The Book of Hosea tells the story of Hosea and his wife Gomer.
It is also to the story of God and Israel – Hosea 3:1 says: And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” Hosea is called to love an adulterous woman in the same way that God loves Israel – His unfaithful people.
And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story.
With the rest of Scripture at our disposal, and on this side of Calvary, we can know that Hosea also tells the story of Christ and the church.
Friends, we are Gomer; and that thought should break our hearts.
Friends, we are Gomer; and that thought should heal them.
If you have not yet read the Book of Hosea, please do so. You can read the entire book in 20 – 30 minutes. Please read it. And when you do, look for these things:
- The unfaithful wives and their faithful husbands: ◦Gomer and Hosea
- Israel and God
- The church and Jesus
- You, me, and Jesus
- The Lord’s judgment of Israel, and punishment for their unfaithfulness; how does that apply to us today?
- The Lord’s restoration of Israel; how does that apply to us today?
- The Lord’s faithful love; how does that apply to us today?
2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
— Hosea 1:2-9
21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,
— Hosea 2:21-23
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
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