Prophesying the Past

Hosea and the Hosean tradition play an important role in the internal Israelite dispute about the nature of God and his relation to the world and Israel. Hosea refers to traditions of the past in which the interdependence between Yahweh and Israel, and in particular Yahweh''s care for his people, are recurrent themes. The prophet can presuppose that certain portions of these traditions, both "hist...