God's Gracious Love to a Wayward People

Notes

Why do prophets sometimes do “strange things”? Isaiah once walked for three years dressed as a prisoner of war in Judah. Jeremiah wore a yoke on his shoulders for several months. Do I need to mention Ezekiel? He “played war” in the dirt for a time and even used a haircut to teach a theological lesson. When his wife died, Ezekiel even turned that painful experience into a message for the people of Judah.

These “strange things” were really acts of mercy. The people of God had become deaf to God’s word and forgot His covenant. God called His servants to do these “strange things” to wake up the people so they would listen to what God would say through His servants. If they heeded the message, only then could the nation escape divine discipline and judgment.

Hosea is another servant of the LORD who was asked to do a “strange thing” – to marry a prostitute who bore him three children then left him for another man. Then Hosea is commanded to buy Gomer back again. So what is this all about?

This was to let Israel understand they had left their “husband,” the LORD and prostituted themselves by seeking idols, committing “spiritual adultery.” Today we face the same temptation and are warned of the danger of “spiritual adultery.”

James 4:4 NASB95

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

That is why we need to heed God’s message through His servant, Hosea.

I. The Time of Hosea’s Ministry, 1:1.

The word of the Lord which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of

Uzziah, [Good, 791-739 B.C.]

Jotham, Good, 750-731 B.C.

Ahaz Bad, 743-715 B.C.

Hezekiah, Good. 728-686 B.C.

kings of Judah, [and David’s line]

1 Kings 11:36 NASB95

‘But to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name.

and during the days of

Jeroboam (II) Bad, 793-753 B.C.

the son of Joash, king of Israel. (who followed the sins of Jeroboam I)

II. The First Commissioning of Hosea, 1:2-2:1

A. The Command to Marry a Harlot, 1:2-3a.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim . . .

Hosea either married a pure woman who later became a prostitute, or he married a prostitute who bore him three children. In fact, scholars have suggested at least five different opinions about Gomer. In the OT, prostitution was symbolic of idolatry and unfaithfulness to God.

But it is easy to lose sight of the main message God wanted to get across: He loved His people and wanted them to return that love to Him. They were committing evil by worshiping idols, just like a woman who is unfaithful to her husband. They were not only sinning against God’s law, but also sinning against God’s love.

It seems to be best to take this as Gomer being a prostitute when she married Hosea. This would not mean she was a “temple prostitute;” more than likely she was a promiscuous woman. The marriage itself was to be a testimony to the nation. Here was a man willing to marry a woman whom he has been told is a harlot. The only prohibition against marrying a prostitute was that a priest could not marry a prostitute.

Leviticus 21:7 NASB95

‘They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God.

This does not look promising from a human perspective. The marriage would have probably been a small affair with the stigma of promiscuity over the marriage. Hosea did not question the LORD about this but obeyed. He fulfilled his marital obligations to Gomer… but what questions arise from her character and life choices? Included in that is Hosea taking also the “children of harlotry” to himself. Gomer had at least two children before Hosea married her.

The reason God has given Hosea this command is to illustrate something much greater, namely the harlotry of the northern kingdom, Israel. They have committed ‘flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.” Hosea’s reality illustrated the LORD’s relationship with Israel. He was told to marry a prostitute. He was told in advance to marry someone who would cause him grief.

B. The Naming of the Children, vs. 3b-9.

1. The birth of Jezreel, 3b-5.

[So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim,] and she conceived and bore him a son.

And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

“On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

The son is born, but the LORD commands Hosea to name him Jezreel. His name means “God scatters’ or “God sows.” Jezreel was a city in the land of Issachar, near Mt. Gilboa. It is associated with the powerful judgment brought upon the family of Ahab by Jehu as prophesied by Elijah and by Elisha’s servant (1 Kings 21:21-24; 2 Kings 9:6-10).

1 Kings 21:21–24 NASB95

“Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you have made Israel sin. “Of Jezebel also has the Lord spoken, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.’ “The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of heaven will eat.”

2 Kings 9:6–10 NASB95

He arose and went into the house, and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. ‘You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. ‘For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel. ‘I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.’ ” Then he opened the door and fled.

