Abstract
The idea that a wife's marital unfaithfulness brought disgrace upon her husband is not clearly attested in the Hebrew Bible. Indeed, as this article shows, the passages dealing with adultery are more interested in the pollution that results from it, rather than in the honour of the cheated husband. Such pollution is the consequence of actions that undermine the order of the world and bring disaster upon the community. It is therefore unwise to read the ‘Mediterranean notion’ of shame and honour into biblical texts. This also applies to J. Moon's recent proposal (in issue 39 of this journal [2015]) about ‘Hosea's marriages’. It is argued in this article that Moon's idea that Israel's adultery in Hosea 1–3 undermines the honour of Yahweh who is thereby portrayed as willingly embracing humiliation cannot stand under closer scrutiny.
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