Testaments: 4 - Gomer’s Lament
Oh how he wanders, wild-eyed to the dust,
Scents of oils and strangers in his hair.
All his debts paid with silver, some disgust,
Yet no one curses nor shames him with stares.
Though he fled his vow, undid binding threads,
Named his sons after omens, mysterious and grim,
Still we call him home where to mend the love bled,
We call him back home, so to start again.
And so with the leaders: perfumed to mask lies,
Dancing with foreign kings offering some kind of gains,
Sacrifices upon altars to rape wilderness,
Prayers as empty as clear, summer skies.
Return home, you leaders, through the drought and pain,
Return home, and bring forth your best.
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Book of Hosea
Estimated Date of Composition:
circa 750–725 BCE
Form:
Prophetic poetry with narrative elements
Context:
Hosea was a contemporary of Amos, prophesying in the northern kingdom of Israel during its final decades before Assyrian conquest (722 BCE). This book is best known for its disturbing and allegorical portrayal of Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, a woman described as promiscuous or adulterous—symbolizing Israel’s unfaithfulness to Yahweh. I’ve chosen to focus on Hosea as the cheater and Gomer as the spurned, because it’s much more likely that the wife would take back (be forced to take back?) her husband than the opposite, wherein the husband would likely just kill the wife (and maybe that’s a more apt metaphor overall…). At any rate, scholars debate whether this marriage was historical, metaphorical, or visionary but it doesn’t matter much in my reckoning. The imagery is intense and scandalous, juxtaposing divine judgment with relentless yearning for reconciliation. Sources advise the Hebrew is fragmented in places, possibly due to its early date or subsequent editorial reshaping.
References:
• Yee, Gale A. Poor Banished Children of Eve: Woman as Evil in the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press, 2003.
• Andersen, Francis I., and Freedman, David Noel. *Hosea: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary.* Anchor Yale Bible, 1980.