Hosea 12:13-14:10 (Ashk’nazim)

The opening of this haftarah recounts Jacob’s flight to Aram after deceiving his brother Esau. The first verses (Hosea 12:13-15) are actually the end of a larger section of Hosea dealing with the northern kingdom of Israel (Ephraim), the patriarch Jacob, and similarities between events in the patriarch’s life and current national life (during the reign of King Jeroboam II, 784-748 ʙ.ᴄ.ᴇ.).

Originally this haftarah consisted of distinct and unrelated units, as we can see from the diversity of content, theme, and literary form in its verses. In their present form these units never-theless have a certain cohesion, because they reflect a sequence of events from the patriarchal period to the monarchy.

Thus the recollection of Jacob’s flight to Aram and his labors there is followed by references to the Exodus, divine sustenance in the wilderness, and the sin of Baal worship. This is succeeded by the worship of idols and calves (in Bethel and Samaria) and the people’s desire for a king.

The people of the nation, having substituted a subversive religious history for God’s providential guidance, are threatened with dire punishments unless they repent.

The effect of concluding these proclamations of doom with an exhortation to repent is to reverse the tone of the haftarah and inject a mood of hope into the cycle of sin and punishment. The freedom for new spiritual possibilities erupts unexpectedly through a proclamation of repentance. In turning from the false gods of nature and politics, the people are promised renewal and revival from the divine source of life.

A series of verbal echoes dramatizes this. The divine “plagues” (d’varekha) of death for sin (Hosea 13:14) will be reversed when Israel takes “words” (d’varim) of confession and returns to God alone (Hosea 14:3). Then Israel will not be destroyed “Like dew (tal) so early gone” (Hosea 13:3) but will be nourished by God, who “will be to Israel as dew (tal)” (Hosea 14:6).

The concluding call to heed the prophet’s message (Hosea 14:10) reinforces the need for spiritual awareness and humility. For Hosea, sin arises through pride and forgetting one’s divine roots (Hosea 13:6). This folly is resisted by the religiously alert, who follow the path of piety and are renewed in the shade of God’s sustenance (Hosea 14:7-8).

The presumptions of self-sufficiency are rejected when the people renounce calling “our handiwork our god” (Hosea 14:4). “He who is prudent will take note.” This ringing conclusion to the haftarah calls out to all who hearken to Hosea’s words.

Relation to the Haftarah to the Parashah

The haftarah refers to the flight of Jacob to Aram and his service there for a wife. The vocabulary of the parashah recurs in the prophet. In the TorahRefers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, also called the Five Books of Moses, Pentateuch or the Hebrew equivalent, Humash. This is also called the Written Torah. The term may also refer to teachings that expound on Jewish tradition., Jacob “served” (va-ya·avod) for Rachel (Genesis 29:20, Genesis 29:30) by “guarding” (eshmor) Laban’s sheep (Genesis 30:31).

Hosea states that Israel (i.e., Jacob) “served” (va-ya·avod) for his wife by guarding (shamar) sheep (Hosea 12:13).

This verbal connection may be extended in two directions. First, the prophet uses the theme of Jacob’s guarding to emphasize the theme of divine care. God’s providence is first directed to the patriarch and then to the entire nation through a prophet who helped deliver the nation from servitude and guarded (shamar) them during their wilderness sojourn (Hosea 12:14).

Indeed, God’s care for the person Jacob/Israel during his servitude in Aram is a prototype for God’s protection of the people Israel in Egypt. Similarly, the patriarch’s act of guarding is a prototype for God’s providence for the people through Moses in the wilderness; and Jacob’s flight from Aram prefigures the Israelite exodus from Egypt. The deeds of the fathers anticipate the history of their descendants in unexpected ways.