Opinions regarding the exact dating of the activity of the prophet Hoseago mainly in two directions. One group of scholars puts it in the middle ofthe 8th century B.C., while the other prefers the next decades. Even thoughthe difference is not huge, it is nonetheless very important. Both groupsrely exclusively on the data given in the Book of Hosea and the knowledgeabout the history of the Divided Monarchy as it is presented in the HebrewBible. Until recently, another source of information was neglected, namelythe Neo-Assyrian texts and sources. Taking them seriously into consideration,the solution given by, among others, Nadav Na’aman seems the mostplausible. The early prophecies of Hosea should be connected with Israel’sdisastrous defeat in its struggle with Assyria, which ended with the loss oflarge parts of its territory and the first big wave of forced deportations toMesopotamia. The activity of the prophet Hosea should therefore be datedat the very beginning of the last decade of the Northern Kingdom (731-723B.C.), hence in the context of the reign of king Hoshea, son of Elah.But quite differently to Na’aman, who suggests that the early scrollcontaining the message of the prophet was written in the North, possiblya short time after 720 B.C. when the Northern Kingdom collapsed, theauthor of this article avers that the “first edition of the book” was writtenin Mesopotamia at the very beginning of the process of consolidation ofthe Assyrian Diaspora. It means that the prophet Hosea was one of theIsraelites who were deported to Mesopotamia by the Assyrians during thefirst wave of deportations. More than a hundred years later, his messagewas reinterpreted from a pro-Judaean (or pro-Jerusalem) perspective by thedeportees who were brought to Mesopotamia by the Babylonians. The finalelaboration of Hosea’s message, as we know it from the Book of Hosea, wasmade in the Persian, or possibly even in the Hellenistic period.
n a study of the complexity of the redaction of the Pentateuch, the Bookof Hosea plays an important role. This Book is a witness to many theologicalmotifs which are also found in the Torah. Nowadays, the opinion is generallyheld that the Pentateuch is a predominantly post-exilic work, particularly inrelation to the patriarchs. However, if we assume that in fact the majority ofthe text of Hosea was written in the eighth century B.C., it becomes evidentthat many of the theological concepts were already known in the time ofHosea. Particularly noteworthy is the idea of the creation of the People, theirelection in the desert and their bringing out of Egypt. The prophet shows usthat the commandments of the Decalogue are a component of the covenant.Noteworthy is the fact that there is a convergence of ideas between Hoseaand Deuteronomy, which is particularly exhibited in the common image offather and son, and in the idea of God’s enduring love for his people. Hoseaalso presents a lot of information about the patriarch Jacob, which indicatesthat this figure has its own ancient history.
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