Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children
of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD. Hosea
1:2
In honor of Valentine’s Day, today and tomorrow we will look at a
special love story in the Bible, Hosea and Gomer.
Hosea lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the last half of
the eighth century before Christ. Apparently
he believed in preaching in such a way that you afflict the comfortable. In fact, in the first few years of his
ministry he always preached against sin and warned of the peril that was VERY
close at hand unless the people repented and returned to the Lord. I think Hosea may have even ENJOYED this kind
of preaching.
The people didn’t like it when Hosea preached this way, so Hosea’s
audience dwindled to the point that continuing to preach seemed pointless to
him. Israel was in a cycle of sin and Hosea no doubt spoke to God and asked for
His help in getting the people to listen. When he did this, God told him to do a strange
thing. Go, take to
yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits
flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD." Hosea 1:2 The Lord appeared to Hosea and told him that he was to exemplify in his
life the relationship of God with Israel. The prophet was told that he was to marry a
woman who would become a harlot and that he was to be faithful to her in spite
of her unfaithfulness; a perfect example of God’s love, mercy, and faithfulness
to Israel at that time and to us when we are unfaithful to him.
The book of Hosea is the most shocking book in the Old Testament. Few people can imagine what it would be like
to be married to a woman like Gomer. She
had no inner moral compass — no restraints. You could never trust her. It has
happened to other people besides Hosea, but Hosea went into the relationship
with his eyes wide open.
Sometimes God gave a prophet like Hosea words to speak to the people of
Israel and Judah. He would give them words warning of impending judgment so
they could be spared by giving up their sin and following God again. At other times, he would give them words of
love in an attempt to win back the affections of his people. He would remind them of all his love had done
for them and tell them how much he wanted them to come back home to him.
But sometimes words failed and God had to resort to a different kind of
communication. He would give the prophet
a message to act out. In other words, Hosea was to live a dramatic pageant
before the nations of Judah and Israel, whom God counted as one nation.
Hosea was to play the part of the loving and faithful God. The erring wife would be cast in the role of
the perverse nation. She would play the
harlot with many lovers even as Israel had left the true God to go after a
multitude of strange gods.
The wonderful end is that Hosea’s love won out…just as God’s love
does. So what can we learn? The story of the love between Hosea and Gomer
and how it mirrors the love of our Heavenly Father for us. When we turn our backs on God and go after
other gods, He is still faithful to us and does not stop loving us in our
weakness. He loves us in spite of our
weakness and stays faithful to His promises no matter how we hurt Him.
Scripture to Claim:
And may you have the power to understand, as all
God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand
fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power
that comes from God. Ephesians 3:18-19 NLT