About this audiobook

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 BCE, 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 BCE, as the Israelites of his time were still polytheistic, worshiping the Canaanite gods, as well as statues of 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 Yahweh. Several artifacts have been found dating to the era that depicts Yahweh as a calf, and includes phrases written in Canaanite 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 Cosmic Genesis chapter 1. 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 precedence, as it was placed into the harmonized Torah as chapter 1 of Cosmic Genesis, before the Yahwist version in chapter 2.

Gods & Mortals Prophecy Mythological World Folklore Betrayal Rebellion Redemption