The Woman from Hosea 3: 1-3. The Prophet's Wife or a Second Wife?
In order to illustrate the intimate relationship between God and the people of Israel, a metaphor that represents God as a husband, and Israel as His wife appears in the prophetic books, and the first prophet to present this metaphor is Hosea. Overall, the metaphor knows different approaches among researchers and has created many controversies. One controversy is given by the command received by Hosea in 3:1 and takes into account the identity of the presented woman, which is mostly interpreted to be a second woman that the prophet receives the commandment to marry. In my study I will make a grammatical and contextual analysis of Hosea 3:1, focusing on the expression וַיֹּ֙אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֵלַ֗י ע֚וֹד לֵ֣ךְ (wayōmer yehwāh ʾēlay ʿôḏ lēk), and I will analyze whether the Masoretic Text supports the theory asserting that Hosea has married for the second time.