The zeal of Jehu led him to kill more people than the LORD commanded including King Ahaziah of Judah and forty-two of his relatives.

Through the birth of Jezreel, the LORD announced that He would avenge the innocent bloodshed of Jehu and put an end to his dynasty. This was fulfilled when Zechariah, Jehu’s great-great grandson, was assassinated, the last of Jehu’s line. The last line is God’s promise that the kingdom of Israel would come to an end with the destruction of her army, which occurred in 724 BC.

2. The birth of Lo-ruhamah, 6-7.

Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.

“But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.”

The second child is born, a daughter whom the LORD gives the name “Lo-ruhamah,” meaning “unpitied” or “not loved.” God had repeatedly demonstrated His love to Israel, but now He would withdraw that love and no longer show them mercy. The expression of God’s love is certainly unconditional, but our enjoyment of that love is conditional and depends on our faith and obedience (see Deut. 7:6-12; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).

Deuteronomy 7:6–12 NASB95

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. “Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them. “Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers.

Israel’s rejection of God to worship other gods has led God to allow Assyria to swallow up the Northern Kingdom. In contrast, the LORD would have compassion on Judah and He would protect the Southern Kingdom as recorded in Isaiah 36-37 and 2 Kings 19.

3. The birth of Lo-ammi, 8-9.

When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

And the Lord said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.”

Once again Gomer conceives, and another son is born. The LORD gives him the name “Lo-Ammi,” meaning “not My people.” God has not only removed His mercy from His people, but He would renounce the covenant He had made with them for a time. Positionally, on the basis of the Abrahamic covenant, Israel is always the people of God according to Romans 11:29 and 11:1-2.

Romans 11:29 NASB95

for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Romans 11:1–2 NASB95

I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

But experientially, Israel can only enjoy the benefits of being God’s people when she is in a state of obedience. For a long time, Israel will be Lo-Ammi, not My people, because, for a long time, they will not experience the various blessings that belong to those who are God’s people.

The names of Hosea’s children all reminded everyone who heard them of the broken relationship that existed between Yahweh and Israel, and each one anticipated judgment.

C. Future Reversal and Restoration of Israel, 1:10-2:1.

Now here is the grace of God being seen, for God will one day change their names. This is a word of encouragement. In Scripture a change of name is often evidence of God’s gracious work in a person’s life. Examples of this are Abram became Abraham and Sarai was renamed Sarah (Gen. 17). Later Jacob is given the name Israel (Gen. 32). In the New Testament, Simon was renamed Peter (John 1:42).

The judgment described in verses 2-9 is to have a future reversal, starting with verse 10a, where we find a reversal of God scattering.

1. An increase in the nation, 10a.

Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered

In the sense of judgment, Jezreel means “God scatters” as God scattered Israel out of the land. In the sense of blessing, Jezreel means “God sows,” and in the future God would “sow” Israel back into the land. Verse 10a describes a sowing which would bring a great increase to Israel’s population. God had made this promise to Abraham in Gen. 15:5-6

Genesis 15:5–6 NASB95

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

2. National conversion, 10b.

And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

Verse 10b is a second prediction is given, that of a national conversion. This is also promised in Jer. 31:31-34

Jeremiah 31:31–34 NASB95

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

They who were once Lo-ammi, “not My people,” will be called Ammi, “My people” who are “sons of the living God.”

3. National reunion, 11a.

And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together,

Here in verse 11a is a third prediction: national reunion of Israel and Judah. Again, another prophet promises this in the future, Ezekiel 37:15-23.

Ezekiel 37:15–23 NASB95

The word of the Lord came again to me saying, “And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ “Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. “When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’ say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ “The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. “Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. “They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

4. United under one ruler, 11b.

And they will appoint for themselves one leader,

Verse 11b further states that these two nations will not only reunite but they will have only one leader, as also Jer. 23:5 indicates.

Jeremiah 23:5 NASB95

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land.

5. National blessing once again, 1:11c-2:1.

And they will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel.

Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”

Finally, the last part of verse 11 and verse 1 of Chapter 2 reveal a great sowing of blessing in that day when the children of Israel will be called “My people” and “pitied.”

These three children teach us about God’s graciousness for His people, future blessings undeserved, yet promised by the God who does not lie.