Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper

A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament

Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature

Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays

Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life

The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church

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Bible - OT - Hosea: Wombless

Hosea’s daughter is named Lo-ruhamah (1:6), and the Lord explains that her name signifies that He “will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel.”  Lo-ruhamah means “no compassion.”

But the word ruhamah is linked to the Hebrew word for “womb”; as many have pointed out, Yahweh’s compassion is “wombliness,” the compassion of a mother for a child she has birthed.  Yahweh removes His motherly compassion from Israel, and Hosea’s daughter is a sign of that.

Hosea 1:6 might also indicate some connection between the Lord’s withdrawal of compassion and Israel’s infertility.  Yahweh’s compassion for Israel is shown when He opens the wombs of the daughters of Zion; His withdrawal of wombliness means that Israel will cease to be a mother with children; after the exile, the return of His compassion is signified by the multiplication of the children of Israel: “Rejoice, barren woman.”  The great signifier of Yahweh’s wombly compassion for His people is that the wombs of the daughters of Israel and Judah are fertile like gardens.

Bible - OT - Hosea: Reverse exodus

In Hosea 13:15, the prophet says of Ephraim, “Though he flourishes among the reeds, an east wind will come, the wind of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; and his fountain will become dry and his spring will be dried up; it will plunder his treasury of every precious article.”

This is a picture of a reverse exodus. In Exodus 14:21, an “east wind” dries up the waters of the yam suph, the “Sea of Reeds” (cf. 15:22) and opened a path of dry land through the sea. Hosea uses “east wind” and “reeds” and “dry,” but the image is not of deliverance but of withering destruction. Instead of a Rock flowing like a fountain, Ephraim will be dried up. Instead of plundering, Ephraim will be plundered.

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