And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call Me Ishi; and shalt call Me no more Baali.
Hosea’s marriage figure
In looking at the allegory of Jehovah’s marriage with mother Israel, or with the mother-land, we must begin by considering the current ideas which served to suggest such a conception. Alike in Israel, and among its heathen neighbours, the word Baal, that is Lord or Owner, was a common appellative of the national deity. Instead of the proper names compounded with Jehovah, which are common from the time of Elijah, we frequently find in Old Israel forms compounded with Baal which are certainly not heathenish. When we meet with a son of Saul named Ish-Baal, a grandson Meri-Baal, both names meaning “Baal’s man,” while David in like manner gives to one of his sons the name of Beeliada, “Baal knoweth,” we may be sure that Baal is here a title of the God of Israel. In Hosea’s time the worshipping people still addressed Jehovah as Baali, “my Lord,” and the Baalim of whom he often speaks (Hosea 2:13; Hosea 13:1-2) are no other than the golden calves, the recognised symbols of Jehovah. Now, among the Semites, the husband is regarded as the lord or owner of his wife (1 Peter 2:6), whom, in fact, according to early law, he purchases from her father for a price (Exodus 21:8; Exodus 22:17). The address Baali is used by the wife to her husband, as well as by the nation to its God, and so in an early stage of thought, when similarities of expression constantly form the basis of identifications of idea, it lay very near to think of the God as the husband of the worshipping nationality, or of the mother-land. It is not at all likely that this conception was in form original to Hosea, or even peculiar to Israel; such developed religious analogy as that which makes the national God not only father of the people, but husband of the land, their mother, has its familiar home in natural religions. In these religions we find similar conceptions, in which, however, as in the case of the fatherhood of the Deity, the idea is taken in a crass physical sense. Marriage of female worshippers with the godhead was a common notion among the Phenicians and Babylonians, and in the latter case was connected with immoral practices akin to those that defiled the sanctuaries of Israel in Hosea’s days. It even seems possible to find some trace in Semitic heathenism of the idea of marriage of Baal with the land which he fertilises by sunshine and rain. Semitic deities are conceived as productive powers, and so form pairs of male and female principles. Heaven and earth are such a pair, as is well known from Greek mythology; and though Baal and Ashtoreth are more often represented as astral powers (Sun and Moon, Jupiter and Venus), it is certain that fertitising showers were one manifestation of Baal’s life-giving power. Even the Mohammedan Arabs retained the name of Baal (ba’l) for land watered by the rains of heaven. The land that brings forth fruit under these influences could not fail to be thought of as his spouse; and, in fact, we have an Arabic word (‘athary) which seems to show that the fertility produced by the rains of Baal was associated with the name of his wife Ashtoreth. If this is so, it follows that in point of form the marriage of Jehovah with Israel corresponded to a common Semitic conception, and we may well suppose that the corrupt mass of Israel interpreted it in reference to the fertility of the goodly land, watered by the dews of heaven (Deuteronomy 11:11), on principles that suggested no higher thoughts of God than were entertained by their heathen neighbours. (W. Robertson Smith, LL. D.)
Husband or lord: God translated by love or by fear
Albeit the names Baali and Ishi both signify “ my husband,” though the first chiefly a husband under the notion of authority, and the second of love; and albeit Baali may be said of God, yet since it had been abused, and given to idols, He will have it no more used. Doctrine--
1. When the Lord delivereth, and is kind to His people, it is their duty to prove their thankfulness by embracing of Christ, and cleaving to Him and His pure service.
2. The Lord will be unto His people what a faithful husband is to his wife, and they are allowed to expect it, and in the faith thereof, to profess and avow Him, in the exercise of true religion. “Thou shalt call Me Ishi,” or avow Me for thy husband, as thou art warranted to do.
3. The Lord is so tender of the matter of His worship and service, that He will allow no mixture in it, nor halting between it and idolatry. (George Hutcheson.)
Our name for God
When the relations of husband and wife are simply outward and formal, and maintained only upon necessity of law, words of endearment do not come into use, and can only be insincere when they are used. The formal “my lord” suits the conditions. And the same thing is true when sin has broken off relations. The fear that separates makes such a name as Baali suffice. But when love keeps up gracious relations, words of endearment come naturally into use. Love in loving, and in using loving names, finds employ. Our relation to God is revealed by our name for Him. (R. Tuck, B. A.)