When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” 6She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. 7But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen.” When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9Then the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God.” 10
I have always heard this passage interpreted strictly as an allegory: Hosea is Israel, the unfaithful one, but God is prepared to show his love anyway by taking her back, changing the names of her children to more appealing ones. I was surprised, then, that Coogan’s interpretation of the passage was actually somewhat more literal, in that it indicates that Hosea actually married an adulterous woman named Gomer who bore him three children.
Whatever the case may be, this marriage and the naming of the couple’s children seem to be classic examples of the “sign-act” genre, which I have also heard described as a type of performance art or street theater. The prophets would commit strange, wild acts to draw attention to bring home their words in a highly visible and startling way, forcing people to confront their message. This bears some similarities to the work of many artists and activists today.
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