Minor Prophets

The Book of Hosea

Promiscuous Woman: ZNH

Adulterous: ZNH

Conceive 

Bear

Give Birth to

Unfaithfulness Between Breasts

Adultery

Lovers

Baal

Expose Lewdness

Allure

Locales for the Sacred Sex Trade: Mountaintops, Hills; Oak, Poplar, and Terebinth Trees 

Wages of a Sacred Sex Trade Worker

When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous (ZNH) wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness (ZNH) to the LORD.”

Tools

So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them.

Tools

Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the LORD their God, will save them.”

Tools

After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. (Hosea 1:2-8)

Chapter 1 of Hosea features a plethora of sexual health terms. Promiscuous woman and adulterous wife, and unfaithfulness are all the same root word, ZNH, sacred sex trade participant. “Go marry a promiscuous woman” perhaps is more accurately translated, “a female prolific in sex trade participation.” The term ZNH in the plural form, ZNHNIM, is pronounced zuh-new-NEEM, meaning surpassing or impressive sex trade activity. The singular form for the name of God is El. The plural for God, El,  in the Old Testament is Elohim, pronounced el-oh-HEEM. The plural for a singular name most likely denotes supremacy. Gomer, the sacred sex trade worker is described in the plural. She was most likely at the top of her field, well versed in trafficking. The word ZNH appears four times in verse 1. This may mean Hosea intends emphasis. 

“Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts (NAAP). (Hosea 2:2)

Hosea pens a new word for unhealthy sexuality, pronounce na-ah-foo-FEEM. (Strong, H5005)  The term translates as adultery appearing a single time at this location in the Hebrew Old Testament. Na-ah-foo-FEEM is similar to the Hebrew term for nose or nostril, APH, and adultery, NAP.  (Strong, H599, H5003) APH pronounced AWF, can mean nose, nostril, face, the rapid breathing of passion, rage or wrath. AWF occurs 276 times in 269 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, H599) The Hebrew word for adultery, NAP, pronounced NAWF, appears  31 tines in 26 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, H5003). Syriac and Chaldean cognate languages have a similar term for “face”, pronounced ah-na-FEEM. This is much like the term Hosea uses, na-ah-foo-FEEM. Hosea’s unique term may be best translated as passionate breath or face between the breasts.  (BLB, Hosea 2:20; Strong, H5005)

Tools

Their mother has been unfaithful (ZNH)and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, ‘I will go after my lovers (AHB), who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’ (Hosea 2:5)

She will chase after her lovers (AHB)but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’ (Hosea 2:7)

Gomer’s “lovers “is the Hebrew root word for love, AHB, pronounced ah-HAWV.  This is a common word for love appearing 211 times in 195 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, H157) However, AHB used for lovers of a sacred sex trade worker is unique to the Old Testament. All other references speak of the love of God human affection, or loving objects like a home, righteousness, friends, etc. Hosea’s use of AHB, lovers, is emphatic and distinctive in the entire Old Testament. 

She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold— which they used for Baal. (Hosea 2:8)

“Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her naked (KSA, ARWH) body. (Hosea 2:9)

Uncovering the nakedness is a term for incest. Covering the nakedness appears to be recovering unhealthy sexuality. In the Ham incest snap shot the brothers “cover the nakedness” of their father. 

But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered (KSA) their father’s naked (ARWH body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. (Genesis 9:23)

The phrase cover her naked body of Hosea 2:9 is the exact wording as cover their father’s naked body in Genesis 9:23. These are not sexual assault statements, it appears the opposite. Ham’s brothers attempt to recover the assault against their mother. The Hosea passage seems to be saying that the economic currency which could have recovered Israel will be taken back. Tools

So now I will expose her lewdness (NBLT) before the eyes of her lovers (AHB); no one will take her out of my hands. (Hosea 2:10)

Hosea introduces another sexual health term seen only here in the Hebrew Old Testament. NBLT, pronounced nah-beh-LOOTH defines female genitalia. (Strong,  H5040) NBLT builds on the root NBL, meaning foolish or shameful occurring 18 times in 18 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, H5036) Lovers builds on the root word, AHB. Could it be that Jesus connected to Hosea’s words when he speaks about the inability to be taken from the embrace of God?

