What they had cherished about the original translation was the reference to the rarity of the turtle s calling, to its particular application to spring, when a whole world which has been mute and in the thrall of winter s stillness gets a voice back, and sings a kind of song. That old phrase for telling children the facts of life, the birds and the bees, sums up more than the sexual facts behind the continuation of life on earth. To the mind s eye it brings images of purposeful work, nests and hives readied for the business of getting on with life. To the mind s ear it brings the buzzing confusion of life in the swarm, and the cheerful-sounding trills of bird song. Life starts over in the spring, in many ways, and whether we re at that point in our lives when we re longing for a mate or not, we all find the onset of warmer weather delightful.
Spring is a season of promise, and possibility.
The Book of Hosea in the Old Testament is a book of prophecies about God restoring the blamelessness of God s people. Hosea speaks about God as a husband, and Israel as a wife, and in describing the faults of Israel picks up the theme of infidelity within a marriage. But this portion we ve read is not about finding faults, but about restoring a right relationship. And the way the right relationship is to be restored is by returning to the spring, to the season of promise and possibility. God is going to bring Israel back to the spring, when love begins, and to the springtime of their relationship, when it was all unfolding, and blossoming, and beginning.