Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
5-2015
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Graduate School of Theology
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Jeff Childers
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Mark Hamilton
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Jesse Long
Abstract
Sometime around the turn of the sixth century, the Syriac speaking Jacob of Serug preached a sermon (memra) to his congregation on "Hosea and the Two Wives He Took." Since God's strange command to marry a prostitute does not fit well into proper theology, the book Hosea has not been traditionally popular preaching material, and there are almost no other sermons on the book of Hosea from the first five centuries. Though we have a handful of ancient commentaries on Hosea, they do not go much deeper into the story of Hosea than discussing the problem of whether Hosea married one woman or two and seeking to justify God's command to Hosea. Jacob's sermon or memra provides a rare perspective of how a preacher from a late antiquity made this troubling story into a sermon with relevance for the spiritual lives of his congregation. Jacob blends the Alexandrian and Antiochene styles of interpretation of his day, influenced by the theological and poetic style of his predecessor Ephrem the Syrian. Emphasizing obedience over all other virtues, Jacob vividly recounts the story of God commanding Hosea to marry a prostitute and an adulteress. Hosea obeys without hesitation, marrying the unrepentantly sinful women and caring for them. Jacob argues that God paints Hosea and his wives as a living parable of how Israel and Samaria have treated God from the beginning. Jacob weaves the story of Hosea with the account of the golden calf in Exodus 32 to demonstrate the relationship of God and Israel, as well as the relationships of God and the Jews in Jesus's day and God and the Christians of Jacob's day. This thesis provides a full annotated English translation of Jacob's memra on Hosea as well as background on his methods of interpreting the Old Testament and the memra's implications for spiritual relevance.
Creative Commons License
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Recommended Citation
Green, Shelby D., "A Spectacle for Angels and for People: A Translation and Analysis of Jacob of Serug's Homily on the Prophet Hosea" (2015). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 624.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/624