Hosea the “Historical Prophet” of the Eighth Century BCE, Hosea the Remembered Prophet of Yehudite Literati, and the Book of Hosea

Abstract This essay identifies two general approaches to researching the book of Hosea with a historical focus. The first approach aims to reconstruct the prophet himself, as one of the so-called classical prophets of Israel’s (and Judah’s) monarchic era. The second approach investigates the prophetic figure as he is represented in the book of Hosea, focusing on memories that would be associated with him within the earliest communities that read the prophetic book as such. Thus, the second approach focuses on the prophet as he would be remembered in Persian-era Judah. This essay highlights what is at stake for each approach, and argues that each has enriched the historical study of the book of Hosea in its own way.