February 21 - Hosea & Gomer

February 21 - Hosea and Gomer

You know, I am fully confident that God brought Max and me together, but Hosea was commanded to marry this woman so that he could draw a correlation between their marriage and God's relationship with the nation of Israel. That's a bit more than I could probably handle.

Hosea was a prophet during the time of Isaiah. If you read Hosea 1:1, you see that the Lord spoke to him during the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel. He was a prophet to the northern kingdom - Israel.

At the very beginning of the story, the Lord speaks to him and tells him to take an adulterous wife. I have no idea how he found her, but Gomer, daughter of Diblaim, became his wife and immediately bore him a son. This son was named Jezreel because the Lord was going to punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel. This story is told in 2 Kings 9:15-37; 10:11. She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter which the Lord named Lo-Ruhamah, which means 'not loved.' The third child, a son, was named Lo-Ammi which means 'not my people.'

God is really mad at his people. He is upset with Israel for a lot of reasons, but mostly he feels like his people have been having affairs with everyone else on earth and have been avoiding the most true intimacy they've ever known in their relationship with Him. I'm not sure if I would want my marriage to emulate the trouble that God is having with his people, but Hosea's marriage certainly painted this picture.

Hosea 2:1-13 is quite descriptive in the punishment that God will bring to His people, but if you read it, you will find His heart continuing to reach out. By the time you read Hosea 2:14-23, you see God wooing her back. Hosea 2:19-20 is absolutely beautiful, "I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord."

In God's hands, even an adulterous people can be made righteous. God also sent Hosea after Gomer again. He bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and some barley. He told her that she would live with him and must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man. (Hosea 3:1-3)

This is the end of the story of Hosea and Gomer. It's just three short chapters. The rest of Hosea's book is prophecy regarding Israel.

This really is a marriage made in heaven! Can you imagine? It's nothing that we would expect, but it's everything that God asked of Hosea and Gomer. Our plans are not His plans, we can not understand what He will do. But, His will and His commands are all that we need. I wonder if we could really live with that!!