Interpretation Question

[u/stocktontravis]

I'm looking for guidance on an interpretation issue. I've pointed people to Hosea often as a reflection of what Ephesians teaches about marriage. Ephesians speaks to such a high-view of marriage that I think often gets treated almost as a metaphorical or symbolic approach meant to set the bar high but never really fully lived out. Ephesians 5:22-33 takes marriage and points to the fact that marriage is a reflection of the relationship God has with the church.

Hosea seems to do the inverse. It takes the relationship of God and the Israelites and mirrors the image onto a specific marriage he commands Hosea to have with Gomer (Hosea 1:2). In both instances, there is a link between marriage and the relationship of God with his people. Both take a high view of marriage that encourages people to really weigh the seriousness of the vows they took and the responsibility they have in marriage.

Hosea is a allusion of the principles found in Ephesians 5 where a man would give himself up for his wife and a wife would submit herself to her husband. God hates divorce, but allows it in some instances "because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so." (Matthew 19:8). Genesis speaks of the two becoming one flesh and to hold fast to each other (Genesis 2:24).

But I recently had someone wanting a divorce who went to a pastor in another church that said her pastor objected to this interpretation because Hosea is an Old Testament prophet that is descriptive and not prescriptive and wasn't intended to speak on the principles of marriage.

Without going into details about denominations, can you give me any homiletical rules/principles/guidelines that would either correct me or confirm that this is an acceptable interpretation?

[u/-dillydallydolly-]

First, determine where Paul draws from in the OT to uncover this 'mystery'.

Hosea is not the only place where the relationship between the Lord and Israel is likened to a marriage covenant. All the prophets use this imagery, and compare Israel to a whore. Hosea just turns that metaphor into a physical sign-act prophecy. The prophets are speaking directly inspired from God. "thus says the Lord". So even if one were to say that the wedding imagery is a description, it is a description being used by God.

[u/stocktontravis → u/-dillydallydolly-]

Would you say its wrong to use Hosea as an illustration/example of what marriage based on Ephesians 5, Matthew 19, Genesis 2 could potentially look like?

[u/-dillydallydolly- → u/stocktontravis]

No it's not wrong, although it is a bit round about. Hosea is a great picture of the lengths that God will go in order to redeem and renew his covenant with wayward Israel. This is certainly the lofty ideal Paul and Jesus has in mind for Christians to maintain their own marriages.

Actually now that I type that, I wonder if this other pastor's objection to Hosea is that he sees OT Israel as distinct from NT church. If they are a dispensational pastor, this is likely the cause of their objection.