I will destroy you, O Israel; who can help you? Where now is your king, that he may save you? Where in all your cities are your rulers,of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and rulers’? I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath. (Hosea 13: 9-11)

There is a political reading of Hosea that has seemed to me mostly subtext. But here the anti-royalist - and perhaps anti-nationalist - message is made explicit.

When the twelve tribes demanded that their judge and prophet Samuel appoint a king, we read, "The Lord said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." (1Samuel 8: 7)

Saul, the first king, was a native of Gibeah and kept his capital there. This is the corrupt Gibeah of Hosea. Early in his reign Saul made an unlawful sacrifice at Gilgal, the same city so despised by Hosea for its idol worship. Is Hosea pointing to political motivation as the foundation of Israel's iniquity?

Despite exaltation of David and Solomon the prophets were deeply ambivalent regarding the nationalist ambitions and political principles of the royal houses. This was amplified in the case of the northern kingdom by their departure from the davidic succession.

Samuel warned, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of demanding a king for ourselves." Royal pretension, national pride, and political posturing were seen by the prophets as a deep distraction comparing to idolatry.

For Hosea if there was any "original sin" it was political rather than sexual. The politics of the nation-state was for him a confused chimera. Politics offers a false-promise of self-assertion and control. Faith is a realization that we are not in control and are called to self-sacrifice.