Texts from Hosea 1-3, Main Text:
Hosea 1:1-11
1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD."
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the LORD said to him: "Call his name Jezreel, For in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 It shall come to pass in that day That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."
6 And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away.
7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, Will save them by the LORD their God, And will not save them by bow, Nor by sword or battle, By horses or horsemen."
8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
9 Then God said: "Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God.
10 " Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ’You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ’You are sons of the living God.’
11 Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel Shall be gathered together, And appoint for themselves one head; And they shall come up out of the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel!
Brief Lessons from Hosea:
God is faithful. He does not change.
We need to be faithful, and God wants us to be faithful to Him.
God can redeem any relationship.
God is infinitely patient and still desires reconciliation with those who have run from Him.
Opening Prayer
Date of writing:
Hosea is the longest of the ‘Minor Prophets,’ and of the Minor Prophets, Hosea had a very lengthy period of ministry (perhaps 30-40 years). The book was likely written between 754 and 724 BC, based on the kings presented at the start of the first chapter as well as the inevitable and promised exile of Israel. Hosea speaks a great deal of God’s faithfulness to an unfaithful people. How often are we in that camp?
The people were worshipping Baal, a Canaanite fertility god. They were also guilty of the following things (see Hosea 4:1-2, 5:10):
Hosea 4:1-2
1 Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
...and even Judah got into the action:
Hosea 5:10
10 "The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
- No faithfulness
- No love
- No acknowledgment of God in the land
- Cursing
- Lying
- Murder
- Stealing
- Adultery
- Corruption of priests
- Corruption of prophets
- Political dishonesty (moving ‘boundary stones’)
Two Gomers in Scripture:
Genesis 10:2-3; 1 Chronicles 1:5-6, Ezekiel 38:6 - Eldest son of Japheth, grandson of Noah.
Another Gomer is mentioned once in Hosea.
One seemed to be an honorable man, yet the other was an unfaithful woman.
Gomer - "Complete"
Diblaim - "Two cakes" (dual form) -- this could be indicative of his career, perhaps as a baker, though it’s more likely that Diblaim was a noted prostitute whose daughter would soon follow suit. So Gomer could have been a modern day Gomer Baker. We don’t want the spirituality that she was cooking up.
Hosea - "Salvation" (Root of Yeshua/Joshua)
…ben Beeri - "My well"
A prophet to Israel, the Northern Kingdom, during the reign of:
Uzziah - "My strength is the LORD"
Jotham - "The LORD is perfect"
Ahaz - "He has grasped"
Hezekiah - "The LORD has made strong"
...Kings of Judah
And
Jeroboam - "The people will contend"
…King of Israel
Hosea is a very extreme scenario. Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom Israel. Some even refer to Hosea as the ’deathbed prophet’ to Israel, as he was the last prophet to record anything before the Assyrians came and ransacked them.
As an illustration of how the people of Israel were behaving, God told Hosea to take a ’harlot’ named Gomer to be his wife:
1:2 - When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD."
We see in verse 3 that Hosea was obedient and took an unfaithful wife named Gomer.
- She had a history of unfaithfulness, just as the people of Israel. This would have been seen as a horrible curse and undertaking. In Amos, it was a curse on Amaziah that his wife would be a prostitute and his family destroyed for being so hardened against the LORD:
Amos 7:17 - "Therefore thus says the LORD: ’Your wife shall be a harlot in the city; Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; Your land shall be divided by survey line; You shall die in a defiled land; And Israel shall surely be led away captive From his own land.’ "
…but here, the LORD commands the prophet Hosea to do the unfathomable in order to display an extreme point.
Remember the Israelites in the wilderness?
Before, they were in oppressive Egyptian slavery asking for God to deliver them.
…so God delivered them.
And on the trek back, after all the miraculous events of the Exodus, the people begin to worship idols (e.g. golden calf), they complain, and they think, ’We should go back to Egypt!’
The Israelite people continually went through periods of fleeing from God and returning, though most of the time was spent in unfaithfulness.
Note in verse 6, God promises to protect the people of Judah in spite of Israel being carried off into exile. Judah would harden their hearts later in history (586 BC), though Israel would be carried off right after Hosea’s time.
The unfaithful wife Gomer would parallel the nation of Israel. Whether she was unfaithful prior to the marriage is not fully known -- but it’s pretty clear that after they had several kids, and possibly during that time, she had been unfaithful and would be taken back by Hosea after a probationary time.
Hosea had at least three children with Gomer, but the three mentioned were:
Jezreel: Recounting the battle at Jezreel and the justice due. "God sows." God would bring justice on the rulers of Israel.
Lo-Ruhamah: "No compassion/mercy." God would not have mercy on the unfaithful people of Israel.
Lo-Ammi: "Not my people." God’s response to unfaithfulness: rejection.
Due to and despite this unfaithfulness, the LORD states two things --
(1) He will deal justice with what has been done.
(2) He will pursue His people passionately.
Chapter 2 of Hosea is full of proclamations of retribution for the spiritual harlotry of the people, yet the LORD still wants His people to return and desires to bring them back:
Hosea 2:13-14
13 I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers; But Me she forgot," says the LORD.
14 " Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.
Hosea 2:19-20
19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;
20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.
Paul describes believers as ’betrothed’ to Christ. Yet we can be unfaithful --
2 Corinthians 11:2-3
2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
We are part of the Bride of Christ. We can’t be Gomers!
Gomer was unfaithful. The LORD commands Hosea to take the adulterous woman in chapter 3, I think without a doubt Gomer since there is wordplay on the word ’cakes’ (Diblaim, Gomer’s father, is translated ’cakes,’ possibly significant of his life work -- perhaps a Baker?).
Hosea 3:1-5
1 Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans."
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley.
3 And I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man -- so, too, will I be toward you."
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.
5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.
Just as the LORD commanded Israel not to stray, Hosea commands Gomer not to stray and cheat. Israel would be put under desolation for a time, yet again, the LORD ultimately desires their restoration.
Again -- Brief Lessons from Hosea:
God is faithful. He does not change.
We need to be faithful, and God wants us to be faithful to Him.
God can redeem any relationship.
God is infinitely patient and still desires reconciliation with those who have run from Him.
Application
What can we do given this message from Scripture?
- Evaluate in all areas of life whether you are truly being faithful to God. Spiritually, financially, physically. Are you growing? Are you stagnant? Are you running from God? Now is a much better time to make a change than any time down the road.
- Praise God for being so faithful to us. Meditate on this truth -- God has SUCH patience on us, and He forgives us despite our times of unfaithfulness. It should be reason to love God more and more.
He who has been forgiven much…
- Seek God in faithfulness. Don’t run elsewhere for fulfillment. He is the source of all life, refreshment, forgiveness, and hope.
Jesus is central in all things. We need to seek Him and Him alone. We can’t be saved by the name of ANYONE ELSE. He is the Son of God and our Sacrifice.
So as we close and go into this week, let’s strive to be faithful and pray for reconciliation in all necessary areas. Though it may be extremely hard at times, He is worth it.
Closing Prayer
