Septuagint: Hosea

By Scriptural Research Institute

The Book of Hosea is generally considered one of the oldest surviving books of the Hebrew Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was written, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Hosea was written by a prophet called Hosea between 760 and 720 BC, who was most likely from the region of Ephraim, in central modern Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. His world was very different from the later Kingdom of Judea that emerged in the 2nd-century BC, as the Israelites of his time were still polytheistic, worshiping the Canaanite Elohim, as well as statues of Iaw (Masoretic Yahweh), the God the Jews and Samaritans would later worship.

In the aftermath of their defeat in the Syro-Ephraimite War, many Israelites appear to have returned to worshiping the ancient Canaanite gods, implying they felt abandoned by El during the war. Hosea claimed that they were not worshiping El, but were worshiping the 'calf of Samaria,' which, archaeologically speaking, is Iaw. Several artifacts have been found dating to the era that depict Iaw as a calf, and include phrases written in Canaanite (Paleo-Hebrew) such as 'Yahweh of Samaria,' and 'Yahweh of the Teman.' Most of these artifacts have been found in the Sinai Peninsula at Kuntillet Ajrud, along the ancient Judean-Egyptian frontier, and are dated to 800 BC. These artifacts also list Yahweh along with several ancient Canaanite gods, including El (God), Asherah, and Ba'al (Lord).

The Book of Hosea also refers to the Israelites worshiping gods other than El, which is the main cause of his anger with his people. He repeatedly refers to the Israelites worshiping the Lord (Ba'al), or Lords (Ba'alim), which he also identified as having established the sabbath, meaning the Lords in question were the Elohim, who established the sabbath after creating the world in the first six 'days' in Genesis chapter 1. As the current version of the Torah is accepted as having been compiled at the time of King Josiah, shortly before the fall of Judea. Hosea's writing proves that there were at least two copies in circulation in his time, the version he was referencing, and the Elohist version that those worshiping the Lords were using. These two Torahs are accepted as having been harmonized into the current version before the end of Josiah's time, resulting in the two creation stories and other duplicated stories that have conflicting details. The Elohist version of the creation of the world seems to have taken into precedence, as it was placed into the harmonized Torah as chapter 1 of Genesis, before the Yahwist version in chapter 2.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
• Release date: Jul 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781989852422

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Copyright

WHILE EVERY PRECAUTION has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

SEPTUAGINT: HOSEA

Digital edition. September 11, 2020.

Copyright © 2020 Scriptural Research Institute.

ISBN: 978-1-989852-42-2

The Septuagint was translated into Greek at the Library of Alexandria between 250 and 132 BC.

This English translation was created by the Scriptural Research Institute in 2020, primarily from the Codex Vaticanus, although the Codex Alexandrinus was also used for reference. Additionally, the Leningrad Codex of the Masoretic Texts, and the Dead Sea Scrolls 4QXIIc and 4QXIIg were used for comparative analysis.

The image used for the cover is adapted from an 18th century icon of Hosea in the Kizhi monastery, in Karelia, Russian Federation.

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IN THE MID-3RD CENTURY BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. According to Jewish tradition, the original Torah was lost when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple of Solomon and was later rewritten by Ezra the Scribe from memory during the Second Temple period. The life of Ezra the Scribe is estimated to have been between 480 and 440 BC, which is around the time that scholars generally believe the current form of the Torah was written.

Some scholars debate whether the Prophets Section was in the version published in 132 BC, and suggest it may have not been added until the early 1st-century BC, however, the twelve ‘minor’ prophets, as Christians call them, appear to have been translated into Greek circa 190 BC, after circulating as a collection in the Canaanite (Paleo-Hebrew) script since the late-Persian era, before 332 BC. The general consensus is that the twelve books were written, or redacted into their current form during the Persian era, between 538 and 332 BC, although some scholars believe Jonah was written later in the early Greek era as it contains no prophecies, and reads more like a Greek adventure poem. The twelve books are set during the decline of the old Samaritan and Judean Kingdoms, parallel to the histories contained in the Septuagint's books of Kingdoms and Paraleipomenons (Masoretic Samuel, Kings, and Diḇrê Hayyāmîm).

The books of Hosea, Amos, and Micah are set during the 8th-century BC, when the kingdom of Samaria fought a series of wars against its more powerful northern neighbor Assyria, ultimately being conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire circa 722 BC. The books of Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah follow, although their exact settings are not clear. The books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah follow, set in the 7th-century BC, as the Kingdom of Judea struggled for its survival between the powers of the time, Assyria to the north, Egypt to the south, and Babylon to the east, ultimately falling to the Neo-Babylonian Empire circa 586 BC. There is a gap in the prophets during the era when Babylon ruled Judea, and they continue with the books of Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi in the late-6th-century, after the Persians have conquered the Babylonian Empire. If Jonah was a later addition, Ezra the Prophet was likely the original twelfth prophet in the group, as the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra was set during the Babylonian captivity, where there is currently a gap.

The Book of Hosea is generally considered one of the oldest surviving books of the Hebrew Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was written, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Hosea was written by a prophet called Hosea between 760 and 720 BC, who was most likely from the region of Ephraim, in central modern Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. His world was very different from the later Kingdom of Judea that emerged in the 2nd-century BC, as the Israelites of his time were still polytheistic, worshiping the Canaanite Elohim, as well as statues of Iaw (Masoretic Yahweh), the God the Jews and Samaritans would later worship.

By Hosea’s time, Samaria had fallen under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, but had not been conquered outright yet. They fought a war of independence, now called the Syro-Ephraimite War, which they lost, ending up even more subjugated than they had previously been. Much of Hosea’s book is little more than an