Based on recent frame-semantic research on the [Discipleship] frame in Hosea, the present author has discerned the presence of a father-son (discipleship) relation between Israel and YHWH in Hos 11:10 (cf. Hos 11:1; Matt 2:15). This father-son relation between Israel and YHWH is distinctly different from that of the “sons of God” elsewhere in the Old Testament, namely in Ps 82:6 identified by Michael Heiser in The Unseen Realm. The question that this comparison between God’s fatherhood in Hosea 11:1, 10 and Ps 82:6 raises is just what sort of sonship are we talking about? In other words, the question regards semantics and how we can know what sort of sonship is described in these passages.
The method of frame semantics may assist with determining precisely what sense is intended when the Bible speaks of “sons of God.” For an encyclopedic analysis of the uses of “sons of God,” the present paper will also examine a similar figurative sonship phrase, the “sons of the prophets” (בְּנֵי הַנְּבִיאִים). This encyclopedic analysis will examine the instances of “sons of God” as well as “sons of the prophets” based on the entry for “son” (בֵּן) in the semantic dictionary of Reinier de Blois. There, the following semantic categories will be examined: “(1) noun (d) Relatives > People —Completeness” (i.e. part-whole), “(1) noun (i) Relatives > Titles — Status” (i.e. subordination), and “(1) noun (j) Relatives > Titles — Affection.”
This encyclopedic analysis will indicate: 1) that “the sons of God” is a title for beings that may or may not be substantially equivalent to YHWH God in the Hebrew Bible (i.e. the same or similar substance or being), 2) that there are other figurative ways of understanding the title “son” (i.e. a relation of subordination or affection rather than literal and familial [biological] generation), and 3) that the title “sons of God” has other structural ways of being identified (i.e. “sons of the living God” [בְּנֵי אֵל־חָי] in Hos 2:1 [1:10] cited above). This means that the title “sons of God” in the Hebrew Bible must be examined from all of the data points, including syntax and semantics, as well as operant cognitive frames.
The method of frame semantics helps with determining precisely what sense is intended in any instance of the title “sons of God,” by determining what cognitive frame is operant. The surrounding contextual elements (frame elements [FEs] in frame semantics) also help to define the concept of divine sonship. Thus, a frame-semantic analysis of the title “sons of God” in the Old Testament not only helps to identify and define the lexeme phrase in question, but also to define the larger conceptual category to which the phrase belongs. In this way, the present proposed study will answer the questions of: what sense of sonship is intended in the Old Testament use of “sons of God,” and how do we know what sense is intended?