A (11) I gave thee a king in mine anger, and TOOK him away in my wrath.
B (12) THE INIQUITY of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.
C (13) The sorrows of a travailing woman SHALL COME upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.
D (14) I will ransom them from the power OF THE GRAVE;
E (14) I will redeem them FROM DEATH:
E′ (14) O DEATH, I will be thy plagues;
D′ (14) O GRAVE, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
C′ (15,16) Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind SHALL COME, the wind of Yahweh shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels. Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
B′ (14:1) O Israel, return unto Yahweh thy God; for thou hast fallen BY THINE INIQUITY.
A′ (14:2) TAKE with you words, and turn to Yahweh: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
This is a very interesting chiasm. Ephraim means fruitful and this is reflected in part C as well as the lack of children for their iniquity. We know that because of unbelief the way was opened to spiritual Israel, who are the true sons of Zion, but that natural Israel will be saved and elevated in the last days.
In the centre of the chiasm we have the overcoming of the power of the grave and death and this reminds us of 1 Cor 15 v 54-57
” Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I wonder if parts C could be split up a little more, as part C begins with “The sorrows of a travailing woman”, and part C’ ends with “their women with child shall be ripped up.”.
Thank you for this very interesting Chiasm. I was preparing something for the readings at Kingsleigh House next week and noticed that the word ‘memorial’ only appears once in English in the AV translation of Hosea. However, the Hebrew word: H2143 appears twice in Hosea. I therefore checked on this website to see if it was part of a recognised Chiasm. It seems to surround this one creating another ripple further out from this set? It would seem to be appropriate as it would add the memorial of the LORD God who has power over death and the grave and can take away all iniquity if we render to Him the calves of our lips.
Thoughts please!