Prophecy, Hosea, and Teshuva

Many prophets arose for the Jewish people, numbering double the number of Israelites who left Egypt. However, only a portion of the prophecies were recorded, because only prophecy that was needed for future generations was written down in the Bible for posterity, but that which was not needed, as it was not pertinent to later generations, was not written. Therefore, the fifty-five prophets recorded in the Bible, although not the only prophets of the Jewish people, were the only ones recorded, due to their eternal messages.

The Holy Blessed One said to Hosea: "Your children, the Jewish people, have sinned."

Hosea should have said to God in response: "But they are Your children; they are the children of Your beloved ones, the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Extend Your mercy over them."

Not only did he fail to say that, but instead he said before God: Master of the Universe, the entire world is Yours; since Israel has sinned, exchange them for another nation.

The Holy Blessed One said: What shall I do to this Elder who does not know how to defend Israel? I will say to him: Go and take a prostitute and bear for yourself children of prostitution. And after that I will say to him: Send her away from before you. If he is able to send her away, I will also send away the Jewish people.

After two sons and one daughter had been born to him, the Holy Blessed One said to Hosea: ... You separate yourself from your wife. He said to God: Master of the Universe, I have sons from her and I am unable to dismiss her or to divorce her.

In response to Hosea’s show of loyalty to his family, the Holy Blessed One rebuked him and said to him: Just as you, whose wife is a prostitute and your children from her are children of prostitution, and you do not even know if they are yours or if they are children of other men, despite this, you are still attached to them and will not forsake them, so too, I am still attached to the Jewish people, who are My children, the children of My faithful who withstood ordeals, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Once Hosea realized that he had sinned, he got up to request that God have compassion upon him for having spoken ill of the Jewish people. The Holy Blessed One said to him: Before you request compassion upon yourself, first request compassion upon the Jewish people, since I have already decreed upon them three harsh decrees on your account, in response to your condemnation of them. There is an allusion to these three decrees in the names of the children born of the prostitute. Jezreel is an allusion to a decree for Jehu’s actions in the Jezreel Valley (see II Kings 9–10). Lo-ruhamah, one that had not received compassion, suggests that God will no longer have compassion for the Jewish people. Lo-ammi, not My people, indicates that the Jewish people will no longer be considered God’s people.

(2) Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have fallen because of your sin. (3) Take words with you And return to the LORD. Say to God: “Forgive all guilt And accept what is good; Instead of bulls we will pay [The offering of] our lips. (4) Assyria shall not save us, No more will we ride on steeds; Nor ever again will we call Our handiwork our god, Since in You alone orphans find pity!” (5) I will heal their affliction, Generously will I take them back in love; For My anger has turned away from them. (6) I will be to Israel like dew; they shall blossom like the lily, they shall strike root like a Lebanon tree. (7) Their boughs shall spread out far, their beauty shall be like the olive tree’s, their fragrance like that of Lebanon. (8) They who sit in their shade shall be revived: They shall bring to life new grain, They shall blossom like the vine; their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon. (9) Ephraim [shall say]: “What more have I to do with idols? When I respond and look to them, I become like a verdant cypress.” Your fruit is provided by Me. (10) One who is wise will consider these words, one who is prudent will take note of them. For the paths of the LORD are smooth; The righteous can walk on them, While sinners stumble on them.

Return - Little by little, to the Lord.

R. Levi said: Great is Teshuva in that it reaches to the Throne of Glory, as it says: "Return oh Israel to Hashem your God.

If one says to a woman: Be betrothed to me on the condition that I am a righteous man, then even if he was a completely wicked man she is betrothed, as perhaps in the meantime he had thoughts of repentance in his mind and is now righteous. Similarly, if one says to a woman: Be betrothed to me on the condition that I am a wicked man, then even if he was a completely righteous man she is betrothed, as perhaps he had thoughts of idol worship in his mind,