So now I will expose her lewdness (NBLT) before the eyes of her lovers (AHB); no one will take her out of my hands. (Hosea 2:10)

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,

is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

I and the Father are one.” (John 10:29-30)

This may be another case of Jesus reflecting the teaching and influence of the prophets in his preaching. 

I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers (AHB), but me she forgot,”

declares the LORD.

“Therefore I am now going to allure (PTH) her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

PTH, pronounced pah-THACH, occurs 28 times in 26 verses in the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, H6601) PTH is used for enticing, seducing, and coercing.

There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. (Hosea 2:15)

“In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’ (Hosea 2:16)

I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. (Hosea 2:17)

In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. (Hosea 2:18)

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. (Hosea 2:19)

I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge (YDA)the LORD. (Hosea 2:20)

Hosea introduces the Genesis sexual health premier word for intercourse in Hosea 2:20. The word is intimacy, YDA, pronounced yah-DAW. (Strong, H3045). Appearing 953 times in 874 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament.YDA means intimacy formed in the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain regulates the fear, anger, and sexual wiring of the limbic system. When the PFC is healthy and online, the limbic system can be regulated. When offline, the brain cannot regulate sexual neural pathways. Specifically, intimacy wires from the insular cortex. The range of meaning includes: to  be aware, receive, learn, recognize, differentiate, discover, turn the mind to, understand data, perceive, and genital sexual intercourse. YDA is used in two gang rape snap shots. The sexual offenders of Sodom and the decline to sexual nihilism of Judges both use YDA in violent rape scenes. It seems reasonable this word is used as paradox to contrast the beauty and intimacy of sexual intercourse with erotic violence. (Genesis 19:5; Judges 19:22)

The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man (ray-AH) and is an adulteress (NAF). Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” (Hosea 3:1)

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.

A homer was a Hebrew unit of measurement about 475 pounds. “Half of barley” translates the Hebrew word “lethech,” meaning half of a homer, just under 240 pounds. https://biblehub.com/hosea/3-2.htm

Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute (ZNH) or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” (Hosea 3:1-3)

Hosea makes an offer to his estranged wife, Gomer, who has re entered the sacred sex trade. 

The preacher states that he will be faithful to her and requests that she not continue working in the sacred sex trade and to refrain from being “intimate with any man”. This phrase in the literal Hebrew states, “Do not participate in the sacred sex trade and do not have to another man.” This makes most sense in English to read, “ …you shall not have another man.”

Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment (YDA) of God in the land.

There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. (Hosea 4:1-2)

…my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.(YDA) “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. (Hosea 4:6) 

Hosea now reveals the underlying driver for the idolatry of the Israelis. Their relapse to unhealthy sexuality is due to lack of intimacy, DAAT, pronounced DAH-aut. (Strong, H1847) This  form of the term YDA, intimacy appears 93 times in 91 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. Its meaning ranges from the highest sense of being seeing God, to motive, intelligence, and to wisdom. The premier sexual health term for sexual intercouerse is used in a masterful way connecting intimacy with God to the lack of compassion and awareness between Gomer and her husband, Hosea. It seems clear Hosea relied on the Book of Genesis and the sexual health positive big picture to communicate intimacy with God and the people of Israel. 

“They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution (ZNH). but not flourish, because they have deserted the LORD to give themselves to prostitution (ZNH); old wine and new wine take away their understanding. (Hosea 4:10)

My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them. A spirit (RUAH)of prostitution (ZNH)leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God. (Hosea 4:11)

The word prostitution, ZNH, is a unique form in verse 10. It is called a hiphil verb. The original Hebrew places an “h” at the beginning of ZNH to emphasize that the term possesses the sense of “to cause to” participate in trafficking humans for sex. This is the first time ZNH is used in a “causative” way, perhaps give the term a compelling or coercive meaning. Another new sexual health terms appears in Hosea, “ spirit of prostitution”.  The literal rendering is ru-ACH, pronounced roo-AUCH. The CH is a hard K sound in the back of the throat.

