336 JILL MIDDLEMAS trast to the use of the divine comparative in Second Isaiah and Ezekiel the deity is never likened through the use of simile to a human being in Hosea. The passages reveal a divine image less defined by a fixed interpretation and form and, like Ezekiel, inspired by many features of the created order. A note on the interpretation is in order here. This is not to suggest that the divine body is a moth, pus, a tree, or something similar, but rather to note that when the deity is compared positively in the Book of Hosea, that is when it is made comparable to something by use of the comparative k, the examples all stem from non-human sources. This is where better understanding of the effect of metaphor becomes significant. It is not possible simply to substitute moth/pus/maggot, decay, green leafy tree, or lion for the deity, for to do so would entail substitution not metaphor. Rather the two concepts come into contact and the tenor (God) is altered in surprising ways by the vehicle that invites comparison, but not direct equivalence. A new understanding of the deity is created, which compels a surprising vision of the divine. In addition, the modelling similes are found linked to concerns about idolatry in the prophecies of Hosea. The comparisons of yHWH in chapter 5 (moth/pus/maggot, decay, lion, and cub) appear directly after the condemnation that “Ephraim is joined to idols” (4,17, see vv. 12.13.14.19), yHWH as the lion of 13,7 follows the rebuke of the peo- ple for worshiping calves and having idols made (13,2.3), and yHWH as a green leafy tree is found in the same verse as the divine conster- nation expressed as, “O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?” (14,9[8]). The last divine simile, where the deity is likened to dew (14,6[5]), is found directly after the people themselves reject the wor- ship of idols: “we will no longer say ‘Our God’ to the work of our hands” (14,4[3]). The anti-idolatry contexts as well as the sourcing images under- score the aniconic stance found in the Book of Hosea when the divine comparative is found. Divine similes in the Book of Hosea promote conceptualizing God outside of human examples and experience. By likening the deity to something not totally comprehensible to the hu- man mind, the prophet 61 insists quite emphatically that the deity is not human. A similar point was made by Kirsten Nielsen in her examina- 61 Many, if not all, of these verses stem from an editor who updated the prophecies traditionally associated with Hosea, but many consider the work of editors to be also inspired, and so the term “prophet” can thus refer also to them (“editors writing in the prophetic tradition” would be cumbersome).