“And God spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Appointed Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year from their departure from the land of Egypt, saying, Raise [count] the heads of all the congregation of the children of Israel.” (Bamidbar, 1:1–2)
“Raise” signifies importance. By means of counting the numbers of each tribes, every individual will know his special importance. This is as it is written (Hoshea, 2:1), “And the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted.” This verse seems to contradict itself (v. Gemara Yoma, 22b), for at the beginning it says, “and the number,” implying that they can be counted, and at the end it says, “which cannot be measured.” But in truth, the community of Israel as a whole is without number, and what was said, “and the number,” was said concerning the specific souls of Israel, that each one should have a number.
This is said in the sense that something that is counted will be important in the eyes of God, as it is written (Tehilim, 87:6–5, Tr. of Hirsch), “God will count when he registers the peoples.” “But of Zion it is said, every man that was born there, the Most High maintains her thus.” “God will count when He registers the peoples” meaning that the Providence of the Holy One, blessed be He, also extends to the nations of the world. Not in an individual way, but in a general way for the maintenance of the species. “But of Zion it is said, every man that was born there, the Most High maintains her thus” means that the Providence of the Holy One, blessed be He, is over each individual soul.
This is the meaning of “and the number of the children of Israel,” that each and every one will be absolutely necessary. The greatness of God is seen in the entire community of Israel as a whole, and if just one member of that community is missing then the mixture will be deficient. It is as if the image of the king were made up of a mosaic of many small parts, and if just one of the parts were missing, then the picture of the king would be lacking. So at the time when each member of Israel is counted, then He is the greatness in all of Israel, for each one of Israel is a portion of God. This is as it is written (Devarim, 32:9), “for His nation is a portion of God.” Each individual possesses one of the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, and at the time when that individual is counted, then God himself is present in that attribute which he possesses, and clearly whatever is being counted is at that time the greatest of all. This is how each member of Israel has a special state of elevation.
This is alluded to in the letters that spell B’ KhiYaH (crying), which are the first letters of “B’nei Yisrael K’chol Hayam.” Just as the sand protects against the waves and prevents them from flooding the world, crying and tears protect Israel from the evil decrees of the nations.
Hosea: Loving God Erotically by Prof. Carl S. Ehrlich
https://www.thetorah.com/article/hosea-loving-god-erotically
Context: Baal Worship in the North
The polemic contained in this poem must be understood on the background of tensions between worshipers of Canaanite Baal and Israelite YHWH in the northern kingdom of Israel. Ancient Israel was a battleground between two competing cults, especially because Baal remained the high-god of its northern neighbors in the Phoenician city-states and the royal house of Israel oftentimes had close personal relationships with Phoenicia.
These tensions are reflected particularly in the Elijah and Elisha prophetic narratives in 1 and 2 Kings, as well as in the book of Hosea. As a storm and fertility god, Baal was considered by his worshipers to be the source of bounty in the world. And yet, Hosea argues, it is actually YHWH, the God of Israel, who is the source of fruitfulness in the world, which God apportions to those who are faithful to God.
The name of Baal is derived from a common noun meaning lord or master. As such, it may even serve in some biblical passages as an epithet of YHWH (e.g., 2 Samuel 5:20). However, its most common usage is as the most widely employed Hebrew word for husband, reflective of the relative social standing of husbands and wives in the patriarchal society of ancient Israel.
Erotic Love of God
Although the first three chapters of Hosea are deeply problematic in how they view women, when viewed in their cultural and historical context, their central theme is a reminder that love of God, in its most visceral sense, is a central component of biblical religion, an element that would remain important to Judaism as it developed over time. But what is the nature of this love? Western thought typically distinguishes between several types of love, most especially between eros—erotic love, and agape—platonic love. (Both “eros” and “agape” are loan words from Greek.)
This distinction was especially important in early Christianity, since the New Testament often uses agape, but never eros in its description of the relationship between the nascent Christian community and God or Jesus. Given Hosea’s sexually charged depiction of the relationship between God and Israel, it is evident that here the Tanakh and later Judaism differ from the Christianity reflected in the New Testament, in that they can view the love of God as erotic.
As has been demonstrated by scholars such as Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, erotic love, or eros, is basic to a Jewish understanding of divine love, while platonic love, or agape, which plays such an important role in Christian theology as the higher form of love, is less central to the Jewish understanding. It is Hosea’s use of erotic love that has make these chapters so powerful and enduring throughout the ages, since this type of love speaks to the most basic and visceral experience of the human condition.