They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution (ZNH) and your daughters-in-law to adultery (NAF).

“I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution (ZNH), nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery (NAF), because the men themselves consort with harlots (ZNH) and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes (KDSHA)— a people without understanding (BIN) will come to ruin!

Hosea introduces another new term for intimacy or understanding, BIN, pronounced BEAN. (Strong, H995) Appearing 171 times in 162 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament it gives the sense of knowing intimately but never means genital sexual intercourse. The term is only used as mental understanding. 

“Though you, Israel, commit adultery (ZNH), do not let Judah become guilty. “Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’

The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the LORD pasture them like lambs in a meadow?

Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!

Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their prostitution (ZNH); their rulers dearly love shameful (KLH) ways. (Hosea 4:10-18)

Hosea 4:18 seems to be a climactic piece.  The preacher uses the term ZNH, act out by trafficking humans for sex, in the hiphil verb form two times. It may read as, “Even though they run out of alcohol, they repeatedly choose to act out in the sacred sex trade for money….”

In the same sentence, Hosea takes a shot at rules. He states, they “dearly love shameful ways”. The Hebrew term is KLH, pronounced kah-LOAN and means female genitalia. (Strong, H7034)

As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there. (Hosea 6:7)

They are all adulterers (NAF), burning like an oven whose fire the baker need not stir from the kneading of the dough till it rises. (Hosea 7:4)

For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers (AHB). (Hosea 8:9)

Do not rejoice, Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful (ZNH) to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute (ETN)at every threshing floor. (Hosea 9:1)

In the womb (BTN) he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. (Hosea 12:3)

The final two sexual health terms are “wages of a sacred sex trade worker” and the “womb” which bore Jacob in Genesis 25:26. Wages from trafficking humans for sex is the Hebrew ETN, pronounced eth-NAWN. (Strong, H868) Appearing 11 tines in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament it carries the sole meaning of earning income from the sacred sex trade.
Jacob’s name means to coerce.  This may be a sexual violence image touching the Genesis snap shot in which Laban, his father in law, switches brides on Jacob’s wedding night. Laban manipulated the manipulator to coerce an intoxicated Jacob to marry his unattractive daughter, Leah. (Genesis 29:23) The term for sexual intercourse is not YDA, the premier sexual health term, but rather BO, which always mean unhealthy sexuality in Genesis and is never used for the spirituality or compassion of sexual intimacy (Strong, H935)

But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob made love (BO) to her. (Genesis 29:23)

The Book of Amos

Abuse

Decline of Intimacy, Profane

Sodom and Gomorrah

Virgin

They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. (Amos 2:7)

“I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,”

declares the LORD. (Amos 4:11)

“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.”(Amos 5:2)

In Amos the NIV translation of “use the same girl” for sex is pretty close. The Hebrew term is YLK, pronounced ya-LAWK meaning “to go to”. (Strong, 3212)  This verse literally means “going to the same adolescent girl for intercourse.” YLK is also used in the curse of the snake in Genesis 3:14, the rising of the waters in the flood snap shot, and the two incest accounts of Genesis 9:23 and Genesis 19:32. The word profane is the Hebrew trigger word HLL which signals a decline of intimacy with God resulting in unhealthy sexuality. 

So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. (Genesis 3:14)

The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the arkfloated on the surface of the water. (Genesis 7:18)

But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. (Genesis 9:23)

Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” (Genesis 19:32)

The Book of Jonah

Idols

“Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. (Jonah 2:8)

The Book of Micah

Idols

Images

Wages of Sacred Sex Trade

Sacred Stones

Asherah Poles

Many

Sacred Sex trade Worker

All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.” (Micah 1:7)

I will destroy your idols and your sacred stones from among you; you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands. I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles when I demolish your cities.

