God is to Israel as Husband is to Wife: The Metaphoric Battering of Hosea's Wife

G. discusses the intertextual import of the Jewish tradition of haftorot, i.e., reading prophetic texts along with weekly Torah portions. When, in this lectionary system, Hosea 2 (which describes in bold terms a husband's punishment and reconciliation with his wife) is paired with the first portion of Numbers (which recounts the census in the wilderness), God emerges as a battering husband who punishes and then lures back his wife. G. argues against modern commentators who underestimate the power of such an image and urges the creation of alternative haftorot that would employ metaphors more amenable to a "congenial ideal of partnership" (p. 145). [Abstracted by: Julia M. O'Brien.]