GEN325 Men and women confront each other in sameness and difference. Each is an image of the other, yet each is separate and distinct.  The only relationship able to bind them together without the use of force is marriage as covenant—a bond of mutual loyalty and love in which each makes a pledge to the other to serve one another. Not only is this a radical way of reconceptualizing the relationship between man and woman. It is also, implies Hosea 2:16-22, the way we should think of the relationship between human beings and God. God reaches out to humanity not as power -- the storm, the thunder, the rain -- but as love, and not an abstract, philosophical love, but a deep and abiding passion that survives all the disappointments and betrayals.  Israel may not always behave lovingly towards God, says Hosea, but God loves Israel and will never cease to do so. How we relate to God affects how we relate to other people. That is Hosea’s message-and vice versa: how we relate to other people affects the way we think of God.  SACKS 174