(Micha 5:13-14)

Micah uses idols, images, wages of sacred sex trade, sacred stones, Asherah poles, and sacred sex trade worker. This is quite a concentration of sex trade vocabulary in one verse. Wages of the sacred sex trade occurs 11 times in 8 verses.  The term is ETN, pronounced et-NAWN. (Strong, H868) Sacred stones, pronounced mas-seh-BAH, has a range of meaning from a single stone to perhaps a pillar of stones. MSBH appears 32 times in 31 verses in the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, H4676)

The Book of Nahum

Prolific Sex Trade Participation

…all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft. (Nahum 3:4)

Lift Skirts Over Face

Nakedness

Shame

“I am against you,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. (Nahum 3:5)

Nahum 3:4-5 speaks of the shame of the sacred sex trade. In 3:4 a modern literal translation might look like, “From her prolific sex trade participation, the mistress of sorcery traffics to the nations the selling of humans for sex ….”

Nahum 3:5 has a phrase connecting to incest laws along with two different words for the shame of exposing genitalia. Lift up or uncover, GLH, pronounced ga-LAH is the word used for incest prohibitions in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. (Strong, H1540) Skirt, literally in the Hebrew, “lifting up the hem of your robes upon your face” appears twice in Nahum and Jeremiah. I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen. (Jeremiah 13:26).)  Nakedness appears twice in the Hebrew Old Testament. The term is MAR, pronounced ma-AR. (Strong, H4626) Shame, QLN, pronounced ka-LOAN, also appears in both the Jeremiah and Nahum citations. (Strong, H7036) These terms for genitalia connect to a sense of shame.

The Book of Habbakuk

Naked

You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed (ARL)! The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. (Habbakuk 2:16)

Habbakuk has a single sexual health term, foreskin. The word is ARL, pronounce ah-RAIL. (Strong, H6188) In this passage the sense appears to be exposing the fact that the Israelites did not follow the ritual of circumcision and therefore the foreskin revealed.

The Book of Zephaniah

Idols

Baal

Idolatrous

Molek

“I will sweep away both man and beast; I will sweep away the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea— and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.” “When I destroy all mankind on the face of the earth,” declares the LORD,

“I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place, the very names of the idolatrous priests—those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the LORD and who also swear by Molek, those who turn back from following the LORD and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him.” (Zephaniah 1:3-6)

The Book of Haggai

Covenant

This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear. (Haggai 2:5)

The Book of Zechariah

Covenant

Rape

As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. (Zechariah 9:11)

I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. (Zechariah 14:2)

Zechariah has two sexual health terms, covenant and raped. The word rape is SGL, pronounced shu-GALL. Used four times in the Hebrew Old Testament it only connects to sexual violence. (Strong, H7693) 

You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. (Deuteronomy 28:30)

Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated. (Isaiah 13:16)

“Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. (Jeremiah 3:2)

I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. (Zechariah 14:2)

The word detestable thing is the Hebrew TABH, pronounced toe-eh-VAH connecting to idolatry and the sacred sex trade. (Strong, H8441) Desecrated is the trigger word HLL signaling a decline of sexual health and intimacy with God.  Godly Offspring is combination of the terms Elohim, the name of God, and seed ZRH.

The Book of Malachi

Covenant

Detestable Thing

Trigger Term for Decline of Intimacy and Sexual Health (HLL)

Godly Offspring

My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. (Malachi 2:5)

Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated (HLL) the sanctuary the LORD loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. (Malachi 2:11)

You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.  Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. (Malachi 2:14-15)

The final sexual health passages in the Old Testament reconnect to the Genesis sexual health big picture. Twice the word Covenant, BRT, occurs touching the early covenant with Noah after the judgement for sexual nihilism and abuse. Covenant is a vision of hope for the intimacy of reconciliation between God and humankind.  Detestable is the Hebrew term TBA, pronounced toe-eh-VAH. This word appears 118 times in the Hebrew Old Testament in 112 verses connecting to idolatry and by implication the sacred sex trade. (Strong H8441) The untranslatable Hebrew trigger word for decline of intimacy to unhealthy sexuality and abuse appears, HLL, pronounced ha-LAWL. (Strong, H2490) The NIV translates HLL as desecrated. Godly offspring is ELOHIM ZRA. ELOHIM is the common name for God appearing 2,600 times in 2,246 verses in the Hebrew Old Testament.(Strong, H430) ZRA, pronounced zeh-RAH, means seed occuring  229 times in 209 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, H2233)